Mind Scape

[Tomas Neto]

Wow..., a meticulous work!!! Fantastic see something, in this manner, step by step!!! Great!!!   

[rooker1]

Hey Alex,  Good to see that I have your attention and I'm glad you like the harbor.
[qoute]choco made a few awhile ago which are as-of-yet unreleased, for the ERHW-4 and EMIS.  They are basically finished, and I may merge them into the upcoming RHW Version 5.0 before the release.[/quote]
This is great news, now I just need to try to wait patiently.   It's not working......

You can thank my good friend deathtopumpkins for making that particular piece there on the left.  I suspect it'll be among the first of the "larger" ramp interface pieces that will get the elevated treatment.  And as far as the ERHW-4 Type A ramp (the piece at the right bottom), it'll be getting an "inside" variant in Version 5.0.

I would love to see that ramp become raised as well as getting an inside variant of the other.  Will there be any work on any other raised pieces.....maybe wider pieces.

The RHW does have a bit of a learning curve to it, though once you get the hang of it, it does open up a wide array of new possibilities.  I'm really curious to see what you'll do with the new version

Hmmmm, learning curve you say.....under statement.  I did recently see two really nice charts in a certain private thread that I printed and I think will help me out a lot.
Anyways, thanks for stopping by and I hope you do so more often and give me your opinions and thoughts on how I'm coming along.

What? 6 hours? Oh my God... it's too much for, I would give it up before!
About the update you made: it's always interesting for others to see how you build a road (here, an interscetion), because it shows which pieces you use, how you make it the more logically as possible and how you take the less place as possible too. So I love, it inspire me for the future!
Still wait for more! No I joke, it takes time to do it. By the way, look at your private mailbox, I thinl you'll have one

Guillaume

Guillaume,  You are totally right, I usually would have given up as well.  But this time I didn't want the RHW to get the better of me, so I just kept pluggin away.  Thanks for stopping by my friend.

Excellent road geekery, Robin! As guillaume said 6 hours is also too much for me when it get to 1 or two hours I decide to give up and do something else!

Art is always a pleasure to hear from you.  As I said above, I wanted to win this time and I think I did pretty well.

Wow..., a meticulous work!!! Fantastic see something, in this manner, step by step!!! Great!!!   

Tomas, thanks for stoping by and I'm glad you liked my step by step.  I may try to more like this in the future and maybe even some more Road Geekery.



Well, on to some pics now.




















As I have said earlier, this is my rendition of Chicago, not a replica.  I am going back and forth from the the game to Google Earth, looking for some real life ideas from the Chicago, but that is about it, just ideas, maybe some basic layout may look the same as well.  You can expect alot of underground rail, roads, avenues and some highways too.  I plan to do a massive EL network and lots of dirty industrial along all the river ways.
I hope you all have enjoyed this update and I look forward to reading your comments....good or bad.

Robin 

[art128]

Robin, excellent update once again. I really liked this one. As always you've tried things that people do not usualy, juste like this Round about filled by this monument. it's not something we can see often and I think you did it pretty well. My only Suggestion would be to Lot Edit it so the white pavement base texture can be replaced by a grassy one, to go along with the round about borders.

I'm impatient to see your city inspired by Chicago, as one of my favorite US cities. Judging by your skills and what you've already shown us I can just think the things will be awesome. Also too bad the streets are all empty, that's a pity because such a wonderful city would have been wonderful with a growing life, congested highway, busy streets when the workers get out of the offices...

Take care,

-Arthur.

[CrossSide]

Wouw that roundabout with those highway entrances fits so well! Beautiful! I always liked the orginal highways more then the new rural highways which always seem to big and filling for me (no offence to the makers, who did a great job).

[Sciurus]

That's very nice, I like how you build your roads... it's oversized, with roads everywhere! Typically amercian but I love, it makes me dreaming
But I find a strange thing: this church in the middle of the roundabout: why there?

Guillaume

[io_bg]

I like the density of this city and the mixture of buildings styles. Though a roundabout at the crossing of two highways might not be the best big-city solution

[Nanami]

That a nice dense city! I like how the midrise buildings blends with some highrise there! 
I like them a lot! 

[Nardo69]

Hi Robin!

Nice pictures. I wouldn't want to drive through that roundabout during rush hour but I know that from time to time the context forces engineers to such ... solutions ...

