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Showing results for tags 'hole digging lots'.
Found 4 results
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Noob Mod Question: Change Height of Hole Digging Lot
Sunrader posted a topic in SC4 Modding - Open Discussion
Hi, all - I'm very new to SC4, have done modding on Sims 2 only. I need a hole digging lot to raise the terrain about 7.75 (currently there are 7.5 and 8m lots). This would be a very useful terraforming tool for me because it would match a height needed frequently in Sims 2. I thought to just tweak the 7.5 one if possible. This seems like a simple change, but I just don't know my way around tools and plugins in this context. Can someone kindly direct me?- 13 Replies
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Hi, All! I've been around for a couple of weeks, very new to SC4, coming at it as a die-hard Sims 2 fan just learning to make terrains for that game. I had no idea you guys were here and, at least, as devoted as we are! I'm loving seeing what all is happening here with SC4 and getting to know this new-to-me game. I'm just getting into plugins and have had no trouble with God Terraforming in Mayor Mode, Extra Cheats, or BRF Tunnel and Slope Mod, but I've been experimenting with hole-digging lots and can't get them working. I'm sure it's user error, but can someone point me to the right place to ask for help on that? Happy to meet you all!
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Earthworks Tutorial Lucario Boricua's Earthworks Tutorials M-1: Wildlife Crossing in Mountain Region
Lucario Boricua posted a topic in SimCity 4 General Discussion
Welcome again! It's time to revive my Earthworks Tutorials series with a wonderful element that's gained acceptance for environmentally sensitive areas! As part of the M series, Mountain Madness, I'm kicking off things with wildlife crossings! 1. What are wildlife crossings and why do they matter? Wildlife crossings are a family of structures built to allow the passage of all kinds of wild animals across man-made linear infrastructures, such as transport networks (roads, railways, canals) or utility systems (ex. pipelines, dams and weirs). Depending on the environment and the target type of wildlife to assist, these can take all sorts of shapes, such as fish-friendly culverts, small overhead structures for smaller climbing animals, fish ladders, fish lifts or mini tunnel structures. Aside from fish ladders, most of these designs have successfully demonstrated effectiveness in assisting animal crossings across the landscape, which ultimately reconnects habitats, promotes genetic diversity and reduces costs from property damage and injuries to road users. Some of the most famous examples of these crossings can be found in the Netherlands and in Canada, the best known being the crossings over the Trans-Canada Highway across Banff National Park. This specific type of crossing, which consists of constructing a short artificial tunnel through an earthen mound, is also known as a cerviduct. The idea is that the surface of the cerviduct is a recreation of the landscape over the roadway. One of the two wildlife crossings spanning the A50 highway on the Veluwe in the Netherlands (Wikipedia). Wildlife crossing over motorway in the Netherlands (Photo credit: Henri Cormont, RWS) Wildlife crossing at Banff National Park, Canada (photo taken by Joel Sartore). Some nice reads on the topic: https://arc-solutions.org/new-solutions/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_crossing https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/04/wildlife-overpasses-underpasses-make-animals-people-safer/ https://mymodernmet.com/wildlife-crossings/ 2. What do I need to build my own wildlife crossings? For this SimCity 4 project you will need: God Terraforming in Mayor Mode Your favorite slope mod Your favorite fence kit Hole digging lots / terrain raising lots In this particular tutorial I'll be using these: God Terraforming in Mayor Mode: makes it easier to reach most God Mode terraforming tools. Alternatively, use the Ctrl+Alt+Shift command to activate God Mode terrain tools. Hole digging lots included with the Network Addon Mod For those who don't use the NAM, there's also standalone hole digging lots BRF Tunnel and Slope Mod (one of the strictest out there, there's others with steeper slopes for those who prefer them instead) NUTs Commons Railings (currently unavailable until SimCity 4 Devotion is back online) https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3306 A great fence alternative is that of the SimPEG Agricultural Mod's Addon Pack 3. How do I build my own wildlife crossings? Well, that's what we're here for! It's a fairly simple project doable with these tools. and I'll be showing a step-by-step procedure to create a cerviduct-style wildlife crossing: A. Build a roadway across the wilderness. For more information, check tutorial A-2: Main Road into Town: Cerviduct-type wildlife crossings are ideal for two terrain conditions: either level terrain or across shallow cut sections (road goes along a trench over a low-altitude hill). B. Complete the roadway and inspect the terrain along where it's built, find suitable locations at which to build the crossings. They won't be across fill sections (a bridge would be more appropriate), across gorges (bridges also appropriate) or deep tunnels. For this tutorial we'll be using the game's default tunnels. Keep in mind that these can only be built along the orthogonal directions (no diagonals). Use diagonal tunnel portals and subways for any desired diagonal tunnels. Our suitable sites are along the blue segments. C. Today we'll be making the crossing at a level terrain site. Note how the roadway is flat, as well as the terrain along its corridor. D. Demolish a short section of the roadway, with a bare minimum distance of 5 tiles. In this case I'm using 7 tiles. E. Once demolished, reach out for a terrain raising lot. In this case I'm using one that raises the terrain by 10 meters. F. Place the terrain raiser lot and drag a road (or other corresponding transport network) across it, then extend the new elevation to reach the full right-of-way width (in this case 3 tiles) and the length of the road gap minus two tiles (in this case 5 tiles). G. Extend the roads beyond the border of the elevated terrain. A slope mod will help you get a smooth transition with a gentle incline. H. Fill in the rest of the incline with more road construction. I. Complete the earthen ramp by adding a funnel shape towards each ramp end. The shape will depend on whether the adjacent terrain is level or bumpy: J. Demolish the road portions used to shape the earthen ramp: K. Anchor the road stubs on either side of the crossing with single road squares. This helps keep them in place when dragging the tunnel: L. Drag the tunnel: M. If the tunnel leaves too narrow of a gap across the earthen ramp. you may extend it one tile towards each side, this way: N. Start constructing the fence delimiting the border of the wildlife crossing: O. Complete the fence along the earth ramp edges: P. Reach out for a forest planting tool, either the Mayor Mode gardening tools or the God Mode flora planting tool. Ideally, the crossing's vegetation should resemble that of the adjacent wilderness: Q. After planting, bulldoze any forest that grew along the earthen ramp's face, the roadside (single tile strip on either side of the road proper) or grassy median (applicable for divided highways, like an RHW-4 or RHW-6S): R. Build more fencing if necessary, along the edge of the road's right-of-way. This helps block off the path of animals outside of the crossing area: S. Place wildlife if you want to see it in action! T. Pray to @A Nonny Moose to guide your wild animals across the new wildlife crossing! It's finally completed! EDIT: Before I forget, gotta preserve for posterity the defining moment of this tutorial!!- 11 Replies
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Lucario Boricua's Earthworks Tutorials
Lucario Boricua posted a topic in SimCity 4 General Discussion
Greetings to all fellow mayors and Simtropolitan citizens! I want to present you a series of tutorials revolving around a very immersing part of the game: earthworks! Why? Because it's a very fundamental aspect of any construction in real life and can add aesthetic and functional depth to your cities. I came up with a series of tutorials I'll be developing for this purpose, ranging from the most fundamental aspects to highly demanding applications of in-game earthmoving to shape the destiny of your city. Perhaps the biggest gain players can get from mastering earthworks is making rugged terrain regions all that much more enjoyable. It may be tempting to always go with a very flat region to make building easy, but that approach makes players miss the opportunity of a challenging terrain resulting in a thrilling and wonderful landscape. I'll be making these based on my main ongoing region, the Sinnoh Region, as the one fundamental geographic element that defines it are its mountains. One favor I ask followers of this series is to avoid posting on the tutorial threads until they have been constructed. Their completion will be announced here and in the meantime, the corresponding comments can be made here. Finally, before we start, I would like everyone's feedback on which category should I tackle next after completing the fundamentals tutorial. ESSENTIAL TOOLS: Network Addon Mod, latest version (currently the 36, versions 34 and 35 will still be adequate). In particular, make sure to have the NAM hole digging lots, these are super important to do a lot of the required steps I'll be showing. Slope mode of your choice (in my case, the BRF Tunnel and Slope Mod). I recommend this one in particular because it's one of the most strict slope mods available for SimCity 4. I currently use an older version which still did not include a dedicated Real Highway (RHW) slope, but that isn't a problem for me as you'll all learn during the tutorials. Region with hilly, rolling and/or mountainous terrain--anything that isn't a super flat expanse of nothingness will do. God Terraforming in Mayor Mode (or if not your thing, use the cheat to activate God mode terraforming tools in Mayor Mode T U T O R I A L S E R I E S : A. EARTHWORKS FUNDAMENTALS: (in the making) Starting a town (Emeragrove): now available! Main local road (Emeragrove): screenshots available, pending writing Bridge across river (Emeragrove): upcoming Power lines (Emeragrove): upcoming B. EARTHWORKS APPLIED TO MAJOR TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS AND URBAN RENEWAL (future) Rural Freeway Segment (Route 203) Rural Freeway Interchanges (Route 203) River Diversion (Jubilife) Urban Freeway Retrofit (Jubilife) Median Mass Transit (Jubilife) Suburban Freeway Retrofit (Route 204) C. MOUNTAIN MADNESS (future) Difficult mountain crossing (Oreburgh-Pal Park) Mountain Railway (Oreburgh-Pal Park) Dam and reservoir (Pal Park) Mine expansion (Oreburgh) Tunnels across mountains (Route 216) Wildlife crossings a. Cerviduct b. Wildlife-friendly culverts c. Viaducts 2. Mountain roadway a. Benched slopes b. Viaducts over gorges c. Tunnels d. Freeway with separate carriageways/roadbeds 3. Mountain railway a. Horseshoe bend b. Loop bend c. Tunnels d. Switchbacks e. Viaducts on a gradient 4. Dam and reservoir system (coming soon!) a. Dam and reservoir proper b. Spillways c. Fish ladders d. Penstocks 5. Mine expansion a. Open pit mine b. Underground mine c. Mountaintop removal mine 6. Mountain streams a. Ploppable streams (basic) b. Ploppable streams (rapids and small waterfalls) c. MMP streams d. Waterfalls made with in-game terrain e. Beaver ponds D. COASTAL CHALLENGE (future) Seaport (Jubilife Port) Power Plant (Jubilife Port) Beaches (Hotel Grand Lake) City straddling the sea (Sunyshore) Building a linear breakwater (Seabreak Path) Building an island (Flower Paradise) Underwater tunnels (Jubilife) E. Entertainment / recreational facilities 1. Stadium, coliseum or sports arena over scenic hill 2. Sunken sports park 3. Scenic lookover (coming soon!) 4. Large urban park (coming soon, early 2021!) 5. Golf course 6. Cycling path 7. Mountain trail (coming soon!) H. Historic and archaeological sites 1. Mound architecture 2. Castle moat 3. Ancient aqueduct (coming soon!) 4. Archaeological dig (coming soon!) R. Major transportation projects, Rural 1. Rural freeway segment a. Embankment layout b. Sunken layout c. Overpasses and underpasses 2. Rural freeway interchange a. Diamond b. Partial cloverleaf c. Cloverleaf d. Trumpet e. Directional Y / T 3. Drainage and small stream crossings a. Culverts b. Detention ponds c. Roadside ditches d. Fords 4. High speed rail across the landscape a. Viaduct segments b. Embankment segments c. Soundproofing with soil embankments d. Tunneling S. Slope Mod Shoppe--future topic representing the various slope mods available for SimCity 4 so far, I've identified 8 main mods, 2 auxiliary mods and 22 variants in total! 1. Properties a. Grade (percent, reciprocal, degrees) for each network b. Use of vertical curvature c. Minimum height for support structures (pillars, retaining walls) 2. Maxis (no mod) 3. BigRedFish (original) 4. 250458 & BigRedFish (modified variant) 5. CSX 6. Bones1 7. Xeno 8. NHP Ennedi a. Smooth b. Medium c. Mounted 9. SCRT Slope Mod a. Extremely smooth b. Very smooth c. Smooth d. Average e. Mounted f. Very mounted g. Extremely mounted 10. Alvinheriadi Slope Mod a. More smooth b. Smooth c. Medium d. Steep e. More Steep 11. Auxiliary slope mods a. Real Highway Mod b. Bullet Train Mod / High Speed Rail T. Major transportation projects, urban 1. Sunken urban freeway a. Segment b. Diamond interchange c. Collector-distributor 2. Median mass transit a. Bus Rapid Transit b. Ground light rail c. Elevated rail d. High speed rail 3. Urban freeway interchanges a. Turbine b. Stack c. Cloverstack d. Cloverleaf with separate weaving area e. Basketweave 4. Sunken railway a. Segments b. Stations 5. Airport a. Leveling large terrains b. Airport drainage c. Tunnel-based access d. Clearing vertical topographic hazards 6. Urban canal a. Basic alignment b. Bridge crossings c. Pedestrian facilities U. Utilities 1. Thermal and nuclear power plants a. Site preparation b. Fuel storage c. Cooling water channel d. Flood defenses 2. Power line a. Overland alignment b. Aquatic alignment 3. Irrigation canal a. Canal layout b. Feeder dam or weir c. Regulation ponds d. Siphons e. Canal crossings 4. Refinery a. Storage tanks b. Tanker ship terminal c. Oil pipelines 5. Quarry a. Excavation b. Benching c. Spoils area d. Logistics 6. Floodplain flood control a. Levees b. Channelized river c. Emergency floodway d. Bioswales 7. Landfill a. Landfill pit b. Landfill mound c. Landfill drainage- 15 Replies
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