Update:
Somethink had happened to the data files - I scrubbed everything, reinstalled Simcity & sky's mods, and voila! Beautiful.
I've been loading Skye's http://skyestorme.com/category/pc-games/simcity/
Tamarin Island and Tamarin Island North with varying success. Here are some screen shots:
All views are normal with the city. It is also fully functional.
http://prntscr.com/cfnv9p
With one exception: The view from a different city is strange - great loss of resolution and color detail
http://prntscr.com/cfnz9g
This is Jaguar Island (aka Tamarin Island North) loaded in a separate region copy
http://prntscr.com/cfo0jx
The buildings are unclickable and this happens when zoomed in
http://prntscr.com/cfo1h4 Gone! It's like zooming through a 2d representation of the city.
Any thoughts? I've tried reinstalling Simcity & Skymods 3.2. Simcity functions flawlessly.