Lost Gecko's projects

[Lost Gecko 481]

The trees are still on the works but I've a couple of little sideprojects because it's quite repetitive (why am I making a pack!)... So here is a very generic 2x2 brick building. I want to be able to use it in pretty much any situation but it would probably be a bit useless to make a residential, a commercial and an office version... I think it fits best the office category.

I'm also planning on having a regular and a corner version but I'm still unsure about window placement: having windows on all sides makes it work on its own but as a result the building is about 1100 tris... Knowing that the LOD will be dead simple, I'm tempted to go with Windows on all sides for both the regular and corner version to make them more versatile, optimized for LSM and easier for me.

Many things I'm not sure about, so what would be the best solution for you?

I should force myself to at least finish one project I've talked about here for every new project I start...

Also I released 2 hedge packs a couple of days ago

[AmiPolizeiFunk 446]

Really like the detail on the hedges. Wish I had yours when I started playing 5 months ago! Now every time I see a hedge, I'm faced with the dilemma of replacing it or not

[Matthias King 348]

I'm loving the corner building. Something about simple brick buildings like that appeal to me. I don't really know why.

As for the windows, is there a way to cut the tris down? Is 1100 a lot for a building of this size?

Being versatile is always good. If it has windows on all sides, I'd be inclined to place it and leave alleys or parking or some kind of plaza on either side. I like to imagine what it's like to live or work in the buildings I place, so if they have windows, I usually don't like to cover them up because the people inside would probably like to look out their window at something other than the bricks from the building next door.

I'm sure you'll get it figured out.

[Lost Gecko 481]

@AmiPolizeiFunk Thank you! Maybe Prop it Up! can help you there

@Matthias King Thank you too! 1100 tris is kind of a lot for a 2x2, especially a growable... But if I keep the windows on all sides it's the best I can do. You can easily find equivalents for half that amount or even less, but it's not too much of a big deal as long as all my buildings aren't that heavy  I get what you mean about the Windows, but this building is originally wall-to-wall that can be used alone and not the opposite, so don't hesitate to cover the windows

[Matthias King 348]

Question: Are the windows supposed to be off-center inside the recessed areas? Just curious.

I'm looking forward to seeing it when it's all done.

[Lost Gecko 481]

On ‎05‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 10:09 AM, Matthias King said:

Question: Are the windows supposed to be off-center inside the recessed areas? Just curious.

I'm looking forward to seeing it when it's all done.

Sorry for the late answer, they are indeed off-centered and the building is released! Comes with a corner version which is redundant for RICO users but not if they are used as growables...

 

inspiration:

 

Yesterday I also uploaded a modern terraced house pack. 3 brick colours, level 1 and 2 -> 6 assets for 7.4 MB.

inpiration:

 

Now I'll try to finish my trees, dammit!

[Lost Gecko 481]

Still not done with the trees...

In the meantime I've pushed my modeling and texturing skilz to their limits with some retaining wall props: a cube with a seamless texture. Crumbs McGee mentioned something like this in one of his YouTube episodes and it should probably be helpful not only for retaining walls but everytime some kind of large vertical concrete or stone surface is needed... The top of the wall is at ground level and has to be raised with Move it!. Maybe some other variations coming, we'll see.

WIP of more contemporary apartments...

And for the 100th time, have to finish some long-time WIP projects!

[Matthias King 348]

These retaining walls are very interesting. I've been thinking about something like these for a while based on real life places, though I had no idea how it could be accomplished. But I think you've nailed it.

My initial thought was possibly a variation on the vanilla quays, only super thin, but what you've done is probably far more versatile. Great job.

And I'm looking forward to the apartments. Regarding that generic office, I almost wish you'd done the wider shop windows on the ground floor, like your inspiration photo.

Since the sub comes with both the corner and non-corner versions, maybe you could update one to have ground-level shops to eliminate the redundancy? Just an idea.

[Lost Gecko 481]

@Matthias King You're right that the building would look more interesting with the shop windows. I made it this way because it was easier to texture, but it does look very plain and two identical buildings in a pack isn't optimal. However I'll leave them as they are but I'll consider making a commercial version with wider windows on the ground floor

[Roadman20 601]

I have big plans with your retaining walls, but it's a WIP at the moment.

[Lost Gecko 481]

On ‎08‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 10:17 PM, Roadman20 said:

I have big plans with your retaining walls, but it's a WIP at the moment.

I swear I replied to this comment, seems like I didn't... Well the result is pretty great!

Time flies... I finally updated the Modular Medieval Wall collection I made 10 months ago to somewhat better quality standards... Nothing fancy (looks essentially the same) but I optimized the geometry (easily by 20-30%), added LOD textures and organized them better in the menu by changing the UI priority. Oh, and it can be found easily with Find It! by searching "mmw".

Now that this is out of the way, I can start thinking again about the 2.0 medieval wall set... Along with the rest!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=718095394&tscn=1494695782

[Lost Gecko 481]

Quick question: is it even possible to add semi-transparent sub-buildings to growables? My tests aren't working so far. What template should I be using if it's possible?

