CT14
-
Content Count
691 -
Joined
-
Last Visited
-
Most Liked
8
Everything posted by CT14
-
Thanks for the details, I have a bunch of test intersections drawn out and will work on pinpointing remaining blank spots (other than the aforementioned SAM). These improvements seem small but they really add up to greater realism. Fantastic stuff! Edit: Here's my results - with full plugins enabled. Vanilla Streets: DTR Ortho/Diag, STR Ortho/Diag all working. SAM 1 - Parking Lot Textures: Reverts to street SAM 2 - Herringbone Brick Streets (rivit): DTR Ortho/Diag working, STR Ortho = blank spot. Diag functions but uses Vanilla street textures SAM 3 - PEG Dirt Roads: DTR Ortho/Diag, STR Ortho/Diag all working. SAM 4 - PEG Gravel Roads: DTR Ortho/Diag, STR Ortho/Diag all working. SAM 6 ?? (Light pavers): DTR Ortho/Diag working. STR Ortho/Diag both Blank spots SAM 7 - Hableurg's Asphalt Streets: DTR Ortho/Diag, STR Ortho/Diag all working. SAM 8 - Cobblestone Streets: DTR Ortho/Diag working. STR Ortho = blank spot. Diag functions but uses Vanilla street textures SAM 9 - Brisk Red Brick Streets: DTR Ortho/Diag working. STR Ortho = blank spot. Diag functions but uses Vanilla street textures SAM 10 - Moonlights' Japanese Streets: DTR Ortho/Diag working. STR Ortho/Diag both Blank spots Complete: Vanilla, 3, 4, 7 Incomplete: 2, 8 and 9 behave identically. Likewise for 6 and 10.
- 4,103 Replies
-
- 2
-
-
- NAM
- network addon mod
- (and 1 more)
-
This is great stuff! Diagonal STR x Peg Dirt, Gravel and Asphalt SAM were a nice surprise. And all the SAMs now work with diagonal DTR.
-
DeKalb Coaling Tower: the concrete is poured, and the Grand Staircase is completed.
-
This is a method to let you reset cameras in Gmax with a right-click on the viewport as in 3ds Max. This is useful when after previewing different views with BAT scripts you are left with an ortho view locked in where perspective used to be, or you accidentally shift one of the top/left/side views into perspective and want it back. In Gmax, go to Customize menu > Customize User Interface > Quads tab, then drag from the left side list under "All Commands" over to the right side list, under "TRANSFORM" here. Here, the following items have been added to the top of the "TRANSFORM" section of the menu: Perspective User View, Left View, Top View, Front View, Separator. As a final step to make these changes "stick" between program launches, click Advanced Options under the right side list and click the Save as Startup button, accepting the "are you sure" dialog. Now you can right click in the "Camera Z5" viewport and select the Perspective view to get back to work quickly, after previewing different angles of your model. Other uses for this general method Add commonly used actions like "Boolean" and "Convert to Editable Mesh" to the right click menu, to eliminate repetitive actions.
-
These are all looking really good! Mayflower might be a little bright on the eyes as previewed above. Kroger We have these here, they epitomize malaise for the customer and despair for the employee. This would be a fun model to BAT/lot because of all the little storefronts around the parking lot - prop families here would make each plop quite distinct. It would also be rather gigantic - even potentially modular. These stores also tend to get rather grungy over time, although this trends with the state of the local economy. Intermodals Given that one of the goals here is to flesh out the horde of brands, not duplicate existing assets: in the interest of making rail and road traffic more cohesive, perhaps it's possible to create livery to match existing automata or props for intermodal trailers, such as are found on the rail lines? It looks like this might already be actually covered quite well with the current set (JB Hunt and Schneider above for example) but some of the shippers like Maersk, SeaLand would be good too.
-
New BAT: the DeKalb Coaling Tower Something to fiddle with while I finish the angle buildings. Concrete is poured here, but ironwork like chutes, ladders, stairs, railings and poles remains to be added. Doors and windows are in. The structure can fit on a 1x2 plop. The dump shed gets coal cars. The four tracks in and beside the main coaling tower can each serve locomotives. Today I think it's just a double track main under the tower; this may be what the lot ends up as for flexibility. Update Grand Staircase complete:
-
@kingofsimcity hey that's great! I have been feeling the need for "out" lots to balance out the FA buildings, and I'm happy to see it already happening. I like the mashup of those FA parks with IRM fillers. FA alleys are also needed (and probably a new alley set altogether, but that's another story).
-
To access the tree brush anytime after naming the city, simply ctrl-alt-shift click the god mode button.
-
We are all waiting eagerly for this pack... I appreciate your taking your time and getting all the details right as it will be so crucial when it comes out! I'm still willing to test those grainers in LE if you feel like sending them my way. I'd also be willing to help with the Herculean task of creating angle versions... after testing angles on just one car model (at 45, 39.375, 33.75, 28.125, 22.5, 16.875, 11.25, 5.625) I feel your pain! A few notes on the latest previews - Angles and WRC It looks like you're going for just four angles. While all angles are good, keep in mind unit trains require more angles to fit Wide Radius Curve tracks end to end. For example there is no way to use the Jestarr angled cars prop pack on WRC without leaving lots of air in between the couplers. Also on the angle topic, my understanding is that the 33 degree version strictly speaking is 33.75 deg (5.625 * 6), unless NAM RRW slipped in some 33 degree network that I missed.... like the 18.4 deg FAR 3 and 26.6 deg FAR 2 angles which I forgot to put in that set I mentioned. There is also the new "FAR1.5/1.33" in NAM 35, which has a run of 5 and a rise of 3, seems to be around 31 degrees. Probably not worth it until @Simmer2 feels like extending the RRW overlay texture packs, since no one will be lotting FAR1.5/1.33. Textures That CN geep may be a little over saturated. I feel it could be closer to the excellent levels of saturation on the CP Rail unit without losing that 'new paint' look.
-
@rathefalcon thanks for the feedback. I'm starting to be more happy with the appearance of the final renderings. I'm not sure about HD yet, I sort of imagine a lot of work will be necessary with texture fine tuning so it would be a future release. FA3-R prop family complete Where Diagonal Way meets FA3 Street: here we can see most of the variations of the three depths and four stories of the FA3-R prop family. Roof textures and roofjunk I'm very pleased with the effect of using different color maps on the roof for the different height versions (mono mapping where lighter = more stories/sunlight, darker = fewer stories/more shade); there are a few UVW mapping/scale issues on that roof texture itself for some BATs still. The red brick and diagonal versions don't use that scheme yet and look much less natural in the cityscape. I'm also planning about 1-2 more different pieces of roofjunk to scatter around, maybe some vents and a fan. The cyclone separator from Llama Ag will also make an appearance here shortly, to further differentiate the industrial brown brick style BATs. Modularity and matching After some more research into overhanging props, I hit on a possible method to make things more seamless in appearance: using a cornice which protrudes from the structure, but sits a little below the top of the roof/walls; at the same time texturing the top face of the outer edge of the roof with the tar paper, so that two plops of the same height show nothing but tar paper at the seam, but a single plop of the BAT will show cornice, etc as expected. If that doesn't work, I'll look again at doing color variations within the prop families (making it challenging to plop matching structures with the height you want). Model problems to fix There are probably still a few models lacking the vertical moldings on the front wall in a few spots (visible in the HD previews above). Diagonals are too far onto the sidewalk, this will be corrected. FA3 D2 is also too far onto the sidewalk but not by as much as the diagonals. When the above are corrected as well as texture/prop finalized, FA3 and Diagonal can be mirrored left to right and FA2 work can begin. Update: Here is FAB-D-R-4-brownbrick prior to another round of test fitment. I found a nice prototype to use for vented windows in this type of building, intended to represent general manufacturing between 1875-1950 or so. And in SD: And in game: Visible above are the new cornice, window fan and vents. The cyclone separator is a little tall and will come down some. Still too far into the sidewalk on the new 4 story renders. Looking at moving the wall in some more. Update About 2m seems to be a good setback to dodge the T21s lampposts, though I think some street trees will hit basically any realistic setback - maybe a T21 mod for diagonals would be nice. Yes, it would have been better to have done this step about a month ago.
