The Heartland - Random Images

[Alek King of SC4]

so choice! what an awesome md you have dude.

[Pat]

meinhosen I loved the train spotting, them shot where great and i was hoping for more but hey
i guess we cant just have all train update lol. Looking forward to the next update when you get
the time to get away - pat

[EDGE4194]

     meinhosen- fantastic pictures-i'm in awe  . the railroads are incredibly realistic, and great use of JB's small town buildings. Looking forward to more- when RL premits.

[Strechnitz]

Hi Meinhosen,

I really like your region. You have the skill to embed a town into the landscape in a pleasant way. nothing is overcurved, and yet it does not look like the built areas take over nature as sometime happens.

sorry, i always need a lot of words to say what I like.

anyway, I look forward to your next update.

Strech.

[kwakelaar]

Great looking images, especially the small-town-Main-street are so well done.

[meinhosen]

Short update today: I finally got to messing with the new and compatible RHW.

But first 

thundercrack - well, since it's now public knowledge, I'll be at West Point for the summer.  I'm not sure how it worked out to be a deployment, but, well, that's the Army for ya.

Serkanner - Ooh, a must see?    Thank you!

BigSlark - The Rio Grande was my inspiration for that.  I can't remember the name of the tunnel that goes through the Continental Divide, but pictures of that area inspired me to build this region.

threestooges - See above for where I'll be... at least it's still in the US!  About the train automata: here's a quick rundown of the list:
Trolca's set - should still be available on the Mod section on ST
Dearnan's locomotives - They're available on the STEX, but were uploaded by Espee
i-photon's locomotives - another great locomotive set available on the STEX
BRF's passenger set - also off the STEX
Miscellaneous Trolca trains that I downloaded off of his old thread on ST.  Sadly, all of those links are gone.
My own stuff - a few knicknacks here and there that I opened with Ilive's reader and FiSHman and edited (particularly the UP engine and a few others that I'm still "painting").  All of the edited stuff is just that- edited (I'm so worthless when it comes to the BAT)

Thanks for the comment and the question!

emilin - Ah, religious context.  I noticed that after I put the pics together.  Some of it is coincidence, some of it was deliberate.  Names like Maranatha and New Zion are were done overtly- you can think of it like this: when settlers moved west, they tended to name places after themselves, people of fame (presidents, generals, etc), or a religious context.  Christianson and St Clair, well, like I said are just coincidence to have ended up in the same set of pics.  Suprisingly, very few of my cities are named as such (see a few updates ago with "Boseridge" and "Clarkburgh").

Nardo - Yep, those curves really help the with realism.  I don't know about you, but I'm keeping a close eye on dedgren's road curves thread... I want to see those, too.  Shame that you don't like suburban American sprawl... looks like we think alike (although I can't make the European comparison, as my only impression of Europe is a few airports).  But it wouldn't be the US without suburban sprawl.

sebes - Thank you!

rooker1 - Downtown, sure thing!  It's being rebuilt, so give it a little bit... but it's coming. 

Giligone - I love the older SC buildings.  There are still a few from SC3K that I'd like to see, but I'm content with what I've got 

Heinz - Thanks!

kimcar - If you enjoyed the rail trip, you'll like the roadtrip I'm working out 

bat & jayo - Thank you!

glepet -

I love your Colorado references. You have captured the feel of that region quite well.

That's a nice compliment, especially since I've never been to CO

AK - Thanks!

patfirefghter - An all train update?  You know I have to mix it up a little bit... sometimes I even remember to put the eye-candy away from the railroads 

EDGE4149 - Welcome to the Heartland!  Thanks for the comment!

Strechnitz - Thanks for the compliments!  Never worry about being wordy - you gave me a good idea of what I'm doing well. 

kwakelaar - Thanks!



This is a quickie update on my adventures in roadbuilding.  Consulting Google Earth to see RL highways from above helped out a lot while building these.



I'd like to thank Darmok and Travis for the inspiration for this overpass.  The slight terraforming looks a lot better than a straight NAM overpass.





Here's the town just to the west, where the RHW connects in with the beltway that encircle's Ralston.

Thanks for stopping by!

[BigSlark]

I like the road update. I need to work on my overpass terraforming...

Keep up the good work!

[glepet]

Great Pictures, Meinhosen. I like the overpass and the RHW integration.  
I look forward to your updates.

