SC4 Devotion Forum Archives

Hello everyone and welcome to my MD. I plan on doing this MD without using any maxis buildings. I'd love for people to comment on what they think and leave me some tips if they have any, all feedback is greatly appriciated, be it positive or constructively negative

I will be using the amazing NHP Invermere Valley (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=22) map with the BSC Italia Meadowshire terrain texture, Peg's weathered granite rock texture and his Brigantine water mod.

Note:
Strikethrough Gone as of update 21

Update 1 - Bayside


I will start the first few updates with history on all the towns in Bedford County.

Bedford county is just below the metrolpolis of Bedford, around the Bedford Basin. It includes the towns of Bayside, Bayridge, Port Talbot and Hooligans Landing.


First of all we will visit Bayside
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate1%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=20e0d6b14f4e910490cfe370ef9d63643c9a7ecf)
The above shot shows the dispersed township of Bayside. The dispersed township of Bayside was one of the origional towns around the basin, it was origionally a fishing town, until the industry moved in and took over, then most of the people moved away, leaving the town as it is today, with roughly 250-300 people. The town plays a huge role in getting people too and from Bedford, as it contains the southern ferry terminal to cross the basin.
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When the ferry terminal was built, it was decided that a mass trainsit system was required to prevent the quite town from being taken over by parked cars. Due to this fact, all of the commerce left in the town relocated to the shore close to the traffic.
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As Bedford grew, Bayside was forced to grow with it, the main street was replaced by a high capacity avenue that was connected to the newly built highway offramp, at that point Bayside became nothing more than a passthrough for the busy workers on their way too and from work.
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Bayside is also home to MacAndrews elementry school. MacAndrews El was built after all of the local elementry schools were consolitated into one. It was named for Father John MacAndrew, who was the vicar of the church at the time.
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Finally, we come to the cause of the problems in Bayside. When the industry moved in it slowly killed the old fishing town, and now nothing remains of the old town, which sat in the bay where the port now lies.  There is still more industry planned for this area, as they continue the expansion.
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The industry just kept growing and growing, and soon the aircraft manufactures saw that the great open space and rail links was perfect for an aircraft production facility

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So ends update 1, in update 2 we will visit the other side of the basin and see Bayridge. We will revisit Bayside in a later update to see how things continue to get worse for the poor citizens of the town and also see a few edits taking place to a few areas which really needed it.

I will try to motor through the first few updates on a daily basis to get it to the same stage as it is on ST, which is close to update 9. Any comments would be greatly appreciated, as this is my first real MD and even after playing the game for 4+ years i'm still learning. - Update 1

Well It looks like a very nice start too :thumbsup:.

I shall be popping back to keep an eye on this.

Good luck dude :thumbsup:

:satisfied:
TTC

Beautiful town , the forest looks very good.   &apls
looking foward for more.

YES!!

It is finally here!!

Your doing a fabulous job there jimmymac!

Welcome and a great start! Wonderful pictures! :thumbsup:

TheTeaCat: Thank you for the kind comments, I hope to see you around these Invermere Valley more often  :)

Berethor: Thanks for the kind comments, I hope that you like what is to come.

jplumbley: I wanted to bring it here from the start, but I couldn't seem to register for a while, then I realised that I already had an account, so i just came straight here to do it. It already seems like it will be better received here than over at ST.

bat As with Berethor above, thank you for the kind comments, I hope that you enjoy the updates to come.

OK, with the replies out of the way, it's time for update 2 of Shaping Invermere Valley as I said in the update yesterday, we will be visiting the township of Bayridge today.

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Update 2 - Bayridge

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The township of Bayridge was founded shortly after the township of Bayside, it sits across the bay from Bayside. Origionally it was home to the miners who worked in the mine not far from the town, but after the coal seam was used up, all the miners left and the town, much like Bayside, died. It wasn't until the industry ran everyone out of Bayside that the town thrived again.
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Bayridge had it's mass transit system upgraded to match that of Bayside, as Bayridge is the main entry point for the city of Bedford, with it being on the same side of the bay it sees a lot of through traffic.  Much like Bayside commerce flocked to the station area and soon a secondary out of town shopping area was formed.
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Bayridge town centre is very much the same as it was when the miners moved out, a few shops and restaurants have moved in and the addition of a hotel to the area really had an affect on the land values. The hotel was built in an attempt to house any people who wished to visit the area, or for many other extra marital reasons too. As soon as the hotel was built, Outback bought out the old diner and rebuit it as an Outback steakhouse, much to the approval of the locals.
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As Bayridge was expanding, the old rural route 9 was no longer good enough to support the traffic, therefore it was decided that highway 40 should be built to provide express access to Port Talbot's ferry port. Many people hated that fact that the highway ripped through the countryside,
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The above picture shows rural route 11 as it extends up the hill from highway 40 toward Bayridge, many people enjoy the view from the top of the hill, as it looks out over Bryce River and down over Rodgers Falls to the sea below.
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The above image shows the above meantioned view, down from the top of the hill, over the river, over the falls and down the sea, many people chose to live in Bayridge for just this reason.
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The above picture shows the overall progress so far. The trees don't seem to show in the full panned out view, which is a shame, but it really shows how far apart these towns actually are.

That brings us to the end of update 2, I hope that everyone enjoyed this look into the history of Bayridge and how the growth of a large city can really affect the small towns and villages around it.

In update 3 we will be visiting the areas around Bayridge and taking in some of the beautiful countryside.

Another great update! Wonderful river! :thumbsup:

Wonderful MD you have here.  Very informative.  I like the links you put in your first post, makes easier to get to the update you want.  Very smart.

Keep up the great work.

Great work, I particularly like your industrial area, There's some nice buildings there.

A good looking map and the town layout works well. If anything, perhaps you could add some variation
to the ploppable trees to give it a more realistic feel. Anyway, just a suggestion. Looking forward
to more.

Cheers

Dave

bat: I'm glad you like the river and the area around it, it took me a great length of time to find the best transition between the peg rivers and the normal rivers in the region. In the end i had to flip the waterfall bottom parts to face the other way, it generated a kind of foam effect which looks like a small waterfall into the sea, not great, but from a distance it works.

MsD Welcome to Invermere Valley, i'm glad you like the updates so far, wait until we get to Bedford, everything will change once we hit the bit city.

tooheys Thanks for the advice on the trees, you will see a variance in trees as we move away from this area, I wanted to create the pine forest look for the valley floor around this area, hence the use of a lot of pine trees, especially as we move toward bedford and away from the valley floor somewhat.

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Update 3 - Bedford County


In the last couple of updates I have covered two of the origional 4 towns in bedford county, but not really touched upon the county itself, so today I will show some of the areas around the town of Bayridge.
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The above shot shows the entire township of Bayridge (if you compare this to the above image you will see that a few things have changed, I mostly lowered the density on the houses and the shops to prevent tower growth. I will revist Bayridge again in a later update for a few more edits)
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Bayridge Mine was closed down when the seam dried up around 15 years ago, now the old mine and trail has been converted and has become a pleasent nature walk, the mine sits just off of rural route 9 on the east side of Bayridge
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The above shot shows the observation tower at the top of the trail, the trail passes through the mountain and uses the old mine lifts to get to the summit and the view points.
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Bayridge county camp grounds is a huge hit with the city folk of Bedford, they love coming down for the weekend to fish in the river and get attuned with nature.
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The above shot shows the entire area which I have covered in this update, including rural route 9, the camp grounds, highway 40 and something else which we will be introduced to in update 4.

I haven't commented here before, but you have a very unique style. Interesting sollution with the forest lots. There is some repetiton when you zoom out, but cloes up it looks just excellent. Looking forward to more. :thumbsup:

Only 1 reply today, so I'll get straight to answering it, then onto the update.

emilin: Welcome to Invermere Valley, i'm glad you like it. Sadly to do what I wanted to do with the trees was always going to lead to some repitition, as I said in a reply in the previous update, I wanted to create a thick pine forest for the valley floor, which meant using plop trees. We'll see other sorts of trees as we move away from the valley floor.


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Update 4 - The other side of the coin

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As soon as they heard that there was pristine forests open for the taking, A logging firm moved in and quickly constructed a sawmill, the deforestation is already having a terrible effect on the area, and the residents were quick to complain, sadly it fell on deaf ears....
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Seeing how easy it was for them another firm was quick to take over the old logging mill and bring it back into working order, claiming another piece of forest for themselves a war for trees soon began between the two, and if there is one thing that Bedford County has lots of, it's trees.
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As you may recall, the old Bayridge mine was closed down when the seam was used up, unfortunately at the time they didn't have the ability to check deeper, the miners soon moved in again when they saw that there was coal for the taking and built a reinforced route up the hill for the trucks to use and before long another war was about to begin.... (it should be noted that the hillside path has now changed, because I felt it was too light and stood out too much)
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The war for coal was a particularly nasty one, as both companies claimed equal share of the same seam, one building each side of the hill, competing to find the most coal they began to slowly mine the hill dry once again.
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Further along highway 40 the first signs of tourism began to raise their head as a highway reststop was constructed, as of yet unfished the proposed plans included a motel, restaurant, gas station and multiple viewing platforms.... things weren't looking so good for the poor towns around the basin....

Here ends update 4 for now, however I have other pictures to show, both of which show progress so far, the first is a far out shot from within SC4 (minus the trees, as they do not show at the max zoom for some reason, but you get an idea of how things are progressing
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And finally, here is the region shot as it stands at the end of this update. You can click it for a full size region shot, but it is 3 meg in size, so be warned.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fregion%2Fupdate4regionzoomed.jpg&hash=5c5fb5ce45a18b090cb863b3444f6b227e7eacf8) (http://www.stu-mcewing.com/cj/region/update4regionfull.jpg)

Until tomorrow, take care :)

Great new updates! Wonderful pictures and fantastic work! :thumbsup:

Nice couple of updates. You've worked well with the terrain and nice use of PEG's trails :thumbsup:.

I must admit that's the first time I've seen a bridge over the same water which a tunnel runs under,
must create a few engineering problems &mmm.

Some good looking pic's and it looks like you've planned this pretty well.


Looking forward to more.

bat: Glad you liked it, nice to see you back :).

tooheys: Thats exactly the same as what I thought when I looked back at it, it will change rest assured of that.

OK, with the repies out of the way, lets get onto the update, this time we will be revisting some areas which I didn't like the look of that much, and changing a few things. It will be a shorter update again, as I plan to update again later tonight. So without further ado, lets get to it...


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Update 5 - Bayside/Bayridge Revisted

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Seeing a niche in the area that had yet to be exploited a development company stepped in with the offer to build a new estate of houses in the area, this recieved a mixed response.
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The outcome of which was this, some nice 19th century houses in the forest.
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I know that I mentioned the ferry terminal in update 1 but I never showed it, so here it is, the Bayside ferry terminal. We will see the other terminal the other side of the bay in update 7.
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After producing several dozen aircraft they realised that they had no way to get rid of them so a quick phonecall to a local architect was all it took to get a nice redesign of the plant to include an outgoing runway.
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Overall they were impressed with the redesign of the plant, but sadly that elation didn't last long however, as despite multiple patitions froms the citizens of Bayside, the coking plant was finished and started churning out thick black smoke into the perfect skies of Bayside.
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Due to the coal pits moving on, a bunch of citizens moved away from Bayridge, this resulted in the county court having to close due to lack of funding and the the town hall falling into disrepair. It wasn't until a kindly benefactor stepped in with an offer to help rebuild that the town was able to do anything about it.
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The "mystery" benefactor also donated some money to help develope the houses around the area,

So ends update 5. I will be updated again later tonight with number 6, which will include the creation of a whole new town, which I will go through in a semi step-by-step format.

I am also perminantly moving the journal over here, as it is pointless trying to run it on ST, my last 2 updates have been ignored and run off of the first page within minutes of posting it, so as of update 9 it will be exclusive to here.

Oh, and one last thing before we leave. So far it has only been mentioned by name and not seen, so to prove that it does actually exist, here is the city nicknamed "The Emerald City" and the cause of all the problems in Bedford County: Bedford.....
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Hi jimmymac, I moved here for the same reason :thumbsup:.

Nice update, would be interested to see your population stats as you sure have a hell of a lot of parking at the ferry terminal ;D
The elevated walkway between the two parking stations, is this an individual lot or are the two parking stations and the walkway one lot, and if so where can it be found, it looks quite good.

Looking forward to more.

Cheers

Dave

Fantastic update! Great pictures of that airport! The other pictures are also wonderful! :thumbsup:

Wow, another great update! The airport looks really good.
I want to see more development of this.   &apls

tooheys: The ferry terminal was always meant to be very grand, as it is one of the few ways people can get to and from Bedford, the other choices are either a toll bridge or by train. There is a rural route which passes around the basin, but it's too far for most commutes, as I wanted it to be. In terms of actual residents in Bedford County i'm sat at just over 2000 residents, which again is around what I wanted for the small towns overall.

As for the skywalks and parking lots. The skywalks are by SYM Prod and are available here (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=15962) and the parking lots are by NDEX and are available here (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=15455).

bat: I'm glad you liked the plane factory, it's sadly no longer available by the looks of it. It was made by citynut and was part of his Newman Inc  series. The airport will come in a later update and will be worth waiting for I assure you.

Berethor: Again, glad you liked the factory. We will really start moving along once we hit update 10, because that is when we move into Bedford itself.


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Update 6 - Creating Port Talbot

Update six is going to deal with the creation of a new town, Old Port Talbot, I will sometimes include updates like this, just to show how I go about doing this, so this is going to be a more step-by-step update than the others. Apologies for the pause sign on many images, I had to do it under pause to prevent it from building.

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We start on the hill where I want to build the town, Obviously maxis buildings wont go with this one, so I'm specifically looking for one or two types of building, so a lot of bulldozing will have to occur. I also wanted a few small shops to spring up in order to create that "small town" atmosphere.
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At the release of the pause button, everyone swarmed in look at all those trucks. Almost perfectly I get the houses I wanted right away. I bet that wont happen ever again.
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And there we go, a nice hillside community, every house is 19th century wooden boards, exactly what I wanted.
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Next was the addition of a nice rural fire station which wouldn't look out of place alongside the 19th century houses. We don't want any forest fires now do we.
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Next was the addition of the actual "Port" of Port Talbot. Using Cobb's seaport village set, the building of this was very hit and miss, so I didn't include the step-by-step for this bit, lets just say that what you see there took around 45 minutes to create.
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Here is an overall of what we've just done, including the hillside village, the port itself and the rural fire station at the top of the hill.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate6%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=2cf7ca293b607289e109b5b27b897e21b795157d)
Of course, a quaint little seaport village like that is likely to become a tourist trap, so along the coastal route I constructed a viewing area, and of course, anywhere where tourists are will be people willing to take every cent they have, so in went the fast food restaurant and of course, everyone needs gas, so in went the gas station.
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And last but not least, the overall including the village and viewing area.

Here ends update 6. In update 7 we will go through the construction of the other ferry terminal and the town around it; New Port Talbot as well as seeing a region shot of how it looks to that point.

You have a very nice village there! The harbor looks great, too! :thumbsup:

bat: Glad you like it  ;D.



Update 7 - Building New Port Talbot

In the previous update we covered the construction of Old Port Talbot. It was one of the origional 4 towns around the basin, of course, as Bedford grew so did the area around the basin. With the inception of the ferry terminals (one in Bayside and one near Port Talbot) it was inevitable that some commerce would build around both. What happened around the Port Talbot terminal however was not expected, over the course of the next 5 years, a town literally sprang up from nothing around the ferry terminal. Taking the name New Port Talbot it took none of the quantness of it's namesake. In this update we will go through the complete construction of New Port Talbot. So lets get to it.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=04e49de94fa6bb0ea3308a9e8f1331e990d9f1e4)
Above we see the Port Talbot ferry terminal, along with the wharf market and fishing boat charters.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=fd8cb4cd1490a4c1f6cc793802ddb760dc5e1659)
The entry into New Port Talbot, the road comes around the basin from Old Port Talbot and then over the river into town. (Note, the bridges have now changed, we will see these in a later update, but I will add a teaser at the end to show how they changed)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=b06428710c042c4518d78afe4ed5fd4e9a847604)
First I started by constructing the main street, just a few shops, nothing too big, exactly what a small town should be. It was nice to see the radio station grow in there, because it adds to the look of the town quite nicely, as all the origional towns don't have one.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=b66f42763e519f6e828dbc3d67add2e9109bb9cf)
Next was the second part of the main street, this time the other side of the ferry terminal, nice to see some fast food joints turning up within walking distance of the ferry terminal too.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=7b29327cd95e47ba12072c8792f368ddf2104bdb)
Now the addition of the train station and the final extension of the main street, this time to join the previous two areas together and add a small stretch of shops around the mass transit systems (ferry and train).
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=5bc54f210b60f1489e08c6e997a1524cdde67138)
A wide angle shot showing the above shots in context to each other.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=15367e18285ee09466c99ea494f655916c309038)
Now it's time to add the residential around the town we will start with a little estate in the north east.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic8.jpg&hash=457907de979e2a8ba517c9de0649dd082f143723)
A little bit of forestation before unpause and then this happens, man they move quickly.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic9.jpg&hash=e41f96aeba656f191b5e5bd93dd0581f4845241d)
A zoom in of the estate when everyone is in and a little extra work on the bit in the middle.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic10.jpg&hash=191cb59c03b78f55066d08f8348121387572f21b)
Another few hillside houses, paused again to allow me to develope
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic11.jpg&hash=376b4251032cfaa553e84ebcd5c75e302cd69421)
And some more, it should be noted that not all these zones remained due to some build issues. Next I played johnny appleseed again and forested the area in and then unpaused.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic12.jpg&hash=d8c9f0a3a57f813d8cf60044d35fe79cacc4ad89)
People already moving in to the hillside home, good god, they seem to like living  on steep slopes.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic13.jpg&hash=95b7ee6ad33770cf63c9f8d7b63c5e9862e01e6b)
Ditto with the other part too, they moved in quickly and it wasn't long before someone built a mansion in there.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic14.jpg&hash=bde23cdaebee6532afebbcf71df3d5243af440ae)
An overall picture of the last two updates, showing Old Port Talbot in all it's classic glory and New Port Talbot in all it's sprawling newness. Finally we have a region shot showing work done so far, same as before, click for a bigger one (it's 3 meg though, so beware)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fregion%2Fupdate7regionzoomed.jpg&hash=08555744009301543feee63c9726ffff69bdf84a) (http://http://www.stu-mcewing.com/cj/region/update7regionfull.jpg)

Now as promised above, here is a comparison shot of the old and new style of bridges for one area, tell me which one you think looks better in the comments please. Firstly the origional style.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=fd8cb4cd1490a4c1f6cc793802ddb760dc5e1659)
And secondly the new version.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate9%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=fde546844f350e46a2fd8d0bebf2559997bf7ac2)

Well thats all for today, I hope you all enjoyed this mega update of Shaping Invermere Valley. Take care everyone

Awesome update Jimmy... Though you might want to put the region overview into a thumbnail.

