SPAs Urbanist BAT Thread

[allez l'om 1]

These small urban houses are awesome and the lotting is perfect.

[danielcote 9]

Wow nice residentials. I see you

[spa 970]

Wrightguy: Thanks for the suggestions. I did walk most of the residential streets on the Peninsula. Elliott down to Mecklenburg and around Queen Square and back up Germain. I also walked Douglas Avenue. Didn't have time to get to Mount Pleasent or across to the West Side on thsi visit. I'll definitely hit Mount Pleasent next time as I did go through in the rental car and there are some nice old homes up there. Saint John has so much potential.

Pingangster: Thanks

Twrecks: Yes they're R$$. Between Cycledogg's stuff and mine, there should be a lot of wooden buildings to use in residential areas.

Jasoncw: Alas it's not that simple. Every building actually has a tight lod, but the backs all start at different points. Some have large patios and some don't. So unless I stear clear of touching the backs of any of them, some of the props will inevitable be cut off since some houses have large patios and some don't.

C-Doodlez: The whole thread would be a bit daunting! I know I have definitely improved since those first few bats I made back in Calgary.

Aaron Graham: haha soon I'm looking at getting everything ready for early April. Things have been slow going lately.

Roger: Thanks.

Allez l'om: Thanks

Danielcote: Indeed. Progress has come through fits and starts, but I'm back and working on bats again these days 

So I have a few minor tweaks to make to the Halifax Boxes, but they're essentially done at this point. I have gone back to working on Victoria Hall. The modelling is now done and I'm onto texturing. Below is how it has turned out.

I'm planning on at least one colour variation, a dark blue/purple since that should fit with the roof texture, white trim and shingles. I might try another colour or two, but I'm not looking to get too bogged down with endless variations on this one

[art128 4,618]

awesome start on the texturing !

[Amthaak 1,501]

Can't wait to DL this master piece! It's really beautiful! Do you have a HD render Pic?

[jacqulina 162]

excellent work

[Simbourgeois 139]

Beautiful, indeed 

Can't wait to see this in my city!

Best regards,

Simbourgeois

Mayor of Belleville

[nofunk 1,933]

Great looking BAT, Sam! Very stately!

[gio10469 24]

Great work with Victoria Hall!

[madhatter106 3,905]

ZOMG that looks phenomenal!

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

Lovely!

I do think it would look wonderful in white trim though, the blue is a little overpowering. Either way, great to have a beautiful Victorian mansard house/building.

[Cliff794 0]

My Grandmother lived there... that's a beauty of a BAT there spa.

[spa 970]

Art128: Thanks. I'm glad you like it.

Amthaak: It won't be long now! I don't have HD pic. I'm not really impressed with HD. It only shows up on the closest zoom which is basically useless for actually playing the game. Seems like a big increase in file size for little return. I think HD renders should be left to some very specific props.

Jacqulina: Thanks

Simbourgeois: Thanks. I look forward to perhaps seeing it in Belleville 

Nofunk: Thanks. Stately is definitely the word for this one. It's by far the best building on Gottingen Street, although there are a few other beauties inside the Dockyard and just off Gottigen farther North. The bottom end of the street fell apart in the 1970s, but seems to have turned a corner in recent years and is now bouncing back. Similiar story for many inner city main streets across North America from what I gather.

Gio: Thanks

Madhattar: Thanks

Todd: hmm I thought it was white trim! White is so tough to nail. Too white doesn't fit the game at all. A blue or peachy tinge seems to be what SC4's colour pallette requires. I have rendered Victoria Hall so I have some pics of it game below. Maybe the trim looks better against the game's background as opposed to the black void? We really don't have many mansard roofs in Sim City do we? I have toyed with the idea of doing a set similiar to my Halifax boxes except mansard houses based on the 100s that were built in St. John's, Newfoundland following the Great Fire in 1892. Too bad I have too many ideas and photos and not enough time. If only they would pay me to bat!

Cliff: Small world. I think a lot of people's grandmothers lived here since it has been a retirement home for women for well over 100 years. I was reading some history on the building last night and it was actually simply called "the Old Ladies Retirement Home" until the 1970s. Pretty straightforward title

So thanks again everyone for the kind words. I have rendered Victoria Hall and dropped it in game. Below is how it turned out.

