Nexis Works

[mrbisonm]

With brick texture you can try something else with the old one, you can check the option mirror in u or v and you will have twice less problems. Sometimes it gives nice result 

I tried it, well.....actually it was kinda better but still showing some repetivity, just enough for me not to like it. Thanks for this info though, might come in handy one day.

Fred

[Flash]

Hello mrbisonm,

I started reading NoG. It took a little bit to find especially since the search didn't turn up anything.

A question that came up was where your BATs were located. I started to rebuild my plugins. (I'm getting reading to build another computer.) You had mentioned you have a lot of stuff on the LEX. I can't find much here and was hoping for some help in locating your fine stuff.

(sorry have to vent.... but why on earth does UPS ship from New Jersey to Chicago during a blizzard, when it should of gone to St. Louis which is closer.)

[thingfishs]

Hey Flash,

If that's what he said it must have been a mistake. mrbison only has two files on the LEX (both maps - unless he has files under another name) whereas he has a ton on the STEX. ST is down yet again at the moment so I can't send you a link. Just search for him there when you can.

[Flash]

thingfishs,

It was a long time ago. He mentioned about a 100-150 lots on the Lex sometime in 2004. So, I knew it was possible that they disappeared or converted like GrampaAl's being remade by Barby.

[mrbisonm]

thingfishs,

It was a long time ago. He mentioned about a 100-150 lots on the Lex sometime in 2004. So, I knew it was possible that they disappeared or converted like GrampaAl's being remade by Barby.

Sorry for being late to answer this, but I was gone on vacation .
I think you must have missread it, because I surely only have 2 maps on the LEX. but more than 150 on the STEX at Simtropolis.com. If the search engine still works on this site, just enter the name " Nexis "  and you will have all my Lots and BATs displayed. Nexis is my upload's name, naturally everything I have uploaded starts with that word.
Have fun with my *things*...lol....

Btw, I have started a new CJ/MD here on SC4D,* The Winding River Project* , come and check it out, there are a lot of new BATs again and also those that I am working on right now. See you there:
               http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=7189.1140

Fred

[mrbisonm]

I'm back! Well, in this thread anyways, never left this site....

In cooperation with FrankU in his Lotting thread, where he will use some of these upcoming farmprops that I am about to finish, I have decided to create a Mega Modern Farm Prop Pack (MFP1), since new and modern farm buildings and accessories are somewhat missing or almost non-existant in Simcity4.

Go see FrankU's thread for more info on his lots:

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=9146.180

Sofar I have done about 40 models of all kinds of stuff, ranging from barns and stables to manure piles, pits, haystacks and silos of different types and sizes. Polycounts are kept low to ensure not to fill up your plugins too much. Most of them can be seen in FrankU's thread or in my MD/CJ *The Winding River Project*, where I will also test the models and show ingame pictures also. This will be the first of two Prop-Packs I have in mind creating, and they will be available for all the lotters out there, once FrankU has done and uploaded his sets. The second set (propack MFP2) will come out later this year, maybe this fall.

Making the models and texturing them quickly to show on pictures was fun and easy to do (some of them can be seen in FrankU's thread and in my MD), but now I am doing the "finetuning", which is a whole lot more timetaking and difficult than I thought. The models on the pictures below took me almost 8 hours only to "finetune", meaning altering the textures with Gimp until the right ones are achieved and working more on the details, getting them to fit nicely with the model.
I didn't think that it would take that much time, but now that I have started and am already too deep into this, I will force myself to finish them as quickly as I can. Almost half is done.

The pictures below show the finished "product", the ones that I already have completely finished "finetuning", sized, textured and detailed and these are ready for the next step, the rendering process. With final progressing all my other model props, I will keep on showing the upcoming models here until the whole lot (proppack) is finished and I am ready to start rendering them all and creating the .datfile, which will then be delivered to FrankU for his Lotmaking of different farm growstages. There will be a great variety of each model. I will eventually make some ploppables of them also, mostly for myself in my MD, but also available for everyone if asked for and wanted.

