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

[TPB 563]

Fantastic idea, I'll post to Paradox later. And welcome to page 2 already

[Turjan 1,048]

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.

 

Yeah, some of the stuff from AleX_BY comes to mind. The descriptions are usually so-so, but I like the buildings.

[TPB 563]

Alex BY has already taken steps in the right direction though:

 

His items all have detailed information about in-game stats, which is always a bonus. I'm sure that with some gently nudging he'll be glad to add 6 extra words to his descs.

 

Meanwhile, I got a positive response from one person! WOOT!

 

 

And I've posted a topic on Paradox to see what everyone thinks : )

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

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!

 

 

Looks like his buildings have no lods... baaad bad bad bad.

 

 

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.

 

Yeah, some of the stuff from AleX_BY comes to mind. The descriptions are usually so-so, but I like the buildings.

 

 

And the same... description is something but his buildings seem to rely on the automatic lod. 

[NCGAIO 562]

And I've posted a topic on Paradox to see what everyone thinks : )

 

Link?

[TPB 563]

Here

 

Please feel free to suggest edits.

 

But I doubt it will get much attention, none of my previous posts there have. Oh well, lets see

[aable 63]

"Cummunity" typo in the title. 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Here

 

Please feel free to suggest edits.

 

But I doubt it will get much attention, none of my previous posts there have. Oh well, lets see

 

Just saw it...

 

You should add something to the lod section. Custom lod texture too (most buildings using the main texture for the lod have problems too, I know it because it happened to me for my first building and I had to completely redo the lod and give it custom textures.).

 

If you want I can show you some baaad examples of what a lod that uses the main model textures looks like.

 

No custom textures only works (let's say it's "acceptable") for small buildings... because they're small and;.. you don't notice they will look like crap (but actually they too will look bad).

[TPB 563]

"Cummunity" typo in the title. 

 

 

 

HAHA! wow, thats a pretty bad typo, fixed! Thank you.

 

Ok thank you Cool_Z, I'll add that too.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

I've spent some time making stuff that was posted here grow...

 

 

And I've got to say that sadly most of what I tried was very very average at most.

 

Always the lod problem (and some others... well they are average even by themselves). 

 

 

I've made some caps using the isometric camera mod (because it mostly uses the lods for display unless you zoom very very close).

 

I'd like to post some of them here so you can understand how bad the situation is... but at the same time I don't want to be rude for the authors.

 

Shall I post them or not ?? 

[TPB 563]

Listen, 

 

We have to accept that part of being a content creator is receiving critical feedback, whether it be good or bad.

 

I am sure most people out there really appreciate any comments or feedback at all, even(especially?) when it's not positive.

 

Otherwise how are we supposed to improve? And anyone who thinks they can't improve any more, well:Get off that horse buddy.

 

There will always be trolls who bash you just for the sake of it, but that's definitely not our case here. On the contrary.

 

Additionally, perhaps many of those people just don't know how to do it properly, and could use some help. So in any case I think we are on a good mission.

 

Please post the results of your testing Cool_Z, and thank you very much for taking the time to do that.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Alright.

 

Just remember this is an exagerated view of what's actually happening when the lod kicks in... For small buildings some people might not even notice it... but for tall ones 

 

Let's go :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mostly tested growables, because I don't really like to plop. The ploppables I tested were for the most part quite ok (but some still were very average).

 

 

To end this... here's a worldwide known monument I think most of you will recognize (it wasn't posted here, but on another forum) :

 

 

[TPB 563]

Yeahh.... ok .. so, anyone still think this isn't really an issue?

 

A little update on the Paradox thread:

 

 

I got comments on it, everyone agreed so far and thinks it's a great idea!

 

Thank you Azurespecter

 

I think doing the Modellers section is going to take some work, but tomorrow I'll definitely work on the other categories while we wait and see if our idea gains some impulse

[aable 63]

I don't see any real tragedies there other than image #2 (GULA's suntrust?) and the last image. The vanilla buildings look just as horrible from that view, I don't know what we're supposed to expect from an LOD.

 

The rest of them more or less have the correct geometry and no major shift in colors. The textures are obviously a bit damaged but when you are zoomed out this is only a problem if it is an area of high contrast. The very small buildings like the Starbucks and In N Out especially don't bother me. I must have dozens of that white quarter-round office by Ozo in my city and I've never noticed the texture glitch on the side. Generally I do unsubscribe from buildings when they are totally missing a custom LOD. 

[TPB 563]

Really? I definitely see it for sure. Those all look terrible.

 

True, the game's vanilla buildings are not perfect either. But this does not mean WE can't make them good if it's possible to do so.

 

I'd love to see Cool_Z give us a good example of what a good LOD should look like though. Can you show us Cool_Z?

 

I tried the Sea-and-Sky Scraper real quick:

 

Before LOD kicks in:

 

 

After:

 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

I don't see any real tragedies there other than image #2 (GULA's suntrust?) and the last image. The vanilla buildings look just as horrible from that view, I don't know what we're supposed to expect from an LOD.

 

The rest of them more or less have the correct geometry and no major shift in colors. The textures are obviously a bit damaged but when you are zoomed out this is only a problem if it is an area of high contrast. The very small buildings like the Starbucks and In N Out especially don't bother me. I must have dozens of that white quarter-round office by Ozo in my city and I've never noticed the texture glitch on the side. Generally I do unsubscribe from buildings when they are totally missing a custom LOD. 

 

Do you really think that those pics are ok ????????? 

 

And yes the vanilla buildings look bad too, but they retain their basic shape and texture positions, that's why they kind of work.

