Operation Buffalo Wing: A Blizzard of BAT

[Sabretooth78 808]

Yeah you know I actually forgot about Ted's!  I think I'll add it to the future projects list on the first post.  While I'm no fan of hot dogs myself, I always liked going there for breakfast since you could get it anytime of the day.

 

So how would any of you like to see a typical size shopping mall in SC4?  Looks like I may be getting to the McKinley Mall BAT project sooner than expected, and theoretically it shouldn't be too difficult.  For those that don't know, it's a 777,000 sq ft mall located in my old hometown of Hamburg, NY just off I-90 Exit 56.  It's the 4th largest in the Buffalo area, opened in 1985.  Major anchor stores including Sears, Bon Ton, Kaufmann's (formerly Sibley's, aka Filene's for those New Englanders reading), and JCPenny's.  It also spurred the growth of an entire commercial strip, including stores such as Circuit City, Toys 'R Us, Media Play, Old Navy, Wegman's, etc.  Needless to say, if I do take this on it's going to eat into time for my other BAT projects, namely ACC and ESP (Liberty should be long done by then, let's hope!).  But the results should be more than worth it!  Here's a rough aerial of the mall:

 

 

-Chris

[vidioman 21]

The Liberty Building looks good, and I'm sure the mall and the Greain Elevator will turn out great. Not to change the subject, I'm going to get a bag of Buffalo Wing flavoured chips

 

Can't wait to see more!

 

[edit] they didn't have any Buffalo Wing chips! (cause I keep buying them Same with Campbells Noodle Cups, oriental flavour) I got Smokey Outback Barbeque instead...

[JessiLaurn 184]

Mmmmm....Ted's Hot Dogs...whenver I am in the area, or whenever someone from the area comes to visit me in Missouri, I always make sure to get a jar or two of Ted's hotdog sauce. There's just nothing like it.

[Sabretooth78 808]

Today I decided a change in pace from the Liberty Bldg would be welcome, so I spent a couple of hours and whipped this up:

 

I think a few of you will instantly recognize this as Albany's Corning Tower, which I believe is mainland New York's tallest, at 180m (a full 19m taller than Buffalo's HSBC).  It's also the tallest structure between NYC and Montreal.

I do have a couple of questions to ask of anyone who knows this building (vanshnookenraggen or sblanc in particular) about the base level pertaining to these two pictures of the back (west) end of the tower:

   

It appears that the glass on the sides is recessed into the building a certain distance, is that back half the only area that is like this?  Also, what is that blue sign thing on each of the corners?  Where along the entire base are the doors located?  Also, for future considerations, is it possible that anybody can point out on a layout of the plaza, where the night lighting that shines on the side of the tower comes from?

Any clarification to these questions would be great.  There's plenty of time, too; keep in mind that the Liberty Building and then Air Canada Centre after that are still my priority projects.  This is more or less a breather project.

And as reassurance for anybody that's going to worry I'm selling out to building skyscrapers, keep in mind that except for Niagara Falls' Skylon Tower (158m), I don't intend on doing many (if any) more buildings over 100m.

-Chris

[sblanc1087 0]

 

hey I hope this can help, from memory I dont remember....good luck...but I think they are set back a bit.

 

 

 

the lights that light up the corning tower are located down here, as well as a few in the plaza itself. Ill look into the layout and lighting, a friend works there, and I migh tbe abl eto get a lighting map or something, Ill work on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sabretooth78 808]

My first post as a Simtropolis Annuarian - the latest on the Liberty Building: it seems like it's been just that long!

The modeling now pretty much complete except for the bottom 5 meters and the main entranceway (the currently hollowed-out area on the side), a few minor details left to go on the roof, and the small section of building inside the L (if I ever find a picture of it).

 

I have a couple of questions to ask - Does anybody know if there really are windows on the lower backside of the building?  I modeled them in there but I have no proof they actually exist.  Any guidance?  I'm assuming there are none on the newer addition section since it seems to butt up against it's neighbor.  Also, if anybody has some good oblique pictures of the main entrance (Main St/SE, as shown below) side of the building which aren't obstructed by trees, that would be very helpful!

