RoddyC

Thanks everyone, for the great comments. GLENNI, thank you. I'm glad you like those low-wealth towers. They are an important part of every city. StrongarmWombat, thanks to you too. I'm glad this CJ has inspired you. I can say that I was truly inspired by the CJ of jeronij. I have implemented a number of his techniques and his lots in my cities. And thanks gurrgkud. I am glad you like what you see, especially since you have such good taste (from your list of great CJs). And now for the next update. It's a few hours later than intended - what can I say, I lost track of time while I was working on my city. Los Angeles Update 14 Regional population: 217,550 Malibu: 101,978 Pasadena: 3,323 Malibu continues to grow upwards and outwards. With a population of more than 100,000 Sims and the city tile almost full, work on the city of Malibu is almost complete. And with Malibu progressing well, I started work on the new city of Pasadena. More on that later. The region view now clearly shows the dense high-rise structures in Malibu. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_14_01.jpg align=baseline> And by looking at the transit view, you can appreciate how little empty land is left in Malibu. So here is the latest overview of the city. Lots of new high-rises. Most of the new development has been to the Southwest of the downtown core. The remaining corner of empty land is the former site of two coal power plants and the city landfill. Trash is now being exported to Los Angeles (via Pasadena), and power comes from two solar plants to the North. This empty land will be developed soon. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_14_03.jpg align=baseline> As we zoom closer, we see some of the new office towers which have developed in downtown Malibu. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_14_04.jpg align=baseline> A closer look at that rather unique building - One Starr Center has become a focal point in the downtown area. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_14_05.jpg align=baseline> In the following shot, we see some of the buildings surrounding the downtown park. Despite the high demand for office space, I felt it was important to maintain some grass in this concrete jungle. The following shot shows where those new solar plants were constructed. There is also a high-capacity water pump located here. And those are all the shots of Malibu for this update. The following images show the new city of Pasadena. (See the region view for the location of Pasadena.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So as you may know, Pasadena lies on the highway between Malibu and Los Angeles. I originally started work on Pasadena just to allow commuters to travel from Malibu to Los Angeles, although Pasadena will soon become a large city itself. Pasadena currently has a population of around 3000, with 8000 Sims commuting from Malibu. Of those 8000 Sims, around 1000 choose to work in Pasadena, and the other 7000 continue following the highway into Los Angeles. This situation allowed for quick commercial development in Pasadena before any residents even moved into the city. This situation of high regional demand also means that it will soon be time to return to the original city of Los Angeles, to turn it into a true metropolis. But for now, the focus is on constructing Pasadena. Take a look at the current layout. The highway disects the city. There is currently little need for onramps, since the highway is mostly used as a through route. A closer look at the structures in Pasadena shows how high commercial demand caused high-density buildings to be constructed, despite the low population. And in this final shot, we see the main intersection in Pasadena. This city is going to become something of a crossroads in the region, so it was appropriate to start building the city around such a junction. Note the turning lanes - very nice. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_14_10.jpg align=baseline> And that concludes yet another update. I hope it was well received, and I hope you will come back tomorrow to see the completion of Malibu, the latest progress in Pasadena, and perhaps more.

Thanks for the quick and positive feedback! toxicpiano, I just stopped by real quick to answer your question. I have been using CycleDogg's Terrain Mod . I love the look it gives to my region. It doesn't quite fit with Los Angeles, but since this is a fictional L.A. I think it's okay. I believe CD's intention was a Pacific Northwest appearance. Anyway, there will be another update tonight. Stay tuned.

