The University of Clayhurst

[io_bg]

Lovely new overpasses! Great work!

[Sciurus]

Great work man!

Guillaume

[Aaron Graham]

Your doing such a great job.

[Utvaw]

These all look so great.  I think I would have lit up the logo on that one at night, but either way you are doing an awesome job with all these.

[threestooges]

I really like the versatility of these overpasses Jon. Being able to run two single-tile networks under it too is a great touch that I don't think I've seen before in a basic overpass. The concrete looks fine, but the thickness/height of the rails looks a bit high, but then I guess that's to keep people from falling/jumping over. Mixed with the thickness of the rails though, it does seem a bit dense. How big are they in the BAT?

I think it looks good here as it is. The only thing I would suggest is to consider making the rails just a bit thinner, if it's feasible.
-Matt

[phillyphresh89]

First of all, I love your creations, especially the University of Clayhurst Series!!!! 
I know I'm not the only one patiently waiting the next release- soo, do we have an ETA yet???
Can't wait to see what you come up with next!!!!

[markouellette]

I'm trying to diagnose an apparent problem.  In a large city with Clayhurst built and running for >50 game years, I couldn't build the Advanced Research Centre.  I added the Maxis uni, and the ARC immediately became available.  My Clayhurst had a functional classroom, and all the other buildings, as well as driveways and parking lots.

Has any one else run into Clayhurst no triggering the ARC?

[JBSimio]

Metarvo:  Thank you!  I know there are plenty of other pedestrian overpasses out there, but I liked the idea of making some that would fit the campus mold a little better and also offer a bit more flexibility.  Glad to hear it seems to be a worthwhile effort! 

Jack:  Thanks!  I don't see myself doing any "roll cages" for these, but I see we're in agreement there anyway.  Speaking of RL... obviously mine kicked back in again, but more about that in a moment.

CabraBuitre:  Thank you!

Zach:  Thanks!  I was mostly using the campus in Covington as my test bed, but I've basically run out of room there for some of these newer things.  I need to just build a seperate test city devoted to this project where I can explore all the different ideas I have in my head.   Why that hasn't happened yet is a very good question and I don't even know the answer! 

Ernst:  Thank you!

Io_bg:  Thanks!

Guillaume:  Thank you!

Aaron:  Thanks!

Utvaw:  Thank you!  I considered lighting up the logo and I may still try it out.  We'll see how it looks before I say more than that though.

Matt:  Thanks!  The thickness on the rails may have something to do with a newer graphics card I'm using... the anti alias doesn't appear to be quite right and there is some black around the edges that I feel should have blended better.  I need to check it on my laptop to be sure though.  The thickness of the railing mesh is 0.25 which I've used pretty extensively for things like this in the past.  They may just be spaced too close together as well.  Some further tinkering will tell.

Phillyphresh:  Thank you!  No ETA on the first expansion yet, sorry.

Markouellette:  Hmmm... I never used the Advanced Research Center and so hadn't even noticed your issue.  I haven't had time to dig too deeply, but it may be that the ARC is triggered specifically by the Maxis University's own unique instance ID.  I can say that the Clayhurst classrooms use the same occupant groups and city exclusion group as the Maxis version, so it wouldn't be either of these things.  Usually, as far as I know, the other major reward trigger is a building's specific ID code which I obviously can't copy into the Clayhusrt buildings without completely replacing the Maxis university completely.  Hopefully someone with a little better knowledge... paging Ripplejet ... can correct me if I'm wrong here.

Donclark:  The usual answer is "When it's ready."    I've been away from the forums for a few weeks myself, but before disappearing I was under the impression that things were gearing up in other areas for Andreas who is probably just very busy with other things right now too.  Even if he was done with the files, there would be a few more steps before release could happen anyway.

So... I suppose most of you who know me have already guessed that summer started!    On top of the typical RL pressures that summer always brings to my job, I also had to let my other cook go.  I'm currently training a new one, but until he's completely ready I'll be putting in (and have been for a couple weeks already) some very long days for a while again.  To be honest, I hadn't even visited this site in a week or two.  The only reason I even knew about the forums upgrades were from the BSC site which I was checking to keep up with plans for the upcoming Euromeet in London.  Hard to believe that I'll be over there in just over a month already!!!

As far as EP1 goes:  The files are still with Andreas as I said earlier.  I haven't heard from him specifically lately, but I'm sure he's just busy like I am.  Even when he does get finished with them, I'll need to get everything to Ripplejet for final modding and languages.  There are a number of things for the reward chains that haven't even been cemented in stone yet and I doubt he and I will have a chance to discuss much until we meet in London anyway.  Then everything will need to be tested a bit to make sure nothing was missed.  So in all honesty, I don't see a release happening until at least the end of August or even mid-September at the earliest.  I'm sure that's not what anyone wants to hear, but there it is.

Nothing new to add at the moment.  I just wanted to stop in and let everyone know I was still around somewhere.  I'll try to keep up when I can, but in the meantime...

Have a great summer!
JB

[ComputerGuy]

I'm a big fan of your work, JB. I have a question: will you make a Greek fraternity/sorority house? And enable the toilet paper trees?

[simdad1957]

Well JB, it's tough to keep patient but I know how RL can throw a couple of curve balls at you.

