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ST: When did you first get SC4, and what do you remember about your first experiences with the game? Was SC4 your first involvement with SimCity, or did you already have a history with the sim games? Jasoncw: My first involvement with SimCity was the original. I had to have my brother start the game using the command line in DOS. I’d start a new city (usually Jasonville or something similar), plop the airport, and then fill an area with roads, because a cluster of 4-way stops looked like a parking lot. And then I’d have no money and that would be the end of it. For SC2K I was old enough to actually play the game. Before SC3K came out I was so blown away by the graphics that I told my friend the resolution was so high that you could even see inside the windows. That wasn't completely true, but compared to SC2K's graphics it might as well have been. I had a demo of the game where you could build a city, but only for about 20 minutes before it would kick you out, making you start over next time. I played it for hours on end before finally getting the full game. ST: What aspect of SC4 do you enjoy most – what keeps you coming back? Jasoncw: Considering how rarely I actually play the game, the answer would be BATing, but the truth is that if it weren't for the community I wouldn't be BATing, so it’s the community that keeps me coming back. ST: Do you recall the first plugin you installed? Jasoncw: I don’t, but I do have fond memories of certain early plugins. The and by Sabrethooth78, the by Prepo, and by ONeil_1. Pegasus’s was both very useful and very funny. ST: What led you to Simtropolis at first? Can you remember your initial impressions of the site? Jasoncw: Despite being an active SC4 player and a lifelong SimCity fan, my reason for coming to Simtropolis had nothing to do with SimCity! I wanted to learn 3d modeling and found gmax, and needed the BAT gamepack in order to render things. I came to Simtropolis for gmax tutorials. ST: Describe your progression into the world of SC4 custom content. Was it a particular lot or BAT that inspired you to take the first step? Jasoncw: SimMars was close to my original intention of modeling science fiction stuff, so I started making things for SimMars, but it didn't take very long for me to start making normal buildings. ST: Speaking of first steps, what was the very first thing that you modeled using the BAT? Do you still have a screen shot? Jasoncw: I’m pretty well organized and I keep everything, but somewhere along the line I lost a lot of my early stuff. Below are the earliest things I was able to find, I believe from fall and winter of 2004. My first upload was in spring of 2005. The BATs to the left were intended for SimMars. ST: Many of your BATs are released under the mipro (originally BSP) banner. For those who may not know much about mipro, can you elaborate on what you guys are about/how you are organized and what your role in it is? Jasoncw: mipro is dedicated to recreating buildings from the US State of Michigan, including Detroit. During the time that I was getting into BATing I was also getting into Detroit’s architectural history and development news, the BSP thread was very active, and a lot of the early BSP members were the same people I was interacting with on other urbanism/Detroit forums. So a lot of different things converged, and it was inevitable that I got involved. Unfortunately by the time I was producing BATs the original group was pretty much gone, but nofunk came along soon after, and JBSimio did our early custom queries. ST: Your list of uploads is populated by a large number of buildings from the Midwest. Are there any particular reasons for choosing to direct your efforts in this direction? Jasoncw: To be honest I didn't realize that until you pointed it out! Obviously my mipro BATs are from the Midwest, but the rest I think are just a coincidence. A lot of my fictional BATs are loosely based on buildings from outside of the Midwest. ST: What is the thought process behind choosing what to create next? Jasoncw: It’s a combination of how much I like the building (or a style, if I'm going to make a fictional building), how well it fits into the game’s 16x16 meter grid, and how easy it would be to make. ST: I think most custom content creators would consider their work a hobby, but like anything in life, some parts are more fun than others. What do you consider your least favorite part of the BATing process? Your favorite? Jasoncw: I hate lotting, and I avoid projects where I have to do it. When I make a BAT I start off with the facade, which is the fastest, funnest, and most immediately rewarding part of the process. After that there’s a point where the entire building is modeled and the BAT is no longer a cluster of floating facades, and it’s nice to see the building come together as something close to its final form. I also love seeing the transformation from an untextured BAT to a textured BAT. And of course I like plopping the building in the game for the first time. ST: Since this is a sort of hobby (in the sense that custom content creators are not paid for their work), what keeps you motivated to continue releasing new creations for the SC4 community to enjoy? How much do comments in the download section mean to you? Is it exciting to see your models used in the CJs of others? Jasoncw: You’re going to throw me into an existential crisis! Why do I BAT?? I absolutely appreciate the positive support I get. BAT releases are like a party, and comments, ratings, and downloads on the STEX are like confetti. In my thread, comments and upvotes can be encouraging when I’m struggling to be productive. And then there are times, especially during the Trixies, when people go beyond typical commenting and write very kind things. Most people go through their entire adult lives rarely experiencing the good will and appreciation that I experience regularly. People have been very generous to me. ST: You released your first BAT in 2005. Is there any one of your creations that you are particularly proud of? Are there any fun stories or facts relating to some of your works that we don’t know about? Jasoncw: My early BATs. For those, each one I worked very hard on, learned a lot, and I was improving a lot from BAT to BAT. My first uploaded BAT was and I probably spent 6 hours in Photoshop just trying to make a peach color that was similar to ones used in the game. was similar, I spent absurd amounts of time literally matching my BAT’s facade with Maxis’s Fisk Insurance. I’m also proud of Fisk Insurance (and some WIPs that never made it) where I first developed my glass texturing technique. After my early BATs, I’m most proud of the Penobscot Building. I started it in 2006, restarted it several times, and finally pushed through the difficult task of finishing it in 2014. Even counting my early BATs it’s the most hours I've put into a BAT. ST: Has your experience BATing had any influence on your personal or professional life? Are there any skills that you have developed over your BATing career that have helped you beyond the world of SC4? Jasoncw: There were things like LEGO and drawing, but SimCity most specifically lead me down the path to pursuing a career in architecture. But unfortunately I’m very unemployed. If you work in architecture, are located somewhere in the world where I can get by with English at first, and would like to consider hiring me, please contact me (I’m not joking!). I bring the same dedication to quality and personal engagement to architecture as I do to BATing. On a personal level I've become friends in real life with Nofunk and a few others, and I've enjoyed online friendships as well. If you get along well with someone here and live in the same area I recommend meeting up. ST: What advice would you give to a new member of this community who was planning on creating their first BAT? Jasoncw: The most important thing is that you have to feel it in your heart that you are capable of making great BATs. Then you have to understand that at first you’ll be bad, but you need to be patient and keep working and learning until you’re good. You can’t accept ‘bad’ as your final result. And then, more practically, start a BAT thread, follow other people’s BAT threads, and learn how to find existing information (be a resourceful self-learner). And don’t be afraid to ask questions. As long as you've done your due diligence, BATers won’t mind helping you out, and it’s a nice way to build relationships. ST: Simtropolis is organized into ‘player’ and ‘builder’ categories. Regarding the ‘player’ section, do you have any favorite CJers that you enjoy following? What are your favorite SC4 ‘scenes’ (i.e., towering metropolises, urban sprawl, rural landscapes, etc.). Jasoncw: Over the years there have been certain CJers whose work I've enjoyed, but I don’t follow city journals closely enough to be able to list names without the risk of leaving out great CJers that I’m simply oblivious to. I like CJs that contain realistic urban areas, and that do a good job of using my BATs. I've never been able to get into story-based CJs though. You've probably noticed that most BATers don't follow city journals, and that most CJers don't BAT. I respect the few that are able to do both well. I enjoy seeing my BATs used, so if you’re happy with the way you've used one of my buildings, you’re welcome to post it in my BAT thread. ST: On the ‘builders’ side, do you have any favorite BATers that you enjoy following? If you still play SC4, what was your most recent download from the STEX? Jasoncw: When I see Odainsaker's BATs I think I get a glimpse of what it’s like for other people to see my BATs... especially those years-long “almost done” WIPs! Nofunk is an obvious answer to this question. Aaron Graham is very important to my cities. Vlasky does a great job. Don Miguel was very influential early on. My plugins folder is in a perpetual state of disrepair, but I don’t think anyone would be surprised about the types of things I have in there. ST: SimCity 4 has been out for over 12 years now. Are you surprised that this community is still going strong all these years later? What do you think is the secret to its longevity? Do you think there will still be new content being created 12 years from now? Jasoncw: If you’d have told me all those years ago, I would be surprised. But moving forward from year to year there’s never been any indication that the community was about to die. At this point SimCity 4 has gotten so big that even when the day comes that it’s not very active, I think it will still linger on for a very long time. ST: Are there any games you play besides SC4? What other hobbies do you have away from BATing and SimCity? Jasoncw: I mostly play older games, a lot of RPGs on the SNES. The Earthbound/Mother series is one of my favorites. I play StarCraft 2 casually. I play the guitar. I like architecture of course. I used to draw and it’s something I’d like to get back into. Thank you very much for your time and for your great answers!

"Let him remember an ordinary girl, and hear how she sings. Let him preserve the Motherland, same as Katyusha preserves their love" - Katyusha, Lyrics This is a short entry, but to fully experience it I'd like to ask you to play the song in the video while looking at the pictures. The song Katyusha was played often in Leningrad to encourage the army and the population. Can you feel it? 27/9/1941 - The "Bridge of the Kisses" crosses the Moyka River and takes Glinki street to the back side of the Naval Museum. At the front door several trucks are being loaded with legacy guns and rifles. The shortage of weapons in the Red Army is so alarming that even flintlocks and muzzle-loaders are being taken from museum walls. As we scroll down the picture we find another example of a roundabout turned into an anti-aircraft post. Everyone in the neighbourhood has got used to the noise of artillery fire. After two months of war, this sound is now part of their lives. Most volunteers from "The Popular Draft" didn't have proper weapons or ammunition. It was common to see unarmed soldiers waiting for a colleage to fall in the front so he could get his rifle and keep fighting. 28/9/1941 - A 200kg bomb has hit the right wing of Nicholas Palace. This once marvelous and luxurious building faces its second catastrophe after the Bolsheviks destroyed some parts of the original construction and renamed it Palace of Labour. Disclaimer: This CJ includes original photos taken during the siege. To my knowledge none of them is protected by copyright, but if I were wrong I'm happy to delete any picture that infringes the law. ----------------------------------[CREDITS]---------------------------------- This update has been automatically scheduled because I'm traveling. If someone commented the previous entry in the meantime he will see I didn't answer to him in the replies section. I just want to let him now it was not intentional and that I'll come back to you in the next entry

Thank you guys!!!! 243 Mount Eden Parkway (A SimCoug Request) Here's an up date on these row house.

