RoddyC

So I've constructed a tunnel under a river, but I'm having problems. Has anyone been able to build an underwater tunnel where the automata are NOT visible? It's really annoying to see cars driving through water. What am I doing wrong?

Well I'm not really sure how to begin this, so I'll start with a disclaimer. Despite the name, this region is not intended to reflect the L.A. area in any way. This is basically a unique region with unique cities. Any similarities to real-life are purely coincidental. I just used L.A. city names because I have no imagination to think of my own. So with that said, I also have to thank jeronij for inspiring me on so many levels, and for hooking me up with a lot of useful mods. If you're reading this, I have to say you are the true master of the CJ. And now without further delay, here is my creation. Los Angeles Update 00 Regional population: 35,809 So this isn't really an update, but many more real updates are sure to follow. Think of this as a preview. About 2 weeks of work have gone into my Los Angeles, so here's what exists so far. Yup, that's right, just two cities right now. The central city of Los Angeles, and peaceful suburban Glendale. Just so you all know, tiles will be terraformed as they are needed, so don't be put off by all the flat land. And in the transit view below, you can see the basic transportation network of the L.A. region. It's pretty simple right now, but that is sure to change. That's all for this post. I just wanted to get my CJ off the ground. In the next post I will give you an up-close tour of the city of Los Angeles. That should happen about an hour from now... And of course, questions and comments are absolutely welcome.

Well, it's been a few months but I think I'm going to resurrect Los Angeles. Real-life has a funny way of changing unexpectedly, but I've got some free time again so we'll see what happens. I also recently bought a new computer with considerably more RAM and processing power - good for big cities. I'm unsure whether to continue with the current city or start over (thoughts?). If people want to see more of the current L.A., then I'm hoping I rescued all of the right files from the old computer. I'll install the game later today to find out. Anyway, I apologise for the long period of inactivity. And I appreciate the kind comments that my CJ received even long after the updates stopped. Stay tuned.

simcitymichi and Traffic_Jam - Thanks! I'm glad you like downtown Hollywood as much as I do. Anyway, as promised here is the second update of the day. Los Angeles Update 26 Regional population: 866,975 Hollywood: 327,832 Earlier, I mentioned that I would make a tutorial-style update focusing on the hillside residential development in Hollywood. Well here it is. I'll try not to make it too long. And because the region views show the finished product, I will save them until the end of the update. So let's begin with an overview of Hollywood, showing the region of proposed development. Because of the unevenness of the land, this area is only suitable for low-density housing, much like that seen in the North-West corner of the city. As you can see from the size of the area, this is a large project. It could take a while. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_01.jpg align=baseline> In order to provide a close-up look at the techniques involved, I have selected this corner of the hillside as a focal point. Each stage of the development will first be applied to this corner, before being applied to the entire hillside. At the bottom of this picture you can already see some of the street tiles used for levelling the terrain. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_02.jpg align=baseline> This technique of using street tiles will be carried out across the entire area of development. Single tiles are used to flatten sections of land, and straight sections can be used to create gentle slopes. This stage of the process is pretty random. The aim is just to create a layered effect, while ensuring that none of the slopes look too steep. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_03.jpg align=baseline> And the following shot shows the entire hillside after the terraforming. It's almost beautiful in a way, but obviously these street tiles will need to be removed. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_04.jpg align=baseline> Here's another view after terraforming. In case anyone is questioning this technique - streets are basically the cheapest and easiest way to sculpt the land. The game's terraforming tools are too awkward for precise jobs like this one. And to anyone wanting to attempt a similar project - this stage is the hardest part. This is the stage where things can potentially end up looking bad. It's just a case of working with the lines of the terrain. Of course, you need a lot of patience too. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_05.jpg align=baseline> And one final shot of this stage. Here we can see how the Hollywood sign finds itself in the middle of the development zone. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_06.jpg align=baseline> Okay, now let's move on. Everything starts to look better after the first stage of terraforming. With such a large project, it can be hard to know what to do next. The next logical step was to start constructing the walls. First, the straight sections. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_07.jpg align=baseline> Then add some corners. It's already starting to look good. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_08.jpg align=baseline> And now an overview of the situation. All walls have been placed at this point, but as you can see, the streets have yet to be removed. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_09.jpg align=baseline> The time has come to get rid of those ugly street tiles. With the streets gone, this is where you really get to appreciate your landscaping. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_10.jpg align=baseline> And once again, an overview. It may seem like a mammoth task to remove all those little street tiles, but a couple of sweeps with the dezoning tool is all it takes. You can sweep over everything and only zones and streets will be removed. This is too easy! https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_11.jpg align=baseline> Another angle, walls complete, streets removed. In this shot you can see how the natural shape of the hill has been largely maintained. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_12.jpg align=baseline> By this point, you can either cover the area with trees or you can attempt to squeeze in some housing. This basically depends on how much flat land you are left with. Because the slopes of this hill were not too severe, the result is a decent amount of flat land on each level. So with the intention of using the hillside for housing, the next logical step is to construct a road network, seen here in our corner of focus. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_13.jpg align=baseline> And with the roads in place, it's time to do some zoning. Not every tile is zoned - gaps have been left to allow for trees and other green space. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_14.jpg align=baseline> Now a look at the entire area, with roads and zones in place. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_15.jpg align=baseline> Don't worry, we're almost done. The next stage is to fill out the remaining empty tiles with trees, parks, bus stops, etc. Services such as police, fire, health and schools have been added in the appropriate places. First, a close look at that familiar corner. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_16.jpg align=baseline> And now the overview. Pretty much everything is done. All that remains is to click the button. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_17.jpg align=baseline> But before the click, I'm going to show a few more shots of the completed layout. Also note that I flattened some land near the freeway to make space for new office buildings. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_18.jpg align=baseline> Another view. And this used to be a barren hillside. Now here is our corner of interest again. I allowed the game to run for several minutes, to let all the zones develop. This is the result. And once again, an overview of the whole area. I think the lightly populated hillside contrasts the busy downtown really well. I'm definitely happy with the outcome. Here's another view, looking down the length of the hill. I just love how this new area looks, surrounded by all those skyscrapers. We return to Hollywood's most famous landmark, now in it's final state. Take a look at Mayor Currie's new residence. Also note where the monorail disappears into the hillside. I love this city. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_23.jpg align=baseline> Now let's finish up with those region views. As you can see, Hollywood is almost complete. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_24.jpg align=baseline> And of course, the transit view. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_26_25.jpg align=baseline> That's it, all done. The whole project took most of the day to complete. I would only recommend doing something on this scale if you have a day off work or something (which thankfully, I did). Anyway, I hope this update wasn't too long and I hope some people may be inspired in some way by this. I'll be back tomorrow with the next update, and probably the conclusion of Hollywood. As always, feedback is welcome.

