Network Texture Replacement

[GDO29Anagram]

I've started a project to redo every vanilla texture and NAM texture in the entire game. Later on, I may apply this to the NWM and the TuLEPs... I'm doing this for myself but I'm hoping to get this out to the public if all goes well; I figured others would want to try this... This is the very first time I ever started ANY project that involves the NAM or its textures...

As you can see, the modified textures are darker, slightly wider, and bolder. Kinda like the DarkPhalt texture that I once saw for RHW. Also in the case of OWR-2 (The default OWR), the lines now resemble that of the AVE-4 (The default avenue), making it all one single consistent network. Plus the OWR-AVE transition is even more gradual. At this point, I only have ortho textures for OWR, AVE, Road, and the OWR-AVE transition.





These were the aesthetic problems with the vanilla/NAM default textures with OWR, AVE, and Road:

- OWR and Road don't have grass on the sides the same way Streets and Avenues do.
- The lines on the OWR were inconsistent in length. It looked like this: -- - - -- - - -- - - -- - - -- - - --
- The AVE-4 doesn't have yellow lines, yet the AVE-2 DOES.
- The OWR-Ave transition was far too abrupt.
- The sidewalks on the AVE-4 "end loop" part looked inconsistent with the sidewalks on the orthogonal parts.
- Sidewalk transitions on orthogonal to diagonal transitions were also far too abrupt. Plus, the "roads" themselves weren't that gradual.

I used 256x256 pixel PNG images of the textures (Is 256x256 too big?) which were created with Inkscape and further edited with Paint.NET. (I don't have Photoshop... Plus it gives me a clean slate, or road surface, to work with.)

I've also read somewhere (Here, actually http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=252.msg336470#msg336470 ) that there's a NAM re-texture mod in the works. Let me say this right now: I'm NOT the guy who's doing that. This is my own version of that project. (What am I doing, am I gonna end up overturning an existing project...?)

There are some textures that I'm not going to modify:
- RHW (Except with certain transitions. Unless the DarkPhalt project gets cancelled somehow...)
- Default Streets (Except with Road to Street transitions, obviously... Or unless it's really needed...)
- SAM (Except with Road to Street transitions; Far too many textures to modify, and I don't want to mess with other guys's textures...)
- Railway Line, El Rail/GLR, and Monorail/HSR. (Why would I?!! This doesn't concern the rail-based networks anyway, except with certain crossings.)

What do you guys think? Would you want to go with this or would you want to stick with the default? Too dark? Too radical? Anything missing? Lines not good? (I think so; The Road's yellow lines look too close together...) No grass? Yes grass? Comments? Questions? Concerns? Complaints? Objections? Suggestions? Whatever? (Move this topic if needed, also.)

Edited on 11 Oct 2010:

I changed the title of the topic to: Network Texture Replacement. Why? I began work on some of the NWM networks...

[Rionescu]

That's funny, I'm starting to make my own textures too except mine are going to be lighter than the default.

I like the look of yours, especially the OWR-2 texture, although those arrows look a bit too small. The road stripe look a little too thin too. It might not be a bad idea to leave that alone. I think adding the grass was a good call. It makes the whole thing look more uniform.

Good luck, and don't be surprised if you see some of your ideas in my mod

[Haljackey]

Awesome start GDO29Anagram! Keep at it! 

I look forward to seeing a face-lift to the Maxis textures. Unlike Rionescu, I prefer darker textures opposed to lighter ones.

[MandelSoft]

These were the aesthetic problems with the vanilla/NAM default textures with OWR, AVE, and Road:
...
- The AVE-4 doesn't have yellow lines, yet the AVE-2 DOES.
...

I solved this in the NWM Euro TRM by removing the yellow lines from the AVE-2, so I took the opposite approach 

I have some info about the NAM retexture mod (I'm currently making a Euro version of it, superhands is responsible for the US version):
- The Roads and OWR now do have grass on the sides when placed next to LD zones.
- The curves are much smoother now.
- We are still using the standard texture format (128x128).
- The SAM7 will also have different intersection textures with this mod
- Cul-de-sacs are also included as an optional plugin
- Some other NAM features also get a new texture.
- The RTLs get a new look.
- The Euro version will look completely different than the current Euro textures. This is mostly different markings (more solid lines and wider line-spacing).

By the way, I like your new textures (although I'm not going to use them for my Euro style regions), although I would advise you to use 128x128 textures instead due to filesize (the files would be 4 times bigger!)

Best,
Maarten

[GDO29Anagram]

I solved this in the NWM Euro TRM by removing the yellow lines from the AVE-2, so I took the opposite approach 

That's ironically the reason I tried Euro Textures once, but I never kept them for two reasons:

- In the case of RHW, it's impossible to tell which way traffic is going without the aid of the DrawPaths cheat.
- I downloaded certain TE lots that unfortunately don't have a Euro Texture version... (If it weren't for that, I'd still have Euro Textures; They look really nice...)

