Phillippbos Tutorial Help and Feedback

[deadwoods 542]

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4/20/2004 4:02:20 PM[/quoteDATE]

phillippbo[/quoteAUTHOR]

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4/20/2004 3:39:08 PM[/quoteDATE]

IVSTINIAN[/quoteAUTHOR]

I have noticed one other peculiarity, the cars for the lot appear at night, not during the day; as if the sims were going to work at night. I find this peculiar because all other businesses are closed for the night and have no cars in their parking lots.
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Hmmmm...maybe there's some shady dealings going on at BAT Tutorial, Inc? Just kidding, couldn't resist.

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The times cars appear in the parking lots is determined by which car prop set you used. There are heaps of them, but as a general rule if the prop starts with a C (e.g. C16x7x3_$$$1LotCarCluster-00001_283C) then the cars will be there during the day and if it starts with an R then cars will be there at night.

Have a look at the Building quality (BAT) Lots - Some Guidelines thread. In one of the replies (under the Carparks and Cars heading) I talk about the car prop sets.

[City_Builder 0]

I really want to use BAT but.. when i click on it to start it it does not start, i have an XP system

[digger313 47]

why is it when I render a building it comes out backwards on the lot. what I mean it the back of the building faces the street.

Thanks for your help

Never mind...figured it out

[mdrazali 0]

hello, actually BAT program consist 3 program rite? gMax, SC4 Lot Editor, and SC4 Plugin Manager. because I confused all of this. and If I buy the original SC4 game is it include in the cd or I need to buy the BAT separately ? or just download it from SIMCITY website?

[deadwoods 542]

Actually BAT (the Building Architect Tool) is a plugin for the gmax 3d (3 dimension) modelling tool. gmax is used to create building models. The BAT plugin is used to export the 3d models into a format that SimCity can use.

If you have a look at the SimCity site (simcity.ea.com) and go to where the BAT is (http://simcity.ea.com/coolstuff/bat/index.php) there's a description of it. You have to go to the Discrete site to download gmax. Then you have to download the BAT gamepack to use with gmax. When people here talk about the BAT they're referring to gmax+BAT gamepack.

The Lot Editor is a totally different tool that is used to create/modify lots for SimCity. You can build lots for your custom BAT buildings or other SC supplied buildings.

I'd first have a look at the descriptions on the SimCity site. Then see the compendium lot in my sig for some more info.

EDIT...

Here's what the simcity site says The Building Architect Tool is actually a suite of tools. It includes the Building Architect gamepack for gmax

[Sharikw2 2]

Just read the tutorial, alot of things make sense now. I'm a real beginner with the BAT,just wanted to say Great tutorial. And it's great to know we can have another place to ask our questions.

Thanx

[spetan 2]

Hallo!!

First of all, You've made an excellent work with the tutorial. Credits for that! I downloaded the BAT (and the other tools) a few months ago, opened it up, and closed it down again, veeery quickly. By having your tutorial in one hand I can now make my first move into Batting land, since I never dared to do that before.

Now, there's only one thing I want You (or someone else) can clear out for me. When I open up the Bat and starting making a wall, the viewports is zoomed out, too far and I'm not able to change it. I've hitted the w at the keyboard and also used the buttons in the lower right corner. I've checked the settings for the units, doublechecked, and just in case doublechecked again and everythings seems to be right, but whatever I do, the scale of the viewport is too big.
And the building is too small to work with.

Please can You help me out of this? Or someone else? Please?

Tch

[deadwoods 542]

Spetan,

I'll put my Philippbo hat on, as he's been MIA for quite some time now (come back PB all is forgiven).

 

In short, you need to use the zoom buttons at the bottom of the gmax/BAT screen. Here's a few screen shots that may help...

 

When you open the BAT it is zoomed out quite a way.

 

 

I put the mouse at the bottom right corner of the  Front pane (orange X) and had a look at the grid co-ordinates at that point. So the viewable area is about 400 metres x 240 metres, so a 1x1 m box won't show up very well.

 

I've had the same problem as you where I've hit some key combination and my object as zoomed out of view (esp. in the Perspective view). I've created a small box to show  how to find the object again. But in your instance you probably want to use Edit -> Select All to select all of your objects.

