.:: Jakarta, capital of Indonesia ::. On Hold

[feliwi]

My respect on your work. If this isn't the most recreation in SC4 I've ever seen I'll change my name into Sucker

You've done your best to create new lots like the shopping mall. I love this region shot!

[art128]

wow impresionant work my friend 
the seaport look very good 
Arthur

[derwilly]

UPDATE 2: THE OLD DUTCH TOWN OF KOTA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS

Welcome to my second update.

This week we will visit the old Dutch colonial town of Kota. Although little remains from the previous splendor of the colonial city, Jakarta still boasts a small but very surprising old town that makes us doubt whether we are in Jakarta or Amsterdam.

It all started in 1596, when the first Dutch ships arrived to the area with the intention of trading spices. Decades and centuries of struggles between the Dutch, the British and local kingdoms would result in a not always pleasant coexistence.

Among some of the good and really terrible things the Dutch did in Indonesia, they made one urban mistake that Jakarta is still paying nowadays. They insisted in creating some sort of New Amsterdam, that would resemble a Dutch town, with similar architectural style, squares, warehouses, canals and bridges. However, when the engineers started building the canals using the many rivers and streams in the area, the built those canals completely flat, with barely no inclination towards the sea.

This caused the water to stagnate and not recirculating, and added to the tropical climate, it became a focus of contamination and diseases that would merciless devastate both the Dutch and the locals. Nowadays, when facing a canal in Jakarta, one can only remain still a couple of minutes before feeling sickened.

If any of you is interested in learning more about the exciting history of the city, just check the Wikipedia.



After this brief and hopefully not boring introduction, let us see some pictures 

PART I - The aerial shots

2.1 This is an aerial view of Kota. In here you can see the train station, some old trading post buildings, one of the canals and the main square:

2.2 and this is what I came up with. You will notice that some roads have disappeared and have been replaced by pedestrian streets. This was done last year so it can't be seen in the previous picture.

2.3 This is a close-up of the train station and the square across from it

2.4

2.5 A shot of the main square

2.6

2.7 A nice perspective on the rail tracks; notice the ugly streams and the slums

2.8

2.9 bonus: some aerial shots

2.10

PART II - The close-ups

2.11 This is the Fatahillah Museum, once the Town Hall of Jakarta

2.12

2.13

2.14

2.15 A view from the first floor of the museum which, as many, many other things in Jakarta, is in quite a bad shape

2.16

2.17 One of the streets facing the square also boasts a small market with dozens of packed stalls

2.18

2.19 this is the back side of the street, where you can still see the old warehouses once used by the Dutch

2.20 The sickening canals of Jakarta. It is a shame they are so nauseating; if those houses were rebuilt the area would thrive with bars and businesses. But, unfortunately, in Indonesia only big money counts. Hence the mega malls.

2.21

2.22

2.23

Part III - near Kota

Now we are moving a bit out of Kota to see what has spread over the years around the historic district.

2.24 To start with, this is a satellite view of the rail deposits behind the train station

2.25

2.26

2.27

2.28 So that you see that I don't make up stuff in this MD, life really is this tough for many people in Jakarta

2.29

2.30

2.31

PART IV - Glodok, the Chinatown

Now, to finish things up, we are taking a quick look at Glodok, Jakarta's Chinatown. However, there are just a handful of minor landmarks that highlight this neighborhood.

2.32 This is the main temple:

2.33

2.34 This is Glodok Mall, an electronics mall with really low prices. Great place to buy cameras. It is a mess, though.

2.35

So that's it for this week. I hope you have enjoyed it and I apologize if it takes too long to load all the pictures 

Stay put for next week: Pantai Mutiara, the exclusive waterfront of Jakarta!!

[art128]

hmmmm.... very nice and so realistic 

[Heblem]

wow thats a really nice perfective of the real city and your Sc4 city!, its almost exactly, i meant it is! makes me want to visit the real city, its interesting the old dutch town and the slums near to it. 

[sebes]

Excellent update again my friend - really excellent.

The remake of the old Dutch town looks great. I like again how you put the RL pics and the game shots next to each other. It's always strange to see Dutch houses and canals in the tropics (or, what's left of it).

You made a great choice in the buildings that you picked to resemble the real Jakarta. Well done! 

[emilin]

Yup. As far as recreations go, this is one of the best I have ever seen. I really wouldn't know where to start, but I think what impresses the most is the cluttered feeling - everything looks really dense and organic.

Basically:

I wouldn't mind seeing some pictures in there original perspective though. I mean, it looks cool with the scewed angles, but I'm really interested in how an actual ingame shot would look too.

Anyways: amazing job, looking forward to more.

[warszawa]

Wow derwilly, you have captured a perfect resemblance of Jakarta! I love how you show the updates with the real life satellite images to show us what you are creating.

I've loved all updates you have shown, especially the Dutch Town, slums and Taman Anggrek Mall. I can assure you that this MD will be in Best Sellers really soon.