BTW, I got the idea to make these props when I saw the wonderful Dutch farmlots FrankU has created sofar with what he was able to find and which seriously inspired me to make these farmprops of modern and today's farms, both euro and north-american (mostly Canadian and New England).

More are to come soon.
MFP1 means: Modern Farm Proppack Vol 1

I started with the larger props, the buildings, stables and barns. They're all below. Enjoy...

Model 224


Model 225


Model 226


Model 217


Model 218


Model 219


Model 220


Model 221


Model 222


Model 223


Model 231


Model 227


Model 228


Model 229


Model 230



Hope you'll enjoy this proppack and FrankU's lots.

Fred

[FrankU]

Hi Fred,

We can meet on several places now.....
The barns look beautiful . I will definitely use some of them on my lots.
If there is time for a request.... Barn model 229: if you could do a variation of this one with olive green/dark green as color for the side walls this obne will be a perfect and common Dutch barn.
But I understand yyou have al ot to do already, so I won't push on it.

I am waiting.... and so are my lots. Which gives me time to find out some modding stuff on prop random chances and the like....

[mrbisonm]

FrankU, you mean this green?

There are two choices, vertical planks and horizontal, which one? Or both?



Fred

[mrbisonm]

Since the site was *out* for the renovations, I have continued to create my BATs and showed them on my BAT-Thread on ST. (Nexis BATs again) So here are the next sets that I have been working on during the *outtime* of SC4D.

This time it's the grainsilos. All these below come in two (2) different sizes, medium and large. The large are shown below. Differences of the 6 models are in texturing and also in detailing, ex: some have ladders and logos, some don't.
The logos (Purina and Co-Op) are those that we have most here in Quebec/Canada and are probably among the most known too. Others are not known worldwide such as Shur-Gain etc. If there are any other Feed logos that some would like, now is the time to come forward and say so.

FrankU, do you have a well known company in Holland that delivers feed and would you like its logo of it on one of the grainsilos?



models 234 and 235


models 236 and 237


models 238 and 239


...and to continue the Proppack, here are the manure pits. There are 2 different models with 4 different details and textures each.
The round manure pits are a little smaller than 1 gametile, approximately the scale of them irl compared to other buildings, although they exist in many sizes out there, but let's not exagerate, right?. The pits have 4 roofed or covered and 4 open models. Each one of them has either a different texture or some different detail, simply to supply the LOTter with a wider range of props or to create a propfamily. They do not come in different sizes.

models 240/241/242 and 243


models 244/245/246 and 247



Next are the Manuresheds that we see more and more in Canada, mostly Quebec, because of the new environmental law, that wants to stop the exposure of manure to the sun and rain/snow and other intemperates. Sun causes more bacteria growth which will produce gazes in return, rain and snow add liquid to the manure, which will make it more dangerous for the environment and so on. These are buildings which look like the barns/stables. I don't know if they have them in Europe.
Most of the times (because of the solid manure), they are drive-ins, meaning a tractor/loader can drive right into them to get the manure.
I made five (5) models, different in sizes, textures and styles. Four have a roof and only one without one. These last ones , we hardly see thwm anymore in most regions of Quebec. I don't know yet about the rest of Canada, which is a little less concerned with the environmental issue than Quebec.

The models are made with real life reference that I noted from my region. Model 251 is my own, build in 1999, and now by law I will have to close the walls before June 2012.

model 248


model 249


model 250


model 251


model 252



Hope you like them.


