Operation Buffalo Wing: A Blizzard of BAT

[+Guest]

I just recently found your buildings and am blown away about how great they look.  I think you are bringing to the forefront  a lot of gems that are hidden in a Great American City that people only associate with Blizzards, Missed FG's and Wings.  As a Buffalonian by choice not by birth I am excited about these buildings.  I to have further suggestions and wish I had the time patience to try and make real. Here goes my list of essentials to make a true Buffalo city.

 

1.  The Ralph

2.  Delaware park - with all the great buildings this would be huge but worth it

3.  Shea's Theatre

4.  Big Blue Water Tower-  not really your thing but a definite must for any Thruway

5.  Anchor Bar

6.  Grain Elevators

 

 

Anyway keep up the good work and look forward to your next project. 

 

Ander

 

 

 

[Sabretooth78 808]

Hey All -

 

I just wanted to once again pop in and announce that I still am alive.  As you may have gathered, the last month or so in my life has been quite hectic, and I have had next to absolutely NO free time at all.  What with moving and a new job and such.  That being said, my BAT progress is on hiatus until I rediscover my free time.  It's still there, it just might not be back until after the summer.  I'll keep you posted!

 

In the meantime, I did find time to go throughout the thread and fix my broken image links.  One of the side effects of moving, all my pictures are hosted with Adelphia now rather than Comcast, so I needed to change the domains accordingly.  They should all work now, however.

 

See you later!

-Chris

[scififan68 23]

Date: 6/9/2005 8:14:46 PM Author: sargeantcm

Hey All -

I just wanted to once again pop in and announce that I still am alive.  As you may have gathered, the last month or so in my life has been quite hectic, and I have had next to absolutely NO free time at all.  What with moving and a new job and such.  That being said, my BAT progress is on hiatus until I rediscover my free time.  It's still there, it just might not be back until after the summer.  I'll keep you posted!

In the meantime, I did find time to go throughout the thread and fix my broken image links.  One of the side effects of moving, all my pictures are hosted with Adelphia now rather than Comcast, so I needed to change the domains accordingly.  They should all work now, however.

See you later!

-Chris

quote>

WB sargeantcm

I uderstand,you got busy and lost your free time.That happeneds!'); height=15 alt=Insert smilie src=https://community.simtropolis.com/assets/emoticons/22.gif width=15 border=0>

[Buffalonian1 0]

Hey guys. Just wanted to stop by and say I am working on the Buffalo athletic club. This is what I've got so far, but I think this is as far as I am going to get for now because of a lack of pictures to have for handy reference.  This is my very first BAT project and I am still learning how to texture so give me some credit, LOL. If anyone has any pictures or textures I can use please give them too me, they would help alot.

width=500 align=baseline>


<obsolete picture>

[Buffalonian1 0]

Looks like this thread isn't as looked at as it used to be. Oh well, I am still going to use it, even if it means busting out the defibrillator! Here's an update for all of you to enjoy. As you can see, I managed to finish the basic shape using the few resources I had.

https://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y104/Danman896/buffaloathleticclub465.bmp width=600 align=baseline>

-Dan

[sethtriggs 9]

This is so exciting! I live steps away from all these landmarks too. (I live in downtown Buffalo)

Is there a place which has the links to all these in the STEX? I must have them all! Or do they have a common keyword?

-Seth

[Buffalonian1 0]

When you go to the STEX search for 'Buffalo' and you will find most of the stuff. I think you might have a hard time finding m&t plaza though.

[Buffalonian1 0]

Talking to myself, but I don't care. Working hard on details, mainly window frames and all those white parts you see on the building. After about an hour of work I finished this:

width=610 align=baseline>

https://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y104/Danman896/windowdesign.bmp align=baseline>

[Glenni 1,447]

it looks quite good.

[Sabretooth78 808]

Looks really nice so far, it'll be interesting to see how you get it to look once you work in all those little details!  Besides the ground floor missing, it looks like you have a pretty good handle on the scale and the basic jist of things in gMax.  This is a good example of a mid-rise structure in Buffalo, one that didn't make my short list.  I guess it just gets overshadowed.  It'll look nice next to the Statler Towers once I eventually get to that.  Although I might have to wait if they're putting the casino in there?  We'll see.

 

Hopefully it won't be too long until I get back into BATing, I really want to see this whole skyline in SC4 someday.

