The Portland & Oregon BAT Team, Chapter 1

[vester_DK 477]

Bat like these, makes me want to get into the BAT and recreate some of the building from Copenhagen and my hometown Roskilde..

Great work.

[Jasoncw 12,029]

I third what T Wrecks said.

Personally, that building in real life looks like it's only 1 tile wide, and I think that's why things look squashed down.

The building looks really nice so far, and with some good textures the facade will look great. I think you should do more stuff like this.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

In real life, Kell's is the middle building on an Old Town block with 2 others (this is if you are looking at the block on Second Street). So this causes a bit of a quandry.. Downtown Portland blocks are 200ftx200ft, with about 15 ft. of sidewalk (the city founders were mostly merchants and wanted a lot of corner parcels). JtPortland determined that this rshould be represented in 4x4 tiles. Now Kell's is sort-of irregularly sized, and if I could, I'd make it 1-and-a-half by 2....

Now to remedy some of the problems, I have stretched up the topmost eave, and rescaled it somewhat. The perspective really gnarls this one. I have started on the side walls. I think that  these will work for now. I may remove some windows on the ground floor or in the middle or brick them up. something like that...

I think it looks a little better... And yup I do need texturing on it. I fear if this is left as is, it would be brighter than the sun in-game! I usually leave texturing to the last. As I build, I name everything I want  similar textures on together to make it a one-stop process. Much easier...

By the way, later on today, check out SYM Production's Winnipeg Recreation Project thread. I have a larger, old hotel building that I am working on for them. I should be able to get back on my PC around 6ish to post my lastest pix of that there.

[CDI_spy 6]

Wow great detailing of the arches and such!  Keep it up Sparky!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Aaaah, the proprtions look much better now, and I love the detail you put ito the window frames.

The side walls look good as well, and I like the idea of bricking up some windows. If it's a pub, you could also take the artistic liberty to cover some ofthe windows towards the back with non-transparent glass and add some ventilation stuff there to hint at a kitchen or storage rooms being behind these windows.

Only a tiny comment about the side walls: I think the corner columns should protrude from the main wall at least as far as those horizontal elements below the windows, just as they do on the front wall.

All in all, this is coming along very nicely, and those wooden table props with the blue-white umbrellas should go well with the finished building if you plan to add a terrace or a biergarten in the back.

[screamingman12 30]

Sparky,

 As you probably know, I've finished all the streetcars, and released the vintage tram, But I will need to find the guy who originaly made the Nottingham model (which I built the new streetcars on) and get his permission to release it. As for the MAX trains, I only need to get Vester's permission to release them.

[vester_DK 477]

Well S12 you have his permission to reskin it. He gave his permission to everybody in one of the GLR threads. I would recommend to use one of my reskin of his, were I have update the model with pantograph and headlights, like GLR MTS Green Line Update 2.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

@T Wrecks: here's what the back looks like, it has all that HVAC/kitchen stuff crawling up the back:

Now I'm a little unclear on what you mean by this:

Only a tiny comment about the side walls: I think the corner columns should protrude from the main wall at least as far as those horizontal elements below the windows, just as they do on the front wall.quote>

I'll try to do my best to fix that.... Later tonite, I'll work on it.

@Screamingman12: Good job on the Streetcar! Too bad that SC4 can't generate more than 1 type of streetcar at once, I'd love to see the differently colored streetcars plying the streets. However, I think you got this one down, and I consider the re/blue streetcar as the typical Portland Streetcar.

@Verster DK: Thank you for making all the awesome trams/LRT/Streetcar models! They look really good in my cities.

OK, time to  go and do some more posts, BAT, then make dinner. More progress on Kell's to come..

[bixel 1,228]

Better HPP version on yuor way.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Got it Bixel, and I can see it's a new version! Will add it to my to-do list and get v2 going!

A quick question: The model file has the same name as the original  one. If you overwrite a SC4 model file, will the new model show up on the old lots I made? This will save me a TON of time if  that is correct...