[boformer 3,169]

5 hours ago, Lost_Gecko said:

Quick question: is it even possible to add semi-transparent sub-buildings to growables? My tests aren't working so far. What template should I be using if it's possible?

Not possible. You could add semi-transparent sub-meshes.

[Lost Gecko 481]

1 hour ago, boformer said:

Not possible. You could add semi-transparent sub-meshes.

Ok thank you! I'll see what I can do, but worst case scenario I make them RICO as it's small apartment blocks anyway. Why not with a growable version witout the transparent part...

[Lost Gecko 481]

Contemporary Apartments 2 released! RICO as to accomodate the rotor shader for the blaconies... Not too visible but I wanted to try it! The first apartments are the "modern" ones, but as I understand it "contemporary" would be the correct term .

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=928884317

I've also made grass (followed by gravel and asphalt on request) props for tram tracks. Terrain conforming as long as the slope isn't too steep... The Ploppable Asphalt props are still a better alternative to the asphalt one on flat ground though in my opinion.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=745091199

[Judazzz 1,936]

Love the new apartments! You're right the semi-transparent balconies aren't all that visible from a larger distance, but when zoomed in they look incredible!

[Lost Gecko 481]

Thanks a lot @Judazzz!

Finally finished the generic tree pack! 6 trees for when you just want to fill an area with some random relatively young trees. They range between 330 and 880 tris, which isn't that low-poly considering they aren't that big - but they should get the job done. At least it paves the way for later projects (haven't forgotten the linden tree @AmiPolizeiFunk!)

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=931378862

 

[Matthias King 348]

These are some really nice looking trees.

[art just right 427]

Nice one!

[Lost Gecko 481]

Released 2 little props:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=931653647

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=933925558

 

and a 45° RICO office buiding from Riga (well, a project render at least...):

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=934314559

[Lost Gecko 481]

Also there seems to be some kind of Chinese troll wave on the Generic Trees Workshop page. I've deleted a couple of other similar comments... Weird (of course all the "good" could just be legit comments but there are a bunch like these, again all by Chinese accounts...)

Anybody knows what's up with that? I don't remember visiting any shady website recently

[R3V0 909]

I'm more interested of those 2 who don't have what they're subscribing lol

[Avanya 2,605]

I think the Chinese might just be players - I've had a few and there's some modders too. I guess they found their way to Steam even though the game was released on something else for China. What's witht he 6's though?

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Awesome work as always!! I like the broad range of your  workshop.

[Lost Gecko 481]

@Avanya I guess you're right. It's really strange though because it was really a wave of Chinese accounts just commenting weird stuff for a couple of days... Oh well...

@Mr_Maison Thank you! There is so much of everything that I'd like to do and the list expands exponentially everytime I try something unfortunately

[Matthias King 348]

I like that 45 office. It fits in really well in a particular area of my city where I just so happened to have an empty 45 degree spot open.

[Avanya 2,605]

@Lost_Gecko Maybe one of them was like "Hey guys, you should check out this guy Lost Gecko, he makes some awesome stuff" and they did and they liked it.

Btw I've been meaning to show you this - I pass them everyday I they so remind me of your contemporary apartments. You really nailed the look!

[Lost Gecko 481]

On ‎02‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 3:13 PM, Avanya said:

Btw I've been meaning to show you this - I pass them everyday I they so remind me of your contemporary apartments. You really nailed the look!

The style is pretty similar indeed (and this pic is inspiration material!) I pretty much copied a project render from a real estate agency I fond on the internet but which happens to be not too far from where I live

Now get ready for the Covfefe Museum! I've had the Quai Branly Museum, Paris on my radar for some time and as we've been talking aboout that city and green stuff a lot recently I thought it was a nice time to release it (and give it a stupid name).

https://www.google.be/maps/place/Musée+du+quai+Branly+-+Jacques+Chirac/@48.8612164,2.2961647,39a,35y,157.24h,58.96t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x47e66fe0da76cf63:0xb7949d5df6b04424!8m2!3d48.8608889!4d2.297894?hl=fr

[Lost Gecko 481]

Just started making a collection of low-density traditional buildings from Belgium and France. The first 4 are all rural and residential buildings but town buildings as well as commercial and some farming are to be expected. Ideally it would make a whole building style but I doubt I'll ever make enough for that... However it is faster to make than I would have thought, I'm really enjoying taking buildings from Google Street View!

I didn't want to be limited by the tile system with these ones as adapting wall-to-wall buildings to it is limiting and hurts diversity (especially since these are small buildings). So only one side wall sits on the edge ofa tile, which means Move It! is needed to achieve a full wall-to-wall look.

link to the Workshop collection

I also made a street gutter decal as a suggestion from Neguchi Maroyama a couple of days ago.

[Lost Gecko 481]

I just made a rural church in the same style as the houses (also made 2 extra ones a couple of days ago). Unique building level 3 that doesn't flatten the terrain and has textured foundations to look good on slopes. Now back to more houses and also a ton of bugfix updates...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=973193749