Bipin's BAT Boutique

Shark7 · March 14, 2015, 10:29:50 AM

Nice houses. Looks like they will fit right in for a gated community in the suburbs.

kelis · March 14, 2015, 10:42:58 AM

Nice models. You're a master doing American Houses

Bipin · March 14, 2015, 10:47:40 AM

Thank you for the kind words everyone! I'm as excited about these houses as you are, for both SC4 and CSL use!

The models are fairly low poly and should be okay for use in CSL.

Girafe · March 14, 2015, 11:39:54 AM

looks nice

Bipin · September 13, 2015, 06:39:56 PM

I've released a new set of gas station BATs. Go check them out!

http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3238

deora · September 14, 2015, 02:35:28 AM

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, Bipin is back $:-\$
Can't wait to get Home and download those Gas Stations.
Thanks for uploading them.

romualdillo · September 14, 2015, 07:18:54 AM

Finally the Gas Station!!! Great work!!!

mrbisonm · September 14, 2015, 07:40:23 AM

Gas stations are always good to have, there are at least one in almost every village and dozens in a town irl. When I look around in MD's, I see that folks rarely use gas stations, although in reality, they are all over the place, on every streetcorner and even near highway exits.
So, this pack will surely be a useful pack and most of all, they look great, used and "natural". Excellent job. Thanks,

Fred

APSMS · September 14, 2015, 10:55:05 PM

Thanks for the upload, Bipin.

As for the category, I believe the LEX categories are topical and not technical. The POWER category is for LOTs related to power, like power lines, power plants, power transmitters, etc. The gas stations should either go under landmarks, or COM-Services--I would say COM-Services is more in line with the organization, since despite not actually having jobs, they are still COM in appearance.

Reddonquixote categorizes his lots by appearance type, since most of them are static landmarks with no real utility (I understand he hates modding). However, since these are not really much of a "landmark", the Commercial Services category is a much better descriptor, especially if you are doing a Power Search (my favorite function of the LEX).

Again, thanks for sharing, and I look forward to placing these in my cities.

P.S. Some natural growth options (growables) would be nice, but isn't necessary. The fact that these are static makes it extremely easy to plop anywhere without consequence, so that is, in a way, a nice feature, especially for something that appears run-down or abandoned.

Bipin · September 15, 2015, 11:28:49 AM

Thanks for the kind words. As per the suggestion, I replaced the "power" category with that of "COM-small" in the LEX. I too dislike modding, though perhaps not as much as Red.

I did try experimenting with growable lots, but I could not prevent them growing all over the place. It was a bit too much. I did not bother fixing it as I could not identify the issues, and besides, I feel like ploppable is preferrable for the majority of gas station situations.

Dantes · September 16, 2015, 02:03:43 PM

Bipin is back.
Bipin is back.

Bipin is back.

I love your gas station. Fantastic details work!

Bipin · September 18, 2015, 11:42:41 AM

Thank you! I'll be working on more models in the near future.

sim_link · September 25, 2015, 03:45:00 PM

Excellent gas stations. Great to see you back.

APSMS · September 25, 2015, 09:39:02 PM

Hey Bipin, I was thinking....

And seeing as the NAM has introduced a lot of modularity in the last few updates... if you would consider re-working your CURB project (and related similar items) into a new, 7.5m version (in addition to the 15m one) for use with the new draggable 7.5m NAM overpasses.

Just a thought. It would be great if you could update these; they would definitely be on the top lists for highway beautification tools (the original CURB already is, despite the limited pieces available).

Maybe at least consider for those modular concrete retaining blocks you made a number of pages back?

And again, thanks for the awesome gas stations and all the other wonderful work you've done. Glad to see back even if it's just [for] a little bit.

noahclem · September 26, 2015, 01:35:44 AM

Great to see you back!! Excellent gas stations, something very useful

Bipin · September 26, 2015, 06:41:42 AM

Quote from: APSMS on September 25, 2015, 09:39:02 PM
Hey Bipin, I was thinking....

And seeing as the NAM has introduced a lot of modularity in the last few updates... if you would consider re-working your CURB project (and related similar items) into a new, 7.5m version (in addition to the 15m one) for use with the new draggable 7.5m NAM overpasses.

