The King's Workshop

[kejcz 0]

Hey

I'm trying to instal it on mac, everything is in plugin folder organised in subfolders
but in game I only see entrance for garage nothing more

how to solve it?

[rsc204 21,859]

Are you looking only in the Misc Transport Menu? The entrances are here because they are TE enabled, but the main parking pieces can usually be found in the Parks menu instead.

[kejcz 0]

yay, it works

thanks for the tip  

[TakemeThere 5,834]

I'm a little late to the party but I didn't realize this sub-forum was packed full of interesting project threads. It's pretty cool to be able to see all the possibilities that we can create with those parking lots and this thread is a great resource for that.

[avenumaster 39]

Just here to praise kosc for his lot work...keep it up.

[kingofsimcity 5,740]

Seems like it's been a while again! Had some RL and the classic burnout to deal with but my interest seems to come back to me, albeit in small chunks. Apologies for the lack of well...anything.  

Recently I got inspired by a user over at SC4D who was showcasing some overhauled Maxis buildings. With the convenient timing of the facelift lotting challenge and the surge of new content these past weeks, I thought I'd give some ole Maxis mansions a little life.

 

So yeah, as a whole nothing too special compared to my usual fare (though quite radical versus the old Maxis ones!). As someone that's used to filling up about 60% of a lot with parking pavement, a suburban residence like this was pretty challenging to come up with.

I really wished there were diagonal-oriented tennis courts or swimming pool props... those would really spice up the larger mansion lots! Maybe I'll create some questionable looking base texture for a tennis court as a substitute...

Eventually I hope to expand and cover every one of Maxis' default R$$$ mansion lot with a facelift. I think I'll be looking into a potential "override" version as well.

That's all for now!

[Xander Dax 310]

These look brilliant, though one question...why a pond and not a swimming pool?.

Can't wait to see more!, keep up the good work!.

[kingofsimcity 5,740]

@Xander Dax: Habit, to be honest. I've done office parks for the better half of the past year so I instinctively put a pond there lol.

In hindsight, I probably should've held out a bit longer before yolo-submitting the challenge...because here are some more!

I showed these yesterday night but thought I'd provide some extra commentary here. The farthest one on the left uses the medium-density Maxis "Urban Palazzo", which comes in 2x2, 3x2, and 2x3 variations. Ultimately, I feel that these fall closer towards the "mansion" category and thus threw this one in there. I'll probably end up doing a basic touch-up for the other two.

Middle two are pretty standard. I think the 2x3 is a little underwhelming at the moment but for now it's "passable."

The one on the left is a little different:

I may have also mentioned a "secret" weapon yesterday. It's in fact a set of custom tennis court textures! Currently I'm sticking with a full set of 5 different colors schemes and 3 different angles:
maroon + green (normal),  maroon + blue, green + blue, tan + maroon and green.
orthogonal, diagonal, half-diagonal (22.5)

Now unfortunately I don't think a tennis net prop exists so my workaround was to use bollards as the posts and cp's picket fences as the "net". It does look a little odd but the awesome part at least is that there's 45 degree and 22.5 degree options. The best parts about switching to texture-based courts however is definitely being able to go off-grid and having shadows cast.

From my research (aka Google Earth), rigidity is overrated! I went ahead and attempted a 4x4 lot with a 22.5 degree angled court. Much thanks to cp for providing off-angled wall pieces as otherwise my sims would be spending time finding lost tennis balls...

I got distracted again. I was supposed to only lot facelifts for existing lot sizes but got carried away and introduced a new lot size, 2x4! These lots are loosely based off the mansions found in Beverly Hills. Many of these contain a gate in the rear for a back alley much like the ones found in LA. Currently have about 3-4 unique designs for a particular Maxis mansion family.

A sample neighborhood view just for kicks! R$$$ doesn't look so bad anymore eh?

Comments and feedback are welcome as usual!

 

 

 

 

[airman15 4,113]

@kingofsimcity

Oh. My. Lord. Those are amazing!

A suggestion although I can see that you put loads of effort into these lots is to make some lots that can conform to slopes. These would be perfect for intercity neighborhoods; Sacramento has houses similar to the way these are set up just outside Midtown.

