CDI_spy

AJ: Pretty cool! I'm loving my new comp too! Progress!!! I think that the night lights look great! Next step: as AJ pointed out, there are lights here: So here's my very first (screwed-up) try at doing those: Can anyone help me to modify them to look good, or should I scrap them completely anyway?

AJ: I'd like to see more of your CAD work! Asturianu: Cristian, thank you for visiting, your enthusiasm is very much appreciated, and I will keep the skywalks in mind! I love your comments, my friend!

A re-creation of the Richardson Building from my hometown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Still working on the night lighting, but the day model is pretty much done.

AJ: Yes, the skywalks are going to be my next little project after the Richardson and ERC. Spike: I do too.

Lol, that's the old model, Sparks. The new version's picture is seven posts higher up. AJ is talking about the smaller BAT in the lower-center of the picture, which I am also going to release soon.

Spa: Thanks for your comment! I'll keep all that in mind when I'm making my night-windows. 1ajs: Thanks man that is a great help! I laugh at how all my buildings are WAY out of scale... Hmm... that's weird about the ERC. Now that I know that the nightlights haven't been rendered, I'll take the oppurtunity to do more work on the model before rendering it again.

T Wrecks: Anybody who gives me feedback is welcome; and you certainly seem to know your stuff. The reason you're seeing only some window frames is because this is a Draft preview; the higher the quality setting, the more frames that appear, in my experience. Yes, the reddish colour is the wine-coloured bar floor. Your questions sparked a solution in my head; don't use Omnis! I'll just light the floor (with spotlights), not the windows. As for the roof, the grey slab is taken from the roof as are the width and length of the steps; the green boxes and orange pipes are not, but GoogleMaps doesn't have a good-enough resolution to get that kind of detail, so I improvised. And thank you for the other roof junk compliments; those are all taken from distant ground-level shots. Please, let loose on your ideas. I have exactly the same goal; I want to show the full extent of my developed abilities as much as possible in every building I create. I want to take time to make this building, which at longer zooms seems quite generic, exude character and minute detail at closer zoom levels. Furthermore, you balance your comments very well with compliments, making the artist improve while still feeling good about himself. Overall, a fantastic comment that is encouraging and constructive!

Jason: Thank you! It's a very helpful comment, I'll take care of it. Is the rest of the nightlighting okay? Do you like it? AJ: Could you test it again for me, please? I need to know, 'cause my copy's nightlighting doesn't work (all my other downloaded BATs do). Thanks!

Lol thanks Toxic, but Jason has a bit of a point. I hope, however, that it's the last thing before nightlighting... am I right, Jason? Speaking of nightlighting... Click for larger pic I'm a total newb when it comes to nightlighting, but everything came out not so bad, and I'll tell you guys why I think so. 1) The window frames from the lighted bar aren't supposed to be lit, but it creates a cool effect. 2) I just projected a rectangular without going through the trouble of creating an "R" mask, but the Richardson R logos are poorly and unevenly lit anyway, so it's realistic. EDIT, FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: Do you guys prefer the above configuration or this one here (the real building's lighting pattern):

Hey thanks AJ. The windows on the East side are all shaded by office window blinds... that's why they're brighter. But I've created a more realistic shaded texture since then. Umm... would you happen to have a test version of the ERC from a long while ago? If so, could you tell me if it has nightlighting?

Well, I replaced my DAT file with the original, but it didn't work in the Reader nor in the Lot Editor. Then, I tried re-installing the game (backing up my Documents/Simcity folder before hand), still to no avail. But then it came to me... Vista has really weird administrator permissions and such. I ran both the LE and Reader as "run administrator" and it worked! I have access to all the files in both programs! Thanks for you guys' help in stimulating the solution! Sam: You needn't worry, for I always copy my original simcity_1.dat file into a Backup folder. If I were to apply an official update, I would use the original and re-make my changes after. But your method will save me lots of time... I didn't even know you could do that. It's a brilliant idea, and I thank you.