 

Now have a look at the bottom right of the BAT panel. There are four icons, two with a magnifying glass and two with a white box. These are the zoom buttons:

• Magnifying glass only - zoom in the currently selected view window by moving the  mouse up (zoom in) or down (zoom out)
• Magnifying glass and red window frame - zoom in all view windows (that's what the red window frame means) by moving the mouse up/down
• White box only - zoom so that the selected object fills the currently selected view window.
• White box and red window frame - zoom so that the selected object fills all view windows

We want to use the last one, as shown below (in this instance on my 1x1x1 box)...

 

 

This is how you can find your missing object.

 

You should play with all four zoom options to get a feel for what they can do. For example, in the fingure above the Perspective view is sliced through the middle. For that I can use the magnifying glass icon to zoom the object in the Perspective view.

 

I click on the icon and the mouse pointer changes to a magnifying glass. I can then scroll down to reduce the zoom in the Perspective view...

 

 

I'd recommend having a look at the Compendium (bottom link in my sig). It contains a wealth of info on BATting, including many links to some great tutorials.

[City_Builder 0]

This isnt completely related to your article but it would be something to add to your troubleshooting page:
When i click on the bat installer icon the program doesnt start,im running a xp system

[spetan 2]

Deadwoods; Thanks a lot for clearify this out the way you did. And it wil help me a lot! BTW it sounds that I have to have a scrolling mouse for making zooming easier. Well in that case I just have to buy one, a simple thing to do. Again thanks and I will have a check on your compendium, and probably print it out, since my memory isn't the best thing in this world.

City_Builder; Make sure you install gmax before you install BAT. I'm running xp too and never had any problem to install BAT.

[ScLu 3]

I have been going through your tutorial for the past 3-4 hours. I only got as far as creating the front door overhang...

Selected the final vertex to weld...

Clicked the Weld button...

And found this out to my horror!

How can I fix this?

I even tried the connect command. Can you help me? Cause I'm at my wit's end!

[Caliban 2]

The Weld Threshold is how far apart vertices will be selected to welded together. It is the number in the numeric value box to the right of the Weld button in the Command Panel.

If you have multiple vertices selected and they aren't welding increase the number in the box.

If they look like they should weld but aren't it might be because they are not in the same plane but you cannot tell from the orthographic view. Have a quick look in perspectibve to make sure they are in line.

[ScLu 3]

I've tried raising the number, and the shots I've provided show the vertices on the exact same spot in space. Two of the pics show head-on AND perspective shots of the vertices in question. So it can only be some sort of technical problem that I have no concept of.

[Caliban 2]

From your pictures it looks like the vertices are already welded. Are you sure there are still 2 selected or did it work on one attempt without you noticing?

Does it extrude as a solid shape with capped ends?

Its pretty hard to guess what the problem might be without seeing the file. Could you attach it or PM me so I can see.

[ScLu 3]

I had a little trouble uploading the file. I had punctuation in the file name that didn't allow me to upload. The vertices don't look like they're welded. ANNNND, it extrudes as a hollow shell with open ends. Not a solid shape.

[Caliban 2]

I downloaded your file and can't see any problems.

The vertices are indeed all welded and when I try to extrude I get a properly capped solid shape.

[mrniceguy7766 0]

I hate to be a pain phillippbo, but I was wondering if you had a printer friendly version of your tutorial. I don't have MSWord only Wordpad and everytime I try to copy it from there it just shows text no pics. Id greatly appriciate it if you can help, but if you can't its ok thanks anyways..

[Joesocwork 4]

Dear Phillippbo,

What great set of tutorials about the SC4 BAT, especially for a non-tech oriented SC enthusiast like myself!     I didn't initially ever intend to create (or recreate) any buildings,  but the Simtropolis Exchange got me hooked and I'm eager to contribute back.  I hope you would be willing to answer questions about progess in the tutorial from time to time.

 

Currently, I am in the second lesson and I reset the defaults under the customization tab as requested in the text, including:  1) setting the units set up to Generic Units,  2) the Home Grid to 1:16 and 3) the Unit System Scale to 1.0  meters.  But as the following picture represents,  I don't think I have the perspective right.  I'm dyslexic and sometimes I do miss the obvious & I appreciate folk's patience when the obvious has to be reexamined.  

