"Who to follow on Steam Workshop?" - Simtropolis selection

[TPB 563]

UPDATE: I'm happy to announce this list has now become a full blown collective initiative, with many of the people I contacted giving us their support.
 
As such, I have decided to write a Guide on Steam that will set some Guidelines and Best Practices for authors who wish to participate.
 
I'm calling it "Steam Workshop for Dummies" .
 
As always, I'm open to change this but I really like this title and I think it has some punch to it and will catch the eye.
 
I ask everyone to be patient as I work on this project during the following days/weeks, I'll try to be as quick as possible updating this topic, but this is quite a big undertaking and I am working alone most of the time.
 
In the meanwhile, please feel free to continue suggesting authors, or discussing this initiative in the comments below.
 
 
Open the Spoiler to view the List as it is so far. (Very incomplete - If you're not on it yet and should be, don't worry I'll get to you. If someone is on the list who shouldn't be, don't worry I'll get to them. So much work lol.
 
If you wish to volunteer to help me with the formatting, linking or other tasks, feel free to inbox me or add me as a friend on Steam.
 

Welcome


We have begun working on this List in an effort to bring some organization and quality to the C:SL Steam Workshop.
It began as an experiment as I wasn't too sure what the response would be when I first had this idea.
Now we can confidently plunge into this project after receiving plenty of encouragement both from the community as well as
from our friends over at Paradox Plaza


Mission

To improve the gaming and modding experience of the C:SL community by suggesting and encouraging quality standards and providing incentives for Authors to adhere to them through our system of "List inclusion requirements and suggestions for better Modding practices"

Vision

An organized, quality-brimming Worskhop and a vibrating, dynamic, constantly improving community of users and content creators.

---

The list will be organized into categories(please feel free to suggest more, or changing the name, or anything).



MODS - includes authors of any type of mod(by mod I mean anything that is um, .dll based, as opposed to game assets)
MODELS - Authors who create buildings using models from outside the game. Any asset type, including intersections, if they have custom models(yes it's possible).
TREES and PROPS - Authors of eye-candy content. Flora, props, and any other asset that doesn't really affect game mechanics.
INTERSECTIONS - Authors who only publish a lot of intersection assets. There are a ton so we will limit it to the very best.
LUTS - Authors of Color Correction Overrides
RESKINS/REBUILDS - Authors who are very good at re-building things using either in-game templates and props or other people's props and models, but with significant improvements in style and functionality.
MAPS - The best Map authors.

If you think you should be on this list and are not, please feel free to suggest yourself.


However, keep in mind you'll only be added if you meet these standards:

• Your assets/mods are crafted with a high level of professionalism. No half-baked stuff.
• Your assets/mods have detailed descriptions of what they do, how they work, their stats, tris count, texture size, etc.
• You have been seen to be active, responsive and productive. You update your mods and assets, fix bugs, respond to feedback, improve.
• Most of your assets/mods work as intended. They don't conflict with other mods, they don't corrupt saves, and ideally, don't cause your saves to break if removed.
• Most of your assets/mods are original, relatively difficult to make. Ie. if I can make the same thing in under 10 minutes, then you're not getting on the list.
• At least one of your workshop items has 2000 subscribers or more. There can be exceptions to this if your content is incredibly good if still unknown.

I know that a lot of the authors we'll be adding don't really conform to all these standards, but their work has spoken for itself. On the other hand, self nominations are subject to more rigorous screening. Sorry.


Please use comments to suggest authors to add, thank you.


Author names should be using their STEAM names always, so we can find them. No Simtropolis names.

---

Who to follow on Steam Workshop? - Simtropolis Selection


Note the list is not in order of importance or ability, it's an arbitrary order because editing a bullet list is a night-mare.


MODS

• nlight (Mod Tools)
  
  nlight is a very productive author, with 10 mods to date. most of his mods are very good and massively popular, he does a variety of work and I am always impressed by it. A must-follow.
  
  
  
  Mod Tools
  First Person Camera
  Dynamic Resolution
  Improved Mods Panel
  Improved Assets Panel
  Sapphire UI Framework (And a couple of skins)
  and a few more...
  

  
  
   

hyperdrive_engage (Road Color Changer)

I really like hyperdrive_engage's work so far with re-texture mods and his "removers" are very useful. Definitely worth following this guy.

