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SimCity 4 Devotion Custom Content Showcase => Independent Development Projects => Independent BAT (Building Architect Tool) Projects => Topic started by: Glenni on January 20, 2018, 05:35:00 AM

Title: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on January 20, 2018, 05:35:00 AM
Hi all - Boy it's been a while hasn't it? 

I recently got back into playing Simcity 4, installed all my old mods, and then installed, gmax, BAT, 3ds max 2011, and finally Bat4Max.

Currently it's taking a while just to get used to things, there is so much new to learn - that, and I'm a bit out of practice with BATting, I had the hardest time just trying to remember how to make a window frame!  ::)

However I do have a little project going, my first BAT in 7-8 years, It's nothing fancy, just a little wall to wall concrete building.
Gotta start small to hone your skills, right?   :D It's mostly complete model wise, however I am getting a few odd little glitches on the side of the building. Not sure why that is the case.

(https://i.imgur.com/LhhgkYz.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/aOPT0pp.jpg)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: mrbisonm on January 20, 2018, 07:46:29 AM
Great to see you back Modeling with BAT (BATting). I still use all your Bats, they have grown into my Plugin's walls. Excellent start.....

Fred
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: art128 on January 20, 2018, 07:49:38 AM
Nice to see you around after that long time.

Good looking little building!
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Girafe on January 20, 2018, 08:34:58 AM
Glad to see you back after so many years

Regarding the glitches, did you download the patches from Autodesk. Not sure it's the source of the problem but might help to have an updated version of 3dsmax  ;)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on January 20, 2018, 08:41:42 AM
Quote from: Girafe on January 20, 2018, 08:34:58 AM
Glad to see you back after so many years

Regarding the glitches, did you download the patches from Autodesk. Not sure it's the source of the problem but might help to have an updated version of 3dsmax  ;)
I just did now, got Service pack 3, hopefully that should fix it some.
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: reddonquixote on January 20, 2018, 01:38:06 PM
Great start, and welcome back  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on January 20, 2018, 03:48:28 PM
Thanks, all.  :thumbsup:

I have a slight update, with some help from JasonCw and Mushy I made a more varied and darker glass texture, keep in mind that there is no glass in the windows to the side yet, though.

(https://i.imgur.com/P1ZT20k.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/cn7ueBg.jpg)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: vester on January 20, 2018, 03:53:13 PM
Welcome back Glenni.

Great start.


Made a list of great youtube channels on 3d max modelling (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=17374.msg506491#msg506491)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: gutterclub on January 20, 2018, 07:56:45 PM
Wow, great to have such a legendary BATer return. Really looking forward to seeing what you pull out of Max and BAT4MAX. Looking great so far :)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on January 22, 2018, 05:48:50 PM
Thank you guys, it's nice to see I'm still welcome here.  :thumbsup:

I've been reading tutorials lately, just trying to learn the new stuff, and experimented.
Here's my night render so far:
(https://i.imgur.com/W2pmGVh.jpg)

And before I got there, all my failures.  :bnn:

(https://i.imgur.com/roT8S33.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/Jvao90m.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/29CcR1r.jpg)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: matias93 on January 22, 2018, 09:03:41 PM
looks like someone hid a nuclear reactor on the basement and was playing to tickling the dragon's tail with it... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core#Second_incident)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on January 25, 2018, 09:52:11 AM
Here's my new project, an update to the antiquated Norwegian house packs i made in the past, This time I plan to make a few of the typical premade houses from Norway built from the 2000s, to today. Like before there will be colour variations such as red, yellow, blue, green, grey, white, brown, black, etc.  Same story with the roof colours, ranging from grey, black, red, orange, green, etc.

So far I only have the base shape of the house done, I still need to add gutters, little vents, inverters, a chimney, stove vents, etc.
(https://i.imgur.com/GCX1puO.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/AJNNYvN.jpg)

It will take a while to make all these, but these are essentially the designs I'm basing these on.

First I'm making houses based on these, more or less:

(https://i.imgur.com/yCQenow.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/KCzBCJB.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/5lvvLQx.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/TCqZC3X.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/38GlShW.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/Dznlhlc.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/92XCYys.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/Nizp5ST.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/IncvFyY.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/bxQSqct.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/UpL9CzU.jpg)

And a couple high wealth versions:

(https://i.imgur.com/CLieXac.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/wwZsRar.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/FFadfzc.jpg)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Unconstantean on January 25, 2018, 10:20:50 AM
they'll blend well with bipin & mattb creations  &apls &apls &apls &apls
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on January 25, 2018, 02:11:10 PM
Thanks, here's an update. :D Most structural details done, next is lamps along the wall, plants, and what not.  ;)

(https://i.imgur.com/KzwQ5uP.jpg)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on February 07, 2018, 02:53:15 AM
So far this is what I got. The house model, the deck, which will be seperate, and a foundation for the house/deck that will show up on uneven ground.

