romualdillo's little BATs & Problems

[11241036]

You've done a great job so far. The telephone poles look like a good addition. You could polish the houses up with a few trees, flowers, shrubs, toys, benches etc. in the backyard. Other than that, I'm really looking forward to see your work on the LEX.

[pxljce]

These are great!! My favourite are the small details like the tower popping up here and there, the water towers and the small porches/courtyards look inviting. Also think the different yard wall textures make a big difference. Oh and the basements that mean I can use them on a slope.

What would normally be in the garden strips at the back?

I'm asking because we have similar types of dense row houses and those yards are normally filled with all kinds of ju... uh important things. 

Excited to download these.

[vester]

Would love to see the back as a maze with a lot of smaller houses.
There are still a few of those area left in Copenhagen.


How is it going with that game arena, the Beti Jai ?

[romualdillo]

11241036: Thank you!!!

pxljce: Thank you!!! I'm still thinking about the backyards... 

vester: Thank you!!! Well, the old Spanish concept looks a bit different. I was thinking about something like this, but in a smaller scale:


Original link

They're called "corralas","ciudadelas" or "conventillos" in different parts of Spain and South America.

I'm still experimenting with the wires:

They work almost fine in small slopes...



But in bigger slopes...





I'm going to try other thing: render smaller parts with the model exactly the same size as the LOD box. It won't be perfect, but it will look better. Life could be much easier if there was X-axis deformation without Z-axis rotation. 
There's other possibility: render the wires as models on the ground, make them "orient to slope", elevate them with the lot editor and then pray for the Z-axis rotation to count from the prop base and not from the ground... This would be very complicated and most probably not working.

[noahclem]

Cool concept with the wires    Buildings continue to look great 

[romualdillo]

noahclem: Thank you!!!!

vester: I forgot to say that I've been working on the Beti-Jai building, but as I'm concentrating on the R$ lots I haven't done much...

Well I think the wires work finally. I don't know if you were interested in having them , but they worth it:





They don't look bad in other views:



I like this image very much...



Welcome to the suburbs!! 

I still have to work on the poles' LODs and test the wires with R$$ buildings. If everything is OK I'll add them to all the lots.

[vortext]

The wires look really nice, however, I have my reservations about adding them to the lots. I think it will look strange when there're gaps in the row, let alone in combination with other buildings. Not everyone will be using your lots exclusively. 

These kinda props are better suited for T21-ing along the road. . 

[romualdillo]

Yes, you're right. That's why I wasn't sure about uploading them, because they're a personal preference. (Just like the street props I'm going to do. I want them to be on the lots because I think it gives more possibilities to make different street styles). I just wanted to do the experiment. Perhaps I can upload a basic version and a complete version of the lots. Others can do road mods with the props if they like them... 

[romualdillo]

I corrected the LODs' issues you can see on these pictures:




On the first picture's upper left corner you see the "Casa Arcos" porch and the backyard wall arguing about their right to appear first. On the second one you can see how some wires disappear when approaching a house. I manipulated the LODs to avoid those problems, an this is the result:




The wires are not visible on these pictures, but you'll see them on the next ones with other addition to the lots:






I hope you like the signs. I had much fun doing them!!! You can find Spanish, Argentinian and Cuban brands among them, and other international brands present in Spain in the 1910's. I think they can be included in the basic lots to download. What do you think?

[noahclem]

Your LOD work seems to have fixed the wiring issues perfectly and the signs are a subtle but perfect addition. Just wish I could go to zoom 9 and see them a little closer Great work 

[art128]

Have missed a few updates..
Your idea of power cables between the houses is excellent and well done!

[romualdillo]

Thank you guys!!!

I've started with the backyard elements. A fence to divide long lots (obviously I'll change the fences' position in every lot, this is just a test).





If you've got any idea or suggestion for the backyards, please tell me: elements, design... I still have no idea of how to do them... I'm sorry this is going so slow.

