Adara - Update 184 - March 26, 2012

[Splime]

Very nice, the best guide to dealing with the border I've seen! (Though, I'll admit, it's also the only guide to dealing with the border I've seen... ) Great job! 

[Scarton]

How ingenious... I'm wondering, did you just put pics of the edges of both cities together, or is there some mod that lets you see the edge of the adjacent city?
I like your attitude towards detail and realism and making everything fit in perfect rhythm. Incredible!

[woodb3kmaster]

You are a true master of matching boundaries! That's far more effort than I would/should normally use to get quad borders looking right. The only way your method could be improved would be to take advantage of the "terrainquery" cheat that's enabled as part of the SC4 Extra Cheats plugin. That way, you could just write down the coordinates of each farm or river boundary to make matching them up on the other side easier and less error-prone. Nevertheless, you've done an outstanding job without that cheat - well done!

[calibanX]

Brilliantly done. I can't imagine the time you put into that border matchup. Imagine the mosaics you could create. Looking forward to you Lot Editor creations.

Take care.

Geoff

[dedgren]

Hey, that's just about one stunning update a week for the month of July.  The last (matching up quad edges) is a cleverly disguised tutorial- we need to do something about that.  I've never sat down as you have and thought the process through- now I don't have to.

I saw a wish or two over the last couple of pages I might be in a position to do something about.  I have an unexpected free day tomorrow, and I'm not going to let it be spoiled by letting work intrude.  The SAM-FAR intersections are a no-brainer- we'll see what else might happen.

The great maps remain a huge plus, and I remain insanely jealous of both your skills and the tools you have available.  Oh well... what can I say?

Adara is incredible good work- thanks for sharing it with us.


David

[Tomas Neto]

Really, great update again!!! Fantastic rural area!!! 

[Battlecat]

Joe (JoeST): Thanks very much!  Glad you like it!

io_bg: Thank you for your kind word! 

splime: I guess there hasn't been much attention paid to the border in the game since visually speaking it's pretty easy to ignore it when you can't see what's next door.  Glad you like it!

citycapitalizer: Welcome to Adara!  Sadly, the way the game works, the edges are just a simple backdrop that is identical on every tile.  What you see in the shots showing the cross border visuals is just some careful composite work done in GIMP.  Glad you're enjoying the

Zach (woodb3kmaster): Glad you like the process!  I really prefer thinking of these areas as true regions, and so for me, eliminating the visual border between the tiles becomes quite important.  Fortunately, the plopable farm pieces make that process much easier! 

I've never used the "terrainquery" cheat, and you're right, it could possibly make it easier.  But since most things in Simcity 4 are a minimum of 1 tile in width anyhow, the simple counting actually works pretty nicely.  It's particularly easy when the area is neatly bisected by a couple roads and railways, then I can just do the counting relative to those features.  Interesting thought though, I'll have to look into it. 

Geoff (calibanX): Thanks very much!  I actually have got some plans for some mosaic work, but I'll have to finish up more of this tile before I get started on that!  My first attempts at using the lot editor are coming right up!

David (dedgren): Thanks very much for stopping in!  I'll have to see what I can do about rewriting the techniques from that last update into a proper tutorial.  There are a few details I could probably add to help clarify some specific techniques I was messing around with.  Perhaps sometime in the next couple weeks I'll scrounge up the time! 

I have always appreciated the work you've been doing in the mod community before and since my return to the game.  In fact it was the wide radius curves, fractional angle roads, rails and the STR that helped make the lure to return irresistable!  I'm always excited to see what you've got coming out next!  The FAR-SAM intersections do have particular appeal though!  :-)

I certainly wish I could provide easier access to some of these tools, particularly since I just got my hands on a new version of Autocad Map 3D that can do some pretty amazing things which I'll demo once Vavenby is done.  However, I still have to point out that your mapping work in 3RR is easily as impressive in appearance as the stuff I do here, at least as far as I'm concerned!  Most of the tools I use are simply a matter of comfort since I use them at work to make my mapping work easier in much the same way as I have for Adara. 

Thanks for taking the time to stop in, it's always great to hear from you!   

Tomas Neto: Thanks very much for you kind words!

Update 32
Vavenby – Farming and Lotting

So as I mentioned last time, today I'm going to take a stab a making a few new lots.  The desire to do this came up as I was working my way though another round of farming details.  These particular lots aren't intended to be anything incredibly fancy, but with any luck they'll improve some areas that have been bothering me a bit.

32-1: Here's the area I originally intended to finish today.  Due to a lack of time however, most of the work is going to be done at the top of the image. 


32-2: So, a few zones and let's see what farms show up today.


32-3: Hmmm, not too bad, but there are some obvious glitches that will need to be cleared up to make this look good. 


