The Winding River Project

[dedgren]

Fred, I've got several months of catching up to do.  Instead of a good book, I know what I'll be staying up to read tonight.

WRP has Hall of Fame written all over it.


David

[penguin007]

Excellent pics and storyline everywhere here. I love the dam construction and the little side stories are excellent

Will

[mrbisonm]

Het thanks folks, comments like these are surely firing me up to present even better *stuff*...
I'll be uploading another update in 2 or 3 days.


Remember when the army came and blocked every road just because the Powerline workers found these rockskulls?
" Well rumours are that the army took a large bite out of the region"
Everyone in Access and Valmore is freaking out.....The rich people in Grasslake have a lot of influence in the political world and the general population in big cities......and they don't like to have the army nearby neither.

Fred

[canyonjumper]

Sounds interesting Fred! Can't wait!

          -Jordan

[mrbisonm]

HELP!!





I can't take closer pics because the game crashes.
Now this is quite some problem.

This is what happened: I have opened the Access city accidently with a Pluginsfolder for another city (way less props and lots) and which I use in other cities, the props and lots used for Access weren't in that folder. So I left the game right away to change the Pluginsfolder, but unfortunetly and accidently I have saved that citytile while exitting.....Well, I thought it doesn't matter since I will use the regular Pluginsfolder when I re-enter the tile, but.....here is the problem. All the lots that were in the original Pluginsfolder became without the main props and the textures as we can see on the picture above.
They are still there, I can see all the props, but all others are invisible, even though I have opened the citytile with its original Pluginsfolder.
Now, almost everything that I try to bulldoze, query or change, causes the game to crash, crash and crash... Darn it!
I don't know what to do, does anyone have an idea what I could do to get it back to normal?
This is the tile that's I accidently saved with a smaller Pluginsfolder, thank god, all the other citytiles in this region are perfectly fine.

I hope someone will be able to help me to get the maincity back , because there's a lot of work in it and if I have to rebuild it, it will take a lot of time to get it back as it used to be.

I'm crossing my fingers.......


Btw, I'm starting to hate computers, they're far from reliable......I have had many problems lately with computers, especially my brand new one that I probably never understand like the old one I have. I have to learn everything all over again.....


Fred

[canyonjumper]

What OS are you running? If you are running Windows you can try System Restore.

XP: Follow steps here
Vista/7: Follow steps here

                     -Jordan

Good luck Fred!

[mrbisonm]

What OS are you running? If you are running Windows you can try System Restore.

XP: Follow steps here
Vista/7: Follow steps here

                     -Jordan

Good luck Fred!

Thanks Jordan,
I have XP, but I don't think that a System Restore is a good idea, since it restores also unwanted files that you have deleted etc, and it's been a week or so this happened, many programs have been installed lately and many things have been modifies in gmax, SC4 and many other programs. Any other ideas?

Fred

[canyonjumper]

Try this:

1. Save most recent restore point to HD.
2. Restore computer to necessary time (1 week in your case).
3. Copy the .sc4 file needed to an external drive, or a USB stick.
4. Use the saved restore point to return your computer to its normal state.
5. Overwrite the accidentally saved .sc4 file with the one on the External/USB.
6. Open SC4 to see if it worked.

                -Jordan

[mrbisonm]

Thanks very much, but it seems a little to "dangerous" to do this to me. I have this computer since approx. 3 weeks now and I had to transfer and re-upload all the programs, etc etc from my older computer. I am still working on this to get it back to what the other computer was before (sooooo many files).
So, I am just about to have it back to normal and I am afraid if I do a System Restore, that I will not remember what I had and what I didn't have.

I tried something else while being completely discouraged, I opened that specific citytile with a complete empty Pluginsfolder and tried to bulldoze some lots, which I couldn't do before without having the game crash on me. And believe it or not, it worked. I was able to bulldoze all the lots where the buildings weren't showing.
After having done everything I switched to the normal Pluginsfolder for this region and now I can start re-plopping all the missing Bldg's and let the town grow again.

