Did you say Mayor Mod seasonal ploppables ?

Lowkee33 · January 15, 2011, 07:58:07 AM

QuoteI presume this is done using RKT4 with three models instead of RKT5 and modding some values in the FloraProperties, right?

They are RKT5, just like all Maxis Flora that "grows". The shadow problem is the major downside, but placing smaller flora below the trees can do a good job of hiding it. Orange's winter models have amazing shadows, so it is pretty disappointing. They will also be released as timed props, which do not have the shadow issue.

QuoteQuick questions: what happens if one plops the trees on March 1st, instead of Sep 1st? Will your city simulate the changing wheather for the southern hemisphere?

Yes. The timing starts the instant they are plopped, which is why it's advisable not to use them in LE on a growable lot (A plopped lot would be just fine if you plopped it on the target date). You can play with these by planting a tree for every day of the year. You will find that you have a larger range than just the 1st of a month.

The only thing that will not change is that fall/winter last 3 months each, and summer lasts 6. For a three model cycle (notice the c.p. rhododendron in my pic, it flowers) the first two models must appear for the same amount of time, and the third model uses the rest of the year. With modding, you could make fall/winter last 4 months each. We wanted winter to last through March, but this would mean Fall would start in August. We compromised with this.

Andreas · January 15, 2011, 08:22:09 AM

I wonder if the shadow issue is a bug or a feature, actually. When making the SFBT Vineyards, I noticed that the vine props created a huge lag in my game during scrolling and such, so I disabled the shadows for them finally (the difference is barely notable anyway). Now while there are some 25 or 30 vine props on one 1x1 lot, this certainly draws a lot more resources than, say, two or three trees per tile, but maybe a small shadow is less resource-intensive than a large one (just my assumption, though), which could be a reason why Maxis made the flora props like that. But as I said, it could be a simple oversight as well.

Lowkee33 · January 15, 2011, 08:36:22 AM

I agree with your choice for the vineyards btw.

Quotewhich could be a reason why Maxis made the flora props like that. But as I said, it could be a simple oversight as well.

Tough to say. I would imagine shadows are based of the LOD, and if the LOD is a small amount of polygons, then that would be easier to render. The strange thing is that every Maxis flora that grows has this issue (including the ones that grow on lots). Perhaps we were just not looking before.

I do know that similar issues can be had with a RKT4, but to what extent I do not know.

Andreas · January 15, 2011, 08:41:19 AM

Quote from: Lowkee33 on January 15, 2011, 08:36:22 AM
Perhaps we were just not looking before.

Quite possible. I think I only recognize it from the palm trees on the sidewalks like in your screenshot, as it's most obvious there.

Badsim · January 16, 2011, 02:00:46 PM

Interesting discussion & informations ...

Well , as far as I know , Girafe's maples & firs are in scrutineers hands ...

I'm really sorry Carl , but I've found a new workload for you , I'm afraid of

; new trees from Vincent (Vnaoned ).

I've received these Models yesterday ( It seems that I'm inclined to be a smuggler

... I don't know why ...

)
& turned them into props today . I'm going to send you these files on your email so you can apply them the same treatment ...

Of course , we have his total approval & benediction to do so .

Cédric.

Lowkee33 · January 16, 2011, 02:29:03 PM

QuoteI'm really sorry Carl , but I've found a new workload for you , I'm afraid of

...Thanks...

I was just saying that today has been a slow SC4 day. I've spent most of it in bed trying to knit a hat (which is never going to be as warm as my store bought one

). The next few days are going to be a little busy as I prepare for the school semester, but I will be working on these too.

The tree set with the purple spring model is questionable for me. This purple is of course the flowers blooming. Do you want this to appear all summer, or not at all?

BTW, I am still not sure how to proceed with my work with David's trees. Are my exemplars going to be released separately by me, or is TSC going to take care of this? Either way is fine, I just wonder because if I release them then I will need to get to work on the Installer and all that.

Girafe · January 16, 2011, 02:46:44 PM

Vincent is amazing ^^
I like the way he did these trees, seems it was for cities more than countrysides but I could be wrong.

Anyway amazing job

marsh · January 16, 2011, 04:26:05 PM

Amazing work here. This is quite an achievement for the game. However I have a question. Would these be available as non-seasonal trees? The way I use flora makes it that I would not want seasonal trees.

Not because I don't want seasons, but I'll plop deciduous trees in tropical climates to make for more variety. And they blend in to appear like tropical trees. If they turned orange and lost their leaves often, that would not prove too good...

,marsh

DanniBee · January 17, 2011, 08:28:30 AM

I'm resisting the urge to plop any trees till these beauties get released, I don't want to have to re-plop my city's trees

vnaoned · January 17, 2011, 02:37:37 PM

These trees were effectively more designed for cities then for countryside.

About the cherry tree that blooms in spring : as I understood there's only 3 season for a ploppable Mayor Mod so you'd better choose the green version for summer.

Thank you Carl for taking about the trees

and thank you Cédric for being a smuggler

Just like DanniBee, I'm waiting for the Mayor Mod version to plant trees...

Lowkee33 · January 17, 2011, 03:00:10 PM

QuoteJust like DanniBee, I'm waiting for the Mayor Mod version to plant trees...

I am too. I actually havent played this game since November

.

