Mind Scape

[Ennedi]

Hello Robin,

Sorry for late comment, I have much work and your cities grow very quickly 
I see there is a closeup time in your MD now - very good, you have a lot of fantastic things to show here!

I like practically all pictures, so I don't want to analyse them one by one.
I have only one suggestion:
You started to use Hongkong skyscrapers - it's a pleasure to see them here, they are really excellent. These buildings have very interesting base level - with entrances, large halls, restaurants, gardens, pools and so on. The ground floor usually occupies much larger space than the building itself. the ground floor of such building can be a fantastic element of the arrangement of the street level - but you must arrange the surrounding too. What I mean? Wider sidewalks with various props,more parkings, much more lights and - if it is possible - some low, modern pavillons (mainly commercial) wchich would blend with these skyscraper bases. And maybe some skywalks to go from one building to another without going outside?
But it will be difficult to do it all using only the existing stuff. In fact it will be difficult to make something better than you did yet. I'm afraid you will have - earlier or later - follow Badsim's advice: some Lot editing! 
I know it is hard to do so much work ( I have the same problem), but if you will do it, you will enter to the elite club of the very few leading Mayor's Diaries (not in the terms of "better - worse", but in the terms of the pioneer work and raising SC4 to the even higher level).

Cheers
Adam

Edit: Reply No 400 - congratulations!

[tooheys]

Robin, more great work.

Pictures 32.6 and 32.7 are at the top of my list.

The monument park is well put together and the night lighting in the stadium pic is  . Love that station.

If anything, there is probably a bit too much vegetation in the water near the fishing boats in my opinion.

Regardless, another superb update 


Cheers

Dave

[thundercrack83]

More great shots of that fantastic area, Robin! I've always been a fan of those Hong Kong buildings, and they look outstanding in your city!

Oh, and congratulations on reaching 400 comments, my friend! You've definitely earned it!

[rooker1]

Good morning All,

Let's start with some REPLIES,

Bernhard, (Nardo69),  my good friend.  Don't be so hard on yourself.  It is your pictures of your railways that I study and try so hard to mimic.  I try very hard with my pics and I'm glad I'm finally at a level where others enjoy my pics and can maybe see the effort I put into them.  And the HOF only has five of my pics so far.  Check back at the begining when I first started to post my pics.  I bombed big time with several 10/0 scores.  I didn't like that so I tried harder and maybe I can now say it paid off.   
I'm glad you liked those pics, I entered one of them in the competition  , but I'm still uncertain if that entire area will stay like that.  The city has taken on a shape I did not invision to begin with.  I wanted a dirty city with an even dirtier port.  With buildings like that, a dirty port maybe out of place. 
We'll just have to see what happens.
bat, Hey man, thanks for stoppin by and I'm glad you like everything.
kimcar, nice to read you.  When will you be continuing your MD?  I miss it very much.
Kevin, (BigSlark),  nice to see you stopping by my friend.  If it reminds you of T.O it's for good reason, it's what I know.  Hope you'll stop by more often and than you won't have to catch up on 20 pages. 
sebes, You are just too funny, you are making blush.... But you don't have to stop.  Comments like this make me very proud of what I am doing, THANKS.
paroch, Thanks for the comment.  I just use the standard game camera and Ifran, but the one thing I do is sharpen the picture in Ifran.  Hope this helps.    Also I have all my settings on max quality.....
patfirefghtr, thanks for the very nice comments pat.
tkirch, I'm glad you like everything so far.  But don't get too comfortable with Bixel's BATs where they are, I maybe destroying them all.    
Ennedi,  It's very nice to read you.  Bixel's skyscrapers maybe being destroyed, I'm still unsure if that is the direction I want to go.  I agree with what you are saying.  I need to take tose BATS and run them through LE and add some more "life" to them.    The skywalks will be a nice touch, I happen to know where I can find some.    
Hope to hear from you again soon my friend. 
Dave, (tooheys), very nice to see you here.  Thanks for the comments and I think I agree about the vegetation in the bay there.  That maybe going as well.  Too clean for my liking.......
thundercrack83, the StatsMan, it's always nice to read you my friend.  Thanks for the nice comments and noticing that I made it to 400 comments.  This MD is going to be here for a long time to come.  My goal is 100 pages!!


I call this update,
"Inspiration"

33.0
Here you can see the over all layout of the city and the port.  There are only the two rail lines into the port area (these are the black lines) and the one branch that breaks off to smaller industrial zone.

33.1

33.2
This dock looks awesome.  I love it....The shape of it and all those ships docked.  It looks like a place to dock for a long priod of time and maybe some kind of manufacturing of goods.

