RRetail Development

[RRetail 7,906]

....for you all....

[IDS2 3,346]

Man, you're really pumping (sorry) out the gas marts! Love to see Kwik Twip, I'm personally a huge fan. Very nice!

[RRetail 7,906]

....to enjoy:

This upload requires a couple of new props which have been added into MEGA Prop Pack 3.

 

[RRetail 7,906]

This was a bit of pain to put together because moving things by the X,Y and Z axis points didn't work for some reason. As a result, I had to manually adjust things using math and numbers which probably added another 1-2 hours on this.

Also, I have no idea how I managed to get this kind of view. lol

[Elwoodjayson 22]

Hey @RRetail

I was wondering if you'd be willing to in the future of course make some regional store brands from Washington?

 

[RRetail 7,906]

2 hours ago, Elwoodjayson said:

Hey @RRetail

I was wondering if you'd be willing to in the future of course make some regional store brands from Washington?

 

Possibly, depending upon what you are thinking. I'm over here on the other side of the country, so I'm not always aware of west coast brands.

[Evanjs 602]

On 4/5/2022 at 1:54 PM, RRetail said:

This was a bit of pain to put together because moving things by the X,Y and Z axis points didn't work for some reason. As a result, I had to manually adjust things using math and numbers which probably added another 1-2 hours on this.

Also, I have no idea how I managed to get this kind of view. lol

Is their a way you could make a reskin of this that is a Dollar General? Many of these are now DG Stores. Thanks for your time RR.

 

[Musgrave322 64]

@RRetail

have you ever tried making an Advance Auto Parts store or Napa Auto Parts?  You have done O'Reilly and Autozone.

Plus I may suggest some regional banks in the United States. 

[RRetail 7,906]

@Evanjs Way ahead of you.

@Musgrave322 Never given much thought to those two since others have made them already and they were done quite well IMO. I suppose that maybe I could, but it's a low priority for that reason.

 

[Evanjs 602]

1 hour ago, RRetail said:

@Evanjs Apparently I'm two steps ahead of you.

@Musgrave322 Never given much thought to those two since others have made them already and they were done quite well IMO. I suppose that maybe I could, but it's a low priority for that reason.

 

Let me add we don’t have a old logo Advance Auto Part so maybe you could do one of them as their is still some around. 

[Elwoodjayson 22]

23 hours ago, RRetail said:

Possibly, depending upon what you are thinking. I'm over here on the other side of the country, so I'm not always aware of west coast brands.

@RRetail

The ones I'm thinking of at the moment, are Top Food & Drug, Haggen, Bartell Drug, Emporium, & Central Market

Top Food & Drug & Haggen & Central Market are all grocery stores, from the Puget Sound region. Central Market has some uniquely designed stores, that I think would look cool in SC4.

Bartell Drug is a drugstore chain like Rite Aid & Walgreens, also from the Puget Sound region.

Emporium was a West Coast department store chain, witch went out in 2003.

[RRetail 7,906]

17 hours ago, Elwoodjayson said:

@RRetail

The ones I'm thinking of at the moment, are Top Food & Drug, Haggen, Bartell Drug, Emporium, & Central Market

Top Food & Drug & Haggen & Central Market are all grocery stores, from the Puget Sound region. Central Market has some uniquely designed stores, that I think would look cool in SC4.

Bartell Drug is a drugstore chain like Rite Aid & Walgreens, also from the Puget Sound region.

Emporium was a West Coast department store chain, witch went out in 2003.

I'll have to look into some of these before I make a decision. Some may just be too small of a chain for me to justify making. At this point, I'm not promising anything.

I heard of Bartell Drug because of Rite Aid purchasing it. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile:

 

[pclark06 11,832]

52 minutes ago, RRetail said:

I'll have to look into some of these before I make a decision. Some may just be too small of a chain for me to justify making. At this point, I'm not promising anything.

I heard of Bartell Drug because of Rite Aid purchasing it. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile:

 

I know Haggen is an Albertson's/Safeway brand now. I wonder if there are any left up there or did most get converted to Safeway, @Elwoodjayson? Another Seattle place, a Dick's Hamburgers, is something I've considered making myself. Maybe I do it this summer? The one experience I had eating there was a good one. I also know @thecitiescenter has the Pike Place Market in his plans at some point as well. 

We do have a Bartell but it's in the corner store format and not in the CVS/Walgreens format that most of the stores are now.
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/34322-the-avenue-apartments/

[AP 3,588]

1 hour ago, RRetail said:

I'll have to look into some of these before I make a decision. Some may just be too small of a chain for me to justify making. At this point, I'm not promising anything.

I heard of Bartell Drug because of Rite Aid purchasing it. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile:

 

May I ask if you render these in HD?

[Elwoodjayson 22]

3 hours ago, pclark06 said:

I know Haggen is an Albertson's/Safeway brand now. I wonder if there are any left up there or did most get converted to Safeway, @Elwoodjayson? Another Seattle place, a Dick's Hamburgers, is something I've considered making myself. Maybe I do it this summer? The one experience I had eating there was a good one. I also know @thecitiescenter has the Pike Place Market in his plans at some point as well. 

We do have a Bartell but it's in the corner store format and not in the CVS/Walgreens format that most of the stores are now.
https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/34322-the-avenue-apartments/

They still exist. But it's only around 15.

Off the topic of Seattle stuff, I feel like more retro chains are needed for this game. A lot of people made files a long time ago, and despite having everything the mods require, they just refuse to work. I'd like reworks of things, most notably things that haven't been made yet. The Bradlees that nos.17 posted isn't anything like a actual Bradlees store. If you want to know witch design I'm specifically looking for, there is one in NJ with this distinct design, I crave for, but whenever I ask someone to do it, they just tell me to use nos.17's witch DOESN'T fit the style I'm going for.

Another one, would be a Caldor store, styled like the old 90s stores, instead of how nos.17 did it, witch makes Caldor look like a discount store more than a department store. The building is too small (again, no disrespect to nos.17 I enjoy his work, it's just not realistic enough). Other chains that would be cool, would be things like Service Merchandise, Best (the catalog store), Lionel Kiddy City, and maybe even Computer City witch was a Tandy brand store. If someone made like a retro brands pack, with things like Bradlees, Ames, Caldor, Ann & Hope, Jamesway, & more, I'd probably be interested in making a large city project. But atm, there is nothing like that, and due to lots of work, and me going through therapy for my depression, I have no real interest to learn modeling myself. I'd love to of course, but due to life issues, I sadly cannot. Even a old fashioned 90s era Target would be great, as I want to work on a retro like city in SC4 but I lack the necessary files. I'd suggest @RRetail to do them, but he's stated in the past he wants to make things not already made witch sucks considering, even a old Blockbuster or even making a full A&P store from the prop building would be awesome, and able to help push along my hopeful project. I saw someone made his LJS into a lot, but it lacks parking spaces.

If you guys want to know more about my retro region, I'd love to discuss it, but at this point, its sadly a dead project.

[RRetail 7,906]

4 hours ago, AP said:

May I ask if you render these in HD?

@AP I don't know how to do this in gmax.

@pclark06 Appreciate the tips.

@Elwoodjayson I never said I won't do retro stuff. After all, look what I'm working on now. I have made a Hills dept store, an Ames dept store that took over that Hills, Woolworth and of course the mentioned A&P in one of my prop packs. I don't intend to lot these or the other buildings found in there as it was my hope to see people learn at least the lot editor. That is what I did before learning how to BAT. The feeling you are having is what I was feeling back in 2018 after seeing a lot of existing brands not in game. That feeling is what got me started doing the BAT program. 

And for the record, you're not the only one living with depression. I deal with it too among other things. 

The big problem for me is, as the BAT creator, there is not always great quality color photos of retro things that I can use to reference when making things. And even then it may only be a black and white photo that only shows the entrance. If something is so small of a thing or is no longer in business, it can become a time consuming task to complete the project. I'm actually having to re-create the window ads myself on my current project which ironically is actually something you mentioned. The other issue I run into is that I may have no IRL experience with those brands to draw reference from either.

I'm not saying I won't do these, but I'm not saying I will. The plain truth is that I am only one person myself and ultimately I can't please everyone. Sorry.

[Elwoodjayson 22]

5 minutes ago, RRetail said:

@AP I don't know how to do this in gmax.

@pclark06 Appreciate the tips.

@Elwoodjayson I never said I won't do retro stuff. After all, look what I'm working on now. I have made a Hills dept store, an Ames dept store that took over that Hills, Woolworth and of course the mentioned A&P in one of my prop packs. I don't intend to lot these or the other buildings found in there as it was my hope to see people learn at least the lot editor. That is what I did before learning how to BAT. The feeling you are having is what I was feeling back in 2018 after seeing a lot of existing brands not in game. That feeling is what got me started doing the BAT program. 

And for the record, you're not the only one living with depression. I deal with it too among other things. 

The big problem for me is, as the BAT creator, there is not always great quality color photos of retro things that I can use to reference when making things. And even then it may only be a black and white photo that only shows the entrance. If something is so small of a thing or is no longer in business, it can become a time consuming task to complete the project. I'm actually having to re-create the window ads myself on my current project which ironically is actually something you mentioned. The other issue I run into is that I may have no IRL experience with those brands to draw reference from either.

I'm not saying I won't do these, but I'm not saying I will. The plain truth is that I am only one person myself and ultimately I can't please everyone. Sorry.

It's OK really.

I know what you are saying, and I understand how difficult it is. Hell, some stores have 0 images, basically putting them in a "Lost Stores Media" category on their own.

Also, if you ever get a rekindled interest to do Phar-Mor in the future @RRetail here's a good photo of a Phar-Mor. It gives the idea of what one of their stores looked like.

 

 

 

[AP 3,588]

1 hour ago, RRetail said:

 I don't know how to do this in gmax.

It's really easy and does look so much better! As soon as I realized that is possible, I started doing it on all my projects:

This tutorial describes how to use anti aliasing and post processing on GMAX created BATs, it includes also the link to the HD render script for GMAX:

(I believe the download link on sc4 devotion is broken at the moment, but I am happy to send you the HD render script in a pm if you like - let me know)

Looks like this:

Even though the HD option is under "preview", if selected the render and output will be in HD!

I understand if the anti-aliasing and post-processing is too cumbersome for you and you would like to avoid that, but the HD rendering is really just replacing one file in the gmax folder, so totally worth it.

[Musgrave322 64]

On 4/4/2022 at 12:20 AM, RRetail said:

....to enjoy:

This upload requires a couple of new props which have been added into MEGA Prop Pack 3.

 

Excellent job with the gas stations, but I checked and looked around for the Royal Farms Gas Canopy and found nothing.  I downloaded Pack 3 and found nothing regarding a Royal Farms Gas Canopy.

[RRetail 7,906]

@AP I can't promise I'll use it, but I suppose I could give it a try. You can send me the link if you want.

@Musgrave322 Thanks! That one was one I was particularly proud of upon finishing it. 

As for that canopy, looks like I accidentally put it under the Quick Chek folder. I didn't catch that it wound up in the wrong folder. Not a super big deal, but I'll adjust that now.

[RRetail 7,906]

It's rewind time

[Elwoodjayson 22]

@RRetail

Here is the photo of the Bradlees I mentioned. It gives a basic idea of what style I'm aiming for.

Also, I know there are very few photos of it, but would you ever consider doing a Skaggs Alpha Beta if anyone can find a photo of it that is good quality?

Or at some point a roller rink?

[RRetail 7,906]

@Elwoodjayson It's one thing if I ask for ideas for things to create, but I didn't. While I'm not against requests, you giving me MULTIPLE requests so quickly and all at once is not a good way for me to make any of them. That's pressure that I won't put up with. 