That region view is just stunning. I love it.  Best map I have ever seen  :satisfied:  And those bridges just look great over the PEGs pond kit.

Keep it up!

Fantastic pictures of the port! Also beautiful new areas! :thumbsup:

jplumbley: Thanks again for designing the map, without that this MD would be kind of redundant, I don't think that "Shaping Blank Region" has quirte the same ring to it. lol

bat: Glad you like the area, we're getting close to the end of Bedford County now and the next area wont be quite so picturesque, but still nice overall I hope.


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Update 8 - Reststops, Retouches and Overviews
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate8%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=c7043eddf5beadea779531272a1a6c37ece4e743)
In an earlier update we saw the beginning of the highway reststop, well here it stands in all it's finished glory
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate8%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=cb8af5f1c2ece9ab2e22fe9d902908ad6ef4906c)
Overall of the entire area around the reststop, including it's positioning on the highway.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate8%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=cdc4e9d06da93753c7017cd7cf5b8532664d5f36)
I decided to retouch the wall near the mine, I agreed with the comments that were made, it was too bright, I may still change it again, depends what people think.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate8%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=72ce76577571f377cb6c987a34c19ba1917a559a)
Just a quick eye candy shot of the twin bridges and the mountainside railroad leading to it.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate8%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=c9e0a30aa81b1926e8cbb1cbddddcdb8fad79600)
Finally an overall of the area showing the 3 towns finished so far. Sadly I couldn't fit the industry in, but when I get the area done I will to a nice mosaic of the area.

So ends update 8. As as precurser to update 10 onwards, here is another teaser of Bedford.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fforsale.jpg&hash=379d8cdf796d3bf5f403a968e86ca0d2df0685c9)

Get in there quick whilst we still have rooms :D

wow really nice pictures, and detailed of course

as the map is stunning!  &apls &apls

That's a nice couple of updates. You've maintained the theme well and provided some beautiful pictures.

Can I ask where the parking lots are from which you used in Update 7, at the ferry landing and railway station?

Cheers

Dave

HabLeUrg: Welcome to Invermere Valley, I'm glad you like what you see, hope to see you around more often.

tooheys: Firstly congrats on the move to Ones to Watch. Now as for the car parks they are part of Jeronij's Trail parks, they come in two flavours, Tarmac (//http://javascript:opennew('lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=369')) (the ones you see in those pics) and white (//http://javascript:opennew('lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=370')) (you will see those in a later update)


----------------------------------------------


This update will deal with a little project that I took on which was suggested by Nardo69 over at ST, which was to alter all the bridges. This update will feature as many before and after shots as possible, so without any further ado, lets get to it.

Update 9 - The Bridges of Bedford County

First Bridges
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate2%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=1e2dbde2151eddf0bf183f9377fe88b85ab760e0)
The Above shot shows the bridges before, the below shot shows them after.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate9%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=1c86e308b503389de8f1b82fe956e6715bccc6aa)

Next Bridge
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate3%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=cd877fc636fd59da6c78cf0ad428142bf253955d)
I don't have a good before shot, but you can see how this bridge origionally came back onto the land after crossing the small river, below is how it looks now
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate9%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=277b77754e7463e3b8b2972d2652582466ba5995)

Next Bridge
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate9%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=454ae1f6f6491b15117f936e037862c1b5716ee0)
No before shot for this one sadly but the replaced one fits much better.

Next Bridges
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate3%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=3c9f9b48cd0c617f7421866505adf8ba983ed525)
Above shows the bridge and tunnel as I origonally had them, I didn't like the tunnel that much, so I decided to change them and make a rural route bridge and a highway bridge running side by side, it turned out pretty good IMHO.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate9%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=f88369ce707e377403f501b36cab3d96a612919a)

Next Bridges
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate7%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=fd8cb4cd1490a4c1f6cc793802ddb760dc5e1659)
This was the origonal series of bridges from old to new Port Talbot. Below are the new bridges.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate9%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=fde546844f350e46a2fd8d0bebf2559997bf7ac2)

Then finally we have an overall of the Bayridge area.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate9%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=bd29a9f5e50d089041b667d702bbdb5f8eec8ba9)
And finally the Bayside area.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate9%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=64be8721dea46ea2540f4a3dea7a1874827b0ae8)
Finally a region shot of everything so far. (click for the full version, again it's 3 meg in size, so beware).
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fregion%2Fupdate9regionzoomed.jpg&hash=6c0cf9108de6ce38706f316b2241975fc69d6f6f) (http://www.stu-mcewing.com/cj/region/update9regionfull.jpg)

Ok, here is the end of update 9. I hope you enjoyed the look back at Bedford County, this will be the final update focusing on the county for a while, as we move to Bedford at the start of update 10.

Thank's jimmymac and I've found those trail parks, appreciate the info.

The road network just gets better and better. The changes look good, and I'm glad you changed that bridge over tunnel scenario.
Speaking from experience, taking Nardo69's advice can do you no harm at all.

Looking forward seeing the next area. Great work so far. :thumbsup:

Cheers

Dave

No problem! I like that bridge next to the tunnel, very creative. also the river with that waterfalls, excellent work!

May I suggest you in adding some more rocks in the "beach" around the river, so that will make it realistic, everything is perfectly well done  &apls &apls

Jimmy simply stunning work here and i do ask where did you get some of those
homes that was in update 7 when you played Johnny Appleseed on the hill???

tooheys: I took another Nardo suggestion to heart too, I went ahead and re-addressed all my railways throughout my region to remove the crossings and rail over highway overpasses, it looks much better now but was a hell of a project.

HabLeUrG: Thanks for the suggestion, I will probably try out the rocks when I revist the area for some other edits that I have to do and post some pics to show how it turned out. Also, I just wanted to thank you for some of the bats you have produced in the past, I have no doubt that you will see some of them cropping up in and around Bedford and other towns and cities.

patfirefghtr: Firstly welcome to Invermere Valley, I hope you stick around. It took me a long time to gather all the information for this answer as I had trouble identifying some of them, so to make it easier I modified one of the images:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fanswers%2Fpatanswer.jpg&hash=6e7851b140ec8828af162364f9ff08b19d8aeaa0)

1: Casas Coloniales by debussyman (sadly these no longer seem to be available, or not that I can find on the STEX, LEX or PLEX.)
2. BSC Feld Strasse by tag_one available here (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=156).
3. Early 19th century small $ houses by c.p. available here (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=241).
4. Rollerhomes by niagaraneagle available here (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=12298).

I hope those were the ones you were enquiring about, if not then just let me know which ones and I will query them in game and find them for you.


-------------------------


Update 10 - Welcome to Bedford

With our journey through the towns of Bedford County completed we finally come to the "Emerald City" as it is known by it's residents or "That Ugly Blight" as it is known by the residents of Bedford County.

To start with I drew out a rough outline of streets and avenues (using the new NAM GLR Avenues) I wanted Bedford to follow a non rigid grid like pattern. i.e. Not be completely gridded, but use blocks like in many major cities. At this stage however I made a mistake that would later come back to haunt me and I used normal 2 ways roads for the streets within the city.

I then plopped the Blam tornado tower, the Blam BAST and the Petrona's towers to form the 3 landmark towers in the CBD, and also to help boost land values. Next came the raised park and then finally the zoning could begin. Below shows the very first batch of zoning that I did in the CBD, this was done in 1 sitting of about 6 hours.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate10%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=ff9ae36fe5bf0bdc95204e37b0e5492078806157)
Above shows the park area taken from the west, leading into the main part of the business district.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate10%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=7f3ac1c648d6e810d47c190fc61f2364665364b5)
Above shows the core of the business district and the northern most side of the city.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate10%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=baf0766358d7cdd7dbd2dbb93ca53cfd6a5809b2)
The same shot but pulled back slightly to encompass the park and Park St GLR station.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate10%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=602383127222d627edf28d57b3e9b7dfb0c528bb)
Every city needs a good city hall, and with all the money he had available the mayor of Bedford made sure his was one of the best.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate10%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=93d2705b96d3f575f3e3f571b4fe22e127cae73b)
The north eastern most corner of the CBD and, the City Hall and City hall GLR station.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate10%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=95dbbbe4e52341a90741231e0e0d6c41d0cac870)
Two new buildings go in via plop to help throw the land value up in a new area. Also I wanted them in here to form the core of my business district.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate10%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=566b41b0f29fab19ae174d0c156d26da21de8f30)
Taken from the eastern side of the CBD, a shot showing the excellent diagonal parks by MAS'71.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate10%2Fpic8.jpg&hash=dfcfac2b9ad05c3c16a65b29840c5b66db7322b8)
Finally an overall of the whole area as it stands at the end of this update.

So ends update 10 and the introduction to Bedford, update 11 will come along on within a couple of days and from that point I will be doing a twice weekly update for the MD.

Waoh! Fast development around here. I missed a few updates. Have to say I really enjoyed the downtown the most. It's looking extremly promising with those highrise BAT:s. :thumbsup:

Jimmy i thank you very much for taking time in getting that info for me i apperciate it very much.
Gurantee i will be back for more LoL and great update here. Loved seeing the CNIT and a few other
goodies  ;) - pat

Very nice downtown area!!  It looks very realistic, for a start.  Cant wait to see more.

emilin: Welcome back :), Things have been moving along much quicker than I origionally thought, I already have enough pictures for 19 updates, so as long as I can keep going like that I will have a minimum of 2 updates a week.

patfirefghtr: You're welcome, if there is anything else you want me to query then you just need to ask. I completely agree about the CNIT, i knew when I first downloaded it over the Blam anniversary period that I would use it for the centre of a business district

jplumbley: Welcome back, glad you like the city so far, wait till you see some of the later updates as it takes shape.


-------------------------


Update 11 - High Rent Districts
So in the last update we saw the start of Bedford, and how the business district began to take shape, today we will start work on what will be the crossing point from the highrises to midrise residentials, or what I plan to be my high rent district.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate11%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=82366728ebc3c59105d6bc06964b18139c089da2)
The above shows the area aready planned about (As I said in the previous update, I drew out the avenues before building anything). I didn't like the way the GLR ran between the avenue and the road, so I plan to change it. (You should go ahead and ignore the hospital, it was only there to enable me to grow the towers from the previous update, it will be relocated, so no need to worry about that.)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate11%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=cda2ed2cca6d47050d799195b85749a0e13a2803)
There much better, it amazing what 20 mins and some patience can come up with.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate11%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=bef58211d8adaf3551c6c8343bffd959752990be)
Next we draw out the zones, lay down some paths, blitz the railway line and flatten the land out for what is to come. I wonder what is going to go in the big gap between the buildings....
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate11%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=da4b91097447b91f89598580192c9a044e7bd095)
A nice GLR station next to the train station for easy transfer for commuters and a GLR line between the blocks, with barriers to prevent people from getting the way.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate11%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=8d23b62f92696ea334902657387a36ee13feac95)
Next we carry the GLR line downwards to what will become more residential ultimately, and start work on the railway line. I don't like how it looks, so chances are it will change. In the words of Nardo69, railways should not go over road. It should be vice versa.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate11%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=553a548cf38c351526221bfc4493db9dd04f657d)
Next we need some more residential zoning, still all 6x6, and some parking for the station.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate11%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=b4d8a70d1fa8f07e0a62ee245d1374c3ffe88534)
Finally we unpause it and get some of SOMY's awesome midrise complexes.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate11%2Fpic8.jpg&hash=e57989c6aa37800fc51fcbc9886611a934a3a8c9)
A close up of Murdoch street station and GLR platform.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate11%2Fpic9.jpg&hash=88787379d0f749c4af1d8e0c608ce694fe807edb)
Finally with the addition of a few park tiles we see an overall of everthing we covered in this update.

I hope you enjoyed this more step by step style update on how I planned out my first residential zone, we will see further expansion on Friday when I return with update 12. Until then, take care.

Great Job Jimmy and you can guarantee that for sure i will ask when i see something i dont have LoL.

I got the same advice re the rail system from Nardo69 but I must admit I didn't go back and change what had already been done, I can understand how difficult that must have been. I just made sure that I applied Bernhard's suggestions going forward and they do make such a difference. But it's amazing how what appears to be a small change, like no level crossings, effects your planning. It really makes you think about what you are doing which can only be good.

The city is such a contrast to your previous posts. It is looking good, and what I particularily like is that we will hopefully have the opportunity to see how the area grows. A lot of people just like to see or show the end result but for the larger cities it's good to see the planning process and witness the actual growth. Looking forward to following the development of this area. Great work  :thumbsup:

Cheers

Dave

patfirefghtr: Glad you like the update. I consider myself quite lucky that so far i've only had to search for a few things for people, but i know the difficult question will be coming soon from somewhere.

tooheys: I'm glad you think that Bedford is a great contrast to the towns around it. It was my plan all along to have Bedford look totally different, and almost out of place, as it was supposed to be a city that was built up from next to nothing in the middle of a huge forest. I will keep switching between update styles for the next 10-12 updates to be honest (going between step by step style and explaned style with pictures). This style will continue at least until Bedford is finished, maybe even longer than that.


One more item that is noteworthy: As of today I have decided to go compeltely Maxis free in my game, all civics, parks, landmarks, rewards and growable buildings are gone, as well as all railway/bus stations etc. It will be a much better game for it too IMO.




Update 12 - Where did you sleep last night?

Well it seems that Bedford is very rapidly selling out of all those lovely midrises and people are being forced to sleep in offices, cars, buses parks and also on the GLR, so it's time for phase 2 of the residential project to start, this time we will be extending to the left of the previous update.

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Firstly we start by laying down the first section of the paths, a bus stop and something to allow them to cross without getting hit by a fast moving car or truck on the morning run to work.

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To the bottom left of this picture you will see the addition of the footbridge to allow them to cross the avenue uninjured and the first set of zoning for the new residential buildings.

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Next comes the extension of the railway line. As mentioned in the last update the railway line has now been changed, and will be better seen in a later picture in this update. As soon as I drew the line over the rails I could almost hear Nardo69 grating his teeth...

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so a quick change was in order and everyone is happy once more.

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The extension of the GLR over the avenue (this time I wanted to keep the GLR crossing, as it fits in well with the GLR in the avenues of the downtown area). I then extended the GLR to run between the buildings, as before, and shielded it using fences to keep the children alive, as before.

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A nice night shot of the new area after the game was unpaused.

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An overall of the entire area from the last two updates, including the newly added greystone church and the adjusted railway lines.

So ends update 12, in update 13 we will begin what I like to call my urban beautification project. Expect to see update 13 on Monday, until then take care everyone and I hope you enjoyed this update.

Wow.




No seriously, i can't think of anything else. Just....Wow.

Great job jimmymac, very nice use of somy's lots, is the square building in the last picture, in the lower right corner the "greystone church" ? could i bequeath you to supply a link to where one could get that? I can't seem to find it.

I wouldn't worry too much, I'm sure he's ground them down to his gums by now :P (sorry, Bernhard)

I recently discovered those condo's myself, they are good looking buildings.

Nicely planned and good use of the GLR :)

Cheers

Dave

Congratulations!

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Shaping Invermere Valley...pains taken in design and detail are always apparent...


The Staff

QuoteShaping Invermere Valley...pains taken in design and detail are always apparent...


The Staff

LoL david nailed that on the head here Jimmy... " pains taken in design " great Job and
a even bigger congrats on the award - pat

@Dave: I DID read it ... stored and indexed ... so be warned ...   %BUd%

@Jimmy: Hope you don't mind me posting here, too. Dave had his shock some time ago ..  ;D
Good work with these condos. That GLR corssing is OK - Trams are part of street traffic and can stop way earlier ... AFAIK some nice GLR Stations are in work for the tramway within the avenue. Most Tramways are using the middle of normal streets. To simulate this I used to put GLR in between to Oneways - I would suggest to try this layout, too ...

AND

Last but not least:

Congrats for becoming "OF SPECIAL INTEREST"  ()flower()

Bernhard  :thumbsup:

Got to love those SOMY BAT:s! :thumbsup:

And congratulations on a well deserved reward! &apls

Oh, and btw...

5 well-deserved stars!


David

Excellent work!

An congratulations for those 5 stars and the special interest of this month! well deserved  &apls &apls

Congratulations with this very fine MD! &apls
and with your "promotion" to a deserved place in this section, &apls
and with the five star rating! &apls

this must be your lucky day! :thumbsup:

Strechnitz

Congratulations jimmymac. Well deserved  &apls

Congrats JimmyMac  :thumbsup:

Your city is wonderful, I love  ;)

Firstly I just want to say thank you to everyone for the praise and thank you to all the staff here for the Award, it really means a lot to me. Apologies for not replying sooner to this, but I have been caught up in building a new rig for the last few days and haven't had the time to drop by and post a thank you, so here it is. ;D

spartanB292: Firstly, welcome to Invermere Valley. I'm glad you like the updates, as for the church it's the NDEX Greystone church by DuskTrooper and is available here (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=13143).

tooheys: Thank you for the congrats, congrats are due to you also on your promotion to Special Interest. Somy does have some absolutely brilliant residential buildings, we will see more of his buildings in a later update too, as he and KS are my two main japanese BATers.

dedgren:As I origionally had said on ST, I used your Three Rivers Region and a couple of other CJ/MD's as inspiration before starting this region, so to recieve an award for it means a lot, thank you to all the staff for giving me the chance to showcase my work here on SC4D.

patfirefghtr: Again, thanks for the congrats. The pains taken in design part certainly rings true as there are whole sections of Bedford that I just blitzed and rebuilt after 2 or 3 hours of painstaking work. These sections might be seen sooner or later in a "directors cut" update, there again I might just bury them and hope they go away, lol.

Nardo69: Again, thank you for the congrats. I had actually planned to use the GLR/1 way streets thing in another city later on, so chance are you will see that come up.

emilin: Again, thanks. And again again, lol, as I said before Somy is one of my go to guys for great BAT's his residential series is truely awesome.

Strechnitz: Firstly welcome to Invermere Valley, glad you like the updates and thanks for the congrats. Lucky day doesn't even begin everything that is going on right now: I just finished work for the summer, I just got my new rig running, my Fiancee is coming over to visit me in a couple of weeks time and it's the first time i've seen her since April, I got special interest on here and I got five stars. Seems everything is going good for me right now  ;D

Snaper: Thanks for the congrats, glad you like what you see, oh and welcome to Invermere Valley.  :)

Also, one other thing, I have no problems with people either refering to me as Stu (obviously my real name, lol) or Jimmy or Jimmymac I don't really mind it gives everyone a choice.



Update 13 - Urban Beautification Project Part 1


Today we will revisit the downtown area of Bedford and make it a little more beautiful, seeing as everyone in the whole area seems to work there.

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As part of the beautification project the hospital was relocated to the centre of the city and given quite a bit of money by the mayor to make it look much nicer.

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Firstly we see the area as it currently is, the park is in place, but that is really the only nice place in the area, and the workers at the BLAM BAST tower are getting tired of having nowhere to go sit and eat other than the park, so lets set about fixing that shall we...

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Finally we get to the beautification project itself, a nice open space between the park and the BAST tower, what can go in there I wonder.....

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Some of KS' awesome arabian canals coupled with pegs trail kit gives them somewhere to go sit and also gives the centrepiece of the downtown area a frontage to be proud of.

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A general overall shot showing some of the other beautification that took place around the downtown area.

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A shot of the finished canal project from between the Petronas Twin Towers and the BAST tower.

Finally we have a region shot (click the thumbnail for a full sized view).
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I hope you all enjoyed todays update, for the rest of this month I will be updating on a Monday and Friday as a thank you for selecting me to be of special interest, so until Friday, take care everyone and see you then.

 &apls
Congrats on the award! You've worked so hard on making your region so beautiful, you deserve the recognition  ;D I love the way everything has turned out in your region. I am learning a lot from you ;)

Wha?

Our Invermere Valley Map is being turned into an incredible city?

Congratulations. You are doing a great job on the city. I know through the pictures that you are in the middle of development. I can't wait to see where you take this once it gets closer to completion.

Completion? I've been playing my version of this map for over a year and am nowhere near completed. Not to upset you or annything Jimmy!!

I like the midrise residential development. The symmetry looks amazing on that system. Your work around rivers and waterfalls works really well too. What waterfalls are those? Did I miss something in my absence?

I am jealous now....!! &apls

Hi Stu, great use of the arabian canals, they certainly give the park a unique look.  :thumbsup:

The city is looking good. How do find usage of the GLR? I always seem to have problems getting
people to use it. I think I must charge too much  :)

Cheers

Dave

Early reports are that there are more than 5 seperate fires burning throughout Bedford County, the citizens of the surrounding towns are being evacuated and the National Gaurd is going to be drafted in to aid with the cleanup once the fires are out. At this stage there is no real information on the level of damage incurred.


serenity086: Welcome to Invermere Valley. I'm glad to hear that you're learning from me, as I keep saying, fight the urge to grid and the rest is just a case of going slow  ;)

beskhu3epnm: Firstly welcome to Invermere Valley, must seem like a home from home for you. As I said to jplumbley origionally, thank you for the map, without that this would be a very bland looking region, lol. I know that it's going to take me a very long time to get through every square, but that is part of the fun for me, knowing that I've got all that to come. The waterfalls are part of pegs pond kit which you can get here (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=12329).

tooheys: I glad you like the canals, I'm always looking for a reason to use them, they add such a beautiful look to whereever they are built. As for the GLR, I have to admit i've never had any luck with them until the new NAM. They just seem to be used more now, maybe it's because I've placed more stations, or maybe it's due to the new GLR avenues. I honestly cannot say, but I'm not going to look that gift horse in the mouth, lol.

That is all for today's mini update, expect to see more of these during the month as channel 7 brings more information on the cleanup....

Ooooooooh Jimmy the last two updates are great sorry i didnt make it back to comment sooner been RL
busy with 4th of July stuff... Man the forest fires bring back April memories for me ugggggh lol...
Every time i turned around we had a forest fire here a total of 20 of them and one cabin fire...

Poor forests  :(
I can't wait to see your next update and how your city recovers from the damage.

Noooooooooo.......  Fire!!  :'(  Its gonna destroy my favored forests of Invermere Valley.  Hurry volenteer fire deparatment dont let it spread too far!

What kind of change will this fire bring to the city?  Will it replenish the forest?  Or will it take this as an opportunity to expand?  I wonder...

Very beautiful update, I liked your downtown much  :thumbsup:

You have a very dense network of tram, your sims will not have to surely never complain about the lack of public transport  $%Grinno$%

I love  ;)

patfirefghtr (pat:) Sorry to bring back memories for you  &mmm . It remains to be seen the level of damage the area will have suffered just yet, maybe another news bulletin will tell more.

serenity086 (amanda): I'm sure you can't wait to see what happens next  ;)

jplumbley: As I said to pat above, only time will tell what is going to happen to Bedford County, but I can assure you that everything happens for a reason, lol.

snaper:  I'm glad you like the downtown area so far, hopefully you will enjoy what we have to come in today's update, as we are spending more time making the city beautiful.



Update 14 - Urban Beautification Project Part 2

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Bedford didn't get it's nickname from the fact that the ground was green, the "Emerald City" was named due the the amount of money the mayor spent on the planting on trees, people love the area at night, as the little nightlights all glow in the trees.

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The CNIT is a centrepiece of the downtown area and the International Trade Plaza and had a lot of money spent on it to develope the surroundings, including the development of the International Trade GLR station.

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Now, in a previous update we covered the development of the midrises, and today we start work on the high rises that will transition to the business district, so lets start by zoning in 3 towers, leaving space for a little something something.

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Next we build the parks around the towers, develop the GLR and watch as the land value goes into orbit, this will undoubtedly have an effect on the entire area.

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Yep there we go, those SOMY midrises are the first victims as the land value skyrockets.

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The mayor wanted his citizens to be safe, whatever side of the tracks they lived on, so the railway line was enclosed by two parks along it's entire length, everyone loved living in this area, despite having to see and hear the odd train every now and then.

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And now, for the first time since starting Bedford, here is the obligitory night shot of the CBD.

Thats all for today, I hope you enjoy the update, I will return again for another update on Monday and then another news bulletin on Wednesday, so until then, have a good weekend everyone.

Jimmy that is looking fab omg wow.... The night shots are just stunning and its ok
about bringing back the memories its all good... The arses was caught in the first
week of may shortly after the little burning spree the 2 guys went on... I will be
back again soon - pat

Those trees around your railroad tracks are so pretty. Seeing the fences and pedestrian bridges make me realise just how dangerous my cities are lol. *note to self: download bridges and fences*

Nice work Stu. The skyline looks great and you've done a good job beautifying the area along the RR :thumbsup:

Cheers

Dave

Beautiful pictures and wonderful updates, jimmymac!
:thumbsup:
Also congrats on your award! &apls

patfirefghtr (Pat): I'm glad you liked the update, I do like playing the Bedford square at night, because it looks so pretty IMO.

serenity086 (Amanda): The fences and walls do indeed play a key part, wouldn't want any children getting hit by a train whilst going to the park now would we.  ;)

tooheys (Dave): Glad you like the parks, I keep dropping by your MD even though I don't get much of a chance to say soin there, I must say you are doing a great job.  :thumbsup:

bat: Thanks for the congrats, glad you liked the update.


---------------------------------------------


Update 15 - A Place For My Head (or somewhere for the normal people to live)

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Firstly we start with the addition of a new convention and conference centre to the business district, backing up alongside the new police precienct it's bound to be secure.

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A bit of beautification, and a couple of commercial offices later the area is done.

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Back in my day all this used to be fields....... Or rather a before image of the proposed GLR crossing.

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And after..... now everyone can be safe.

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The origional underpass is gone and has been replaced by an overpass of the railway line. The parks run alongside to keep everyone safe, and another closer shot of the greystone church from a previous update.

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"The other side of the tracks" where the normal people can live. I just love this picture, the nightlights in those trees look so pretty.

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That looks like a steep drop, best put in some walls to keep the children safe. To the bottom left you see the beginning of Cross St GLR station.

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Finally, somewhere I can afford to live. I just want to thank MAS71 for his awesome sunken parks, they make this area look infinately better by just being there. To the top right you will see the completed Cross St station. Now, I think those two buildings at the bottom look out of place, I doubt they will survive....

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Finally, Bedford as a whole as it currently stands at the end of this update, another gratuitous night shot I know.

I hope you all enjoyed the update; comments, tips and advice are all greatly appriciated as thanks to suggestions made thusfar the region is changing all the time. So until Wednesday when I see you again for a news update about the fires, have a good week.

Jimmy anther breath taking and stunning update i love the nightshots as well with the lites
in the trees... gives it a Nashville Tenn look...  BTW where did you get the building that was
growing in the last pics???

Dude....  &apls

What can I say?.... I just love the way you've designed those GLR corridors.  Its just simply.... There is no word for it, because there are no words to describe how awesome it is.

I like what you have done with the overpass of the RR. Combined with the walkways, parks and trees
you've created a great looking area  :thumbsup:

The GLR crossings are nicely done, but who gets right of way, the train or the GLR. Could get nasty.  /wrrd%&

The city is looking fine and I like those night time pic's. Don't you just love those randomly growing lots. Sometimes you love them, but other times.. :bomb:

Well done Stu. Keep it up.

Cheers

Dave

 :thumbsup: Another great set of pictures. I love the park trails and the trees. Your cities are so beautiful that i wish i could live in them  ;D

I really like your PEG trees uses, i mean you use it in almost every picture, excellent work  &apls your md is unique

We bring you this news update as the fire services have finally been able to extingush the remaining forest fires burning throughout Bedford County. The fires raged for close to a week before finally burning out, the damage estimates are servere; Parts of Old Port Talbot have been destroyed by the firestorms, several Bayside residents have been left homeless as their houses burnt to the ground during the fire. The old friary in Bayridge has suffered servere smoke and flame damage and is currently being assesed as to it's final outcome.

A press release by the Bedford County fire service lists around 80-90% of the forest has been destroyed by these fires. At this stage it is unknown how the fire started, but it is being treated as suspicious.



patfirefghtr (Pat): Im not sure which one of the two buildings you meant, so I tracked both of them down (I'd already deleted them from the city, so it was a little harder to get, but i got them for you and i've done another picture to help.

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The red arrow points to The Cobb Royal by Cobb32118 and is available here (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=3213).
The blue arrow points to Coral Condos by JtPortland and is available here (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=3155).

jplumbley: The GLR corridors just kind of came about by accident. I was designing the first set of condos and the area in between ended up 2  tiles too wide, 1 each side, so I just placed the fences in and it just stuck from that point on. Looking back it was the best mistake that I could have made.

tooheys (Dave): I think it's more a case of whichever is moving faster at the time, lol. In all honesty I just had to place it like that, because the only other way I could see was an underpass or overpass and neither of them looked very good. As it is the GLR seems to stop for the Train everytime I see it. However the first time I saw it the GLR just passed right through the train and I was waiting for the bang. lol

Serenity086 (Amanda): I think it would be a bit of a tight fit, getting us both in there, and in all honesty given the land values in the areas we've seen, if we could live there I think it would probably be in the slums  &mmm

HabLeUrG: Those aren't actually PEG's trees that I use in Bedford, they are a combination of 2 different styles, both of which are linked below.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fanswers%2Fhabanswer.jpg&hash=417ba6a8d005aea982abf164dbd97886fd0dd29c)
The green arrow points to the Cherry Sakura trees by, I believe, MAS71. These do not seem to be available anymore, or not that I can find anyways.
The red arrow points to the Tree Avenue trees by NOB available here (http://tokitoko.hp.infoseek.co.jp/tree%20avenue.zip). (I recommend these to everyone, as they are both sesonal and have beautiful nightlights in them)

That is all for today's mini update, I will return on Friday with update 16, until then I hope you enjoyed this mini update and have a good week.

Awsome thank you soooo very much Jimmy for doing that for me and those 2 are the eaxct ones i was talking about... - pat

patfirefghtr (Pat): More than welcome, if you see anything else you want to know about just give me a shout. The same goes for anyone else who sees anything in here they want in their cities..


---------------------------------------------


Update 16 - Someone to watch over me.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate16%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=4bf48b0b317a53fd62fa2f19af725beea403e7d1)
Firstly we revisit the high wealth residential towers and install a GLR station as they were complaining about their children having to walk across the avenue to get to the other one... lousy idle rich kids.... I always thought that dodging traffic was part of growing up.  ;)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate16%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=c4b71dc466c4919cedd1fa48cae76a6175c62e18)
Now we extend the parks, build up the GLR corridor and then populate the remaining spaces with zones for buildings, this was the outcome.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate16%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=a2f31e9c16a2ce7a052ab35d130c3979c15430e1)
A shot of the parks between the towers from a different angle.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate16%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=f858370b4b96a4eac3a25377a6f5c2819b0c9a42)
Well it seems people like the GLR, it is longer than most of the trains I get going past the city. I kinda wish it was only single cars, but I guess thats just not possible.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate16%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=b0eb02cddfabb2a978789985c425d889df736ee0)
Now it is time to build "the Guardian" of Bedford, the Bedford Angel. A bit of land flattening and it was done, add a few platforms around it and a walk up to it and we have the finished article (she's only finished for the time being though, I shall return to her in a later update).

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate16%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=c3b4f1441d42bea2fa1d11d4e2d85b198f6665cf)
A closer look at Bedford "Guardian Angel". It is believed by some that Bedford will stand for as long as the Angel remains and once she leaves it means that Bedford's time has come to an end. Others believe that it just makes a really nice city clock with a semi naked women on it.

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Next we start filling the gap between the residential towers and the big towers of the business district. To do this we will use the mix of parks and commerce zones. Thanks to the diversity of the BSC parks system I am even able to add a small cafe in the park and a lime-aid stand for those thirsty workers.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate16%2Fpic8.jpg&hash=0b4b5c140a74dd44b339a86852dbd12d892d6892)
A gratuitous night shot of my favourite tower in the entire city. It just looks so nice in the area it stands in.

And so ends update 16. I thank everyone for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this update. I will return again on Monday with update 17, so until then I hope you all have a good weekend, take care.

Stu

thats a really nice developing, but I think that needs more work... cant wait for the finished version  ;) have a nice weekend you too  :thumbsup:

Awesome!!  Your great jimmy, first you showcase a map that I make and now your showcasing the blue tower made by Dmscopio, a model that I made the lot for.  Thanks buddy.

Very nice work today!  I like the GLR in Ave setup you've got going there.  Keep up the great NHP advertising!  Maybe, I will give you an advanced copy of SAM when I get it ready for an alpha test.

Another great update!  :thumbsup:
I really like the statue in your city, looks like something that would fit nicely in one of my parks.

Beautiful new updates! Great using of GLR! :thumbsup: Wonderful parks! :thumbsup:

Another great update Stu  :thumbsup: Your use of parks to reduce the clutter works well and looks great too  :)

Cheers

Dave

HabLeUrG: I agree, it does need a little more work around the statue, that will come in a later update, don't worry I never leave an area unfinished.

Jplumbley: I have no doubt you will see more NHP stuff, as I use a lot of dmscopio's buildings in most of my cities. As for your offer, I would love to test the SAM when you get it to alpha stage, I can think of some areas in Bedford that I would revisit right away, not to mention Bedford County.

Serenity086 (Amanda): Glad you like it, you're bound to see a lot of future updates in the coming few weeks, so I will be demading your silence.  ;)

bat: I've never had a GLR that has been used as much as this one, I thank the glory of the new NAM for that.

tooheys (Dave): I love the BSC parks system, it makes lots of commercial and residential zones look much richer than they might actually be. The come in useful for lots of things, not only parks (see the end of this post for what I mean of that).


---------------------------------------------


Update 17 - Stadiums, Museums and Lots More (or How A Mayor Likes To Spend Money.)

Today we will see how the mayor of Bedford likes to blow the extra little cash he has laid around his office....

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Those darn rich people damanded to drive their car to the GLR, so I finally crumbled and put together a transit hub encompassing car bus and GLR into 1. Everyone was happy.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate17%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=6a32bf3395452bf5240c395f4df3f43c1998566e)
Lots of small shops built around the transit hub, including a public swimming pool for those hot heady summer days.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate17%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=836b19647d50ae2b98066cf7184fb80bd8ee382d)
Everyone celebrated the opening of Bedford Science Museum and Planitarium. It seems that lots of businesses liked being near it, because as soon as it went down all the buildings you see there grew to the next stage.

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The mayor of Bedford was a baseball fan, and wanted to spend lots of money on his team. The Bedford Bengals were very happy at the news of the new stadium. The inclusion of a dual GLR station and extra parking made all the residents happy too.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate17%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=980410730aba90b4c9242b2d58282eef1d0f0754)
Bedford County University also recieved a lot of money from the mayor, the students loved the new campus (Just a note, at this point the area is not finished, but will be done in a later update.)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate17%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=754a0d0442d37ce69ba23051c59dbdc32fe6f05d)
Any university needs a lot of parking.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate17%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=878b29254844c7efd1cc807180c683d33085d2fe)
Seems that a lot of students like going into the city in the evenings for a show or to a club. Although I have to admit the late night tennis games worry me a little....

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate17%2Fpic8.jpg&hash=5992fc50ff0bd85c8a68f69371245dc042219455)
An overall of the entire university campus.

Now finally, as a bit of a reward for sitting through 17 updates so far, I will give you a mega-teaser. This is my current work in progress city, it is the capital of the region. I want to welcome you all to Stark.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate17%2Fteaser.jpg&hash=08fa7ec75ed3620181e528422314043697e19633)

Thank you to everyone for all your replies so far, I hope you enjoyed this update. I will see you all Wednesday for another News Update. Until then, have a good week.

Stu

Awesome update.  Really nice stadium, where did you get it?  The city looks very nicely setup.  Great use of the GLR in avenue pieces.

&apls

Robin   :thumbsup:

Great update! Also wonderful areas! Fantastic work! :thumbsup:

Looking good Stu  :thumbsup: Always intrigued to watch a work in progress.

The uni is nicely laid out and can't wait to see a bit more of Stark. Although I must say, Stark looks anything but.

Well done

Cheers

Dave

Stu, WoW really great updates and i dont know if i said this allready but thank you very much for
both of the buildings. I cant wait to see what you have next time for us - pat

rooker1 (Robin): Welcome to Invermere Valley firstly, glad you like the city. The stadium is by teemu_om and is available via a link on the simtropolis forums. He's just relased a beta of minute maid park too, which looks awesome, aside from a couple of little glitches. You can reach the thread here (http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=79043&highlight_key=y&keyword1=north%20american%20stadiums)

bat: Thanks, as always, I'm glad you liked it, we've seen the last of Bedford for the moment, but we will return.

tooheys (Dave): I agree with you, the Uni looks quite nice, it's a redone lot that I downloaded off of the STEX a long time ago, I also got a newly designed prison and a few other too. I will look up the links if you want them.

patfirefghtr (Pat): You did say thanks before, but I don't mind, you're more than welcome. Today we're going to move away from Bedford for a couple of updates and see a different part of the area.


