MasterPlanMan

This CJ has a very nice look to it! Nice relaxing layout happening I'll be following along and am looking forward to future updates. Keep it up you have a nice thing going here! ~ MPM

WOW! I can appreciate the effort so far! When creating a realistic city with the game how do you keep commute times down and prevent abandoned buildings? Can't wait for some close-ups & medium shots! Good luck it looks great so far!

Darmok ~ Great answer! We have very much in common and play the game in the very same manner ! (take a look at my CJ if you have the time). When I began my first and current CJ your name was the first to come up regarding my style of play. I had a habit of placing the embankments much like yourself. I guess I was just passing along how things turned out with my current CJ. You know the times you spend sitting back and gazeing at your city just to enjoy it and sometimes tweek things along the way. Well my tweeking led to the removal of many of the embankments that were seamingly dominating my landscape. I replaced many of them with grass and trees and now the embankments are kind of tucked away and blend quite a bit more with the landscape. I found that removing many of the diagonals and replacing them with grass and the in-game trees a nice natural look was a result as the trees grew out ~ giving you an illusion that the embankments are holding back the earth and the trees and grass appear as bookended mounds. (Some more examples will be appearing in my next CJ update) I also found that mixing them up with several of the Japanese versions helps deal with repetition. I strive to create imaginary utopias much like yourself but like to go crazy with MT especially the trains! I prefer medium density zones and enjoy creating an occasional rural area and tranquil residential areas much like yours with large trail parks, etc... I am not much into the skyscaper districts anymore and I get these areas out of the way first (super demand mod). I consider the skyscraper district to be the heart of the city from purly a functional standpoint allowing it to pump demand to the areas that I enjoy developing most and to also keep my various rail networks running up to capacity. Right now I am on a canal craze (hand terraformed) and am creating a utopian area (will be appearing in my CJ soon) that strays a bit from the real world ~ but it looks cool and would be a very nice place to live! ~ much like the worlds you have created with the game! Cheers, ~MPM

Give the guy a break! Besides there is all the new NAM stuff to get started with. If he is anything like me I was almost tempted to start a new city from scratch to experiment with the new possibilities. Lots of diagonal stuff to work with and to show off. The slope puzzles that will allow straight rail overpasses, finally flattened bridges are possible for the sunken highways. There's the GLR, dual networking, all these things will shape the look of a new city and journal. Many of the lots/textures used in SCR are becoming overplayed and its time to move on and develop a whole new look. The anticipation for me easily out weighs the need to let go of the old. Let's face it the chapter of SCR has been played out. In a way many of you seem to come accross as a bit cultish and along the way other journals have been ignored and overlooked. There are others with just as an exceptional command for the game who you may have never heard of. His style of play was evident long ago. His ability to utilize the latest mod, bats, etc.. enhanced his style and kept many of us coming back for more. Maybe its time to allow a few other talented gamers a chance to gain more of the spotlight and showcase their talents with there own styles and command for the game and its ongoing inovations. I am sure Jeronij will be right there with them. Cheers and good luck with your next game! ~MPM P.S. Look at his journal as a work of art that has finally been completed. Now its time to move on to the next masterpeice.

Maybe you could crash on a Whacky Island like Lost or Gilligans Island

Shadow_Assassin ~ The trails are in a majority of the CJs now as well but they blend in a bit more and are much like ordinary sidewalks and definately more generic. The road connections to them could use some variations though as the decending trees are too structured and standout a bit more and a repetetive concentration in small areas is another realism breaker.

I am starting to sense some burn-out/staleness/redundancy,.etc.......The stone embankments are taking over everywhere in CJ land! I think its time you challange yourself a bit more and start striving for a new look. Like I mentioned at the GRP CJ those darn embankments are everywhere. Many CJs are starting to look like those homey christmas villages that get placed under the tree every year. I know its not going to be easy but it may be time you kicked the stone embankment habit . or at least varied them up or utilize them sparingly, or mix em'up with some Japanese ones or just plant some nice green grass. Its real easy to go everboard with them but IMO when that happens realism is lost and conformity sets in. Heck in my home town of 100,000 I can only think of one stone embankment along the river holding back a cemetery.

Some areas of your CJ look beautiful but there seems to be a CJ epidemic with the embankment sets! Its hard for me to tell which CJ I am looking at anymore! I guess plain old grass and trees are not enough these days. I was guilty of it myself for a day or so then decided how unrealistic some of them appear at far zooms (Marrast set especially) they just dominate the ground surface do not seem proportionate at farther zooms. Just plain ugly IMO. Anyways you had good use the jeronij set with the sunkin highway but went for the overkill along the looped up roadways IMO. The tight snaking around of those roads gets visually confusing and four sets of those embankments lined in a row is a bit over the top and is not all that visually appealing IMO. You might want to tone things down there a bit to create some contrast but thats just my honest opinion ~ don't take it personally! I am not a suger coater when it comes to critiques. But those canal houses they sure look sweet! On another note if you don't bring the river, lake, harbor, etc.. bottom up to touch the bottom of the Marrast embankments they will appear to float and really jump out at far away zooms. I illiminated all the diagonals from my city because they probably could be seen from the Simian moon they were so disproportionate. Bringing up the river bottom does't work for the diagonals. Anyways if you take the time to gander at my neglected CJ you can see how to terraform the water bottom to at least illiminate the problem with the non-diagonal seawall embankments ~ just look at one of my canal shots and you can see them touching the bottom. ~MPM

Date: 6/23/2005 2:10:18 PM Author: pimhordijk1989 You aint gonna tell me that that all grew MASTERPLAN?? looks good BTW quote> Check out my CJ ~ I list all the plopped buildings (around 4-6) or so. In my CJ you can see them growing. I have an awesome MT system that fuels the growth.