 

BTW I notice you're modeling the building hollow, like so many others here.  Am I the only one who instead of creating walls, creates 'solid' floors, with indentations for windows?

 

-Chris

[Buffalonian1 0]

The only way I learned so far from the tutorials is to create buildings with splines, although I would like to learn how to do it a different way. Making them hollow is time consuming, and requires a bit more math I would imagine.

[Sabretooth78 808]

Just thought I'd drop a line in here, with a few interesting developments that have happened of late.  My girlfriend just got a job in downtown Bufffalo, and since we carpool, I'll be having to pick her up every afternoon.  Since I may occasionally have to blow a quarter or two in a parking meter while waiting, I might as well make good use of the time.  So in the coming months, I should be able to get some decent recon of various areas of downtown Buffalo, in particular the Court St area.

This being said, my next planned project in Buffalo, the Rand Building (as well as it's siamese companion, the Tishman building), may be gearing up before our heads stop spinning!  I'll keep you posted as things develop.  Here is a sneak peak at the real thing:

  

Standing in at 107m (351 ft), it's the 3rd tallest in Buffalo, and the tallest yet unmodeled for SC4.  It's companion to the left, the Tishmann Bldg (aka 10 Lafayette Sq), is the 9th tallest, at 80m (263 ft).  After these two are complete, the Main Place Mall & Tower, at 107m (350'), #4; and Verizon, 79m (258 ft), #10, will be the only buildings yet unmodeled to round out the top ten.  It's that close to reality!  I've also gotten some good pics of Dunn Tire Park, and I live nearly across the street from Ralph Wilson Stadium, so maybe we can even get the Buffalo sports scene done by the end of 2006!

 

And to the Albany folks out there, I haven't forgotten about you either.  Actually, the State Office Towers were nearly complete where last I left them, and the Egg was causing headaches but once rolling should be quick to crack (bad pun intended )   So things aren't too bad considering my long layoff...

[kmoh4346 2]

sargeantcm, I have to say you indeed spent your time wisely.... good luck with your BAT!!

[Buffalonian1 0]

Glad to see you back in action.

Also, if you are going to be downtown how about getting me some shots of the back and some of the windows of the athletic club, as well as possibly those overhangs below some of the windows, and the front doors, (mind as well say a full profile of the building, lol.) Would be appreciated.

-Dan

[Sabretooth78 808]

We'll see, usually I don't have a heck of alot of time to actually spend down there.  I actually drive right by it in the morning, but the lighting would suck and I'm always right on time, never early.  I'm debating if I have enough to do the Rand just based on what I can find on the internet, especially since I haven't really looked yet.  I think a potential problem area is going to be that back, left corner (w/ respect to the picture I posted).  For the side facing the Tishmann, I'm just going to mirror the free (Washington St) side, since I'll be doing both separate versions and a combined version (which may be better suited for your CJ, we'll see how it turns out).

 

I may be making a run up to the Zoo on Saturday to see the new Sea Lion Cove, I might pay a visit to downtown for an hour or so, depending on whether it looks like it's going to rain or not.  I'll make my goals Rand, Tishman (another fine Buffalo example where the back doesn't resemble the front), Main Place & Rath, and BAC.  I'll put the Verizon and Main-Seneca off to a later date when I have less on my table.  I was thinking I may like to do the library some day as well, I like buildings that span streets!

 

I never fully realized it before, but did you ever notice how the back side of the top of the Rand looks nothing like the front?  I first noticed that a few months ago, and it strikes me as sort of odd.  Oh well, as long as it doesn't throw my work off too much, it should add to a very interesting looking finished product.  Same goes for Verizon when I ever get to that, I never realized how far that building goes back from the street; it takes up most of the block!

 

Fortunately, I think once I get rolling (after I take a couple hours to re-acquaint myself with BAT), this shouldn't take too long to finish.  Won't be 2 weeks like HSBC & NiMo, but it shouldn't be 5 months like Liberty.  Enough talk, I just need to get back to work since the list seems to be growing exponentially.  We need more recruits!!!

