Droric's BATs

[Huston 5,798]

Simply brilliant. Great work on that amazing model

[Delecto 941]

Really well executed and a really original BAT.

[Droric 99]

Thanks everyone for your comments! I hope to have more projects starting soon.

[Darknono35 3,137]

Thanks everyone for your comments! I hope to have more projects starting soon.

 

 You must

[edwardjeria 503]

jeje

great work

is amazing 

[Droric 99]

I am working on some railway signals and had a quick question regarding item menu placement.  How can i move an item from say the Parks menu to the Rail menu?  Also attached are some screenshots of the signals I made.  Thanks in advance.
 


https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=15931.0;attach=10573;image
https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=15931.0;attach=10574;image
 
 
Mods:  Can the title of this thread be changed to "Droric's BATs"?

[Magneto 316]

To change menu placement, you have to edit the OccupantGroups property that you'll find in the building exemplar (=desc file). In your case, set it to 0x1300 (rail menu).

 

Here you find the occupantgroups values.

 

To change title of thread, I think you can do it by editing your OP and choose "use Full Editor" option, that should let you edit the title

[Droric 99]

To change menu placement, you have to edit the OccupantGroups property that you'll find in the building exemplar (=desc file). In your case, set it to 0x1300 (rail menu).

 

Here you find the occupantgroups values.

 

To change title of thread, I think you can do it by editing your OP and choose "use Full Editor" option, that should let you edit the title

 

Excellent!  I suspected it might be OccupantGroups when looking at other lots but was a bit unsure and didn't want to cause any problems in the game.  Thanks for clarification.  I was also able to change the title of my post thanks to your suggestion.

[Droric 99]

My railway signal set has been released to the STEX.  Please take a look and let me know what you think!

 

[Droric 99]

I am working on some new props for RTMT and had a question for my fellow BATers.  Does anyone have any suggestions for the back of the vending machine and top?

 

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Nice! You have a great idea to do this machines, I never saw one in SimCity 4.

Maybe you should put some ventilation system in the back, like this, or this. Upon I think you should have nothing but a symbol maybe.

Well done, keep it up

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Yes some vents but the machine should be quite sealed

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Looks great, not sure you need anything at the back though. Vending machines need access to power so are nearly always up against a wall aren't they?

[Droric 99]

Normally yes machines are against a wall or in a cage.  I am making this to add to my props I have created for RTMT.  I have included a screenshot of the props so far,  The prop needs to be on the street although I am second guessing myself now if I want a coke machine next to a bus stop...  I may just do some bike racks or something.

 

https://i.imgur.com/9hooWgw.jpg

[SimCoug 5,973]

Yeah, a coke machine may not work too well next to a open air bus stop (it would be a great set of props for many other uses though).  

I'll just throw this idea out there - what if you made about 10 or 15 different posters that could be lotted right next to to your shelter (so it looked like they fit together - see image below).  You could even do a different image on both sides because so you could see a different image from both angles in game.  Turn the props into a prop family and ta-da, instant bus stop variety.  

[Droric 99]

I actually was going to do this but with the RTMT lots the bus stop is a single prop. I could do 10-15 different bus shelters with different posters. My original bus shelter had an animated ad sign attached to it but for reasons above I abandoned the idea. The CTA bus shelters normally have a mechanical advert that switches every 30 seconds or so.

[cmdp123789 710]

Is it possible to include shelters that resemble NYC? also, I like the vending machine, dont drop it!! Now, here is a challenge, that I totally understand if you dont want to do it... But, since you did a great job on that station, probably you could make this one... JAMAICA STATION in Queens... =) wanna give it a glance at least? Its an elevated station, but maybe it could be made elevated to work on a 7.5 mts elevation...? you know.. create a false base, just the way it is, but the tracks connect at 7.5 mts... Let me know if you wanna try it =)

[SimCoug 5,973]

I could do 10-15 different bus shelters with different posters.

 

Yep, that would work too.  If you really want to get ambitious, you could time the different props to change every couple hours (game time) - that would give the effect that the posters are changing 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

I could do 10-15 different bus shelters with different posters.

 

Yep, that would work too.  If you really want to get ambitious, you could time the different props to change every couple hours (game time) - that would give the effect that the posters are changing 

 

 

This would be fantastic.

 

And I just realised you can use props to create some basic animations.

[cogeo 960]

Sorry for the late reply, but I just saw this. Some comments:

- About the vending machines, RTMT actually uses the Maxis prop-family, randomly choosing between the three available Maxis props. If you wish to choose yours, you will have to either relot RTMT so it uses yours instead (LE isn't needed, you can edit the RTMT lots with the reader), or include yours into the Maxis family, ie expand the family (only in this case it will be choosing randimly between yours AND the Maxis ones, and this will be affecting not only the RTMT lots, but ALL lots that use the family). There is already. The props were made by SimGoober, I only modded the props so as to be included in the family.

- A set of has already been released by NYBT/Gwail (I don't say don't make them, just wanted to let you know).

- If you wish to make busstops with animated signs, this would be nice, but there are some problems, as well as limitations. First off, the quality of the textures of animated props is really poor (blurred, colors "bleeding" etc), Since the prop has a large static part too (the shelter), the comparison with the high-quality props close by will be striking. Then, the animations do not last for long, so don't expect to make animations with several ads, changing... every 30 seconds. The panels in my Photovoltaic Power Plants are the longest I could get. I used the maximum possible number of frames, yet they swivel too fast and thus look unrealistic. And the number of frames appears to be the only means to control the animation's duration, didn't find anything else. Maybe there is some way to set (reduce) the frame rate, but maybe not. I think NCGAIO is the only one who could answer this, maybe it would be a good idea to contact him. So, you will rather have to change the ads more frequently, and I really think it won't be looking bad. I have an idea, and I think it could work: First, make the shelter part the usual way (and with a tight LODshell, at least at the side where the poster is going to be put); then make the animated poster (a simple plane). As SimCoug suggested, these can be combined into a single prop, using the RKT4 (Resource Key Type 4) property. This indeed works. I used it in my Photovoltaic PPs, albeit for a different reason (use an animation as a day model and a fixed one for the night), so having multiple and different-type models in the same prop indeed works. It is even possible to have different animations for the day and the night (well, the same, but rendered separately, so it looks better).

 

I could provide some help if needed.

[Turjan 1,048]

- A set of has already been released by NYBT/Gwail (I don't say don't make them, just wanted to let you know).lp if needed.

 

Yes, those are the stops I use with RTMT, they are very nice. They also have quite a few different posters on display.

[Droric 99]

Sorry for the late reply, but I just saw this. Some comments:

- About the vending machines, RTMT actually uses the Maxis prop-family, randomly choosing between the three available Maxis props. If you wish to choose yours, you will have to either relot RTMT so it uses yours instead (LE isn't needed, you can edit the RTMT lots with the reader), or include yours into the Maxis family, ie expand the family (only in this case it will be choosing randimly between yours AND the Maxis ones, and this will be affecting not only the RTMT lots, but ALL lots that use the family). There is already. The props were made by SimGoober, I only modded the props so as to be included in the family.

- A set of has already been released by NYBT/Gwail (I don't say don't make them, just wanted to let you know).

- If you wish to make busstops with animated signs, this would be nice, but there are some problems, as well as limitations. First off, the quality of the textures of animated props is really poor (blurred, colors "bleeding" etc), Since the prop has a large static part too (the shelter), the comparison with the high-quality props close by will be striking. Then, the animations do not last for long, so don't expect to make animations with several ads, changing... every 30 seconds. The panels in my Photovoltaic Power Plants are the longest I could get. I used the maximum possible number of frames, yet they swivel too fast and thus look unrealistic. And the number of frames appears to be the only means to control the animation's duration, didn't find anything else. Maybe there is some way to set (reduce) the frame rate, but maybe not. I think NCGAIO is the only one who could answer this, maybe it would be a good idea to contact him. So, you will rather have to change the ads more frequently, and I really think it won't be looking bad. I have an idea, and I think it could work: First, make the shelter part the usual way (and with a tight LODshell, at least at the side where the poster is going to be put); then make the animated poster (a simple plane). As SimCoug suggested, these can be combined into a single prop, using the RKT4 (Resource Key Type 4) property. This indeed works. I used it in my Photovoltaic PPs, albeit for a different reason (use an animation as a day model and a fixed one for the night), so having multiple and different-type models in the same prop indeed works. It is even possible to have different animations for the day and the night (well, the same, but rendered separately, so it looks better).

 

I could provide some help if needed.

Cogeo,

 

 

I was not aware the vending machines on the RTMT lots used the same prop family as Maxis.  I will probably omit the vending machines to prevent issues on existing lots.  I am making a few things that need vending machines though so I will definitely use them there.  If anyone wants access to any props they see before I release a prop pack let me know.

 

I am not planning on making NYC props as we already have a NYBT that specializes in these types of things.  And as you said there already is a prop set for NYC style bus stops.

 

In regards to the animated signs for the bus stops I tried a few things.  I used the BAB to create animations but like you said they look very poor in comparison to an HD prop sitting right next to them.  I did not seem to have any issues adjusting the length of the animation when I created it though.  I seem to remember setting an alternate frame length in gmax's timeline editor to simulate a longer animation by weighting the frames for more then 1 second.  If it wasn't set in gmax then I used to the BAB tool to set the framerate before going into gmax i sort of forget.  I also experimented using a plane with transformed verticies to simulate a moving poster but was unable to get suitable results again due to low resolution.  I was however completely unaware of the RKT4 properties ability to combine props as this will make adding adverts to the bus stop much more efficient and space saving.  I was concerned about the wasted space of using 10-15 different bus shelters given that after rendered they are approx 60kb and that can add up but the RKT4 thing resolves that little issue.  The only thing stopping me now from creating the 10-15 prop advertisements to put on the bus stops are the images to use.  I have only one so far that was given to me by Mandelsoft a few months back when I passed the idea around in the NAM forums.

