SC4 Devotion Forum Archives

Hello all. Joel here, you may know me from my work at the SimCity Aviation Group or my various other postings around the place. This is going to be my new Mayor Dairy, the Thames District of New Zealand.

I don't aim to recreate this region, merely to use its landscape to construct my own style of city. Blade2k5 of the NHP team very kindly produced for me this map of the region, on which I will be building, taking some elements from the real area, such as agricultural types and the approximate location of main settlements (but that will come just a little later on). Please click on the map there if you want to see it in all its full resolution, .png glory.


These shots from Google Earth are to give you a sense of where in the world Thames is. The real life settlement of Thames (home to approximately 7,500 people) is located at the northern edge of the river, at the coast. The main body of water is known as the Firth of Thames (by the way it is pronounced temms, like the river in England). In real life the town is the seat of the Thames-Coromandel District Council, which governs Thames and the Coromandel Peninsula (the bit sticking out in the ocean to the north east of Thames). The plains to the south of Thames are known as the Hauraki Plains (how-rack-ee, or hoe-raa-keh depending on certain, erm, cultural factors) These alluvial plains are fertile and home to many dairy farms (which of course are the main export producers in New Zealands economy). I will be recreating these dairy farms. On the hills of the Coromandel Peninsula there are some pine forests, however most of it is in sort of native bush land. In my construction you will see some more exotic forests. The hilly region to the north west of my map is known as the Bombay hills, which are a cultural divide in NZ because they are the border between Auckland and the Waikato Region, Town and Country etc. I haven't decied exactly what to build over there yet - farming of some sort. You may notice that there are some waterways missing, from the region view that are in the real map. Blade2k5 couldn't find exactly where they should go when he was mapping the area, and I decided they didn't matter much. You may also notice that the main river, the Waihou (why-who) formerly known as the Thames River (named this by Captain James Cook - our equivalent of Christopher Columbus  ;)) does not follow its exact real course. Please don't be alarmed.


I started in the North Eastern section of the map, in the Coromandel Ranges. Here I began to build forests, and some suburban and industrial areas of the future Thames City.


Obviously, this is still a work in progress, but I like that arrangement of forests sort of scattered randomly throughout the valleys of the Ranges. I made my own custom farms using Peg's pines.


In fact, I use quite a lot of his creations. However, the trees actually seem to be quite taxing on my system. Possibly they are rendered with complex LODs or something, or maybe I just use too many of them.

Next, I went to work on a little coastal suburb of Thames. I have some of the BATs by Mattb325 and Jen_p as well as some others I collected along the way, but I only use mods to block maxis mansions, I don't mind their low and medium wealth offerings.


I also used the underwater flora, and some other flora mods alongside PEG's random pine woods to create a more realistic beachfront area. There is very rich growth of seaweed, as you can see, but I can explain this away: because of the intensive Dairying on the Hauraki plain, much fertiliser is used on the land. Some of this is washed into the waterways by the rain, which ends up in the Firth of Thames, which apparently (in real life) is at risk of suffering from an algal bloom.


I also tried my hand at producing a little mosaic of the coast and the suburban houses next to it, here's what I came up with:


I hope you like it, and if you have some good feedback and ideas or suggestions to give me, they are always welcome. Feel free to ask any questions, about anything at all that I've mentioned or about New Zealand in general. Well, yeah ... thats it, for now. I can't promise really regular updates, as my interest fluctuates between playing SimCity and BATting planes (I won't mention RL...), but I'll try my best to get one out every week or so.

Good start! I really like the region view, looks like it will be a diverse area.Gonna have to check in from time to time to see more of it.

Jayson

ahh great start and looking forwad to more!

very beutiful. Ill be looking for more.  :thumbsup:

Nice start! 

Good start! Glad to see you making a MD!

Very nice start, great!!!  :thumbsup:

You've got a very good start here. I like what I see. Keep it up!

Wow, very nice! I like the attention you gave to the natural areas. Looking forward to more! :thumbsup:

Good start, the map looks quite nice and the region view is nice. The pictures of the up hill residential area is very well done, I like how you played with the SAM. The only thing I don't really like is the messy looking of the suburbs, some time street stop and there's just one house of 1x1 between the next street or road. And these Maxis small commercial towers aren't looking great in that suburbs, I think you should replace it by some small mall..
take care,
-Arthur.  :thumbsup:

This all looks wonderful.  :thumbsup:

The river in the pre-development region view, the Coromandel Ranges picture and the shoreline vegetation are pretty good.

Wonderful start! :thumbsup: I love those residential suburbs. &apls (that might be my favorite kind of development)

Great start! I really like your Thames banner. It fits quite nicely. :)

-Jason

Cool town & Region i'll be flowing it :thumbsup:

Very nice! I love all the flora along the coast and under the water, great start to your MD!  :thumbsup:

This is really interesting and I like the New Zealand touch! :thumbsup:

Looks intresting.  ;)

This looks great!  Can't wait to follow along.  :thumbsup:

FYI I had the same issue with PEG's pines.  Love 'em but when I used too many it made the city almost unusable (large tiles).

WoW it's great where did you get that underwater bushes

Lovely!  :thumbsup:

Edit: Photobucket resized my mosaic. I'll have to cut it in two and upload again. Check back later.

Awesome i like the homes along the water

Great update! I especially like that first pic with the neighborhoods by the inlets, looks like somewhere I'd want to live. So many rocks, too, but I love those rocks. ;D Great job! :thumbsup:

Great update, my friend!!! Fantastic!!!

Wow.  Your shorelines and your marina look very nice.  &apls

Classy job on that marina and on the set of canals!  It looks fantastic! 

Your welcome. And that area looks great!!! Did you get the man made inlets from me? $%Grinno$% LOL.  :P ;D :D Keep up the good work!

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OK. Well, photobucket is being highly unco-operative, but I am uploading the mosaic chopped into 4 pieces as I type this. I just thought I would post some

Replies

Nexis4Jersey
Thanks! Mattb325 has made some superb house BATs, they're my favourites.

Jimbo_jj
I'm so glad you liked it, and yes, I'm addicted to plop rocks and underwater flora!

Tomas Neto
Thanks for visiting my little MD. I consider this very high praise from such an accomplished MD author such as yourself.

djvandrake
Thank you. I do try hard with my shorelines (ATM I'm building a seaport - probably next weeks update.)

Battlecat
Like I said to Tomas, receiving such praise from amazing city builders like yourself is really encouraging.

Driftmaster07
Sorry, I didn't get the idea from you (though I did like what you did), In the real life Thames-Coromandel district, there is another medium sized town called Whitianga (these are Māori (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori) names, by the way) where a similar development is taking place, only the canals are curvier, and there will be less dense housing. I suppose I may have been influenced by your work. What I said to Tomas Neto and Battlecat also applies to you.

Huh, I din't even think thats where they were from. :-[ Looks great overall s far! Can't wait for the new update! ;D
And thanks for the compliment!

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I've been building some industrial areas, as well as growing some more suburbs and midrise and highrise residential areas.

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I plopped and grew (yes some of the this bit grew) a pedestrianised street based commercial area near to the river. Some day I will post a region view and show where each of the other updates came from.

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And another, in the same tile as where I am developing a CBD.

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Here's a little picture of the Thames City central business district. There will be many more pictures from here, don't worry. It isn't finished yet.

Sorry for the pathetic little update, but I have been building a seaport, making my own custom lots along the way. This is what will feature in the next update, which will come next weekend.

Remember to comment!

I like that mosaic contrasting the residential and industrial area, separated by the river.  And don't worry, it's not a pathetic update.  Though, it seems like it could be overshadowed by the next update.

Looks good!

I like that last picture! very nice :thumbsup:

Your industrial area looks great!  I really like the mosaic with the river.  &apls

Wooww!!! Great update my friend!!! Fantastic mosaic!!!  &apls &apls

Sumwonyuno
Thank you for your encouraging words. I most certainly hope it will be overshadowed.

Driftmaster07
Thanks!

Glowbal
Thanks, There's more to come from the Thames CBD, don't you worry.

Djvandrake
Much appreciated my friend. I'm never really content with my industry zones, i'm afraid. They always seem to look so ugly and repetitive (and did you notice I was missing some dependencies? :D).

Tomas Neto
Thank you very much. I'm glad you liked the mosaic, since I was a little bit unhappy with it (I still showed it, so not too unhappy :D)

Wooww, great teaser!!! Awesome work!!!  &apls &apls &apls

QuoteI'm never really content with my industry zones, i'm afraid. They always seem to look so ugly and repetitive (and did you notice I was missing some dependencies? ).

No I didn't notice you were missing any dependencies.  :D  Repetition is a problem I have too, and I never really know how to "dress up" an industrial zone.  I'm good with trees and parks and those don't fit in industry.

Your teaser is fantastic!  Can't wait to see more of your seaport.  &apls

Nice job on that seaport!  Even though it might be a bit repetitive, it's very realistic.  Container ports aren't always the most visually exciting places in the world, but they are around.  Looking forward to seeing more of it!

Looks pretty good!

Love <3 quite a realistic container dock you have there.

This is the main part of the port. You can see some of the custom lots I made, mostly based on Tag_One's container port. I re-used some of them, but some of my custom ones are worthy of specific mention. About half way down the image, you can see the large warehouse, with sheep in front. You might wonder what sheep are doing in an export port, right? Well, it is an interesting subject. At the moment, in New Zealand, there is in force a moratorium on live sheep exports, but in the past New Zealand has shipped many of them to middle eastern countries, most specifically Saudi Arabia. The reason for this is that their religion dictates specific ways in which animals must be killed for meat (they must be Halal) and at certain festivals throughout the year, they are ritually sacrificed. The ban was brought in because of concerns over the animals' welfare (on the voyage, not at the destination) and because a similar export resulted in the death of over 5000 sheep. You might find this little piece of history/controversy interesting. Of course, farmers want to continue the exports, because they fetched a nice price.

Next to the sheep is an area for timber exports, which are also commonplace in New Zealand. We export timber, pulp, paper, and whole logs to many countries such as Japan (to where 10% of all NZ's exports of any kind go). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a lot of good log props, and I couldn't be bothered to make my own.

Container exports and imports make up the rest of the port.

Since PhotoBucket won't allow the uploading of files over 1mb I have started uploading my mosaics in full resolution .png format to casimages.com, luckily I know some french, so I am able to understand it quite well without using Google Translate, but anyway if you click on either one of those mosaics, you can see the full size, they are both just a shade under 1024 pixels wide, enjoy.


Here's a shot of the CBD, and I don't have much else to say about it. There is plenty more to look at from Central Thames. It will come later on.

There's likely to be another update this week, and possibly two next week, then it'll be my school holidays, so I'll have even more time to build Thames. I've also been doing other behind the scenes things this week, that will feature later on, like this:





...

I thought I'd forgotten something!

Replies:

Tomas Neto
Thanks!

djvandrake
I got those dependencies now, and you might find what I did in this industrial area interesting. I made one generic lot with a tree on, and plopped it heaps. I think it makes it look nicer with some paving around. The no grass mod by Sithlrd really helped with that too.

Battlecat
Thanks for stopping by again, I'm glad you liked it. Hope this mosaic satiated you somewhat. (to everyone:) If you want to see more of anything I've shown, please sing out. I would be happy to get some more pictures.

Driftmaster07
Thanks for the comment, Alex. I'm glad you're liking my pictures.

Glowbal
Thanks, realism was what I was aiming for!

OK then. No replies :'(

Just Kidding, I don't mind. :P

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At the request of FrankU in the Show us your Seaport thread, I am uploading and posting here some more shoreline based images, especially a better look at the railyard at the port.

They are all 1024x768 in .png, I'm afraid. I am sorry for this. If it is a big deal for you personally, please feel free to voice your complaints. If no-one has a problem with it, I will continue to upload in this manner.

The railyard is a composite image, you'll have to click it for the full size.

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And now some random shots of some coastal experimentation:

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I kind of like how this one turned out, but I guess it needs less trees. I want to know what you think.