Here is a few of my latest shots utilizing the NAM dual networking puzzles and an extensive monorail system: The gentle sloping allows for some nice terraced buildings: https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Glen%20HarborNAM08.jpg align=baseline> Monorail junction: https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Glen%20HarborRF05.jpg align=baseline> Another view: https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Glen%20HarborUBS02.jpg align=baseline> High speed passenger and freight line: (no crossings) https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Glen%20HarborUBS01.jpg align=baseline> Further down the same line with a passenger train at night. The rails gradually sink down in this area. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Glen%20HarborRail02.jpg align=baseline>

Bravo!! ~ Glad you kept working at it. The bridge grade now passes inspection!

Mikeaut1 ~ glad you have the same attitude I have regarding CJs. We can all learn alot from each other. I enjoy getting posts that go into more detail, make suggestions, and of course we all like the compliments. I vote for C as well. I'll be following along to see how things turn out as this is a very nice CJ!

I told you I was a nut when it came to these things and spend extra time to acheive perfection ~ and I still slope everything by hand going back to my SC3 days ~ as the sloping and terraforming is practically the same. It takes a bit more time to do but IMO is worth it. I know many of us are striving to create realism as much as possible and push the game to its limits. This is just one aspect of attention to detail which I strive to accomplish. To see some of my sloping check out my CJ. I know many of other CJ readers out there like to suger coat things and to you and many others this particular instance may not be all that noticible or a problem. I just thought I would bring it up as a way for you and others to improve upon the realism we are all trying to achieve and I hope others do the same for me. When I reveiw a CJ I am going to be honest and hopefully add some thoughts and suggestions from some of the things I have learned. To me the tunnel jumped out like a sore thumb. Don't take this the wrong way though your overall CJ is top notch IMO. I don't know if this is a no-no (I am new to this so I this was out of line I appologize ~ but I am just trying to help out). Here is a shot of what some fine sloping can do. It also enables some nice terracing of buildings to be acheived: Pic removed by MPM to maintain the integrety of this CJ.

Nice spacing of buildings and just the right amount of trees and parks! Very pretty city. Some of the diagonal streets look a little forced and a bit unrealistic though. Another thing that stood out was the deep slope to the tunnel below. You better be buckled in while driving down that one. Anyways I am slope/grade nut and will point out things like this in CJs because improper sloping like whats shown in your pic takes away from an otherwise realistic looking city you have going on here! http://img154.echo.cx/img154/8255/northcovinanov211411193001889a.jpg align=baseline>

In regard to the SF bridge pic. Date: 6/22/2005 8:55:52 PM Author: Mexicanboy13r @MasterPlanMan -  Ahh.. I tried that so long ago and at one time it did work. But the tollboth looked unrealistic as it went up. Thanks for the comment. quote> Why not raise the whole area including the parking lots and have the approprite grade occur elsewhere? Sorry if you think I am being a bit picky or bothersome but think about having to drive a vehicle up that grade. One of the most unrealistic things I see on a regular basis in CJs is this lack of attention to detail to sloping of roads, rails, and and bridge grades. To me it takes away from these cities attempts to look realistic. The SF bridge is a focal point in your city and by having a unrealistic grade like that takes away from what you are trying to accomplish I think. Your region shots look promising though! Look forward to seeing more!

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//sation.JPG align=baseline> I really dig this layout! Nice way to deviate from the griddy look. These are things I like to see in other peoples work ~ ways of getting around the games poor adaptabiliy to diagonals and their adjoining lots. You do very nice work! I'll be checking in from time to time to see more. ~MPM

WOW things are developing very nicely. I dig the canal regions! What a great desert city. Very sharp layout. I will be following this one for sure.

Nice update and work with the naval lots! My only suggestion would be to space out the softball and soccer fields rather than just plopping them right next to each other. Good use of a trail park or tarmac kit would really add some realism here. Right now you have to wonder how the sims can get to the dugouts. Otherwise nice job! ~MPM

Region looks very realistic from afar. Regarding the close-up of the SF bridge ~ if your shooting for realism you might want to consider terraforming the toll both and the end of the bridge area to illiminate the 45% grade you have on the highway ~ can't to see more close-ups like the others though. Otherwise excellent job so far! ~MPM

Nice layout so far! Looking forward to seeing things develop. Good luck!

Excellent update! You never seem to run out of good ideas. Your park work is simply beautiful. Thanks for the BRF mod link. I am going to have to give it a try ~ been sloping by hand since my SC3 days. Looking forward to what comes next! Cheers ~MPM

WOW! That looks really sweet! Nice attention to detail. The waterfalls and and basin look spectacular. Look forward to seeing more as always. ~MPM

OK here's my latest ~ Glen Harbor's water front and CDB at night: https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Glen%20HarborRF02.jpg align=baseline>

jmusshorn ~ Thanks I am glad you like it! Your assumption is correct. The shot was taken a few days ago for my 1st CJ - Glen Harbor.

Date: 6/14/2005 3:15:27 PM Author: Darmok MasterPlanMan Welcome to Anduin Valley MasterPlanMan, as for the sloping thing, that is due to the use of BRF_Tunnel and slope mod, GREAT mod! Glad you liked the seaport! And if I can help you in anyway just ask! Darmok Thanks for the info ~ still doing all my sloping with in-game tools ~ going to have to try this mod!