However I don't like that old church in the roundabout. It is a barock or neobarock church that makes it much older then the highway system at all. And it's below the ground of the other buildings.

There are railway lines and highways running next and under churches etc. but I don't think anyone would move a building vertically to place it inside a roundabout ...

OK, 'nuff picking. Great high density layout, the building mix just fits and the network is stunning.

Take care my friend and don't forget to make backups!

Bernhard 

[carlfatal]

Hi Robin,
sometimes i lurked in this MD before, but not enough: yesterday i began to read it from beginning. I´m totally stunned, so much details, so much of everything, too much for me  .
But to read You´ve needed six hours to build the harbor is good to hear: mostly i need more time for much more little things... And Your "not to give up" like You showed with the pics in the last preceding page is a really good lesson to me.
Thanks and greetz, Carl

[rooker1]

Robin, excellent update once again. I really liked this one. As always you've tried things that people do not usualy, juste like this Round about filled by this monument. it's not something we can see often and I think you did it pretty well. My only Suggestion would be to Lot Edit it so the white pavement base texture can be replaced by a grassy one, to go along with the round about borders.

I'm impatient to see your city inspired by Chicago, as one of my favorite US cities. Judging by your skills and what you've already shown us I can just think the things will be awesome. Also too bad the streets are all empty, that's a pity because such a wonderful city would have been wonderful with a growing life, congested highway, busy streets when the workers get out of the offices...

Take care,

-Arthur.

Hello Arthur, always nice to hear from you.  I wasn't satisfied with that area and I actually destroyed the entire area.  I'm going to try it again but I think slightly different and hopefully better.  As for no life in the pics.....even I forget sometimes to turn the game off pause.

Wouw that roundabout with those highway entrances fits so well! Beautiful! I always liked the orginal highways more then the new rural highways which always seem to big and filling for me (no offence to the makers, who did a great job).

I used to like the Maxis highways better as well, but I think it partly has to do with the fact that I was a little afriad of change.  I plan to give the RHW 110% try and I have to tell you....so far I'm liking it even though it does take me along time to figure things out.

That's very nice, I like how you build your roads... it's oversized, with roads everywhere! Typically amercian but I love, it makes me dreaming
But I find a strange thing: this church in the middle of the roundabout: why there?

Guillaume

Hello Guillaume, always good to see you in here.  I plan to jam in as many different levels of transit as I possible can.  As for the church, its gone along with the entire area, I wasn't happy with it. 

I like the density of this city and the mixture of buildings styles. Though a roundabout at the crossing of two highways might not be the best big-city solution

Hello Iaon,  I'm glad you like it and I hope to hear from you again soon.  As I've said above that intersection is now gone.

That a nice dense city! I like how the midrise buildings blends with some highrise there! 
I like them a lot! 

Hello.  It's important to me to try to blend in the midrise with the high, I think it adds a touch of realism.

Hi Robin!

Nice pictures. I wouldn't want to drive through that roundabout during rush hour but I know that from time to time the context forces engineers to such ... solutions ...

However I don't like that old church in the roundabout. It is a barock or neobarock church that makes it much older then the highway system at all. And it's below the ground of the other buildings.

There are railway lines and highways running next and under churches etc. but I don't think anyone would move a building vertically to place it inside a roundabout ...

OK, 'nuff picking. Great high density layout, the building mix just fits and the network is stunning.

Take care my friend and don't forget to make backups!

Bernhard 

Hey Bernhard.  I trust life is treating you and your family well.  I hope to be able to that area over again.  The idea wasn't that it was the only way through the city but just another chioce.  I planned to make this city very well thought out whe it came to transit times.  In Chicago there a lot of above and below ground networks, a lot of them actually run above and below each other.  Anyways it was just an experiment, and in the end I did destroy as I was unhappy with it.

Hi Robin,
sometimes i lurked in this MD before, but not enough: yesterday i began to read it from beginning. I´m totally stunned, so much details, so much of everything, too much for me  .
But to read You´ve needed six hours to build the harbor is good to hear: mostly i need more time for much more little things... And Your "not to give up" like You showed with the pics in the last preceding page is a really good lesson to me.
Thanks and greetz, Carl

Hello Carl,  It''s great to hear that I finally convince you to post....it would be great to from all the lurkers.   If you think 6 hours is long.....well I have a few stories for you than with much longer times.  I once built an area and found I was 2 tiles off where I needed to be to addin my highway after several hours of game play.  I destroyed it all and went at it again.  Now when I make a mistake like that, I usually quit the game and come back another day.