This next one was interesting. trying to find a good way to transition between the paved city streets, and a coast without the use of a seawall. I think in RL, there would be a road or park alongside the beach, so watch this space for mu future coastal developments. There will be more!

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Nice update.
Your docks look very buzy.

Sorry I missed your update, weekends are just nuts for me.

Very impressive port and high tech industrial region.  Your use of the diagonal roads through it is ver appealing.  &apls 

Those trees look quite nice in your rail section.  That turned out very nice.  And your lotting skills are most impressive!  &apls

Bravo !! &apls

Looks great!

That's a great commercial port. &apls

Now you do have at least six replies.  ;D

I like the development very much. Espcially the seaport has my attention. But also I am curious what your blocky regionview shows when you zoom in on the forest farms, or whatever we see there.

Your coastline is very different from what I know, so there is no real advice I could give you.
I live near the Northsea which contains quite a lot of salt. So there are no green weeds in the water and certainly not at the shoreline. The shoreline consists mainly of sand (which is more yellow than the sand in your pictures, actually the Maxis beach sand has a quite acceptable colour) and what grows in the first line is only some yellow grass. The first trees we see on the Dutch coast grow about 100 meters from the front row of the dunes.
Your coastline looks good for an inland sea, in my opinion. But as far as I can see your sea is indeed something like that.
And then the looks: If you would have asked me if it would look nice to use so much floara and rocks I would have siad "no!". But the result is quite convincing. It is your touch to SC4 and I like it.  &apls

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Replies

Quote from: Glowbal on September 15, 2009, 04:51:44 AM
Nice update.
Your docks look very buzy.

Thanks. I'm glad you liked the pictures.

Quote from: citymax on September 15, 2009, 02:30:21 PM
Bravo !! &apls

Thanks!

Quote from: Driftmaster07 on September 15, 2009, 06:04:49 PM
Looks great!

Short and sweet - thanks Alex!

Quote from: Engorn on September 16, 2009, 12:55:33 AM
That's a great commercial port. &apls

Thanks!

Quote from: FrankU on September 16, 2009, 02:43:04 AM
Now you do have at least six replies.  ;D

I like the development very much. Espcially the seaport has my attention. But also I am curious what your blocky regionview shows when you zoom in on the forest farms, or whatever we see there.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked the work I did on making the lots. The region view is showing my lacklustre attempt at spreading out the forests. However, I will be redoing my forestry area, and expanding it, because I have remade my custom forest farms, minus Pegasus' system taxing trees. This will be revisited in a future update. There are also a couple of small towns and some roads, and there will soon be some rail. This will also be seen in a future update, when I show a map of Thames City's suburban rail and light rail networks, as well as a highway map.

Quote from: FrankU on September 16, 2009, 02:43:04 AM
Your coastline is very different from what I know, so there is no real advice I could give you.
I live near the Northsea which contains quite a lot of salt. So there are no green weeds in the water and certainly not at the shoreline. The shoreline consists mainly of sand (which is more yellow than the sand in your pictures, actually the Maxis beach sand has a quite acceptable colour) and what grows in the first line is only some yellow grass. The first trees we see on the Dutch coast grow about 100 meters from the front row of the dunes.
Your coastline looks good for an inland sea, in my opinion. But as far as I can see your sea is indeed something like that.
And then the looks: If you would have asked me if it would look nice to use so much floara and rocks I would have siad "no!". But the result is quite convincing. It is your touch to SC4 and I like it.  &apls

Well, yes the Firth of Thames is a sort of quite sheltered sort of deep bay, which is quite rocky (especially along the Eastern side), and has plenty of plants (partially because it is sheltered). They aren't quite as green as the mayor mode plops I used, but they are there. There are also ither things in the Firth, like mussel farming, which I plan to make some BATs for.

In other, less sheltered parts of the NZ coast, there are stil plenty of rocks, but less plants. There are also some nicer beaches, without rocks where the occasional weed washes in from the ocean. What you described about the yellow grass and the dunes sounds about right to me as well. I actually am not all that happy with the beaches my terrain mod gave me. I may have to do something about that, they look better for a tropical island.

The second to last picture was of a riverfront, I neglected to mention. Hence the trees were so close. It was the same river as seen in the mosaic from update 3.

In the last picture, I was trying to recreate the sort of scrub-like bushy grass, using what was available to me at the time, as well as a little worn down pathway. On the beach, I was hoping to replicate some sort of washed up debris, but that would have more to do with the tide line, and there wouldn't be as much big logs and rocks. I guess I would have to say those trees were planted by people, because none of the NZ native trees look like that, and I need to explain it somehow. I have some better ideas for beaches, so erm... stay tuned I guess. Perhaps I can show some RL pictures for comparison sometime. But we will be heading inland for the next few updates (some more boring suburbs... but then some dairy farms!).

Fantastic job on that industrial port area.  It looks great!

The last picture is the one of which I am the most proud. This is my first time really using much plop water, and I am really happy with the outcome.

Nice update, I like the use of the plopable rocks, good job with them. The water tower is nicely placed there, even if with a little path to it, it will be even more nice. Great job with the rapids, nicely done. I love the town too as well. And, btw, what is that rock mod you use ?
Take care,
-Arthur. :thumbsup:

looks great :thumbsup:

The river and the distribution of the streets are magnificent!!! Great work my friend!!!  &apls &apls

 &apls

Some challenging terrain and very nicely done.

OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Although some mossy rocks would make it more diverse and realistic ;).

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Replies

Arthur (Art128)
Thank you, and thanks for the suggestion. I have made some sort of walking trails in this update, you might be interested. The rock mod is one by pegasus, called Weathered Granite.

Builderbuiltoff
Thanks!

Tomas Neto
Thank you.

djvandrake
Thanks, yes it was quite challenging to get those roads to go up those hills, but I luckily I have altered the slope mod to be a bit less difficult for streets.

Alex (Driftmaster07)
Thanks for the 36 exclamation marks. I agree about the mossy rocks, but the ones I have right now are too dark green for my liking.

Now for the
Pictures
(all are clickable for full size)

What is this tiny village? Who lives here, and why?

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Who choses to make their home alongside this rugged, and windswept coast?

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Who walks these trails up the hillside?

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What brought them here?

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What keeps them here?

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Anyway. The Thames Coast Road, as it is known in real life, is a link for holidaymakers in New Zealand to the white sand beaches, and fancy estates of the Northern Coromandel Peninsula. It is notoriously windy (as in it has many turns and corners, not breezes and gusts) but every summer, on Friday evenings, and Saturday morns, thousands of Aucklanders will drive from their homes, through the Thames district, and up the coast road. Traditionally, I myself take the trip once a year, with my family, to stay in my grandparents' beach house up there. For me however, it is an 8 hour drive from Palmerston North (did I show it on the map, in the opening post?). Whereas it is a 3 hour one from Auckland.

So, infact, those houses could well be the beach houses or 'baches' (say: batches) of Thames City residents, or Aucklanders, or even Hamiltonians. They could also be the homes of retirees or artsy types, who knows?

As always, enjoy.

And comment! ;)

I can only imagine how the coast looks in real life, but these picture are helping.  :thumbsup:

Very nice coast pics. &apls ;)

Wooowww my friend, great work here!!! Fantastic update!!!  &apls &apls

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Replies

somwonyuno
Luckily, I have some more pictures of the coast today. And I found some good real life shots, for comparison.

Engorn
Thank you - I hope you like todays ones, as well.

Tomas Neto
Thanks for commenting so frequently in my little MD. I'm glad you like it.

Now for the
Pictures
(most are clickable for full size)

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It seems like just yesterday that I was posting that last update...

So, you see I've taken a leaf out of the books of some of the MD authoring greats, like Dedgren, Ldvger and Yann077, and I have included some some pictures from the real life area. I hope it enables you to see a bit of where I get my inspiration. But you may also notice that I need to change rock mods, and that that my plop rocks aren't quite perfect for the role. I hope you do notice my use of mayor mode flora plop beaches, and plants. I used a lot of FAR, as you can see, and I think it turned out just great.

The densely forested area is intended to be 'native bush' or just the indigenous wild plants, in an undisturbed or nearly undisturbed state. I will be returning to the areas of commercial forestry sometime soon. But I hope you enjoy the native, untamed side of New Zealand.

Speaking of which, this MD has become a member of a CJ/MD union, the League of Nations, which also includes woodb3kmaster's Nyhaven, driftmaster07's Atrubia and dizflip's Kilgeo. It should be interesting, but I plan to keep this MD going mostly down the same path as it is now, nothing much will change because of its membership, but there could be some interesting storylines perhaps.

Another couple of nice updates!  While the rocks on that coast are whiter than the reality, it still looks excellent!  Certainly a very close replication!  I like the port in that update I missed a few days back as well!

Your shorelines rock!  :D

Seriously, very well done.  I really like the inclusion of the pictures for inspiration.  Wonderful update.  &apls

Very nice shorelin!  :thumbsup:

Thanks for including RL pictures.  It's nice to see the coasts of other great Pacific islands.  I certainly am marveling at your work on shorelines.  It's giving me an urge to redo the shorelines in my region.  ;D

Is that an angel tree in the second pic? ???  :D Just kidding. :P Looks very cool and compares greatly to RL. :thumbsup:

Awesome shorelines! I am liking the rl pics too :thumbsup:

absolutly breathtaking...well done :thumbsup:

How very Kiwi!

But srsly, this MD is capturing the Australian/New Zealand style is an exceptional manner!

Keep up the great work!

Awesome work my friend, as usual!!!  &apls &apls

joelyboy911, nice update. I like the way the road works with the shoreline, looks great  :thumbsup:.

If anything perhaps some darker/slimier rocks in the water, but just a thought.

Looking forward to more.

Dave

You know what... your work is great, but all the time I looked at your pictures I felt there was something wrong.

I guess I know now what that is: it is the shoreline. I think your beach mod is not ok. The sand is too greyish-white as if it is emitting light. Maybe it would be a good idea to search for other beach mods with a bit darker and maybe brownish colour.
What do you think?

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Well, at 1:30 a.m. New Zealand time, it must be time for some.

Replies

Battlecat
Yes, it is very true that the colouring of the rocks I am using is far removed from that which can be seen in real life. However, I think what I have done looks quite nice, if not realistic. The advantage of those rocks is that they are in a cluster, so I don't spend as long painting them onto the terrain. The disadvantage of the pegasus rocks was that since they were in a plop chain that ended in a huge boulder, they tended to get a bit out of hand, and placing them became tedious to me.

I'm glad you liked the port as well - plenty of work went into those lots.

djvandrake
Thanks for the compliments, and hopefully I can show more real life pictures where relevant in the future.

Glowbal
Thanks, I'm glad you think so.

Sumwonyuno
You are very welcome, my friend - I think I will try to put in more of them from now on. And thank you.

Driftmaster07
An Angel Tree? Could you elaborate on this? I'm glad you were able to see clearly where the inspiration is copied from.

just_a_guy
Thanks. I'm glad you liked the RL shots, but you should know that I found them, resized them added a colour effect and re-uploaded them.

Cali
Thank you.

adroman
Thanks, thats what I was shooting for. Don't worry - I will :P

Tomas Neto
Thanks for being a regular visitor to The Thames District. Your compliments are much appreciated.

Tooheys
Thanks for stopping by. The rocks are white and clean because the green ones that came in the same pack were a bit too green, if you know what I mean. As I said in the reply to Battlecat, I really like these plop rocks - they are the best I've found so far. I used to hate that road, back when I was only a small child (I am 15 now, take from that what you will...) driving around that road up to the beach house - I vomited on more than one occasion. The RL version is more twisty than I can possibly achieve in SimCity 4, but I tried my best.

And to Everyone:
Thanks for visiting, even if you just lurked (I saw some of you $%Grinno$%). Thanks for 70 comments, and over 2000 views. The next update will include the last instalment of the Thames Coast Road, as well as some more of suburbia and the like.  

