Greenacre

[rooker1]

Yah, Matt is going to revisit the cliff!! *I jumping up and down now*

Rock Modds.....
On our LEX


ENN Rock Mod Set 1 SDby Ennedi


ENN Rock Mod Set 2 HD by Ennedi


TSC Orange_o_ Aubrac Rock by Orange_o_


Simtrop.


Tropical Mossy Rock Mod 1 by Heblem
Heblem actually has a lot of great ones....Check out these ones.


There are a few to start my friend.  Good luck, you are going to need it.  I remember when I went water modd hunting, I tried about twenty of them before I was some what happy.
Robin

[art128]

I can just agree with the above comments, Matt! It all looks wonderful except for the tall structures near the cliff.

Can't wait to see the next update, and perhaps the modifications of the area.

[Tomas Neto]

I agree with Arthur!!! Very nice work, Matt!!!   

[Battlecat]

Nice to see you're back at it!  There's got to be a nice view from that clifftop!

[rooker1]

Greenacre....a long time Classic and definately one of my most favourite interactive MDs.  Great pics, great read and fantastic person are all great reasons to move this MD to the OSITM this month.

Congrats Matt on your 4th time in OSITM!!!


Congratulations from The SC4D Staff!

[Battlecat]

Congratulations on being selected Matt!   

I'm looking forward to your plans for this month! 

[noahclem]

Congratulations Matt! This should be a great month 

[Jmouse]

Congratulations, Matt. Certainly a well-deserved honor.

[Framly]

Congrats on the fourth OSITM and the nice Award , Matt

[threestooges]

Replies:
-Rick (RickD): You're absolutely right. I like the steepness of the cliff, but not quite realistic. It'd be an interesting view to scoot right up to the edge though. Glad you liked it and I'll be interested to hear what you think of what comes next.


Joan (Jmouse): If you liked that cliff, wait until you see what I've come up with. Hopefully it's an improvement. The civic services (schools, etc) are scattered outside the area and also are still to come in the specific area. I haven't quite decided when or where though. It's in the queue though, so I'll be getting to them soon enough.


Robin (rooker1): You've seen a hint of the cliff already (which you'll see again here today (didn't think there was any harm in sharing it now) but yes, there are some changes coming. Hopefully they'll help and I'm sure I can count on your analysis of it. As for the avenues, you'll see as it develops. They're there for a reason. What that reason is, I'm not entirely sure yet, but there's a reason. I think.


bat: Glad you enjoyed it. I may need to do more evening shots if you think that would be a good idea. Always good to see you here.


Casper (CasperVg): I'll have to dig up a picture, but I actually had a really nice view from my apartment on campus my junior (3rd) year of college: city lights sprawling off into the distance. You might find a way down the cliff, or they could put in some stairs, but boy what a hike that'd be. Great way to get in shape though; and great place it would be for a Slinky.


Noah (noahclem): Let me know what you think of the new changes that'll be coming in an update or so. Congrats on the OSITM this month too.


David (dedgren): Always good to see you here my friend. We do face some limitations in the game (seemingly fewer each day) but that one was certainly avoidable. In the following update (this weekend) I'll have more on that. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the changes. They're mainly terrain-based, including some floral barriers, but hopefully they will make things look a little better, and feel a little safer for those enjoying the view.


Robin (rooker1) x2: Thanks for the links. They proved usdful, both for rock mods and for triggering a LEX Raid which spawned the idea of updates for this month.


art128: I tweaked the terrain a bit. There should be a bit more of a setback from the edge now. It'll be up this weekend. Let me know what you think.


Tomas Neto: Thanks Tomas. Good to see you here.


Battlecat: Feels good to be back at it too. Glad you enjoyed.


Robin (rooker1) x3: I know it's on behalf of SC4D and the staff, but couldn't resist showing a 3rd response from you between updates, heh heh. Thanks for delivering the award and hopefully it'll be a good month's showing.


Battlecat x2: Thanks. Looking forward to reading your thoughts on them.


Noah (noahclem) x2: Thanks Noah, right back at you.


Joan (Jmouse): Thanks Joan. Hopefully you enjoy the show this month.


Framly: Thanks Framly. Hopefully I'll be able to live up to the past ones.


Our game has come a long way.

The original Maxis game: SC4 Vanilla. It had some great qualities to it; the foundation upon which our community has formed. It allowed for the best city simulations and building options of seemingly any game yet.


Borrowed this one from the Berlin map that comes with the game. Seems like it had starter cities already.

After a while though, people began to find new ways to tweak the game. We started getting some more options; ranging from new buildings, to new terrain and water mods. This open-ended development that was left to us set the stage for many things to come.



Gradually, and increasingly, more people began to pick up the developer's tools and began to build. The game got a new lease on life as the options began to grow in all menus (the menus started growing too).



They grew to the point where you can make an area almost devoid of Maxis material. Transit networks, automata, every aspect of the game seemed open for development.



Now, thanks to the continued efforts of those in the community: both the developers and those who work to showcase the fruits of the labor, either in a Mayor's Diary, in the Show Us Your... pictures threads, in the Picture Competition; new developments still continue to be made and show no sign of stopping.



That is what I hope to showcase this month.

There will be the same Greenacre updates (and hopefully a few more than I've been doing in the past months), but there will be an emphasis on what's new out there: what's just out, and perhaps even glimpses of what may be coming.