Neighborhoods like in El Dorado hills where large houses are built on hills will own a lot of surrounding land but will keep most of everything like pools closeby. Unless you have say a detached garage then you could bring a driveway down a slope to where the garage is located. It all depends on the terrain for it, though.

[rsc204 21,859]

Looks pretty great, just seeing some seasonal flora does wonders. If you'd send me one of the tennis court textures (assuming they are the same size) in each orientation, I could quickly whip up something resembling a proper tennis net for you.

[nos.17 5,215]

Loving the way these look. In a game with mostly orthogonal angles, those FAR tennis courts go a long way making the scene more interesting. And to second what rsc said, one can't beat CP seasonal flora.

I've always sort of liked the Maxis mansions, but the lots could never justify them. These overrides will literally be the perfect thing for me! Can't wait to see their release!

[Xander Dax 310]

Simply Brilliant, great to see you back in action.

[Manuel-ito 322]

Oh my goodness... these relots are amazing! I love the inclusion of custom FA tennis courts into the scenery Can't wait for these overrides!

Oh, and I'm glad that my work served you as inspiration 

[metarvo 711]

Sometimes, little details go a long way towards breaking the grid.  CP's props are amazing, arent they?  I know these diagonal/FA tennis courts are meant for Maxis relots, but I can foresee them tasting great with some of MattB's diagonal and FA houses as well!   

The backyard gates are a nice touch, too.  My area actually has them too; they like putting trash pickup in the alleys rather than on the front curb here, even in the lower wealth neighborhoods.

Good work, KOSC!

[kingofsimcity 5,740]

@airman15: Glad you like 'em! I'll definitely keep an eye out for slopes with some of the bigger lots. From what I can see stat-wise so far, none of the lots should have that nasty full-sized foundation.

@rsc204, @nos.17, @Xander Dax, @Manuel-ito, @metarvo: Thanks a lot guys! 

I've made some considerable progress lotting-wise; been cranking out at least a couple a day (the small 2x2-2x3 ones usually take ~10 minutes). I've also gone ahead and broke down the different groups of R$$$ for easier tracking.

For a quick reference, Maxis has 3 different low-density based categories of mansions and 2 different medium-density ones.

First of the bunch is the 16x20 mansion category. These are the smallest footprint-wise in Maxis' mansion hierarchy.

A couple of these I feel are still a bit "meh" but smaller lots do leave a little less room for imagination. I've also made some significant tweaks to the first 4x6 that I submitted for the lotting challenge, including swapping out the Maxis court (no shadows, and that pink was an eyesore!) and tossing in a pool and some more foliage. Yeah, I kind of regret making such an early challenge submission now...

Next are the 20x20s, the "medium" sized mansions.

One annoyance of working with this set was one of the Euro tileset mansions (the modern looking one on the 2x2 lot). For whatever reason, this model is placed backwards which makes it look a little awkward. Thankfully it's only a 1/16 chance here.

I think the 4x6 on this one is my personal favorite of the bunch: just chock full of detail and I really like the grand entrance. Bonus grey and green tennis court!

24x14 is another set of medium sized mansions.

Probably the easiest group to work with because most of the footprints are reasonable. The 3x3 is a little questionable at the moment but everything else seems OK so far. Totally went all out on symmetry for a couple of these as well.

The two bigger sized ones - both of em feature FA-angled courts. The one on the left in particular has a dramatic sweeping diagonal driveway entrance.

I've made considerable tweaks to the color palette of the tennis court textures. In addition to some suggestions provided by @rsc204, I spent some time a few days ago perusing Google maps and sampling some colors from courts found in affluent areas. Thus you might've noticed some subtle changes to the green and tan/red ones and a more dramatic change to the blue ones.

Another huge shoutout to @rsc204 for the tennis net models! I think placing those on the lot in was definitely one of the most satisfying moments of this project.

Here we have Maxis' medium density palazzos. Truth be told, some of these aren't much larger than the low density mansions... especially one of the "larger" ones which is essentially a recolored 16x20 Chi tileset mansion. Also why is that giant one a part of the same building family? It's way wider and shallower for some reason and make lotting around this family a nightmare. On the positive side, there's only 3 variants I need to really consider.

