dolsson

JuanGG, I start my cities just as you describe. I think the road network is the most important factor in the overall appearance of a city and I want to get the major elements right--across the map--before I start placing buildings. I does hit you in the pocketbook, but I have no problem taking an extra $500,000 before I turn on the game. Then things get going quite quickly and you can get into positive cash flow.

When you are on this page: http://www.file-upload.net/download-2310284/mod_trees_01.patch.html Click on the word "download" next to the diagonal arrow that hatchet999 describes. Attached is a screenie of the page, with an arrow pointing to the DL link. Hope this helps! d PS: Unfortunately, this does not seem to work in CXL 2011. Maybe we'll see an update?

This is absolutely awesome! I just DLd CitiesXL 2011 but I've always been unhappy about the lack of custom content. Custom content--using stuff made by others and making stuff myself--gave SC4 so much more longevity than it would otherwise have. I thought no one would be able to customize CXL. I'm so happy to see these results! I hope that momentum will build on this effort. At this point, it seems too complex for me to figure out how to customize, but I hope some clever people will put together some editing tools and that it'll become easier for community members to share their work with others. min091162, thanks again and keep up the good work. D

IMO, Cities XL is inferior on every front to SimCity 4, except that 1) Cities are not so tied to 45 and 90 degree angles and 2) the graphics/3D are amazing. That said, those two factors alone have been enough to keep me playing, for now. CXL's graphics/3D allow me to actually get "into" my city and move around in the way that I always wished I could in SC4. I am hopeful that, eventually, enough talented modders will take a run at this game and bring to it the sort of improvements that they have to SC4. I agree the Monte Cristo has not really made a success of CXL, but there was a lot of griping about EA in the early days of SC4, too. Ultimately, I think it's the fans, not the manufacturer, that make a success or failure of a sim game. Then again, I know next to nothing about modding and maybe this game is not as "moddable" as SC4. For my part, I'll keep plugging away in solo mode when time allows, and watch for developments on the forums here at Simtropolis.

I really like the sedate pace of your journal. Things look very pretty, even in the early stages. Keep up the good work. There are so few CitiesXL journals, each one is important for teaching others. Thanks!

Wow, this thread is great;I hope it's not dead. I'm brand new to CitiesXL and am seeing some great ideas here. I'm especially interested in uniform and realistic suburbs and there are some great developments here. Keep up the good work!

Another problem: Even when the bridge spans the river, I get a "bridge incomplete" error when I try to end the bridge or run it to the edge of map. I think I have some ignorance about road-to-bridge connections. I wish there were guides available for Cities XL like there were for SimCity 4 when I began to play it. Maybe, if I figure this stuff out, I can put together a walkthrough or guide like the ones that I found so valuable on Simtropolis when I played SimCity. I think that Cities XL is still too new, or there are too few people playing it, for such guides to be available.

I am having trouble, too, but I can do the height adjustment. It's actually done by shift-mouse. If you click a starting point on the shore, then hold the shift key and move your mouse forward or back over the point, the height of the foundation adjusts. I can't tell from your post if you already knew that, but maybe this info will help. My problem is that, regardless of the adjustment I just described, the height difference from one shore to another seems to prevent me from building a bridge. I'd love to hear suggestions on how to resolve that problem.

BlasterNT: Ello, just to let you know a tut on creating waterfalls: https://www.sc4devotion.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=35&topic=46.0 Is anybody familiar with this tute and can you update the SC4devotion link? Thanks, d

I'm interested in BATting some shrubs to put along a riverbank but I cannot find any good tutorials for making trees or shrubs in GMAX. I can't use LE props because I want to offset them (unless that can be done in LE rather than gmax?). So can anyone point me to some instructions for BATting flora? Thanks, D

One of your posts, elsewhere, SimFox, gave me the idea of taking some screenies from the game and using them to create a new texture like what I want. Then I can use that. D

Is there a way to access the textures used for the in-game trees? I'd like to get my shrubbery to blend better with those trees and the best way I can think of is to use the same texture or be able to compare it to come up with something close to it?

tunston, What you say about peg's lots may be true, but they still do what I'm looking for. Does anyone know how it's done? I think maybe the props are saved as a foundation or something. I should probably just post this at simpeg.com....

Props Below Ground Level Hi, all, I am working on some overhanging props--they will hang over the edge of the lot. I want to lower them below the ground level of the lot they are plopped on. If you picture, for example, PEGs wharf lots with piers that go down into the water, you'll get the idea. I know how to raise and lower props in LotEditor, but I cannot lower them below ground level. Is there a way to get around this?

