Joelyboy's Downunder Stuff - Air NZ Engineering Services

[joelyboy911]

Just Another Placeholder

... For now...

This will be the place where I will show any BAT's or lots or mods I make with this team.

Current Projects:
HD Flagpoles, Australia Set
Flagstaff at Waitangi [Picture here]

Plus, I'll also show my AU/NZ SCAG stuff here, when its relevant.

[joelyboy911]

Just been working on these tonight. The models were made by srainy, and uploaded onto the STEX, and these are the retextures I've made. I am also thinking of a mod to make one of these replace each of the jets in game (AvroRJ, 707 and 767).

I still need to ask permission from srainy to distribute these files.

As you can see, some of the textures still need work.

[joelyboy911]

Hello, I've been working on a new mod. This mod will give you more long range jets than the  game presently allows. It does it by doing away with the plain and ugly 4-jet and 4-prop in favour of more exciting heavies. What I have done so far, is to replace the game's 767 with an Air New Zealand 777-200ER; replace the game's 707 with an Air New Zealand 747-400; and replace the game's Avro RJ85 (4-jet) with an Air New Zealand 787-8. There is also a potential to replace the private jet and I could probably also make a UDI flyable version by manipulating the game's fire-plane or crop duster or some similar thing.

This is my latest re-skinning attempt.



Please, comment on whether a mod such as the one I mentioned earlier would mean anything to you. Of course there is a potential to make re-skins from other places.

[joelyboy911]

The latest on the plane reskinning front. Enjoy. I wish someone might comment on whether plane automata modding is worthwhile or not...

[superhands]

it's worth it
Ansett to maybe

-Dave

[Diggis]

Just been working on these tonight. The models were made by srainy, and uploaded onto the STEX, and these are the retextures I've made. I am also thinking of a mod to make one of these replace each of the jets in game (AvroRJ, 707 and 767).

I still need to ask permission from srainy to distribute these files.

As you can see, some of the textures still need work.

Joel, from what I gather from your post srainy uploaded the GMAX files to the STEX?  And you are wanting to distribute the SC4Model files?  If you can't get hold of srainy I would take it as read that it's OK to distribute these.  You don't normally upload GMAX files except to allow people to do what you are doing.

Looking great too, could you do the one with the All Black front row on if from the world cup.

[joelyboy911]

Hey, thanks superhands.



This might be nice. (I guess this means I'm taking requests...)

@Diggis. Srainy uploaded these as automata replacement mods. I have emailed him, and awaiting his (could be 'her', i suppose...) reply. He put his email address in the STEX upload, as a request line, so I think he should reply at some point. I can't forsee there being any problem, as I would of course give him the credit for the model. I'm not making SC4model files, since these are automata. I know these aren't really popular at the moment, since plane BATting has become more popular (for good reasons) but I think I can do something a bit more interesting by replacing the small planes with big jets. At the moment, I have the Air NZ 747 and 777 replacing the game's 707 and 767 respectively, while the 787 is currently replacing the Avro RJ. In terms of custom airports, the future of this type of modification lies in modular airport lots, with the plane landing effects on it. However, it might narrow other uses, but I think the chance to have a little more life in the airports (even if only in the form of a rougher model on the runway). I would think this would add to, not replace BATted planes by SCAG, tabi and AC. On another note, I think we are all looking forward to some new New Zealand (and Australian) planes from these. Voltaire's Air NZ and Qantas 747-400s and company 767-300s by SCAG. And others: 787 and 777-300ER. If you want that All Blacks paint sheme on one of the BATted planes, you could talk to Voltaire. I will look at trying to make it on the automata as well.

I forgot to mention, the reason jetstar only has the star on the tail, is due to the fact that there is only one texture for the tail, so the writing would be mirrored if I'd included it.

[superhands]

that was fast! I havn't seen one of those for a while...

thanks Joelyboy.

[joelyboy911]

Thanks, yeah. 

I've been working now, on a UDI mod. I know its not a popular feature in the game, but I think flying an Ansett 747 is pretty neat. It replaces the fire plane, in game, but I've gotten it to use the fighter jet Sound FX, which is neat, and sounds pretty authentic, I think. I've also made the Qantas A330 replace the little green/beige plane, and I'm working to make other planes replace the other automata for a 'Jet UDI' mod.

[Earth quake]

Wonderfull plane joelyboy911.
The A330 of Jet star is splendid.

[joelyboy911]

http://www.youtube.com/v/OGSmKR0OHWY

This is what I've been up to. I wish I could've gotten the sound to record right - they sound perfect with the Maxis Fighter Jet SFX. There's even radio communication noise with the tower, when the plane's taxiing at low speeds. I've also made a lot for the planes to start on... but more on that a little later.

[hkboondoggle]

Wow! Fabulous, joelyboy911!

As a recall, making a decent looking UDI jetliner was described as impractical in one of the post of the AC Team as the outcome would certainly look like crap. However, judging by your masterpiece shown in the video, I guess you have officially achieved the "mission-impossible"! Congratulations!

Just a small thing, I am afraid the flight characteristics of these UDI jet planes may be a bit too maneuverable for wide-body aircraft.
I am not sure whether you would like take requests or not, but I do believe the rebirth of the ingame fire-fighting turboprop would definitely be promising with your magic. (You know, its current look is just miserable... )

Best regards
hkboondoggle

[joelyboy911]

You're right about the fact that the planes are too maneuverable to be realistic. I am going to try to find out if it is possible to modify some file in the game to reduce the accelleration, bank angle and pitch that the planes will allow.

The other problem at the moment is that the planes (especially 747) are constantly bouncing off props and buildings in the game, when taxiing and sometimes also on take-off. This effect causes the plane to quickly rotate 180 degrees, and the plane can sometimes get stuck, etc.

Unfortunately I don't know much about actual automata modding. Up to this point I have simply been re-skinning and modding srainy's models. Thus, at the moment, I will be unable to fulfil your request of a fireplane.

As a recall, making a decent looking UDI jetliner was described as impractical in one of the post of the AC Team as the outcome would certainly looks like crap

Hehe, I never knew AC team had said that. Well, it wasn't that hard to do. I already know most people don't use UDI, but maybe this mod will make it a little more interesting than the game's old little planes.   

[hkboondoggle]

Unfortunately I don't know much about actual automata modding. Up to this point I have simply been re-skinning and modding srainy's models. Thus, at the moment, I will be unable to fulfil your request of a fireplane.

Nevermind, though what a pity.

May be you are right about the fact that most people don't use UDI, but in my point of view, what's the point of creating a city which the player has no intension to live with then? I mean, the best way of celebrating the success of building a place where the player has been looking forward to experiencing is to drive an UDI vehicles and explore the beauty of his / her creation, isn't it? So there comes my little whim in the quest for better UDI vehicles.

And now, I am not certain if my request would get Swamper77 and srainy interested in it...

Best regards,
hkboondoggle

[dobdriver]

Hi Joel,

You keep right on making plane skins and udi flying mods. Even as props having some aussie and kiwi colours kicking around in the airport is better than nondescript maxis stuff.

It's not always just about making stuff for others.

take it easy
dobdriver

[joelyboy911]

I started out to base a BAT on a nice wall to wall building in the city where I live, Palmerston North. The local branch of the ANZ (Australia New Zealand) Bank.



I couldn't recreate it exactly, because the proportions would have made it impossible to lot wall-to-wall. Instead I based this building on the same style as that one.



It was going well, so I decided to make some other downunder banks as well.

[adroman]

Best. Banks. Ever.

I think I need your permission to even look at a Bank in real life now... You've done some super work here!

By the way, my favourite is the Suncorp one, looks fantastic!

Havva good one,
Adrian.

[Diggis]

Hey Joel, must say banks are something that are lacking in game.  You may be onto something here.

A few things stand out here to me though. 

  The canopy is quite large, and removes any view of the ground floor, which is where all the fun is.    I know it's pretty close to the original you modeled it off, so I've been trying to work out ways to overcome it...  One possibility is making parts of it glass. This is becoming more common in NZ now, especially as many downtowns have rules stating new buidings must have awnings or canopies at ground floor level.   Also, seeing as it's the dominant feature of the buildings maybe some detail on top of it.  Braces and struts and the like.  Again, I know the original doesn't have them, but it's also not stuck in our 2.5D world.  Also, I have yet to see a canopy without some crap on it from upper floor windows.    Same applies to the roof, you need some aircon intakes, pipes etc.  There used to be some good GMAX models on STEX you could download and import into your model.  They may still be there.

You're textures are quite crisp. I'm not very good at this, and hopefully someone with some better ideas that myself (JBsimio would be good to bug) will be able to help out better, but roofs and canopies often have water spots and smudges.  It's a good idea to do the texture for the whole area, rather than rely on a tiling texture.  That way you can apply the details in photoshop (or whatever) to look they way you want.  Also, the colours on the canopies (particularly ANZ and National) are very bright, and could do with desaturating. 

The windows are very dark.  Even during the day time you would see something.  Some batters use billboards as floor textures to simulate actvitiy which I think could be a good trick here.  Also the desk in the nightlight looks a little large for the window.  It may be an illusion because of the size of the building, I'm not sure.

Finally, they are all the same   It sticks out here more because they are all together, but get a pair of them growing in downtown and it'll be very obvious.  I think adding details to the canopy, breaking it in places and maybe different window arrangments, would be all you'd need to do to break them up. 

Wow.. that turned out longer than I expected.  Maybe it's because they are something missing from the game and I would love to see these polished off.  They are a great start mate! 

[joelyboy911]

Wow, thanks Shaun. I'll start, by addressing your last question. I had originally only intended to make one bank, the ANZ as it is real life. I am aware of the potential problem of over-repetitive-ness, so I was thinking of creating the different banks with totally different outside cladding materials. Also, I intend to make it as easy as I can for the end user to select precisely which banks they want to see.

I was aware of the problem, also, with the canopy. I notice that very few (I have yet to come across one) buildings have these in SimCity. Since they are real, I thought I would leave them, but in the meantime since my first post I came up with this.



I have no intention of scrapping the old one, just offering this as well.

At the moment, the textures do not tile at all. The lines across the roof are all on the one single bitmap. As for the windows, I wish I was using 3ds max, then I could get some nice things to reflect, and have the sign and stuff reflected in the window, as it is in the photo. But alas, I'm modelling in gmax... Perhaps I'll make the windows more interesting by giving them a different texture. As for the roof and canopy, I think I'll model in some pipes and wires, and an air conditioning machine, which I agree should be there. And I'll make sure to remedy the colours of the things around the canopy. I'll be sure to add some filth and grime to the textures as well,

Oh, and about that 'desk' at the window... Its more of an agglomeration of random boxes... but I agree it should be changed in some way.

Now, a little more about canopies. The might well look foul in SimCity 4, but I think they deserve more recognition. As I start out getting set up for a larger wall-to-wall project (more to come about it later) I think I intend to include more canopies. I like them, and I think they can be interesting in the game.

You may not be aware, this is in fact the first building I've BATted. I've made planes, and baggage carts, but never a building before. I think its going well so far, and once I put your advice into action, I'm sure it'll be even better. Thanks!

[RippleJet]

I would recommend that you make the first floor taller than the second floor.
The pedestrian sims are quite tall in the game... and I would hate to see them hit their heads in your canopy.
By raising the entrance floor you might also be able to get the first floor to show under that canopy.