Very nice update! The shore is really well detailed! However, I'd like to note that in RL there aren't trees below and too close to power lines, you'd better cut down some of them ;)

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Reply

Ioan (Io_bg)
Many Thanks, my friend. You are quite right about the powerlines, of course.

Picture

Just a quick picture of the last part of the coast road. This is where the coast, on the Eastern side of the Firth, meets the Easternmost suburbs of Thames City.

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There are going to be more pictures from this area, as well as as new pictures from the Suburbs (dull - I know), on my next few updates, which will come in quick succession on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (my time). At present I am spending a few days at my Grandparents house, and they have only a small small data allocation, as they don't use the internet much, so I don't want to use too much of it up, by uploading a load of pictures.

I have, however, been playing plenty, and importantly I have managed to capture the passing of the seasons, in a 6.5mb animation of a small suburban street featuring a multitude of C.P.'s seasonal trees. I'm in two minds as to whether or not to upload it - would any of you be interested in seeing it? Perhaps if you are, animations can be more common in this MD, they are very large for me to upload, and you to download, so if you think its worthwhile, it will be worthwhile for me as well.

Please comment, and look out for a lot of pictures by this weekend. I might upload a few more pics in the next few nights as well, but big updates, like I said, Thursday and Friday.

Looking Fantastic Joel!
That Ocean Road looks great in SC4, I imagine it'd be quite something in real life...
:thumbsup:
Great work again,
Good luck at your grandparents...

Catcha 'round...

QuoteI'm in two minds as to whether or not to upload it - would any of you be interested in seeing it?

Now that's a stupid question, of course we'd like to see it. I'm not sure of the best way to post it though. If you are not sure could I suggest you having a chat to bat or Pat who have done similar things in the past.

Another great coastline pic. And don't worry about suburban shots, they may not always be pretty, but the region depends on them. It's always good to see how different people approach residential developent. How else do we learn?

Dave

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Replies

Dave (Tooheys)
I know I should wait, but I wanted to give a quick reply. The animation is 6.5mb, as I said. I could upload it, as I think Casimages will allow it. Then I would have to link to it, as its too big to make people download when they come here. The other option would be to pretty up the animation, and add a little music, and upload to Youtube as a video instead.

I'm glad you want to see my suburbs as well. I think they are not too ugly, as I try to only take pictures of the more interesting areas.

Soon, when Thames City is built up to where I want it, there will be maps and region views, as well as Transit schemes and projects of developent.

Adrian (adroman)
Thanks, yes it is a quite impressive sight in real life, but the best views and vistas are when you get up further (past where my map goes) and that road takes a turn inland, and as you come over the hills, there is one particular point where you see down to a small tidal bay or inlet, and on a sunny day - Amazing. When I go there this december, I will try to take some photos to show you all. I'll also try to get more RL pics for future updates.

 &apls  That's a fantastic coastline.  You've done a really nice job of transition from beach sand to rocky area and back again.  Looks very realisitc.  :thumbsup:

The coastline looks great! &apls

I forgot to mention: You definitely should show them suburbs!
Those pictures would be great, seeing the inspiration next to the result is always nice..

Great work again,  ;D

Catcha' round!

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Replies

Djvandrake
Thank you. After the main update of Thames Coast Road on Thursday, I will head inland for a while. That is shown by todays teaser pics. I hope you like my future pictures, hopefully containing more nature-style beauty as well as aesthetically pleasing urban environments.

Bobbi
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures, as I certainly had fun making them. Thanks for stopping by.

Adrian (Adroman)
OK. I will take plenty of pictures of the suburban homes. I hope I am able to inspire you.

Pictures

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These two pictures are from the same tile. Its a medium, like most of Thames. I will show a mosaic on Friday or Saturday of the connection. Its on the edge of Suburbia, and the bush on the hills. The Autumn (Fall?) picture is one of the ones I put in my animation (which contained 15 frames all of which had one or tree changing season - none were identical!).

Anyway, I'm having a nice time at my grandparents' house.

Thanks for all the views, and remember to comment  ;).

That river and the winding road next to it look really great!  &apls

-Stijn-

^^ Agreed.  &apls  The winding pathway next to the river looks like a great place to stroll.

I really like the seasonal trees in your second pic, and I'm looking forward to the animation.  :)

Quote from: joelyboy911 on October 06, 2009, 03:01:28 AM
Adrian (Adroman)
OK. I will take plenty of pictures of the suburban homes. I hope I am able to inspire you.

Heh, I meant your inspiration, not mine   :P

Anyway, It looks wonderful... especially that winding road.
Those suburbs look really realistic as well!

Good to hear you're enjoying yourself, school started this week so I surely am not  ::)

I could've sworn I posted a reply! Well anyways, that suburb is very nice along with the road! And adroman: School starts for you!? I've been in school two months! Lol.

Actually, it looks quite realistic indeed, just not exactly like the photos you posted!  The last two updates also look great! I like that plopable water river you built!

@ Driftmaster, school starts now, coming in from the 2 week spring break..

No more time off 'til November.

School sucks, I spend most of my computer lessons here anyway  :P.

Havva good one,

[/offtopic]

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Replies

BarbarossaS
Many thanks. There will be more pictures from my river soon. I have decided that I quite like PW, so I will be making many more PW rivers, and streams. However, I too have trouble getting a good transition to the sea. I'm also glad you like the road.

Djvandrake
Thanks mate, it means a lot. I will upload the animation for the upload on Saturday I think.

Adrian (Adroman)
Thanks. Ah, I read it wrong. I won't have any RL pictures of the suburbs, I'm afraid. I'm moving away from recreations, at the moment, so no more photographs for a while, until I get into some of my rural Dairy Farming areas, then there will be plenty.

Anyway, who are you posting twice in my MD, eh?  :D

Alex (Driftmaster07)
Thanks. Yes, school here in New Zealand, and over in Australia is going back about now (I'm going back on Monday) because we've had our 2 week break. Summer holidays for 7 weeks or so starting in December.

Battlecat
Thank you. I know it looks way different than the photos, but I like it none-the-less. I think it has the right amount of rockiness. 'Realistic' is the highest compliment, Thanks again. I'm pleased you like the river, I'm getting very attached to the TPW.

Pictures
Hey Nardo, If you're reading, I have a little rail themed mini-update here. And you're banned for not reading my MD %ban%.

Here's the railway map of Thames City's commuter lines.

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I made this by hand, so its not quite perfect, but it gets the point across. The line extension under construction to Palmerston City is a hint at what I'll show in a future update (could be fairly distant) - Palmerston City, named after my own home town (Palmerston North) will be a medium sized city, I'm thinking about 80-120 Thousand people, we'll see. I have a large city tile, you see, so we'll see Railway's construction through the rural areas and that sort of thing.

Yesterday, I got a bit of modding practise in. You wouldn't believe how simple, actually, it was to make this almost totally new style of rail viaduct. All that I had to mod was the textures. So I ended up with a grungy style of slightly more modern raised rail. I'm thinking of making it again, to make it look newer and a bit nicer, but anyway, I finished up with a sense of achievement and this very personalised style. The reason I did it was that I felt the old brick arch style was better suited to a European style city - ie. that they were built a long time ago. I want to hear what you think about the new look. I could potentially release this mod.

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Anywho... thanks for all the views, and remember to comment  ;).

This is very nice as a city. I love the pic where it's autumn, this is splendid!! &apls

Guillaume :thumbsup:

Wow, now your modding too?!  :thumbsup:

I do like the new rail lines you made.  The brown stands out a bit against the concrete but it's not at all unrealisitc given the propensity to support things like this with painted steel.  It's impressive and should make a good, unique addition to your city.

Your rail map is quite nice too.  :thumbsup:

joelyboy911 is banned for banning TKoB! %ban%

joelyboy911 is double banned for ...

D'Oh! Wrong thread ...

Sorry, since some time I take care about my 20 month old son, a true time and energy vampire - haven't hardly played the game (not even for my village competition at simforum.de (http://www.simforum.de/showthread.php?t=168510)) and just checked the usual threads at simforum ...

I haven't looked at the other pages ... my dsl line here in Turkey is just too instable and slow.

But I like the coastal road - just the curves in the middle of the last update's mosaic seem a little bit too much for my personal taste. Nice work with the catenaries, too, even though I do prefer the SFBT catenaries.

Take care!

Bernhard  :thumbsup:

Oh, just in case I forgot:

You're banned by TKoB! %ban% :D  :satisfied:

Summer hollidays in December? ()what() Oh thats right! :-[ I forgot that you guys have Summer when we have winter and winter when we have summer! Lol.

some things nver change... %ban%
anyway, nice job on the rail viaducts (even though I prefer the original ones)

also good to see Nardo is still around

Xander

PS: %ban% %ban% (post written in nostalgic mood created by Nardo's post above)

PPS: for old time's sake: TKoB is banned for being a fellow MetEENDo69 entity member %ban%

That's fine, can't wait to see the Dairy Farms...

The rail system looks very interesting, I think you should go with the Viaducts shown, they look brilliant!

Great work, again  :thumbsup:

(I think this might just be my last reply 'til yours, eh?  $%Grinno$%)

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Replies

Guillaume (Sciurus)
Merci! I hope you like tomorrows update, which will have plenty more suburbs, with seasons. And that animation...

djvandrake
Thanks for coming by again, DJ. Its very nice to have a regular follower such as yourself. Yes, I have made a little foray into modding. My modding hit a bump today, when trying to mod prop exemplars for my dairy farms. They'll be a little way off yet. I'm not totally sure I'm 100% happy with the rail viaduct mod yet, I might try painted steel - maybe green? Maybe i'll go for one with a concrete support instead of the steel. At any rate, I am considering releasing the final version of that mod (if such a thing ever exists). But only if there is a demand for it.

Bernhard (Nardo69/TKoB)
You came! Of course I don't actually mean, by saying you're banned (%ban%), that you are obligated to visit my MD. But I am glad you did. I have always admired yours.  ::) I never knew you were in Turkey, but I hope you are enjoying spending time with your son. Of course I understand if your internet connection is slow - mine is routinely slow for the last few days of each month, after our household uses up all of our allocated bandwidth (we could buy more, but the next plan is twice the price, for twice the data - which is not necessary). I'm glad you liked the coastal road, as it was quite fun to build. The curves that you said were too much: were you meaning the ones by the PW stream? I agree that those three 45° turns could be replaced by a small stretch of FAR, which would make the road more safe, as well. SFBT Catenaries? I can't even remember the name of the ones I have installed, I might have to have a look at those ones.

Alex (Driftmaster07)
Yep, december. Its that whole North/South thing with the hemispheres.  :D

Xander (WC_EEND)
Thanks for the compliments on the viaducts. I can see why you would choose the brick arch style - I guess you would build more of a European city. I agree, Its excellent to see Nardo about. Also, my best friend from primary school was called Xander. Now I'm in a nostalgic mood...

Adrian (Adroman)
Ooh... the Dairy Farms. I'm having trouble with those right now, as mentioned up there ↑ (If you want specifics, I can give them) but hopefully my modding misadventures will turn good again soon. Thanks again.

Pictures

This is the last part of the Thames Coast road, the Southernmost end of the Route, which in RL is known as the Thames Coast Road and officially designated as State Highway 25. Further down this road (to the South West) there is a famous bottleneck, called the Kopu Bridge about which there is a very forgiving article, here [link] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopu_Bridge) on Wikipedia.

Anyway here are the pictures. Starting at the road, and moving into Town, at the northern suburbs of Thames.

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(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2F4.jpg&hash=f065c6fe158bbfb4e3744963badb3b39e357ce56)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2F2.jpg&hash=8eb97e5fdd03c8082a64144e37df89b635b292fb)

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I know. Its not the mega-update I was expecting either. But there will be more pictures in a big suburban update, tomorrow, I expect.

