Pharmist Mod Experiments

[baller23 2]

Wow nice mods, cant wait until the mods are finalized. Nice job.

[Jesse Swiss 6]

Originally posted by: Ilikeseattle

Those are amazing! I wonder if it would be possible to have nice, tile (without grass) paths?

Have you found dumpsters yet? I would love to see urban alleys lined with dumpsters.quote>

Yeah it could look more like the ghetto in my city

[pharmist 0]

Hi,

@luigi87............. Right now I can not say for sure however there is a parameter used by the editor for "HOV" which would allow me to designate a lane for just buses or High Occupancy Vehicles.  It may be another unfinished part of the game as many others MC left.  This is near the top of my experiments list so I will know pretty soon and of course share my findings with you and others of the community.

@Ilikeseattle........ I have already made a tile walk way using the sidewalk texture of the triple road. It looks a little better then the grassy path but is still buggy.  I think to get the look we want for the Paths it will take some texture modification.  As I have told others, I know very little about changing the game textures but am sure I can learn.  One problem is though I am not artistic at all so maybe someone with artists skill would be better to make these textures.  

@baller23......... Thank You for the complement, I enjoy doing these experiments very much.  I started this thread at Simtropolis and some other fan sites for 2 reasons.  First to show other players what is possible to modify in the game, and second, hopefully to find other modders who have knowledge or want to learn about the game layout system.  Then together we could create a Transportation MOD that is worthy to post on the STEX.

@Jesse Swiss....... Not sure if this one looks very ghetto...I will post a picture when the work week is over next Monday.

-pharmist

[luigi87 0]

oke very nice, i shall wait for your outcomings

[kidman171 0]

Is there any way you can remove the yellow lines on one-way small avenues?

[pharmist 0]

@luigi87.................. Thanks, hopefully I will make a brief look next week to see if it even function's.

@kidman171.......... Yes, it is possible but for now I am limited to the available road textures in the game.  This is similar to the 6-lane road I created which uses the same double yellow line down the middle.  My first attempt at making it one-way had the double yellow lines. Then I turned the road texture around 180 degrees to put the yellow lines on the out side of road but then there was no white dashed line down the middle of road.  I settled on a road texture that had a double white line that looks a little better.  Anyway until I can learn how to edit the game textures or someone else who knows how helps us we are stuck with the ones in the game.  I will take a look at it next week to see what possibilities there are. Thank you for your interest.

-pharmist

[defakto 0]

Before the release of cxl 2009 , i think Monte Christo said that its possible to make roads , where you could choose if they are for busses , pedestrians or transport! But its possible that i want to hear it and MC never said that! ; )

@pharmist

Do you think its possible , or it its just a wish from my city builder heart, brain or what ever? ; )

[aidanhall2009 0]

Hi Pharmist, i was just also wandering if it was possible to make a 2 lane freeway ( 2 lanes in each direction) with the divider in the middle and the extra third lane on the shoulders used as side walks or emergency lanes?

Thanks, and I love your work so far!!!

[pharmist 0]

 Hello,

@defakto......... There is a way to designate a track for pedestrian only or traffic such as cars, trucks, and bus.  This way you could have a pedestrian path ( like a sidewalk without a road ) or turn the entire road into a pedestrian path.  There is a reference to HOV (High occupancy Vehicle) in the editor files which should allow me to designate lanes for just the bus, however I have not experimented with it yet so can not say for sure if it is functional.  This is near the top of my list to experiment so I should know something next week.  As far as choosing how the road would be I would do it as an upgrade like how you upgrade a road to one-way.  You could have a choice to upgrade the road to bus only or a combination of bus and cars or to a pedestrian only path.

@aidanhall2009........ Hi,  thank you for your comments.  If you mean like the highway in the game with interchanges then the answer is no for now.  If you mean like the expressway that can have intersections with other roads then the answer is partly yes.  

With the highway there is no way to make new interchanges right now because we do not have access to the plugin which would allow us to create new 3D models for the game with 3D Studio Max.  Because of this I can not change the size or number of lanes for the highway.

With the expressway I can designate a lane for just pedestrian.  There is no way to designate only emergency vehicles though, that I have discovered.  I keep discovering new things with each experiment though. 

