Anne, MT

[ecoba]

 I have finally decided to venture into the world of MDing.

I'll probably need some people's adivce at first, but I think that as this progresses I'll get better.

This MD will be about a town in northeastern Montana named Anne. I will also be featuring some smaller villages around it at times. First I will show you the town that I have built so far. After I finish that, we ill start to expand the town, taking your suggestions with me all the way. The terrain is mountainous, and I am going for realism, so there will probably not be any skyscrapers soon, or at all. (Have you seen one in NE Montana?) I hope to get feedback from the community and your compliments and constructive criticism are welcome.

Here's a teaser, I hope this works as I am not good with posting pics on this forum.



Sorry if the grid is on, if it isn't, yay for me.

I await your feedback..


Thanks,
           Ethan

Oh, of course it didn't work, can some one help me with that, I think I might know what it is....

[projectadam]

Ethan,

To insert a picture in a post, just add img /img [in brackets] around the direct link.

The picture is a great teaser and you have peaked my interest. I did not see any grid but in the future, you might want to take off the UDI icons.

[KoV Liberty]

Looks good! But as he said just put it in the brackets!

[ecoba]

Replies : Anne, MT

projectadam:Thanks! So from ImageShack, get the direct link and put that in the brackets, I'll try that.

Alex (Driftmaster07): Thanks! Maybe some new images tonight.

So as I said, maybe another teaser tonight, might just repost the pic that was screwy, thanks for commenting!

Ethan

[Battlecat]

Nice job on the first picture!  Looking forward to seeing what else you've got coming. 

Actually, imageshack provide the forum code all ready to go!  You should just be able to copy the field marked "Forum:" (same label in both classic and modern view) and paste that directly into the forum.  No modifications necessary.  Putting the image tags around the direct link will also work.

[ecoba]

Teaser I : Anne

Hey, I'm back with a teaser and I'll repost the first image as well. I think that I'll have a formal update soon, thanks for all who have commented, I will do formal replies seperate from an update usually.



An overview of Anne, the commercial zones have been filled, and those ugly patches of Maxis shacks have been regrown with C.P.'s houses. I will try not to have pictures like this normally. You might be wondering why there is such a large hospital, it is the regional hospital for all of Northeastern Montana, and the same with the school, as Anne is in a large county.


This was my original picture. Construction in the hills of Anne. I normally let the Maxis shacks grow, but then demolish them and let them regrow as custom houses.


I will have replies and probably a formal update soon,

Ethan

[danielcote]

Nice job with  the C.P.'s but you might want to get rid of those UDI Icons they really screw up the picture. 

[jmyers2043]

Hello Ethan

I'm always interested to see how others play the game. It appears that you are using the cycledog Missouri Breaks terrain. That's my favorite.

Massive hospital in that wee town. Nevertheless, it appears that you have a nice selection of custom content.

Good luck with your diary.

All the best - Jim Myers

[ecoba]

Replies : Anne, MT

Battlecat: Thanks, yeah I put the direct link in and my pictures worked. Thanks for your help and kind words.

Daniel: I just noticed those UDI icons. I don't even know how I have them. Is there a way to turn them off? Or do you just have to be lucky?

Jim: Thanks! Yes, I am using the Missouri Breaks Terrain Mod, It's one of my favourites too. Yes, it is a big hospital, but it employs a lot of people and I wanted it to be a regional hospital of some sorts, I still have some expansion to do, maybe it will look more in place then, or I might go shopping later and get a new, smaller hospital, and maybe replace the high school.

Sorry guys, symphony auditions are Sunday and I only found out yesterday, so I won't be able to have an update until maybe monday. 2009.08.28

Ethan

[Nexis4Jersey]

Great Start , they The Sims part of the main panel has a UDI option , you turn it off in there

[ldvger]

Good start ecoba/Ethan!  I like the big hospital, it makes sense to me, having traveled through NE Montana.  Not a lot out there and not many people, so a large regional facility I think is quite realistic with smaller satellite clinics in nearby towns.  And I have no doubt Anne will grow enough over time to make the hospital seem less imposing a presence. 