[Frankie]

Looks really good! Reminds me of my trip through Arkansas, very realistic!

[Heinz]

great results with your network development. the farms look great too. hildebrandt should benefit much from the networking you have there

[Giligone]

Those are really good highways! How I love seeing that RHW mod. So much more realistic than the maxis highways, haha. Someday I'll have to get that download. Looking forward to more!

[thundercrack83]

Beautiful job, meinhosen! Your use of the RHW is fantastic! It looks very realistic. Can't wait to see more!

[snorrelli]

Nice looking region here. I like the overpass too, except for the deadly 90-degree turn at the end! 

I'd hate to encounter that thing at night going either direction! You should scatter some car props around the farm and the forest below it to represent all the unfortunate drivers that have failed to make the turn and launched themselves off into oblivion!

[pickled_pig]

You should scatter some car props around the farm and the forest below it to represent all the unfortunate drivers that have failed to make the turn and launched themselves off into oblivion!

I like that thought.  But more practical, you could place near the 90-degree turn a speed limit sign from here.  They go as low as ten MPH and as high as 90, I believe.

It's always a good idea to look at Google Earth once in a while - it certainly paid off here.

-aaron

[rooker1]

Another fantastic update, the rural highway looks very good.  I can't wait to try it out again.  I had not had the time before to try it out very much.

Robin   

[bat]

wonderful update and great using with the RHW!

[Livin in Sim]

Hi, meinhosen,

Nice pants... .  Me lurkey long time, but me likey long time.  I found your chronicle of mid America towards the beginning, now I couldn't keep still any longer.  I have savored the trip from tiny mountain "burgs" to the cities of the prairies, Great Plains and South.  I just finished a second round.  I can't exactly put my finger on what makes your composition so authentic, but I am trying to imitate it.  Perhaps it stems from an observant eye.  Being in the service might develop that, and you must have been everywhere.  Johnny Cash would have been proud, and would have written a song about meinhosen's Heartland.  The map was sublime, and the trains, well...words lack.  Did you ever find the BRF mod?  I need to go looking for that, I think I've seen it somewhere.  Your custom lots add imagination, IMO, they are what make the difference in any diary.

Many kudos,
--Liv

[kwakelaar]

One of the better overpasses I have seen, very well put together. I also like the transition from the farmfields into the edge of town.

[Travis]

 I've finally dropped in to have a look at your MD, and I'm quite impressed! And about that overpass, I'm glad I was able to inspire someone. 
Those rural areas look real good. I must get back to those soon. From what I've seen, you have a talent for those
mid-sized urban areas as well.

I'll be sticking around...

[meinhosen]

Well, looks like my month in the "Of Special Interest this Month" forum is nearly over... and just in time for a nice Plugins Folder malfunction.  Nothing major was lost, but after a small cleaning session, I realized that the cardinal rule of "bulldoze all instances" is something that you can't skirt around.

That brings me to a second point: has anyone ever annihilated one of their cities and had stuff remain on the map (parks, empty zones, etc)?  Because that happened to me this afternoon after all of the above-mentioned mess.



BigSlark & glepet - Thanks!
Frankie - Arkansas?  Hmm, I've never thought of doing any regions there... and it is part of the Midwest...
Heinz - Thank you!
Giligone - Hope you enjoy this update, too 
thundercrack83 - Thank you!
snorelli - I should scatter some car props there... actually, I saw a "Cadillac Ranch" on the STEX; that ought to go at the bottom of that turn. 
pickled_pig, rooker & bat - Thanks!
Livin in Sim - Glad I was able to bring out another lurker    What might make my cities so "authentic"?  I call it stylized reality- I take something real, adapt it to SC4, and then adapt it to my own likes, dislikes, as well as the capacity of my plugins.
kwakelaar - Thanks for the compliment on the overpass.
Travis - Thanks!



On a bright note, having to rebuild stuff always means that I get a second-chance at doing things right in cities that I wasn't totally pleased with.  Here's some examples:



Rebuilding a few rural areas to fit with the Rural Highway.



Trying my hand at interchanges and overpasses.



Fiddling with my favorite parts of the game (trains and now the RHW).  About this overpass: I spent 35 minutes trying to get the same stinking bridge to plop on both sides of this rail bridge... obviously you can see that didn't happen