BoldlyBuilding's Assets (Update & Harold Washington Library)

[DaHindi 11]

Due to the Fact that a bus terminal is only possible with After Dark, i don't think it is useable without after dark...

[boldlybuilding 873]

A couple people suddenly started reporting a broken asset error on the bus station today:

"Custom Assets: 534580194.City Bus Terminal_Data: NetInfo missing [BrokenAssetException]

Details:
No details
BrokenAssetException: Broken assets:

Custom Assets: 534580194.City Bus Terminal_Data: NetInfo missing"

What could be causing this, not having After Dark or something?

Did you use the new bus terminal template? I think that is After Dark only. I would update your asset page with DLC requirement.

I actually do have the DLC requirement, mentioned in the description and on the steam requirements thing, but I guess those people, if that's the issue, didn't take notice of it.

[boldlybuilding 873]

Oh by the way, it's been up for a few days now, but in case anyway missed it:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=535298493

[boldlybuilding 873]

Quick update:

I've been a bit busy with other things lately, so I have not done much for the game. The extended building limits were good news, though!

However, I did start doing a new building some time ago, and soon it'll be finished. However, I will actually be going on a trip away from home for a few days starting this weekend, so it's possible I won't finish it until then, plus I still have other work to do and things to pack. Also, this trip will be my first time flying anywhere, so that's rather fitting considering all the planes I've been making. I'll be flying with Frontier Airlines (maybe I'll make a 787 in their livery, or try to make an A-319 (the plane I'll be taking) instead, to commemorate my first flight), and spending some time near and in Philadelphia.

Anyway, here's the aforementioned building, just a small commercial building, a fast food place modeled on a place called "The Lure", a restaurant that had been in my local area - the Northwest Indiana area - for 40 years. It had several branches at one point, until there was just the one near me, which unfortunately closed its doors for good a few years ago. It was such a shame, they had great fries and ham sandwiches. But now it will live on in Cities: Skylines!

  Edited November 7, 2015 by boldlybuilding  

[boldlybuilding 873]

UPDATE!

I haven't been able to do much, but I did get some motivation to tinker with sub-buildings, and so...

I have published a one-piece version of my World Trade Center complex that uses Boformer's Sub-Buildings Enabler.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=604027793

It's still technically in 11 parts, hence the large file size, but you can now place all 11 parts at once, so no more need to follow tedious directions. And it flattens ground automatically, so no more terraforming is needed. Just place the complex along a road, and finish running the roads around the complex.

The only major downside is that Cims don't use the rest of the complex, only 7 WTC, so it will look empty in-game.

[boformer 3,169]

awesome! that really improves the usability.

[boldlybuilding 873]

Remember that little fast food place I was working on before I had to leave for a trip and then vanished for a while? (Between the trip, other work stuff, and a breakup, I just didn't have the time or motivation to finish it.) Well, I decided to finish it! So here it is:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=604626547&searchtext=

"The Lure was a fast food fixture in northwest Indiana for 40 years. The last Lure restaurant closed a few years ago, taking with it some of the best burgers, shakes, ham & cheese sandwiches, and fries I've ever had. But now, you can bring The Lure back to your city! 

This is a Low Commercial shop, Level 1, on a 4x4 lot. 

Model Stats: 

Main Tris - 2,814 
LOD Tris - 561 
Main Textures - 1024x1024 
LOD Textures - 256x256a"

[Judazzz 1,936]

Great stuff! Can't wait to see this little gem pop up in my city!

[Ryno917 102]

14 hours ago, boldlybuilding said:

UPDATE!

I haven't been able to do much, but I did get some motivation to tinker with sub-buildings, and so...

I have published a one-piece version of my World Trade Center complex that uses Boformer's Sub-Buildings Enabler.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=604027793

It's still technically in 11 parts, hence the large file size, but you can now place all 11 parts at once, so no more need to follow tedious directions. And it flattens ground automatically, so no more terraforming is needed. Just place the complex along a road, and finish running the roads around the complex.

The only major downside is that Cims don't use the rest of the complex, only 7 WTC, so it will look empty in-game.

 

Awesome! Glad to see the mod getting some love from modders.

Does this require duplicate assets? I mean, if I have the original release with separate parts (so I can use them elsewhere) will I need to have duplicates for the large lot, or does it simply use the original buildings as sub buildings?


As a side note, it would be awesome if this were combined with the ploppable RICO mod to add a lot of workers to the building as well.

[Vals Loeder 27]

Wow! Great stuff. Thank you for sharing.

[Matthias King 348]

I love the Lure. It looks great. I'll be placing it in my city soon.

[boldlybuilding 873]

There's a certain building that someone recently brought to my attention, and I was astounded that no decent version of it exists on the workshop. So...

Here's little peek at my next/current project:

[Roadman20 601]

This has to be the Empire State Building...

[boldlybuilding 873]

Maaaaaaaaaybe...

[Judazzz 1,936]

Holy smokes that looks awesome, so much detail, but my GPU is already cowering in a corner, quietly weeping

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

I was just on an elevated train station last night gazing at the Empire State Building and wondering if anyone made a good one for the game. That model looks good so far. How is the tri count? looking forward to this.

[boldlybuilding 873]

You don't want to know the tri count so far  Even after reducing some of the hi-poly things, it'll be at least comparable to tower 2 of my WTC set.

[Avanya 2,605]

Looks very nice!  In case of the high tris count you could always try and bake some of the detail into a normal map. Dunno if that would work, but it might for some of the smaller/simpler details. Looking forward to seeing it progress

[boldlybuilding 873]

14 hours ago, Avanya said:

Looks very nice!  In case of the high tris count you could always try and bake some of the detail into a normal map. Dunno if that would work, but it might for some of the smaller/simpler details. Looking forward to seeing it progress

Thanks!

I'm going to use normals for a lot of things. However, I still have a lot of 3D elements in order to A. Add depth to the model, and because some things protrude far enough from the surface on the real building to be 3D, and B. to save texture space. In the latter case, that means things like divisions in the facades and rows of windows on top, those segments using small strips of the texture. And I just use that as a chance to add a little depth to things. Here's one of the crowns on a row of windows:

Some of the stuff you've seen will be simplified and normals used on them, but still partly 3D for whatever really sticks out.

Even with whatever reductions I do, we're still looking at a 25k tri range, perhaps.

[Avanya 2,605]

Uh, that looks really nice!  And 25k isn't too bad. I'm guessing it's gonna be a unique building and a it's a pretty big building. I'd definately not be scared away by a tris count around that size.

[boldlybuilding 873]

Some hi-poly spandrel action:

Thank Sagan for the relative simplicity of Art Deco.

[GC_Vos 714]

Relative simplicity he says

[boldlybuilding 873]

Here's some more relative simplicity

The eagle heads either side of the main entrances are so simple with their hard edges and all that, I could model nearly all the main details with 206 tris. Simplicity.

[Darf 1,439]

I'm assuming Boldly, will render some of the geometry to texturemaps/normalmaps. Previous versions on the workshop were a bit lacking. I'm glad you're doing one.

[boldlybuilding 873]

Most of the building uses several vertical strips of the texture for the different stone patterns and a row of windows with spandrels. The strips themselves have some variation in the coloring, and the parts of the model using them will be moved up and down to add further variation so it's not all the same tiled pattern all the way across the facades.

Here's a "final" portion of the model with diffuse and normal showing, with a partial wireframe/shaded view:

[craigibhoy1 2]

I love the bus terminal, have you done bus stops by any chance, the default ones are just plain crappy poles.

[boldlybuilding 873]

I've been working on the hi-poly stuff to make normals with for the last few days. It's pretty much done. Now to make the rest of the textures, then slap the main building together, then go into some last details. Here are some of the normals applied to the game model:

Lower portion of the airship docking station.

Those... thingys.

Windows and spandrels.

Upper portion of the airship docking thing.

A window crown.

Facade of an entrance.

Walls for the upper penthouses.

General stonework for the whole building.

[Darf 1,439]

Why do you create multiple instances? I'd think you only need 1 for creating the texture/normalmap.

[boldlybuilding 873]

2 minutes ago, Darf said:

Why do you create multiple instances? I'd think you only need 1 for creating the texture/normalmap.

What do you mean? If you mean the last image, there are different patterns of stonework, and I have to create different instances of it to reflect that.

[merc187 46]

Amazing work Boldly!  Did you create hi-poly's for all those details (stone work pieces) and bake out the normal for each piece?  I have to learn more about baking and really refine it but I can see how clearly superior the normal render out by that method rather than using your hand at texturing them in Photoshop.

I really need to get on that baking process tip!