LakeTrash311

Thanks guys! I meant to include more in my last update but Imageshack wasn't cooperating. So to continue: Banana Mango City has grown quite a bit since I last posted pictures of it. Suburbia has made its grand entrance just to the north, closer to Alien Love Secret. The farmland here is much older than that in Sledgehammer Village, further south. So here I kept the more irregular layout when I redeveloped the farms. Those in Sleghammer Village were already more blocklike, but there I increased the size of each block to better resemble those in the US. As Banana Mango City becomes a suburb of Alien Love Secret, the actual city (the first pic) is now becoming more like a historic district. The added traffic here has taken a toll on some of the crops. I recently developed a resort town on an island west of the city; honestly I have no name for it yet. It is accessible either by a ferry which leads to West Alien Love Secret, or by SimHwy 384 (see the most recent road map on page 3). Like Point Exodus, houses are built individually; there are no large chunks of land being bought by homebuilders for development into subdivisions. http://img288.imageshack.us/img288/1415/oct2update111cb.jpg align=baseline> The resort town's ferry entrance. Arrowhead Point, home of many of Alien Love Secret's corporate fat cats, elites, celebrities, and just plain rich folks, has also grown. http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/7923/oct2update82nm.jpg align=baseline> http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/4218/oct2update98pb.jpg align=baseline> http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9101/oct2update105hp.jpg align=baseline>

Today I'll show off some of the city's surrounding areas. On the south side, Sledgehammer Village, and Banana Mango City have experienced a good deal of development. Slegdehammer Village, as it sits today. Notice that all of the farmland has been redeveloped. The block sizes have changed too. They are now approximately 1/4 sq mile each. If you look on Google Maps' satellite images at the farmland of the US Great Plains or Southern California, you can see the inspiration for this part of the Alien Love Secret region. Ok, I have more for this update, but Imageshack is acting up on me. More to come.

Hello all... So... by now, I'm sure those of you who have followed this CJ in the past have figured out as well as I have that updates are infrequent and are likely to be infrequent in the future. But I'll try to make up for the lack of frequent updates by, every now and then, putting up the best updates that I can. With that said, first off I'll say that the city's metro area is nearing 900,000 sims. PhilsCafe, I tried out the BSC farms like you mentioned, and they're absoulutely beautiful. Props to everyone who created these farms. All of my farms have been rebuilt, and more farmland has been added. Also, if you go back to page 1, you'll see that I have plans to, when the time comes, replace Love Secret Municipal Airport. And, well, I meant what I said. I plan to complete this just after the population reaches 1,000,000. (I had to throw in at least something. Consider it a teaser.) But do expect an update soon. With plenty of pictures, of course.

Quiche

Clapton. Our local rock station plays Led Zeppelin way, way too much, and I'm a little tired of it. Joe Satriani or Steve Vai?

US 183 here in Austin has often been called The Creeper, since it's upgrade from a six lane parking lot to a freeway had only been gradual. Instead of it being one big project, a couple miles would be funded, built, and opened, and the cycle would start again for the next little stretch. It took over 15 years to build less than 10 miles of freeway. Lately however, construction has started or is about to start on about 20 more miles of it, except it's all gonna be tolled. Then there's I-35. I couldn't tell how long it's upgrade has been in the planning stages, or how long it'll be before construction will even start, if it ever does. From what I've read it's supposed to be upgraded from an 8 lane double decker (that is, 4 on the bottom and 4 on top) to a trenched 12-14 lane collector/distributor. With I-35 being an all-day traffic jam I have no idea how TxDOT's gonna handle it. My guess is it won't start until well after SH130 is finished and takes truck traffic off I-35.

SimHighway 13: South Shalla-Bal Island to Point Exodus Only recently has the island experienced serious growth. Most of the growth has occured to the South, East, and Northeast, as the real estate is cheaper and easier to develop. South Shalla-Bal Island is still within Alien Love Secret city limits. For years this short section has been a limited access avenue. It won't be long before it's upgraded. The freeway section to the North is brand spanking new. Before, it was just a four lane road. The old farmland to the North will have a date with the bulldozer before too long. Another new freeway section built on separate right of way. The old road is now a business route. The highway winds through some new subdivisions. The city of Shalla-Bal Island. The highway makes a dramatic downgrade into a two lane road as it leaves civilization and heads out to the Northern end of the island. After four miles of nothing, SH 13 approaches Point Exodus. The highway finally dead-ends right at the water, where a fancy schmancy resort is planned. As always, thanks for all your comments. You always make my day with that! Keep 'em coming!

