Welcome to Condor Bay

[Grneyes]

  Awesome work!!! Love the bridge!!! What marina did you use? I think I missed where you said which one it is. Love the next update too. Everything is looking great!!!

MaryBeth

[Masochist]

bat -
Thanks!  I'm glad you're still enjoying what I have to offer.  I'm trying some new things with this MD, things I've never done in any other city, so I hope you keep enjoying it as you are!


warconstruct -
Thanks!  I'm glad you think so!


thundercrack83 -
Hello, Dustin!  Wow, nice comment!

So you actually read the commentary?  Wow...I thought most people just kind of ignored it.  Thanks for letting me know ...even if only one person reads it, it's enough to keep it around.  And I understand about just looking at the pictures sometimes--sometimes I wish I didn't write so much so that it wouldn't take so much effort to get through one of my updates !

I'm glad you like the beach so far...hopefully you'll like it a bit more when it's developed ...

Don't know if I've said this before, but I really appreciate all of your in-depth comments!  I'm rather in awe of how much dedication you show for the MD section of this site !  Don't be a stranger!


Antoine -
LOL, thanks!  Hopefully that's a "good" wow !


threestooges -
Strike a chord, you did!  We'll see how it comes out, and I'll be sure to post pictures and let you know how it turns out!

Hmmm...so you read the comments too, eh?  Heh heh...I thought I talked to much, but I suppose you can't really talk too much if there's someone willing to listen !  Thanks for the tip, by the way!  It save a lot of time doing it with strips after a while!  As for the museum...I'll need to think of a theme for it.  What's the museum for, you know?  Hmmm...

Anyways, thanks for the comment!


tooheys -
Geez!  Maybe I should ask questions more often !  I hope that will help save my mouse, it's been acting like it's in its final days . 

I'm glad you like the hillside homes!  I do like how they came out (although they could definitely be better).  And that road isn't that bumpy anymore, I've flattened it out a lot.  It looks much better !

LOL, thanks!  I planned on having certain stories here and there, but so far I've just been focusing on building this and that...in fact, it's something I address in this update.  Oh, well...I do have some things planned to help remedy the situation...but that's another story .  For now, though, I'm glad you read what I write (though I don't know why people would subject themselves to such torture ).  Thanks for the comments!

(LOL, it just dawned on me that the guy named Masochist can't figure out why people would torture themselves...)


Pat -
Thanks for the comment!  I'm still trying to figure out my style of MD'ing, actually...trying to figure out what works best for me, but suites everyone.  I'm glad you like what I do to my photos...I was beginning to worry about them becoming too...ahh ...too stale.  I was afraid the effect would become too stale .  And I'm still wary of that border...

LOL, I wish I could break up my updates.  Well, I can, but unfortunately I always too much to say .  I think you're right, though...I think a lot of pictures get lost in the mix...I put up 15-20 pictures in one update, and people only really remember maybe the first and last 3.  Maybe I'll start doing that...but after I get done with Condor Beach.

Thanks again for the comment !!  Do come back soon!


Grneyes -
Thanks!  I'm glad you liked the bridge...hopefully when I fix it it'll look even better.  Which marina do you mean?  If you mean the three repeating ones near the seaport, that's [Goldiva's Yacht Club]; if you mean the one near the freeway, that's a mix of a lot of [PEG's CDK Marina Lots]. Thanks for the comments!

UPDATE 5 - Down In The Valley
Reticulating splines...

Hmmm...I've noticed something slightly disturbing in this MD.  I've been chronicling what I've built and how and why I've built it...but I just go from one to the next.  I seem to, for reasons unknown,
expect you to just kind of remember everything I've said about all that stuff, and yet I never let you guys get really intimate with what I've built.  What mean is, even with all the info I've presented, you guys actually know very little about my city, and that's totally my fault .

Every now and then, you get a taste of what life is like in my city (for example, Market Street), but for the most part, I just build and move on, build and move on...at least, that's how I perceive it.  I may be wrong.  Either way, you'll see me make an effort to prevent this in this update .

And now without further adeu...:

5.1)

North is towards the upper right corner

This is the SC3K version of the area I'm building in SC4.  This is the area around Condor Beach...as you can see, it's full of mid-and-high density housing, and also has another commercial area at the corner of the freeway.  I'm not exactly replicating the density of the zones, but I'm trying to semi-stick with the zone types as they're laid out in SC3K.