As one of the most prolific, experienced BATers out there, my next interviewee worked hard to bring the Midwest to life in SimCity 4 with the Barry Sanders Project, which has since become mipro. Calling the great (and underrated) American state of Michigan home, Jasoncw has been BATing for longer than I have even been active. His buildings are realistic, detailed, and look just awesome in my cities, and probably yours, too! So, without wasting any more of your time, Jasoncw! ST: When did you first get SC4, and what do you remember about your first experiences with the game? Was SC4 your first involvement with SimCity, or did you already have a history with the sim games? Jasoncw: My first involvement with SimCity was the original. I had to have my brother start the game using the command line in DOS. I’d start a new city (usually Jasonville or something similar), plop the airport, and then fill an area with roads, because a cluster of 4-way stops looked like a parking lot. And then I’d have no money and that would be the end of it. For SC2K I was old enough to actually play the game. Before SC3K came out I was so blown away by the graphics that I told my friend the resolution was so high that you could even see inside the windows. That wasn't completely true, but compared to SC2K's graphics it might as well have been. I had a demo of the game where you could build a city, but only for about 20 minutes before it would kick you out, making you start over next time. I played it for hours on end before finally getting the full game. ST: What aspect of SC4 do you enjoy most – what keeps you coming back? Jasoncw: Considering how rarely I actually play the game, the answer would be BATing, but the truth is that if it weren't for the community I wouldn't be BATing, so it’s the community that keeps me coming back. ST: Do you recall the first plugin you installed? Jasoncw: I don’t, but I do have fond memories of certain early plugins. The Liberty Building, Buffalo City Hall, and Niagara Mohawk Building, by Sabrethooth78, the Chicago Tribune Building by Prepo, and Western Investments by ONeil_1. Pegasus’s Garbage Chute was both very useful and very funny. ST: What led you to Simtropolis at first? Can you remember your initial impressions of the site? Jasoncw: Despite being an active SC4 player and a lifelong SimCity fan, my reason for coming to Simtropolis had nothing to do with SimCity! I wanted to learn 3d modeling and found gmax, and needed the BAT gamepack in order to render things. I came to Simtropolis for gmax tutorials. ST: Describe your progression into the world of SC4 custom content. Was it a particular lot or BAT that inspired you to take the first step? Jasoncw: SimMars was close to my original intention of modeling science fiction stuff, so I started making things for SimMars, but it didn't take very long for me to start making normal buildings. ST: Speaking of first steps, what was the very first thing that you modeled using the BAT? Do you still have a screen shot? Jasoncw: I’m pretty well organized and I keep everything, but somewhere along the line I lost a lot of my early stuff. Below are the earliest things I was able to find, I believe from fall and winter of 2004. My first upload was in spring of 2005. The BATs to the left were intended for SimMars. ST: Many of your BATs are released under the mipro (originally BSP) banner. For those who may not know much about mipro, can you elaborate on what you guys are about/how you are organized and what your role in it is? Jasoncw: mipro is dedicated to recreating buildings from the US State of Michigan, including Detroit. During the time that I was getting into BATing I was also getting into Detroit’s architectural history and development news, the BSP thread was very active, and a lot of the early BSP members were the same people I was interacting with on other urbanism/Detroit forums. So a lot of different things converged, and it was inevitable that I got involved. Unfortunately by the time I was producing BATs the original group was pretty much gone, but nofunk came along soon after, and JBSimio did our early custom queries. ST: Your list of uploads is populated by a large number of buildings from the Midwest. Are there any particular reasons for choosing to direct your efforts in this direction? Jasoncw: To be honest I didn't realize that until you pointed it out! Obviously my mipro BATs are from the Midwest, but the rest I think are just a coincidence. A lot of my fictional BATs are loosely based on buildings from outside of the Midwest. ST: What is the thought process behind choosing what to create next? Jasoncw: It’s a combination of how much I like the building (or a style, if I'm going to make a fictional building), how well it fits into the game’s 16x16 meter grid, and how easy it would be to make. ST: I think most custom content creators would consider their work a hobby, but like anything in life, some parts are more fun than others. What do you consider your least favorite part of the BATing process? Your favorite? Jasoncw: I hate lotting, and I avoid projects where I have to do it. When I make a BAT I start off with the facade, which is the fastest, funnest, and most immediately rewarding part of the process. After that there’s a point where the entire building is modeled and the BAT is no longer a cluster of floating facades, and it’s nice to see the building come together as something close to its final form. I also love seeing the transformation from an untextured BAT to a textured BAT. And of course I like plopping the building in the game for the first time. ST: Since this is a sort of hobby (in the sense that custom content creators are not paid for their work), what keeps you motivated to continue releasing new creations for the SC4 community to enjoy? How much do comments in the download section mean to you? Is it exciting to see your models used in the CJs of others? Jasoncw: You’re going to throw me into an existential crisis! Why do I BAT?? I absolutely appreciate the positive support I get. BAT releases are like a party, and comments, ratings, and downloads on the STEX are like confetti. In my thread, comments and upvotes can be encouraging when I’m struggling to be productive. And then there are times, especially during the Trixies, when people go beyond typical commenting and write very kind things. Most people go through their entire adult lives rarely experiencing the good will and appreciation that I experience regularly. People have been very generous to me. ST: You released your first BAT in 2005. Is there any one of your creations that you are particularly proud of? Are there any fun stories or facts relating to some of your works that we don’t know about? Jasoncw: My early BATs. For those, each one I worked very hard on, learned a lot, and I was improving a lot from BAT to BAT. My first uploaded BAT was Poirer's Pictures, and I probably spent 6 hours in Photoshop just trying to make a peach color that was similar to ones used in the game. Fisk Insurance was similar, I spent absurd amounts of time literally matching my BAT’s facade with Maxis’s Fisk Insurance. I’m also proud of Fisk Insurance (and some WIPs that never made it) where I first developed my glass texturing technique. After my early BATs, I’m most proud of the Penobscot Building. I started it in 2006, restarted it several times, and finally pushed through the difficult task of finishing it in 2014. Even counting my early BATs it’s the most hours I've put into a BAT. ST: Has your experience BATing had any influence on your personal or professional life? Are there any skills that you have developed over your BATing career that have helped you beyond the world of SC4? Jasoncw: There were things like LEGO and drawing, but SimCity most specifically lead me down the path to pursuing a career in architecture. But unfortunately I’m very unemployed. If you work in architecture, are located somewhere in the world where I can get by with English at first, and would like to consider hiring me, please contact me (I’m not joking!). I bring the same dedication to quality and personal engagement to architecture as I do to BATing. On a personal level I've become friends in real life with Nofunk and a few others, and I've enjoyed online friendships as well. If you get along well with someone here and live in the same area I recommend meeting up. ST: What advice would you give to a new member of this community who was planning on creating their first BAT? Jasoncw: The most important thing is that you have to feel it in your heart that you are capable of making great BATs. Then you have to understand that at first you’ll be bad, but you need to be patient and keep working and learning until you’re good. You can’t accept ‘bad’ as your final result. And then, more practically, start a BAT thread, follow other people’s BAT threads, and learn how to find existing information (be a resourceful self-learner). And don’t be afraid to ask questions. As long as you've done your due diligence, BATers won’t mind helping you out, and it’s a nice way to build relationships. ST: Simtropolis is organized into ‘player’ and ‘builder’ categories. Regarding the ‘player’ section, do you have any favorite CJers that you enjoy following? What are your favorite SC4 ‘scenes’ (i.e., towering metropolises, urban sprawl, rural landscapes, etc.). Jasoncw: Over the years there have been certain CJers whose work I've enjoyed, but I don’t follow city journals closely enough to be able to list names without the risk of leaving out great CJers that I’m simply oblivious to. I like CJs that contain realistic urban areas, and that do a good job of using my BATs. I've never been able to get into story-based CJs though. You've probably noticed that most BATers don't follow city journals, and that most CJers don't BAT. I respect the few that are able to do both well. I enjoy seeing my BATs used, so if you’re happy with the way you've used one of my buildings, you’re welcome to post it in my BAT thread. ST: On the ‘builders’ side, do you have any favorite BATers that you enjoy following? If you still play SC4, what was your most recent download from the STEX? Jasoncw: When I see Odainsaker's BATs I think I get a glimpse of what it’s like for other people to see my BATs... especially those years-long “almost done” WIPs! Nofunk is an obvious answer to this question. Aaron Graham is very important to my cities. Vlasky does a great job. Don Miguel was very influential early on. My plugins folder is in a perpetual state of disrepair, but I don’t think anyone would be surprised about the types of things I have in there. ST: SimCity 4 has been out for over 12 years now. Are you surprised that this community is still going strong all these years later? What do you think is the secret to its longevity? Do you think there will still be new content being created 12 years from now? Jasoncw: If you’d have told me all those years ago, I would be surprised. But moving forward from year to year there’s never been any indication that the community was about to die. At this point SimCity 4 has gotten so big that even when the day comes that it’s not very active, I think it will still linger on for a very long time. ST: Are there any games you play besides SC4? What other hobbies do you have away from BATing and SimCity? Jasoncw: I mostly play older games, a lot of RPGs on the SNES. The Earthbound/Mother series is one of my favorites. I play StarCraft 2 casually. I play the guitar. I like architecture of course. I used to draw and it’s something I’d like to get back into. Thank you very much for your time and for your great answers!

