Buddybuds Expansive Attempts at Anything & Everything.

[buddybud]

Hey all,
  Been busy for the last while and lacking inspiration and muse. But a couple weeks back i dusted stuff off and continued on with the project.

Restyling an EL takes a hell of a lot of work, way more than someone could ever imagine.

Couldn't agree more. lol. Though this project has been ongoing for a couple years atleast. In reality i'd say id put in about 2 months real time into hear and there. The fact is once you know how to do it, it's not hard, just Very Very Time Consuming.  Thankfully i enjoy it very much.

Anyways this is what i've worked on in the last couple of weeks, some of which i showed off in chat over at simtrop over the last couple weeks. The first is largely thaks to Choco. He provided me the blank exemplars for a bridge and this is what i made. I obviously stole the models from the Level Road Bridge, but taperd the columns, narrowed the structure and retextured parts....


Next is the station i was working on. I finished rendering the station bits as planned, and added buildings below. I like the orange center building but gotta change the color. The rest of the building is crap as far as i'm concerned....to blocky.


And last is the el - sub transition piece. Which i'm still playing with.


So eseentially with the completion of these three bits i have all the non-nam vanilla elrail puzzle pieces and the three ingame lots, plus all the sidewalk intersections. Enough for a beta that i promised so long ago. I'm not going to provide a timeline cause i've failed at that so many times previously.

The next big choice is this. Do i provide ground junk and textures for below the elrail or assemble and design bits for the nam pieces. The easiest would be the later. The ground junk would take alot of time......Well we'll worry about that later.

Anyways cheers and as always all comments are welcome.

Cheers.
Bud

[TiFlo]

That station is beautiful! And although I somewhat agree with you on the building, I'd take it any day as it is. As for the ground junk, I think the second solution is good enough for the time being.

[rooker1]

 Good to hear from you Bud and that you are still moving forward with this great project.   When you are ready for some beta testers, count me as one of the first please.   I have a lot of interest in using this in my cities.  
I love the idea and the work so far!

Robin  

[JoeST]

YAY for the all triumphant return of the Buddybud!

Joe

[CaptCity]

Hey there, Buddybud,

So glad to see your 'muse' has returned. It's always a pleasure to see what you've come up with no matter the time-line. Looking forward to more... (and helping to test things if needed).

[cubby420]

Wow! I always hope to see some new activity in this thread and buddybud, you do not disappoint. The progress looks good and the station concept is awesome, though as is I have to agree with you on the blockiness.

That sub-el transition piece is amazing as well...very Chicago. I'd also like to volunteer for any beta work if you'll have me 

[Nexis4Jersey]

welcome back and i must say its looking good 

[metasmurf]

Welcome back man, long time no seen

/Andreas

[WC_EEND]

You can't believe how glad i am that this project is still ongoing. It's good to see you're back as well.

Take care
Xander

[io_bg]

It's great to see you back! The stuff you make is wonderful. I'd also like to take part in the beta testing (when it's the time for it )!

[Ennedi]

Great lots Bud, I especially like the station, the platform is a masterspiece! And the building is very nice too, even if you don't like it 

Adam 

[mightygoose]

sweet, wlecome back, will carch up with you soon at some point.

[RickD]

OMG, you are back! Great work. 

[buddybud]

thanks for the positive feedback guys. you have no idea how much i appreciate that!

Bud

[[Delta ²k5]]

Finally new updates to view! I'm waiting for new el tracks long times! Really good work. I hope you'll finish this masterpiece of work soon

[ScottFTL]

Wow, it's great to see that you are still working on this! 

I think the station looks great.  The center building will look better once the color and texture match the adjacent structures.  You may want to look at making the ground level more open.  It has a lot of structures at the moment, but the L stations here in Chicago are usually more open.  For the most part, you see the old station house and rows of gates and turnstiles.  On occasion, there are maintenance or power structures but those are typically trackside rather than below the station.

Another option might be to shrink the center building and leave the mezzanine level open.  The level below the platforms is typically for transfers between platforms and ticket vending machines - and sometimes an information booth in the center.  Just a few suggestions.

I think the ground junk below the tracks can wait for the time being.  I'd actually recommend making the ground junk a separate addon for flexibility.  That way folks could choose to use either the standard or modified under-rail textures. Plus, I'm sure we'd all like to see a beta of this much-anticipated mod sooner rather than later. 

Welcome back! 

[buddybud]

I think the station looks great.  The center building will look better once the color and texture match the adjacent structures.  You may want to look at making the ground level more open.  It has a lot of structures at the moment, but the L stations here in Chicago are usually more open.  For the most part, you see the old station house and rows of gates and turnstiles.  On occasion, there are maintenance or power structures but those are typically trackside rather than below the station.

Another option might be to shrink the center building and leave the mezzanine level open.  The level below the platforms is typically for transfers between platforms and ticket vending machines - and sometimes an information booth in the center.  Just a few suggestions.

thanks ScottFTL. I totally agree about the color. All of the things you recommend could be done. As viewed a couple pages back the station is modular and those buildings need not be there and it can be easily lengthened and shortend. Also this is not specific to chicago. Think of more of a "old school american el" drawing on bits from not only chicago but also new york and boston but not limited to any. Regardless i appreciate the info and would love more info pics or links

I'd actually recommend making the ground junk a separate addon for flexibility

there in lies the problem. This mod is not built like most, in that the entirety of the structure (excluding the railbed) is build with props and placed via t21. The same t21's that you would use to place junk. I started this before i had any idea how to modify s3d files and it could be changed but would need a total redo for large parts. So sadly its not gonna change in that aspect anytime soon. But it could be considered at a later date with time considering.

Cheers
Bud

[j-dub]

wow. First of all, great to see you back buddybud. Secondly, it looks amazing. You obviously were busy since the last we heard or seen from you.  Considering the amount of time it would take adding props all over the place for every zone on the ground below, I would say that should be a very low priority. It would be uber if the existing el-rail mod that only is about adding props and ground texture underneath was compatible, or maybe combined, but those whoever made that spent a lot of time adding, positioning, texturing the first time and that took them along time to do so. I have played some video games that take place in Chicago and even in those games, under the El may not be that detailed, but maybe if you decide to add existing road junk props under the El, maybe wait for later and as an optional addon as stated before me.

[Aaron Graham]

Love the work thats on this thread. What ever happen to buddybud, I would love it if these were finish, because I would love to have these type of rails in my city. It's so so sad for a project to not be done and plus it a lot of hard work I wish some one could finish these. If these type of rail can not be finished I would love to make my own for the NAM and for the NYBT, but I do not know have to mod things like this and another sad thing my computer motherboard is dead, but when or if I get a new computer I would love to make some of these if I have a winning chance.

[Kropotkin]

This is by far the most amazing thing that I have ever seen in this site related to rail transportation man, awesome work!


I really hope that you manage to finish it man!

And sorry for the english, it's not my language!