Here's the same area, just zoomed out to include Vista Hill and the seaport:

5.2)


There you go.  I've already got the suburbs on the hills built, so now I have to spread out into the flat-land along the freeway.  This will be the very first developments in Condor Valley (the actual valley, that is) .

5.3)


Just building out the avenues and roads, and trying to figure out which ones will actually cross the freeway.

A bit of progress:

5.4)

Griddy city...

Notice the griddy nature of the network, and the complete lack of streets.  This is a rather new thing for me...usually there will be streets having to fight the diagonal roads and avenues for space.  Also, I finally got the nameless beach avenue fully connected (using one-way roads).

So how 'bout them zones, then, eh ?

5.5)

Facing west

It might be hard to tell from this shot, but the zones I added are all medium/high density.  The reason for this is because I really wanted this to be the point where my population really started to take off.  Successfully made and managed, this part of this city could be the foundation that carries the region in terms of population and growth.  So I built those higher-density zones, along the avenue, next to the freeway.

A few more interesting things about this picture: I built that hospital tower not only for my continuing effort to use more custom content, but also because that's about where I planned for my commercial area to be and I wanted it to help it look nicer.  The school...that's Washington High School, a school in jbsimio's School Pack.  More about it later, though.

Wow, I ramble a lot .  Moving on...

5.6)

Facing south

Commercial and industrial area zoned.  I put the higher densities along avenues, and the lower ones along roads; that's a trend that will continue for a while until my style evolves.

Let's see how this part of town develops, eh?

5.7)


Ahh!  Looks like it's growing nicely !  As you can see, I added a City Hall and the Newman Inc. Courthouse with a random fountain/park behind it.  Now, for the first time, my Sims have a place to sort out their civic problems, and a place to meet me in case they want to complain about stupid things like unemployment or traffic.

Those two twin towers just kind of grew up by themselves in that position.  They've become somewhat of a landmark in that town because of their distinct shape:

5.8 )

Diamond Dave's Car Emporium there on the side...

Here're some more showcase shots:

5.9)

Probably the most you'll see of the industrial area all update...

5.10)


5.11)

High-density residences, and a mysterious parking lot up in the corner there...

5.12)

Look familiar, eh?

Hmmm...how about we take a closer look at one particular building, eh?

5.13)


5.14)


As I said earlier, this is Washington High School.  This is one of my favorite BAT's, because it's one of the few schools that's not symmetric.  I've never seen a symmetric school in my life; they've all had those weird angles just like that one.  As it is, WHS is the school for all the teens in this little section of Fordville...even those in the hills.  This (predictably ) causes some friction with the local neighborhood kids, and there have been a few reports of after school fighting and such.  Even still, the school is seen as fine, upstanding institute of learning for Fordville.

And Now A Short Lesson In Photography
An SC4D Exclusive!

While browsing around ST, I came across something interesting: a link to an [SC4 Flickr Group].  While browsing that group, I uncovered the secrets of an oft-used photographing technique called Tilt-Shift.  The idea behind it is using a tilted lens to blur all but a bit of the photograph to give extreme focus to one certain part of it.  It has practical uses, but many people in that group use the technique to make shots of cities appear as if they are only models.  [Here's a perfect example], created by someone named windypizza.

I suddenly understood why people were blurring two different sides of SC4 pictures recently...so I decided to try my hand in it.  I followed [this very simple tutorial] using Washington High School as my focal point.  Here's the result of my efforts:

5.15)

The original

5.16)

Fake modeled...

I had to overcome the limited perspective of SC4 by squashing the picture a bit, but the final image came out better than I thought it would...especially with those shops along the avenue there.  The reason this is an SC4D exclusive is because the shrunken down version of this picture just doesn't do it justice in my eyes.  I might show it elsewhere, but I think the effect is most noticeable in this size.  I'd love your opinion on it...

By the way...as I found out later, this is possible on The GIMP, as well.  Just follow [this tutorial].