Better than re-doing the whole city from scrap. This way I have kept some of the lots and ALL of the street oulays, which is quite important to have the town looking as before.
With help of earlier pictures, which I have lots of 'em, I will be able to re-plop the most important buildings in the same places as before.
I suppose it won't be that bad afterall. It will take a few xtra days though.

Here is what it looks like right now, ready to have the town re-grow the existing zones.



Tomorrow I will upload the promissed update, but without anything from the town of Access Center itself though.

Thanks for helping, Jordan. I will from now on keep a copy of my citytiles after every four or five updates......something I learned.

Fred

[danielcote]

You will re plop my store and cafe right? Pluss all the other cool buildings like the church or the library.

[KoV Liberty]

I would suggest (this is what did it for me when I had similar problems) to put the graphics settings on low, turn off the game, and then reload it, swithch it to high, turn off the game and restart it again. That got rid of my problems. I'm not sure if it would apply here, but it is worth a try. Just my 2 cents. Hope this gets sorted out.

Alex

[mrbisonm]

danielcote, don't worry, everything will be almost like it was before. With help of the many pictures that I have from this citytile and the plopping building cheat I will reconstruct the whole city in no time.

Driftmaster07 , excellent idea, but a little too late, everything except the standing buildings has been bulldozed to the ground already. Thanks for telling, I will keep this in mind the next time.

Sorry for being late again, but I had some small problems with my gameplay and some minor holdups irl.

UPDATE 33.

Does the name of Rundi Sterling mean anything to you? We have talked a little about him earlier, but I think it is time to get to know him better. Born in Frampton City in 1918 from a rich aboriginal family, Rundi took over his father's Simland's first Financial Company. Today in 1964, he is still the CEO of the biggest and most widespred Finance Company in Simland and partially spred to the Overseas. Being a Billionaire since his thirties, he is of the age of 56 today, he is a rather greedy and egocentric big-bellied intelligent fellow and sometimes has dumb and stupid ideas and caprices, which though usually bring him other ideas which eventually increase his income.
In 1957 he decided to build hundreds of Appartmentblocks just because they looked good and which was never certain that he could rent or sell them at any time, but luck struck and today he owns the biggest most modern Livingspaces anywhere. These modern blocks are still build by the dozens all over Simland by his Company earning him millions every year, as shown below in Frampton. He is married only since 19 years and has a son of 17, kinda playboy like.

pic1


Making Millions of Simoleons with his buissnesses, Sterling is about to plan another outragous idea. Recently he bought a few several hundred year old castles and strongholds all over Europe, some in good condition. Hiring some 800 or more people fulltime for a few years, he has these castles carefully take appart piece by piece and to be shipped overseas to the Winding River Region only to be reconstructed as they originally were, and that right here on the Stoke Mountains, right smack in the middle of the Valley. Mr Sterling officially announced his plans to make the most important tourist attraction in the Nation about two weeks ago. Now he is about to buy out one of the temporary harbours on the river on the eastside, where the Gabber Company is shipping their materials for the bridgebuilding of Highway 15. John Gabber, the President of Gabber Inc, decided to sell only after the bridge is finished and that there is no other use to his Company anymore. Sterling aggreed since it will take at least another year before the first castleparts arrive. He has now to make sure that they analyse the river carefully and to make sure to see if a big ship can make it up here without any danger of stranding.
Once the castles and the medieval villages are rebuild on top of the western end of the Stoke Mountain Chain, it will be opened for the public as a historical European site. Another strong income again for Rundi.

pic2


Let's go to the Phlox County once again, where parts of the bridge are starting to show. Alex Puto, the Project Manager of the Highway 15 construction has been working days and nights to get the bridge done within the year, but the more time passes, the less he sees his bridgeproject finished in time.
«« "Unless a real miracle happens and we get a warm winter with hardly any frost, we won't be seeing the bridge finished by next year's spring as planned"»»,
he officially said in his monthly report to the Highway Commission. Will this be a check-mate for him?

