New England Colonial BAT Project

[Livin in Sim]

Hi, kant01,

Wow, welcome here, and welcome back to ST.  Now I see what you've been up to.     BTW, I loved Mystic County, it was a beautiful historical city journal.  I constantly use your Rural Development Kit, too.  Your BATs are just gorgeous, you must have been at it for some time.  It's all about the texturing.  The residentials go so well with c.p.'s Victorian sets, which really haven't had something as complimentary yet.  The low wealth sets are just to die for.  It is becoming possible to design a quite respectable low wealth area, which is certainly needed.  The town hall is spot on.  Have you ever thought of trying a barn or two?

Keep going!
--Liv

[kant01]

Wow, I really appreciate all the comments!

io_bg - thanks

threestooges - I could add a sign to the front/side. Again, part of what makes it weird here is that what looks like the front of the building does not face the road in RL, but rather the lawn. At least, that is what I gather from all the pictures. I will see what I can do. Thanks for the feedback!

Pat - I appreciate it!

jmyers2043 - hey! thanks for stopping by and commenting! I love your farms - couldn't live without them. They are part of my inspiration for my rural cities and development. I like the idea of having the building as a reward. I was thinking of building a small commercial bakery and perhaps once you have a bakery or two along with some wheat farms that you could then get the mill. But I was also thinking of making a growable version as well. hmm...I will have to think about this. thanks so much for the feedback!

c.p. - welcome! your trees and textures and fences and small houses are another HUGE part of my inspiration here so I am thrilled that you like my BATs so far. thanks for the comment!

girlfromverona - thanks!

alan_vzla - yeah, I think I know what you mean. When I threw those lots together I hadn't quite envisioned how crowed they would look once they all grew up together. I will definitely have to work on that a bit. I appreciate the suggestion and thanks for commenting!

SimGoober - oh that's too bad. I downloaded your gmax file for the brick canals. I was thinking of using the water texture to try to make a rural canal set that could hook up with your urban ones and with the mill. I don't know of any other rural canal set. Is there? thanks for commenting!

Livin in Sim - Hey, Liv, I really appreciate the feedback. I am glad to here that you were a fan of Mystic County and those lots It has been ages since I have place SC4. Too much else going on in my life. I only just came back to it at the beginning of December and decided that I should have a go at BATting. I tried it once, I think about 4 years ago at least, but didn't really know what I was doing and didn't have the patience then, so I am just really learning all this now. I only just figured out how to do night lights yesterday - so now I have to go back and add them on to each of these. As for making some barns, I definitely have that in the works. The most recent industrial project is an old colonial kiln and pottery barn. Here is the kiln with a wood shed:



I just started this so it needs a lot more work. Once I have it a bit better I will add a pottery barn to it. Thanks for the comment! I really appreciate it.

Ok, so I think I have nearly finished the Great Friends Meeting House. After much labor I was able to do some night lights. The spots really gave me a headache. I also darkened the roof just a bit, narrowed the windows, and removed that bright white spot.



Here are some shots of it in game:









I think it is nearly finished. There are some weird things going on with the shadows there, but I cannot tell if it is a serious problem or not.

I was also thinking of making this a reward lot, perhaps connected to some smaller meeting houses or perhaps my R$ lots. Any thoughts there?

Thanks again for the feedback everyone!

[projectadam]

kant01,

These are all amazing lots that are very well done. I might be getting to the party a little late but to me it seems like the horses and carriages are scaled too big. They look to be bigger than the 18 wheelers driving on the roads. I do not know what your take on this is or how hard this would be to correct if you agree but like I said, this is a very minor thing on some AMAZING lots

[Pat]

Hey Kant I think that would be sweet to have a reward for the "Great Friends Meeting House"... Now about numbers I would think sufficiently having 10 Colonial lots growing would be good???  Thats my thought there, otherwise everything is looking sweet!!!!

[alan_vzla]

Why don't you make the "Great Friend Meeting House" a club-house, with gardens, trails... maybe a pond... That's just my opinion. Anyway, the kiln and the shed are looking good so far, and one question... what are the white details on the roof? snow?

[kant01]

projectadam - thanks for commenting! As for the horse and carriage, that is just a prop from a set, not something I made myself. It probably is a bit too big, but I kinda like them. The prop has "RT" on the front of the name so I think it must have been created by riptide. In anycase, they could easily be removed.

pat - thats a good idea. thanks!

alan_vzla - thanks for the suggestions! I am not quite sure, though, what you mean by a clubhouse. The spots on the roof are just discolored tiles from patch jobs or discoloration. I reduced it quite a bit already, but if people still find it annoying I can even it out a bit more.

I have started working on the Old North Church in Boston. The height of the steeple, the width, and the depth are all measured to scale. At this point I am just wondering if it looks too squashed? I know many of the buildings need to get stretched up a bit to have them look right in the came because of the rendering. Any thoughts?




I have just started to texture it as well, but here is the beginning of a first pass:



Thanks for your feedback!

[beutelschlurf]

moin kant01,

looks great, especially your mill and the church, like the idea of having older buildings in the game.
keep up the good work. 

b_schlurf

[girlfromverona]

You are doing amazing work here, kant01! I can't believe you're new to this. I tried BATting once, but was totally useless at it... 

[alan_vzla]

alan_vzla - thanks for the suggestions! I am not quite sure, though, what you mean by a clubhouse. The spots on the roof are just discolored tiles from patch jobs or discoloration. I reduced it quite a bit already, but if people still find it annoying I can even it out a bit more.

