Building Log: World Trade Center (Pre-9/11)

[SPARTAN-117 0]

You should have some custom textures resembling the actual roads in SC4 ... or perhaps you should do it with the BAT *nods*  ...  make it slightly elevated or something.  Either way, nice job, even without everything else it looks great.  Are you going to put trees in the middle?  If so, you might want to use kd5rax's or Brenda_Xne's trees ... they are BAT models and would integrate well.  Regardless, nice job.

[Tunafish 48]

I would put in trees using the Lot Editor in stead of the bat trees. they look better

[das8929 0]

I cant wait for the release of this plaza!! I am looking forward to it!

[rubik3 118]

The road textures were exported from the simcity3.dat file and converted to jpgs using Darkmatters FiSHman.

 

I would put in trees using the Lot Editor instead of the bat trees, they would look better.

 

I agree and have planned to use them for a while now.  Along with looking good, they don't increase render times at all.  However I'm afraid it might look funny as they don't accept any shadows, meaning that the trees located in the dark parts of the lot will appear as if they are glowing.

 

Which brings me to my next problem.  Since I am adding the shadows manually to the plaza, they shadows will remain at night time.  So it ends up looking like an overly bright moonlight.

 

As you can see in this image I've added in some lights to fake the glow put off by the lights in the buildings.  But it ends up looking awful with the heavily contrasted shadows.

 

Here you can see a closeup of part of the plaza.  The patches of dirt will be overlaid with Maxis trees in the LE.  I've also made quite a few texture changes and I think I getting close to having it blend well with the game.  As you can see I've used alot of the base textures which, although not completely accurate, will make it blend a lot better than if I used my own textures.  I also created the appearance of stairs though there is none.  That way it can still look accurate but still be easy to add props on.

 

Pretty much everything you see will be exported into it's own drawing and then it will be refined more.  I'm just trying to get the scaling down first, then I will go back and add in the details later.

[JERRY367 2]

I would keep them as individual landmarks its just eaiser to place them. Is there anyway to lite them up?

[Tunafish 48]

Incredible!!!! The shadows are fine. I don't think anyone would care.

[BigMac 24]

That looks terrific; nice job on the appearance of stairs! All I can think to mention is that the spiral configuration of the benches stretched out a bit more (the tip of the spiral lined up with the two left-side plaza entrance planters) as you originally had in this picture and as was the case with the real plaza seen here .

[rubik3 118]

Ok I rearranged the benches and added in the lampposts.  I also went ahead and created the concrete planters because I think that the planters in the LE might be a little small.  I'll add in the plants later.  The pic might be a little small to see it but if you look closely the inner benches for the fountain have also been added.

[BigMac 24]

It looks excellent, but there were nine lampposts in the original plaza instead of eight. Another small detail, but one I thought you might want to know about. I would probably have not noticed it myself had I never visited WTC3D .

[rubik3 118]

Thanks for the info...i'll have that changed for the next render.  Meanwhile i've been messing around with the base texture some more.  I've found a better setup for the roads but it will extend the lot by 2 tiles if I do it.  It will also make it a lot more difficult to zone along that side of the lot because I'm pretty sure I can't make it act like a road in that way.  It also provides 8 more tiles of empty space that will have to be filled by something that wasn't really there.  So if anyone has suggestions, pls don't hesitate.

 

[MTLT_17 27]

Just a thaught but maybe you could add the 7th WTC building. I know it wasn't there it was north of the tower complex but what the hey. I could get some pics for you if you need them.

[NYM1980 3]

Cant you just make the buildings stuck out of the lot?  That way we can place a road along side it ourselves.  Someone did that already with a building from Upstate NY.  He placed it on a small lot so that it would fit in between an angled roadway.

[Smurfer2 7]

Ok, the plaza is looking good. Though I have the following questions. Is the extra area on the bright side of the road? Are the extra two squares part of the road and open area?

 

P.S. My diagram won't load.

[rubik3 118]

For reference here is the original texture I used which is 2 tiles shorter.

And here is a quick mock-up of another proposal which would have the top right corner slightly overlapping the lot.  Of course this won't be very accurate but then again the other 2 aren't that accurate either.

And here is the original lot rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise from the above pics.

[mcarch 15]

I think the bigger one is better because it is more accurate!

Good Job So Far! Keep it up.

[kennethcole212 2]

I would prefer the larger one. As long as the tiles representing West St. could be connecting to avenues outside the lot and would function like an avenue. I'm sure you can do some pretty landscaping on the other side of West St. I believe right in front of the World Financial Center there is some gorgeous landscaping. Maybe make a bridge over West St, with stairs leading down for pedestrians. If memory serves me there was on the corner of Liberty St, and on come from WTC Six to the Winter Garden. I don't if it would seem real enough, but since the lot is impossible to be perfect due to the slant it maybe okay now. Thanks again for all the hard work you have done with this!!

[A Killer Ewok 2]

i think a part of the WFC should go there, preferably a garden/plaza should go in that empty space. be certain to make the pedestrian bridge, too!

