Barton's BAT & Lot Workshop

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Starting a thread for a project I'm tentatively titling STEAM, aka "The Sands of Time Era-Adaptive Mod " (previously STAMP).

What It Is: STEAM is intended as an all-inclusive mod pack that would allow players to develop a 19th century settlement into a modern-day metropolis over the course of 150+ years. The mod will be split into a series of historic periods. Each period will have a unique mix of building styles, reflecting the architecture of the period in question. Additionally, each period will have a unique gameplay experience, reflecting the technological and social developments of the time.

How It Works: The basic idea is to create a core set of plugins, which would remain in place for any STEAM city, plus a series of period-specific plugin folders. The core set of plugins would contain all of the models, lots, and props, required for STEAM, as well as a set of core gameplay mods. Meanwhile, the period-specific folders would contain: A) a set of lot blockers, to control which buildings grow during different periods; B) a set of menu blockers, to control which ploppable items and rewards are available to players in each period; C) mods to update automata, props, and textures according to the period in question.

The period-specific folders will also include some additional gameplay mods. For example, a mod to reduce road traffic speeds and personal vehicle usage during the horse-and-wagon era, then increase both of these properties after the invention of the automobile. There might be also be mods to adjust the ways cities develop during different periods, such as a mod that widely reduces desirability during the Great Depression.

A Quick Note: In a perfect world, this would be something that I could release on the STEX or LEX. That said, I'm expecting a laundry list of dependencies. So this might end up as a purely personal project. But I'm going to proceed with the goal of making this widely available.

What's Next: To start, I'm compiling a list of possible models, prop packs, texture packs, and automata mods suitable for the late 19th century. After that, I'll be creating a series of test lots and figuring out the best way to ensure the lots adapt from one era to the next -- specifically, how to update historical props with era-appropriate replacements from one period to the next. I'll also be using this space to sketch out the project in greater detail, including some more information about features I'd like to include, some of the problems that will need to be solved, and a list (or several lists) of assets that need to be compiled and/or created.

 

LATEST WORK: WIP Era-Adaptive Lots - 1875 Stage 1 R$ 2x2

[BartonThinks 3,416]

First question as I develop a couple test lots for this project: What's going the best way to update/add/remove props on lots when changing from one period to the next?

 

(Update: Resolved. Best option appears to be a combination of #2 and #3.)

 

A few examples to clarify things:

• Example 1 (Prop Update): In the 1925-1950 period, an industrial lot develops with a 1930's pickup truck in the loading area. In the 1950-1975 period, this prop is replaced by a small box truck from the 1960s.
• Example 2 (Prop Addition): In the 1875-1900 period, a commercial office building develops without electric lighting. In the 1900-1925 period, electric lampposts appear on the sidewalk.
• Example 3 (Prop Removal): In the 1900-1925 period, a R$$ house develops with a set of clotheslines in the backyard. In the 1950-1975 period, these props disappear when the owners install a dryer.

For examples 2 & 3, it seems like the obvious answer would be to simply override the prop ID codes with a blank prop during any period that I don't want the prop to appear. I'd just need to make sure that I'm not re-using that particular prop in places where I don't want it vanishing.

Where things get a little bit tricky is updating props, as in example one. I can think of two solutions here.

The first solution is to add all of the different props separately, stacked on top of one another, then make all props blank except for one during each period. For example, I could stack a horse & wagon, a 1930s pickup truck, and a 1960s box truck on top of one another. Then, during the 1925-1950 period, I would override the the horse & wagon and the 60s truck with blank props. That way, only the 30s pickup truck is visible. The main upside here is that it allows for a lot more flexibility, in terms of prop choice and prop placement. The two downsides I see are the challenges and time it would add to lot editing, and the additional prop load it would add to each lot.