 

-Chris

[JayStimson 212]

I think this is great ... people BATting buildings in their home town.
Chris: always looking forward to your next creation ... and btw .. i really like (and use) your liberty building.
- JS

[Sabretooth78 808]

I've done a fair amount of research into photographs tonight, and I've probably kept about 50 of them.  All in all, very decent coverage of Rand.  I've decided that I'm going to put all of my current BAT projects on the back burner, and work on the following set of Buffalo buildings in earnest (if not mostly to help Buffalonian1's City Journal):

• Rand Building
• Tishman Building
• Lafayette Square
• Main Place Mall & Tower

I'm planning to get a start next week or so, regardless of how many pictures I do or do not get this weekend.  In light of this development, here's a sunnier picture to offset the dreary one I posted earlier, this one is from my own collection from last October:

http://users.adelphia.net/~sargeantcm/obw/0062.jpg align=middle vspace=10>

 

Oh, and I almost forgot.  I'll take a crack at this curious structure:

 

http://users.adelphia.net/~sargeantcm/obw/0063.jpg align=middle vspace=10>

 

How difficult can that be?  No rendition of the Erie Basin Marina would be complete without it.  Just don't give it a rating of 3 on the STEX because it looks ugly and uninspired!

 

-Chris

[MasterPlanMan 1]

I think you do great modeling work and have all your buildings so far!

I do dress up your lots a bit in the LE and converted part of HSBC Center to be a commuter rail station. Looks and works great!

 

I look foward to all your future buildings! Keep up the good work!

[tco99 0]

It looks like real!!

[Buffalonian1 0]

Thanks for doing all this for my CJ, I really appreciate it

[Buffalonian1 0]

I discovered I forgot the ugly junk on top of the BAC, so I will have to get back to that. Because of a lack of research on the building though I am pretty much stalled.


https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//buffalo%20althletic%20club.JPG align=baseline>


After thinking, I've decided I might take a shot at those two Key west towers (or whatever they are called.) Seems like they were overlooked.

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[Sabretooth78 808]

Date: 8/14/2005 4:38:40 PM Author: Buffalonian1  After thinking, I've decided I might take a shot at those two Key west towers (or whatever they are called.) Seems like they were overlooked. 

That's the Key Center, and the M&T Center is in there as well (just peeking through between the towers under that traffic signal mast arm).  I would hesitate to say they were overlooked, even though they weren't on the initial list.  I was going to get to them eventually.  Probably after Rand, Tishmann, Lafayette, Main Place, Rath, Main-Seneca, Verizon, Statler, and Hyatt.  You get the point!  So take a crack at them (and do a good job!) if you want, it's the only way you can expect to see them this year!

 

I lied about being able to resume my BATing next week, however...

 

I started yesterday. 

 

I'll post as soon as I have something meaningful, it's pretty much just research and jumble so far.

 

-Chris

[crazyarchitect 7]

It's nice to see this thread back in action, It would be cool to see the whole Buffalo skyline, or any city skyline recreated in that case, well keep up the good work

[Cody02 0]

Wow this is going to be a great building. I didn't know Buffalo had such an exstensive skyline let alone all the historical buildings.

Keep up the good work Buffalonian1!

 

~Cody02~

[Sabretooth78 808]

I noticed the request solicitation for stadiums thread by Franz Ferdinand in the this forum, and decided that I would lay claim to BATing Buffalo's (well Orchard Park's) Ralph Wilson Stadium (aka Rich Stadium), home of the Buffalo Bills (the new and improved Bills by the subtraction of Drew Bledsoe!)  I wanted to kind of sneak this one up as a surprise, but I didn't want to risk losing it.  Not that I thought there was a particular threat.

 

I intend on starting this once I'm done with the latest collection of downtown Buffalo buildings.  Here's the real thing for those unfamiliar:

 

http://www.merlin-net.com/THUMBS/TDIR0078/X00188_9.JPG align=baseline>

 

align=middle vspace=10>

align=middle vspace=10>

 

This should hopefully be an easy project for me, considering that I live just off to the upper left of the aerial photo.

 

I haven't decided if I'm going to model the big fieldhouse as well.  I probably will given it's size and relative simplicity.  Probably not on the same lot though; unless I get requests for a gigantic parking lot!

 

I'll post more as the time comes.

 

-Chris

[ACEfanatic 7]

So that was the mystery project?

The lineup sounds good, but it'd be nice to see some progress pics...

@Buffalonian1 - the athletic club looks awesome...  We need more buildings along that scale.

