Anduin Valley Revisited

[art128 4,622]

Wow -- this is just fantastic John !

You're showing an exceptional talent for creating very nice ambiance...

Arthur.

[threestooges 0]

Wow, two weeks and so much to see. Your development style, winging it with an eye for detail, is really a neat thing to watch. Even more so now that I've gotten into the CJ/MD world over at SC4D. I like the gulf station, and your re-lot of it is excellent and I like the addition of the path and flora by the bus station. I like the new hospital choice too. Always fun to watch a master at work. Seems the moon is far from full here, so I think it's safe for me to stick around a little longer. Certainly until the next update. See you then.

[sobol 1]

EXCELLENT. Now the hospital fits right in. John, when you do small modifications like you did on the Sobol Clinic, and that Gulf gas station, do you PS it.. for the mosaic pictures or does it appear like that in the game.. I remember you PS'd the Clinic.. but I am curious. Yea.. this is going to be a small town and the like.. but it needs support villages around with a small main thoroughfare and lost of single family housing.

So, for now.. the car hunt has ended. Our weather is improving and the pressure to get another weather fighter has abated for now. I am concentrating on further equiping the home gym and my home office. I need a new main computer. The Mac mini (4 years old) is slow and the G4 Quicksilver 2002 tower (6 years old) is sloweeeer. i am looking at a new Mac Pro.. just trying to figure out if I want to get a bse model with a fast processor and upgrade it myself or drop the "cheddar" and buy a pimped out one. I've had very good luck with MAC's since I made the full switch back in '97.

Back to the topic... Bywater is looking great. We've been exploring our region of the world and it looks great. Maybe one of these days.. I will host the best pictures I've taken so far and show you a how close you are in your vision to where I live.

Have a great week, and thanks for the wonderful update.

[danielcote 9]

Very nice by the way where did you get that gulf gas station I really like it!

[Benedict 3,119]

Very nice hospital change. And I just noticed the stamp on the mail call (along with the well done post mark) - a very nice touch!

[Livin in Sim 83]

Queen of Light took her bow

And then she turned to go

The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom

And walked the night alone

Oh, dance in the dark of night

Sing to the morning light

The dark Lord rides in force tonight

And time will tell us all

Oh, throw down your plow and hoe

Rest not to lock your homes

Side by side we wait the might

Of the darkest of them all

I hear the horses' thunder

Down in the valley blow

I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon

Waiting for the eastern glow

The apples of the valley hold

The seeds of happiness

The ground is rich from tender care

Repay, do not forget, no, no

Dance in the dark of night

Sing to the morning light

The apples turn to brown and black

The tyrant's face is red.

Oh war is the common cry

Pick up you swords and fly

The sky is filled with good and bad

That mortals never know

Oh, well, the night is long

The beads of time pass slow

Tired eyes on the sunrise

Waiting for the eastern glow

The pain of war cannot exceed

The woe of aftermath

The drums will shake the castle wall

The ring wraiths ride in black

Ride on

Sing as you raise your bow

Shoot straighter than before

No comfort has the fire at night

That lights the face so cold

Oh dance in the dark of night

Sing to the morning light

The magic runes are writ in gold

To bring the balance back

Bring it back

At last the sun is shining

The clouds of blue roll by

With flames from the dragon of darkness

The sunlight blinds his eyes

The only song Led Zepplin ever did with a guest vocalist, that's The Battle of Evermore, with the lovely voice of Sandy Denny as the Town Crier.  From Tolkien's Return of the King, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the events leading up to it are said to have inspired bandmember Robert Plant to pen these lyrics.  You heard it here on KLIV.  After  a word from our sponsors, we'll join News Director and roving reporter Sam Gamgee, broadcasting on a live feed from the KLIV Van.  Sam is covering the Grand Opening of Bywater's new hospital.  Good evening, Sam...

Hey, John, oatmeal in the concrete, holey buckets, what observant citizen noticed that?  Maybe they were tipped off by the picture of the Quaker on some of the leftover bags lying around?  I mean, it does lower cholesterol, but only when consumed, not through osmosis, people!   

Seriously , the new hospital is quite impressive and reassuring.  It is hard to find nice smaller hospitals.  CP did a Greek Revival one, and Mattb325 had a nice Red Cross House.  Aside from the oatmeal issue, tho, I didn't think the last one was awful, it just had a rather bright texture.  As someone who lives in a house that my landlord bafflingly chose to paint "port-a-potty green", I can vouch for what David said.  Often, when gazing at RL buildings, you mentally ask, "What were they thinking?"