Rock, Paper, Shotgun Interview with Colossal Order’s CEO Mariina Hallikainen

Replies: iviaarten: Modular, modular, MODULAR! And planned... Ratonces: That was a mistake, I should have paid a bit more attention to the orientation of the beach chairs. Tonraq: Thank you. 89James89: Thanks. Mymyjp: I want to extend that beach, or promenade, a great deal further when I next return to Tamboria. simsample: It is paradise, but I never pay any attention to Chirper. In fact the first mod I got was to remove that annoying little blue bird. mb1.0.2.: I'm not sure why my rig has so much virtual RAM, but I did buy it five years ago from UK Gaming Computers, so I guess it was, by default, optimized for computer games. Schulmanator: Maybe the Kingdom of Schulmania has settlements in the domain of City Skylines... Entry 22: Preston Park and the Red Viper rollercoaster Parks, greenery and a rollercoaster! I'm counting down the days until this game becomes Rollercoaster Tycoon and one can build custom rollercoasters and create theme parks. /// Preston Park is in the East of Brendon. The Red Viper rollercoaster. The Red Viper is a LIM launched rollercoaster. LIM standing for Linear Induction Motor. There are magnets in both the station and the first slope which propel the coaster train forwards. A storage yard for the Red Viper rollercoaster; for the magnets and train. And now for a slice of European housing architecture. We need more of these buildings in CS. Beware the man-eating cougar! There are plenty in every city but this one is of the feline type. The Spiral Green. The elevated railway line is called Kingston Tracks.

Replies: Ln X: Thanks. I'm trying something else for today's update though. Finally followed your advise, let me know what you think ianclowe4c: That's my main reason for posting and reading CJ's as well. kingofsimcity: aaarggghh... the chirps! Ultimate727: Best way to get demand for industrial is building up your commercial. They demand the goods. I'm not 100% sure, but maybe because the commercials have an easy time ordering stuff from off map with all those cargo harbours and freight terminals, and that is keeping your industrial demand down. Maybe provide a few specialized industrial goods, that might kick it off too. max_13: Haven't really kept up with Reddit the past week. I was just looking for props in the workshop, and this popped up. I've seen some other nice uses of those on Reddit since though. Thanks for the compliments. charlesnew: #fillyourpocketswithtaxmoneys Today's Mods: A couple of nice unique buildings today Markthal (from Rotterdam in the Netherlands) by Bonzodoggie: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=413962398 Emerald Plaza by Remaille: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=411734206 I've also downloaded a couple of growable high density buildings, let's see if you can spot them Update: I've finally caved in. I have to face the facts. Forkton has been growing steady and strong, and has grown up. Land values are continuously on the rise, and building out rather than up is not the automatic choice anymore. So in today's update, we'll finally build UP in Forkton. I'm going to start with some boring housekeeping though (sorry). The modifications to the Portside interchange have allowed the industrial area on the east side to expand a bit. New factories were quick to fill in the newly allotted space. The fresh influx of goods created more demand for shops to sell them. Finexia Portside was expanded as well. Some entertainment in the form of a new skate park was built as well to keep the kids from throwing bricks through the store windows. And just like the circle of life, the new shops required people to work there as well, so we planned a new neighborhood next to it. A lot of the people who support St. Pauli's football club wanted to move in, and they did. Since they're a bit better behaved than the Forkton Frenzy Fans, this neighborhood definitely has a nicer feel to it. All the new developments over here in the northeast caught in a single picture. Now, finally, to the meat and potatoes of the city, it's seen quite some changes. The new Market Hall is the spiritual headquarters to all the commercial buildings in our fine city. It's situated directly next to the Sporkton Central station for easy accessibility. Inside you can find an expo center where the latest gizmo's and marketing tricks are being showed off (OOC: I absolutely LOVE that it's correctly textured and modeled on the inside. This thing is amazing!) Around the central station area, more buildings have been redeveloped. This was also the obvious location for the Public Transport Headquarters for the region. The view from the roof from one of the previously tallest buildings in the area, not anymore.... Over in Uppington, things have changed as well. Both sides of the main park have seen extensive redevelopment. The people seem to enjoy the new view. I get chirps like #finallyinthe20thcentury #allgrownupnow all the time. A multinational company wanted to construct their new HQ in Forkton as well. Of coursed we welcomed the CEO of HexTech with open arms. It's one of the tallest buildings in the city now. The pleasantly low density and high tech neighborhood of North Pantsdam changed a bit as well. Land values here increased massively from the new developments over in Uppington. It too has been growing. Some of the older buildings still remain though. Lots of new buildings as well though. An overview of the redeveloped section of North Pantsdam. And looking towards Uppington and Sporkton from Pantsdam. Different angle from Uppington. Different angle and an overview of Sporkton Yes, this.... I most definitely have to call a Skyline. The view from the old Town hall in Old Forkton by the river. The paper pushers in the Public Transport Headquarters pushed some plans for a metro on my table. I've so far agreed to let them build a line between the area's lacking commuter rail. We have two lines running currently 1) Portside Industrial Park - Finexia Portside - Sporkton Central 2) Pantsdam University - Uppington Opera House - Sporkton Central Here you can see the lines, and the usage it's already seeing. Some of the metro's are already completely filled up. edit: forgot to add the new Overview picture. Can see most of the region from this angle. Hope you've enjoyed this update, where I had to step out of my rural comfort zone

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The open-ended nature of the workshop means it encourages all kinds of content. In a way it's similar to how the old SC4 exchange worked -- there will be some gems, but not all content is of a consistent standard or checked for quality. Although in general, I'd say some of the items created already (especially mods) are quite remarkable considering the game's only 1 month old. There's certainly great potential and this can only continue in a positive direction. Here at Simtropolis or any community fansite, the sheer number of items will never compare with the vast scale of the workshop. However in time, we hope the STEX provides a platform to focus more on quality rather than quantity (although all creative endeavours are still welcomed, ). To find recommended content, as well as search filtering, an assured way is to seek the community's opinions. If it'd be useful, I was thinking about setting up a "content spotlight" type thread, where people can suggest their favourite items and we can build up a list. Would something like this be beneficial at all?

I agree with you both .. and here it is. (Only the current version though, there was an interesting anecdote on wikipedia about the very early lighting: "When the torch was illuminated on the evening of the statue's dedication, it produced only a faint gleam, barely visible from Manhattan. The United States Lighthouse Board took over the Statue of Liberty in 1887 and pledged to install equipment to enhance the torch's effect; in spite of its efforts, the statue remained virtually invisible at night." Much better Ps... Vlasky, thanks, maybe one day. I'm going back to Melbourne BATs for a little bit - I have something on the verge of release in fact. (Good news for anyone who's had enough of Statues... they aren't exactly the most useful versatile BATs to make )

I prefer to keep things as compact as possible. SomeRoads double lane highway is life saver. Made a pentagon transit hub at the West area of the interchange above ^ The hub idea prove to be very efficient, I like it

Vlasky - thanks for your help with the pictures, they were very useful. Hotwheeler -Thanks! Yep, the grungy overlay has been applied to both versions of the model. Cmdp - Thanks but nah, this was my only foray in NYC BATing.. for now anyway Toothless Stitch... Hmmmm... Look, you actually have a lot of valuable things to say. Maybe you just need to work on delivery a bit Well... here's the last update, unless anyone has anything to add.. Its not too late! Please don't make fun of my terraforming skills . Check out that beautiful Maxis water too ...

