Network Skins (Coming 2016)

[Roadman20 601]

Do want!  Definitely would like, thanks!

[Chesh 173]

highways without gravel look great! so do the roads without sidewalks 

[Cool_Z 1,547]

highways without gravel !!! Yasssssss 

 

And that last pic !! 

 

WANT !

[boformer 3,169]

Ok, I will concentrate on the gravel/concrete/grass first.

[Avanya 2,605]

Super awesome as always!  The tracks can be done by another mod atm, but it would be great to have it in Network Skins instead. And that brick road! <3

[Cool_Z 1,547]

2 hours ago, Avanya said:

Super awesome as always!  The tracks can be done by another mod atm, but it would be great to have it in Network Skins instead. And that brick road! <3

Memories...

 

 

[Simulanten 681]

Definitely a great thing. Gravel sidewalks, brick sidewalks (Boston! OMG), no sidewalk - all very very welcome.

Is it true that any markings (like yellow middle lines, arrows, ped crossings etc.) are a completely different thing and not a "simple" reskin of the textures?

Thanks - you're incredibly productive...

[Ryno917 102]

All of those look awesome! How about brick sidewalks, too?

Are these all independently selectable (for instance, you can select the sidewalk treatment separate from the road texture), or do you need to create a prefab 'road with gravel sidewalk' and 'road with no sidewalk' ?

[boformer 3,169]

4 hours ago, Simulanten said:

Is it true that any markings (like yellow middle lines, arrows, ped crossings etc.) are a completely different thing and not a "simple" reskin of the textures?

Markings (except the direction arrows) are a part of the texture (the same one that could also be used to make brick or cobblestone roads.

1 hour ago, Ryno917 said:

All of those look awesome! How about brick sidewalks, too?

Are these all independently selectable (for instance, you can select the sidewalk treatment separate from the road texture), or do you need to create a prefab 'road with gravel sidewalk' and 'road with no sidewalk' ?

In case of the default materials (gravel, concrete), it is possible to select them independently from the texture. Otherwise you can only select a "all-in-one" texture (reskins sidewalk and street).

[ethansprang 41]

Is that the same road texture you used on the paths in your modular park?  Because that park path is VERY nice and I'd like to get it in the game.

[Bolduck91 54]

Roads without sidewalk would be more than welcome. But yeah anything from the above pictures will be well received  !

[Ocram's Razr 963]

Extra wide rural roads (4 dirt lanes, wide gravel sidewalk (or narrow with poplars) and wide suburban streets (2 paved lanes, wide paved sidewalk, street parking, parking strip (gravel, grass, or bushes) would be great too!

[boformer 3,169]

5 hours ago, OcramsRzr said:

Extra wide rural roads (4 dirt lanes, wide gravel sidewalk (or narrow with poplars) and wide suburban streets (2 paved lanes, wide paved sidewalk, street parking, parking strip (gravel, grass, or bushes) would be great too!

The mod only makes visual changes to existing roads, so better ask the Network Extensions team.

[boformer 3,169]

I forgot this one

[mikamaty 47]

Very nice 

[Ryno917 102]

Can't wait for that update!

[gfvsims 169]

This game is getting more and more flexible by the day. Great job, boformer!

[boformer 3,169]

I added the code for texture selection. Missing are:

• LOD textures
• Node textures (intersections, sharp turns)
• Meshes

I will not publish it before LOD and Node textures are working.

Skins can be published as separate mods with simple xml configs:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<SkinsDefinition xmlns:xsi=" http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd=" http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <Skins>
    <Skin name="Red Brick" id="boformer.RedBrick" network-name="Basic Road">
      <Segments>
        <Segment index="0" main="RoadSmall_D2.png" apr="Basic Road_APR.png" />
      </Segments>
    </Skin>
    <Skin name="Rusty Bulkhead" id="boformer.RustyBulkhead" network-name="Quay">
      <Segments>
        <Segment index="0" main="Quay_d.png" xys="Quay_xys.png" />
      </Segments>
    </Skin>
  </Skins>
</SkinsDefinition>

[gfvsims 169]

Fabulous!

[boformer 3,169]

With custom node textures you will also be able to (visually) remove the zebra crossings.

Here is the current code: https://github.com/boformer/NetworkSkins/tree/skins

I am flying to Tunisia on friday, so there is not much time to work on it.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Custom Quay skins....among other things. This just keeps getting better.

[LittleMac 48]

Oh my god, can't wait for the bricks and cobblestone roads, yes!

[Avanya 2,605]

Amazing! Can't wait to play with this  And have a good trip to Tunisia!

[Judazzz 1,936]

Oooh, that's some exciting stuff right there!
Enjoy your trip, B!

[Kaschperl 92]

Can't wait for this, fantastic work boformer! Something I'll be playing around with a lot But for now, have a great vacation!

[boformer 3,169]

The LODs are a bit harder than expected. I'm not completely sure how I want to handle them.

The game packs all of the LOD textures into a one large texture for performance improvements. It is hard to inject the textures of the skins into that process.

[Darf 1,439]

How do you handle the LODs for other stuff in network skins? I guess they need to be changed also? Or do you only change the main model and textures on the fly?

[boformer 3,169]

2 hours ago, Darf said:

How do you handle the LODs for other stuff in network skins? I guess they need to be changed also? Or do you only change the main model and textures on the fly?

In general, I'm trying to hack the game on a low level (where the rendering happens).

That means the draw call "Draw this mesh with that texture" is replaced with a custom call that checks if a modification is applied to the road segment.

In case of LODs, it is harder because the game pre-calculates scenes (e.g. when you load a city or modify your road layout). It's like merging all the meshes and textures into one large one: The terrain, the water mesh, the networks and the buildings. That's also the reason why the textures are packed.

[Darf 1,439]

Yeah, I do understand the basics how the mod works. My question is more like, you managed to do it with streetlights and columns etc. What's the difference in relation with LOD for quays and road textures? Or did you only change the mainmodel for the other stuff and does the LOD stay the same.

[Jamonbread 222]

The gravel you have picked looks absolutely fantastic! And I would love the highways without the crappy dirt around them... that drives me nuts. 

You know what I've always wanted (I'm not sure this is even possible) but ditches alongside roads or highways... they exist everywhere in real life and that's one detail that is never picked up on in city builders. Sim Peg made those modular irrigation ditches for SC4 but that was the closest I've seen to roadside ditches. Making a texture look like a ditch though I can imagine may be an insurmountable challenge. 

Anyways just rambling... great work, I love all your stuff!