Road Color Changer
American Roads
Enhanced Zoom
Terrain Texture replacer
No Tree Dirt
Cliff Decoration Remover
Clown-Head Remover
Billboard Remover
and more...

 

rollo (Terraform Tool)

Even though rollo has only published a
handful of mods so far, two of them are among the most useful, in my opinion.

Terraform Tool
Better bulldozer
Waterworks tower and outlet

 

Ulysius (Ambient Occlusion)

Ulysius has made some of the most awesome mods out there to date, insta-follow.

Sun Shafts
Ambient Occlusion
Flight Simulator
Isometric Camera
...

 

japa (Fine road heights)

japa too only has a handful of published items, but the fine road heights mod alone lands him on this list.

Fine road heights
Stricter Slope Limits
Rural Station
...

 

emf (Proper Hardness)

Some cool mods from emf, check his mods out for sure.

Proper Hardness
Road Anarchy
Cimtographer
81 Tiles
Extended Building Information
...

 

some danny(No Pillars)

Again, only two items published but just his No Pillars lands him solidly on this list, amazing mod. Did you know you can build outside the asset editor field boundaries with this mod, allowing you to create any size intersections? And make train tracks in the editor? And overlap roads on top of eachother... and so much more, if you don't have this mod you need to get it asap.

No Pillars
Some Roads

 

Sadler (Automatic Bulldoze)

Two very useful mods so far from Sadler, I'm sure he will come up with more great stuff.

Automatic Bulldoze
Automatic Emptying

 

Wiliz (Extended Road Upgrade)

Wiliz has only published one item so far, but it must be among my favourites. It is so much better than the game functionality they added, both in the way it works as well as it's capabilities. You can change road directions with his mods to things that you can't with the game function. Looking forward to seeing more from this guy.

Extended Road Upgrade

 

Black Widow (Traffic Report Tool)

Another single item wonder. His Traffic report tool has over 130k subscribers.

Traffic Report Tool

 

Destroyer (Tree Brush)

Same as Black Widow, single mod published, but awesome. 137k subs.

Tree Brush

 

Nohealforu (Infinite Ore and Oil)

His mods are all about changing game mechanics, and can be very useful. Althought it would be nice if he used thumbnails

Infinite Ore and Oil
Building simulation overhaul
Fill the houses
Slow trash production
Slow citizen aging
etc

 

rmbackslash (Moving Sun)

The moving sun mod is pretty cool, I think he deserves a spot on here.

Moving Sun
Compass Mod

 

Obelisk (Disable Clouds)

Another good author, I love Disable Clouds personally. Only two items published though.

Disable Clouds
My Parent's House

 

Zuppi (Persistent resource view)

His resource view mod is incredibly useful, I hope he makes more stuff.

Persinstent Resource View
ChirpFilter
Info View Button Enabler

 

Kundun (PopBalanceMod)

Kundun also has just one item published, but it's a great one. His mod really helps bring the numbers closer to a realistic feel.

PopBalanceMod

 

Hingo (Bordered Skylines)

His two mods are both pretty cool, with Bordered Skylines at the top of course, being a really nice mod that allows you to customize the look of your game in fantastic ways.

Bordered Skylines
8-bit Skylines

 

Sims firehouse (Terraform Tool for Asset Editor)

Sims firehouse is not only a friend and a gentleman, but also a very high standards content creator. Most of his work has been on intersections so far, but he shines for his re-working of the Terraform tool by rollo for the Asset Editor. However, his intersections I consider the best out there so far, he'll be appearing in that section too.

Terraform Tool for the Asset Editor
A selection of really well made intersections

MODELS

• tony_r_68(Cool_Z) (Phoenix Tower)
  
  
  River Residence
  Drakevilla
  
  
  

DubaiSkyscraper (Burj Dubai)

GSB Tower
Euromarine Tower
432 Park Avenue

Tobse (Rotes Rathaus)

White House
Elbe Residence
Berlin TV Tower
Rulers

Feindbild (Firestation Ghostbusters)

Firestation Ghostbusters
A huge selection of growables and other goodies.

