Attercap Buildings

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Hmmm.... is your specular the same size as your diffuse ?

[Attercap 123]

I did a mistake its the normal map which bug, not the specular map. There are the same size, both, to create the normal map I used the nvidia plugin for photoshop.

[GC_Vos 714]

I've had this exact same issue as well with normals generated thru Crazybump. It's as if one of the axis is flipped or rotated in tangent space? It's pretty weird because the same maps work fine in standalone Unity or UE. I personally have not found a solution but to use a different program entirely (like Quixel).

[Attercap 123]

I confirm, the bug appears when you use "symmetry" tools... only flipped faces are affected, but not on all my buildings. Rotated faces looks like okay in Sketchup. Is sketchup the problem or the Nvidia Normal Map plugin ?

[GC_Vos 714]

I am really not sure, it almost seems like it's a combination of both i.e. any flipped triangle or vertex alongside incorrect tangent information. Faces are easy to flip, but still the problem with the bump maps remains. This is really the only game / engine I found that's picky about this, but the solution should be in the plugin you are using because I have found programs that render reflections correctly (on the same model).

  Edited August 13, 2015 by GC_Vos  

[Attercap 123]

Hem... How avoid incorrect tangent informations ? Because it's creating some difficulties with the UV Map plugin i'm using on sketchup.

I have got a second problem : the LOD is crazy. Have a look on these buildings : glass box and the neigbor isnt better. (center of the picture)

 

EDIT : when the model_lod_n is a black JPEG, the miror effect is blocked (no effect..indeed). So dont know why model_fbx is running but the model_lod_d is not !

  Edited August 13, 2015 by Attercap  

[GC_Vos 714]

I think there's something about that in the asset editor page under lod... http://www.skylineswiki.com/Asset_Editor

[Attercap 123]

You are right GC_Vos ; with the alpha it's better. BUT I still have a problem : now, the street facade desappears when the LOD is loaded. But it's ok for the others facades of the same building. Ideas ?

[Feindbold 1,190]

You are right GC_Vos ; with the alpha it's better. BUT I still have a problem : now, the street facade desappears when the LOD is loaded. But it's ok for the others facades of the same building. Ideas ?

 

I know that problem. Somehow, the game handles LOD Models different than the detailed models. The game adopt the UV-Mapping on normal Models from Sketchup without problems, but it doesnt adopt the UV-Mapping from LODs textured in Sketchup right, sometimes it works, sometimes a couple textures getting messed up, I could´nt find a pattern there..

My solution is pretty much:

1.Model the LOD in sketchup (without adding any textures)
2.Export to 3dsmax (I use .fbx)
3.Properly UV-Map the LOD inside 3ds max, than Export (.FBX)

Atleast this way, the LODs are allways right.

  Edited August 13, 2015 by Feindbold  

[Attercap 123]

Outch... dont have 3DSMax and dont have the skills.

[Feindbold 1,190]

Well I guess blender will do fine too, but cant say for sure, never used it.

Maybe there is even a solution inside sketchup for this problem, after I found a working solution for me, I kinda stopped searching about that problem (That was around 18th. March, so maybe somebody found a better solution allready).
About the skills, there is nothing to worry about^^, this 10min video pretty much explains everything you need for uv unwrapping simple LODs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya8jNCVLJGw

[Attercap 123]

Yeap, but I dont want to texture again all of the five or six buildings which are actually more or less "ready".

 

EDIT : Ok it's now 11PM and even the FBX exporter crashes, crashes, crashes, crashes ! Dont know why. It's "the day". Stop. F***.

 

RE EDIT : Now its even the plugin which allows the FBX exporter to work which "desappears" .. TT² Lib 10.4 or something. On my two laptops, pouf, nothing ! I guess tomorrow both laptops wont even run. It's-just-crazy.

  Edited August 13, 2015 by Attercap  

[Attercap 123]

I have tried to texture the LOD in Blender. Annnnnd : obviously it dont works. The asset editor dont even want to load the model... dont know what to do.

[Attercap 123]

First building on the Steam Workshop !!! The lovely Steinman Building.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=501495574

 

  Edited August 17, 2015 by Attercap  

[Judazzz 1,936]

That is so awesome!
Exactly what I was looking for, because my US-style inner city districts are suffering badly from the 'Same building all over the place'-syndrome. Can't wait to see it spawn!

edit: forgot to mention, but perhaps you could add some more info about the building in the Workshop description, like poly/tris count, texture types/size, etc. I'm pretty sure someone will ask sooner rather than later

  Edited August 17, 2015 by Judazzz  

[Attercap 123]

Judazzz, you are right. I will add some informations.

[Judazzz 1,936]

Hi Attercap, I noticed there is a problem with your lovely asset: don't worry, the model and everything are fine, but it will not spawn anywhere the way it is now. Reason for this, if I recall correctly, is rather stupid, and something CO imo. should address: currently there are no Level 1 low-density commercial buildings with a footprint of 1x3 or 1x4, which is required for your building to upgrade from (those 1x3 LC buildings you may occasionally see in your town are actually 1 or 2 unit deep buildings with added space for props - these will however never grow to 4 units deep, it seems). That means that in its current state, your building will simply never show up, which obviously is very unfortunate 
I managed to work around this problem by cloning your building to a Level 1 version using the Building Themes mod, but that's not a fix that will help everybody: not everybody will be using this mod, and not all of those that do use it will know that you need to clone your building to a L1 version to actually see it.

What you could do to remedy this is to release the same building as a L1 as well, either an identical version or a re-textured one (if you have the desire and time to do so).

[Cool_Z 1,547]

...by cloning your building to a Level 1 version using the Building Themes mod...

Whaaaat ? I need some info on this, Is the BT mod able to change the level of an asset ?????? 

[Judazzz 1,936]

...by cloning your building to a Level 1 version using the Building Themes mod...

Whaaaat ? I need some info on this, Is the BT mod able to change the level of an asset ?????? 

Yessiree (that mod is so freaking awesome it almost hurts!  )
What you need to do is select a building in the theme manager (so it becomes highlighted), which enables a little panel with extra settings in the right column. In that panel you'll find a button called 'Clone building' (or something similar), which on click will open a small popup where you can set the desired level for the clone. Then click ok, and a clone of the selected building with the set building level will be created (which afaik. is just an additional attribute for that building node in the theme's xml-file, so it should have no performance penalty). Lastly, you will need to reload your map to activate the clone (I reckon the mod loads existing building theme xml-files into memory once when loading the game - not sure if an asynchronous reload would be possible to immediately activate clones upon creation), and then you're all set to go 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Ok... so it does not really create a new asset with a different level, but it tricks the game into using an asset for a different level than the one it was created for. Smart !! (I was asking because we still don't have the possibility of doing such a thing... and it's still not the answer... but it's smart).

[Judazzz 1,936]

I haven't looked into the actual source code, and all I know about this mod's inner workings is based on what I've read on sites like the Steam Workshop, Reddit and here, combined with studying the xml-file (which can teach you quite a lot about how the mod operates), but yeah, I think that's more or less what it does.

I'm actually thinking about how the code of the Themes mod can be used as a base for a mod that allows you to group ploppable assets into categories, which will then be shown as separate custom tabs in the Beautification menu: so instead of one Parks menu for everything you have separate custom tabs for parking lots, industrial assets, etc. So a 'theme' would actually be a custom tab in the Parks menu containing assets that you assigned to that 'theme'. Not sure if it is at all possible though, got lots of reading up to do first.
 

Sorry for derailing your thread, Attercap!

  Edited August 18, 2015 by Judazzz  

[Shroomblaze 320]

You really need to take better screenshots for the preview image for the workshop. I passed it by without even noticing. 

This is not that great of screenshot to represent your building honestly. I would personally get the addon enhanced zoom so you can get down to ground level in the editor and take some really nice close up shots that would bring out a lot more detail and much better angle for people to see when browsing the workshop thumbnails. You don't need to rely on the screenshot system they use. When you go to save your asset there is a folder that you can open up and replace the snapshot image with your own.

'

  Edited August 18, 2015 by Shroomblaze  

[wallacet 336]

You really need to take better screenshots for the preview image for the workshop. I passed it by without even noticing. 

This is not that great of screenshot to represent your building honestly. I would personally get the addon enhanced zoom so you can get down to ground level in the editor and take some really nice close up shots that would bring out a lot more detail and much better angle for people to see when browsing the workshop thumbnails. You don't need to rely on the screenshot system they use. When you go to save your asset there is a folder that you can open up and replace the snapshot image with your own.

'

 

 

 

You really need to take better screenshots for the preview image for the workshop. I passed it by without even noticing. 

This is not that great of screenshot to represent your building honestly. I would personally get the addon enhanced zoom so you can get down to ground level in the editor and take some really nice close up shots that would bring out a lot more detail and much better angle for people to see when browsing the workshop thumbnails. You don't need to rely on the screenshot system they use. When you go to save your asset there is a folder that you can open up and replace the snapshot image with your own.

'

 

 

 

I think I'm getting deja-vu...

  Edited August 18, 2015 by wallacet  

[Shroomblaze 320]

Honestly don't know how that double posted like that, I deleted one of them though.

[Attercap 123]

Thanks to everyone ;

Judazzz ; The Steinman building grows by itself in my cities. Even in 1x4. Is it because it's on my own laptop ?

This building is and will stay very rare, because of the game size buildings preferences. But it is actually growing, sometimes. However I need to zone special commercial areas for it (several 1x4 areas)... I guess there will be, one day, a mod to transform the game preferences into something more equitable.

[Judazzz 1,936]

Thanks to everyone ;

Judazzz ; The Steinman building grows by itself in my cities. Even in 1x4. Is it because it's on my own laptop ?

This building is and will stay very rare, because of the game size buildings preferences. But it is actually growing, sometimes. However I need to zone special commercial areas for it (several 1x4 areas)... I guess there will be, one day, a mod to transform the game preferences into something more equitable.

I doubt it has something to do with you using it on your own laptop - after all, the upgrade requirements for your asset remain the same regardless of who uses it.
But last night I had an epiphany and figured that what might play a role is the fact that I added your asset to one of the custom building themes I made for my city. This mod seems to be a bit wonky at times when it comes to finding correctly-sized buildings for empty plots (I also often see 1x1 buildings spawn on 1x2 or 1x3 unit plots, although 1x2-sized buildings are included in the theme). I haven't tried growing it in a district without a custom theme applied, so perhaps I was crying wolf a bit too soon  I'll do some more research on this to see whether the Building Themes mod indeed plays a role.

[boformer 3,169]

Attercap, it would make more sense to release it as 1x2 or 1x3.

You will still be able to decorate the backyard with props and trees. This backyard will show up when the 1x4 version spawns. When there is only space for a 1x2 pr 1x3 building, it will spawn without the backyard.

@Judazzz It is  a vanilla feature that 1x1 buildings spawn on a 1x4 plot. I could add an option in Building Themes to prevent it, but that would be a very critical change.

  Edited August 21, 2015 by schmidtbochum  

[Attercap 123]

Yeap but there are placed on the grid as 1x4 and for a 1x2 I need to deplace the buildings - so transform the main fbx and the LOD. And as I have loooooooot of problems about LOD placement the upload in 1x2 or 1x3 is not for today.

But I dont understand how it works. Two examples, in 1x2 : with and without "expand frontyard" enabled :

Why, in the first case, is the building in the middle ? Where will be the street in 1x2 ?

 

 

Second question : I changed the snapshot in the asset editor. How can I upload the new screen on Steam ? Is it too late ?

  Edited August 21, 2015 by Attercap  

[boformer 3,169]

Looks like it will perfectly fit in a 1x2 plot. You don't have to release it as 1x3, that size will be handled by the game. In theory, you could even update your existing 1x4 asset to 1x2  without a problem to avoid duplicates in the workshop

The building is in the middle because it is not placed correcly in your 3d modelling application for a 1x2 plot.

Here is a little visualization what "Expand front yard" means (top = disabled, bottom = enabled):

[Attercap 123]

Ok, thanks Schmidtbochum. So I need to upload my assets - but I dont know how to do

Oh, new building released : the Daisy Building :  http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=503876673

  Edited August 21, 2015 by Attercap