Three Rivers Region

[dedgren 830]

Somethin' you haven't seen in a bit...

A map lab pic.

That's a still partially unretouched (to eliminate the seams, mainly) composite of trimmed city maps.  I just thought it was interesting.

UPDATE:  (10-18-06)  Here is the same map fully retouched (see if you can tell the differences) and ready for my next experiment, which involves wouanagaine's SC4 Terraformer.

And, Nik-nik, here's a [ linkie ] to the map in a larger (1640px by 1640px) size.  It's not that big at 211kb and will open in a new window.  Enjoy.

U{DATE2:  (10-18-06)  More map lab...

Tracing countours is the first thing I have found PSP8 not to be helpful with.

But it has to be done.  It's what I need to do to take 3RR to the next level.

[hamsterTK 93]

woohoo nethack!

Oh, sure- you can turn right around and start a new game.  But, even though it's still Monopoly or Nethack, you start from scratch.  I've been playing the same SC4 "game" now for about 10 months, including the time before I started this CJ.  3RR has actually become part of playing the game.

John (Darmok - Anduin Valley Revisited) has played the same game for over a year and a half.  Fred (mrbisonm - Nexis of Genesis) is north of three years (NoG, the CJ, will be three years old this coming January).  That's, IMHO, phenomenal.

Other CJs, though, show cities coming and going over a matter of weeks or a few months.  What's the common denominator in being able to build and stick with a region for substantial amounts of time?  In my view, it's building to some standard towards some sort of goal.  A grounding in RL scale and experience provides that sort of framework for me.

MPM, thanks so much for your first post on 3RR.  Come back any time!quote>

For me, meh I can't see myself playing the same region for such a long time. I like to move on. Thats why I made the story for my cj the way it is. I can constantly jump around to many different places in the fictional world I've come up with

neat an earthquake. I mean ooh noo. I was in on once visiting california when I was 5. It was cool i thought .it wasnt the kind that destroyed things so yeah no big deal. I was such a bizarre child.... Of course that was like the full california experience. Another thing that happened on that trip was ourfamily was walking back to our hotel at night from the bus we took to disneyland and I was on my dads shoulders. Some tough looking japanese guys in suits were standing around a open trunk of a car. I said "daddy what's those men doin?" and at that moment my dad speed walked across the street onto the other sidewalk around the corner...

[meldolion 1]

Originally posted by: Rayden

It's the Mercali scale, a lot less than if it was on the Richter scale. Find some info here.

I have a lot of those here in the area where I live. The junction of the Eurasian tectonic plate and the African plate run through this area. Major tectonic plates around the world.quote>

 

Nono!! In milano we got a 4.6 Richter Scale earthquake on 2003, April 11th; so it was pretty close to this one in Alaska.... Look here [Link]

[tchaos713 5]

Hey, an earthquake's an earthquake... I remember we had one here in Kentucky a couple summers ago. It was far away enough that it just sounded like a large truck passing out in front of my apartment in Louisville. Only later did I learn that it was a 4.0ish earthquake down south.

[Nik-nik 3]

Come to think of it (and looking at your latest update) that map is indeed neat. A bit too small but neat none the less. (now where is your referrence to it.....blader blader (=dutch translated into English it would spell ruffle through? (never heard of that)) Well I could't find it but I noticed on page 2 that you have 3 times the Zebra crossing Mod:

uroncha

   Avenue Zebra Crossing Mod 12/13/05 (extends "zebra" crossing mod to avenues)

and

morifari

   Zebra Crossing Mod 3/2/05 (well, what do you think it does?)

and

buster

   Subtle Zebra Crossing Mod 7/26/05 (adds more subtle "zebra" crossing stripes to road intersections)

No interference here?

Anyway. Is your map available for others?

I noticed a lot of city pictures on the early pages, wow maybe that's what some critics mean....... (No linkie here but I guess that's what some think a CJ is about. I do not agree. I like this place called 3RR and I learn a lot of it.).

Good luck with your cold (yes, I guess winter has arrived up North, talk about global warming, let's send some of that to David). 

Nik-Nik

[Livin in Sim 83]

Hi, 3RR Dwellers,

I'm back from a trip to see my brother, and I took a vacation from my laptop as well.  Many happy returns on the 1000th and 15,000th milestones, David!  Sorry about the earthquake, and that you got the flu.

