Avanya's buildings (Update 7/1: Cargo rail stations released)

[Badi_Dea 476]

So very much looking forward to these! looks excellent so far and I like how they'll blend in with your overpass props

[Ronyx69 2,413]

I would guess the height issue is because of the DecorationWallAI or whatever that AI is called.

I would use a regular road as a template so it uses RoadAI or something else that allows increased height.

You can also try changing the AI of it using that asset AI changer mod, but save and load it again and see what happens.

[Avanya 2,605]

It was either the AI or just the fact that there's no elevated and bridge options for the decorative wall. Swapping it to a road worked and has the benefit that you can adjust the height when placing it meaning MoveIt isn't required. Ofc moving a road to the landscaping category isn't without it's issues.  The swap was easy enough - I just changed the UI category and ItemClass with ModTools to the same as the quay and it shows up where it should. However that means it no longer snaps to itself in it's elevated form - and none of the networks in the category fix it (at least without bringing their own issues). In ground form it snaps to itself and to quays (seems like ItemClass plays a role in determining what networks snap to). Still it's easier to use than the overpass props, so it's still an improvement from what I had.

Now to test and see if I can find some issues with them and grab some screenshots before they're ready for the workshop.

[Avanya 2,605]

They're released! You can find the concrete quay here and the overpass support here.

The overpass support isn't perfect - it behaves like a mix between a road and a quay/wall, which gets a little weird at times. I could have left it in the road categories ofc and have it be 100% road, but I didn't want that. I never really solved the issue of continuing it while it's raised, but at least you can do it now - you'll just have 2 nodes on top of each other.  If only walls/quays had the option for elevated and bridged parts there would have been no issues. Oh well! I guess by now fiddling with it is a feature of my overpass support assets!

[Matthias King 348]

Awesome.

[Avanya 2,605]

Thank you!  

Finishing up some older project I released a growable factory and the 20 ft containers on trailers! Those only took about a year to get to.  I'm never ever doing so many variations of something again! Now to import everything again as vehicles for the truck versions, so the container collection can be complete at last. 

[Matthias King 348]

Awesome. What is that they're sitting beside in that last picture?

[Avanya 2,605]

It's this cargo loading dock. There's a few more buildings along those lines by the same creator which are really nice.

[Matthias King 348]

Nice. Thanks.

[Avanya 2,605]

Wohoo! I can now finally say the container collection is finished!  Both European and American versions with the small trailers have been released and I've now made everything I set out to. They're generic industry like the larger versions because I'd rather people pick a pack to use than feel like they have to have all of them because they want for all specialisations, plus I have plans for some unique trailers for those, which I'll hopefully get to one day.  

I'm not sure what my next project will be - I think I'll see if I have more unfinished/half finished projects before starting something new. Or I'll get distracted by something and make that.

[Avanya 2,605]

I forgot to update here!   If you didn't notice already I released a new quay the other day. As I know I'd want to use it for other areas than my industrial harbors, I made a decorated version too with more props to save me some time and released that as well.

I have a few more ideas for other quays, so don't be surprised if I end up releasing more. It's always good with some variation after having been stuck with the default quay for so long.

[Avanya 2,605]

I finished another quay today - an old stone quay for those older parts of your city. And I still have some more ideas for quays - these are fun to make.

And just a reminder if you're curious to see what I'm working on before I post here, then check out my twitter or patreon page - I update there with wip pictures (so I don't spam my own thread here more than I already do )

[Bad Peanut 826]

8 hours ago, Avanya said:

I finished another quay today - an old stone quay for those older parts of your city. And I still have some more ideas for quays - these are fun to make.

And just a reminder if you're curious to see what I'm working on before I post here, then check out my twitter or patreon page - I update there with wip pictures (so I don't spam my own thread here more than I already do )

do you cap each segment mesh on either end? I know you wouldn't normally with other networks but I do for quays so that if another quay joins with mine and they don't align perfectly then you won't get a gap in the world. However it doesn't help the gap where the vanilla quay is as they don't have caps (they use the node mesh to cap off instead)

[Avanya 2,605]

Nope, but I'm using a different half width as well, so it doesn't connect at all to the default quay. It does this instead. It might be worth capping my first concrete one, since it's wider than these ones but shares the half width (if I remember correctly), so they'd connect. They're also closer in size so it might not look so horrible. The default quay to my latest ones wouldn't look good either way, they're too different in size and mine sit lower in the ground. You'd need to cover it up, so the gap is better imo. I'm guessing I could make a proper transition node, but I just don't think it's worth it for the very few cases of those being used together.

[Avanya 2,605]

I released another stone quay, which also comes in a plain version for use as a retaining wall.