The next ones are groundsilos, a cheaper and less expensive way to storage silage. The plastic on top usually keeps the moisture away. In Europe they are darkcolored and here they are light, such as blue and white tarps. The reason to use lighter colours is better because dark ones produce a lot of heat below and can cause the growth of a more or less dangerous mushrooms which in their turn can cause severe coughing in cattle and sheep.
Some places manure is stored like this above also, covered to be sure that the solids do not become liquids with the rain/snow and cause "runoffs" of pollution. There are more of this category to come. I think that I must have 5 or 6 more of this kind, but different models and textures. Hope you like those also.
(I know that I have to readjust the texture on the 261 model... black shiny plastic seems hard to make....oufff )



model 254


model 255


model 256


model 257/258/259 and 260


model 261


model 262



Voila, some more groundsilos, single ones, full and empty and some piles of...whatever...that lie around the buildings and fields.

model 264


model 263


model 265


model 266


And the last manure piles. These should look behind buildings or on the field where the farmer usually brings it when the other ones near the barn are full.

models 267/268 and 269


...and finally here is a Bonus that I will add to the propack. It will also be on the Stex as a LM on a 4x4 lot later on.
This is actually NOT a real part of the Nexis MFP1 ([color="#008000"]Modern Farm Proppack Vol1[/color]) but only as a bonus. I haven't finished all of the props yet, but this afternoon I felt like Texturing this BAT that I created from a real Life barn (my own) 4 years ago. It can be seen in my older Bat-building threads.

History: That barn was built in 1886, with piled up rockfoundations on a mainroute between Quebec and New Hampshire (US), received some reparations in 1925 (windows and roofed add-on) and a new roof in 1958 together with the Milkhouse (the little addon on the side). The roof is actually (believe it or not), pure Aluminum sheets, maybe a little fortune in that. When we came over to Canada, and when my father bought the old farm, it was the only barn standing. When I built my new barns in 1982, it was somewhat abandonned and used for the storage of machinery and all kinds of stuff that hang around a farm and is out of use, so to speak. In 1999, I hired some folks to tear it down and just about when the workers came, my beloved wife Lynn gave me "hell" for wanting to do so. She loves that barn that is standing just beside our driveway.
Today the barn is still standing beside the mainroad, our driveway and the old farmhouse, the windows and doors are all new and the neighbor farm (on the opposite of the road) keeps his heifers (young female cows) and steers (castrated male cattle) there in the winter. I couldn't use it because it is more than 2 kms from my mainbuildings on the old farm, so renting it seemed good enough to keep the barn in shape. The rent is in exchange to keep the building in good shape,no money involved, which is not expensive for a solid 100 year plus old barn.

I BATted it three years ago and then left it behind because my texturing was totally bad looking. Today, I am a little better with texturing the models and finally got to finish my barn. I will make a ploppable LM lot (a 125 year old barn is a LM in North-America) , which will be available after the Propack is released.
Hope you will enjoy this babe, which took me more than 4 hours of texturing only and finding the right textures.
Thanks all for the comments.

mrb/Fred



I will be back with more soon, working on haybales at the moment, all kinds of piles, racks, stacks and barns. Thanks for all the comments and ideas.

Fred

[Sciurus]

Big an great work you did!

Guillaume

[supremec]

Fabulous models  I can't wait to see it in FrankU's lots 

[FrankU]

Hi Fred,

You haven't been idle, now have you?

I have a lot to say, so I start with the most important:
Fantastic work!       

Many of these will be very useful to my lots. I surely did right to put a hold on development until you are finished with your models.

(in the meantime I have found a purpose to an additional state 6 set: historical estates or manors with an agricultural atmosphere)

The grainsilos:
These are beautiful models and very versatile. As you may have noticed on the pictures I showed most of the silos that are used around here have no logos on them. It won't hurt my lots though if the silos in game will show one. The most common firm that provides stuff here is Forfarmers. You can download a logo from their website: nl.forfarmers.eu
I like the simple beige ones the best.

The manure pits are simply great. No further comment necessary.

The green manure shed is very useful. It can be plopped on any farm that is above stage 2, because Dutch farms are full of this kind of sheds. They contain anything that fits through the doors. The other ones are beautiful too, but not really useful for Dutch farm lots.
I like the open one with the nice wooden construction though. It would be nice to have one without manure, but with the ability to put tractors, hay or other stuff under the roof.
The open manure pit could also be useful for seaports or construction sites. Just pretend it isn't manure but sand, gravel, grain, or something else brownish.