I have to apologise for not updating yesterday as I had hoped. Things were actually going pretty well, but last night I had a fatal crash (of the SC4 kind) which wiped out most of the day's progress. I was very annoyed at the time, but today I spent a couple of hours redoing most of that work. To make up for it, I'm hoping to have two updates today. This will be the first update, much earlier than normal. But first, let me address some of the great comments. yaptszwai - Thanks, I'm trying to make this CJ as realistic as possible. As for creating something colossal - I don't think it's colossal in terms of greatness, but it should be colossal in terms of size by the time I'm done. jacqulina, GLENNI - Thank you both for stopping by again. oroen - Thank you for your great reply! I'm glad you've been following the progress here. I could spend hours replying to you, but I'll try to keep it short since I need to leave some room for the pictures. The cluster of skyscrapers in Hollywood is something I'm proud of. I attempted a similar cluster-style downtown in several of the other cities in this region, but they failed to the develop in the way I had hoped. Hollywood taught me that a downtown cluster needs to have a central point from which it radiates outwards. In this city's case, that central point is the freeway onramp. If instead of the freeway, I used many road connections to the downtown area, then the cluster effect would be lost. Well anyway, I'm glad you like it. And as for forcing freeway usage - I still try to put my freeways in realistic places (since the freeways show up so prominently on the region view). I just try to force... or rather... to encourage Sims to use the freeways by making sure that roads are always a less direct route. I don't like to place roads realistically (realistic for Los Angeles would be a flat boring grid), because Sims generally take the straightest route to their destination and not the fastest route (which in itself is not realistic). Plus it just looks cool to see your freeways overflowing with traffic at rush hour. deejayc - Thanks for your reply! I would highly recommend starting an experimental city. I have done so several times. When I first started playing SC4, I attempted to have a San Francisco CJ but I was never really happy with the way it was developing. I then took some time off, eventually came back to SC4, spent weeks studying other CJs and learning new techniques, and now I am very happy with what I have created so far. And regarding realism - that's exactly why I wanted to do L.A. my way - because the real L.A. is so boring. I did briefly attempt a realistic Los Angeles, but I quickly realised that 80% of the city uses the same boring grid layout. Most of the city consists of low-density housing too. Only downtown and the hillside communities are actually interesting. So if I were in charge of Los Angeles, then what you see here is what I would create. mteach2000 - Thanks for your comments! I'm glad to have kept you glued to your monitor for so long. You're actually in luck - as I mentioned at the beginning of this update, I did a lot of work yesterday and then lost it. One of the things I did was to develop the central hill in the city of Hollywood. In doing so, I used a lot of walls and trees - and yep, now I have to do it again. That's the next area I intend to work on, so I'll try to make a tutorial (or at least a play-by-play) out of it. I expect it to take several hours (that's how long it took the first time), so look for that update later today. So thanks again to everyone who left feedback, and to all those who didn't. Now it's time for the update... Los Angeles Update 25 Regional population: 853,234 Hollywood: 314,091 Hollywood's population has increased by almost 100,000 since the last update. There have been a number of significant developments. Before we take a look at those, let's take a look at the region view. One change to note is the way that Hollywood now blends with Los Angeles to the North, thanks to some new low-density housing on the hillside in Hollywood. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_25_01.jpg align=baseline> And the transit view shows how Hollywood is gradually spreading across the city tile. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_25_02.jpg align=baseline> Now let's see an overview of the city. New areas to note are the low-density housing in the North-East, some new high-density apartments in the South-West, and the gap between downtown Hollywood and the residential district has now been filled. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_25_03.jpg align=baseline> A closer look at downtown Hollywood. Most of the skyscrapers from the previous update are still here. The downtown area now appears to merge into the residential area, thanks to some awesome BAT apartment towers. Also note the new major league stadium. In many large cities, it is common to find a stadium in the transitional area between commercial and residential districts. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_25_04.jpg align=baseline> And another angle of the downtown core shows the density of the area. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_25_05.jpg align=baseline> Yet another angle. I don't want anything to be hidden. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_25_06.jpg align=baseline> This shot focuses on the area of recent development, between downtown and the residential sector. Some of the tallest towers here are actually residential. And I just love that major league stadium. I hope it has enough parking though. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_25_08.jpg align=baseline> And this is the new low-density corner. No doubt these houses have some excellent views of downtown Hollywood. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_25_09.jpg align=baseline> The next image shows the main reason for Hollywood's population boom in this update. In this shot alone, we see accomodation for around 60,000 Sims. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_25_10.jpg align=baseline> And this is where Hollywood's sporting fame began. Before the major league moved into town, this was the only stadium. Unfortunately ticket sales are low, because local residents can watch the games for free from their windows. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_25_11.jpg align=baseline> And finally, Hollywood just wouldn't be Hollywood without a movie studio. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_25_12.jpg align=baseline> Well that's the end of this update. As I mentioned, I'm going to start work on developing the Hollywood Hills. I'll try to make a tutorial-style update out of that, so expect to see that update later today. Thanks to everyone who is following this CJ! Check back soon.