Room360 (Shoppers Drug Mart)

Shoppers Drug Mart
Tim Horton's Express
LCBO
Mac's Convenience Store
Future Shop
Pizza Pizza, Telus
Canadian Tire

Drosovila (Petronas Tower)

Drosovila's House
Red Tower
Willis/Sears Tower
Petronas Tower
Pyongyang Hotel
Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
John Hancock centre
The Gherkin
And many more...

naskko26 (Hearst Tower)

Hearst Tower
One World Trade Center
Chrysler Building
One Madison Park

Gula(Various Buildings)

Office Wurst Tower
Adam Highrise
Statue of Hamster
Statue of TotallyMoo
Starbucks Coffee
Star Trust Office
In-and-out burger
Coal power-plant

Ragutaro (Mojiko Train Station)

Mojiko Train Station
Orio Train Station
Rokuon-ji Kinkaku v2
Rokuon-ji Kinkaku

 

TREES AND PROPS

• 
   

INTERSECTIONS (TO-DO)

• 
   

LUTS

• 
   

MAPS

• 
   

---

NOTICE: This topic is not complete nor finished.
I've been working on this topic on and off all day, bulleted lists is not my strong it seems, I'm struggling to nest stuff properly.
I need a break but don't know how to save this without submitting it, so...
Please consider giving a helping hand by contributing your best picks in the comments below.
Please be patient while we update and complete this topic, come back soon!

  Edited April 22, 2015 by TPB  

[Ocram's Razr 964]

My favorite modeler for Cities: Skylines is Gula (u/justifications, former MaxisLime). I also like the Cities XL crossover modelers.

--Ocram

[Ryno917 102]

Some suggested authors:

 

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198073354910/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

Room360 has some nice Canadian themed assets

 

http://steamcommunity.com/id/mas71/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

Mas71 has some great Industrial looking sea walls

 

http://steamcommunity.com/id/thebugfix/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

spwn.bugfix has some great maps

 

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Ozo01/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

Ozo has some great buildings

 

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198206679708/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

ryanjamesoflondon has some nice assets

[aable 63]

This is a good idea, thanks for starting it. All of these are modellers of ploppable skyscrapers for all of your skyline building needs. They are all top-notch models with nice LODs and textures etc. 

 

One of my favorite new modellers is "naskko26" who has uploaded 3 awesome NYC buildings so far: the Chrysler Building, One Madison Park, and the Hearst building. The Hearst building went up yesterday and is probably my overall favorite thing in the workshop so far.

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198217846568/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

 

"hqsouza" has some very high quality Brazilian towers that are great if you want classy not-super-tall filler for your skyline:

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198067074502/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

 

"Reaper" also has top quality skycrapers, including some from NYC. His Trump World Tower is especially beautiful in game. 

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970895937/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

 

"Dav118" has so far covered 3 of the big Chinese supertalls: Bank of China, Shanghai Tower, and SWFC with beautiful 1:1 models. 

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197969566900/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

[TPB 563]

Thank you very much for your input guys, greatly appreciated. I'll be adding those to the list shortly

  Edited April 18, 2015 by TPB  

[aable 63]

Almost forgot about one of my favorites, Drosovila, who just uploaded a model of the Petronas Towers. He also has several Chicago buildings and a wonderful modular stadium that is the only option out there right now for a realistically sized stadium. Definitely a must follow for lots of quality content. 

 

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Drosovila/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

[Cool_Z 1,547]

I have to put a warning here...

 

Do not just add people or stuff to the list because they look good in the preview, do it if you have used their assets ingame and everything was fine.

 

I've just tested the few custom buildings that I've installed for now (because the first ones I installed turned out to be piles of crap... and I grew a bit cold about custom content from the workshop)... and well guess what ? Almost everything looks ok at first, but when you zoom out they also look like crap.

 

If they were SC4 bats, it would be like the last zoom level was fine and the rest rubbish.

 

Even Gulas work... the last ones are ok (well except one that has a titanic poly count for a 4x4 growable)... the older ones have a very bad (or let's say average) LOD model.

 

Looks like people don't go further than making a model that looks good from close... and don't give a f*ck about the rest.

And voters are not better... they judge on the preview pic only.

 

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

Sooooooo true. I think we talked about this earlier, but the situation is still pretty much the same - most custom buildings have major issues. I unsubscribed about half of the stuff that looked good in the preview, and as of now I won't subscribe to any asset that does not have at least one close-up and distance (LOD) screenshot.

[TPB 563]

Very well then, we'll make this list be very restrictive.

 

In order to make the list, modellers must include custom LODs as well as detailed stats in their descriptions.

 

Like this guy: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=422702194&searchtext=

 

However I think I'll allow high tris stuff as long as its clearly stated in the description. After all, some people do have machines that can handle them.

