Recycling Trucks

[tariely 4,496]

I need recycling trucks but can't find any that doesn't look... puny or weird (from the Vehicles series, in the L.E. : gah). There is a reskin by Fanta that looks, if not fantastic :-) quite good, but its an automata (tum ? -ton ?).My question is :  is it possible to make props out of automata ? And if it is, would someone try it for me ? (as I am pretty sure it is way beyond my game grade.)

[matias93 7,535]

I remember that @rsc204 some months ago described a process to create props from 3D automatas, something that wasn't particularly easy to do, IIRC.

[markussaage 762]

On 20.5.2018 at 11:18 PM, tariely said:

I need recycling trucks but can't find any that doesn't look... puny or weird (from the Vehicles series, in the L.E. : gah). There is a reskin by Fanta that looks, if not fantastic :-) quite good, but its an automata (tum ? -ton ?).My question is :  is it possible to make props out of automata ? And if it is, would someone try it for me ? (as I am pretty sure it is way beyond my game grade.)

Yes, the reskin by Fanta works as an override for the ingame garbage truck, and here is another one:

And yes again, you can make Props out of an automata model, and because automatas are real 3D models you can rotate them in any degree you want, and here is how:

- Use the LE to generate a new prop exemplar (using ANY model); give your prop a meaningful name. This step is necessary in order to get a new (unique) instance ID for your prop.

- In the reader, change the Resource Key Type 1 property to Resource Key Type 0; The latter references a model with one view aspect (S3D file); the model must have "full geometry" (both "front" and "back" faces) in order to be displayed correctly.

- Change the value in the RKT0 property, to point to the model you want to turn into prop.

- In the prop exemplar add a kSC4BuildingModelRotationProperty. This tells the game to rotate the model as you rotate the city; otherwise it will always display the same side (front). Strangely, the value for this property doesn't matter (it can be left empty), it's the presence of the property that specifies if the model should be rotated.

- Change all needed properties, eg the name (typically User Visible Name Key), AppearanceZoomsFlag, wealth, flammability etc so as to make it a well-behaving prop. Remember to set the Occupant Size property, as it will get the size of the (initial) model you used to create the prop in LE.

- Then the prop is ready for use in the LE.

 

- Unlike in the reader, the X, Y and Z axes have their "normal" meaning (Z refers to the height). What is causing all the confusion is just a naming inconsistency in the S3D.DLL's interface, which was propagated even to the reader's user interface.

- The Rotate and Flip/Mirror operations work only for models with one Zoom/Rotation (not for the 20-Z/R, ie those generated by BAT exporting), for the reasons discussed earlier in this therad. I have also tried rotating BAT models (eg for making diagonal versions), but the results were poor. While for certain models (with simple, orthogonal LODs) and angles the lack of back faces might not be a problem, there are problems with the textures (stretched) and protruding objects (badly deformed). So I'm not sure if providing this operation (even with the aforementioned limitations) is really good (though as far as the programming effort is concerned, it's really trivial).

- The Flip/Mirror opeation reverses the Index (triangles) too (swaps the 1st and 3rd vertex refs); otherwise the model/material isn't visible ingame (though it is visible in the reader). The program does not do this in the "invert" case (mirroring with respect to the XY plane), as the order of drawing doesn't change. Btw I'm not sure if this specific opearation is really needed, it might be preferable to remove it. I have not experimented a lot with flipping/mirroring, so I'm not sure if reversing the triangles is always needed; it is definitely needed for flat models (horizontal planes) but I'm not sure about the rest (vertical, inclined or more complex ones). It might be needed for all cases, or may be needed for some cases. I could change the operation, and make this optional or conditional - in the last case some more experienced modders should describe the conditions in detail ("specify" them exactly, ie as an "algorithm").

- There is no documentation (help) for the new features yet, but you should be able to figure them out easily.

And here you find more information about automata modding:

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=22.0

 

Kind regards!

[twalsh102 1,601]

@tariely,

If you haven't done so already, you might take a look at

It includes both reskins of the in-game automata, and two series of timed props, one blue and one green, both with the recycle logo on the side.