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Today were going to take a visit to Totodile Town. More of a suburb of the neighboring Tri-Cities this resort destination has seen better days. The downtown is filled with listings for apartments, condos, and even entire complexes or hotels for sale. While a big deal in the 50's and 60's theres just no reason for the modern tourist to visit an almost urban area when theres numerous small towns and scenic driving 15 minutes south. But tourism and urban decay is only the result of numerous problems here. First priority is traffic. Totodile (Suburb) is a corridor for 90% of the traffic heading into the Tri-cities to the east. In recent years miles of gridlock has been the norm and is helping shape the town into a place for permanent residents rather than its dying tourism scene. First on the project list is this small 2 lane coastal road just north of the Interstate. While a few years ago the small downtown and western spur/bridge into the city have been expanded to 4 lanes, and now is time for those 2 spurs to be connected. After months of angry letters and various road rage incidents, including a construction worker and a glass jar, the connection was finished. 2 farms, already defunct from nearby ground pollution, were purchased by the city as well as a few other small residencies and stores. There was plenty of extra land, so it was sold to the highest bidders and the cheap properties also helped fund development of the avenue expansion. Hmm, not much better is it? Well whatever. That's a problem for the next Mayor. The point is it looks like the city did something. To the surprise of many multiple commercial businesses and developers saw this as prime real estate despite neighboring the industrial district and the county jail. While traffic was somewhat alleviated we may see these and more development in the coming months and years. Old Man Jenkins who owns the last farm on the north sore is holding out longer, but most who know the man expect him to cave pretty soon. All this is sure to help revitalize downtown Totodile Town and hopefully residents will see it as a decent place to live again. More of an afterthought was the relocation of the main ferry terminal for the city to a much more convenient location. A tacked on minor piece of the project got much attention from local residents who used the ferry, no longer forcing sims to drive all the way through the industrial district. Also a public parking garage for the ferry as well as the metro bus line. Traffic may be a little better but sims still dont seem to want to live in anything but comfy suburban homes. Oh well. We'll see what other bright ideas the town council has for the future. Until next time!

Hey Its been a while. Some of you might remember me from years ago, but I see tons of new faces in the community. It feels nice to be playing this game again, and to see the plethora of new mods I missed while I was away. I started SC4 back up a few months ago and after playing for a few months Im in a place where im content starting another CJ to show off the region I've been working on. Its not too special, Im trying to keep it simple especially regarding mods. There are many regions like it but this one is mine. Its a big region and there's plenty to show off. I am also playing the game. Theres eyecandy obviously but for most updates I will not be getting carried away with photoshop and flora like I used to. Zots and zones may be visible and abandoned buildings stay in screenshots because not all places are great to live in Monterey. Basically how Ill go about this cj is Ill show you random areas or areas Im developing, and if anything looks interesting to anyone I can make an update on a specific area if anyone asks. Anyways; Welcome to Monterey Bay. Somewhere on the west coast of North America this bay was originally home to many farming, logging, and mining communities constructed by an influx of pioneers into the region mostly in the late 1800's. There was some oil, some gold, but the region remained relatively dry during the gold then oil rush days which explains its quiet valleys and low population. Other industries in the area include fishing, limestone, cattle ranching in the low open plains, limestone quarries, as well as a handful of lead and silver mines. While not the largest urban areas on the west coast Monterey County has made a name for itself as being a beautiful retreat destination in the 1900's. Its beaches aren't as pristine as those further south and its not as we as areas further north, but the snow-capped peaks that shine on the various towns in this community remain white for 10 months of the year. The Summers are mild, the spring and fall cool, and the pacific winds help keep the lowlands free from snowfall until you reach the highlands miles inland. First lets visit the seat of the county which shares the same name of Monterey Monterey started as a humble farming community but grew fast. Around the early 1900's everything slowed down as people didnt realize there was much gold in these hills, but it still was a destination many settlers and immigrants ended their long journeys at. The Warf-on-the-River was the central point of the city. Fishermen all around the bay would come right here to sell their catch daily for anyone who managed to earn some meager money by farming or ranching in the valley. At the same time a grand city hall was constructed. It was for a time that Monterey was being considered as the new state capitol, but many long debates and votes and ravings landed that to a more central area further south and inland. While its arguable less bureaucrats and politicians are good for a city, Monterey and the greater bay area didnt need all that to grow into a prospering region. The city grew fast. The industrial revolution passed. Mass transit moved more people around than ever, and more and more people moved to Monterey in the waning days of the oil booms. By the 1950's Monterey cemented itself as 'The' city of the bay area. Despite having lower population than the Tri-Cities, as the locals call them, on the peninsula to the southeast, Monterey developed with people in mind and had better planning and mass-transit than the Tri-Cities as you will be shown in later entries. The city grew and grew. The rich moved in And the poor moved in. They started building up. The Warf-on-the-River is still here Overall Monterey started and exists today as most other cities. It was never a boom town, was never an industrial centerfold, and never even had much interest militarily over WW2. It does have a small air force and military base being a metropolitan area on the west coast, but the Monterey Bay area remains for now just a fertile scenic valley, with nothing too special going on. Until next time!

