Nofunk's BAT Thread

[homeandaway 1]

Hiya! - its Alex (homeandaway from SCC) here! - i really like your BATs

take care and i look forwards for more my friend

~Alex~

[nofunk 1,933]

Spike345: Thank you! As long as your only stalking my buildings, we're cool. 

Sim shady: Thanks! I certainly hope to get some of these completed soon.

lrfox: Well, real life certainly does get in the way, but aside from the export issues I'm having, the real problem is staying focused. I'll get inspired for a new building and have to start it RIGHT THEN, even if it means I'm neglecting a model I've already begun. By the way, I'm glad you like the Piquette Plant too!

Jasoncw: Thanks!

homeandaway: Thank you, Alex! It's nice to see you here.

-----

Surprise?

[Spike345 20]

Yes, its me again, and, only stalking buildings is my intention, anyways...

I was signed out browsing the forum and I saw these and almost choked on my candy so I had to sign in to say - YOU'RE BRILLIANT!...

These are perfect for my project.

[mcarch 15]

Its a shame, those unfinished buildings should be finished.... they're great!

[ilikehotdogsalot 307]

i want those!!!!!!!

[lrfox 2]

Wow. real nice. I understand the focus thing. i honestly don't know how you guys do it, i have about 6 buildings i've started and i'm really motivated at first and then i either can't focus or think of something new and exciting. needless to say, the number of buildings i have finished is 0.

The new ones are awesome, the white one on the end looks like a shrunken Kales to me. but i love this set... it'll go well with third ward lofts (and everything else). Looking forward to all your releases, nice job.

[Sim shady 12]

oh heck yes that looks sweet!

[nofunk 1,933]

Thanks, guys!

Main Street Shops are basically ready to upload. Jasoncw has created custom menu icons for them, and once I merge those into the .sc4lot files and test the lots in game, they'll be ready!

However...

I just recently got a new laptop, which is great! The downside, of course, is that I'm now running Vista, and I haven't been able to install Rush Hour on it. (The original game installed and runs fine, but the expansion keeps stalling out during installation.) Now, this does not mean that all hope is lost -- I still have my old PC and will have no problem finishing up the modding on that system. But at the moment, I'm having too much fun playing with my new one!

So just be patient; Main Street Shops should be up on the STEX by the end of the week! (Barring any unforeseen complications, of course.)

[bixel 1,223]

Badasstikal!!! = Really good! this stuff would work well for the Portland Rose City project as well. Portland has a bunch of buildings just like those.

[jacqulina 162]

hi my friend i see some great buildings here and wonderfull progress

[Sim shady 12]

Not to be critical of microsoft, but i really hate how cartoony vista is and how everything seems to big. Ill stick to xp looking forwards to more STEX releases

[SimFox 801]

Strange to hear about your problem with Rush hour, cause SC4 Deluxe runs on Vista just fine, in fact it runs on Vista (x64 Ultimate) better then on XP - faster and smoother...

As for the houses.. they look sweeeet!

I would probably reduce the saturation of the yellow one just a bit though. Presently it has a bit suspicious glow on the sun... but then again you actually DO see such an effect in tropical settings...

[nofunk 1,933]

bixel: Ha ha! I'm glad you like them! I've always wanted to visit Portland -- it seems like a great city.

jacqulina: Thank you, Jacky!

Sim shady: Honestly, I'm kind of enjoying Vista so far. Everything doesn't seem too big and cartoonish. Of course, I'm working on a laptop now with a resolution of 1680x1050, so maybe that's why things don't look too big. I was worried I was going to miss XP, but so far I haven't.

SimFox: I'm not sure if it was Vista or the disc. Probably the disc. I went and picked up SimCity 4 Deluxe, and that installed and runs fine. Well, almost fine. Now I'm getting random crashes to desktop sometimes when I zoom out, but again I'm not sure if it's Vista or if it's some plugin or update that is going haywire.

-----

Main Street Shops are released! Download them here: https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=18089

I'm still getting up to speed on my new laptop, but I've gotten SimCity 4 reinstalled and running (more or less), as well all of the BAT programs (gmax, iLive, etc.) reinstalled. I still have to reconfigure 3ds max and install BAT4max, but I'll do that this week.

Soon... soon I'll be back to working on some of these projects that seem to have fallen by the wayside. Just a little more patience, my friends!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Main Street Shops turned out good.  It looks like it's going to be #1 for the week soon.

[Krio 624]

Jason is talking lies, Main Street Shops turned out excellent. And they look fine in my cities.

[jacqulina 162]

i will be waiting my friend

[josefmayor 8]

Excellent and beautiful, hope to see more my friend!

[nofunk 1,933]

Well now...

It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been pretty busy over the past month. I also haven't been able to get 3ds max installed on my new laptop. Well, I had it installed, then uninstalled it, and now I get an error every time I try to reinstall. I'll get it figured out eventually, but it's put a real kink in my BAT progress.

I do have gmax installed, but I really am partial to 3ds, so until I can get that running, updates might be a bit sparse. Regardless, I do have some news!

Ellsworth Lofts: When I tried exporting it from 3ds on my old system, I kept getting errors. The file is now with SimFox, who has been gracious enough to try and discern what the problem is. I'm confident he'll figure it out, so look for more news on this soon.

McNamara Federal Building: After sitting on the shelf for months, I have once again dusted off the model for this building. Borrowing a prop from Jasoncw, I have re-lotted the building and I think it looks much better. All the modding is done, and it will be off to JBSimio tomorrow to receive custom queries. Look for this to be released within the next week or two!



I have added two new projects to my docket. Both are Michigan buildings, and once I have 3ds running again, I'll tackle them.

