BlackWater

[JadedSidhe]

I've had several false starts with this world, but this one finally seems to be working for me. This will be my first world, so I'm learning as I go.

BlackWater is very loosely based on the city map(s) I created for my rpg game set in Texas Hill Country.

The Riverview distant terrain being what it is, doesn't represent the hill country very well, from colors to form. (France is almost perfect, but I couldn't get rid of the Eiffel Tower or make the water look more like a lake/river) I tried recoloring the RV DT and use colors more suited to the hill country... it was ugly. So, I'm sticking with a toned down version of the RV DT. It could be something you'd see in the spring after some good rains.

I've done some of the outter areas, namely the mine, simhenge and where the science facility will be. I did a little decorating around the beach, but the sand there is really more of a marker than a finished product. There's a lot of bare hills right now. I decided to do the outter areas sims would go, then start in the city and work outward and fill out the hills as I get there. I also plan to use less tress in ares sims won't be going, namely, the majority of the outskirt hills, but I'm not sure it would look right with heavy trees in certain areas and a few scattered here and there in other places.

The hill country is covered in cedar, scrub oak, elm, polar, etc. Considering the game limitations, I'm more or less sticking with juniper (the closest to cedar), red oak, elm and oak trees in the foresty areas, and I'm using mostly Appaloosa Plains Textures.

Another thing about Texas, even in the hill country, you can almost believe the world is flat and you'll fall off the edge at the end of the horizon. The BW world is pretty flat, its supposed to be that way. I will do a little more sculpting as I go, but the basics are in place.

BlackWater will have the standard rabbit holes and community lots as well as some high rises and bars.

I'm at the point where I will work on something and like it, then go back and look at it and decide I hate it, tweak it, like it and hate it again. I look at some of these other beautiful worlds, then look at mine and cringe. I know I am absolutely horrid at sculpting and painting and... yeah, well, you get the idea.

So, I need some outside input. I'm looking for feedback on basically anything and everything, and no, I'm not thin skinned so don't worry about sounding harsh or hurting my feelings.

More pictures:

http://s758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/

[simsample]

Looks very interesting!

What is the style of this world, will it be fantasy, apocalyptic, futuristic, retro...?

I like the sculpting on the hills, good job on the terrain painting there!
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/progress10i_mine.jpg
For the beach sand, it might look good with a more greyish sand, there's a nice one in Bridgeport that might look good. Were you aiming for tropical beach style or something else?

On this picture:
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/progress10n3_science_facility.jpg
I wonder whether you really want to mix the deciduous and evergreen trees, it might look better to keep to one or the other. But of course that depends upon what you had in mind, whether that forest is manmade or natural.

What style of buildings are you planning? Good work so far, I would be interested to see what else you come up with!

[JadedSidhe]

The style of world is a modern day city in Texas Hill Country. The world itself is very loosely based on the city (and maps) I made for my WOD game.

Here is part of the long standing description for BlackWater (This has not been edited for the Sims version of BW, this is straight off of my web page (http://jadedworld.net16.net/blackwater/index2.htm) )

Black Water is an unusual city. It is an odd blend of small town and large city, old and new. One can almost see the lines drawn through the town, dividing it into sections. On one side of a street you might see run down houses, while on the other the houses may be new and well maintained. BlackWater has a decent commercial base and a strong sense of history from its start from a small community of clap board houses that sprung up in the middle of no where back in the 1800's to it's current, moderate sized city.

It has had its share of violence in the streets, the occasional robbery or gang fight that spills out across its normal boundaries. But for the most part that is found on the west side of town. The city has much to offer, there are parks, libraries, schools, even a nationally recognized University. The University's roots come from endowments of land, money and a large, botanical garden that is recognized on a state level, from one of the founders of the city.


The typical inland 'beaches' I've been to in Texas were more rocky than sandy, so the Bridgeport texture you mentioned will fit nicely.

I went into Google maps and found a couple of pictures "beaches" at Canyon Lake, Tx.
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/interesting%20pics/lake2.jpg

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/interesting%20pics/lake1.jpg

Pretty drab, bare and sad, aren't they? I'm planning a less depressing 'man-made' beach with some grills, picnic area, fishing and perhaps a pavillion.

I've gone back and forth on the trees several times. In that area of Texas, you have that sort of a mix, though there are a lot more than I used. To do it properly, there'd be too many to put into a Sims game and expect it to run. :) I'll pull the junipers. (Would moving them into groupings off in the far distance work?)

Building styles, that's a good question, because it will be a mixture, BlackWater's an old, small town that has grown into a bustling mid-size city. Twinbrook's City Hall fits in with what I'm planning. One of the Du Peas versions (the light one with all of the glass windows) is close enough to BW's Collins Building to work.

There will be a section of old victorian houses, near the lake on the city side of the river. This is where the well off people originally built.

In between it and Downtown will be some small houses, starters, some old, some new (gotta love urban renewal projects). Across the river will be mid-range houses, some older some newer, some farm houses further out. The rich people have moved 'up on the hill' across from the science facility. There'll be a small park with a lake and fishing. The richies threw a fit when the science facility went up, which is why they are migrating closer to the lake. <north side across the river from historic>

(These are a few representations, not necessarily actual houses that will be in the world)

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/interesting%20pics/victorian1.jpg

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/interesting%20pics/historic1.jpg

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/interesting%20pics/house2.jpg


Downtown, there will be some apartments, clubs. I'm going back and forth on using the highrise shells. I plan on building Charades, ( a club in BW game), complete with the labyrinth on the lower floor. The in game main park will been broken into 2 lots. The park proper and San Jose Mission (the cemetery) that is north of downtown overlooking the river.

There are 3 fishing spots on the river and a few at the lake.

Mmm...... I can't think of anything else off hand.

[karen lorraine]

So this is where you hang out when you're not giving me feedback on my lots ;)

Looks interesting - gonna have to get my sims 3 loaded and get some expansions to have a go, although don't think i'll be up to creating a world! just lots. planning on trying some recolouring over christmas.

[simsample]

The style of world is a modern day city in Texas Hill Country.
Ah, from the pictures you've shown, perhaps it would be better to use a more brownish grass for your base, like this world:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=457976
(Different part of the US I know, but the grass looks similar). Did you not like the result of recolouring that Distant terrain after all? I see now why you were after the Appaloosa Plains one!


I'll pull the junipers. (Would moving them into groupings off in the far distance work?)
I'm not sure whether you'd really want the evergreens if you're after a dry, arid landscape- the olive trees and others that came with WA would be a good match for those in your images. But clustering the trees might look better- as it would make them look more natural. :)

The lot ideas sound very interesting- it will be fun to see what you come up with! :)

[JadedSidhe]

I wanted to use Ouerbacker's textures, but when I couldn't get the dt to look right, I stuck with the green. Part of the reason changing the dt recolor to a more appropriate color scheme was a problem was because of the rolling hills. It looked really bad. I'll give it another shot since I learned a thing or two recoloring the one I'm using now.

Springtime the hill country can be that brilliant green. About 90-95% of all pictures you'll usually find are in the middle of summer when everything is dried out, fall or winter. Maybe the reason you don't see too many spring pictures is that its so short, you blink you miss the entire season.

I really wish I could find a terrain texture for bluebonnets and meadows. That's the one thing I do miss about Texas is the wildflowers. They are *blinding* bright.

I hadn't even thought about using the olive trees, because of the name, but they do look like something you'd find in TX. Thanks :)

[JadedSidhe]

I took a little break and fell back to my first love, building houses. I'm working on a house that 'in game' is run down and falling apart. For this version of BlackWater, the Parks and Recreation Department finally got off their backsides and refurbished the house and turned the lot into a park.
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/Lots/mary_house_progress9c.jpg
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/Lots/mary_house_progress9e.jpg
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/Lots/mary_house_progress9.jpg
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/Lots/mary_house_progress9a.jpg
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/Lots/mary_house_progress9b.jpg
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/Lots/mary_house_progress9d.jpg

Sims will be able to use the first floor of the house. The up stairs will be 'fenced off', there will be bathrooms, and maybe tv, games?

There will be fishing, picnicing, some seeds and bugs to find... at that point ... I don't know what else to do with it. Is it enough, or am I forgetting anything? I've still got some landscaping to do. I started to make it look run down and over grown and changed my mind. So I need to fix that.

I uploaded a bunch more pictures of Texas Hill Country to give a more accurate view of what it is like. I didn't think about it until later, some of the pictures I was using was from Google Map and the satellite thingy, so all the pictures were real time/winter.

http://s758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/jadedsidhe/BlackWater%20Project/interesting%20pics/hill%20country/

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

Ingame history of the house
Mary is BlackWater's Lady in White. She haunts the house and the lake. Some women and children swear she has saved them from drowning by giving them a push toward shore.

Its said that people have heard her crying at night.

Back in the 1800's she was a young woman from a wealthy family and fell in love with Edward, a poor young man with no prospects. Edward goes off to win his fortune in silver mining and comes back to ask Mary's father for her hand. Mary's father prefers Ashton, his business partner's son.

Ashton has it all.. and wants more. When he finds out he has competition, he kills Edward. Mary caves in to her father's insistance and marries Ashton.

Ashton has one obstacle out of the way, four more to go. Over the next year, he schemes and manages to kill both his and Mary's parents. He is feeling on top of the world, until he finally clues in that Mary will always mourn for Edward. In a fit of jealous anger, he drowns her and dumps her body in the lake.

The lovely thing about Karma, sometimes it bites back. Ashton was found dead in his city home. The death was deemed an accident, he'd taken a fall down the stairs

.... Or did he have help?

[JadedSidhe]

Here's the latest updates if anyone's interested. Feed back appreciated. I started another photobucket account because the one I had been using was linked to my main facebook account.

Fire Department I'm not sure why the interior didn't show up. I didn't have enable object hiding on.
http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z465/JadedSidhe1/BlackWater/progress15f.jpg

City Hall
http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z465/JadedSidhe1/BlackWater/progress15e.jpg

Diner
http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z465/JadedSidhe1/BlackWater/progress15c.jpg

http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z465/JadedSidhe1/BlackWater/progress15d.jpg

The Collins Building (business rabbit hole)
http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z465/JadedSidhe1/BlackWater/progress15b.jpg

http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z465/JadedSidhe1/BlackWater/progress14j.jpg

http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z465/JadedSidhe1/BlackWater/progress14i.jpg

http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z465/JadedSidhe1/BlackWater/progress15a.jpg

As I was testing routing and so forth, I managed to catch this picture.

http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z465/JadedSidhe1/BlackWater/progress15g.jpg


More pictures Here (http://s1191.photobucket.com/albums/z465/JadedSidhe1/BlackWater/)