Thanks for coming, and as always, don't forget to comment. ;D

Once again, wonderful work! It's nice to see that this beautiful road leads to this lovely little town.
Great job, my friend!  &apls

-Stijn-

Very nice update, my friend!!!  :thumbsup:

I was a nice update, and to help you, now you have the NL catenaries by ebhk2006 for plunderer's railway catenary mod, the SFBT ones are here (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=925) if you want them ;)
all I can say is: keep up the good work.

Xander

Beautiful work!!!  I am really digging that coastal road you have right there!  Very nice!

Oh, and...

100 comments...!

I really like the rocky beach you have there, Joel.  I also like the use of the asphalt streets for that neighborhood.  Good work!

:thumbsup:

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Replies

BarbarossaS
Thanks. Actually those are the outermost suburban areas of Thames City, for which the population is now 680,000.

Tomas Neto
Thanks Tomas. I'm glad you liked it.

Xander (WC_EEND)
Thanks, ah yes, I do rememer downloading that mod. Its really good, actually. Every piece has catenaries in exactly the right places.

DreamCat
Thanks, I'm really glad you liked the Coast Road. I was hoping I didn't lose the readers' enthusiasm by dragging it out over three updates. Thanks for making the 100th post!

Metarvo
Thanks. Yes, I use asphalt almost exclusively. I am thinking of developing a mod, to change the default streets to the asphalt set. This was also discussed in 3RR as a way to free up a slot on SAM, as a large portion of people don't think concrete streets are very realistic. Thanks for coming!

---

The Update


So, I'm a best seller now, eh?

Many thanks to all the readers who have posted, and made this MD a success so quickly. Special thanks to those who have made this MD one of their regular reads, your posts have meant a lot to me, as the author.

So thanks for 100 comments, and here's to the next 100.  ;)

OK, so this is the tile I hinted at with the autumn shot, and the stream. I've been perfecting my PW techniques, (I think) and building up suburbs with excellent BATs, many of which were created by Mattb325 - I like his Cottages Ornee a lot. I think this is my biggest mosaic ever, so enjoy it.  :)

Oh yeah, don't miss the animation.  :  ()stsfd()

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F10%2F09%2F%2F091009104727829244602143.png&hash=dcc72fb48e16056003013727cd73516225f8db99)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F10%2F09%2F%2F091009104727829244602142.jpg&hash=cbb5fc5ac9fffddd31553daada257df214dbb405)

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OK. This is the animation. It was too big to upload to Casimages, and I got a bit lost trying to convert it to a format uploadable to YouTube. So, I scaled it down a bit (size wise).

Click Here For the Animation (http://nsm02.casimages.com/img/2009/10/09//091009112440829244602259.gif)

Anyway, I've been doing some work in lot editor, trying to make my farms work properly, as well as building myself a custom set of walls (Mas71 style) among other things. I plan on another update in the weekend at some point. I have some more coastal areas - In fact I've redeveloped the very first tile I showed here.  So, a new beachfront suburb tomorrow or Sunday.

Thanks again for reading, and for carrying Thames into Best Sellers.

Remember to comment!  :P

Ow, so much for a little town  :P
Nice residential areas in this update! And once again, you do know how to make a rivershore!  &apls

-Stijn-

Those are some nice looking suburbs. Mattb325's house continue to impress me. I really like the changing fall colors in the animation, too. Excellent job! :thumbsup:

-James

Congratulations!  You've beat me to Best Sellers as well.  I like that long mosaic and that animation's pretty nice as well.  :thumbsup:

Very nice work as usual!  Also, a very nice mosaic.  Matt's houses are really looking good.  You really are a master with windy roads.  In my opinion they look amazing.  The ploppable water is also quite good...I think my only gripe with this update would be the lack of trees and flora next to the stream.  There's too many rocks and not enough shrubbery.  But enough with my bellyaching.  Good update overall.

And yeah...awesome animation!  lol.

Wonderful mosaic and a great animation.  Full of life and activity.  &apls

Nice mosaïc. :thumbsup:

Very cool!

Very nice Joel!

I like the little pocket of Commercial in the corner there, it looks super...  :thumbsup:

Havva a good one,

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Replies

Stijn (BarbarossaS)
Yeah, not so little I guess. Thanks for the compliments.

jimbo_jj
Thanks, yes he's the king of suburban BATs. Those autumn colours were precisely what inspired me to put that animation together.

Sumwonyuno
Thanks, you'll be in Best Sellers soon too, I think.

Dreamcat
Thanks. I wouldn't say I was a master with them...  ::)
Fair call, about the plants vs. the rocks. I had wondered if I had overdone the rockiness - I might tone it down a little for the next time I make a river. I am thinking of putting in a lot of PW streams and rivers, as they exist in RL. I'll probably be adding in the river thats missing from my region - all or mostly in PW, which should make for an interesting update somewhere down the line.

Djvandrake
Thanks man. I'm glad you liked the animation - more work went into it than is obvious just from looking at it.

Earth Quake
Merci!

Alex (Driftmaster07)
Thank you!

Adrian (adroman)
Thanks, Speaking of super... I just realised my region is totally devoid of Supermarkets.

---

The Update



Here is the railway terminus at Kitt's Avenue (see the railway map). Also showing of course the beachfront of the northern commercial area of the same name. This is one of the most upmarket shopping areas in Thames City, and the apartments above them are some of the most expensive.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F10%2F11%2F091011034047829244614165.jpg&hash=9dc0b1d068274b5e156eef7d3a18394b22748614)

And here is a mosaic to show a large stretch of the beach along the same area, as well as some of the houses and commerce zones.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F10%2F11%2F091011034047829244614164.jpg&hash=afed599ceb0994f491fee3389e4f4169ab014d9e)

And this is one of the things I spent a bit of time on this week - the Boat Ramp.
Also, I've discovered that theres a little bit of a magical effect if you put pictures in mirror image - have a look.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F10%2F11%2F091011034046829244614163.png&hash=58522824a1a7b5cf57691ba26fb486429070b6c0)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F10%2F11%2F091011034046829244614162.jpg&hash=2ded5fc25cd15e96b2c70492a433c501a25572f5)

And lastly, the picture I entered in the competition.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F10%2F11%2F091011034046829244614161.png&hash=99d60629a060bb7eb952aa1c71da92b495c36218)

Thanks for viewing,

and, don't forget to comment.

I like the boat ramp! A very good idea!

Awesome,

I was thinking about Supermarkets in SC4 when i was in one yesterday, I was thinking of BATing some if School ever gives me some free time!

Lovely work,
Did you make that Boat Ramp? Or did you get it from somewhere?

EDIT: Good luck at school tomorrow  :D

Superb Update.
Your seaside city is really realistic and successful.
It gives desire to live there.

The only comment that I could make would be on the beach, which is really empty (but seen that we are in autumn, It's normale when there are not people)

No offense man but you update way too fast.

I mean, I just posted a comment here.  ;)

You know...you're darn right.  It doesn't make a lot of sense, but mirroring the image does provide a good effect.  The boat ramp and the beach indeed look very nice.  The choice of buildings is also very nice - do you use NoMaxis?  Because I don't see any Maxis buildings there...

The train is looking good, but the space next to the tracks is kind of empty.  I'd put some trees along it.  It would look much nicer~

A thumbs-up worthy update there --->  :thumbsup:

Those boat ramp pics caught my attention. Great idea! Very creative. I like those walls you used around the beaches, too. Great job! :thumbsup:

-James

Very nice update! I love it

Nice update, I like the walls with stairs just before the beach itself, it reminds me of the Belgian beaches

That boat ramp is fantastic!  &apls  It shows that you put some time into it.  Very nicely done.  :thumbsup:

Very nice job on the city you just need to add more stuff onto the beach so it doesn't look so bland.

Not aiming this at anyone in particular, but I've had it with the accusations of Coastal Unrealism...

You know Joel, I think those beaches are extremely realistic, Kiwi and Aussie beaches aren't always packed out with stuff...  No offence, but can cry me a river over said "unrealism" ... unless you've seen the beaches that Joel has based his on, I don't think that's a fair comment at all...

Just another two of my cents...

Great work, again  &apls

EDIT: Political correctness...

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Replies

Driftmaster07
Thanks. It's not really perfect, and I don't like the way it transitioned into the sand. But as you said, the idea was there.

Earth Quake
Thank you. I am going to talk in a minute about the beach. I'm glad you liked the higher density bit in front of the beach. I tried to include older European styled BATs, but I'm not sure if it turned out realistic or not.

DreamCat
Thanks, I thought I had explained that I had been accumulating material, whilst at my grandparents house, and that I wasn't willing to take lots of their limited bandwidth to upload big mosaics and the rest. Thats why I had so many updates in quick succesion. Anyway, I'm back to school now, so my time is again taken up with that. So you won't have to worry that I'm too frequent  :D. Its is strange what mirroring the image does, I guess its just the lighting or something. I don't know about putting trees by the tracks, that could be a bad idea. Perhaps it would look nicer, but I'm happy with it how it is now. I do use some of the no maxis mods, but not for Industrial, I block Maxis: Farms, R$$$, CS$ CS$$ CO$$. Thanks again.

Jimbo_jj
Thanks, yes I made those walls myself, but had some strange issues with the fence props - sometimes they stayed when I bulldozed the lot, other times they disappeared off the lot. It only happened with the diagonal ones. Weird. I'm glad my boat ramp is receiving such an excellent critical acclaim.

Glowbal
Thanks!

WC_EEND
Thanks, I've never been to Belgium myself, but I hope to go there sometime. I'm not sure if I've seen anything like those walls in real life myself, but I know there are some types of fortifications before the beach in some places, especially if most of the sand would be underwater at high tide. I have some other types of beachfronts to show at a later date.

djvandrake
Thank you very much  ()stsfd(). You know, I really did put a lot of time into it. Thanks for noticing.  :)

Danielcote
Thanks daniel. I'm sorry, but I don't really like the way you called my beach "bland" If you look closely there are some people on the beach, as well as rocks, and seaweed below the waterline and boats going around. Unless it was 3pm in the afternoon on Saturday in mid-summer, there would not be many people on the beach. It took a very long time to detail that shore, plop all the beach Mayor Mode flora (that is the grey sand texture). I'm sorry, but I can't say I appreciate being told what I "need" to do, either - you are entitled to your opinion and all, but you could be perhaps a little more tactful, as well as detailed in your constructive criticism please - what sort of "stuff" should I put on the beach? Have you thought of using IMHO (In my humble opinon) even the 'H' can be left out, and your comments will be much better received. I'm not offended, but someone else might have been had this been their MD.

Adroman
Many thanks for your 2 supportive comments. Thanks also for defending my Coastline. You can deposit as many cents as you like. Thanks for wishing me luck for my first day back at school. You are right. Since our two great Nations have got an abundance of beaches, and only small cities (world comparitive), the beaches are often relatively quiet, even at peak times, except some beaches like in Sydney at Manly, Bondi etc, and in Wellington where the few little beaches get packed really quick for some reason. Its not unrealistic, for me to have them as they are.

Anyway, enough of all that - time for a few

Pictures.

I've been BATting, these last couple of days.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FMemorial.png&hash=5384ab21304471c7ef1a072f3cbc8f0ebcaedeef)

A World War I memorial to feature in an upcoming Memorial Park.

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I don't think there are any HD flags on the market at the moment. So perhaps a new prop pack from Joelyboy911. We'll see. Perhaps I'll upload these ones onto the STEX and see how they are received. They hang down significantly, hence the angle. There will definitely be flags from other places later on.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FNightsuburbs.png&hash=399f9cb7753f28ee4e09d0329300f11355aa9ef4)

And, another teaser pic - Evening rush hour, in Suburbia.

Enjoy everyone. Keep up the comments, I won't bite too hard.  ::)
I don't mind criticism, really, just be specific, and polite.

QuoteKeep up the comments, I won't bite too hard.

, but me on the other hand ...  $%Grinno$%

Nice update Joel, those Anglosphere flag's I'd look great on the Memorial if you ever did a release with it...

Havva good one...

