THE_Chris

Hi folks, my first CJ so dont expect miracles or a very nice looking city. This region is the Grand River Valley, from mbisonms competition thread here. https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=96453&enterthread=y I decided to have a go at the region even though I'm not taking part in the competition due to time constraints. I have quite a few gameplay mods running, the NAM is in there, theres some farm tax mods, some building mods, traffic generators etc etc. I dont have the full list handy but if ye have any questions just ask! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Known in mayoral circles as a region of high wealth establishments, the Grand River Valley nonetheless sports the entire spectrum of sim inhabitants. In this edition of "City Review Journal" we hope to show you some of the benefits and drawbacks of this part of the world, so that you can make an educated and informed decision about whether to relocate there. The mayors of the region are operating a special procedure known as "procedural settling". In an attempt to plan proper cities and infrastructure, the region is being developed in a certain order. Eastern seaboard cities are being developed first with western farming zones later. Plans are subject to change however, depending on demand. This graphic gives you an overview of the region. Farming districts dot the landscape and the urban regions of Fork Mountain, Rogers Island and the emerging Cobsleigh can be seen North - South. City Review Journal has developed this transport map of the region, showing the main M1 motorway, M11 airport spur and the extensive rail network in the Grand River Valley. Flying into the modest Sentulon Airport, in the northeast of the region, the tourist comes upon the town of Fork Mountain. A medium town of circa 14,000 inhabitants, it naturally gets its name from the large forked hill to its north, which makes for some spectacular sightseeing aerial tours on sunny days. Like many areas in the GRV, a motto for Fork Mountain is "Green is Good". Ample tree plantations distort the concrete jungle effect caused by the ceaseless demand for construction. This creates high desirability, and in the recent past, a 2 year waiting list for flats developed in the town! However, Fork Mountains most famous feature is not the town itself, but the road to the small farming village of Berntrom. Nicknamed Rope Road, the visitor gets a sweeping view of the mountain and the sea as the road snakes round the base of the hill. A railway tunnel also exists through the hill from Fork Mountain. At one stage a road tunnel was planned and avenues built in anticipation of this, however funding issues, resident complaints and general road tunnel safety concerns meant the famous Rope Road, now dotted with houses, was constructed and the tunnel plans abandoned. West of Fork Mountain is the aptly named Col Valley, a small farming community. South of this is Riverside, possibly the most well-loved part of the region. Access is provided by three railway lines and the Riverside East and West junctions of the M1. Both farming and wealthy commercial ventures are based here, with some of the highest class of housing thus far seen in the GRV. The main road junction in Riverside, south of the M1 motorway. Interest

Having highways, roads AND rail connecting cities is natural and looks good in region view, but all that happens even with the NAM is the roads and rail get jammed to bits and the highways sit there empty.

Thanks a mil Uploaded a few more region shots to show off SC4 to a music forum, might as well lash them up here too Added a big airport since with the original airport as parkland, still a work in progress, but its getting there

haha was just about to say it was going the wrong direction That setup would work for a British city (with left hand driving set in the NAM). I did it once, thought it was pretty realistic that it broke the commuting.

Originally posted by: mrbisonm It is easy to do what you want when you have freeplay, but in GRV (official) it is different, there you only do what is told you to do, which makes it a lot harder but also more challenging and fun.But I still say, you should have participated in the official GRV Challenge, because I see some good points here..... Nice going and nice use of zoning. mrbisonm quote> Yeah I'm kinda regretting not joining it now, cant join now either because with an airport, a highway and big cities I'd have to demolish half of my region I'll probably join The Rock in the autumn though

Looks good! I'd have left the bumpy airport runway though, it looks suspiciously like the runway at the airport near me!

Damn these are looking good. Love that hydro power plant. Updated my unofficial GRV work, interesting to see what you can do without restrictions and challenges https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/categories.cfm?catid=36

Thanks folks, here comes the promised update Firstly, heres another region overview with area names. Glendale is an interesting area.... its the dividing line between the rich city folk and the poorer rural agricultural area. Nestled in the Ledge Mountains, ribbon development along country hill streets is commonplace. People here commute to Brill Caves or further to Cobsleigh for work. Its a nice quiet drive to work - there is no motorway onramp/offramp in this area to generate traffic. Another overview of this part of Glendale, showing the popular South GRV Line. This line is at capacity and takes about 1000 per day into the urban conglomeration to the east. Travelling east to the outskirts of Brill Caves, the M1 Ring Road had to be placed in a cutting to avoid awkward highway curves and environmental desecration. While this was carried out, the local roads and South GRV Railway were placed in the cutting also. Spot the old road snaking the hill to the south. Moving Northwest, the M2 motorway cuts across the river in the district of Lean. Two bridges are present, as a one span crossing proved awkward from both an environmental and aesthetical point of view. Unfortunately the few residents of the island now have a highway traversing their land. Early plans are being drawn up for replacement of the main GRV South and North railway lines - a possible high speed monorail link through this area. (Anyone know how to get rid of the annoying dip in the centre of this? I tried everything I could think of) A small lake exists in Lean, to the south of the M2 Toll Booths. It has attracted much one-off housing development and is a quiet getaway for holidaymakers from Rogers Island and Fork Mountain. Finally for this update, we look at the northern area of Hoffmans Ranch. The local road network and GRV North Railway cross the river here. The road and rail crossings both date back 60 years. Before the construction of the M2, this was the main route to the east of the GRV. Calls for replacement of the bridge have been met with stiff opposition due to the beauty of the crossing. Note also the Ranch Hotel to the bottom right. Ok thats it for another update, hope ye liked! Any more areas you'd like to see let me know. I'd better get building again!

Fun to get a high wealth one, get them a sports car and got on the rampage on the highway with it.

Looks fantastic.

Done a lot of work since I updated last! The famous highway is now a ring road and is being extended across the map. I'll do an update tomorrow with some rural areas I'm very happy with. For now, heres a region preview!! Update tomorrow like I said. Any requests for bits ye want to see, post here!

@Super Monkey - Heh nice one Roundabouts are standard NAM stuff Drag roads/streets to make a box gives you the basic one. The bigger one is done by making a bigger box of one way streets (3 tiles each side leaving one free in the middle). Plopping the mayors statue in the middle makes it look good

I think its actually one of the songs. Also if there is wildlife in the woods it growls too.

The NAM will make cars APPEAR on the UK side of the road if you select that option when you install. In my install anyway, commuting tracks from the route query appear on the UK side too. But the arrows which indicate a highway connection to a neighbour, say, appear wrong. Its still pretty good, it gives the outward appearance of left hand driving anyway. Make sure though that if you use NAM one way road roundabouts that you check which way they go around, cos if they're wrong noone can drive on them!

@Joe90. Thats a savage street map of the region. Did you use a program to do that or just good ole Paint/Photoshop?

Ah Put them into My Documents/Sim City 4/Plugins Only use one of them (whichever is suitable, probobly the American one for driving on the right), pop it in that directory. Then in the Parks menu of the game you'll see the traffic generators mixed in. Plop them down next to the road and cars appear

Yes. It bugs me too, but theres no fix for it If you want more visable car (only visible not actually counted in commuting etc), then one of these two mods is good -> https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=16257 https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=17000 Use whichever is suitable

Heh Its a stereotypically Irish (and sometimes British) thing to end a motorway/dual carriageway in a thoroughly unsuitable roundabout I know of two examples near where I live and both cause a few miles of jamup every evening. Roundabouts are cheaper and easier to build in real life than proper junctions unfortunately I've tried popping some traffic generators into the mix at this roundabout and yes they do make for some satisfying gridlock Thx for the comments again

Thanks a mil Was good to get it done in the end as it was annoying me not having a highway Also those empty tiles cost about $1800 per month!

I usually just put some waterfront homes (high wealth residential) there. Waterfront property is popular in real life!

and BANANA = Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone

Definatly no grid. Maybe for ram etc purposes have it so that you can only work (and see) one area of the region, about the size we currently have, but be able to select what part of the region we want to view at a time. Sort of like a single movable square in the region view that we can click and then edit whatever city parts are in that square. But maybe include an option that shows the entire region as one editable city. Although theres no way todays systems could show that, it would be good in say, 10 years time!!! A 3d UWalk-It is essential. Where you can be a person in the fully 3d rendered city and walk around. You can get into cars and drive around your ENTIRE REGION, WITHOUT ANY LOAD SCREENS. Sort of like a GTA3 exploration mode. Maybe with missions floating around.

Update #5. Its over. Finally the highway is built and the streets of Cobsleigh and Rogers Island are free from overcrowding and ceaseless commuter traffic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These pics were taken during the second half of construction. Due to the realignment of the avenue and construction of the roundabout, the main avenue throughfare had to be reduced to one lane contraflow. Not pleasant for commuters, but necessary. Hard core base can be seen on the right for the realignment. Some more hard core base being put into the mainline before the construction of the carriageway -> Work continued also in Rogers Island, the roundabout to the left was completed ahead of schedule and preparatory work continued on the road bridge. The motorway was closed overnight and the road bridge installed. This pic was taken after opening of the new structure. Then the big moment came! Opening was scheduled for 2pm on the 8th March. This pic was taken at 1.55pm -> And this was taken at 2.05pm. Relieved drivers sample the new highway and relieved homeowners listen to the substantial reduction in noise and pollution outside their doors. An aerial view of the junction at the termination of the scheme. Significant ground work is still to be done, however the road is now fully open for drivers and there should not be any more closures. An overview of the Cobsleigh area after opening. Remember the horrendous jams at the previous motorway end in Rogers Island? Gone. Hope ye have enjoyed these updates! Not sure what to do next in the CJ! The next highway extension wont happen for a while, but we'll see!

I usually mark out future highways with PEGs Random forest, as it shows up green on region view. https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=11315 This is also useful as it shows up green on region maps. Also the fenced lot can be used to mark out a highway alignment. See my CJ for the use of that. https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=97812&enterthread=y

Update 4 The first of a two parter on the (final) construction of the motorway! After a flash of inspiration in how to use the sunken highway digger as a prop, I made a ton of construction pics today ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE TIME HAS COME. After years of wrangling, years of legal issues, years of community division and years of traffic mayhem, construction of the M1 Rogers Island - Cobsleigh scheme began recently, promising a new era in cooperation between the suburbs. The day of construction start - the official sod turning ceremony! Within a couple of days the route was awash with clearance and ground works on the mainline. Clearance also took place recently at the location of the scheme termination roundabout. This image was snapped during the demolition of one of the compulsorarily purchased buildings. In Rogers Island, clearance also took place. Note the beginning of construction of the roundabout on the left as well as work on the bridge. Meanwhile, back in Cobsleigh, the main avenue became a hive of work one weekend, as the main bridge abutments for the elevated section were installed overnight. This resulted in minimal traffic disruption. Work on part of the ground section can be seen in the background. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 2 tomorrow, construction is well underway and people cant wait to get it finished!!!