Three Rivers Region

[PhilsCafe 8]

Amazing pictures there David. The landscape looks fantastic, great combination of actual and ploppable water. The little rail and road bridges are a very nice touch and perfectly blend in with the rural setting. Btw, I love the farms, great layout. They look very realistic with the trees along the creek. The details once again are astounding (e.g. the bits and pieces on the river banks).

Have a great weekend.

- Phil

EDIT: Welcome to page 9! of dedgren's Three Rivers Region

[Fabiocb 1]

   

wow man, how could I lost all those awesome updates, I love to see how you planned you transit network and it looks outstanding with all those rivers/streams and forested  roads among the mountains, truly amazing and the rural area look awesome.

congratulations for the great work man.

[rw0381c 2]

I can't believe my eyes!!!! Those pics of the stream ... #s 3 and 4 ... WOW!!!! Looks so real! I would love to be able to do something like that ... someday, someday soon ...

[ElBarto92 7]

Haven't visited in a while, dedgren, and I'm sad to say it's some of your best work I've missed out on! Beautiful plop-to-ingame water transition, and you've created some beautiful little nature scenes. And great work on the farms, too. Keep up the good work

[ThePeoplesPerson 3]

Wow. Those streams and rivers look absolutely amazing.

[dedgren 830]

In the long-delayed third part of this tutorial (Part 2 is toward the bottom of page...uhhh, let's see...5), we once again start back in Cold Lake Township on the south shore of Cold Lake, where several weeks ago we did the terraforming to create Little Cold Lake Creek Canyon.  During the hiatus I took while the server was down, I went on to complete this area, which I'll show you over the next few pics.  Don't worry, though.  The remainder of the tutorial, addressing the creation of a valley, surface water stream, land "game" bridges, and the superdetailing that makes the whole thing a great addition to your region, is coming up.

Without further delay then, let's go back to Cold River Township...

[ n.b.:  This part of the tutorial has just over 100 (yes, 100) pics.  Thanks for your patience. ]

You can see the complete lower one-third or so of Cold Lake Creek in the "Loading" view.  Here's the completed canyon area, complete with freeway, rail and road "game" bridges.

Note how the surface water stream drops from just below the level of the surrounding grade at the bootom of the pic deep into the canyon.  Continuing up the creek, we reach the end of the point where it has been detailed, reaching the raw terraforming through which it will ultimately travel.

I placed my first ever "game" covered bridge here.  I grew up in the midwest U.S. in the 60s, and even then covered bridges were very, very rare.  I used to travel through Parke County, Indiana, on the way to my grandparent's farm from the Chicago area.  Parke County, as I recollect, had more covered bridges remaining that any other place in the country.

From another angle...

Basic terraforming of the stream S-bend...

...and further upstream...

...to the end of the stream at Little Cold Lake.  The freeway and road bridges are complete here, but no detailing has been done yet 

Again, a view from a different angle.

And another.  We'll return to this specific area after we complete the step-by-step tutorial coming up.

I'm experimenting with posting "on-the-fly," as it were.  I've created a private "dev" topic to create and edit the basic posts in, but will come back and extend this one (at least as an experiment) instead of creating multiple "Part X" posts.  We'll see...

EDIT:

   (5/27/06)  Ohmigod, I'm a Resident on post 227.  Now I'll have to (grumble, grumble) edit my sig.  But, hey, thanks, ST Powers-That-Be!

   (9/7/06)  Moved pics to ImageShack

[Darmok 34]

David you could have this retitled (sic) The Bridges of Madison County, or, in your case, The Bridges of Parke County... shall we call Clint?

Your updates, for me, are like a box of chocolates... we never know what we're gona get! (another movie...) seriously, I really appreciated the various angles and details, **scribbling notes and doodling on an old napkin...**

but of course I would never stoop so low as to **cough, cough** copy any of those ideas!

Can't wait to see more of this....

Regards, and salutations to you and your wife.

-John

[tchaos713 5]

I am continually amazed by your attention to detail. That...and your excellent sense of humor!!!

Hopefully, sometime this summer, I will finally be able to put out my own CJ...and I'm learning a lot about how to do it from you!

As for the covered bridges, my first experience was in Vermont (more accurately, crossing from New Hampshire into Vermont). Truly a wonder to behold, but I'm not sure how I like the look of the in-game covered bridges. Comments?

Daniel

[dedgren 830]

Well, that didn't work...

What didn't work?

That.  Like I said, that didn't work.