And onto Kell's: Jasoncw was right!  I've added the back wall and the whole thing looks a litle too wide. So I looked up the real lot in Google Earth... And Jason was totally on the ball about it being a 1x2! The neighboring buildings are weird... Platinum Records (on the left in the front facing picture) takes up a 1x2 corner, and the Zone nightclub (formerly the Quest), takes up the rest of the half-block (2x2). The entire back lot is a parking lot (2x4 SC4 tiles). So  scaled it on the horizontal, and pulled the vertical down a little, and the result is much less cumbersome. Besides, we need more 1x2 Chicago-stlye lots to counterbalance out all the ubiquitous Maxis-made ones.

Basicly, if I were to make everything on the Kell's 4x4 block, it'd look a lot like this:

<-----1st Avenue/MAX Mainline-------->

Parking lot
Plati- num Reco- rds	Kells	The Zone

<-----------2nd Avenue-------------------->

Sound good?

[Andreas Roth 632]

Originally posted by: sparkythepenguin

A quick question: The model file has the same name as the original  one. If you overwrite a SC4 model file, will the new model show up on the old lots I made? This will save me a TON of time if  that is correct...quote>

I don't think so. Every new rendering will create a new set of IDs, since the IDs have to be unique. The filename means nothing in SimCity 4, only the IDs. But it's not very hard to put another model with the same dimensions on an existing lot. All you need is the new model ID (ResKey), which you can find in the XML file that is included in the SC4Model file. Open it with the Reader, copy the ID, then go to the SC4Desc file (or SC4Lot file for ploppables, since you can safeley delete the SC4Desc file for these anyway). Now click on the building exemplar file and change the ID of the Resource Key Type 1 property. This should be enough for linking the new model file to the existing SC4Desc/SC4Lot.

[bixel 1,228]

Sounds great Sparky, Changing the IDs is easy or if not open the LOT Editor and replace the model, in fact it should already be there, I have done this before and never had problems, in fact I once ran SC4 without changing ANYTHING and the new model was there and it all worked fine.

I think you should do the whole block.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Originally posted by: bixel I think you should do the whole block.quote>

I don't think that'll be too much of a problem, as I took the liberty of photographing most of the entire block anyway!

MUAHAHAHAHA

*puts pinky to mouth*

I guess if I wanted to, I could do the other 2. I'd release them seperately b/c we really need more of the lower-stage, smaller Chicago lots on the STEX. A big 4x4 or 2x4 lot could be asily whipped up once I have all 3 models! Before I get to the  others though, I really want to get  two BAT favors that I have promised done first, plus another Portland stand-alone 1x2 that's elsewhere.

[bixel 1,228]

I'm prolly going to go down town tomorrow and take some good pics of the Henry! I will start BATting that baby ASAP!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

SWEEEEEEEET! I love that building Bixel! Any better and you'd be telling me that you're going to get the Louisa (on the other side of the slab office tower next to The Henry) as well! The Brewery Blocks has a TON of great architecture.

As for upcoming projects, I would just like to announce that since I am now getting into old buildings, The Fort Garry Hotel (Winnipeg) and Kell's are the gateway BAT's to a long-delayed Portland BAT. I'm going to craft and learn more as I go and grow in confidence, but more Chicago/New York style stuff will lead up the ultimate in old Portland buildings (in my opinion). The ultimate object will be what I will consider my masterpiece: Something special that has been on the books since the begining of this project, but put off for so long. I think finally completing it is within reach. Bonus points for anyone who can guess what it is!

For now, I am focused on 3 projects, 2 as special favors, and Kell's. Once through with these. It's time to get onboard the Old Portland BAT Express! From time-to-time, I may throw in a modern building, but I really want to start concentrating on the old stuff.

Aslo, Bix, could I ask you if you could handle anything that would be considered Houston or Euro? Just basicly anything built past the 60's of great signifigance.

One more thing: This week is pretty hectic for me. I'll be popping in to post and maintain this thread if needed, but BAT progress may be pretty slow until next week. Real-life beckons again...

[bixel 1,228]

Hrmm, Portland Main Post Office? just a guess.

[ardecila 125]

@Sparky - I know what it is, I know what it is!

I'll let the others guess it, though.

Speaking of projects that've been on the books since the beginning - how about Waddle's?

