Three Rivers Region

[jacqulina 162]

those were good pics are you coming back with more of your great work

[Yoman3 5]

You never cease to amaze me with what you can do with the streams! I have also driven under and over the skyway in northern NJ about 10 times. That is so sad to see you go. Plese come back if you ever have time! I have gotten alot of insperation from this CJ!

[Rayden 7]

Well David. I know exactly how that feels, like a waste of time, after so much put into it. I'm about doing the same, but for different reasons, but the feeling is mutual, as I feel as well I'm putting to much into CJing for almost nothing in return. What happen to you, already happen to me as well, last night actualy, but my post was a little one.

Anyway, I'll be missing you my friend, when you return, if I'm not around, you can always PM or email back.

See you and have a nice time

Silvio

btw, nice images as usual, and no need for text, as they are self explanatory enough. Good job.

[threestooges 0]

It'll be a shame to see this slow down for a while. This has been a great source of information/inspiration and you have created one of the best additions to the plop water items on the STEX (and I think the rapids are fairly innovative overall too). Life is a matter of priorities though and you should take time if necessary (it would be a shame to have complete burnout set in). This is good enough that it would come back from the last page of the index if it ever made it there. Enjoy life, good luck with the trial, relax, and see you when you return.

[ElBarto92 7]

Believe me, I know how it feels to have a computer problem gobble up a whole lot of effort - be it 5 pages of school work, the last three chapters in a short story, or a whole town in SC4 lost. And no matter how hard you try, doesn't it seem like you can never get it as good as you had it the first time around? Oh well, sometimes that's just how it goes. Hopefully you'll soon find the inspiration to return and continue sharing your SC4 wisdom. Until then..

..Andr

[Darmok 34]

David,

---

First, I'm relieved that you're saying you'll take a couple of weeks break.

The important thing is that you're not giving up on us, that my friend would be a very sad loss. A lot of other CJ'ers will probably tell you, "Been there, done that, bought the proverbial Fedora"... and "they" will be right of course. Summer's always been low tide for CJ's.... (I'll also take a vacation, RL and CJ wise in a couple of weeks.)

Second, (and this comment David I write with all the respect I have for you) (Man! can I be serious when I want...) I know I'll be taxed of speaking with hindsight, but loosing a VERY long post also happened to a lot of us, and me in particular, and since then , because I'm sure that I've merited a long stay in purgatory for some of the words I've said then... since then was I saying, I ALWAYS write them on my favorite application...Notepad...that's one life saver.

Third...... I'll miss you.

Like you say so well  " 'nuf said", you get my drift.

I'm leaving you with a small picture of your home in Anduin Valley... You became the proprietor of the renowned small but how comfortable "Alyeska Inn and Nature Spa", your house is just in front on the other side of the street, waiting for you at the end of a busy day.

Enjoy!

I wish you a great summer my friend, have fun, relax and you have my address if you want to share some thoughts, or just say hello!

Regards.

-John

[GaBoR 7]

I know how you feel, it is a shame when so much work it's lost, also when the burden in RL is getting heavier and heavier, but it's good you take a break after CJing is for fun, always remember that! I'll send you my best toughts, good luck with that trial, and all of us we'll be here waiting for your comeback, thanks for giving us 3RR!!!

[dedgren 830]

What's a break without sending a postcard or two...

This one's from the Ploppable Water Labs.  Is there a PW waterfall soon to be on the STEX?

We'll see.

Cheers.

[tchaos713 5]

That looks absolutely awesome!!!

All hail dedgren, king of ploppable water!!!

[anubis89 107]

why don't you make the waterfall with the freeflwoing stream mod?

anyway, i like your beautyful experiments, they're interesting too

[dedgren 830]

It works!

...oh, yeah- it works!

STEX, anyone?

[KT3 5]

HOLY ROLLING WATER

Get that on the STEX NOW David !

[Fallon144 1]

those small details rock man, keep it up please

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull pics you guys

[TinySim 4]

I second what KT3 said.

Get them on the STEX now

[GMT 389]

Gimme an S!

S

Gimme a T!

T

Gimme an E!

E

Gimme an X!

X

Where we wanna see this?

At the STEX

At the STEX

...

[dedgren 830]

So, I'm taking a break from my break...

A bit ago, before the Edmonton Water plop (again, thanks brtim2), our regions, while not dull and boring, needed something more.

#1

Ploppable water looked like the answer- now we could create natural looking surface water streams...

#3

...and lakes.

#4

But we wanted more.  Surface water streams needed further detail.  So then came...

#5

...rapids!

Over 700 of you have downloaded them here

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=16289

and many of you have left some really great comments.  Thanks so much!

Just a few more pics of rapids- I'm really proud of them.

#6

#7

But rapids, while really adding a new dimension to ploppable water, just did not feel complete, somehow.  Not without...