[rubik3 118]

Here's an image I pulled off of wtc3d.com which is fairly accurate.

 

And here's what I think I can do, which wouldn't be far off.  The big problem would be with zoning on that side...which won't matter once the WFC gets done.  I'm not really that familiar with the transportation system so I'm unsure of how much I can make it actually act like a road.  We'll see I guess.

[kassarc16 4]

Well, if you look at the transit-enabled lots, as long as the lots touch the tile that's enabled, they grow, except for residential.

Keep up the great work, WTC is in my top three fav real buildings.

[kennethcole212 2]

thats looks like a plan, Ruibk! You should have the two roads there functioning as an avenue. West St. somtimes know as West Side Highway, is just a semi-controled access high-way with lights and it is at ground level from 54 St. to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel which is just south of WTC site.

[Smurfer2 7]

So, are you going to add part of the WFC or not? What exactly are you going to do with the road and open space?

 

Besides that, thanks for answering my question. It looks like everything else is moving along.

[rubik3 118]

What exactly are you going to do with the road and open space?

 

Well if all goes as planned the road will be just that....an avenue that can be connected to the rest of the city's transportation.  And the open space will become just an open green area....which is what was actually there.  Scrolling back through the pages I found this pic that Bigmac posted.  It shows the area pretty well.  I think that once the WFC is done (I think there were 2 people that were going to start building it) it will fit in nicely along that edge.  I'll probably bring the grass to the edge of the lot so that the maker of the WFC can create the angle grass parts in front and match it up perfectly to my lot.  I think if planned correctly it can be made almost exactly as it was IRL.  It's just a matter of finding the right place to split the WFC and WTC lots.

If I can get the OK from you guys to go ahead with this plan I'll start finishing up the base texture.  Then I can get some renders of the bigger lot...which is now going to be 20x17.

[whateverwhatever24 0]

did any of the buildings from the WFC get destroyed? and who is doing wtc7
?

[kennethcole212 2]

Rubik this is a great plan! Go for it!

Whateverwhatever, only WFC 3 and Winter Garden (which was rebuilt very quick) had substantial damage, the other WFC buildings had only facade damage.

[Tunafish 48]

Sad to see them gone. I remember stand on the top of #2 look out at NY.

[Superstar 69]

Hows working on the WFC and when is it going to done?

[rubik3 118]

I'm not currently doing the WFC but I'm trying to make my lot so that it will blend with it whenever someone gets it done.

 

Speaking of the lot.  I've been trying to figure out if I can transit enable to lot like I want to and there is no point in going forward with the design if it won't work when it's done.  I think I might be forced to make 45 degree roads instead of the 15 degree roads that I currently have on there in order to be able to make cars travel on the lot.

 

[Smurfer2 7]

Date: 4/21/2004 5:16:41 PM

Author: rubik3

'What exactly are you going to do with the road and open space?'

Well if all goes as planned the road will be just that....an avenue that can be connected to the rest of the city's transportation. And the open space will become just an open green area....which is what was actually there. Scrolling back through the pages I found this pic that Bigmac posted. It shows the area pretty well. I think that once the WFC is done (I think there were 2 people that were going to start building it) it will fit in nicely along that edge. I'll probably bring the grass to the edge of the lot so that the maker of the WFC can create the angle grass parts in front and match it up perfectly to my lot. I think if planned correctly it can be made almost exactly as it was IRL. It's just a matter of finding the right place to split the WFC and WTC lots.

If I can get the OK from you guys to go ahead with this plan I'll start finishing up the base texture. Then I can get some renders of the bigger lot...which is now going to be 20x17.

 

That sounds good, but if anybody makes the WFC, it should be you. It will be compatible with the lots that you already have made.

[Karybdis 34]

You should be able to fully transit enable your lot as it currently stands rubik

The only thing is on any lot that isnt standard in game drawable, you will have to create completely new sc4path files for it. Namely this would apply to all your 15 degree roads. This shouldnt be too hard though with darkmatters new sc4path viewer

[rubik3 118]

That sounds good, but if anybody makes the WFC, it should be you.

 

Well I might decide to delge into the WFC sometime in the future, but I think for my next project I'm going to do something a little different.  I can only spend so many hours looking at photographs trying to match every minute detail before my mind starts to go insane.  I haven't exactly figured out what I'm going to do yet, but when I do, i'll let everyone know.

 

The only thing is on any lot that isnt standard in game drawable, you will have to create completely new sc4path files for it. Namely this would apply to all your 15 degree roads. This shouldnt be too hard though with darkmatters new sc4path viewer

 

It's always good to hear something's going to work from one of the masters of modding.  I've been talking with Red Lotus and he's going to do some testing for me to see if it will indeed work as hoped.  I'm really hoping (and I'm sure everyone else is as well) that it will all work as it does in my head....though my brain lags more than the game does.

 

My work comes in spurts and unfortunately I've hit a busy period so I don't know how much time i'll be able to spend on the plaza for the next few days.  So updates will be sparse while Red trys to figure out this transit stuff and I try to get this pile of work done.