Badsim's testing ground .

Badsim · October 01, 2009, 04:07:27 AM

Welcome to my laboratory ,

As the title of this thread suggest it , this is the place where , while The Triumphal Way progresses will be shown in the main thread , I'll show my LotEditing work & experiments , giving you more informations , requesting opinions , advices or/and help if necessary .

This project will start from Place de la Concorde to radiate then to the Champs Elysées on the left and Tuileries'garden on the right .
This is the last picture of Place de la Concorde I was working on , with the available material - textures and props - :

After have debated with David and Vincent , we finally decided that the best way to be accurate and to present a right scaled version of Place de la Concorde is to BAT it - esplanades and roadways as props , taking as example what Porkissimo did with Eglise de la Madeleine , or xannepan with Gare du Nord :

That's current David's work , while Vincent re-exports his Concorde's props , better scaled and HD . The London Eye ( Yoder ) was just a test , but is obviously too big for that use , just like that obelisk from Antoine . I'm going to use the one Vincent has made for this project ...

So , the draft above is just good enough for the trash can ...

That other outdated picture show another great improvement coming just at time from mrtnrln : http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=22506

His french Mod for traffic lights ( thank you very much ) is good enough to match these Maxime (citymax )'s parisian props ...

citymax's pack is available here ; http://www.toutsimcities.com/downloads.php?view=1569 .

Waiting for Concorde's props from David & Vincent , I'm currently working the area between Place de la Concorde and the Seine :

A lot of difficulties and some compromises in perspective with MAXIS' avenues as the real ones around the Place de la Concorde are one-way avenues ...

I would need several things to get a better result :

- Some better houseboat models ... Hey Derry ( TTC ) ! I need that beauty urgently ! ( and some others , if possible ... )

- That water Mod to represent the Seine , with a zero transparency ( David is working on it ) :

I have also started the LotEditing of Hotel de Crillon ...

« Batiments de la Concorde » From Debussyman , on the LEX .

Last precision , but not the smaller one , I didn't go to Paris since at least 15 years ... Thanks to the Web , I'm going to work with GoogleEarth , Paris3D from Lespagesjaunes.fr and all pictures I can find browsing the Web ... if you have any interesting links , or personal good and detailed pictures of the concerned places along the Axis , thanks to let me know .

I'm also writing a tutorial about how to get a full scene under a bridge ( Textures and props , but no transit )

To the next .

Cédric .

TheTeaCat · October 01, 2009, 10:43:32 AM

Quite the project you got going here

Ah yes the canal barges. Well there's a slight problem concerning that particular model. It was on a hdd that crashed

but all is not lost

Paul (Paroch) has a copy that I gave him as a pressie for his md so I shoot him a pm and hopefully I can get a copy of it for you.
And I am still trying to finish some new ones I've started

I look forward to seeing what you you do next.

TTC

Fabian93 · October 01, 2009, 11:05:05 AM

First:
Your eye to detail is unbelievable

I'm really looking forward to the progress of this project

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&cp=48.865556~2.321111&style=h&lvl=16&sp=Point.48.865556_2.321111_landmark___

Just click on "Birds eye view" (or however it is called in your language).
I think it can be quite helpful if the normal view or the street view of Google don't show everything and you need to have a better view on it.
I guess you already knew that site, but just in case you didn't.

Good luck,

Fabian

Badsim · October 01, 2009, 12:22:07 PM

Thanks Derry , for these firstly sad ... and then excellent news !

Fabian , I'm having a look to your link ... it seems there's a program to install to get the 3D view , I'm in the process to install it , but the 2D view with a lot of informations is already a must to have .

Well , with these modern tools , it would be better to say that my patience is unbelievable !

Thank you both , very much !

Cédric

Pat · October 01, 2009, 01:57:48 PM

Cedric I am interested and most captivated for sure what you got going on here!!!

vnaoned · October 02, 2009, 12:44:15 PM

I'm still asking myself if there is a Mod that supress all the props on a traffic lot (I mean : lamps, flora... ) without having to modify the T21 properties?

