• Welcome to SC4 Devotion Forum Archives.

The Heartland - Random Images

Started by meinhosen, February 23, 2007, 06:06:04 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

meinhosen

The Heartland - Random Images

A Mayor's Diary by Meinhosen

Welcome again!  I'd like to invite you to sit down and enjoy a ride through the American heartland, and enjoy a few screenshots from different regions that I've been working on over the past few years (and slowly updating over the past few months).

Enjoy, friends!




Welcome to Holyoak, Nebraska.  It's a small city of about 2,200 residents in East-Central Nebraska.


A view looking south.


Same view, slightly different angle.


Quiet shops and businesses line downtown streets.


A small town hall represents the pride and joy of the city, although the state champion wrestlers at the high school may lay claims to that title next fall...






My great love of SC4 is the railroads.  Please excuse my obsession-  :P

But seriously, Holyoak, like any small US town, is bisected by rails (in this case, former St. Louis & San Francisco RR, now Union Pacific RR).  On any given day you're likely to get stopped by several freight trains moving both east and west.  SC4 trainspotting is a hobby of mine that I hope you all will enjoy as much as I.


The moderately sized farms of Eastern Nebraska are nothing in comparison to the massive 'bonanza' farms found further to the west and northwest.

Thanks for the visit.
You're telling me I get to be home for more than 12 months?


petercintn

Ah, America.  I really think the European cities are much more beautiful than American cities, and the farms, if SC4 is realistic cuz I've never seen Europe in person.  But America has that ... rustic... feel in the rural areas that I grew up to love.  I'm not a big fan of our RL cities though.  That might be cuz I'm from rural America.

Hope to see more of Nebraska.  And I've seen from ESPN that wrestling is big there.  But you know, I just had the crazy idea you were from Germany, meinhosen.
Carolina Tar Heels... National Champs again!

threestooges

First, very realistic presentation of a small/farm town. I like how it blends into the surrounding land, and it shows a slow, periodic development. The railroad going through town is good too: a freight loading/unloading spur and the passenger station spur. Very nice. JBSimio's bats work wuite well as you have used them too; especially the 1st downtown pic at night. The farmland looks realistic, but what I enjoyed the most, is the train pic. I share a similar train-spotting obsession (call it a hobby). I have one question for you though. I have played the game for a while but have never seen a train quite that long (or anywhere close for that matter) but have seen similar in other MDs... I was wondering if you could tell me how you got it to that length (a mod or what)? Good luck with this, and I'll be back for more.

Naryanna

Hi!

Very nice pictures. But I must say that that one with train would be the best from them all. Lovely work you have done. &apls

dedgren

It might be rolling terrain, but this MD rocks!

Those are beautiful midwestern pics, mh.  The commercial building selection and placement is just stunning.

...and I just about passed out when I saw the train shot...

Best. Train. Pic. Ever.

That's my opinion, and I'm stickin' to it!

Good luck!


David
D. Edgren

Please call me David...

Three Rivers Region- A collaborative development of the SC4 community
The 3RR Quick Finder [linkie]


I aten't dead.  —  R.I.P. Granny Weatherwax

Skype: davidredgren

kwakelaar

These are great images form a very well made Simcity small rural town.

Rayden

Yes, I agree with the other above, that's a very nice and well done rural little town. The downtown little shops along the main street, the train going through the town, very good. And the picture of the mile long train (modded) ;)  :thumbsup:

sebes

Great job Meinhosen. The town and the fields indeed look very realistic and rustic. I almost dropped my pants for that train  :P
Check my MD:               
Rhenen,NN

emilin

Yup! That's a great job. &apls

Wonderfull rolling landscape. The picture with the train is unbelievable!

BlackwaterEmil's inn
Berethor ♦ beskhu3epnm ♦ blade2k5 ♦ dmscopio ♦ dedgren
♦ Emilin ♦ Ennedi ♦ Heblem ♦ jplumbley ♦ moganite ♦ M4346 ♦
papab2000 ♦ Shadow Assassin ♦ Tarkus ♦ wouanagaine

bat

Fantastic rural area! and great town! Fantastic start! :thumbsup:

thundercrack83

Wow! Holyoak is a very picturesque Midwestern town. I love how the railroad divides the town in half, and how the small town is surrounded by all the farms. Great work!

goin2chicago

wow, nice images. it reminds me of the town i go to school in with similarities and differences. keep it up!

kimcar

 :thumbsup:  Great farming zone . And your forest is very well done . Keep it up. :thumbsup:

Kokopelli

Great town! I spent a year in Nebraska back in 1969 at Doane College in Crete. It looked just like than, train and all. Well done.

Flipside


rooker1

Great start, the pictures look very as well. :thumbsup:
Call me Robin, please.

joelevan

I HAVE to ask...how did you do the train?!? Awesome!

Joel

ryalmighty1

Amazing work. I love rural towns, but with the nature of this game it is usually much easier creating a functioning large city than a town. Great job and I am looking forward to more. Hooah!
There is no end.
There is no beginning.
There is only the infinite passion of life.

-Federico Fellini

meinhosen

Quote from: joelevan on February 27, 2007, 10:34:04 AM
I HAVE to ask...how did you do the train?!? Awesome!

Okay, okay, here's the secret to the long trains:

A long, long time ago I ran across a nifty little mod by BRF (BigRedFish) that increased not only the maximum length of freight trains, but also permanantly kept them no less than 16 cars in length (with a max of 32, depending on freight traffic).  For the life of me, I've searched and searched on the ST forums, and I cannot find the link to the mod (it was attached to a post by BRF).

The actual mod itself is entitled "Plugin_BRF_TransitSupermod_Automata_Crime10_LongTrains_v2_0.dat"

Pending my ability to hunt down the mod and provide a link, I'll probably just mod my own and post it in a zip file.  A similar file from the transit supermod (available on ST) will also produce similar results, but isn't as nice or as regular as the one by BRF.

Hope that answers some of the questions.

---

My sneaky little secret about the pic featured in the first post is that you're seeing two trains back to back.  Look midway between the curves and you can spot a Santa Fe (Red & Silver) engine.  It was too good a photo opportunity to pass up.    ;D

Quote from: petercintn on February 23, 2007, 06:33:02 PM
But you know, I just had the crazy idea you were from Germany, meinhosen.

Not even close.  But I speak pretty good "pidgen" Deutsch, thanks to four years of language training and 5 years of lapsing my skills.




I plan on posting some more screenshots later this week, and with that I'll get up to speed with personal replies.

MH..
You're telling me I get to be home for more than 12 months?


NikNik

Marvellous rolling hills. That street train crossing is superb!

It's just a gentile, quite town. Good atmosphere.
Nik-Nik