If you should choose: The Flora Instances for the snow versions are 0x33aa0065-33aa006b and the bare versions are 0x33aa006c-0x33aa72. I bet if you made dummy flora and planted them on Sept 1st then when my work arrived you could just switch the exemplars out and all of your trees would change. You might have to make that change on Sept 1st too, don't know

(They are ordered by height).

Some good timing here.

I was just thinking about that cherry tree. We could make this a "bonus" tree. It would be plopped on March 1st as a blossoming tree. This flowering could last though May, when it would use the summer model. It would change again at the beginning of September, and be the bare winter model.

It would also exist with all of the others as a plop on Sept 1st with a bare/snowy option.

BTW, are there names for the other trees?

Lowkee33 · January 25, 2011, 11:32:38 AM

@Bap: Actually, these trees can be RKT4. I thought that since the properties relating to timing all define Props, that with flora it is not possible. As long as the FloraParameters are correct, then these will work. It saves me a bunch of time.

Fortunatly, they still have the shadow issue

. I don't have to redo all of Girafe's and Orange's trees.

Getting Close

Spring:

Summer:

Fall:

Winter:

Notice the Fall Cherry is the Bare winter version. It also has to be planted on March 1st. Does this solution sound good, or should we revoke the spring cherry entirely? It doesn't match the snow covered winter trees.

Another point: I did this with three Icons: 7 snowy, 7 bare, and the 1 cherry. Is 7 trees too many to click through? Should I make this a 5 Icon set?

@Badism: I am rushed right now, but wanted to get these pictures up. I will put some finishing touches on the files and have them over to you by the end of the week.

Girafe · January 25, 2011, 11:36:38 AM

looks really godd Carl, thanks for helping us to mod these trees

vnaoned · January 25, 2011, 12:44:28 PM

For the cherry trees, it seems good for me like the way you did it.

Badsim · January 26, 2011, 05:25:31 AM

To tell you the truth , Carl , even being already playing with these babies , I didn't notice the shadow issue !!! For sure , I was like a cat on a hot tin roof ...

Not a big inconvenience compared to the major innovation that is .

Glad to hear that it works with RKT4 and that it is less Modding work for you .

Do you intend to make public that Modding through a tutorial ?

Cédric.

Dark_Jedi06 · January 27, 2011, 02:59:24 PM

I want these.

So badly.

BEAUTIFUL WORK!

xannepan · February 01, 2011, 10:49:48 PM

This looks fantastic! Great work

Badsim · February 08, 2011, 05:58:39 AM

Time to give you some news about them ...

Girafe has already uploaded his Abies Grandis to the LEX , http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2587
with a seasonal version and his seasonal maples are in scrutineers hands , while he is working to finish his seasonal Birches ...

I've got in my hands about 30 seasonal ploppable trees ( Orange's , Girafe's , Vnaoned's and CP2009a's ones ... ) and I spend currently my time to test them , separately & together . We have several problems to solve with them . For those coming with clusters (groups) , there's some LODs issues ... their use is a very touchy one , as they can quickly (at stages 4& 5 ) overlap and look like planted at the top of each others , here an example with a Girafe's maples & birches clusters mix :

... but , after all , I think that's to each player to show his/her skill with them , after sone good training

... that's a lot easier to mix single ones .

Another issue is the winter results , as Carl has mentioned above : bare ground & summer shadows ...

As far as I know , there's nothing to do against shadows , but we can do something about bare ground . I'm currently testing a MMPseasonal I've made with Porkissmo's dead leaves ( Dead leaves during autumn and winter , a fern during spring/summer )

Spring/summer :

Autumn :

Winter :

That's far to be perfect but we're working to improve it ( new dead leaves prop(s) to come ... )

Another way would be to keep the snowy winter version for those interested in , and have a spring/summer/autumn version for the others ... that's hard to decide . $:-\$

On a side note , have to say that , thanks to Lowkee33's work about RKT4 , I've already created several seasonal mayor mods ...
Here a seasonal ploppable Yellow Iris ( 6 HD models from Air6 ) like we can find along european swamps/ponds/lakes :

There's no problems like mentioned above with that kind of flora and we ( Orange_o_ , Girafe , Air6 , Vnaoned & me ) are working to build a complete HD Rural pack with multiple seasonal flora MMPs ... that's for us a lot of work and , for you , just a question of patience .

Carl , let me know here what you think about all these points .

Cédric.

Kergelen · February 08, 2011, 06:18:38 AM

You work is awesome!!!

Quote from: Badsim on February 08, 2011, 05:58:39 AM
that's for us a lot of work and , for you , just a question of patience .

Patience is not a problem. You are doing a great job so we can wait a long time without problem.

Just seeing what progress you are making, it is a pleasure

Lowkee33 · February 08, 2011, 07:27:04 AM

Girafe's Birches? Looks like I am out of a job.

Try using Cogeo's Model Tweaker to raise Porkissmo's leaves off of the ground a little (.31 meters should be the magic number). The hope is that the leaves would be above the shadow, and therefore cover it up.

The only thing I can think of other than flora is to add an "anti-shadow" to the winter model. This anti-shadow would be in the shape of the summer shadow, but would negate it. I have no idea if something like that is possible, or if it is preferable to adding flora. Coming from a terrain mod perspective, although I very much like small flora, I don't like covering up my work. (With so much flora these days, seems like a good terrain mod would just be bed rock).

Not much to be done about the LODs. When you play with the clustering properties you are trying to find the line between ease of plopping and working well with the LODs. Like you said, working with the LODs is something that comes with practice, so it is probably better to keep placement options open.