  

Besides all of the unknowns, the only major un-realism I'm going to have to incorporate into the model is at the bottom.  In the pictures above, there are 3 levels of windows at the enf of the building, at the other end there are 4 (the ground on that end appears to be about 10 ft lower).  That being said, I'm going to do the best I can to maintain some realism, while basically just extending the pictured end all the way to the other end.  It's the best I can do until we figure out how to build sloping lots!

 

sblanc1087 - Thanks for the pictures (I don't think I had them already), but I probably did not make myself entirely clear on that recessed floor at the bottom of the Corning Tower.  While it appears to be inset a distance equal to one of the window column widths, my question is how much of the building footprint does that recess occupy?  Does it extend all the way around the bottom of the building (which some pictures imply), or is it just in the back (mall-side)?  If I don't find out, I'll probably just wrap it all the way around.  One piece of good news is I may visit that place in a few weeks when we're planning on meeting some friends from Syracuse half-way.  I'm hoping to be able to do some personal recon of the area!  BTW, here's one of the pictures, that judging by the light shining through, seems to make the front of the building look of the same character as the back:

-Chris

[baldy 0]

Chris, congrats on 1 year!

 

The Albany building looks good to form, but it isn't my type building.  On the other hand, I'm a huge fan of the old art deco buildings and the Liberty Bldg will have a home in my cities when completed.  You are definitely very skilled at the BAT!  Keep up the good work!

[GaryGerbrandt 6]

Hi, Chris! We finally moved to Brampton, (a suburb if you weren't sure...) and my dad's off next week. I'm hoping that I can get him to let us go downtown to get up close pics of the ACC... though I probably will.

 

BTW, are you planning on doing the sculpture in front of it?

[Sabretooth78 808]

Yup I know where that is.  We stayed in a hotel there back in '89 when we went to Canada's Wonderland.  Stayed in Mississauga the other night.

 

Yeah, I was at least going to attempt to take a hack at the sculpture.  Might not come out all too well, but it would probably look fine in the game.  I have a few good pictures of it already, so don't go overboard.  Anyways, get as many pictures as you can, possibly a good set giving me the entire elevation of the building if at all possible.  I'll also need detail of the main entrance (all those poster montage sort of things).  Most of the pictures I already have show the main entrance end, I have nothing on the side of the Gardiner Expy and the base of the tower section, and only one picture of the back side.  So basically, the more the merrier!

 

Good timing as well, I'm hoping to get most of what's remaining on the Liberty Bldg and Corning Tower knocked out by the end of next week.  Only hitch is I won't be BATing again until Sunday at the earliest (going up to Maine for most of the weekend).

 

As for the McKinley Mall, I have a good source on pictures there, and I'll be picking that project up after or at least near the tail end of the ACC project.  Looks like it might not be too difficult to give SC4 it's first true shopping mall!  And I will probably model one of the State Office Towers from the Empire State Plaza as a breather during the ACC project.

 

I've got my work all cut out for me!

-Chris

[GaryGerbrandt 6]

There's no problems there, Chris... I can probably whip up those pics for ya.

 

BTW, what are you most interested in? Night or day?

[Sabretooth78 808]

Definitely at least day, so I can at least get the model as accurate and detailed as possible.  I have some pictures of the night lighing of the main entrance area, so I guess it's up to your judgment as to what the overall night lighting scheme looks like all around the building.

 

Also consider this model is probably going to take some time to complete, I'm expecting this to take somewhere along the lines of Buffalo City Hall, say 5-6 weeks.  I don't usually do night lighting until the last thing before exporting, so that buys you another month to get the night lighting stuff anyways.

 

-Chris

[toddfleming 2]

Date: 7/30/2004 1:52:11 PM
Author: JessiLaurn
Mmmmm....Ted's Hot Dogs...whenver I am in the area, or whenever someone from the area comes to visit me in Missouri, I always make sure to get a jar or two of Ted's hotdog sauce. There's just nothing like it.

quote>


Ya shoulda told me that Jessi...hehehe..I was just going through Missouri from wichita falls, texas a couple weeks ago... Usually head straight up the middle once I get in there from oklahoma...always enjoy the site of st. louis and gas stations with Kansas City Chiefs stuff all over them

[dudyconstructor 46]

Nice BATs they are really good keep the good work.