Another suggestion would be to show us a picture of your entire region, so we have some idea of what the surrounding countryside looks like and what we can look forward to watching you develope! 

Keep up the good work! 

Lora/LD

[just_a_guy]

Nice start! I like the small cp houses you growing there. They blend in well with the scene. I would also like to see the surrounding area.

[ecoba]

Replies : Anne, MT

Corey: Thanks, I'll be sure to turn off the icons next time I play.

Lora: To tell you the truth, I don't have a region, Anne is just a terraformed city tile in one of my test regions (I have like 10). The surrounding city tiles will be developed soon. I don't have Terraformer or Mapper, and I can't DL it, but I'll take one and edit it, I guess.

just_a_guy: Thanks! Yeah, I love c.p.'s houses, they're really realistic and I love how the trees blend with the streetside mod. Yeah, I'll show the surrounding farmland soon.

Thank you all for replying.

Ethan

[djvandrake]

Off to a good start.  I'm looking forward to watching this one. 

[ldvger]

Ethan-

Well, whatever test region Anne is in would be your MD region, right?  And, you don't need either Terraformer or Mapper to be able to save an overview of your entire region.  There is a small software tool called Region Census you can download for free from the STEX over at Simtropolis that I use for region pictures.  It's also handy for taking overview shots of large city tiles that won't fit completely into your game screen even at far zooms, as Region Census also allows you to load individual city tiles as well as the entire region.  I don't use the software, really, for anything other than taking overview pictures, but for that use it's quite handy. 

Also, I've found screen capture software to be most useful as well and at this point I prefer it to using the in game camera for taking pictures of my region and city tiles.  I use Gadwin PrintScreen, which is a free download, and very easy to use.  I'm sure a simple search would turn up the website you can download it from. 

Lastly, if you ever think you may want to enhance your game photos with added graphics (lines, arrows, text, circles, etc.), you can download a software tool called GIMP, which is kinda like Photoshop or PaintShopPro, and best of all it's also free.  I find it a little tricky to use and I also have Photoshop, so I don't use GIMP much, but it's good for modifying images if you know how to use it. 

Hope this helps!  Having a nice box of tools handy really helps give polish to a Mayor Diary!

Lora/LD

[dedgren]

Ethan- Nice start!  I fixed the pic in your first post- it had more tags wrapped around it than my luggage the last time I flew to Alaska and it flew to LA.

Good luck- Montana is one of my favorite places.


David

[ecoba]

OK, I'm having to cancel Anne. It was off to a bad start and was not giving me new inspiration. I'm going to start a new MD, you, my commenters can decide whether you want it in a new topic, or in this one. It will be about a region named Victoria. This new region is being terraformed by me right now, it has a river, and some craggly mountains around it. There will be two large cities, Victoria and Savannah. There might be a story, I'm contemplating.

Victoria will also be focusing on the beauty of nature, and the complications of keeping natural beauty, while also witnessing modern development. I have prepared a teaser for you all today. Please ignore the animals underwater, I didn't even put any animals, just trees.



This is a small creek that is leading to the Victoria River in the far northwest corner of the region. This is near where I am building a hydroelectric dam. There will be a large lake above, and a resort-ish, high wealth community on it.

I'm sorry for the abruptness of this, but I think this will be a much better MD, than Anne could have been, for the moment. I will probably still post pictures of Anne in, Show us your Small Towns. Thank you all for being so supportive of my work. I am going to try to oficially start the new MD at the beginning of Page 2.

Ethan

[Nexis4Jersey]

Can't wait to see more

[Glowbal]

Good luck! 

[soulchaser]

Try to rename the title of the first topic, so we all can find your new MD much easier.  good look.