Twinkle, twinkle, little BAT...

[His Divine Hand 244]

Unfortunate that I missed that you had new stuff to show us for two weeks. I agree with your feelings that these buildings may be a bit too banal to really compete with the maxis ones, though I think buildings 1, 5, and 6 have enough flair and "hey, I know a building like that at so and so!" like your previous packs. With buildings 2, 3, and 4 I just get that general vibe that much like most of the maxis buildings of this type, they don't really fit with what I see in every day settings.

[madhatter106 3,931]

Aaron Graham and marsh - thanks!

jack_wilds - the first eleven of the office buildings will hit the STEX sometime soon. They've been tested, lotted, modded, queried, grown, and screenshot. I just need to get off my duff and zip them in a single file and come up with some clever description.

Sgt Pepper - yeah, the textures for the roof on that one have bothered me. I rather hate some of the models, but I don't want to abandon them outright, as I utterly detest seeing Simpson Inc. grow in my cities. So anything to dilute the waves of Simpson works for me. Thanks for popping by!

Utvaw - I toyed with the idea of signage, and it's always something that could be tweaked later in the lot editor...I'll have to play around with the idea.

His Divine Hand - yeah, I rather like 5 and 6. 2 doesn't bother me too much, as it has echoes of another similar Maxis building. Though they aren't similar to a lot of everyday buildings, they're aimed at fitting in next to the Maxis shoeboxes, so I guess they're serving their purpose. They're like Simpson Inc.'s ugly cousins that have come for a visit, haha!

Okay, took a break from thinking about the shoeboxes, and worked up some different low/midrise offices based on some buildings I've seen around town or found on the interwebs...

Top left - Meldrum Consulting

Top right - Cooper Aviation Corp.

Bottom left - Crater & Ritz, Inc.

Bottom right - Roanoke Investments

I haven't dumped these into a Maxis in-game screenshot yet, but if any textures look glaring, lemme know...

[shinkansen1 84]

Roanoke Investments is definitely my favorite of the four. I personally think that compared to the right two, the left two look a little dirty. But if this is an illusion caused by the differences in the way they are built, then I have nothing to criticize.

[skyscraper 216]

cool, great models

[Ion_Cannon 677]

I'm really liking all of these, can't wait to add them to my collection

[harishna 847]

I really like these low/mid-rises, I guess what is so good about your work is that it blends so well with the game. About the set of small buildings you showed in the previous page I think adding signs or some other more specific detail will help them look less 'boring' and bit more realistic...perhaps?

[Utvaw 45]

Those look great. I especially like the bottom two. Plus all these buildings will really fill a need in the game, small to midrise non maxis buildings. Great for suburbs and small city centers.

[Jack_wilds 550]

jack_wilds - the first eleven of the office buildings will hit the STEX sometime soon. They've been tested, lotted, modded, queried, grown, and screenshot. I just need to get off my duff and zip them in a single file and come up with some clever description.

Thanks for the update, looking forward to getting to play with the set

concerning the last four offices the Cooper Aviation Corp. and Roanoke Investments I like the best... however with the Crater & Ritz, Inc. -which I think is a neat design notion, the four center shorter windows -on each level, have the 'yellowish' band underneath, That LINE distinguishing the yellow from the window/ frame is rather fuzzy... if it can be sharpened a little, however it may just be my dirty screen or some thing else making look unclear... whatever you care do to it is ok...

As for the inspiration, it will be an 'off-the-cuff' thing that will spring to mind, when you finally come to zipping it all up... 'The Bennett Busters' have been a very good series/ project worth the wait to get to play with

Jack

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

The King of Gmax, looking good sir.

[Simbourgeois 139]

Great office buildings! Roanoke Investments is my favorite - I like those big windows

Best regards,

Simbourgeois

Mayor of Belleville

[Chris M 406]

These are incredible, madhatter106! A definite download when finished.

I like that you are creating more small buildings for our cities.

  Edited September 22, 2011 by DragonAnime  

[emperordaniel 1,281]

Looks really good! Those will fit in well in my capital

[madhatter106 3,931]

shinkansen1 - yeah I like Roanoke as well. It's based off a dumpy building I found via a Google search, in Memphis if I recall correctly. I'm in the process of tweaking the textures, but I agree - Meldrum looked especially dirty.

skyscraper, Simbourgeois, emperordaniel, and Ion_Cannon - thanks!

harishna - that's what I am striving for - stuff that blends decently with Maxis. Which is probably why I don't do too many dependencies, as I like my stuff to fit in well with the Maxis lot textures and props. Regarding the small buildings, they are indeed banal - in fact, I'm only looking at using four of them, and tossing the rest. As for signage, I'd prefer not to do it, but it's something that anyone can always add in the Lot Editor on their own.

Utvaw and DragonAnime - thanks - I agree we need more lowrise and midrise; far too many skyscrapers on the various exchanges for my tastes, and they won't grow nearly as frequently as the smaller stuff unless you have a huge commercial district/region. I rarely download really tall buildings, because I never manage to get a population high enough to see them with any regularity; I can never justify the space they take up in the plugins folder when I seldom see them.

Jack_wilds - the fuzziness of that little yellow band is unavoidable, unless I increase the detail's size; it's what the render gave me, and I suspect it's because of the limitations of BAT and gmax. I'm sure there's a technical term for it (anti-aliasing? jaggies? who knows?) but it's nothing I can control outside of changing dimensions and details, which I don't want to do. It doesn't bother me nearly enough to justify the change.

Aaron Graham - heheheh, nah, not a king - but I'll take Crown Prince or Duke or Baron any day...

Nothing to post yet - at the moment the desktop is churning through a virus scan - but a couple of questions...

- one of the smaller offices managed to end up being 16.044 wide - which means it won't fit on a 1x2 lot - that extra four hundredths of a meter prevents that. Is it possible, rather than re-rendering and all that, to use the Reader to modify the Occupant Size listed in the .desc file, to shave it down to 16.000, and thus cheat the game into thinking it's really that size? And if so, is it necessary to change the listing in the XML property inside the .SC4model file? And would I have to tweak or change anything else? Anyone have any experience in this?

- anyone have a clinical or definitive idea of the difference between a lowrise building and a midrise building? There doesn't seem to be anything consistent on the web, and I'm trying to figure out what to call this bundle of offices I've been working on for the past year...

  Edited September 23, 2011 by madhatter106  

[Sgt Pepper 864]

I'm afraid I can't help about anything with Reader or the XML...but I could think of some ideas for this pack.

Pencil Pushers' Blocks Pack, Corporate Cubicles Pack, Conformity(or Normality) Office Pack...stuff like that. I really like these offices.

[IDS2 3,429]

I've always considered anything upwards of around 6-8 floors (depends on floor height) to be midrise, at least in a suburban setting. In a more urban setting I'd say 10-12 floors would be the cutoff between lowrise and midrise. I know Emporis uses 12 floors as their cutoff.

I'm in love with all these buildings!

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

- one of the smaller offices managed to end up being 16.044 wide - which means it won't fit on a 1x2 lot - that extra four hundredths of a meter prevents that. Is it possible, rather than re-rendering and all that, to use the Reader to modify the Occupant Size listed in the .desc file, to shave it down to 16.000, and thus cheat the game into thinking it's really that size?

Yes you can do this just know which number goes were, do it goes to height, width, or length, and it will fit on the lot, I do this all the time with my buildings I have not choice ether that or not getting upload to the STEX and LEX.

And if so, is it necessary to change the listing in the XML property inside the .SC4model file? And would I have to tweak or change anything else? Anyone have any experience in this?

Again yes you can modify the .xml file, if you do you will not have to worry about modifying Occupant Size in the .desc

file sense the model file has been modified.

  Edited September 23, 2011 by Aaron Graham  

[madhatter106 3,931]

On ‎9‎/‎23‎/‎2011 at 2:46 PM, Aaron Graham said:

Again yes you can modify the .xml file, if you do you will not have to worry about modifying Occupant Size in the .desc file sense the model file has been modified.

Hmmm, this contradicts what I was just reading over at SC4Dev. According to one of the threads there, the XML in the .SC4Model file only tells the Plug-In Manager what to record. And from there, it's ignored, since the lot files apparently go to the .desc file for reference. Since I've already generated the .desc as well as all the .lot files, I'm wondering if just changing the Occupant Size in the .desc is enough.

Sgt Pepper - hmm, I'm good with clever names, but apart from the NIMBY stuff, most of my download packs don't have clever titles. It'll probably be "Small Office Pack - Vol 1" or such like, since most of this stuff doesn't grow past stage 5, and they're all under six floors to boot.

IDS2 - indeed, I'm thinking that most of what I've created thus far falls under the category of lowrise. Though I guess it depends on country/region/building codes - there seems to be no consensus. Thanks for dropping by!

Virus scan done, all clean - no buggies. Here's what I've been working on that also fits into the office themed packs I seem to be churning...

Top left - Palladino Imports

Top right - Dunbar & Collins Publishing

Lower left - Cook, Crookes & King, Ltd.

