JMyers Rural Retreat and Small Shops

[Jack_wilds]

jmeyers, Jack wilds here...

I've always enjoyed your work, particularly the agricultural volume series... there is alot of Wisconsin in the dairy, beef and crop farms.  Now with a new volume to look for and the tobacco barns to the rural variety just is getting better 
... it will get to the place that every city will have its own unique looks with little duplication of bats.  So then with all the teasing from the photo gallery is there any news from the cracker barrel, farmer Henry needs a new barn? 

Jack

[superhands]

Jm,  i only wish these sorts of buildings existed in australia's wheatbelt. nice work

dave.

[Jack_wilds]

Hello Jmeyers, Jack wilds here...

Looking over the teaser photos once again liking what I see when I noticed  something about the Amish barn raising.  Is that shingling crew working correctly? it seems to that the lower courses should be further along versus the upper courses or is there a new way to get this done  ... seems to me that someone on the crew is headed for a talking to in the corn crib. 

At any rate, hope this doesn't upset the 'apple' basket.  Looking forward to more rural excitement.

Jack

[jmyers2043]

Pat – Always encouraging. Thanks. 

Kendra – Ouch! That bug just bit me again. Thank you so much.

TTC Derry – May your new region be filled with Tobacco and Corn. Thanks for the comment.

Metasmurf – I agree with the thumbs up. Much better than that ugly Maxis foundation. A couple of things about Slope friendliness. It is better to keep the building simple. A large door in the front or rear. A foundation can get very complex if I start to have a bunch of side entrances. As a result, there are fewer modeling details. That means I have to concentrate on textures.

Geronimo – Thank you for taking time to comment. I appreciate both accolades and constructive criticism. Both make for better game assets and enjoyable evenings. On second thought, accolades are better.   

Gaston – Good Idea. Rock city will probably be in some future set.

GirlfromVerona – to my favorite journal person. Thank you so much. May your corn grow tall and your tobacco grow ... well ... hmmmm ... darn.     I can't think of anything witty to say about your future tobacco crops.

Threestooges – Not a Mash reference. Actually a reference to gator wrestling.

MadHatter  and Battlecat. – Thanks for the compliment. Regarding bats and lots? I try.

Bighead – I got your PM photos. Thanks. I am collecting wheat crop ideas.   

Hey Jack – Funny you should say. Marczar said something similar in the private BSC threads.  The answer is that I could have been more 'building code' friendly – but I hope the way I did it has more visual interest. Sometimes for me, reality gives way to artistic license.

[Pat]

Hey Jim no problem at all its my pleasure!!! BTW love the new releases on the LEX!!! WOW What a treat this weekend has been first a new NAM and now more farms from Jim!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jack_wilds]

Hey Jmeyers, Jack wilds here...

Artistic license,  ok I'll be creative in this inspection if I can have a load of corn to 'feed' the deer with and it'll slide (as long as you don't the county Ag-Dept) 

I was surprised to find the new farms on the LEX today  -Thanks, it made my day.  Have a question though...
now that I am getting a real rural variety happening how can I suppress the maxis' lame farms? 

I understand the desire for creative-artistic license vs modeling RL as I am an engineer with artistic-musically inclined ways -go figure... 

Jack

[jmyers2043]

Hey Jack

This is the only one that I know of. Back in 2004 by GranmpaAl. It doesn't 'supress' per se - it gets rid of them entirely. I use the below mod when testing my own farms and it does get rid of them period.

Called Prevent IR lots...

http://www.simtropolis.com/modding/index.cfm?p=details&id=341

I actually use the Maxis lots in my game. Although, I've altered them a bit. If you wish to supress? You may try to change the growth stage of the more pesky ones, lot them so that they only grow on a corner, or change the slope so that the farms grow on a narrow range of slope settings.

[Pat]

Hey Jack and also Jim there is one even by BSC that does the same thing but you can use it on all Levels and its campatible as well... Its here on the LEX [linkie]

[jmyers2043]

Originally batted for the Bordertown challenge. This power plant is now in the hands of the BSC scrutinizing team. It will be an alternative to the Maxis Natural Gas Plant and has similar stats. I should be able to upload it to the SC4D LEX in two to three weeks with any luck.

[Pat]

dang Jim I thought that was a custom gas lol!!! I love your gas plant and I cant wait to hit the LEX!!!!

[Jack_wilds]

Hey Jmeyers, Jack wilds here...

I like the new power plant, there is a lot of detail in it, I hope it translates into the game OK .  I see components in this power plant that could be used to make an ethanol plant -any thoughts? (also, maybe this could an award for x-number of corn fields in the city)

Still enjoying the latest farm pack its neat to see them show up in my 'countrified' cities.  I was thinking on these farms when a note of nostalgia came over me. 

Here in Wisconsin the rural landscape is littered with forgotten landmarks and 'tell-tale-signs' of yesteryear dotting the lands.  So I'm requesting that perhaps in the spirit of your farms (textures, colors, style, lot-ting) to make a couple of packs of country churches, cemeteries, town halls, grange halls (a reward to go with your crop farms), and one-two-three-four room school-houses... thanks for listening its not as though there aren't other projects on your plate, huh...    Happy Easter 

Haven't heard from you by the local cracker barrel in a while, Jackson (my black lab) is whining to know
-whats up! (there aawt to be a 'whats-up' emoticon to put here)

Jack   

[jmelvin]

I was just looking at your latest tobacco and corn farms. I made sure that I had all of the dependencies. That list seems to be missing a file needed to see the houses on these lots. All of the other props show up. I'm just missing the house props.