Welcome to Amesbury! Okay, so, in the prime universe, we might not have a subway but our little 75k city seems like its growing faster again! The unemployment issue is solving, the residential demand has risen up. Politically, the Major, Davies, narrowly won the 5E130 elections - the People's Party of Cathnoquey is losing ground to the Federation Party, but only just. The Major promised more parkland, better pancakes, and the setting up of a major mass transit system. (Also more nuclear vaults). Let's go see how it all went! Traffic jams and donuts! Amesbury is becoming known for two more things : its excellent police record and the quality of its donuts - they sell worldwide now! In 5E130, Amesbury reached 75000 inhabitants. Doesn't it look big now? Can you tell the initial village from twenty years ago on this picture? Hickory Circle was refurbished, allowing for a pretty park within the roundabout. You can see a bus stop at the very bottom! A bus station was built at Central Station to accommodate the bus network. All lines originate from there, so it has to be able to handle heavy traffic at rush hour. A view of Septim Bvld, looking west. You can see the City Hall on the left-hand side. Buses are colored according to their line for easier spotting. Ever been to real-life Nottingham? Shamelessly stolen this from their city bus network! Then again they could put both tram and bus services on ONE map, it's not like it would be confusing >_> This is our initial highway exit into Amesbury. A new street was built parallel to it to divert some traffic, especially to link the more built-up areas on both sides of the motorway. Valenwood and Hammerfell are befell by proxy civil wars and the Migrant Processing Centre in Amesbury is one of five very busy centres for migrants. New suburbs are built to accommodate them, and along with a newfound economic recovery in the nation, a new concept is beginning to emerge in Amesbury and beyond : the Abecean Dream. There are more motorway exits around town now. This is Brownstone Junction, where one can change between the M2 and CR17 roads. A view of the CR17 highway between Brownstone and Wigston. Rural highways (1x1 roads) are a common sight where there's too much traffic not to separate traffic, yet not enough room nor money for bigger highways. This is Exit 70 on the M1. Also, it's a left-hand exit! The exit is not completed, and the northbound lanes are closed for construction, forcing traffic to take a massive detour into Amesbury. The empty area in the corner is just about to be developed. Amityville is right by the junction between the M1 and M2 motorways. This bridge carries Watson Street and is a major link between the inner city to its closer suburbs. To the right, you can drive by one of many low-rise office buildings. This one houses the local offices of Jet Postal, the national mail company, as well as the regional sorting office for Amery County. Meanwhile if you wander in the most built-up parts of Fairview Ley, you might just stumble upon this lovely row of little houses. They're actually social housing, which obviously lower the cost of living in this district. Talking of pretty spots in the city, how about some greenery? Didn't the Major promise that? More parklands was an important priority of the Municipal Council, so many blocks were razed to make way for squares and plaza. This is City Hall Park, which for a long time was the only park in downtown Amesbury. ...Did that Red Line bus just collide with a car at that stop by the University? Let's head north of downtown, to University Park and Maple Greens. This year, the University of New Technologies and Sciences, the major university in town, has attracted no less than 6.000 students! It does help that in Cathnoquey, tuition fees are affordable. Anyway, there's nothing better than an evening walk in Maple Greens to recover from a long day of stress and work. Like a square of wilderness surrounded by the concrete of the city. Sometimes, city planners even manage to combine greenery with efficient intersections. This roundabout on Burnley Av and Nirnroot Av became needed when Burnley Av began carrying more and more traffic from the new suburbs to the Highland Industrial District. Nirnroot Av is the major north-south thoroughfare into downtown Amesbury. The trees also help with noise and pollution, and that's always a plus! Nirnroot Avenue, looking north (with the motorway crossing in the background). High-density commercial development has spread along the road. Now it separates the low-density residential suburbs of Burnley Dale and Fairview Ley. It's also a popular late-night hotspot, with many cinemas, nightclubs, the local flagship BigBite restaurant, and even a bowling allee! But enough about intra-city transit and parks. Let's take a look at our favourite intercity mass transit option...Trains! A GoCargo train on a bridge on the Amery River. It's headed for the Industrial District. This is the central station, which for now only has two tracks. After all, only some through trains to New Wigmore ever call at Amesbury (that's still one each hour) This might change very soon though. More tracks, weaving through the cityscape... The station plaza as seen from a building close to the station. Oh my! Game publishing company and cheese making business Bobbelböck has settled in Amesbury! Back to freight though...This is the Highland Railyard, the major cargo hub in town, located on the line to New Wigmore. Trains here can go anywhere along the three main lines that link the country. Our brave cargo train is rolling through the southern suburbs of Fairview Leys towards the capital... Remember Exit 70? It's finally complete, but northbound M1 is still closed between that exit and the junction with the M2. Northbound traffic still has to take a detour into the town to continue their journey. View from a train in the railyard, this time looking towards the west. Some are calling for an integrated commuter rail network to link all the new suburbs, but the Municipal Council has so far not followed through. Here is a cosy street in Wood Heights, with the CBD in the background. It's still a very low-rise skyline for now - but this might change soon! And here is Wigston, a town north-west of Amesbury. Here, too, citizens have been asking for better links to the main town. This will need to be eventually addressed. Possibly, a ferry could link the town to Amesbury. To the north, the freight harbor is just as important as the railyard and a whole industrial estate has developed around it. Freight from all over the county is processed here, before boats carry it over the canal and all across the world. There are plans to move the Industrial Railyard closer to the harbor, however, but they would require massive overhauls and at such the project has been shelved. It is also predicted the complex might see at least a 200% increase in freight traffic as it becomes a lot more convenient and efficient - after all it would reduce road traffic in favor of rail. That's something else engineers would need to consider when designing the new harbour. There's also a passenger ferry landing in Aylestone! Ferries connect towns on the shores of Lake Amery together with Amesbury, leading the city to increase its influence. When Amesbury was picked as the seat of Amery County, it was a small and almost unremarkable village. It was a compromise situation when the County was created, as two rival towns in the new county were competing for capitalship. The Major took advantage of the situation almost twenty years ago to build her new town around the new County Seat. It was a successful gamble : Amesbury has just overtaken the first of these two rival towns, Ivystone, in terms of population and economy, and is very close to becoming the most populous town in the county. All it took was an energetic major and two rival towns far too busy to fight each other instead of taking advantage of an economic boom for a small village to establish itself as a powerful new town. The question remains though - is it a future proofed city or will it collapse as quickly as it rose? Amesbury City Bus! Do note the trunk lines branching out into the suburbs. And to conclude, here's a comprehensive street map of Amesbury, with all major landmarks and thoroughfares marked. And that's it for now! I dearly hope you enjoyed. Our next entry takes us beyond this map, across the countryside, to visit some villages in the vicinity of Amesbury. Thanks for the feedback, hope you enjoyed!

Hello everyone! Has it really been almost 10 years since I've been here? So I thought I post up a post to see if anyone is still alive from the old days. In the next few days I am looking into trying out this game cities skyline. Cities Skylines looks like the simcity that we had been waiting for since 2005. With tools for modding, I am already seeing the possibilities like - the mars project - flintstone cities - future cities with floating buildings It will take me a few weeks to get back up to speed, such as polishing up my 3dmax skill set but it definitely looks exciting. Unfortunately I've read that the negative side to cities skylines is that it is not Nvidia 3d Vision compatible, of which I have Let me know if you still remember me and secondly what you think of Cities Skylines

Ahh, just had to post this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhd9UF-tM1E

A completely unedited picture of Colburn! Never thought I'd come back to this city.

Hello everyone, Some of you know me from my SC4 journal. Since I never played anything else but SC4 (never played any other city building games before SC4), I have been following many journals and watch videos/tutorials to understand the mechanics of CSL. It has been very interesting and the more I play CSL, the more I enjoy it. I have been asked to post what I have done so far...so here goes (FYI...no story line..lol): Krystallin - about 20K cims. The city is not even close to be completed. And it definitely doesn't even come close to some of the wonderful journals I have the pleasure to view here! But it's home..lol Some of the following pictures are my favorite places to date within my city. Hope you enjoy and please, do provide suggestions or recommendations! They are most welcomed. Here's an overview of the region to date. Let us enter this city via one of the suburb. Cemeteries are definitely required in this game! A small amusement area for kids of all ages... Passing by Fringe College. Lady Krystal - First roundabout before getting on the road leading to downtown For people who know my favorite style of building, they will know I was a happy camper building this..lol Hummmm...Road or Pedestrian path to go downtown? This picture reminds me of an area in downtown Montreal, my hometown. Busy intersection leading to the business district. My cims love taking the bus or walking to work. Right smack in the middle of downtown, you will find nice rest area full of trees and seating areas All I could think about when I took this picture is: Is it senior day somewhere? (I know, that is not nice...lol) And the final picture....So happy they reproduced that building in CSL...it is one of my favorite in SC4. Well ladies and gentlemen, hope you enjoyed! ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Replies: iviaarten: Thank you for your kind comment. I do love green cities. ulisse: Thank you so much! LnX: yes, I also had an issue with how the pedestrian paths looked like. Eventually, when I am more comfortable with the game, I will redo this asset. 47Ply: So happy you loved it buddy! 89James89: of course there is a special place for your squirrels! Schlumanator: Many thanks dear friend! Ultimate727: not even close to compare this journal to Forkton!!!!! But I must admit this journal didn't come out too bad. feyss: Thank you very much! APSMS: Thank you for sharing this information. I didn't know this was a building in RL. The rendering of the building is really awesome! And thank you for your comment. ************************************************************************************* OK, sadly enough, the new patch did have a negative effect for me. One of my mod, when updated, corrupted my city, which is now loss God knows where. It is not even on my list of saved games anymore.. Therefore, adieu to Krystallin...neithless to say that I am extremely sad about this..but when God closes a door, a window opens...in this case, that window is the "new game" option in the CSL menu..lol

Note: Greater Xylo is still active. 120 miles north of the Kellan Valley lies Oceanside, another thriving city in the Pacific Northwest. Despite its name, Oceanside is situated on the coast of the Columbia Sound. Oceanside is known for the very large amount of rain it gets every year. Since it is located farther north on the Pacific coast, Oceanside receives over 100 inches (2,540 millimeters) of rain from January to December. The city is also prone to earthquakes and volcanoes, like the rest of the Pacific Northwest, and is even home to a volcano of its own, one that some say is more dangerous than Mt. Rainier will ever be... Replies are at the bottom. WARNING! THIS UPDATE CONTAINS A LOT OF PICTURES! The sun rises in Downtown Oceanside, which is a big deal since clear skies in the wet season of the Pacific Northwest. Rush hour traffic starts to pour into Downtown Oceanside on the I-5, after all, the people of the West Coast do love their freeways. More rush hour traffic. Regional HQ of XyloCorp, an architectural firm based in Xylo. Downtown Oceanside is basically a cluster of skyscrapers and hi-rises. Medium-density residential development along the I-5. Light rail runs through downtown. Low elevation areas like this are been prone to tsunamis and river flooding, especially here since its on the mouth of the Chumash river. The shy Bank of America Building tries to hide behind the Chumash Inc. Tower. The main exit into the Pitch district, home of most major sports teams in Oceanside, as well as concert halls, arenas, stadiums, and shopping plazas. The Pitch is also home to the Sandy Springs Plaza. Now we are in Historic Downtown Oceanside, which is located across the bridge on Rocket Island. Historic Downtown Oceanside is known for its large, McMansion style houses. It is also known to be home to the first Ikea in all of Henderson. Oceanside High School serves more than 2,100 students a day, and has been serving the spoiled students of Rocket Island since 1898, which makes it the third oldest high school on the Henderson West Coast. Panorama of Historic Downtown Oceanside. Oceanside gets a lot of rain, which is what the Pacific Northwest is known for. Replies from "Update 28- First Nigh Shots In 2+ Years" jmsepe- Thanks! Good to know someone liked the humor! feeroz123- Thanks! Mymyjp- Thanks! Sexysark:p- Thanks! Took a couple crashes to make the road system... Ultimate727- Thanks! Replies from "Oceanside Teaser" Sexysark:p- Thanks! Been working on Oceanside for a while to make it unique as possible. Ultimate727- Thanks! takemethere- Thanks! Kim Sunwoo- Thanks! Henderson and American architecture are basically identical. Mymyjp- Thanks! I think its the Toronto Dominion Tower but, like everything in my plugins, I have no idea where I got it from. ulisse- Thanks! And here's rest! Tonraq- Thanks! Ln X- Thanks! gviper- Thanks! tankmank- Thanks! I knew those would be the best for the teaser. Urban Constanta- Thanks! RATE, COMMENT, +1, AND VOTE IN THE POLL!