Like with the standard mansions, I've also taken the liberty and created some brand new footprints and lots for the palazzos. In particular, I found the NY tileset version gave off a Spanish-revival/Mediterranean vibe so I gave it the American southwest treatment, with palm trees, cacti and a sandy base texture. For certain models I may try doing a specialization in the future.

One last rear shot.

Until next time!

[6StringShaman 112]

Wow, the sheer volume here..........................

Love the details of each, BEAUTIFUL!

[nos.17 5,215]

I am loving the direction these are going, but one thing just occurred to me. IIf it is not too late, would you consider looking into substituting some better-looking and larger pools for the tennis courts? Around where I live, among the McMansions, pools are a lot more common than tennis courts in backyards. There are quite a few nice ones found in the LBT Mega Prop Pack.

  Edited September 4, 2016 by nos.17  

[kingofsimcity 5,740]

@6StringShaman: Thank you!

@nos.17: Yeah, I'm probably going to go a little less court-happy for the remaining lots and tweak a few existing ones, especially the small sizes.

I guess the stubbornness from always using the same dependencies is rubbing off on me . Nevertheless, I took a look into the LBT pack and was suprised that I never looked further into it. Those are some nice pools! Looks like I'm adding a +1 to my dependency count for this.

Mini update time!

Current status: 45/60 override lots complete + 13 standalone

A couple more 20x20s showcasing the LBT pools (the one that can receive shadows is bloody amazing!) and one 24x14. Yes, I got lazy and went with the "mirror" approach for the two 3x4 lots here. Sometimes making more unique layouts is a bit of a chore, especially once you've done over 30+ of these.

From last week: another new 20x20, which was copied roughly from the middle 24x28 lot.

Once again, I got sidetracked and made a few more standalones ones. Both of the urban palazzo re-lots are slightly themed and are tileset exclusive. For example, the European one has a mildly northern-y theme with pine and spruce trees, while the modern one could probably fit well somewhere in southern Florida or California.

EDIT: Have one more 20x20. Excessive would be the way to describe this one.

Comments, suggestions, and critiques are always welcome!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

5 hours ago, kingofsimcity said:

Sometimes making more unique layouts is a bit of a chore, especially once you've done over 30+ of these.

Don't I know that feeling...

Suggestions? Complaints? I have none at this time. Once again, it's amazing just how much a good lot contributes to the overall appearance. Many Maxis buildings that used to look meh on their original lots now actually shine.

[Tyberius06 12,234]

I've been playing SC4 since 2004, but never continuously and never so seriously, and after a few weaks or months always put away the game, and when I finally come back a few years ago I started playing only with custom contents (not my own ones), and blocked all the Maxis buildings. So actually I've never seen these maxis mansions or most of the maxis buildings, so I will be very-very happy if you ever release these stuffs.

@T Wrecks this is not that topic, though, but what you did with the IRM, that is amazing both the original and the W2W set. Each of my inspiration (deep inside) to making my PEG SP remake project was actually your IRM (I-M) set, because for my industrial areas I usually use those I-M fillers and with @rsc204's industrial SAM they are making perfect match.

But back to this topic. After this I must take an another look all the maxis buildings and check, how they look like....

[nos.17 5,215]

Care to release your dependency list? Not that I need something to work on, but I wouldn't mind eventually going through low density R$$ or R$ in the same style.

[kingofsimcity 5,740]

@T Wrecks: Heh oh man. I'm sure you've definitely had it worse with IRM, dealing with all 3 industrial groups and the different anchor/mech lot combinations. Thanks!

@Tyberius06: Starting out with Maxis blockers? Not missing out on too much honestly . Having played this game a lot during the early days of ST (04-06'), there really wasn't much content in the way of residentials. It wasn't all that bad but I was young and skyscrapers were the only things I got into, haha.

Hopefully when these are out it'll give you some reason to use 'em! Thanks for the comment!

@nos.17: Here you go. Should have all the ones that I'm current using/plan to use for the release. It's a combination of the usual suspects and a few new ones.

