IDS's (mostly) Minnesota BATs

[IDS2 3,429]

Yeah, I use a new file each time. I save before export and export the lods into a blank scene, and I save them all individually and keep them separated. I may have to try reinstalling gmax, I suppose. If that doesn't work, though, I may be stuck.

 

It sucks that this happens, though, because this occurs every time I export a new building. I only found out it was happening when I had an ID conflict between two buildings I uploaded and I had to quickly re-export one of them. How is it possible that all of the buildings on the STEX have unique IDs if getting a unique ID is this much hassle? I have a feeling that this isn't a normal occurrence, or I'm understanding something fundamentally wrong.

 

Also, while I'm here: I'm trying to get the house set ready for release. I'm working on a couple other things right now that I'll try to show as soon as I get this ID thing resolved! Now would probably also be a good time to mention that I'm abandoning a bunch of projects that I have sitting around. I'm not sure if I've shown all of these, but as of right now, I have no intention of revisiting them.

(I cut up this image into a mosaic so it would load faster - sorry about the size!)

 

The modeling is crappy in most of them (I think all but 2 of them were made in my first year of learning modeling), and I've found that a good portion of them just aren't that useful ingame. Most of these never even got fully modeled, so I don't think it's a huge loss. Looking at them again, I guess there are a couple that might be salvageable, but I have a bunch of other projects I'd rather work on in the meantime.

 

Stay tuned for some actual previews. I'm finally working on some tall stuff and it's super fun!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Normally gmax/BAT should assign an IID that doesn't simply count upwards, but is also based on date and time. It sounds like the entire IID generation algorithm is somehow not working in your copy of gmax/BAT. Odd.

 

As for the abandoned BATs, there are a few that actually don't look half bad (most notably the white ones towards the top), but I can understand that you moved on and don't want to waste your energy trying to salvage scraps when you can also making something new that's spot on right from the start because your skills have developed meanwhile. Can't wait to see the previews! Drooling over teaser pics is something that we don't get a chance of doing as often as we used to...

[watercitymadero 805]

OMG I really hope you can figure it out with the IDs.

 

Amazing.

 

greetings.

[Jasoncw 11,949]

A few of those look worthwhile to finish up, but I can see why you'd want to move on.

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

I second Jason. Though many of them look very classy and standard so I honestly think they wouldn't be as useless ingame as you think the might be. Some nice fillers are always appreciated. Anyway, looking forward to your return.

[SimCoug 5,976]

If all else fails (regarding your BAT ID problem) maybe somebody could offer to render the models for you?  It seems like an extreme solution, but I'm sure there are some kind BATer souls out there who could help

Looking forward to your new projects 

[crushproof 103]

Those office blocks look great, would fit into any type of city. Definitely not useless!! Keep up the good work pal!

[IDS2 3,429]

I suppose I'd be open to revisiting some of these if there's the demand for it. In case there are any in particular that you'd be interested in me saving (as many as you like, I figure they don't take up very much space so I won't actually delete them), feel free to list their numbers! Of course, there's no guarantee that I'll wind up actually tackling them, but I'm curious to hear which ones are thought to be worth saving. I've been looking at them far too long to consider them objectively, so I'd really appreciate your input. 

I actually do rather like a few of these. One thing at a time, though. I have a library and a couple of towers in the queue right now - I'll get to those shortly.

 

The ID thing has been resolved for the time being - I reinstalled gmax/BAT and did enough exports to get new unique IDs, and so far I haven't gotten any more duplicates. No word yet on whether it'll revert back like it did last time. 

 

As far as current projects go, I've recently taken to revisiting the old Paramount Theater that I dropped from the pack I released in the fall. The reason I put it on hold was because I was having trouble figuring out what to do with the roof, but I toyed around with it quite a bit and I came up with something that might be satisfactory. I've tried about a dozen different things, so I suppose I'm fine with trying a couple more if necessary. You be the judge!

I need a break from staring at it, so any and all pointers are greatly appreciated. 

 

The houses are all lotted/modded and ready to go! I just have to play around with them a bit ingame and they should be on the STEX in the very near future And to think it only took me ~3 years to finally finish this small set of tiny homes. I only did the night scenes this past spring break, so maybe I should work on working a little more diligently...

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Wonderful bats, I love the theater.

[tonyr 926]

Yes! 

[Bastet69008 1,102]

Woow that theater is awesome! 

As for the buildings, I'd say 1-2-3-4 and maybe 9. I honestly think we still lack mid sized office buildings for downtown areas and suburban office parks. The first 4 buildings would be a great addition to the stex!

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Anyone else noticed that the previews with your abandoned projects could make up some nice city pic?

[Jasoncw 11,949]

14 is the one I feel the most strongly about. It's a nice design, and it looks like the kind of thing that you can go back to with new knowledge and just spend an afternoon going through and polishing it up. It also looks like an I-HT, which there aren't too many of and all my big I-HT buildings have been popular on the STEX. If I were revisiting this one I would: Sharpen the roof texture which feels soft in some areas, redo the glass material, and make the ends of the building opaque. I went back to when you last posted about it and it's a recreation of a building which affects the decision but I think it would be better if all of the ends were solid wall (like the United Nations HQ for example) but this is just my preference. I'd also BAT the ground plane in anticipation of how you're going to lot it (grass? pavers?) so that it looks like the glass is reflecting the lot.

 

To me, 1, 2, 3, and 4 seem like they mostly need typical roof textures, typical glass textures, and a simple concrete texture with lines for the precast joints. idk what these buildings are like in real life though. Saying it like that it doesn't seem like much but actually going through and doing it for 4 buildings would take time that you'd rather be spending on other projects.

