Alright, back with a huge update.
I had major problems with this model, but there was no way that I was going to give up on this building, especially that I've got so far, only to have it completely fail in the home stretch. It got to a point where the base model was done, however two textures just would not stick while rendering, and if I added anymore to that scene then multiple textures would not render, or it would even fail to render. At that point roof junk was not done, neither was some tiny details that still needed to be completed. So, I thought about it for a bit, seeing as what ends up going into the model file is just images, I decided that some way or another I should be able to edit these files and change them so that they look like what it should.
However, rendering the main building would just fail, it seemed as if gmax just did not want to do it. But I figured out a way, the long way. Heres how it goes.
(Click images for full resolution)
I split the building into four bits. I rendered the lower half first. There is a lot of detail in the base of the building, and this was taking up a lot of the file space. Once rendered it look like this:
Then came the next step, which was to get the top half done. The most of the detail was in the windows and the very upper part of the building, so this was easier to render, however I had to also render the back of the base again as a glass texture didn't stick while rendering the first half. That turned out like this:
Now, I have the main building, well, at least in bits. I then had to go through and make the roof junk, or use some of my roof junk files. This is one of my favorite bits actually, its different from making the actual building, it turns the building from looking good, to fitting in with the feel of simcity.
So I made the bottom roof junk and rendered that as one part, heres what it looked like:
And then I had to make the very top half of the roof. Which turned out like this:
Once they were all rendered that gave me a total of about 464 fsh files that I could use, out of that I turned 298 into png files, as these were the ones that needed to be changed in order to get the building right. I then had to merge all of those files into 116 png files that would become all of the files that I need for my building. Once done I had to then turn them into fsh files again, put them in a dat, and place them into the model file. I then had to rename them all so that they would over write the old files, and then remove the old files so that it would show up right ingame.
This is only for the day scene though, I have not done the night scene yet, although I have the files needed to start to create the night scene.
To get the file to work on my mac however, I had to then change all of the fsh instance names to a free group, which is easy, I then had to go into the S3D part of the file and change the names in the mats tab so that they correspond to the fsh files. Thats changing 116 file names by hand to a different file name.
And at that stage I had a file that eventually looked like this:
The lot isn't finished yet though, still need to add a few more overlay textures in the courtyard, but then the lot is done.
So, once I get the night scene done, which shouldn't take as long as the day scene has, then its almost done, I just need to lot it, which is quick because it wouldn't suit a complex lot, maybe just a few light fixtures would go down well, and some custom paving of the courtyard would look nice.
But, this is the final version of the building, as you can see from how long it has taken to get here, it would be impractical to go back and have to redo something. I might be able to change a fsh file or two, but not a whole part of the building.
Going to play around with the night lighting though, I may be able to fake some lights coming from props with the way that I am doing the lighting, that could look good. And that would also open up the courtyard to become lit up and fancy. Stay tuned for more updates, shouldn't be as long as this last one, although I might spend most of my time on getting the night scene working rather than showing updates. I'll try my best to show where I am as I progress through the night stage though.
Thanks for reading
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But overall I think it's worth it. I'm a tad concerned on that green texture on the curved roof though...looks a little too solid green. Just a thought. 
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