MGB's Mods and other stuff

[mgb204]

Time to expand, this will become my new home on SC4D to keep you abreast of developments of my on-going projects. It will compliment/mirror the equivalent thread at Simtropolis and I will provide support for my mods that are available on the LEX:

Texture Pack v1

A Texture Dependency package including useful transit textures and more.

Filler Set v2

A set of diagonal fillers, overhanging fillers and more. Ideal for dealing with the diagonal jaggies or just to make more visually pleasing transitions.

UnderBridge Set

A set of functional overhanging extenders that can be used to extend networks under game bridges.

Anyone for Tennis (AoT)

A dependency package containing textures and HD rendered tennis props.

ITS Nickelby House for FAR Re-Lots

Using one of only a few Fractionally Angled (FA) buildings, I've made a set of lots that create a FA, High Density R$, Tower Block complex.

MMP (Mayor Mode Ploppable) Packs:

Vol1. JES Trucks and Rail


Vol2. Girafe Trees

RRR to Subway Ramps

RRW-Compatible Rail to Subway converter lots.

Small Convenience Store

Some small supermarkets for your sim's to buy whatever food or junk they may require.

CAL-SG Additional Diagonal Pieces

8 Additional lots for CAL's remasters of SG's canals, adding diagonal support for the first time.

SG Additional Diagonal Pieces

2 Additional lots for SG's original canals, adding new Straight to Diagonal transitions.

SAM6 Darkened Mod (new to LEX)

A mod that darkens the original SAM6 textures.

SAM7 Bikepaths (new to LEX)

A mod that adds bikepaths onto the SAM7 streets.

SAM7 Bikepaths (for TGN)

For users of TGN, you can now enjoy the bikepaths mod with TGN grass textures (Unified Wealth Only).

Rail Depot Pack

A dependency containing custom modern rail depot models. These include modular versions to make bigger depots. Additionally includes a number of additional resources for making rail depots such as textures, automata props and more.

RDP Starter Lots
5 Starter lots for use with the RDP above.

Version 2 of the Terrain Grass NAM (TGN)
For the first time, you can get TGN on the LEX.


^{Click for full size - TGN Sudden Valley (unified wealth) version shown.}

There are six versions covering 4 different terrain mods. Lowkee's Appalachian, Gobias' Berner Oberland and Sudden Valley and TSC/Orange Pyrenean.

Note that only the Gobias versions have additional multi-wealth options, these are separate downloads.

No Grass NAM (NGN)

This mod removes all the grass textures from your transport networks.

MHO Patch for Japanese NAM Facelift Alternate Overpasses

This mod allows MHO (Maxis Highway Override) users to have compatible models for use with with the Japanese NAM FL Mod's Alternate Overpasses.

Long Pedestrian Bridges

Some eye-candy bridges so your sims can cross things.

Click the images to goto the LEX download page.

[mgb204]

As part of my on-going attempts to have everything sidewalk neutral, I've been working on figuring out how to make S3D props such as those used in the Quays de Seine walls from Xannepann or the canal set by Moonlight. Right now I've a base set of 10 props to give a basic set of overhangs/extenders which can be used with any sidewalk. Utilising the same technique as Vortext of adding a diffuse layer, the problem of colour matching is resolved.



I've attached a zip with an early preview, it contains 8 lots and 10 props (some extras lotters may find useful). Looking forward, I hope to expand this concept to create a series of props for use as WRC and FAR fillers. I'd be interested to hear what pieces people would like to see. I'm also considering grass, industrial and park fillers in addition to anything else that would be useful.

:update 02/2019: These lots are now released as part of my Filler Set v.2 on the LEX.

[noahclem]

Great idea for a project and for implementing it with that clever technique! Welcome to your new spot at SC4D 

[Gugu3]

Definitely going to follow this thread!so much going on!!Thanks for making all of this public

[Catalyst]

Exactly what I was looking for, thanks! Especially the triangle I find very useful as it wasn't part of the Quays de Seine walls pack. I've tried to make a prop myself but yours is much better with no color difference and adaptable texutres 
Something I would like to see is a very small circle which then could be made into an MMP, which would allow us to make beautiful curves, paths, etc. Similar to Chrisadams' draggable paths but then of course in harmony with the installed sidewalk mod.
Again, a big applause to you!

[Simcoug]

Something I would like to see is a very small circle which then could be made into an MMP, which would allow us to make beautiful curves, paths, etc. Similar to Chrisadams' draggable paths but then of course in harmony with the installed sidewalk mod.
Again, a big applause to you!

This is a really great idea!   

[vortext]

Something I would like to see is a very small circle which then could be made into an MMP, which would allow us to make beautiful curves, paths, etc. Similar to Chrisadams' draggable paths but then of course in harmony with the installed sidewalk mod.
Again, a big applause to you!

This is a really great idea!   

Sorry to be a downer but the orientation of mmps cannot be controlled, i.e. regular patterns, like bricks, would result in one big jumbled mess. Still like the idea of mmps with changable textures though! 

[Simcoug]

Sorry to be a downer but the orientation of mmps cannot be controlled, i.e. regular patterns, like bricks, would result in one big jumbled mess. Still like the idea of mmps with changable textures though! 

True, but you could have the MMP cycle through about 6 instances... that should give you a pretty good chance of getting the orientation you want.   