I wanted to let you know that I DL-ed Firefox, and I can now see your map pics with it.  Haven't looked in IE to see if they're missing there, but now and then there were a few other journal and "Show Us Your..." pics I couldn't see as well, so maybe that will help.  As for the maps, they look great, and will have to study them later.  It will be great to think about the RL proportions of SC.

Thanks for uploading the rocks, they're "simsational".  Grammar Police, I'm waiting for my day in court.  Is the nice bridge in the picture the one with the linkie in Jeronij's sig?  (Went to the linkie, but it was just the zip.)  If so, I have it, but don't know if I see it in my toolbar.  Oh, maybe I haven't needed a bridge since I DL-ed it.  Will have to do a land one now that there are more rocks and flora.

I'm off to work, ugh.

--Liv

PS--Gaston, thanks for the nice comment!

[dedgren 830]

I think that this may be the single most beautiful SC4 artifact I've ever created.

We are talking here about a computer out at the bleeding edge of its memory and processor speed.

[threestooges 0]

I think that this may be the single most beautiful SC4 artifact I've ever created.quote>

And inquiring minds are curious to find out how.

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Hm, I'm confused, how is it a SC4 artifact?

You gotta explain, dude

edit: if you got your mitts on SC4Terraformer, you'd be able to take overhead shots, but I don't know how the scale would work.

[PhilsCafe 8]

Wow, you're ideas never cease to amaze me. Contour lines, awesome work David. You definitely caught my attention with this my friend.

Take care.

- Phil

[ElBarto92 7]

Whoa, cool contour lines, David. How the hell didja do that?

[dedgren 830]

Might we be running 3RR through...

...the Terraformer?

And, if so, at what scale?

You'll have to wait until at least tonight to find out.

Today's RL stuff has me like a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.  Thanks for your patience.

David

[bat 6]

great pictures! the maps are looking fantastic!

bat

[DioAngel 1]

Wonderful CJ David, I love it!  You are such a comedian in ST my friend! *thumbs up*

[hamsterTK 93]

Awesome! cool idea to do contour lines

[crazychickensc12 84]

ummm the map with the contour lines.....AMAZING!!! wonderful work on that you do a really great job on your maps and the attention to detail is amazing, keep up the great work..and btw are we gonna see any SC4 development !!

[Tarkus 6,932]

David-

Wow!  This last update is even further proof--you are truly taking SC4 to a new level.  I can't wait to see where you go with it.

I've been thinking some more about the whole scaling thing.  Particularly, I've followed up on your calculations of population densities between SC4 and the real world, and have found some similar things with my own cities compared to their real world models. 

In general, I'm finding that the population density is at least 2 to 3 times what it should be.  My latest project was modelled after several cities with a population density of about 2,500-3,000 people per square mile (basically, the typical density for a smaller city with suburban growth, like Reno, NV).  The actual SC4 city, however, assuming Maxis' scale calculations were correct (which my road width test seemed to confirm), was actually about 6,400 people per square mile (a large-tile city with a population of 40,000).  Take into consideration the fact that the city is 30% water, and the density actually approaches 9,000 people per square mile, which makes it denser than Baltimore, MD and almost as dense as Washington, DC.  Not what I was going for at all.

What is really scary to think about is the actual density of these large-tile cities people here have built with populations of 3 million . . . 3,000,000 people divided by 6.25 square miles equals 480,000 per square mile, which is nearly twice as dense as the densest district of Macau, one of the densest places in the world with a density of about 257,000 per square mile.

I think what needs to ultimately be done to make SC4 accurate on that end is some sort of mod to decrease the number of people housed in each of the residential buildings.  rob_2616's Urban Housing Mod [linkie] is somewhat of a precedent, though in actuality, it sort of ends up working out the same, since it decreases the lot sizes in addition to the population contained in the lot.  It's something I may tackle soon here.

Hope everything is okay after the quake, and that you get feeling better.  Interesting to see the temperatures for Anchorage as well.  Not quite as cold as I thought.  I lived in Eastern Washington state for a couple of years and it was really nasty in the Winter there.  My first January there were quite a few days where the high temperature was 5 degrees Fahrenheit!  Not what I was used to, and seemingly illogical, given that the elevation of the town was only 1,500 feet, and the mountain passes nearby were up in the high 30s! 