Nice replies Joel :thumbsup:

Great work with the beaches. I know they are mostly deserted over there because it's always so bloody cold  :P but that could be any beach in the southern states over here during the winter months. (Well except Bondi, but perhaps I shouldnt go there  $%Grinno$% )

Seriously though, that is a good looking beach and I'm sure there are quite a few people here that would be interested to see how you did that.

Well done

Dave

Very cool! Love the flags but couldn't the pole width be reduced a little more? Edit: Ah, its growin' on me. ;)

nice work on the flags, and on a side note: if you should ever come to Belgium, let me know ok? :)

Nice to see more high-quality props. Very realistic and more 3D than most flags I've seen around the sites. Pretty cool! ;D

-James

Superb Update, bravo.
I really like  your suburbs.

Besides, your bat and flags are very Splendid, good job.

The memorial looks great and so do the flags.  The poles are a touch wide I think.  The flags themselves look great, very detailed.  Are they animated?

That suburb shot is quite a teaser too.  :)  :thumbsup:

Quote from: djvandrake on October 14, 2009, 09:38:54 AM
Are they animated?

No, you can't really tell but that is (I think) a little too detailed to be animated. ;)

Edit: YES!!! 1000th post!

In the suburb teaser pic, there's a lot of cars going out for a drive at night (or coming home?).  Also, I noticed there are some bad drivers; there are cars in the opposing traffic lane and oriented diagonally compared to the direction of the roads!

Hey Joel,
you might not be able to see it for some reason,
but you pictures seem to be over-viewed...

Yep. All you guys have looked at my MD too much!

I'm out of bandwidth on Photobucket.

The images I've uploaded on Casimages.com on the other hand are still available. I'm not going to be able to re-upload every image to casimages, but on the 20th of the month, they'll be back. I will on the other hand, upload things like my sig, and update header/banner there, so the when this happens again, the effects will be reduced. I'll also probably upload most of my new material there.

Dang!  I've missed a great number of excellent updates!  Congratulations on your move to the Best Seller section!  Your work on the bits for that memorial park look great so far!  I particularly like that beach with the seawall a few updates back, it looks very realistic.

I'm not in the habit of posting (in fact its possible this MAY be the first one), but I definitely lurk, and I like your MD. The coastal pictures are really nice.

PS, your hometown is Palmerston North? Funny Story, I grew up JUUUUST down the road in Levin.

Keep up the good work ^_^

 At the request of joelyboy911 I have removed a few posts about the image provider discussion as he says he understands the problem and has corrected everything.

Fantastic MD and great work on the flags.
I look forward to this large update coming.

Robin  :thumbsup:

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Replies

Adrian (adroman)
Thanks. I haven't decided anything in the way of releasing the war memorial, but I am thinking of it.

Dave (tooheys)
Thank you. I'm glad you liked the beach. I could prepare some pictures to show how I did it, if you want. It was actually more work than is obvious from the pictures.

Alex (Driftmaster07)
Well, the flagpoles were fat 'cause they were meant to be like sorta old wooden flagpoles. I could easy enough make some with skinny poles.

Xander (WC_EEND)
Thanks. Yes, if I come to Belgium, I'll be sure to let you know. It probably won't be for a long time however...

jimbo_jj
Thanks, glad you liked them.

Earthquake
Merci. Thanks, I hope you also enjoy the pictures today.

Djvandrake
No, they aren't animated. I don't know much about the animation side of BATting, I'm afraid.

Sumwonyuno
Hehe, yes I noticed that too. I think to do with the fact that I zoomed in, then took the picture right away. Anyway, haven't you seen 'Fast and Furious'?

Battlecat
Thanks. I appreciate it. I hope you like what I've done with the park now. I'm not sure it turned out.

ded
Thanks. Its nice when a lurker comes out. I'm glad you like my coasts, I have some more of them today!
Oh, you grew up in Levin. You poor thing.  $%Grinno$% (just kidding). Thanks for stopping by!

Robin (rooker1)
Thanks for tidying up the thread for me. Yes, I have sorted everything out. Some images need to be transferred over, but from now on, most, if not all the images for this MD will be kept at casimages.com. Thanks for the compliments on the flags. And here's the update now...

976
Sorry, your posts (you made two of them) got deleted, as they were mostly about the image hosting. None the less, I read them, and saw your compliment about the flags. Thank you.

Everyone.
I appreciate what you were trying to do, with your comments about imageshack and the rest, so I thank you for your good intentions. However, I had said:

Quote from: JoelYep. All you guys have looked at my MD too much!

I'm out of bandwidth on Photobucket.

The images I've uploaded on Casimages.com on the other hand are still available. I'm not going to be able to re-upload every image to casimages, but on the 20th of the month, they'll be back. I will on the other hand, upload things like my sig, and update header/banner there, so the when this happens again, the effects will be reduced. I'll also probably upload most of my new material there.

I understand this was a bit ambiguous, but I had already decided what to do about it. And as Bobbi had said, he can't see images at Imageshack, so it wouldn't be fair to him, now would it?

Now for the:
Update

Part I

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F10%2F24%2F091024022509829244702723.jpg&hash=aa4219fe595b634276337fe23a99678d79dcca7f)

The memorial park, actually consists of three main Memorials. The first, I BATted, is a World War I memorial, and listed on its bronze plates are the names of every soldier from Thames and its environs who perished fighting in Europe in the Great War.

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The second, is a Museum. Built after the Second World War, (completed in 1947) it houses the Rolls of Honour for World War II. Also inside is the crypt housing Thames' Unkown Soldier. It constantly flies the flags of New Zealand, Australia and the UK, to remember how the 3 nations fought alongside eachother, in defence of King and Country. Today it also flies the flags of Isporos and Lower Colmubia, for some visiting Diplomats.

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The third was built, after extensions to the park, in 1999 to commemorate all those Thames Soldiers who died fighting in wars in the second half of the 20th century: Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf and Bosnia.

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Also in the same area as the Memorial Park, is the Thames sportsground. This is the place where schoolchildren play Rugby and Football on those cold winter Saturday Mornings.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F10%2F24%2F091024022508829244702718.jpg&hash=ca9590fc5862b96179df7eeca2d4e1dde5d165a2)

As well as Thames District's main hospital.

This last is simply a suburban neighbourhood.

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---

Part II

I decided to start on putting more waterways in Thames, especially since I so much adore using the Mayor Mode flora plops to craft my coasts, beaches and lanscapes. This is where I built a Mangrove estuary, at the mouth of a new river I'm going to make using solely plop water. It will be more challenging than the previous rocky streams, as I will greatly restrict myself as to the amount of rocks I use, since the river will be passing over an alluvial soil plain, so it will be mostly muddy-bottomed. We'll see how that turns out...

Anyway, here are some pictures of the estuary.

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And my rendition of a rocky stream, at the point where it hits the mud. Probably my best PW/GW transition to date.

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And this one here, I plan to enter in the picture competition at next opportunity.

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Thanks for looking at the Thames District. Hope to see you back here soon!

Don't forget: I value your opinion. (most of the time)

Awesome Joel, a very respectable memorial to say the least!

Excellent suburbs there... that hospital looks pretty good, but in my opinion, it needs some car parks.
   As I've already said, that Estuary is breathtaking... that's a pretty good sandbar.
That transition is one of the best I've seen!

Keep it up!  :thumbsup: _{(most of the time)}

A great transition!!!!! Also I like the small text at the end of your post. Lol. :D

Good suburbs and plaza. And I like part2. &apls

Welcome to page 8

I haven't seen any of the movies  &ops, but it makes me wonder what kind of automata plugin you're using.

That estuary is a nice touch, though, I'm not sure if the sand would be that white so close to one.  The river to muddy water transition is excellent.

Really nice work on the latest update. First, the memorial. It looks great, however, a few "randomwalk" effects will make it look much more alive. Also, some diversity in the trees would be nice, too ;) As for the suburbs, if I were you, I'd put some trees in the empty places between the houses :) The first thing that I thought after seeing the river mouth was "wow". But, I think it should be a delta, not an estuary (there's some difference between these two words ;))
Keep up the great work!

Wonderful Update, the memorial park is very beautiful.
Beside, the estuary is simply splendid.

Incredible job on the river! The park lot is a bit too empty in my opinion though

Joel, that transition is great. Even more because those transitions are really a pain in the a... as I do know from my very own experience!

It is that good that I almost oversaw (well ...  ::) I am still Nardo ...) that there are some level crossing too much at Thames Sportpark (including a ... avenue ... level ... crossing with is really off limits!)

Take care my friend!

Bernhard  :thumbsup:

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Replies

Adrian (adroman)
Thank you. I concur, it needs some carparks to look complete. But, if you inspect that lot very closely, you will see the entrance to the underground carpark.

Alex (driftmaster07)
Thanks. I felt the need to put that there, because, well... it's true.

Bobbi
Thanks, I'm glad you liked my estuary (it is an estuary, I'll get to that shortly). Thanks for the welcome to page 8 - it seems like such a short amount of time has passed since I started this MD, and now we're here 12 updates later on page 8. Thanks!

sumwonyuno
Don't worry about that, I was making an excuse for all the crazy drivers by saying that they were doing some crazy boy-racer drift racing! Actually, I haven't got an automata plugin yet. You've reminded me how much I want to get rid of the stupid maxis cars. You're probably right about the sand, but getting gradual transitions for those sorts of things is just too hard.

Ioan (io_bg)
Firstly, Thanks for telling me my park was terrible. I have made it better, and have a picture to show now. Now, I must point out that it actually was an estuary, and I'm going to explain that with pictures just down from here. That stream, also, is not the main river that flows into the estuary, and I have pictures now also of the one that is. Thanks again!

Earth Quake
Thanks! Even though I also thought the memorial park was nice, I have re-done it. I hope you like it after as well! Merci!

Xander (WC_EEND)
Thanks, I have made the park better now. You're right, it was boring and empty.

Bernhard (Nardo69)
Thanks. You're right, they are hard. Even more so when its a bigger river. I hope the one I present today is as good.
Ooh, yes you are still Nardo. Hmmm...how can I explain this away? well... the avenue... itself... is.... Oh screw it. You're right. If I'd seen your post before I got today's pictures, I would've fixed it and shown you. It probably would have given me a chance to use my new viaducts as well. Thanks!

Pictures

First, the improved park.

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Note, I have added the fountains and pond. Also, more people and trees. I think its a great improvement, myself.

---

Now, the Estuary. I want to dedicate these pictures to five great people: SimFox, Pegasus, Jeronij, C.P. and Goldiva Why? What do these guys share? and why are pictures dedicated to them?

They have all given me the tools to create these amazing lanscapes (if I may say so myself). Their BATs and subsequent modding to produce Mayor Mode flora has opened up to me an entire new way to create in SimCity 4. Thanks guys!

Now, a more serious thing:

Quote from: WikipediaAn estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries are thus subject to both marine influences, such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water; and riverine influences, such as flows of fresh water and sediment. As a result they may contain many biological niches within a small area, and so are associated with high biological diversity.

Estuaries are typically the tidal mouths of rivers (aestus is Latin for tide), and they are often characterized by sedimentation or silt carried in from terrestrial runoff and, frequently, from offshore. They are made up of brackish water. Estuaries are often given names like bay, sound, fjord, etc. The terms are not mutually exclusive.

So, I think what we can take from this, is that my thing is a river estuary, and not a delta, because it is enclosed by a sandbar or spit. And, In a way, the whole Firth of Thames itself is an estuary. I actually think a river delta is, in many cases a type of estuary anyway.

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Two shots, just to show the sandbar, and the mouth of the Estuary.

And this one, shows the river. I wanted to show an overview of the whole estuary, but I couldn't get it to work right.

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Thanks everyone.

Keep commenting, and don't hesitate to voice any opinions. but remember, be constructive!

Awesome half an update Joel... If you had Charlie Sheen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Sheen) here, you could make a TV show (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_and_a_Half_Men)...

...Trust me, my jokes are for my sanity, not for your entertainment...

Again, beautiful memorial, and estuary! I went back, and I see what you mean, there is a tiny ramp... The fountains make that memorial even better!

