Kieren Barnett

I'm wanting to remap, or specifically redefine where the small, medium, and large cities are in my region that I'm working on (Fairview). I was under the impression that I could simply repaint the config bitmap, and reload it (with ctrl+shift+alt+r) in game, but that doesn't appear to be the case, and all the cities stay the same. Am I missing something? Do I need to use a remapper tool?

It's been almost 4 weeks, but fear not, I've been chipping away at the South Ridge region, and I will get around to the next update very soon, hopefully within next week sometime. Huge plans are taking shape, and all will be revealed, in time. I leave you with a teaser of suburbs, farmland, leisure, and...science?

It's possible he has something similar, although I have never had a Devotion account, so it's doubtful it's the one I saw. I'll check his out though over there.

I think the mod used in this CJ may have even been the CAM, although I'm not certain as I've never used it myself. RippleJet doesn't seem to have any CJ's though, so I don't think it was his city.

Hi guys, I'm looking for an old (and possibly ongoing) CJ I used to read a few years back. It was a city/region (SC4) that was being built as real-time as possible. I vaguely remember minor details such as there being incredibly limited funds, and the city being very slow to build. I vaguely remembered a fire guttering half the city, as a fire station was un-affordable at the time. I believe there was a school near the center of the city, and that much of the road were dirt tracks. I think the creator was using a demand or money mod to limit the growth of the city, and this is one reason I'd like to find the CJ to play using this mod, as I feel it would be an interesting challenge. If no one can find the CJ, at least the mod would be interesting to track down. Nevertheless, would also be interesting to see the CJ, and how far the city was established.

We begin the Fairview story in the Southlands of the region, specifically South Ridge: a fertile valley nestled between two rolling hills. This area offers a significant starting point in the lead up to taking on the planned city center in a future post. With plenty of room to expand, the suburbs and towns are fairly lightly populated. The main benefits of the region are plenty of farmland, with easy access to nearby harbors, offering processing and storage facilities, as well as export facilities. Vast highways link towns and suburbs, with sprawling farmland throughout. As the region expands, this will offer excellent opportunity for farmland to continue to thrive and support the infrastructure and economy of the region. The town of South Ridge is small, although plenty of space remains to the north of the highway, promising future development sites. The avenue stretching through town never gets busy, offering a quite country-town lifestyle for the locals, with everyone within easy access of all the amenities the town has to offer. A community library offers a wealth of knowledge for the area, as well as plenty of parkland and outdoor-leisure spaces. The nearby highway provides valuable connection to the region, as well as employment opportunities that are never too far away. The town is a net-exporter, already offering a bustling harbor for the farmland to export to the Fairview region. Despite the early days, the port is already getting good use, mainly from the farms in South Ridge. Economically, it's promising for the region to have a strong harbor region on the doorstep of a planned major city. One of the key design challenges I faced in preparing South Ridge into what it is now, is the construction of the highway. I've always previously use the Maxis highways, although these often clash with the NAM textures, and in themselves, have design limitations. Despite my love and respect to the issues the NAM does fix, I've never been a user of the the RHW's. I've promised myself that I'm going to experiment a little wit the RHW's in this region, and hopefully learn a thing or two. This vast mess of a cloverleaf is a first for me. It took me a solid few hours, and much experimenting, to come up with something I was happy with, although I have already learnt a lot of how the RHW works, as well as just how flexible it can be. Along the countryside, this almost fits in, although I'm somewhat concerned I'm going to butcher it when I take on integrating a highway into the big-city. Thanks for taking the time to read my first journal, I look forward to your comments, and someday soon publishing the next entry.

Is that a diagonal airport? I haven't seen many like that.

Old thread. I tested this out a bit, and I think the 'in-game' way, still allowing the player to mass zone, is to not water. It makes sense, to a degree. Think of the pipes as water mains. To my knowledge, there aren't mains going under every street in every suburb, it'd be too expensive for little amount of taxes in return. There would still be pipes coming off the mains, but they'd be a lot smaller, and cater to individual houses. R$ and R$$ do not require water in low density. Typically, you wouldn't mass zone medium or high density on the streets used in suburbs, so this is not an issue to have no water. I placed my pipes down the main roads and avenues, where my commercial districts and higher density residential were. Those who want water get it, mansions don't grow, everyone's happy. The other take away from it, is to consider what's underground in your cities. Just because you only see it in underground mode, doesn't mean you can't put a little planning into it, rather than a massive grid stretching from one corner of the map to the other.