The second solution it to plan a chain of prop overrides, so that I only need to place a single prop in each instance. Returning to the above example, I would place a horse & wagon prop on the lot. Then, in the 1925-1950 period, all instances of that prop would be replaced by a 1930s pickup truck by overriding the prop ID code. Then, in the 1950-1975 period, the same ID code would be overridden using a 60s box truck prop. Unlike the first solution, this would limit the prop count on each lot, and it would (hopefully) simplify the lot editing process. But it would also mean the props all need to be compatible, which might be a challenge. Going back to the same example, I wouldn't be able to swap in a large transport truck in the 1975-2000, because the dimensions of the truck would exceed the earlier props, which would lead to prop conflicts. Meanwhile, if I use the first solution, I can place the transport truck at a location where there aren't any conflicts. Then I just need to override the transport truck with a blank prop until the 1975-2000 period.

Any thoughts on this from some of the more experienced creators out there?

[matias93 7,535]

Do you want this to work fully inside the game or not? If it's the first, I guess the best option would be to create very similar lots, changing only the props, and assigning them successive stats and stages, to make the game replace one with the other organically.

If you want to have more control but less automatisation, doing successive override prop packs would be the answer, but you would be replacing *all* the props of the same kind. So no chancs to find a retro car on the 2000s, unless you add some extra props with old things for newer eras.

[BartonThinks 3,416]

3 hours ago, matias93 said:

Do you want this to work fully inside the game or not? If it's the first, I guess the best option would be to create very similar lots, changing only the props, and assigning them successive stats and stages, to make the game replace one with the other organically.

If you want to have more control but less automatisation, doing successive override prop packs would be the answer, but you would be replacing *all* the props of the same kind. So no chancs to find a retro car on the 2000s, unless you add some extra props with old things for newer eras.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure the first option would function properly.  Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think there's any way to retain the same model and lot design on a specific lot when it upgrades from one stage to the next (at least, not if you are using a wide variety of models and lot designs). I'm also pretty sure this would lead to newer lots getting replaced by the "updated" versions of the older lots.

Bottom line: I'd love for this concept to work fully inside the game, but I'm 99% sure that it will require a plugin swap each time a player upgrades from one era to the next. So at this point, I just want to make that process as simple as possible.

As for the second option, this is something I've been thinking about a bit over the past few days. Here are some of the solutions I've been toying with. I'm not sure how many of these would work, and I think some of the more complicated options would need to be used sparingly:

• Replacing all props from one era with newer versions via overrides. (Basically what you're describing.)
• Picking and choosing the replacement point for individual props.  E.g., if I have 100 car props from the 1950-1975 period, I'd choose 60 car props that get replaced for the 1975-2000 period, but the other 40 would remain in place so that there's a mix of older and newer models.
• Creating duplicate props with new ID codes, so that I can pick and choose when different versions get replaces. E.g., I have now have two instances of a 1960s blue Ford Thunderbird prop. In the 1975-2000 pack, one these instances gets overridden by a 1990s black Crown Victoria, but the other one does not receive an override. That way, I can use both of these props at once.
• Instead of overriding individual props, I might be able to create era-specific prop families, and then override the instance ID of the prop family instead. E.g., let's say I create a prop family for a luxury car. In the 1925-1950 pack, this prop family would consist 100% of cars from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Then, for 1950-1975 pack, this gets overridden by a new prop family, with a small number of cars from a the 30s, a moderate amount from the 40s, and then a larger number from the 50s, and 60s. 

[matias93 7,535]

That last option sounds like the best one. I'm sure that @T Wrecks will be more informed about how to make it happen

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Created a small set of stage one R$ lots to get myself familiar with the PIM-X lot editor and try out a couple simple ideas. These lots would appear in the 1850 pack and have been modeled as makeshift settlements.

The set needs more variety, and there are a couple of spots with noticeable room for improvement (also, missing textures), so I'm sure these will be reworked in detail at some point soon.

Spoiler

 

Stray Notes:

• I'm trying to stick with narrow frontages for these lots. I find that having too many wide-frontage lots pop up in stages 1/2/3 can end up locking down the grid, and I don't want this to happen too soon. I believe it's also more historically accurate to keep most lots narrow at this point, especially before permanent structures are built. The drawback is that it's hard to avoid making the blocks overcrowded -- most early settlements had a bunch of vacant lots and empty space, which is hard to replicate in a game where blocks get developed in a hurry. So I might need to cut back on the density of props and create some lots that allow for more open space.
• I've designed the lots so that they form an alley when they're back-to-back, but this might result in some weird looks when the lots are positioned differently. I'll need tot fiddle around to see whether this feature's worthwhile, since it's something I'd like to carry forward with other lots.

