20huskies Gets Schooled in BAT/LOT

[20huskies 4,693]

I saw the recommendations for other posts to start a thread not only to seek help in bettering my BATs and LOTs, but also to avoid posting anything too worthless to the exchange.  Constructive criticism welcome.

also is there something else besides gmax that can do the same thing?  It looks like it is no longer around?

[20huskies 4,693]

First basic project, only in LE ... Latte Stone Park (latte stone is an ancient Chamorro foundation footer in Micronesia).  Ruins are preserved or recreated like this in places like Guam.  To get the size right I took some stones and piled them on top of each other but it may be too small to see what they are.  Plan is to take any feedback and BAT it once I learn how to do that.

[Flann 1,709]

17 hours ago, 20huskies said:

I saw the recommendations for other posts to start a thread not only to seek help in bettering my BATs and LOTs, but also to avoid posting anything too worthless to the exchange.  Constructive criticism welcome.

also is there something else besides gmax that can do the same thing?  It looks like it is no longer around?

Gmax is available at https://www.turbosquid.com/gmax

3ds Max is used by quite a few BATters but, AFAIK only certain older versions work with the BAT scripts and I personally had trouble acquiring one.

Welcome and good luck with your projects, they look good so far.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

At the top of this forum there's a "Getting Started Guide".

Good luck!

[Gn_leugim 853]

let's see those BATs then, feedback will follow

[20huskies 4,693]

ok, BATted the stones so they look better, and put them in a new park.

Any thoughts?

[Gn_leugim 853]

after doing some (fast) research on Latte Stones, I would say they look ok, but maybe the scale is a bit our of place, specially if you consider the sims you see next to them in the lot. 

Also, they had a variety of sizes, maybe that could also be replicated.

What tool/program are you using for making the props? SC4 Plug-in Manager or SC4 PIM Extended? in either cases, I believe you can turn in the shadows, which are at the moment missing.

[20huskies 4,693]

Thanks for the reply.  I agree, the scale is tough because the park I had in mind had them even smaller than the current scale, so I took some license to grow them a little because they were hard to see.  And gotta be honest, I made this as a building.  I don’t know how to create or edit props yet lol ... much to learn!  So far I only thought plug in manager controlled stats and where it showed up in the in game menu.

is there an advantage to either PIM?

[Gn_leugim 853]

both can create props easily. but PIMX is better and is now the standard for creating and editing most things, you should use it instead.

For creating a prop, you just drag the model into the type of prop you want.

[20huskies 4,693]

Ok I tried to add the shadow, both on props as well as the building.  Still looks the same.  Is there a certain height it needs to be for a visible shadow?  I notice the Sims and the park benches (borrowed prop) have no shadow either.

[20huskies 4,693]

Update: I’m still lost on the shadow problem.  In PIM changed the prop to “IsGroundModel=true” (didn’t see an option for the building).  Also put a transparent base in the BAT and extruded both over and under 0.3 to see if either would make the shadows appear.  Next I’ll try a textured base 1 tile squared and see what that does.  Is there something really easy I’m missing?

[Gn_leugim 853]

Sorry for alte reply.

the property to look for is the "is ground model" indeed.

it is described as: " Present if this prop is a ground-based model suitable for demolish fx, shadows, and collision avoidance "

so it should be true and ready to go.

 

 

[20huskies 4,693]

Thanks for the response, not late at all, I appreciate any time you give.  I made it true and still not showing up.  I did switch to True but that wasn’t the issue I guess.  So, I threw a textured tile squared “foundation” underneath and now they’ll appear only for that tile.  Anything beyond those limits still does not display.  I switched from hardware to software in settings and varied the shadow resolution and visual effects.  The only thing that got a shadow was the high shadow setting for software and was a blob over the whole tile.

[20huskies 4,693]

Please ignore my last post.  I tried software/high quality shadows again and this time it took.  Thoughts now that there are shadows?

[Bastet69008 1,102]

Cool  That's a nice first buddy!

[20huskies 4,693]

Hi guys, back asking for more help ... this time I'm trying to create highway signs.  I'm comparing them to the quality of a set I already have and they're too blurry.  Similar in size to the downloaded ones but mine can't be read.  For example, below (mine are the brown signs).   How do I fix this?

[Gn_leugim 853]

I guess the author used HD rendering.

 

I cant find if it is present here in ST, but you canm follow this link to SC4Dev where you can find all the indo you need to start rendering HD.

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=11128.0

[20huskies 4,693]

Thanks, @Gn_leugim ... that seems easy enough.  Do you know how much bigger the files get and how much longer they take?  I assume most BATters have gone this route?  In another test project, the preview render came out like this (can't read the company logo):

 

[20huskies 4,693]

Here it is in game, next to some higher def stuff.  Not too bad, but definitely noticeable.  But reading through the post you provided (thank you again), may not be worth it if zoom 5 is deteriorated to buy zoom 6 fidelity.  Do you have a preference one way or the other?

[Gn_leugim 853]

usully HD is reserved for smaller props that actually need HD larger buildings, they can be rendered in HD, but usually people skip it.

regarding  your bat, you need the roof to have some more detail, texture wise and furniture wise. also, using the standard nightlight planes on this type of buildings, don't produce the best results IMO

[20huskies 4,693]

Ok, thanks for the feedback.  Started adding some detail to the roof.  Gotta be creative because in reality for these shops there is less roof junk than American buildings.

I've been playing around with lighting and illumination and I can't get this balance just right.  I see there is the tutorial to do illumination with Reader but without the pictures loading I'm not figuring out what's not working....I also saw yours but I'm not sure how to map opacity in the right order because it keeps showing blank lights.  So I illuminated these instead but even with a nitelite source it will illuminate brightly during the day.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

The BAT Essentials tutorial is a good one for BATing with gmax.

In this thread there are some tips about nitelites in gmax which I think would be helpful for your situation. I know there are better tutotorials (with pictures) of the techniques in there but I couldn't find them.

[20huskies 4,693]

Thank you @Jasoncw.  I hadn’t found the neon sign one.  I will read through.  Meantime looks like the trick that worked for me was 100% refraction to counter the sunlight so I could keep the brightness at night. I can read the logo now without having to go through Reader, day or night.

but the Neon tutorial probably has a better easier way!  Thanks again!