33.3
Close up, same dock.

33.4
Close up, same dock.

33.5
Close up, same dock.

33.6
Close up, same dock.
Notice how many cars are parked all over the dock area and not just in a specific parking lot.

33.7
Close up, same dock.

33.8
This pictures and forwards look like they maybe ship salvage yards.  Docks where ships can be fixed and, or salvaged.  Very dirty looking.  And notice the tracks going into the water to guide the ships in and out of the water.  Also some of the smaller ships are covered, so maybe this is also a storage area.

33.9

33.10
Some storage space for sure here and maybe even some new large boats.

33.11
I find it amazing how all those ships can be all jamed together like that.

33.12
Here we can see a small marina along side a new up to date, very clean container shipping dock.  This one really amazes me.  This will be the dock that I will try to recreate in game. It looks like it is all concrete.

33.13

33.14
Look at this.............Everything in it own spot and perfectly organized..........  This dock is huge, I tried to count how many containers and this is what I came up with....they all seem to be about 10 by 55 containers at 3 by 3 sections.  I can not find any rail line that comes directly to this area, so that means everything is trucked in.

33.15

33.16
Smaller docks here, seems very clean and organized still.  This area seems to have alot of manufacturing buildings around it.  I love the shape of this corner dock area.

33.17
Top left hand side it looks like those are new vehicles to be exported.

33.18
More vehicles for export.

33.19
Zoomed out picture of the area.

33.20
Just west of the pervious pic.

33.21
You can find this port in Athinai (Athens) and the city is Perama.


This is one of the largest and most interesting ports I have found on Google Earth in all my GE surfing.  I have a small obsession with touring cities with GE and looking for interesting ports, rail lines and stations and highway layouts.
I hope everyone has enjoyed this tour.  There maybe other in the future, depending on how this one is recieved.

The large container dock will be one of my inspirations for an up coming port in my city, South Shore.  This port will most likely be about three medium tiles long and I will be doing a lot of new lots in LE.  I am now looking for some very large and dirty looking industrial buildings, so if anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to post a link.


Robin   

[bat]

Looking forward to that city part and update!

[Ennedi]

Hello Robin,

You draw our attention to really interesting details!
As for me, you were absolutely spot on, I will prepare to build a seaport in the near future (although my vision goes in a different direction as yours, but your GE pictures are extremely informative.
I am very curious of your version of this seaport, I'm sure it will be something excellent!

And here are skywalks for you

[sebes]

Thanks for showing these Robin. Pireaus is my favorite port! Efgharistw!

The pictures that you made from the close in zooms are marvelous. What made you decide to check and zoom right there?  by the way, I guess those cars are just being imported... I don't think Greece has any car factories for export.

Comments like this make me very proud of what I am doing, THANKS

Anytime my friend, any time

[rooker1]

Gooooood Morning all,

REPLIES,

bat, thanks, but you'll still have to wait for the SC4 update.  I have some more inspirational pics for the up coming port.
Ennedi, Nice to read you.  Here are more very interestinf details.  I'm glad you enjoyed the GE pics, I have a few more.
Thanks for the SkyWalks, I'm sure I can use those.
sebes, hello my friend.  How do you know about this port?  Ahhh, yes imported cars, that's what I meant..... .

I have a few more inspirational pics for my up coming port.  These pics, I think you'll find totally different although still a seaport.

34.0
This is Melbourne, Australia.  Notice the rail lines.  It would be very interesting to try to make a city in SC4 with this much rail.   

34.1
A closer zoom.  Here I just want to show the rail lines.  The port itself is very similiar to the pervious pics I showed.  It is very clean and organized.  You can see the city Newport and it's train station.  Just north east of that you can see branches of train lines going into the industrial areas.
The city also has a very nice tram line setup, from residentail to comercial and partly into the industrail areas.

34.2
This Fukuoka, Japan.  I won't show any more of this harbour, I just wanted to point out the protection it has from the ocean.  I believe that a lot of this port (the land) is man made.  On closer inspection you can see walls bieng made in the sea and slowly being filled.  The road leading to the island look the same as well.

34.3
This is Kanda-machi, Japan.  In the top right you can see the airport built right in the sea.  When looking at this on max zoom you can see the retaining walls, very interesting.

34.4
Closer zoom of Kanda-machi.  In some of the following pics you can see the break walls the city has biult.

34.5
Kanda-machi

34.5
Kanda-machi

35.6
Kanda-machi

35.7
Tobataku, Japan.  Now this is a beautiful port.    Maybe only in mind.....  It looks soooo dirty, I love it. 

35.8

35.9

35.10

35.11
After seeing this.  Now Somy's lots make much more sense to me.  Now I think I can use them properly.   

35.12

35.13

35.14

35.15


The next update will include some SC4 pics........or will it.     Maybe something from LE....
You'll just have to wait and see.

I'll leave you all with this riddle,

When and where does 99+1=60?