-
Yes, the crosswalk to nowhere is a remnant from a street intersection. I sometimes apply that technique intentionally, but that time was an accident! Here is the latest from my FAB project - testing diagonal and FA3 prop families:
- 293 Replies
-
- 14
-
-
FAB project: Diagonal prop family -> I-M plops, and R$ growables (faux "res/com"): CS$$/CO$$ Growables: RDQ Heritage Cottages, 3x2 R$ Grow: RDQ Victorian Train Station: More FAB diagonal and FA3 testing:
-
New props, Gmax tips and Fractional Angle Building status While working on the industrial building textures again I came up with a little something extra for props: conveyor houses. There are ortho, ortho-incline and ortho-diag-incline props for factory lots. Roofjunk is a little more up to date for commercial versions: There's also a downspout, which helpfully waters the sidewalk tiles: Growables and storefronts I also started testing a simple method to crank out varied W2W growables for Residential and Commercial based on these models with commercial storefront prop families. Think of goofyguytpa lots and you won't be far off. More on this soon. Mirroring in Gmax for left and right versions Mirroring models along the X axis is a snap in Gmax (Tools menu > Mirror > OK), so creating left and right versions has been simple. Fixing the white texture glitch in Gmax Use the eyedropper in the Material Editor to select the material that's rendering/previewing as white. On the next preview, you should see the problem fixed. Overall project status Textures chosen: Industrial Ploppable Tileset: brown brick Residential Growable Tileset: red brick Commercial Growable/Ploppable Tileset: black brick Model/lot progress: Ortho: models complete, testing prop family Diag: models 80% complete, testing prop families (L, R), need to create separate triangle footprint model FA3: models complete, need create prop families (D1-L, D2-L, D3-L, D1-R, D2-R, D3-R) FA2: 0% complete: need FA2 D1, FA2 D2 and prop families (D1-L, D2-L, D1-R, D2-R) Bugs: A few missing props on some renders, just a matter of merging and re-rendering Night lights on diagonals are freaky, leaking in roof somewhere Latest preview of FAB-O-4-brownbrick (in HD): FAB-FA3-D2-3-brownbrick with only the stand for the water tower remaining: And here is a panorama showing test growables in red and black brick, along with the D-R prop family. Thoughts about roof textures: lighter may be better for taller buildings because it helps with the illusion of depth/shadow between different heights of buildings. Reddonquixote Melbourne Victorian BATs Lotting one of RDQ's new HD BATs, the Train Station: And here's the RDQ Heritage Cottages on a 3x2 R$ growable:
-
I've searched, but can't find CSX MegaProps Vol 08 as referenced in the Prop & Texture Photo thread: https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=13364.msg411037#msg411037
-
@metasmurf thank you for the suggestion on blurring those noisy "dirty brick" textures, I agree that will help. And thanks for pointing out so early that photo editing textures is necessary. I have been adjusting saturation, brightness and contrast to match existing "in theme" BATs in game. Troy Gasholder Building released The Troy Gasholder Building is released, enjoy and please post if you find problems:
-
Version 1.1
583 Downloads
ATTENTION: Use one of the HD or SD model sets, not both. Remove the folder for the one you don't want. This is the Troy Gasholder Building, built in 1873 for the Troy Gas Light Company in Troy, New York state, USA. Designed by Frederick A. Sabbaton, it housed a telescoping iron gasholder of the type found in Gascooker's prop packs and default Maxis industrials. For more information please see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Gas_Light_Company Lot info Size: 3x3 Type: Natural gas power plant Menu: Power Plop cost: 900 Power generated: 300 The building is lotted as a 3x3 power plant with 10% of the plop cost, and 10% of the power generated as compared to the default Maxis natural gas power plant. Historical accuracy caveats The prototype lot would be close to 3x8, including a coal shed, maintance shop, and pipelines. In the