Cities XL City Journal - Update 2 Now Available

[jakeroot]

Prologue:

I used to post city journals on XLNation, which is a well-known Cities XL fansite (within the community, of course). I was pretty well known for making perfect roundabouts that were functional and pretty, and for having the most viewed City Journal on the website. Everyone asked me to make a tutorial for my roundabouts and I kept forgetting, and likewise, they eventually forgot about me so I no longer use the forums. I just download the mods and move along. I've decided, that since I've built a name for myself (that is the same as agentsteel's, sadly), I'd rather just post pictures of my city here. IF the Admins decide that this should go in the "Road-Related Illustrations" thread, then by all means move it. But this is technically a video game so I don't think it's anything but off-topic.

Also, some of you are probably unfamiliar with what a "city journal" is. In short, city journals are a way to chronicle the creation of fake cities that you build in a video game. Games commonly used to built city journals include SimCity 4 (most popular) and Cities XL (what I'm using).



Disclaimer:

The information provided thus far, and information that follow this disclaimer, is most likely inaccurate; because my fictional city is in Alberta, approximately where Red Deer is, there are a number of errors that I have made in reference to the technicalities of the Province of Alberta. Please do not go on for hours about how there isn't a bay anywhere near this size in central Alberta, nor my highway numbering scheme. I may number a highway in my fictional city that already exists somewhere else in Alberta. If this is the case, please let me know, and I will be happy to adjust the number accordingly.





Please read this! Very important.

Welcome to my city! This is one of tens of...dozens of cities that I have built in my three years with Cities XL, but of course, I think it's my best. Unlike the rest of my cities, I built an entire farming community before I built anything else, and now, I'm in the midst of freeway construction galore. It's really fun.

This is the website for the city. I built it myself. Using Weebly.    Anything about the city that you want to know (History, Climate, Government, blah blah blah) is all on there. I'm wanting to showcase this city primarily from a technical standpoint here on AARoads, rather than from a showcase standpoint, such as on XLNation, where you'd go on for hours about political parties (they all care about that stuff...I don't give two shits). However, if you are interested in that type of thing, you can read all about it on the website. Likewise, if Red Deer steals any of my ideas, please contact me...I'm gonna sue their asses.



Schedule

I plan to continue updating this city journal as I continue construction of the city, so if this type of thing interests you, make sure to check back!

Over the next few days, I plan on adding additional photos to this particular post and the website, however, future updates will take place in the form of new posts.



Photos

These are a couple maps:

South - top
North - bottom
West - right
East - left

Historic Street Map:


Modern Day Street Map (Click image for larger view).

- Blue line are future freeways
- Green lines are future expressways
- Red lines are future busways.



Freeways:

- Highway 1 (the Trans Canada Highway) runs along the eastern fringe of the city through Victoria and Perth
- Highway 30 runs between the TCH (near Victoria/Perth) west towards the Flanders city boundary
- Highway 51 runs between Old Town and the present City Centre with a full-service interchange with Highway 30

Expressways:

- Highway 67 runs north-south towards City Centre and then around the city in a ring-road fashion
- Highway 34 runs east-west then more north-south between Keynes and Old Town, running through Sydney along the way
- Highway 75 runs along Saint Helens Bay between the Highway 34/51 interchange towards an interchange with Highway 34.

Here are some general photos:

Flanders City Centre from the Highway 30 Bridge:


City Centre from Perth:


Old Town Aerial:


These are some photos of freeway interchanges:

The Highway 30-51 interchange:


The Highway 51-34-75 interchange:


The Highway 30-34 interchange:


The Highway 30-67 interchange:


The Highway 30-Trans-Canada (1) interchange:


The Highway 30-75 interchange:


Where Highway 51 was to continue through Old Town prior to freeway revolts:




I hope you all enjoyed my city journal! Make sure to check out the website. It helps to understand things a little bit better.

- Jake

[Zeffy]

Holy crap. I just downloaded the RHW mod for CitiesXL a few days ago, and I have already found it is 99x more irritating than the SC4 one. For one - my ramps are stuck in the ground half of the time, and for two - half of the time I cannot even make an exit ramp to begin with. 

Your city looks great though. Also, please give me mapping tips. My city maps I've made before just suck, straight up SUCK. Yours looks realistic, mine looks like a 3rd grader's version.