You probably won't notice, but I scaled it down by 10%. When I looked at it in relation to my other residential bats, it became obvious that it was a few sizes too big. It'll now fit the rest of my bats. A few words about the lot, what a lot of work it was The lot isn't exactly like the setup for the real building, but it's some what similiar. The block that the real Victoria Hall is on is really narrow so the building actually sprawls across it and is accessible on the back from Creighton Street. Delieveries and parking is provided off of Creighton. Recently, they also installed a garden on the Creighton Street side. My lot is different, but I was inspired by the concept. There is a bit of a trade off with the garden I made though since it'll require a few dependencies (D66, Swi, Cycledogg's props, Cycledogg's textures and BSC Essentials). I'm still thinking of doing a few colour varitions. I have a dark blue one ready. Check it out below.

I don't think it turned out too bad as blue. I'll make a building family out of the two. Any other colour requests? I'm not looking to get into any major rejigging of things so any colour variation has to work with the existing trim and blue steps/foundation. I'm having a tough time picturing any other colours working well in those constraints. While I tinker with that I'll probably get started on the last building in my residential set, my "new" apartment building here on South Street.

Oh and a night shot for the road.

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

I'm a big fan of mansard roofs, especially when you only have a few sprinkled into a neighborhood, they stand out so beautifully. I find myself saving more reference material then I will ever need, there is too much cool architecture out there to capture even a tiny fraction of it, so I feel you r pain

The blue trim looks great on the blue version, however I still think the red one would be much better off with a warm hue rather than a cold one. The red in the walls is close to purple as it is, not to mention the color of the roof, so all in all it is has a really blue appearance (which is odd for a red house). It doesn't look bad, but it seems as though someone put a blue overlay on the entire thing.

By the way, your new apartment is stunning!

[Jean-Mi17 2]

What happen to all this amazing thing ?

[spa 970]

Todd: Thanks. I love my new apartment. It feels good coming home to it each day. It has soul I did alter the red version somewhat. I desaturated it just a touch. It's a small change, but maybe it's a little less stark now.

Jean: They're still around  They'll be released sometime in April.

I have some more progress to report on Victoria Hall. I touched up the red (desaturated it slightly). Below is the before and after.

Before:

After:

It's a small change, but I think it's an improvement. Little less stark in game then before. In addition to the red and blue, I have added an egg shell/grey version that I'm fairly pleased with.

Someone over at Devotion suggested a yellow. I tried yellow, but had difficulty getting it to work. I have ended up with two possible yellows. Check them out below.

Yellow 1

Yellow 2

Any preference or should I just ditch the yellow altogether and stick with the red, grey and dark blue?

[Simbourgeois 139]

I personally like the yellow ones! The second version looks to me a bit more lively, so it gets my vote

Best regards,

Simbourgeois

Mayor of Belleville

[jacqulina 162]

great detail

[_Atticus 10]

Is that a trick question? Because both yellows look exactly the same to me! Maybe I have a sight problem

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

I still think the trim looks way too blue, that's all I can see when I look at these.

I guess there is no pleasing me

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Hm... I didn't want to say it, but I actually felt the same.

*takes cover*  

[Wrightguy0 40]

Go with the second yellow, it looks nice, plus victorian buildings look great with colour

[cubby420 5]

You know spa, I never really noticed on your thread over at devotion, but SimHoTToDDy is totally right...that trim is very blue. I don't even know if its something I don't like, as more color doesn't necessarily look bad, but it is a little distracting now that I think about it.

[spa 970]

Simbourgeois: The yellow has been tweaked to be somewhere in between the two

Jacqulina: Thanks.

Ping: Admittedly, I might have been splitting hairs. I tweaked the yellow a little bit more, but more significantly I adjusted the roof texture. The yellow version now has a brown shingle roof instead of a blackish blue one. That seems to have done the trick.

Todd: haha it seems with this one it's true. The funny thing is when I look at it, it doesn't seem too blue to me at all. Not really anyway. I don't see any significant difference between the trim colour I'm using and what maxis has for whites. I guess we'll agree to disagree on this one!

Twrecks: Yeah batting and texturing can drive you neuratic sometimes that you forget that no one else is going to notice  I went back and did a more significant overhaul by altering the roof texture rather than the yellow.

Wrightguy: Yellow is in. People use to have such a flair for colour. We seem to be getting it back again after the last 50 years of any shade of beige or white was all you could do without being the weird one on the block.

Cubby: Not you too! 

First off I finalized the yellow version of Victoria Hall. I tweaked the yellow just a little bit more, even if it's not that noticeable , and altered the roof shingles to brown. I think it now pasts muster. I'll include it with the other three to give Victoria Hall 4 colour variations. Check it out below.

I also have some news regarding the Halifax Boxes. A friend over at Devotion indicated he wasn't a fan of the communal backyards so I revisted the lots to see what could be done. I tried fencing in each house's yard earlier, but because all the Boxes have different widths, using fence props created some visual screw ups where the fence and house overlap. Check it out below.

I don't think completely fencing the yard looks very good, so I went back and tried fencing them to the farthest point of all the houses. Basically I ran the fences in only as far as the Box with the greatest width so the fencing didn't end up inside any of the houses. The cost of taking this approach is, however, that there will be gaps between the end of the fence and the house.

Not perfect, but not bad. I think the fully fenced version, because of Sim City's limitations, are duds. I may include the partial fenced lots as an option for people. Of course there is always the communal backyard approach which was my first instinct when I encountered the issue.

Any preferences?

My other bit of news in relation to the Halifax Boxes is since I found them so darn cute and fun to make, I decided to go buy one! It's my wife's and my first house. We weren't expecting to be in the real estate market, but a house became available in a neighbourhood over on the Dartmouth side that we really like and we just couldn't resist. The house is beautiful. It is 137 years old and has all the old Victorian features (floors, doors, mouldings and banister) and they are in great condition. It has a working fireplace, clawfoot tub, 3 bedrooms, two decks, a patio and traditional Halifax storm porch. The lot is also really big for a city lot and the house is well situated on it, so we could even add onto it in future if we run out of space and don't want to move. The place is also well located so that we can easily walk to the ferry terminal to get to Halifax (we both work on the waterfront and there is no rush hour on the ferry). It's also only a short distance to a park and lake you can swim in. We're very pleased. It's basically everything we wanted in a house  Now we just have to meet all the conditions (financing etc).

http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=9334596

[Simbourgeois 139]

The roof definitely looks better now
About the fences, I think it's good to have them, so that no neighbour would eat your radishes...
And that's a really nice-looking house you have decided to buy! I especially like that small veranda.

Best regards,
Simbourgeois
Mayor of Belleville

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Hmmm... I think the issues with the full-length fence are totally negligible. They exist on many lots, not too few of which are Maxis' own. Especially on a picture like the one you showed, the overall impression and the liveliness of the entire scene hides those tiny imperfections rather well, and when there are just two or three of these houses, the imperfections will be too sporadic and isolated to be much of a nuisance.

What's more important IMO is that since you are using Cycledogg's fences anyway, you should switch to his shaded props. As the (visible) problematic spots are all on the shaded side, a shaded fence prop will help to make them more subtle. A bit of shining white fence may be noticed when it appears at a particularly dark spot, but if the fenc itself is in the shadow, then it will not stand out that much.

[_Atticus 10]

Wow congratulations Spa! I think we are all envious of the little jewel you have got yourself there.

[spa 970]

Simbourgeois: Thanks, but only fraggles eat your radishes!  We've very delighted with the house and my wife loves that veranda. She's very against my 10 year plan to build onto the side of it, even if it involves taking apart the veranda piece by piece and reassembling it in the backyard. We just got the financing today so it looks like all systems go!

Twrecks: Thanks for the comment. I ditched the white fences for cycledogg's brown versions and I brought in the shaded options. I think they blend in much better. Check them out below.

Ping: Thanks! I'm feeling very fortunate. Halifax is awesome in that people of moderate income can still afford some pretty nice spots.

So I have an update on the Halifax Boxes. After all the advice on here, at Devotion and the BSC board, I went back and changed the fences. They're still from Cycledogg's prop pack, but they're the brown version, which seems to blend in much better. Check it out below:

I think we have a winner. The brown fecning is almost the same colour as many of my wooden decks! There is still one thing to resolve. SC4 has its limitations and one of them is shadowing and props. Cycledogg, cleverly, made a work around with several of his props by rendering one side in the shade. I have used his shaded props on my revised lots, but there is still one question, what do I do with the fences on the right side of each lot. I could use the shaded brown fence prop, but then it would look odd at corners like so:

The alternative is to use the unshaded prop, but then when two lots grow next to each other, the unshaded will be somewhat visible from behind the shaded fence on the neighbouring lot like so:

So which graphics limitation would you rather live with? I'm thinking seeing some brighter coloured wood showing through is less distracting then having the really dark fences show up on the corner where there is nothing visibly to shade it. Thoughts?

[mightygoose 92]

first option,. mainly because i can't spot the issue your referring too, after a good five minutes. thats good enough for me XD

[Jasoncw 11,933]

I'd go with the shaded props for all of the fences. I don't think the end fence is much of a problem, because I think a lot of the time blocks will be capped with a commercial building, or a corner residential building. Or, if someone puts a lot of those buildings in a row like in your screenshot, there is only at most 2 fences that would be unusually shaded, while every other fence in between the back yards would have the overlapping shaded/unshaded problem.

Is there a link explaining shaded props? I knew Cycledogg made a set of them but I never read how they were made.