32-4: First of all, the farm in the upper left corner of the overview got re-developed a few times before a hay farm showed up.  Not being satisfied with the normal look, I did another experiment with an active farm.


32-5: You can see the tractor hauling a load of bales away in this shot. 


32-6: Moving along, here's an area that causes me some concern.  The diagonal filler lots don't do a bad job, but today I decided that maybe I can improve things slightly. 


32-7: So I popped into the lot editor and put the clover field texture in as the field texture on the diagonal filler lot.  It makes a big difference in the appearance of this field. 


32-8: And then, while I was in there, I took a stab at softening the edges of the corn fields as well.  This actually worked better than I expected, and although it's still not perfect, I think it'll do the trick. 


32-9: Moving right along, the traffic has gotten quite busy on this highway and it's causing me some grief.  Honestly, I really don't like the distress mechanic but it is a good way of seeing the problem spots.  The big issue is that farms become distressed far to easily in this game. 


32-10: Fortunately, since this is a visual diary, I can tweak things a bit.  I popped into the lot editor once more and created a replica of this particular field as a plopable lot and replaced the distressed fields.  Fortunately, plopable fields are immune to distress since they are only visual. 


32-11: Same thing goes for this bean field here.  Earlier in the journal there was an obvious area of darkened blight, this time because the game didn't think the fields could access a road.  That one is a very silly bug and should have been fixed ages ago.  But fortunately, the lot editor comes to the rescue once again and replaces the messy spots. 


32-12: To wrap things up for today, I started playing with Steamrobin's Rural Set.  I'm quite impressed with the this pack, it takes the concept of expanding and detailing game farms a bit further and provides some excellent new options.


32-13: Here's a second farm with some Rural Set details added.


32-14: And finally, that bean and turkey farm that I was messing around with in 32-11.  These pieces really provide the flexibility to make each farm unique.  Even better, if two identical farms grew up adjacent to one another, you could make them look different using these various components. 
   

32-15: Finally, here's an overview of the current state of the area.  I'm going to be doing a pond and stream next but I'm still debating the exact method to use.

And that's a wrap for today.  With any luck I'll be able to make a big push on getting some more farming done this week. 

[Splime]

Very nice update! I'm going to have to make some custom diagonal fillers myself...

[Tomas Neto]

Hi my friend!!! You perform updates of great beauty and perfection! Wonderful MD!!! 

[FrankU]

Stunning work!
I have been away for three weeks and there is too much to comment on everything, so let me be short: 

[Battlecat]

Splime: Thanks my friend!  The most challenging thing about these custom diagonal fillers is making the props work.  Many of the farm props (such as seasonal corn) fill an entire tile and so to create a filler, you need to push the prop as far into the corner as possible and make sure to line up the rows with other lots. 

Oh, and it also helps to check how the real farm lot is set up.  Some of them use prop families, and some use multiple seasonal props stacked one on top of the other.  I'll be interested to see what you do with custom fillers!

Thomas Neto: Thanks very much for you kind words! 

FrankU: Glad to see you back, hope you had a good holiday!  Thanks for stopping in to comment!

Update 33
Vaveyby – Ponds and FARms

Today I'll continue working on the farms, along with continued messing around with the PPond textures.  Additionally, I've got a bit of an experiment to show you all, although it wound up taking a fair chunk of playtime to put it together.  I'll be interested to see what you all think.  Oh and by the way as a hint, the title above isn't a mistake! 

33-1: First of all, I'm still poking at the ppond textures to see what they're capable of.  I learned a fair bit from this tutorial. 


33-2: And here's the pond with the basic edging done. It's funny how flat textures can create the illusion of depth. 


33-3: In the meantime, the local farms have already been zoned.  I have specific plans for the farm right next to the pond.  But I have different plans than just bulldozing the area until I get the farm I want.


33-4: Here's a closer look.  The greenhouse will actually do the trick, it leaves me some room to maneuver. 


33-5: So, Some trees around the edge of the pond, a bit of a fence, a zoned residential lot and a few pieces from Steamrobin's rural set up the corner.


33-6: A bit more messing around lead me to this final layout for the farm. 


33-7: And once the rest of the local trees and shrubs are added in, this is the final product.


33-8: The pond flows out through a forested area, a nice meadow is tucked in with a narrow trail used mostly by locals. 


33-9: Up on the mountainside, I'm also playing around with details.  This rock outcropping demanded something different.


33-10: So I played with the plopable rock options available.  I wound up using mostly rocks from the ppond detail set for this one. 


33-11: Moving right along, here's the main project for tonight.  The distress here is easy enough to fix now, I'll just use another set of plopable fields to fix things up.  My big problem is with the FAR road. 


33-12: It might look like I'm leaving space empty, but as many of you have noticed, those two tiles behind the corner cannot accept any lots due to some quirk of the FAR and wide radius curves.  So I got to thinking, is there a way to improve the appearance of this area?