Havva good one.

I agree, the park looks much better. And that river is awesomely detailed.
Superb work, my friend!  &apls &apls

-Stijn-

well it looks awesome!! That river looks cool  &apls

 &apls &apls &apls

Your river estuary looks fantastic!  :)

That park is coming along quite nicely!  The additional details really do help it a lot!  The only thing I can think of that you could consider adding at this point would be a handful of benches.  They're a pretty minor detail though. 

Your estuary is also looking great, love how you've detailed it!  You've done a great job with the water transitions. 

 &apls

That teaser picture still didn't prepare me enough to how the rest of the area looked like.  It looks so real!

Wow! That looks great Joel! Also there is a typo in your tiny tex where it say "but remember, be constructive." A great update nontheless and looking foreward to the next!

Wow , You put alot of stunning Detail into that Estuary  :P :thumbsup:

Beautiful scenery of that estuary :thumbsup:

The mosaic of the estuary is simply awesome and splendid.
Great work.

Fantastic update!!!  :thumbsup:

Great update :thumbsup:
I love that improved park with those small "fountains" on both sides, it looks really cool &apls,

Fabian

Nice update! Btw sorry for my double post.

Wonderful work, Joel! That estuary is first-rate; I've never seen better PW/GW transitions. Great job on that memorial park, too - I especially like that mostly-green flag on the left side of the first image ;)

Looking forward to more!

-Zack

Beautiful for me. Great rivers  :thumbsup:

Well, I've only got one thing to say:

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Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...

Havva good one

The Estuary looks beautiful. The ploppable water and stuff makes for some truely spectacular shots ^_^

That looks great Joel, I'd like to see a region view of it.

The trees around your creek are a good colour, more grey green than the bright bright green of maxis and your couple of photos of the Coromandel shows NZ foliage colour to be similar to ours.

Keep up the good work

Cheers
dobdriver

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Replies

Adrian (adroman)
Thanks for the comments, and thanks too for the birthday wishes, yes I had an excellent birthday, thanks!

Stijn (BarbarossaS
Thank you. I'm glad you liked the river, especially since thats also the stuff I like making.  :)

Glowbal
Thanks, there'll be more rivers to come soon.

djvandrake
Thanks!

Battlecat
Thanks, but I don't think I'll be revisiting that part of the city for a wee while yet. Glad you liked the transitions.

Sumwonyuno
Thanks, real is a big word. Glad you liked it.

Alex (driftmaster07)
Thanks, but there are no typos. anymore

Nexis4Jersey
Thanks, yeah, I tried.  :D

Bobbi
Thanks!

Earth quake
Thank you!

Tomas Neto
Thanks, to you as well!

Fabian (93)
Thanks, I'm glad you liked the park.

976
Thanks, and don't worry about it, its no big deal.

Zack (woodb3kmaster)
Thanks, yeah, you would like that flag wouldn't you. Really? Never better? Thanks, it means a lot.

kbieniu7
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.

ded
Thanks, I once thought I would never use PW, but now, really, I have been reformed.

dobdriver
Thanks, yep, most of the trees in the last update were made by SimFox, but I mixed in a few c.p. ones, and some by goldiva.

Well. That was a behemoth of replies. Now lets take a look at some

Pictures

These pictures are coming to you from Snelson Airport, the second busiest airport in the Thames District (after Thames International Airport, of course, but we'll come to that a little later on, after some releases - hint, hint - I'm waiting Voltaire and pilotdaryl  :P). The airport was formerly known as RNZAF Base Thames, but is now a mixed use airfield, as the District Council purchased the airfield from the RNZAF on the condition that it would continue to base some aircraft there. It is served by Virgin Blue, Origin Pacific, Air New Zealand and Air Chathams, and also has a cargo operation with flights every day by Air Freight NZ and a thrice weekly service by DHL.

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The RNZAF sometimes keeps its 757s at Snelson, today, both were in. These are used for transportation, either of troops in support of the New Zealand Army, or in the VIP configuration. In return for free access to the airfield, the RNZAF allows the leaders of Thames to use the planes to travel overseas, when they aren't in use of course.

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Three Lockheed P-3K Orions are permanently based here.

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Air New Zealand Link flies dash-8s to regional destinations within New Zealand.

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Origin Pacific (defunct in RL, but I like the planes) also flies to regional destinations in New Zealand, with its fleet of dash-8s and BAe Jetstreams.
Virgin Blue flies short haul international from Snelson, as well as connecting flights to main airports in New Zealand, it chooses to operate out of Snelson, rather than Thames International, as the landing charges are cheaper, and Air New Zealand has a fairly strong monopoly out of that airport. The 737s can also park at the remote stands, and use airstairs, but why, when there are perfectly good jetways?

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And at the cargo terminal, we see one of the Convair 580, and Convair 5800 owned by Air Freight NZ.  

Disclaimer: Remember Thames is not a recreation MD. Nothing in this update has been factual, except the aircraft types and liveries. Snelson Airport does not exist, and the RNZAF does not let Local Government officials use its planes. In fact, the Prime Minister usually travels on Air New Zealand scheduled flights when he goes overseas.

But its way cooler to pretend. :P

Thanks for looking. Look out for the full airport update coming soon!

EDIT: I forgot something: These are probably the first(second, actually) in-game shots of these planes that I BATted (the Jetstream 41 and Dash-8s). You can see the project in the SCAG Creations Board, in Other Teams, and it's under the heading SCAG Turboprops[linkie] (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=8567.0). The Convairs and RNZAF P-3K's are rendered from models found on a FS fansite, and the RNZAF 757s, well, I'm keeping the source secret - I didn't make them, and they will most likely never see a release (unless you ask me really nicely I might send them to you). The 737s and DHL 757 were made by our friends at the AC Team.

Absolutely fabulous...

I think that's the biggest amount of personal planes in a MD I've ever seen...

Those RNZAF planes look excellent!

If this is the update, I think the full update'd crash a few power grids!

Wonderful work,
Havva good one

Adrian

Yeah Joel, another fantastic e awesome update!!! Great work my friend!!!  :thumbsup:

Joel, very impressive  :thumbsup: The airport is looking good, but it's your planes that are the standout. Well done mate.

Only one question, Qantas doesn't fly in there ?  ;D

Dave

Your planes are well crafted and look really good in game. :)

Awesome &apls

That's a great little update.  Nice work on the planes, and on the airport layout!  Those airport textures really help seal the quality of this update, you've obviously put a lot of work into using them as realistically as possible! 

Nice update and impressive work on those aircraft.  :thumbsup:

Splendid update. &apls
The aircrafts are really beautiful (I really like the 757 of RNZAF and the origin pacific)

Terrific work, Joel! I never get tired of looking at your HD planes, and the airport itself looks great, too. Those turboprop gates really caught my eye; are those part of an upcoming SCAG release?

Quote from: woodb3kmaster on November 05, 2009, 05:33:33 PM
Are those part of an upcoming SCAG release?

Yes they are. I actually worked on the gate lots for the ATRs.

And

Fantastic update Joel! I've never seen so many personal BATs!

G'Day Joel,

Those planes look great mate, I'll have to get you to make some.

Cheers
dobdriver

Awesome teaser, fantastic!!!  :thumbsup:

Great teaser. Why do I get the feeling that those cows won't be giving much milk in the near future  :)

[Inside Joke]
Hehehe, its one of Allan Crafar's farms.
[/Inside Joke] 

If you're a New Zealander paying attention to the News you'll know what I'm on about.
To cut a long story short, he's been in the news about his dairy farms and mistreatment (starvation) of animals by his employees. He's now out of business...

But don't worry, they'll be moved into the next paddock soon...

heh, a Google Search made that make some sense...

Anyway, sorry it took so long to get here, I think we both know why  ;)...

Great teaser, the real farms will be excellent!  :thumbsup:

Havva good one,
Adrian.

I will see what you do to that area!

Nice looking farmland, those fences look quite nice!

don't dive bomb the cows

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All will be revealed tomorrow. I will do the personal replies then, and you will be able to find out more... Loads of pictures to come. See you then!

Fantastic teaser!!!  :thumbsup:

A splendid teaser. &apls
I really like the second pictures.

Great shots!  Those are incredibly bright light poles there in the third shot.

Just had a look through your earlier updates, and I must say I have seen some very nice nature images. I especially liked your estuary. I wanted to ask about the brownish sand there, is that a plopped texture or is it a part of a terrain mod? Great work all over :thumbsup:

Very, very, very nice Joel!

I love the effect on that Pacific Blue jet you used, makes it all the more realistic...

Can't wait for the whole thing,

Havva good one,
Adrian.

Very impressive teaser!  I can't wait to see all you have in store.  :thumbsup:

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Replies

Adrian (adroman)
Thanks, yes there were a lot of personalised planes. Well, guess what? There are even more today! Thanks for your replies to the teasers as well.

Tomas Neto
Many thanks, my friend. Your replies are always so nice!

Dave (tooheys)
Thanks, well beforehand, I was working within the confines of the available 737s and A320s made by the AC team. But now, I have found an elegant solution which will be revealed shortly. Qantas, or rather a member of the QantasGroup flies there now. I hope you like this airport just as much, I've changed a few things around though. And more planes (man, I love planes  :D). Thanks for your reply on the teaser as well!

Sumwonyuno
Thanks, I hope to release some of them soon as well...

Bobbi
Thanks!

Battlecat
Thank you. I wish I could say building this airport was easy, but as you said, it was hard work - with a lot of trial and error. I always want it to be as close to perfection as possible, so you don't see any of my failed attempts. Yeah, I know about those... I had trouble finding a big enough, and less bright lightcone. Also, I did boost the contrast in that shot so...

djvandrake
Thank you, but I can't take credit for most of the planes. All except the Jetstream and Dash-8 (the prop planes) were made by other people. I simply re-textured and rendered them. Thanks for your reply to my teaser as well!

Zack (woodb3kmaster)
Thanks, yes the gate textures will be a part of the lotted set of the ATR-72 and ATR-42 planes, as Alex said. The planes themselves, will be released soon (I hope) as well.

Alex (Driftmaster07)
Thanks man!

Dobdriver
Sure thing, I'll be releasing the Turboprops soon, complete with Qantas planes! And don't worry about the cows...

976
Yes you will! :D

Earth Quake
Many thanks, I'm glad you liked the planes. I hope the real update lives up to the expectations of the teaser!

kwakelaar
Thanks. The muddy stuff in the Estuary was plopped, but unfortunately I can't remember the name of the set. I know it came from the STEX. ()sad() I'm glad you liked the nature stuff, since I so much enjoyed making it!  :)

Now for a bit of an update.

Update

Preamble: There are several links embedded in this update (one might say I'd taken a leaf out of Adrian (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=4216)'s Book (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=9144.0)) Click on names of Aircraft, to see a photograph, on Airliners.net of that aircraft. The other links will take you to the relevant wikipedia article. This update features some real life history of the Airline industry in New Zealand. Some facts have been made up, however. Try checking out the wikipedia links, if you're interested.


Snelson Airport, Also known as Thames Snelson, (yeah, I made up a dumb name) began life as an Air Force base for the fledgeling Royal New Zealand Air Force (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNZAF), in 1935 (still making this up...). From then, up until 2001, it served this purpose solely, as well as being a diversion airport for Hamilton Airport (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_International_Airport), and Auckland Airport (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Airport). In 2001, the government of New Zealand began a downscaling of the RNZAF. The then Prime Minister, Helen Clark, canceled the Force's order for the 28 of the F-16 fighter jet, and disbanded No. 2, No. 14 and No. 75 Squadrons, leaving the RNZAF without an Air-to-Air combat fixed-wing aircraft. The Thames Air Force Base, as it was then known, was nearly (back to making it up...) itsself dissolved, but the District Council saw fit to lobby the Ministry of Defence to keep some aircraft and personell stationed there. However, space and landing slots were freed up on the base, making way for the establishment of a passenger terminal, a cargo apron, and a General aviation and flight training area.