I'm not very knowledgeable with BATing, and creating custom lots, so I would like to request something that is probably really simple. There is one custom lot that I would like to include in my vanilla city, if possible, I'd like to request someone to change the 'Hollywood' landmark to 'Clearo Heights'. I don't need any landmark effect changes, just a visual change. Thanks in advance.

I was working in Clearo Heights, specifically on the 'French Corner', just off of downtown, and all these red roofed buildings popped up, just perfectly how I imagined it.

Your work continues to amaze me, Korver. I'm not sure if you'd ever be willing to share any BTS content, like if it's some industry secret of yours, and I'd fully understand. If you don't mind the request though, maybe showing some region shots of what the True Earth looks like, before photoshop if that's even a thing (it's always hard to tell: SimCity 4, photoshop, or a HD photograph). Just BTS content in general. I'm just overall curious the sheer amount of work you put in to get it all looking this good.

I haven't formally expressed my condolences. I stopped playing SimCity 4 and frequenting the Simtropolis forums a while back, when I moved out of my parents. I have recently came back to Simtropolis, and am deeply saddened by the loss to the community. John was indeed active on the community, and he was incredibly friendly, encouraging, and supportive. I was hardly the most active, but when I did need a hand, John was more often than not there. He didn't judge, he would help out no matter how silly the question may have been. He was truly what the Simtropolis community represented in a nutshell. I remember first getting into the game, and sharing my 'grid' cities, along with others at the time, he seemed influential to me in the movement to realism in the game. He would very humbly recommend playing the game naturally, and just to enjoy building a complex city. I remember he once said something along the lines that he rarely sped the game up. He would let the city build itself, and take pleasure in the animation playing out of a city growing before his eyes. This to me is what SimCity 4 is about, and why it is such a loved game by many. Yes, it's very easy to build a large grid city, but when you start getting into the chaotic nature of city building, it's otherworldly to be able to sit back and watch a unique city grow and develop before your eyes. John understood the game. He loved the game, and his love for the game followed through to the community. He loved the community the game created, and the community loved him. We still do, and it truly is a huge loss to not have him around anymore.

If there's enough demand of travel between the islands, maybe a bridge would work when comparing it to real world examples. There are some long real world bridges, plenty around the 20-30km mark, as well as one as long as 164km in China. For the most part, these bridges are simple bridges, and don't have incredibly high pylons (ie: no ferry clearance), to save on costs. The bridge may have a couple of artificial islands created in the middle somewhere, to allow for a 'feature' bridge to be created part way along, and allow for boating traffic. The decision is up to you if you want to connect the islands by a bridge, but if you choose not to, then no there isn't a way to UDI between the islands. Well, there is the option of downloading the NAM and constructing a 'route under transparent ground' tunnel under water. These are UDI compatible.

Excuse my complete ignorance to computer science and how this all works. Couldn't a computer geek (not even a SC4 fan) create a 32-bit emulator that allows you to run emulator 'roms' on them? Practically code a shell program to make the machine think you're running any of the uploaded 32-bit games as 64-bit? I don't know how complex this would be, but I know that there are emulators out there for cross consoles (ie: N64, Gameboy, Playstation, etc. onto a PC/Mac). Would this work for running older programs that run a supposedly foreign format to what the machine runs?