Oh.quote>

You don't want to know..

On to the tutorial part of the update...

We'll go north to an otherwise undeveloped township I've designated "C" to create our valley.  Fewer distractions there, and the noise won't bother any neighbors.

Because there aren't any neighbors.

With that out of the way...

...here we go.

...Darn- I never get any rhinoceros (rhinoceroses?  rhinoceri?) in my cities....

"C" is the east end of the Northern Range surrounded by flat land.  For the moment, anyway....

[ OT for a moment.

Anyone ever read Cities in Flight?  It's one of my favorite SF works...every aspiring city planner needs a copy, if for no other reason than to encourage thinking outside the box.

When I see a pic like the one above, I can just hear the old spindizzy humming away.

Back to the update, already in progress. ]

We'll create our valley and surface water stream along the green line, and the bridge as indicated.

...that's some wicked good Photoshopping, eh?  What's that...speak up, speak up...

Anyway, we'll start by using the God Mode Cheat.  Collapse all the menus and position the cursor arrow over the "sun" icon, as shown below.

Now, concentrate really hard, click your heels together three times, and say, "there no place like...".

Oops, Toto, I know we're not in Kansas anymore.  Focus!

Press the [ Shift ], [ Ctrl ] and [ Alt ] keys, all at the same time, and then click the left mouse button.

...go on, you know you can do it...

...and we're in.

If you've never cheated before...well, let's just say you won't be able to say that any more.

Ahhh, God Mode.  Nirvana for terraformers.  Where all is possible.

...eh, it's break time?  Oh, well back in a bit...

EDIT:  (9/7/06)  Moved pics to ImageShack

[jacqulina 162]

excellent work very nice terraforming i do like your river/stream very pretty and great pics

[sloppet 3]

MAn, now that's really awesome! Great jobo!

[dedgren 830]

We're back from break and ready to go.

We had just entered the God Mode Cheat...

...and will go from there.  Left-click on the Terraform (tree) icon.

And select the Gouge Valleys submenu by clicking on its icon.

From the submenu, select the Shallow Valley tool by click on its icon.

Oooh, that's a bit large.  We're not planning on doing the Grand Canyon here.

Reduce the size of the tool by using the [ Shift ] [ # ] key combination, where lower numbers (1, 2) will make the tool size very small and larger ones (8, 9) only reduce the size a little bit.  We'll press [ Shift ] [ 4 ] ...

...to get a nice size proportional to the area we're working on.  We'll start dragging the tool to create the valley...

...using a light touch.

Disclaimer:  Example only.  Closed Region.  Professional (heh!) Terraformer.  Your Results May Differ.quote>

...easy, easy there...

And it looks like...

...trumpet fanfare, please...

like...like...

Like something the cat dragged in.  This isn't terraforming- it's hideous.  There must be more.

And, of course, there is.

...after another short break...back soon.

EDIT:  (9/7/06)  Moved pics to ImageShack

[cinnebar 0]

I gotta clean my monitor again because I'm drooling over your eye candy.  Exquisite.  I feel the best part of your CJ, Dave, is the way you chat and keep things simple with a touch of humor.  Bravo.

I wish I could find that rain mod, but the closest I found was the one by jeronij that he developed with Dusktrooper.  It looks like this one may be close though.

If I may ask, did you get your region off the STEX?  Or was it one you terraformed yourself?  If the latter, and it isn't uploaded, would you mind uploading it?  I'm scrolling through gobs of maps on the stex right now but many look dull.  

Or might you have any suggestions?

Don

P.S.  Shame on me for not rating your CJ.  Now it's my turn to slap my forehead.

[RadioheadFan 1]

Well, I figure I owe you one because you replied in my CJ, Dave...you're doing fantastic work here. The city shots and all are great, but what I really love about this CJ is the way you present the updates in terms of writing. You're very articulate and polite; this is evident in all your posts here as well as others around the forums. This applies to your replies and updates here: you come off sounding very intelligent and comical (I hope this is what you were going for ) The way you write everything is what makes this CJ especially unique, besides the awesome tutorials and excellent use of ploppable water.

Anyways, I'm rambling, so I won't waste anymore of your time by putting up words that probably make little to no sense. Keep on doing what you're doing; you've given me quite a few chuckles and it seems that you're one of the few people who takes ST and SC4 for what they are: fun.

Jamie

[cinnebar 0]

Hope you don't mind, David, that I'm taking a detour from your CJ in this post.  I'll start with my own message from a previous page....