-pharmist

[Jesse Swiss 6]

I have a question, i downloaded the one-way expressway but i cant find it, do ihave to click a part of the expressway and change layout like a one way street? Any ideas?

[pharmist 0]

@Jesse Swiss....... The one-way expressway is now part of the 6-Lane Road (Z_6_LANE_ROAD_v1)  It is just for the american road PAK for now.  It should show up right next to the expressway thumb and called  6-Lane Road.  After you lay the road you need to select the section you want to upgrade to one-way. The upgrade selections work just like other one-way roads in the game.  If you still have problems let me know, I want to help so you can try the new roads.  

-pharmist

[+Guest MCjohnstown]

Would it be possible to make a Boulevard(There's never a spellchecker when you need one) with a bus lane on either side?

[pharmist 0]

@MCjohnstown................ Hello, thanks for your question.  Please describe the road a bit more.  I understand a boulevard to be a wide road with a large green area in the middle for trees and other plants.  And by bus lane do you mean like a HOV lane for only busses or a lane for bus stops?  And if it is bus stops are you asking if they can be on the middle green area or on the outside sidewalk like all other bus stops.

-pharmist 

[pcwhiz24 1,185]

GeniusXL Boulvard

Made by Pharmist:

Version 1:

Closer shot:

Version 2 Pics:

Pic 2:

enjoy!

[Jesse Swiss 6]

where can we download? or not available yet? Whatever it looks really nice and looks so natural as if its nearly the same type of road in my city, good job! Bien Fait

Merry Christmas

[pharmist 0]

@Jesse Swiss............ I will probably post it tomorrow with a few other experimets I have been woking on yesterday and today. GeniusXL Boulevard is going to be an addon to the 8-Lane road and will be released when GeniusXL is satisfied with the road and lets me know.

Here are some pictures of two new experiments plus a few more shots of GeniusXL Blvd.

Hopefuly I will post these tommorw for you to try.

-pharmist

This is a picture of 3 deprecated farms roads compared to the 2 included farm roads in the game.  A member of CitiesXL forum named Evergreen wanted larger farm roads.

Left most=Small Farm Road :: Second=Medium Farm Road :: Third=Mutant Farm Road :: Fourth= Big Farm Road :: Fifth=Large Farm Road

Larger farm roads in town.

A member of CitiesXL forum named THEJESTR asked if I could change the expressway bridge from steel to stone like the small avenue bridge.

This is a picture of the new Stone Expressway bridge(bottom) compared to the original Expressway bridge (top)

A member of CitiesXL forum named mr-tom asked if I could change the distance between the supports of the bridges.

This is a picture of the un edited support distance.

This is a picture with a support distance edited by 10.

Picture of new GeniusXL road

Picture of new GeniusXL road

-pharmist

[Ocram's Razr 963]

Wonderful!

[Androv 6]

Awesome work

[Jesse Swiss 6]

Wow that looks great, less golden gate bridges now Thank you so much for your contributuions!

Have a great christmas! or haunnakah

[pharmist 0]

@Ilikeseattle......  Thank You

@Androv.......... Thank you also.

@Jesse Swiss....... Thanks, I agree with you about the bridges.  This will give more variety to our cities.  Thank you, I celebrate Christmas with my family this week.  I also wish you and everyone else a great christmas or hanukah or what ever special occasion you celebrate.

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NEW EXPERIMENTS:

Dec-22-2010  1)  Z_BRIDGE_TEST_v1.1 :OLD VERSION FOR REFERENCE ONLY

This is an experiment inspired by the request of two members of CitiesXL Forum named THEJESTR and mr-tom. First to change the expressway suspension bridge to a stone bridge like the small avenue.  Second to increase the separation distance between bridge piers.

There are 6 Patch files each being a different separation distance. ONLY USE ONE AT A TIME PLEASE.  Please give feedback on what you believe the proper separation distance should be.

 This experiment ties two requests from members of CitiesXL Forum into one. First a request by a member named "THEJESTR" was to change the bridge style of the Expressway and 6_lane bridge to the same style as the small avenue which is a stone bridge. Second was a request by a member named "mr-tom" who wondered if we could increase the separation distance between bridge piers to make better overpass interchanges.

Check out the files in the reference folder.  First you will see two class files, one for the Expressway bridge and another which is linked to the Expressway bridge class file by Tags in the foundation folder.  The layout files you see are associated with that class file making the different parts of the stone bridge.