This is the second entry in a series of entries covering Aeroes City. The previous entry covered the dirty roots of the city region that was initially discovered by industrialists. As industry boomed in the city, the population flooded in. Setting up tent, and dropping their anchors, the population needed something a little more permanent. So forth Aeroes City became a city. Suburbs were built, and before long, towering apartment blocks appeared. The township of Aeroes was officially awarded city status with the deceleration of its first downtown district. Part II: Downtown Initially, the heart of Aeroes City followed a narrow corridor branching from the Athena Straight Industrial District, through what is today the Northern District. Even today, remnants of the past remain along the busy avenue, that remains skirted by towers to this day. The downtown location in the Northern District had little space to grow, however, and quickly became quite long. With so much population relying on one major artery in and out of town, traffic built up. Commutes became long. Too many buildings relied on the avenue. It couldn't become a highway. The nearby suburbs also opposed the idea of a highway cutting them in half. Eventually, a railway was built through the district, alleviating some traffic issues, and creating others in the process. Level crossings were the only space saving option.The Northern District had outgrown its shoes. Old, rotting residential towers in the old downtown in the Northern District are a reminder of the undesirable location. Despite the rot, sims still choose to live here. This intersection is the heart of Northern, with this train station one of the busiest in Aeroes City. A new addition to the old downtown - a row of commercial offices border the high-tech industry and a suburb of the Northern District. The avenue is a now major transport route with the decision to build a traffic tunnel under the river from Northern to Central. An overview of the east-west downtown of old. The downtown area followed the avenue from Athena Straight in the west to the diagonal avenue in the east. It was largely a residential downtown, with the population boom from Athena Straight. Aeroes City was at breaking point, and needed room to grow when the floodgates were opened. From here came the birth of the Central District on the opposite banks of the Aeroes River. By now, the commercial business was paying close attention to the city. A north-south highway was built connecting the banks, and exits placed in prime location for commercial industry. Close to the first exit, the public radio station AM-FM (Aeroes Metropolitan-FM), promoted the initial growth of downtown. Grew it did, the peninsular quickly became a sea of high rise apartments and office space. Boasting all the modern amenities needed to host a growing office population, the Central Region of Aeroes City will go down in history as Downtown. A snapshot of Central, bounded by Aeroes River, the railway in the West, and the avenues in the South and East. Unofficially, the South and East stretches to the nearby roads. AM-FM in amongst the eastern commercial offices of Central, at the foot of the first of 3 highway off ramps feeding into Central. The city zoo overlooks the oldest highway bridge in the region. The heart of Central is home to the Stock Exchange and the Bureau of Bureaucracy. A stones throw away is the minor-league soccer/football stadium, and the major-league baseball stadium. The city wharf is home to high class retail and office space. At the northernmost tip of the Central District is the convention center. A high-value commercial district has sprawled countless boutique offices at its doorstep. The civic center of town in the late afternoon. Home to city hall, the courthouse, the central library, and the central firehouse. As the sun goes down on another busy day in Aeroes City, many sims, region wide, are tuning into AM-TV-9: one of the national TV stations of the Flatlands. I hope part II of Welcome to Aeroes City has been as entertaining to see as it was to build. The city is still a work in progress, and someday I may have to revisit the downtown area(s). Lookout for part III, coming soon.

That looks perfect. Its mesmerizing.

I've been fleshing out Aeroes City into the suburbs a bit lately, and traffic is becoming an issue in some places of town. I have added a new circular subway route through Central District with branches into Southern and Northern. Phase 1 of the tram line that will eventually connect Eastern to the Northern subway branch is complete, after major road closures to construct the line. I'm not too concerned with the congestion through Central, as the commercial loves this, and honestly there's not a lot I can do without destroying the entire district.

If I can suggest some places, being WA born and raised, there's wave rock, the south west coast including the beaches of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National park, and perhaps one of WA's best kept secret, the Ningaloo reef (not as big as the great barrier reef, but arguably better, relatively untouched, and easily accessible). There's also the horizontal falls, kings park (the largest inner city park in the world), Lake Hillier. Also, from the rest of Australia, there's the 3 sisters and the blue mountains, the Victorian alps, the great australian bight, the 12 apostles. Just to name a few, Australia is full of natural wonder.

Yeah, I just do so much mayor work any moment I have to go on. Whenever I take a screenshot, I always forget that button. Mostly I wanted to create a region using the game terrain tools, which I've never seen a decent one made from them alone.

A long overdue update to The Flatlands, I welcome you all to Aeroes City. The last few weeks have had me busy, wrapping up big assignments for end of semester, and life in general limiting my time to SimCity 4. The last couple of days, I have started fleshing out some inner city and southern suburbs of Aeroes City, so before I get much further, I figured it's finally time for the long awaited tour of Aeroes City. This update will be long, so I can bring you all up to speed with the mess of a city I've created. Firstly, an overview. the Greater Aeroes City has passed 180,000 population, as I move to open up the Eastern and Southern districts [map], formally connecting them to the city. You can already see in the region overview that the suburbs of Southern are creeping up to Central, and Eastern to Northern. Teaser alert: I have also done some work on the Promethius Agricultural community, with the farmlands overtaking Demeter Valley and Hermes Connection. There's also a new township in the area, which I will explore in a future update. I am taking to naming my cities after Greek gods, where the name suits. Coincidentally, Athena Straight was named because I like the name, but I guess Athena is the god of war, and there was a battle between the industrialists and the agriculturalists in the area, so the name fits. Demeter and Hermes were more researched, and fittingly for agriculture and the traveler/merchant subsequently. Back in Aeroes City, I have also started adding the arteries connecting Southern, Western, and Central. Suburbs in this area are not far off, but there's lots of work to do. Now we're up to speed, lets take a closer look at the distinct regions in the city. Part I: Dirty Money Home to 10,000 jobs, mostly low-income dirty industry, Athena Straight is often considered names such as the power house, the dump, smog city, and boom town. All these names are equally accurate. Athena Straight is the gold mine (or oil, more accurately), that Aeroes was founded on. Before the business expansion, Aeroes City was an industrialists paradise. Oil, smog, pollution. Factories as far as the eye can see have damaged the landscape to line the pockets of a few greedy investors. A ferry comes into dock, bringing a boat load of factory workers with it. When the factory workers get hungry, lunch isn't far away. The orange trim retail stores actually have similar architecture to a local fry up near where I live. Athena tried recycling. Tickets please. Rail is a popular transport in Athena Straight. Across the other side of Aeroes City lies the 'port city' of Cobbers Harbour. Home to 4,000 industrial jobs, the city acts as the gateway of materials and goods in and out of Aeroes City. It is conveniently located nearby the city center, and has road and rail connections to the other industrial districts located throughout the city and the region. The port is slated to undergo further development as the Southern District is developed. The industrial hub is on the road to becoming a satellite city to Aeroes City. The Port City is nestled between the slopes at the eastern end of the Ridge Valley National Park. The 'gateway' to the Port City. Anchors aweigh: A ship leaves port after unloading an import of goods. The lighthouse provides clear way for ships at night, as well as security throughout the industrial estate. Part II, and more, to come.

This entry is both awesome and overwhelming at the same time to consider that even the spectacular natural beauty presented here barely even touches the vast landscape of Australia.

I have begun writing CJ entries for the Aeroes City suburbs twice, and discarded both, as they got confusing pretty quickly. Let's be honest, The Flatlands is developed a little unconventionally, and is currently a disjointed mess. The sims hate me for the traffic, although with each new development that opens up, the bigger picture is being revealed to them, and the congestion eases a little. All along, in my head, I have had plans for the region. As development continues, and the CJ entries progress towards Aeroes City, I realize I need a few maps and plans, for my sake as much as for yours. Here on in, I will be referencing key area/district/place/landmark names, so I encourage anyone wishing to follow The Flatlands to familiarize these maps. The Region So Far Aeroes River is the life blood of this part of the region. Fed by Lake Promethius and the pristine falls from Mount Pompus, the river snakes its way toward Cobbers Harbour and the ocean. The water is rich with minerals essential for plant life, and has promoted the growth of the Promethius Agricultural Community through a natural groundwater reservoir. The Aeroes National Park is a small, but lush green forest, protected by the government in the historic land-grab battle between the Promethius Agricultural Community and Athena Straight Industrialists. Another front to this land-grab has caused a disjointed boundary for the westernmost reaches of Aeroes City. The Ridge Valley National Park is a huge area untouched by civilization. It stretches off into the distant continents. Talks are in place for a highway system connecting The Flatlands and their southern neighbors, but so far these have been unsuccessful due to disagreements with governments over the protection of national parks. A notable landmark of the Ridge Valley National Park are the Twin Peaks mountains. The twin mountains were carved by erosive winds millions of years ago. These prevailing winds are responsible for the east-west mountains and valleys that span the region. As the northern regions of The Flatlands are created, these east-west mountain ranges will continue to be apparent. Moving Eastward I have begun work on the terrain of the south-east region of The Flatlands. As Aeroes City exits Cobbers Harbour, the suburbs will become more sparse, eventually becoming a coastal rural area. The coastline will wrap much of the east of the region, dotted with a few volcanic islands like the one pictured. The old coast highway will traverse this farmland, connecting a future city in the north of the region to Aeroes City. Modern digging equipment has allowed for a more direct highway route through the rugged terrain of the central mountains. All will be explored in future updates. The Districts of Aeroes City Aeroes City is home to 8 districts. Central District, home of the CBD, is the most dense, but also the smallest. Along with the 4 cardinal districts, these are the main districts of Aeroes City. The plan is to cap development of these districts around 100,000-150,000 residential population. As the urban sprawl continued, 3 outer districts, formerly their own community area, became a part of the wider Aeroes City. These 3 districts are gateways to Aeroes City, and are subject to boundary changes as population settles in the region. Athena Straight Industrial District, as the name suggests in the epicenter of industry in The Flatlands. It fed the initial growth into Aeroes City through the Northern Districts. The Northern Districts is the oldest district of Aerores City. Residential development in the district meant that a commercial district had to be relocated as the City developed. The Coastal Riviera District plan is for sparse suburbs following the coastline. Further development may also occur to the east of the Aeroes City airport. Beyond this district is farmland, and the outer areas of this district will have a very rural feel to it. The Foothills District will be developed on rugged terrain, and will be a few towns that are on the furthest reaches of Aeroes City. Separated by hills, these towns are too close for their own regional area, but too far to be considered a part of a main district of Aeroes City. I hope this update paints a picture on my grand plan for Aeroes City, and I promise the next update will explore more city life, and less lifeless region updates.

