Terring's Terrible Lots!!

[Terring7]

The intersections have been released

[Terring7]

Floating Speed Way is a fun set made by Fukajun to build floating racing tracks of the future, with animated racing cars. It comes with two packs, Basic Pack and Stunt Back. However I like using the Basic Pack to build elevated roads and air bridges to connect buildings, something like the skybridges of SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow. So if we replace the racing cars with some of Huston's props, we'll get a personal project I call "Future Roads Project".



Future Roads is a set of eye-candy antigravitational roads for antigravitational vehicles, obviously for future cities where there is no more enough land for ground roads and Sims prefer personal cars instead of mass transit.



Since some of the roads are over-hanged, it's possible to make them run above small buildings and ground roads.



The original roads are floating in the height of 45 meters. I reduced them to 13,5 meters in order to visually connect them with the ground road system through the NAM pieces. Obviously the ground automata will be disappeared when they try to get to the Future Roads.



And of course it's possible to make visual connections to some of the buildings as well. It's a very trope in future cities to have buildings large enough to have avenues running though them. Please use your imagination and ignore the lack of tunnels on the building. And the trees in the middle of the roads



What do you think? Of course I'm going to expand it and even add a 45 meters height set as well, but I'm not sure If I'm going to release it. It's just for personal fun. Nobody else will want this, right?

[Terring7]

My (terrible, I know ) contribution to grid busting. Coming soon

[Terring7]

Actually, if you have mods that removes the grass from the sidewalks and replaces the trees, it's not that terrible

[Terring7]

The Corner Plaza set has been released 

[Terring7]

Soon...

[Terring7]

You know what? I think it's about time. Barsoom Project is coming back, and this time it's going to be better than before. Not only I'm going to finish the futurization of all Maxis lots that I haven't touch yet, but I'm going to upgrade and improve all of the lots I've already made, by replacing already used textures with better ones, fixing errors, and adding more details. It's a lot of work, but it has to be done. And as always, ideas are always welcomed 

Let's begin with the stage 1 CO$$$ lots. I have already futurized them, as you can see in those old pictures from 2013. Some of them even had small landing pads for flying vehicles and lakes with ducks and swans.











This is how they used to be ⬆️

And this is now. They still have their landing pads and lakes, but now they come with better textures, more variety in cars (including Akira bikes and cars from Command and Conquer), futuristic benches with neon lights, easier and more realistic access to the underground parking garages, and even robots talking to humans and other robots, serving drinks, and even feeding the ducks ⬇️



























To be honest, I feel that my new lots are way better than my older ones. And this is only the beginning. By the way, I noticed some small mistakes that I'm going to fix them. You can't see them easily, unless you have Tally-Hawk's eyes 

Progress so far. What is ready, what is under development, and what has been improved. Oh boy, after so many years, here we go again

R$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

R$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

R$$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CS$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CS$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CS$$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CO$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CO$$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

I$ 1 2 3

I$$ 1 2 3

I$$$ 1 2 3

Rewards

Airports

Seaport

I really missed that

[Terring7]

When we think about futuristic transportation, our mind immediately goes to good old flying cars. Don't get me wrong, flying cars are indeed awesome and an easy and reliable way to put your cities into the future, especially if they're self-driven and hydrogen-fueled too. However, it seems that nowadays more and more people believe that the future of urban transportation might not be something as cool as a flying car, but something as humble as... a bicycle. This might sounds a bit lame, but with traffic jam, air pollution and car accidents (among other problems) still unsolved, it actually make sense to accept a future with more and more bicycles and other similarly small vehicles.



Hmm, highways for bicycles. Now that's something now, something that you don't see everyday even as a concept. Still better that the highways we have now for our cars.

For this reason, I'm going to include bicycles in my futuristic lots by using murimk's Props Vo01 - Bicycle Props pack. Less cars, more bikes, more options for our Sims. And they really look great in a green, solarpunk city of the future





What do you think? I want to make my bicycle parking spaces as realistic as possible, but I'm not familiar with bicycles and anything around them. So, since this is something new for me, please let me know if I've done something wrong. Any ideas and suggestions will be welcomed and taken into consideration
Wait, did I just asked for realism? What's wrong with me?







And don't worry, you're going to get some flying cars too. Stay tuned

[Terring7]

I've upgraded all stage 2 CO$$$ lots. Before we see how they're now, let's see how they used to be until now. In other words, let's see my original version of those lots from back in 2013 and compare them with the new version of 2022. In my first attempt, we'll find ponds with ducks, spaceports, gardens, trees, flowers, underground garages, solar powered rovers, and many Maxis buildings for reasons I'm going to explain later.

















⬆️ That was back in 2013.
⬇️ Now in 2022, not only you have all the above stuff, but from now on you'll also get better parking lots, a larger variety of futuristic cars, robots, bicycles, Akira-styled badass bikes, benches with neon nightlights, entrances and exits for the underground garages, futuristic installations on the Maxis buildings like domes, flying cars (I promised them in my previous post above ), and even green roofs! 





I'm gonna explain later why you'll still get some old-school Maxis buildings in your cities of the future, but now I'd like to introduce a big game-changer in my project. From now on, and when possible, Maxis buildings will get futuristic improvements, such as domes, solar panels and green roofs. For instance, those lanky Maxis buildings will now have some beautiful beds with flowers instead of old-school roof junk.



This is the only SimMars building you'll get in this stage, but have a look at its lots. They now have better grass textures, better parking spaces, robots, and even parking sheds for bicycles. And yes, I know that there are lots of cars and bicycles for those buildings, but you can imagine that not all of those vehicles belong to employees and customers of those office buildings. Some of them may belong to residences who live nearby.



And it looks like somebody has parked her/his car on the sidewalk, with somebody complaining about it. Now that's something that AndisArt and I can confirm that it's a very common thing in Greece 



That's a lot of bicycles, don't you think? 



The "Cities of Tomorrow" expansion pack for SimCity 2013 not only introduces new buildings, but also upgrades the older ones by installing various futuristic elements and technologies on them, such as solar panels, biogas plants, neon lights, green roofs and holographic advertisements. Inspired by this, Maxis buildings in Barsoom Project (or "Cities of Tomorrow" project? I really need a cool name for this project, unless I decide to just stick with the "Barsoom Project") will be modificated when possible with the addition of futuristic modules and technologies, such as green roofs, solar panels, and extra rooms by modular installations. This is something that actually happens in real life, with older buildings getting updates and improvements such as antennae and Wi-Fi hubs. It's a nice and fun way to add a touch of history, I guess 



Some of the props found in SM_Mars Props pack made by Mary Maurine Mayo fit like glove on some of those Maxis buildings, like those domes. They look awesome



And look! Flying cars docked to aerial parking spots, like spaceships on space station! I told you that we'll get flying cars



As you might have noticed at the 2013 pictures, some of those lots originally had Maxis-made multi-storey parking garages. Back then I was thinking to keep them and just add SimMars rovers on them, to give an extra historic touch and some variety on my lots. Nowadays, those parking garages look so outdated and so out-of-scale compared with the on-ground parking areas, that I decided to remove them. They just don't look nice anymore, and we already have lots of underground garages in my other lots. However, just replacing them with on-ground parking was not enough. I wanted something unique and futuristic. One of the ideas I was examining was a tower parking garage, which stores lots of cars in a tower by using an elevator.
Something like this one:



Looks neat, but there is nothing like that in SC4 community as prop, so I decided to improvise and end up making something fun and silly, but still based on the idea above. So, I came up with big, heavy-duty, ion-engine drones that pick your car and hang it a couple of meters above the ground . Just pray to Princess Celestia that this drone will not break down and let your car go



Another Maxis building. This one comes with modular rooms that can stack up like Lego bricks. And yes, modular construction already exist. And look! Those modules also come with aerial parking areas for flying cars and vans made by Huston



Because of the way those props have been placed, different ways of view will give you different results. Depending on which angle you see them, those flying cars sometimes will look like they're parked and other times they'll look like they're just flying around. I think that this gives you a feeling of activity in your city. We don't have flying cars as automata, so this is the next best thing we can have for now.





This is what happens when you mix the technological badassery of cyberpunk with the naturalistic harmony of solarpunk



Electric wheeled car? Bicycle? Flying hydrogen car? Cool bike? Make your choice and have fun



And last but not least, green roofs! Now this is something that the game really needs. Green roofs already exist, and they come with so many benefits, such as reducing greenhouse gases and improving the local biodiversity, that it would be a heresy to not include them in my futuristic relotting projects. Those Maxis buildings also come with solar panels and roof ponds.









Before I call it a day, let me explain once again why there are still Maxis buildings. I've had already explained it a few times in the past, but I'm gonna do it once again. Every grow-able lot has its own stage. All the above lots, for example, are stage 2 lots. When I futurize a Maxis-made lot, I always make sure to preserve its stage, no matter what. If I start replacing all Maxis buildings with SimMars buildings, eventually we'll end up with stages with plenty of lots and stages with next to non of them, breaking thus the game. This is something I really need to avoid, so I always preserve the stage of any lot I'm playing with. If I can replace a Maxis building with a SimMars building without changing the lot's stage, that's the way. If the same happens with more than one SimMars buildings, even better. But if using SimMars buildings will either upgrade or downgrade the lot stage, then I'll have no other choice than using a Maxis building, preferably something more modern that will fit better in my future cities, like most of the Maxis buildings above. But just because we might have to use an old Maxis building, doesn't mean we can't upgrade it by adding stuff like green roofs and solar panels 

Besides, not all Maxis buildings are bad. Many of them are actually beautiful. After all, having some Maxis buildings will not hurt. They can even add a touch of history that can tell you how this city evolved. As some of you might have noticed, many artists, architects and visionaries tend to forget that cities have pasts. Unless a city is built from scratch in the wilderness at some insane pace (Rome wasn't build in a day, but future cities might do), you will always be surrounded by the evidence of earlier times, like Parthenon in Athens and the Empire State Building in New York, which is a good thing. It gives your city an identity, a charm, a personality that makes it unique and interesting. Otherwise, you might end up with something totally futuristic but also antiseptic 

Progress so far. What's ready (2013), what's under development, and what has been improved (2022).

R$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

R$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

R$$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CS$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CS$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CS$$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CO$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CO$$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

I$ 1 2 3

I$$ 1 2 3

I$$$ 1 2 3

Rewards

Airports

Seaports

[Terring7]

No, the project is not dead. I'm just very busy right now with my postgraduate studies and exams. I'm not saying that I'm going to put the project on hold, but that the updates will not be as often as I'd like to. Right now I'm updating the stage 3 CO$$$ lots, which will have only Maxis buildings but heavily futurized. Here is a small taste, with domes, arrays and green roofs. More hopefully soon.

[Terring7]

Well... better late than never 

Now that I have some free time, I upgraded all stage 3 CO$$$ lots. Before we see them, let's see first how they used to be back in 2013. In one of those buildings I even tried @tariely's idea from Simpeg.com about solar panels.



















⬆️ This was back in 2013.
⬇️ Now in 2022, all buildings comes with new textures, better parking lots, bicycles, greater variety in cars, futuristic upgrades such as domes and modular expansions, parking places for flying cars both on ground and on air, hanged cars, robots, green roofs, even more solar panels, and even small greenhouses for the workers.



The ponds with ducks and the underground garages are still here, of course 



Some futuristic technologies and expansions for the offices.



I know, those communication arrays on the roof of those buildings look silly, but it's the best thing I could do. I tried to give them some green roofs, but the model of those buildings was not flat enough and refused to work with me. But hey, at least they look more like the James Webb Space Telescope.



But when possible, add green roofs, preferably with trees and flowers.



Even more upgrades, with domes, antennae, communication arrays, bicycles, and flying cars parked a couple of meters above the ground. Aerial parking, anyone?



But how those flying cars can stay on air? Here is how. Those cars have their engines still on to stay floating. To prevent them from running out of energy and crashing to the ground, the skybridges that connects them to the building (which have ion engines under them to expand however they need without using pylons or something to support them) provide them with the energy they need to stay on air.



And yes, of course you can have both bicycles and flying cars at your city 





Back in 2013, I made most of the Maxis buildings to be constructed only on in-corner lots. This is because, in most cases, their original lots were not in-corner and had their parking spaces isolated from the road network, thus getting parking lots surrounded by buildings and without access to the road. By making their lots in-corner, I tried to get a more realistic result with parking lots actually connected to the road, and at the same time as less Maxis buildings in the city as possible. Just have Maxis in corners and let SimMars get the rest. This however could limit the variety of the lots available and make many of them very difficult to be used. To fix this problem, and to have an even more awesome result, I've made some extra lots that can be constructed anywhere, while turning their parking lots for bicycles and wheeled cars... into landing lots for flying cars! 



Speaking of flying cars, here are some more Maxis buildings, now with extra and modular roofs that can be used for flying cars and other vehicles as well. Too bad we don't have flying cars as automata. That would be awesome.





And of course you can't have a city of the future without green roofs, solar panels, hanged cars, and even small greenhouses. That's right, greenhouses on the top of office buildings. Hey, workers are humans too, so why not cultivating some of the food they need? If you can grow your own cereals and corn for your cereal bars and popcorn on your working place, why not?





Hmm, the green roofs of some of those buildings look funny and glitchy, as if the white roof of the building is fighting the green roof just above it. Don't worry, I'll fix it.



So yes, all low density and high wealth office lots have been futurized. I think I'll keep working on low density lots for now. After all, they're the very first lots you see when you build a city. So I think my next step will be the medium wealth offices. Or the low wealth shops and services. Or maybe the family houses. I don't know. We'll see.

Progress so far. What's ready (2013), what's still under development, and what has been improved (2022).

R$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

R$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

R$$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CS$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CS$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CS$$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CO$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

CO$$$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

I$ 1 2 3

I$$ 1 2 3

I$$$ 1 2 3

Rewards

Airports

Seaports

[Terring7]

One of my favorite mods is the Diagonal Intersection RoadTop SubwayBus Station (also known as MTRT) made by uroncha back in 2005. It's a set of bus stops and subway stations that can be placed on top of streets, roads, one-ways and avenues, just like Road-Top Mass-Transit (RTMT). What I enjoy the most in MTRT, however, is that it also includes bus stops and subway stations that can be build on top of T and X intersections as well, which is very convenient for me. Why building bus stops and subway stations next to crossroads, when you can build them on the crossroads themselves? My only complain was that MTRT includes Subway-Bus stations for roads, one-ways and avenues, but not for streets. If RTMT comes with subway and sub/bus stations for streets, why not MTRT too? So, I decided to make 4 new lots as a little add-on for MTRT to include road-top sub/bus stations for both straight and diagonal streets, as well as for tee and cross intersections. You can now get them from here.

[Terring7]

What's this? A new set of modular plaza-parks? And empty like a canvas this time so you can paint your plaza-parks and customize them as you wish? Bring them on! 

OUT NOW