And I did the first test with a tiered quay. It's made to fit the stone quay as you can see, but since it isn't dirty as high up, I'm not sure if I'll stick with that. It doesn't really make sense to have one quay sometimes get dirty at a higher level and then have a section that doesn't get dirty at that level.  Not sure what I'll do about this.

[Matthias King 348]

I think it would make sense that the lower walkway holds the water out further than the quay without the walkway, so any water that washes up onto the quay with the walkway would likely leave a lower waterline. You could have the discoloration on the walkway and maybe a foot up the wall. I think that would look fairly accurate.

[Avanya 2,605]

The tiered quay and a normal quay matching it are up on the workshop. These are prob my favorites so far! They use the theme's pavement on the vertical faces, which gives a bunch of different options for the look. The waterline is also lower than the other quays, which is handy for deep rivers or wild water that floods. I plan to do decorated versions of them, but I haven't settled on what kinds of decorations yet.

The stairs are props, so they only show on the water side and they don't always show up for some variation. Ofc once in a while they show up right at the end of a quay, which looks silly. But otherwise it works really well and then even look great on most curves.

[willham 10]

Wow, you surprise us with your MODS, I just have to thank you for your beautiful work hahaha. 

[Matthias King 348]

As always, these look great!

[Avanya 2,605]

Turns out asymmetrical quays are totally possible! I don't know how I never thought of looking to the asymmetrical roads for how they work. xD All that's needed is under the segment properties add "Invert" for the "Forward forbidden" and then it stops flipping the segment. It doesn't even matter which way you draw the quay, it will show up right. Very nice!  So I was able to cut 1.1k tris of my industrial quay and will be able to make fenced versions of my other quays. Now if only I had left some space on the textures!

After some testing I found that you'll still want some backside. For the main model at least 5 m down, more likely something along the lines of 10 m just to be sure, since some of the back will show at the ends. For the LOD I ended up keeping the whole backside - as you zoom out the terrain shows more and more of the back and the 10 m wasn't enough to not have the light blue holes show. Ofc it might be something most people won't notice, especially since I was specifically looking for it, but for my models it was a question of 16 tris.  I didn't remove any of the backside from the node bits as they're all below 50 tris anyways, so I figured it wasn't worth seeing how visible stuff was. 

[willham 10]

@Avanya

I want to do a water treatment plant and actually find water, different from what you find in the workshop with only lifeless water texture.

I know you have walls similar to those just launched.

Wanted to know

If  create a closed circle with these walls, and a source of water inside them, do they contain water or a small "visual" visual function?

 

[Avanya 2,605]

Making a hole and lining the edge with any of my quays will have them hold the water back. Ofc my quays are a lot wider than the walls used in the video.

[willham 10]

@Avanya Yes, they are much wider, but maybe with a few decals I can get around this. I believe he used the walls of the @Lost_Gecko . I'll try with your assets and see if I can

[Avanya 2,605]

Decals can be placed on top of quays just fine, so you might be fine covering they. There's the theme decals which will let you place the map theme's grass as decals, which is pretty handy.

[Avanya 2,605]

I added fences to the first few quays I released - find them here. Okay, at this point I'm starting to get a little bored with quays, so once the last 2 get fences I'm likely gonna move on to something else.

 

[AmiPolizeiFunk 446]

These look great. I just wish I could play my savegame.

[willham 10]

@Avanya Can you tell us what you intend to do? 

[Avanya 2,605]

I haven't decided what's next, so we'll have to see.

[Bad Peanut 826]

1 hour ago, Avanya said:

I haven't decided what's next, so we'll have to see.

literally me all the time hahaha

[Avanya 2,605]

I'm back! At least partly.  I'm super excited for the new DLC Industries (surprise surprise) and am getting many of my older assets ready for the DLC. All the warehouses are getting converted along with the distribution center, oil tanks and ore storages - and in the process of that I decided to make a variation of my distribution center. I've actually been meaning to do that for a while, so now seemed like a good time.  The corner piece looked pretty dull in the lighter color, so I made a new one to go with this set. This release is for Ploppable RICO, but once the DLC is out I'll release a new version that will be properly functioning warehouses.

I also finally got around to making the mirrored version of my cargo station that goes with the dark distribution center. I'm probably not gonna make light versions since the concrete platform next to the tracks uses the same texture space as the roof, which means for the light textures it looks stupid.

Lastly - in case you don't know why I've been gone and is curious - I managed to hurt my right thumb somehow, which just didn't get better and in May/June my left thumb started having problems too, since I was using that for everything to rest the right thumb. The left thumb just needed an injection, but the right one had been bad so long I ended up getting an operation in it. So I've been crazy bored and missed Cities sooo much, but finally my right thumb is getting to a point where I can use it again - and just in time for a DLC just up my alley!