palmgurl and kingofsimcity - Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate the feedback! deejayc - I'm going to take a quick Alt-Tab break from SC4 to reply to your latest post. I'll try not to write so much this time. I don't know about pockets, but rather I tend to be obsessive with all parts of my cities. In some ways I wish I wasn't so picky, but it usually leads to good results. I find myself constantly moving around my cities and being on the lookout for anything which doesn't look perfect. Pretty much everything I do is planned out in advance. Regarding downtown Hollywood being an urban island - this is something I often do to promote use of my freeways. As you may have noticed, Sims don't really like to use freeways. They have a habit of using the road network to get to work and causing mass traffic jams, even if a freeway would be the faster method. I force freeway usage by leaving no road access, or indirect road access. This is more realistic, to have Sims commuting downtown on the freeway. And in the case of Hollywood, this created an interesting effect. Because the freeway is the only access to downtown, and because there is only one main downtown onramp, the area around this onramp has become the area of the highest commercial demand. This is the reason downtown Hollywood has the appearance of spreading out from a central point ( the onramp). I'm currently working on Hollywood right now, and I have since closed the gap on the downtown island. Downtown Hollywood has now merged into the rest of the city, but the highway and monorail continue to be the primary access. And to address your question about greenery and land value - my land value is always high. The PEG Random Woods have the bonus of acting like small parks, so regular use of trees ensures high land value. I don't really place greenery with land value in mind - the high land value is just a positive side effect of making the city aesthetically pleasing. The downtown commercial skyscrapers are more to do with high desirability than high land value. Traffic is the number one cause of the downtown development. While residential desirability can decrease with traffic noise, commercial desirability skyrockets in areas with traffic (customers). Although high traffic can in turn lead to air pollution, so these are all things you have to manage. Isn't SC4 great? And as for the population boom, I think that depends on what kind of city you are creating. When I created my first city in the region, I used all low-density residential and the population saw little change for many days (real-life days). But then when I started Hollywood, I immediately zoned high-density and I saw the population go over 50,000 in the first couple of months (about 2 minutes in real-life time). This had to do with regional demand. I figure that when I started Hollywood, there was enough regional residential demand to form a city of around 200,000 people. I have gone over 300,000 today, and only now is the residential demand starting to drop. Anyway, I said I wasn't gonna say too much. I have to get back to city-building.

jacqulina - Thanks! I can always count on you. Traffic_Jam - Thank you too, I'm glad you like it. deejayc - Thanks for taking the time to make those observations. I can tell you have been watching closely. So you asked about my computer. Well it's not great. It was a speed machine at one time, but that was many years ago (almost 5 years). I have since upgraded the RAM and the graphics card. To get specific, it's a P4 with 1.5GHz of processing power, 768MB of RAM, and a 128MB GeForce4 Ti4600. Based on my performance with other games, I can safely say that the problem with SC4 is RAM. It seems that you can never have too much with this game, especially when you have large cities, lots of plugins, an enhanced pathfinding mod (which takes more time per pathfinding cycle), etc. And to get specific about the problem. It doesn't seem to be related to population, but rather the area of the city. Hollywood has a higher population than Los Angeles (the city), but Hollywood has no slowing problems because it only occupies less than half of a medium tile. The problems in Los Angeles are mostly related to zoom changes and rotation. Specifically, the game often wants to redraw every structure when the map is rotated. In Los Angeles this redrawing can take a long time, due to all the fine details in the city. I think it would help to lower some graphical settings when a city reaches this size, but I haven't tried that yet. Los Angeles is still workable. I just find it easier working with medium tiles. That's why I only made one large city tile in this region. Besides, medium tiles can interlink and interact, so there's really no need for a large tile. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, I'm talking too much but I still need to address your questions about power and garbage. I briefly covered the garbage situation on Page 3 or 4. For the first few pages, I was exporting garbage from all the cities into the city of Los Angeles. I simply ran out of storage space in the medium cities. You can see a picture of the garbage situation on Page 3 (I think it's on that page anyway). Garbage was getting out of control, so I finally caved and downloaded Pegasus' Garbage Chute. I now have several of these in each city. They still have a monthly cost and a reasonable capacity, so it's not entirely like cheating. My feeling was that a real city can export garbage to a landfill in the countryside - not just to the city nextdoor. The Garbage Chute was a way out of an unrealistic situation. The power situation has been an annoyance too, but not so much as garbage. When I start a city I will usually build a coal power plant on a distant hillside. It will be out of sight and out of mind until it needs to be replaced due to old age, or if a second one is required. I continue building and maintaining coal plants until the city tile becomes so full that the only empty space is that near the power plants. Nobody wants to live near a coal power plant, so I am usually forced to replace them with solar plants to free up some more space and eliminate the nearby pollution. Basically I would say that you should find a clean source of power as soon as you can afford it. Affording several solar plants is usually easy for me, since most of my cities make thousands of Simoleons in mass transit revenue (from inter-city commuters). Within just a few years of being started, Hollywood was making

samflashjr - Thanks for visiting. This should keep me busy for much longer than a week or two. The finished product is many months away at least. By the way, what part of this fine city are you from? U.S.K.C. - Thanks, I do too! It's an expensive place to live though. jacqulina - Thank you for increasing the number of replies to my CJ. Just kidding! Well it has been a couple of days, so it's time for the next update. Los Angeles Update 24 Regional population: 770,982 Hollywood: 228,144 No, that's not a typo. The regional population is indeed now almost 800,000. Hollywood's population has more than doubled since the last update, and it now holds the title of the highest population in the Los Angeles region. And the numbers aren't the only thing to have changed. The city has grown and improved greatly. There is a lot to see in this update. Before we begin, I have to mention that this update is dedicated to anyone who loves skyscrapers and BATs. Since there are so many in this update, I can't name them all - besides, I don't remember a lot of their names. However, if anyone wants to know the name of a specific building then please ask. Just refer to the number of the screenshot in which the building appears. And as always, all buildings grew naturally. There was some careful nurturing involved, but no cheating or plopping. Now without further delay, let's see some pictures. As always, the region view is the best place to start. You can already see some of those skyscrapers. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_01.jpg align=baseline> And the transit view. I like the way Hollywood blends with Pasadena in this shot. The two cities blend together almost seemlessly. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_02.jpg align=baseline> Just to emphasise that point, here is the region view again but without the city names and boundaries. Some of the empty tiles don't blend well because of differences in terrain colour and vegetation, but I think the city tiles are blending really well. When the entire land mass is developed, it should look awesome. And here is an overview of downtown Hollywood. I almost can't believe how much this area has progressed since the last update. There's nothing more beautiful than a vertical city. Also note the Hollywood sign in the lower-left corner - that area hasn't seen any development yet, but it will. Here is an alternate view, looking East towards the tightly packed residential side of Hollywood. This shot clearly shows how the residential area is linked to the downtown core. There are no direct road connections, so the highway and monorail are heavily used by local commuters. Another view of the downtown area, closer this time. Some of these BATs are really awesome. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_06.jpg align=baseline> And another view, closer still. It's difficult to take good close-up shots in such a dense area. Some of the buildings are taller than the screen at this zoom level. Still, this is a pretty cool picture. You can get an idea for the traffic situation in downtown Hollywood. At rush hour, around 20,000 Sims use this freeway onramp. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_07.jpg align=baseline> Take a look at Hollywood's twin towers. This is another fine BAT. I wish I could remember who made this building. I'll need to go back into SC4 and query it later. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_08.jpg align=baseline> Here's another view of downtown from a different angle. Some of these buildings are truly enormous. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_09.jpg align=baseline> Another angle, another BAT. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_10.jpg align=baseline> A couple more. I love the building on the left in this shot. I don't remember the name at this time though. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_11.jpg align=baseline> And now we have zoomed out again for a final view of downtown Hollywood. As you can see, the Capitol Records building is still here. When it was built, this was one of the largest buildings in the downtown area. Now it is dwarfed by office towers. Now it's time for a change of pace. This is an overview of the residential area of Hollywood. Despite the repetitious appearance, everything here has been carefully sculpted and planned. As you can see from this shot (and the region view), the residential area occupies only a small corner of the city tile, yet is home to more Sims than any other city in the region. If this pattern continues across the rest of the tile, Hollywood's total population could be huge. There are also a couple of cool BATs in this part of the city. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_13.jpg align=baseline> Here's a closer look at a couple of attractive apartment buildings, and a look at the busy freeway. The Northbound lanes lead to the region's second largest city, Los Angeles. To the West is downtown Hollywood. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_14.jpg align=baseline> I think this apartment tower looks really cool. What could be more fun than playing tennis on the 30th floor? https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_15.jpg align=baseline> And here is the view a little further to the East. Even though this area looks unplanned, there is actually a pretty complicated road network hidden under all those buildings. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_16.jpg align=baseline> This is a look at the main freeway access from the residential area. I made use of another NAM extended transition here. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_17.jpg align=baseline> Here we see some rare green space in the residential concrete jungle. And if you look closely, you can see Mayor Currie embracing the city of Hollywood with open arms. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_24_18.jpg align=baseline> And that concludes another update. This turned out to be a pretty big one. It was worth the effort though. I'm pleased with Hollywood's progress. Anyway, there will be more development in Hollywood tomorrow. Expect another update quite soon.