[BartonThinks 3,416]

On a related note, I've spent who--knows-how-many hours the past few weeks collecting BATs and props that might be useful in a mid-19th century setting. I was hoping I'd be able to avoid re-treading a bunch of the same ground that @SimCoug already covered in New Sorgun, and I found a bunch of models that seemed like they'd be a strong fit. But it turns out it's hard finding high-quality models that share the same approximate scale -- who knew!

Long story short, you can expect to see a lot of CP, JMyers, OnlyPlace4, and Historic Harbor stuff in this thread for the next little while.

 

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Moving away from the makeshift settlements after testing a mix of stage 1, 2, 3 lots and seeing how different lots look side by side. So here's a new run with a small set of stage 1 test lots using CSX homes.

Spoiler

 

[Jasoncw 11,840]

So far so good

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Back at this. Have been tinkering with some new residential lots and compiling a database of building/prop models suitable for the 1875 period. Should have some screenshots of new lots shortly. In the end, I might end up going with Maxis buildings for the Stage 1 R$ lots. The yellow and blue cottages from the New York tileset seem to be the best fit in terms of scale and aesthetic

In the meantime, here's a peek at how that building database is shaping up. Below are most of the Civic buildings (excluding transportation and utilities, and with room to expand the parks and plazas) that I'd like to include. I have models for roughly 80% of them, though some (like the cemetery lots) should be fine without a main model.

This list might change or shrink over time. But ideally the final set will be sufficient to entirely replace the Maxis Civic buildings, while also adding a series of new Civic buildings that maintain/enhance the game's functionality.