pic3


Terry Slye, the owner of the big Slye Lumber Company in Phlox also has some important plans to expand his finished woodproducts transportation. Next year he will be building a railstation that will allow him to charge the woodproducts onto trains for faster and more massive transportation. His plan will cost a lot of $, but things are going well in his sawmill as long as the highway will cut the logs to free the way. Though they will soon hit the Stokeplains with its swamps, just north of the Mountain chain, where forests are scarce for several miles.
He talked about his projects to John Gabber, who always has been his advisor more or less, and John told him not to worry, since Sterling will be doing his own delogging next year, just about the time when the highway will wind through the Stokeplains. A relief to Slye and a green light to go ahead with his plan for the railstation. Besides John told Slye that he thinks the railstation will pay itself while others will be wanting to use it also.

pic4


Ricky's Bass Lodge was only opened a week ago. The owner doesn't even have an access for the boats and no boats at all, come to think of it. Richard Welder from Lakefield has rented the land from the Government for a longer period to be able to open a fishing and hunting Outfitter base here in Phlox , which later he will expand to the Winding River also. A good idea as John Gabber and Mike Allheimer say, both being vivid hunters and Anglers.
The Lodge is a new way to find some peaceful fishing and hunting in the Winding River Region. Richard will only be open during the summer and fall months for the moment being.

pic5


Here is a beautiful overview of the Access Center area. Slowly spreading into the southern hills and north to Lake Valmore, Access seems to flourish in all its splender. Mayor Steven Bartlett was just shortly re-elected as the Mayor for the next three years and for the second mandatory. He has done well with Access, mostly in the last 2 years, offering more and more services to his population. Now he is entering another state of Mayoring, the one of a much bigger town, a little more than 25,000 citizens.
Some complain about the school that has become way too small, others want a small hospital, a secondary school, a bigger meeting hall, a park to relax and play, a library, some gravelroads to be paved, better fire protection and the list goes on and on. True, Access has become a town now, growing fast like crazy and surely not slowing down, especially now with all these new Manufacturing Companies that seek a place to settle nearby.
Take only Nethaniel Wellington, who is planning to build his biggest Clubfoods ever in Access Center and needing more than 50 workers for this, then comes Tom Kohler who is about to extend his buslines to Bluebay, Frampton, Sodom and Beecherfalls, needing another dozen or so fulltime drivers, and also Barby White is seriously thinking about building a Vacational Resort near the Valmore Lake, probably hirring another 30 or so people, plus Guy Racsan who just finished his masterdegree in Aero-Engineering and is about to open a subsidiary of Kent Engineering Company or known as KECO who will be building jetengines for airplanes, which is more and more in demand nowadays, and finally all the other industries which are already planning to build their Companies in Access.
The Winding River Region is changing and modern times are starting. Mayor Bartlett was elected with 62% of the majority, which is actually quite good, but the population think that he will be able to handle the town of Access as easily as he did the village of Access. Let's wait and see....

Since a few months now the South-eastern Rail Company is figuring out how to expand the rails into Sodom and Bluebay. Bluebay has a 189,000 population and is growing massively also, needing rails badly. Somehow and luckily for Access, it was decided to go right through the town of Access Center and over the lower hills south of the town. Access will soon have new Access to rails....oh boy, this will be fun. It will either kill or give it a heck of a boost, Old Henry Gabber tells everyone, now that he is back on his feet and recovered from his heart-attack. Grandpa Henry doesn't like rails nor railers, Steam Riders as he calls them, he never did anyways and seriously think it might kill the quietness and charm of Access somehow.

pic6


West River has been invaded by farmers eversince the government offered these lots for farming at a low price. The rich and fertile small river banks are ideal to cultivate excellent foodcrops and therefor are in great demand. Mostly younger farmers have been noticed in this area, willing to raise a family in these parts.

pic7


Just on the other side of the West River is this place where they found the rockskull huts last fall and where the army invaded the wooded landscape.