interests of space, this lot presents a small storage and maintenance yard, along with a propane filling station. The real building is red brick with stone courses. This lot features a prop family with two alternate versions to fit in better with different areas: brown brick, and whitewashed/boarded up. The boarded up version has no night lighting. However, the small greenspace on one corner is found in the real life version, which is located in a residential neighborhood of 2-story rowhouses. Dependencies BSC Mega Props - JES Vol01.dat https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=342 BSC Mega Props - JES Vol09.dat https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2349 Installation Simply unzip this folder to your plugins folder. Removal Bulldoze any examples of this obsolete Victorian folly which remain in your cities, then remove this folder from your plugins folder. Upgrading The HD models share their IDs with SD, and there have been no change to prop descriptions, so it should be possible to upgrade without bulldozing existing plops. Remove the "Plugins/CT14/Troy Gasholder Building v1.0" folder to a backup location, then move the v1.1 folder into Plugins, as for example "Plugins/CT14/Troy Gasholder Building v1.1". -
XXXV・ A Sanese Autumn (Part 2)
CT14 commented on RipRap's City Journal Entry in Okaiken V3/V4 (Archive)
Fun vignettes as always, and stunning cityscapes. Seems like you could illustrate a whole manga with MMP and UDI! -
@Silur thanks for the good words! @Angry Mozart I'm glad the atmosphere is coming through, I try to focus on the source photos when modeling. That's great to hear about the angled props, I look forward to lotting with them. Troy Gasholder House final touches Here are a couple of shots of the third texture variation for the prop family. About 40-50 years ago it was boarded up, like this: Test shot in HD, though I don't like the moire effect that then occurs in zoom5 and don't plan on releasing HD of this (at least not initially). I also added the little doohickey to the weathervane (visible above). Prop family testing is complete. I'll finish up lotting next.
-
Suburban malaise. Excellent! -
N&W HL progress The twin support posts at the end of each car centered inside the open area have been corrected to a more realistic angle. Added the little horizontal bar on each end and its accompanying ladder rung. Added the handle that leads to the coupler area on each end. Added chain from brake wheel. Moved air brake cylinders to better match prototype. Corrected size of a few decals - car numbers on side weren't big enough and those on the end were too large. Removed brake end floor - shouldn't be a floor there at all on this model. More work on coal load. Added decal above and left of car numbers, for builder's mark. Bogie frame made bigger to match prototype. The shiny wheel flanges are a little too shiny - they rendered as a few jaggy white pixels - so I made them darker for the export (by applying a mono color map at 0.75, 0.33). Other small remaining details on the prototype like minor brake system lines, etc seem to be below the size which is the threshold of rendering, without cartoonizing to unrealistic proportions. The handbrake wheel and its chain are the only magnified details. The details above are the smallest which are visible when exporting. 90% of this can be recycled for other hopper car models, thankfully, as well as the 33" wheels and old fashioned bogies. Side note on coal loads Typical coal mine/coal breaker loads look quite different from many model railroad loads, while they are still at the facility and haven't been on the road yet. The coal mine loads are super full, as full as they can get, scraping flat on the facility on their way out... I believe the coal settles during travel, so there seems to be a place for both types of load model. They really packed it in! Check the flat top on the pea coal load on the right. Lots of hand work involved here, it seems.
-
Norfolk & Western HL class hopper cars, in HD.
-
New Norfolk & Western HL series coal hoppers in HD, for the late steam and early diesel era. Small angles for tight curves.
