Rural Renewal Project

[Hamish 1,369]

Ok I have found a problem. If you put a gate on a diagonal and a road on a horizontal, The road will go through half the gate and half of the fence.

But other than that they are working just fine, I am still looking through them fully.

[pilotdaryl 25]

I've been working on a rural CJ recently--and I think is great!

[Alien_397 8]

Replies

Hamish:  That will probably be unaviodable, as the primary concern on the diagonal gates is that a diagonal path or street passes through it properly.  I'd just suggest using two 2x Left Curves to snake through it there, then you could follow up with a right hand 'S' curve to set the path path in line with the rest of it on the bottom side of the screen(guess a pictured be good here.) maybe I'll edit one in for you later. edit:  and here it is:

Pilotdaryl:  Glad you like it so far.

Update

To Start off with, this is something I got done earlier today.

The Jpeg makes the color look more green than it is in the render by the way.  I'll probably also stretch it a little vertically too.

(for anyone who doesn't know, it's a portable grain feeder for cattle or sheep)

I'm going to be putting together a series of props like this to be placed on lots in pastures for some variety.  I also wanted to share with yall the present progress on the flora I've started working on.  I noticed that there isn't really much in the way of low growing flora anywhere, though jeronij's woods base flora can fill this bill, but doesn't fit well in with my area. so one aspect I'd like to work on is low bush's and shrubs that could form a dense understory under larger trees, as seen in lots of wooded areas in many parts of the world, or used by themselves for heavily overgrown areas.

The other thing is areas that are still open, but overgrown beyond the point of just grass.  Tall weeds, some shrubs, and wildflowers.  That's the part I've actually started on, and some of the results I've already previewed here in a few pics.  I've currently got 3 types modeled, shown in this pic.  The smaller patches by the large circles shows the models for each at present, and the maxis trees are just for size comparison.

Here's an area(it's actually up towards the top of the first pic I showed here, though with some additional stuff added) shown from zoom 1 to 4 showing them used to create some overgrown rangeland.

Z1

Z2

Z3

Z4

As I said, I've got the base set of fences and roads packaged up and sent out for beta testing, and I wanted to share with everyone else the finished fences.  Same 5 basic models, just have all the open models and the diagonals now.

I still need to go back and move the inside edge of the diagonal gates closer in to where the road is to center it out.

And just a couple more for fun .

"Cows in the Clover"

"Goodbye Grid"

Chris

[Silur 3,304]

Excellen Update !!!

[jayo 44]

Exellent GOOD work mate.Lets hope these get realesed

[jacqulina 162]

excellent update i like the flora and grain feeder,the fences with the trails are awesome

im going to try them today and let you know due to my time here it was late when i recieved them thanks btw

wonderfull work

[sebbyb07 2]

wow this is probably the most awesome project I've seen in a while, well done, its looking amazing so far.

[patriots_1228 51]

fantastic! i just hope i use this as well as you! this is much better then some of the CJs out there, perhaps you should start a rural CJ

[jacqulina 162]

hiya chris this is what i have so far very nicely went together and looking great until i saved

heres after i saved

i love them

[LivingInThePast 364]

Why not use RHW-2 for that true ranch look? I think that work JUST GREAT.

[warrior 169]

Just wondering are these lots? because if I have time I can make them into puzzle pieces/draggable network(like GLR)

The textures look fantastic

jacqulina: where did you get those dirt street textures and the different road (?) textures

[1dera3 28]

Hmm, cool. Looks very realistic! Always glad to see new BATters on ST.

[patriots_1228 51]

jacky-yay! i knew you would use these well. why do the base/overlay textures dissapear after you save though? (and leave blue tiles)

[mjig_dudy 11]

Transparent base textures always do that, common bug.

Just switch to 'zone' view and back, that will fix it.

[Frankie_Grove 33]

I offer my BATting services for your project. I especially like that portable feeder, and I hope to help with the BATting phase, I can BAT pretty much anything you throw at me, as long as I get plenty of reference photos.

[Alien_397 8]

I'll get around to everybody this evening, but I wanted to address the base textures issue since I realized I hadn't discussed it over here yet.

All the transparent textures used on these lots are produced using Jeronij's method(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=23.0), which doesn't produce the 'black hole' bug--unless it has an overlay texture, as in the paths. Using any overlay(other than the zones overlay) or saving will cause it, as the game doesn't 'redraw' the textures. Like mjig_dudy said, just switch over to the zones overlay and back to correct it.

In the long run, the only way to truly avoid the problem will be to make them transit network tiles, as warrior said. There's already been some discussion at SC4D about producing a draggable network out of the in conjunction with the SAM(street addon mod) team over there, but that's a ways off most likely as they're very busy with other projects. Warrior, how difficult would it be to make them into puzzle pieces without any paths(as that gets complicated with these, there's only one lane, but they are both way) and would that correct the texture problem?