 

I'll welcome any feedback you can give me as to what to do next.

Thanks!    

JoeSocWork

 

[underworld 129]

Great tutorial !! Helped me alot, thanks for that

But now my problem:

Made a building (with lightning) preview looked good, rendered it, used plugin manager (made it a r$$ lot) made a nice 2x3 lot with the loteditor, started Rush Hour (with the update) waited till my building appeared, looked good during daylight, but at night.....the whole building is white, all details are gone, just a white building-shape..Any ideas of what i`ve done wrong??

[+Guest]

i dont understand how u made the wall go up like in the z axis all i can do is make it flat i dont understand it and it is makin me mad ur tutorial is great but it kinda left me hangin on how to make it go up in splines lol

[tcaunt 0]

hey thanks heaps for tut...... would not of been able to do bat without it...

I have just got up to placing roof junk on, and i hav just placved the hvac unit on top then relised that all my walls are gone the frame is there(this is in the perspective view) but all the actual walls are gone. i have selected unhide all but hasn't made a difference.. can you help

[dudyconstructor 40]

Thanks!! thanks to you my BATs are not a bazillion boxes...LOL yay

Thanks!

[Odd from Sweden 129]

Tcaunt, I guess that You have for some reason turned the extrude modifyer on the walls off. Go to the modifyer stack, check that extrude is still there and turned on.

[tcaunt 0]

yes that's whats i thought but unfortualey not... aaarrrggghhh. is there any other possiblities??????

[Sim1013 1]

Phillippbo

I love your tutorial and it's really helping me to learn how to use the BAT, but I'm having one problem. I'm in the texturing section of the tutorial.
I download your files and save them to the correct location but when I look for the texture in the Material Editor it says it's not there, so I tell it to show all types of folders but when it appears and I click on it, it says that it is an invalid file type. I tried extracting the files, and that lets me choose it, but then I can't click on the show background or display in perspective view buttons and the picture of the ball disappears and is replaced with a flat picture of the texture which I can no longer apply for some reason.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[Sim1013 1]

Phillippbo

I love your tutorial and it's really helping me to learn how to use the BAT, but I'm having one problem. I'm in the texturing section of the tutorial.
I download your files and save them to the correct location but when I look for the texture in the Material Editor it says it's not there, so I tell it to show all types of folders but when it appears and I click on it, it says that it is an invalid file type. I tried extracting the files, and that lets me choose it, but then I can't click on the show background or display in perspective view buttons and the picture of the ball disappears and is replaced with a flat picture of the texture which I can no longer apply for some reason.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[Sim1013 1]

Sorry I did not mean to post my comment twice. The site said my first post did not work.

[gangu 0]

Firstly, Phillippbo - great work! I just started playing with the BAT recently and I am learning alot. It took me about 20 hours to get through the entire tutorial but it was worth it.

I am having the same problem Digger313 had back in May -04, but have not been creative enough to figure it out. Why is the building facing the back of the lot? I have tried to rotate it 180 (reconfig the LOD's, cameras, re-export and plug-in) and it messed up some how (the building looks sunken into the ground). Any pointers?

BTW - I think I posted a new topic on the main threads - I apologise in advance for the mistake.

[fartboy 17]

Hi. I followed the tutorial, and everythings worked fine. I've made my own 400 m skyscraper(s) in a kind of Petronas way and I cant export them. I've tried several times and even merged them on a blank lot, but it still wont export. I know it is a code 6 problem and that it is a problem with zoom 5, view south rendering. It finishes rendering the first view (other than thumbnail) and then just stops, waits about 5000 secs and says error code 6. I don't know how to fix this. Can you help me?

[millertime214 0]

Well, I'm nearly done with the tutorial (and it's great I might add). My problem is when I start texturing. I open the Material Editor, select New, select Standard Material.....and nothing happens. It just takes me to the Editor. I don't get to pick a Bitmap. I know where they are, but it won't let me choose one. Please help me!!! Thanks guys.