SimHighway 13: Downtown to South Shalla-Bal Island 13 stetches about 20 miles and provides access north to Shalla-Bal Island, dead ending in the sleepy village of Point Exodus. The freeway section downtown is one of Alien Love Secret's first freeways, and it shows with its steep inclines and treacherous ramps. I have quite a few pictures here, so I'm gonna divide the update into two posts. http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/7697/simhiway1313he.jpg align=baseline> 13 begins at SimNation highway 7 at the southern side of downtown. http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/7628/simhiway1327om.jpg align=baseline> SimNation highway 79 branches off as 13 wraps around the western edge of downtown. http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/5364/simhiway1335do.jpg align=baseline> SH13/SN20 interchange. http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/3575/simhiway1349gj.jpg align=baseline> Leaving downtown. Some redevelopment happening here. http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/3756/simhiway1354fw.jpg align=baseline> Approaching the Shalla-Bal Island Bridge. http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1900/simhiway1369bc.jpg align=baseline> The ferry here leads to Arrowhead Point, to the East. http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/5839/simhiway1375bj.jpg align=baseline> The Shalla-Bal Island Bridge. http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7228/simhiway1385iv.jpg align=baseline> Entering Shalla-Bal Island.

Hey everybody... Real life calls often, and I have to answer. But I'm back again for now. Amryai200: You're very right. I think the problem I've had has to do with the city being built to, I guess Texas-size proportions (i.e. spread way out, not like, say 1,000,000 sims on a single large city plot). I've had to use all kinds of mods to help this city stay alive. Without extensive modding, sims just move out. Buncha wimps. Most of 'em just can't stand the idea of commuting all the way from the suburbs. Plus, whenever I use the super demand mod (yeah I know, it's a hardcore cheat) it creates way too much $$$ development, and a lot of times I just have to bulldoze it and try to get some lower level stuff to move in. Anyway, I've been working on the city pretty diligently again; the population has reached 750,000 sims. I recently installed the brilliant BSC Budget Tool, which will allow me to start building something pretty special (and very, very expensive) when the city reaches 1,000,000 sims. If you go back to the first page, you should be able to find out what it's gonna be... Expect some new pics within the next few days.

Thanks for the comments everyone! Y'all are right about the time it takes to put the maps together. It's tedious. Really tedious. All I used to make them are MSPaint and Photoshop. I printscreened the traffic maps, one by one, in each city, and used Paint to cut and paste them together. I used Photoshop to change the color of all the streets to grey, and went back into Paint to color in the highways, city names, legend, etc. Basically make it look pretty. So, now you know the secret. If there's a program out there that'll grab the traffic maps without starting up SC4, I would love to know about it. Thanks again, and I'm happy to see interest in the road maps.

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How 'bout some new downtown shots... The skyline still isn't really really high, but I think it has kept up with the rest of the city's growth quite well. South side, looking north. Looking west. Obviously I haven't downloaded any hi-rise BATs yet, but until I do I'm doing what I can to maintain a decent composition of skyscrapers. A close-up of the new city hall. Looking east. And a nighttime shot looking east. I really like this picture. I want to do a new version of the roadmap soon, but that will likely not happen until next month, after I get the rest of this semester over with. Until then, enjoy...

I like how your highways sneak around the high-rises. Nice job!

Thanks everyone! Dang, page 3, only took 'bout 4 months to get here. MallowTheCloud: About the maps: Go right ahead! I'm glad that you want to use my idea in your CJ.

Ok, I was gonna post new region images, but either my html really stinks or the forum software is freaking out on me, let me try and fix this... Sorry 'bout the double post, I'm not sure what happened. Mods, please delete the previous post. Edit* Big versions of the region shots are available here and here . Each is about 750-800 kb, though. Enjoy!