People always ask me what flora I use in my cities. There is no quick way to answer this without going through the STEX and LEX for a day to find them all, and I can't do this for every person that asks. So, I'll do it once. This is a list of every mayor-mode ploppable that I use/used which I (plan on) updating whenever a great new one comes out. I hope it helps somebody. Flora Ploppable Maxis Flora Maxis Scrub Brush Chrisadams RRP Pasture Flora C.P. 2009a Seasonal Flora C.P. Vol_1 Seasonal Flora Goldiva's Tropical Tree Set Girafes' Abies Grandis Girafes' Birches Girafes' Conifers Girafes' Cattails Girafes' Maples Girafes' Norway Maples Girafes' Oaks Girafes' Pines and Winter Pines Girafes' Serbian Spruce Heblem Tropical Flora Pack (Contains ploppable dirts) Heblem's Chihuahuan Desert Flora Jeronij Plop Flora Jeronij Plop Flora[2] Jeronij Plop Trees & Seasonal Woods Jeronij Tropical Trees DuskTrooper Trees Ploppable JohnB's Cactus Mattb325 Flora* Moonlight's Bamboo (About 10th down the page) Orange_o_'s Pinus Nigra* Orange_o_'s Cupressus* PEG Terrain Kit (A lot of pegs mmp's in one download PPond Terrain Prop Pack PPond Kit PEG's Forest Scenes Ploppables PEG Forest Flora Ploppables PEG Logging Scenes PEG Construction Ploppables PEG's Old Pine Trees PEG's Pine Tree Ploppables PEG's Pine Tree Clusters Simfox's Tree Pack Simfox's Chestnuts VIP Aesculus's VIP Fagus's VIP Rural Pack Rocks CP Ploppable Rocks White CP Ploppable Rocks Grey CP Ploppable Rocks Brown CP Ploppable Rocks Orange Sandstone Heblem Grassy Rocks* Heblem Grey Marble Rocks* Heblem Maxis Rocks* Heblem Mossy Rocks* Heblem Sandy Rocks* Heblem Volcanic Rocks* Jeronij Ploppable Rocks Murimk Ploppable Rock Pack 1 Murimk Ploppable Rock Pack 2 NBVC Grey Rocks NBVC Rocks n' Stones NBVC Rock Clusters Sorchin Flora Set VIP Aubrac Wall Other Chrisadam's RRP Dragable Paths Badsim's Ploppable Sims (Attachemnt) Goldiva's Tropical Sea Set Heblem's Tropical Tiki Hut Plopables Ionionion's OMCo Filing Gravel Jeronij Transparent Ploppable Water Jeronij Ploppable Water Jeronij Ploppable Garbage NBVC Bike Ploppables NBVC Surfer Ploppables Ploppable Snow RFR Deer and Wild Boars RFR Maize Set RFR Plopwater Pack 1 AC Cargo Planes SCAG Airbus A300 SCAG Airbus A330-300 SCAG Airbus A330-200 SCAG Avro RJ SG Tractor Ploppables Jestarr Ploppable Livestock SFBT Mayor-mode Ploppables VIP Car Pack VIP Car Pack Vol2 VIP French Road Signage Mayor-Mode Ploppable Related Mods PEG Free Waters Mod Lowkee Seasonal Patch Mod Edit: * Links lead to entries that have either been removed from an exchange or were post attachments that are no longer available... Any of the Pegasus links are probably part of the PLEX upload project on the STEX... PEG links updated. Investigating options.

GD, that is gorgeous man.

