crownsteler

Thanks for the input. I am hoping to avoid solid colours for the windows, as I feel they often feel a bit lifeless. But I'll have a try. I imported the asset into the game, makes clear there are 'some' issues with it: 1. Forgot to update the windows 2. The normal map didn't load (misspelled it accidentally) 3. Need to desaturate the colours quite a bit 4. Needs to be scaled down a bit (now 9 meters tall, 8.4 would probably be better for 3 floors (2.8x3))? 5. Could indded do with modelling a bit more of the geometry (though properly loading the bumpmap would help there as well).

Hello all, A few years ago I tried batting for SC4, but for various reasons never finished anything. Over the past few weeks I've gotten into cities skylines, but haven't been able to build the city I want due to a lack of appropriate assets. What better way to remedy this than by making your own? So for the past week I've been working on a small set of contemporary Dutch row homes, to decent result I feel. However I don't have a clue how to make good looking windows, and I was hoping someone help me out here. I tried using screenshots from Google Streetview for the windows, but I am not too convinced: I have plenty of texture space to prevent repetition of the windows, but I will run into the issue of not getting enough and good enough shots of Google Streetview. Suggestions? Here is the rest of the set (with temporary window textures. The above one weighs in at around 750 tris, these 3 at 5-600. I intend for them to share a single 1024x1024 texture, that is smart right?) The real life buildings are here. So help me figure out the windows (and illumination and perhaps some other minor details), and help me get them into the game soon.

Thank you for that extensive write up. Unfortunately, no succes here either. Regarding the problem with making a preview render in Max: I am running the latest version of the .NET framework, and have now updated to the latest max service pack. Hasn't fixed the issue. It is not a big issue, I just have to restart max after making a preview render. A bit annoying, but that is all. Regarding exporting: I tried exporting while an administrator, and that didn't work. I looked into 'taking ownership'. I am not sure what I am supposed to do there. I 'took ownership' of my SC4 plugin folder (where my .sc4model file is located) and tried exporting the model again. It failed again. Both when running normally and when running as administrator. I also tried 'taking ownership' of the .sc4model file itself, but that didn't work either. So I am not sure if I should be doing something different? I also tried exporting different models, they all run into the same problem. So it is not confined to this one model. Regarding the installation directories: I have an 128GB SSD (C: disk) and an 1TB HDD (D: disk), so I try to install as much as possible to the D: disk to save room on the SSD. I installed both gmax and 3ds max to the D: disk. I have however succesfully exported using gmax in this setup, so that doesn't seem to be the problem. Regarding ilive reader: It is probably my own fault. I was grasping at straws at that moment and tried whatever I could. I did not do much research on how it works exactly. I simply removed the old FSH files from the sc4 model and added the ones from the max output folder. I imagine I am missing something. Regarding the messed up export: I am now working on the model in 3ds max. At this point it is mostly a question of getting max to export it properly. Once we've got that sorted out, we can see if export is still so messed up (but I would doubt it).

Ah looks nice. Are you going to create a whole row of buildings? The roof texture is indeed a bit to blue, but otherwise looks nice. The windows are perhaps a bit too dark, and some elements above the door would be good too. Perhaps also extrude the left and right corner walls a bit forward to give some more depth to the building? edit: some sort of gutter running down the front could also work (see also picture below for gutters running down the building). Also (since I am such an experienced modeler ;)), I always include a caping stone on the wall to deal with the texture wraping around the top of your walls. Like so: (I am refering to the grey [concrete] edges on the top of the walls). They also make architecturally sense as they reduce erosion on the bricks.