---------------------------------------------


Update 18 - Back In My Day All This Was Fields

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate18%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=99060e90156eff62ceab1fd2e66114ff2b292027)
Firstly we see the land as it origionally was...

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate18%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=0f47055bc7e821ce032a4a86919d51a2a8d3b9c6)
Next we zone in the fields and drop the street in.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate18%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=c5566ef1ac8fec5ae566db9da5143f033841be2a)
Some hedges and a bit of building later and we have our farm.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate18%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=cb362cffa1d01986ab7c9d813c6b7523abcfa739)
A few more farms in the area.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate18%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=72f99c9ea8a3d0349e07e53fe4ab98e0f3822fd8)
And a few more.....

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate18%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=f546479613acdad96d42ec145d4e9e67e86eec5f)
All those farms need somewhere to deliver the goods to, so a rural rail station was the order of the day. Also a nice big watch tower to keep an eye over things.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate18%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=8849ef29bcd8ed02079e711a3ad791d72ff39118)
A christmas tree farm and another watch tower, but what are they watching over?

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate18%2Fpic8.jpg&hash=74ed62cc02499a353507ddd524764c3285ea693e)
Wolf river state penitentary. Home to some of the areas more dangerous criminals

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate18%2Fpic9.jpg&hash=8fedc2f58db8aded0da5deb760b082a38efcfa10)
Overall of the top half of the area from today's update.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate18%2Fpic10.jpg&hash=f5d622474e31f16c6ea19d2517dbca004cc6a8dd)
Overall of the entire area of today's update, including wolf river pen.

Finally, a region update as of the end of today's update.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fregion%2Fupdate18regionzoomed.jpg&hash=cfbe99b61cab3a1051f8696f749303aa8f161367) (http://www.stu-mcewing.com/cj/region/update18regionfull.jpg)

Apologies for the lack of Wedneday update this week, I was out all day with my Fiancee and didn't get home until midnight and I didn't really feel up to doing an update then. I will return monday with another update. Until then have a good weekend and take care.

Beautiful countryside, very wooded  :thumbsup:

I love, bravo  &apls

Very cool!!  I have never thought about connecting farms in that fashion.  I think I will use that when I get to play next time :P  I really like the way you designed those farms aswell, with the path and tree piece around the edge.

Nice MD, and a great update.  Nice work on the farms, and great attention to detail (where did you get those hedges?). 

Quote from: jimmymac on July 13, 2007, 11:20:08 AM
Well it seems people like the GLR, it is longer than most of the trains I get going past the city. I kinda wish it was only single cars, but I guess thats just not possible.

In fact, it is possible, and has been done.  Linky (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=337)

That's a wonderful farm area! :thumbsup:

You know I like rural areas and this one is beautifully done. Nice use of the seasonal trees and the hedges look superb. :thumbsup:

If the hedges are available on an exchange somewhere, I wouldn't mind the link (pleeease).

Looking at your regional view, the area is immense, you'll be working on this 'til you're 90 ;)

Cheers

Dave

Jimmy that was a wonderful update of the countryside... that prision is very impressive...
Where did you get the one building to the left by the entrance... its giving me an idea for a
supermax style prision... - pat

I come to you today with update 19, the update that should be posted tomorrow. I am going away for a couple of days with my Fiancee and I didn't want to miss the update, so I bring it to you early. I hope you all enjoy it.



Snaper: I'm glad you like it, we will revisit the farms again in a later update.

jplumbley: Thanks, as always, I'm glad you liked it. I've had those hedges for ages and never found a purpose for them until now.

bwatterud: Firstly welcome to Invermere Valley. I will have to look at the hedges in game, as I cannot seem to find them on the exchanges at all. I believe they are the BSC hedges. Thank you for the link. I had already installed something like that, but didn't know they had a 1 unit tram series.

bat: I'm glad you liked it.

tooheys (Dave): Lol, I know what you mean about the region, it's not until I look at the region that I realise i've only done a small part of a very large puzzle. As for the hedges, I believe they are the BSC Hedges, I can't seem to find them on any of the exchanges anymore, but I will query them in game and just make sure then I will drop the link in the next update.

patfirefghtr (Pat): Glad you like the area, as I said above we will come back to it in a later update. As for the prison, it is the City Security Complex by baco and is available here (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=821). I don't know what individual props it has in it, if there is any other info you need just ask again and I will try and query the individual parts in game and see if I can get anything from it.


---------------------------------------------


Update 19 - Housing For Everybody Part 1

Today we return to the great city of Bedford as we begin the "Housing for everybody" project at the bottom of the hill in Bedford.

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Streets and roads are the first order of business to build up the zones.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate19%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=5be6d489d164de63b6fd38a5570af0e108a9db53)
Multiple 4x4 zones, i'm after something specific here folks so bare with me........

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate19%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=73cdd5e9332b4dcc8542dc40a4e43204db8c19f3)
Sidewalks next to the avenue and paths through the zones...

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate19%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=ac74debab253c32d9310d540714e44e9aa1c9e0d)
Off goes the pause button and straight away we get what I wanted.... no complaints from me...yet.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate19%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=5fde1ab94a12d78dccb2b65699fd6e3a7ab5b9d6)
People demand a church, so they get a very nice looking one.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate19%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=4c3db09ce4559d08119beafe0d2626dfa3bbd15d)
Every church needs a graveyard and now I present you the dead centre of Bedford.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate19%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=1b40f7a5da7477d8e0d164bd0dcbd6bf301a80c9)
Now we jump to the main part of the city to give all these new residents jobs, In goes a few more offices, with somewhere nice for them to go for lunch.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate19%2Fpic8.jpg&hash=2eb466f06e2ed62f5bdb9a6f0f0d5cdb50f9c41f)
A close up of the park around those buildings.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate19%2Fpic9.jpg&hash=699e35db43a1f450a2237dc89737e6aaf5cb30ab)
The top side of Bedford at night.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate19%2Fpic10.jpg&hash=202d36cdc75e249465e631477e75c19bfba7e105)
The bottom side of Bedford at night.

And finally, as a special thank you for everyone who has commented thusfar and stuck with me, I bring you my first ever mosaic.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate19%2Fbedfordmosaiczoomed.jpg&hash=874f502ba866fa3c0127dcca16fcad5bed5edb74) (http://www.stu-mcewing.com/cj/update19/bedfordmosaicfull.jpg)

Jimmy thank you and that update was wonderfull... see you next time - pat

Quote...the dead centre of Bedford.

I am pretty sure that I just snorted a whole green olive off my slice of pizza when I read that.

I'm going to enjoy the rest of the update so long as it doesn't kill me first.


David

Stu, if they all go there for lunch, they'll still be lining up at knock off time  :P

Bedford is looking great, with the commercial area continuing to expand nicely.

The modern church looks good and and I will be interested to see how the new area around it all comes together.

Another fine update  :thumbsup:

Cheers

Dave

Hello Jimmy!

Sorry for not answering before ... well you know, RLS ...  :-[

so let's begin - there are some updates to comment ...!

Page 3

Boy, now you go up after the rather rural start ...
Good work with the GLR and nothing to nag on update 13!  ;)

Update 14:
a park parallel to the RR? Why not - the old park of the barocque palace of Bruchsal had been cut through by the railway line, too. But I must say, all these highrises "alone in the middle" look a bit strange to me - if I want to go up I usually build my cities from low (suburb / farms) over medium (industrial belt + med.density worker quarters) to high (CBD) in that chronological order ... you did it different - why not.

Page 4

Update 15
Well, there had been tramway and railway crossings in the last century in Germany but AFAIK they have all gone. In addition to this the tramways mostly crossed secondary tracks that served local industrials so I am glad that this GLR - RR crossing doesn't exist any longer!  &apls
Nice Touch with the eye-candy - pedestrian underpasses next to the bridge!  :thumbsup:
The last pic is nice but as I commented for update 14 ...

Update 16
I wouldn't have used the small GLR cross in the second pic! There is more than enough space for a bigger cross ...  &mmm

Update 17
I really do like the GLR station with the big car park!
Nice LE work on the university!
The teaser looks good! you do have a hand for spacious park areas around highrises!

Page 5

Update 18
Aaaaaah - the countryside again!
Nice work on the farms with the hedge lots, these farms are hard to fence with the "standard farm fences" ...!
You put the freight station on a siding - marvelous!
That penetary is impressive ...
That region map is gorgeous! Do we see by any chance a pass route (road or railway) over these mountains?

Update 19
So you go for asian housing there - interesting ...
Good work on the graveyard - even though I don't like the church too much.


That's it for today.

Take care and don't forget to make backups!

Bernhard  :thumbsup:

A great new area, jimmymac!
Looking forward to more...

The last update was very good, although I don't really like the asain housing, it seems out of place in this particuliar instance.  Other than that, great work!  I really like the close up shots.

Robin   :thumbsup:

Again due to going away for an extended period with my Fiancee for a second time in a week, I will be bring you the update early. Today I will bring you an update on the forest fires an also update 20 to go along with it, so without further ado, lets get to it...



patfirefghtr (Pat): Glad you liked it

dedgren (David) My father always refers to a big cemetary as the dead center of xxxx (xxxx being whereever we were at that moment, so I guess I got that from him). Glad you enjoyed the update.

tooheys (Dave): Lol, I didn't think about the ratio of people in the offices to the single cafe, I might have to go do something about that. As for the church and the new area, things will change, but for the better IMHO. As I said before, I always take advice to heart and make changes if I find myself agreeing.

Nardo69 (Bernhard): Thank you for the reviews and advice, it is truely appriciated. I have already gone back to the game and made some alterations today based upon advice recieved from everyone, and I must say I agree with everyone about the asian buildings, looking back they didn't look right, so hopefully the new ones will (I will have an update about all the changes in the future).

The residential towers have also undergone a major overhaul in prep for the CAM, and the entire area looks much better. As for the GLR and RR crossing, I had to go with that as there are no real GLR/RR underpasses or overpasses currently available, when one comes along I will change it, but for now it has to be that way unfortunately.Looking back now I would have used a larger GLR crossing in the middle, but I can't really go back and edit it now due to the development around it.

As for the university, I cannot take credit for it, it is a university replacement lot by baco available here (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=1016) for anyone who might want it. I knew that the freight station should go on a siding, I have learnt a lot from your guide that you produced a while back  :thumbsup:

As I said, the asian housing is now gone and has been replaced, and looks much better IMO, we will see everything I changed in update 24 or 25. And finally, as for the mountains, I chose this region for that specific reason, we're not only going to see rail through the hills, but roads and also a few towns, as I have some very specific plans for that area.

bat: As always, glad you liked the update, I've got plenty more in the background waiting to be published, so don't worry.

rooker1 (Robin): I'm glad you liked the update, as for the housing, I found myself agreeing with both yourself and Bernhard, and it is now a goner.

Now, on a small item of bad news, after some research I have found that the hedges used in a previous update are indeed the BSC hedges system created by Callagrafx. It no longer seems to be available, he might release it on the LEX in time, but for now it doesn't seem to be around.


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Update 20 - Housing For Everybody Part 2

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All that new housing need some parks, and they will have them, tennis courts first...

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Followed by a baseball diamond and a skate park, everyone is happy.

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A close up shot of the now doomed asian buildings.... it seems that the planner was a little too "way out there" and the residents didn't like the design.   :D

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Now as we start to the cross the tracks and get away from Bedford, the density of the housing starts to drop.

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An overall shot of the area with complete with the ruins of Bedford abbey.

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Night time in the suburbs.

And now finally I bring you breaking news from Bedford 7 News...

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We bring you this news report directly from the mayors office; The Mayor of Bedford has just announced that the replanting project in Bedford County is officially underway, the source of the fire was tracked down to a cigarette that had been disposed of in the undergrowth around the rest stop in Bedford County. The official loss toll for the fire was found to be much higher than origionally estimated, as 95% of the forest was destroyed by the fire, some houses in Old Port Talbot and Bayside were also destroyed, but fortunately there were no fatalities. We will bring you further updates as they develop...

I hope you all enjoyed todays update, I will return on Monday with update 21, the final update of the special interest period and some more news on the state of Bedford County, until then thanks for reading and have a good weekend.

Stu

Stu you have yourself a great time away and remeber take alot of pics... The update was reallly good and im glad to see the mayor not dinking around in replanting the area... see you next update - pat

btw i loved the diamond and skate park talk about realizm...

Stu you are doing a great job here. I like how you have sculpted the tricky terrain into something perfect for Bedford. You should include a financial report outlining all terraforming (landscaping) costs. I'm sure Bedford would almost be bankrupt...!!

See you next update!

Sincerely,

Faithful Fan

Another fantastic update! Great houses! Also the first two pictures are looking wonderful! :thumbsup:

Stu, looking good. Like the work you have done along the freeway, especially with the recreational/sporting areas :thumbsup:.

Not too sure about the orange and yellow residences though, I think they would be better placed south of the Mexican border ;).

The abandoned abbey gives that special touch.

Looking forward to the next update.

Cheers

Dave

PS: 100 posts and 1000 views, congratulations  &dance

patfirefghtr (Pat): Glad you liked the area, I much prefer the new look for the housing which we will see soon. I use a lot of SCBA's baseball fields, and his diamonds looked much nicer than origional ones.

beskhu3epnm I have no idea how to produce a financial report on the terraforming, but it would certainly be interesting, were I not to use the extra simoleans mod  ;D.

bat: Thank you for the welcome.  :) I had to agree with everyone last update, those houses looked good but just a little out of place, the new ones look much better IMO.

tooheys (Dave): Thanks for the congrats first of all, it's been a big jump for me from recently published to here to wherever I will end up when this month is over. As for those houses, they were just the fillers whilst the area grew and now they look totally different thank god.

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Update 21 - Housing For Everybody Part 3 (Or I Think I Ran Out Of Good Titles)

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Lets zone in some 6x6's for the houses, they start to grow straight away, people love living here.

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They need some shops and other assorted commerce to keep them happy.

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A little more commerce and suddenly we're full up here, time to move to another area.

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Here looks good, a little more commerce first then we zone in, 2 more 6x6's for some more awesome SOMY housing.

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More housing, they demand more housing......

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A little beautification later and we have a new woodland path and a pound between the houses.

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The whole housing area from the last few updates in all it's glory.

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has followed me from the start thusfar and has commented, and to those that joined whilst I was in special interest, I hope you continue to enjoy the updates when the month is over. I will return tomorrow with the final mini update and a couple more surpises whilst I'm at it, until then have a good day/night.

Stu

QuoteUpdate 21 - Housing For Everybody Part 3 (Or I Think I Ran Out Of Good Titles)

LOL, I have enough trouble thinking of bad puns, let alone good titles  :)

Somy does do some great work, and so do you of course. Nice use of the residential and commercial lots, they work well together :thumbsup:.

Looking forward to tomorrows update and a surprise or two.

Cheers

Dave

Great third part of this update! Looks wonderful! :thumbsup:

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We come to you today with news of the tree planting project, the Mayor has agreed to ship in trees from the surrounding are in an attempt to rebuild the area faster. Trees are being shipped in from forests in Stark County, the Flatlands and Granderson Valley, the following images will show exactly how much he has spent getting this area rebuilt.

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The Mayor's popularity rating is said to be higher than ever today with the news that he plans to ship in more trees from outside of Invermere Valley in the effort to rebuild faster. Some say that it can't be conincidental that he is "flashing the cash" in a re-election year.

This is Dianne Johnson for Bedford 7 News, goodnight.

Now, in other news, this mini-update marks a great change for Invermere Valley, for 1 I am now using the CAM in all areas, and it is having a major effect (for the better) on both Bedford and Stark, so we will more than likely see those in upcoming updates. The other major news is that I am switching from the Italia terrain mod to the Meadowshire terrain mod and, as you can see from the images above, ploppable trees are gone, in favour of god mode trees.

Lastly, thank you to Dedgren, Jeronij and all the staff here for giving me the chance to shine this month in the Special Interest section and thanks to everyone else for reading and commenting. I can't wait to see you all in my new home, which will hopefully be in the Best Sellers section. Until Friday, have a good week.

Stu

---------------------------------------------



tooheys (Dave): I'm glad you liked the update. I have to say I'm going to try and find a way to bring in SOMY's latest BAT, his spaceport looks awesome.

bat: I'm really glad you liked it.

Stu im soo sorry i missed the last 2 great updates and they where are great... Defintley the new homes look so much better i agree and will see you next update - pat

They are some nice pic's to finish off the month with Stu. Your really do create some great looking rural and wilderness areas.  :thumbsup:

I can't wait to see how you fit SOMY's new lots into the scheme of things, should be interesting  ()what()

Cheers

Dave

Yeah, Stu, also missed the last update. Been a little sluggish....

I hope you keep this MD up as long as possible. I always wondered what the entire valley would look like developed to the max.

Next question: Now that the CAM is out, what are your plans? Are you going to apply the CAM to your current cities? Or will you continue on without?

Stu- Hi- I knew I'd missed a "close-out" post yesterday when I was making one last round through July's "Of Special Interest" MDs.  Like everyone else, I really enjoyed your last couple of updates, which were the usual great stuff...

...you're so-o predictable.

I'm sure that your momentum, given the commitment you've demonstrated to date in this MD, won't slack off anytime soon.  I'm predicting we have a new "Classic" here before long, and that will be well-deserved in more ways than just comment and page view count.

Hey, I'm a fan!


David

patfirefghtr (Pat): I'm glad you liked the new bits, I agree with you, everything looks a lot nicer after the fire, kind of odd that it worked out that way, lol.

tooheys (Dave): I honestly have no idea how i'm going to fit his lots in yet, but thanks to the glory of the CAM i managed to get all those nice mid-rises back due to it making the towers much better, so my mid-rises became mid-rises again, rather that big old towers.

beskhu3epnm As I said in the mini-update the CAM is up and running now in all areas and my god does the city look different. I got my first stage 15 residential in Stark today, it made me so happy. Lol. As for how long I plan on keeping it going for, well the answer is as long as possible. I can't see me ending it anytime soon. There is so much left to do yet.

dedgren (David): I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it, I hope that I can keep it going for as long as possible, I might have a take a break for a short while when I move, but other than that I can't see me going anywhere



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Update 22 - Living In The Trees

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Firstly we see how the top of Bedford Forest now looks after the tree planting has been completed, and also the start of the mountain road.

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Following the road along and finally accross the river as it cuts through the middle of Bedford Forest, where the trees are at their most dense.

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Following the road a little more we come across Bedford Links, a nice little 9 hole course in the thick of the forest, many business meetings take place here between busy execs. Rumour has it that the deal to re-open the old Bedford mine was struck on the 7th hole.

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Now we skirt along the road back toward Bedford, first stopping off at the University, which it currently on the leading edge of the tree planting project.

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Moving to the edge of Bedfords suburbs and lots of new houses are going in.

