Hello again

Hello everybody, let me start this post with my sincere apologies for all the years that I wasn't active here and all of those who were disappointed to find only dead download links.

I finally found my way back to The Sims 3 and also to this blog, just to see that there are still people commenting and looking for my creations. This is one of the reasons for this post here, as I was never happy with the way this whole project just died - I never finished working on the world, lost interest and the rest is history.

Recently, I discovered a custom world for The Sims 3 called Boroughsburg, which many of you may be familiar with. The world is a dream come true for me, as it finally gives us an atmospheric and yet playable version of NYC, having achieved many things that I could not do in the days I was still working on my own world. Fake traffic, a dense atmosphere like one would expect from a city like New York, even working subway trains, just to name some amazing details.

Still, there may be some interest in using some of the creations I made for my version of New York, namely a huge amount of deco buildings. Some of you may even be interested in trying the world itself and see what it could have been if it would have been completed. I feel sorry that I abandoned this project and also this blog, both of which I invested a lot of my time back in those days when The Sims 3 was still popular. Yet, as many are disappointed with its successor lacking an open world, there may be some reason to stick with it and give it another try. If you plan to do so, please give Boroughsburg a visit. And if you want, I will soon publish my deco-building creations here for download, hopefully not to be taken offline again.

I would also share the CAW files of the Big Apple world if somebody is interested in it. Maybe there could be some future for the world, in a different approach, like the one the creator of Boroughsburg took. A small playable area of Manhattan maybe, with a beautiful atmospheric scenery around? And of course, provide a new download link for those who want to try it out in the game - yet knowing that it is far from complete.

I wish you all the best!

Horus

Updated Download Link

Hello all,

a new link for you to download the world:

https://mega.nz/file/FQh0yAgQ#zV6buOmfKH5w0LXUC0se6UuQYgSG32lsp_3w6dCYJWI

New Download links

Hello all,

I am glad that still so many people play this game and enjoy my world. I know that it has been ages since the last update and to be honest, I don't have time to update the world anymore. But I keep checking here regularly.

Here are new links to download the second Beta:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/x5rfiflh85mpn8p/Sims+3+Big+Apple_Second+Beta.zip

Best Regards
Horus

Sims 3 Big Apple Second Beta released!

After many month of continuous work I think that it is now time to release a second beta version of the Big Apple. Doing so, I want to express my deepest respect for everybody, who has followed this project from its beginning until now. The first beta has over 17.000 downloads so far. That number blows me over every time I check my MediaFire account.

You have proven as real loyal followers and I sincerely hope to be able to give something back to you with this second version of New York City for the Sims 3.

So, here is the download link: 
http://www.mediafire.com/download/x5rfiflh85mpn8p/Sims_3_Big_Apple_Second_Beta.zip

I know that I promised to release a second version months ago, but it just didn't feel right to do so at that point of time. There are still so many things that I need to change and add to the city, but it is now time to share my current results with all of you. Please enjoy this project as much as I do!
I would be glad for any kind of feedback from your side, as I have by no means stopped working on the city. There are still quite a lot of bugs and there is so much empty space to be filled. New buildings are already under construction and I hope that I will be able to do some landscaping before the next version should be released. Hopefully, this will not take as long as it did this time.

Have a good day and enjoy discovering the changes!

Yours

Horus

A sign of life

Hello all,

it has been a while since my last update here. I hope you don't mind and still keep playing the Sims 3 though the fourth generation came out in the meantime.

I haven't been lazy during the last month and I keep working on the project, just to make sure that it is by no means stopped.

The reason why there hasn't been a second beta yet is related to issues with routing and playability, which I want to get rid of before sharing the world with you. I know that the first beta came with some serious problems and I was very happy ro recieve a lot of feedback on what to improve. I am doing my best to fix the bugs and improve playability. For example the prices for housing were not the best. There are few starting lots and the prices for most of the lots doesn't feel very realistic. I will fix this! Just give me a little bit more time!

Here are some examples of what I have done during the last months:


This is a nice penthouse in the heart of Downtown. It has three floors, a big pool inside and a magnificent view. Of course it is the most expansive place to live in the city.

I am also confident with the progress I made concerning nightlights. The city doesn't look that dark at night anymore. Still, there is a lot of work to be done here.

I also made some adjustments to Financial District. I always wanted to have the New York Stock Exchange there and I finally realised my plans. Now it is more realistic than before and I hope you like it, too.

As you can guess from the picture, I have updated my game with the Island Paradise EP. This was a necessary step to start building Pier 17, which you can see here. The sailing vessels are still missing, but I will add them in the near future. It is really awesome to go on a boat trip around the city from here!

At the end of the post some shoots, which I hope will help you to keep on waiting a bit more for the next release ;)

Have a good time!

 Horus

Urban sound emitters

Hello to all you patient followers out there,

I know that updates here are rare. Just take it as a sign of me being busy working on the city.
I will do my best to bring you a second beta until the end of this summer. Promiss!