jacqulina, simcitymichi - Thanks! It's nice to see you both come back here. toxicpiano - Thank you. I mentioned a couple of times earlier that I'm not a fan of plopables at all. I have never plopped an RCI building. I wouldn't say it's cheating, but it takes some of the fun and surprise out of the city designing process. For all my BATs, I have the growable versions only. However, if an ugly building grows then I will demolish it to make way for something nicer. And I use the make historical button a lot, when attractive buildings grow in good locations.

djrules5454_simtropolisedition and Mikeaut1 - Thanks for your positive comments! As promised, here is the second update for tonight. Los Angeles Update 23 Regional population: 622,042 Hollywood: 79,204 You saw Hollywood in the region views from the last update, but now it's time to take a much closer look. We'll start out with the region views just because that's what I always do (even though they look identical to the last ones). And the transit view. In Hollywood you can see the freeways, rail line, and something new to the L.A. region - a monorail line. Now let's jump right in. The shot below is an overview of downtown Hollywood. I decided to do an experiment with this new city. I used the starter money to zone and construct a commercial downtown district, taking advantage of the high regional commercial demand. Before any residential zoning was done, I already had several skyscrapers in Hollywood. Thousands of Sims travel here from nearby Los Angeles and Pasadena. Another interesting part of this experiment was the mass transit revenue. Thousands of rail and bus commuters from neighbouring cities provided revenue to the city of Hollywood. This new income was enough to provide services, luxuries, and still have a large budget surplus. Hollywood is a huge success! And I should mention that this city is in it's (very) early stages. A lot of things need to be moved and/or removed. Showing Hollywood right now is kind of like going out in public in your underwear. The power lines, water pumps, etc are obviously not final. And I fully intend to develop all the land surrounding the downtown area. But anyway, here is what I have so far. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_23_03.jpg align=baseline> As you can see, a lot of high-rises and skyscrapers have formed here without any nearby residents. Let's take a closer look at those buildings. Also note the monorail line running along the Southern edge of downtown Hollywood. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_23_04.jpg align=baseline> Some more high-rise towers, and from a different angle. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_23_05.jpg align=baseline> And another view of those beautiful office buildings. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_23_06.jpg align=baseline> Of course, Hollywood wouldn't be complete without the Capitol Records building. And there's a cookie for anyone who can tell me what it says on the Maxis version of this building. Next, we take a look at the residential part of Hollywood. This was added some time after the commercial downtown. Besides, most of the Sims living here are commuting the short distance to Pasadena. A small number ride the monorail to the downtown area, but most of Hollywood's workforce is from out of town. And no city is complete without a statue of the wonderful mayor. I like this particular intersection - very green. In my constant effort to keep things interesting, this is another onramp I created. Probably not original and totally unnecessary - but hey, it looks cool! https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_23_10.jpg align=baseline> This next shot shows how NAM extended transitions have been used to dip the freeway under the monorail. In case anyone is wondering about this monorail - it basically forms a loop around the large hill in the middle of the city. You can see this loop from the transit view. Part of the line appears to be missing in the transit view, but that's because the monorail line enters a tunnel through the hill. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_23_11.jpg align=baseline> How many cities have their name spelled out in a landmark? Answer: One. Also in this picture, you can see part of that monorail tunnel. After looping around the Southern part of the city (tile) the monorail line enters the hillside here and emerges back in the downtown area. And that concludes the tour of Hollywood. As I'm sure you can tell, there is a lot of work to be done on this city. Stay tuned for many more updates on Hollywood's progress.