I remember back 2/3 years ago, when I did not have access to to the internet, I made Jakarta using only Maxis buildings... It looked quite rubbish to be honest; I plopped about 10 Fernsehturms from Berlin in the suburbs seperate from each other

I look forwards to seeing more of the city, especially the Jalan Thamrin and Wisma 46.

Alex

[ejc]

I just love this MD!!

nice to see the slums and the "different" side of Djakarta!

I like the modern cluster of building along avenues and the slums heading behind that.. nice contrast!

keep it going and surprise us..

E

[CasperVg]

Looks really good and the different perspective gives it something truly special, well done!

[stewart_garden]

This is an incredible MD derwilly.  I look forward to seeing more.

Stewart

[south park]

hi derwilly ,i'm a new member and i have look your MD and i have find it very beautiful and so realistic well done !!


vincent

[bat]

Your updates are really great here! Nice MD! And wonderful work on your city!

[Yoman]

This certainly is an excellent recreation. I like how you did the rail station, looks like the real thing 

I too though would be interested in the original perspective of shots.

[NASCAR_Guy]

This deserves some sort of award!

[amapper]

I have to second NASCAR_Guy, this is unique. There is a lot of work represented here. Great job. 

[derwilly]

Hi everyone

Again, thanks everyone for those +650 visits in just a few weeks. I'm really glad this MD is having such a positive reception. This recreation of Jakarta was supposed to be something quite different and I was afraid it would have a rather lukewarm reception. But you proved me wrong 

BUT, there is one thing that is dividing opinions here: the matter of the perspective.

See, I never really liked the original SC4 camera angle; it feels too vertical in my opinion and does not give a sense of depth or 3D. However, some of you don't seem to share this. So, from now on, I'll combine booth squished pictures and original pictures. At least for aerial shots I think the 3D feeling is more necessary, even though some tall buildings may look somewhat dwarfed. And for close-ups, I'll maintain the original perspective to get a better detail.

I hope you'll be pleased with this! 

And now, a special thanks to...

feliwi: vielen Dank! Jakarta is indeed one darn difficult city to recreate, but I'll do my best so that you don't have to change your name to Sucker! Oh if you like malls and region shots, be ready for my next updates...

art128: thanks a bunch! You'll have to wait a bit to see the update of the port but I promise it won't disappoint you!

Heblem: hehe thanks! I'm trying hard. The thing is, Jakarta is perhaps the ugliest city on Earth... but at the same time, no other city is as photogenic and addictive as Jakarta. You can easily fill a 1GB memory card in just a couple of days...

Sebes: thanks for your loyalty to my MD! Hope you liked the Dutch part. I'm still breaking my brains with the Lot Editor trying to get the real feeling, you know.

See, there are not many Dutch left in Jakarta, but those who live there... man, there's no way they're going back to Holland! 

Emilin:  thank you very much! When doing a faithful recreation there is little space for personal style, but still, when you see the overall work it's a great feeling. 

I'm finishing a massive aerial shot (not a region view) of the whole city. Then you will see what dense REALLY means!

As for the perspective, you read the intro already...

Warszawa: thanks a bunch! This just got started I'm confident that what's coming will still impress everyone. Hope you are right about the Best Sellers! 

hehe, sounds more like a visionary recreation of Jakarta than anything else! as I said in my intro, the worst part of this is that there's not one single building from Jakarta in the fan sites...

Hope you'll like the Thamrin part. I did find one building that kinda resembles the now called BNI 46...

ejc: thank you very much! Jakarta is THE city of contrasts. You'll see in the next updates the financial district with skyscrapers rising next to slums...

caspervg: thanks! About the perspective, hope you agree with my intro. Hope to see you again!

stewart garden: thank you very much! You'll see more, my friend. Just be patient!

South Park: hi and welcome to SC4Devotion! Thanks, hope to see you again in my MD

bat: thanks a lot! That is quite a compliment! 

Yoman: thank you very much! I was quite worried because I couldn't find any similar rail station and then it just occurred to me the easiest way... come up with your own 

NASCAR_Guy: hehe thanks... just get me some fresh beer   

amapper: well thank you very much! There's really a bunch of work behind this recreation. You'll see 

Coming soon: Pantai Mutiara, the exclusive waterfront of Jakarta!

[DaViru$]

It looks amazing. You really captured the South-East Asian feel to this. By the way what residential BATs  did you have for this because I can't find these Asian style homes & those garbage props

[TheSixCents]

I rarely reply at sc4 but this is an exception!
However, i'd enjoy it much, much more without the perspective changes.

[thundercrack83]

Hello, derwilly!

This is my first comment here, and I apologize for taking so long!

Your doing some wonderful work here, my friend, I must say. An excellent job recreating Jakarta! I now look forward to following along with everyone else are you present more of your work here!

Take care,

Dustin