That's enough about that high school.  What about the younger folks, eh?  Well, they can't go to school right now.  Because my teachers are on strike :

5.17)


Why are they on strike?  Because that school is waaaaay too overcrowded.  So I built two additional elementary schools nearby:

5.18)


These two schools have picked up the extra kids, so neither of them were overcrowded anymore...but Little Red Schoolhouse is actually still barely under the line, while these two new schools only have the overflow students.  This got me thinking: what would happen if were to...:

5.19)


Little Red Schoolhouse is gone !  I left it gone for about 6 months...but the other two schools didn't gain any kids.  I put it back, and almost immediately it had the same amount of students it had before.  Are you kidding ?!

Anyways...a few more things before I go.  I've figure something out that I've been wondering a long time about:

5.20)

You finally get to see the entire town so far...

Apparently, according to this picture, Sims can travel from one city through another to get to a third city .  The bus route proves it.  Here's where I queried it coming into my city (in the industrial area on the other side of the hills):

5.21)


...and here's the same bus line leaving my city (out towards the freeway bridge):

5.22)


So now I know.  And if you knew already, well...you coulda told me !

Anyways, I do believe that's all for this update.  Next update is the actual CONDOR BEACH!

5.23)

Don't forget your sunscreen !

[thundercrack83]

Hello, Isaac!

Thank you for your nice comments above, my friend. Your words to mean a lot! I try to be as supportive as I can not only here, but with all the MDs.

Now...

The city center that you've put together is coming along mighty nicely! From the way that you've outlined it through the pictures, it looks like it's going to be fantastic!

I do have one suggestion, though: Have you thought about converting the highway going through the CBD into a sunken highway? Going through the center like that, I think it would work quite well, and with some walls, scenery, etc., it could really look good. In the interests of full disclosure, though, I'm a sucker for the sunken highway, and would probably put one through farmland!

Oh, and that photo technique you found, that's outstanding, too! I'm going to have to try that out one of these days!

Take care, my friend! And I look forward to Condor Beach!

Dustin

[Pat]

Isaac you know it I will be back, cause you have me hooked on what you are doing here with the blend of the old and new... Just over all what you are trying to accomplish here is a whole new feet!!! I do appreciate your style please dont get me wrong on that... I cant wait for the beach trip...

[tooheys]

Little Red Schoolhouse is gone !  I left it gone for about 6 months...but the other two schools didn't gain any kids.

Did you ever see "The Philadelphia Experiment", maybe the kids got sucked up with the school  Just hope they didn't come back imbedded in the walls 

I only added the above so that it looked like I was reading your MD   

The city has come along nicely, and the twin commercial towers, fluke or not, look great.

Will have to try that photo technique, that's the first I had heard of that.

Another great update.

Cheers

Dave

[threestooges]

Nice work with the new development, especially those two curved buildings (just missing a bridge/walkway connecting the two. As far as the school, you can probably take their minds off periodically fighting each other by adding some fields/sporting grounds nearby. High schools tend to have sports complexes (though given the density of the area you are developing now, I can see why they wouldn't have too much room to spread out the campus). The civic area (courthouse in particular) turned out nicely. Take it easy, and I'll look for the next update.

[bat]

Another fantastic update, Masochist!! Great work on that city! Also nice pictures of it! And great use of that tutorial in picture 5.16.

[paroch]

Hi Masochist,

Only just discoevered your MD and wow, it's a cracker.

I love the flashbacks to SC3K.  I was thinking about it the other day and how there were some differences.  I once created a large part of a city without roads - shame that's not pissible in SC4.
And the other day I wanted to see how much of my city's power was being generated by recycled waste and wind power.  I counldn't find out but seem to recall in SC3K you could get pie charts that told you.  Or maybe I'm just imagining it?!?

The red brick apartment buildings with the green rooves in 5.1 were always one of my favourites.  Can you remember what they were called?  And is there a SC4 version BAT out there I wonder??

Anyways, great MD, I have read alot of it (but not all the words - 4 pages in one go is tooooo much).  I like your mini-tutorials where you explain what you're doing and why you're doing it.  Also seeing a city from early zoning is a nice change.

I look forward to visiting more often.

Paul

[warconstruct]

always also beautiful your update! your effect carried out on the photographs are splendid 

cheer

[Masochist]

thundercrack83 -
Trust me, we all appreciate the work you put into this section, no doubt !