 

Perhaps our list can gain enough weight to influence other modellers to adopt better practices.

[aable 63]

I've definitely downloaded a pile of mods that are totally unusable due to terrible LODs, but I think things are already changing and most of the competent authors have figured out how to do nice LODs. I remember a week after the game came out nobody had them and nothing was usable. I've actually noticed that the LODs on the Vanilla landmark buildings (High interest tower, city services building, etc) look terrible compared to some of the recent user buildings in my city. Things are improving. 

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

 

Very well then, we'll make this list be very restrictive.

 

In order to make the list, modellers must include custom LODs as well as detailed stats in their descriptions.

 

Like this guy: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=422702194&searchtext=

 

However I think I'll allow high tris stuff as long as its clearly stated in the description. After all, some people do have machines that can handle them.

 

Perhaps our list can gain enough weight to influence other modellers to adopt better practices.

 

 

Sounds good. "High" poly or high texture resolution shouldn't be criteria as long as they are not totally over-exaggerated. After all, the list is ment to feature top quality models, not necessarily those with the best performance.

 

 

I've definitely downloaded a pile of mods that are totally unusable due to terrible LODs, but I think things are already changing and most of the competent authors have figured out how to do nice LODs. I remember a week after the game came out nobody had them and nothing was usable. I've actually noticed that the LODs on the Vanilla landmark buildings (High interest tower, city services building, etc) look terrible compared to some of the recent user buildings in my city. Things are improving. 

 

 

Right... lots of LODs have been improved. But many buildings even have issues on their detailed level. That might be complaining on a high level, but I only want buildings in my city that have proper texture quality.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

Sounds good. "High" poly or high texture resolution shouldn't be criteria as long as they are not totally over-exaggerated. After all, the list is ment to feature top quality models, not necessarily those with the best performance.

 

 

Agreed... but there should always be a balance. After all keeping the poly count within certain limits and not using overly huge textures is part of what we must call "good"

[TPB 563]

What are exactly these limits, if I may ask?

 

In the wiki it doesn't really mention it.

 

I remember reading somewhere you could go up to 10k tris for really large and unique buildings?

[Cool_Z 1,547]

I can't speak for everyone, but here's what was recommended by the devs (and that I remember)... and what I think is reasonable :

 

Growables should try to stay in the 1000 tris range (or fewer if possible) for average bats, over 2000 for bigger bats... I think 3000 is really a lot.

The lods should try to stay at max 100 for growables.

 

Yes I've read that for large unique buildings 10k tris should be acceptable.

 

 

But well it's always a question of balance. I've just seen a very nice bat with a 197 tris lod... but it's all in curves, so without that the lod would be much worse.

[Dazzyls 576]

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Ozo01/myworkshopfiles/?appid=255710

Ozo has some great buildings

I have downloaded every single building he made! He's great. Definately add him to the list!

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Once again... I managed to grow the latest Gula building ingame (he warned that there seems to be a problem with his LOD). When zoomed out the building suddently turns another color and looks like a plastic block... and despite that each and every comment is "woaaah its great, excellent, bravo..."

 

[TPB 563]

I will be adding Gula regardless if only because of his status, hopefully his future works will be perfect. If not we can always remove him later
Also, even if the lod is not working, at least he puts the info in the descriptions: texture size, model tris, lod tris.

As for the others that have been suggested, none of them fulfil the requirements so far.

They are missing either lod info, texture info, or model info, or combinations.

I've let all of them know what to do to be eligible Hopefully they'll think it's worth the effort.

Also I think I'm going to write a "How not to suck at Steam Workshop" guide.

Ragutaro is an ideal role-model when it comes to workshop descriptions. Bi-lingual, all info is there, and the models are also nice to top it off? Can we add him to the list?

[NCGAIO 562]

It is absolutely unlikely hope that the creators will meet certain standards so that your asset is considered a "woaaah its great"  because  the quantity and not the quality determining to appear in steam.

(An unique asset  same as was made exceptional will do its creator never be so well qualified with respect to another that has dozens of fakes "woaaah ")

 

Just as it is little probable that creators of functional mods worry about incompatibilities for mods of other creators (it did not happen even on  SC4  mods)

 

As Cool-Z suggested it would be obvious that a selection like proposed here was based only on assets that were experienced in game and it always brings responsibility for analysis

 

As I said in another post really do not see with assessing the amount of released things and do not even know if it would be worth it, but surely past the euphoria of novelty and with decreased of interest ( new moders will not accompany the output volume of those who have go to other interests) natural selection of what is best will become more evident.