On to some pics.

After doing some testing with JENXPARIS Seine River Banks by The Great Xannepan  I have figured out the secrets.  Are you ready?  The perfect depth is 45 meters.  If you use the "zero sealevel dat" to temporarily get rid of all water you than can make the river bed and the wall exactly how you wait it using the hole digging lots.  If you are unhappy with the land height and want to lower it than you lower the river bed by the same amount to be sure you keep that 45 meter difference between the two.  After using almost every piece in the set, I do have a small wish list and can tell you all that once you have the hang of it, it is an awesome set.

So what do you all think?  About the river bed, the pipes?  I liked to add some more docked boats, any ideas there?
I was also thinking of making the water more dirty...any thoughts there?

Well, that's it for tonight.  I hope you enjoyed.

Robin 

[threestooges]

First off, from the last update, that interchange/overpass from the first picture is amazing. A bit scary in its complexity, but well executed. How much planning did that take?

As for this update, nice bridges, and great use of the new seawalls. I hadn't downloaded them as yet, but I can say now they'll be making it to my plugins folder after seeing them at work here.

I like the pipeline under the water there, but it doesn't look right with stuff over it like that. Whatever is on top of it looks more like rock than plant, and it doesn't look quite right. I do like the pipeline idea in general though. It adds a great level of realism, age, and a bit of industry to the canal. It's a place that, with the walls, is meant for sun bathing, but probably not the place you'd want to dive right in without a shower right after.

Nice work there Robin.
-Matt

[RickD]

Great looking river bank. I must have overlooked that the Seine River banks set is already released.
You have chosen a perfect depth for the water. You can still see some details but it is not too shallow for the boats.
Where did you get those underwater pipes from?

[vortext]

wow, the walls just look awesome, especially in combination with those JENX bridges
You've just given me some inspiration for the river in my city (read, I'm gonna nick this idea  ).

As for the pipelines, perhaps choose another set, why would they need fences alongside if they're underwater? 
Some bigger boats would be nice, it looks like a pretty wide river. And maybe add some ploppable trash to the riverbed, for that special innercity river smell   

edit: I forgot to mention the buoys and culverts are very realistic details, well done

[marsh]

Amazing. I've never thought of adding that level of detail underwater. Very creative.

[nbvc]

Great work with the city and also the under water pipes.

[art128]

Robin, the underwater pipeline is just AWESOME! you just gave me an awesome idea!

As usual excellent stuff, and more precisely fantastic pictures with Xannepan's riverbanks walls.

[Badsim]

Hello Robin ,

I'm so glad to see this great & hard work from Xannepan so properly used ! ( and it was totally unexpected to see it there .  )
Awesome work ! ...  that gives me envy to come back to the Triumphal Way , except that my SC4 calendar is already overloaded for the next months !  ...

I was also thinking of making the water more dirty...any thoughts there?

Great idea to play with underwater stuff and water transparency . If I remember correctly what Orange_o_  told me to do with the Seine ( for The Triumphal Way ) , you can open your Terrain Mod with Ilive Reader and change value of  that property : TerrainTexTilingFactor .
I was using MissouriBreak Terrain Mod and have had to set that value to 0.09 ... of course , that's a particular example of  what I did to get a particular transparency ( But I think that a urban river shouldn't be that much transparent ) , you have to experiment  various values with your own Terrain Mod . For a river , you can also disable Waves effect ...

I hope that will help you my friend .

Cédric.

[Ol.S / Benoit]

Really nice update !
I love thoose pictures with the underwater pipe, very unique, great job !

I have figured out the secrets.  Are you ready?

As most of us I downloaded this set, but I can't find the courage to use it for now, many pieces etc, etc... I have to thank you then

I was also thinking of making the water more dirty...any thoughts there?

Good idea, the water texture is not the best thing in those pictures. If you want, you have a green texture in Rivit's coastal mod : http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/files/file/22358-coastal-modd/

Keep it up !
Benoit

[bat]

Two fantastic updates with beautiful images!!!

[Connor]

Beautiful work as always, and the underwater pipes were a great idea