Thanks for your comment!  I do think it's coming along nicely for such a young city.  About that sunken highway...I seriously considered doing it...but two things prevented it.  If you look at picture 5.4), you'll see that along the freeway, there's a downslope towards the beach.  If I did a sunken highway, it would only be sunken on one side...(it would help with a few problems, but it would defeat the purpose of having a "sunken highway", I think).  Also, a little further north, there's an avenue that crosses where the freeway turns diagonally.  I don't know how to properly make that with a sunken highway (is it possible?).

Don't worry, though...this city definitely will not go without having at least one (probably two, possibly three) sunken highways .

Hope you like this update, it's a BIG one!  Thanks again for the comment!


Pat -
LOL...I'm glad you're liking it so far!  I didn't take any offense to your last comment, don't worry ...but I did take it to heart when trying to figure out how to present the pictures in this update (there's almost 40!).  Still...any suggestions are definitely welcome!  Thanks for your comment!  Hope you like this update...


tooheys -
LOL, no I haven't seen that movie, but I can definitely see the parallels...I never realized how freaky it was that hundreds of kids disappeared for six months !  Anyways, thanks for the comment!  That tilt-shift technique is pretty cool by itself, but I learned quite a few other things in the tutorial that I use in different ways...you'll see a few in this update .  Hope you like it!


threestooges -
Yeah, I know!  I was thinking the same thing...just need a skybridge to connect the two.  Do you know if there's a BAT of a skyway-type thing over an avenue?  Just wondering...anyways, on that school suggestion, you're right--I would've, but there's too much junk in the way (junk=houses ).  I've got some nice sports fields I wanna use, though...oh, well.

Take it easy...well, I do in real life, but not with this update !  You'll see...thanks for the comment!


bat -
Thanks!  It's a great tutorial, I'd recommend anyone try it on a picture of their own !  Thanks for stopping by!


paroch -
Whoa!  Nice comment!

Yeah, the SC3KU aspect is the backbone of this entire MD, I think.  In fact...I've yet to create a successful city that wasn't based on an SC3K city.  And no, you can't make a completely roadless paradise...but you can make one where roads are the least important transit option (if I'm to believe the pictures AK puts up).  And yeah, there was a pie chart that told you what percentage of your power came from the different kinds of power supplies.  In fact, there were a lot of charts and info that came with SC3K that didn't make it into SC4 (elevation, for example).

The red brick apartments are called "Sheeza Brick Haus," "Comfort Arms," "Brick Arms" and another one that I can't quite remember.  I don't think there's a BAT for any of them (there are very few SC3K BAT's, a fact I'm sad about ).

Thanks for going back and catching up, I really appreciate it (I realize that with all I write and post, that can be a daunting task).  And thanks for this comment...feel free to stop by anytime !


warconstruct -
Thank you!  I'm glad you liked it...hopefully you'll like this one, too.  I'm really excited about it!

PROJECT 2 - Condor Beach
And the origin of the banners....

Finally!!!  You guys have no idea how long I've been waiting for this update to come!  I've wanted to share this part of my city ever since I built it (which, obviously, was before the MD started).

I'm going to warn you now: there are a lot of photos in this update...moreso than any prior update.  I had to actually think carefully on how to best present this update to you guys, because I didn't want any updates lost in the fray.  So here's how it will go:  first I'll show how I created the beach, then use a placeholder to show where the "showcase pictures" would go, finish the actual update with a teaser, and then show the showcase pictures.  That way, you either read the update, or skip straight to the "good stuff" (if that's what you want to call it ).

Now the time has come for me to formally introduce one of Fordville's most famous features and popular attractions, Condor Beach:

6.1)


There it is!  Beautiful, ain't it ?  LOL...yeah, it's just flat land with a line of commerce and a museum at the end (?).  The line of commerce is supposed to represent a boardwalk (Venice Beach-style).  My job was to recreate this in SC4...but I wanted it to be more than just a boardwalk.  This was supposed to be a famous place!  It had to merit that fame...

I had already terraformed the land in a previous update...now we get to develop it.  I actually don't have too many pictures of me trying down different things, but all I was basically doing at first was trying out different resorts/hotels to see what would go together, see what would work.  Here's what I decided on in the end:

6.2)


Nice and plopped.  Plopped, with jobs.  Remember that...keep that in your head .  That little fact comes into play in huge (and probably obvious) way later on.