I have many of the plugins you mentioned, downloaded many of the others you recommended but came up short on a good number.  I scoured and looked but couldn't find them.  (For example, I couldn't find the industry quadruper, toll booth boost and maxis functional landmarks by Toroca and the bridge height mod by Joerg.)quote>

Another slap my head moment....

I noticed the TOP 10 MODDS on the home ST page then clicked on the industry quadruper.  I downloaded that file then noticed the top 100 list.  Most of those that Dave mentioned on page 1 or 2 can be found there.  However, some of these aren't on the stex.  Chalk one up to experience.

Additional Comment:  I also noticed many recommended ST essentials, modds, and other file categories listed on the left side AFTER I click the any file in the top 10 modds list.  I think this list is not available on the STEX page.

The only file I didn't find anywhere is the extra terrain tools by teirusu.  Has anyone else found it?

Don

[Darmok 34]

Hi David, you're on a posting frenzy!

GOOD!

That mountain is gorgeous!  reminds me of wthose we have in the Charlevoix region. Old looking, massive and kind of eroded.

(continuing to scribble)

Thanks for pointing out that book, Cities in flight, I've followed the link and read the comment. I'll try to find it! looks very interesting. to my shame I must admit total ignorance about this author! And I like SF!

Anyhow. thanks again and see you!

[jacqulina 162]

beautifull mountain you have took your time and come up with excellent results,i look forward to more great work and pics

[Ron Swanson 1]

Hmm, an interesting Journal to say the least. It's a sort-of unique with all the things you cover in your journal. Such as terraforming tips, or bits of random humor here and there. It's entertaining and nice looking as well. Nice job!

Cewl...

[dedgren 830]

Our second break over, we're again ready to go.

We've just complete creating our initial pass with the Shallow Valley tool. and our valley's looking kind of rough.

This tool clearly has its limitations.  So, we'll select another one to see if we can even things out a little bit.  Since the Terraform menu is still up, we'll select the Level Terrain submenu icon, which I've highlighted with a green diamond.

From the submenu, select the Erosion tool by clicking on its icon.

That's even bigger than the default Shallow Valley tool...

...so we'll press [ Shift ] [ 4 ] again to make the coverage area smaller.

Now we'll apply the tool all over our recently created valley. again not being too heavy-handed.

Once the Erosion tool has blended our new valley into the surrounding area, we'll shift gears.  The God Mode Cheat is exited by simply left-mouse clicking the "Mayor Tools" icon, which is the hat and scroll .  We'll enter the Landscape Tools submenu by left-clicking on its icon.

And the select the Gouge Valley tool by clicking on its icon.  In this tutorial, this seems like many steps- don't worry, it'll become second nature once you do it a few times.

We'll apply the tool up and down the length of the floor of the valley...

...paying attention to some smaller details, like adding some "forkiness" up in the headwaters area.

It's always hard here to know when to stop.  I just wait for the feeling that just one more pass with the tool will make it perfect....and then ignore the feeling, and stop right there.

Hey, works for me.  It's always that last time that blows things up- remember, as I've complained about before- SC4 has no [ Undo ] button.

Anyway, this feels about right...

Yeah, that's it.  Much better than where we paused last time.

Coffee break.  Back in a bit.

EDIT:  (9/10/06)  Moved pics to ImageShack

[dedgren 830]

Don (cinnebar) wrote:

The only file I didn't find anywhere is the extra terrain tools by teirusu.  Has anyone else found it?quote>

See the next part of the update...appearing soon on a computer near you!

[Battlecat 14]

Wow!  First, great shot of that stream you're working on.  The detailing is fantastic so far.  Secondly, thanks for all the effort you're putting into this tutorial!  It's very well written, and extremly clear!  Keep up the great work!

[sandrasim1 2]

Hi,

I found this region accidentally yesterday when I made one of my brief visits to ST. I have read it tonight (instead of paying my bills) and I just had to comment it. This CJ is so great. I like your sense of humour and the pics of the region so far are beautiful. Even though I already know how to make some of the terraforming you have shown here it has still been inspiring and the images have given me several new ideas to play with. I look forward to seeing more of this CJ. 

Having said that I also must say that I hate you.  Now I have to start all over with the terraforming and landscaping of my new region that I was ready for gameplay. After seeing your work I just have to try out all the new ideas I have.

Anyway, take care and keep up the good work.

[Rayden 7]

Originally posted by: sandrasim1

...