 

 

Thanks for the reply's from everyone.  I have a couple renders of my bikes/bike rack i modeled over the weekend that I might fit into the RTMT lots as well. 

 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

The bikes look excellent !

[cogeo 960]

Making additional vending machine props will not cause any issuem whether you include them into the Maxis family or not. If you don't, they will just be some extra, independent props, so no prob. If you do, your props (as well as the Maxis ones) may be chosen for new plops. The existing (already plopped/grown) lots will of course keep the props they had originally selected, ie these won't change it you subsequently add new members to the family. It is even possible to make dual prop exemplars, with the prop included and not included in the family, and install them at will, so you can control what props the game may be choosing amongst, for the next plops/grows. My mod (for SimGoober's prop) works just like this, and you can specify for example, that the game may choose amongst the Coke, Pepsi, Aquafina and Mountain Dew props, as well as the ingame Soda and Red vending machines, but not the generic Cola and the ingame pink ones; in any case, the existing ones will remain in place unchanged. Again, I'm not telling you whether to make or not make them, but... the SG's ones are large, yet the logos are hardly visible. New ones could benefit from HD rendering, and their sizes can be somewhat reduced.

 

As for controlling the duration of the animation using means other than the number of frames, if you finally find them, please let us know how. I'm quite sure I have seen moving poster animations, only I don't know how this can be implemented. Also I don't know if it would be possible to make the plane initially 2 times its normal size, and then resize the rendered model to 50% (this would increase resolution). As for the ad images, well, it's not absolutely necessary to put real ads there, not only they are changed too often anyway, there is also a technical reason that could make real ads not even desirable: given the very little available space and the poor quality of the graphics it would be really hard to view any detail there. Maybe put just a big logo, and use the corporate colors as the background (or white, and put the corporate colors on some frame or what) of well known brands, like Coke, Mc Do, some airline, some known shops etc, or simply ask from the community to provide more pics - but you have to make sure that it's technically feasible first.

[SimCoug 5,973]

The only thing stopping me now from creating the 10-15 prop advertisements to put on the bus stops are the images to use.

Google image is very handy for that.   I'm working on a project with krashspeed and vortext and we wanted some vintage looking posters, and a simple google image search gave us some variety.  

It doesn't matter too much what you end up choosing because the detail will get lost on such a small prop, but you will be able to pick out some generic features, such as faces, products, text, etc.  Good luck.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

 

 the detail will get lost on such a small prop, but you will be able to pick out some generic features, such as faces, products, text, etc. 

 

...and that's good because otherwise you face the language problem if you want to simulate a specific setting. Keeping it generic is often a good idea.

[Droric 99]

 

 

 the detail will get lost on such a small prop, but you will be able to pick out some generic features, such as faces, products, text, etc. 

 

...and that's good because otherwise you face the language problem if you want to simulate a specific setting. Keeping it generic is often a good idea.

 

 

I will have to start on this in a couple days.  I ran a boot trace yesterday since my PC was booting slowly and ended up having to reformat and reinstall my apps drive.  I swear there's almost nothing worse than having to reinstall and reconfigure your entire system again from scratch from a crash.  I like to keep a clean house so I guess it's a good time to reorganize apps.

[Droric 99]

I got my machine setup again.  It actually took much less time than I expected which is awesome!  File history saved my butt with my SC4 plugins folder.

 

Unfortunately Cogeo what I thought controlled the frame rate of the animation only controls the amount of frames as you stated.  I was under the impression from my previous BAB workings that this was customizable with the nth frame setting or the Frameskip but that only changes overall animation duration.

 

Simcoug:  Thanks for the link I don't know why I didn't think of that earlier.  I use Google images for so much but didn't think to use it to search for adverts!

 

I also wanted to share a cool avatar logo i created using 3ds max that I thought turned out pretty well.

[Droric 99]

I can't seem to find where I can get information on making RKT4 exemplars.  Is there a post somewhere that my search isn't turning up?

[Droric 99]

Opening up the thread again as I am filling a request made from the BAT Requests Thread.  I am currently working a CALM Oil Bouy and wanted to give an update to see if anyone had feedback.  I think the yellow may be a bit too dirty at this point.

 

Original Requestor

 

References I've used

http://www.sofec.com/brochure/Marine%20Terminals%202012%20Email(1).pdf

http://www.sofec.com/productsbySubInfo.asp?intcategoryName=Marine%20Terminals&intsubCat=CALM%20Buoys

 

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