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ÆRDEN ~ new streets!

Started by vortext, May 31, 2013, 11:31:03 PM

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kbieniu7

Oh man! These MMPs and cobble far streets are awesome! How do you manage your life, to find time for it?!

According to "regular" shots, they are excellent! I'm impressed, how you create the nature. I love the meadows, wetlands and shores, they look to be unrepeatable and deprived of artificiality... just "real"!

Good luck with the monastery! Usually, If I decide to create some details in LE, I don't finish them. I hope, you will show us something interesting!

Happy Easter!
Thank you for visiting Kolbrów, and for being for last ten years!

Schulmanator

Nice work. I do like the cobblestones. We could always use that in cities :D
See the all-new National Capital Region!:http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=15118.0

juliok102013

I NEED THESE ROADS!!!! Amazing Pictures, congratulations.

vortext

#203


Quote from: Girafe on April 12, 2014, 06:01:43 AM
Amazing job,

I really enjoy the cobble stone textures, they are perfect for small villages  :thumbsup:

Thanks! Though I actually had usage for cities in mind, I guess they will look quite nice in villages indeed! Hadn't even thought about it yet!  :D


Quote from: kelis on April 12, 2014, 06:04:29 AM
I like so much your MD ! I always wanted to do a city inspired in the old Amsterdam ( Fantastic video  :) ), but I always had problems with plugins and I was not able to get a good result, but I think you are doing an amazing job with this type of region and I have to say that it's very inspirational, so please keep up the good work my friend !!

Greetings :thumbsup:

Thank you! It won't be a recreation though, the main inspiration for me was the way it was constructed, one plot at a time. And the canals of course.  ;)


Quote from: FrankU on April 12, 2014, 11:54:38 AM
Hi Erik,

The video about Amsterdam is great, indeed. Maybe now finally we all know that the city didn't grow ring by ring, like may seem to believe.

Anyway: your developments are really interesting and the Daeley trick sounds interesting too, althought I don't really understand how it works. He really found some funny flaws/features in the game that can be put to good use.
And I am looking forward to using your textures and lots. You seem to have found (or BATted?) some nice small crops for the lots! Could you elaborate on these?

Honestly I didn't exactly know how Amsterdam was constructed either until I stumbled upon the clip.  ::)

As for the crops, you can find them in the SPAM resource file, however, I turned them into seasonal crops for my own use.


Quote from: c.p. on April 15, 2014, 10:22:42 AM
Lots of interesting (and mysterious) things going on here. $%#Ninj2
The cobblestone streets look great :thumbsup:
I'll be interested to see how that trick from Daeley works out.

Thanks! I like to keep interesting for myself. :D


Quote from: M4346 on April 17, 2014, 10:32:26 AM
Incredible work and a great inspiration! Also love all the tinkering! :D

Thank you! Also glad to hear you enjoyed the tinkering as I was a bit hesitant to show it.  :)


Quote from: APSMS on April 17, 2014, 11:39:01 AM
Commenting because I'm trying to not be a lurker and maybe get people to comment on my stuff when I post entries in my MD (which, admittedly I haven't done much of). There's a lot of stuff going on here, and I'd like to offer some support/opinions, esp. since I always seem to forget to do so even when I have something to say.

I would definitely be interested in a Cobble Street override. The ones currently available in the SAM/GLR-in-Street are ugly imho. These ones blend much better. I also notice you've adapted the Dirt Streets to fully replace the default texture, including Draggable WRSC! Nice work there (not that I'll use it in particular), especially for maybe adapting other street overrides to do the same thing (I guess it's just a matter of making the textures, though).

Since FAR streets aren't available (yet? &Thk/(), would the FAR cobble streets be a retexture/overlay for the Roads, or are there plans I've not heard of yet? (I thought autoconnect was the straw on the camel, but I could be wrong)

Thanks for stopping by! The cobble stones will be an override for roads and has taken priority over the dirt streets for now.


Quote from: Simcoug on April 17, 2014, 11:41:26 AM
Good stuff!  I really enjoyed that clip too - I hope you don't get too attached to parts of your city, because it looks like it will be built, torn down, and rebuilt again.   :o

And I am really curious about the 'under water' residential.  Is that grown?  Please explain!  (with the right model, a dock full of 'house boats' seems like a possibility)

I don't know if you've seen the drama TV show 'Vikings' but your Monastery made me think of the poor monks who suffered through waves of 'barbarian' raids.
Unfortunately there's not much in the way of BATs...  &mmm   

Yep, some stuff will have to be torn down. Then again, any decent city is in a permanent state of (re)development and it'll affect defense works mainly. That said, it will definitely take some effort on my part given I already have trouble bulldozing forests to make way for developments.  :D

The underwater residential was initially zoned and grown with water removed, like any ordinary lot. Then I saved and re-entered with water enabled. I was curious if the game would be bothered with the water, in terms of commuting and such. It seems like it doesn't mind, so yeah, 'under water' residential are possible. Though in the LE the building absolutely has to touch the front of the lot, otherwise it'll 'sink' into the water. In other words, I had to offset the building with the ModelTweaker to eliminate the overhang.


Quote from: benedict on April 18, 2014, 01:26:19 PM
Good to see you back with an update, and good to see you back at number one on BTT this week.

Edit: and another week on top - well done.

Two weeks in a row! Thanks everyone!  &apls


Quote from: Gugu3 on April 18, 2014, 01:45:26 PM
Wow!very nice as always!nice pictures...and great work on the cobblestone texture &apls

Thank you!


Quote from: kbieniu7 on April 19, 2014, 11:21:18 AM
Oh man! These MMPs and cobble far streets are awesome! How do you manage your life, to find time for it?!

According to "regular" shots, they are excellent! I'm impressed, how you create the nature. I love the meadows, wetlands and shores, they look to be unrepeatable and deprived of artificiality... just "real"!

Good luck with the monastery! Usually, If I decide to create some details in LE, I don't finish them. I hope, you will show us something interesting!

Happy Easter!

Thanks for the kinds words! As for finding the time: you have to keep in mind both the Historic Harbor and cobble stones have been in development for well over a year now. A matter of patience I guess, just like you've been developing your region for over six years!  ;)


Quote from: Schulmanator on April 20, 2014, 06:49:30 AM
Nice work. I do like the cobblestones. We could always use that in cities :D

Thanks!


Quote from: juliok102013 on April 30, 2014, 07:41:20 PM
I NEED THESE ROADS!!!! Amazing Pictures, congratulations.

Thank you but THERE'S NO NEED TO SHOUT!!!  :D




As advertised I've got a few tidbits on the agenda today but first of all I'd like to thank everyone for the continuing and enthusiastic support regarding the cobble stone roads. I greatly appreciate it!  &apls

As you may have noticed by now, I'm not the kinda person to rush into things headfirst. No no no, every option has to considered before moving on. So without further ado, my latest tinkering. .







Rendering the gradient and curbstones separately from the actual surface turned out to be a rather good idea. Moreover, once it was put back together in Photoshop there was hardly any loss in definition (i.e. no need for adjustment layers or anything), which I did not expect. That said, I'm not quite satisfied with the corner curbstones yet but prove of concept has been firmly established. Next hurdle to take are FAR intersections.

Moving on now to said tidbits. First up is a puzzling and frankly, slightly worrying issue regarding regional population count. The final two thingies are in the 'did you know?' category.




So, I use Equinox' RCI Query Upgrade Mod and observed rather strange anomalies concerning the regional population count it reports. Specifically, strange anomalies occur in adjacent but not yet connected city tiles.
   
For example, I've got two tiles next to each other which have a city population of 212 and 531. The reported regional population is 1900 and 2674 respectively. This doesn't exactly add up. Even stranger is another cluster of three adjacent tiles. One tile reports a city population of 1281 and a regional population of 3256, the other tile reports 1454 and 3863 respectively. The third and in terms of population smallest tile reports 322 for both city and regional population. Obviously there're quite some discrepancies in the regional population numbers. No matter how I do the math, it simply doesn't compute. But here's the real kicker: the regional population actually is 6408!

So, what the heck is going on here?! How and why does the regional population count differ so widely? Is it just me or what? I'd really appreciate it if someone could shed some light on this issue, if only to calm my nerves. . . %wrd




On to the second tidbit: did you know there's a visual difference in terrain texture between playing windowed and full screen? Me neither until I gave the SC4Lancher a go, after seeing it recommended quite a few times on Reddit. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me but no, there definitely is a difference.






Nooo, my carefully calibrated sidewalk. . .  :bomb:

And it's not just contained to ingame shots. The difference is visible in regionview as well.


Guess which city was saved in full screen mode. .

Anyway, looks like I won't be playing in fullscreen mode. It doesn't matter much really but I couldn't find any info on it and thought it was curious enough to mention.



Finally: did you know you can use the up and down arrow keys to access previously entered 'cheats' in the dialogue box?! What I'm talking about?

Open the dialogue box (crtl-x), enter a 'cheat' and hit enter to close the dialogue box. Now open the dialogue box again and hit either the up or down arrow key. And what do you know, there's the cheat you just entered!

Why would this be usefull?

Well, to take a-not-so-random example: say one (me) wants take a picture with JENX' weather effects. Furthermore, lets say one wants to take said picture at sunset.

Since the weather effects appear at random over a city, one had to type in 'effect_JENX name', wait to see if it appears above the appropriate area and if not, hit ctrl-x and enter 'effect stop'. Moreover, if the weather effects appeared in view, one had to be quick to access the dialogue box again and set the correct time for sunset. No more!

Well of course one has to enter the 'cheats' initially but once that's done 'crtl-x, up-arrow' will safe one a lot of hassle. Of course, one cannot leave without showing the resulting picture. Enjoy!




Future metropolis taking shape. .  :P
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

Gugu3

Beautiful work!such a shame for the full screen mode... &mmm

eugenelavery

Very interesting discovery regarding the terrain and windowed mode.

feyss

I know I don't post often and I spend my time lurking, but I wanted to underline your work. What you do is totally amazing. You have an extrem sense for details and everything (cities and landscapes) look realistic. I don't know how you find time to do all this things but please continue in this way.  :thumbsup:

vortext

#207
Hi there!

Today marks the first year anniversary of my MD. Consequently it also means I've never worked this long on a region before, which is no small part due to all your kind replies and comments!  &apls

It had almost gone unnoticed as I realized it only about a week ago. Needless to say I wanted to make a special update since, however, as the region has grown, so has the number of area's and projects in need of attention – nothing fit for publication or release just quite yet. So I kept wondering what to do, what to do. .

Over the last couple of months I had snapped a bunch of decent pictures. . true. Moreover I had found a very old, first draft of a 'historic' map some time ago. Couple that with a curiousity to learn a bit of Flash and the fact I'd a few days off and. .

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/dc8qefo2mvxrivx/AE%201y.swf

Indeed, it's a wonky Flash map (which may take a while to load. . ). Click on the map icons & labels to explore the region. There're also a few hidden places. ;)

For some reason the fade-out completely broke at the very last moment. Moreover, initially I wanted mouse-zoom, image galleries and what not but it quickly became apparent that would be too complicated to pull off in a few days time. Safe to say I already spend way too much time on the whole thing anyway. What I'm trying to say: consider it a beta version.  ;D

That's not to say it wasn't fun though and I reckon you'll see more Flash stuff around here in the future, it's pretty neat. If it doesn't work please let know. Just to be safe I've also put the images and full-resolution map up on imgur. I may or may not add descriptions to it later. Replies will follow later as well. Also just realized I didn't make a banner for the occasion. Too bad. :D

Now off to make dinner.  ()stsfd()
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

romualdillo

It's a great job vortext! I can appreciate all the work and dedication you put in every detail!!! But sometimes I can't get back to the general map for some reason... Nevertheless, the images and the map are incredible!!!

FrankU

Beautiful Erik!
Congratulations with your achievements.  &apls

Simcoug

Very cool idea!  I had fun clicking around the map - it all worked very well, except like romualdillo I had difficulty getting back to the main map sometimes.  How did you create such a neat looking map?  It's very LOTRish. 
Great work!  And I think I even spied some flying gulls over the castle ramparts  :)

krashspeed

Nice, everything looks and works great! &apls

c.p.

Hmm, this is an interesting, original and unexpected project. :thumbsup:  I agree with Simcoug that the map has a Lord of the Rings look.

epicblunder

I love that map.  Have to agree with CP; it's very Middle Earth style.

Themistokles

Wow, the curvy roads with their textures really fit in seamlessly with their surroundings (they were good already earlier, but they're awesome put to real use), and I agree with everyone else on the map - and it really sets the mood brilliantly for the images.

Just wondering (slightly off-topic, but anyway)... do you use seasonal trees?
Come join me on a hike to St Edmea!

Latest update: 7

"In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy." - John Sawhill

feyss

I really like this interactive map. That's a nice idea you had there.  ;)

Indiana Joe

Quote from: Themistokles on June 04, 2014, 09:15:42 AM
Wow, the curvy roads with their textures really fit in seamlessly with their surroundings (they were good already earlier, but they're awesome put to real use), and I agree with everyone else on the map - and it really sets the mood brilliantly for the images.

Just wondering (slightly off-topic, but anyway)... do you use seasonal trees?

:D  He is THE seasonal tree man.  Check out the Arden Tree mod.  Great stuff.

I also want to throw in my approval of that awesome Tolkien-esque map.  I had a phase when I was young where I was fascinated by those; drew quite a few.

noahclem

I've really enjoyed the great work you've done with Ærden over the last year generally and specifically in these most recent updates I've been enjoying. It's very rare for me to miss an update here but I know of at least a couple times I hadn't gotten around to replying to one update before the next is published because I wasn't yet sure what words I should say that would fittingly respond to what you've put on display. You're all over the board with what you're up to, whether it's all flavors of modding, various software competencies related to SC4, effects directory business, storytelling with flair, or just great city-building. And your gift of sharing as you learn has hugely benefited the community at this site and beyond--though I'm most grateful for how it's benefited me  ;D 

A huge congratulations for an amazing year  &apls &apls &apls

Schulmanator

Delightful! And happy anniversary!
See the all-new National Capital Region!:http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=15118.0

Swordmaster

Happy anniversary Erik. Great work here as always.

I remember something about the full screen color issue - if I'm not mistaken you might find info about this in one of Ennedi's threads.


Cheers
Willy