Having said that I also must say that I hate you.  Now I have to start all over with the terraforming and landscaping of my new region that I was ready for gameplay. After seeing your work I just have to try out all the new ideas I have.

...

quote>

 

Hehe, same feeling here, when I read carefully this and other CJs as great as this one.

I'm patiently waiting for the land bridge tutorial part

[JoeEdwardz 0]

Inspiring tutorials, thanks very much

[dedgren 830]

OK, had coffee and a little brekkie.  Did a few other to-dos and now I'm back.

I'll note here again- if you've written me a message, and particularly if you've asked a question, I've been working on responses offline on my laptop over the past week or so.  I'm responding to mail as far back as [ hides face once again in shame ] March 23rd.  Don't give up!

Our most recent work on the valley left it looking pretty good.

Now we'll make it look even better.

Select the Roads tool, or better yet, press the [ R ] key.

Look at the valley carefully, trying to identify the lowest places along its floor....

...and start laying short stretches of road on them.  Things'll begin to look like this...

...and ultimately this.

Now, we'll select the Demolish tool (and I've been calling it the Bulldoze tool all along- shows you what I know) by clicking on the bulldozer icon or by pressing the [ B ] key, then click-and-drag the tool over an area that covers all the roads just put down.



Release the mouse button and...

...BLAMMO!

...sorry, couldn't resist...I'm such a maroon...

Our valley now looks like this.  Only a subtle change from before, but the "road" step makes a world of difference when the surface water is laid down.

The next step is to grade the (real) road out to where we want the bridge abutments.

I'll note here that many of my roads drop down just a bit into the valley, especially when crossing over larger rivers.  Here, to keep things simple, we'll make the bridge deck level with the grade of the surrounding plain.

Place the roads tool next to an end of the existing road...

...and lay a line of single, unconnected road tiles out to where the abutment will be.  We'll do this as well on the other side..

Then we'll drop down several meters (I usually just eyeball about 10-15 game meters) and lay another line of road tiles between where the abutments will be.

Then, as before...

fingers in your ears?

...blow the whole thing...



...

...hmmm...must be those new silent explosives...

Now, before we do anything else, we're going to press [ Ctrl ] [ S ] and...



...save the game (I know you've been doing this all along- don't get me started).

I just heard the break whistle (actually I think I just saw one of my kids start to wash the car with sand from his sandbox) so we'll stop in just a minute.  One last thing we'll do now, though, is once again select the Roads tool and lay a road tile on the floor of the valley next to the embankment we just created.



Make a cut through the embankment by laying unconnected road tiles.  I've placed a short strip of road at the end of the cut to blend the valley floor level with that beyond the bridge area.

OK, you know the drill...Demolish tool...fire in the hole!



When the smoke clears, we'll just drag our road across the valley...right?



Not!

And we'll pick this back up after the break, during which I'll discover that my son wasn't washing my car with the sand...

...he was playing "fill-er-up," with sand the closest gasoline-like substance he can lay his hands on.

Later.

EDIT:  (9/10/06)  Moved pics to ImageShack

[Rayden 7]

Damn, no bridge yet

[mattb325 28,880]

Great tutorial; great mix of pics and commentary - thanks for sharing the knowledge - hope your petrol tank survived your son's efforts!

[dedgren 830]

Back again.  The child is in kid jail.

insanity is hereditary...

...you get it from your children.

We actually had pretty good playtime during the earlier breaks.  I thought he was down for a nap.

Anyway, this is the moment I think many of you have been waiting for (right, Silvio [Rayden - New Haven)?).  We'll add a "game" bridge across our valley.

Back to where we left off.  We'd just found...

...that simply dragging a road across just doen't work.  We'll just have to do something about that.

We'll first select the Mayor Mode Gouge Valleys tool once again.

Now, position the tool centered over one of the corners of the grid square that is the lowest point directly under the path of our bridge...

...and press [ Ctrl ] [ 2 ] to make the tool effect circle (the white circle) very small.  Center the circle over the grid square corner...

...and ever so quickly left-click the mouse so that the area affected by the tool lowers just a little.  You might have to do this a few times to get the hang.  It's not an exact task.  It's also best to press [ Ctrl ] [ S ] before you do it the first time.  That way if you accidentally drill to China (or, if you live in China, to wherever you folks drill deep holes to over there), you can exit the city and start right from where you were.

Now, I know everyone's downloaded Teirusu's Rain Mod and has it installed, right?  Show of hands, please.