Lower right - Briggs Entertainment & Talent Agency

Still figuring out the entrance/exits to Cook, Crookes & King. Plus I should add some nifty little awnings. Here's another one I had fun with - Hudson Bank...

I did two versions, one at six floors and one at five floors. I'm thinking the five floor variant is better. Plus it has ATMs. Don't know if I should include a CS$$ version of this as well - it seems that banks fall under both the CO and CS categories on the STEX...

[Ion_Cannon 677]

Wow even more office goodies I would make a CS version as well, sims are always demanding more commercial services and more variety is always good. It's a pity you don't give your packs witty names, Lowrise Love is a missed opportunity.

[Jack_wilds 550]

Concerning the 'yellowish' strip... it was more a wondering about it issue than knowing if it could be 'fixed' and with your explanation address a couple other questions I had about it... but for all that, I agree with your assessment and not revising it. I like it as is inspite of that 'detail' which may not be an issue in-game...

I'd choose to call it a Mid-Rise pack as it sounds better, even if it may not be 'technically correct'... I'd name the 'mad-hatters mid-rise variety pack' or 'Mad goes mid- rise' or 'Mad trumps maxis mid-rises'... but whatever, inspiration will strike when it comes to finally packing it all up. and then finally; what I found on Wikipedia addressing the low/ mid rise question...

"A low-rise is a building that is only a few stories tall. There is no universally accepted height requirement for a building to be considered a low-rise. Some define the term as any building that is shorter than a high-rise,[1] though others include the classification of mid-rise. Emporis defines a low-rise as "an enclosed structure below 35 meters [115 feet] which is divided into regular floor levels." Toronto defines a mid-rise as a building between 4 and 12 stories.

Low-rise apartments sometimes offer more privacy and negotiability of rent and utilities than high-rise apartments, although they may have fewer amenities and less flexibility with leases. It is also easier to put out fires in low-rise buildings. While less luxurious than high-rises, some businesses prefer low-rise buildings due to lower costs and more usable space. Having all employees on a single floor may also increase work productivity."

Luv the new additions... particularly the Palladino Imports & Dunbar & Collins Publishing, about the banks I like both, but the taller one does look better, however I'd use 'em both perhaps the shorter one could be a different color or material to differentiate itself from the taller...

sincerely submitted for consideration

JackWilds Consulting Associates

"for those times when two heads, may not be enough"

  Edited September 23, 2011 by Jack_wilds  

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Again yes you can modify the .xml file, if you do you will not have to worry about modifying Occupant Size in the .desc file sense the model file has been modified.

Hmmm, this contradicts what I was just reading over at SC4Dev. According to one of the threads there, the XML in the .SC4Model file only tells the Plug-In Manager what to record. And from there, it's ignored, since the lot files apparently go to the .desc file for reference. Since I've already generated the .desc as well as all the .lot files, I'm wondering if just changing the Occupant Size in the .desc is enough.

Looks great.

Just using the Occupant Size in the .desc file is good enough, it will get the job done I have to do this with my bats mostly all the wall to wall buildings.

  Edited September 24, 2011 by Aaron Graham  

[Utvaw 45]

Oh man I really like that talent agency building, the architecture gives it a nice identity.

I also wanted to clarify what I said earlier about signage on the small buildings, I mostly meant like open signs, neon in the windows, ads, address numbers, etc. They just feel kind of dead and bland without some small touches to make them feel alive.

As far as naming, I'd call em midrises. They are a bit bigger than your small town offices and midrise just sounds better I think.

Anyway can't wait to see some of these bad boys up for download. My smaller cities thank you.

[madhatter106 3,931]

Ion Cannon - indeed, it cries out for a CS$$ version - probably if anything, the shorter one for sure. And I save my wit for the queries and STEX descriptions mostly...though I could not resist the alliteration of "naughty NIMBY"...thanks for stopping by.

jack wilds - yeah, that was what I had referred to at first. Good old Wikipedia. I agree, "midrise" sounds a bit better than "lowrise" when concerning commercial offices. And I always think of jeans when I hear "lowrise" nowadays.

utvaw - the talent agency building was copied mostly from an existing building in real life. Somewhere in the midwest if I recall correclty - I tweaked it a little and made some necessary changes. Glad you liked it - it reminds me very much of the Landsburg building I did earlier. Regarding your signage idea, I agree they needed something - but I tend to think offices like these don't have much in the way of signs - I always consider that a commercial services type of thing, rather than commercial office. But that may be just me....

No update yet on nightlighting these last ones, but just a note that the pack of little boxy offices and the first eleven of the boxy 2x2 buildings are uploaded and available on the STEX...

[madhatter106 3,931]

Nightlighting on Meldrum...