Textures
BSC Textures Vol 1-3
BSC Texture Pack Cycledogg Vol 1
SuperSHK MEGA Textures
NDEX Base Texture Set 1 <- plan to. unsure at the moment

Props
BSC MEGA Props SG Vol 1
BSC MEGA Props CP Vol 1-2
LBT Mega Prop Pack
SHK Parking Pack

[kingofsimcity 5,740]

Super mini teaser update. Only large lot sizes remain untouched (4x4 - 4x6) for a few.

Current status: 56/60 override lots complete:

Ambiguous neighborhood shot. See if you can find the new lots!

Playing around a little more with angled hedges here. Not every lot has to follow the "surround-with-a-rectangle-of-hedges-or-stone-method!"!

Additionally I'd like to say HUGE props once more to @rsc204 for aiding me in this project. He's managed to create a incredible set of BATed, randomized courts from my textures. The beauty of no longer being locked to 16m intervals is a lotting dream!

Anyways it's a short update for now but I'm getting really close. I'll post another update once I've completed all 60 lots and perhaps get some final feedback before I start the overriding process. Cheers!

[metarvo 711]

So many goodies here!    These lots will provide a major boost to luxury neighborhoods everywhere.  The use of seasonal trees in and of itself represents a marked improvement over Maxis.  Oh, and those hedges!  The angled hedges help to define alternate boundaries for the lots, breaking the grid just a little more.  Good work!

[kingofsimcity 5,740]

@metarvo: We need more variety even with the makeover that I'm giving to those old mansions. Thank you!

Well, it's pretty much a wrap. 60/60 lots complete ... for the most part.
Apart from tying up some loose ends here and there, these lots are pretty much in their final iteration. The only thing left now is making a copy of the lots and creating an override DAT ... oh joy.

Anyways, enjoy this massive update!

"Tiny" - 10 lots in total, covering all 5 mansion variants. These are bite-sized lots that fit better in denser suburbs.

One of the more difficult ones to work with. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how these turned out.

"Small" - 14 total lots, covering all 5 mansion variants to an extent. More inline with your typical McMansion lot sizes - versatile and can fit well in practically any suburb.

2 extra tiles makes a huge difference! Most of these contain a swimming pool of some kind. I revised some of these from to take advantage of the nicer swimming pools found in the LBT prop pack. Furthermore, I removed most of the tennis courts on these smaller lots - it didn't quite make sense to have such a massive object on a tiny lot like this!

I'm pretty happy with how these ended up too.

"Medium" - 6 lots total. Covers all 3 standard mansion types.

Now we're really entering rich people territory. Here's where you'll find tennis courts and large lawn space. Plenty of room to have a miniature forest in your backyard too!

"Large" - 12 lots total. Covers all 3 standard mansion types. It's like medium, but bigger.

An extra 3 tiles means even bigger and more spacious yard space. Large driveways become commonplace and tennis courts appear in 5 of 12 of these lots. I made a lot of these towards the end so you'll see some traces of "copypasta." I tried to vary those up as much as possible by swapping base textures and playing around with the backyard layouts.

"Very Large" - 6 lots total. Covers all 3 standard mansion types. The "entry level" ultra-rich homes.

4 of the 6 lots have tennis courts. Plenty of walkways and freshly mowed lawns as well. The easiest of the "big" category to lot, due to the relative size of the Maxis mansions.

"Huge" - 6 lots total. Covers all 3 standard mansion types. These are giant lots that are perfect for a hyper-rich gated community.

These lots are pretty big: 5 of 6 of them have tennis courts! So much that after placing a tennis court and a decent sized patio, you'd still have the equivalent of a 2x3 lot worth of open space. The perfect size to play around with more off angled stuff. Definitely the most fun size to lot with, as it's not small enough to feel constrained. It's also not large to the point where you'd feel an obligation to just fill dead space with random flora.

"Massive" - 6 lots total. Covers all 3 standard mansion types. Like the 4x5s, a set of massive lots for the ultra-rich.

This size is a little special since it's the first one I started off with. It also just happened to be the category with the last lot that I completed as well (and right next to the first one too!). Apart from that, there's nothing much to say here: the extra 4 tiles means more ground to cover, and you may notice the lawn in some spot are in less than optimal shape. All 6 lots boasts A TON of driveway and open lawn space, tennis courts and swimming pools.

