Side Project - rerendering Mattb325 BSC BAT Props Vol01

[mattb325]

Hi everyone

I have set up this side topic to my main Bat showcase to post updates on re-rendering all of my first models in the Mattb325 BSC BAT Props Vol01.

Many of these props were rendered in late 2006 early 2007 and while I still like many of the models (although many I cringe at  ), most are in need of an overhaul to bring them up to todays standards either in terms of texturing or scale. I will probably add some new models as well, but new additions within this set will be quite limited and specific to the existing models.

I won't be re-rendering these in HD as most are building models.

At this very early stage, the idea of this project is that once completed, the new BAT props DAT will simply over-ride the existing models. I will keep the instances and occupant numbers the same so that the user should just have to allow the original file to be over-written with new file.

By this method I hope to avoid having the user being required to bulldoze grown buildings , but I haven't made my mind 100% just yet as these BATs have very old values and are quite difficult to grow; others are almost weedy.

In the picture below, the old models are at the back of the lot; the new models are at the front.



There were 6 tree models in this first pack and I made them using geospheres and opaque solid textures. The tree models were Eucalyptus Citriodora. At 40+m, they were overscaled, quite heavy set and they also suffered terribly from the black edges that often plague GMAX flora.
Some were missing shadows (a result of being a novice with the Maxis PIM) and in one zoom/rotation one model appears to float. 

I have re-done these completely, they are now about 28m and have very different textures.

Additionally, I also had three low wealth terraces - "Little Riley St". The texturing on these was very basic, but the real issue was their scale: in those days I would compare my W2W bats with Vanderaaps' (he was the most prolific back then) but I did not realise how overscaled his stuff was. So on these low-wealth terraces, I ended up with a ground floor alone that is almost 8m....

Two of these have been re-done (new textures and a 4.2m floor) and I am working on the third this week....

Other Bats in that pack will be given a similar treatment over the coming weeks/months

[jmdude1]

your awesome work is getting awesomer??    top notch work as always!

[chester]

The new trees look amazing! i love this since i use a lot of your creations in my game, and your props on my own custom lots. Can't wait.

[Simcitler]

That's a great idea Matt. I never liked this Mega Trees much, but the new ones are looking superb in my eyes. Also the buildings are looking promising!
Keep up the great work. 

~Simcitler

[art128]

You're mad!

[mattb325]

Thanks guys - this is likely to be a crazy idea - especially replacing all those fun hexadecimal numbers in the reader 

Small update:



As you can see, I have turned 6 trees into 9. Working through the hideously saturated garage props 

[SimCity4DeluxeGame]

Wow.  I have been impressed with your models and glad to see you are revamping the flora around your lots!  Don't hide your buildings they are awesome!  Thanks for all your hard work!

[FrankU]

This looks great.

Models of trees have been improved a lot these years and yours are indeed a great improvement. Good work!

[mattb325]

Thanks guys.

Here are the models that have been re-rendered so far. I have placed a few Maxis props in amongst it to line up scale.

The other models in the Vol01 pack are the modern houses and the old windmill terraces. I won't re-render those...they will just remain as is in the new prop pack:

[Andreas]

One of the new trees near the garages in the lower left corner isn't placed inside the dirt circle. Not sure if you just misplaced it, or if the prop is not centered in gmax (and therefore "jumps" around when you rotate the view), but if the latter is true, you might want to fix that. Otherwise, great rework.

[Badsim]

Hi Matt ,

What an interesting and pertinent work you've started there !  I would like to see more creators still active to revisit their own work like you're doing .  I'm fan of your BATs & LOTs ( so well crafted )  despite the fact I don't use them , too much involved as I am to reproduce european environments ... but I could start something new in the future , more fanciful , mixing various architectural styles and your work would be among the very firsts to increase my Plugins folder  ...   

Greetings !

Cédric.

[cogeo]

Excellent job!!!  I have a small (?) request:
Now that you are revisiting some of your models, could you please modify the villas models a little, so that they can be fitted in a LODshell equal to the Maxis one? The Maxis villas come in basically three sizes. I could extract the LODshells from the Maxis models, or give instructions, if you are interested.

The Maxis models are fine, but the collection, except maybe for the Euro style is poor, featuring only 2 models (with texture colour variations) plus an additional small model per style. As a result, players get the same buildings again and again. So the solution could be making buildings and maybe lots that compete with the Maxis ones. I have tried your villas uploaded on the LEX, but these are not modded like the ingame ones, they house more people (almost close to the ingame "palazzos") and they are yet of lower growth stage, so they hardly allow any of the Maxis ones to grow. It would be nice to have some villas that really compete with the Maxis ones (ie having similar stats - ignore what SC4PIM suggests here). Btw the palazzo's collection is even more poor, so any new addition here would be more than welcome.

[mattb325]

Thanks guys - glad you like them.

@ Andreas - well spotted! I checked the model, it is fine, I had just forgotten to move the dirt circle when I was moving all the props around...I have to say, I wish I had used the dirt circle the first time around: it makes spotting rendering errors that much easier.