Thanks for pointing me to that fix. I don't think it was the problem, but it is good to have. Anyway, I decided to make the move to 3ds Max 2015 (so now I am once again a student ) It hasn't been smooth sailing though; it took some time to find a way to import my models into Max and Max is really acting up. When I try to export my model, everything works fine until it needs to insert the rendered files into the .sc4model file. It seems to be unable to open it: Don't know why. The file is not 'read only'. Anyway; I then decided to try to insert them using the ilive reader, but when I try to load it into PIM it results in an error message too: I am doing something wrong, but I don't know what. Max itself is also really annoying. Whenever I try to render a preview I get this: Everything still works, I just loose acces to the navigator (big red cross on the left, it still works, I just can't see it), and I have to restart to get it back. The materials editor also has the annoying habit of not working half of the time (and then all of a sudden it does start working again, don't know why). Texturing is also not working out well. Too many options of which I have no understanding of what they all do or mean. I try reading tutorials and what other people do, but I lack the understanding of the system to understand what they mean. Everything is just taking a lot of time and effort, and nothing really works. So it is kind of annoying right now. Anyway, this is what the pumping station looks like when rendered with max (and after taking my time to get a very basic understanding of texturing in max): (No, I haven't figured out how to do proper glass yet, I'll get to it eventually) Any thoughts, suggestions or help?

I am at a complete loss. I inspected the model and noticed that indeed a small bit of it was sticking out below grond level. I fixed this and reexported it, but problem remains. I then tried reexporting with the lods raised a tiny bit above ground level, and that didn't work either. So I am not sure what else I should be doing. @madhatter106 , I took your advice on the roof texture, and I think it looks a lot better now. The windows look terrible because I hadn't made a window texture yet. ;P I am not quite sure how to proceed there, so for this render I just used the standard Maxis window texture as a place holder. I noticed a problem with the brick texture on the side of the main hall: While it isn't absolutely terrible, as it kinda fits with the brick texture, it might be something I need to fix. I had the same issue the last time I tried batting. I believe it is caused by mirroring objects? And since I can't continue until I fix the render issue with this model, I decided to create the basic model for a building which was on my list anyway (it is not textured): It is an warehouse with offices on top. The office are concrete raised on wooden slats, and could look damn awesome with nightlites. It doesn't fit very well with Maxis industry though. And I might have to scale it down vertically a little bit.

Good tutorial there @Jasoncw, I have some reading to do it seems. I measured the building's footprint using Google Earth, and based the window sizes on the concrete frame I could measure as well (assuming that, since all windows are the same style, they also have the same dimensions). I estimated the building at 3 meters per floor based on the fact that regulatory floor height was 2.40 (or 2.30) until the 90s. then assuming a 30cm concrete floor and perhaps some space for installations, and 3 meters seems fine. Dutch brick sizes vary wildly, so without knowing the specific type of brick used, so no useful information can be gained from counting brick here. Anyway, I just thought I'd export it to see how it would scale in game. But then this happened: Which is weird, as when I create a preview it looks just fine. I tried the other technique of pasting the preview into a screenshot, but ran into this problem: The scaling is off. I guess this is due to me running SC4 in a different resolution than I run windows. But anyway that doesn't help me either. Lastly I tried my hand at texturing it (as you can see). I don't think I am there yet...

I think I am done building the model (a.k.a. throwing boxes together in pleasing shapes): Thoughts and suggestions? Btw; a question about the scaling: I made the main pumping hall 11 meters tall, and the rear building 8 meters for 2 floors. That is okey right? (Assuming orignal floor height of 3 meters and 133% scaling.) And thanks for the compliments on the modeling. Just don't expect too much. It is just extruding and primitive shaping things together in an aesthetically pleasing way. I am quite sure a real modeller would have a heart attack seeing the state of the model. I am just glad that our Dutch architecture is so simple and boxy. ^^

I am no good at texturing, so I just model all the details rather than trying to texture them in As for the quality: I am using Gmax, and not 3DSMax. So it could be that the Gmax bating tool gives poor results. It could also be that IrfanView messes things up when I try to save the image. Using GIMP is slightly better I guess:

So a few years ago I had a go at bating. Unfortunately due to computer issues I never got around to finishing any of them, and long since lost the files. A bit of a shame really; I was nearly done modeling these two sets of buildings, all they really needed were nightlites and some desaturating of the textures. Oh well. Last weekend, for some odd reason, I decided to reinstall SimCity 4 and play it. But, after downloading a ton of new content, I found I still couldn't make the cities I wanted (mostly modern urban Dutch). The first thing that bothered me was the lack of varied in utilities, specifically pumping stations. So I looked up some modern pumping stations here in the Netherlands, and, the idiot that I am, downloaded gmax to see if I could make something of it: The first one I had a go at was a largish sewage pumping station: Unfortunately this is the material it is made out of, and I am not quite sure how to texture this. I have half a mind of simply modelling the panels instead of texturing it. In the mean time I decided to model another pumping station, a small drainage pump this time: It has the same issue with texturing, so oh well. While looking through pumping stations here in the Netherlands, I came across this little thingy and decided it also really needed modelling (for a change it is an actual ground water pumping station!): It is actually coming along quite nicely. I just need to finish the doors, add the rain gutter and some roof junk. I possibly need to figure out how to model a few pumps to fill the large frontal roof if the windows are going to be transparant (ugh...) At the same time I was really annoyed by the power utilities in the game. So yeah... I came across this funky little substation, and since it takes no effort to model had a go at it: Not sure if there is interest in this sort of thing though. I also created this substation (could also work as an industrial lot). I want to make it a wall to wall lot, but, as the roof is overhanging to the sides, I don't know how to go about it. And, if I ever feel confident enough to do so, I'd love to have a go at this power plant. The turbine halls are simple enough, but the chimney seems daunting. Anyway; thoughts and suggestions? Compliments or hate is also welcome. Oh, and IrfanView apparently does not like transparency. I hope you can ignore the black outlines on the images, they are not supposed to be there.

I have trouble accessing the website on my laptop. I can reach the domain simtropolis.com without any trouble, but when I try to reach the subdomain community.simtropolis.com I get an error 522 (connection timed out). I get an screen from cloudflare (?) Indicating I can reach the cloudflare server in Amsterdam, but it cannot connect to the simtropolis server. This happens independent of my browser (tried chrome, ie and firefox), and happens only to Simtropolis. This has been going on for roughly a month, and I've never been able to connect during this time. I'm currently posting this from my phone. Any idea what is going on? I'd really like to get back to reading about New Sogrun EDIT: I don't know if you guys did anything, but now it is working again!

I know. It is just a very early mock up. Only the basic geometery is done, everything else is still needs a lot of work, especially the textures. I'm sorry if I gave a different impression. Unfortunately, the power supply of my computer failed, so until I get that fixed, I can't BAT. I did manage to complete the other project before that happend though. The only thing requiring attention are the window textures, but at this moment I can't do any better, so I will get back to it after some more practice.

Okey, I decided to not continue on the black building for now, and instead focus on a smaller building. Here is a quick render. Yes, it an actual building. It is actually located across the street from the other building. And yes, it really is this simple. The design relies on the boldness of the colours. I think texturing and rendering it took longer than the actual modelling Note that it of course is a very early WIP.

Wow thanks guys I really missed the denser inner city suburban style in SC4, so that is why I took it up. That, and I missed the solid strong (modern) brick architecture. Brick is a really underrated building material (well in SC4 anyhow). Here is the current state of things: I virtually finished it, (although I again forgot to make the balcony dividers... ) now I just need to fix the texture and add the nightlights. The texture is (appearently) due to a bug in gmax. It is fixable without to much effort, but it will take some work. I just got a bit fed it with it to do it right away. I accidently deleted some (very) minor details, I doubt you would really have noticed them, but it is still a bit frustrating. So in the mean time I started working on the number 3 of my list. (The number one and especially number two of my list are beyond my skill level for now I'm afraid). It will be a small R$ 2x2 w2w and a bigger R$ 7-10x2-3 suburban lot. I'm just unsure what to make of it for now, whether it is worth to continue it. The facade looks quite uneasy, especially compared to the real building. I'm not sure what is causing it. It is a continuous balancing act between the windows and the balconies. I cut of 2 meters from the building to make it fit w2w, but that can hardly be causing it. The floors used to be taller, but I reduced their height a bit. It helped, a lot, but I really can't make the floors any lower (currently at 3.85 meters). Thoughts?

Okey thanks, good to know. It's gonna be some work to fix, but it could have been worse