The Winding River Project

[rooker1]

Hmmm seems you have been choosen for " The SC4 Devotion Mystery Link to ".  (Have a look at the news ticker ) 
It's always a pleasure to stop by your MD to see what you are up to....stories, BATting, LOTting and great pics, it's all here.

Robin

[KoV Liberty]

Very nice!

[rambuckel]

I guess it's time for me to leave a comment ...

Dear Fred,

I cannot yet write whith reference to the actual postings as I'm still on page ~ 40 of this beautiful story. I want to thank you for this great story. I often take it as bedtime reading. But it takes quite long to go through all of the story because there's so many little details which deserve attention. I really adore how you keep and develop this beautiful storyline. How you develop things out of each other and how you place your characters in the story!

This MD surely is  crime thriller, detective story, reportage, lovestory, adventure and documentation all in one ... And it is a sort of SC4 - Chronicle as it leads through periods of developement in SC4.

As a Fan of your MD
Theresa

[NASCAR_Guy]

looks good Fred, and I do have good intentions for the Grasslake area. 

If you want I can come public

[Yan077]

I missed update 81 and what a mistake so it's also time for me to leave a comment...

Huge and perfect update, the storyline, the construction site, the bridge... amazing ! 

Keep up the good work 

[mrbisonm]

Hey guys, thank you sooo much for all those nice and encouraging comments.
I am sorry if I cannot make more updates at the moment, but I am soo darn busy at this moment that I have hardly time to open my computer and visit my SC4 sites everyday.
Right now I am having more or less some enrgy taking issues in real life. One of my jobs (loghome) in New England (easternUS) has gone sour with environmental issues that were not respected by the hired construction company. Now I will have to get us out of this without too many $ losses. It won't be easy at all since US authorities are the worst one can confront, believe me when I say this because I have built loghomes in more than 20 countries around the world.
Then another job in Nevada is about to be abandonned since the owner cannot handle the costs of the construction and is about to declare bankrupt, like so many in the US. I about to think to buy the whole project, finsih it and put it on the market up for sale, but....investing almost 3 quarter of a million into this in the US is kinda of dangerous at the moment. But loosing a job that has already cost me 200K $ ain't better.....lol. That's another thing that keeps me busy.
To all that come smaller issues (not really problems) with family, job, the farm (it is calving time where over 100 calves are born within 1 month) etc, making it impossible for me to take care of my favourite things (SC4).
I guess you understand, pretty sure that you all do.

I will be back soon. For the next update, the sory is already written since almost a month and only pictures have to be taken, putting it all together and uploading will take a few moments also.

lak47, did the slaughterhouse work for you?

degren, thanks for dropping in, may I ask what a K point is?

rooker1, thanks also to be here again, glad to see you often.

KovLiberty, nice to see you again.

rambuckel, that is nice to have you commented on my MD, very nice and thanks for the kind words. Come again and have fun reading the rest of the story.

NASCAR_Guy, I suppose Racsan is about to come public and explain some of intentions before rumours will become all twisted.... Check the next update.

Yan077, glad to see you here and thank you for the nice comment. Glad that you enjoy the story and the developments of the Winding River Region. Hope to see you soon again.

So, give  me a few days, or maybe a week or so to get some of my things irl solved, and I will be back with a worthwhile update of the waterfalls they discovered in that small village of Holland (a complete visit) and some news from downtown Access.

Have a nice week.

Fred

[lak47]

lak47, did the slaughterhouse work for you?

Fred

Hey sorry Fred, I forgot to mention. It did work, thanks a lot!  W're waiting for updates 

[mrbisonm]

Sorry for being kinda slow these days, but I have a lot of things irl, other than Simcity, on my mind at the moment. Hope you will pardon me, since I promiss to make up, once this is over, which shouldn't take long.