From South to North (left to right), the buildings are:

-Palm Plaza
-Carlton House
-Embassy Suites
-Ocean's 27 Club
-Marina Resorts (x2)
-Swimian Plaza
-Atlantic Plaza
-Las Arenas Resort
-Miami Palm Complex
-Omni Suites
-Marriott Hotel

I'm still trying to work on the variety a bit...I think it needs more clubs and nightlife activities to really get to where I want it to (although that might end up in the commercial area across the freeway).  And it's missing the museum, which is something I have to take special note since threestooges said he'd be interested in my choices about it .

Anyways, here's another look (facing South):

6.3)


Good for going on right now.

That avenue...that's a big part of the beach.  It's an actual split-avenue (as opposed to two one-way roads) except at the intersections of other roads.  In decorating a median like this, there's just no other choice but to use n74708's Palm Trees:

6.4)


All the different colored palms, flanked by the really tall red ones.  They look really good at the ends, don't they?  Well...that's what I thought.  In the median at all the intersections, I put the big palms on either side of the intersecting street, and filled in the gaps in between with whatever pattern I could come up with (not in terms of color, but in terms of space).  Here's the result of my random ploppings:

6.5)


The spaces between the palms will be filled with random plazas and such.

Now for the actual beach/boardwalk itself.  Wait...beach/boardwalk?  The choice was easy: gotta be PEG's CDK OWW2 Beach Dev. Kit:

6.6)

Picture by pegasus

Hold on, there...what's this?  Transparent textures?  Most of my beach-land is green, and anyways, I wanted to integrate it with the beach set I downloaded--you know, the one I used to create Royal Beach.  *Sigh*...oh, well.  Just like with that beach, looks like I'll have to head off to the good ol' Lot Editor .

6.7)


Very quick and easy to match it to my needs...just make the lot a bit smaller (5x3 as opposed to the original 7x3), move the props accordingly, and apply the beach sand texture.  I did that for all of the necessary lots.  Took a total of 30 minutes or so.

Anyways, I had what I needed...so I could now start laying out the beach.  I tried a few different layouts for the boardwalk.  Here's an earlier one:

6.8)


I didn't like the fact that the BDK sections were uneven...so I made them all the same length of tiles.  Then I added a Baywatch-type thing at the south end (the left side), filled in the rest of the beach with beach tiles, and made good use of Goldiva's ploppable palms and rocks.

And finally, finally!, I came out with something I was proud of:

6.9)


Oooh, that picture's sexy ! (Get it?  No?  Ahh...well, maybe it's better that way... )

ANYWAYS...

There it is.  Condor Beach, with all the little extra spaces filled in and everything.  Notice how the back of the resorts area is just green high-wealth grass with random palm trees on it.  I honestly couldn't think of anything to put back there, but I definitely didn't want to leave it blank.  What can go behind a resort on the slope of a hill next to a freeway and look good ?

Here's a look at a cartoon-y representation of it (facing South again):

6.10)


And now for something a bit different....

Remember that diagonal cliff from a few updates ago?  The little piece of the coastline that I left a cliff?  It connects the beach to the marina.  Well...I went and decorated it a bit:

6.11)


Eh...looks all right.  But of course, there's a few things wrong with it (ignoring the weird corner near the marina).  First off, I think, given the color of the Promenade Deck at the lower-left side of the picture as well as the fact that I've already used Marrast's walls, I think that jaystimson's similar walls might work a bit better here.  Secondly, the commercial area right next to the wall...well, I hate it.  I wish it were gone...except I don't know what to put there.  Maybe take another tip from threestooges and throw down just a nice grass area ?  And then I could put the commercial shops on the higher level to replace those random houses....

I could...unless you have a better idea?  Maybe?

Moving on...

6.12)


Here we have callgrafx and BarbyW's awesome seaside hotel.  I really wanted to use it for this beach, but it just didn't fit .  Rest assured, you will see this somewhere in my city.  I don't know where...but somewhere!

Showcase Pictures Would Go Here

...But they'll come later.  Instead, I'll give you your first close-up of a hotel at sunset:

6.13)


Wait...why the heck does that look so familiar?  Hmmm...

6.14)


AHH!  Of course!  That's where the banners come from .

Hmmm...what else can I throw in here?  Oh!  The first vertical mosaic of this MD (top to bottom = South to North):

6.15)









(Ahh...a little teaser for you at the bottom of that picture, eh ?)

