Impala26

Hey, I was curious if there was any such content like this out there. I am aware of the one item on the STEX. While that station appears clearly functional, it is just that, functional. I really do not like the design of it at all. I don't even really have anything against "modern" designs either, it just seems too bland-looking. I was curious if there were any traditional-style Elevated Rail Station Lots of the over-the-road variety or even simple standard ones. By that I mean similar to the ones found in NYC or Chicago. Also, if there are any DECENT-looking modern stations of this variety, I suppose I would be interested in seeing that as well. So, are there any of these out there?

Well sure, Manhattan is a pretty consistent grid, but the city is so massive overall that it doesn't absolutely alleviate traffic. I'm from Pittsburgh and the street layout there is incredibly diverse. You generally have neighborhoods and such adhering to SOME form of grid pattern if you at little local samplings, but there's is no universal large-scale grid pattern like Manhattan. Even downtown has essentially TWO grids, each one following a different river and then you have the two basically meeting each other roughly at 45 degree angles!

I still to this day state the Spore was built upon the concepts in Sim Earth. You had evolution, creatures rising to sentience, and you had terraforming. I can still remember the "Terraform Mars" scenario, and my like 9 year-old brain couldn't comprehend how you could make a dead rock like Mars into what is essentially, Earth. The result was my imagination running wild. That's what I love about the first-generation Sim games. They weren't for people with ADD, they were less games and more toys you could just tinker around with and let your imagination rule. I have owned and played: All SimCity games, SimFarm, SimAnt, SimEarth, SimTower (another favorite), SimGolf, SimCopter, SimIsle, The Sims, and Spore. I pretty much refuse to play newer iterations of The Sims because I grew disenchanted with the series as a whole (So... it's a "game" where you do the same things as your real life?). Spore was a minor letdown for me, but still enjoyable (damn micromanaging space phase!).

However, it appears that Sims will only travel to a ferry station placed in a city ADJACENT to theirs. I had a problem once where a small city tile of just water separated two islands and the ferry would not travel between the two cities! d'oh!

This actually was a fairly simple question, but I assume there's a wealth of knowledge in the Simtropolis community that can help me ou in this matter. I very much understand on a basic level how different cities with a single region interact (people commute between cities, neighbor deals, etc.) My question pertains to the complexity of those interactions. Assume you have a particularly large region. Can you have for example people who commute from one city to another one that is further away? For simplicity sake, could they commute from one city to another one that's beyond their neighbor cities? Are SC4's Traffic simulators that complex or am I just thinking wishfully? In the same vein would apply to neighbor deals. Could you say, for instance, have one "dirty" city or rural area designated as the power producer for the region, or the garbage dump? Thus being able to jerry-rig neighbor deals so certains cities essentially have power, garbage, water moving through them to cities beyond. I ask both these questions because I feel like they're related in that I'm curious if the game allows cities to become essentially "conduits" for power, traffic, commerce, etc. rather than "cities only interact with their direct neighbors. I just haven't seen this discussed anywhere.

This is Wean Hall on Carnegie Mellon's campus in Pittsburgh, PA: http://lh4.ggpht.com/__hZBoYgotKk/SgZi-xomGcI/AAAAAAAAAIA/jjge7nG8EWc/IMG_1976.JPG Ok, maybe not single-handedly the worst, but the 60's-70's era of these monstrous, brutal concrete buildings is a style I'm hoping is long forgotten, and soon. What's particularly sad is that the building looks as bad, if not worse on the inside. Just way too much concrete on the inside and out. Edit: Sorry, couldn't get the image to appear in the post directly. Any clues as to why this is failing?

Originally posted by: Deathcat001 is there one for elevated highway's because it looks wierd having grass under a highway in the middle of a CBD quote> Oh really? I was thinking of that too, but in all my searches I've never found that. Do you have a link?

The work-around would be to put one-way roads on either side of the elevated rail or monorail. The other option (at least for el. rail) is to use the NAM's el. rail over road pieces. There are even a few stations that can work in perfect conjunction with these pieces too.