ID#	CATEGORY	NAME	MAIN MODEL	CREATOR	REWARD?
4.1.1	4.1 Civics - Police	Sheriff's Station	Sheriff Office and Jail	Onlyplace4
4.1.2	4.1 Civics - Police	Small Police Station	9 Rue de Stade	Vnaoned
4.1.3	4.1 Civics - Police	Medium Police Station	Elementary School	Vnaoned	Yes
4.1.4	4.1 Civics - Police	Large Police Station	Bathurst St Police Station	Mattb325	Yes
4.1.5	4.1 Civics - Police	Prison	Thompson Memorial Hospital	Mattb325
4.2.1	4.2 Civics - Fire	Volunteer Fire Department	Fire Station Number 2	JBSimio
4.2.2	4.2 Civics - Fire	Small Fire Station	Bernsen Falls Fire Station	CP
4.2.3	4.2 Civics - Fire	Medium Fire Station	Pyrmont Fire Station	Mattb325	Yes
4.2.4	4.2 Civics - Fire	Large Fire Station	Eastern Hill Fire Station	Mattb325	Yes
4.3.1.1	4.3 Civics - Education	Small Elementary School	Little Red School House	JBSimio
4.3.1.2	4.3 Civics - Education	Large Elementary School	Handley Elementary	JBSimio	Yes
4.3.2.1	4.3 Civics - Education	Small High School	St Helena High School	CP
4.3.2.2	4.3 Civics - Education	Large High School	Central High School	JBSimio	Yes
4.3.3	4.3 Civics - Education	College	Eddy Hall	Mattb325	Yes
4.3.4.1	4.3 Civics - Education	University	University of Clayhurst Pack	JBSimio	Yes
4.3.4.2	4.3 Civics - Education	School of the Arts	University of Clayhurst Pack	JBSimio	Yes
4.3.4.3	4.3 Civics - Education	School of Business	University of Clayhurst Pack	JBSimio	Yes
4.3.4.4	4.3 Civics - Education	School of Engineering	University of Clayhurst Pack	JBSimio	Yes
4.3.4.5	4.3 Civics - Education	School of Medicine	University of Clayhurst Pack	JBSimio	Yes
4.3.5	4.3 Civics - Education	Private School	Bourke St Public School	Mattb325	Yes
4.3.6.1	4.3 Civics - Education	Small Library	Thwackmore Elementary	CP
4.3.6.2	4.3 Civics - Education	Large Library	Briggsbury Station	CP	Yes
4.3.6.3	4.3 Civics - Education	Central Library	Leugom Inc	Debussyman	Yes
4.3.7.1	4.3 Civics - Education	Museum	Lakehouse	Mattb325	Yes
4.3.7.2	4.3 Civics - Education	Museum of Natural History	Odeon Theater	Porkissimo	Yes
4.3.7.3	4.3 Civics - Education	Theater	Her Majesty's Theatre	Mattb325	Yes
4.3.7.4	4.3 Civics - Education	Art Gallery	NYBT Metropolitan Club	Seraf	Yes
4.3.7.5	4.3 Civics - Education	Concert Hall	Winterton Opera House	Debussyman	Yes
4.4.1	4.4 Civics - Medical	Doctor's Office	Holland Park House	Mattb325
4.4.2	4.4 Civics - Medical	Hospital	Greek Revival Hospital	CP	Yes
4.4.3	4.4 Civics - Medical	Health Resort	Taunton State Hospital	Mattb325	Yes
4.5.1.1	4.5 Civics - Parks	Village Square	N/A		Yes
4.5.1.2	4.5 Civics - Parks	Town Square			Yes
4.5.1.3	4.5 Civics - Parks	City Square	City Hall Park Fountain	Seraf	Yes
4.5.2.1	4.5 Civics - Parks	Fairgrounds	N/A	N/A	Yes
4.5.2.2	4.5 Civics - Parks	Botanical Gardens	Kew Gardens Set	Seraf	Yes
4.5.2.3	4.5 Civics - Parks	Menagerie	Zoo Props	Maxis	Yes
4.5.2.4	4.5 Civics - Parks	World Exposition			Yes
4.5.3.1	4.5 Civics - Parks	Ballpark	N/A
4.5.3.2	4.5 Civics - Parks	Civic Arena			Yes
4.5.3.3	4.5 Civics - Parks	Minor League Stadium			Yes
4.5.3.4	4.5 Civics - Parks	Major League Stadium			Yes
4.6.1.1	4.6 Civics - Reward	Small Town Hall	Main St Brewster, NY	Mattb325	Yes
4.6.1.2	4.6 Civics - Reward	Mayor's House	Mt Pleasant Mansion	Mattb325	Yes
4.6.1.3	4.6 Civics - Reward	Large Town Hall	Mattb325 Courthouse	Mattb325	Yes
4.6.1.4	4.6 Civics - Reward	City Hall	Old NYPD Headquarters	Mattb325	Yes
4.6.1.5	4.6 Civics - Reward	Post Office	Smalltown USA Post Office	JBSimio	Yes
4.6.1.6	4.6 Civics - Reward	Central Post Office	Chicago Post Office	CP	Yes
4.6.1.7	4.6 Civics - Reward	Courthouse	Old Delaware County Courthouse	Mattb325	Yes
4.6.1.8	4.6 Civics - Reward	Hall of Records	Waringah Council Chambers	Mattb325	Yes
4.6.2.1	4.6 Civics - Reward	House of Worship #1	Gloribee Chapel	CP	Yes
4.6.2.2	4.6 Civics - Reward	House of Worship #2	Medium Brick Church	Simgoober	Yes
4.6.2.3	4.6 Civics - Reward	House of Worship #3	UK Village Church	Gascooker	Yes
4.6.2.4	4.6 Civics - Reward	House of Worship #4	Second Empire Church	Mattb325	Yes
4.6.2.5	4.6 Civics - Reward	House of Worship #5	Chapel of the Assumption	Mattb325	Yes
4.6.2.6	4.6 Civics - Reward	House of Worship #6			Yes
4.6.2.7	4.6 Civics - Reward	Small Cemetery	N/A	N/A	Yes
4.6.2.8	4.6 Civics - Reward	Medium Cemetery	N/A	N/A	Yes
4.6.2.9	4.6 Civics - Reward	Large Cemetery	N/A	N/A	Yes
4.6.3.1	4.6 Civics - Reward	Farmer's Market	N/A	N/A	Yes
4.6.3.2	4.6 Civics - Reward	Market Hall	Flower Market	Gascooker	Yes
4.6.3.3	4.6 Civics - Reward	Large Market Hall	Kingston Market	Gascooker	Yes
4.6.3.4	4.6 Civics - Reward	Chamber of Commerce	Northern Trust Bank	Jasoncw	Yes
4.6.3.5	4.6 Civics - Reward	Convention Hall	Coopers Hall	Mattb325	Yes
4.6.3.6	4.6 Civics - Reward	Stock Exchange	Stock Exchange	Maxis	Yes
4.6.4.1	4.6 Civics - Reward	Weekly Newspaper	Heters Music Store	JBSimio	Yes
4.6.4.2	4.6 Civics - Reward	Daily Newspaper	Audubon Building	Don Miguel	Yes
4.6.5.1	4.6 Civics - Reward	Stables			Yes
4.6.5.2	4.6 Civics - Reward	Riding School			Yes
4.6.5.3	4.6 Civics - Reward	Racetrack			Yes
4.6.5.4	4.6 Civics - Reward	Country Club			Yes
4.6.5.5	4.6 Civics - Reward	Private Club	NYBT University Club of New York	Seraf	Yes
4.6.6.1	4.6 Civics - Reward	Lumber Co. Logging Site	N/A	N/A	Yes
4.6.6.2	4.6 Civics - Reward	Lumber Co. Sawmill	MTP Sawmill	Pegasus	Yes
4.6.6.3	4.6 Civics - Reward	Lumber Co. Yard	N/A	N/A	Yes
4.6.6.3	4.6 Civics - Reward	Lumber Co. Offices			Yes

As might be expected, a number of these are intended as reward chains. I've got a number of the reward requirements marked down, but that column created formatting issues, so I've left it out.

I'm about 50% of my way through the databases for RCI buildings, Utilities, and Transportation buildings, though there might be a few hard-to-fill gaps for RCI. Also spending a lot more time in the iLive Reader to get a better feel for modding.

[thingfishs 416]

On 2/15/2020 at 3:06 AM, BartonThinks said:

But it turns out it's hard finding high-quality models that share the same approximate scale -- who knew!

It sure is - mismatched scale can be frustrating. In case you weren't aware, @cogeo created an awesome tool that (among other things) allows you to adjust the size of rendered models (which can go a long way towards correcting apparent scale issues). For me it's now an essential fine tuning tool to make my cities have acceptable visual uniformity.

Good luck with your project.

SC4 Model Tweaker

[BartonThinks 3,416]

7 minutes ago, thingfishs said:

It sure is - mismatched scale can be frustrating. In case you weren't aware, @cogeo created an awesome tool that (among other things) allows you to adjust the size of rendered models (which can go a long way towards correcting apparent scale issues). For me it's now an essential fine tuning tool to make my cities have acceptable visual uniformity.

Good luck with your project.

SC4 Model Tweaker

Thanks! I actually just got around to using the Tweaker last week, and it's an amazing little tool. My only concern is whether I'd still be able to share any files I create through the STEX or LEX if I'm rescaling models. I feel like that puts me in a tricky spot.

I actually posted a thread about this problem yesterday on the custom content forum re: SPAM crops, which I love the look of, but which are scaled way out of proportion with the rest of the game: https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/759308-spam-crop-sizes/

[thingfishs 416]

6 minutes ago, BartonThinks said:

My only concern is whether I'd still be able to share any files I create through the STEX or LEX if I'm rescaling models. I feel like that puts me in a tricky spot.

That changes things - it has been my understanding that you can't modify models and still have them linked as a dependency (but I've been away for some time and I don't want to definitively say that it technically can't be done).

Ah well, then I would suggest plundering turbosquid/cgtrader etc for era appropriate models. Have you had any experience with gmax/3DS Max?

 

 

(P.S: I once attempted something similar, but medieval related. Multiple HDD crashes later, the only files that I can see remaining (other than the automata modifier - which I can see you don't need) are these two houses. They may be too removed architecturally - but also may be of interest. I would make plenty of adjustments if possible, but the project files are all long gone - they are what they are...).

Let me know if you want a copy.