Commercial flights began in late 2001, with domestic flights from Tasman Pacific Airlines, a Qantas franchise operating regional flights in New Zealand, using their fleet of deHavilland Canada Dash-8-102s (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Qantas-New-Zealand/De-Havilland-Canada/0163531/&sid=5b190a10cc762bc1027282d1fce2b086).

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As well as by Air New Zealand's subsidiaries, Air Nelson and Eagle Air flying their deHavilland Canada Dash-8-311s (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-New-Zealand/De-Havilland-Canada/1377358/&sid=12d2811195ce5d1b8e6ff153cc686f66), and Raytheon Beech 1900Ds (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-New-Zealand/Raytheon-1900D/1487713/&sid=7a1c093a265efe68c5fdc062c63a9471), respectively.

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Air New Zealand's low cost subsidiary Freedom Air (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Air) operated Trans-Tasman (to Australia) flights using its fleet of Boeing 737-300 (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Freedom-Air/Boeing-737-3K2/0454671/&sid=356540eb6ac870f8fce62b47577cccc0)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126052349829244937208.jpg&hash=cfcb87679c2d93fc5b9236d7d79ef8e214b97e03)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126052348829244937199.jpg&hash=40d31de537ff76d4355eb9b3a8cc265a919c9c6f)

And Airbus A320-200 (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Freedom-Air/Airbus-A320-232/0938473/&sid=48c5305f682a7c69a92034b65f2b7b66)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126052349829244937209.jpg&hash=d8fc2ce4cdca43195cb14df5c47a1381662f0897)

Domestic services were also operated by Origin Pacific Airways, utilising their fleet of BAe Jetstream 41 (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Origin-Pacific-Airways/British-Aerospace-Jetstream/1219592/&sid=f8077b432b0cb4561635fac3bdc082c5)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126073852829244937429.jpg&hash=6a41d0c6e98037dbb827c6d5259d886338531c93)

In 2002, the Qantas New Zealand venture collapsed, leaving its fleet to be bought up by local airlines in New Zealand and by companies abroad. However, the Flying Kangaroo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qantas) would not be absent from Snelson for long, as in July of that same year, Qantas' subsidiary Jetconnect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jetconnect)was established, and later in the year began flying the Trans-Tasman  routes to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, the exact same routes as Freedom Air, using a fleet made up of Boeing 737-300 and 737-400 (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Qantas-(JetConnect)/Boeing-737-476/1604799/&sid=773f5df304ae37be6137a6688e858918).

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126080225829244937532.jpg&hash=74e43348018a05642fc475a13e39d8ba17efe94f)

In January 2005, Origin Pacific Airways (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_Pacific) went into bankruptcy, and ceased operations.

And Then There Was One.

With Qantas New Zealand, and Origin Pacific out of the way, regional airports across New Zealand were faced with a new dilemma. Air New Zealand now held a monopoly over their heads. With no competition, what would stop prices from soaring?

In 2007, a new airline appeared in the Thames Region. Basing itsself solely at Snelson, avoiding Thames International (future update), Virgin Blue's subsidiary Pacific Blue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Blue_Airlines) began flights to Wellington, Sydney and Brisbane, using their fleet of Boeing 737-800 (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Pacific-Blue-Airlines/Boeing-737-8FE/1567907/&sid=e5c580606df892afb0cc204f30c53bed)

Here's a wee mosaic with one of their planes, on final approach.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126052349829244937206.jpg&hash=81f8b97f0d6e8b608c8865f129610575e17759c7)

In 2008, Freedom Air was disestablished by Air New Zealand. For a short while, Air New Zealand operated their own 737-300s (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-New-Zealand/Boeing-737-319/1611585/&sid=9c0986e0c8f961c2f53a6e562a1646e4) from Snelson, but they were gone entirely by year's end.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126052348829244937197.jpg&hash=5a600bc5bb48842561baf1031e31b12c2bc205e2)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126052348829244937198.jpg&hash=1e9d4e75100adef3f37debe4cc4ab70fdd186ae6)

In 2009, Qantas Jetconnect ceased services to Snelson, replacing them with services by their cut-price subsidiary, JetStar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jetstar) using the A320 (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Jetstar-Airways/Airbus-A320-232/1612346/&sid=fd356f33c386d7756fc99782b223f9c5). Snelson now saw a competition between two low-fare airlines, on the same routes.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126073852829244937428.jpg&hash=0a0f5b6090d2946d326ca35605a2dcd66c6a9857)

Later in 2009, Polynesian Blue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_Blue), which had been established in 2005, began flights direct from Snelson to Apia, using their 737-800 (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Polynesian-Blue/Boeing-737-8FE/1490573/&sid=9d2db22cd3d77a8687a3140089bca03c). The Samoan community of Thames was said to be... pleased. Not to mention the other holidaymakers...

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126052348829244937202.jpg&hash=7994b067cb8bda152e92383cddeeb9550277fbb4)

Air Chathams also operates their Convair CV580  (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-Chathams/Convair-580/1353519/&sid=37d521c7744280ec7e87a41207d035ff) on flights to the Chatham Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_Islands).

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126052348829244937203.jpg&hash=d17246d1a2e48d41708bba9482ad56582a3bef21)

Air New Zealand Link is going strong, as always, at Snelson. 

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2F133.jpg&hash=4cf71b8a81023728e21e81edecc4c52fe3b4cf98)

There is also a cargo apron on Snelson Airport, as shown in my teaser pic yesterday. Here's a close up of the Toll Priority 737-300, and the Air Freight New Zealand Cargo CV-580F (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-Freight-NZ/Convair-580(F)/1493024/&sid=13f20b97a8e63b3a71666f88c78610bf) and CV-5800F (http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-Freight-NZ/Convair-5800/1470449/&sid=13f20b97a8e63b3a71666f88c78610bf).

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126052348829244937196.jpg&hash=46e3bafa425a397dff1c0b7798ee90ea827674d8)

The Thames School of flight is based on the General Aviation apron at the airport. Here's a shot showing it, as well as a few privately owned aircraft.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126052348829244937201.jpg&hash=e04b9baee8d90dd21138677a570ea735aad04a9d)

The RNZAF's presence on the airfield is, obviously, greatly diminished from its height in the 1940s. It now occupies only a small apron on the far side of the runway, where are based some Lockheed P3-K Orions (http://www.airliners.net/photo/New-Zealand--/Lockheed-P-3K-Orion/1528168/&sid=d00aadb706bcec2165b88831d4c0634c), and the Boeing 757-200 (http://www.airliners.net/photo/New-Zealand--/Boeing-757-2K2/1612868/&sid=7492af303692308a2c63fb77d3952098) is a frequent visitor.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126052348829244937200.jpg&hash=c305645f753c30bda8b5b4f4a30cea1cf12a2175)

And now, to close I'll give you this:

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnsm02.casimages.com%2Fimg%2F2009%2F11%2F26%2F%2F091126073853829244937431.jpg&hash=a55e718911a067c5d10c710b5f85c8c07df35a39) (http://nsm02.casimages.com/img/2009/11/26//091126073852829244937430.jpg)

Just a little overview. The full size is 2719 x 2756 pixels, so be warned. And, you might notice a couple of things different from the earlier pics. Don't worry, I changed a few things, not too proud to admit it.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this airport from Thames. I'm also planning the Thames International, which I really think will be more exciting than this one (especially for me!).

Please, comment! Share your thoughts, I value them.

Epilogue

Now, you might be asking: Where did these 737 and A320 planes come from?

The answer is this: While scouring the Net for useful gmax source aircraft, I 'found' the Google 3D warehouse. Luckily, Adrian (adroman) was on hand with his SketchUp Pro ready, and he converted them to a usable format for me. Then, I had to UVW map them, and make the textures, as well as rendering them (which didn't exactly go as smoothly as I would've liked).

You might also be wondering: Can I get these planes?

The answer: No. Not Yet. The original creator of the 737 model, was very happy for us to release the rendered form of his model. Therefore, there is a possibility for Adrian and I to release a set. Nothing is confirmed as yet

Fantastic work Joel!  :thumbsup:

That, in my opinion, is the best Airport ever shown in any MD (if not, it certainly has the most Custom Custom Content _{try saying that 5 times fast} of all the airports)

You've raised the bar, to say the absolute least...  &apls

Our planes turned out quite well, eh?... I particularly like the Qantas 737!

Havva good one, you definitely deserve it!
Adrian.

Great looking airport you've got there Joel. I like the pastures in the end of the runway. I take it this airport is placed in a smaller city then?
Once again excellent work and I do hope you'll get around to making that set, I'd love those planes in my own cities  ;)

-Stijn-

Wow, great airport. I like it.
Btw, hey who know. I'm working in the airport on my MD too.

Nice airport! All those pastures nearby are an interesting contrast. I like all the pics of the custom planes, too. Hats off to whoever modded those!  :thumbsup:

-James

Fantastic job on that airport!  Love the layout, it's very realistic indeed.  Nice job keeping the approach clear as well.

Those custom planes look excellent, hope to see them released someday!

Y'know Joel. I was a little skeptical on the 737 and A320 models. Until..... I saw them in-game! They are completely awesome! I'm still not sure on that Jet Star livery, but it was probably the nighttime effects. ;) Anyways, looking foreward to their release. And do you think you could possibly send some to me? It is totally your decision though. Anyways, they look great and looking foreward to their release!

looking great there!
I just love that mosaic of the plane on final, but were did the flaps go ;D
I also like your airport layout (just watch out with those high light towers :P)

Awesome pictures of your airport!  I really like the overview one.

Great airport, really awesome work!!!  :thumbsup:

A nice mix of aircraft types that is very fitting for your airport size.  Looks great! Well done.  &apls

That's a great small airport. I'm looking for some inspiration to build a small regional airport and you've definitely inspired me.

Geoff

Mighty fine time line there Joel...  :thumbsup:


I concur with what you said, there aren't enough comments for the amount of quality work here...

Havva good one,
Adrian.

Congrats on the 6,500 views... and 200+ comments!

That is quite amazing, I love it. I have 2 questions:
1- Where did you get all of the sets for your airport?
2- Why did you put the lights on the blast pad (bottom of last picture)?

But anyways, great airport!

Cyclone1001: The turboprops were made by Joel himself... as apart of SCAG. The 737's are something that Joel and myself are working on...

The lights are included in the RMIP packs on the STEX.

Just another 2 of my cents...

Havva good one,
Adrian.

A moment of silence for those who died...

...

...

And Joel, could you show us a current region view of the, well, region?

Quote from: adroman on November 28, 2009, 12:11:31 PM
Cyclone1001: The turboprops were made by Joel himself... as apart of SCAG. The 737's are something that Joel and myself are working on...

The lights are included in the RMIP packs on the STEX.

Just another 2 of my cents...

Havva good one,
Adrian.

Well, I have all of the RMIP stuff and everything compatible with it, (that I have found so far) so I was wondering if I missed something. But thank you anyways.

You've done a fine job of those planes and the airport Joel, I have to agree with Adrian it is one of the best airports going.

I see the shadow doesn't match the plane in the approach, is there anyway to swap the shadows in game? You will have to find the exemplar that controls this or is it in the exe file?

30 years since the Erebus crash, they hadn't been going there for very long when that happened and I don't think Air New Zealand have flown there since.

Take it easy

This is really a nice, small, realistic, fully detailed airport.

The only thing that really bothers me is something that is not a problem that is raised by you. It's about the large lighting elements that light the nightshots. The light is just too much: I see a large white cone, without any details where the light hits the ground. A real lightcone just does not look that way.
But that is more a concern for the one who made these elements.

Wow, awesome update!!!

Airport and planes look great friend!!! amazing

Your planes look very nice, and I also liked the history of Air New Zealand. After some wikipedia reading about the crash, I can imagine that it was a horrible accident, sice no-one saw it coming.