Make it a club, for example, like the house that's on the Golf club reward on SC4. As for the white texture on the roof, it doesn't annoys me.. I was only curious, don't worry it looks good as it is!

Now the church is loking good, very "small town" looking... Now, please don't get mad at me for posting another suggestion (it's just as I am) but, I think that it would look better if you made the church itself (not the tower, the other part) a little longer... but thats only me, if nobody agrees i'll just shut up 

Great work for a so-called BAT "newbie"   
Alan

[Jmouse]

I love small-town churches, so I'm anxious to see how this one turns out. That's a nice brick texture you started out with - I like the color. Hope the texture of the walls won't disappear in the render. That's a problem I'm still working to overcome!

Later...
Joan

[kant01]

Thanks everyone for the comments!

beutelschlurf  - I appreciate the the comment I am definitely a fan of having the older buildings too. Hopefully I can add a few.

girlfromverona - thanks! In trying this out I discovered that it takes a lot of patience - that and I read every blinking tutorial I could find before I started and then just went very, very slowly on my first few BATS. It definitely gets easier

alan_vzla - ahh, I gotcha. I definitely want to rework the lot some. I want to keep it with a historic landmark kind of look. but of course, once it is finished I would be open to folks doing whatever with it. As for the church, I would agree with you on this, but the reason I made it that length was because that is the way the real Old North Church in Boston actually is. But I do appreciate the suggestion

Jmouse - glad you like the church and thanks for the comment

Ok, now for a quick update. Here is an actually picture of the church:



I think in my last shots the tower looked a bit squashed. So on some advice I did a 33% vertical scale and I think that really took care of the squashing:





My main problem is getting the texture on the cone portion above the apse to look right (at least, I think that is called an apse). I have never texture a cone before, and it is not working to well. Any suggestions on how to do that?

Now I just need to get on with the night lights...1 if by land, 2 if by sea

Thanks again!

[Earth quake]

Splendid. 
I love your work in the bat and the details, Kant01 

[tag_one]

Fantastic work Kent! All the buildings you've created so far look wonderful
I see your also using night lights now  I do have a small suggestion to make them look nicer at night. ATM you're using night windows for the windows. Instead of night windows you can also bat real floors in your models with different textures. When placing an omni inside the building it will look much more realistic at night. Especially with bigger windows you'll see a lot of difference

[paroch]

You're doing some amazing work here Kant01 - all of the buildings look magnificent.  And the Grist Mill is a very original idea for SC4.  I'll enjoy following this thread and waiting for their release.

[rushman5]

I just saw these, they are amazing!  Excellent work.

One note, I know that a lot of these buildings are also featured in more urban areas, could there also be a set of urban versions?  I'm not one to usually request, but they would not only look really good, but would work as excellent school biuildings and museums as civic type lots.

[girlfromverona]

One note, I know that a lot of these buildings are also featured in more urban areas, could there also be a set of urban versions?  I'm not one to usually request, but they would not only look really good, but would work as excellent school biuildings and museums as civic type lots.

Not a bad idea, rushman5! 

[DebussyMan]

Your new BAT looks great. I specially love the rear of the Church. The texture is also very nice.
Apart from Marc's comment I'd also suggest revising the steeple, it is supposed to be an octagon, but it your pics it looks like it has less sides (I might be wrong, but that's the impression it is giving me)

About your question. There are two ways I use to map polygonal roofs. If I need to tweak the texture of each side individually, I detach one of them, use a planar mapping and array it again so each piece will have it's own mapping gizmo aligned. If I just want to throw a random texture on it (i.e. bricks) I use the cylindrical mapping.

[Yoder7652]

one if by land...two if by sea...isn't the templar treasure under the stairs? 
the church is looking good, love the textures.

[kant01]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all the feedback

Earth quake - welcome to the thread and thanks for commenting
tag_one - I appreciate the suggestion - I am giving omni's a try now but having mixed luck with them and several people have told me not to use them. I'll see what I can do though because I prefer the more realistic looking light as well. Thanks!
paroch - thanks for stopping by - I'm glad you like the buildings
rushman5 - hey thanks for the comment. Yes, I want these to look appropriate for more contemporary cities as well. My first task is just to get them done and lotted for the 1600s and 1700s, and then perhaps do some work on them for later periods.
marcszar - thanks for the comment! I really appreciate it And that is a great suggestion. I will definitely add some!
girlfromverona - noted I also have plans in the works to build a school soon...
DebussyMan - Hey thanks for the comment!!! Yes, I noticed that about the appearance of the steeple, but it is an octagon already in the BAT. Wish the details were a bit more apparent. Thanks for the tip on texturing. I will see what I can do
Yoder7652 - no treasure yet thanks for the comment!

So as I work on updating and completing the church, here are some small commercial buildings I have been working on. I could use some advice on how to make them fit in a bit better and what could be changed in terms of color, texture, scale, etc.

Apthecary


Bakery


Tailor


These three are 5.3m wide so I should be able to fit them all on a 1x1 lot



And a general store:



A 2 wheeled market cart:


Different food options:


A 4-wheeled cart as well:


Some test lots:


I am not really happy with how the carts turned out. I probably need to make the wheels a bit thicker. Any other suggestions?




Thanks for the comments!

[Nexis4Jersey]

ahhhh , a New England Themed Bat project  , just one of the Great realistic bats, turning this Old boring game into a flexible anything , & everything game!