Now check out the class file in the foundation folder again named "rf_bridge_40x40_stone".  Look for the two parameters called MaxDeckBeforePier and MaxDeckBetweenPier..  These are the two parameters that control the separation distance.  I have included 6 different .patch files with different values for these two parameters in increments of 2.  The first being 2,5 then second being 4,7 then 6,9 then 8,11 then 10,13 then 12,15.  I need feedback from those trying out the experiment on what the believe should be the proper distance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dec-22-2010 2)  Z_FARM_ROADS_v1.1

This is an experiment inspired by the request of a members of CitiesXL Forum named Evergreen. Evergreen wanted to know if I could make wider farm roads.  I call it "Z_FARM_ROADS_v1.1"

This is a new experiment so there are no old patch files to remove. 

This is an experiment requested by a member of CitiesXL forum named Evergreen.  Evergreen wanted to know if I could make wider farm roads.  While exploring the possibility I discovered that there are 3 wider farm roads in the game that are deprecated.  I edited the tags to make them available in the road menu.  This experiment is not complete as Evergreen wants to have 4 lanes (2x2) for these roads which still needs to be completed in a future update.

-pharmist

[pharmist 0]

UPDATES:

Dec-22-2010  Z_6_LANE_ROAD_v1.5 OLD VERSION FOR REFERENCE ONLY

This is an update to the 6-Lane road called "Z_6_LANE_ROAD_v1.5".  The only change is that you can use this road to experiment with the German and French country roads also.

Make sure to delete the old .patch files from your PAK folder called "Z_6_LANE_ROAD_v1" before you install this new Patch.

This is an update to the 6-Lane road called "Z_6_LANE_ROAD_v1.5".  The only change is that you can use this road to experiment with the German and French country roads also.  You can see the changes I made under the tags for each class file by adding German, French, and Default.  I did not include English because the roads do not work for opposite side driving.  For some reasone they do not show up under the Default roads even though I put it in the tags.  

Dec-22-2010 Z_8 LANE_ROAD_v3.5 OLD VERSION FOR REFERENCE ONLY

This an update to the 8 lane road, I call it "Z_8_LANE_ROAD_v3.5"

Make sure to delete the old .patch file from your PAK folder called "Z_8 LANE_ROAD V3.3" before you install this new Patch. 

This update does two things. First it adds the 8-Lane road to German and French road menus.  You can see the changes I made in the class files Tags.  I added German, French, and default tags but not English because they do not support opposite road driving.  For some reason they do not show up under Default roads even though I added it to the tags.

Second I have added another road called GeniusXL Boulevard which is linked to the 8-lane road via the upgrade panel as well as available through the road menu.  This road was a request by a member from Simtropolis named GeniusXL.  It was GeniusXL idea of how the road should be designed and what trees and furniture.  We are not complete as we want to change the road textures to match the 8-lane road.  You can see the new class files and layout files that are required to make GeniusXL blvd by checking out the reference folder.

-pharmist

[pharmist 0]

This is a post I made on CitiesXL Forum I thought some might find interesting.

Thank you

-pharmist

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CitiesXL Forum Post:

@THEJESTR....... Thanks for testing and I will put your vote down for x4. Your question about the support height restriction. Let me show you in pictures rather then words.

@Evergreen...... I can only use the available models that are currently in the game. I assume we could change the textures to make them look different though. Until we get a way to export models with 3D Studio Max into the game format out choices are limited. Your Farm road and bridge experiment will continue to progress as I learn new skills. I thank you for your interest and ideas you have provided me, please continue with more new ideas it is very helpful.

@dragoneyes001..... Thank you for your input. I did not look at the Pedestrian Paths in that way. It would not be a bad idea to have a stop light and cross marks when a path crosses the road. I have not tried to link the paths to a plaza yet. I need to try this to see how it behaves. Thank you very much for this information. I am in the same boat on the learning curve with textures unfortunately. I will try the path with a plaza and post pictures.

These are for THEJESTR.

Far right is unedited height: Middle is first edit: Left is smaller last edit:

Far right is Standard height compared to three other heights.

Example of low bridge passing under another low bridge.

View from low bridge road looking at overpass.