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Now we race over to the township of Bryce Falls, around 10 minutes outside of Bedford, close to the Bedford Links country club. Sadly Bryce falls was quite badly damaged in the fire, and as we see some areas are still waiting to be rebuilt.

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A few of the houses in Bryce Falls, one of which will soon be owned by myself if I have any say in the matter as I love this area.  :D

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The township of Bryce Falls and the surrounding countryside.

And finally, here is the first true mosaic from my MD, it's taken a bit of time to put together, so I hope you like it. You can click the pic for a larger version, but beware, as it is close to 10 meg in size. I present to you; Bedford by night.

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Ohhhh its FLOG at it finest!  This is one of the few times I have seen it actually implemented into a CJ.  Very very nice!  And I really like your mosaic, the downtown area is not too "cluttered".  I dont like those downtown areas that have no or very little greenspace because you cant see the city life at the base of the towers, but yours show this very well.  Keep up the good work.

ooooooooh my god stu... thats all i can really say about this update...  &apls :thumbsup:

Wonderful two updates! Great work! The wood is looking fantastic, the rivers and mosaic, too! :thumbsup:

Well I'm pleased you got over your mid-rise crisis ::)

I now I've said it before, but you really have a knack for the natural surrounds. :thumbsup: This area looks great and can't wait to have a round on that golf course. Might have to bring a few spare golf balls though.

If anything, I just don't like the SC4 electricity towers. Not just here, but anywhere I see them. Hey, I've never been to the States so maybe that is how they are, I'm just used to our nice plain grey towers that try there best not to stand out although don't really succeed. Anyway, a minor matter that does nothing to detract from what you are achieving here.

Cheers

Dave

jplumbley: Yep, I have to say as soon as I saw the FLOG packs I said to myself that I had to find a way to work them into a region, and Bedford Country Club just seemed to make sense. I'm glad you liked the outcome, thanks to NHP for giving me the ability to do it. I would expect to see some more of dmscopio's towers turning up in Bedford soon too.

patfirefghtr (Pat): Glad you like it, I still keep dropping by your MD and lurking when I get the chance, have to say I like what I see every update  :thumbsup:

bat: Glad you liked the mosaic, it turned out much better than I expect, I might do some more for later updates, but they take a long time to do in the way that I'm putting them together

tooheys (Dave): I wish they had a mod to make the towers grey, they have them like that here in the UK too, but i found as soon as I went away from ploppable trees that I needed power lines again, it makes the area look so different, have to say I much prefer it the new way even though it takes a little longer.

---------------------------------------------


Update 23 - Life On The Farm (Or How I Accidently Blew Up A Entire Quad)

Yep, you read the title correctly, I accidently popped a quadrant when I was playing the game late one night, but the ensuing outcome turned out much better in my opinion. Now you will see the results of my fatal interaction with the wipe clean button.

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Firstly we see the new dirt roads running through the area and the criss-cross of farms between them, intersected by the railway line.

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A little more zoomed out to show the excellent MBear vineyard.

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A little further along we see the only trees that appear on the plains, all of them alongside the river. The plains is mostly flatland with fields. very little else gets a chance to build on it due to the fertile soil, it always get turned into farm land.

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Another Mbear farm, this time an olive grove.

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Back along the railway line as it cuts through the farmland.

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A small pond has formed where the drainage canals emerge out from under the ground, leading to a seasonal waterfall where it drops into the sea. People flock to see the waterfall when it is there, hence the parking area.

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An overall of that entire area.

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All farmers need goods, so the goober co-op was quick to offer them.

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More farms built up around the co-op. including the christmas tree farm.

Finally a region shot showing everything thusfar, including full rendering of the region with meadowshire and the beginnings of all the forests in the area..

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Until Friday, have a good week everyone and I hope you enjoyed this update. I will return to normal schedule on Friday as my Fiancee is going home on Wednesday, so I will become a simcity playing shut in again &mmm

Fantastic rural area! Also nice picture of it and of the region! :thumbsup:

Awesome farming pics.  I like the rail line through the farms, looks perfect.

Robin   :thumbsup:

Nicely done Stu, another great looking rural area  :thumbsup:

Cheers

Dave

Very nice job, but the shadows are really bugging me - it really detracts from your wonderful city building. Plus, how come the game's being run in software mode rather than hardware mode (the shadows look much better on hardware)?

Back to the beautiful Farmland again.  Its just... stunning.  I cant wait to see the rolling hills of Farmland to the south of the city across the river.  Maybe even with some emerging suburbs to intrude on the Farmers, it will be interesting to see how you present this.

Keep up the great work!

Stu u r a true god of farming... wow

bat: I'm really taking to doing the agricultural areas, I hope to have another agriculture update again soon as the flatlands are rapidly becoming my favourite area in Invermere Valley.

rooker1 (Robin): Glad you liked the farms, I truely think it was the greatest mistake I ever made accidently destroying the farms that I origionally did, the new area looks much better and conforms better for the CAM.

tooheys (Dave): Wait till you see the next rural update, it's going to be interesting...  $%Grinno$%

Shadow Assassin: Firstly welcome to Invermere Valley. The shadows are a problem for me right now, as you rightly spotted I am running in software mode, this is because SimCity 4 is not compatible with my new video card (Ati HD 2900 XT) and I am having to run the game in software to avoid lots of graphical glitches. I have actually removed the long shadows mod now because of this, and I am planning to try running it with a few tweaked settings to try and get hardware back.

jplumbley: Ask and ye shall recieve, next rural update you should see a town or two appearing in the flatlands. And trust me, like everything in this MD, there will be a back story to it.

patfirefghtr (Pat): Thank you very much for the kind compliment, I'm not sure I'm at god status yet, but I shall certainly keep working at it and hopefully like all things thusfar, it will get better with time.

---------------------------------------------


Update 24 - The Coming Of The Colossus

It's finally time for the update that will mark a major change for Invermere Valley, the inclusion of the CAM. This update will focus on the effects it had straight away and then next update we will see some longer term effect. I also plan to go over the changes that were made following advice given in update 20, which just proves that all advice is taken to heart and in the most part probably used.

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Firstly we see the new part of the CBD and some of the new buildings which have grown there thanks to the CAM re-assigning of some of the more commonly growing buildings.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate24%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=c902e8d115b65fc2f3ddf227732bb925f5000cbc)
More buildings crop up around the building sites, including the brand new GLR station and some of MAS71's awesome triangle parks.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate24%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=60a1034ebf763b678ce76b7d6d10a987bdc3d25b)
An overall of that area as a whole and it's relation to everything else in Bedford.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate24%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=38f1adcbb8efbfdc536c9160cc1f60fd5ac009ce)
More work on the CBD sector, including the end of the avenue GLR for that area and another GLR station.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate24%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=b3ddd927c98aa31814da1bf02fd38e0686fbb920)
Finally the Bengals Stadium gets some sponsership. Hyundai were quick to build offices nearby and sponsered new uniforms for the team, complete with the Hyundai logo on them.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate24%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=f816892d0ba5614465d8e31e1bb2997fbed79870)
Now we jump to the former Asian buildings, which have now been demolished to make way for a newer project, only time will tell if the residents prefer this style...

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate24%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=9fb3b474323c4947d502a3d8c197ee8eba5abae4)
Work continues on the new housing area.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate24%2Fpic8.jpg&hash=3aceaeacc0fa7ce913bf7bbfc6ebcf4de3939ab5)
FINALLY the return of the mid-rises thanks to the CAM and it's redistribution.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate24%2Fpic9.jpg&hash=1aaf129acc677af9d398ae96fa2b33c9ee9e760d)
Now for the eagle-eyed among you, you might realise that this is indeed the 2nd airport shuttle in Bedford, commercial demand is that high thanks to the CAM.

Now that is all for this update, I hope you have enjoyed it. I would very much appriciate feedback on that residential zone, as I think it looks much better, but there again I thought the Asian buildings looked ok, so what do I know. On Monday we will see the major impacts of the CAM on Bedford, so until then have a good weekend.

Stu

Stu i indeed enjoyed this update great job  :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Great update! Also nice pictures of the Downtown!

patfirefghtr (Pat): I'm glad you liked it, I hope you think as much of todays update as you did that one.


bat: Wait till you see what happens to downtown in todays update, it looks very very different to what it did.

---------------------------------------------


Update 25 - The Arrival Of The Colossus

It's time for part 2 of the first CAM update, this one will show the longer lasting effects of the CAM on Bedford in general.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=649b2c9fe1a09fbc09af36f22032be43d1f2c045)
Firstly we see the smaller shops that have developed around the GLR terminal, very different from how they origionally looked thanks to the CAM redistributing a few lots to higher levels.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=d4728b61602c3edd0b615f27053bc6fc95299932)
Some more lower level buildings around the outskirts of the CBD.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=09275f5691593b89c37fafe6d273f4cb0cf693c7)
Getting higher as we move toward the stadium.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=f19c0985e31307aa1f3e195660093ec63a9c74f5)
The return of the mid-rise sector, and again finally we have grading leading into the city from houses to apartments to mid-rise condos and finally to the high rises.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=be904653bc9b498e5fe414c076dd788e97360281)
No we can see the new residential high rises, very different to how they origionally looked thanks to the CAM.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=9c70502b644b38dcbc718a4f9927e65f04125253)
The start of the new CBD including a new mammoth office building dominating the skyline.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=9bf8c1e3b41a41e6763baef447367cda14e22e56)
The development around the stadium is now complete, many office workers find excuses to work nights when the Bengals play at home.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic8.jpg&hash=b7a7b3392e70dd02544606491f221e582bb16387)
The commerce and residential mix now looks much more even.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic9.jpg&hash=c7d9dfa52f5a822bcb2194d101fc62b5b83ed2e3)
Development continues around the BAST tower, including some new ones growing in as we speak.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic10.jpg&hash=89092903462b695ffaaf8d8140c6c9bab5bbde5d)
The southern side of the business district.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic11.jpg&hash=bc459608f285387ba96c8abbaa53d8f6ea240754)
More development being zoned in and more development from the previous update.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate25%2Fpic12.jpg&hash=be752db08cc14a4df21f72234c14aae8591f920e)
The northern side of the CBD.

That is all for today, I hope you enjoyed this look at Bedford post CAM. I would just like to take this chance to thank BSC for putting the CAM together, it has truely unleashed a new level of development in a city that had actually stopped growing.

I will return friday with another update, until then I hope you all have a good week.

Stu

You CAMelized Invermere Valley... SWEET!!  Just stunning, you've left me speechless this time.  I always try to post something that has some use... but this time Im useless.

Yes sir, all CAMmed up and ready to roll I see.

Man, Bedford will touch the sky at last. Too bad those stage 15's are no match for the peaks in the distance...!

Awesome update. I see no end to this MD!

It looks great!

Everything looks good, you might have to break out the bulldozer tool for a couple of those repetitious high-rise apartment buildings once in a while.

Frist of all great looking city and second it looks like the cam really worked well in your city.  You have so many skyscrapers, great work.

Robin   &apls

That Downtown is looking very fantastic! Great parks! Wonderful work! :thumbsup:

Very nice Downtown, with beautifuls parks  :thumbsup:

With the CAM, everything is starting to look even more better. Great updates, I cant wait to see the next one.  ;D

Even I have been lurking secretly in here. ::)

And even I am amazed at what I'm seeing! :thumbsup:

Looking good, but something is missing  &mmm But CAM is doing great job for your cities  &apls

Stu, a nice couple of updates, sorry I didn't drop round earlier.

Bedford seems to have handled the CAM quite well, it's certainly still a good looking city. :thumbsup:

Looking forward to see how things "pop up" going forward.

cheers

Dave

jplumbley: The CAM truly has added a new side to the game for me, it's made the cities last much longer, I can't wait to see what affect it has on Stark and the other cities.

beskhu3epnm: Indeed, those peak surely hold much wonder, and in time the wonder will be given answers.

Shadow Assassin: I'm leaving the towers for the moment, as they are increasing in level at an unbelievable rate, so chance are they are already gone and replaced by something else, but only time will tell.

rooker1 (Robin): I'm very proud of Bedford, it's rapidly becoming much larger than I origionally envisioned, fortunately it will never be as grand as Stark will be.

Bat: Glad you liked it.

Snaper: Again, i'm glad you like the city, I'm sure you will like Stark too when we get there.

Serenity086 (Amanda): You've already seen what I have to come, lol.

RippleJet: Firstly welcome to Invermere Valley. I'm glad you like what you see, the last few updates wouldn't have been possible without the CAM, so thank you very much for that. I hope I can do it justice with the cities I have planned to.

Bengt: Like Ripplejet, let me first welcome you to Invermere Valley. I'm glad you like the city, if you have any advice for me on what might be missing I will gladly listen and quite possible accept it. Without advice from others Bedford would not be where it is now.

Tooheys (Dave): Both Bedford and Stark have taken the CAM very well as im sure will many other areas too. Don't worry about missing a few updates, RL has been raising it's ugly head for me too at the moment and it's getting tight with doing these every now and then.

Wow, that was a lot of replies today, thanks to everyone who commented, I hope you enjoy this one today. So without anymore delay, lets get to it


---------------------------------------------


Update 26 - The Lie Of The (Flat)lands

Today we are going to move to the outskirts of South Bedford, just over the river from the Flatlands.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate26%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=8af29385317933b454fac38ab251444e49b47464)
Firstly next to the river we see the edge the farming community and to a meadow of wild flowers.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate26%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=15e991ce9ca876dc4c97c11b8aacde1975bd5489)
The industry has slowly started to invade this area, beginning with the coal power plant, despite numerous patitions, the plant was still built.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate26%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=50f60991ee8a76d5c49acfb1f1aec0a735942adb)
It certainly hasn't stopped the famers however, they just carry on around them as if nothing is going on.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate26%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=3ed409774324cbeb40150c1419a1f24c8dbc4ecd)
A much more spanish looking farm has also recently moved to the area.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate26%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=9976ba91366282506332dcf2be27dd6d4db3f9da)
Another christmas tree farm has arrived, they are very common due to the huge forests just to the north-east of Bedford.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate26%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=736aea8a05f32dd093259bd1205fcb51f9e34aee)
The industry begins to mount of the southern most edge of Bedford.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate26%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=8275c657e6555f8f7c4500f41b1b0ad9b7c9d9af)
It seems to that even the farmers are no longer safe as the massive hi-tech farms are starting to move in.

I hope you all enjoyed today's update, I will return on Monday with the next update, which will continue the farming theme. Until then have a good weekend.

---

Now a short message about the MLSB. I'm setting up a baseball league that will be tied into mayor diarys. Your baseball stadiums and teams will actually be brought to life in a simulator. If you are interested in joining the first season then click here (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=2046.0) to read more.

Stu awsome last 2 updates and very goood man wow.... gotta love them high tech farmers lol

Great update! Fantastic looking rural and industrial area! :thumbsup:

Stu, your rural pic's continue to impress :thumbsup:. The walls surrounding the farms, are they available or
part of your secret cache, they do look good.

Just waiting for the pyramid to pop up in the middle of your farm belt  :)

Cheers

Dave

Very nice, I love your fields  :thumbsup:

Good luck for the next  :P  ;)

patfirefghtr (Pat): I'm glad you liked the updates, the hi-tech farms will come back to haunt the farmers later on, I have no doubt of that.

bat: I'm glad you liked them, it's getting difficult to find spots for industry in the area now though.

tooheys (Dave): I'm sure the pyramid will arrive sooner or later, and I will truely welcome it. I've got a few stage 5's and 6's forming now, which look quite nice, especially the fountain park and the maze. As for the walls, they are by Jeronij, there are too version, the cold version that you can get here (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=30) and the hot version which you can get here (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=29) for either version you will need these props (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=4).

Snaper: I'm glad you like the Flatlands, we'll be spending the next couple of updates there and you will see much more of the area.

---------------------------------------------


Update 27 - Welcome To The Narrows

Today we  will be moving south along the river to the area known as The Narrows, so called due to the narrow rivers bends in this area.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate27%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=0a1073e47bb4a3f18db925e4ec68b727e8e76bae)
Firstly we see the main road running through the narrows. Rural Route 7 runs its entire length through the flatlands, sometimes connecting with Highway 40.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate27%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=6b1c3c320182e22a6b1a5af292172053cbaa64ff)
Even from this great height, the trout farm is an imposing sight.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate27%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=67762e33de7fadfdf4f9838f85edba5bec33e3dd)
Although it is called the flatlands, the area is not perfectly flat. The flatlands name comes from the fact that it is the flatest area in Invermere Valley.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate27%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=6b67344f2bef77263dd5d2890228c0ef57eba648)
The area is indeed very hilly in places.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate27%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=2981086a65e99afb14a94fa4e2eddff4f0412b9f)
The old windmill is a great tourist attraction in the area.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate27%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=7d5be224a714d7d0bdc0ac96706a84dbb813a8ba)
Following Rural Route 7 through the flatlands as it curves toward the town of Penbrooke.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate27%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=149b300cfd8ec375035d5803189d7dacf02fe7ab)
An overall for the area shown in this update, just to the north of Penbrooke.

I hope you all enjoyed todays update, I will return a week today with the next update as I am going to be missing all weekend. Until then have a good week.

---

Now a short message about the MLSB. I'm setting up a baseball league that will be tied into mayor diarys. Your baseball stadiums and teams will actually be brought to life in a simulator. You don't need to do anything more than just come up with a team name and team colours, everything else is done for you by the simulator. If you are interested in joining the first season then click here (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=2046.0) to read more.

The farm land looks so pretty. I especially like the trout farm.  :thumbsup:

Great new pictures of that farms! :thumbsup:

Stu you are a great farmer.... Well errr umm i should say that you are a great rural planner  ;)  A great update here as usal and will see you next update - pat

Nicely done Stu, the farms on the rollings hills look superb. :thumbsup: I haven't quite worked that aspect out yet, my farm buildings always tend to bury themselves in the hill.

Cheers

Dave

PS: Thanks for the link

Serenity086 (Amanda): The Flatlands are probably my favourite area in the whole valley, maybe because it reminds me so much of home.

bat: I'm glad you liked them, I love the way the region looks now with all this farmland, however everyone will have to wait until update 31 before we see another region shot.

patfirefghtr (Pat): I think the farming thing is in my blood, my grandfather was a farmer all his working life, so i grew up around it and I think it's rubbed off on me.

tooheys (Dave): Your more than welcome regarding the links. In all truthfullness, I lose count of the amount of times I have to blitz the farms to stop them digging in the hill, there are some that I just can't avoid though, so I carefully photograph around those, lol.