Well...actually, I think that's all I've got as far as the actual update.  The next update is sort of unique, because along with creating the area north of the freeway, I have to deal with one gigantic problem....

Remember what I told you to remember from way up there in the update?  Say it with me: Plopping, with jobs.  Well...here's where my plopping inexperience shows:

6.16)


WHAT THE HECK!?  How did that happen, I plopped things with jobs!  How come I have unemployment?  Well...we'll deal with that next update .

CONDOR BEACH SHOWCASE

Well, here it is: the Condor Beach Showcase.  Very little of me talking, quite a bit of me showing my pictures off.  I realize that Condor Beach probably doesn't merit this much attention--it wasn't too hard to produce, after all--but there were soooo many good picture opportunities !  I had to take them.  What I would suggest you do is just go about it like a museum: just take a second to glance at all the pictures, and either pick a favorite or two, or vomit on all of them and leave me a gigantic FAIL. picture ...whatever floats your boat.  Hope you brought your SPF-50 !

6.17)

Tilt-Shift revisited (not as good as the other one)

6.18)

Bright, sun-shiny day

6.19)

The colors of the beach

6.20)

A different view of the night

6.21)

Summer sun off of Atlantic Plaza

6.22)

Miami Palms at dusk

6.23)

Miami Palm Plaza & Clock Tower

6.24)

Bright night lights

6.25)

The Marina Towers

6.26)

AMAZING night-lighting!

6.27)

Marina Towers in the summer sun

6.28)

Same shot at night

6.29)

Palms and Las Arenas

6.30)

Colorful boulevard

6.31)

Red sunset

6.32)

Black night

6.33)

Swimian Plaza at dusk (with my border...)

6.34)

Marriott Hotel in focus

6.35)

Welcome to Paradise

6.37)

Welcome to Cartoon-y Paradise

6.38)

Let's take a stroll...


Thanks for taking the time to look at all that!  I really appreciate it.  If you have any--and I mean any--suggestions on how to make this beach better, please let me know!  I accept all forms of comments, criticisms and cruelty...as long as it's honest .

Anyways...that's all from here.  Thanks again for reading !

P. S. I don't know when I'll post the next update...I'll have to let this one simmer a bit.  And expect to see this pictures everywhere now that I've finally gotten this update done .

[JBSimio]

   

Masochist, I've been lurking the last couple of weeks and this is quickly becoming a favorite.  I love how you actually take the time to show the process of creating what you do.  Needless to say, the end results are also stunning.  The different beach areas fit together very well to make a cohesive area... and the choice of buildings is great!  Personally, I'm not sure you need more than some nice landscaping between the hotels and the freeway.  It seems to me that it would be a great self-marketing gimick for the city to make sure people driving by can see what they're missing.

Looking forward to even more when you get that far!

JB

PS... thanks for the free plug in your previous update too! 

[warconstruct]

WOW I was into full extase in front of certain photographs 
seriously they very is successful, the sights of nights are exquisite !
The MOD for the shades of gizmos if I am not mistaken you suits has wonder! 

I followed your text and it is wise to learn coming from you, you use LotEditor well 

it is with great pleasure and my greater satisfaction than I congratulate you for your works 

cheer

Paul

[kimcar]

I was outside for a while and when i came back you had already a couple great update done, and what a very nice one ... wow ! You got a lot of pics that will be good for pic contest you know ? Thanks a lot for the tutorial too about gimp and .. geez ,too much to say  your mosaic it`s just stunning . Ok now i gonna take a breathing , for tell you that i your beach and layout are very inviting so here i come 

[bat]

That was another great update there, Masochist! And great 38(!) pictures and very good mosaic there! Wonderful beach you have built there, too!

[RickD]

WHAT THE HECK!?  How did that happen, I plopped things with jobs!  How come I have unemployment?  Well...we'll deal with that next update

Hi Masochist,

I ran into exactly the same problem in two of my cities. I was not happy with the development and became impatient.  I'm anxious to see how you dealt with this.

[rooker1]

Very nice, huge update.  Some of the photoshopping looks very interesting.  The Bay looks very well thought out and executed.

Robin 

[mightygoose]

the unknown hotel is the BLaM carlton house.... by OP4

[Nardo69]

Nice Job you did there.