Your neighborhoods in the mosaic are very homey and induce more thoughts of spring with the seasonal trees now in place.  And I'll be doggoned if you don't have them popping up in some of the street tree slots again.  How the heck do you manage that?  I have a rural mod by uroncha that uses CP's seasonals, but only next to farms.

Mixing and matching the generic lots to create natural looking features such as the path between the two stores is such fun.  So is tweaking in the LE, but so time consuming!

Glad you had a nice Valentines Day.  The simple ones are the best kind, I'm sure Nancy would agree.  It was movie night here as well, The Dark Knight, with a gal pal, chicken cacciatore, chianti, Godiva liqueur sauce over strawberry ice cream, and of course, popcorn.  My son did remember the fact of my existence the next day, so I made it up his stairs again, much easier this time with two feet. 

I agree, Yes reached quite a high mark.  So did Led Zep.  What a poet was Robert Plant.   Gilmour now is not such a bad looking fellow, quite pleasant, so don't fret.  Ernie, however, has reached his eighties, so at least you don't resemble him, or if so, a much younger Ernie.

Yes, please do persevere.  Sooner or later someone is bound to notice this.

Bye for now.

--Liv

[Nardo69 51]

Hi John! Long time no see - live hasn't been too kind to me and my pc, well, I am glad if its wokring with a strong hickup ... But it's nice to see that you are still up and active here. And you haven't change much since them - some of the great ones seem never to change - fortunately! Take care my friend! Bernhard (No Smilies - ST seems not to like my Opera ...)

[futurama2506sim 7]

Wow, first of all, let me say, this entire cj is incredibly impressive! I finally went through this and congrats for keeping it alive for so long.

[danielcote 9]

Hey I was looking in some of you're earlier pages and I found some passports. Its a cool idea I cant wait until I recive mine. Also can you build me a house in a sindicate fillec with nature because I'd love a vacation home here.

[sobol 1]

I wonder what the new update will bring...

Hmmmmmm......

LIV: Led Z. has a few other LoTR inspired songs..

[Darmok 34]

Posting this while listening to some Stevie Ray Vaughan...

Riviera Paradise...

He was (still is in fact thank god for his recordings..) one of the greatest guitarist ever...

Ahhh... on with the update...

P.S. Sorry I skipped one week... too much work.. and yes too much music too! (if there is such a thing as too much music...)

---

David (dedgren)

Hehehehe...

What about....

QUOTE

Dr. Frankenstein: You must be Igor. (He pronounces eee-gor)

Igor: No, it's pronounced "eye-gor."

Dr. Frankenstein: But they told me it was "eee-gor."

Igor: Well, they were wrong then, weren't they?

END OF QUOTE...

hehehe.... makes me laugh everytime, a classic.

After writing about the werewolf the first time I thought about dropping a line about Mel Brooks masterpiece, but thought that the younger crowd would not know what I was talking about. I have it on DVD and watch it every year.

Frau Blucher! (hearing horses neighing....)

-John

art128

Thanks Arthur

-John

threestooges

Seen your MD, really impressive, but then again I'm really not surprised. You have many talents Matt.

Even with great LOTS and BATS sometimes we just have to make them more, how can I say... more "compatible" with a given setup.

hehehe... Even if it's a full moon, I'll try to refrain from biting my readers!

like David would say... arr arrr arooooooooo!

Take care Matt,

-John

sobol

Hey Nathan,

Well the Sobol clinic was photoshopped, trying to modify the building would have implied BATTING, and I don't have a good average at this (pun intended)...

The GUlf station is another story, this one I've modified the lotting, which is simpler. Fewer rules to follow and to me, more fun... like playing with LEGO blocks.

I'm working with a MacPro

and it works like a charm! And I run all the Adobe Creative Suite, often 4 applications (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat) at a time and still it runs smooth! Believe me, drop the cheddar and go for it, if not we almost never upgrade to our heart content... and in the end we're not as productive anyways...

Yeah, some pictures would be great! It's always a good source of inspiration!

See you soon!

-John

P.S. In response to your second post... here's the update!

danielcote

Hi Daniel,

Thanks, as for the Gulf Station, it's made by Bobbo669 but I can't find it anywhere!!! I've looked on the STEX on the LEX... no chance! Perhaps someone could tell us where it is by now...