I am eagerly working towards bringing you all the first update in a series of the suburbs of Aeroes City. In the mean time, here is a preview on the significant work that has been going on in the region since the last update. Noticeably, the terrain in the South West corner of the map is virtually complete. Aeroes City (Aeroes Metropolitan and surrounds) is the main population and economic hub of this part of the region. I have a vision for a second large city in the northern part of the region, along with a few larger coastal towns between the two. The remainder of the region will be mainly national parks, farmlands, and mountain ranges. The region has had a significant economic and commercial boost since the last update, due to developments in Aeroes City. Population has reached 100,000, with about 50,000 jobs in the region. Business is booming with a boost to education in the city area. Aeroes Metropolitan alone has almost 35,000 commercial jobs. That covers this quick update of The Flatands. Stay tuned for a tour of the suburbs of Aeroes City.

I am making a region using the Maxis god mode tools only, and I think it's looking pretty good. There's more information in my CJ 'Welcome to The Flatlands'. This is an updated region shot since the first post, including heavy terrain updates to include a south-western mountain range, and a harbour on the southern border of the region. The region terrain is probably about 1/5th completed, and about half of that is developed/in development.

A Brief Introduction The Flatlands is a largely vanilla region, handcrafted by maxis landscaping tools. The only addon being used is the NAM, and mostly because I like the roundabouts and traffic choosing routes capable to handle higher volume traffic. Everything else is vanilla. Prologue Thousands of years ago, the founders of The Flatlands discovered a largely flat region, henceforth named The Flatlands. They began pulling mountainsides from the ground; digging lakes with their bare hands. Or so legend goes... Mount Pompus was not a very fertile region, despite the plentiful fresh water from the falls into Lake Promethius. Heading east, the early explorers discovered the lands to the south east of Lake Promethius were incredibly fertile. It wasn't long before civilization settled in the region. Farmlands grew small towns, which enticed large commercial cities downstream. But let's come back to where it all began. Aerial view of The Flatlands Lake Promethius The prospering farming community began with just a few farms and a couple of outhouses. Today, 3,000 people call Lake Promethius home. The community is mostly comprised of 800 farmers, who can mostly be found plowing the fields, or selling their pick of the bunch at the Sunday farmers market. The town is accessible by train and road, with a nearby ferry stop also serving the community to tourists, travelers, and workers. An airstrip out of town also serves the region. Popular tourist destinations in town include the main shopping strip headed by the popular farmers market. The West Ring Road is an alternate route allowing local farmers speedy access to the fields. Lined by gourmet cafes and boutique stores, it is also a popular destination for tourists. One can also relax and read a book at the local library, or dip their toes at the Promethius beach. More adventurous tourists can go for a skydive at the nearby airstrip, or take a road trip to Mount Pompus along the scenic Northern Highway, which runs along the border between the lake and the national park to the north. Of course, Lake Promethius is a farming community at heart. The fields stretch for miles, offering as a food basket for the region. The freshest produce can be found at the local farmers market, however most is taken by road or rail to the supermarkets and malls in the east. The quality of the harvest is amongst the best in the region, proving that quantity can be quality too. I hope you enjoyed this tour of Lake Promethius. I'm hoping to keep this city journal updated as much as my life will allow me, which will hopefully be weekly, but no promises. In the next updates, I will cover Athena Straight and Aeroes Metropolitan, and furthermore into the undiscovered regions of The Flatlands. Thank you for reading.