-
Coal hopper cars @DavidDHetzel Remember our discussion of BN period correctness? After discovering some LOD bugs in the Pegasus ore cars, I got an urge to make some proper period coal car props. This is an HL series Norfolk & Western hopper from drawings. There are a few more details to add, then scaling and rendering to LE (with angled versions). Here's a Gmax preview, in comparison to a photo. And in game HD, showing some further model work: The decals are a little bit bright and I missed the placement of car numbers and load limits by an entire panel. OK, here are some angles. I noticed there are textures in SM2 RRW overlays that are too tight for Jestarr angle props, so I rendered versions at 5.625 degree intervals. Below is Ortho, 5.625L, 16.875L, 45, with the Jestarr cars for comparison. Lack of skill at lining them up to the textures notwithstanding. I also got the timed props in place with 1 gasholder (having two with identical timing would make no sense, as normally one would empty first.) And made a few other minor fixes to the lot. And with more angles finished: Empty versions are next. Update: Most of the empty versions are finished. I discovered a hole in the set when testing on some SM2 Ortho-FARR transition textures: no FARR 18.435 degree version! This will be addressed shortly. The picture above shows 3 ortho "full" variations, followed by 5.625R, 11.25R, 16.875R, 22.5R, 28.125R, 33.75R, 39.375R, 45, 39.375L, 33.75L, 28.125L, 22.5L, 16.875L...derailing into FARR 18.435 rails. Textures: Washed out colors via image editing software are also complete, testing underway and may re-render the set to fit game palette better. With the brighter textures, it's obvious the coal load models need a little more work. I used three different meshes as I created the angled versions. As I have to go back to each version anyway, I'll make them each a little more unique, and lower them in the cars slightly. And more two humps than three. In game, the new textures are a better match for both Jestarr's coal and black tank cars.
-
Texture variations @metasmurf So there are not one but several textures I need to consider this for. I want to create at least three variations in texture for the prop families. Here are the candidates, unretouched and with no Gmax color mapping. I favor a few of these such as brown_brick, red_brick_seamless, yellow_brick, grey_old_siding. Even black_seamless_brick would look great for lofts/gentrified areas, but I'd want to reBAT the lower stories and so forth for commercials, upper with green roofs and condo balconies. Both dirty_brick textures seem a little too noisy to me. brown_brick_2 is the one we've seen so much of, simply too dark for ease of use. The Troy Gasholder House is nearly ready for release. It will have a small prop family as well, here are at least two variations. The brown brick variation stonework has been darkened but needs a little more darkening and everything could be a little more "washed out". Current plan is for the third variation to be painted gray or white, perhaps also borrowing from the 60s version of the building with boarded up windows. One of the only accessories found on the outside of the prototype building is a small utility meter on the lower wall, visible from the alley in Street View. I added it near the southwest corner of the model. I also updated the nightlights by cloning a few more lights and moving them down to lower windows and I'm pretty happy with them now. Getting window frames and cupola to reflect properly was the goal. The steps use only one omni light located where the lamp model is above the door - the reflections on the steps and the pillars are ok but I may need to add "dummy" omni lights to illuminate the walls around the steps. Rather not use floods, because reasons.
-
Gasometer timing, coal props and plant flow diagrams Aha! Thanks for the clue, guys. I'll set it up with just one standalone gasometer, maybe add a gate for coal truck deliveries with the space thus reclaimed. @T Wrecks Yes, it is in Jestarr Vol09. There is a similar sized coal pile in that pack, and a different similar sized coal pile in SimcityPolska's industrials section. I couldn't find anything smaller - considering BATting a few coal sheds since good prototypes are available to work from (from Troy, even). ETA: I also found: https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3343 which has small coal models. On that note, there should also be storage for graded coke (product of retorts and sorting) although this might not always be visible either, similar to coal/coalsheds - I've been assigning coke storage as a role of a building which is past the retorts on the flow of the plant, instead. Here are some diagrams: Basic flow in plant: Industry overall flow: Large plant: Small plant: Victorian plant: A gasworks model design:
