Maxis Replacement low density residential

[mattb325]

I thought I would create an adjunct thread to keep track of this little project.

A long while ago when I was making the residential pack, Cogeo made a reference to adding these into the Maxis building families. Given that the Maxis building families had fairly specific footprints and that my houses were on different angles, sizes etc, I decided not to make those ones compatible.

But it did get me started on another project, which Cogeo reminded me about earlier today, so I thought I would post an update picture.

Maxis' building family footprints are as follow:

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

All residential BATs in this project will be within those LOD sizes. However, for the R$ I will be using the 4.2-4.5m floor height so that they don't look so out of place amongst other custom content.

I am aiming to make all the houses new, so the R$ ones will simply be 'starter homes' for < $100K

I have rendered two houses so far in the R$ 8x10. The 'Avalon' and the 'Lands End'. Both of these are inspired by a builders site in Phoenix Arizona.
There are two 8x10 R$ Maxis houses on this test lot placed next to mine for comparison. By using a taller floor height, the R$ homes don't look quite so tiny....



I will post updates as I go along - I am hoping to get about 10 houses in each wealth category.

[txrailcat74]

They are looking good. I have a lot of your houses in my plugins already. I am looking forward to adding these as well.

Q: Will these be Maxis replacements or just additionals?

[Ramona Brie]

We need more Phoenix-style homes. Keep it up!

[Ricky112233]

Looking Great! Can't wait to see some more!

[mike3775]

Looking good.  I like it. 

One question though, I currently use a blocker mod to prevent maxis R$, R$$, and R$$$ from growing in my cities, will using their footprint prevent these from growing if I download them?

[metarvo]

More Mattb325 houses would be a great addition to the game.  I already use the Cascade, Melrose, and Texas houses among many others, so these will be quite welcome in my Plugins folder as they will blend in rather nicely with your other beautiful creations.

[MandelSoft]

Looks great, Matt! Keep 'em up!

[CahosRahneVeloza]

I absolutely love your work Matt 

I have all of your growables both RES & COM & I am absolutely satisfied & if such a disease is indeed possible, I think I've developed Diabetes due to overdose of Eye candy goodness.

[mattb325]

Thanks for the kind words guys - I don't want people getting diabetes from my models, so maybe I will have to replace the sugar with something else and  add a warning with them - 'excessive consumption may have a laxative effect' 

In regards to whether they will replace, or sit side by side, I think it will be a bit of both, to be honest. A lot of people block Maxis, so having some extra lots will assist in that regard. It will probably be Cogeo modding these as the PIM-X will give slightly higher stats as these homes have a larger LOD shell and the PIM-X calculates on LOD volumes when generating occupancy numbers.

I have an update on the R$ 'starter home street'. I have added a few more houses. In front of each I have added which Tileset I think they should sit in: I am certainly not precious about whether something is a Houston/Chicago/NY etc, so If anyone really disagrees by all means speak up.



I don't intend to do too many on the Chicago tileset as CP did a really amzing job with his set of homes. All of these are on the 8x10 footprint; unlike the Maxis homes, these have a second floor.
I am not sure if I will do the 4x10 and 6x8 as they are just so small and I am having difficulty finding any pictures that inspire....

[marsh]

Great work on these. Something I would really find useful.

[mike3775]

awesome houses.  As far as which tileset, it really doesn't matter to me, as I turn off that feature anyways and let the game decide what to grow whenever it wants(minus maxis Residentials of course) so I get a nice hodgepodge of different styles throughout my neighborhoods(when I give em land to develop anyways as mayor I am stringent on zoning)

[mattb325]

Thankyou Marsh & Mike3775

I imagine Tileset might be more important with the next set. I managed to find a couple of designs that inspied for the 6x8m R$.

After making something so small, you really have to be quite disciplined and I have a new appreciation for the modellers who worked at Maxis. 

The coloured houses are 'concept' designs to be executed in concrete block and are hence very cheap to build, but I imagine you could build fairly cool low-wealth neighbourhoods with them (which is why I made 4 variants as there are very few of this type of building in game). They remind me of the stuff Hdorriker used to make back in the early days... I will likely add these to the Euro set.



That is the low wealth genre largely done: this has added 14 houses to the low wealth set.

I will start work on the medium wealth next.

[FrankU]

A beautiful pack again!

[cammo2003]

I assume as the title says these will actually replace the Maxis lots at the specified sizes?

As an aside, something like those squarish Euro ones would make great urban townhouses.

[mike3775]

As an aside, something like those squarish Euro ones would make great urban townhouses.

Thats what I was thinking when I saw them. 

I have grabbed alot of your stuff Matt, your right up there with Goober when it comes to houses in my game

[mave94]

Looks very promising, great work so far!

[Terring7]

I want the homes with the solar panels

[dwelln8hss32]

Very fresh and diverse set of homes. I especially like the window treatments and brick chimneys on some of them. The Houston ("6m"?) almost looks like half of an American townhome. Realistic, useful, relevant, with class.

Can't wait to see the medium-wealth set!

[mattb325]

Thanyou guys for the kind words. These are all going to be in the same footprint as the Maxis homes. At this early stage they will be modded into the Maxis building families (so will sit on your standard in game lots) as well as a new building family and a new lot (for those who block Maxis or those who would prefer custom lots).

Very limited progress on the Maxis test street this week: I am doing the smaller width of the R$$ homes first. By no means any where near finished.....the 10mx12m R$$ set include those awful 'Bungalows' on the Houston set (pictured) so it is a pleasure to replace them 



At least at this width I can squeeze in an attached garage 

[Sciurus]

Well, I didn't come there, and I must say that I was wrong to not comment this project.

I find it really good and it's a nice idea, it'll bring some variety in the houses. But I think I can advise you with the european houses; I can see that you use the same textures as the other houses, but instead of it, I should use a red or a blue/violet texture for the roofs. Green and brown are not used in Europe (maybe in some cases, but I don't know which).
Then, I see that you use a futurist look for these too, but we don't live just in houses like that! There are also old houses, which are wonderful; you can look in the Parisian suburbs or in big french/europan cities and you'll see that there are many old houses, which are in the same tall as the Maxis' houses.

I hope I helped, even a bit!

Guillaume