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

[Avanya 2,605]

First proper color test in the game done and tweeking is needed (ofc). BMSC needs to be a warmer green, ATYS CGM needs to be darker, TPB could prob do with being a bit warmer red and the orange Generic Industries is a bit too dark for what I intended. Oh, and AZURE could do with being a bit more saturated actually. Besides these 10 I've got a few more I want to do, so I'll prob end up at 15 or there about. I might split them into different sets since the plan from the start was to have them as one item with the different variations, but 15ish might be a bit much when you're trying to get that specific brand.   Prob better to have 4-5 variations in each asset, so we can actually cycle through the variations to get the one we're looking for.

Uh, and as a bonus I have a picture of the 20 ft one - atm it only has the CIM brand, but once I'm done making brands they'll all come in that size too

[_Beardmonkey 449]

I feel the need for building a rail yard now! Excellent work as always!

I'll have to say I liked the flat roof better when it comes to the container though.

[_Beardmonkey 449]

11 minutes ago, Avanya said:

Uh, and as a bonus I have a picture of the 20 ft one - atm it only has the CIM brand, but once I'm done making brands they'll all come in that size too

That's AMAZING! Thank you!

[Lee Towers 179]

1 hour ago, Avanya said:

Besides these 10 I've got a few more I want to do, so I'll prob end up at 15 or there about. I might split them into different sets since the plan from the start was to have them as one item with the different variations, but 15ish might be a bit much when you're trying to get that specific brand.

I love those real-life inspired brands! Splitting them into different sets would actually be quite realistic since in real life a MAERSK (KALMAR) and a COSCO (?) container would never be on the same ship, but UASC (BMSC) and CMA CGM (Atys CBM) would, for example, due to all kinds of trade agreements and alliances. Big shipping companies like this usually have their own shipping terminals so this would apply to terminals as well. Now I don't expect you to be hyper realistic about the different combos, just food for thought  .

[Distanced 114]

Good either way! Can't wait to make a ship yard with these! 

[Avanya 2,605]

Progress! I finished the last brands I had ideas for, which leaves us with 14. Not sure how I'll split them. The 4 on the left will go together, as @Lee Towers's ship as already proved they are often shipped together. If you have any ideas how to group the rest in 2 or 3 packages, then do say! In the pic I just grouped them after where the companies they're based on are from (Europe/USA in the middle, Asia on the right). I'll do one pack of leasing containers (real world brands like TEX and TRITON) for just varied colored containers (likely in some red, brown, blue and green colors) where the brand is less visible. And @bsquiklehausen has joined in, so his container brands will be added aswell and put in a bundle.  

I haven't decided if I'll bundle and release the 40 foot ones as soon as they're done or if I'll wait until I've got the 20 foot versions done as well. Shouldn't take too long to do the 20 foot - got the ao and normal maps done, so it's just adjusting the larger logos to fit.  

[Lee Towers 179]

Had some fun figuring out which real-life brands they were all based on . All these different companies change alliances all the time, but I tried my best coming up with a realistic division:

Pack 1

• Generic Industries
• CIMSKIP (SAMSKIP)
• CIM
• KALMAR (MAERSK)

 

Pack 2

• ATYS CBM (CMA GCM)
• PDXCO (COSCO)
• BMSC (UASC)
• Owl (MSC)

This is mainly based on the OCEAN THREE agreements between CMA CGM, CSCL and UASC. CSCL doesn't exist anymore, it kinda merged into / was taken over by COSCO so that's why I put it here as well.

Pack 3

 

• MIYAGI (HYUNDAI)
• OPCL (OOCL)
• TPB (APL)
• Schmidt Lönne (Hapag Lloyd)

Based on this picture I found... apparently they're all in the G6 agreement which will cease to exist this year.

I have no idea where to put AZURE (EVERGREEN, I guess?), you wouldn't really see those containers together with any of the other brands. I can spot a single CMA GCM container on this gigantic Evergreen vessel, so maybe in the second pack?  

[Avanya 2,605]

Thank you very much for your insights! I wouldn't know where to start figuring it out, so that's very helpful.  And you got all the brands right ^^

Edit: 2nd pack seems to make since. I found this, which has a few COSCO containers too. Looks like they mostly ship with K Line and Hanjin when they do have others on their ships (Trying to resist the temptation of making versions of those two for a 4th pack).

[Tim The Terrible 586]

@Avanya @bsquiklehausen @Lee Towers And I will be putting them all on my container cars if that's okay. I already asked Avanya for permission.

 

[Avanya 2,605]

Gotta love the timing of our two projects!  Since you'll do the train cars I can get to the trucks when I'm done with the containers themselves

[Lee Towers 179]

Looking forward to those trains and trucks as well, @Tim The Terrible & @Avanya! We're bringing true intermodal transport to Cities:Skylines  

I've started working on river ships myself, will continue working on it after my exams this week (they just so happen to be about urban planning and transport, haha). I'll probably release packs (two or three ship sizes each), based on the different container packs. Will probably end up converting them to bulk ships as well, which is quite easy with these types of ships anyway.

Oh, and I might reskin my Cimskip Innovator to fit the different container packs as well. Will have to shorten it a little bit since it's currently holding 45 ft containers only... ^^

Anyway, here's a quick mock-up of a few variations on river ships:

 

[Avanya 2,605]

It's been a productive day today! I finished adding bsquiklehausen's brand to the containers, did a few more color tweeks on the MIYAGI and TPB brands and put everything together in 4 packs. The random function works very nice with Prop Line Tool - just select one of the 4 packs and drag long lines and your get this. ^^ It's too late here to release them today, plus I kinda want to do the leasing brands too (including bsquiklehausen's TSO brand), so they all go up together.  But once they're done (either tomorrow or Wednesday) then I'll release them. After that it's the 20 foot ones and then I want to do some stacks of them.

[Badi_Dea 476]

I'm so trying not to sound like a fan-boy, but those are amazing looking!
I can't wait to use them, not to mention that we really need a mod more than ever now to replace default assets with custom alternatives

[Lost Gecko 481]

These packs look fantastic! But what is this random function in the asset editor? I've just opened the asset editor but I haven't noticed it... How does the whole thing work? Sounds like there is awesome potential (as your containers show!)

[Avanya 2,605]

9 minutes ago, Lost_gecko said:

These packs look fantastic! But what is this random function in the asset editor? I've just opened the asset editor but I haven't noticed it... How does the whole thing work? Sounds like there is awesome potential (as your containers show!)

Very basicly it adds other props to the main prop and you can set the chance of each variation. You need to select a prop template which has variations like the ones adding random industry props, random billboards and so on. Atm I'm not sure if/how to add more variations than the template has, but extra unused variations disappear after saving (and prob reloading the asset). I wouldn't be surprised if a ModTools script can add more variations, but that stuff is all wizardry to me   I plan on making a guide on steam for using prop variations (gotta test if a variation can have color variations too) at some point.

And the containers are all up - you can find them in this collection, where I'll also add the other props and eventually vehicles.

[Avanya 2,605]

20 ft containers released and added to the collection. The stacks will have to wait a bit as I won't have any time for CS until the end of next week, but they shouldn't take too long. Gonna do a few meshes and then textures will deliver the variation again. I plan on mixing the ones from pack 5 in with the others (maybe not bsquiklehausen's since it's by far the largest) since they pop up all over the place in real life. I haven't decided if I'm gonna do a pack with only the ones from pack 5 - I guess it would make sense to have some piles of them to mix in with the other piles.

[Lee Towers 179]

14 hours ago, Avanya said:

20 ft containers released and added to the collection. The stacks will have to wait a bit as I won't have any time for CS until the end of next week, but they shouldn't take too long. Gonna do a few meshes and then textures will deliver the variation again. I plan on mixing the ones from pack 5 in with the others (maybe not bsquiklehausen's since it's by far the largest) since they pop up all over the place in real life. I haven't decided if I'm gonna do a pack with only the ones from pack 5 - I guess it would make sense to have some piles of them to mix in with the other piles.

 

Mixing the ones from pack 5 in with the other packs up is what I'm going to do with the river ships, since that's pretty true to real life. Speaking of which, I'm starting with texturing today, any chance you could send me the container texture files? 

[Avanya 2,605]

Sure thing! I'll send you a pb.

I was just gonna chill today, but ofc I started a little on the stacks   I've got a few different ways I could do the textures, but I'm not sure what would be best.

• One option is a 1024x2048 size texture containing textures for 5 containers (40 ft), which can then be shared on many stacks (some not using all 5 container variations though). It's a large texture for props, but with texture sharing it should be pretty efficient and a large pack of varied stacks should do with two or three of those (or I could go up to 2048x2048 and use one texture for all the stacks of one pack). Downside is a large filesize and unoptimized textures for players without the Loading Screen mod (I'd prob add that as a requirement).
• Another option is several smaller textures. 2-3 tall stacks would fit on 1024x1024, but few variations would be able to share textures. Filesize would be smaller, but more textures would be loaded. And taller stacks would need a larger texture size anyway to fit it all. More efficient for those without the Loading Screen mod and less intimidating filesizes on the workshop.

Work wise it's about the same for me, so it's not like one way is faster to make than the other. What would you guys prefer?

[Judazzz 1,936]

I think a shared texture is the better option: not only is the Loading Screen mod pretty much must-have fare for every player (can't think of a reason why not to use it unless it crashes the game), secondly, I think it will limit memory usage a bit (I reckon one 1024x2048 or 2048² beats several 1024²), as well as the number of operations (dealing with one file instead of multiple).

Just tell people that although the file size is big, thanks to the LS mod the texture will be loaded just once for all the stack props (one large texture instead of four or five medium-sized ones). Same for the mesh, if they all use the same.

[Roadman20 601]

Already envisioning an entire revision to the Port of Seattle with this.

[dreesedatalink 15]

everything looks awesome, and the plans for the additional prop packs/vehicles/ships sound awesome.  i already subbed to the ones available.  and have literally deleted everything on my ports/intermodal.  all you guys do excellent work.  

 

[Avanya 2,605]

Thank you guys! And thanks for the feedback @Judazzz, sounds like the larger shared texture will be the best option.

[Avanya 2,605]

First packs of stacked containers are up! I've got a "light" version, which is just the same containers stacked and which uses the same textures as the single container. The large pack is 20 variations of pack 1 and 5 containers split into 2 assets. Lastly a smaller pack of the leasing containers from pack 5 mixed in 5 stacks. The two first will ofc come with the brands of the other packs in time.

After that I'll do stacks 3 containers high, prob just 20 mixed variations like the large pack. There are sooo many combinations that I really just have to pick a "few" for these packs or it will be crazy. I'm also considering doing some prop/building stacks like this to fill in large areas easily and do those larger stacks without having to import a ton of assets.

[Avanya 2,605]

More stacks released! And because I'm lazy I'm just gonna chuck a link to the post I made on patreon instead of typing or copying the same stuff.  

Also I've gotten caught up in playing the game again, so the containers are going a little slow.  

[Matthias King 348]

I've been using Move It to manually stack them.

[Avanya 2,605]

I've done that too, but it takes so long  

[Ronyx69 2,413]

You could also create freely ploppable "parks" with stacked containers with move it.

[Avanya 2,605]

I'll have to test if props raised with MoveIt and placed in a park in the editor actually stay there. I guess they should since the editor saves the positions of props placed on buildings. That would be a much more efficient way to make stacks in the long run. 

Anyways I released the 2 tall stacks with all bsquiklehausen's brands and I'll need a little break - so I'll make the truck trailers next.  All this importing the same meshes with different textures over and over and over is a little boring, so it will be nice to work on a mesh again and some brand new textures.

Update: MoveIt won't elevate props in the asset editor - damn, that would have been such an easy way to make stacks! Oh well...

[Avanya 2,605]

Trailer props released! Man, it was soooo refreshing to make the trailer model from scratch! After days of just sorting textures and importing a ton of props for the stacks, it was great to create something again. Now to have the usual fight with vehicle illuminations to make the vehicle versions. I haven't decided on the trucks yet - I'm considering the one I used for the CIM heavy truck or the Scania truck by Onion_Jack, but that's a little high on tris if I remember correctly. I'll see what the demand is for versions with American trucks - no point in doing them if most people don't care that much about the truck style.  

[Roadman20 601]

I'm pretty sure there is a demand for American trucks with trailers every since Shroomblaze made all those trailers with an American truck.  I'm fine with the CIM heavy truck as it intermingles with my remaining American trucks, but I'm sure every person making American cities would appreciate the addition.

Also, funding your Patreon since you're work has been instrumental in the industrial realm of C:SL.