This update is all about sounds. You will agree that the right background sound is very important to create a realistic urban atmosphere. I finally managed to get my urban sound emitters working. Technically speaking, they are copies of EA's late night building shells, so they play a variety of urban sounds within a certain range. Placing one of them on every corner results in a dense urban sound atmosphere throughout the city. The best thing is that they are invisible in game :)

In CAW hoewever, they look like a small american flag to make placing them easier. If one of you is interested in using them for your own worlds, contact me.

Theoretically, the sound files played by them can be changed to any sound you like using s3pe and some other tools. I have tested some real sounds from NY, but it's hard to find good sounds, so I will stick to the default ones by now.

EDIT: Ok here is the video. The sounds are actually part of the game, not added afterwards. Now there's only the traffic missing at Times Square, butI don't think I can do anything about that... enjoy anyway :)

I will upload a video, once I find the time to record it, to show you how the sound atmosphere is in game.

Take care until next time and keep looking forward to beta number 2!

Horus

Time for some updates...finally!

I know, it has been ages since the last time I posted some updates here. This is mainly because the things I am doing right now are not very suitable for a lot of nice screenshots.

Placing streetlights is a good example for that kind of work. It takes like forever, but you won't see a big difference, until the night comes and a hundred spots of light appear in the city. That really adds to the atmosphere!

However, I haven't just spent my time placing streetlights. Here are some screenshots from Randalls and Wards Islands, which I am currently working on. You will find a lot of public sporting areas there, but also the wastewater treatment plant. Nice combination, isn't it?

I hope you like what I am coming up with and you still don't lose interest in this project!

Regards
Horus

Yet another month has passed and you may aks what has happen during the last weeks.
I recorded a short video for you to give you an impression of my current work on Times Square.
I finally managed to make animated adverts - like the news ticker at One Times Square.

Pretty amazing, don't you think?
I really hope you can apologize that progress is made so slowly, but it takes a lot of time and effort to realize my plans for Manhattan. I promiss that a second beta will come - I just can't tell you when it will be.

Keep checking my blog regularly and have a good time!

Best Regards
Horus

How time flies...

It has already been a month since my last post... How time flies!

Unfortunately, working on details takes a lot of time until you make recognizable progress.
I am still very busily working on this project and made some new photos for you to see what I am currently doing.

I spend most of my time redoing things that weren't done carefully enough in the beginning. There are many deco buildings with rather ugly textures that ruin the atmosphere of the city.40 Wall Street is a good example. Here you see the original building that comes with the first beta:



Textures look blurry and you can't see any details.
As we play the game mostly from a perspective not too far away, detail is important, espacially for the ground floor, where stores are suspected to be.












 And here is my current attempt to retexture:

The blurry parts belong to the original texture and the sharp parts are new. One can easily see a big difference, right?

The roof looks more wheathered and the windows can be distinguished from each other.
The new texture is twice as big as the old one. Increasing texture size does of course demand more power from your machine, but as I can't recognize any impact on my system right now, I will keep doing so. I really don't have a good computer, so don't worry too much about performance.


I have also continued to add detail to the streets. What would a city be without newspaper kiosks?

 Last but not least, I have decided to add the new World Trade Center into the game.  In my opinion, it's the best to refer to the city as it currently looks. Here are 2 pictures of One World Trade Center, former called the Freedom Tower. The memorial plaza in front of it will be added next.

 Also don't forget to check the gallery to see some new shots from the Bronx!

Please be patient regarding another beta, as I can't say when I consider it done. And please keep giving feedback!

Thanks!

Horus

Finally some news!

Hello everybody,

first, I want so say that I am very sorry for not posting anything here for quite a while now.
Lots of things have asked for my attention and this project is definitely not dead or stopped in any way!

The contrary is the case! I have been very active during the last weeks. Adding more nightlights to various skyscrapers and adding more detail to the scene was my major desire. I have started to add street detail like cars, mailboxes, seating in front of restaurants and other decorative objects to the world in order to increase immersion.
Those pictures are only a small excerpt:

My general plan was to improve the already existing parts firts, before I start working on the other boroughs, but as you know, plans change quite often.

So I also started working on the Bronx, which is coming along quite nicely.

Connected to that, I realised an idea which I like very much: A railway track along Park Avenue.

 

A third thing I am working on is a very detailed tutorial on how to make your own deco building creations. I felt the necessity to do so, because many people asked me how I did those deco buildings for the Big Apple. It will be released  here on this blog soon, so be sure to check regularly!

Horus

Thanks for over 1100 downloads...

Hello everybody,

I want to say thank you for over 1100 downloads(!) of the First Beta in only two weeks since its release. This huge attention encourages me to continue the project.
I have yet started to work on a to-do list for the second beta, which was created according to your feedback.

The first thing I am working on is adding nightlights to most of the buildings. It may be more a cosmetic issue than a truly game relevant one, but nonetheless, it has high priority.
Here is a quick snapshot of Financial District at night, showing the first results:

I will upload my to-do list on the blog in the near future, so you will be up to date concerning the progress of the project.
Thanks for all your feedback and keep checking for updates regularly!

Horus

Sims 3 Big Apple First Beta released!

I am proud to be able to release the first version of the Sims 3 Big apple today!

More than 6 month of hard work lay behind me and I really hope that you will enjoy the world as much as I do. Though it is still far from being finished, the release of the First Beta is another important step in the creation process of this world.

So here it is, the download link:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/p72g4eq9w245a14/Sims_3_Big_Apple_First_Beta.zip

Please have a look at the readme first. There you will find instructions on how to install the custom content and some other important information. I really want to thank all the people who contributed yet! You can find their names in the credits section in the readme.

I do now kindly ask for your feedback: Do you like the current layout of the city? Do you miss something? What do you like most?
I am always open for any suggestions or ideas and I would be glad if some people would actually contribute some lots to this project, as it would really speed up all the work.

Have fun playtesting!

Horus

Working on First Beta

Hello everybody,

two weeks of very relaxing holidays lay behind me. I have recharged my batteries and I am now ready to start working on the very first release of this project: First Beta.
Before I go into detail, there are some points I want to emphasize:

1. It will be a very early release and thus more a demo than a fully playable world. Please consider this! I don't want you to be disappointed.

2. The world comes along with a lot of custom content. This has always been my intention as I wanted to create a world that is unique in it's own way. Please don't complain if your computer can not handle it right or if you mess up your game, because you don't know how to install custom content. It's not difficult, though. Oh, it's likely that it will slow down your game. I have warned you ;)

3. This is maybe the most important point: I will provide a world that has yet taken an uncountable amont of my time, comes along with a hugh amount of custom made deco buildings and brings a totally unique experience to your Sims 3 game (hopefully).
In return, I kindly ask for your feedback! Please report any issue or any idea that comes to your mind at any point of time. Just write me an email or leave a comment here. Everybody that downloads the First Beta is my beta-tester. Please help me to get this project done.

If you want to contribute to this project any further, I invite you to take any of the lots in the world and design it with your own ideas. Decorate the pavement in front of the building, build a lounge or club inside or crown a skyscraper with an expensive penthouse. If you think that you have made a good creation, export the lot and send it to me. I will include it in the final version of this world.
By decorating and finishing the lots you really help to lighten my workload.

Before I can actually upload the world, I have to get rid of some small problems and make a test, so that I can be sure everything works the way I want it to.

Expect a release within the next two weeks! :)

Yours
Horus

PS: There are some new snapshots at the gallery, enjoy!

Spotlight: Subways

Thinking about a big city, one can imagine a lot of traffic. To avoid traffic jams (which are unfortunately not part of the game) your Sims should take the subway to reach their destination in time.

There will be subway stations all over the city and I am trying to place them according to real station's positions. For example you will find Times Square – 42nd Street, Rockefeller Center, City Hall or Wall street.

Another update on progress

Today I can show you the next steps I have taken towards the completion of this project. I am very confident with my progress and the city get's better every day. I hope you share my view and I am curious to hear your opinion.

I spent some time working on the churches this week.
St. Patrick's Cathedral is by far the most known church in New York. It maybe needs some finishing, but that's how it will look like:

 The church as viewn from GE building

 The church from a diagonal perspective

Trinity Church makes a good contrast to all that skyscrapers in the Financial District. It will be a calm place to take a break from the hurly-burly of the city. The outside still needs a lot of work, but I like how it looks right now.

 The church as viewn from Wall Street

 The church as viewn from the roof tops.

Financial District is already quite full. I have thought a lot about Ground Zero and I still have to decide what to do in order to pay the respect that is needed for a place like that. Maybe I will add it, maybe I will leave it. Let's see.

Something funny at the end: As I could not find any cost free model of the charging bull on the internet, I had to improvise and I am proud to present: 

The peaceful cow, symbol of Wall Street and the financial business ;)

Current state of progress

I felt that it was time to give you some information about the current state of the project, also in order to reply to some recent comments.

In general, everything goes along very well. I have just finished the concrete sea wall that surrounds Manhattan.

The city comes more and more alive due to several lots I have added over the last two weeks. Storefronts, interactive places like Starbucks Coffee, appartments, high-end lofts and so on enhance the gameplay and add to the atmosphere.

You may have already seen Rockefeller Center with the GE building in the New York Winter Nights post. It's a seasonal lot and so it changes over the year. In winter you will have the famous christmas tree and the ice rink, in summer there is a stage for concerts and so on.

I have finally managed to make the Empire State Building become an interactive lot with a basement featuring boutiques, shops as well as Walgreens and Starbucks. There is still some work to do here, but I am quite confident with it right now.

Your Sims can also take the elevator to the observation deck and enjoy a fantastic view over the city.

If you are a couch potato and prefer to stay at home rather than straying through the city, this luxurious penthouse near Central Park could be just right for you.

Those are just a few examples. Next time I will show you St. Patrick's Cathedral, The New York Live Building and some more. Please don't mind that I can't tell you when it will be finished. I am doing my best to get it done as quick as possible.

Stay tuned ;)