Thanks to you guys - aleking, simcitymichi and flanig407. I appreciate the kind comments. And thanks to Pooty. I look forward to seeing your new CJ. Let me know when you get it started. Also, I must apologise for the lack of an update over the last few days. Weekends don't leave me with much free time. I expect it to be like this every week, but don't worry - there will be regular updates on weekdays. Los Angeles Update 13 Regional population: 170,925 Malibu: 58,676 I may not have had time to update, but I still had some time to play. As a result, Malibu has seen tremendous growth - from a city of 8000 people to almost 60,000. As usual, we start with the region view. It doesn't look much different from this height, although you can see the way Malibu and Santa Monica now blend together almost seemlessly. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_13_01.jpg align=baseline> And the transit view. No major changes have been made to the network. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_13_02.jpg align=baseline> Now here is an overview of downtown Malibu. From this height, you can start to appreciate the increased density of the city. Malibu has certainly come a long way since the last update. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_13_03.jpg align=baseline> Closer still, you can see how high-rise buildings have developed around the central park area. No true skyscrapers yet, but we are getting pretty close. I have found it very difficult to form a dense downtown area in this city of parks, trees, and complicated street layouts. I am very pleased with this result so far though. Now we get down to some of the finer details. This part of town really feels busy. At rush hour, downtown Malibu just comes to life. If you look closely, you can actually see a traffic accident happening in front of the statue. (I didn't notice this until after the picture was uploaded). And here is Malibu's city hall. This was once a smaller building, but as the size of the city increased, a larger city hall was needed. I don't want to confuse people, but I rotated the camera for the next couple of shots. I want to show off the true beauty of this downtown area from every angle. Here we are facing East. And with the camera rotated again, we see the view looking South. The buildings you see below are some of the closest things I have to commercial skyscrapers right now. I don't know the true definition of a skyscraper, but these are at least high-rise towers. Still facing South, we see some of the high-rise apartments and condos on the outskirts of downtown Malibu. The high-speed rail line cuts Malibu in half. With few crossings, this makes for some interesting traffic bottlenecks. Next, we return to the regular North-facing view. What you see here is the area to the South of the downtown core. In this area there is a more diverse mix of wealth-levels. You may remember this next shot from the previous update. The empty park land has remained the same, however there are some new buildings here now. And finally an overview of Malibu's East side. This area is largely occupied by low-density housing. And that concludes another update. The next update will also focus on Malibu. Still on the agenda is coastal development, and further increasing the density of the downtown area. I hope you all enjoyed this update. Check back soon!

Thanks guys, I appreciate the positive comments. Keep that feedback coming! Right now, it's time for the next update... Los Angeles Update 12 Regional population: 120,395 Malibu: 8,146 The new city of Malibu has seen some interesting developments since the last installment. I'll start with the region view. And the transit view. Now let's get down to the city itself. This first shot centres on the downtown area of the city. Having learned lessons from Santa Monica, I am trying to create a more dense downtown district in the hopes of attracting more skyscrapers. And thanks to regional demand, this city already has more commercial jobs than it has residents. A little over 8000 people live in Malibu, but more than 10,000 work here. With so many out-of-town commuters, an efficient transportation network is critical. I wanted to do something unique. You can see it somewhat in this picture, but a closer look will come later. First, we move to the East to see the residential area of Malibu. Some standard low-density housing, a few condos, and note the coastal avenue extended from Santa Monica to the North. Further to the North, we see more of the same. There is a lot of promising empty land here. The city is still young. Next, we take a closer look at the downtown area. For a city of just 8000 people, I think this is a promising start. Large commercial buildings were able to develop so early because of the demand from Santa Monica. About 6000 Santa Monica residents commute to Malibu via the highway system and the rail line. Here's a closer look at that highway onramp from the last picture. It's a little different from the standard ramp, but obviously it works the same way. I think it looks pretty cool. Okay, now it's time to show off the defining feature in this city. In the previous shots, you may have noticed the large hole in the land downtown. Well as you all know, it's not possible to build underground intersections - so this is the next best thing. First, here is a simple diagram of the system. Basically, the freeway from Santa Monica runs directly under the downtown area of Malibu, where it is intersected by an avenue. To the north, Santa Monica. To the south, access to the rest of the freeway network. To the East, the residential area of Malibu. And to the West, easy access to the downtown core. This crossroads is by far the busiest intersection in the city. For now at least, it works very effectively. And now, here is a closer look at the intersection itself. I surrounded it with park land in an attempt to make it blend in. The next shot shows the West branch of the tunnel system, where the tunnel emerges into the downtown area. This is the busiest of the four tunnels. Here is the South tunnel entrance. This freeway interchange gets a decent amount of traffic in all directions. I love to see people using my freeways. Next, we see some condos and some much-needed green space. I'm worried that this may be a little too green though. All that unoccupied land makes me want to build something. And finally, a nice coastal walkway in the quiet residential part of town. So Malibu has come a long way, but it still has a long way to go. I hope you all liked this update, and I hope you check back soon to follow the city's progress.