And I downscaled all my textures to 128x128, so now it won't eat up so much disc space now. I see almost no change in texture quality anyway. At least for the ortho textures...

I like the look of yours, especially the OWR-2 texture, although those arrows look a bit too small. The road stripe look a little too thin too. It might not be a bad idea to leave that alone. I think adding the grass was a good call. It makes the whole thing look more uniform.

The OWR texture and grass? I called for network uniformity, so I made the OWR's likes look exactly like the AVE's lines. So yeah... Good call, indeed.

The arrows? The reason I made them that small is for testing purposes. I don't want to get them in the way of the new lines. Besides, I'm gonna change them later on... I figured that the Road's lines were too smushed together, so I separated them a little bit.

I look forward to seeing a face-lift to the Maxis textures. Unlike Rionescu, I prefer darker textures opposed to lighter ones.

So would I. Somehow the original textures felt like bits of construction paper that didn't mesh together well... Maybe the feel of my set of textures will change that... (Or maybe it's just me...)

--
Let me at least try making my own set of textures; I never found texture making to be so fun... And rewarding... Well, I now got diagonals for OWR-2 and MAVE-2 created... (Those are the technical names I assigned to the OWR and Road...)



(See anything strange here...?)

I believe the end textures for the OWR now make better sense. If you look at the old one, it loops on itself just like the Road. It doesn't make any sense for an OWR to do that, since it's ONE-WAY!!! So I decided to change it to that of the NWM's OWR textures.

I also changed the Road to OWR transition, though I plan to change it later on... I want your opinion on the first prototype texture...

Final question: If I were to complete this and put it up for download right now, do you think it'd look great in your city? If it were me, I'd say yes... But what do you guys think?

[BigSlark]

While I appreciate your efforts, I'm far more into realistic pavement markings. Check this out: http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno-tutintro.html, it's the Federal Highway Administration's Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. I hope it inspires you!

Peace,
Kevin

[GDO29Anagram]

@ BigSlark: It does help a bit. Thanks. Now I know what to do with Roundabout textures...

I've reached a dilemma, though: I had began considerations of modifying the roundabouts, and that includes the one for the streets. In fact, look closely at my last pictures, and you'll find that the Street-RA textures now conform to density and wealth. That's just a "prototype" right now, since I just did only one RA texture. (I'm just surprised that no-one even noticed that...) I think I've expanded out from modifying three of the default networks to a consideration to modify and/or replace most network textures: TLA, MAVE, ARD, AVE, OWR, TuLEPs, Streets (Just RAs, intersections, and curves), and some of the SAM textures and RHW textures (Intersections and such, just like with Streets... Or not... It depends...). (Insane? Probably. Ambitious? Yeah.) Let's just stick with the three NAM-ified "principal networks" for now...

I may have to stop to figure out what to do next; I already have ortho textures for the three default networks and diagonal and double-diagonal textures for the single-tile networks, and end textures for the OWR-2. Next is to figure out how to create end textures for the AVE-4 and all the curve textures for all three networks, starting with the 135 degree curve*. Wish me luck!

* - A little note: I think all the curves being labelled as "45 degree curves" is bit of a misnomer; It's actually a 135 degree angle you're dealing with, with the other 45 being the supplement of the latter angle, which is what people are actually referring to. A real 45 degree curve is one that folds on itself; Try drawing a 45 degree angle with Road and you'll see...

[Nego]

I'd use it in my cities right now if I could. I think it will go great with Blue Lightning's upcoming Darkphalt texture set. Oh, and the only thing strange there, besides videosean's AVE to MAVE-2 transition, is the diag MAVE-2 and OWR-2 intersection. It does look strange.

About the 45º and 135º thing, it's labeled as a 45º turn because the road turns 45º left or right from its current direction.

[redscope53]

This is turning out pretty good. I'm working on my own texture mod, (and its almost ready to be release ). I've done all the work for Maxis, all the RHW and I'm working on the NWM and NAM right now( about 1.5/20 done) The Grey Network Mod can be found on Simtropolis.com  (Here)

[samerton]

This is looking great! Nice work 

[j-dub]

@GDO29Anagram:

While we already use a replacement texture for avenue to road, would it be too much for it to get replaced again, like this?:



(This is just a picture edit)

[GDO29Anagram]

While we already use a replacement texture for avenue to road, would it be too much for it to get replaced again, like this?

@j-dub, to answer your question with one word, yes.



Began on this a few days ago. I think that texture makes better sense with two sets of double yellow lines, too...

@Nego, maybe it's just me, but I geometrically measure the angle formed by the road itself, not by the supplement of 45. (It's just me, ain't it...)

@redscope53, Your set looks nice, but (I guess it's just me again), I prefer darker textures... (I wondered what happened to the guy who's making the darker RHW textures... They looked really great...)

[Nego]

I really like your new AVE to Road transition a lot! Just two things: First, could you make the slanted lines thicker? And two, could you flip the slanted lines so that instead of going from top left to bottom right, have them go from the bottom left to the top right. The way you currently have them is technically incorrect.