Made my first 4-way junction. It's a beast. Click for full size. Zoom out: Can still be polished up, but this is what I ended up with after a marathon session

Hey guys, so you guys might have seen my 100,000,000th download interview, which can be read here. I have some uploads to go along with it, but today I'm doing Easter with my family and I've also gotten a cold, so they might be uploaded tomorrow instead.

The city's on fire!!! We need help! We have no fire stations! Oh man... So last update, I got yanked away from what I was doing by my adviser, who was panicking. I come outside to see smoke, and drive to the burning houses. What started this fire anyways? Citizen 1: Our gas heater, it exploded, and they're all on fire... Alright, get everyone out of their houses, this fire's going to burn. You, get some buckets, and you get your hose from the house. I want everyone, all of you to help! Citizen 2: It's overpowering us! Back away!! The house explodes just as he says that. Oh (4-letter word)! There it goes... It is a scene from hell. The mix of smoke from burnt house and trees fills my nose, children are crying as they watch their house burn with people going back and forth to and from the two pools (look in the above image) in a panicked, desperate attempts to try to stop the fire. The wind causes the fire to jump to the other side of the road... Citizen 3 (inside house): Hurry up! The fire's coming, get this stuff out! (Child: Mommy my doll!) I got it don't worry! Half the neighborhood is already gone. Can our collective efforts put out this fire? Some sims, in sheer panic run to their cars, and some stand with the few things they were able to salvage from their house before the fire got them. Citizen One: Alright, let that one burn, the fire ain't going to spread... (Scene from fire, people watch the last house burn down) The fire destroys the entire street, but the rest of the town is spared. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and we were able to rebuild: A gap where for some reason, houses wouldn't build. It is now a place where children like to play games like hide-and seek, and climb the trees! Good night! First traffic map of Woodland: City from above: -------------Western Expansion------------- A new road that extends west of the main town... This new area will soon have houses and farms, and will be dubbed the Western Residential Sector... Population is currently 875 Sims from this point on, and we're making a small profit, while barely scraping by with money. I wait a few months, then save up for...farms! We got massive Agricultural demand! It's farmin' time! Land is cleared for the new farms: New farms for more food: Woodland's very first water tower: Costing only $50 a month and pumping 1900 cu/mo of water. (Funding was cut to $10 for now) Several stores open up near the tower to make great use of the water: Industrial Relocation/Expansion I don't like the industries being so close to the main commercial/residential areas, so it's time to demolish! ----------Northern Industrial Sector---------- The new industrial sector is built north of the main town, away from the main city and with plenty of room to expand! mmmmmm...Yummy pizzas! I'll take one with pepperoni please! Yes, fresh from the farm materials taste amazing, their pizza practically slide off the crust A new block of houses are built to satisfy some of the high low wealth demand: -----City Beautification----- Our city's first park: A nice playground with a community garden: Another park is built at Central Square, consisting of a tennis court, basketball court, and baseball court. This also includes a new church just north of the park: Things are now great! We're making nearly $500 a month, population is over 1000 at 1,624, farms are booming, small shops/restaurants are opening and there are more things for the kids to do here! Next update, we shall visit the neighboring town (Woodland River Town) to pay Mathew a little visit (the guy that stopped the obliteration from last update) and make a few deals So yep, good times to come... ...And to think that I almost obliterated this town!

The people have spoken! We shall build more houses, and balance things out! We last left off, the population was 90, and the bank had $270 left: Let's see how that goes... So several new houses are built and...that happens...No profits, just negatives. Time to Obliterate! Let's go to God Mode.. And hit that Obliterate button... . Obliterate City! Good Bye Woodland Metropolis II! Bang! Boom! Flash!! (The flash takes out a few houses) *Ground Shakes* Just as the White Flashes start taking over screen, I hear a voice.. NO!!! STOP! STOP! STOOOP!!!! Before I had time to react...the door slams open, and some guy rushes into the room He takes my mouse and presses the escape button on my keyboard... The obliteration process is instantly halted. The city is spared. "What the heck were you thinking man?! Throwing away a perfectly good town without giving it a chance?" What else could I possibly do? I used up all my options! I'm out of money, and this city's gone. "There's always Option 2: Take out another loan. How about $10,000?" *Takes out loan* (The city is only missing four houses from the obliteration.) "Ain't that better? Now spend that money wisely and careful with your expenditures! You'll be in debt, but as Mymyjp said, more people, more industry and balance will occur quickly!" And who are you? "I am the proud mayor of Woodland River Town. As someone who started with 0 simoleons, I can tell you it wasn't easy, but the trick is, you need a lot of people. A tiny village like yours ain't gonna cut it. Mine's at 1,100 sims already and making lots of profit! In my economy, I run a coal power plant, I import coal from the mines, and sell power to two other cities for extra cash. I know you'll succeed, but trust me, you can't do this without a little help. I'll help you out, trust me and if you ever need power, let me know!" Thank you, I highly appreciate it! "No problem! Come visit my town sometime! I'll see you in another update!" _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ With the money, we expand. A whole new neighborhood set of houses is zoned and built! Losing $100 a month, but still investing. We grow more houses east of the main farm. Along with that, several shops west of the main residential block. Despite being in debt, the city is blossoming. New houses grow and sims move in, especially families. More houses are zoned to be built: A large apple orchard is zoned south of the town, to supply the city with...you guessed it. Apples. Unfortunately, we're still at loss, so the taxes are raised to 10% temporarily... All of a sudden, I check the budget panel and find...We're profitable!!! WE ARE FINALLY PROFITABLE!!! Sure we're not exactly rolling it in...but we're making something! Another Windmill is added and new shops open up down the street now dubbed "Main St." Intersecting in a place called "Pizza Square" (Fun fact: Pizza is very popular here now, including waffles and pancakes. This town is currently known for its delicious foods, thanks to the fresh ingredients from the farms!) Well, things are looking much better. I can't believe I almost obliterated this town! Anyways, let's go over to...*sniff sniff* You smell smoke? Fire!!! Fire!!! And it's spreading!!! The game just threw us a curve-ball, and on top of that, we have no fire stations or fire brigade! Fires at this stage of the challenge can be very deadly! With no money for fire stations or brigades, what is the next action this mayor will take to save the city? Stay tuned for the next update to find out!

An all-plop dirty industrial area full of run-down old factories and tenements, that somehow still looks somewhat picturesque. That's the power of greenery.

West of Downtown lies Little Paris, a quaint little neighborhood based on - wait for it - Paris. It's a great place to visit, spend a day when you come. There are cafes, parks, theaters... These images speak for themselves.

My favorite neighborhood, so far:

You'll need to better explain what stands to you as "realism" cause I don't have at all that perception. Since I've played Cities: Skylines, SC4 looks to me as dead as an animated gif. The level of simulation is to me far more advanced in Cities: Skylines. Everything is alive, goods are processed and delivered, services are operating, people are getting educated, found families and die. It's the exact opposite from the candy-eye animations in SC4 which were only pretending, with no consequence whatsoever in the actual game. If you think Cities:Skylines "only shines from afar", then take a closer look, you'll be amazed.

Replies: Ln X: thanks for the tip, I might mix up the zones a bit, although I have become very careful of noise issues around commercial buildings. Some selective bulldozing might help as well. Ultimate727: The Markthal is a custom unique building as well. I've downloaded various growables as well, most mentioned in earlier postings. Mymyjp: Thanks. When I posted a 'short' history summary on Paradox Plaza, I went through the whole history again. It's quite fun to see how it has grown again. max_13: I was amazed when I saw it on Reddit. Best find of the week sofar, got some other great stuff today though... rsc204: Thanks for the kids words. charlesnew: Thanks, it's the game that keeps amazing me Ln X: As soon as I find some decent warehouses, I'll be sure to include them! It's good to see some more industrial focused mods show up for sure. simsample: Thanks Be sure to post some pictures when you've built some nice stuff. jmsepe: I think grid based cities can work as well, you just have to keep the basic traffic rules in mind when deciding where you're going to hook your grid into the highway system. I just don't really like the american style grid myself, but that's more of a stylistic choice than a practical one. Balthoraz: They're amazing aren't they Tonraq: Yep, I hope even more industrial styled assets will show up. Today's mods: Today's big one, a custom pedestrian overpass by BadPeanut: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=418352365 I've also found a nice petrol station which I used in this update. It's made by rlrh1996: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406497683 Update: On a recent business trip I spotted a pretty interesting design for pedestrian overpasses. I made some calls, and got the engineering company to design one for Forkton as well. It replaces the old pedestrian overpass between the Old Forkton area and the stadium With the nicer design of this bridge, we're hoping it won't be filled with graffiti in mere days like the last one.... It certainly looks more sturdy than the previous one as well. It's already got a new nickname... it's called the Botched Boob-job by the Forktonners. Yeh, they have great taste.... The love walking across it though. Next up, we've been receiving some complaints that there was a complete lack of petrol stations along our highways. We decided to sign a deal to fix this. This view might look familiar to some of you car driving readers. and if not.. maybe now? Also note the walls there to prevent anybody from walking onto the motorway. Lots of people already arriving to fill up (on either petrol or some quick groceries). One was built on the other side of the motorway as well. We just had to buy up a couple of farms in the area. Which may be something we'll have to resort to more often in the future. Ow, I almost forgot.... I got the most recent update from the Forkton Cartography Initiative Committee today, a brand new map of the entire Forkton area. It's big.... and it's got ALL the buldings on it (except for the petrol stations, those got added after the map was made). (OOC: it's 8150x7150 pixels actually, click for the full version - but it's REALLY big) if you want to make a map like this as well, read the first comment on this reddit thread. I just upped the DPI to 600 for this image, Page size B1. https://www.reddit.com/r/CitiesSkylines/comments/3160kl/so_you_want_maps_of_your_city_like_this/ Hope you've enjoyed this update.

Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to recreate the financial district of NYC, there's something very alluring about the southern tip of the Manhattan skyline, but: 1) Contrary to popular myth, I don't have a sweatshop and there's only one of me 2) The financial district is notoriously difficult to recreate in SC4. Not ruling it out, but I still have a few things I need to finish for Melbourne, not least of which is a WiP list as long as my arm... Toothless Stitch, too late! .. but thanks The Statue of Liberty is now available for download, but seeing as its Easter you will need to go on a Easter Egg hunt... let's just say its somewhere where the trolls can't get at it Thanks everyone for your help and support getting this finished

Because so much happens in this update, I decided to split it into two parts. Part 1 where we visit our neighbor town and part two where we return. Let's kick this update off with the first ever image of the region! ===================================================================================================================== A lush, fertile landmass surrounded by two rivers that join into a large lake north with a few islands and joins sea water south. More forests with small mountains are north of the river with a few small lakes. That tiny little town in the center...that's Woodland Town. (Note that every city in this region is on Hard Mode and started with ZERO simoleons too!) Here's an image with labels: Woodland is the main town, with River City West and North of that one is District 1 and South is Pleasant View. They are two smaller settlements that were started shortly after the start of Woodland Main Town. Why Woodland Metropolis II? What happened to 1 you may ask? This city is named after a city I built back in 2008 (7th grade) before I had a single mod. That was the original Woodland Metropolis and it was the first and only city to successfully reach 1 million sims with no cheats or mods whatsoever...Until now. (And yes I still have the city if anyone wants to see pics of it, it was a lot less realistic compared to this one!) Remember the roads that were built west of the main town earlier? To help with the high residential demand, we zoned houses surrounded by a large farm that people can work on: The north industries were expanded to satisfy the resulting demand: Now dubbed as the West Residential Sector. Population is now over 2000 sims, nearly double the population last update! We are also making even more profits! Enough that now it's time for... ==========Woodland's First School!============ After a lot of thinking and planning, we finally made the decision of where to place the school. The owner of the farm you see below allowed us to build a school in place of the farm, since it was run down and he wanted to clear land for a bigger farm for his cows. He produces dairy and apples for the city but he was going to tear the old farm and its dying trees anyways! We couldn't have found a better place for our school! The area is cleared for the elementary school: And a new school is built! Woodland Elementary School, complete with a playground, soccer field, basketball field and large field were kids can just run around and have fun! Here's a pic of the school during the very first organized youth soccer game (taken at 4:27 PM On a September afternoon) Probably the best investment, and very cheap too! It only covers the main city and east residents but not the west residents. A second elementary school is planned later. After the death of a few old sims, we finally opened the first cemetery: Families can now be assured their loved ones can rest in peace, and conveniently next to the church to where funerals are held. Traffic check... eek! 114 cars! It also seems that LOTS of people walk to work! Perhaps a railroad could be a perfect opportunity to get them off the grass sidewalks in the future? We still don't have the technology to pave the roads yet however. Population is now 2,836 sims...and we have nearly $20,000 in the bank! Also our loans are finally paid off! (image taken at 1:35 PM) Oh yeah and we built a third windmill too...But we're getting power outages! It was one unusually hot October day, and after complaints of constant power outages, I finally decide to take this into my own hands. I really don't want to build a coal power plant in my city. Seriously, I really don't, and the alternatives are far far too expensive! It's time Although there isn't an actual road connection yet, there is a path that many people take to get to Woodland River City. Me and my business friend (Hi I'm Ben) decided to cross. Alright...here we go! To the edge! We have crossed the tile border! Ben: "I need a bottle of water" Me: "Here" Ben: "Thanks!" *gulp gulp* Ahh..much better. Me: "God it's hot out here" Me: "I need to pee..." Here hold my suit case *Finds tree* *pees* *on phone* "It's ben, we're almost there." Mathew: "I'm standing at the bridge." carry on... I can hear water! We're almost there! We made it! Over the bridge... Matt: "You made it!" Me: "Man we need a road! Too bad we can't connect with streets" Matt: "And the weather is very hot for this time of year" Me: "Indeed" Matt: "Here get in my car, let's take a tour Around my city" =========Welcome To Woodland River City!========= A small booming industrial town that supplies power to other cities around it, a city that started from a loan as well. Note the power lines that go north and south. Pleasantville (South) and District 1 (North) both get power from this town! Me: "Woah! how'd you get these streets?" Matt: "That's gravel son, we figured out how to make it and pave it over the dirt! It makes the roads far more efficient. I can get a contractor to get some gravel into your city." Me: "I'll be glad to! We've been having a lot of traffic problems!" Matt: "Your town is getting very popular from what I hear, there's a lot of people who want to move in. I've had some of my citizens who want to get away from it all move to your town, but can't blame 'em, industrial towns aren't for everyone! I'll get you hooked up with some gravel." Ben: "Nice apartments! And what's going on over there?" Matt: "Thank you, and yes...with medium tile...not a lot of space to work with compared to large tile. Gotta make the best of it...We can't spread out but we spread up! Also yeah...another car accident. They happen all the time." Me: "I'd love some of those Medium R$ in my city! I'm going to zone some medium density as soon as I get bac-(interrupted..) Matt: "No!! Don't do that! Trust me, if you're having traffic problems now, your town will be choked with traffic with those apartments! Even mine is already suffering! You need some real roads first and none of us even have the technology for asphalt paving yet! Ben:"And are those...medium wealth houses? Why are these suit cases with red slashes on top of those houses?" Me:"Yeah...I was wondering the same thing, are they on strike or something?" Matt: "Don't remind me...Those are called no job Zots. Ack! My lovely medium wealth residents have nowhere to work so they got a little mad...and decided to hang a couple of those giant red slash suitcase signs over to make a "statement." I'm working on our first offices that should give these poor souls jobs, including manufacturing!" Me: "Hope I don't get those in my city" Matt: "Keep your traffic under control, and let your city grow naturally. These people moved in because they thought they had better opportunities but they're wrong. They might move to your city soon, so get some CS$$ and CO$$ built up so they have somewhere to work. Keep that up and you'll be just fine." Also, I can keep traffic under control thanks to my railroads, they keep roughly half the city off the streets! With only gravel streets, even then I still have traffic issues! The town is surrounded by large forests. We have a coal mine that extracts some coal in the outskirts up the hill: The coal is taken weekly by train to the coal power plant to burn and produce power. Here is the industrial area: This is where you'll get your power from! I got two cities depending on me right now! Also people from your city and my city like to sell their crops here from farms at the farmer's market (pic above). That's how it all works. Alright, it's time for the fun part. I'll offer 1000MW/month for $70 a month! Ben:"Make it $55 a month!" Matt: "$65 a month" Me: "$64 and we have a deal!" Matt: "Perfect! We have ourselves a deal! I'll send some power lines your way...you won't be needing those silly windmills anymore." Think of all the money you're saving... 3 Windmills cost $60/mo each = $180/mo for 600MW/Mo of power, and you're getting 1000MW/Mo for only $64/mo. Me: "That's a steal!" To be continued...

Hi Cimtizens! If you've tried to use alpha maps for your buildings you might have noticed one or two things that you couldn't do with them, or that didn't work. First : alphas are on or off. You can make an alpha map with different shades of grey (fifty... or even more...) but in the game everything under 50% black is transparent, everything over it is visible. Second one : alphas act weird for making balconies railings or grilles... let me show you. I've built a simple 2m side cube, each side mapped with a simple grille texture. Let's see how it looks like ingame : Not bad... would look good as a balcony... but what happens when we zoom out? Damnit!! What's going on here ??? Well as we know there are no half transparencies in the game. As we zoom out the engine averages pixels in the alpha map and the result? When a pixel goes under 50% white alpha it disappears from view. But this and the fact that everything from 50 to 100 is invisible made me think... if we don't use black but dark grey for the transparent parts... the averaging will make the grid visible longer. So here we go, experiment N°2 We will have four different cubes We will use 3 different alpha maps : one with 100% black, one with 75% and the last one with 52% The fourth experiment will use the 52% black alpha, but will use a different diffuse map. The 3 first have a full white diffuse, but the fourth will use a diffuse with black outside of the visible parts, but the white parts will be bigger because the black color will bleed onto the grille. And now for the results : Close-up : Everything's fine but we already notice the grille looks more defined when the black parts of the alpha are not pure black Zooming out : 100% black is already dead... 75% starts to look thinner, 52% starts to become solid... 52% plus black outlines looks good Zoooooming out again : 100% black still dead, 75% looks like a videogame from the 80's, 52% well... looks better... 52% plus black still holding on. The last one : 100% and 75% dead. 52% has gone pure solid. 52 plus black outlines is just showing the diffuse too but at that distance it looks pretty ok. Conclusion : If you want to make a grille (for an opening or a balcony or a fence maybe) do not use 100% black for the solid color. Use 52 (or maybe 51, I tested with 52 because... because) and put an outline of the grille in the diffuse color. For more opened grilles you might want to use a different amount of black (because if the grille goes invisible it will be less noticable and you actually want to make it happen later but you don't want it to become solid.). Thanks for reading, have fun building. Cool_Z - Zed68

Forever unfinished road work in a ghetto

A few shots of the CBD in my new bayside city, McKinley. (on the McKinleyville map from the workshop, I'm not very creative with names )

Great airport Airman! ... I'm not sure what I'd do without all of the great stuff the NYBT has put out. Normally I don't like skyscraper jungles, but when the city has a certain theme going it seems alright to me.

