Waterfront Lots (WFK) ... some help.

[Colyn]

Many players finds the WFK pieces hard to place and many have given up on them because they struggle to get the desired result.

First of all you need to understand that there are two main types of WFK lots ...

a. The Offset Rendered type ... Marrast, Ripptide and Jeronij favours these.

b. The 2 tile deep lot with a LAND tile. This is the way PEGASUS did his and how CSX is doing it.

This How To Document covers the second type ... I dont like the first type because they can be tricky to place and many times you have no idea where the actual Water Front prop is going to land.

Now the first and most important thing to remember about the PEG and CSX WFK lots is that they "dig in" to sealevel when you plop them.

Second thing is that you need some transparent water mod or the lots will look like crap.

It is important that you prepare the waterfront properly BEFORE you start laying these WFK lots. You need to have a beach that slopes gently up to the land. If not then you wont see the front wall and it will look as if your lot deck is floating on the water. The same happens if you do not have a TRANSPARENT water mod.



In this picture the beach has been sloped by using the god mode soften tool.



Here is the raw beachfront.



In the next shot I have used the god mode LEVEL tool to make a piece of land that sticks into the sea ... it is much bigger than what I need it to be.



Now I use the god mode SOFTEN tool to get the beach to slope up to the land.



Finally I use the god mode LEVEL tool to trim the land properly ... by that I mean to create the STRAIGHT edges on the water. Unfortunately these types of lots do not use diagonal pieces.



For this document I am using one of my WFK sets that I usually use in and around harbour settings ... it also contains a WATER PUMPING Station. I use this because the pieces are bold and you can see all edges clearly.



Now for a neat trick ... many times you will find that if you now plop your roads that the land will rise up and you end up with some really high ledges between the road and the actual WFK lot. Now to fix that I plop one of PEG's PARKING LOT pieces. and draw the road out of the lot for ONE tile only.





Now it is important to have one of the SLOPE MODS install ... CSX have released one on the STEX an I believe Jeronij did one too. I find the PEG LEVELER really cumbersome, unpredictable and crude to use. Now you plop SINGLE road peices on each side of the parking lot entrance. You will notice how the parking access will be pulled DOWN to level the road with the lot. Continue to plop these single road pieces along the installed lots to get your levels right.



Next delete the parking lot if you do not need it and connect the road pieces infront of your lots. Now bulldoze the extra road plops. I usually plop the roads 4 tiles deep away from the lot ... this gives me room to zone on the waterfront and have the land pre-leveled.



I hope this is of value to some of you ... I also know that many other players will have other ways to do this and that is good. Most important is to make test city and exercise this skill ... the more you do it the easier it gets.

[mattb325]

Cheers!  This is a great tutorial...I usually use the seawalls that dig in too but didn't know about the carpark and street trick 

[sebes]

Thanks Colyn - I will reconsider using a transparant water lot in future.... I don't use it now, and gave up on using WFK waterfronts because they indeed always appear to sink in the river.

I use the street-tile trick a lot with the CDK-IND waterfronts, some of them have road entrances too. It also helps a lot in place the "corner" pieces. It's a pity that there are no diagonal parts for this type.

[jeronij]

Mmmm....it seems I'll have to open a thread to "defend" my walls 

Seriously now, thanks for clearing some of the "mysteries" about the WFK lots placement. When I use them ( and I do it sometimes  ) I tend to experience the problems mentioned here so it will be helpful for me.

[BarbyW]

Colyn has been playing again with BAT and LE He sent me the following as a preview and I think they show the alignment and water transparency very well.









The last one is a zoom 5 and shows the water particularly well.

[Alfred.Jones]

Thanks so much for that tutorial Colyn It helps heaps

[FromTheAshes]

That's great stuff again... When will they be uploadet?

[callagrafx]

What is that water Mod btw?

[Colyn]

The watermod is a PEG one ... I think Brilliantine.

[BarbyW]

Not so shiny . I think you will find it is Brigantine.

[bat]

Very great and helpful tutorial!

[Citynut]

What terrain mod are you using on this? 

[Colyn]

It is the Italia mod from Cycledogg.

[Gaston]

Thanks Colyn.   This is some very useful stuff.    You have cleared up a few mysteries for me.    I get in a hurry and always forget how to plop the roads to not get a raised "edge".


---Gaston

[Colyn]

It is my pleasure ... the Shosaloza project is drawing to a close for me as I am close to 1 million and then I will package and release all the lots I made for the project ... that includes these new WFK lots.

[keithsed]

YEA!!!   

More lots to download.  I'm a download junkie  #stsfd·  Gotta have it!  Gotta have it! 

Thanks for the explaination on the waterfront lots.  It's a big help.  Most sim4 players a prefectionist at heart and just a little bit off really irks some of us. 

Thanks for you tutorial.

Keith

[rooker1]

Great little tutorial, thanks.

[metasmurf]

I have a question about waterfronts, considering the model. How high is that 16m wide prop? Since i was thinking of making one of these props myself and use some of your wall props in LE

[Colyn]

It is 32 meters high ...

[villaV]

Thanks so much for that tutorial Colyn,  if I see it later than others.
I find the last waterfront, particularly beautiful