The silage silos are very nice too. And what a lot of variation!
One comment though: I still think the tires are too gray and are too sharp edged. To me they look too much like metal rings or something.

The manure piles are always welcome. They will come in handy on spots that look too clean or empty. I just drop some manure or one of the other small things that you are making.

Your Landmark barn (125 years? That's last year to us  ) is totally useless for my purposes, but it is a beauty! The textures are very realistic. Maybe I just find some weird reason to put it in my region anyway.

And the last:

FrankU, you mean this green?

There are two choices, vertical planks and horizontal, which one? Or both?

Yes! I indeed meant this green. It's perfect.
We use vertical planks around here. The horizontal don't show on my computer here, but it's a low res office machine. At home I'll see them propbably the way you meant them. But, why not both? Someone else may be very happy with it.

And for the future developments: If you make the models, do you also make props? I can make the prop families, but maybe we should agree on what families we think are useful to ourselves and to the community? Do you have ideas already?

[Buzzit]

outstanding work!
i finally discoverd ploppable farmfields so i cant wait to see the completed lots

[mrbisonm]

FrankU, first of all thanks for the compliment.

(in the meantime I have found a purpose to an additional state 6 set: historical estates or manors with an agricultural atmosphere)

That sounds great.

Can't wait for the pack to finish, so I can see your lots. Still got a few BATs to finish and some models to make. (maybe around a dozen or so). I got another set of pictures of finished models to upload in a few days.

Here is what I will do, once everything is finished.
First they have to be rendered. I will take them to my office computer to render them, because it is a lot bigger and faster than my gaming and creating computer. Then they will be made into props with the SC4PIM.(that shouldn't take long) All model and desc files then will be packed into one datfile, which will be the final Propackfile.
I was wondering though and if anyone here knows about this, please explain.

Is it possible to make a lot with an independant single modelfile that will later become part of a datfile? Will the game still recognize the same model and desc file? Is that possible?

If so, then I could send you FrankU a few model and descfiles which I have already rendered and while I continue to create the rest of the propack, you could already start creating some lots. You then simply delete the independant model and descfile and use the datfile as reference or dependency once it's created and finished.
You can also do your propfamilies this way.

Anyways, to reply to your comments: The green manure shed, I will keep only the vertical one, because here too you seldom see the horizontal sided ones. The open barn I will make into a hayshed also (see picture below and yes, there will be several different models with different textures - sofar I have about 5 done already) and the silo, I made a beige one with the dutch forFarmers logo.
About the tires, Of course they could be more rounded off, but the thing is then they will have a lot more polycounts, (too many to my likings-about 12 times more) which I want to prevent. If the props have too many polycounts, then the pack will be "heavier" for the game, meaning filling up the Plugins with Mb's faster, and I don't think that we will be able to see the difference in the game anyways, so I will probably leave them like this. You know it is possible to make better and more detailed BATs, but not everyone has a "supercomputer" that can handle all this. This is also why I hate HD models, which take the space of 5 to 10 models, meaning again that we can use only smaller amounts of lots in our game. I always say, if the model looks generally fairly good and we easily recognize what it is supposed to be, than it is worth keeping. I myself have no high polycount BATs in my Plugins, which is already 14 Gb's big.
About the brightness of the tires, yes, they will be made a little darker. TWrecks already mentioned that also in my ST thread.

Yeah, my old barn. I know that it is totally useless to you, but I wanted it to add as a bonus to this pack, even though it doesn't really fit in there, but I am about to make a ploppable LM lot with it and upload it to the LEX and Stex. This is a typical New England, New Brunswick and Quebec wooden barn, we still see here all over the landscapes. There will be a similar Bonus in the second Modernfarm Proppack from me, an old barn that partially collapsed.

Anyways, let me finish the next series of props, which I will show in a few days. It will contain, haybales and shacks, machinery sheds, corndryers and propanetanks (for the corndryers and heating of pig, rabbit and chicken farms.

