Wreckies Stats Shack & Lot Showcase

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Hello everybody!

After releasing some revamped lots on the STEX and posting that collection of tweaked desc files plus a reference table, I thought it might be a good idea to open a thread here in order to show what I'm cirrently working on and give some aditional info, feedback and support.

For all those of you who don't know me very well yet, I'm going to introduce myself & my motivation briefly, at least in SimCity-relevant terms.

I'm addicted to custom stuff, and I love how the guys & gals here have taken SC4 far, far beyond everything it was made for. There's some incredible work involved here, and I have taken huge benefit from this work. Now I would have liked to give back something in return, but how? I don't have the time to learn the BAT from scratch; I've never been into 3D stuff.

So I learnt how to use iLive's reader, the Plugin Manager and the Lot Editor.

My mission is:

A) Overhauling beautiful BATs that are lacking in terms of functionality and/or lot design. I'm an all-growables guy, I hate plopping and cheating. Thus, I focus on making generic landmarks growable, for example. I try to avoid excessive dependencies wherever I can.

B) Teaming up with BATters to get better final results. This way, the BAT artists can focus on building and designing and don't need to fiddle around with masses of hexadecimal numbers and other annoying stuff. I can take care of modding and lot design, and in the end the community gets a BAT that doesn't only look beautiful, but also 'behaves' well.

C) Fixing up the stats of STEX releases. I started becoming slightly annoyed when I had to build like 4 coal power plants and 5 WTE plants for a town of 50,000. When I started looking 'under the skirts' of the BATs I had downloaded, it dawned upon me that a building that produces 350 tons of garbage might not be all that ideal when comparable default buildings produce only 8 tons or something.

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

Now before I go into boring numbers, I hope you allow me to list the links to the stuff I've slapped onto the STEX so far:
Superstar's Big 6

Gatoa Hi by superstar

Check out this screenshot ; it shows both buildings in game. (thanks to seppl for the pic)

Atricia Plaza by superstar
I converted it from a CO$$$ ploppable to an R$$ growable...

Bransfield House by 6459978 , the first non-BSC growable Mega-Lot on the STEX. I'm planning more versions based on that building, so stay tuned...

Anderson Tower by justanothersim86
From CO$$$ plop to CO$$ growable, ploppable and landmark.

Herslebs Gate 19 by Glenni
This was actually just a coincidence... see STEX text.


Besides, I've had the pleasure to mod some stuff for BATters that got released under their names, e.g. an updated version of justanothersim86's One London Place . Here's a picture of the new growable lot in game.
Btw, I think justanothersim86 is currently working on a new and better version, so why don't you just pop into his BAT thread? It's worth a visit anyway.

Another building that got released in a new version is eburress' Lucia Tower . A bug has been fixed, a growable version added, and many more versions have been added as well. Here's a picture of the growable version in game.

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

Then there's some stuff on my HD which I haven't released so far. The problem is that many BATters can't be contacted any more to get their permission.

There's for example Centre Point by Lord_Quillian2, which I modded into a growable CO$$ building. Here's a pic .

Another one is One Liberty Place by pete. I made it growable (CO$$ as well, since there's so much CO$$$ stuff already) on a 5x5 and on a 5x6 lot. Here the 5x5 version is growing (please ignore the job number, that was a little mistake), and here you can see the finished building in game.

In the next posts, I will provide some more info on stats for educational and buildings, since these are not covered very well in my reference table so far. But right now, I'm tired of all the typing, so please excuse me for a while.

[dhoppeii 12]

Hey T Wrecks, there is some nice work in there.  It is good to see another Lotter/Modder with a thread in this forum.  I too am much like in when it comes to BATtin, although I tried it and found that I sucked at it.  Working the lots and modding the lots came much more easily for me.  I'll be following along here and hopefully can learn something from the work you do.

[paulvmontfort 616]

T Wrecks, I was just wondering if you go my PM with the Jardine House

If not, Can you mod it for me? i'll send it again if you want

 

[T Wrecks 10,209]

I got your PM just fine. I'm just not at home this weekend, and I still have bixel's Liberte Complex to mod, so it could take a while.

That's also the reason why I couldn't post any new stuff here, but next week there will be some more.

[paulvmontfort 616]

hey, T Wrecks, anything new on the Jardine House? I don't want to push ya, but it's taking very long

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Phew, it's about time to dust off this thread. Let me do so in the nicest possible way, i.e. by introducing a STEX release.

The background: When the mega lots came up, I somehow felt that many of them were over the top and not quite realistic. I also thought that there were way too many wildly mixed dependencies for just a few mega lots. So I decided to give it a try myself and see if I could come up with mega lots that are slightly different. Today I present the result.

It's a set of big residential lots for poor sims, so that you can recreate complexes filled with generic council flat buildings. This should result in something that looks realistic, serves a purpose, and doesn't require many dependencies. In fact, except for the original buildings, there are no external dependencies - at all.

There are not many confusing lot sizes to remember, either. Here's the deal:

You download... my lot set and 2 original buildings made by 6459978.
You zone... 8x4 or 8x8 dense residential.

You get... a variety of no less than 8 lots in different building configurations, and you can take my growable Bransfield House lot as a complementation of this series.

The following lots require 6459978's Bransfield House BAT:
Bransfield Broads - an 8x8 mega lot with 2 buildings
Bransfield House - an 8x4 mega lot with 1 building ( already on STEX )

These lots are based on 6459978's BSC Newbury Apartments :
Newbury Square 1-4 - four 8x8 mega lots with 3 buildings each
Newbury Lane 1-3 - three 8x4 mega lots with 2 buildings each

The trick is that the different lots house different combinations of tall and short versions of the building, which makes the affair so flexible and interesting. I wish more BATters would make slightly varying building versions! *hint* *nudge*

Here's a list of the sizes and occupants:

Bransfield Broads - 8x8 - 10,484 R$ occupants
Newbury Square 1 - 8x8 - 6,300 R$ occupants
Bransfield House - 8x4 - 5,242 R$ occupants
Newbury Square 2 - 8x8 - 4,900 R$ occupants
Newbury Lane 1 - 8x4 - 4,200 R$ occupants
Newbury Square 3 - 8x8 - 3,500 R$ occupants
Newbury Lane 2 - 8x4 - 2,800 R$ occupants
Newbury Square 4 - 8x8 - 2,100 R$ occupants
Newbury Lane 3 - 8x4 - 1,400 R$ occupants

Please have a look at the following screenies to get an impression of the possibilities...

Here's the huge Bransfield Broads complex:


This is Newbury Square 1, the biggest version:


...and a detail shot:
' target=_blank>[1024x768, i.e. too big for a direct image, so click here]

Here you can see the four different versions:


Finally, two shots of the 8x4 Newbury Lane series:




...and here's what you can do with the entire set:



[All screenies hosted offsite to save ST bandwidth; thanks to dudyconstructor for hosting on www.imgcity.net]

I will upload the stuff during the weekend if the STEX gods and goddesses permit... I hope you like it.

And let's not forget to thank 6459978 again for his great BATs and his permission for me to violate them, hehe...

[bixel 1,223]

OMG Yes!!!!!! Those look soooo coooooooool!!!! Excellent.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

*BUMP*

I don't know why my thread got knocked back to age-old topics... must have been some bug during the forum migration.

Anyway, now the new STEX is up, I can see if I find up-to-date links for the buildings you need for the lots posted above, finish the readme and release.

[tag_one 133]

pretty cool work T, I love to have them in my cities. the lots are very realistic 

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Glad to hear that you like it. However, I'm holding back this release because I don't trust the STEX in its current state. On a side note, I just completed a new lot for the second pack that will consist of medium-sized buildings only.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Ok, bumpin' time... but don't worry, I have some new screenies for you. I've been playing around with 6459978's "New College Apartments" because I thought that they would be suitable for some low-wealth residential MEGA lots as well. Here's what I have come up with so far (minor details still missing).

First, take a look at the 8x4 lot which houses 1,680 poor souls:

I used garyreggae's garage block because I thought that they go really well with the rest of the lot. Finally, here's a night pic:

[bixel 1,223]

Lookin good T. BTW I don't think you can edit your post more than once, which is a shame they need to fix.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Yes, I could. No problem at all. The only problem is that all sorts of link code etc. can get distorted whenever you edit. Btw, your post didn't show as new, either, although it wasn't there when I was here the last time.

I really hope dirk & his crew still get the curve...

[tag_one 133]

I saw the pictures on simforum.de. those lots look also great, but I think you got a bit to wild with the streetlights I should use half the amount of what you're using now

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Yeah, I also got that response from the guys at SimForum, so I thinned them out (the streetlights on the lot, not the guys on the forum, lol). In the meantime, I have also assembled another 8x8 lot.

Since the worst STEX bugs seem to be eliminated now, I have decided to give it a shot and uploaded the first low-wealth meaga lot set.

[Vandy 110]

Originally posted by: T Wrecks

OK, this sucks BIG TIME. I just edited my post, and the forum destroyed all the image tags. All the links are FUBAR, I don't feel like doing this again.

*Hysterical laughter* Now the links got distorted a second time so that they actually lead to the pictures, although the thumbnails are still FUBAR. Did I mention that you can't even preview posts with this forum software anymore? God, this is ridiculous. *shakes head*quote>

Hi, T-Wrecks.

First of all, thank you so very much for your R$ Residentials. They will look GREAT in my low income cities.

As to posting images, try JUST posting the [*IMG] (* inserted so code won't execute) code generated by your picture hosting site rather than putting in the <*a href=> code. I think you'll find that works without problems.

Finally, just below the Message Text box are a group of buttons -- Reply to Topic, Preview, Attach Code and Cancel. If you click on the Preview button, you will see a formatted preview of the message as it will appear when posted.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Vandy

[Andreas Roth 607]

Originally posted by: Vandy

Finally, just below the Message Text box are a group of buttons -- Reply to Topic, Preview, Attach Code and Cancel. If you click on the Preview button, you will see a formatted preview of the message as it will appear when posted.quote>

For some reason, the "preview" button does not show up everytimes - at first, we thought it might be a Firefox problem, but I'm using IE6, and I don't see it either. Very strange...

[T Wrecks 10,209]

YUp, and I'm using Opera 8.50 and I don't see it. Wait a minute, this is the ideal occasion to check out the image thingy. I'm gonna post the image and edit my post to add some blurb afterwards, let's see if it works this time.

(removed a bunch of chaotic experiments which are no longer needed - thanks everybody.)

[onlyplace4 603]

The url BBCode isn't used in this forum software, instead it's a [*L=text]http://[*/L] format (without the * of course). Due to that the hyperlinking of images will not work, and the only work round is to put up the image as a thumbnail with a text link below to the full size image. Annoying I know, but not the end of the earth

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Once again, this thread has collected way too much dust! I'm just too busy with HK BAT Team stuff and MAPP lots nowadays to do much about my own stuff. However, there is one building I have modded and made new lots for it. I've also been using it for quite a while, and I found that it works quite well.

I'm speaking of jestarr's Wisconsin Gas Building. The most important part is that I made a completely alternative version for it by converting it to a residential (R$$) building. On the picture, you can see both residential lots (3x3 and 3x4) side by side:

As you can see, I removed the crown on the topmost roof section for the residential version, which I called "Wisconsin Arms". I also made an additional growable lot for the CO$$ version, tweaked the stats slightly and removed the building from the Houston and Euro tilesets so that it only grows in the Chicago and NY tilesets now.

I have dispatched a PM to jestarr, and I'm just waiting for his OK on this. Then you will see the new version on the STEX. A detailed readme will be included, of course.

[Andreas Roth 607]

Ohh, very nice! You know what? This building should replace that horrible Brown Hi-Rise - the only Maxis building I really hate. For some reason, it's in the Houston tileset, but jestarr's building looks generic enough to fit in there as well - and of course, it looks ten thousand times better.

[mightygoose 92]

nah brown high rise is allright i cant stand concrete tower.... but hey T great stuff i think ill go grab that now

[tag_one 133]

wow very nice lotting. I like the entrence of the right building, pretty cool

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Thanks for the nice comments everybody!

I just received the go from jestarr and uploaded - it's on the STEX, so come and get it if you like!

[bixel 1,223]

Nice. I love your LOT inventions and reworks!

[6459978. 106]

Well I must confess, I didn't realize this thread existed until now! Of course, now I'm glad I found it. So great to see such quality lot making. And I was all but ready to dismiss "New College" as one of my early BATing test runs and nothing more, but the lots you've made out of it look great!

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Hey 6459978, I#m glad you found my thread after all! I can't blame you for missing it, though, because I haven't updated it very often.

Anyway, if you liked those alpha shots of the New College Apartments, you will like the following pictures as well. I've been busy in the meantime and completed the design for a total of 12 mega lots (six 8x4 and six 8x8 lots, respectively) based on Crumby Arms, New College Apartments and Stephen Drive. Here's a quick beta screenshot of what you might get when R$ demand is high and you zone dense residential 8x4 or 8x8:

I particularly like the lots I made for the Stephen Drive building, if I may say so myself. Besides, I found out even more ways to use the Maxis textures to good effect. Not using many dependencies forces you to become creative and efficient with what you have!

Link to big picture: http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/7291/lowwealthlots2detail10qv.jpg

Link to big picture: http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3635/lowwealthlots2detail28ik.jpg

I particularly like the cul-de-sac look of this lot, complete with parallel parking.

Right now, I'm busy copying the lot designs to the final growable lots and weed out any quirks and errors. I also need to write a readme, which will become pretty extensive due to the many lots.

What won't become extensive is the list of dependencies: Except for the 3 building models I used, you will only need garyreggae's garage block.

Well, enough for now - I hope you like what you see.

[6459978. 106]

 Wow, I'm gitty with glee! But... there is one thing. It kind of pains me to see Crumby Arms up there next to Stephen Drive -- It reminds me of how woefully unacceptable my early BATs (i.e. Crumby Arms) were ... Perhaps (and this is a very tentative "perhaps") I'll revamp Crumby Arms to bring it up to spec. Exactly one week from now I'll be done exams and free as a bird!!... well aside from this work thing... so I can't wait to get back to BATing.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Well well, I actually think that Crumby Arms is a pretty fine building, even today. Of course Stephen Drive is a lot better, but hey... if Crumby Arms had night lights and maybe some more pronounced contours (like window frames etc), it would still rank among the best generic R$ buildings there are.

Let me know if you want to revamp it or not - if you keep the dimensions, it wouldn't be that much work to switch out the old models in favour of the new ones. Just 4 building exemplars and 1 prop exemplar, plus some simple lot editor adjustments.

I'm going home to my parents' place tomorrow, and I might not be back before next Tuesday, so I won't be able to release this set in the meantime anyway. If you tell me about your plans by Tuesday or Wednesday, I could hold this set back and wait for Crumby Arms V2.

[6459978. 106]

Look familiar?....



I had some free time today after writing an exam, so I decided, what the heck, might as well redo this one from scratch. I'm gonna try to cook up some good window textures. Other than that I think I'll add balcony junk which was lacking in the original, and improve the roof.