[subedei 3]

Looks awsome so far. Keep up the good work

 

 

Subedei

[Merkinball 0]

Hey Operation Buffalo Wing folks, I stumbled upon a link that may be of some use to you all. Although, I'm sure someone has it already.

http://www.buffaloresearch.com/built.html

It's got all kinds of stuff.

On a side note, I've become confident enough in my batting skills that I'm now going to start devoting my efforts towards BATing some of the huge factories in and around Western NY. If any of you guys would like to lend a hand, you're more than welcome to. Especially when it comes to detailing.

Chris

[jsieczka 19]

Ok, after a long break I'm back.  I got busy with life.  Graduating college, trying to find a job, tring to rember why I majored in aviation?  But do to the fact that I have a broken foot I have far more time to sit infront of the computer.  I have gotten the GNE textured let me know what you think?

 

[vidioman 21]

The roof textures need a bit more work.

[jsieczka 19]

Here is another update, new roof textures, as well as windows accross the board.  The is still some detail work to do.

 

[ACEfanatic 7]

That looks awesome, jsieczka!  We have a building similar to the GNE downtown on the rail line...

 

@sargeantcm:  The Liberty building looks great, how long will it be before release?  Also, the Corning Tower looks good, considering how ugly the original building is. (Can you tell I don't like International Style? lol.)

 

Keep it up!

 

-ACE

[Sabretooth78 808]

I would say there's about a week worth of work left in it (at my usual pace).  I'm actually kind of stalling now (as if you couldn't tell) because I'm waiting for some pictures I had somebody take of the Main St elevation. 

 

As for the Corning Tower, I'm a bit hung up in roof junk since I only have one aerial, and therefore no angles to be able to tell how tall the stuff is.  Frankly, I should probably just bite the bullet and rough it in, you can't see any of it in any picture but the aerial so it can't be too tall.  I may likely be getting out to Albany the weekend of the 28th as well, I might stall that one long enough to get some good pictures.

 

jsieczka - That's starting to look really good.  If I can make a comment on the textures, however, I would say the walls look a bit too repetitive, and the roof is giving me vertigo!   I would suggest dulling and dirtying it down if possible (somewhere between this and your previous update), and as you know, people around here seem to be really sensitive about their roofs!  As for the walls, the way I accomplished the somewhat blocky look on City Hall without getting repetitive was setting up the UVW to make the bitmap really pixellated.  Sounds bad, but I really like the way it came out.  Maybe you could take a look to see whether that's an option for this or not.

 

All in all, hold tight, I'll be back to BATing shortly.  Just in a bit of a holding pattern, and I'm not starting anything new just yet so as not to bite off too much.  It should be picking up again soon though.

 

-Chris

[subedei 3]

Building is looking good so far . I cant wait for these to hit the STEX.

 

 

Subedei

[sblanc1087 0]

I think I can find a good and different aerial for you of the plaza and corning tower....give me a few and I'll post them if I find anything

here are a few I found on the albanynow.org website.

I have a postcard of a great view overhead of the plaza, when Im near a scanner I'll post it, should be around saturday.

[6459978. 106]

Just one comment (for now): the textures on the liberty building look awfully clean; i.e. it is an older building, so I would think that the brick might show that a bit more.

[Sabretooth78 808]

Author:6459978.

Just one comment (for now): the textures on the liberty building look awfully clean; i.e. it is an older building, so I would think that the brick might show that a bit more.

quote>

Don't worry, I haven't started the textures yet, they'll look better once I do.  Also keep in mind that the building was recently totally renovated, so my result may end up looking a bit cleaner than what it might otherwise look like.

bob3003 - Did you manage to get any new pictures of ACC?  Hopefully I'll be diving into that in a couple weeks.

Sorry for the delay and lack of updates, but I've hit a bit of an impasse with waiting on stuff for the base of the Liberty Building, and I don't want to jump ahead to one of my future projects because I have little to start with there either!  I have enough to start ACC, but I think it's best to wait for bob3003's pictures just to be sure I don't have to do any re-work, or at least minimize it.  At least this has gotten some of the urge to play the game out of me, and a somewhat needed BAT break.  It's my hope I'll be back into this full bore this week!