Deathtoall, kingofsimcity, simcitymichi, jacqulina - Thanks you guys, I appreciate all your comments! I want to apologise for not updating a couple of days ago as I said I would. I started work on a new city in my L.A. region. Things were going well - very well. Then a really cool BAT skyscraper developed, so I queried it to find out some stats about the building. Upon clicking the building with the query tool, I was dumped back to the desktop and I lost all that progress. After that, I was too annoyed to touch SC4 again - until today. I got over the upset, and now I'm back with an update. Actually, this will be two updates. The first is just a quick update to show the most recent changes in the city of Los Angeles. The second update (in a couple of hours from now) will show off the new city. So let's start with that quick update. Los Angeles Update 22 Regional population: 621,633 Los Angeles: 198,867 So the city of Los Angeles has experienced some minor growth, but the regional population has seen a large increase due to the addition of the new city. Because Los Angeles is on a large city tile, it is becoming difficult to keep building here. Pathfinding cycles take too long, as do zoom changes and saves. That's the reason for starting a new city. And in this region view you can see that new city - Hollywood. But there will be more on that in the next update. This update is all about Los Angeles. And the transit view. Los Angeles basically looks unchanged from the last update. Also note the addition of Burbank, which currently only serves as part of the freeway network. And now here is an overview of downtown Los Angeles. There are a bunch of new buildings here, but growth has slowed a lot. There just isn't any space left in this city. A closer look at some downtown office buildings. And who said you can't have diagonals in a dense city? This next shot is interesting. Foothill residents were worried about the landslide risk, so the mayor calmed their fears by re-enforcing this hillside. Translation: I got bored and went crazy with the walls. Here's a closer look at the access road to the hillside community. The wall project took a long time. I think it looks pretty cool though. And this is a new part of the city which has recently sprung up on the East side of the river. Let's finish this update with an overview of the entire city (well, as much as I could fit in one shot). So now we're pretty much up-to-date on the city of Los Angeles. I feel like we're saying goodbye to this city. I guess we are, but it will be a temporary goodbye. As I mentioned, the next update (later tonight) will focus on Hollywood, which you may have seen in the region views. I would've put everything in one update, but I don't have enough time right now. Anyway, I'm quite proud of Hollywood. I think it's worth seeing, so check back in a few hours!

Time for another update, folks! Los Angeles Update 21 Regional population: 519,245 Los Angeles: 173,696 Los Angeles (both the region and the city) has seen a large influx of new residents since the last update. Los Angeles itself is once again the largest city in the region with almost 175,000 residents, and the greater Los Angeles area is now home to over 500,000 people. In case anyone has noticed the discrepancy in the regional population, I should explain. The regional number has increased by more than the Los Angeles number in this update, because I recently loaded each of the other cities and allowed them to run for a few years with the newly increased regional population and demand numbers. As a result, the cities of Santa Monica, Malibu and Pasadena all increased in population by around 5000 Sims. Several new skyscrapers also developed in these cities (simply by running the simulation and sitting back). Later there will be an update to briefly revisit each of these cities. Anyway, here is the latest view of the region. Most of the new development has taken place in Los Angeles. And here is the transit view. Everything is blending together nicely. With space running out in Los Angeles, the city is beginning to expand up the valley to the North. Terraforming of new city tiles will soon be necessary. Here is the latest overview of Los Angeles. The entire South side of the L.A. River has been completely filled, so development is now taking place in the rugged terrain to the North. Before we head up there, let's take a look at the downtown area on the South side. You can see a couple of new skyscrapers here. This skyscraper has come to mark the center of downtown Los Angeles. The Polamile Commerce Center by Cerulean. A fine piece of architecture. And in case anyone is wondering, it grew naturally of course. Also note the modern art museum in this picture, awarded for having 5 museums in the city (I think). The other big downtown skyscraper is the Wren Insurance building. Another new development in Los Angeles is this mass housing project. At the time of zoning, this area was intended to house large numbers of low-wealth residents, but somehow all these medium-wealth towers developed. And believe it or not, all these identical buildings grew naturally at the same time. And here is a closer view. These towers look good in one big group. I love the dark shadowy area between the buildings. Next, we're taking a look at the busiest freeway interchange in the city. It should be noted that the camera is facing South here, so things are essentially upside down. The through route is the main North-South freeway, and the route branching off to the right of the picture is the freeway which runs East-to-West across the city. I hope that wasn't too complicated. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_21_09.jpg align=baseline> In the next shot we have travelled to the North side of the river, where a lot of new development is planned. The North side has it's own downtown area, seen here. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_21_10.jpg align=baseline> This is a very impressive building - Palm Plaza by oneil_1. It grew as a R

jacqulina - Thanks! It's great to see you in here after each update. I don't know how you keep up. kingofsimcity - Thank you! Some of those upscale hillside neighbourhoods are inspired by my surroundings. In L.A. no slope is too steep to build on. And I'm on a hill at the far West end of the valley here, so I can see across the entire valley. Talk about sprawl. It takes a clear day to see to the other side of the valley though - and that's rare in the summer. And thank you, MissTonya. I'm glad to see you came back. toxicpiano - Those walls are created by jeronij. He has produced 3 different sets of walls, and they're all available on the STEX. You can find them by searching for his name, or I also provided links to each set on Page 3 of this CJ (near the bottom of that page). Thanks again to everyone who is following this, and I will be updating later today.