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Update 28 - The Village Of Penbrooke

Today we  will be staying in the Narrows for another update, and this time visiting the village of Penbrooke.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate28%2Fpic1.jpg&hash=5e7d8b62b8da85c2f39ecc7d2fe5d8d2ce3c4d50)
Firstly we zone the town in, nothing too fancy as is it just a small country village.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate28%2Fpic2.jpg&hash=03a4d08c64dbcec8a0137e5a6d291582d0f82f76)
Some very careful zoning and patience is rewarded by the smalltown USA lots intermixed with spa's NS lots, just what I wanted. I just love the clock tower corner building.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate28%2Fpic3.jpg&hash=abd06c9ccc5148b2ffcee6ad4f82449c02d76619)
The other end of the main street.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate28%2Fpic4.jpg&hash=1964ad0ade872810f69eba31e90bc6867ab239be)
The surrounding farms almost devour the small village. Also in this picture you can see the high voltage lines as they stretch over the flatlands.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate28%2Fpic5.jpg&hash=2a12ec4582aa6481566104176307a01cfe33e01c)
The fields go for as far as the eye can see in every direction, including up the hillside. (These were my first sets of CAM farms, I was very happy to see them emerge)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate28%2Fpic6.jpg&hash=455bcc0691422b5f12242b79c360bf5ff569b08e)
A close up of one of the hillside CAM farms.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate28%2Fpic7.jpg&hash=131539818d6a24ff435c19553426517d569415e7)
Another CAM farm next to some beautiful flower fields.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate28%2Fpic8.jpg&hash=e86b6036dadaa72b1fe71a9bc0e8fb5ef4adde69)
An overall of the area covered in this update.

Now, I just want to apologise for the missed updates, I was away for 6 days in the end over last weekend so I missed the updates out. I will be dropping to a once weekly update schedule now due to an increase in workload as I  come to terms with the end of the holidays and get ready for the next academic year (yes, I am a teacher). I will update again next Friday, and then every Friday from then on. I hope you all enjoyed todays update, have a good week and I will see you all again on Friday.

Stu

---

Now a short message about the MLSB. I'm setting up a baseball league that will be tied into mayor diarys. Your baseball stadiums and teams will actually be brought to life in a simulator. You don't need to do anything more than just come up with a team name and team colours, everything else is done for you by the simulator. If you are interested in joining the first season then click here (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=2046.0) to read more.

Stu this was a perfect update and i loved it... very good job here  &apls :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Those are some pretty extreme hills for the farms. I've seen something similar to that in RL... Wait! In RL, the farms really are on those hills!

Great update, and the CAM farms do wonders for the look and appearance of this MD. You could probably fill half that valley with farms, but you will need to be creative to prevent repetition. I have a feeling you won't have a problem.

Keep it up!

beskh

Great update.......nice little town in the middle of lots of farms.

Robin   :thumbsup:

Wonderful looking farms and small town! Great work on this area! :thumbsup:

Stu Absolutley amazing. I am sorry for not posting since the very first comment but I have been lost in the woods for ages and trying to find my way to Bedford. Its a wonderful md that you have and I do keep an eye on it  ;)

Kettle's on you deserve it :thumbsup:

:satisfied:
TTC

Good one Stu. The small town fits in well with the rural community. The surrounding farms and landscape are great as always. :thumbsup:

I noticed the gray electricity towers, a lot better than the defaults :). Are they functional?

Cheers

Dave

Hey Dude!  Awesome update, that looks alot like little towns in the US or some areas of Canadian towns.  Very exciting, I love the rolling farms.  Keep up the great work... maybe we'll get a sneal peak of the SAM in action soon :P

Hello Jimmy!

I was just having a quick look over here in my coffee break and what did I see? Rolling farm fields on hilly maps "a la Nardo" (to quote my friend Darmok)  :thumbsup:   &apls

Nice layout on that village. You might however exchange the brown tiles between the houses with garden lots and some trees, if they are farm fields how should the farmer reach there?

First time I think that I see the new PEG Skyfarms in a CJ / MD. Not bad ...

A hint: When you do rural shots don't turn the settings of the automata to full otherwise they just produce too much of traffic on those small rural streets ...

Take care and make backups!


Bernhard  :thumbsup:

patfirefghtr (Pat): I'm glad you liked the updates, we're going to be saying goodbye to the countryside for a while now, so things are going to get a little more urban again.

beskhu3epnm: Nice to know that the farms aren't that out of the ordinary. I must say I have never visited the Invermere Valley region, the farms on the hills thing is very much like the way it is not too far from where I live. The Lincolnshire Woulds are very hilly and mostly farms. Don't worry, i have a lot of plans for the valley, farms wont take up a great deal of space in there in the end.

rooker1 (Robin): In all truth Penbrooke almost didn't happen, in the end I'm glad that it did because it turned out quite nice, although a few things might yet change in it.

bat: I'm glad you liked the area as i said above we'll be going more urban again for a while.

TheTeaCat: I'm glad you like the updates so far. I'm happy to see you managed to avoid the fires when you got lost in the forests. Bedford is also such a sprawl that im amazed that you didn't get lost there either. I'll gladly take you up on that offer of the drink too  :)

tooheys (Dave): Ah the towers, a long time was spent lamenting how they needed better powerlines in a previous update, well it seems that the gods of simcity saw fit to send someone down to fill that area, Faka (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?page=1&Keyword=faka&view=all) over at simtropolis has some very good powerline packs, all of which are indeed fully functional.

jplumbley: You should indeed see the SAM soon, given that I tested it out on Stark maybe next update the SAM will come into it

Nardo69 (Bernhard): The PEG skyfarms will indeed be making an impact as the farming community goes to war with the industry. As for Penbrooke, I was not sure about the area between the buildings, I intended it to be dead space, but now I look at it I know it needs changing.
I might give the lower settings a try too, as I find that there are far too many trucks turning up now I have tons of farms.

---------------------------------------------


Update 29 - A Stark Comparison

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The highway system in Stark is the best in the entire of Invermere Valley, what should be expected really given that Stark is the capital city of the region.

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As you can see the highway intersects the centre of the CBD, therefore the decision was made to sink it down into the ground and allow the streets and avenues to bridge over it.

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The main park weaves between the buildings and is centred around Worlds Circle Plaza.

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A close up of part of the parks in the CBD.

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Another shot of the park, showing how it meanders between the buildings. Worlds Circle Park is the pride of Stark and the centerpiece for the city's business district.

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Worlds Circle Plaza and park in all it's glory. Worlds Circle Plaza is the central hub for the city, all the avenues terminate here.

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A shot from Worlds Circle Plaza down Steve Rogers Drive toward the Asian district.

I hope you all enjoyed this update and the first look at the great city that is Stark, we will be spending quite a bit of time here, so I will make sure that the hotel has plenty of rooms to spare. ;D Until next week, have a good one.

stu this is ok for a urban area... naw its great... i do love that roundabout filler its sweet looking - pat

Looking good Stu, can't wait to see a bit more of Stark  :thumbsup:

The hwy looks great and it's good to see all the green space between the highrises.

Cheers

Dave

Wonderful update! Great pictures of that urban area!! Fantastic work! :thumbsup:

Awesome update!!  I am wondering, is that Jeronij's Street Side Mod or what sidewalk mod are you using?  I cannot tell, they are a darker greyish than I have noticed before.

There is an amazing amount of detail in the MD!  I love your rural areas, but your urban landscape is far and away the best.  The city is so open and green... reminds me of some of the screenshots that Dusktrooper uploaded of his mega-city a long time ago.

This last update has to be my most favorite yet. Everything looks amazing. You did a great job placing the sunken highway throughout the city. ;D  ;D

patfirefghtr (Pat): I do love that roundabout filler, when I saw it over at ST i just knew i would find a use for it, and now I have.

tooheys (Dave): Stark is going to become something of a special place for me, as given that rate that it is currently growing, i think it will very quickly grow to astounding levels. That and the fact that it will be my first truely CAM city.

bat: As always, glad you like the area.

jplumbley: Those sidewalks are indeed just the normal Jeronij medium wealth sidewalks from the last release of his sidewalk pack.

meinhosen: Firstly let me welcome you to Invermere Valley. I'm glad you like the updates thusfar, I'm honored to be compared to Dusktrooper with my city layout. I don't remember his megacity pictures as I was never around ST very much until a few months ago.

Serenity086 (Amanda): Glad you like it all, I had to do a great honor to Stark, given the place that I got the name from  :D

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Update 30 - It Doesn't Look Very Stark Around Here To Me

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Club Globe is the in nightclub in Stark, everyone who is anyone flocks to the Globe every weekend. There does seem to be a few issues with the police having to rescue drunks from the nearby canal however.

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Ironman Stadium, the home of the immortal Stark Ironmen. The residential towers around here have a waiting list as long as your arm, as people always want to see the Ironmen play.

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The towers are built as close to the highway as possible in order to maximize space in Stark. However they must still follow the goverment initiative of ensuring that for each tower that is built, an equal sized park is built within 500 meters of the building.

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The central elevated rail station is one of the busiest areas in Stark and sits right on the side of Goverment Drive.

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Uh oh, looks like something is going down near Ironman Stadium. Maybe they are looking for the person who tried to break in and steal some of the bats from the clubhouse.

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Central Stark is a daunting sight indeed. Anyone who chooses to take the walking tour of Stark will be gifted by views of some of the largest and most expensive buildings they might ever see.

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Every morning the people squeeze themselves into the elevated rail cars and make the journey into the business district.

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The buildings around Worlds Park are always changing as the city keeps growing and due to the lack of space the only place to grow in Stark is upward.

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A new mixed commerce and residential sector is being built by SAM industries using the new street system.

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The SAM project is almost finished after a couple of months.

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And in true Stark fashion, onwards and upwards is the call of the day as the towers reach skyward.

So ends update 30 and another visit to Stark. I will return again in a week with another update featuring Stark and the government buildings. Until then, have a good week and I hope you enjoyed this update.

Fantastic looking new pictures of the downtown! :thumbsup: Great work!

 ;D Stark continues to look better and better. the high rise buildings look awesome. Also, i wouldnt mind having a view of the Ironmen Stadium from my window hehe.  ;)

 :o  Wow.....super update.  The city is coming along very nicely and I loved how it's all laid out.  Great choice of custom content, it all fits together very well.  I see you have used Buddybud's highway walls.  I love them myself.  I use them very often in my own cities.  Maybe you could show us some pics of your highways, so I could see how you have used them.

&apls &apls &apls

Robin   :thumbsup:

its wonderful, although you can try and join two photos together for high-rise towers.

where did you get the arabian canals from? i can't seem to find them...

bat: Keep watching, as we are going to be getting high today :satisfied: lol, pun intended.

Serenity086 (Amanda): If I could afford the rent in one of the residential blocks i'd get us one, but sadly I think the best I could afford for us would be a store cupboard on the ground floor.

rooker1 (Robin): Stark is truely turning into an eye-turner for my region, every time i turn on the game to play it the region shot makes me smile; so many buildings reaching for the sky. I will try to include some more pictures of the highway in the next update, if not the next one then the update after and that is a promise.

Madeira Firstly let me welcome you to Invermere Valley. I'm glad you like everything so far. I've been having a few problems with the graphics for a while since I got my new graphics card. Simply put the card is too powerful for the game and I get a lot of graphical glitches all over the screen. So when you see a picture like these without glitches it means that I have had to zoom in and out until I get an image that is clear, then quickly take it. I am going to try and make a mosaic of Stark for a later update, so hopefully people will get a greater idea then.

dragonshardz: The Arabian canals are an early work by KS, they are no longer available on his site, and I feared that they had been lost. However after some searching I found then for you here (http://hide-inoki.com/bbs/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=496)
---------------------------------------------


Update 31 - So that's why they call it Stark!

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Residential and commerce both interwine in the CBD of Stark as everything clamors for space around the canals. Even the elevated train service is now lost between the towers.

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The central station area is another of Starks' masterpieces. The central train station sits over the canal from the central bus station. The canals in the center of the city are sunken lower than those elsewhere, this is because stark was once a thriving canal driven port as it's position on the edge of the river was perfect. Embassy Suites was quick to build a hotel on government boulivard to capitalise on the closeness of the two stations.

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Due to the sucess of their first project the President of Invermere Valley hired SAM industries to create more SAM residential areas throughout the city.

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An overall of the residential zone, it's intermix into the main commercial district and the canals.

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An overall of the lower part of commercial district as it stands so far.

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The centerpoint of the city. Stark tower, home to the Stark government and the tallest building in the city and indeed the region. The tower was built by Starks' 4th and current President; Anthony Stark Jr and from the top floors can see all the way to Bedford. Each president is honored throughout government plaza, which is situated in the front of the building, lets go closer and take a look.

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The three previous presidents of Stark are each honored by a monument. The first president (James Stark II) is honored by a statue of him sitting at a desk signing the documents to begin the first settlement in the area, yes the city is indeed named after him. The second president (Matthew Stark) is honered with a statue of him behind the carriage of his horses as he was a message runner during the first war.

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The final honor is indeed a special one. The third president of the region (Anthony Stark Snr) was a bomber pilot during the second war, in the last days of his life his son, Anthony Stark Jr, located the now deralict bomber in the middle of the desert hundred of miles away from here. In honor of his father he repaired the bomber to it's former glory and gave it pride of place in the plaza. The Stark baseball team is indeed named for this plane, which had the honor of being called Iron Man.

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The first ever overall shot of Stark as it currently stands. As you can tell from everything above, the same family has been in power as president of Stark since the city was first founded, they are THAT popular with the citizens. And lets be honest, who could complain, Stark looks perfect...... right? I guess only time will tell.......


Until next week, I hope you enjoyed this update and the look at some of Starks' past. Have a good week everyone.

Stu

Another great update of that downtown! I like the using of canals and parks! :thumbsup:

Stu = King.

Love that river man, awesome... Just awesome.

A region shot next time perhaps? I'm real interested to see.... Especially if you are getting far along in the valley.

very nice and i think it is very realisitc

Another awesome update  &apls I like reading about the history of Stark, can't wait to learn more about it.

thanks jimmymac, you're the best.

Another request though, where did you find Stark tower?

And if no one has gotten it yet, the Marvel Comics Hero Iron Man's alter ego is Tony Stark, a very, very rich businessman. Stark is named after Tony Stark, and Iron Man Stadium=Iron Man.

Quote from: beskhu3epnm on September 21, 2007, 11:16:27 AM
Stu = King.

Love that river man, awesome... Just awesome.

A region shot next time perhaps? I'm real interested to see.... Especially if you are getting far along in the valley.

I have to agree with Beskhu3epmn.  A region shot would be awesome!  BTW, thanks for the showing off the SAM in you MD... Your city looks awesome.

bat: When I first saw the zero7 sunken canals I knew that I had to use them somewhere, Stark turned out to be the perfect place. However my origional city plan didn't have any canals in it at all. I know I made the correct choice in the end including them.

beskhu3epnm: I've been called a lot of nice things throughout this journal so far so thank you again, I feel like i'm not truely worthy of all the praise people give me, because I feel that my MD pales in comparision to others on this site. As always, ask and ye shall recieve. I've included a region shot at the end of this update

Madeira Glad you liked it, sorry to see that you decided to try and decieve the community again  :thumbsdown: not cool.

Serenity086 (Amanda): Glad you liked the history lesson. As you well know I have to do great honour to Stark due to the derivation of it's name.

dragonshardz: You're more than welcome. Stark tower is the Al Burj by KS, he never released a final version and the one that I have is a beta (the night lighting is a bit off on one side.) It was lost when his site went down, however if you want to contact me via pm with your email addy I will email you a copy of the files.

I'm glad someone got the tie in with Marvel, I know that Serenity already knew if the tie in and never spoke of it  ;). I am a huge marvel fan and a big Ironman fan, so Stark just kind of evolved based around the name. In this case the Stark Ironmen were named after Athony Stark Snr. Aircraft, which was nicknamed Ironman due to it's heavy build, but other than that you are spot on  :thumbsup:

jplumbley: Thank you for producing the SAM and giving me a chance to display some of the areas in this MD. As I said in my reply to beskh, ask and ye shall recieve.
---------------------------------------------


Update 32 - Are We Still In Stark? It Looks Very Different Here!

Today we are going to visit the Asian district in Stark. It was one of the origional 3 districts in the city after it was founded but now, due to the cities rapid expansion there are as many "gaikokujin" living and working in the district as there are descendants of the origional Asian settlers.

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The picture above shows the main entry point into the Asian district, the viewing tower was built to honor 100 years of the Asian settlers arriving and was a gift from the government to the city.

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Apple were very quick to find a prime location in the district in which to build a regional headquarters

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The buildings are very closely built here, most buildings occupying the origional sites that the old stores existed on during "the age of the founders"

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Most of the area is now completely pedestrianised due to the huge volume of foot traffic that passes through the area daily.

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The district is still bustling even in the early hours, it has become a central hub in the city for shopping and nightlife.

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The area is famous for it's discount shops and restaurants...

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Not to mention the museums and nightclubs that have moved into the area

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Only 1 building still exists from the origional settlers, it is a small arcade that is now dwarfed by the buildings around it, still marked by the inflatable invader built alongside it however. Stark's main television buildings relocated to the Asian district around 10 years ago, it's building was the first tower to be built in the area and marked a major change in the building style in the district.

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Just above the television buildings we see the arrival point for the elevated rail lines within Stark, everything terminates at the building known simply as "the interchange".

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The interchange is one of the busiest hubs in Invermere Valley, it is the central arrival point for both the elevated train and monorail lines and also houses the central bus station. A transit hub for the airport was built alongside it to enable quick trainsit for anyone wish to fly to anywhere in the world.

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The Asian district by night is truely a wonder to behold.

Now finally a region shot of the entire area, click the picture for a larger version but be wary it's 4.3 meg in size.

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I hope you all enjoyed this weeks update, have a good week and I shall return this time next week with update 33.

Stu

Wow.. you caught my interest with this update.  Not just the pictures, but when you said you were a huge Marvel and Ironman fan.  Well, let me tell you about me.  I was a huge comic collector back when I was a teenager.  I have the first 350 Ironman comics and Ironman's first appearance.  My comic collection consists of about 3000 plus comics all in very good condition or better.  I can post a picture of it and me if you don't believe me.  I want to figure out what they are worth today as I have touched them in about 15 years.  They are all in Milar in boxes in a dry place, so I'm sure they are still fine.

Anyways, I could talk forever about comics.

Oh and great work on the MD.

Robin   :thumbsup:

FREAKING AMAZING!

I love that region view!!  Now alteast I have a general feeling where everything is situated.  Before I just couldnt fit it together.  You have definately captured the downtown feeling for Stark that is for darn sure.  Keep up the great work!

Hi Jimmymac, Nice to meet you !!  :)
This is Mas'71 from Japan.