I think I can wait until the fall for the EP though.  Frankly, I haven't touched SimCity for about 4-5 months now.  I've been busy with my own RL as well as editting Wikipedia and contributing to SkyscraperPage.  I'm just waiting for an impetus to inspire some new SimCity creativity and I think that it will be your EP.

Till then.....   

[Andreas]

As far as EP1 goes:  The files are still with Andreas as I said earlier.  I haven't heard from him specifically lately, but I'm sure he's just busy like I am.  Even when he does get finished with them, I'll need to get everything to Ripplejet for final modding and languages.  There are a number of things for the reward chains that haven't even been cemented in stone yet and I doubt he and I will have a chance to discuss much until we meet in London anyway.  Then everything will need to be tested a bit to make sure nothing was missed.  So in all honesty, I don't see a release happening until at least the end of August or even mid-September at the earliest.  I'm sure that's not what anyone wants to hear, but there it is.

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth yet, but RL kept me unusually busy lately indeed. As a matter of fact, I haven't visited SC4D since a month or so, and the only occasion when I had some free time was when the site was down due to maintenance. I basically haven't touched SimCity since last year's SFBT Advent Calendar, and from what I can see, the next two months or so will keep me busy as well. I'll see about returning to the community properly in fall, hopefully.

[Jack_wilds]

@Andreas: oh well, such is life  ... as one needs to 'roll with the punches' at times... I trust that you can and will get to doing the C of U-EP1 as its a much looked forward to  ... in th emean I'll just standgy in expectation of its eventual -hopefully sooner than later, release

best wishes

Jack

[jerred_p]

Question for you JBSimio (or anyone who can answer this LOL)

I love your work...ALL OF IT.  I have recently stumbled across the University of Clayhurst, decided to download and I LOVE IT.  But, I can only locate the starter pack....where do you download the expansion packs?

One more questions...is it possible for me to delete a "dependency" and get rid of the seasonal changing trees?  They look nice in your pics, I just don't like them in the game....on any lot.  Nothing personal.

Thanks for your help, and KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

[Ramona Brie]

jerred_p: EP1 is sadly with the busy Andreas for modding and prep work. That's been delayed due to his RL.

[jerred_p]

Darn, was looking forward to that.  Any idea on the tree situation?

[JBSimio]

Computerguy:  Thanks!  I definitely have plans for a "Fraternity and Sorority Row" at some point, but I don't really know which pack that might best into.  I personally hate the toilet paper trees, although I can certainly see your point in using some there. 

Simdad:  Nice to hear from you again.  Yes, RL has been tough here during the last 18 months or so but I'm hoping that things here are finally lining up in a way that will help change that for the better.

Andreas:  Thanks for the update.  Tage and I obviously talked a bit this past week and I will probably be messaging you soon about those discussions.

Jack:  Thank you for your patience. 

Jerred_p:  As Tracker mentioned, the Starter Pack is currently the only pack available right now.  EP1 is close to being finished and I'm hoping to get it in everyone's hands as soon as possible.  For the trees, there is one definite solution and one "possible" solution.  The definite one would simply involve using the Lot Editor to replace any of the seasonal trees yourself with a favorite tree set of your choice.  This, of course, means that you would have to be comfortable with LE.  This method also means you could lose the custom menu icons for any lot you change unless you know how to put those icons back into your newly saved lots.  The other "possible" solution would be if I make a tree replacement mod.  I'm not sure how well this would work though.  The seasonal trees are actually four individual timed props which are stacked on top of each other.  I don't know if there is a way to replace four props with one single non-seasonal prop.  Such a mod would also impact any other lots using the same seasonal trees (which would probably be exactly what you're hoping for anyway!).  I'll have to experiment a little before I could say if this will really work or not.

Still nothing new to show right now.  The summer camp season is over and I'm hoping to finish training my second cook as we settle back into the school year routine.  Once that is all sorted out, I should find myself with a little more time than I've had in a while and maybe I'll be able to start feeling like an active member of this community again!     In that spirit, I've just returned (last night) from the BSC Euromeet in London.  It was another fantastic trip full of lots of sightseeing, stimulating conversation, and the chance to meet a few more new faces.  Tea Cat was able to join us for a day and it was very nice to meet him in the flesh.  We also were joined for dinner by the legendary Gascooker!  I kind of felt like I was meeting a god... even though he had left the community before I really started BATting and so had no idea who I even was!     Anyway... Ripplejet and I had a pretty good discussion about the University sets and I think we have some of the last modding questions hammered out.  My hope is to bundle things back up and send them to him as well so he can start working his magic.  This will allow us to keep moving things along until Andreas is able to rejoin in the fun.

I've got all sorts of inspirational pictures and ideas from the trip, so I'm sure you'll be seeing something new in one of the JBSimio, Inc threads soon!

Until then,
JB

[Bitoques]

 I would just like to congratulate you for your awesome work and say that I admire your patience and dedication to Simcity. And also to say that I just can't wait for this release since I am now going to University and this would be a great away to celebrate it in my cities , since I'll have to leave Simcity for some time  .

[FrankU]

@Jerred_P:
If you are familiar with the SC4PIM you can relot the lots without losing the icons. You simply delete all the trees and plant trees of your own choice. But indeed: it's quite some work.

[cartmen180]

any change of an update anytime soon? ^^

[Jack_wilds]

just popping in to say Hi and hello only to find an empty office and a 'gone fishing' sign... long time no hear [progress reports are due too  ]trust all is well with you...