-Chris

[baldy 0]

Sargeantcm,

 

Any updates?

[Sabretooth78 808]

Yup I'm still alive and I'm still BATing.  Just been hung up a bit waiting for a couple detail shots on the bottom of the Liberty Building.  It's minor enough not to care, but just the same I figured it's better just to hold it off.  I'm going to be in Buffalo in a month, going out to see my parents' new house in Boston and also going to Toronto for a Blue Jays-Yankees game.  So if nothing else, it'll be done around then.

 

In the meantime, while I wait for those pics and details on Air Canada Centre, I've been working on a BAT project for my city journal (hence why there's been no updates there either).  Suffice it to say you'll see it when you see it, and I think it will be well-received.  The only clues I'll throw out is that it has nothing whatsoever to do with Buffalo, and it's nothing earth-shattering either, in fact it's already in the game to an extent!   It's about 20% done at the moment, so it's still a bit off, but I'm hoping to release it concurrent with Liberty and Corning.

 

Long story short, this project is not dead, either.  Slow, but not dead.  I don't leave things unfinished!

-Chris

[dgrid 0]

cool to see Albany. You making the Egg anytime soon?

[ACEfanatic 7]

Date:9/2/2004 4:30:01 PM
Author:sargeantcm

In the meantime, while I wait for those pics and details on Air Canada Centre, I've been working on a BAT project for my city journal (hence why there's been no updates there either).  Suffice it to say you'll see it when you see it, and I think it will be well-received.  The only clues I'll throw out is that it has nothing whatsoever to do with Buffalo, and it's nothing earth-shattering either, in fact it's already in the game to an extent!   It's about 20% done at the moment, so it's still a bit off, but I'm hoping to release it concurrent with Liberty and Corning.

quote>

A grain silo, perhaps?   Wait.... no.... that has a lot to do with Buffalo....

Anyway, great to hear this thread is still alive and kicking.  I'll be waiting on the Liberty Building... it's gonna be the first large high-rise in the new CJ I'm working on...

Keep it up!

-ACE

[Sabretooth78 808]

Just wanted to provide a quick status check on the project -

 

I'm still waiting for details on the Liberty Building, and the Corning Tower is nearing modeling completion.  Worst case scenario is a mid-October release, I'm visiting Buffalo in 2 weeks so if all else fails I can do some of my own sleuthing.

 

Progress will continue to be slow, however, I'm still busy at BAT.  The mystery project is nearing halfway, and I've volunteered my services to model several new interchanges for the NAM.  I'll still complete everything, just not quite as quickly as first planned.

 

Happy BATing!

[Sabretooth78 808]

I've been silent too long...

 

dgrid - Yes, I will be making the Egg as part of my on-going Empire State Plaza project.  First will be the Corning Tower, next will be the 4 near-identical State Office Towers.  The Egg and then some of the tertiary buildings will then be next after that, and I'll close it off by creating a custom textured lot for the entire complex (probably something along the lines of rubik3's World Trade Center BAT).

 

Everyone else, thanks for the compliments!

 

And now for the latest update.  I decided to put my mystery project and NAM interchanges on hold for a bit in order to get the Liberty Building and Corning Tower shipped out.  Here's the latest update for the Liberty Building:

 

Since the first floor still needs work and I'm not going to be able to work on it for at least a week, I've been spending time lately getting everything else up to export quality.  Don't worry, the roof textures are just a start, they need alot of work still (however keep in mind this building is 80 years old), and other portions need yet to be textured at all.  I have, however, all but finished the night lighting besides the night windows.  I have one picture with a ring of lighting around the building at the white-brown transition, so that's essentially the only thing left to do there.

 

As for Operation Buffalo Wing in general, I mentioned before I'm taking a trip out to Buffalo this coming weekend, and I'm planning on touring the downtown doing a bit of recon on a few buildings.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate!  My recon plans include the Liberty Building, Rand Building (as well as the abutting Tishman Building), Statler Towers, the Main Place Mall complex, Dunn Tire Park, and the HSBC Arena parking deck.  I'm also going up to Toronto and if the opportunity arises, I'll get a look at Air Canada Centre.  I've also updated the list on the first page of this thread.

 

-Chris