Thank you for using my some works !!
Especially, I have never seen a SS that used my "JPN Sunken Parks" up to now. :-[ (at No.15)
so I'm very glad, and contributing this post now !!
Thank you very much for used my works Jimmymac !!  &cry2

I'm sorry to my too late "Hello" to you.
because, I can not read a lot of thread (English) at a time by my immature reading comprehension.  $%Grinno$%

I wishes your city to develop in a future too !


All of before,
I'm sorry to my no good English. :-[
Thank you for reading.


- Mas'71

I can't get over how realistic these pictures look. Your city continues to amaze me everytime  :thumbsup:

Stu wonderful last few updates... sorry ive been slacking a bit lately and for that im sowwies but i hope to see your next update soon - pat


btw welcome to page 10

Stu, I'm sorry my friend, I really have been slack lately and haven't been keeping up with everyone's MD's.

Invermere Valley continues to move along nicely. I see a few new lots, the canals and the Air Force parks. They fit
in nicely, great job  :thumbsup:


Love the Asian district, you must of spent a lot of time tracking down those lots. Nice mix of transportation networks and it's good to see a monorail. It's one of my fave's but I completely forgot about it with Balanvia, maybe the next MD.

That region view though, if I didn't know any better, it would look like you've been slacking, that is one hell of a large area you've got to play with.  :)

Cheers

Dave

PS: Go the Stags

@pat: i miss updates all the time, its ok we're only human. there's really no need to apologize.

sorry for taking over your job, jimmymac, but i figured i could take a little of the load off you. if you don't want me to do that, just yell and i'll stop.

Very nice work!

You've given me some ideas and food for thought in dealing with mountainous areas. Great job.

rooker1 (Robin): I'm glad that the update caught your eye. That sounds like an almighty collection you have there, one that I can say I am truely envious of. Now for some good news I might be able to help you with your enquiries into value for certain issues as I have a magazine that gives values for key issues:

Tales of Suspense #39 (Ironman's first ever appearance in a marvel comic) $6400 US if in mint condition
Tales of Suspense #48 (First appearance of the red and gold armour) $400 US if in mint condition
Tales of Suspense #59 (First team up of Captain America & Iron man) $375 US if in mint condition
Invincible Iron man (Vol 1) #290 $575 US if in mint condition

I would say that if you actually have any of those issues you might be getting ready to do a little dance. Obviously other issues are going to be worth a ton too if they are in good condition.

jplumbley: I'm glad you approve, my plan after completing Stark is to move back and fill in the gaps between Bedford & Stark and then see where I am by that point (I would assume it will be 2008 by then given the size of this project)

Mas'71: Your english is much better than my Japanese, so I hope I am correct when I write this; MAS-san ありがとう. I am glad that I could do honor to your creations in my city, I will continue to use them with pride.

Serenity086 (Amanda): I'm glad that I continue to amaze you with the updates, as it boades well for me later in life ;)

Patfirefghtr (Pat): Don't worry about missing the odd update, I know real life can come and get everybody now and then; I myself continue to evade it but I feel it on my heels every now and then.

Tooheys (Dave): Like Pat, don't worry about apologising, everyone gets busy periods, including myself. I'm glad you like the Asian district, the sheer number of different lots and downloads in that 1 area alone sometimes scares me. As with the monorail, I wanted Stark to be multi-transport, without having to resort to subway (i don't like subway as it feels like the quick and easy way out for transport problems.)

Now, time for a confession: I have to say you have me banged to rights on the region view, I have been slacking somewhat, as real life is getting very hectic for me at the moment: I am in the process of getting ready to move from the UK to the US in the next 3 1/2 - 4 months as well as working at the same time, so my simcity time has got very condensed. I had always intended Invermere Valley to be a multi-year project along the same lines as Jeronij's old CJ "Sculpting Columbia River" was and Darmok's "Andiun Valley Revisted" is, and I fully intended to see this project to it's logical completion, no matter how long it takes me. I may have to take a month of so's break in February, but I will return, like a bad infection :P

dragonshardz: Don't worry about answering some of the questions for me, as long as you don't steal them all I don't mind. :P As I said above I will be taking some time out when I start preparing to move, and I will need people to keep the thread alive for me so that it will still be here when I return, plus I only get a chance to reply once a week, so any help is nice  :)

Shadow Assassin: It is nice to know that I can inspire people with my MD much like people like Dedgren, Jeronij & Darmok inspired me with theirs. I look forward to seeing some pictures of the outcomes of your labours.

Wow, a lot of replies there today, I feel very popular  ;D
---------------------------------------------


Update 33 - Look Mummy, A Dolphin!

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Lets do things in reverse for once, I'm feeling daring. Firstly we start with an overall of the area.

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The edge of the Asian district is home to some of the wealthier businesses, but ultimately the waterfront is saved for only the highest rent residential properties.

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The Clint Barton memorial bridge connects Stark over the river, there are many bridges like this throughout the city, many of which also include the elevated rail and monorail bridges.

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Many consider the old Stark aquarium to be "ghetto" now, but it is still a top tourist attraction within the city.

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Development has begun on the otherside of the highway, more commecial offices are starting to tower into the sky. still following the park system that was put in place.

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The central monorail station is a huge building, running at near maximum capacity every day, turning around 30000 people through it at peak times.

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Overall of the area. See, I'm too resistant to change, I had to go back to the old method of overall at the end.

Now for the final picture I will post a zoomed out panoramic of Stark, using gizmo's new nighttime mod. Personally I love it, it makes the nights look much nicer, but I will let you judge for yourselves (click the picture for a larger version)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stu-mcewing.com%2Fcj%2Fupdate33%2Fpic8small.jpg&hash=76032bd31ec31c998d8d776e2ea75a583f6658f5) (http://www.stu-mcewing.com/cj/update33/pic8.jpg)
Until next week, I hope you enjoyed the update and I hope you enjoy your weekends.

Stu

wow, it actually looks like we're in a high-altitude helicopter or something! And it's DARK  ()flamdev()

I like the monorail station you have. Sometimes i wish i can put nice stations in my city, but the thing ive learned from playing the game is that i build the worst monorail networks ever known lolol  :-[ . You will have to teach me!

Oh and the aquarium looks like fun  ;D

Fantastic new update! Great pictures! And the last picture is looking wonderful! :thumbsup:

Super update my friend.  I love the picture with the bridge, that looks great.  And Gizmo's night modd has done a fantastic job on the last picture.

Now I do have this comic in good condition.  However owned it before me decided to write with red pen on the front cover.   >:( But at the time I thought it would be a good investment.  I picked it up for two hundred canadian dollars.
Tales of Suspense #39 (Ironman's first ever appearance in a marvel comic) $6400 US if in mint condition
As for this one, it turns out I have a read copy and a second unread copy in mint condition.  Most of the comics that were new at the time, I was buying two or three copies at a time.
Invincible Iron man (Vol 1) #290 $575 US if in mint condition
As for the book you have to grade comics, I know about it, Wizardry, I think it's called here.  But the yearly copy is about $30 to $40 bucks and it's not that important to me to grade them right now.  I plan is to give them to my two boys when they are older and can appreciate them as I do.  My oldest is only 18 months old, so by the time they get them they should be worth a small fortune.   ;) 

Anyways, there I go again. One small comment about your MD and and huge paragraph about comics.  Sorry.

Great work here, I shall be back.

&apls &apls &apls

Robin   :thumbsup:

awesome city shots jimmy although a fast fact the bellsouth "Batman" building is now known as the AT&T "Batman" building here in nashville. Recently they had taken the name down to replace it with the AT&T name.... :thumbsup:

It's my first visit to Invermere Valley, and I have to say FANTASTIC work.   &apls

Where is that monorail station from, by the way?  I'd love to get my hands on that.

dragonshardz: I do like those night time shots now, hence why I have a lot more in this update.

Serenity086 (Amanda): The aquarium kind of reminds me of the one in Brooklyn that we went to, a little ghetto but cool.

bat:Thank you, I hope you like today's update

rooker1 (Robin): Sounds like you have a very good collection there, I hope that they will take good care of them for you in good time. I didn't use the wizardry book that you spoke of, I have a few issues of the classic marvel figure collection and they give magazine valuations in the book cover for the main issues, as well as coming with some awesome lead miniture statues.

Filasimo: Firstly welcome to Invermere Valley. I'm glad you like the updates thusfar. Why is it called the Batman building out of interest? I'm assuming due to the fact that it was featured in a batman film.

ScottFTL: Again, welcome to Invermere Valley. I'm glad that you like the update. The monorail station is the BLAM High Capacity Monorail  (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=17950) by Cowkilla.

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Update 34 - Power To The People

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In a previous update we saw the el-lines crossing the water, here we see the terminating station over the river.

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Buildings start to crop up quickly around this area, including a juicy stage 15 commercial in 2 World Trade Center and was quickly followed by the stage 15 Pan Pacific Building (at the top left of the picture).

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Here is the overall area around the station, including the second line cutting through the parks.

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A zoomed out shot of the above picture, showing the two seperate lines and why I have two stations so close to each other.

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The waterfront is a very expensive area, with a few shops, hotels and nightclubs taking up the space.

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This side of Stark is very hilly and therefore has had to be graded to allow for buildings to be built, it gives the city a layered effect on this side.

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Club Atom is the 2nd most popular club in Stark after Club Globe. It stands alongside The Stratosphere Restaurant on the waterfront.

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Another night shot showing the main CBD of Stark and the new area shown in this update thusfar.

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The el-line on the south side of the shore, near the Clint Barton Memorial Bridge, crosses over some old shops, including a newly renovated McDonalds, much to the happiness of nearby residents.

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The same area from a different angle. They glory of Stark being built around the river is that there are many waterfront spots for high rent apartments and businesses.

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The same shot, but this time at night.

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Looking back at the main city from the newly developed areas.

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Of course a city the size of Stark needs a lot of power, in stepped Iron Tech industries to fill that gap with the mammouth Iron Tech arrary of 4 microwave rectenna dishes. They moved straight into the empty spot at the back of the hills, perfect for such a development without ruining the look of Stark.

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Security is a huge thing for Iron Tech, the rectenna array is guarded at all times by armed guards at the gatehouse.

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Iron Tech also took on the water management systems for the city, due to the rectenna arrays needing such a great amount of water for cooling.

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No one really knows what the Iron Man VI Array does, other than the rumours that it is tied into the IM IX space station. It certainly is an impressive sight however.

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No one can argue that the rectenna arrays look beautiful at night.

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Clearly it's doing something, but I wonder what.... only time will tell.....

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The overall Iron Tech plant and it's position relative to the rest of the city.

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Ladies and Gents, I present to you Stark as it currently stands.

I hope you enjoyed this monster update, sadly there will be no more updates for a couple of weeks as I am going away on holiday, the next update will be November 2nd. However I will endevor to answer any questions before I go away so as not to leave people waiting. Until then, have a good week.

Also, whilst I am away I have a couple of questions for you to try and answer. In previous updates we have seen Steve Rogers Drive and the Clint Barton Memorial Bridge. Who were Steve Rogers & Clint Barton better known as, and what happened to them for them to have avenues and bridges named after them. The First person to give me the correct answers will get an offical dedication of a building or avenue/bridge to them in Stark.

Fantastic new update! Wonderful pictures of this area of that city! :thumbsup: Great night shots, too!

Another wonderful update!   &apls

I especially liked the futuristic power plants and water facilities.  Nicely done.

Enjoy your holiday.  We'll be here when you get back.

Stu id have to say that 34 was by far better update then 33 lol naw both where great and i love the use of somy's power plant.... exspecialy the last pic on 34 wonderful simply wonderful....

going with the "Theme" of names here, I'll say that Steve Rogers = Captain America, who fought against the Nazi's in WW2, and Clint Barton = Hawkeye, he worked with Captain America and fought against all sorts of villans.

Ok, I figured i'd do a set of replies to the current posts before I go away tomorrow as there wont be another update until November 2nd as I am going to be with my Fiancee in New York.

bat:Thank you, I'm glad you liked the night shots, I plan to have a lot more of them in coming updates too.

ScottFTL: I'm glad you liked the Iron Tech plant, it's going to be a big part of Stark by the time I am finished.

Patfirefghtr (Pat): Glad you liked it, I love the way the Gizmo's mod makes the city look at night.

dragonshardz: You have the who are they correct, well done. You will get something special dedicated in your honor  ;D


I'm still looking for the "what happened to them" part of the question. What happened to Clint Barton and what happened to Steve Rogers? Until I get back from NY have a good couple of weeks, any questions I get now will be replied to if i get the chance over there, otherwise it will be left until I get back.

The last updat ewas fantastic.  The night shots look great.  The high Tech industrial area fits in perfect.  It's how I would imagine it would be in an Ironman comic.  Great job.  I love this city and the story line that you are creating.  I hope you have fun in New York with your fiancee.  See ya later my friend.

&apls

Robin   :thumbsup:

Hi Jimmy!

Sorry for not posting over such along time but RLS had/has a strong grip on me these days ...

Massive, impressive update. That water/power center looks great (just the slope of the avenue is a bit too steep  ;) ). Good job with the textures under the elTrain but there are a bit too colorful IMHO.

I guess I should give a try to the new night mod, too, your night pics are really great!

Bernhard  :thumbsup:

Great MD, those last shots of the power/water complex were really well thought out. :thumbsup:

As for what happened to Clint Barton and Steve Rodgers:

Steve Rodgers aka Captain America was shot on the steps of a courthouse; once in the shoulder and three times in the gut. He was shot by Crossbones and Sharon Carter aka Agent 13, his former girlfriend. As for what happened to Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, he too was shot; once in the back during the Kree invasion. However, he turned up later on, not knowing that he had supposedly died, and was eventually given Captain America's flag and shield, by the Iron Man, so that he could become the new Captain America. He was convinced by the new Hawkeye and  Patriot that he was not Captain America, and gave the shield back to Iron Man, also telling he would send the flag back later.

I don't see the connection with bridges and streets though?

Fred

First of all...


It is rather a commendable achievement, and an achievement that is fitting for an MD of this calibre.  ;D

I cannot believe that I have not, as of yet - unless my memory fails me - commented in this MD despite having followed many of the updates prior to this rather closely. I guess it is, sadly and tragically, as usually is the case with me, yet another example of saying to myself "I'll comment later" after having taken in much of the details and information of an update, only to have it slip my mind completely in the hours and days following it.  &mmm

Regardless, I have loved your usage and interpretation of the Invermere Valley map (by JPlumbley) since you first started show-casing it here, and now seeing CAM develop and bloom in your city / cities is quite an achievement and a sight to behold too.

Though, on a more egocentric note :P, I don't really like the futuristic IHT LOTs that came with the CAM, but you seem to have incorporated them rather well.  :)

This is indeed a world-class, best-seller MD and it deserves all the attention it gets and more!  :thumbsup:

Keep up the great work here and please do continue sharing your shaping of Invermere Valley!  ;D

:thumbsup:

Got it! Reply no. 200...

Just wanted to secure this... regular comment continues shortly :P

thanks jimmymac.

@freedoi know what it has to do with streets, he's honoring various Marvel Heroes by giving them streets and roads and such. i can safely assume that Tony Stark/Iron Man is his favorite hero.

rooker1 (Robin): I'm glad you liked the updates, thanks for the kind words too, I had a great time with her whilst I was there. I can't wait to get moved now to be honest.

Nardo69 (Bernhard): It's ok about not posting all the time, I know that real life can be tought. As I said above, I myself am current getting ready to move from the UK to the US. I kind of wish that the under rail texture was a little plainer to be honest, however I lack the lot editor knowledge to create one myself from the new BSC stuff that they released recently (which is what those planters are from). As for the avenue slope, it has been replaced by a much nicer looking tunnel since those pictures were taken.

Freedo50 (Fred): You are correct sir! You will also get honored within Stark. Dragonshardz is correct about my honoring different Marvel charactors throughout Stark by naming things after them, they have no direct relation to the item that they are named after, just an honor to them that is all.

M4346: Firstly welcome to Invermere Valley. Thank you very much for your kind words, I too have to admit that I keep putting things off when it comes to commenting, and then before I know it months and months can pass without me doing anything, so do not worry about that.

I'm glad that you like the industrial things, we will see more technology from Stark as we continue forward with the MD too as I full intend to keep Invermere Valley going for as long as possible.  :)

dragonshardz: You are only partially correct. My favourite Marvel charactor is actually DareDevil, however Ironman is my next fav along with Moon Knight and Hawkeye.

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Update 35 - Here There Be Monsters

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Many huge residential towers have moved to this side of the river due to the el-rail connections.

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Even though the towers build much closer here the parkland initiative is still in place, which many beautiful waterfront parks dotted throughout this part of the city.

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Rent in this part of the city is rediculously high due to the fact that almost every apartment block is waterfront or waterfront facing with very few obsticles blocking the view due to the tiered levels in this area.

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The parks in this area are a favourite walking spot for young couples if they wish to walk along the waterfront as most parks connect to the waterfront in some way.

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Anyone who is anyone that can afford the cost lives in Manhattan Heights due to the fact that it is waterfront facing.

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Many small office buildings and smaller chain hotels find this part of Stark much more affordable due to it being further out from the el-terminal and closer to the industry.

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Still they are governed by the parkland initiative, and it is much more prominant and visible here due to the lack of towers.

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The area as a whole including the D. Shardz memorial park near the bridge. He was honored with the park after beating Tony Stark Sr in a bet over baseball.

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Finally the residential monsters arrive in Stark, these buildings are lower cost alternatives for people who wish to experience city life. However they are still much more expensive than some of the places we will see in later updates.

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High rent district ahoy. A lot of rich people chose this area to live due to the good transit links etc, to answer that this monster was built.

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Finally to close out today we have a shot of some happy Stark citizens enjoying the parkland iniative.

I hope you all enjoyed this update, have a good weekend and I will see you all this time next week for update 36

Great update and awesome use of Bixels towers.  Some of those towers are huge lots and so good looking.  I have started to use some of them in my DT core.  Glad to hear you had a good time on your trip and good luck with the move.

&apls &apls

Robin   :thumbsup:

Dude!!!

I wish I could grow towers like that.  I started playing on a Steamboat Valley, from the Invermere Valley Minimap Series.  It covers much of the area in which you have started playing in.  I havent played in so long!!  Im getting used to this ploppable water thing to use it in the river beds I terraformed for PEGs Stream and Pond Kits.  Im not the greatest at mimicing the vegetation or placement of rocks that some of you guys show.  Heh, I started the other day and in the first 2 hours I got a whooping 3,000 sims to move in, then I come here to see your towers and I feel, umm... a little, bad, because you just blow me away with your awesome sky rises and the layout of your city in general.

Just you wait, one day, I will rival you!!  hehe.

Hey, jimmymac, whose seawalls are those? And thanks for the honor, completely forgot about that  ;D Great update, I only hope my version of Invermere Valley can compare to yours!

EDIT: Oh, and congrats to 200 replies as well!