[BartonThinks 3,416]

30 minutes ago, thingfishs said:

That changes things - it has been my understanding that you can't modify models and still have them linked as a dependency (but I've been away for some time and I don't want to definitively say that it technically can't be done).

Ah well, then I would suggest plundering turbosquid/cgtrader etc for era appropriate models. Have you had any experience with gmax/3DS Max?

As far as I know, if I rescale models with the Model Tweaker, it effectively rewrites the entire model file, which would mean that I would have to upload the model as an entirely separate file. That would mean getting the authors' permission, and I don't want to rely on that.

I've thought about BATing my own props or models, especially for some specialty buildings/props (like a turn-of-the-century baseball park). But with the learning curve I'm already facing re: modding + the time it would take to generate all of the required lots, I'm just not sure it's possible.

Please feel free to send along those models. I'm could see them working for some urban, low-wealth alleyways. Not sure if I'd be able to match them up with compatible models, but happy to have them in my library.

[BartonThinks 3,416]

As for those screenshots...

 

Overall, pretty happy with how these turned out. There are 8 lots that use the Maxis NY Cottages and 2 lots that use the  Maxis Chicago Cabin.

The lots need a bit more variety in terms of the fences, I think. The lot that's cut into two perfect squares looks particularly rough. Meanwhile, the two lots curved/angled fences stand out in a good way. Should also probably adjust the placement of the cottages themselves. I think I'd like to keep the setbacks consistent, but I might not have the houses centered.

Otherwise, the scale is better, the homes feel more appropriate to the time and place, and the overall balance/variety of the lots seems right (or close to it). Also generally happy with the slope tolerance of the lots, though I see the hills are swallowing up my pumpkins in the autumn screenshot...

Will probably spend some time tweaking this set, but hopefully I'll have them in good shape by the next batch. After that, I'll need to make some 1x3 versions, and then I can move onto some Stage 2 R$ lots using CP's Small Houses.

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Did a bit of research before taking another pass at these lots. Based on what I found, the yards needed to be a bit "busier" to reflect the rural and working class conditions for this period. Adjusting the cottages so that they're slightly off-center also gave me a little more space to add details. Really happy with the overall results. I'm planning to mod the RFR maize so that the corn is seasonal along with the rest of the crops/foliage, but otherwise, I think I'm ready to mark these lots finished.

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Finished up those 1x3 lots a few days ago. Have been tinkering with some stage 1 CS$ lots in the meantime to see how they pair up with the residential lots. I'm sure I'll tinker with these some more, but I'm liking the overall effect so far.

 

[thingfishs 416]

Looking good. It all fits well enough scale-wise, nice lotting - I like the overall effect, I'll be interested to see how this project develops.

Oh, I forgot to send you those buildings - I'll do that now.

(A fellow Cohen brothers fan I assume).

 

[Jasoncw 11,840]

I'm happy to see that work is progressing.

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Bit of a catch-all update. Below we have a few more stage 1 CS$ lots, a volunteer fire station, a mix of 1x2 and 1x3 stage 1 R$ lots, plus a 4x4 stage 1 ID lot that I've been toying with that's meant to represent a tannery. The tannery lot still needs work, and I'm still toying around with the textures on the CS lots (both the base texture and the alleyway running behind the shops).

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Some more experiments with ID lots. The industrial section here's been grown using 3 anchor lots, 4 mech lots, and 4 outbuilding lots. I did a little light demolishing, but nothing here is plopped. Still pretty far from a finished product. I'll probably redo most of these lots from scratch, and I need to avoid some of the weird gaps and cluttered areas that this batch has. But I'm pretty happy with the overall effect.

 

[BartonThinks 3,416]

I've put off doing this for a while, but I decided to run a test on having props update from one era to the next.

To do that, I created a set of three test prop/texture packs. Each prop pack contains the same prop files, but for certain props in each pack, the resource key is set to a blank model. That way, certain props only show up when a specific pack is in the plugins folder. Similarly, certain textures only appear in certain packs.

I then created a test lot using the props/textures in these packs. Below is how the lot looks in the PIM-X Lot Editor with each prop/texture pack.

I wanted to test out a few different things here.

• First, I had the idea of having flora props grow over time, hence the pine tree in the front left corner.
• Second, I wanted to have the lots "evolve"over time, so I had the shed in the backyard switch from a ramshackle structure to something a bit bigger and more solid.
• Third, and most importantly, was parking. There are a number of lots where I can get away without adding vehicles, driveways, etc. But on other lots (like sprawling R$$$ mansions), a an 1875 lot is going to stick out like a sore thumb if it survives to 1975.

Overall, I was pretty happy with how things worked out in the PIM-X editor. But when I tested the lot out in the game, ran into an issue with the pine tree in the front left corner. For some reason, the mid-sized and large-sized pine trees show up in every test. I can't figure out why they're showing up. They have unique group and instance IDs, so there shouldn't be a conflict with the original props. I've double-checked to make sure that their resource keys point to a blank model when they're supposed to be invisible. But for whatever reason, they're always there.

Another possible issue, which didn't occur to me until I tried testing this lot in-game, is the strain that this might put on the game when it's loading. I'm not super familiar with the way that the game saves and loads data, so I'm unclear on whether switching the models for a ton of props all at once wouldn't cause serious issues or risk a CTD, especially in larger cities.

I'm a little bit concerned about this last point, since it could really limit what I'm hoping to do with this project. 

[BartonThinks 3,416]

I'm busy going back and remastering my existing lots using era-adaptive textures and props, so not much new stuff right now. In the meantime, I've been testing out the existing lots by creating some smaller late 19th century towns. The farms in this screenshot aren't era-appropriate, but everything else has been developed with the lots from this thread.

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Okay, so I finally managed a proof of concept lot that works as intended. This took a while, but it forced me to really familiarize myself with how prop exemplars work, which I needed to get around to at one point or another.

The actual process for creating this lot was pretty intensive and a little bit exhausting. Rather than using overlay textures, the lot uses custom base textures that I created in Photoshop, using elements of textures from Maxis and BSC Mega Textures CP Vol 1. I created three sets of textures and assigned them the same ID numbers. By swapping out the base texture files in my plugins folder, I can update the textures on the lot for each era.

The props took significantly more work. I created a new exemplar for every prop on the lot. I then created a second exemplar for most of the props, where the resource key points to a blank model (0x5AD0E817,0x0E274FB2,0x64560000). When I have the regular exemplar for the prop in my plugins folder, the prop appears on the lot in-game. When I swap out the regular exemplar for the blank exemplar, the prop disappears. By using the right mix of exemplars, I can control which props appear at any given time, allowing the props on the lot to evolve over time.

A lot of these props are RTK4's, so I made sure to maintain their RTK4 status when creating the blank exemplars. As @rsc204 pointed out in a separate thread, this was necessary to avoid triggering prop pox.

Also, a couple of tiny notes on some decisions I made designing this lot:

• For my own sanity, I've decided to skip having flora "grow" on the lots. I like the concept, but I don't think the effect would be that noticeable during gameplay, and there was just too much work involved in creating all the new RTK4 exemplars. It also meant a bunch more props on the lots, and I'm already concerned about how much strain the existing prop-load will create for the game.
• In a similar vein, I've limited how often most props change. For the first batch of lots, I've decided to create one set of lots with three phases (1875-1925, 1925-1975, 1975-2020), and a second set of lots with two phases (1875-1950, 1950-2020). That means around 90% of the era-specific props will stick around for 50 or 75 years at a time. There will be a few exceptions (vehicles, for example, will change every 25 years), but most of the props will stick to the phases.
• The main concern at this point is the volume of props required on each lot for this to work. This is a 1x2 lot, and it uses more than 140 props. That's partly due to the number of seasonal props that I've used, some of which are small and repeated several times (namely, the tomato, strawberry, and cabbage props used in the garden areas). I expect that most of the lots will require fewer props. But I'm still a bit worried about how these lots will impact game performance when used across an entire city.

Anyway, enough preamble. Here's a look at the proof of concept lot, which has three phases...

1875 to 1925

 

1925 to 1975

 

1975 to 2020

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Quick update.

• I've re-named the project to STEAM (Sands of Time Era-Adaptive Mod) so that the name isn't region specific. I'll be proceeding with an American theme, but I didn't want to handcuff myself to one country.
• Now that I've ironed out the kinks with the props, the lots are coming along rather easily. I'm trying to a get a large batch of stage 1, 2, and 3 R$ lots done together, since these lots all use similar props.
• After seeing  @CT14 attempt something similar with an avenue override, I've started work on a dirt road prototype that would override the games main road network. The concept behind the dirt roads is pretty simple -- I've applied PEG's dirt street textures at 50% opacity over the Maxis dirt texture. Wealths 0 and 7 use a ragged edge based on PEG's original roads (not entirely thrilled with the results -- will need to work on these edges). Wealths 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are designed to include sidewalks. The picture below shows the end result. I've included PEG's dirt street on the left for reference.

• I'm still trying to figure out the best way to handle road/street textures for the 1875-1900 period. If I use dirt for the main road network, it might be hard to distinguish streets from roads. It might make more sense to use gravel/macadam for roads and then use dirt for streets.

[CT14 2,486]

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I can foresee some difficulties finding the STEAM project online... I liked Sands of Time.

The roads look fantastic. I'd use this override for sure.

[BartonThinks 3,416]

47 minutes ago, CT14 said:

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I can foresee some difficulties finding the STEAM project online... I liked Sands of Time.

The roads look fantastic. I'd use this override for sure.

Hmm, might be a good point about finding the project. STEAM is probably less search engine friendly than STAMP, at least for a game like SC4...

Good to know the dirt roads would have a market outside of my own plugins folder.

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Well, it took a stupid amount of work to reach this point, but here we are: a full neighborhood of Era-Adaptive Lots...

Some quick notes about the results...

• I'm 99% happy with the way these turned out, but the dirt driveways need a bit of work. The tire tracks are spaced out just a little too far apart. Not as noticeable with PEG's pickup trucks, but they look a little off with the cars from CT14 and Mike Seith (which seem to be a better fit scale-wise for most in-game vehicles).
• The vehicles used in these screenshots are placeholders, so there's not a ton of variety. Also, in-game they're RTK1 props, so they're in the driveway all day long. I'll be creating a larger set of timed vehicle props later on in the project.
• I've made the lots as slope-friendly as I could manage. Most of the fences are made out of 4m length sections, rather than 8m or 16m, so that they conform to slopes more easily. That said, the wire fences were only available in 8m lengths, and some of the other props have trouble on steep slopes. I suppose that's probably unavoidable, though.
• Going back over my previous lots, I've noticed that I'm using a lot more foliage than before. I kind of like the effect, especially for stage 1 lots meant for rural areas, but I'm wondering if all of the trees are a bit overboard.

Finally, I'm not planning to release these lots for a little while, but I'd be very happy to have them tested by other players. So if anyone's interested in trying these in-game, let me know. And if anyone has any feedback or tips on how to improve these lots, I'd be happy to hear suggestions. 

 

[CT14 2,486]

Great work! I was just on the point of removing all the cars from the Cycledogg/SimCoug Relot Cycledogg lots, but I'd be happy to test what you've got instead!

[BartonThinks 3,416]

Thanks to some very helpful advice from @rivit, I was able to resolve a couple of issues that I was having with the dirt road override, namely: a) achieving natural shoulders on the unzoned roads, and b) getting PEG's dirt streets to conform to some of the curves used by Maxis's roads.

Note: I shouldn't take too much credit for the shoulders used for the unzoned roads in the screenshot below. They were using some alpha maps that Rivit sent via PM. I used them to test some tips that he recommended. I plan to play around a bit to see if I can achieve a similar effect on my own

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One tip from Rivit that I'm particularly excited about is using Bender to achieve curves, like the 90 degree corner in the screenshot above.

Maxis's roads have soft corners but PEG's dirt street corners are fairly angular, so I was having trouble getting them to match up. Bender made this an absolute breeze.

This also means that I should be able to create a narrow version of the dirt roads to override the main street network, if I want to go that route.

 

Edit: Here's how the shoulders turned out when I created my own. Not as nice as Rivit's (no surprise there), but acceptable, I hope?

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