See you

Benedict

Hey Ben

The stamp and post mark.... yeah I was trying to create a wavy effect, and noticed that it looked like part of a post mark... so I just doodled that... glad to see it's appreciated. I thought it would add a nice touch.

-John

Livin in Sim

Livvy,

Led Zeppelin are almost like a Dungeon and Dragon die.... multi facetted! They can go from heavy/hard rock to blues to blues/rock to almost esoteric music ergo Battle of Evermore or Kashmir which is another great one! Ahhh..... Speaking of music, last weekend, using a gift certificate (aren't those things great, they often are an excuse to spend more money than we would have otherwise, on our weaknesses...) anyhow, I decided to finally buy that overdrive pedal I was thinking about for a year or so... A Boss FBM-1 (meaning Fender Bassman 59) that pedal emulate the sound of a vintage Fender 59 Bass man amplifier, just plugged it in my 15 watts class A Tube amp and let go some riffs.... ahhhhh... tone heaven! Ain't music great! hummm. but I digress...

Hehehe never thought about the bags of Quaker lying around the construction site.... would have been quite a weird detail!

I saw the Greek Revival hospital, in fact I've downloaded it, it's even slope friendly! But in this setup I wanted a more conventional look, and was looking for the exact same footprint...

Seasonal trees on streets? It"s probably due to this mod:

Porkissimo Seasonal Street Flora Mod by Shadow_Assassin

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=15064

I have so many things in that pigsty that I call the plugin folder that I can hardly manage to... well... manage it!

I agree on the time consuming topic... and that's why my gameplay as slowed this last year... that and music of course...

Oh you ditched the crotches! good for you, walking unhindered is such a joy ain't it?

Musicians tend to be like good wine, the older the better.... I hope I'll follow that pattern instead of turning to vinegar! ;-)

-John

Nardo69

Bernhard!

Now what a great surprise!

Hehehe... yeah, well... old monkeys tend to do their same tricks again and again... well sometimes with a twist..

Really hope that life if not too bad for you.

Take care my friend.

-John

futurama2506sim

Thanks futurama

Reading through all those pages is no small feat!

More so since a lot of pages have missing pictures and comments.

Anyhow, hats off to you for the effort!

-John

danielcote

Hi Daniel,

Well, sorry to say that the passport was done in the earlier time of AVR.

But, let me work something out.... we'll see.

About the house, I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the term "sindicate"... I've looked for it in the dictionnary and found nothing.

-John

---

---

That's it for this week, hope to be able to post another one next friday..

Have a great week everyone!

-John

---

EDITED

Working on the links for the mosaics....  DONE

Heres the first one CLICK HERE

Here's the second one  Click Here too

Here's the third  Click (yet) again

[dedgren 830]

...Blucher!

David

[Ace_F15 16]

Awesome work dude! Love the layout.

[Nikferni 0]

Very good work, but i have a question how  you get those trees?

[art128 4,622]

Wow John, this is just fantastic my friend.

That area looks really wonderful !

[threestooges 0]

Younger crowd wouldn't get it? Does that mean I'm getting old? Seems you're still putting on the Ritz with this update. Missing a week isn't the end of the world, especially when we get to see the development AVR and Bywater have become known for. The path system you have running through the area. Do you plan out where it will go in advance, or is it more of a random "fit it in where it will go" approach? Great use of Spa's work around the Five Fisherman's area and the parking lots really finish it off  nicely. Glad to hear you've been enjoying Greenacre too. Means a lot coming from someone like you. Let's just say I've had some good inspiration. Until next time, take it easy.

-Matt

[sobol 1]

Hmm... good update... though some of the residential buildings don't fit the region.. not yet at least. The businesses as well. The buildings are too commercially dense.. my 0.02 cents.

On the MAC: Yea.. I know what you mean. I loath to spend large sums of money when the return isn't there right away. I am conflicted. I am keeping my eyes open for some good deals, but so far I haven't found anything interesting just yet.

[danielcote 9]

sorry by syndicate I meant sector typo. I like this update. Keep growing!

[danielcote 9]

sorry by sindicate I ment sector ,typo. Any way I love this update! always grow, grow always.

[deathtopumpkins 43]

Wow, very nice residential! I like how that area is planned, and great selection of residential BATs... And I'm always a sucker for those mosiacs and overviews...

[Livin in Sim 83]

Originally posted by: dedgren ...Blucher!

quote>

(Horses whinney.)

Sorry...couldn't let that pass.  Back in a bit with some tunes.

Well, beat the drum and hold the phone - the sun came out today!