Update 82

That Same Day...........Saturday, June 17th, 1967




While all the others were still busy greeting the Ganoga Boys, John Gabber took his car and entered the sandy road that he has ordered to begin building three weeks ago through the Dark Forest, over the eastern mountains and towards the coast. He wants to see how far they have come within the three weeks. It took him some 30 minutes of slow driving over the rough sandy pavement to reach the end of the new to be road. First he passed the turnoff to the Ganoga lake, only a few miles downhill. His workers already started to clear the land for the road and a bulldozer and a truck have already arrived to start the road downhill to get the gravel needed for the rest of the road. John thought about the situation and is quite satisfied with the work that they have done sofar. He didn't expect that much to be done already.
The sandy road will soon be graveled, meaning a good coat of re-sized gravel will cover the sandy surface of the road and in a year or so asphalt will cover the entire length.

82.01


We remember that this road is a federal contract that was ordered a few months back, no.....it is not the contract that the Gabber Inc got last week for the access road to the oil fields they are planning, but the road that will go straight partially through the Ganoga Wilderness and just passing a few hundred of meters by the mysterious Dark Forest that we talked about in a prior update, to the coast and to the Radler Outlet Point (where Winding River meets the sea), and also called "Wimmer Bay". The contact with this small town will bring the fisheries of the Wimmerbay communities closer to Access and then accelerate the routes between Lakefield and Halo. 
The Dark Forest, as most of the citizens of Simland know by now, is off limits to airtraffic since several decennies because of very turbulent and mysterious windfalls and magnetic disturbences it produces, or at least....that what the Government knows about it. That also we have talked about in an earlier update. The actual road to Wimmer Bay will pass only a few hundred of feet by the beginning of the Dark Forest's hills, which contain the biggest and densest forests in the valley of the Winding River and on the whole eastcoast. Of course we could have figured out by ourselves that this road will be of great interest to T.S.Slye, who is always looking for a mature forest to be harvested, and he already he already got into contact with the authorities of this region in hope to gain a permit or something.

82.02


At the very end John stopped and took a small walk looking at the divers flora. As a vivid hunter and angler since childhood, John Gabber knows a lot about the fauna and flora. He realizes that it looks a little different. Grasses grow denser and look greener, some trees are enormous and some look very old and some plants he never saw. This must be a virgin area for sure he thought and he stepped right into the forest for a little walk. He thought about that it is amazing that he is probably the first Sim to walk these grounds, when he entered the dense growing forest that did not give him a chance to go much further. Then he thought about his son Charlie and his pictures (film negatives) that he has in the car and kinda got anxious to see the pictures now, seeing now the condensed and packed in flora of the beginning of the Ganoga Wilderness, wondering how difficult it must have been for the boys the last 14 days.

82.03


Elsewhere in Access, well more in Valmore on the sides of Highway 35 at a hotel, Gregory Badger, the soldier that started growing veggies on Sterling island, met with Nethaniel Wellington and his advisers and notary for a big deal and contract. Wellington will soon be opening another big grocery in Access near the shoppingcenters and a new one in Phlox, which is slowly growing outwards also and needs a store to handle bigger services. The deal will hard to meet it seems and a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits will be needed by the Wellington Group. Badger, as we remember, only lately bought a farm and some land in Valmore and opening a vegetable stand on the island near Phlox and this deal just comes right in time. This is his first regular deal with another company and he only dreams of making the ends meet and be able to supply Wellington with veggies and fruits during the summer and fall months.

82.04


Another deal was agreed upon in Valmore at the new Golfclub. A deal between Guy Racsan and the municipalities of Access and Grasslake. Racsan finally got public and announced his intentions of his new rails towards Grasslake. Since the family owns most of the land in Grasslake, Guy wants to connect a rail between West River's main rail-line and Grasslake, where his new manufaturings will be for his car company. Racsan Motors will soon be enlarged and move to Grasslake. The project has been planned since 4 years and the rails will make it easier to transport the materials needed for the manufacturer since the rails go right through the airport also, making it possible for the 3 points to be connected. Mainrails to the airport and to the manufacture.
This short strip of the rails will be called the Racsan Line. Maybe one day, it might even continue further south down to Sandom.

82.05


While we are here in this area of the new commercial center of Access in Valmore, we might as well have a look at the lately finished Meinhauser Residential Building on the sides of the golfcourse, one of the biggest yet in the valley. The whole commercial area is now completed and looking very modern and organized. Mayor Bartlett and his counselors are very proud of their planning.