I find rather easier to use the LE than to obtain a random assembly of props I can't choose. Has anyone heard about a such thing?

PS : I'm really interested in this "no transparancy" Mod you're on, David... Really...

Badsim · October 02, 2009, 01:06:51 PM

There's indeed a NoJunk Mod from Pegasus ( Stex ) . I intended to use it there ( I've got it since a long time , sleeping out my Plugins Folder ) but , and I don't know why , it doesn't work properly anymore .... it simply changes these $$ streetlamps to the $ ones , those in wood , beurk !

When I tried it , years ago , it was working fine ...

Nice to see you there , finally ...

Badsim · October 05, 2009, 04:49:10 AM

How to get a full eye-candy ( Textures and props , but no transit ) scene under a bridge .

To illustrate that tutorial , I'm going to use the scene shown above .
This is the original scene , just like you can get it with normal Lots :

The first technique to apply is re-sizing a Lot . Of course , that needs you have taken care of the orientation of the Lot to re-size ... In that case :

To extend under the bridge , this Lot has to be re-sized for 2 tiles more ,

Now , you can add the corresponding base textures & overlays ,

An then , add the props you want to get under the bridge ;

Use the « Save » button , quit LE and launch SC4 , this is the immediate result you'll get :

The new base textures & overlays are appearing automatically on the extension , but , as you can see , not the added props .

That's time to apply the second technique . That technique has been discovered and used first by Paul (Squidi) in his geat MD « Orlach » .

Save your scene like it is before to go to the regional view where you'll find the graphic settings .

Change them from « High » to « Low » . The game needing to be re-started to make these changes effective , re-start it , load your scene . Save again your scene whith graphic settings as « Low » , then go to change them back to « High » . Quit and re-start again the game , and , as a miracle ...

... the new props are here .

Note :
This method only works for adding props , it doesn't work for the removal or positioning changes of any props .

You can use these techniques for many other uses , according to your imagination .

Thanks to Paul , I miss him and his spectacular Orlach , which I invite you to visit here , among the archived MDs ; http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=2865.0

To the next .

Cédric .

WC_EEND · October 05, 2009, 07:05:06 AM

thanks for this useful tutorial, although it actually looks like the boats are floating in the air

vnaoned · October 05, 2009, 08:14:43 AM

Thanks to. I knew there was a method for the props... But I could not find it again..

Sciurus · October 05, 2009, 10:33:02 AM

Thanks a lot for this tutorial Vincent

Guillaume

Bobbi · October 05, 2009, 10:36:58 AM

WOW! LE is a wonderful tool really.

jeronij · October 05, 2009, 01:37:18 PM

Quite interesting tutorial C

¡¡¡ . I'll keep an eye here to see how you deal with the houseboats placement on water... something which has always been a problem for me...

BarbyW · October 05, 2009, 02:07:58 PM

Quote from: Badsim on October 02, 2009, 01:06:51 PM
There's indeed a NoJunk Mod from Pegasus ( Stex ) . I intended to use it there ( I've got it since a long time , sleeping out my Plugins Folder ) but , and I don't know why , it doesn't work properly anymore .... it simply changes these $$ streetlamps to the $ ones , those in wood , beurk !
When I tried it , years ago , it was working fine ...

Nice to see you there , finally ...

I don't have the No Junk mod any more but wondered if you had downloaded PEG-MTP_RuralStreetLight_2A58-Replacement_100. That mod replaces the low wealth lamp posts with wooden ones.

Pat · October 05, 2009, 08:18:26 PM

Cedric what about off set the props?? Would that work to give the appearance of being in the water at all or would that be to much of a pain in the boat lol...

citymax · October 06, 2009, 11:40:37 AM

Nice job, but to me, I don't like the docks

the texture isn't adequate to me), have you received my props ?

Une_ame · October 06, 2009, 01:59:13 PM

What you've done is amazing

.

I can't believe everything I've seen so far. What else

?

j-dub · October 06, 2009, 03:50:46 PM

First, good tut badsim.
Secondly, there is a way to visually connect the other avenues to that nonfunctional one, with the puzzle piece trick.

serebii666 · October 07, 2009, 01:34:58 AM

Wonderful Job!! I cannot wait to see more! And thank you for that tutorial.

Incidentally, what textures did you use for the Place de la Concorde?? I asked over at Antigone before it was closed, but I didn't get any reply.

Badsim · October 07, 2009, 02:50:33 AM

Quote from: citymax on October 06, 2009, 11:40:37 AM
Nice job, but to me, I don't like the docks the texture isn't adequate to me), have you received my props ?

Having a look at what you were working on ,

All I can say , Maxime , is that I don't like that much my embankements either ... this is precisely after have seen some works like the one above that I invited you to join the team ... but I simply notice that this work hasn't progressed since July 2008 . That's a pity but I ( We, as a team) can't wait any longer and I know you're really busy with RL ... Now , if you have any suggestions about better textures to use , do not hesitate to tell me .

I received your props indeed , thank you .

************************************************************************

Some progresses ...

Firstly , the first large city tile of the Triumphal Way has been set up . The only terraforming has been to dig the Seine , deeper than I previously thought . The bend of the Seine is voluntarily angular but , fortunately , the angle is nearly the same than the real one . Some avenues have been set up as well , some of them are corresponding to the real ones , some others are fictive and temporary , just to animate the scene with traffic generators .

And , as you can see , the houseboats aren't looking like floating in the air anymore ...

That area is almost finished .

Quote from: jeronij on October 05, 2009, 01:37:18 PM
Quite interesting tutorial C ¡¡¡ . I'll keep an eye here to see how you deal with the houseboats placement on water... something which has always been a problem for me...

Firstly , thank you for your attention here, Jeroni. The houseboats placement on water is better , using the sea level , than with canals ... It was not so complicated , just several hours of tests before to find with LE the proper elevation of each of them .

Quote from: Pat on October 05, 2009, 08:18:26 PM
Cedric what about off set the props?? Would that work to give the appearance of being in the water at all or would that be to much of a pain in the boat lol...

Indeed , Pat , off set these props would have been the prefect solution , I'm assuming it can be done with IliveReader but that's something I didn't learn so far to do myself .

Quote from: j-dub on October 06, 2009, 03:50:46 PM
First, good tut badsim.
Secondly, there is a way to visually connect the other avenues to that nonfunctional one, with the puzzle piece trick.

I'm not familiar with the puzzle pieces from the NAM - my bad , so what I intend to do about the plaza ( still just a draft ), is , after have divided it in 3 Lots due to the amont of props expected , to partially TE them , so they'll look connected . The complex avenues network around the plaza will be a mix of eye-candy and functional ones . Thanks for your interest .

Quote from: BarbyW on October 05, 2009, 02:07:58 PM
I don't have the No Junk mod any more but wondered if you had downloaded PEG-MTP_RuralStreetLight_2A58-Replacement_100. That mod replaces the low wealth lamp posts with wooden ones.

No , Barbara , I haven't got that file in my plugins , but I'm assuming that despite the fact that mod has a zzz prefix , it conflicts with another one ... I'll made some further searches , as I would really need it to work . Nonetheless , thanks for your help .

Quote from: Une_ame on October 06, 2009, 01:59:13 PM
What you've done is amazing .

I can't believe everything I've seen so far. What else ?

Many thanks , Emmanuel . If there's a lot of work for BATers of that team , with uploads for the community , the LotEditing is offering many challenges - more I look at them , more I'm feverish

- I intend to do my best to do not disappoint you . You all ...

Serebii666 ;

That texture is from BSC Textures Vol 02 . The others grey base textures & overlays are from BSC Textures Pack Cycledogg Vol01b .

Thanks for your support .

Cédric.