 

note: I suggest reading about UNITY before saying that vertices and texture size does not matter.

 

there is a functional limit practice to  things for the engine, which although high for most of the games could be achieved by hundreds of buildings with hundreds or  thousands of polygons and long before that happens the performance became depressing.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Or we could go case by case and list the good buildings only ?????

[TPB 563]

Let's wait and see if there's any sort of positive response to my comments I made to them.

 

I don't really want to have to go through each an every asset to check if its got the info really.... 

[Turjan 1,048]

In order to make the list, modellers must include custom LODs as well as detailed stats in their descriptions.

 

Like this guy: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=422702194&searchtext=

 

"This guy" . That's the webmaster behind the Hide and Seek! website, and he made lots of models for SC4. He knows how to do releases.

[TPB 563]

I see, did not know that

 

I can tell he knows what he is doing.

 

Everyone should follow his example for workshop descriptions and things will be much better!

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Maybe we could have a subject here for good buildings that we found (even if teh description is not ok, or the rest of the author's stuff isn't very good).

 

A "Hey I found that and it's good" subject. 

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

It is absolutely unlikely hope that the creators will meet certain standards so that your asset is considered ...

 

Maybe, But there's still a chance. If no one openly critizises our work (in a constructive way), we modelers will not improve at all. Simtropolis has easily one of the biggest C:S communities on the web. It's not like no one cares for us, and what we say for that matter. And it's not about "making it on the list". It's about getting better at modeling for C:S.

 

Or we could go case by case and list the good buildings only ?????

 

Meh, does this forum support polls? Would be easier to let the community decide what modders they consider good enough to be named here. Alternatively we can count the thumbs-up ("likes") a post gets whenever a new modder was suggested?

 

Also I think I'm going to write a "How not to suck at Steam Workshop" guide.

 

This.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Hmmmm... my workshop uploads are not too bad I think ;)

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

Hmmmm... my workshop uploads are not too bad I think ;)

 

I was about to suggest you and Feinbold, but then again my opinion is probably biased because you two are from Simtropolis

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Let's wait and see if there's any sort of positive response to my comments I made to them.

 

I don't really want to have to go through each an every asset to check if its got the info really.... 

 

I've just seen your comment here : http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=422677656

 

Yeah this is an amazing building killed by the absence of a good LOD.

 

I've put a few comments on some of Gula's buildings too... (but just about the lods).

[aable 63]

Your requirements seems strict (not that listing building stats is hard to do, just that some very good authors probably won't do it due to laziness) but I suppose it is fair to have high standards.

 

My biggest pet peeve is a perfectly good building model ruined when someone gets the bright idea to add 5000 workers, which makes it permanently broken in game due to high crime rate. It's beyond me why people haven't figured this out yet, or if they don't even test things in game. So yes it's nice to see those stats listed.  Hopefully people will get on board. 

 

 

Maybe we could have a subject here for good buildings that we found (even if teh description is not ok, or the rest of the author's stuff isn't very good).

 

A "Hey I found that and it's good" subject.

 

I would like less curated thread like that as well if someone wants to start it. This thread will be an invaluable resource but a more casual list of suggestions for individual assets would be good too.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Your requirements seems strict (not that listing building stats is hard to do, just that some very good authors probably won't do it due to laziness) but I suppose it is fair to have high standards.

 

My biggest pet peeve is a perfectly good building model ruined when someone gets the bright idea to add 5000 workers, which makes it permanently broken in game due to high crime rate. It's beyond me why people haven't figured this out yet, or if they don't even test things in game. So yes it's nice to see those stats listed.  Hopefully people will get on board. 

 

 

Maybe we could have a subject here for good buildings that we found (even if teh description is not ok, or the rest of the author's stuff isn't very good).

 

A "Hey I found that and it's good" subject.

 

I would like less curated thread like that as well if someone wants to start it. This thread will be an invaluable resource but a more casual list of suggestions for individual assets would be good too.

 

Ok I'll do it then 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

... I think we should post something in the paradox plaza forum about this.

 

We must motivate builders to improve their work.

 

A "simtropolis approved" label or something... or the simple fact that they will be listed here can only have positive effect.

 

We also could communicate on the different and international forums.

 

I am member of two french forums, I will talk about that there.