 

You can't say that the top of this building is ok :

 

 

The non lod for comparison :

 

 

Please... 

[aable 63]

It's not perfect, but it's good enough for me. I have that building in my city and I can't say I've ever noticed that the top is slightly messed up. The sides look good. In normal play you never see the LOD that close up.

 

edit: Not trying to be obtuse here, I don't do any modelling myself so I don't have an eye for it as much as you do. I'm not saying that they're aren't garbage models in the workshop, just that I use a lot of the ones in your example with no problems. 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Really? I definitely see it for sure. Those all look terrible.

 

True, the game's vanilla buildings are not perfect either. But this does not mean WE can't make them good if it's possible to do so.

 

I'd love to see Cool_Z give us a good example of what a good LOD should look like though. Can you show us Cool_Z?

 

 

Here you go :

 

Two of my buildings and two from Phenakist

 

It's not perfect, but it's good enough for me. I have that building in my city and I can't say I've ever noticed that the top is slightly messed up. The sides look good. In normal play you never see the LOD that close up.

 

I notice bad lod models when I see them in city journal pics... and remember that what I posted are models that are considered good to begin with. 

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

+1 for LOD reform! The bad LODs can give this game a bad name. It must be addressed and driven into the conscience of the modding community. Good work on educating about this!

 

If I were CO, I would include this in the wiki along with comparison pics like we have here.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Since aable is partially right (the fact that I used the isometric cam makes the lod problems much more evident) here are  just a few screens without the mod :

 

 

 

 

 

[TPB 563]

Well, I think your demonstration pictures, Cool_Z, of what a good LOD looks like speak for themselves.

 

Just because the look without LODs "is acceptable" doesn't mean it's preferable in my book. I don't know about you but I rather if the tops of my buildings stay where they are supposed to be ^

 

I mean, if we can have it look as good as you showed with just a little bit of work (Is it that hard to make a LOD?), why not?

 

 

+1 for LOD reform! The bad LODs can give this game a bad name. It must be addressed and driven into the conscience of the modding community. Good work on educating about this!

 

If I were CO, I would include this in the wiki along with comparison pics like we have here.

 

Thank you Mr_Maison for your support

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Well, I think your demonstration pictures, Cool_Z, of what a good LOD looks like speak for themselves.

 

Just because the look without LODs "is acceptable" doesn't mean it's preferable in my book. I don't know about you but I rather if the tops of my buildings stay where they are supposed to be ^

 

I mean, if we can have it look as good as you showed with just a little bit of work (Is it that hard to make a LOD?), why not?

 

It can be very fast for buildings with simple shapes, will certainly be longer for more complex ones... but those are the ones that will certainly look even more like garbage without one.

[Turjan 1,048]

True, the game's vanilla buildings are not perfect either.

 

I notice bad lod models when I see them in city journal pics... and remember that what I posted are models that are considered good to begin with. 

 

You can see in the pics that yours and Phenakist's lods look better than the vanilla ones. And Phenakist's buildings otherwise mirror the vanilla style quite perfectly, even if the close models seem to be even less detailed (which is not meant as saying anything bad about his buildings, as I like and use them). I use a 1080p resolution on a not too big monitor, so blurry lods don't really bother me that much. Sometimes, a less detailed and blurrier lod would even be preferable. Anything that makes the image you see "jump" in front of your eyes is much more noticeable than a somewhat mangled, but otherwise blurry view.

 

I guess my lack of tolerance kicks in at other points. For instance, if you look at the Tellus Residential, which looks pretty nice from close up, zooming out produces some solid, garishly bright color pattern that sticks out from the other buildings like a sore thumb. Or if you look at Wayne Enterprises, which is also a nice model, the main part of the roof vanishes in the lod model.

 

Everyone has their own pet peeves. For instance, I don't use models where the storey height is vastly off, even if they are otherwise very nice. Or, if I look at your recommended buildings in the other thread, they look slightly noisy from close-up, which seems not to deter you (me neither), but that's the way things are. Even buildings that I absolutely love, like Ragutaro's Mojiko Station have aspects like those super-reflective textures, which I have seen other people complain about.

 

Edit: I just noticed this somehow sounds as if I opposed the initiative in this thread. No, I welcome this very much, and I congratulate you to taking the initiative. This was just a collection of thoughts I have regarding the matter.

[Turjan 1,048]

Really? I definitely see it for sure. Those all look terrible.

 

True, the game's vanilla buildings are not perfect either. But this does not mean WE can't make them good if it's possible to do so.

 

I'd love to see Cool_Z give us a good example of what a good LOD should look like though. Can you show us Cool_Z?

 

I tried the Sea-and-Sky Scraper real quick:

 

Before LOD kicks in:

 

 

After:

 

 

I guess the real chocolate view angle is this one :

 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

 

 

I guess the real chocolate view angle is this one :

 

 

 

Those damn taggers !!!!!!!  :kitty:

[SimBa1911 3]

I've started going back to all of my models and adding LOD. It's time consuming because I'm removing polys here and there to meet the LOD limit, but it will be worth it in the end.

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

I've started going back to all of my models and adding LOD. It's time consuming because I'm removing polys here and there to meet the LOD limit, but it will be worth it in the end.

 

Starting from scratch is usually the better (and faster) way. You will get a good idea of how many polys you really need, and won't waste time thinking "should I remove this detail or not"

[Dazzyls 576]

The guy that posted above me is one you MUST follow!

[TPB 563]

I concur He is already on it, just need to update list but I'd like to get more done first : )

[Dubai Skyscraper 129]

I'm flattered 

 

But if you add me, make sure to get Cool_Z and Feinbold on the list too