-ACE

[Buffalonian1 0]

Date: 8/16/2005 6:27:41 PM Author: sargeantcm

I noticed the 'request solicitation' for stadiums thread by Franz Ferdinand in the this forum, and decided that I would lay claim to BATing Buffalo's (well Orchard Park's) Ralph Wilson Stadium (aka Rich Stadium), home of the Buffalo Bills (the new and improved Bills by the subtraction of Drew Bledsoe!).

I don't know if you watched the preseason game, but I think our defense is great this year. With the addition of JP losman we will be kicking ass. The worst we can possibly do this year is get rid of our reputation! Bills will be a big suprise to all the non-buffalonians! Our hockey team may seem trashed, but our football team will make up for it for sure.

I also went up to Darien Lake today and passed by the Ralph.

[Sabretooth78 808]

Date: 8/16/2005 9:04:35 PM Author: ACEfanatic So that was the 'mystery project'?

Nope, that's not the mystery project!  Go back and look at the clues I threw out a while back and you'll see for yourself.  The real mystery project has been shelved, for now.  I realized I messed up some scaling and needed to regenerate the whole thing.  Nothing you would probably notice in game, but that's not the way I do things.  Part of the reason why it takes me so long to release something.  Hopefully I'll get back to it as I really want to see it in the game.  I just needed to work on something fresh and get a few more projects finished.  I haven't finished anything in a while - I'm worse than the government for crissakes!

 

Progress photos will be coming, shortly hopefully.  I wasn't able to do anything today, but I have a day's work in gMax all scaled out and ready to go, I just need to draw it.  Let's say one of the buildings has 2 sides already completed, and another one has the footprint done.  The other two are still in the information gathering stage.  It's easier to focus on one or two in particular instead of 4 anyways, eliminates confusion.

 

Buffalonian1:  Let me know where in particular you want pictures of BAC so we can nudge that along, it really is pretty integral to the Niagara Square area.  With that and jsieczka's City Court, my City Hall, and once I get to the Statler, we'll have that place 3/4 covered.  I have some connections over at SkyscraperCity.com, plus having returned to the Buffalo area I'm convenient enough to downtown to do my own research.  Don't be afraid to be too exact in what to ask for, that's how I do it.

 

As for stadiums, you may be wondering where Dunn Tire Park stands - it will be done eventually, but I think that the default SC4 stadium can do a decent job of covering for it in the meantime.  The Ralph, on the other hand, has no in-game counterpart, and it has more landmark status than Dunn so I figured I'd consider it first.  Plus, don't you want to see that big ugly fieldhouse barn in your region view? 

 

--

 

Yeah, I watched part of the game.  I actually was at the Galleria around 9 when I saw it on a TV at Jack Astor's while walking by and thought I forgot there was a game tonight!.  This after I talked about it for about an hour at work.  All I saw was the end of the half.  Yeah, the defense looks awesome (did you see the Green Bay scrimmage?), and JP didn't look too bad either.  Only real bad thing I heard was the penalties.  But I guess you get that with a young, new team.

[Buffalonian1 0]

Okay, thanks for the help. I'd need a picture of the complete back of the building. (if you can also fit the roof junk in) Second I'd need a shot of each of those fancy frames (hope you understand lol) that border the building.  A shot of the enterance and 1st floor (outside) would also be nice. If you can, maybe get a picture of that ally where it connects to some other building. Thats all I would need I guess, more shots would be nice but thats all thats really required for me to complete this thing. Also I am not so good on textures so any help with that would be nice.

P.S. On my way home from Darien Lake went through downtown, and I always thought the Rand was a simple rectangle shape, but after viewing it from the Kensington perspective, it looks quite different from the back, you were right.

JP and the defense did best at the first half (17-3) Poor manning.

Did not see the greenbay scrimage  I watched part of a seahawks @ forgot game , but I know the seahawks won by alot, but I thought they were alot more sloppy then Buffalo, although we weren't perfect either.

Also I am starting to get bored with my CJ, so Grand Island might not be complete until next month or so. I need more outside time. I will probably gain interest agian sometime later this month.

-Dan

[jsieczka 19]

There is a new Buffalo Building on the STEX. It is Hock & Ladder 16 - engine 4. It is not one of the best looking city fire stations but it is 1 of the 2 designs that are active now . Next up is Hock & Ladder 14 - engine 31.