-pharmist 

[Lakenstaken 34]

Awesome mods! But is there any chanse you will make these for German, British and French roads in the future?

[pharmist 0]

Hello,

I have a question for everyone about the Bus.  Have you noticed on certain roads when you have a bus stop on both sides of road from same bus line.  When a bus stops to drop off and pick up people you see people exiting the bus on both sides of the road.  I mean people are exiting on the opposite side of the road the bus is on also ( like magic ).

I thought I had made a mistake on a new road but tried the regular stock small avenue that comes with the game and it behaves the exact same way.  What gives here.  Please tell me someone else has noticed this in their game so I will not think some experiment I have done has caused this anomaly.

@Lakenstaken.......... Hello, thanks for the complement.  Yes there is definite chance that I will do versions for the other country road Paks in the future.  As a matter of fact I am working on a road requested by a member of CitiesXS with the French style right now.  After I get a bit more organized I will convert the other roads also.  Until then I have decided to edit the tags so my experiments will work with USA, French, and German roads even though the textures will not match for now.  The British roads will take more time because of the opposite side of road driving.  Thank you for your interest and feel free to ask any questions.

-pharmist

[pharmist 0]

This is a post I made on CitiesXS forum for one of its members you might be interested in. More to follow on this experiment later. 
-------------------------------------------------------
Post from CitiesXS

Hello,

@Skimbo........ I agree.

Not sure about that bus quirk but I have wasted enough time on that already.  Not much time left to get things accomplished this week but I did get one thing going.  

Sandro125 I have a late Christmas present for you.  I have finished the first part of your 3 road Palm boulevard.  In credit of you I have named the road "Sandro125 Palm Boulevard".  I just have to finish the other 2 versions you requested and will be finished.  Here are some pictures for you to critique the furniture I picked out for your road.  


Picture of French Small Avenue next to Bare French Sandro125 Palm Blvd.


Picture of first test of intersection crossings on beginning section only.


Pictrue of French Luxurious Avenue next to French Sandro125 Palm Blvd.


First picture of French Sandro125 Palm Blvd in a town. (Street Level)


Picture of French Sandro125 Palm Blvd at intersection. (Street Level)


Picture of French Sandro125 Palm Blvd at intersection during night. (Street Level)


-pharmist

[pharmist 0]

NEW EXPERIMENT :

This is a new Experiment so there are no old files to remove.

DEC-26-2010: Z_SANDRO125_PALM_BLVD_v1.7:OLD VERSION FOR REFERENCE ONLY

This is a new road based on the same size road as the French Small Avenue (40x25).  It is named Sandro125 Palm Boulevard to give credit to a member of CitesXs forum named Sandro125.  It was Sandro125's idea for the design of this road.  There are three variations of the road based on the Palm Tree location.  The main road Sandro125 Palm Boulevard and its Bridge are available through the road and bridge menu of the game.  The other two roads are available by upgrades through the road parameter panel.  Just click on a section of road and you are given the choice to upgrade the road to Palm Trees only on the sidewalks, Palm Trees only down the middle, regular small avenue, one-way small avenue.  The same is for the Bridge.  This is the first version to be released for Sandro125 to critique.

Sandro125 Palm Boulevard Middle


Sandro125 Palm Boulevard Sides


Sandro125 Palm Boulevard



-pharmist

[Damastius 5]

Great, is it compatible with CXL 2009?

[pharmist 0]

@Damastius.................. CXL 2009 only uses the Default roads.  I will be making versions for the Default roads and the other Country road PAKS over the next several weeks.  Keep a watch on this thread and when I have the Default roads posted you will be able to use those with 2009.  Thanks for your question and interest.

-pharmist

[pcwhiz24 1,185]

are you going to make a version of the 6 lane boulvard but with only 2 lanes on each side?

[pharmist 0]

@GeniusXL.............. Hi, yes I still plan on making the 4-lane (2x2) version of GeniusXL Blvd however a member of CitiesXS has discovered a bug in the 8-lane version that I missed.  I am going to have to create some new road pieces with new textures to fix the problem.  This should also fix the problem with the non matching textures when you turn the 6-lane or GeniusXL blvd into the one-way 8-lane road.  I missed the fact that when I created that road I should of used these other 2 size road pieces.  I will start on it next Monday when I finish my work this week.

-pharmist