#8

...waterfalls!  Oh, sure, there are a few on the STEX already.  But they're just static textures with effects at the bottom- the edges are too regular- the brink is too sharp- they are just not realistic.  Even with their limitations, folks like jacqulina have used them to do amazing things in their regions.

I thought, though, that we could have better.  In the continuation of this post, which will be up a little later today, we'll take a look at the ploppable water waterfalls I have just uploaded on to the STEX, and I'll give you a look at how I use them.

Later.

[Rayden 7]

Great work as usual David. Looking forward to see that in the stex. I think I'll give them some use in Valle del Madriu, Els Pirineus, as that is the only part of my region where I built some waterfalls, of course, not as beautifull as that one of yours.

[Yoman3 5]

AMAZING man these are great. I have another question. What mod lets you plop that algey in the water?

[dedgren 830]

n.b.:  This is part Two of this post.  Part One is earlier up the page.

So, once you've downloaded the waterfall lots from off the STEX here

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=16394

and put them in your "My Documents" SC4 "pluins" folder, you can put them to use.

We'll start by terraforming an area for a "narrow" waterfall in the usual manner...

#1

...leaving us, after a little while, with this.

#2

Selecting the "narrow" waterfall lot from the menu...

#3

...we position the plop highlight over the cliff face grid square where the waterfall will go, arrow up...

#4

...and left-click the mouse to plop the lot.

#5

Looks kinda forlorn there all by itself, doesn't it?

So, we'll detail the stream at the bottom...

#6

...and start on the top.  Notice that I've used one of the rapid lots at both end of the fall.

#7

Here we have more detailing completed...

#8

...and here's a final close-up of the falls.

#9

The "stream" waterfall is a little wider than the "narrow" one.  Again, we terraform a place for it to go.

#10

Here, it is used to make a transition straight into "game" water.

#11

As we don't want rapids at the top in this instance, we'll use the Edmonton water tile there.  We select the tile...

#12

...and we wind up with this after blending it in with some detailing.

#13

The Edmonton Water tile can also be used for ploppable water streams that run off the edge of a city, as sometimes brtim2's "plops" leave jaggies that stick out of the sides and look strange.

As for the "river" waterfall lots, they are my least favorite of the three, so expect further refinement.

Here you see them placed in a "Niagara Falls" style twin waterfall on either side of an island on a major river.  Once again, the falls transition "game" water to surface water, which is not yet detailed.

#14

 

Here's the same view after some detailing, but with the falls removed so you can see what the bed looks like.

#15

Finally, here's a close-up pic of the right side of the falls.  I think I can improve the "river" waterfall with further work, but wanted to get them out so all of you could give me some feedback.

#16

Some thoughts.

1.  I think these lots, especially the "river" variation, are probably memory hogs.  I use a pretty fast computer, but I wouldn't recommend using a whole bunch of these close together.  You'll probably fry your CPU or something.

...hey, just kidding...

2.  They disappear below zoom level 3 and do not show up in the "thumb" of the city that is created when the game is saved.  That is a ploppable water problem generally, but it is still a sad thing.

3.  They glow weirdly at night...pretend there's just a really bright moon or something.

Other than that, no worries, mates.

Back to my break...

...already in progress.

Later.

EDIT:  I note the next post will be #500.  Thanks, everyone.  You folks are the best!

[jacqulina 162]

wow now thats an update wonderfull falls excellent tutorial,awesome pics

[MiniMark 7]

Wow! Absoultely stunning! Great work. This is a must download! Thanks for the tutorial of making waterfalls!

[Sim shady 12]

wow this is great! thnxs for taking a break from your break to bring us this

[tchaos713 5]

Just amazing...

*Heads to STEX to download*

[Tommy_Vercetti3 3]

Looks great! Enjoy your break.

[Darmok 34]

David

Everytime you sleep late, or take a break, something wonderful happens! What would a doctor tell you??? Rest but don't sleep??? Naaah! I don't think so, but it's becoming a trend, don't you agree?

Those new lots of yours are not only great looking, but will fit very well in a sector I'm currently working on in Anôrien. I was stuck and didn't know how to do what I wanted to do, and SHAZAM, here you come with the solution to my problem... So anyhow great work, and continue to rest, it gives good results!

Take care my friend!

-John

[dedgren 830]

Post No. 500!



jacky (Jacqulina - Paradise Falls), this will be going up soon in 3RR to commemorate the event.



Thanks as well to everyone else who has recently commented here, on the STEX and in PMs.  I appreciate your patience- I'll continue on break another week or two, but you are all in my thoughts as summer begins to wind down.


David

[jacqulina 162]

thankyou very much david what an honour and what lovely falls too

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Now, this is a good idea. I've been looking for a decent falls transition for a while, and this is well, perfect.

[SoulStealer 12]

great pictures great lots.

I would like to know what water mod r u using, it merges so perfectly with your plop water. and also, how do u do those land bridges? doesn't bridges build only above water?

Thank you so much.