Hotel Madison-Lenox: Detroit, Mich. Built 1901-1904; demolished 2005.



Bearinger Fireproof Building: Saginaw, Mich. Built 1896.



And, of course, look for new ideas for my "Views from the Third Ward" collection. Progress on my other projects will continue once I get 3ds running...

[jacqulina 162]

hi my friend thats great news

[AndisArt 2,066]

Great job on the Ellsworth Lofts! Excellent texturing! Great details! Keep it up

[SimFox 801]

OK I managed to export it…

But there are few points I want to make. I do so publicly as to draw evrybody’s else attention to some important issues that had surfaced in this particular model by NoFunk and may emerge in works of others.

There are some obvious irregularities with this model.

1. LODs. Those shouldn't have any mapping coordinates applied to them. So, when you go for custom ones ALWAYS either create the default ones and then convert one of them to Editable poly and then edit, or if you create one from scratch tick off the Create Mapping Coordinates option.
2. When you model something try to keep number of the object to the minimum. When you have 100-200+ object named box# it is next to impossible to either check them of edit them or whatever. Number of Objects in the scene could be bigger bog for the render then number of polygons in the scene.
3. Follow the naming conventions. Try to understand the logic behind it. For instance “nitelite” is not just a name in the BAT, it is a in fact a variable in the script. Script that has been created for more or less internal/limited use and as such lacking extra layer of fool-proofing.  Try to think logically – meaning when you do something be able to explain why you do just that. If you can’t it should be first warning sign of troubles to come. And such troubles will be difficult to resolve as you wouldn’t be able to explain to another person what exactly you were doing.
4. Test the system. Export something very simple first. If it goes through your setup is done properly. Increaser complexity (not just size and number of say windows) like add night maps or lights. do another export if it goes fine that means you got the basics working and may start doing something creative. This way you’ll be able to pinpoint the trouble much easier.
5. Mind unit consistency. MAX (in English) will always by default use inch as an internal default unit, even if you are in a location which uses metric system. In this case your GMAX will be in metric (as it doesn’t have internal system unit setup and uses one from Windows) and your Max will be in inches masked often as “generic unit”
6. Mind file consistency in file types used. PSD/JPG for bitmap textures. Name your materials (and objects) logically, not box or rectangle.

That is basically it.

In this particular case the culprit was the naming some GEOMETRY nitelite_*script gets confuse and trying to find Enable property in any nitelite* objects (which geometry, naturally; doesn’t have) and fails.

Oh, and one more thing 
take a look at feature called Layers! this is the way to organize your objects, not groups. Layers work pretty much as they do anywhere incl. Photoshop

[ilikehotdogsalot 307]

wow! great job on both these buildings i've been wanting them for a very long time, can't wait till they're released!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Very useful SimFox!  Can you also post that in the 3ds max Think Tank thread too?

[ILL Tonkso 1,236]

I love the texturing on the lofts. Also the hotel will make a nice addition. Its good to see McNamara brought down from the BAT shelf, the windows are a fine example to true attention to detail.

[Simfan34 11]

Madison-Lenox? Curse you Ilitch!!! Keep the good work! This will add to what I visualize as my CJ's American influences!

[nofunk 1,933]

jacqulina: Thanks, Jacky!

andisart: Thanks!

SimFox: Thank you very much for this! The information you've detailed will be very valuable to me and others, I'm sure.

Were all of these problems present in Ellsworth Lofts? I just want to make sure so I know what to focus on next time. I know that I am lazy with number of objects; I also seem to remember naming the windows and strings of lights on the roof deck nitelite_*. (I was using it simply as a marker to know which objects to include in the targets. I didn't realize it could cause a conflict.) But I'm not sure about points 1, 5 or 6.

I'm hoping you'll tell me the only problem was the geometry with the nitelite_* modifier, and that the rest was just sage advice.

ilikehotdogsalot: Thank you! Well, with any luck, both of these will be uploaded very soon!

ILL Tonkso: Thank you, Tonks! That means a lot from someone as prolific as you.

Simfan34: I join you in cursing Illitch. It was a beautiful structure that (legally, even) should not have been torn down.

[SimFox 801]

Sorry for hijacking your thread to preach my little gospel, but I though given popularity of your thread it could be to the good of the community at large.

About point 1 (LODs) yes in the model you’ve sent me they were just opaque mapped boxes.

Point 5 (unit consistency) I can’t say as that would depends on your system setup. For most people in States this wouldn’t be an issue as both Windows system unit (and consequently generic unit in GMAX) and Max internal system unit would be inch. But for people in Metric countries this may be a problem.

Point 6 … well yes all the texture bitmaps you’ve sent me were in JPG mode and ALL materials referred to PSD or BMPs. So I’ve exported it “in Clay”

As for the nitelite_* this is my theory based on my knowledge of the script and it’s test for “nitelite” prefix. In my experience simply renaming the object wouldn’t work. I’m not sure why. It has to be deleted and recreated anew with neutral name. Same goes for nightwindows. If they were assigned once you can’t rid of them other than deleting the object to which they were assigned.

[nofunk 1,933]

Hijack away, SimFox!

Regarding point 6 -- that's right, when I sent it to Jason previously, he had me convert all my .psds to .jpgs to save on space.

Once I get the model back, I'll replace the windows and try to export.

[SimFox 801]

Actually re-naming ofeending objects will work as long as you change type as well (to editPoly, for instance)

I've reassigned all the materials and noticed couple of things - Lights are getting overly bright (i'll look inot it) but biggest problem is that rig doesn't rotate as it supposed to. :-/

[mightygoose 92]

i have had that problem before as well... the rig not rotating...