The only thing that's remaining is to make some stairs for the foundation:

I'm also considering doing a few variants for the foundation prop base by family props. So that it would appear randomly, concrete, more stone variants like this one, brick, plaster, etc. :D


(https://i.imgur.com/rCQ2Fsw.jpg)


Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: b22rian on February 07, 2018, 04:27:26 AM
Glenni,

Love your latest Batting project here with the housing ..
and it also shows your still improving after all these years  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: noahclem on February 07, 2018, 08:09:21 AM
Housing project looks great with the custom foundations as a particularly nice touch  &apls  Reminds me a lot of same period of detached houses over here and don't think there's really much, if anything, of that style available for SC4  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: feyss on February 07, 2018, 12:05:52 PM
There are never enough houses like that for the game  ;)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on February 07, 2018, 04:00:29 PM
Agreed, we definitely need more nordic houses in the game. =P



Here's what i got now, hopefully the foundation will work once in game.

(https://i.imgur.com/YJDLALU.jpg)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: manga rivotra on February 11, 2018, 03:48:07 PM
I love your work for years and it's a real pleasure to see your new creations.  :)
These new "viking homes" will be very useful whatever the style of town reproduced and your foundations are probably the most sophisticated I've seen on a Bat so far.  &apls &apls &apls
I can not wait to see these houses in game.
I'm glade you have add some garden props, still welcome ! , and thank for the "Kaigata 92 W2W" also.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on February 12, 2018, 05:29:18 PM
Well, the garden props won't really be used, I'm just using some props i modeled a few years back to clutter up the balcony, deck, etc.
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on September 25, 2022, 02:19:16 PM
So I wanted to doodle with Simcity 4 again, I guess I lost interest in it around later in 2018.

The computer i was using to play Sc4, and to BAT with had a sudden hard drive failure, I didn't even have time to do a backup, so unfortunately, all the projects posted here are until I somehow find a backup of my models more or less to be considered dead.

But there are some good news, I found a 2017 backup of my plugins, meaning that with a new NAM update and such, I should be up and running to play the game itself with the buildings and mods I had, and were familiar with.

I also found a couple folders for my older GMAX BATs, and most of the textures I use. So at least I don't have to start *entirely* fresh, right?


Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: iamgoingtoeatyou on October 04, 2022, 10:54:37 AM
GLENNI! Good to see you're still kicking around :)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on October 08, 2022, 06:18:39 PM
Allright, so here's my current project.

For my first BAT after several years hiatus, my skills are a little rusty (That's putting it lightly).

So I thought I'd start with something small, and representing a piece of my hometown.

This is Haraldsgata 153 ( Harald's Street) - It's one of the many historic wooden buildings from the 1800s, and early 1900s that one can find in the centre of Haugesund, Norway.

(https://i.imgur.com/hNYXMlr.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/DIrBAg1.jpg)

It contains a clothes store in the ground floor, and the first floor has a book store named
"Den Lille Bokbutikken" - "the little book shop". It's among one of my favourite stores, as their main focus is on English and other language books. Most Norwegian book stores usually have at least a shelf dedicated for books in English, but this store goes all in - and I'm all for it!



Now, to the BAT:

For now it only has a couple placeholder textures, and a piece of the front facade.
Should also mention, the renderer is acting a little funny, giving all the visual glitches.

(https://i.imgur.com/HdnIt38.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/OuuBuAx.png)

The plan is to make the building as close to the real life example. It will be a partial wall to wall building, with a gate on the right side towards the back yard

I recently went on a little photo excursion around Haugesund, and the plan is to make a few more buildings. Historic masonry buildings, historic wooden buildings, and more modern examples found throughout the city.


Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: kelis on October 09, 2022, 03:36:31 PM
It's so nice to see you again Glen !! Great job so far with this new model.
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on October 12, 2022, 01:54:29 PM
While not a BAT, sometimes it's fun to just mess around with lot editor for personal use with my cities too.



This is the Dohn building by Dusktrooper

dohnrelot-2223-jpg.jpg .




A neat looking BAT, which I've wanted to use in my cities for a while (as it's only about 38 floors, which is a good maximum height for buildings in my cities) Now it sits in a complex with a sky bridge, adjoining smaller tower, and is the centre piece to a 1960s concrete raised park, and underground mall.

I remember SAC used to do some pretty cool lotting. I'm not quite at her calibre, but it's fun to try creative stuff once in a while. :p

Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Tyberius06 on October 12, 2022, 04:23:21 PM
Oh, wooooow, that's some awesome fine LOTting work there! Amazing stuff, how you used the raised park props and those water textures. &apls  &apls  &apls
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on October 25, 2022, 12:13:43 PM
   
(https://i.imgur.com/M1IxOYo.jpg)

As you may have noticed yourself, and probably seen me mention - I had some problems with bad artefacting on my model.

And pretty much anything I made in 2011 - even if it was just a render of a set of untextured boxes.