Reworked my interchange near the Portside Industrial Park. I has definitely worked, and didn't require that much bulldozing after all.

Ln X, Jorge_carrillo, Neto Dari, TowerDude, _A, Sexysark:P, Benedict, tonyr, TekindusT, jmsepe, feeroz123, spursule14, Gugu3, vinlabsc3k > Thank you all for your nice comments. Hi everybody, After a while, it is finally the time for a new update 10. LIMBOURG - AYWIERS 0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Hope you enjoyed it

Hey Everyone, just wanted to announce that I released my brand new set of 7 palm trees! Subscribe to all of them, or cherry pick your favorites. See more photos and the links to the other types at the link below! Let me know what you think, thanks. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=419338792

SimCity 4 is a game that appeals to people living all over the world who want to build cities in wildly differing styles. Some have added content to enhance American-style building all the way back to colonial times. Others have created BATs for building classical European towns. Our next interviewee helps to make this possible with his incredible Hong Kong BATs. bixel's buildings are essential downloads for making any city with a hint of East Asia. They are what rice is to fried rice. They are what Peking duck is to Peking duck. They are what bell peppers and beef are to bell peppers and beef. Anyways, let's give a warm welcome to bixel! ST: When did you first get SC4, and what do you remember about your first experiences with the game? Was SC4 your first involvement with SimCity, or did you already have a history with the sim games? bixel: I think it was 2 years after SC4 was released. It was actually browsing the internet on SimCity 3000 modding that got me to purchase Simcity 4, and through that of course lead me to simtropolis. ST: What aspect of SC4 do you enjoy most – what keeps you coming back? bixel: The aspect to SC4 which extended the play-ability was actually Sim Peg's Garabage Chute!!! Without this mod, SC4 was similar to the earlier versions of the game, chasing down fires, fixing water problems, etc etc. While it is always a good method to keep players engaged with random scenarios I don't think SC4 would have been able to evolve into the "City Garden Building" game, which I feel is what the community actually uses SC4 for. Hence, city diaries and hours and hours of ocd-like city pruning and beautifying that we enjoy. ST: Do you recall the first plugin you installed? bixel: The 1st plugin were the official ones, like South Koreas 63 building. ST: What led you to Simtropolis at first? Can you remember your initial impressions of the site? bixel: That thirst for more buildings led me to Simtropolis to download more. ST: Describe your progression into the world of SC4 custom content. Was it a particular lot or BAT that inspired you to take the first step? bixel: NDEX plugins were, by far, the biggest influence. I had by then been learning 3DS Max and had been playing with the BAT at the time, so I felt I was ready. I wanted to do something NDEX-y but since commercial-office buildings were being made by several power artist groups I decided to try my hand at residentials. ST: Speaking of first steps, what was the very first thing that you modeled using the BAT? Do you still have a screen shot? bixel: The 1st release was a terrible, terrible residential skyscraper called the Liberte. It was very tall and pretty ugly, but had some detail that appealed to some users. This encouraged me more to release better and do better. It went through 3 versions I think in over 4 years. [NMUSpidey: ST: Your list of uploads is populated entirely by Hong Kong buildings. Are there any particular reasons for choosing to direct your efforts in this direction? Are they based upon real buildings, or are they true-to-life recreations? bixel: Since I was committed to adding much needed high density residentials to the game, I needed to find a style that was both realistic and exciting to look at. I had a couple of attempts of making fantasy buildings but they were ugly, so I used the internet to find inspiration. Right away I found Skyscraper Diagrams website and Hong Kong is the 4th featured city of architectural drawings. I chose HK because it was not Chicago or New York, which I felt the content was already saturated. ST: Most of your BATs are released under the HKABT banner. For those of us who may not know much about the Hong Kong/Asia BAT Team, can you elaborate on what your role with them was? bixel: Once I latched on the HK style, immediately my work improved and I met some friends through my work and other HK content that was being uploaded. Particularly Paul v. Montfort, Simfox and T-Wrecks. Paul and I formed the team and quickly gained some very amazing talent to help us populate the game with some visual style and content. My main role was simply encouragement and teaching some skills and methods when needed. ST: I think most custom content creators would consider their work a hobby, but like anything in life, some parts are more fun than others. What do you consider your least favorite part of the BATing process? Your favorite? bixel: When it comes to making content for Simcity 4, it is very different from making content for almost any other game. Simply because SC4 is NOT a 3D game but very cleverly uses images rendered at fixed angles to create an illusion of 3D, the camera is orthographic at preset angles. Because of this you must render your building at all 5 zoom levels at 4 different directions. For large buildings this can take hours, and if your lighting is bad, you have to render it again. My biggest projects were so huge I had my PC running for 2 days! By far the rendering process is the most tedious and stressful for me. Simply modelling the building gave me the most joy. ST: You released your first BAT in 2005. Is there any one of your creations that you are particularly proud of? Are there any fun stories or facts relating to some of your works that we don’t know about? bixel: For a short while I had many dedicated followers in HK sending me photos of buildings when I asked for them. They were very enthusiastic and would travel to many different locations to snap a few photos. Several times they would reply that they live in the building and where overjoyed to see them in game. That meant a lot to me and I was glad to bring them such joy. ST: Has your experience BATing had any influence on your personal or professional life? Are there any skills that you have developed over your BATing career that have helped you beyond the world of SC4? bixel: Making 3D custom content for SC4 has definitely allowed me to acquire new skills and land me some pretty interesting jobs. I think game modding is really a good starting point for any hobbyist looking to increase their skills and enter the industry. Counter-Strike is still one of the most played multiplayer games and it was a mod, same with DOTA. ST: What advice would you give to a new member of this community who was planning on creating their first BAT? bixel: My advice to anybody wanting to make content for SC4 or any 3D game is to watch and learn from Lyndia tutorials. I learned by myself and I picked up some very bad habits that are hard to get rid of. The worst is modelling solely from splines... because of that I would have to re-train myself to do anything other than a box. I can't do characters or curves at all! Broaden your ability to work in different platforms, Modo is very popular now as well. If you want to do more than just SimCity 4 seriously consider sharpening your UV-Unwrapping skills, upcoming generation games like Cities Skylines are different from the way they did things for SimCity 4. It will also help you find a job in the industry. ST: Simtropolis is organized into ‘player’ and ‘builder’ categories. Regarding the ‘player’ section, do you have any favorite CJers that you enjoy following? What are your favorite SC4‘scenes’ (i.e., towering metropolises, urban sprawl, rural landscapes, etc.). bixel: I don't follow any CJs but I do check them from time to time for inspiration and how to use NAM effectively . My favourite CJs are of course the HK re-creations and stuff with a lot of clever train and public transportation schemes. ST: On the ‘builders’ side, do you have any favorite BATers that you enjoy following? If you still play SC4, what was your most recent download from the STEX? bixel: Most BATs I download are Euro/Asian style. I have no idea why but I can't do NY or Chicago stuff. I also am keen on parks and city beautification sets. I think there are many new content makers out there that have greatly increased the quality of output thanks to members ability to help each other and of course ST: SimCity 4 has been out for over 12 years now. Are you surprised that this community is still going strong all these years later? What do you think is the secret to its longevity? Do you think there will still be new content being created 12 years from now? bixel: I am NOT surprised SC4 has lasted this long. This game appeals to young and old and is also casual and OCD (Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder)(like Minecraft) at the same time. It is such a great game. Additionally, I don't want to get too socio-economic here but SC4 is able to expand with new players with an old PC or laptop, they don't need to spend $2000 on a new rig. For this reason i expect to see more people playing in many different parts of the world. New content in 12 years? Sure, SC4 still looks great, and the skills of the custom content makers have surpassed the default content. ST: Are there any games you play besides SC4? What other hobbies do you have away from BATing and SimCity? bixel: My biggest hobby right now is programming games, hopefully I will mature to an indie developer! games I find myself playing mostly are Guild Wars2, Hearts of Iron III, and World of Tanks. I also enjoy small indie games like FTL. I'm really looking forward to Cities: Skylines. I have been following the dev guys closely and I will be making content for it.