-Tarkus

(sorry to put everyone through that long post!)

[tchaos713 5]

Realism... that one word is why we all (well, most of us) play this wonderful game. And you are taking realism to new heights my friend.

Can't wait for the rest of the Terraformer update.

Daniel

[Darmok 34]

Can't wait to see more of the scaling thing with SC4 terraformer, that is something I wanted to try in AVR...

About NetHack, it's been a long time since I've played, thanks for the reminder, I've downloaded the last version and started to play again.... (killed two times already...)

Have a great weekend my friend....

PS Any snow by now???

[dedgren 830]

Work in progress.

#1

#2

Trial today.  Trial the first of next week.  That's the great thing about Fridays in the law biz-

...only two more work days 'til Monday.

Later.

p.s.:  John, it hasn't snowed yet.  Freezes every night, though.  Tarkus and all- great comments- I'll be addressing them (and begging threestooges continued forgiveness) over the weekend).

[MGawlik 0]

I only joined recently and found this thread a few days ago. While I haven't come close to reviewing all this information yet, I wanted you to know this is a great job. I also thought it was time to stop lurking.

Thanks

[jacqulina 162]

hi david,thats a great looking map my friend

are you feeling a little better now

[Nik-nik 3]

Great winter is coming to Alaska that means David has to stay indoors more. And what does he do indoors? Play around with 3RR. mmmmmm I will enjoy this winter. 

sorry for my over enthousiastic words but I have been eavesdropping on you and Darmok.

Looking forward to that map of yours.

Have a great weekend.

Nik-Nik

[DioAngel 1]

Interesting Map David! Keep it coming! :-)

[threestooges 0]

Well I didn't want to say anything, but as you mentioned earlier... promises, promises. But there are certain things which certainly take priority. I can keep myself busy watching the development around here. Take care and good luck.

[GMT 389]

hm, great work on the... ehm... whatever that is.

can't wait to see what it is

[Shadow Assassin 336]

The map looks like someone's been eating at it.

Anyways, from what I can see of the new revised map, it looks brilliant, mate.

[sorchin 18]

I'm looking forward to this David.. Your making headway that's for sure.. Only two more days until Monday?/ Yeah that sounds like us carpet cleaners can use the same line.. Very true...LOL..

[Gaston 0]

Hi David,

     I haven't been on for a few days.   Dang I have been busy.    I went back and read all the posts from the last time I posted on.   I wanted to take a second to say thanks alot for all the answers to all my questions.    I only have a few minutes tonight so I figured I'd just drop in for a few.   If I get a chance I'll update a bit later.

---Gaston

[dedgren 830]

Tonight's pic from the map lab.

First output from SC4TF.

This is the "snapshot" PNG from the "Overview" window.  All the hill areas still have flat tops- I haven't created the higher elevations in the greyscale I'm using as the import.

The Terraformer is one amazing program.  Thanks again, wouanagaine!

UPDATE:  (10-21-06  7:55 a.m. AST  GMT-9)  Here's another pic from the 3RR Map Lab.  I'm in the process of creating the greyscale elevation layers.  I think I wind up with about 14 or 15 of them.  I'm on 11.

On another note, is anyone using Internet Explorer 7 yet?  I've DL'd the installer, but am a bit nervous to be the first in the water.  Let me know.

Have a great weekend!

UPDATE2:  (10-22-06  7:25 a.m. AST  GMT-9)  This is a gift to all those who check back for updated posts.

Buggi, a SC4 Under-the-Hood God, has available on this thread [ linkie ] a DLL that you install in your plugins folder that gives you this-

Check it out!

The greyscale map will be completed this morning.  At that point, its on to the Terraformer.

Later.

UPDATE3:  (10-22-06  7:55 a.m. AST  GMT-9)  ImageShack [ linkie ] now has provided a public access page for users.  All the pics that can be found in 3RR (and some that can't) are viewable by clicking this link:

dedgren's ImageShack Public Page [ linkie ]

It's a great pic hosting service, and they appear to be trying to add value all the time.

Yet even later.

UPDATE4:  (10-22-06  9:25 a.m. AST  GMT-9)  Almost there.  The peaks in the northeast and southwest corner need yet to be placed.  Another hour or so.

I feel like Slartibartfast [ linkie ].

Even later still.