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Bixel, the Main Post Office in the Pearl is too new, if you mean the Pioneer Courthouse Post Office, nope on that too...  (although Pioneer Courthouse is on my short list of lead-ups)

Ardecila, you probably know what it is. And Waddle's will be in the lead-up to it. The neon signs are a must to master before the big tamale. Although, Waddle's does have more than the capstone project.

Another hint for everyone: It's going to be on a BIG lot!  And it involves transportation modding....

[bixel 1,228]

I KNOW!!!!!!! Itsssssss

The.........

Portland Go By.....aughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... (died a Monty Python's death from sheer excitement. poor Bixel R.I.P.)

[CDI_spy 6]

Oh, come on guys ... just tell us non-Portlanders...

[Tarkus 6,934]

The Interstate Bridge?  It's big, it's transit, and it's just north of Waddle's.  Just a guess, though.

Speaking of Oregon transit, I know this isn't nearly on the same level as what you guys are doing, but here's a little something Oregon-specific I've been working on:

Hope I'm not going off topic.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

For those of you wondering.. The ultimate project I am referring to is Portland Union Station. I've got a long way to go  until I get to it.. Here's a pic of it:

@Tarkus: I never knew we never put the MPH on speed signs.. I thought everywhere did it like that. I guess I'll pay attention more to speed limit signs next time I go up to Vancouver (Washington), I don't drive, so that doesn't sound as bad as everyone thinks!

And I did get to work on Kell's a little bit. Here's a pic from all angles. One of the walls has a texturing error that will probably make me rebuild that whole wall.  Grrrrrrrr...

All righty then, I'll let everyone comment now......

[DuskTrooper 316]

Nice work!

Actually, there is a way to fix that wall without totally rebuilding it. You must first make a small inconspicuous cube or box somewhere in the scne (preferrable, hidden within the building itself) and then, convert it and the wall to a mesh, and attach the mesh to the box (while selecting the box). Simply retexture, and re-UVW, and the problem should be fixed. It has worked every time for me. This error usually comes up when you use the mirror tool, for some strange reason.

[Kwakelaar 92]

That is a very nice BAT and I quite like the colours and textures, but the model has become a bit tall and narrow. Compared to your earlier update this has a bit peculiar proportions.

[ardecila 125]

Yeah - if you use the mirror tool, gmax thinks it's mirrored geometry and it produces that bug. If you attach it to another object (note - NOT attach another object to it), the geometry becomes as normal as that object.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Holy cow, sparky! I don't know where to start... the brick texture... the windows in the side walls... the beautiful front... the rear staircase and that absolutely unique ventilation shaft... you are improving further and further. You have really started to become a considerable danger factor for fragile lower jaws. o_O

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Thanks for the solution to the texture issue! I'll try that out tomorrow.

As for the proportions, does anyone else think that it's too tall, etc? The only problem with this that I forsee is when I pop it into the game. Which I haven't done yet. Maybe I ought to do just a test to see how it integrates with other Chicago buildings..

I think this one is almost done. Other than nitelighting, fixing that texture, modding, and testing it out, there really isn't much left to do.

[bixel 1,228]

Looks good Sparky! Can't wait to see what you do with the rest of the block. I was working the The Henry today and I had everything planned out, its going to be a 4x2. Anyhoo, as I was laying out the windows and the frames, and the doors and stuff I kept thinking, gosh, everything seems so small. Hrmm how am I going to fit all this geometry here. I must have worked like 2 hours on it when I suddenly realised I layed out plans for 16mx32m, which in SC4 terms is 1x2. DOH! No wonder everything was so small. No I have to redo it agian at double the measurements.

[Tarkus 6,934]

@sparkythepenguin: Actually, the thing that is different on most Oregon speed limit signs is that they omit the word "limit".  Albeit, the new signs they posted for the 60mph zone on I-84 have the word "limit" on them.  It's sacreligious, I say!  Surprisingly, most people (even people who drive) don't really notice. 

By the way, nice job on Kell's!  It's great to see so many familiar buildings!

[CDI_spy 6]

Wow Sparks looking great, my man!  The BAT looks uploadable to me...