Deathtoall - Thanks for stopping by, I'm glad you're still following my CJ. kingofsimcity - Thank you for taking the time to leave so much feedback. I'm pleased that you will be a regular visitor to my CJ - I just hope I can keep impressing you every time. And it would be an honour to be listed in your signature beside those other great CJs. I'm also glad that you have been inspired by my cities. I was inspired by several CJs here, so a lot of my work is not truly my own. I used to use grids a lot, and I rarely used trees. Only recently have I started to make things greener, more spread out, and more random. One major tip I can give you (I don't think you need tips, since your own CJ was so impressive) is to lay out your main road network before doing any zoning. For me this makes the experience more enjoyable and more challenging. Lay down your highways, roads, avenues - follow the terrain if possible, while trying to make things somewhat random. Once you have a random, uneven road network - force yourself to work with it. Build around it, but don't change it. You'll end up with bottlenecks, awkward open spaces, uneven land - but that's what makes it FUN. Obviously this is just my opinion, but for me a square grid on flat land is way too easy. Anyway, I'm rambling. You mentioned my terraforming. Some people choose to start with a premade region, but I have always made my regions one tile at a time. All the land in my region was formed on impulse. Very little was actually planned, and if you asked me to recreate my region then I wouldn't be able to make it look the same. I form land much like I form road networks - make something first, make it interesting, and then force yourself to work with it. It's a lot like real life I suppose. But yeah, the only problem with making a region in this way is that you need to spend a lot of time getting the tiles to match up at the edges. And oh yeah, regarding the terrain. I first saw CycleDogg's Terrain Mod in jeroni's journal. It doesn't exactly fit in with the real-life L.A., but I just love the lush green grass and the rock tones. I think I downloaded this water mod because of jeroni's journal too. This game wouldn't be the same without all the great downloads available on the STEX. Aaaaanyway, that's more than enough talking. People want to see some pictures. Thanks again for the good feedback. Oh, I almost forgot to ask. What part of L.A. do you live in? I'm in the San Fernando Valley, so I see a lot of the L.A. sprawl. It would be very boring to recreate the entire Los Angeles area accurately, so I'm just using L.A. city names in a (mostly) fictional region. Update time... Los Angeles Update 20 Regional population: 435,067 Los Angeles: 104,256 Los Angeles hasn't changed much in appearance, so this update will focus specifically on the new parts of the city since the last update. I had been having some problems with the city, because of the complicated transportation network, so I didn't make as much progress as I had hoped. Nonetheless, a new subway system eased a lot of the traffic problems so things are looking good for now. In the latest region view you can see several improvements. Firstly, the Southwest corner of the Los Angeles tile has been filled with low-density housing, to match up with that found in Glendale. You can also see the newly constructed airport near the lake. And the other obvious change is that the hills around the airport have been forested to blend in with Pasadena to the South. The transit view clearly shows the location of the new regional airport. This first city picture is an overview of Los Angeles. From this distant view you can appreciate the sheer size of the city - already more than 2 medium city tiles. As a result, things can get laggy at times. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_20_03.jpg align=baseline> Here is a view of the main downtown sector. There are now some larger buildings here, and the city has expanded Eastward since the last time we saw this area. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_20_04.jpg align=baseline> And here is what lies to the East. Expansion in this direction has been mostly commercial. The recently constructed airport, conference center and stock exchange have caused a business boom in Los Angeles. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_20_05.jpg align=baseline> Next we see an overview of that new airport. Access to the airport comes in the form of a tunnel under the runway. Good freeway access is also important for any airport. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_20_06.jpg align=baseline> A closer look at the entrance to the airport. As they walk out of the terminal building, it's easy for visitors to forget they have arrived in a big city. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_20_07.jpg align=baseline> This next picture shows the Southwest corner of the city (from a different angle). Most of this hillside was undeveloped in the last update. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_20_08.jpg align=baseline> In the final shot, we see the commercial area on the North side of the river. This only made it into the update because of that odd-looking skyscraper. I say it looks odd because it is so out of place. I think this may be the first true skyscraper in Los Angeles. And it developed naturally, so I'm not complaining. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_20_09.jpg align=baseline> Well, that's the end of this update. I have to apologise for it being so short, but Los Angeles didn't develop today as much as I had hoped it would. Hopefully there will be a lot more improvements to the city for tomorrow's update. So thanks for reading, and check back soon!

jacqulina, simcitymichi, Traffic_Jam - Thanks for returning to my CJ. I'm glad you guys are still following my progress, and I'm glad you like it. toxicpiano - No problem, don't worry about it. deejayc - Thanks again! You're too kind. And I'm glad you were able to create an underwater tunnel. Now that you know the technique, maybe you can come up with some interesting ways to integrate this into your cities. Regarding the pathways in 19.13. Those are part of the Scenic Drive Kit from pegasus. You can find it here on the STEX. This is one of my favourite downloads. The straight sections can be used to create alleys between buildings, and the numerous parking pieces can be used to create large parking lots for apartment complexes. And the walls. There are 3 sets of walls that I use - one is generally for industrial use, one looks good in commercial areas, and one looks good on residential hillsides. All 3 sets are made by jeronij. You can search on the STEX for his name, or I also provided links to each set on Page 3 of this CJ. And to answer your last question, the beach in 19.12 isn't a beach at all. This is just the natural terrain. All I did was level the terrain above the water, and so the coastal tiles take on the cliff texture (and to the left on that, the beach texture - this is based on the steepness of the land). The beachy look is provided by CycleDogg's Terrain Mod . This is also what makes my grass look so green. Another very good download. Anyway, I'm going to try to update tonight. Right now I'm having trouble with growth and employment in Los Angeles. Hopefully things will get smoothed out in time for an update.

deejayc - Thank you! I don't think my CJ is anywhere near the best on Simtropolis, but I'm glad you think so. Regarding the tunnels, there is a tutorial out there somewhere but I'll try to give some simple instructions... 1. Pick the location for the tunnel. 2. Use the God-Mode tools to raise a land bridge where you want your tunnel to go. Tunnels can only be built on land. 3. If the land is at an appropriate height, drag the tunnel across the land bridge. 4. With the tunnel built, you can then use the God-Mode tools to sink the land back underwater. 5. Restore the shape of your river so it looks like the land bridge was never there. 6. Voila! You have (the illusion of) an underwater tunnel. And to answer your other question, I use the Random Woods by Pegasus to put trees in my cities. There are two lots - 1x1 and 2x2. They can be used to fill small spaces, or to cover entire hillsides. And each time you place the lot, it produces different trees at different angles. A very good download in my opinion. So anyway, time for that update I promised. Los Angeles Update 19 Regional population: 401,871 Los Angeles: 71,060 Some of you may remember the first city in this region - Los Angeles. For those of you who don't remember, you can see the early stages of Los Angeles on the first page of this CJ. Because this was the first city, I had a lot of trouble getting larger buildings to grow. Now that the region is more developed, I have returned to Los Angeles to finish the job. Already today, Los Angeles has gone from a population of around 20,000 to over 70,000. We'll start with the latest region view. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_01.jpg align=baseline> In the transit view you can see the newest area of development in Los Angeles, to the South of the lake. You may also notice the new section of freeway in that area. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_02.jpg align=baseline> Here is an overview of the new section of the city. As you can see, there is still a lot of empty land and a lot of low-density buildings. This area has a long way to go. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_03.jpg align=baseline> And here you can see the lake from the early updates. The new section of freeway runs South of the lake and through the new downtown area. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_04.jpg align=baseline> Below is a quick reminder of what lies on the North side of the river. No new development has taken place here since the last time we saw L.A., but that will change soon. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_05.jpg align=baseline> Now here is a little something I created just to keep things interesting - a corner onramp. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_06.jpg align=baseline> And no city would be complete without some medium-wealth hi-rise towers. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_07.jpg align=baseline> Next, this is pretty much the downtown commercial core. You see a lot of low-density buildings right now, since the city population is too low for skyscrapers. Things should take off soon though. Note the nice NAM bridge too. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_08.jpg align=baseline> Here are some more of those residential towers. (Picture taken at a different angle) https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_09.jpg align=baseline> Some people have probably been wondering where the industry is located in this region. Well here it is. The regional population is around 400,000, and this industrial sector you see below provides around 40,000 industrial jobs. Recently the area has seen a rise in high-tech industry, causing smog levels to fall. Hopefully this trend will continue. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_10.jpg align=baseline> And in the next shot you can see the recently constructed high-tech industrial park to the North of the river. This area is connected to the Southern industrial sector by an underwater tunnel. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_11.jpg align=baseline> A closer look at the high-tech industry. Industrial buildings aren't very attractive, but I tried to make this area look visually pleasing. And some more high-tech buildings. PEG's Scenic Drive Kit makes for some nice tree-lined alleys between the structures. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_13.jpg align=baseline> The final shot takes us back to the South side of the river. This hillside took a long time to develop, but it's finally complete. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_19_14.jpg align=baseline> And that's the end of this update. I hope you all enjoyed it. Come back tomorrow for another installment.

toxicpiano - No offense, but please don't advertise your work in people's CJs. If you want to inform me about your airport pack then PM me. If you want to inform others then start a topic in the appropriate forum. At least remove the screenshot, since it has nothing to do with my CJ. I would thank you for your positive comments, but I don't feel like they are directed at my city specifically. It sounds more like a generic block of copy-and-paste spam. Maybe a moderator can remove it if they see fit. kingofsimcity - Thank you very much. That means a lot coming from someone with a great CJ such as your own. I've visited Goldenrod Plains several times - very impressive. I know that you, and a lot of others, have been running a CJ for much longer than I have. I also know that respect has to be earned, and you veteran CJers have earned it. I hope I will be up there with the greats one day.

jacqulina, newy2 - Thanks, you guys! It's nice to see both of you returning to my CJ again and again. homer2 - Thanks for the feedback. If you like that picture with the walls, you should check out the first page of the CJ (maybe you did already). I used a lot of low-density housing and walls in the early stages. oroen - Thank you, I'm glad you came back! I have to say I'm obsessive about making things look visually pleasing. In terms of layout, I prefer something that looks good instead of something that works effectively (although sometimes it can look good and function well at the same time). It would be easy to make a square road grid with freeway onramps at every block - but that would be too easy. And as for being underappreciated - it's hard to be truly appreciated here when there are so many awesome CJs. The standard is very high at Simtropolis. Plus, things move so quickly here that I can make an update and my CJ will fall off the first page within 30 minutes. It's tough, but I try not to be disheartened when that happens. I'll just keep doing my thing, and if people come then I'm grateful. P.S. - Next update later today.

Well, it's a few days later than I had planned to update. On Friday I lost several hours of city-building when SC4 decided to crash while trying to save. That has a way of killing one's enthusiasm. And then yesterday I also discovered that Pasadena had a major pathfinding flaw. I finally tracked it down to those avenue turning lanes - it seems that certain paths are broken, so I had to remove the file and reconstruct the intersections. Everything is fine now though, so here comes the next update. Los Angeles Update 18 Regional population: 349,862 Pasadena: 130,800 Pasadena is finally complete. There may be some fine tuning required, and I still have to work on matching up the lines of Pasadena and Los Angeles (you can see this on the region view) - but most of the work on this city is done. Here's the latest region view. And the transit view. I could probably build a little more into the hillside in Pasadena, to match up the developed area with that of Los Angeles. So now here is an overview of Pasadena. Not too much has changed. There are more trees now, and a bunch of larger buildings. As we move South, you can see how the hills have been developed. Most of the hillside land was too steep for construction though, so forests were planted. And now we see the West side of Pasadena. A lot of this area is new (since the last update). The Marriott Hotel is still here. In fact, it has stood for over 300 years. Here is a look at the towers near the downtown core. This area is getting very crowded. This is the area to the West of the hills. That interesting building on the left is the office of EMI Records. And this is a divided avenue I created with the help of some lots from the STEX. I don't remember who created the avenue dividers, but they look pretty sweet. Below is a closer look at the Southwest corner of Pasadena. I like how this area has turned out. The freeway doesn't get much usage yet, since there is no neighbouring city to the South, but that will change soon. A little to the North, the freeway is lined with residential towers. And now here is a look at some of the winding roads in the hilly section of Pasadena. And finally... As with the other cities, Mayor Currie watches over Pasadena from a prominent position. Whenever the residents of Pasadena look up, they will be reminded of their great mayor. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_18_13.jpg align=baseline> So that's all from the city of Pasadena. Look out for the next update to the Los Angeles region sometime tomorrow!

scififan68, jacqulina - thanks for the kind comments, I'm glad you guys like it. palmgurl - I would be honoured to be in your sig. I don't think I'm in anyone's sig yet. I'm still an amateur. Anyway, I'll try to get some palm trees into the next update. And regarding the next update... I just got back from work, so I hope to update in a few hours (depending on how my gameplay experience goes ). Stay tuned.

Thanks for the feedback, guys! Deathtoall, I'm leaving for work soon so I wanted to answer your questions before I go. The walls are all created by jeronij, and the garbage chute is from pegasus. I'll provide the links... Residential and Rural Diagonal Walls Shore Conforming Seawalls Modern Concrete Diagonal Walls PEG Garbage Chute

toxicpiano, I plan to build an airport in the city of Los Angeles pretty soon. I'm not exactly sure how to tell when an airport is required. My Sims have been asking for an airport for weeks, but my cities are doing just fine without one. Anyway, I wanted to update yesterday but I didn't have enough time. This will be a pretty big update, so hopefully that makes up for it. Los Angeles Update 17 Regional population: 294,005 Pasadena: 74,943 A lot of progress has been made in Pasadena. Here in the region view, you can see how the different cities are really starting to blend together. And the transit view. A new section of highway has been constructed in Pasadena. Later this will link to the cities on the South coast of the region. The following shot is an overview of the city at the farthest zoom level. I don't normally take pictures from this far out, but I have to explain the recent changes in Pasadena. Basically, with the land on the East side being used up, the city needed to expand to the West. The steep hills made construction difficult, so two tunnels were constructed to connect the existing part of Pasadena with the flat land beyond the hills. The tunnels are shown by the white arrows. The long avenue tunnel was constructed first, and then later a short double-one-way tunnel was constructed to the South. Later in this update, we'll take a closer look at the latter. Now we zoom closer, centering on what has become downtown Pasadena. To the North, the Marriott Hotel still remains a prominent feature. And this is a closer look at the area to the West of the hills. Back to the downtown area, we can see some of the large apartment buildings which have developed here. I really love some of these towers. The only downside is that they produce a lot of traffic. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_17_08.jpg align=baseline> Here we see the Marriott again. It's now surrounded by some larger buildings, but it still looks great. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_17_09.jpg align=baseline> The next few shots are kind of interesting. I wanted to create a residential area with a divided avenue. The idea was to create something quite classy, and for this to become a high-wealth area. It's still a work in progess, however the road system is pretty much complete. First, this is the ramp leading up to that Southern tunnel. The traffic circle provides a junction with the split-avenue which leads into the residential area. I should say that the camera was rotated to face West here, just to avoid confusion. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_17_10.jpg align=baseline> And now we're facing North again. This is an overview of that wide avenue. The traffic circle from the last shot is located just beyond the top of this shot. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_17_11.jpg align=baseline> And now a closer look. I provided this turning area halfway down the avenue. Some nice towers have already developed along this section. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_17_12.jpg align=baseline> And further South, you can see where the avenue comes to an end. This little project has created a lot of wasted space, but I think it looks pretty cool. Here is where the tunnel emerges on the West side of the hills. This area is relatively new, so don't be fooled by the empty land. I intend to construct a lot of low-density housing in this area. After descending the hill, we come to another traffic circle. As you can see, through-traffic is already heavy in this area, despite the lack of development. And now we see where all those cars are going. This is the commercial area to the West. It has become something of a second downtown for Pasadena. This is the junction at the end of that long avenue tunnel. Not surprisingly, this is a very busy intersection. And just to round out the Pasadena part of this update, here is a shot of some condo buildings near the new freeway. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So that was the last image of Pasadena, but it's not the end of this update. There is other news in the Los Angeles region. If you have been following this CJ closely then you will know that trash from several cities was being exported to the city of Los Angeles. When you are working on a medium-sized city tile, space is often at a premium. A landfill is a big waste of space. Anyway, I recently returned to Los Angeles and discovered the huge impact of all that imported trash. I kept zoning more and more landfills, but the trash problem was getting out of control. Observe. But that is now a distant memory (hence the black and white ). Now I don't like to cheat, but I think it's unfair that you can only export trash to the city nextdoor (and not to somewhere in the middle of the countryside (as in real life)). With this in mind, I decided to download PEG's miracle trash chute. I try not to think of this as cheating, since each chute has a monthly operating cost and each one has a maximum capacity. I am still happy to deal with water and power, but now I have an easy solution to the trash problem - dump it over the edge! Take a look at the formerly dirty corner of Los Angeles now. And a closer look at those trash chutes. Genius. I'll be constructing these in each of my cities. And on that humourous note, this is the end of Update 17. I hope you like what is happening with Pasadena, and I hope nobody will be too upset at my taking the easy way out of the trash situation. With that one minor exception, I still maintain a policy of no cheating. Anyway, stay tuned for the next update sometime soon!

Deathtoall, thanks for returning. Those Aspen-style condos are a great addition to the game. I don't remember who created them, but that guy rocks. I find it is very easy to get those to grow in my cities. All you need to do is provide all the necessary services - police, health, education - this will make it possible for R

Wow, thanks for all the great feedback! gurrgkud, jeeper767, flanig407 - thank you guys, I appreciate the kind words. kmoh4346 - thanks to you too. It's not always easy, but I do try to blend the suburbs with the downtown areas in a realistic way. As for industrial areas - well it's difficult to blend those in anywhere. Sometimes I incorporate high-tech industry, but I don't like to use dirty industry in my cities. In my Los Angeles region, the only dirty industry can be found in Los Angeles itself. You can see this on the first page of the CJ (I think), but I will be revisiting this city very soon. And thanks, Deathtoall. Since I live in L.A., I know of many areas where the hillside is densely packed with houses. My recreation is kind of extreme (too many walls maybe), but it does take some inspiration from my surroundings. I'm glad you saw the similarity. And I also wanna say thanks to you guys who keep returning to see my latest updates. When I see the same people coming back again and again, I know I must be doing something right. Anyway, enough talk. Time for another quick update. Los Angeles Update 16 Regional population: 227,333 Pasadena: 7,194 As promised, we're moving to Pasadena now. Take a look at the region view to get some perspective. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_16_01.jpg align=baseline> And the transit view. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_16_02.jpg align=baseline> And now the latest overview of Pasadena. Nestled in the Northeast corner of the tile, this city has been brought to life by the concrete river running through it. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_16_03.jpg align=baseline> Here is that busy intersection from the last update, complete with working turning lanes. Those NAM guys are geniuses. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_16_04.jpg align=baseline> In the overview, you may have noticed that interesting building by the side of the freeway. Here is a closer look. You're seeing the rear of the building, since obviously it faces onto the avenue. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_16_05.jpg align=baseline> And so here it is from the front. The Marriott Hotel. I think it looks perfect in this position. This is definitely one of my favourite views in Pasadena. And by the way, I didn't plop that building - it grew as a CS

Thanks for the comments. This is just a relatively short update to finish off the city of Malibu. I did some more work on Pasadena, visible from the region view, but I didn't have time to add that to this update. The next update will focus on that city. Los Angeles Update 15 Regional population: 225,595 Malibu: 107,713 So to continue from the last update, I had that large empty corner of land in Malibu. I'll show you what happened to it soon, but first here are the region views. These region views were taken after work was completed on Malibu, so they show the city tile being completely full. And in the transit view, you can see how Malibu has been built right up to the edge of the city tile. I decided to do something a little different to complete this city. Normally I zone very small areas at a time, but here I decided to zone the entire empty space at one time before unpausing the game. I felt that Malibu was stable enough to handle this sudden influx of new residents. First, a look at the zoning layout. Closer, and a short time after the game was unpaused. I didn't know what was going to grow here. Upon seeing so many low-wealth towers, I knew the existing hospitals in the area wouldn't be able to cope. Note the new hospital constructed in this area since the last shot. And the following shot is an overview of the situation, a few years after zoning began. I had to allow a few years before this area could be considered complete - that's about how long it takes for most of the low-wealth towers to be redeveloped into medium and high-wealth buildings. Once again, a closer look. A few years earlier, this was an empty piece of land. Now it's an attractive corner of the city. The next shot is an overview of the Northern part of the city. The solar plants have been surrounded with trees, and a few high-tech industrial buildings have been constructed on the hillside. One of the finishing touches to Malibu was the area of the cliffside resort hotel. This place makes for a nice getaway from the busy city. And finally, even when Mayor Currie is taking care of business in other cities, part of him will always be watching over Malibu. And with that, Malibu is complete. I don't know if we'll be returning here later. Not in the near future anyway. The next priority is Pasadena, and then it's back to the city of Los Angeles. So I hope everyone is enjoying my CJ. Come back again real soon!