[11241036]

I have some suggestions for elements for your houses' backyards:

* Trees and shrubs can be found in many gardens. For shrubs, you could probably take default Maxis shrubbery or SimGoobers Hydrangea shrubs. About trees: I believe the BSC MEGA PropPack CP Vol02 http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2790 contains many trees from various parts of the world (including the Mediterranean area, for example), there might be some to your liking.
* On R$$$ lots, you might want to include flower beds or even small ponds.
* Other items might be: patio chairs, those inflatable pools that children like to bathe in (both are I believe available as default Maxis props), laundry lines, fireplaces,... You could try to think of any house you've been living in or you visited once and try to recall what was located there.
* You could also get some ideas by opening default Maxis lots in the Lot Editor and looking what Maxis places on their own lots. Sometimes, an easy solution can come in handy as well.

[Simcoug]

Big fan of the signs!   
They will definitely get a place in my lotting palette 

[romualdillo]

11241036: Thank you very much for the advice!!! I'll try the fireplaces and the laundry lines, they are a great idea and they match the modular idea I want to develop. I have the BSC MEGA PropPack and I'll take a look to the trees, but I was thinking about HD props.

Simcoug: Thank you!!!! I must confess that I had the idea looking at one of your images 

Well, as I said before I think the best way to design the backyards is using a modular system, with different props and uses, all grouped into a family. There will be some invisible props, just to create empty spaces (up to 50% of the props). I've thought about greenhouses, orchards, garden sheds, chairs and tables... I'll do the same with the fences dividing the backyards. I don't know if I could do something similar with seasonal trees...

Here are the greenhouses:





I hope you like the idea!!!

EDIT: A hen house



EDIT II: A Dovecote





EDIT III: Kennel and Dog House



EDIT IV: Garden shed





EDIT V: Another Garden shed





EDIT VI: I was inspired today and I did another Garden Shed 



EDIT VII: I wanted to do something original, so I did a Woodshed

[romualdillo]

I was bored of doing sheds and I wanted to do something different. I've been reading some tutorials and I could make this:



It's the old Ford Model T that came in the bonus CD when I bought the game long time ago. I was frustrated because it wasn't driveable, so I made it driveable. Now I'm working on the texture, trying to improve it. I want to do different colour variations, as always  . My final target is preventing the other cars to appear, but I still don't know how to do it (overrides or something similar), so if anyone can help, I'll be very grateful. 





If you have any suggestion for the texture's improvement, please tell me!!!

[Simcoug]

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! 

[vester]

Ghost car! 

No one drives it. Maybe add a man to the seat ?


Haven't looked into cars as such. You will need to overwrite all the different cars.
Think Gizmo did a replacement mod. You will need to go to his site to get it.
http://gizmo.aplaceforwebsite.com/

If he did it, it will holds all the TGI ID for the cars.

[carlfatal]

My internet connection was on the slow side for some time, and so I missed some updates. Crazy work, my friend. In between I need to look for the missing perspective to realize, that this is SimCity anymore! 
The car is simply stunning, and I definately would play with an oldtimer mod. 

Keep it up! 

[romualdillo]

Simcoug: Thank you!!! 

vester:    Yes, it needs a driver. The car came without it. I planned to use the default drivers the game has, but I haven't found them at the moment. I know they exist, because this car (as the motorbikes), uses them:



In game (sorry I have no image) it appears with a driver, but nothing in the exemplar file references it. I think it works like the trucks' wares. I haven't found them either. I don't know where they are and how to use them. If nobody knows, I'll try my hand with low poly drivers. 

Thank you very much for the link!!!!

carlfatal: Thank you!!!

EDIT: Does anyone know how to find an exemplar file using a S3D file? I've found the drivers' S3D files in reader, but I don't know how to find the other files attached to them.

EDIT II: Turned back to the backyards. Now I did a laundry.





EDIT III: Oven with Grill and an Orchard (Tomatoes)