82.06


Just on the side of the highway away from the new residential area, they build two identical office buildings of modern looks to hold the so many asked for office spaces. For some it is strange driving in a citylike environment and all of sudden hitting a gravel road into the residentials, but everything is going so fast that many projects fails to follow the advancement of other projects. A lot of minor "fixes" have yet to be made, as Mayor Bartlett sometimes calls these situations.

82.07


Another important issue on the mayor's desk are the burnt houses that were razed to the ground 5 years ago and are still left as they were on that day. It is the town that bought the land for futur uses, for such as a fire department, but sofar the fire department in downtwon has been taken care of most of the town and today, with the help from Grasslake and Phlox's departments, an extension to the existing station is not really needed anymore.
People around the area have been complaining about the safety conditions on these lots and more and more children have made this their regular playground.
Since the Premier Minister of Simland has planned to visit the town next year and have a full tour of the valley, the counselors and the mayor have finally decided to do something about this. A demolition and cleanup order was brought in today and on next Monday the work will begin. This will become the second official Parklot in Access, creating a very green spot with a playground for youngsters to enjoy.

82.08


And finally here is a full picture of the "new" commercial townpart of Access Center with the highway 35 going right through it. Mayor Bartlett and his counselors can be proud of their achievement. The town of Access Center is now another chosen place in Simland to absolutely visit.

82.09


Oh, there's one more thing that has to be taken care of by the town's office. Because of the quick developments all around the town, some places do not have the garbage services as supposed to and some places are chosen by the public to just dump their stuff somewhere and here at the other end of the lake in valmore, a small fire started in such a location, but was quickly controlled by the fire services.
This area around the lake is being drained and build on, residential lots have been sold for little money lately. The trees are dead because of the constant moisture in the ground, but lot by lot, a draining system is installed and the whole area will soon be totally dried out, giving Access' suburbs more land to expand.
A little forgotten or accidental fire could be horribly dangerous in this part of the forests which are totally made out of dead and dried trees and brush. The fire would travel at a spoeed beyond of controlling along the lake , and could cause an enormous desaster in certain residential areas.

82.10


82.11


So this is it again, not much of an update but with the little free time that I have at the moment it will have to do. I will make a small one (update) later this week or by the next weekend, before we go back to introduce another region of Simland, and after that I hopefully will have resolved most of my "things" and we will be back with the regular updates of Your characters in this story. Please suggest a region to visit on the Simland Map on the link below.


Sofar we have visited Bluebay and Snake River Bay, if I remember right. So please choose another one.
Thanks.

Fred


Please choose a region to visit the next time:

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/2665/largesimlandmap.png

[lak47]

That commercial area looks great. Lovely golf-course, and as usual, great detailing on all the forest areas.

I suggest we visit any of the islands along the east. Three Islands maybe?  Would love to see what's in store over there. They look pristine and would make a great tourist spot 

[KoV Liberty]

Some of those shots just blow me away with the detail Fred, love you area. How long did it take you to fully flora the forests, etc?

Alex

[Ricky112233]

Sorry for my very long delay in posting here, but I've been super busy and I didn't have much time reading the entire story...

Anyways, the past few updates have been great!

Can't wait to see update 83!

Could you please tell me what car/traffic mod you're using and where you got those two "Townhomes" nest to each other in picture 82.08?

-Ricky

[mrbisonm]

KoV Liberty, glad you liked the flora piucture. Actually that didn't take too long to "paint". I would say no more than 20 minutes going through my MMP's.

lak47, sorry, the "Three Islands" are not a region yet, they still have to be created. Only the ones in a white square are ready regions on that picture, the rest is just to give you an idea of the connectivity between the regions in my Simland. So, choose another one please.

Could you please tell me what car/traffic mod you're using and where you got those two "Townhomes" nest to each other in picture 82.08?

-Ricky

Hey Ricky,

I hope that you know by now that I have over 14 GB's of Plugins abd finding something is quite a challenge, so don't expect this to be a perfect answer. I will have to find out by querrying these homes the next time I will enter that city, that shouldn't be too long, maybe by the weekend. I will then let you know here.
I also have included a picture of my "automata" (traffic and car mod)folder.....lol....Discouraged now?.....lol... I probably have every automata available on the net. You choose.