This looks amazing, guy. Great mix of photoshop and SC4.

Hey thanks for all the help. I'm currently having different problems with pay pal and can't try to solve this current problem but I appreciate the responses. If I don't respond just assume my problem is solved. Thanks.

New Seasons of Better Call Saul and Rick and Morty soonish. Who's watching?

Thanks for posting these videos, they're a real look at what's actually happening while most news networks will show the same 10 second clip over and over again. I admit I'm disconnected with what's going on in the Middle East just like most others. I agree with lexus however, and am not as optimistic as you. ISIS's territory doesn't matter, they're not a unified nation, just a collection of rebels. The state of affairs now, and since the 80's, show that these rouge rebel groups are here to stay for a while. And contrary to popular belief, not all of the middle east isn't a desert wasteland, they have more trees than Kansas and the land is beautiful when it's not being bombarded with missiles. The west is numb to the wars in the middle east at this point, even atrocities in local areas become no big deal when they happen every day let alone a war far away from us. Terrorist attacks are still constantly happening, which somewhat unifies the effort towards suppressing the groups that the US and Russia may have sort of funded in that little Cold War we had a while ago... This age we live in is definitely a huge change from not even 20 years ago. Now we have so much footage of modern conflicts, we can be a little less disconnected from them. That first video you shared had an Iraqi grunt walking down the street scrolling down his phone!

I am unable to pay for anything because paypal wont let me choose states, I can only choose Canadian provinces. I PMed Dirk about this but it's been a few days, maybe someone else can help. I am unsure if this is a ST problem, paypal problem, or only a problem for me and wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this problem?

Great pictures everyone! I haven't gone anywhere special, all these pictures are within a couple miles of my house. I've got more pictures on my flicker if you're interested enough: https://www.flickr.com/photos/47757922@N06/ Hope other people most more of their photography, this thread has slowed down too much.

If the poll was still open I'd say yes. I've been in chat on and off for the 8 years I've been here, used and still use it more often than the forums. Despite how slow it is now compared to the past we still get users. Maybe it might be nice to see some sort of promotion of the chatroom; bring in some new faces rather than just getting rid of it. I am unsure the extent of this sites funding problems but if a cheaper chat even with less features if that would allow us to keep it up that would be okay. I have to say I don't come onto this site too often anymore but I still enjoy talking to the friends I made that still come into chat over the years, and I enjoy using STchat over other alternatives. Talking on the forums is a lot more impersonal than an actual conversation in chat. Getting help for a new member in chat is a lot quicker than having them wait for responses on the forums. Maybe my view is simply sentimental but I would rather not see chat go, as that will probably be the day I stop coming here all together. I can understand putting the well-being of the entire site above the few of us that still use chat. However a free option such as discord, with the consequence of less integration with the site, would be perfectly acceptable. Us chat users will be happy we still have something, and everyone will be happy with the site spending less money on something few people use rather paying for something just so we have features. I know the poll's closed but I still wanted my voice out here on the matter. And thanks for asking the community before making a big decision like this.

I wish the pictures for my old CJ still existed online, but it's good to know people still remember it. Thanks a lot, what you've made SC4 look like is just mindblowing. Don't stop.

I love every square meter of your city.

Don't see amazing snowy landscapes too often. It'd be a treat to see some more.

Nurn Grows Day by Day As everyone probably wants to see, here's some growth... just a little though. Can't let anyone get too excited now. Wow, what the hell is this? These farmers are funny, thinking they can last much longer as the pollution and noise interrupt their day to day operations. Their crops yield less with each passing season, the dirt farming a plight upon the ritzy wealth of central Nurn. .. ...well would you look at that, they've already abandoned their homes! Not looking too bright for agriculture. Immigrants want some of that prime downtown land before this place gets too populated! Some of them see the potential. Finally they sold out...! It's about time too, marina expansion propositions are starting to pop up down at City Hall. Residents are starting to wonder why agricultural zoning and those nice down to earth farmers still think they have any business and gall trying to operate on Nurn island. While it's not a farm, many agreed to keep the rare block of redwoods that still grow this far within the city limits. It's a miracle they're even still alive! As Nurn's first official park, residents are appalled to see unused land fall into government hands under the premise of... ugh... "beautification" as they call it. Although once the planned paths and parkland is built the others will be happy to have a place to sit read books like Atlas Shrugged in public so that they can prove how intellectual and informed about capitalism they are to all the other sims. Despite their differences the Sims will have to learn to deal with each other some day. They all live on the same island (not "technically" an island) after all. That's all for now! Tell me what you want to see of Nurn and Gorgoroth in the future.