Stu congrats on over 200 replies here wow.... Also have to say wonderfull updates the last few ones have been... I could have sworn i commented before but hmmm i dunno lol.... Either way congrats my friend and great work going on here - pat

Congrats on more than 200 comments! And that is a wonderful update! Great work! :thumbsup:

I think i would like an apartment in Manhattan Heights...thats if i had to money for it  :-[ .
By the way, nice traffic in the first picture, LoL. I know you have tons of people in Stark.

Been falling behind on this one. The towers... man...

I'd like to see the layout of your whole region.. if not now, once it's near completion (if it's possible to complete...). Awesome. You are a premier urban builder!

rooker1 (Robin): Those towers are truely huge when they are in game aren't they. I purposefully zoned for some of them as I wanted to see if i could get them appear, so suffice to say I was quite happy with the result.

jplumbley (Jason): I look forward to hearing and seeing where you go with Steamboat Valley, I'm up to 492000 people in Stark now, am planning something special for when I hit the half million mark. As for the towers, as they said in field of dreams, build them and they will come.  ;D

dragonshardz: Those are marrasts seawalls, or at least the BSC re-release of them that is available on the LEX. As for the dedication, you are welcome. I realised that i didn't take a close up shot of the park last week, so there is one in this update this week. I also look forward to seeing what you do with Invermere Valley, I wish you all the luck with it, it is a mammouth task that you are undertaking.

Patfirefghtr (Pat): Thank you for your kind words, I've been keeping an eye on your MD as much as I can too, you still continue to impress me sir.  :thumbsup:

bat: Thank you as always for your kind words.

Serenity086 (Amanda): Traffic is a huge issue for Stark now, I hadn't really picked up on the lines until you pointed them out, but yeah it's definately there. As for Manhatten heights, You certainly have expensive tastes, which doesn't bode well for us ......  :'( lol

beskhu3epnm: This region will most certainly be finished, I said to my fiancee the other night that I can see this taking me years as opposed to months to complete, which is just fine by me, as it keeps me busy when I have a bit of time free. I'm planning to take a region shot again in one or two updates time to show the progress so far, and trust me, it's quite a lot.
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Update 36 - The War Machines Cometh

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Stark has many small monuments to great people spread throughout the city. This spire was erected to commemorate the first ships landing in the Stark, the ships captain was a man by the name of Freedo and he laid a flag in this location to mark the first landfall, so many years ago the flag was replaced by this monument.

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This side of Stark has a very mixed bag in terms of buildings styles, whilst the other shore is mostly towers, this area has both large towers and small stores mixed in together. As always intersperced between both parks and monuments.

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A close up of the D. Shardz memorial park, the previous mayors most costly bet ever.

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Stark's dual mass transit systems are still both present in this part of the city, the old el-rail system is slowly being phased out and replaced by the monorail however.

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This area of the city is populated mostly by low and mid-rise buildings, however due to a lack of space some larger offce buildings are starting to crop up here and there.

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Sadly they do not have much care for the aesthetics of the area and this high rise buildings stand out like a sore thumb.

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Many office centres choose this area as the rent is a little cheaper due to the proximity to the industry.

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That area as a whole (including a few revisions from last week)

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Finally a teaser shot for next week, this is the home of the Stark hockey team; The Stark War Machines. This brand new stadium for the War Machines, paid for by Stane Inc, was the centre of some major controversy as Iron Tech Inc was also vying to build the stadium. This led quite a few Stark citizens to wonder if there is more to this stadium and location than meets the eye. The CEO of Stane Inc. Obadiah Stane, was quick to build new offices on the same site as the stadium, clearly he wants to keep an eye on it.... I wonder why....

Well, that it all for today. I hope you have enjoyed this update and I will return next week for another update, looking into the history between Stane Inc and Irontech Inc. Until then have a good weekend.

Very impressive collection of buildings and transportation here. I have yet to try the CAM (if that's what you've used). I can see I need to. Fantastic work!!  &apls

Another wonderful update there! Great work!

Very nice work... but I have one question: what's with the funky textures under the monorail and elrail?

What "previous mayor"? Is that me or someone else?

Stu awesome Update here and thank you, good to know at least your lurking in my neck of the woods lol...  &apls :thumbsup:

amapper: I'm glad that you liked the city so far, I am indeed using the CAM and have been since I started developing the first city in the region. It makes a huge difference to the game and adds a new aspect to it.

bat: Thank you as always for your kind words, I'm glad that you liked it.

Shadow Assassin: Those are under rail planters that were included in one of the last updates that BSC did for the parks, I included them in some areas to break the monotony of the gaps under the tracks as I am not talented enough with the lot editor to make my own under-rail lots.

dragonshardz: The previous mayor the region was Anthony Stark Snr. He lost a bet and as such had to honor the park accordingly.

Patfirefghtr (Pat): I try my best to lurk when I can, but RL is getting crazy now that i'm so close to my move over to the US

---------------------------------------------


Firstly let me apologise, as I will not be able to bring the promised update this week due to a lack of time on my part to play the game. The update showing the past history between Irontech Inc. and Stane Inc. will come at a later date (probably next week), so onto the good bits, I still have an update for you this week.

Update 36 - The Drums Of War Are Sounding.

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Firstly lets see an overall of the area, I present to you Breakneck Falls military base, located due north of Stark

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Breakneck Falls is the largest military base in all of Invermere Valley, housing around 60% of the regions troops in one place.

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The base troops share the largest barracks, and as they move through the ranks they recieve new quarters.

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Of course the officers get the best quarters of all.

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All training is done on site, from the basics right the way through to the advanced tactics training. As you can see from the above picture, the base has PT tracks running all throughout it to keep the troops fit and healthy.

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Everything they could need is on base, including a supermarket. The communications centre is almost always busy with troops contacting their sweethearts and family.

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The PT tracks envelope the parade ground and run both to and from the obsticle courses.

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A base this big needs a lot of vehicles to keep it going, as well as a lot of stores to store all the equipment and food etc. Breakneck falls even has it's own power and water treatment facilities in case anything happens.

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More PT tracks and plenty of places to clean all those vehicles.

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Every war needs ammo, and Breakneck falls has plenty of that.

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Finally we see the listening post at the top of the hill. It uses the latest Irontech dishes and utilises the IM X space station to monitor.

That brings us to a close again for today, hopefully I will be able to bring you the promised update next week, although at this stage I cannot promise anything. RL has got quite hectic for me at the moment as I am getting closer and closer to emigrating from the UK over to the US. Until next week have a good weekend.

Stu you are moving to this side of the pond??? wow thats kewl where abouts??  Awesome update here on that base wow, im impressed and even put to shame and thats a good thing as military might aint my cuppa tea.... see you soon and be safe - pat

Very well planned out military base. Im amazed at how big the facility is, very nice.  :thumbsup:

I love your military base! It's so very well planned, and so huge  :o 
Also the stadium in your previous update (for the Stark War Machines) is gorgeous. Good luck with your move accross the pond.  :thumbsup:

That military base is looking very great, jimmymac! Wonderful work on that area!! :thumbsup:

That is some serious military!

you're sure emigrating is a good idea? well, it's your life and i can't do squat, can i?

waiting for the next update (patiently of corse)

and thanks for clearing that up for me  ;)

Pat: I am indeed moving over to the US, I'm going to be relocating to New York City. I'm glad you liked the military base, I'd been putting it off for ages, and finally decided to bite the bullet, pun  not intended, and build it.

Serenity086 (Amanda): I'm glad that you like it, there will be more added to it at a later date.

sebes: Firstly welcome to Invermere Valley. Thank you for the compliments, I have been looking for a way to incorporate that stadium into a city for a long time and finally I found a way.  ()stsfd()

bat: Thank you for the warm welcome to page 12  ;D As always I'm glad you like the update.

Schulmanator:Firstly welcome to Invermere Valley. We're definately going to need that military to keep the region safe from the secrets harboring within Stark.

dragonshardz: You are welcome. As for if I am sure that emigrating is a good idea; I am emigrating to be with the woman that I love and, next March, will be marrying. In all truth I would move to the ends of the world if I had to do so as long as the outcome was the same and we got married. I am very much looking forward to my move over to the US, as it marks a new challenge in my life. Also the UK has got a bit stale after 26 years, so it's time for a change.

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Update 38 - Something Old And Something New...

Firstly let me apologise for the shorter update today, I've been tied up with marking work all week, so it's been difficult to get "face time" with simcity4, so all i have for today is 5 pics and a region shot. Hopefully I will be able to get more for next week so as to make up for this one.

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Because Stark has been around for so long there are many old buildings in the city, including Stark Cathedral.

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The Cathedral stands in the middle of a tower farm nowadays, but when it was built it was the centrepiece for the city.

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Irontech has a new  R & D facility near the Cathedral, nicknamed "The Teardrop".

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Jumping back over the river we see some more of Starks waterfront properties and the parks around them.

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Finally all those people in those residential mosters need somewhere to shop, so WALMART answered their call.

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Finally, this is how Invermere Valley now looks.

I hope you enjoyed this somewhat shorter update today, normal service will be resumed next week. Until then have a good weekend.

Like always a wonderful update there! Great region overview there, too! :thumbsup:

I like that city and the region view is delightful  &apls   &apls

bat: Glad you liked it :)

Berethor: Glad you liked the region view, it's truely a great region to work with.
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Update 39 - A New Side To Stark...


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Lets start with an overall of the area we will be covering in today's update, we're starting a brand new section of Stark today, the North-East quadrant.

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This part of Stark is much much older, the buildings are also much lower, these being some of the highest buildings in the area.

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Some chain stores love this area too, all the kids from the apartment buildings like being this close to Toys R Us.

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Wegmans moved in nearby too, making everyone happy as they don't have too far to walk for food etc.

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This area is a hit with restaurants and small businesses as everything is still within proximity of the busiest part of the city, but is just much more peaceful here.

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One of the oldest buildings in this part of the city, this department store has stood in the same spot for over a hundred years now, it is now seen as something of a local landmark.

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Crime is so low in Stark that the police can take afford a little downtime every now and then.

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It wouldn't be Stark without having some parks here and there, this is a simple little park interspaced between some of the busy streets and avenues of North-East Stark.

I hope that you enjoyed this update, I will return next week with another update to N-E Stark. Until then, have a good week.

No city is ever complete without having a Toys R' Us and a Krispy Kreme lolol. The cathedral you have in Update 38 is really nice. Looks like one i would like to have in one of my cities.

oh excellent work! really love the way you did in your update 38 iwth the cathedral and the wtc.  :) also nice stores and suburbs, keep it up  :thumbsup:

This is a very nice region you have! I'm really enjoying all the updates.

Quote from: jimmymac on November 30, 2007, 12:27:49 PM
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This area is a hit with restaurants and small businesses as everything is still within proximity of the busiest part of the city, but is just much more peaceful here.

It looks like the clinic in the picture is missing the base texture. Just a small thing to point out. It's from Vicgon's hospital pack on ST, and the only dependency is the LBT Prop Pack 1.

Serenity086: (Amanda) Glad you liked it, I agree, no city is complete without Cracka G and his crew.  :P (Private joke sorry, this will mean nothing to anyone but her and myself)

Helbem: Thank you very much for your kind comments I'm glad you liked the area, it is one of my personal favourite areas in the city, as you see a nice merge of old and new in the same place.

quackmofro: Welcome to Invermere Valley, i hope you enjoy your stay.  ;D I do love the region to be honest as much as it scares me everytime I look at it due to the sheer scale of the work to be done, but I will stick with it. I'm nothing if not dedicated. Also, thank you for the tip on the texture, it seems to be an intermittent issue, as I have all the files that it needs, seems to occur when i revert from being underground every now and then.
---------------------------------------------

Now, sadly this week I have to admit there is no update. RLS has gotton the better of me and beaten me down this week and I haven't even had a chance to launch sc4 at all. I had a choice to make for this update and that was to produce an update that would be subpar compared to the others (with a few pictures hastily taken today), or  delay the update. I chose the latter as I didn't want to dissapoint people with a short and bad update. I will return next week for update 40 and set up for something a little special for Christmas (we've not seen the "high lights" of Invermere Valley yet.)

Once again, I am truely sorry to everyone who follows me here, Stu

Stu its all good... dont worry at all... Im sorry ive missed the last few updates they have been great!!!! hope RL calms down a bit...

Wonderful new update there, jimmymac! Like the last picture of that update. :thumbsup:

Pat: Thanks for the kind wishes, as for missing updates, it's all good. RL seems to be kicking everyone ass at the moment.

bat: Stark does seem to have some wonderful little parks springing up throughout the city. I might dedicate one future update to displaying them all in greater detail.

(anyone else notice that the two commenters names rhymed this week?)  :P
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Update 40 - Back To School...

Stark is home to not 1, but 2 universities. Today we will be visiting the very selective Invermere State University campus as well as seeing a couple more areas in Stark.

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This area of Stark continues to grow, a distinct history is beginning to form throughout the buildings, especially around this block.

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The waiting list on apartments in this building is very long indeed due to it's spectacular views.

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Every big city needs a good football stadium, Stark is no exception.

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Above we see the graphics design building (in the middle in black), the main academic building (at the bottom) and the media buildings (to the left)

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Here we see the media buildings again at the bottom, the culinary academy (the middle building in the row of 3) and 2 lecture halls (to the left and right of the culinary academy)

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The main campus library alongside Smith Tower.

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A zoomed in shot between some of the campus buildings. Looks like a busy morning on campus.

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The university campus is not exempt from the parkland act, so it still has to maintain a certain percentage of parkland within the area, students enjoy getting lunch from the food stands near the library.

Well, that brings us to an end for today, I hope that you enjoyed the update. Next week I will bring you a very special christmas update. Until then, have a good week.

This is my first comment about your MD and I would have liked to post my comment earlier because I really like the style of your city. You'll can be sure that you'll see other comments by me. Great work  :thumbsup:

Yay, a pretty building just for the culinary students! I wouldnt mind learning there lol  ;D . So many nice school grounds. I wish my college campus was as pretty as the ones in Stark.

Great update of that university! Nice pictures! Looking forward to the special Christmas Update and the second university.

Air6: Thank you for your kind comments and welcome to Invermere Valley :) I hope you enjoy future updates and I look forward to reading your feedback.

Serenity086: I thought you would like the culinary academy. Sadly I think that this campus would like a little out of place in NYC.  :P

bat: I'm glad you like the university. Sadly we will have to wait until next week to see Stark City Campus, however I am bring the Christmas update this week.

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Update 41 - Christmas Comes But Once A Year.

So far i've spent all my time on the floor of the valley but today, in a special Christmas update, we are going to get high.... I mean higher

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This bridge crossing over Murdoch River is always a favourite one with tourists, as it one of the more picturesque areas to stop for a photo, plus if they are really lucky they may catch the owner of the lodge leaving or coming home.

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Some people just seem to prefer the simple life. And when they have their own island who can blame them.

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If you follow the road up from the river crossing you will eventually climb up into the immense mountain ranges that are the landmark of Invermere Valley. Pine Ridge is just one of the many small villages and towns located throughout the mountains.

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Life in the mountains is truly the polar opposite of life in the valley. Here the air is cleaner, and everyone lives much happier. Pine Ridge's buildings are mostly made from, you guessed it, pine trees.

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A closer shot of the main street.

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The towns only export, a nice christmas toy factory.

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Pine Ridge is a very small community, but the factories owners live like royalty in their lodge with not only two cars, but two boats also.

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However everyone lives happily in Pine Ridge, lodges of various sizes dot throughout the town.

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The town of Pine Ridge is expanding as people look to flee life in the cities. Who knows what it will look like next time we see it....

That brings this special xmas update to an end. I hope you have all enjoyed todays update, and I just want to wish everyone a merry christmas and thank you for all your comments and support over the last 6 months. I will return next week with another update, until then have a happy holiday.

Nice little town there on the mountain!! Great work and pictures of it! :thumbsup:

Great holiday time pix!  ;D

Great development here!. I like a lot this town and the Murdoch River looks fantastic.   &apls

Wow, i was wondering how you were gonna go about starting towns in the mountains, so far i really like it. I like the type of houses you used.

bat: I'd been putting the mountains off for a long time, I kinda liked the way the town developed, we will certainly see more of the mountains in later updates

Schulmanator: I'm glad you liked the Christmas update, I wanted to head away from the hustle and bustle of the cities for a nice winter break :)

Berethor: Glad you liked the areas, that is just a small part of Murdoch River, we will see more of it in later updates as it makes it way through the valley.

Serenity086: The mountain area is such a large part of the map, I had to finally get there in the end, no use in being scared of it ;D

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Update 42 - A New Year Comes Around

Firstly I want to wish everyone who reads visits Invermere Valley a happy new year. I want to apologise for the generally short nature of today's update, this is due to the fact that I am 22 days away from relocating from England to the United States, and everything is a bit crazy here right now. However, to prove that Invermere Valley is not forgotton about and definately not gone, I bring you a few screenshots of the area of Stark I am currently working on.

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This is a northern part of the main Stark square, the area is primarily going to be business, but will ultimately feature another major park.

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I love the black building that is built over the street. this is one of the feature buildings of this area and will definately have some history attached to it.

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Every city needs music, and Stark isn't an acception to that rule.

Once again, I apologise for the disjointed update this week, unfortunately I will not be able to update again until I get moved over to the US, as my computer is being shipped away next week, so my playtime and posting time here will be cut drastically short. I will however try to get on to reply to comments etc. I should be back somewhere around the first or second week in February, so until then take care everyone, I hope you enjoyed the update.

Stu, IV is looking good. Have always liked the look of your cities, and I can see why that building is one of your faves.

Hope the move goes smoothly. I'm sure everyone heres wishes you well, but just make sure your PC doesn't get lost, we're all looking forward to more updates.

Cheers

Dave

That's a great first update in this new year!!

And wonderful pictures of that downtown! :thumbsup:

Stu wonderful update for the first update of the year!!! cant wait to see whats beholding us for this year.......

Super update and great chioces of custom content.  The park path running through the city is a very nice touch. 
I hope your move goes well and don't worry, we'll all still be here when you get back.  ;)

Robin  :thumbsup:

I just wanted to post quickly to say that SIV certainly isn't dead, but I am just very busy right now having just moved over to the US and now preparing for my wedding that is due to take place in 3 weeks time. I shall endevor to get back to a normal schedule before the end of the month, but I didn't want the thread closing down, hence why I am posting this now.

Hey glad to hear everything is doing well there Stu and I hope you are not to nervouse for the wedding, so where is the big event going to happen @???

You really should get your priorities right  $%Grinno$%

SIV is always on my list, so regardless how long it takes I will be looking out for that update.

Best of wishes for the big day. (no pressure Stu, but no passing out at the alter, dropping the bride during the first dance, or falling head first into the cake, don't won't to see you both on America's Funniest Home Videos  ::) )

Cheers

Dave