««" Did you see the gate and the fences that the army has erected in West River?", John asked Mike at the weekly meeting in Access at Barby's, "What the hell are they doing there, it looks like that they are installing some permanent premisses there. Geeez, I don't like the army to be here at all. It smells trouble all the way."
"C'mon John, don't exagerate," Mike said, "What bad could they do after all, They're not going to blow up one of these Hydrobombs or whatever they call them, no.... they're just fooling around with those skullrocks or rockskulls or whatever they are, nothing more."
" Shouldn't they leave that to the archeologists or historians? This is the very first time that I have seen armed soldiers guarding old stones, don't they have anything else to do?" John continued, " ...and when you freakin' ask them what they're doing there, they say it's historical protection....pfff....my ass....one or two guards could do the job of protecting the rocks and not a whole army of 300 or more with half a dozen of helicopters......We're being treated as simple stupid idiots here in Access!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!!!" Slye interupted, who also is a part of the weekly meeting, " Don't you get all that exited here about this, Johnnyboy. While they're here why not ask them to create a soccerteam and then let's beat the heck out of them in our next regional soccerchallenge instead? " Slye tried to change the conversation.
Some laughter was heard.
Then, " Sorry", John added " I know that there is something very fishy going on there and I am pretty sure that they are about to install themselves there permanently for a certain and mysterious reason and I plan to find out why....I hate those guys"»»
So the conversation about the army continued right into the late friday afternoon and they all left without knowing much more about the whole thing.
Yes, it looks like the army is here for a long time. The whole area is about to be fenced in, they built a permanent entrygate and seem to build more buildings, and most of all, the whole Powerline project was abandoned in this part of West River and the lines will go in a wide halfcircle around the rockskull region now.

pic8


Below is a closer picture of the gate that was only shortly constructed. No valable reasons have been given  for this action yet, and somehow the population is starting to ask questions impatiently. *What's going on?*, they ask. A closer picture of the rockskull area is not yet possible, since ever flight over the area directly is redirected by an airforce plane or armed military helicopter.

pic9


What once used to be Valmore, today belongs to Access, thanks to Mayor Bartlett who was able to join both municipalities into one last year. The expansion of the town into valmore is evident. Flat lands are ideal for agriculture but also for residential areas. A great future is awaiting the Valmore part of Access Center.

pic10


Some very beautiful and nicely arranged residential parts of the town can be found near the highway, mastered by the Civil Engineer Riichirou Takahaschi. Even John Gabber and his wife Mary find these areas quite charming and have talked about moving to Access one day to live during the summer months a more quiet life than in the big city of Bluebay. Besides Access is only 45 minutes from their weekendhome in Grasslake. John's oldest son, John Jr already has tought of the idea to move to this area once he finishes his studies in the University.

pic11


Here's a better look at the Center of this part of Access, former Valmore. Although the highway is far from finished in the Widing River Valley, parts of it are already becoming busy with traffic.

pic12


A completely new and modern Dairyfarm has been built in Valmore. It has a milk pipeline. A new way to milk the cows that will let the milk flow from the cow directly into the refrigerating bulktank in the dairyhouse, no more carrying of those milkers all the way down the barnlength. Never been seen before anywhere. They say that the idea came from Canada. Now you can milk the double amount of cows with the same labour. Many farmers from all over the country have come to visit this new invention of dairyfarming shown here in Valmore.

pic13


You probably wonder where that dinosaure skelleton has disappeared to in Valmore, well, it was build over. You heard right, a museum was built right over the skelleton and now the skelleton can be seen right at the entrance in a big hall that will protect this rare find forever. The Government finally approved the building of an official Natural Science Museum in the Winding River Region, a new attraction and surely worthwhile visiting. There are even some rockskulls to be be seen in parts and pieces. It finally opened its doors last month. A must visit when you're in the area.