If this is the case about sims basically only traversing to adjacent cities, then how have I seen photos of what look like truly enormous commercial city centers?

Is there anything basically just like the Elevated Rail Facelift Mod for Monorails?

Originally posted by: kellydale2003 I'm making it as realistic as possible.quote> Speaking of which, are there any mods for changing the fairly dreadful default Maxis retaining walls that appear in lots? I find it particularly annoying that some buildings nicely conform to their slope, but then they're right next to these heinous ones that unrealistically cut into the slope. Does anyone know about this?

I guess a similar question I have in this vein is directed at airports. Does a large international airport have much an impact on the region as a whole, or again, just on the neighboring cities? I ask this because I saw someone creating a fairly realistic looking Int'l airport that takes up basically half a large city tile, but I was wondering if it's "actual" impact really represented it's large size.

This topic would actually be more appropriate in the SC4 Builders - Transit Networks category; I even posted about something like this about a week ago. Yeah, I too have been looking for a good station for the Elevated Rail over Road. However, like you all discussed, not one that INTERSECTS the road, but instead one that works directly over top of the road that you're running parallel to fit with the NAM's El. Rail over road puzzle pieces. Here's the link to that thread I was talking about And like someone on that thread suggested, I will say that this guy has two such lots that may be of good use.

Originally posted by: z1 Originally posted by: Impala26 Also, I think some simple Road-Top station for El. Rail would be a good work-around.quote> I'm not completely sure what you mean here. Do you mean this? quote> Oh wow, that's impressive. How was that accomplished?

Originally posted by: blade2k5 Ok, the Hunnington Oregon map is now available on the STEX and here's what's on deck for tomorrow... Pittsburgh: quote> Ahh, what a refreshing sight to behold! Awesome job, I think the region has a very unique terrain in that there's not really any particularly tall moutains or peaks, but instead hills that appear to roll on forever. I'd love to see what people could do with it, I'm just not so sure "I" could do anything good with it because I'm still pretty "fresh" at the game and terrain is not that easy to work with in SC4 it seems. But anyway, can't wait!

Originally posted by: ch0c0 the NAM itself only has one major issue, and thats when you hover a puzzle piece over a TE lot...like a train station.quote> Actually, this may be a fairly accurate description as to when my game crashes. Keeping this advice in mind, I noticed that when I was more careful with where the cursor was (using the menus in-game and such) this has been noticeably less of a problem. I don't have concrete (hours and hours) proof, but I've been pleased thus far. Thank you for the tip.

Originally posted by: blade2k5 The only limit I have is anything below sea level [New Orleans, Denmark, places like that] and what I can get DEM data for. Basically anywhere on the planet except for the very northern and very southern lattitudes. If you look at the opening post in this thread, you'll find links to all 200+ maps I've released to the STEX. Right now, the maps I'm uploading have been done and sitting on my pc for nearly a year now which is why I'm releasing them state by state. So, what can I get for ya? quote> Well, given where I'm from and that I'm pretty sure that the STEX doesn't have an "official" version, I was curious if you had or could make one of Pittsburgh, PA and the surrounding metro region. Something like 20 km square approx. I guess. I think it would be a great challenge for most players because of the areas CONSTANT rolling hills, as opposed to straight-er mountain ranges/peaks. I suppose if I come up with other region ideas, I should check the STEX first and then if not there, ask you about it?