I edited civic properties to extend buildings' coverage radiuses... they were to small for my taste. I'll copy it and see what happens. Thanks.

Hey all. I'm currently lotting one of my own BATs, so I took a BSC technician's advice and moved my whole plugins folder except for bldgprop vols 1 and 2, as well as my BAT's SC4 model and DESC file. This made LE considerably faster, and will prevent me from using anything but SC props and textures (no dependencies). The only thing is that there are no props! Well, that isn't entirely true... there are the SC4 buildings as props available (bldgprop vols 1 and 2), but no props like people, cars, lights, or other objects. The base and overlay and textures are still there, though. Upon futher investigation, I can't see any of SC4's lots in the "Open" screen. Did I move something from my Plugins I shouldn't have? Or is it a problem with the program? Can anybody help me? Thank you for any help in advance P.S. I might of come up with a cause. Are my problems related to the fact that I've edited my Simcity_1.dat? I can't see the lots in the Reader anymore, either.

All right... here are the two samples of my new window textures. Boy, did it take a lot of tweaking! But Jason's glass map helped me out a lot. Click for full-scale image Personally, I prefer the texture on the right... it's (more realistically) greyer. But I want to hear what you guys think.

I'm going way out on a limb here, but if you have Launch Analysis installed, the SecuROM support team may be able to help you out; they sure helped me with other games. If you go into Simcity's EXE file, right click it, you may an option titled "Launch Analysis" under the "Open" option. If you run this, it will create a small file that you will then be able to send to the folks at support@securom.com, who may be able to help you out with your startup troubles.

How should the glass be re-worked? I have no clue. I can brighten the walls, though. A little treat for you guys... the Richardson sign: That's an SC4-sized person standing beside the sign in the Zoom 5 preview.

Alright here are my new window textures and revised wall textures. It seems that I have applied a different texture to the north/south walls than to the east/west walls. The east/west walls have the intended (lighter) texture. SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

Lol wow that was fast... thanks man!

Hmm... depending on what it will end up looking, it should be an easily modelable prop.

Jason: Alright! With all this information, I'll be able to get around to it sometime. Thanks! Bixel: Thanks! I downloaded it and installed it, however, I put it in gmax/gamepacks/BAT/scripts/startup folder, because there is no plugins/startup folder, and the Gmax/scripts/startup folder didn't work. Just though I'd let you know, it case you want to help others. I'll be checking out the tools more completely the next time I fire up BAT. But they seem to work. Thanks a lot! Flame: Interesting idea; I'll try that. And I appreciate the compliment on the roof; I'm proud of it too.

Thanks to both of you for the clearer explanations... I'm getting a grasp of it now. Sadly, I don't have Simtropolis Tools, but thanks for the great-sounding suggestion, Bixel, I might try the technique on my next BAT, where glass is crucial. Jason, do you suggest I edit the full-wall window texture or apply window textures to the seperate objects? I haven't had much time to BAT but I hope to do some this week.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to Jason, Autovino, and Bixel for you guys' input. However, most the stuff you said flew way over my head. Sorry guys, still learning... What is the "Simtropolis" tools rollout? And all that stuff you mentioned, Bixel... is that the equivelent of randomly selecting windows and texturing them differently? From what I can see, Bixel and Jason, you guys are supplying me two different types of information. Bixel, you're suggesting I texture the windows seperately, and Jason, you're suggesting I use a full-length map on all the windows. Are these to methods compatible or not? Am I totally wrong? I'll just tell you guys what I did: I have a full building-length map for all the glass on one side of the building (shown below). At which point, as Jason said, I grouped all my windows (which are all seperate) and applied one UVW map. Furthermore, Jason, this is just to clarify... should I make the wall texture lighter (higher luminosity) or greyer (stronger desaturation)? The reason my wall texture is slightly pinker than the real thing is because it matches more closely SC4's original colour pattern. My current full-length map: