Metarvo steps up to BAT

[Pat]

Im betting it has to do with Industry IE Cement or maybe even farming?

[WC_EEND]

looks like a piece of some sort of power plant, nice job on it by the way

PS: as a "gift" from "back then":  

[metarvo]

To make a long story short, I've had some big computer problems , and I lost pretty much all of my plugins and BATs from May of last year on  , with the exception of some more recent ones that I had backed up.  In addition, I lost all of my SC4 utilities, such as the LE and BAT, so I've had to re-download those, and I still don't have everything back together. 

WC_EEND was right about the mysterious building.  It was going to be part of a power plant.  Unfortunately, it has been lost, along with my power line models from last year.  I've had to debate about restarting this project, but I've decided that I must continue in that true SC4 spirit.

The BAT was one of the first things I got back.  Without further delay, I'm presenting the rebirth of the P3 (Power Pole Project).  Here is the first development pic:



The bottom row includes the straight, 18.4-degree turn, and 45 degree turn poles.  The top row includes the 71.6-degree turn and 90-degree turn poles.  This was just a quick proof-of-concept pic to show that I'm back up and running, so I haven't added the isolators or concrete supports yet.

I'm back, and I'm ready for action. 

[canyonjumper]

Cool transformers! Glad to hear you're back up and running !

                   -Jordan

[Pat]

Metravo sry you had problems with your comp and good to see you got BAT back and looking great with a fresh start on P3!!!

[metarvo]

Jordan (canyonjumper): Thank you for the compliment. 

Pat: Thank you for the kind words.  I'm glad to be back to doing something I really enjoy.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Phase I of P3 is now 18% complete, which is a percentage obtained by the status of completion on each individual pole that will be included in the first set.  To speed up completion, I plan to concentrate on only one set this time, rather than trying to build two at the same time as I did before.

Here is a pic of the wired versions of the orthogonal poles, complete with buildings to provide a sense of scale.

[FrankU]

Hi Metarvo,

I was wondering where you had gone.... Now I know. You probably have bougt an external backup disk by now?
Such bad luck!

But the new poles look good. The wires though look like thick cables. I guess you put a group of narrow wires together, like in real life, but the effect is that of a wide thick blurry cable. At least on the picture you show here. I sound harsh, maybe. I don't mean it that way, but I hope you can get it better...
The looks in the game are more important than realistic BATing.

I wish you a lot of better luck in the future!

[thingfishs]

these power poles (whatever their proper name is) look fantastic.

Can you/are you going to make it so that these carry greater volumes of power than standard ones?
I agree with franku regarding the wires though...

[gottago]

Sorry to hear about your computer trouble. That is really something that you don't want to wish on anyone, and glad to see you back at work on your project.

The models look really excellent, but but I do agree with what FrankU and thingfishs have already said about the lines. Also, the bases need a darker texture; right now they appear as white dots.

They also look a bit over-scaled in relation to the buildings--they really dwarf the small factory, for example--but I assume high-tension lines are built in various sizes; they just look a bit big for a default set.

[metarvo]

FrankU: Thanks for the concern.    Actually, I have a backup disk.  The problem is that I thought I had backed up everything, but it turns out that all I had was an out-of-date backup and a few of my newer files, so about four months of data disappeared.  I have redesigned the wires, and I have some pics below.

thingfishs: Thank you for the compliment.  There is no one single name for these poles.  I think it's a regional thing.  In some places, they're called power poles, and in others, they're called utility poles, transmission towers, or perhaps pylons.

In SC4, power is power.  This is a limitation of the game.  There is no differentiation in SC4 between transmission, subtransmission, or distribution lines, and there are no varying voltages.  Not only do the game default power lines transmit power, but buildings transmit it as well.  These are not replacements for the Maxis power lines, but they are non-producing power buildings that appear in the Power menu.  I have redone the wires, as seen below.

gottago: Thanks for the kind words.  I have redesigned the wires as well as the bases.  As for the scale issue, that is one the hardest parts of BATting IMHO.  These are supposed to come out to about 120 ft (36.576 m), per the RL normals for this type of pole.  To be honest, they don't seem to be very different in height from the Maxis poles when I compare the two.  120 ft is just a ballpark height, though, since some are only 100 ft. (30.48 m) tall.  I will look at it and see what I can do.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here are the latest development pics, with my power lines and the Maxis defaults side by side for comparison.

Zoom 5:



Zoom 4:



At first, I had 12 wires on this pole, comprising 6 2-wire couplets.  I have converted the pole to a 6-wire pole, and I have made the wires themselves thinner (0.001 in the BAT).  I note that I'm planning to include wireless versions of the poles as well.

[djvandrake]

Looks awesome!  I like yours a lot better as the wires don't stick out so much visually.  That and the towers are much more realisitc and interesting. 

[metarvo]

djvandrake:  Thanks for the compliment!    The Maxis defaults have always seemed rather limiting to me.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

At the time of this post, completion on this portion of the set is 21%, now that the poles and wires have been revised.


Here are all four rotations of the basic pole that will be included.  For now, I am planning to include orthogonal, diagonal, 18.4 degree fractional, and -18.4 degree fractional rotations.  These latter two were chosen to match the FAR.


Here is a side view.


Here is the Power Data View.  I carefully planned the wire spans so that the poles would be spaced as far apart as possible while still being close enough to transmit power.  All of the poles are on 1x1 lots, with offset fractional poles being included to bring the fractional pole wire spans closer to the orthogonal pole wire spans.

Once all of the adjustments on these poles are complete, the next step will be to give them transparent bases and menu icons.  I also feel that now is a good time to bring up some cost-related details.  What would be a good plop cost, maintenance cost, and bulldoze cost?  I have chosen §100 to plop, §5/month for maintenance, and §100 to bulldoze.  I admit that I usually play with the "moolah" cheat, but I realize that there may be some players who play with a real budget.

[thingfishs]

Regarding the power, I realised as I lay in bed last night what a silly thing I'd said, ah well (here's probably another hair brained idea: could they generate an amount of power as well to separate them from regular ones?)

As for the scale thing personally I think they look fine. I'm still confused about how to resolve scale too. They say for some things scale it up 33% to make it realistic (sims are 4m tall after all!) yet some things are quite the opposite (when I made an AFL football ground at the RL scale, it was way too big for in game, and that's without scaling it up ).

Will you give them transparent bases?

[metarvo]

Thingfishs, I have thought about making my power lines generate power, but I have decided against it on the principle that the lines are only meant to carry power.  Of course, the Maxis power system in SC4 is overly simplified and arguably broken, since Sims can get their electricity directly from the in-game high voltage lines.  The city gets no revenues from electric bills, but it ends up paying for power system maintenance every month.  Then again, it's true that you don't see power plants every 4 km apart in RL, so cities without power plants might benefit if these lines did generate their own power.  I do plan to make substations that generate power.

Since SC4 doesn't seem to use any one system of scale, I have decided to go with upscaling by 33% because it seems to be the normal that I see most frequently.  I'm always open to suggestions, though.  I have given the power poles transparent bases, as seen in the pics below.  Thank you for your valuable input. 

In addition to the straight segment poles seen previously, I plan for the completed set to include:


18.4-degree turns,


45-degree turns,


71.6-degree turns,


90-degree turns,


and end poles, for termination at a substation or power plant.  They can also be used for a transition to underground power lines.


This is an overview of a short power line constructed with the new turn poles.

Completion is now at 40%.  I have not made a lot for every rotation, and I still have to create menu icons.  As always, I'm open for any comments.

[Battlecat]

These look excellent.  Far more realistic than what's currently in game! 

[canyonjumper]

These are looking great, metarvo!

           -Jordan

[FrankU]

I agree, these are beautiful.
I think it was worth the struggle. 

[SimNation]

Love how far this has come so far. I hope this is not too much to ask but any chance you going to make  power transformers that can connect to these? Its always the one thing missing from custom ploppable power line sets are transformers for them to connect to.

[Altanore]

Nice bating Metarvo. They look so real and so clear on my computer. Are those textures HD? 
If so, it is sweet and if not, still looks good! 

[DCMetro2834]

Wow, great jobs. And, wow, nice, crisp textures!