Not trying to sound foolish or lazy for asking this, but I have a few questions about custom transportation creations. Almost all these questions are derived from the fact that I'm from Western Pennsylvania / Pittsburgh and been observant of our various transportation quirks. The first and foremost is if anyone knows where I can find the non-median version of the avenue, i.e. the avenue lot with the middle turning lane instead of the dividing median. I've seen user pics of these and in my real life area they are FAR more common. Another question I had pertained to highways and parallel roads. I'm familiar with "sunken" highways, highway walls, and parallel roads. However, I was curious if there were any mods for "vertical" highway walls, thus enabling roads DIRECTLY adjacent to the highway and not one tile separated. And also if there would be associated bridges-over-highway and offramps associated with that. This is a bit of a push, but I've seen some ingenious mods out there. I've seen Pegasus' riverwalks and they seem really detailed and extensive (I've only downloaded his "Industrial" version of the sea/river wall). I was curious if there were any "modern" takes on this concept for residential and commercial riverside areas. The old-style boardwalk look is pleasant to be sure, but once again I'm referencing my hometown in this request. In our downtown area our riverwalks are simple concrete but have the feel of a modern park / green space. There may be stuff similar to this with the various canal mods, but I was curious if any existed for the "default" water. The last thing I had to ask about was underground road networking. My first reaction when seeing the Flexible Underpasses of the NAM was that I would be able to create underground roadways under parks, commercial districts, etc. This does not appear the case. Well, I mean it appears that you can cover it with "basic" green or ped mall tiles, but my first impression was a bit of a let-down. I also so the underground roadway mod on the STEX and was curious if anyone has tested that because that's something far more along the lines of what I had in mind for this. For in that case (using "translated" subway tunnels) one could build intricate (read: not straight) road tunnels again under large commercial centers or even more effective moutain tunnels. Gah, long laundry list is long, so I will apologize. If anyone can help me with one or more of these queries, I will be quite happy. Thanks.

Originally posted by: ch0c0 ha...i live right off route 910. welcome! with bridges-over-highway, not quite sure what ya mean. the bridge mechanism in the game is not so versatile; hate ta shoot ya down until i get a better idea whats ya lookin for. quote> Nice, where are you from? I'm in Indiana Township not far from Harmar. The highway issue I was bringing up actually very much stems from the nature of things in Pittsburgh. All I would have to say is picture some of the freeways in the downtown area and you see what I mean. However, it's not a big deal, I suppose one just has to work within the limit that when placing roads, etc. parallel to sunken highways you just have to space it by one tile-length. Do you have any some idea what I mean about riverfront stuff in the style of Pittsburgh? We don't really have "boardwalks" per se.

Originally posted by: blade2k5 What would you like? quote> Sorry it took me so long to respond. Well, I was curious what might you want to limit yourself to or anything. Like, just the Pacific Northwest? The whole lower 48? Beyond that? I have some ideas, but I just don't want to request something incredibly exotic.

It's pretty key. One strategy I employ, and actually is a pretty fair to the real world, is building a nuclear power plant in a rural area and stringing the power lines great distances to neighboring cities. When I first started, I really wanted to do this, but I couldn't because you need to meet huge population requirements in order to build the Maxis nuclear plant. Instead I got a great set of large capacity nuclear plants from the STEX. You can plop them in a brand new region... I was thrilled! Long story short, yeah, power neighbor deals is pretty key.

Originally posted by: Daze90 A few months back, i saw a video of someone making realistic beaches, or something like that.. and i think he/she had plain beaches, but i still think they were functional. And i also think i saw him/her putting lots of trees on the edge of the beaches. I don't have much info, since it's a long time since i saw the video.. anyways, i'm looking for plain beaches and the tutorial i wrote about.. i really need it to build my new region/city.quote> Are you looking for simply ploppable beach tiles to fit in a somewhat confined area, or do you mean like more crazy add-ons like boardwalks, various beach buildings, etc.?

Hey Mike, it appears that the link you posted to the list of staff members is broken. It is for me anyway. Doing my best to help out.

Yeah I'm just a bit of a newbie when it comes to custom content on SC4. It appears the GLR is working fine, but that the game still crashes at totally random instances clicking on various things. I understand that the game as-is is somewhat buggy, but I'm sure my slow-ish laptop doesn't help that issue. I appreciate your help in this. I just wish the game had an auto-save feature so I do find myself losing an hour or two of work... When that happens I'm like, "Well, there goes a few hours of my life I'm not getting back!" But yeah, everything else seems to be alright.

It's probably not my place, but seeing as I'm pretty unskilled when it comes to manually editing the USGS data, I was simply curious if I could make any requests to you for any regions. Totally understand if things are busy though...