And that's it! All 60 lots are covered in this update. As for the "extra" lots that I created some time ago, I'll be releasing those as a separate upload once the overrides are out the door. With the ways things are going right now, I'm staring down the barrel of a release some time in the coming few weeks. Get ready!

[Manuel-ito 322]

I'll regret demolishing any Maxis mansion from now on... Nice work!

[rsc204 21,859]

I notice a few of the swimming pools are suffering from z-fighting. A number of the Maxis props are rendered as such that they need to be lifted in the LE to sit correctly. Trying placing them .1m - .2m higher and the glitches should go away.

But what a huge difference you've made here. I don't use a lot of Maxis content, but if it wasn't for their style (not British enough), this package would probably compel me to re-instate these lots once more. As it stands, I'll probably cherry pick those that aren't too American for my tastes.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Holy smoly is that good! FA tennis courts FTW!

[kingofsimcity 5,740]

@Manuel-ito: I'll regret it too! There's always the chance than the RNG god bestows the same layout 5 times in a row though. Maybe then I won't regret it.

@rsc204: Yeah I made sure to lift the pools by a little to stop the issue. It's gone for the most part barring the really large swimming pool. It looks fantastic at zoom 4 though!

@Ln X: Thanks! You should probably redirect all your praise for the courts at rsc204 though.

 

All righty, this is gonna be a bit of a wrap-up update for the mansion facelift and overhaul. I've finalized the overrides and have begun the final stage for release, namely testing real growth in cities and prepping documentation.

For those of you that have downloaded the sample facelift lot I uploaded for the challenge, here's a quick comparison with the final version. Some subtle tweaks and a couple of major ones. Man, that Maxis tennis court was ugly!

And as a wrap up, here's another random neighborhood scene I constructed with the mansions (plopped, of course D:).

With that out of the way, I've also figured I'd put up some of those "extra" lots that I ended up making into sort of an expansion to the facelift. Current have around 16ish lots and expected to make it at most around 25.

Here's the 2x4s that I showed a while ago. Nothing much really has changed, apart from some texture tweaks and the inclusion of the LBT pools. The B (20x20) variants are a little left-heavy so I'll probably throw in a couple more mirror variations to keep it balance. Some darker pavement textures are on the menu as well.

Another look at some of the "themed" buildings that are non-family specific. I added a couple of newer ones to the mix, namely the "Spooky" Victorian mansion (cemetery fencing, poorly maintained grass and some droopy looking trees? spooky!) and the Cali inspired Posh Villa (because a ton of fan palms and yucca plants = SoCal).

This last one is just a little special because ever since the day I started working with the "E" (24x28) mansion category, I've been scratching my head at this particular model. For some reason, this building - which is basically a recolor of the "A" (16x20) stone mansion - ended up as part of the medium-density, urban palazzo category. I don't know why or how. All I know is that I gave it a home right where it belongs! Of course, this was all done while shamelessly ripping off some of my earlier layouts. Moved some trees and textures around and called it a day. Efficiency I say!

Feel free to share your thoughts!

[kingofsimcity 5,740]

Decided to dust off the backlog today! @Xander Dax requested this a while back: Zurich House Portsmouth. Despite its age and less than stellar night lighting, the curves lend themselves pretty well I think! I've been meaning to finish this building for a while now but a lack of inspiration and motivation prevented me from doing so. Well today on a whim, I decided to attempt it from scratch again. Here's what I've managed to come up with:

These are 7x6 and 4x4 growables respectively. The 4x4 is your traditional small lot which will fit in urban areas. The 7x6 is done closer to my suburban office park style. However, I've been incorporating some "mix-wealth" techniques that I've been using on the mansions, namely having nice and less nice patches strewn across the lots. For example, the grass at the foot of the building is nice and green and yet, the parking lot looks like it needs a new paint job.

Took some inspiration from @nos.17's facelift with prop fusing! The way this building is aligned, it's possible to flip it 180 degrees and have the little protruding part merge without much trouble. For the problem areas, I've covered them up with some large bushes and trees. They shouldn't be very noticeable unless you look closely.

This lot is available in both plop and grow, and has double the amount of jobs as a standard Zurich House.

Some rear side shots for the lots. You'll probably see this on the STEX very shortly!