Until next time,
Robin   

[Pat]

Robin you are soooooo terrible verrry much so indeed lol..... Love the arial shots and i cant wait to see what you have in store next update - pat


oooh to answer your riddle ummm i dunno, maybe here in Riddle Oregon

[rooker1]

Just a teaser for now.

36.0


Robin   

[sebes]

I am teased as I have not been in a long time.... this looks very promissing 

I know Piraeus because I have been there, and walked a lot along the shores. I loved it a lot - lot of things going, people on the streets, and many boats!  Unfortunately I had no digital camera yet at the time, otherwise I'd post some pictures for you.

[rooker1]

Good morning,

Replies,

Pat, thank for stoppin in.
sebes, nice reading you.  Why did you visit the city?  Was it a nice place?  From GE it looks like a very industiral city.  Too bad you had no camera.  Pics of the city would have been perfect.   

Well now it's time for the update.
This is the largest lot I have done in LE so far to date.  After seeing the lot in game, I have found some things I'm going to change.. I want it to be more crowded.  I'm going to probably fill the lot to max props, cause I know there is a lot on there already.
36.1

36.2

36.3

36.4

36.5

36.6

36.7


That's it for now.  Please tell me what you think could be better.  Just remember that this is just the first piece of many. 
I'll give some of you more time on the last riddle.

Robin   

[TheTeaCat]

Very impressive Robin

I still haven't had time to go through this amazing MD properly but I shall have to make the time to do so.
With just a quick skim through it I adore your level of and attention to detail

Will definitely be back for a more in depth study


TTC

[kimcar]

What could be better ? Are you serious ?    It`s just so real like that . Amazing detail you put on. Super job you done my friend , super job.

[capo]

This page took quite a while to load, but it was well worth the wait. Well you asked for an opinion, here it is: I think it looks great  The iron fencing, oldschool feel and the truck driving through the building on the second pic is what strikes me first as beauty.

On a more critical (and constructive) note: the propane tanks on the first picture seem a bit misplaced, they have no real connection to the surrounding buildings and I doubt the safety inspector would appreciate these highly explosive tanks next to these cranes.

Great industrial work here, I can't wait to see the final result!

[jmdude1]

hi rooker,
i have to say, that dock area looks amazing! im doing the same thing as you actually, ive made about 10 industrial warehouse lots to add more variety and realism. just a friendly suggestion, you might want to try the container prop pack/prop family that SA used in ensenada, just a thought though, not sure if thats the effect youre looking for or not, theyre just a bit more realistic than the SC4 container effect.  also, where can i find the large brown brick warehouses youve used? they look great but i dont think i have that prop pack.
i like the randomness that youve created with the variety of prop use and the high level of activity, things seem to be busy. i also like how youve overlapped the props so it seems like the trucks are parked in the warehouses, something i like to do too.
keep up the great work, i look forward to seeing more.

[thundercrack83]

I've just been sitting here gazing at those pictures of the ports you've posted, and I could look them for days, believe me!

But then, I scrolled down and saw your port pictures and I must say that I'm very impressed, my friend! I can't wait to see how you add more props and I'm definitely interested in seeing the finished product. It's always a great time when I see an update here!

Take care!

[paroch]

Hi Robin,

Some nice updates there.  It's very interesting that you show us real life maps/shots and then describe what you're trying to achieve.

Some similar comments as sebes from me.  I agree that it is likely those cars are coming into the country, Greece isn't known for it's motor industry!  Piraeus is effectively the port for Athens.  It is a city in its own right but is also effectively a suburb of Athens.  As well as the commercial docks, you can also catch one of the many ferries or hydrofoils to the Greek islands.  I've been there once and it is a pretty mad place - lots of hussle and bussle - very hot, dry and dusty.

I was going to post some pics of Southampton port in the UK (but don't want to intrude on your MD).  It's a container port and what is so unusual about it is that it is a fair way up a tidal river.  Large container ships have to arrive and depart with the tide but it still can handle HUGE container ships.  I was given a guided tour of the port as part of an old job I did about 4 years back, it was very interesting.  If you'd like the pics and brief explanation let me know and I'll either PM you or post on here, whichever you'd prefer.

As for the lots you're building - I admire your patience and skill.  I've tried a couple of tiddlers, so good luck with them - first one is looking good to me!

All the best,

Paul

[bat]

Wonderful pictures of that! Looks fantastic!

[sebes]

Like Paroch, I don't want to hike this MD with my chattering about Pireaus, so you can read it in the PM I just send you.

This last update is of a typical robin quality again    The lots shown are carefully lotted, with just the right sets of props, trucks, containers and cargo. I do like the propane tanks, even if it might not be the safest place to put them. IT's just these kind of small details that make watching your quays a lust for the eye