 

For the rest there's a variety of quality and a variety of completion. 5 I think you'd just want to restart and 12 looks almost done. The problem is that most of them are generic buildings that are half complete, and that's a category that's hard to feel passionate about.

 

If you send me LODs I'll send back .SC4Model files. idk what's going on but the ID stuff is very important to the game and it's risky to have your IDs being generated incorrectly, even if the IDs seem unique now.

[Vlasky 1,803]

I like the theater. As for the unfinished projects, hmmm, well I really like No.13, No.9 is a nice generic building that would find use in a lot of contexts. Other than it, I think that No.6 is nice and simple and well done, however I'd like to see it w2w in any kind of setting.

[IDS2 3,429]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback! I'm definitely going to at least attempt to save everything that was mentioned. I think the ones that were mentioned all have redeeming characteristics that may make them worth pursuing. Most of them aren't modeled very well, but they're all basic enough that it wouldn't take long to fix any of them. I've already started attempting to salvage a couple that were mentioned, so hopefully I'll be able to update you shortly. 

Jason, thank you for the offer - I think I'll probably be taking you up on that  I really appreciate it! 

I made one final tweak of the Paramount's roof. If nobody has any objections, I think I'll prepare this one for export.

I also had an idea for a small library based on a building we have on campus:

I briefly considered doing modeled ground for this one and coming up with some landscaping, but I decided to keep it simple. I'm not sure where to go from here, though.

Regarding the houses, I finally took the time to get a few ingame photos, so I'll be uploading them shortly! 

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

So you're saying I'm minutes away from downloading this beauty?

Edit: when someone posts something along with a general location, I like to try and find it on google earth. Did I succeed this time?

  Edited June 22, 2015 by __B  

[IDS2 3,429]

Woah, nicely done! Looks like changing the dimensions wasn't enough to fool you  I actually plan on keeping the same name as the one you found - both will be named for Ralph Rapson. Interestingly, even though he designed a ton of stuff all around here, his own namesake building was done by someone else. 

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

Aaw, I'm blushing.

Finding Anderson Hall wasn't particularily hard either. I should come to Minneapolis just to navigate the university without a map.

[Belfastsocrates 1,753]

1-4 would make excellent office fillers or even suitable to use as part of a large regional hospital. I'm also rather fond of 16

[IDS2 3,429]

Hey everyone!

I have 2 or 3 buildings that are nearly finished, so hopefully once school ends in a couple weeks I'll be able to crank them out. 

The first is the Paramount Theater, which really just needs to be exported. The second is this:

I'm not totally convinced that the modeled sidewalk is a good idea, especially since the light from the lightposts in the night scene spreads beyond the boundaries of the pavement. However, I kind of like having the bike racks and lightposts there, so I'm not sure what to do. 

I took another shot at #10 above:

I think the amount of dirt around the edges of the roof is a bit excessive, but I'll fix that when I adjust the textures on the rooftop air handlers. Other than that, I'm fairly pleased with the rest of it. 

I also found a small midrise that I completely forgot I ever modeled (and I don't think I ever posted a preview). I'm thinking I might add some small bushes around the pillars at the base as well as a few parked cars in the empty space underneath. Thoughts?

I'm also having trouble developing a convincing glass texture for Wells Fargo Place in St. Paul. I also had issues developing a color of granite that matched the game's pallette, but I think what I have now looks fine. That said, I'll probably tweak it quite a bit before release. As far as the glass goes, does anyone have any suggestions for material settings that would look good in this context? I'm currently using two arch and design materials (applied in a checkerboard pattern to the glass panes) that are identical in every aspect except the phase of their noise maps. 

I was also thinking about adding some flagpoles out front, but if I model them, users won't be able to replace them with the "one flag, many nations" mod. As far as the quality of the recreation goes, I was thinking it might be worthwhile to do what Jason did for his US Bank building and include the Wells Fargo sign at the roofline as an option for interested users. Would there be interest in this?

 

I have a few other previews I'd like to post, but I'll save those until I clear a few of these away first. 

[Ceafus 88 1,906]

Very lovely! I like the small garage the most. 

[Bastet69008 1,102]

What a surprise! Wonderful job on all models!

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

Nice to know you're back!
Buildings are looking amazing, looking forward to the last one

[Harry's Place 918]

Paramount, fire station and fargo. love 'em

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

Great to see you back! It's not often that we get jaw dropping BATs, but it's looking good now.

[SimCoug 5,976]

Howdy stranger!  I love the little one story guys - but I'm a little biased since I like rooting for the underdog

As far as your to model or not to model the sidewalk question, I'd vote to not model it, but instead create the bikes as a prop (maybe each row as a separate prop).  It would be easy to lot something similar to what you have using textures and individual props.  I'd even volunteer if you need some extra help.  

Glad to see you back 

[CT14 2,486]

I'm really looking forward to adding the Paramount Theatre to my mid 20th century regions. Keep up the good work!

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Feeling creative again after you Trixie? Or did you just decide to copy Simtropolis to fix some broken news (breaking news get it?) just like that? 

Nice! 

[IDS2 3,429]

Thanks everyone

@Simcoug: I think you're right, that's probably the right way to go. I'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes

Rapson has been cleaned up and is ready for export. As far as the midrise goes, I added some ground-level parking strips to the asphalt patch (I oriented the stripes so users in left-driving and right-driving countries could all have plausible entrances). As for the night scene, I'm not completely satisfied with the way the interior looks, so I might model some basic furniture to make it look more convincing. 

I also compared the building to the game's palette and the colors/scaling seem to match up, so I think this one may be almost done.

I tweaked the roof on the fire station:

Any lingering complaints about this one, or can I start the night scene?

More to come soon.

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

I'm getting excited! The STEX has been blowing up with brilliant uploads over the past few days, and this'll just make things even better.