Oh, so nobody's downloaded the Rain Mod...well, that's funny...I thought everyone was hot to trot doing these "game" land bridges.  You need the Rain Mod for that, you know...

...What?  what?  Speak up...oh, you say there isn't any Rain Mod on the STEX?

You say not under Modds (who started spelling it that way here, anyway?) when you search for "rain" or "Teirusu?'"

Well, that because it's not called the Rain Mod on the STEX.

...Why not?  Who do I look like, Einstein?  It's Dirk's STEX.  If he doesn't want to call the Rain Mod the "Rain Mod (or Modd, as it were)," I guess he has the right.

The name of the Rain Mod is actually "Extra Terrain Tools."  I'm sure there's a good reason.

...Eh, say again?  Now you say there aren't any Extra Terrain Tools that show up when you search Modds section of tthe STEX, either? Just something by Rybolton, and it doesn't include a Rain Mod?

Well, that's because there's no published link to Extra Terrain Tools from the STEX, the Modds section, or from anywhere else on ST that I know of.

...Why?

Oh, let's not start that again.

You can download Teirusu's Extra Terrain Tools Mod, which I will henceforth resume calling the Rain Mod, here:

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealBB/files/ExtraTerrainTools2.zip

Get it and install it before it even becomes harder to find.

UPDATE:  (10-22-06)  You can also get the Rain Mod and some other interesting things from Teirusu's website Teirusu's Niche [ linkie ].  Teirusu is way too humble about these great contributions.

Once you install the  Rain Mod in your plugins folder and restart the game you will see additional choices in the Level Terrain submenu under the God Mode Terraform icon.  Remember, you need to use the God Mode Cheat (press [ Ctrl ] [Alt ] [ Shift ] and left-click on the "Sun" icon while all menus are minimized)



Now, click on the brand new shiny Rain Tool icon that appears on the submenu...

...and...whoa...that's Noah's Ark territory...

We need a small, localized shower, not the deluge.

Ahhh, [ Shift ] [ 4 ] makes it all better.  Position the tool effect circle over the small depression we just created, and...

...let it rain!  If you've been successful at doing all this, you'll see some "game" water (yes, it is in fact game water- looks like it, acts like it- it is game water) appear in the area around the depression..

Now, I'm not going to go off on a discourse about the water created by the Rain Mod.  You should check it out for yourself.  You can make nifty lakes and other features that are level by nature.  There are two very limiting rules, though.

1.  Game water created by the Rain Mod, just like all other game water, will not flow downhill (or uphill, for that matter, but that's just one of Newton's laws at work, I can't remember which one).

2.  Game water created by the Rain Mod, unlike other game water, will disappear when you close your city.  Gone.  Vanished. Vamoosed.  It. Will. Not. Be. There. Next. Time.  Sorry, but that's just the way things are.

But we now have game water under where we plan to put our bridge.

...Does that have anything to do with how we make game bridges over land, you ask, perceptively...

Hoo boy yah it does!  Let's drag a road...



Oh, man, that's cool.

You even, if the bridge is big enough, get the "game" bridge choice menu.



How 'bout this one?



Interesting, but nope...this one?

Ee-yew!  I hate that bridge about 99% of the time, anyway.  Another?



Doesn't toast my biscuits.  How about...



Ohhhh, yeah.  That bridge was made for right there.  A click of the "Accept" button, and you too have joined the teeming millions that will now also be creating "game" land bridges everywhere in your cities, because it's so easy, and the secret is out.

A heartbreaker of a rule, though.  Just like the game bridges that are automatically created over game "water table" water, you can't place any transportation network (street, road, rail, etc.) under the bridge.  That is just so frickin' limiting.  In fact, it stinks, and if I could do one thing and one thing only to change SC4 tomorrow, that would be the capability I'd add.

...then the next day, of course, I'd add diagonal tunnels, and then the next day...

More about this issue, on which I'm pretty passionate, in a later update.

So here's what we have.



Stepping back, a "no grid" view.



Tomorrow or the next day, when I conclude this update, we'll jump into the very shallow waters of surface streams, and find out how to make them something you'd want to have in your city.

That's it for today.  Take care 'til next time.

EDIT:  (9/10/06)  Moved pics to ImageShack

[Ramona Brie 121]

Very nice.

[GaBoR 7]

Good job with this tutorial, I'll check tomorrow for the conclusion who knows maybe you'll se me using it some day, Thanks for sharing