We're born again, there's new grass on the field.

A-roundin third, and headed for home, its a brown-eyed handsome man;

Anyone can understand the way I feel.

Oh, put me in, coach - I'm ready to play today;

Put me in, coach - I'm ready to play today;

Look at me, I can be centerfield.

Well, I spent some time in the Mudville Nine, watchin it from the bench;

You know I took some lumps when the mighty Casey struck out.

So say hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio;

Dont say it aint so, you know the time is now.

Yeah! I got it, I got it!

Got a beat-up glove, a homemade bat, and brand-new pair of shoes;

You know I think its time to give this game a ride.

Just to hit the ball and touch em all - a moment in the sun;

(Pop) its gone and you can tell that one goodbye!

That's John Fogerty, with the Anôrien Diggers theme song.  Welcome to the Saturday afternoon pregame show here on KLIV.  We're getting ready for the big game with the Bywater Canardos, a much anticipated showdown.  Play by play announcer Meriadoc Brandybuck has just joined me in the studio via live feed from the park.  We'll be right back with a word with the Canardo's manager, Bernhard Sokal, don't touch that dial...

John, what a nice update, so full of content, and nice high res links.    BTW, who won the game?  IIRC, didn't you design that ballfield in LE?  I love the Canardo Logo.  Are those (not the first ones) rowhouses the Don Miguel Multi Family Homes?  I just downloaded them in my quest for more better looking R$.  Nice how you got that block to mirror across the alley.  I see you found the Amercan Four Squares.  The commercial has blended in nicely after a few upgrades, and I think the density's about right for the growth.  Shadow Assasin's bike paths always set off the area so well.  I do have his Porky trees modd, but I have checked only to use it on roads, as I also use Andreas' street modd.  The SA Porky modd doesn't have parked cars, tho, and it looks like you do.  Plus the seasonal trees that are popping up are Peg's.    Who knows how the game will take what and put  where?  The zoomed out pic shows a good flow of the layout.

Congrats on the new musical acquisition--I now understand what you were doing last week!    I can almost hear how that overdrive pedal sounds.  Yes, the crutches are now gathering dust in a corner, and I don't miss them a bit.  Walking seems like flying.    The foot is still sore, but that area requires much patience in healing, as you probably remember. 

Til next week, then, bye for now.

--Liv

[jimbo_jj 1]

It really bugs me when I get a bunch of low and high wealth apartments developing right on top of each other in my cities, too. It's just not realistic. Looks like it's panning out for you, though. Great choice of BAT's by the way. Those trails are a nice addition, too. They really make the area look more enjoyable for the sims.

[antsel 841]

Your region looks absolutely amazing. I am really impressed in your city planning and how much patience you must have to wait until things develop just the way you want to. I love the little area you have with the pond and the ballpark. The overview of the town looks really good too!

[beebs 129]

Your intricate planning never ceases to amaze me... stunning work! Can't wait for the next update!

[Shingure 56]

Wow , Your region is beautiful , Also the trees and terrain match together nicely. One question though. Where do you get those parking lots, The smaller ones?

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Punch me, for not having commented on your spectacular CJ sooner! That town is absolutely fantastic. I don't know how many plugins you have but clearly there are a lot of them!

If you're worried about some buildings superseding others, you could always make them historical, though it does take a whole lot of effort and time.

[ky72x 13]

Hi John,

Everything is looking fantastic, like always. I still cannot get over how good all the custom lots look together. All of the main blocks look very complete, but my favorite one was definitely the one with the softball field and park. The commercial development and Peter's Pipe industry all blended together quite well.  And of course, the three mosaics were a nice treat.  Even though I've missed a lot lately, I'm glad I was able to see this update. Looking back at recent pages, I totally agree with you about the transit-enabled streets for the large shopping center lots, even though it can get pretty congested sometimes.

Continuing the car talk, the FJ Cruiser is pretty cool looking with some styling cues from the old 60's Land Crusiers. The only problem that I've heard about them is rear visibility (the pillars hinder the view a bit). Still, I'm much more partial to cars like the Lexus IS F in my avatar, and of course, the Ford Mustang.

See you later!

- Kyle

[Haljackey 17,385]

Looking awesome as always! Nice update John! I love the mosaics too!

[danielcote 9]

hey its growing at a pretty sastainable pace.

[jacqulina 162]

hiya john my friend,how are you.

i see more amazing work,i love the way you plan things,they allways look perfect.allways great locations for everything.beautifull work and pics,take care.