@Nego, maybe it's just me, but I geometrically measure the angle formed by the road itself, not by the supplement of 45. (It's just me, ain't it...)

Everyone has their own way of looking at things.

(I wondered what happened to the guy who's making the darker RHW textures... They looked really great...)

You mean Blue Lightning and his DarkPhalt Textures? I haven't seen developement on those in a long time.

[GDO29Anagram]

I really like your new AVE to Road transition a lot! Just two things: First, could you make the slanted lines thicker? And two, could you flip the slanted lines so that instead of going from top left to bottom right, have them go from the bottom left to the top right. The way you currently have them is technically incorrect.

iCan tell you that I just completed the transition textures, but this how textures are set up: There are no textures for mirror images of the same texture; The same texture is used, but just mirrored. Let me be more clear:

Look at the picture I recently posted with the textures I created. If I drew the road from the left side of the avenue, the diagonal yellow lines will show up wrong, but if I drew the road from the right, the diagonal yellow lines will show the way as you described. Therefore the same texture is reused, only mirrored on its side, technically making it futile to redo the textures.

However, if the FSH file that shows up in the reader is a standard position for these things, I'd be able to oblige and redo them; It should be easier now; I just have to redo the diagonal lines, not much to it. (In fact, I might just do that...)

[Ryan B.]

Wow - this stuff looks great!  Can't wait to see what else you come up with!

[j-dub]

@GDO29Anagram: @GDO29Anagram: WOW! that looks so much more realistic and a lot better! I knew you could pull it off, but it just goes to show Maxis could of made smooth curves instead of sharp corners.

I forgot about the mirror flipping thing, although there may be mixed feelings about this.

[Nego]

I find the slanted lines to be more realistic, even if they are flipped. (I forgot about that, too(the flipping))

[Ryan B.]

I find the slanted lines to be more realistic, even if they are flipped. (I forgot about that, too(the flipping))

What Nego said.  I think we can deal with the flipping issue on the slanted lines.

[GDO29Anagram]

OK Then. It's GDO29Anagram again.

I've been rather busy, and I have one image to show you...



iTook one of my pre-existing cities (Which I appropriately dubbed as Outpost Inukshuk) and wondered how my textures would look like in an incorporated city. I made some changes to my textures also...

One: I made the textures even darker. Two: I also redid the TLA-5. I'll show more pictures when I can...

I also tried to tackle NWM transitions recently and found that to be rather difficult, since they only have one texture for the grass, and there are no wealth-specific textures, since the values used for those are being used for something else (As Tarkus told me some time ago...). I figured a utilitarian solution was to kill all the grass and pave over it all with solid concrete (IE, make the corresponding grass textures that appear on NWM transitions completely blank).

But then I thought, what about TuLEPs? They have grass, and what if you have higher density development? By default, the higher density textures are shared with the no wealth textures, and therefore no grass will show on the roads leading up to the TuLEPs. I thought of using the same utilitarian solution of removing ALL the grass for all transitions and TuLEPs. Then I thought of ADDING grass to the UNASSIGNED higher density textures... Kinda like Swamper77's Uni-Density textures, but backwards; Instead or removing grass, it ADDS grass.

IIDs in general, with respect to modding, are 8-digit hex numbers, prefixed by "0x", for example, 0x51131000 is the IID for the MAVE-4/Street + Intersection.  With regards to transit textures, the eighth digit is reserved to deal with zoom (generally, 0 for Zoom 1 up to 4 for Zoom 5, though these can be offset in some situations).  The seventh digit deals with wealth and affects the texture displayed if it is zone-adjacent.  In most standard cases (as in the case of our example above, 0x51131000), it works as follows:

0 = No Wealth/Unzoned
1 = Low Wealth/Low Density
2 = Mid Wealth/Low Density
3 = High Wealth/Low Density
4 = Low Wealth/Mid-to-High Density
5 = Mid Wealth/Mid-to-High Density
6 = High Wealth/Mid-to-High Density
7 = Agricultural

Thanks for the info, Tarkus!!! Now I can REALLY modify things...

Now I just gotta compile a grass pattern for the xxxxxx4x, xxxxxx5x, and xxxxxx6x textures. And maybe something for xxxxxx7x textures... Any suggestions?

[GDO29Anagram]

Jeez, and I don't know what to call this texture set... You guys probably want an update on my texture set after so long...



Networks shown:
- MAVE-2 (Road)
- OWR-2 (Default OWR)
- AVE-4 (Default AVE)
- AVE-4 Tram
- TLA-5
- OWR-4
- MAVE-4
- MAVE-6
- MAVE-2 to AVE-4 and AVE-4 to OWR-2 Transitions

How's that for ultra-dark?!!

Unfortunately,...
- Incorrect grass textures were used.
- Needs further perfection.
- It's 256 x 256, and may cause filesize issues. (Unless you want it that way...)

I'm gonna have to redo all this... Again... I just don't know when...