I can't promise anything. And to be completely honest, I feel like you are failing to understand my point-of-view to an extent. You need to understand that I have some set personal rules that help me decide what is worth making. If something doesn't meet them, it is less likely to be made unless it gets requested. But even then, I also have to determine or judge in advance if something is actually desired by the community as a whole.  Just because you want something, doesn't mean others do. Therefore, it may be unwise for me to make something that so few people would use. And sometimes I will deny requests because I can't make everything. You can't get everything you want from me. 

 

[Elwoodjayson 22]

21 minutes ago, RRetail said:

@Elwoodjayson It's one thing if I ask for ideas for things to create, but I didn't. While I'm not against requests, you giving me MULTIPLE requests so quickly and all at once is not a good way for me to make any of them. That's pressure that I won't put up with. 

I can't promise anything. And to be completely honest, I feel like you are failing to understand my point-of-view to an extent. You need to understand that I have some set personal rules that help me decide what is worth making. If something doesn't meet them, it is less likely to be made unless it gets requested. But even then, I also have to determine or judge in advance if something is actually desired by the community as a whole.  Just because you want something, doesn't mean others do. Therefore, it may be unwise for me to make something that so few people would use. And sometimes I will deny requests because I can't make everything. You can't get everything you want from me. 

 

@RRetail

Well, I've seen a whole bunch of people say they want a newer Bradlees, so I'm not the only one.

I'll start backing off for now, but my only request as of now, that is something you may be able to do, or I can ask someone else, is to make a RR Fast Food Restaurant pack.

[RRetail 7,906]

38 minutes ago, Elwoodjayson said:

@RRetail

Well, I've seen a whole bunch of people say they want a newer Bradlees, so I'm not the only one.

I'll start backing off for now, but my only request as of now, that is something you may be able to do, or I can ask someone else, is to make a RR Fast Food Restaurant pack.

Perhaps Bradlee's may happen down the road.

I kind of doubt I'll do a fast food restaurant pack. I may do a few more brands down the road as prop buildings or include some as possible outparcels in plazas as I have done in the past though. 

[Elwoodjayson 22]

Bradlees would be cool, but what would even be cooler, is a Sears Grand relot.

[RRetail 7,906]

 

Reusing things can be fun.

[Elwoodjayson 22]

5 minutes ago, RRetail said:

 

Reusing things can be fun.

Hey @RRetail I was wondering if you'd be willing to make a fictional plaza for me? It's called Ellwood Plaza (named after me).

 

[RRetail 7,906]

4 hours ago, Elwoodjayson said:

Hey @RRetail I was wondering if you'd be willing to make a fictional plaza for me? It's called Ellwood Plaza (named after me).

Dude, please stop asking for requests. I've made myself clear on this. This will now be the third time in a matter of days that you have brought something up. I'm trying to be nice about it, but this comment and the Sears relot request really pushes my buttons a little. You clearly are not listening to what I've been trying to tell you for days now. Keep it up and I'll ignore your requests all together.

No offense, but why should I name a plaza after you? If I did it for you, than others would expect it too. 

[Elwoodjayson 22]

28 minutes ago, RRetail said:

Dude, please stop asking for requests. I've made myself clear on this. This will now be the third time in a matter of days that you have brought something up. I'm trying to be nice about it, but this comment and the Sears relot request really pushes my buttons a little. You clearly are not listening to what I've been trying to tell you for days now. Keep it up and I'll ignore your requests all together.

No offense, but why should I name a plaza after you? If I did it for you, than others would expect it too. 

Bruh, fine. Idk what you do anymore, but I give suggestions, and most of the time you brush them off, as stupid or something. 

Maybe you should add interesting things. We get it, you like to make things not already done. But here's a suggestion?

Why not RR's Hardware Store pack, or Retro Electronics Store pack? (With chains like Circuit City, CompUSA, & HHgregg?). Those are somewhat interesting, and I know people who would love to have them.

Again, not asking as a request, just a mere suggestion, for you to think about.