[jakeroot]

Holy crap. I just downloaded the RHW mod for CitiesXL a few days ago, and I have already found it is 99x more irritating than the SC4 one. For one - my ramps are stuck in the ground half of the time, and for two - half of the time I cannot even make an exit ramp to begin with. 

It's taken me many years to figure out the RHW completely. It is, being nice, a pain in the ass. But at it's very best, it is incredibly powerful. I used to hate it (much like you), but now I can't get enough.

Your city looks great though. Also, please give me mapping tips. My city maps I've made before just suck, straight up SUCK. Yours looks realistic, mine looks like a 3rd grader's version.

Take a high quality screenshot (Shift+F11), import into any photo editing program. Invert the colors, and then go black & white. I actually didn't draw all those roads. The only things I've added were the city names, the arrows, the future freeway stuff, and the geographic features.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

All I gotta say is WOW!

I used to be into games like that, but I had so many computer problems with the SC4 mods I installed and the new SimCity still turns me away even after a year since its release (blame EA's greed over such a broken game).

[jakeroot]

It took forever, but...

Update 2

In the original post, there's a map that shows what exactly was planned for Flanders. And miraculously, I've mostly managed to follow through with those plans.

Changelog:

   
• Named/renamed a few geographic features
• Finished all planned expressways
• Finished most planned freeways
• Began work on busway system.

The new busway system is growing in sections. Currently, only Section 1 (Flanders City Centre towards Keynes, then towards the Victoria South) has been constructed. Sections 2-5 can all be seen on the new map below. Section 1 (the existing system) is solid red; the dotted red is Sections 2-5.

Additional information about the busway system is available on the busways website.



(Click the image for high-quality)

Some Photos:

Highway 30 interchange near Harrison:


Highway 30/51 interchange west of Old Town:


West Old Town aerial:


Highway 75 construction through West Old Town:


I'm not sure if anyone actually reads this (I see this thread has around 50 views, but not sure of the validity). For those of you who do in fact read my posts, I really appreciate you taking the time to do so. While my writing skills are not exactly Shakespearean, this is still something that I enjoy doing to pass the time.

Thank you again for reading!

Jake

[Zeffy]

How does the route numbering work? Are you using a grid, radial numbers, etc? Also, I read this because it gives me an excuse to try CitiesXL again even though it's so much more frustrating than SC4 ever was. Seeing what you built here... just makes me look at my CiM2 cities in disgust. The good news is now I've figured out how to actually grade the freeways, so you don't have viaducts cutting through the center of cities anymore. Too bad I would have to rebuild Coastal City then because I have to modify the terrain BEFORE I place any roads... 

[jakeroot]

How does the route numbering work? Are you using a grid, radial numbers, etc?

There isn't any specific numbering scheme at work. I've tried to use highway numbers not in use by the Province of Alberta, but I haven't done any, for example, N-S odd, E-W even type of thing. I sort of follow the Canadian standard of just splattering numbers on a map. Maybe I'll get a system going. You guys know how numbering works far better than I do.

Also, I read this because it gives me an excuse to try CitiesXL again even though it's so much more frustrating than SC4 ever was. Seeing what you built here... just makes me look at my CiM2 cities in disgust. The good news is now I've figured out how to actually grade the freeways, so you don't have viaducts cutting through the center of cities anymore. Too bad I would have to rebuild Coastal City then because I have to modify the terrain BEFORE I place any roads... 

Good to hear you're going to give it a chance. If you give up again, I can't blame you. The game is extremely frustrating. My game regularly crashes. I lose saves, there are quite a few graphical errors that make grade-separation an absolute pain, and the cars sometimes become these black boxes and that drives me nuts (not sure why).

The interchanges you see (such as the Highway 30 parclo above) take anywhere from 1-2 hours. That was actually the second version of that interchange. The first was just a trumpet. My point being, even after playing the game for 2-3 years, it takes a long time to do one simple thing. I can assure you, should you choose to continue playing the game, I'm here for you!

[jakeroot]

All I gotta say is WOW!

I used to be into games like that, but I had so many computer problems with the SC4 mods I installed and the new SimCity still turns me away even after a year since its release (blame EA's greed over such a broken game).

First, sorry for taking so long to reply. Of course, thank you.

Second, I would agree that EA is incredibly greedy, and they ruined SimCity 2013 because of it. That game is as good as dead. They need to just scrap it and collect the insurance while they still can.

[ET21]

Gotta love Cities XL