Good luck

....be back soon with that small update that I promissed for this week.

Fred

[Grneyes]

14GB of plugins? How do you keep them organized? How fast does the game run for you?

[lak47]

Chadelaine Island then, I suggest

On another note, if ever there was a drought in SC4 plugins to mankind, I know whose computer to raid  14GB!!?! 

[Ricky112233]

Ok, and yes I've heard about the number of GB's your plugin folder is!
Anyway, Thank you so very much in advance!

-Ricky

[KoV Liberty]

KoV Liberty, glad you liked the flora piucture. Actually that didn't take too long to "paint". I would say no more than 20 minutes going through my MMP's.

Oh, no, I meant the whole region. Sorry for not being clearer on that.

[mrbisonm]

where you got those two "Townhomes" nest to each other in picture 82.08?

-Ricky

I finally found out which they are. They are called "Milwaukee Appartments" and can be found on ST. There are two different sets, one with Maxis Nite and the other with True Nite (or something like this). Each contain 5 different colours, growable of course.

For the true nite you will have to make a search. Here is the linkie for the Maxis Nite:

http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/files/file/23702-milwaukee-apartments/

14GB of plugins? How do you keep them organized? How fast does the game run for you?

The game actually plays quite good and isn't too slow in bigger cities on Medium tiles. I never, or hardly ever play on large tiles.
The organization is done very simple. I have several subfolders with either dates of downloads (like Jan2Jul2012) meaning everything I downloaded from January to July in 2012, or with different kinds of buildings, such as : Farms, Skyliners, Airport, Harbour, Special, etc...which are probably selfexplanetory, or plugins for different citytiles. Example: Whenever I enter a city with "specific" buildings such as an airport, then I just include the airport folder in the Plugins.

I only play with 7 Gb's in the Plugins at a time and I try to keep it at this max or less all the time. This way only a few lags happen in bigger cities during rushhour. I always play with all the details on btw.
My whole is 14.7 Gb's big, which my machine cannot handle in a big city all at once.

Chadelaine Island then, I suggest

On another note, if ever there was a drought in SC4 plugins to mankind, I know whose computer to raid  14GB!!?! 

Ok, 1 Point for Chadelaine Island......big Island.

About raiding my computer......lol....if you got problems to find something, it is possible that I have it, either on my computer or on one of my 15 or so CD's with all kinds of stuff since 2003. (now you know where to go)

Still asking which region should we visit the next time?

Oh, no, I meant the whole region. Sorry for not being clearer on that.

Region? Hm........I think that took me a few weeks (3 to 4 weeks, being at least 2 hrs/day on it)....lol....just before starting the MD.

Fred

[Ricky112233]

Yay! Awesome! Thanks so much! Maybe I'll have to ask one of the mods to +1 you!

-Ricky

[Will12]

Sorry for replying rarely for a page or two! Great updates and i vote to focus on Lakefield.

[carlfatal]

Hi Fred,
seems Mr John Gabber will become the first nature saver in Simland after his excursion in the woods.
When he will look the pictures his son shot in the wilderness, he will have no chance, or? 
Next thing: i wish good luck to Mr Badger serving regional products to the folks living there. I think, this is a very good idea to make a contract with Mr Wellington.

But when i hear You only needed twenty minutes for plopping all the MMPs - wow, that´s fast as the pictures look so real to me. I always need hours for that and never reached this quality. Okay, You´re playing this game from beginning on, but... 

Away from that: it´s a good idea to demolish the remains of the burned houses now as i think some kids could have an accident there while playing. So the decision to build a little park and playground here is perfect. Mr Bartlett does his job very well, as i think it´s not all times easy for him with all the fast growing around here.

And then: RL is much more important than SC4 although i sometimes wish it would not be. I can wait as i love to look back in Your MD from time to time, not to forget what happened here and there in Simland. And as i play some other games too, it´s always hard to follow every MD here i like.  If i would write a comment every time it would be worth to do so, i would only comment and never play or work... 

Greetz, Carl