Chris

[Andreas Roth 607]

Creating some (even non-functional) puzzle pieces shouldn't be too hard, but please remember that all network items (including puzzle pieces) have to be included in the NAM controller file. So they should be linked to an existing transit mod (or one currently being under development). However, it would correct the texture problem.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

This is really a fantastic project, keep up the good work. 

[MrCinatit 30]

Finally, a way for me to create some very realistic rural scenery.

Great work, Alien.

[bakercity 270]

Originally posted by: jacqulina hiya chris this is what i have so far very nicely went together and looking great until i saved

heres after i saved

i love themquote>

 

I get the same thing, but that is not stoping me what so ever as they still look awesome and I LOVE them big time. Can't wait for the final version to come out. JKB

[Alien_397 8]

Silur, Jayo, Sebby, 1dera3:  Thanks guys.

LivingInThePast:  Do you have a good link for the RHW-2?

Patriots:  Yeah, but that would require time.  Maybe if God would give us an extra 4 hours or so each day I could do it.... wait, I'd probably just spend it sleeping.  Back to the drawing board....

Warrior:  Like I've told Andreas, if no one else can get to them I can do the modding after a little learning, but any help (or volunteers) is welcome, I'd like to get that done eventually.

Frankie:  Hope you know what you've gotten yourself into
"if you could just sign your sou... I mean name right here.....", lol

I've got some ideas, but I'll have to get some source photos for them.  Still looking out for progress on your current Bat's.

Andreas Roth:  I've PMed you.

Jasoncw, MrCinatit:  Is that two John Lennon's in a row?  lol, thanks guys, glad yall like it so far.

Bakercity:  looking forward to what you find.

Chris

[MayorTim 16]

Wow, this is awesome! This will definitely help people create more realistic rural areas, me included. I can't wait till this is available for download, at which time this will be just as essential to building farms as the NAM is to building roads.

Absolutely incredible!

[Frankie_Grove 33]

Originally posted by: Alien_397

Frankie:  Hope you know what you've gotten yourself into

"if you could just sign your sou... I mean name right here.....", lol

quote>

lol, glad I can be of help, I've been looking for a good project to help on to get my "morale" up after several BAT failures. I think I can incorporate some of my current projects. My focus is more on the facilities that handle agricultural products, as opposed to the fields themselves. Unfortuneatly, the only reference photos for them are ones I take myself, and I live at least 400 miles from the real ones..

[mtbrocket 2]

Drat, I could have used these three months ago. Keep up the great work.

-Dan

[jacqulina 162]

warrior i have the dirt roads and the tarmac covered roads and the sidestreet mod all mixed and it came out like that i quite liked it so left it like it i need to change the texture of the sidewalk though i like the brown

[Gn_leugim 853]

very cool.. but does that not take much space in the menus or will be a kind o puzle?

[jacqulina 162]

so far there great no probs other than before but like members say just redraw i love playing with them thankyou

[bakercity 270]

Here is what I came up with. I took the picture before I get the weird textures to show up. Well, enogh of my chit chat and on to the picture:

This is the only testing so far and more will come as I explore everything that has to offer. If you look to the lower right corner, The shed is a Maxis farm minus the fields and the cabin above it is from Pegs M.T.P. add-on pack# 1 hunter's cabin. and in between those lots are Maxis garden parks. to add some realizm. I do hope you all like it so far. JKB

[Alien_397 8]

Bakercity:  I've been doing that with farm lots too.  It even makes a lot of sense game wise as it provides a few jobs, and simulates the fact that ranching operations generally don't employ as many people as well.  It's looking great so far and I'm glad everything is going smoothly.

Gn_leugim:  at present there are 41 lots in the misc. transport menu in the beta I've released between the fences and roads, and there will be some additions beyond that.  To help with this, it will either be released with a menu management lot(MML) that's being worked on right now, and there is a possiblility of turning the paths into puzzle pieces like a number of NAM releases.

Frankie:  Yep, I figured that from the projects you've been working on.  Right now something I'd actually like to see is a few livestock auctions, if I can get some pictures.

Just a quick update here.

I finally got around to testing these on some more extreme terrain and found a few limitations, so I went back to the drawing board to work out possible approaches to tackling heavy slopes.  Didn't sleep much last night, but I came up with a solution.

These are the new slope friendly pieces:

There are three of them for 1x straight and diagonal each, set for three different slope levels.  Essentially the posts and cross members are separate props that are no longer slope conforming like the previous props, so that they are always straight up, which helps everything line up properly.  I've placed each on a flat tile after the slope just to illustrate the principle.

Here's a pic of the original straight pieces for comparison:

The concept will be to level out areas for that less slope friendly curves and such and then use these to connect them through any elevation changes.

Chris

[jacqulina 162]

thats great news chris very usefull to have slope friendly pieces excellent work,i will post more pics tomorrow sorry been babysitting today