TCD

I rotate all 3 ortho LODs at the same time and it works fine. I've never touched the LOD4-5 button before so I'm guessing that is the problem. Instead of using that button try duplicating LOD3 twice and name them LOD4 and LOD5.

If you have the gamma fix installed properly and it still looks way too bright in the render then you might have something wrong in your lighting rig. Maybe import all the objects into a new scene with a new lighting rig and see if that fixes it.

Hey, I wanted to start sharing some of my BATS. I've been a long time Simcity player and been making content for my own use for years. I've started turning some of my houses into slope-friendly lots and I plan on making more custom foundations for the rest and eventually releasing them as a single pack. So far I have 1 house with a custom foundation and custom LODS and I was hoping some people here could scrutineer my BAT. Try it in game on slopes and look at it in the reader (I am a novice with it) to see if I did everything correctly. Compare it to other buildings for scale, etc. I used a blank model and the house and foundation are both props. I turned shadows off on the foundation since it had weird underground shadows. I also rendered both of them in HD. Where can I upload this?

Thanks guys. Absolutely. I am terrible at designing diagonal and FAR lots. Rendering diagonal versions shouldn't be a problem.

Nice, I like the roof texture on the last one. Everything is looking pretty good. I am excited to see your progress on the cathedral.

Here are some of the new buildings on their lots. These are all 1x2 and 2x1 R$$ lots. These ones are 2x2 lots. I still have more lots to finish. I need to do some larger rural lots for these newest models.

There are also thousands of 3dsmax tutorial videos for all kinds of modeling techniques and tricks on Youtube. There are thousands of archived topics on sites like cgsociety that cover all kinds of topics on how to do certain things or how to fix very specific problems. It's so easy to Google a 3dsmax problem/guide compared to Gmax.

Nice modeling. Like Reddon said; those shapes are pretty complex and you pulled it off quite well.

My guess is it wasn't exported from Sketchup properly. I don't know how that program works or what kind of export/import settings were used, but you might want to try exporting from Sketchup again and importing into a new 3dsmax scene and try again.

I never thought about looking at it in grey scale. I knew the dark blue one in particular was too dark. I wanted a strong contrast between the brown trim and dark blue paint and roof. Looks like I went pretty overkill. Same thing with the red house with green trim. Thanks for the tip.

Now is the best time for any suggestions. Nothing has been exported yet. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Dark, earthy red brick with lots of grunge and weathering would look good for older houses like these. The current foundations are too bright and clean looking. Not that it matters too much since the foundations are only partially visible on most slopes.

Thanks everyone. I'm hoping to release this set soon. Hopefully March? I have about 40 models to export and mod which is annoying and aggravating having to test them all and make sure the work properly. Sometimes I'll export the whole family of buildings and mod them then test them in game only to find out all 4 or 5 models don't light up at night or somehow zoom 4 east view is all distorted for some reason. Then I have to open 3dsmax again and redo the LODs on all day and night files and try again. Fingers crossed that I don't have any issues with this latest batch of models. Yeah I completely blocked all maxis houses and use CP, JMyers, Andisart, spa, Mattb325 and Simgoober houses mostly. Probably forgot a few others. Thanks. I am not CP even though 99% of the props and textures on my lots are made by him. I swear! I looked through his thread over at sc4devotion a few times and I can't wait for him to release some of that stuff. The thought of new CP prop and texture packs... oh man... and those farms look amazing, too. I use Autodesk Maya for most of my modeling. I find that I work a lot slower in 3ds Max and really dislike editing UVs in Max. I have never used Sketchup before. I know nothing about that program. Here are a few of the latest models with their foundations. Think I need to darken the foundation bricks and desaturate a bit to make them look a bit more neutral. Also made a few more garages.

Do the damaged buildings have any night lights?

I'll get a few renders with them sitting on their foundations later. The top 2 rows are the same building and will be a corner lot.

I've used Z-Brush before and I find it's easier to start a low poly model and import it into Z-brush and crank up the polys and start sculpting away. Z-brush is fantastic for baking normal maps.

Very impressive. That crown is very complex looking and sounds like it was a pain to get just right. Can you post some shots of the Z-brush model?

Thanks for the heads up. Will make for fantastic reference material.

Hello, New!

I am using the same method as andisart and c.p. with foundations. That method works best since he will probably want the foundation to also light up at night. The foundation will also need skin tight LODs. Also want to render the foundation with the statue on top so it casts the shadow on the foundation since it won't cast shadows on the foundation in game.

Night lighting is very frustrating in this game. I've had problems where my lights don't work in game when the lot grows on an east-west road, but light up just fine on a north-south road. Sometimes props/buildings won't light up when I try to grow the lot on a hill. Sometimes I just need to re-render and it will work for no apparent reason. I can not make sense of it sometimes.

Is the prop overhanging from the lot?

Wow, those are great. They would really fit in an Old West theme. Very creative low poly modeling, Vester.

Some really good looking projects in there. St. Paul's Cathedral is especially impressive. It looks like a 4 star BAT to me! (I am so sorry)

I really like the roof and the sunken plaza. All the mechanical roof junk looks excellent. Will you be adding any props like benches or more flora to the plaza?

I haven't made much progress lately, it's mostly been modding and lotting (and losing patience). So far I have 40 lots in 1x2, 2x2, and 3x3 sizes. I have organized them into 3 groups; rural, urban and medium density which have multiple houses per lot. Some rural lots. Some of the rural lots have an agriculture theme. Here are some of the medium density lots so far. I think these look pretty good growing on a nice slope. I'm trying to create a good variety of R$ and R$$ lots, but I think I need to model a few more buildings. I think I'll render them as diagonals as well and try creating some larger multi-house neighborhood style lots.