pic14


Jerry Meader was officially hired to take care of the watersystems for Access Center, which now come down from the dam up in the hills. Jerry is from Vancouver and moved down to Access with his son Jordan. Only a few days after he arrived he was asked by Diarmuid MacGormain, about the same age (15), who lives only an appartment below him, to participate in the yearly Wilderness Camping Week with him and his friends, including Charlie Gabber, also 15 years old by now. The whole group will be accompanied by a fellow from the Police department of Access, Mr Davidson. This will be the first of several yearly future trips into the great wilderness with the strict minimum of survival material for a whole 10 days and nights to show youngsters the hard and only way to survive in raw nature. They will be brought by boat to the big Rover Island, also known as the Long Island, where the blue spot on picture No 6 above is.

They will learn important survival tricks and how to find food and water for their needs. This will be on the second weekend of the summer shool vacation. Five people, including the Guide, will take the trip this year. Jordan Meaden was happy to be able to integrade so fast into the new neighborhood as he accepted the offer.
Finally the young bushpilot Steve Gibson officially got hired by the town as a pilot for the surveyors and biologists. He moved in his appartment only a week ago with his wife Ashley who is pregnant with their first child, due sometime in automn, I believe. Steve had his first flight and couldn't get over the size of the valley and the river, talking to his wife about his first experience all evening. He loves the place he says, but is missing the golfcourse of his homecity Frampton which he often spent his weekends. How can a town of 20 thousand not have a decent golfcourse in the sixties, he asks himself, something has to be done about this. Since bushpiloting doesn't pay that much and is not a fulltime job for the moment being, Steve is asking everywhere on the airport for a secondary job. He hasn't found one yet, but surely could find one working for the highway, not something he actually is looking for.

Tom Kohler , who lives in an appartment on the second floor near Barby's Beergarten, is about to finish his collegal studies in the line of buissness and technology. At the age of 22 now, he will push it further with a buissness Management degree in his hometown's University in Beecherfalls, where he will spend most of his time during the studies. Now that his Taxibuissness in Access runs by itself (4 cars) and the buslines are about to  expand into a eight-bus line for several destinies starting from Access, he can pay himself the studies and the trips to Beecherfalls every week. Tom just bought himself a small lot in former Valmore last fall, a place where the future will hold his first home one day he hopes.

Michael Arven is another young fellow ambitious to continue studies and create a good future for himself, only seventeen at the moment and already having designed some original weekendhomes for people of Grasslake, including the big chalet of the Gabbers, Michael will be leaving to the Bluebay College earlier this fall to continue his studies in architecture. Right now he is still designing some smaller weekend homes for people of Valmore and Phlox, earning his college and university fees.

Riichirou Takahaschi, our Access Civil Engineer, is still dreaming to lead a big project like the Highway 15, which now is run by Mike Allheimer and Alex Puto. After having designed the small neighborhood project of Access two years ago, he is now on Unemployment and strongly thinking of going back to Japan for a few years. His sister, who worked with him on the same project, is now working for the Mayor's office as the secretary, not that she likes the job, but it feeds her well, as she says. Riichirou has been drawing plans of Sterling county in the last few months, a place he shortly visited in the summer of 63 and fell in love with. A beautiful place to him to create majestic Living spaces, he thinks. Well, his plans surely look darn good, his sister tells him all the time.

Ok that's it again, I'll be back shortly with more. I will have to re-construct Access Center first before I will continue, but it shouldn't be too hard nor too long to do so. I think I will be able to do this on the next weekend.

Here are some of the next events we will talk about.
- Highway 15 has reached the swamps of Stoke, many big problems arrise, some things were badly surveyed and several plans cannot be fulfilled as expected. Is the highway construction to be stopped until they find a way to overcome the problem?
- Wellington finished his new Office building in Access, the highest building yet, something new to admire.
- John Gabber fell out of the sky with Old Rover, it is time to change the old Hydroplane.
- Andy Dubold killed by one of his workers, Andy was the Logger's headman.
- Also Paul Hubert, the founder and first Mayor until 1962 of Access Junction died of heartfailure because no hospitalservices were available close by. Now Mayor Bartlett realizes that it is more than time to get a fully operational hospital into the Town.
- Barby White has chosen a place on Valmore Lake to build her Vacation Hotel, another first in Access.
- and finally, disaster in the coming on the Fingerlake, the lake where our electricity and water comes from. Never seen low water levels like this because of this summer's draught.


List of Players:

Guy Racsan............................. NASCAR_GUY
Michael Arven.......................... mightygoose
Diarmuid MacGormain................. THE TEA CAT
Nethaniel Joseph Wellington........ danielcote
Riichirou Takahaschi.................. just_a_guy
Tom Kohler.............................. RustyXL
Barby White............................ BarbyW
Terry Slye.............................. threestooges
Alex Puto............................... Driftmaster07
Jordan Meaden........................ canyonjumper
Steve Gibson.......................... Cyclone 1001

I still could use at least 4 or 5 more characters in my story, but please, no more architects, engineers or anything to do with aviation, rails or transportation.

Let me know if you're interested in having a character in my story (MD) that could last a few years (as Nexis of Genesis did on Simtrop)

Here are some ideas of beginning jobs ending with....:
Nurse............................ Specialist Surgeon
Iron ore or coal Miner........... Owner and CEO of big mine
Commercial fisher................ Owner of big Fishing Company
Farmer........................... Agronome of the region
Drugdealer and/or Criminal....... Head of an important criminal organisation
Welder........................... Owner of the biggest Welding industry in the region
Truckdriver...................... President of an important Truckingfirm
Student lawyer................... Head of the most important Lawer's firm and Federal Judge
or how would you start of as the young son of the Billionaire Rundi Sterling, as a playful playboy, a Native of the aborigins and proud of it. Or anything else if you have an original idea......

Anyone of the above would be just fine. Interested? All you have to do is come by once in awhile, leave a comment or message and have fun reading the story of your character which future will be in my hands. Let me know.

Have a nice week and weekend and enjoy everything that happened and is about to happen. Comments and ideas are always welcomed and surely useful to bring a better MD/CJ.

Fred

[Cyclone1001]

Nice update, I can hardly imagine what the tourist attraction will be!

[firdausabdullah]

Hey Fred 'mrbisonm',

I would like to be in there too  ... a millionaire environmentalist who would do anything to protect the forest and the animals, and wouldn't mind spending his money on laser guns and stinky bombs! You may call him the 'Green Man', not that he has any dna from Hulk.

BTW, great project this is 

Cheers,
firdausabdullah

[canyonjumper]

Great stuff Fred! So I'm going on a survival trip? Cool!

At least your problem can be fixed by other ways. I guess mine is a little risky .

                 -Jordan

[Tomas Neto]

Great update, another fantastic work!!! 

[Battlecat]

Glad you found a solution to this problem!  Very cool update, there's a lot of stuff going on in your region!

[nedalezz]

Thats a huge, comprehensive upgrade! Very very nicely done.

I would like to be in the story, if possible. Criminal seems fun Johnny B. Badd seems like a fitting name

[KoV Liberty]

Looks awesome Fred!!!!

[mrbisonm]

Thanks folks for lurking and commenting.
firdausabdullah  and nedalezz
I will be sending a PM to you soon with questions for details for your character.

Having a character in my story needs some attention, keep that in mind, you will have to show up once in awhile and leave a message/comment. If I see that you haven't been around for a little over a month or 4 or so updates, then your character will simply die either naturally or by accident. (to make a final good story about him/her)
All characters have to start more or less low on the ladder and I will have them climb it, sometimes they drop back and then get up again, just like in real life, but I assure, the more often you come by and look at your character, the better his/her life will be.
Good luck

Fred