[mgb204]

Honestly my first thoughts here are that a sidewalk circle won't give good results as an MMP too. Oddly a circle is quite a complex shape when working with Triangles, somehow I've pulled it off and got it working in the reader, but so far these props don't seem to enjoy being flora (for MMPs).

So plan B, I decided to BAT one, figuring that would be easier to test the concept:



Long and short, the look of your sidewalk is not likely to remain on the paths, even without the rotation issues, it's to do with overlapping these props together, in order to keep the paths from having rough edges you only see a small part of each prop. Perhaps with super-careful placement and multiple clicks for rotation this could be viable, that's before solving the making them MMPs problem so that they keep the users sidewalk. Still, having seen the potential with this test MMP, I must say I do rather like the idea.

[emanuelfranco0390]

Amazing.

Good job mgb.

 

Regards.

[noahclem]

Looks really nice and would seem to warrant further exploration   While a perfect match seems impossible more MMP paths that more closely match custom sidewalk textures would be useful indeed. It would be nice to know which sidewalk mod the MMPs in the picture are based on here to be able to tell how well it worked....

[art128]

Nice! This could be a great addition to the RRP draggable paths by Chrisadams.

[mgb204]

Looks really nice and would seem to warrant further exploration   While a perfect match seems impossible more MMP paths that more closely match custom sidewalk textures would be useful indeed. It would be nice to know which sidewalk mod the MMPs in the picture are based on here to be able to tell how well it worked....

The colour matching would be perfect, assuming this could be implemented with a true 3D model like the other pieces, this test is a regular BATTED model, as a quick mock-up both the colour correction and the tilling (paving too small) are off here. The sidewalk is custom (I guess Catalyst will recognise the texture), it's the same as the sidewalk on the 90 Deg WRC in the top left of the screenshot. So currently there are two problems here, the first is finding a way to use one of my S3D props in an MMP (can MMPs use RTK 0 props?), the second is keeping a nice edge to the paths whilst avoiding the need to overlap the pieces too often, maybe a circle isn't the best approach?

However, as a side note, it appears I can create new MMP paths with HD textures, with that in mind even if the sidewalk one doesn't work out, some new ones to compliment the originals by ChrisAdams would be a very small amount of work. What about a set of MMP paths that would match up with Vortext's new textures, that would be a great addition for rural areas?

[vortext]

the first is finding a way to use one of my S3D props in an MMP (can MMPs use RTK 0 props?)

Maybe try it with RKT4 and then set the fifth rep to 0x27812820.

the second is keeping a nice edge to the paths whilst avoiding the need to overlap the pieces too often, maybe a circle isn't the best approach?

yeah, a circle might not be the best shape. However a square, or a octagonal or something, would have similar issues. Giving it some thought maybe just 'wholesale' paths props as MMPs would be best. Granted it wouldn't allow for the same flexibility but on the other hand, you'd need less mmps per surface area, i.e. have more space around it for detailing.

What about a set of MMP paths that would match up with Vortext's new textures, that would be a great addition for rural areas?

Erm, yes please!?  If you want I can provide the raw textures, e.g. in png or whatever file format / dimension works best.

[Simcoug]

I'm with vortext!  A set of draggable paths using his textures would be super sweet 

[Catalyst]

Amazing, just a little color/size correction needed, like you said. Perfect color match would be really great and don't worry about the tiles not lining up etc., this is much better then any ploppable path mods I know of. And from a distance it won't be noticed anyway

[mgb204]

I've just uploaded the latest version of my Maxis Highway Override patch on both the STEX and (I think) the LEX. I can't see what happened to it on the LEX, dispite getting what seemed to be an error, it now tells me such a named file already exists, so I presume it's awaiting something to show up. In the meantime, here's a link to the STEX copy.

LEX version is now uploaded, thanks to Vortext for that .

[Simcoug]

Awesome!  Thank you!

[FrankU]

So this is a set of pieces that didn't make it into the latest NAM (v32)? Looks great!

[mgb204]

Kind of, having spent a lot of time hunting through the MHO itself to make the mod, I'm wary of some complaints about compatibility. The original team obviously put a lot of work into getting many crossings covered, however, the main focus was clearly the base NAM networks. The first version rectified some pieces there were missed IMO, GLR and the CAN-AM, the later was really important to me, because CAN-AM in general lacks flexibility compared to many other networks, without the MHO crossing, you need some creativity to keep the ferries working and have a motorway cross.

V2 though, starts to address more of the optional parts, for example the original El-Rail and Monorail are covered by the MHO, but Moonlights variants for El-Rail and the BTM mod were not. The same with the Jap NAM Facelift parts, hence I feel v2 is more of a compatibility patch. The general plan would be to merge my efforts into the NAM (where appropriate), having only just become part of the team, these updates should be in NAM 34 or whatever comes after 33. In the meantime, I'll probably fix up some new pieces too like some diagonals, but I figured having coved all the supported Ortho networks I could find, the timing was right to make a release. I can now take a break from what is a long tedious process and focus on other things for a bit and come back to it, this methodology keeps my motivation up. If I get a suitable update I can release further patches, that way users don't have to wait for the next NAM release to take advantage of updates.

One thing I noticed the other day, El-Rail and Monorail crossings are supported over MHW curves (not the WRC's) and over the tile-shift pieces too, I'd never have thought to try them .