Any comments and suggestions are welcome. If you like something, say so, if you don't, well say so too! I'll correct it if it's easy and makes sense.
Fred

[iskrem]

Wow! A lot of great models here mrbisonm 
Looking forward to the lots made by frankU..
Are you also planning to release it as a prop pack? (would be great!! )

Regards Iskrem

[mrbisonm]

Are you also planning to release it as a prop pack? (would be great!! )

Thanks for the interest.

As a matter of fact (and mentioned before) this set of models is going to be a Nexis Proppack, first for FrankU and then for everyone. If you have read my last 3 or 4 posts, you should know all the details.
It will be (all the above shown pictures) the * Nexis Modern Farm Proppack Vol1*, as mentioned above, there will be a second Vol coming later this fall. Uploads will be to the STEX and LEX and hopefully to toutsimcity.com and simcitykurier, if they're interested.

[Silur]

Excellent works !!! Thank YOU 

[mrbisonm]

I'm back with some more pictures of finished models for the MFP1 (Modern Farm Proppack Vol1).
This time some propane tanks used for heating chicken, turkey and Piggy farmbuildings during winter and for drying corncobs (model still under construction).
Then Hay and strawbales. The haybales seem to be a little too green for some reasons on the preview picture, but I have tested them ingame and they look just fine. Also the bales are increased in size on the pics below to show the details. Look at the haysheds, which have the actual size.
I also added some hayshacks or sheds and two corncob dryers, one more dryer and three more sheds are under construction.

Enjoy. I will be back soon with some more sheds and also some high silos, which will be the last part of this set.

Let's start with the strawbales....

model 275


model 276


Like I said before, the Haybales (next) look better and less green ingame. I will show a picture of them soon.

model 277


model 278


...some stacked round bales, also the green is different ingame.

model 279


This below is just an example of what can be achieved in the LE by stacking different props of above together...



...and here are the sheds, still 3 or more under construction at the moment, different sizes, styles and textures.

model 280


model 281


model 283


model 284


This one below will be in three different textures, roof, wood and hay.

model 285


And now the propanetanks, there are only two sets, one single tank and one double.

model 270


model 271


..and finally for today, the corncob dryers. First the one that dries the cobs with the wind, they can still be seen near the farms in the middle of fields in the Montreal area and the lower St-Lawrence river valley.

model 287


...and the blowertype, which blows fresh air into and in between the cobs inside the "box". (made in Europe by Delux Farm Products)

model 288


That's it again. Now I will have to make an update for my CJ/MD this weekend, but will be back with more props by the beginning of this coming week.
If you think you will be using these props once they're uploaded, say something, now is the time.

Have a nice weekend.

mrb

[Schulmanator]

Great looking stuff here. You continue to impress with all you do. 

[FrankU]

Hi Fred,

The hay- and strawbales look great! The large round ones look a bit too artificial: the shapes are a bit too perfect.
There is a difference between straw and hay, but I think most SC4 players don't see or don't care about the difference, so I don't know if it is worth your time to make difference in the models.

The open sheds are nice.
The roof of model 283 looks very new. Maybe a bit more dirt would make it better.
The roofs of models 284 and 285 look a bit weird. What material is it? Or is it my perception/computer?

Propane tanks are always nice and these look great and realistic.

The corn dryers I have never seen, so I don't know what to say. They look beautiful to me. Textures and colors look realistic.

And your question:
As long as you do not change any property of the model or desc file it is not a problem. As you might remember there were lots of small prop and texture packs flying around on SC4 sites. Then some people started putting these together into Mega Packs. Someone even invented the Cleanitol tool to help deleting the old files.
As long as you pack the models and other files into one with dat-packer there is no problem.

But before you start sending me props: I think I wait with relotting until you have finished the whole pack.
Otherwise I might feel obliged to re-relot some after you have sent me another new prop. I'll better wait and do it in one take.