33-13: After a great deal of research, I found a few tutorials that helped clear things up.  First, it involved creating a one shot lot, one which I'll only be able to use once. 


33-14: Thanks to this tutorial by dsrwhat316, I learned that you could expand a lot underneath an existing road.  Even more importantly, I managed to track down instructions on extracting the alphas for FAR roads.  I then buffered them to create a special set of 3 overlay textures that provided a proper offset from the roads.  Then I deleted the base texture from the three lots that needed to be FAR compatible.  This is the result of that project. 


33-15: But wait, dsrwhat316 also wrote up this tutorial!  It shows how you can take a lot you've already plopped in game and add new props to it.  It does require exiting and then returning to the game twice, but the end result is what follows.  The only real downside is it took a fair bit of time to figure out how to do this.  It went smoothly enough so I think I'll look into finishing up this farm in a future update.  I expect this technique won't work for every farm along a fractional angle network but it certainly helps improve things a bit! 


33-16: Finally, here's an overview of the area I worked on today.  The third farm really isn't anything special, but it adds a nice alternate green to the area.


33-17: Finally, here's a sneak peek at part the area I'm going to be working on next time! 


I'm eager to hear what you all think of the farm lots I've created recently!  Hope to hear from you all soon!

[KoV Liberty]

Looks good!!!!!!!! 

[Glowbal]

Now that looks great. Good job!

[io_bg]

Wow! I really like how you have made the farm around the FAR piece! Great job!

[Tomas Neto]

Woooowww!!! Fantastic rural area!!! Great work my friend!!! 

[Albus of Garaway]

I feel so guilty for not coming here at all lately...

Let me assure you, these last couple of updates are simply fantastic. Your use of ploppable water astounds me, and the fact that you're beginning to do some work with custom content (As minute as the work is now) truly excites me. I can only imagine what you could create in the future!

I look forward to what you'll be doing next here in Adara.

[Battlecat]

Driftmaster07: Thanks for stopping in again and for you kind words!

Glowbal: Thanks!  Glad you like it!

io_bg: Glad you like how the farm fits around the FAR pieces.  More coming up today!

Tomas Neto: Thanks very much!

Albus of Garaway: No apologies necessary at all!  Life does get busy at time.  I'm just glad to see you stopping in again!  I've been playing more with the lot editor, as you'll see in the next few updates.  I'm really finding that the small details really help clear up some of the jarring flaws in SC4!  Thanks for your support!

Update 34
Vavenby – Agriculture Amusement

It's been a very productive weekend and I'm really starting to get the hang of these filler lots.  So, let's get right on that first batch of farms I promised in the last update. 

34-1: First, I quickly decided that the one far segment alone wasn't going to be sufficient, so I created two more fillers for this area. 


34-2: Instead of making new textures this time, I discovered that there are some pretty darn close overlay curve sections already available in the database. 


34-3: I figure if I can add props for the fields, I can add more props to line the road with trees! 


34-4: As mentioned last time, here's the main area subject to development today. 


34-5: And here's a first draft of the farms.  We're not going to see the finished version of all of these today. 


34-6: I had to go back and redo the corner piece, I adjusted the curve and added a diagonal filler to finish things up.  As you can see in this shot, I'm also adding the corner for the corn field in as well. 


34-7: And here is the resulting curve.  One irritating thing I discovered is that when you do the reload to make the props appear on these custom filler lots, any mayor mode plopable features that are sitting on a lot section will disappear.  The power poles by the corn field that are visible in 34-6 have vanished in this shot.  In the future, I'll have to plan to do all these fillers sooner in the project. 


34-8: This vineyard developed in the area, and caused me some grief.  For some reason, despite my best efforts, I couldn't replicate this lot to create the plopable buffer to get rid of the distressed area. 


34-9: So instead, I created a plopable version of the seasonal vineyards to replace it.  I think I actually prefer this field version to the other one. 


34-10: Finally, my last project for today, this field needed to be reoriented for improved appearance due to some decisions I'll show you in the next update!  It also needs a diagonal filler. 


34-11: Voila!  One diagonal filler to smooth the edges of this farm. 


34-12: Once the trees are in place, the results look pretty nice if I do say so myself!


That's all for today.  It may not seem like much, but learning the Lot Editor, and all the other tools necessary to make good functional lots and custom textures has been quite time consuming!  The good news is, there will be another update sooner rather than later this week!  See you all later!

[woodb3kmaster]

 

Those results look more than just "pretty nice" - they're stunning! You've really taken rural development to a whole new level with your filler lots. Great job! I look forward to what's coming up next for Vavenby.

[beutelschlurf]

moin Battlecat,
great stuff, with those fillers! ... and your region is geting nicer and nicer!

b_schlurf

[JoeST]

Oh...My....GAWD!!!!


Joe