Wall-to-wall rear extensions thoughs

[Lost Gecko 481]

Sorry for the confusing title but I wanted to share some thoughts about a (very inefficient, mod-dependant and stop-gap) method to create wall-to-wall buildings that do not have to fit in 8m-multiples tiles that the zoning system is based on.

I like old historical wall-to-wall buildings and the zoning system is not very friendly with that (nothing wrong with it, just not great for what I like). Right now the only way to make buildings not quite the dimensions of the grid is to combine them in one asset or adapt their dimensions. I have just thought about a possible method to get rid of these limitations with the help of the awesome Rico and Move it! mods. I must say straight away that I play in sandbox mode because I am just interested in aesthetics and I prefer modest towns to metropolis, so the method fits my playstyle and I am fine with it but it won't suit the vast majority of players.

Basically I figured that it would be possible to make a buiding of any dimension, let's say a 6m wide house as a RICO buiding. We would just then have to plop it roughly where we want it then ajust it to the houses next to it to get rid of the gap, then repeat, then repeat, then... Well, you got it.

And that's all there is to it, I really can't keep it short... Not user friendly and requires mods but it is possible if you really want it...

I will try it for sure and I just wanted to share the idea with you in case it helps/gives ideas and to get some feedback: are some of you interested? Are there some issues I didn't consider?

One thing that might be quite annoying: I haven't tested it but do the elements moved with Move it! stay in place if the mod is disabled or does it go back to the original placing spot? Because it would be so painful if there was an issue with the mod (game update/everything disappearing like with Surface Painter...)

I'm not holding you any longer!

[boformer 3,169]

RICO was never intended for that, but of course, you can do that.

[Lost Gecko 481]

I know, it is just convenient to be able to achieve what I'm looking for. I don't intend on making this a normal thing and flood the workshop with buildings that are useless other than with that method but I am just sharing it for those who are interested  And I will of course stay with growables as much as possible. RICO is not the only way to proceed, it would be possible to make them growable then spawn the buildings with the search tool mod and block their level but it would be even more tedious and require way more mods.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Have you heard of Cities XL, @Lost_gecko? It is an aesthetically focused city builder. It is less popular nowadays than Cities: Skylines but it has more unique beautiful, quality mods (XLNation hosts most). If you don't care about simulating, Cities XL is the best City Painter/City Builder. Cities: Skylines has a better simulation, easier modding tools, and better publicity. However, if you want to painstakenly make cities with more detail and beauty, you will want Cities XXL instead.

[mikamaty 47]

@OcramsRzr I do not agree with you. Didn't you visit the Steam Workshop? It is full of awesome, high quality mods.

[Lost Gecko 481]

@OcramsRzr Thank you for the suggestion, I had already seen a couple of pictures from this game and I found it quite nice indeed... I had a better look at the game and although the possibilities are nice I really don't think I will switch, C:S has more potential for me. I might still give it a try though...

[Ocram's Razr 964]

It is easier to do what you want using Limitless Placement in Cities XL. Cities: Skylines has some mods that look really nice up close but Cities XL has more LOD's and extremely dedicated & experienced modders using 3ds Max. Unless you have a super computer that only shows the LOD at a far distance, you will have uglier cities in Cities: Skylines.

 

Personally, I prefer Cities: Skylines for the simulation (a golden mean between SimCity 4 and SimCity 2013) but I boot up Cities XXL every once in a while to make a beautiful city. I have also played every SimCity, Caesar IV, Children of the Nile, Civilization 4-BE, Banished, and City Life. Each game has its own unique pros and cons.

  Edited October 18, 2016 by OcramsRzr  

[Lost Gecko 481]

No doubt about that but it doesn't cut it for me, not to switch game entirely anyway. I'm far from having a beast pc (recent, quite decent laptop but I have to be extremely careful with my subscriptions) but C:S seems easier for asset design which I'm slowly getting familiar with and there is way more on the Workshop, and quickly expanding. Not to mention the lively and friendly community on this forum! Thank you for suggesting Cities XL, I might pick it up when it's on sale someday and it would be great to try the great possibilities it offers (C:S is my first city builder) but I'm more or less sure I will not prefer it.

