Simmer's Lotting Lab.

[FrankU]

This is enormous!

If you make this lot a Landmark with jobs I fear it will kill demand for a century or so...
But it is a beauty. Really gorgeous. 

[Shark7]

...Must ...download!

Honestly, as a person who lives out in 'oil country' I can say that this does indeed look very much like the oil storage and refineries we have around here.  Now if I could only find some good single tank batteries and a heater-treater unit, I could easily recreate the oilfield facilities I am used to seeing out here.

You've started something Simmer2. 

[Mikey Knox]

I really like your Mods because they are so Big and Rail 

[Gugu3]

OMG!

[belfastsocrates]

Amazing! Looks fantastic so far

Goodness...such fantastic content I now have at my disposal for some exciting projects

[Simmer2]

Thank you all for the kind words!!
Well, things are now proceeding at a frantic pace. Section 4, 5 and 6 are now done, just a few tweaks and they are ready.
I would say that 80% of the complex is done. Once the lots are complete the only thing left is to mod it all 
Here are a few more pics to show the progress so far. There are a few areas not shown here because they are still blank

PS. Don't worry Frank, due to extensive automation on these type of industrial complexes, the labor force will be minimal.

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[dyoungyn]

That is awesome and finally seeing a more realistic oil storage/distribution rail facility.  Love all the little details you added, GREAT WORK!!!

[Themistokles]

Looks fabulous!

[Vizoria]

The building arrangement looks great but I think some of the empty spaces are too big and could be filled in with either industrial props around the buildings, more security fencing/barriers or more custom textured roads with additional parking.

[Simmer2]

Vizoria those pics are old...WIP remember?

One more....

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[vester]

Looks great, but those pipes... are a bit to clean.
Maybe adding some rust and dust would do the trick!
Also make them less bright white, more grey (a brightness around 65-80 % would do the trick).
My guess would be, that this will also makes the shape comes out better.

When doing trains ect. the brightness of a texture would average a max around 85%.
That way I still have room to show of highlights.

[Simmer2]

Looks great, but those pipes... are a bit to clean.
Maybe adding some rust and dust would do the trick!
Also make them less bright white, more grey (a brightness around 65-80 % would do the trick).
My guess would be, that this will also makes the shape comes out better

You are correct! I wish I had the original models.....
Those are NBVC's pipe set.
By using them I shaved months of tedious work. Perhaps when I slow down I will model a new much "used" set

[Vizoria]

Yeah! Now it's looking more better and less empty.

[MushyMushy]

This thing is huge! SimCity 4 finally gets a proper oil handling facility! Looking great.

On the subject of the pipes that vester brought up, I've always felt that way about the set as well. It's not an overly complex set, so I could offer to make a comparable set with the same pieces that's more up to "modern SC4 standards" in a reasonably short period of time. With varied grungy textures in mind, I could pretty easily make 5 or 6 different straight pipe sections, which could also be rotated 180 degrees for even more variation. I also searched for oil trucks on the internet and got some decent results.

[metarvo]

Man, this lot makes me feel at home!    There are expansive oil fields in my state, with facilities much like that one scattered about.  Everything is placed sensibly here, so that this looks like an actual oil refinery.  Nice work, Simmer2!

[dyoungyn]

I look at the "Grungy" look as a an area that gets no love.  When I build my cities I insinuate a rich environment that maintains equipment in pristine condition such as routine sanding and panting for aesthetic look    Just kidding, like we living in la-la land here.  Grungy does look more realistic.

[FrankU]

Yes, grungy pipes... 
That would even be better. MushyMushy: we would love you all if you could come up with a set of those pipes! 

[vortext]

Yes, I agree NBVC's set is a bit too clean. However, the preview you showed MushyMushy may be a tad too rusty. These kind of facilities actually tend to be well maintained, at least in Europe, because of safety.



More pictures of the same plant can be found here.

That said, your effort to make another set with would definitely be appreciated! 

[Simmer2]

MushyMushy, those look great and so does the trucks.
However I must warn you that what you see in my pics are not just the mere straight and bends but the entire NBVC pipe collection.
You will only see them by opening the NBVC folder with XPIM.
There are many pieces that he did not make into lots.

I agree with Erik's statement, these facilities are indeed well maintained but it would be nice if NBVC set was a bit duller and on the grey side.

By the way, i placed a point of connection on one of the lots where it will connect to NBVC original lots so players can expand the oil field even more or connect my assembly to his oil port.
I even made it compatible with another utility set made by another player.
I will explain with a pic soon.

I'm fighting the smoke effect gremlins at this stage of the project.
Placing those effects on buildings with a LOD the size of Nebraska is like putting someone in a round room and telling them to pee in the corner...*sigh*

Simmer2/Nick

[vortext]

[...] it would be nice if NBVC set was a bit duller and on the grey side.[...]

By the way, i placed a point of connection on one of the lots where it will connect to NBVC original lots so players can expand the oil field even more or connect my assembly to his oil port.

Hm, given the outside connections I'm wondering if maybe it'd be an idea to tweak NBVC's FHS textures. .   

Rivit did the same for this catenary set, i.e. batch processed the fsh to tone down the contrast. Maybe he or Robin can chime in here how to go about but I reckon it'd be faster than creating a new set from scratch. And you could upload the altered textures independently so players had a choice whether to use it or not.