@ Badsim, with 9 of those trees, I tried to make them blend with more Northern Hemisphere ones (actually the sassafras was the shape that I was looking at when I redid these): Eucalyptus have a very distinct shape and growth habit which I am sure not everyone appreciates 

@Cogeo: I have actually started soing something like that (way too early to show) - your comments when I did the houses pack previously got me thinking and I started on it a while back.  Each house only takes an average of 3hrs from start to finish, so it isn't a massive project, but I have had some difficulty finding source material, particularly for the R$ set.

These are the 'footprints' of the building families - rather than LOD shell measurements that I am using:
R$ = 4 wide x 10 deep
R$ = 6 wide x 8 deep
R$ = 8 wide x 10 deep

R$$ = 10 wide x 14 deep
R$$ = 12 wide x 10 deep
R$$ = 12 wide x 14 deep

R$$$ = 16 wide x 20 deep
R$$$ = 24 wide x 14 deep
R$$$ = 20 wide x 20 deep

So far I have a number of builders web sites book marked and have 3 houses done to that scale.

The reason I wouldn't use the LOD shell is that the R$ houses (and about 3 of the R$$ houses) are just so underscaled - I am using an average of 4.5m per floor.

But otherwise I actually don't mind Maxis buildings, I just don't like their Lot work.

I guess it's a case of watch this space (I don't have an ETA just yet)....but I am more than happy if you want to mod the values of the models in the Maxis building families once they are done.

[cogeo]

Great that you are finally making them!

I would gladly make the modding work needed for these (I read your other thread too). Modding some buildings to be like the Maxis ones is actually a trivial task, as the properties one needs to edit are just a few (most are inherited from the parent cohorts anyway). Only one point, I know almost nothing about the american architecture, so another member should suggest the architectural styles these buildings should be included into. I'll make my suggestions about the euro style once the models are ready.

I agree with your comments about the Maxis lots. While the commercial lots are very satisfactory (eg for the Chalmers-compatible BATs I made there are 14 Maxis lots), the residential ones are really very few. For example, each building family for the villas may only grow in just 2 - yes 2! - lots. So any LOT addition here would be a good idea too. Better yet, if the new lots can accommodate the Maxis families (incl the new BATs), instead of individual BATs  - unless of course they have specific features, dictating a custom/specific lot. A mountain/stone villa, for example, wouldn't fit well in a Maxis lot, it needs a custom, rather than a more generic lot.

[Lowkee33]

So any LOT addition here would be a good idea too. Better yet, if the new lots can accommodate the Maxis families (incl the new BATs), instead of individual BATs

If you use a Maxis Family that has props of different requesters (wealth/crime/garbage), like 0xA0000001, there is a little modding that should be done.  Open the lot exemplar, and look for the LotConfigProperties.  Any conditional family needs to have the 2nd rep end with a 1.   

[vortext]

Pretty neat idea to revise bats. While you're at it, would you also please consider rerendering the diagonal SG canal pieces so to fit into the SG/CAL set? Maybe my request is slighty out of place since they're in the proppack vol2 but it would be wicked to have SG/CAL diagonals as well.
Take care and keep up the good work 

[jmyers2043]

... While you're at it, would you also please consider rerendering the diagonal SG canal pieces so to fit into the SG/CAL set? Maybe my request is slighty out of place since they're in the proppack vol2 but it would be wicked to have SG/CAL diagonals as well...

What ever happened to the good old days? Can you tell me that? You know. The days when SG canals were SG and CAL canals were CAL. You can call me crazy but ... NO NO NO !!! Don't do it Matt!!!

Look, don't make me get on my knees like some chump, okay? What do I gotta do, beg? Just keep coming out with those great R$ homes and we'll all be glad you did.



- Jim

[CahosRahneVeloza]

Definitely going to download this once you've finished & uploaded the remastered prop pack as I have & love all your work

[toxicpiano]

Any progress with this project Matt?

[mattb325]

Thanks guys for the comments

@ Vortext, as I and Simgoober use Gmax and CALs pieces are rendered in much newer 3Ds Max, I will never be able to match the water textures of CAL's canal set unless I use that software.

Some small progress:



I have re-rendered/scaled the Bristol, the Charmed house and the single storey Windmill St terraces (not sure if they will remain as final just yet).

Most of these are in building and prop families.

Also, I have made custom foundations for most of the houses which will make this set slope friendly.

For the modern Bristol house, I have managed to work out a way where a house and attached garage can actually have a custom foundation without looking too odd and still be centred on the lot. Once I test it I will show results in game.

The good news: - there are not too many models left to re-render, and, given that the models have been scaled back, I am able to include many more and still weigh in at the original prop pack size 

The bad news: - given how many changes there have been since the pack was first released (pim-x, CPs props, new textures and flora), I am going to dispense with the idea of simply replacing the buildings for the user as I will be re-doing the lot work completely. (The props in the pack such as trees, fences and garages will still be a staight swap where applicable). This approach will require a demolish and re-grow job for users, but will esnure that the models have accurate occupant numbers for a balanced game....