[whitemsv_simtropolis 10]

Something im working on that fits your idea.

[Lost Gecko 481]

@whitemsv_simtropolis Wow, it looks great! Are you going for a recreation of Venice or is it just inspired from it? Don't hesitate to post your work on the forum! Uninterupted rows of buildings do make it more realistic indeed.

[whitemsv_simtropolis 10]

@Lost_gecko Its going to be inspired by Venice. When i'm a bit further in i will post some more screenshots. And thanks for the compliments

(how do you do the @name ?)

  Edited October 19, 2016 by whitemsv_simtropolis  
how do you do the @name ?

[Lost Gecko 481]

@whitemsv_simtropolis

That's good news! Well, I had the same problem as you in the beginning but for some reason it works now, I just type the "@" and the beginning of your pseudo and a list of suggestions appears...

[Lost Gecko 481]

I'll just recycle this old topic to express some thoughts I have for a possible future modeling project.

Just like the previous subject on this topic, this would only be a stop-gap measure and only be useful to city painters...

Many  low and mid-density residential and commercial buildings on the Workshop have blend and flat rear façades. That's because it's the easiest to model and to texture as the front façade texture can just be used. There's nothing wrong with that and I've done it myself, although I try to avoid it. Rik4000's high street assets are a great example of these rear extensions but many assets lack them (of course not all buildings have them irl though).

So my idea was that it would be nice to have a series of such extensions (it's probably not the right word) to add when detailing. I think it would add variety and character to building blocks in case the models are a bit too flat.

If people are interested, I'm not really sure about the asset category: free-placement statless parks or props? Parks spawn annoying seagulls but unlike props they stay visible at a distance. On the other hand props offer a lot of flexibility with the Move it! + Prop Snapping combo...

Once again I'm not too sure where I'll go with this because my to-do list is gigantic but it costs nothing to talk about it and see what you think/if you have ideas 

Examples of what I'm talking about:

[agunter999 200]

im sure you can set the render distance for props but idk where I read that

[Ronyx69 2,413]

Good idea.

14 hours ago, Lost_gecko said:

If people are interested, I'm not really sure about the asset category: free-placement statless parks or props? Parks spawn annoying seagulls but unlike props they stay visible at a distance. On the other hand props offer a lot of flexibility with the Move it! + Prop Snapping combo...

If the props have a proper LOD and you have Adaptive Prop Visibility Distance, Prop Snapping, Prop Precision, Move It! 
all the problems with props are solved, 
you have a lod and it doesn't disappear, 
you can put the prop right on a building,
you can place it precisely where you need,
you can even alter the height of the prop.

[Lost Gecko 481]

Just now, Ronyx69 said:

Good idea.

If the props have a proper LOD and you have Adaptive Prop Visibility Distance, Prop Snapping, Prop Precision, Move It! 
all the problems with props are solved, 
you have a lod and it doesn't disappear, 
you can put the prop right on a building,
you can place it precisely where you need,
you can even alter the height of the prop.

That's true and I'm subscribed to all of these mods but ideally I'm trying to make it as convenient as possible for everyone and therefore the least mods required the better... Parks have the advantage of being mod-free. The more I'm thinking about it the more I'm going towards your idea but I still hesitate. Another possibility would be to make the larger, ground floor ones as parks and the others as props to make them modular. As these would generally be smaller the issue wouldn't be as big without Adaptative Prop Visibility Distance. However that's getting confusing.

So yeah you're right I'll probably go for props . I guess people who are interested in that amount of detailing probably have these mods anyway. Another advantage is that props can be added to assets in the asset editor for those who want to modify assets that way.

Thank you for your suggestion!

[R3V0 909]

I am still amazed that we still couldn't come up with seagull free parks except the 3rd party invertention aka seagull remover mod.

I think it's become a thing for cs so devs dont even bother anymore.

If only buildings has a spawn point also for animals so we can do SOME parks with seagulls and real zoos with animals in them.