I did a dependency check with PIM-X with all of the prop files that I have ever downloaded and found that 1 prop (the house) was missing on each lot.

I'm not sure if this is the thread to ask about this.

jmelvin

[jmelvin]

I found the missing houses. I was looking at your files without letting any of the tools see bldgprop_vol1 and bldgprop_vol2. Those weren't listed as dependencies for your farms.

jmelvin

[jmyers2043]

bldgprop_vol1 and bldgprop_vol2.

Hello JMelvin

About once or twice a year I get asked that question. The answer is that many of us who have been with SimCity 4 since it was released, and were around when the Lot Editor was released by Maxis, and then the BAT tool have a tendency to assume that most/all  players have the Maxis buidlings as props_VOL1, and VOL2 already in their plugins. So they are not specifically listed as a dependency.

I've been making many bats that are yet to be released. I'll not make that assumption again and include those links as dependencies in the future.

Best Regard, Jim Myers

[jmyers2043]

I was asked in a PM how I do my foundations. I thought a good way to answer was to make this short turorial because the answer required a number of pictures.

Hi, I've recently download your last farms ... I would like to make my own slope conforming fondations ... Can you explain me the method that you use ?

Example I'll use is the Red Man Tobacco barn. One meter of the barn foundation is above the X axis and will be seen when the farm grows on flat land. It is a part of the barn model. Everything below the x axis is the foundation and is a seperate foundation model. It will be seen only if the barn grows on a slope. In this case the foundation extends 10 meters below grade.  I placed this barn on a 4X4 lot. My rule of thumb is to set the maximum slope 1 meter greater than the longest dimension of the lot. In this case, the maximum slope this barn will grow on is 5 meters. A 2X3 lot would be set to grow on slopes no greater than 4 meters. This means that at best, and if the barn grows on terrain where there is a 5 meter dip, that only half of the foundation will show up

Barn and Foundation together in gmax view.


I usually put the major foundation elements, like ramps and foundation walls, into their respective groups.   


I recall the Main foundation and click to reset the LOD. This makes LOD3, LOD4, and LOD5. Delete LOD 4 and 5 and save main foundation wall with the LOD.


Next step is to merge the two ramps and create another set of LODS.  Again deleting LOD4 and 5.



Boolean LOD3 to conform to the slopes of your ramps.  You do not have to be exact with the Boolean but be as close as you can. Save the ramp and LOD as XXX



Start a new project and merge LOD3 from the main foundation and LOD3 from the ramps.



Go to Modifiers, Select Mesh Edit, and then select Edit Mesh.



Select Attach List from the Geometry Rollout menu. Then make the appropriate selection from the attach list. This combines two separate elements into a single LOD3. Save as XXX



Start a new project. Merge the foundation and the two ramps. Then create a box that will sit on top of the foundation. This is to cast the proper shadows onto the foundation. Don't worry. The box is outside the foundation LOD and will not show up in the game. Because it is outside the LOD it will hide underneath the barn and there will be no graphic glitches.



Finally Merge the LOD 3 that you created. Select it and clone as LOD4 and LOD5. Presto – You're ready to render the foundation.



There are probably other methods but that is the method I use.

[Air6]

Truly great tutorial. Very useful. Thanks 

[thingfishs]

there's few quicker ways to learn then by well made, photo filled tutorials,
great work Jim 

[jmyers2043]

Foundation Part 2

This is a Kiln Barn. It might be called a Hop barn in the states or an Oast in Europe.  I have some Ivy growing up the side and also have the Ivy as part of the foundation model. A picture of an Oast in England is the inspiration for this barn. 

Question is when rendering – do I have to have select 'foundation'? The answer is .. good practice. But I know from past experience that I've forgotten and it has not affected the foundation at all.



The foundation and the Oast are rendered. Time to fire up the Maxis PIM. Select the foundation model. Drag it and make the foundation. Click OK. Nothing else is needed.



Select your barn and create an I-Agriculture building. Click on the 'advanced' tab and scroll down the list of foundations and select the appropriate one. Click OK. The foundation is now a part of the farm building and you'll not see that ugly Maxis brown square on your lots anymore. 



What I do next is to make a bare bones lot that grows as stage 1. Open the game with an empty plugin folder. BUT - Make sure that Grandpa Al's Maxis farm blocker is in your plugins. What am I doing? I want to insure that the farm I just imported into the game is the only one that grows. It makes quality control easier and I can see it from different sides on different slopes, etc. I have test cities that are flat and hilly.



Looks ok to me 



Once I'm happy I'll mod the farm building for proper jobs, water consumption, power, etc. I'll make the 'real' lot



@ Air6 and Thingfish .. I appreciate the time you spent reading and the kind comments.

[RippleJet]

Jim, could you please repost this excellent tutorial in either B.A.T. Modelling Tutorials or B.A.T. LODding Tutorials as well ?

[threestooges]

Excellent work on the tutorial Jim, and the power plant I saw above... that's just stunning. How long did it take to model all the details, railings and all?
-Matt