bdswim

I'm working on a new train, a futuristic looking one. (Sort of boxy [but rounded edges] and has a small bubble at either end. It has no wheels (none that can be seen by the player anyway). I made a simple 512x512 pattern that should be followed to make a texture for the train. This is just an example texture, a pattern for a new texture. This one's too simple (and/or cruddy) to be used in-game, and my vehicle textures typically look like crud, so can someone else try this? The co-ordinates specified below are for the texture I showed (I've already UVW mapped the passenger car). Pattern: @ X (- pos), Y(| pos). Width, Height: Purpose @ 0, 0. 512x100: Roof @ 0, 100. 512x200: Side (visible side) @ 0, 300. 212x212: Door (between cars) @ 212, 300. 212x212: Front (on the engine only) @ 424, 300. 88x88: Hook (holds trains together) @ 424, 388. 88x88: Eye (hole for hook) Windows and the door don't need to be the same shape, but don't forget that the edges of the train are rounded slightly so don't make the doors too wide. (Don't forget to add headlights! [like I did ])

The smaller underground (on the right) entry would make a good low-capacity subway entrance, in case you want a subway that you can plop on a road/1-way road/avenue instead of it taking up ground space (space is money in the case of a colony).

Evillions: The parking garage is mostly underground rather than all above ground. That reduces the possibility of a blowout in the garage. (Only what's above ground can blow out rapidly, even though there might be an air leak underground, but no explosion and it can't shred the building apart) Not only that, but the ground also helps support the weight of the cars to keep the building from collapsing. Updated my parking garage. As you can see, I added arrows, lines, more hazard stripes, cars, light rigs (those black things stuck in the windows [they are so strong that they can hold 4 lights and a sign up!]), and as I just revealed, I also added a sign, even though you can't see it all that well here. I changed both the wall texture and the floor texture.

Here's a tutorial on how to make conditional buildings (rewards as well as buildings that can be built more than once). Requirements: My reward package and iLive Reader http://www.mediafire.com/?o2ryttjntz1 Warning: Whenever you edit a file in iLive Reader, ALWAYS apply the changes before switching to a different file. Otherwise you'll lose ALL of the changes. Fire up iLive Reader (after you have unzipped the zip file, and make sure the TGI files are there) and insert the LUA & LNG files into your SC4LOT/DAT file. For simplicity's sake, add them to the end. Select the LUA file, click File Info, and then click Edit. Change Instance [00000001] to the instance ID of the building examplar. Copy this number to the clipboard. Click OK on Header - Edit, and then close File Info. Make sure that the LUA file is still selected, and then click the Edit button. At the top you should see this line. --#-package:00000001# -- package signature Highlight 00000001 and right-click and select Paste (CTRL+V doesn't seem to work for me for some odd reason). Change the first digit of the new hexadecimal number to 0. Eg. if the Instance ID of the script is 1234ABCD, change the '1' to '0'. (sorry for the rant, but some folks don't know this, and I don't want them to have to be embarrased) You should see this line somewhere near the top. building_tool_types.YOUR_BUILDING_NAME = hex2dec('00000000') Change YOUR_BUILDING_NAME to the name of your building, replacing invalid name characters (Spaces and symbols) with either underscores or text. Remember: Script names cannot start with a number, are usually uppercase, and usually don't contain consecutive underscores (__ is usually replaced with just _). EG. If your building is 15 Building, change YOUR_BUILDING_NAME to _15_BUILDING, BUILDING_15, or FIFTEEN_BUILDING. If your building is Jim & Joes then this would be JIM_AND_JOES or JIM_JOES. Larry's Building would be LARRYS_BUILDING or LARRY_S_BUILDING. Remember the instance ID of your building (should still be in the clipboard)? Paste this in the place of 00000000 on the same line that used to have YOUR_BUILDING_NAME. Two lines below that, you might want to change (Your Building Name) to the name of your building. This will be the actual name of your building. On the line below that, there is another number 00000000. Do the same thing you did for the last number. Don't worry about the conditions now, we'll save that for last. Look through the LTEXT files (don't forget to click Apply!) and find the one that says (Your Building Name) is not available. Requirements: - Nothing Change the instance ID to be the the same as the LUA script. Change (Your Building Name) to the actual name of your building. Change Nothing to the first requiremement. Press Apply and let's find another that says Your News Item Title Change the instance ID to be the instance of your LUA script + 1. (0x9 + 1 = 0xA, 0xF + 1 = 0x10. Use Calculator in Hex mode if you need any more help) Select all the text and press Delete on your keyboard (some say just DEL) and then enter the title that will appear on the top of the popup. Press apply and keep moving: Replace this with the text you want when the item pops up. Initial base cost: #building_initial_cost# Monthly cost: #building_monthly_cost# Accept Decline Change the instance ID of this to the instance of your LUA script + 2. We'll edit this one just before we do the conditions. Anyway, go back to the LUA file. function a.condition() -- If the expression within the parentheses is true (!= 0) than the reward is unlocked. if (1) then return reward_state.AVAILABLE else -- Instance ID of the description when the item is locked. return [[text@00000001]] end end Paste the instance ID of the LUA script (it's the same as the locked reward instance ID) in the place of 00000001. -- Instance ID of the title of the news item. a.title = [[text@00000002]] -- Instance ID of the body of the news item. a.message = [[text@00000003]] Replace 00000002 with what's in your clipboard + 1, and for 00000003, just paste again and add 2. Apply your changes. Remember replacing YOUR_BUILDING_NAME? Copy the new name you put. (Click beside it, drag, right-click, and press Copy.) Go to the message LTEXT file and select YOUR_BUILDING_NAME, delete it, paste, and don't forget Apply! (Sorry to be a nag) Skip this paragraph if you only have one requirement Go back to the locked building LTEXT, select from the return char (should look like a bold |) to the end and copy. With the caret at the end, paste, type the requirement, do this for each requirement, and press Apply. Might interest you to know that you can place constants defined in LUA scripts in LTEXT by placing it within sharps (#city#, #name# [mayor], etc) Now, go to the message LTEXT. See the first ? Single-click on it, and move the caret (flashing text cursor) to the left of the < and then press SHIFT+HOME, DEL. Type in the message you want. Don't mess with the HTML after the unless you know what you're doing! Apply your changes, and go to the LUA file. if (1) then Time to do the conditions. You can use any LUA variable you want, and compare it against the value you want. Use and to do more than one requirement. Use or to specify a choice of requirements. Use parentheses to group various items. Eg. if ((a and b) or (c and d)) then -- Evaluates if either both a and b or else both c and d are true. if ((a or b) and (c or d)) then -- Evaluates if a or b is true, and either c or d is also true. Remember that for booleans (true/false) 0 means false and everything else means true! Here are the most commonly used (Question marks indicate something I guessed): game.g_funds - Money game.g_income_monthly - Monthly Income game.g_expense_monthly - Monthly Expense game.g_population - R$ Pop + R$$ Pop + R$$$ Pop ? game.g_city_rci_population - R Pop + C Jobs + I Jobs game.g_city_r_population - R$ Pop ? game.g_city_r2_population - R$$ Pop game.g_city_r3_population - R$$$ Pop game.g_city_c_population - C Jobs game.g_city_i_population ? - I Jobs game.g_city_iht_population - I-HT Jobs game.ga_mayor_rating - Mayor rating game.ga_school_grade - School Grade game.g_num_parks - Number of parks game.difficulty_level() - Returns the difficulty level. Compare the return value against game_difficulty_level.EASY, game_difficulty_level.MEDIUM, or game_difficulty_level.HARD. missions_completed({[Comma-Separated Array of Mission IDs In Single Quotes]}) - Returns true if the missions are completed. game.reward_instance_count('[building Instance ID]') - See if other buildings exist. Don't use this to make the building so that you can only plop it once. You need to use the City Exclusion Group property for your building's examplar. Try to override all of the default Maxis ones before creating your own. Make sure that you let everybody know what your City Exclusion Group is so that they don't use it. Then you want to fire up the game and make sure the reward works, and if not fix anything you missed. Hope this helps, -BD

Did you mean the floors or the walls, or both?

Do you have an antivirus program installed on your computer? If you don't, you can get a free one at free.avg.com. It won't give you your stuff back, but it should help prevent it from happening to you again.

Any suggestions for this parking garage (full size, and it's a little smaller than 2x2)? I'm still working on it, I'm going to add some arrows, lines, and cars. I will probably make it like an underground parking garage, with only 3 small floors above ground.

Andisart: 4 or 5 is great. And yes, the higher the value the more likely the building will leak. Shoji_sim: I made your power plant conditional, and I set it so that it requires the Plymouth Center, 25,000 high-tech jobs, and a demand for 250,000 MWh/month. Anything else you want? I also edited the description text so that you can see the monthly cost and power produced. http://www.mediafire.com/?m0zjwz0modz

Most people will probably just assume that those are stripes that are supposed to be there. I was trying the Blowout disaster on some SimMars buildings, and I noticed that a few buildings blow up within 30 seconds after starting the blowout, and that was just clicking once. Most buildings should be able to last at least 1 minute, if not longer. To make a building last longer during a blowout, try increasing Max Fire Stage (maximum value is 5). And the Flammability is now Blowout Hazard/Building Strength so you might want to adjust these too. -BD

Any idea on what's going to happen to the passenger train? Is the model going to be replaced? Or just the texture? -BD

If you want, I can make it conditional. For the requirements I was thinking something along the lines of: Plymouth Center (since it's like a Research place) Hi-Tech Jobs: 25,000 Total Power Demand: 250,000 MWh I think the Microwave Power Plant off of SC3K might give you 100,000 MWh or something like that, just a thought. And if you were going to add cables, pipes, etc. the back of the dish and the ground I think would be the best place to put them, because they might (maybe, depending on the angle of the waves and where they hit) deflect incoming waves. The fusion plant looks cool, except for some UVW issues with the tall red rig next to a tall smoke stack or whatever it is. I downloaded some stuff on the SMEX yesterday and I noticed some base textures were missing. Am I missing a texture pack? -BD

Wow, that's huge! Did you make this as a conditional building? -BD

Think the Blowout disaster will never exist? Think again! I've tweaked around with the flame and smoke textures, so that there is no such thing as a flame in the game (can't be any flames in the Martian air, anyway) and so that the colour of the smoke is more like the fog that would appear on an airplane that has a blowout. It doesn't look exactly like it, but it's much better than the black smoke. Besides, there'd be stuff like dust that would slightly modify the colour and opacity of the plumes. The sparks, red reflection and the fireball I don't think can be changed. Oh well, the sparks could be an anti-decompression system. (Maybe the non-toxic sealing foam that comes from the sprayers are reddish yellow?) The red reflection on the ground could be some sort of decompression warning system. The fireball that you see when the building is destroyed by the blowout could be a sudden flash-fire that happens when electrical wires are sliced off and spark, propane & oxygen pipes are ruptured (a bad combination, oxygen and flammable substances don't agree), etc. and dies as fast as it starts because it's choked by the sudden loss of oxygen to the Martian atmosphere. The blowout can also spread, because of debris flying from the building. However, even though it can spread further, it doesn't spread as fast as fire does. Also, since watering doesn't have anything to do with blowouts, I did that and I also made it so that abandoned buildings are 3 times as likely to have a blowout. (I don't think anyone else was working on it, so that's why I did it.) -BD

OK, I've finished all the tollbooths. (Left the stop signs on the road and avenue toll booths, just moved them a bit.) I uploaded them onto the SMEX. I also replaced the toll booth icon so that you don't see the icon for the old toll booth. If you can't see it in the game, then try opening Remove Maxis Transportation.dat in iLive Reader and deleting all of the Tollbooth exemplars. -BD

If you are rendering a building with just night textures, you need to create a night light (a light with a name such as niteliteOmni01), and set either the colour to Black or the multiplier to 0. Works for me. -BD

The highway lamp is giving me a bunch of hubub When I see it in SC4, it's thin on one side and nonexistent on the other side. Instead of seeing a light at night, I see only a brown box so big it covers up the entire lamp. I think I've BATted all of the toll booths, just need to tinker with them a bit, render them, and lot them (replacing the Maxis lots so that the new ones don't clutter up the menu ) I've done a few more simple avenue textures, but I also need to finish finding and replacing the plain avenue textures. Then I just need to put the sidewalks and middle part for the various zones. -BD

Originally posted by: renemone sorry about that but since i register to the smex view sm content and download one of his content to have better use to my simmars with remake of sc2000 stuff i lost the address of the link to the smex and i am not sure if i can use the smex. sorry about that. more bats coming soon.quote> The SMEX is at simmarsdevex.net63.net. Originally posted by: Ledah2445 What Type does MHD Power plant is hi _tech or Low_tech !!!quote> The MHD power plant sounds high-tech if you ask me. Low-tech would be like a coal power plant. (It's so low-tech it wouldn't make sense to use on Mars. Oxygen is a precious resource on Mars-you need it to breathe! Why would they waste it on creating filth by burning coal?) High-tech stuff is very complicated, and takes much thorough research to discover. Even rocket scientists struggle to do it. But low-tech stuff is very simple, and any random low-IQ bum can do it himself. Here's a tiny MartianOne: [2x3. Sorry about the headlights, that was weird!] For the tiny store there are sizes 2x2, 2x3, 3x2, and 3x4. I've uploaded these on the SMEX. This is rendered on Medium quality, and I'm sure I can probably render it on High sometime if it isn't good enough, probably would take only 30 minutes or so. To install this building, unzip the ZIP file in your Plugins folder, and DO NOT create a directory for this with the other CS$$$ stores. I already did that. Note: Since there aren't many CS$$$ buildings, try not to be shocked when you see a whole city block consisting of these tiny boutiques. My building size corrections. The medium store and office are on 5x4, 6x3, and 6x4 lots. The other sizes were way too big, and you'd rarely see the fashion shop in your colony. -BD

Since I don't seem to see much CS$$$ and CO$$$, I've started a new project. SimMars needs some designer stores for the rich, so I made MartianOne Quality Goods (Can be called MO [MartianOne] or MO QG.) Since it's a store that's always open, all of the windows light up and stay lit all night. MO QG Small Store [CS$$$]: This is the MO QG Office [CO$$$]: (Not all of the offices are used all the time, so not all of the windows light up at night.) The buildings will be 5x6 6x3, 6x4, and 5x4, but the building itself is actually around 3x5 5x3. The pictures are from zoom 4 (I rendered the bottom one on Draft because it's big, but the 3-floor store was small enough I could render it on High Quality without it taking all night). -BD

I turned the Delta into the Delta Cube, a skyscraper (yeah, it's so huge I rendered it on zoom 4 and I had to make this picture as a mosaic of different screenshots. Even then, it was too big for most screens [1024 pixels high - my computer screen is 768 pixels high!] so I had to scale it down so now it's the same as zoom 3.) that has 4 sections. 3 are identical (except they're rotated) and the bottom one is a parking garage in case you didn't notice the spots for rovers (any Mars vehicles, whatever) to drive in. There will be 5 visible floors when I'm done. (They are much higher than the other floors. They must be able to hold a colony shuttle [Martian city bus?] to explain why they are so tall, and the floors/ceilings must be strong enough to hold 250+ vehicles on each floor, which explains the floor thickness.) For future reference: This is probably mentioned somewhere else on SimTropolis, but anyway if you render a building and there aren't any shadows high up, you need a larger light rig. I had issues with this because on the middle tube, I could see something weird going on, and I noticed that that was where the shadows stopped. By the way, should I adjust the UVW map for the reflection on the windows? I'm going to put windows and cars in the box, but do you have any idea what to put on top of it, or should I just leave it empty? -BD

Here's the Delta Apartment. (Should I call this something else, maybe just the Delta? Just seems like “Delta Apartments” is quite long.) but I need to add some roof junk to keep the top from looking bland, as well as the entrances for an underground parking lot. (I rendered this building on Medium, but it looks quite trashy because it’s a JPEG and the quality is 82 and I used Smooth to make the file smaller - it’s still 132 KB despite the fact that it looks like junk.) And if you were wondering, the lot that I put this on will be 4 x 4. Can’t be sure what the size in tiles this building is, but it’s between 3.75 x 3.75 and 4 x 4. -BD

OK, I have made some slight changes to the Forest Acro. I haven't changed the size yet (don't know if I can do it all that great, but the base size should be around 4x4 tiles because the one in SC2K is 4x4), but I hollowed out the 3 floors that cannot be moved (I used a Union, don't know why) and placed lights in them so that it isn't pitch black. But I haven't put any props inside, though. Then, I tweaked the top 2 floors so that they can be moved. The top floor shouldn't be removed, but the one below it can be removed or cloned. (I didn't know if it would stay or not, so I didn't bother making it hollow.) Then the vertices of Support Stilts can be moved around (it won't mess up the UVW map, because they have no texture, only a reflection map but they don't show up in the rendering unless they are Screen, even though they do have an effect on the colour of the stilts) so that they connect the rings but don't stick up through the floor. In the Earth-Like Ring, the supports and interior lights are part of the group, so you don't have to worry about moving these to the perfect spot anymore. The dome and central cylinder are grouped together, sharing an Edit Mesh modifier. To move the dome up or down, select ALL of the vertices OTHER THAN the vertices on the bottom and then move them up or down. Just one thing, the antenna and dome lights aren't part of this group. -BD ForestAcro.zip

Oh wow these buildings are so cool! Remember the Forest Acrology from SimCity 2000? I made a building with the same basic shape and structure. However, it's not detailed very well, and I'm not very good at doing details. Could somebody help me with the detail please? Thanks Notice: I didn't make a set of LODs that conform to the shape of the building yet. Stat Box Size: 64 meters x 64 meters x 128 meters (Including antenna.) Size: 4 tiles x 4 tiles - Just in case you weren't sure. ForestAcro.zip (3236 KB) -BD

Originally posted by: andries Maybe a nice idea. Instead of using the simdolar sign, you can maybe replace it by another sign? You can create the idea of some SF-valuta? ( Or pay with energy? )quote> Since everything's already realistic, how about using dollars ($), euros (

Evillions: Did you mean these? crushedcar: Can you post them? -BD

Hey, does this rig look anything like a fusion reactor? I've started a Rover Factory, it's just the basic shape with a door and a roof hatch. -BD