Latest news: In an attempt to put his CJ back on the front page, Mayor Currie decided to post another update. Just kidding. I started a new city in my Los Angeles region, so I wanted to post the latest region views and talk a little about what the future has in store. Los Angeles Update 11 Regional population: 109,847 Malibu: 841 First, a region view showing the location of the new city, Malibu. This first shot was taken prior to any development. And this shot was also taken before construction began on the city. It gives an idea of the terrain features in this area. After those pictures were taken, I started to work on laying down a transportation network. I won't show you the current situation up-close, because it's very much a work in progress. I ran out of playing time before I could complete the network. Roads and rail still need to be laid, but here is a preliminary overview showing the new highway system. The latest addition to L.A.'s freeway system is much more visible in the transit view. You can see where the Pacific Coast Highway (avenue) has been extended from Santa Monica. The freeways in Malibu will have some interesting features, although you can't really see them from this view. A much more extensive view is coming soon. That's all I have for you right now. Tomorrow I will finish up the transportation network in Malibu and start work on building the city. I've got some big things planned, so be sure to come back tomorrow!

Thanks for the good comments! toxicpiano, I like to nurture my cities to make them grow. I think it gives a greater sense of achievement when you can watch your city take shape gradually. Being able to plop skyscrapers would be too easy. MissTonya, thank you for the positive feedback... cutie. And now for a quick update... Los Angeles Update 10 Regional population: 109,006 Santa Monica: 72,299 I just finished working on the final corner of Santa Monica. Now the entire city tile has been filled. I may return here later, but for now I think this will be the final update for Santa Monica. And since you've already seen most of the city, this update will be short. First, an overview of the new area. Basically I removed the landfill, old water pumps, and windmills. Four new water pumps and a solar plant were constructed in their place, and trash is now being sent to neighbouring Los Angeles. With new land freed up, some low-density housing was constructed. Woodland filled out the rest. For a comparison of what has changed, take a look at 09.04. A closer look. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_10_02.jpg align=baseline> And the view to the North of the last shot. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_10_03.jpg align=baseline> And with that, we will be leaving Santa Monica for a while. I hope you all liked following this city's progress, and I hope you like how it turned out. In the next update(s) we'll take a look at a new city in the Los Angeles region. Thanks again for all the positive feedback!

Thank you, palmgurl! I'm glad you like my CJ. Regarding the trains, I believe the NAM makes them longer. More specifically, there is an automata file as part of the NAM. It makes vehicles and trains appear in more realistic numbers. Without this file, I think the maximum length of a train is 8 cars or something, but with the NAM I see trains of 20+ cars. My rail usage is now around 7000 Sims. And thanks Slowhand, I hope you will check back soon to see what happens next.

A little late, but here is the full update I promised yesterday. Los Angeles Update 09 Regional population: 109,150 Santa Monica: 72,443 Santa Monica has seen a lot of development in the last couple of days. The city is now about 90% complete. Although the region view remains unchanged, it's a good place to start. You can clearly notice some of the new high-rise buildings in Santa Monica. And the standard transit view. No change here. Next we see an overview of the South side of Santa Monica. Lots of new high-rise buildings. You can also see the new and improved causeway - too bad about the graphical bug at this zoom level. Further to the West, we see a lot of residential housing projects. Like I've said before, I believe in a good mix of low, medium and high wealth. The poor people have to live somewhere. In the next picture, I have zoomed in closer so you can see how the causeway is supposed to look. It looks great at the closest 4 zoom levels. And if you're wondering what happened... well... um... global warming caused the water levels to rise, so this piece of land became an island. Halfway along the causeway, I built an area where Sims can pull off the road to relax and enjoy the view. (Wow, I just noticed one of the parking lot tiles is facing the wrong way. I'll fix that later) Below you can see the area of the second underwater tunnel. I think it has been pretty well integrated into the causeway. Also, I'm not crazy about the appearance of the cruise ship port, but there was nowhere else left to put it. And a closer look at the tunnel entrance. At the North end of the causeway, we see the bridge connection with the mainland. Now we revisit the place where that underwater tunnel emerges into the commercial district. This area continues to grow upwards. With land at a premium, Santa Monica has begun to expand up the hillside. A pair of medium-wealth residential towers. Beautiful, aren't they? Note the large amount of parking required by these buildings. And some of the other high-rises in this part of town. As you can probably imagine, the road here gets jammed up at rush hour. More high-rise buildings. Once all low-density, even this wealthy area is growing towards the sky. In the next shot you can see Santa Monica's twin towers. High-rise buildings always look better in pairs. And yes, they grew naturally - I never plop buildings (except civic buildings obviously). And just to wrap up this update, here is a look at the North-West corner of the city. This area used to be all low-density too, but some rezoning was necessary to handle the demand for new housing. And that concludes another update. For the next update, I hope to finish up Santa Monica. Still on the agenda is removal of the city's landfill (trash will be exported to Los Angeles) and construction of 2 or 3 solar plants (to replace the current 25-30 windmills). And finally, the new land will be used for residential development. I also plan to start a new city to the South of Santa Monica. So thanks for looking, and come back real soon.