Nightlighting on Cooper...

Nightlighting on Crater & Ritz...

Nightlighting on Roanoke...I like this one best, with the light spilling out on the front steps...

Nightlighting on Briggs...

Dunno about some of these...think they might need a bunch of tweaking...

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Looking good.

[Utvaw 45]

I think I would light more of the ground floors on these but either way these are looking fantastic. I think this pack has my favorite buildings in it out of these midsize midrises you have been making.

[madhatter106 3,931]

Aaron Graham and utvaw - thanks.

Nightlighting for Hudson Bank...

Nightlighting for Palladino - I think I will be renaming this one Romanov Imports...

And a new one, whose name I haven't figured out yet...

I think this will wrap up the second pack - I'm figuring out how best to tweak Dunbar & Collins, as well as Cook, Crookes & King. I'm still not entirely happy with them, so will refrain on including them in the current pack...

[Roger51 381]

These look awesome! I just love them

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Deliciously generic!

I think these might actually work well both on a more spacious lot with parking facilities and lots of grass in the suburbs and on a compact, paved lot in (or close to) the city centre.

[madhatter106 3,931]

Roger51 - thanks.

TWrecks - this is what I was trying to do. I was hoping they would blend into a normal downtown, as well as being usefull in a more suburban office park setting. In fact, a good half of the research photos I found while looking for inspirations on these have been in less-dense, suburban locales. Thanks for popping by.

Okay folks, I have a rendering error which I am stumped by - I've rendered Briggs twice now, but both times I end up with black or dark gray pixel artifacts along the bottom or left edges of the BAT. These darkened pixels don't show up in the preview render, but in both final renders I've tried, they've shown up in almost the exact same spot. I always discover it when I bring the BAT into the LE; is it a texture problem? I can't imagine. Is it a LOD problem? It's very very strange. I'd show a picture of it, but now the Lot Editor is being fussy on my desktop and Windows if forcing it to close because it's encountering a problem. Anyone else have this happen to them?

I've renamed Meldrum as Morris, Anglin & West, and gave a name to the last one (Hauser Payroll Services). While I'm at it, I might as well include the explanation of naming conventions for this pack...

• Morris, Anglin & West - Frank Morris, John & Clarence Anglin, and Allen West were the perpetrators of an escape attempt from Alcatraz Island. The Anglin brothers and Morris were successful in escaping from the island, but they disappeared at some point after reaching the icy waters of San Francisco Bay. No trace of their bodies has ever been discovered.
  
• Cooper Aviation Corp. - D.B. Cooper is the erroneous name given by the media to an unidentified skyjacker who extorted $200,000.00 and parachuted to an uncertain fate over the forests near the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. Though some of the ransom money has been found, no trace of Cooper has ever surfaced.
  
• Crater & Ritz, Inc. - Joseph Force Crater was a New York judge who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1930. Crater dined with his lawyer and a showgirl, Sally Lou Ritz, before leaving his companions to see a Broadway show; the resulting news coverage generated the slang term "to pull a Crater" (meaning to disappear without a trace), as well as the popular joke of "paging Judge Crater" to be announced over nightclub loudspeakers for years afterwards.
  
• Roanoke Investments - famously known as "The Lost Colony," the inhabitants of the colony of Roanoke all mysteriously disappeared sometime after 1587; no trace of any survivors was found, but theories abound that the colonists may have been massacred by the Spanish or absorbed by the local Indian population.
  
• Briggs Entertainment & Talent Agency - Benjamin Briggs was the captain of the ill-fated Mary Celeste, a merchant brigantine found abandoned off the cost of Portugal in 1872. No trace of her entire crew was ever discovered.
  
• Hudson Bank - explorer Henry Hudson and several loyal crewmen disappeared in 1611 when they were set adrift in an open boat after a crew mutiny during a voyage to discover the Northwest Passage.
  
• Romanov Imports - Anastasia Romanov was the daughter of Nicholas II, the last czar of Russia; several claimants have come forward professing to be her, maintaining that she escaped execution by firing squad in 1918.
  
• Hauser Payroll Services - Kaspar Hauser was a young teenage boy who appeared on the streets in Nuremberg in 1828, claiming to have been held in a narrow cell for his whole life. Several claimed he was a descendant to the House of Baden who was unjustly imprisoned; he died after a mysterious knife attack in 1833.
  

Teehee...

[Jasoncw 11,949]

It sounds like a normal error that happens because of your graphics card. If you look closer you'll see them on all buildings in the game. But there's nothing wrong with the buildings, and people with different graphics cards won't see them.

There's also a chance that it's the .FSH compression, but there's nothing you can do about that either.