Zed (Cool_Z) at it again... (my BATs)

[Dazzyls 576]

I think there are already many offices and we need more commercial, but it's your choice, of course.

[wallacet 336]

I would make it commercial. In my city (and I hope this goes for everyone), commercial demand is SO MUCH higher than industrial/office, and there's a limited amount of buildings for commercial. Adding more variety will only help break the repetitiveness of the commercial buildings that pop up.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

We do need more commercial but that building looks like an office building to me. Unless it's a Hotel.....yeah, a hotel for the tourists. That would make a nice one.

[aable 63]

I agree, we need variety for commercial. Everyone's making level 3 offices but they're a pain to get to grow. 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Hi folks...

 

Just a few words to tell you I'm alive and still on it.

 

I had to take this huge break because... my desktop's gpu died. (I have to run it on a very old card I still had and I'm a bit broke at the moment so there's no way I can buy something good enough to play CSL right now).

 

Luckily in the last days I could use a laptop I normally work with to play again (not as good as before, but still playable)... and I think it will do the job for going on with my creations too.

 

See ya, guys !

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

Level 3 commercial.

[Feindbold 1,190]

Looks really nice, im glad you are back aka solved your Steamworkshop problem

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Well... I "solved" it by giving 5 dollars to steam. (I still think it's stealing from people what they did, but someone suggested me there would be paying dlcs for CSL in the future... So well ok, take my money Steam.  )

  Edited June 21, 2015 by Cool_Z  

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Just for info guys, here's a good reason why you should always make a custom LOD for your buildings

I was testing my building yesterday and I still had an early version of it without custom lod in my assets...

 

On your left : the automatic LOD       -          On your right (twice), my LOD

[DethKwok 238]

I want to make LODs, however whats the proper way to do this?
I'm assuming depending on the computer, LODs can be generated at a rather close distance. Should I tone down my graphics to force it to show my LOD up close?

Right now, My LODs seem to generate pretty far away, and they look alright, but I don't want that to assume they'll look acceptable for other people.

  Edited June 21, 2015 by DethKwok  

[Cool_Z 1,547]

The "detail level" in the graphics setting determines how far away you can zoom out before the lod shows.

 

On a fast machine it will be quite far away, but for big buildings it will still be visible.

 

 

If you want to have a very close look at your lod you can use the "Isometric camera" mod, it forces lods to be shown even from quite close. (That's what I did when I discovered lots of cutommodels looked weird from a distance, to have confirmation that I was not just dreaming).

If you try it and if you have some customs installed you might go for a surprise, believe me

 

 

About the LOD creation... there are several ways to do this.

First step can be to supress "unnecessary" stuff on your finished model, merge some things if you can, supress things that will be barely visible, fill holes.

You can also replace whole parts with geometrical shapes that will "look ok" from far away.

I personaly use a combination of both, depends on the model.

 

In the end, I bake the textures from the main model onto the lod model.

 

 

I think I'll make a tutorial about this.

[ethansprang 41]

If you reuse a template or something, make sure you've updated your lod. I've actually got a few assets where the lod is from a different building!  When you zoom out, it changes totally.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

If you reuse a template or something, make sure you've updated your lod. I've actually got a few assets where the lod is from a different building!  When you zoom out, it changes totally.

Damn you should post it in the bugs section of the editor's forums !!

 

Yes the asset editor is far from perfect, I also sometimes had my lod being corrupted. It was all correct except for the roof part of the texture.

 

That's also why we should ALWAYS test our work before releasing it. ALWAYS.

[wallacet 336]

I want to make LODs, however whats the proper way to do this?
I'm assuming depending on the computer, LODs can be generated at a rather close distance. Should I tone down my graphics to force it to show my LOD up close?

Right now, My LODs seem to generate pretty far away, and they look alright, but I don't want that to assume they'll look acceptable for other people.

If you use a lot of circular objects in your model (for railing, columns, etc), replace them with squares in your LOD. Also, I ALWAYS insert an Edit Poly modifier and delete polys that are hidden from view from each shape I put in. For example....if you stack one square on top of another, you can delete the "sandwiched" faces since they will never be seen and are unnecessary (assuming that face will not ever be seen no matter what angle you view from). It's generally a good idea to do this anyways, not just in the LOD. 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

I think we should have a dedicated topic on LODs... they are a huge part of a great building.

[wallacet 336]

I think we should have a dedicated topic on LODs... they are a huge part of a great building.

I thought one had been posted already?

[Cool_Z 1,547]

I think we should have a dedicated topic on LODs... they are a huge part of a great building.

I thought one had been posted already?

We already had several topics about problematic lods, but not one clearly stating that you have to do one, how to do it properly, etc etc...

 

I also have made one in the paradox plaza forums.

[wallacet 336]

I think we should have a dedicated topic on LODs... they are a huge part of a great building.

I thought one had been posted already?

We already had several topics about problematic lods, but not one clearly stating that you have to do one, how to do it properly, etc etc...

 

I also have made one in the paradox plaza forums.

Do you think this is something best left for the info squad, or would you like to work on a guide with me?

[Cool_Z 1,547]

I can't really take care of it myself (I know I'm an on and off guy... one time I'm fully on something and "poof" I have other priorities in mind... and back again) but I will most certainly contribute to it.

 

Maybe we should inform the squad that there is a need for one more guide.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Level 2 office building on a 3x2 lot.

 

Made to replace some of those blue buildings that grow anywhere like weeds.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

 

Edit :

Finding the right settings for the glass (between specular amount and color tint int he asset editor) is going to take a loooong time

 

  Edited June 24, 2015 by Cool_Z  

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

[boformer 3,169]

Wow. Keep up the good work

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

 

 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Turjan 1,048]

This looks awesome. It's very nice you make new stuff again.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Is that the building you wanted to have the alpha on? I can see the vision. Nice building. And congrats, your buildings been on the front page of the workshop. Quality has it's rewards.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Is that the building you wanted to have the alpha on? I can see the vision. Nice building. And congrats, your buildings been on the front page of the workshop. Quality has it's rewards.

The problem actually was for the precedent one the windows were made from two layers, to separate the frame (one quad with an alpha) from the pane and avoid the color channel bleeding onto it. And making the  frame much sharper... and allowing using non 100% specular without artefacts... now it's a bit less precise there... The day the asset editor is fixed I'll update it.

 

For that last one, if I can't use alphas the lod will be a bit less nice. (was the only way to reproduce the spikes).

  Edited June 28, 2015 by Cool_Z  

[Cool_Z 1,547]