Thanks for the replies, all, at least the ones on-topic. I have seen many props on STEX, but as I said, I can't use 'em because I need to do offset rendering for my project. So I'm working on BATs in GMAX. I checked TurboSquid, but the gmax models available are lousy; maybe the expensive sets are okay, but I can't spend $60 for a little project like this. I have seen one "billboard style" tutorial, which I may try, but I really want to go the polygon route. SimFox, thanks for the links; they look helpful. I did find some models on STEX by kd5rax, but I'm hoping I can do better. If I make some progress with this, I'll share some pics of my efforts. Thanks again. PS: I'd be tempted to use the trees in the "trees" link, but the models are .max format so I cannot use them in BAT/gmax.

I also like the realism of a slope mod and for eye pleasing, change the water color with a water mod and maybe a terrain mod to add a few snowcaps. And another nice feature of the NAM is that you can modify traffic/commute settings if you wish.

Yeah, I was afraid this was unclear without a pic. I've placed one at the end. Also, I wonder if you can expand on: "Who made the props, did you make them yourself? If so you may need to make them slightly bigger than the lot and then modify the occupant size property to a slightly smaller value. This is what simgoober had to do with his canal models to get them with no visible joins. " Yes, I made the props, based on SG's gmax model of the canal. But I didn't know about making them bigger. I don't think SG's model is oversized, although it uses modified LODs that are smaller than the model (that feature has been driving me crazy as I create models for my larger lots). Take a look if you're interested: Canal Model In his description of the model, SG says: "The model is bigger than the LODs so BAT "sees" beyond it, which helps minimize seams." That much I understand, but I didn't anticipate resizing anything later on. Anyway, I'd really like to hear more about any part of the process for SG's canal lots, like this "occupnant size property." I am a real newbie when it comes to GMAX, PropMGR, LE, iLive Reader, etc. I've been using them all, but clumsily. As you can see, the dock and wall show where the adjacent props are not quite aligned. (You can't see it on the near side of the dock because--as I've just realized--the LODs of the adjacent water lot overlap the edge of the dock; there's the next item on the To Do list. Thanks for any additional advice. At this point, the arrow keys seem to be the tool that I need to use, and just go through a bit of trial and error, on each and every new lot....

Precisely Placing Props I am working on some marina lots. Some have sections of dock that must line up just right. I am producing BATs with the docks in the same place, but I think they are just a bit misaligned after I place them in LotEditor. I other words, a horizontally aligned dock on one lot does not line up with a similar horizontally aligned dock in another lot for the set. Any suggestions? I notice that when I choose a 2x2 prop to add to a 2x2 lot in LotEditor, it appears perfectly aligned over my lot, but once I move the mouse pointer to click it in place, it shifts over to the pointer--so it's no longer perfectly aligned on the lot. I have tried to use the enter key instead of a mouse click, but no effect. So I have done my best to put the prop back in the right spot, but I am getting just a bit of misalignment when I place lots next to each other in the game. Specifically, walls and docks that should move smoothly across lot transitions have a bit of a jog. Help, please?

I will consider the texturing once I get a lot in game with multiple boats, but one thing I notice about sailboat marinas is that it's really a big expanse of white fiberglass, so I do want a lot of bright white. I do see what you mean, though. It's almost like there's glare off the top of the boats in the pic. But, again, I'll see how it looks once I get a bunch of the boats in game together. It'll be easy enough to change that texture later.

I've finished BATting two more boats. Sorry for the fuzzy pic, it's just a screenie from gmax/BAT: At this point, my work is going to have more to do with the BSC canals, so I'm going to continue the discussion at the BSC canals thread. And, I don't know, maybe I should start a new thread... Regards, D

Thanks for the compliments. It's crazy how hard I had to work to get such a simple-looking result. I textured that boat today, along with a couple of variations. I'll post a pic of them tomorrow, placed on the first of my SG/BSC canal marina lots. Then I have to work up a few more boats for variety's sake. If anyone can point me to some line drawings of boats, it'd be a great help. Something to show me the footprint and profile of the boat. These are the ones I used for the boat pictured above: UPDATE: Okay, here is an in-game pic of a marina piece with boat included: I'm having a problem, though, in that another version I made--one that had lit windows--did not light up in game. It looked good in the BAT/gmax preview, but no lights in game. I think I've read about some requirements for BATted lights to work in game, but I don't remember them. Any suggestions? Regards, D

Thanks for the encouragement. I think I'm getting the hang of it. Here's my first boat, not yet textured but otherwise ready. Now if the texturing goes okay, I think I'm cooking with gas. One thing that confuses me: even after I apply a texture, it does not always show on the model. Do I have to do something to render it or something else to make the texture show? When I applied textures to the mast and sail cover, they showed up right away, as shown in the picture. Some other textures, though, just show up as a new color, not the actual texture. D