One reason why I am VERY carefully with Ploppable commercials (except Co$) is that they kill your demand if you plop them against the game without a demand (which I don't use). In the big cities in my region you can find them but I plopped one after the other when I had the adequate demand in my city. Yet in quite a few cases plopping a big Co$$$ made some dozen smaller ones go black .. . 

I still like the copmparison with SC3K, gives such a nice warm feeling of nostalgia ... I do have a copy around here but it is not installed ...

With the left and the right side of the motorway not even I wouldn't use the Original overpasses at all. They just don't look al right, as you can see e.g. in pic 6.10. If you don't have bussing there I would try the underpass-to-subway pieces by buddybud. Unfortunately he hasn't released them before his bid bad harddisk crash, the download link is somewhere hidden in a forum "on the other site" but in case of emergency PM me ...
If you don't want to use them, I would use the new onslope pieces in the NAM or build my own overpass with the overpass puzzle pieces.

Another thing I don't like is the rather steep transition between ground and elevated highway in pic 5.5 at the left side. I would think about if you really need the overpass there instead of replacing it with the NAM transition pieces. If you REALLY want to cross the highway there I would prolong the elevated highway behind that overpass so that the transition is not placed on the sloped area of the higway.

Other than my normal nagging: Is there a room and a nice place on the beach somewhere for me? I could use some nice holidays with my family ... 

Take care and don't forget to make backups!

Bernhard 

PS: I stopped plopping the Embassy suites years ago. As soon as I zone high density commercials in a suitable size in Urland I got at least two of them growing ...

[paroch]

Oh yes, very nicely put together update there.

I know that ALL MDs have bucket loads of time and effort put into them.  Your time and effort really shine through here.

Thanks for the SC3K info in your reply to me - yeach Sheeza Brick Haus!  And all the different charts and graphs.  I have found a BAT of the Copper Corp Tower from either SC3K or maybe even SC2K - if you don't have it let me know and I'll try and re-find the link.

The mosiac is to die for, truly magnificent.

I tried to create a resort / Vegas style strip in my MD, and have to say it was one of the most fun things I've created.  I was pleased with the result until I saw what you have achieved with Condor Beach.  I will certainly take some lessons from what you've done here, that's for sure.  One thing I'd like to understand more is how you created that beach and boardwalk.  The fact that the sea laps over the sand so well, even though you created your own ploppabel beach.  I'm confused!  Is there a tutorial you can point me to? 

6.9 is my favourite pic - great overview.

The only "neagtive" comment I'd make is re 6.11.  In the bottom left of the picture, I thik the short steep uphill avenue going into that big junction doesn't look quite right.  Could you imagine trying to navigate that junction from the beach upwards?  Personally I'd ditch that small bit of avenue altogether and replace it with another Commercial building, or by extending the promenade.  As for the traffic, it's not far to double back to the next intersection on the avenue.

The showcase pics are very good.  I'm not normally a photoshopping fan - but I cannot help but admire your results here.

You're making VERY good use of your time in OSITM, which is always nice to see.

[thundercrack83]

thundercrack83 -
Trust me, we all appreciate the work you put into this section, no doubt !

Thanks for your comment!  I do think it's coming along nicely for such a young city.  About that sunken highway...I seriously considered doing it...but two things prevented it.  If you look at picture 5.4), you'll see that along the freeway, there's a downslope towards the beach.  If I did a sunken highway, it would only be sunken on one side...(it would help with a few problems, but it would defeat the purpose of having a "sunken highway", I think).  Also, a little further north, there's an avenue that crosses where the freeway turns diagonally.  I don't know how to properly make that with a sunken highway (is it possible?).

Don't worry, though...this city definitely will not go without having at least one (probably two, possibly three) sunken highways .

Hope you like this update, it's a BIG one!  Thanks again for the comment!

See, this is why YOU'RE the city planner and I'm the observer, Isaac! I'll definitely be looking forward to those sunken highways in future updates, but for now...Let's go to the beach!

Condor Beach is outstanding, my friend! This update was also so massive, it was hard to take everything it. But, boy, is it a good time trying! The mosaic was definitely my favorite out of everything--the way you followed the beach was absolutely beautiful. Though I'm not a huge fan of the glowing palm trees, you've used them stunningly in the night shots...so stunningly, in fact, that I think I like them a bit more!

I'll definitely be looking forward to the next update, especially to see how you hand the "no job" problem!

Take care, Isaac!

Dustin