Welcome to Gorgoroth County Gorgoroth County is the region of an unnamed state/country/principality/whatever. The big picture doesn't matter here, only the local politics of the (hopefully) happy Sims of the Gorgoroth region. Gorgoroth County is governed within the small town of Nurn. Nurn currently oversees a few farming townships on its outskirts, along with a vast wilderness spread across the multitude of bays fjords and islands around and to the west of Nurn, and the stout but rugged western slope of the Ephel Dúath mountains, to the east of Nurn. Nurn is on the western edge of a large bay, the bay being on the western edge of an even greater body of water. Let's call it an ocean, and leave it unnamed to further disconnect ourselves from the troubles of the world. This picture is about the local affairs of the many rugged opportunists living on the edge of an uncharted wilderness. Let's see how this small town grows, and as a primary influence to the people of Nurn, let me know your thoughts on the happenings of the town and how it should grow. Wherever Gorgoroth is, it is in some sort of democracy. So don't feel afraid if you feel something should change or want something to happen yourself! Here we begin in central Gorgoroth County. As you can see the land is mostly uncharted far past the small settlements dotting the landscape. However the slowly growing urban landscape will soon delve into the great beyond. The central city is small now (this picture was taken before the above region view) but has all the necessities. The largest project undertaken was the 4 building schoolhouse located at the highest point on the island, education staying a step ahead to accommodate the rapidly growing township. Most of the land in Nurn is too soggy ordry for farming, two extremes with no in between, so other economic opportunities are being brainstormed. Thats all for the intro. Let me know how I'm doing and what you want to see in future updates! New update coming soon.

Repliesy: Thanks, comp dude, nice to see you again. I do have a slope mod, though it's a mild one. It does decent for most networks except for streets, and I can deal with that. With the rugged terrain I'm working with I have to be able to utilize grades steeper than 1% (Exaggeration I know, but most slope mods I see are way too shallow for what I wish to deal with) . . . have you ever been to San Francisco? (Maybe I'll just have to make my own slope mod? ) Lake Linnaewen Another user suggested to see an island somewhere, so here is a mysterious little island in a lake, recently discovered. Apparently our pioneers in Nurn aren't the first inhabitants of this rugged coastline. Lake Linnaewen is pretty far off the beaten path, but there's almost two whole islands in this lake! In the treeless tundra of the NW, very little action occurs aside from the usual Caribou migrations. and yet here lies a curious little place. One island, and another just barley attached to the mainland buy a sliver of a sandbar. Some little abandoned settlement leaves its remains on two islands along side some strange and rare species of trees. The lost village has no vestige of its past, however for some reason it's fields look nicely tilled and still growing crops. Hmm... No memory of the adjacent island either. Both remain shrouded in mystery, as any evidence of what happened to this colony was lost long ago. However the towering stone monument has a strange ancient aura about it... Thats all for now. Let me know what of Gorgoroth you want to see in the future! Oh, and here's a bonus region view for you all! (Here is a 4824x3000 version of the image of below)

Another user suggested to see an island somewhere, so here is a mysterious little island in a lake, recently discovered. Apparently our pioneers in Nurn aren't the first inhabitants of this rugged coastline. Lake Linnaewen is pretty far off the beaten path, but there's almost two whole islands in this lake! In the treeless tundra of the NW, very little action occurs aside from the usual Caribou migrations. and yet here lies a curious little place. One island, and another just barley attached to the mainland buy a sliver of a sandbar. Some little abandoned settlement leaves its remains on two islands along side some strange and rare species of trees. The lost village has no vestige of its past, however for some reason it's fields look nicely tilled and still growing crops. Hmm... No memory of the adjacent island either. Both remain shrouded in mystery, as any evidence of what happened to this colony was lost long ago. However the towering stone monument has a strange ancient aura about it... Thats all for now. Let me know what of Gorgoroth you want to see in the future! Oh, and here's a bonus region view for you all! (Here is a 4824x3000 version of the image of below)

I can't imagine how much work you put into all that custom lotting, it looks perfect.

This area looks awesome, hope to see more!

Thanks for all the comments