To be honest it made me want to give up BATting, i felt like I was stuck with having to port it to GMAX, and render it there.

My progress came to a screeching halt, I couldn't make models with reflections, bumpmapping, more advanced lighting, self illumination for nightlights. As no matter what I'd do, I'd have these artefacts, missing chunks of the model etc in SC4 angle renders.

There's nothing wrong with rendering in GMAX, but since I had the opportunity, I wanted to use 3dsmax. Learn from it - Improve my models even more. Continue where I left off last time in 2018. and get even better.

 

It turned out to be something *extremely simple*
I found it again, looking at page 1 in this thread. Was like... d'oohhhhh.

Just download Service Pack 3 for 3dsmax 2011....

So with that newfound inspiration, I've worked a little more on my BAT, and now it renders without glitches and holes in the geometry.

Keep in mind, texturing isn't final, not even close to it.
(https://i.imgur.com/5ZXFuAU.png)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: art128 on October 26, 2022, 08:22:13 AM
Your post couldn't be any more timely, I just re-installed a new PC and went for 3dsmax 2011 so I completely forgot about the service packs. Thanks! :thumbsup:
Glad you resolved your issue, would have been a shame to go back to gmax rendering.  :)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on October 26, 2022, 06:01:56 PM
Cool to see you again too, Art! :D

I have a little surprise in store for you folk.

Some of you may remember my BLaM Norwegian House set 2 - released bck in 2006.
These were pretty old models, even at their release in 2006 they dated back to 2005.
So while I didn't want to completely redo them, I am in desperate need of more Norwegian/Scandinavian houses myself. And these just weren't going to cut it as they were.

The models are for the most part as they were in 2005, but added omni lights, new textures, and added detail along the walls and porches. Inverters, satelite dishes, chairs, tables, plants, etc.

They're still in my mind just as colourfully painted as before, as I originally intended
But just toned down to fit better within SC4 of course.
I'm redoing all 10 models, and adding four more, making the total 14. They're GMAX renders, but they should look fine in-game.  :thumbsup:

The colours are all white, red, yellow, green, blue, orange, olive green, purple, pink, brown with green frames, white with red frames, white with blue frames, yellow with green frames -  and Dark Grey with Dark Grey frames.

While purple, pink, and dark grey may seem odd, these are all colours/shades you'll actually see houses painted as here. :p

(https://i.imgur.com/MKOHnQt.jpg)


(https://i.imgur.com/lBMWtvW.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/Q6ZkrQv.jpg)
Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on November 01, 2022, 10:47:27 PM
I released the house set on the STEX a couple days ago.

Don't worry, I'll upload it on the LEX too. Just been busy with another remake project.

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/35317-norwegian-house-set-2-remade/?sort=newest&tab=reviews#review-527705

So, so some of you may remember Steinsås Tårnet.

https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/17076-blam-steinsaas-taarnet/?page=2&tab=comments

It was another BAT released back in 2006 under the BLaM banner.

(https://i.imgur.com/1WkBFQg.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/q6auJBP.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/AvX9rD8.jpg)

I'm sure it was fine for its time ,but I always wanted to give it new life, so to speak.
Fortunately, while I lost the model, with a bunch of others, I did upload it in 2006 to the STEX as a GMAX scene as well.

So I've done some changes, first of all, I removed the modelled base, parking lot, sidewalk, etc.

The top floor is now a mechanical floor, i,e windowless, there are metal bands and paneling instead.

I've added copper panelling to break up the monotony of the paraphet walls a bit, I've reworked most of the textures. The thickness of them from before really bothered me. But that's how I used to model, I guess.

And finally, gave it omni lights for the areas that look best with omnis. On the old one ,even the large glass roof was standard nightmaps.

I decided to keep the back of the tower windowless. Instead making it more mechanical, but without the entirely plain walls.

Last step was to light up the KPMG signs.

I might make a couple façade spot lights as well.

(https://i.imgur.com/1IBhzxK.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/cu0p6nR.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/WumBObj.jpg)


Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: Glenni on November 07, 2022, 10:36:28 AM
Here's another BLaM BAT I decided to redo, as I was never quite happy with the result of the previous one.
I don't aim for this to be a 100% recreation of the real building. As that would require a retaining wall and all kinds of nonsense to match it up with real life.

But I didn't like how the windows turned out on the previous one.
The windows were too dark, and blended too much with the red frames, making a lot of people think the entire window was burgundy.

With this new one I feel like I managed to make it more distinct.
There's a bit more detail, and the wall textures were redone to better match the typical maxis graininess that even plain walls have.

Should be released sometime today, or this week. =)

(https://i.imgur.com/DrEGwwy.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/Rubn5uf.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/uKvl1B2.jpg)



Title: Re: Glenni's BAT viking homestead
Post by: art128 on November 15, 2022, 02:23:18 AM
Looks great! I'll find a nice place for it in my region.