Yes, this is also an excuse for me to play with all the stuff I just picked up on a recent LEX Raid while prepping for the next update.

So with that, thanks for coming along for the ride with me this month. As always, thoughts, tips, and suggestions are always welcomed.

-Matt

[rooker1]

Very nice trek through time and thank for replying to me three times.....bet that doesn't happen often.

Robin 

[noahclem]

That's an excellent visual and written history of SC4 and its community of the years. Also, phenomenal work with those cliffs and MMPs. That looks like one for the picture competition thread!

Looking forward to what's next 

[Battlecat]

Sounds like a neat approach to the month.  You're absolutely right about how different the game is today from when it was first released!  Looking forward to seeing what you showcase. 

[vester]

Congratulations Matt. Looking forward to see what you going to show us this month.

[Jmouse]

What an interesting - and memory jogging - bit of time travel, Matt! A great start to what I know will be a grand display of talent and imagination here. And I do like your new cliff much better than the old one. Which rock mod are you using?

Looks like it's going to be an exciting month in OSITM - with maybe even a cliff hanger or two.

-Joan

[calibanX]

Congratulations Matt. Very well deserved. Good idea for your month in the spotlight. I'm looking forward to the "timeline of change".

Geoff

[bat]

Congrats on your 4th OSITM-award! And nice first update in this special month...

[JoeST]

Sweet sauce, I'm gonna be watching closely congrats for your 4th OSITM, you certainly deserve it

Joe

[threestooges]

Replies:
Robin (rooker1): Can't say that it does, nor should it usually since that tends to mean it's been a while since I last posted. I'll say these were beneficial though, as you'll see below in a sec.


Noah (noahclem): I may just consider popping it in the competition. However, take a look at the rest of this update and let me know if there's a better one to consider. Glad you liked the history, as brief as it was. I was hoping it got the point across well enough.


Battlecat: Here's the first of the show coming up. Not sure I do flora quite as well as you so I'd be up for some pointers, but any thoughts in general would be good.


vester: There will be plenty to show, as you probably already know. Plenty of work behind the scenes, but I think it'll all be worth it in the end. Also, unless I forgot about a post of yours before: welcome to Greenacre!


Joan (Jmouse): I thought it'd make a fitting intro for the month, given what I have planned. As for the rock mod, it's one of those things where controllers may overwrite each other, so I'm not positive it's solely one controller. Anyway, it's c.p.'s url=http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1637[Olympic texture (from the olympic terrain mod)[/url] with Ennedi's standard definition Sandstone Rock mod.  link=topic=6621.msg412630#msg412630 date=1328221389]. I think, more than anything though, the variations to the slope helped it more than anything. The texture change does help too though. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the new version as a whole. As far as cliffhangers go, when have you ever known me to taunt like that? Don't answer that; but yes, there are some surprises ahead.


Geoff (calibanX): Thanks Geoff! Sort of an old-new thing planned, we'll see how it works.


bat: Thanks bat! Hope you enjoy the month here.


Joe (JoeST): Don't watch too closely. I don't want people to figure out I have no idea what I'm doing. Looking forward to any thoughts/comments you have as I go.


So, as promised, we're heading back to the hills: specifically to turn them into hills instead of a sheer cliff face more reminiscent of Half Dome than anything more usual for nature.

37.01


So here's how we left things last time:

37.02


Not the best, but then I didn't want to get rid of the stuff I'd already built down below; but then the buildings up top look like they're ready to slide right off if there was even a light breeze.

37.03


Something had to give, and as it turns out it was the under-planned and hastily done lower section. The grid's on so you can see the space that's available for work.

37.04


as far as landscaping, a cliff like this would likely have lost some rocks over time, so I laid down a healthy dose of the ones I could find that matched the color closely enough.

37.05


After that, I filled it in with some smaller pebbles (a selection from Peg's newer rock sets). They helped blend the rocks into the terrain. After that, I worked in some trees, taking advantage of the new advances in seasonal plop flora (all plopped right around Sept 1).

37.06


The hills themselves were looking a bit barren and plopping rocks on them just didn't fully look right. Some smaller trees and bushes on flats spots, on the other hand, fit quite nicely. (you may have seen this one before).

37.07


Add a few trees and some dense grass up top to give some good roots to the soil to avoid landslides, the upper area has a bit more leeway before the ground falls away, The adventurous folks can trek on out there, but the average person is less likely to take a nasty step.

37.08


Filling in the trees, rocks, and grass along the bottom on out to the north edge of the cliff.

37.09


Wrapping up with a season check and a quick winter shot.

37.10


Follow by one from Spring. I like the subtle color variety:

38.11


These seasonal trees really do go a long way in improving the realism and photo opportunities of the game.

38.12


Going back to that "looking down the cliff" shot from last time, I think it's improved a bit with the changes.

38.13


Yeah, I think it did:

38.14


My compliments to everyone who has been involved in figuring out the secrets of seasonality for flora plops, and to everyone who took the time to make the models for it. They're a great addition.

-Matt

[rooker1]

Now that's what I'm talkin'bout!!!
No complaints this time from the peanut gallery....only praise!! 
Very well dene Matt.  It's great to see you take everyones input and make the changes in game.

Robin