Plain dirt maxis farm field

[metasmurf]

I can't figure out the deal with this farm "field". Is it common in real life? There's one field with lines in the dirt, and that is explainable (prolly recently plowed) but the one with plain dirt i don't get. Does anyone have an explanation?

[Andreas]

You mean you haven't seen such a "plain" field in real life? Well, my best guess is that this one has been harrowed already, so it's ready for the seed. Or maybe it just has been seeded with crops, but they didn't grow yet.

[metasmurf]

Off course ive seen dirtfields irl, but they have "lines" from the tractor.

There are two kinds of maxis dirt fields, one with thouse lines and one without. Its the one without i cant figure out.

[Andreas]

Well, as you already posted, those "lines" are most likely created by a plow, and you can't see the once created by the wheels of a tractor - after all, it's just a game. Here's what I mean: If you harrow a field, there are not many tracks left, at least they won't be visible from the "air":

[snorrelli]

Check out Andreas with the agricultural knowledge!

There aren't many native English speakers that even know the word "harrow." I'm impressed.

The plain dirt field has alway bothered me a little too, not because they aren't common in real life but because it never changes. Plain dirt fields can be seen all over the place but they don't just sit there as plain dirt forever...

[Andreas]

Well, I know the German word "Egge", and Babylon Translator translated it for me.

Of course you're right, a "dirt" field that doesn't change over the year looks somewhat odd (at least I would expect that some weed is growing there). But as far as I know, there are no "seasonal" base or overlay textures, so this would have to be done with props. The disadvantage of using props is that they don't conform slopes very well, though.

For my European taste, the Maxis setup of the agricultural sector is uncommon anyway. Here in Germany, you won't find that many farm buildings "in the middle of nowhere", but quite often, they are situated in a village, while the farm fields around the village don't have any buildings at all. As a matter of fact, I've already toyed with the idea to change that, so I made an "invisible" farm building and placed it on a lot that looks like the farm fields. It was just a quick & dirty setup, but the result looks much more like what I'm used to:

[snorrelli]

Hmmm... Interesting observation. I didn't know about Germany or other Western European agriculture, but in Eastern Europe, where I've spent a lot of time, that is certainly true. People live in a tightly-packed village surrounded by fields. I always assumed that is mainly due to the collectivization of agriculture under communism. Also, productive agricultural land is seen as too valuable to waste putting a house on it.

The Maxis farms represent US "homesteads" from the midwest. There, the towns tend to have the local school, church, bank, mayor's office, feed store and a few other commercial locations, along with the homes of people who work in town, while the farmers live on their farms, sometimes miles away from town.

[Zaphod]

Maybe that texture could be replaced by pasture?

[metasmurf]

That could be done. I don't have the knowledge how to make a farmfield, modingwise though. But i could definitely make a texture.

[cammo2003]

Well, I know the German word "Egge", and Babylon Translator translated it for me.

Of course you're right, a "dirt" field that doesn't change over the year looks somewhat odd (at least I would expect that some weed is growing there). But as far as I know, there are no "seasonal" base or overlay textures, so this would have to be done with props. The disadvantage of using props is that they don't conform slopes very well, though.

For my European taste, the Maxis setup of the agricultural sector is uncommon anyway. Here in Germany, you won't find that many farm buildings "in the middle of nowhere", but quite often, they are situated in a village, while the farm fields around the village don't have any buildings at all. As a matter of fact, I've already toyed with the idea to change that, so I made an "invisible" farm building and placed it on a lot that looks like the farm fields. It was just a quick & dirty setup, but the result looks much more like what I'm used to:

The setup made by Maxis is definitely realistic, though, though the buildings they've used AREN'T.

Buildings definitely exist on farms in the US, and also here in Australia, though it's a bit more like how JMyers farms look (with generally larger, single story houses, though.

[rooker1]

I would like to see some farm fields with no houses on them.  I think that would add to the realism as I have also seen several farms where the farmer owns the land all around him and across the road and such.  Great ideas.

Robin   

[monkeyjunk]

The dirt fields you see with rows is probably something called summerfallow. Summerfallow is a practice in farming starting to be replaced by newer farming techniques. summerfallow is when a farmer cultivates or plows a field one year to keep it from having disease. The disease happens when a farmer plants a cereal crop like wheat, barley, oats etc. to many years in row on the same field. often what happens is that the farmer is only planting on 2/3rds of his or 1/2 their land not making the rest of the summerfallow profitable. Nowdays summerfallow is being replaced by new techniques in seeding and spraying fields to prevent disease and make all the land growing a crop.

[Shadow Assassin]

Leaving a field fallow allows it to replenish the nutrients that it may have lost during the crop growing phase. It's a good practice to ensure maximum usability of the land in the long run.

[FrankU]

Andreas,
This idea of farmfields without buildings is just what we need for the european look. Here in my country, next to yours, almost all fields are without buildings. Farmers do live between their fields, but there are far more fields than farmers. The fields are quite small. Take a look: Google maps, zoom in on the Netherlands. Don't bother where exactly, you can see it everywhere.
I tried to work with ploppable fields, but this does not feel like playing the game anymore. Plopping and plopping for hours....
I even made some pasture farmfields with cows, because they are missing in the game. I stopped using them for the same reason.
If you could release these fields and maybe add a meadow with cows....

[Xiziz]

Intresting thread, i was actually thinking of dooing exactly what you already did Andreas earlier today, but my lack of knowlage in all the sectors of making growables, and even more farms is total. Though i guess there are tutorials around somewhere, il have to search for those later.