Replies: iviaarten: It would be like a version of the film Inception but with games instead. A game within a game, Roller Coaster Tycoon inside of Cities Skylines. max_13: Let's hope this craziness persists! Schulmanator: There is no season pass for Red Viper. You pay one cimolean for one token, and one token gives you five rides on the Red Viper during daily opening times. gviper: I love to impress. Carnivorus: Thank you! I have seen a couple of amazing CJs in this forum section which are unbelievably artistic. Balthoraz's latest CJ has nothing but CS pictures akin to that of paintings. As for the roller coaster, well one thing that struck me was just how industrial a roller coaster really is. There is spare track to mount other trains, there are a couple of generators to power the station, the brakes and the chain lift, and there is nearly always some kind of track wide enough for a lorry or crane to use. So that's why I placed down that industrial filler. Mymyjp: Thanks a lot. Maybe there will be a mod in the future which adds functioning coaster trains. Entry 23: Welcome to the concrete jungle Skyscrapers, endless roads, sprawling suburbs, a mass of buildings and the intensity that only large cities have. Let's enter the concrete jungle. /// Though Brendon may be large there is still more space to fill up. As you can see this mayor has planned out new suburbs and areas on an industrial scale. Altrea Bridge ahead. SAM sure does spruce up suburbs. So I was taking pictures and as usual my graphics card was acting up due to the ridiculous graphical settings I use to take pictures. The lag and frozen frames were getting really ridiculous, hence I needed a new approach. This picture and those ones hereafter were taken with this new approach. First of all I ditched the SureCam mod I have been always using from the start. I now use nlight's first person camera mod and this is one actually designed for the Dynamic Resolution, Ambient Occlusion, PostProcessFX, Sun Shafts and of course Bordered Skylines mods. The result was a much smoother process. True it still lags and the frame rate can freeze from time to time, but it is now substantially better. Another thing I used was the Bordered Skylines mod. It basically enhances and highlights edges. I pick the realism option to minimize the black edges. This does something very special: it highlights all the bumps and protrusions of the terrain, walls and surfaces. Wall tiling becomes far more clearer, rougher and realistic. Another important mod is the PostProcessFX. It has bloom, flare and anti-aliasing options. I ignore the bloom and flare options as I don't need them when I have Sun Shafts. But the additional anti-aliasing comes in useful. The last option to the right of the anti-aliasing slider is the most compatible with the realism choice of the Bordered Skylines mod. All of this graphical tweaking makes even over-bright buildings look better and more realistic. This is probably the best I am going to get with the graphics and better yet the camera is now smoother. But it is in the shadows where the combined effect of these mods really becomes noticeable. And now we are deep inside the concrete jungle. Even lamp posts and signs are now more detailed. Aside from a vastly smoother performance thanks to the First Person Camera mod, there is also one additional benefit. The pedestrian view is far superior. There is an option with this camera mod preventing the camera from travelling through the ground, instead it just moves forwards at the same tilted angle along the ground. Which means I can take unprecedented close-ups of the Cims. This Friday I'm going to publish a Koyaanisqatsi-esque entry with nothing but close-ups of the Cims. I guarantee you that it will be intense since there is something about staring at another person's face in close proximity. I'm waiting for the CS videos which show not only the buildings and the sweeping scenery, but close-ups of the people, of the Cims. Just a hint. The shadows are a bit offski for such close proximity, but then again I don't think Colossal Order imagined players getting this close to their creation. Dirt glorious dirt. I love this roughed-up concrete car park. Do you feel small? One can take picture after picture of never-ending, always diverse, urban scenes like this. But I'm going to place a full stop here for this entry. /// Mods: First Person Camera- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406255342&searchtext=first+person, PostProcessFX- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=412146081&searchtext=process, Bordered Skylines- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=410196151&searchtext=process. Are you not entertained!?! I jest...

Good job everyone! Those noodles... I bet in real life they should be at least twice larger! Here is my work until now: My previous prefab T interchange. Its size was 40 by 62 cells, or 320 by 500 meters. I measured one freeway junction and it is roughly 400 by 800 meters. So I decided to enlarge it. Before: After: Note this new interchange also comes prefabricated. I used No Pillar mod and switch to Overlap mode to build outside the boundaries. Its size is 54 by 98 cells, or 430 by 800 meters. (link to my product) Area view: 1- the new prefab T interchange 2 and 4- prefab SPUI 3- A trumpet between W/E and Northbound freeways, with added local access for industries. Did you notice the girih tiles? They can act as some sort of ruler!

Yep, I've been actively tracking issues today. FYI, this is one of the reasons why we didn't just open up or give tools for everything in the game on release. Could you imagine all the problems? haha. We're getting there though, step by step. CO always believes in making sure things work correctly before they pile on more.

It feels so good to play this game again! Clearly I've been going through withdrawal because I made not one but THREE interchanges within 24 hours. Number 1: A large kinda cloverstack + partial Y with some rail mixed in. Detail Shots! Number 2: It's uhh... something. Number 3: A rebuild of my river causeway interchange. This one made my funds go from around 5 million into the negatives. Before: After: Details! EDIT: AMERICAN ROADS! Node intersections are still impossible and the sidewalk/pavement is a tad bright for my liking. Still, this is a big step forward! Enjoy!

Was playing around with the mapping tools a bit again. I have made a full map of Forkton now (clicky for the full size - 8150*7150) - WARNING HUGE PICTURE SIZE!

My grocery list to consider it a proper heir....(not that I don't think this game is great. I'm loving it.) I know these are said officially to be coming: Tunnels and W2W building support. A Make historic button and the ability to plop RCI buildings individually. 2 way highway option for realistic bridges and better highway to road transitions. As mentioned by others, the 4x4 lot limit must be lifted. Park and Ride/Parking Lots support. I wouldn't mind some fudging of residential numbers. 4 people in a 8 story building is ridiculous. We can still have the simulated population as it is now but maybe add some more numbers in some way to the pop count so the city doesn't look like a metropolis with only 10,000 people. Who's going to sit there and count every one? Better textures support. Not sure if this is a Unity thing but the reflections on buildings need some serious love. I'm not sure how realistic we can get our custom texture maps to show so have to investigate this some more. Day and night cycle. I can live without this though. It's not critical. I usually turn it off in SC4 when I need to see what I'm building but it would be nice to have. Especially to see the traffic break and signal lights as well as the buildings being illuminated. To be fair, lets look at some things C:S have that SC4 missed: Industrial and commercial interaction with goods and services being more realistic. Cims don't just go to work and back home. They actually take trips to the stores and leisure places like parks. I observed a parked car with a student studying. Dynamic water at any height that interacts with the city. Very flexible road options. Could use some better constraining guides though. It's free but a bit wild. Official sustained open modding support by the developers from day 1. The ability to control mass transit routes with custom coloring of each line instead of just spamming stops. I love the way C:S changes the color of the mass transit vehicles to reflect the route they service. There's probably more but I'm still playing my first city and have more to learn. I think this is the best next city builder since SC4. It doesn't take the crown yet, but if some key things mentioned by many players is addressed, this is no doubt it. For now I see it as another great city building game that's long overdue. And I thank CO for being the ones to finally listen to the fans of this genre and even gave us more.

Object limit capped so this city is done even though it still had over 50% of usable space. Kinda disappointed with that.

More progress on the airport. Having multiple taxiways actually built makes a huge difference. To cover up that unsightly grass on those two protruding ILS glideslope jetty's, I planted some of Xannepan's terrain brushes to complement the rock walls. And to test the spacing of the taxiways, I am using Xonedl's C-5's as a happy medium for large birds like the 747 and A380. It's an amazing model and I might place a few at this airfield once I figure out the portion to the west of the fighter ramp! Spencer Air Force Base could always use a few extra transport jets.

Replies: PK111: Here you go- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=410866014&searchtext=new+york+times. Sansha: This city is going to rock harder when I lay down an elevated railway line through the centre. coolwiththecool2: Be scared, be very scared! If you are doing nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide, that's the OCM's motto. Usually. kingsofsimcity: I get moments where CS drains me fully, so I stop playing for a few hours. But then the hankering for more CS returns. On the plus side this game is not getting stale because there are always lots of new mods, buildings and features to try out. 89James89: Thanks! And yes the land value is very high because of an excessive amount of civic coverage overlap. You don't want to be clogging up with dead bodies you see. Haljackey: I know, I can't believe the game has been out for barely three weeks and already it feels so different with the huge amount of mods available. Where will CS be in one year's time? iviaarten: I think Forkton is well beyond the stage for lots of skyscrapers- bring on the high rises! As for the dynamic resolution mod problems, I think I placed the anti-aliasing fix in front of the actual mod in the mod folders, so the fix would load up last and this was giving me some gripe. When I switched it around the game was running more smoothly at 200% as I took pictures for this latest entry. Entry 20: Take me to the sea Today I stumbled across this really cool mod which adds beach items: beach umbrellas, tents, lifeguard towers and so on. This is the Beach Tools mod- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=417022843, created by Lord Rato. Well an obvious candidate for this mod is the city of Tamboria and the wide yellow beaches this area has, so without further adieu... /// And some music by electronic extraordinaire's Yello that fits this entry wonderfully. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzskrK_bmG4 I present to you Ranley Beach. The curving concrete footpath was inspired by beaches in Los Angeles and those in GTA V. I spent a bit of time symmetrically placing down palm trees to border these beach footpaths. The footpaths connect up to the commercial area in Lumber Sands. Lumber Sands has expanded quite a bit thanks to the designated tourist spot which Ranley Beach has become. If you are wondering why Ranley Beach is deserted, well... There was a sewage leak two days ago due to flooding upstream and so the whole beach smells of crap. And who wants to sunbathe with the smell of raw sewage filling their nostrils? The real reason is because these beach park items don't have to be connected to a road, thus tourists can't reach them. It would be nice if these beach props/items would spawn Cims, preferably Cims in beachwear. For now though I'm sticking with the flooded sewage story. The suburb of Lumber Sands has expanded Eastwards. Along with new shops which have sprung up along the coastline. The Lumber Sands Station has become more busier because of the newly renovated beach. Meanwhile a boy, and his teddy bear, waits on the platform for his parents to arrive. Really though, what is it with boys in public clutching teddy bears in this game? And now I'll round off this entry with more glorious views of Lanley Beach in the sunset. Lumber Sands in the setting Sun. Wish you were here.

Elon Musk's stinkin' hyperloop can't beat this!!

Replies: iviaarten: It definately does. Transforms a city! spa: Hi Spa! Thanks for your suggestion! I have moved that depot to a different location. (Part 14 I think) leofurquim8: Then... get it? It's quite fun! I am expanding north, don't you worry! Subway will come once the city gets big enough. Finally a update... Took a while to make the interchange but I did it over 3 parts! Initial construction: Completion: Polishing and surrounding development: Pics from these parts. Click on them for full size! A couple bonus pics with the new US road textures and dark asphalt mods:

GSB Tower avaliable