Just a thought. It would be great if you could update these; they would definitely be on the top lists for highway beautification tools (the original CURB already is, despite the limited pieces available).

Maybe at least consider for those modular concrete retaining blocks you made a number of pages back?

And again, thanks for the awesome gas stations and all the other wonderful work you've done. Glad to see back even if it's just [for] a little bit.

Hey, no problem, I'm glad you liked the gas stations! I've been working on those retaining walls (The CURB successor), on and off now. They will most likely be my next release unless of course I do something small along the way. They do take a lot of time to get right, mostly with alignment issues in Lot Editor. I hope it isn't too much to ask, but if someone could help me in this process, that would be greatly appreciated. Most of the basic pieces have already been made. The task that's left is going into LE, placing the wall props, going into the game, evaluating how they sit with elevated network (are they too far to the left or tight, for instance) then going back into LE to respond and move the prop accordingly. This is an easy process, but a slow one. Given my university workload, I seldom have the time to do this. So on that note, if someone would be interested in giving a helping hand, that would be greatly appreciated.

As far as other, smaller projects go, please let me know what you want to see. What buildings, facilities or infrastructure components does this game still lack? Once you tell me what gap needs filled, I can figure out a way to do it.

cmdp123789 · September 26, 2015, 11:19:14 AM

I wouldn't mind helping you.. But I would need some kind of instruction in terms of positioning, or you know, any particular way of doing it.

On another hand, it would be great if we could have shops for elevated rail, like we find in most urban areas. So for example, some time ago, a set was created, but it only fitted straight sections, and then there was another set that already had elevated rails and you only had to plop and connect.

We now have a lot of different pieces for the NAM rails, and it would be great if we could have something for that.. Like in London.. Is that something that you would be interested in doing?

Bipin · September 26, 2015, 06:49:12 PM

Quote from: cmdp123789 on September 26, 2015, 11:19:14 AM
I wouldn't mind helping you.. But I would need some kind of instruction in terms of positioning, or you know, any particular way of doing it.

On another hand, it would be great if we could have shops for elevated rail, like we find in most urban areas. So for example, some time ago, a set was created, but it only fitted straight sections, and then there was another set that already had elevated rails and you only had to plop and connect.

We now have a lot of different pieces for the NAM rails, and it would be great if we could have something for that.. Like in London.. Is that something that you would be interested in doing?

I had actually considered this for MHW highway or ERHW-4, but I could certainly expand it to El-rail. This, however, is a long term project. As much as I'm interested in it, I think I want something smaller for now. As for instructions for helping me with the MSE walls, all you'd need to do is make sure each wall is centered for ERHW-4 and EMIS networks, and that all the pieces attach seamlessly. I am close, but it could use some tweaking.

kelis · September 27, 2015, 07:16:16 AM

The gas station looks really nice. Thanks for share it

mgb204 · September 27, 2015, 10:20:38 AM

Quote from: Bipin on September 26, 2015, 06:41:42 AM
Hey, no problem, I'm glad you liked the gas stations! I've been working on those retaining walls (The CURB successor), on and off now. They will most likely be my next release unless of course I do something small along the way. They do take a lot of time to get right, mostly with alignment issues in Lot Editor. I hope it isn't too much to ask, but if someone could help me in this process, that would be greatly appreciated. Most of the basic pieces have already been made. The task that's left is going into LE, placing the wall props, going into the game, evaluating how they sit with elevated network (are they too far to the left or tight, for instance) then going back into LE to respond and move the prop accordingly. This is an easy process, but a slow one. Given my university workload, I seldom have the time to do this. So on that note, if someone would be interested in giving a helping hand, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thought we may have lost you to Skylines there, I too am glad to see you back at it.

One question springs to mind having played with the preview pieces of these, are the models centered on the X/Y axis before rendering? I ask, because I got the impression they were not. Offsetting is much better left to simple tools like Model Tweaker, then everything can be aligned mathematically without trying to see it visually when lotting them. I always struggle to do it visually, because the Lot Editor is prone to misrepresent the position of props, in addition it would make T21's far simpler too. Do you import the models and render in gMax (SC4 BAT) at the end of the process, if so I can probably help with this?