Ouch, only one comment? I don't know if it's because my update sucked or because this thread fell off the first page so quickly. I sometimes wish Simtropolis wasn't so successful - then my CJ would get more time in the spotlight. By the way, thank you jacqulina. I can always count on you to read my updates. Anyway, it's all good. So long as I continue to work on my cities, I will continue to post updates here. I'm just grateful for the opportunity to have a CJ. So yeah, time for that update. Los Angeles Update 08 I did a decent amount of work today on Santa Monica, but I'm saving those pictures for later tonight. This update is just a quickie to show off the latest terraforming of the Los Angeles region. I spent several hours terraforming each city tile by hand, and I think the result is pretty good. First, the Eastern half of the region. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_08_01.jpg align=baseline> And then we move to the West. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_08_02.jpg align=baseline> To finish this short update, here is the latest transit map. There has been no change to the transportation network, but with the newly terraformed terrain it is now easier to plan future routes. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_08_03.jpg align=baseline> Obviously there are still tiles which have not been terraformed yet. The region is about 60% formed. That's all for now, but I will update tonight with some impressive (in my opinion) new pictures from Santa Monica.

Thank you, homer2, for your kind words. By the way, I like your avatar. So I said I would update sooner, but it's better late than never, right? Work has been taking up a lot of time, but updates should be more regular in the coming days. Anyway, enough talk. Time for the update. Los Angeles Update 07 Regional population: 73,614 Santa Monica: 36,880 This update will once again focus on the city of Santa Monica. As you can see from the numbers, much growth has occured in this city. In fact Santa Monica now has the highest population in the region. First, let's take a look at the region view. Very little has changed since last time, but I like to start an update with the region view so you can follow the gradual progress. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_07_01.jpg align=baseline> And the transit view. Not much is new here either. If you look closely at Santa Monica, you will see the newly extended rail line in the city. This line is heavily used - I'll let you see it up-close later in the update. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_07_02.jpg align=baseline> Now let's get down to the city level. This is an overview of the Southern side of the Los Angeles River. Most of the new development has taken place here, since there is no more empty land on the North side. The most obvious change is the addition of the high-rise tenements - no city is complete without them. We'll take a closer look at those later too. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_07_03.jpg align=baseline> And in this shot we see the other main area of development - the South entrance to the main underwater tunnel. Land value here is pretty high, but that didn't prevent a few low-wealth towers from being constructed. I chose not to demolish them since they are beautiful in a weird way. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_07_04.jpg align=baseline> A closer look shows some of the mansions that have sprung up in this area. Ocean views have a way of attracting rich people. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_07_05.jpg align=baseline> In the following shot, some of you may notice the real-life connection. I said this CJ was not intended to reflect the real city of L.A., but the terrain in this corner of my city was very similar to that of the real Santa Monica. Basically the avenue running North-to-South will be my Pacific Coast Highway, so I created a ramp up the cliffside to reflect the real-life California Incline (a ramp connecting Ocean Avenue with Pacific Coast Highway). Aside from that, the city is entirely my own. And now we travel across to the West side of the city. Let's take a closer look at these newly-built low-wealth projects. Zoomed in and rotated, to help appreciate the size of these things. And just in case anyone was wondering, I downloaded the blue building, the yellow building, and the condos all from the STEX. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_07_08.jpg align=baseline> In the next picture, we see a NAM overpass and a very long train. With all the poor people in town, the mass-transit system gets a lot of usage. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_07_09.jpg align=baseline> And below is one of the longest trains I've ever seen. Trains like this are a common occurance in Santa Monica, with over 6000 Sims riding the rails to work each day. Also note the increasing density of this area around the tunnel. Still no skyscrapers yet, but there has been a lot of progress since the last update. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_07_10.jpg align=baseline> Another place of interest. I just thought this area looked pretty cool. The final shot revisits the North shore area from the last update. I posted the zoning layout last time, but now you get to see what developed. Since bare land is now hard to find, I expect a lot of this area to be rezoned for higher density buildings. And that pretty much concludes this installment. Big things are planned for Santa Monica, so check back soon for another update. I also intend to terraform some more of the region, so that will probably be in the next update too. Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the great feedback!

Hey folks, how is everyone doing? This isn't going to be an update, but rather an apology for a lack of updates. I was hoping to update yesterday but work didn't leave me with enough time. I have about 15 minutes right now (before work) to say some words, and hopefully a full update will follow tonight. First, I have to thank you all for the wonderful comments. That makes it all worthwhile and then some. jmusshorn: I don't expect my CJ to be anywhere near the level of SCR. Jeroni is truly the CJ master. I hope my CJ will be around for as long as his though. hmabmsusa: Everything was downloaded here at ST. I believe the residential walls are from jeronij and the highway walls are from marrast. Do a search on the STEX for their names. As for the underground highway, this is a little trick that has been around for a long time. You have to create a land-bridge, build the tunnel under the land, and then sink the land using the God-mode tools. I don't know who originally discovered this, but I've been doing it in my cities since Rush Hour was released. If necessary, I can provide a tutorial. Anyway I have to go now. Look for an update tonight.

aleking: I used to be a gridder too. A grid network is more efficient and takes up less space, but diagonals can be much more visually appealing. I found it very difficult to break away from my costant use of grids. You have to learn to give up some functionality (grids) in favour of beauty (diagonals). Now whenever I start a city, I lay down a basic transportation network first - and this always includes diagonals and other unnecessarily complicated features - but it makes the city much more interesting in the end. djrules5454_simtropolisedition: If you're talking about the avenue Y-interchange, I believe it comes with all versions of the NAM. You just have to click the button for the custom highway interchange, and then press the TAB key to cycle through the different options. And of course, thanks to you guys for looking.

Los Angeles Update 06 Regional population: 42,068 Santa Monica: 5,997 Just a quick update to show the latest changes in Santa Monica. First, this is the last undeveloped piece of land North of the river. Note the windmills - a power supply was required on the North bank and a large power plant would look too out of place. The alternative would be ugly wires crossing the river to draw power from the plant to the south. And here we see the same area after the zoning phase. Attempts were also made to incorporate the windmills into the landscape. The next shot shows the rest of the newly zoned residential area. With this, the North side of Santa Monica is almost complete. To finish this short update, here is the latest view of the underwater tunnel approach. It's gonna look better once hi-rise buildings begin to develop. Unfortunately, the city's population is too low for hi-rises right now. So that's all for now. I'm not sure if anyone's actually reading this, but I'll update some more in the near future.

I've had some time to build the new city of Santa Monica. The result is pretty interesting... Los Angeles Update 05 Regional population: 40,168 Santa Monica: 4,096 First, a look at the latest region view. Little has changed since the last update, but the new development in Santa Monica can be seen. And the transit view shows the avenue connections between Santa Monica and Los Angeles. And now an overview of the North side of Santa Monica shows a typical residential area. Much like in neighbouring cities, walls have been used to create a layered effect. You may notice that a second underwater tunnel has been added from the causeway - we'll take a closer look at the new tunnel later in this update. On the South side of the river, we find the commercial district of Santa Monica. In the next shot, we take a look at that new tunnel I was talking about. I wanted to do something interesting, plus the land was rather awkward to work with. The slope mod meant that the approach needed to be very long, so what you see below is the outcome. I think it will look pretty cool once it's surrounded by tall commercial buildings. The following shot is another example of my liking for interesting traffic networks. This intersection is completely unnecessary, but it looks damn cool. And I guess in theory it's more efficient - for the through-traffic anyway. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_05_06.jpg align=baseline> And no city is complete without a NAM interchange. I love to see these interchanges actually being used by traffic. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_05_07.jpg align=baseline> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next 2 shots aren't from Santa Monica, but rather back in the original city of Los Angeles. I returned to L.A. to create some new connections to Santa Monica. Basically, Sims commuting from Santa Monica to L.A.'s industrial sector were complaining about commute time. The terrain around the industry in Los Angeles was very difficult to work with, but the result is successful in function. So in this picture we see the dirty industrial area. The new addition is the avenue leading East into the hills (and towards Santa Monica). https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_05_08.jpg align=baseline> And the final shot reveals where that avenue leads. Initially I used a road, but it became so heavily-used that it had to be replaced with an avenue. And thanks to the slope mod, the avenue requires a lot more space to climb the hillside. The result is still pretty cool (I think) and it means that Santa Monica's poorer residents have easy access to the industry of Los Angeles. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_05_09.jpg align=baseline> That's all I have to show for now. More will be added to Santa Monica soon. Keep watching this space!

Thank you, everyone, for the additional positive feedback. I'm so glad you like my creation so far. peakman2: Believe it or not, but accidents were actually reduced after the traffic circle was constructed. Before the circle, I would see constant accidents at this intersection during rush hour. Now things flow much more smoothly. tracer1138: Confusing as hell when you're new in town, but it's actually pretty simple once you get used to the layout. In general, the roads all lead somewhere and the streets generally result in dead-ends. If you remember that then you will never get lost. And now for a mini-update... Los Angeles Update 04 Regional population: 35,822 Santa Monica: 0 Santa Monica? Yes, that's right. I was unsure which direction to go in next, so I ended up terraforming some more city tiles. A short while into this exercise, I decided to start a new city because I liked the result of the terraforming. First, here is an overview of the region in it's current state. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_04_01.jpg align=baseline> As you can see, Santa Monica lies at the mouth of the Los Angeles River. Connections include a (rather indirect) avenue connection to Northern Los Angeles, and a direct rail link to the industrial sector of Los Angeles. Seismic activity in the region (a.k.a. Mayor Currie's God-Mode hand) has formed a lagoon parallel to the river, resulting in a land causeway. Take a closer look. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_04_02.jpg align=baseline> And

Wow, thank you for all the positive comments! I really love this community sometimes. Regarding the residential walls - I appreciate the criticism that I may have overdone the walls a little. I find it hard to know when to stop sometimes. I would say I'm a chronic tile-filler - I can't stand to see empty land. That's why I love these parks, tree lots and walls. They allow me to fill every tile, but still maintain some greenery. Anyway, onto the update... Los Angeles Update 03 Regional population: 35,809 Glendale : 14,519 To finish up the guided tour, we're going to look at L.A.'s suburb of Glendale. This city lies a short freeway journey to the West of Los Angeles. First, an overview shot. To the right of this shot you can see a road connection to Los Angeles, and above that you can almost see where the freeway leaves the city. And I should mention that the bridge over the Los Angeles River currently doesn't go anywhere, but big things are planned for the future. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_03_01.jpg align=baseline> And next, we take a closer look at the freeway where it connects the two cities. This route is well-travelled in both directions. You can also see some of the steep elevation changes in this area. Note where the freeway disappears from view behind the high terrain. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_03_02.jpg align=baseline> With the camera rotated, you can see the narrow corridor of land occupied by the freeway. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_03_03.jpg align=baseline> In the following shot, we see where Glendale was born. This intersection is where the city began, located on a flat piece of land up in the hills. This is still something of a downtown district, but most major development has been focused on the outskirts of the city. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_03_04.jpg align=baseline> And slightly to the West of that, the busiest road intersection in Glendale. With the convergence of five roads, a traffic circle was a definite requirement. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roddyc_la_03_05.jpg align=baseline> PEG's Scenic Drive Kit makes for some nice relaxing green space - and also a place for Glendale's teen Sims to have some fun. And now we take an up-close look at that freeway bridge, and also some rare high-rise buildings. I allowed (even encouraged) these buildings to grow here. There's something almost beautiful about high-rise projects. They make an interesting contrast with all the low-density housing in the area. Unfortunately I do have some unemployment issues with these guys right now, but this city is indeed a work in progess. With this influx of new residents, a larger school was required. And we finish up the tour of Glendale with an area slated for development. The hills to the South of the city should make for some interesting neighbourhoods. And now the tour is over. All future updates will focus on new construction in the region. I'm still unsure what the next area of development will be - perhaps the Southern hills in Glendale, or perhaps the riverside area. Whatever happens I'll keep you all posted, so keep checking back. Thanks for listening!

Okay, I'm back with the next update. But first I'd like to say thanks for the positive comments so far. Los Angeles Update 02 Regional population: 35,809 Los Angeles : 22,726 So in the last update I showed you all the area to the North of the river. Now we're taking a ride through the tunnel to the South side. First, here's an overview of this particular area. You can see where the tunnel emerges. Also note the lake which makes for some high desirability. And a keen eye may spot the railway line running across the bottom of this shot. In the following picture, we take a closer look at the Southern entrance to the underwater tunnel. To the South-West, and we see where the freeway connects with the rest of the road network on the South shore. Most of the structures here are low-density, and there is heavy use of trees and park land. A short journey West on the freeway leads to another low-density business park. In the following shot, I have rotated the camera to face West instead of the usual North orientation. This helps to highlight the elevation changes. A huge amount of work went into sculpting this hillside in order to leave no tile unfilled. I don't know about you guys, but I'm happy with the result. Here's another view of the same area. Zoomed in, and now facing North once again. And here is a park I created to give these hillside residents a place to relax. Next, we see some rare medium-density buildings - rare in this sea of suburban housing. There is a lot of open land to the South of the railroad tracks, which is planned to be developed in the near future. Expect to see a lot more apartment buildings here. Finally, located to the far South-East corner of the city is the industrial sector. Dirty industry is never pretty, but this area is far enough out of the city that the residents don't have to look at this eyesore. It should be noted that the camera is facing East in this shot. And now you've seen everything L.A. has to offer. The next update will showcase the nearby city of Glendale. Stay tuned.

Los Angeles Update 01 Regional population: 35,809 Los Angeles: 22,726 As promised, we're going on a guided tour of Los Angeles. Since there is so much to see, this update will focus on the North shore of the Los Angeles River. First, an overview... The north side of the river is where L.A. was born, and this area now serves as a commercial downtown district for the small city. Seen below is the busiest intersection in the city. To alleviate congestion, a one-way traffic circle was recently constructed. After travelling East of the busy downtown centre, we can see the freeway connecting the North and South sections of the city. This underwater tunnel is currently the only way to cross the L.A. River. And now what you're looking at here is the avenue leading in and out of the downtown area. All Sims travelling to this area from the South shore are required to take the freeway tunnel northbound, before connecting with this avenue and doubling back southbound. As a result, this is a very heavily-used piece of road. It may be inefficient, but I like to keep things interesting. If we travel over to the West edge of the city, we can see one of the more desirable residential areas. Trees, parks, good transportation access - people like living here. And in this update's final shot, we see some high-tech and manufacturing industry. This area is located to the far North of the city - but still within a comfortable commuting time, thanks to the freeway. Although it is difficult to judge the elevation, the freeway here is on a constant upward gradient before leaving the city. And this concludes the first real update of my Los Angeles CJ. Later I'll be taking you across the river to tour the South shore. There you'll see lots of low-density residential, a few interesting elevation changes, a lake, and the bulk of the region's industry. I hope you all like what you're seeing so far. Feedback is much appreciated.

Jeroni, your cities look incredible but I know you're a perfectionist like me, so I have to point something out. In 83.07, when you placed the fence around the school, one of the diagonal sections has the grass side facing towards the road. Basically it's backwards. This happens to me all the time, since these sections auto-face towards roads unless you rotate them. I've just learned to spot those little errors in my cities. Actually on second thought, it looks like two squares are affected.

I feel stupid now. The links all appear to be working correctly, but I swear I was trying to download the mod for 2 days with no success. Maybe CD's site just had its bandwidth restored for the start of the month? I also have a quick question. Is there supposed to be any change to the water texture with this mod? I still have the default Maxis blue, however I do have the new grass, cliffs, beaches, etc. Jeroni, what water mod do you use? I really like the look of the water in your CJ.

Okay I'm going crazy. Can anyone send the terrain mod files to me? My email is rodlosangelesATaol.com if anyone has some free time. I deleted all my old boring cities, after seeing Jeroni's CJ. So now I've modded up my game with trees, walls, parks, and now I'm almost ready to start creating some real cities like his. I just need that darn terrain mod. Anyway, I would be super grateful if someone could send it to me.

The links are still broken? Anyone know where to get this mod?

And here's the most heavily used intersection in the city...

I've been playing with some more ideas for underwater tunnels. Here's my latest... Here you can see the full length of the tunnel. The span was too long for a bridge. Looks pretty sweet...