Take care

Xander

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FBanner.jpg&hash=5c98e707834dfff3d0670c73708de8fff7c5b723)

Many thanks to all of you who have commented. Sorry, I can't do individual replies tonight, as I am very short of time. I have to go to bed, as I need to get up early tomorrow, in preparation to leave on my one-month long holiday at the beach. I think I'll just get straight on to the pictures now. I had hoped to produce a fully-fledged update of the re-vamped CBD, but factors beyond my control have prevented that from happening. Lately, I've been working away in BAT texturing planes found on the internet for my brand new International Airport. Here's a sneak preview of it. The update will document the historty of the airport from its construction in the mid-1970s, to its state in the early 2010s.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FOne.jpg&hash=c1b0b86d93d65bc2d314e5081897b38dc47a4c01)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FThree.jpg&hash=5dfc9c45cad2ea3431f6e560507b6eb026aad930)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FFour.jpg&hash=a58cfec8d2de46c6ca6f738f7ced2ab36006cb2a)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FTwo.jpg&hash=30dcefdf6f7be405e1937b279976266630b8469c)

The planes, in order of appearance, are: Air New Zealand DC-10-30; British Airways 747-200, Singapore Airlines 747-400, Air New Zealand 787-9Dreamliner. The first two pictures are somewhere around 1975, and the second two are somewhere around 2015.

So, I'll be away from the internet for 4 weeks from tomorrow. I might make it online for a look around, but I'm fairly certain that I won't be able to produce an update for at least 5 weeks. Then, however, there are some big exciting things happening in the Jan-Feb season with this CBD and this Airport. Hope to see you there.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Oh, Bravo! That is wonderful, my friend!  :thumbsup:

That BA is the cream of the crop, simply wonderful! The 747 really is the queen of the skies, isn't it?

That Dreamliner is wonderful... I'm glad you're looking into the future in such style  ;)

Simply amazing, Joel... A teaser indeed :D

Havva good one,
Adrian.

Oh how I 'hate' you! Very nice, very nice...

Looks great!  That's a nice batch of airplane skins!

Have a great holiday!

Fantastic airport close-up action shots.  I love that you already have a 787-9 flying in your city!  :thumbsup: &apls

A month holiday?!   :D  Enjoy!  By any chance are you going to that coast you showcased a while back?

Awesome work again my friend!!!  :thumbsup:

Very nice work on those planes. I like the jet wash effect on the first pic.

Geoff

That's some fun landing there, 70 feet from the water and a pile of pebbles as well. Great stuff!

cheers
dobdriver

Have nice holidays! ;)

And very nice shots of the airplanes!!! :thumbsup:

Nice planes!

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FBanner.jpg&hash=5c98e707834dfff3d0670c73708de8fff7c5b723)

Hello Everyone. Many thanks for all your comments during my absence, and luckily I'm just in time to save this MD from being moved to the Inactive zone. I have some interesting stuff coming up this year in Thames, with some large projects looking towards some interesting updates, I think. I'm still working on that airport that I teased you over, but I'm going to put that on hold for a while, as I finish BATting the Airbus widebodies (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=9980.20) that I'm working on in SCAG at the moment. I want to use them in the airport as well. I'm also still working on custom lots for my CBD which should also make for an exciting update, I hope.

I'm terribly sorry that I'm not doing individualised replies at the moment. I'm finding myself pressed for time again. If you have any specific questions or queries that you need answers to, feel free to post them again or PM me anytime. I intend to get back to doing the replies properly next week. Your encouragement means as much to me as always.

---

Very nice construction pictures there although the standout parts were the details around the beaches they looked great

Will

Very impressive set of construction shots.  &apls

Nice job!  I quite like the details near the beach as well!

Nice!

Apologies for not posting much recently - it's just that your recent work leaves me speechless! Your latest update is a prime example, and an inspiration to those of us whose MDs feature a lot of construction. Keep up the outstanding work, Joel!

Yeah, very nice update!!!  :thumbsup:

Oh Joel...

It's just amazing to look at your MD! your airports are extraordinary nice..., the housingproject and much more.
Your airports are also inspire me, I've just no words for it..
Please keep up the good work &apls

- Giel

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FBanner.jpg&hash=5c98e707834dfff3d0670c73708de8fff7c5b723)

Replies

Penguin007 Thank you very much. As I always say, I just love working with the terrain detailing tools. I hope you enjoyed your visit to the Thames district.

Djvandrake Thank you. I really enjoyed my first foray into the construction genre.

Battlecat Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

976 Cheers!

woodb3kmaster Oh... err... Thanks. I must admit that when I read your comment I was really blown away. To think that I might have inspired others with my first attempt was quite something for me. Thanks again.

Tomas Neto Thanks a lot!

Gilikov Thanks. Thanks also for the compliment on the airports. I do try very hard to get those perfect. Your praise means a lot. I'll try my best to keep it up.

---

Well, I'm not going to do too much writing today. I'd rather let these pictures speak for themselves. This is the start of phase 2 of the construction of the beach estate. To build this, the developers have had to clear areas of native and exotic forest. I'm also showing some of the surrounding farmland and native bush. Enjoy.

---

Hope you liked these pictures, next week I'll be back again, possibly with some development pics from larger projects such as the airport and CBD.

Wow Joel, I think this update has left us speachless!
(well, almost left me speachless...  :P)

That is some super-fine Mayor Mode Plopping, and it has given the forests and farmland a very real look. I like the separation that the creek gives, the Natural Environment, to developers paradise... Also, very nice work with that transition, your GW/PW  transitions are always exceptional  :thumbsup: Excellent work with the Foresting Scenes, the loggers and their equipment look right at home there. The cows in the field look fantastic there, especially the Round Bales... I'm sure the cows will appreciate them in the drier months!

Overall, excellent work... I might just retire in New Blackpool (that'll be many, many years off...)  ::)

Havva good one,
Adrian.

Nooo!  The forests are being cut down! &cry2  I like the areas that have the different trees mixed in together, and I also like the river.

Good job Joel! The beachfront houses remind me of St. Augustine.

What a nice forest!

Nice. Looking forward to seeing how the beach estates turn out.  :thumbsup:

Great update Joel, very nice work!!!  :thumbsup:

You too Joel, a great couple of updates.

On gw/pw I think it is important to keep the scene natural looking as you have, there is not really a problem with different colours as rarely is seawater and rivers the same colours. I really liked the bridge buttresses looking like they're concreted into the rock faces. Terrific!

cheers
dobdriver

That river and the farmland looks quite nice! 

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FBanner.jpg&hash=5c98e707834dfff3d0670c73708de8fff7c5b723)

Hello faithful fans. I thought I would stop by here to explain why I haven't posted an update for four weeks. I've been working on my SCAG Projects: the Dash-8 Turboprops, and the Airbus A300s. I've also started and finished the Air New Zealand Maintenance Hangar which will also be making an appearance in my new International Airport (which is a little way off yet). However, I imagine there will be some downtime at some point as I wait for testing reports on these projects when I submit them. The other thing that working on these projects has done is thrown my plugins into turmoil as I move them around and empty them out for lotting and testing etc.

I haven't forgotten about Thames, and I have plans for the next few updates. I know that if I don't make an update in the next two weeks or so I'll be moved into Inactive MD's, which I really don't want, so I'll probably have an update next week.

Replies

Adroman
Why thank you. I really don't know what else to say. Thanks for your compliments on the Mayor-Mode Plopping.

sumwonyuno
Thanks, the areas with a mixture of trees were meant to be the wild bush, while the others were supposed to be a pine plantation.

KoV Liberty
Thanks. I don't really know where St Augustine is, but thank you anyway.

976
Thank you!

djvandrake
Thanks. Funnily, I hadn't actually thought about bringing the development to a completed phase. I'll have to do that at some point.

Tomas Neto
Thanks Tomas!

dobdriver
Thanks, yes you're right that there is usually a colour difference between the sea and river water. The problem is that its normally more gradual, which I can't achieve in SC4 very easily.

Battlecat
Thank you very much!

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FBanner.jpg&hash=5c98e707834dfff3d0670c73708de8fff7c5b723)

Oh my, no replies to deal with.  ::)

---

I've started rebuilding my new CBD for Thames City. Its one of my current major MD projects, alongside the International Airport. Here are some preliminary pictures.


Just after I took these, I pressed "Quit Without Save" by mistake - a bad habit learned in the time I was testing out the MMPs I've been working on. So I guess they might look a bit different in the final stages.

Thanks for having enough faith in Thames to keep looking.  :)

Ah, the Quit Without Save mishap, happens to all of us :) Your CBD looks fantastic, the night shot is my favorite, but I especially like the roads with the parking on them. They are your own lots I am assuming? Regardless, they look fantastic!

I agree, the roads with the diagonaal parking are very attractive. Looks like I'll need to make some  ;)

A great business district you have. I like the AIG shot.

Geoff

A very nice start to rebuilding your CBD. Some great buldings in a nice layout.  I like the diagonal parking spaces on the street in the upper pic.  Very nice work.  &apls

Looking like an interesting city, Joel. The variety of buildings I see in your pictures is really interesting; I've never seen post WWII Polish buildings in New Zealand, but I like it a lot.

Ethan

Well we'll just consider that preview a look at an alternate universe version then!   ;)  To be honest, I've made that mistake one or twice as well!

Love how this CBD looks already, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished version! 

Awesome again my friend, great update!!!

Wow, I think that that's a great downtown. &apls &apls

wow, great Joel.. very like the CBD

- Giel

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FBanner.jpg&hash=5c98e707834dfff3d0670c73708de8fff7c5b723)

Replies

Nedalezz
Thank you - yes they are made of a little overhanging prop I made up a while ago.

CalibanX
Thank you - I'd consider releasing the overhang props on the STEX for you (and everyone else) - the downside would be that they're made for Left-hand drive, though i could easily enough make a Right-hand one as well.

djvandrake
Thank you - I'm glad you like it.

ecoba
Thank you. Oh and that's a part of Thames' history I'll now have to prepare an update to explain :P

Battlecat
Thank you - luckily I had already saved some of my work, but a large portion of the detailing work was lost. The final update should still near some similarity to the teasers

Tomas Neto
Thank you very much!

Engorn
Thanks!

Gilikov1994
Many thanks my friend!

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Here we have a new teaser:

Looks really nice!  I can't wait to see more of this.  :thumbsup:

Interesting mix of old w2w and new high rises. I am sure it will be a great looking CBD when finished.

Really, this looks like an awesome CBD, Joel.

Ethan

That's a great looking CBD!

oh my sweet jesus thats beast! whered u get the rail tunnels!

Neat! A nice CBD!

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Replies

kwakelaar
Thank you - The CBD is getting along, though I fear I've repeated some buildings too much. I'll be back with the finished product soon.

djvandrake
Thank you, I'm sorry you'll have to wait just a little while. :D

ecoba
Thank you also, I hope the finished city meets your expectations.

Battlecat
Thanks mate!

i_love_lamp
Thank you... I think... The rail tunnels are on the STEX, as part of a set that converts land networks to Subways - I don't have a link right now, sorry.

976
Thank you very much!

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I'm on holiday at the moment in the north of the country. A lovely little spot called the Bay of Islands, here's some photos I took earlier today.

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(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FHoliday_04.jpg&hash=3114b6af78553635bd00bdfe233a7b635b2366b5)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FHoliday_05.jpg&hash=b1767f0c314e70bcfe007203be48fc84bace3059)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FHoliday_06.jpg&hash=dc0eed50fe0ed869c0bcc5f4be8586fbf8cdf54d)

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi597.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt56%2Fjoelyboy911%2FHoliday_07.jpg&hash=2f215877a4f42b679e6aed014feeb9755d475b23)

Wow, a really beautiful spot to take a holiday, Joel. It must be really nice this time of year in New Zealand, early autumn is always my favourite time of year.

Ethan

WOW!  Beautiful pictures!!   ;D

Looks like the Easter sunrise!

You enjoy yourself up there for Easter Joel, your city is coming along nicely and some great pics of the Bay of Islands. One thing, your angle parking is back-to-front, alright if you're reversing in for a quick getaway after robbing the bank though I suppose :D

Cheers

Nice pics!