FrankU's Lottery - Space Center update

[supremec]

Hi FrankU, You did awesome lots!    I like them 

[FrankU]

Hi Fred,

As you could have seen, I am not bored at all. There is a lot of lotting to do, so I can fill my time with that. I prefer a good and complete set that comes a bit later than a quick and dirty set with flaws. So take as long as you want. When you are happy with the result, I will be happy too.
And I am sure this is going to be a great prop pack. 

And the windmill: after your comment I was wondering if I had made some mistake with the Wipmolen by Meurdoos. So I opened the model and took a close look. There is definitely a thing that looks like a waterwheel on the model. You can also see it on the image that I provided in my former post. It is in the model with the fixed whips, but also in the model with the rotating whips.
I think I am going to ingnore the the whole thing. It's pity that Meurdoos is not active anymore, otherwise I would have asked him what the thing was and what for he added it.

And please ... refrain from calling me Frankiboy. I hate that. 

And to all the other commentors: thanks for the compliments! Makes me do even more my best to produce beautiful lots.

[mrbisonm]

Ok FrankU, no more Frankiboy....
We just call everyone that is named Francois, Franz or Frank in this area that name, kinda didn't think about it, sorry.
I know you're not bored, I just wanted to let you know where I'm at with the models.

About that *thing* on the windmill, I just wouldn't bother with that, it doesn't even show that well in the game anyways.


Fred

[mrbisonm]

Ok.......... here it is. This is the first part of the MFP1 Vol1 (Modern Farm Proppack) set. This is MFP1_Vol1_Part1.

I have decided to make 2 datfiles of the MFP1 Vol1, Part 1, which contains the barns/stables only and Part 2, which contains the manurepits, haystacks, sheds, silos, etc. This is for two reasons: One because the files will be too big in one piece and two, players will be able to download only the barns and /or only the accessories.

There will be a MFP1 Vol2 later, which contain more north-american, african and asian farmprops. And later this winter I will be doing the MFP2, probably only one volume, which will contain "other" farming than what I have done sofar. . So keep on visiting my Nexis BATthreads.

Now that Part 1 is finished, all that is needed is the final testing of the LOTmaker, which I will leave to you FrankU....lol, so that you don't get bored.
I have tested them all quickly in the LE and the game, but you never know, maybe I missed something. I will send you the link for the datfile by e-mail in the next 48 hrs.
You will be able to "fool" around with them and tell me if they are ok. I only hope that the scale is as good as it can get now.

That was one heck of a job, man oh man....I had to totally redo 9 of the 20 Barnmodels and re-render almost three quarter of them because sometimes the gmax fails to render properly and in one piece. Many dozens of rendering hours for nothing. Dohhh! Shame that this program doesn't work properly all the time and takes so freaking long to render only one model.....oufff

I already started rendering some of the Part 2 of the MFP1. It should take less time, one, because they are smaller props and second, only a few have to be remodeled. I hope so at least.

I included a picture of all 20 barn/stable models, but there will be individual and detailed pictures later in my BATthread here on SC4D (Nexis Works) and over at ST (Nexis BATs again).

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=7835.160

Let me know when you had a serious look at them all. If there are minor changes to be made, it is still possible.

Have fun,

Fred
The lot on the picture will be with the datfile (not included but aside).



Edit: sorry for the poor quality of the picture, I don't know why.... but better ones will be in my BATthread.

Edit sept 24: Frank, check your e-mail, I have sent the links for the files.

[FrankU]

Hi Fred and all others who care for this thread.

I received Freds first set some days ago. I have some detailed remarks that I don't want to repeat here. I PM'ed them to Fred.
Here I want to show the results of some lotting I have done with the props.
Because we can all be as picky as we want when we scrutinize someone's work, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
And in our community that means: the props should be part of a lot and if they look OK on the lot they are OK. Right? Right.

So I made my first two growable stage 5 lots:

Groot Koerkamp Koeien
The front


And the back with two cows by Jes

(Did you notice that in the second image the small barn is a different one? I used Smoncrie's alternative to prop families to obtain variation in props. This method is really very versatile. You should try it yourself)

Meester Bison Biggen
The front


And aside


Look at the props that are around the barns, and don't forget the sims that are standing in front of the barns. Does anything look out of scale in a worse way than we are used to in this game? I don't think so. I think Fred did a wonderful job and I am sure we are going to have a lot of fun with these props.
In the last image we can see a flaw, though, that I hope you can correct, Fred: the hoppers that are standing in front of the barn disappear under it. This is surely some LOD matter. I don't BAT, so I don't know about the details, but I am sure you know how to resolve this problem?

Fred, about the naming of the prop packs: isn't it easier to call them just prop pack 1, 2 etc? No MFP vol 1, part 1... This will be confusing in the future, I fear. And you talked about machinery sheds. Are they in the second prop pack?

It will take some time before I go on working with the growable farms. I will wait for both Nexis prop packs.
So probably the next products I am going to show will be the Windmills Set 3 and 4 and then some Rewards.

Have fun!

[mrbisonm]

Please read here....to understand why I haven't answered to this above.
Fred

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=7189.1320

[FrankU]

Please read here....to understand why I haven't answered to this above.
Fred

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=7189.1320

Fred, please read my reply in that thread too...
Maybe after your recovery we try to make an agreement on which thread we use for what subject... We seem to be doubling some time and that's not neccessary. But now you have other things on your mind.

I wish you all the good.

Frank

[FrankU]

So, while Fred is recovering with the help of all those who are near to him and our well wishes from all over the world I decided to make my third set of Dutch Windmills. As you may remember I found four useful windmill models on the Net. I decided to make a set of about four lots for every windmill.

The first set was four mills based on Oppie's Windmill, modded as powerplants.
The second set was four mills with IM jobs and one Landmark based on Meurdoos Standerdmolen.
And here is the third set.

The model is Meurdoos' Wipmolen, which is a model of a quite well known windmill model in the Netherlands.
The lot is made as a water pump, because I figured: just lots that are standing around and catching the eye, but being useless in other ways is a waste of precious tiles. So I decided that, because windmills work with water, these mills can be useful as Water pumping stations. You will find them in the Water utilities menu. They provide 23600 m³, gallons, litres, sims (?) each.

Here they are:

Molen de Vlaan


Holtermansmolen


Molen de Werklust


Molen de Ronde Hoep
This windmill is designed as a mill with a kind of petting zoo. There are several farm animals that can be visited and fed by children: turkeys, sheep, horses, a cow and some pigs. Inside the barn they will find guinea pigs, chicken and rabbits that can be hugged. There is also ice cream and other refreshments, which can be eaten at the picknick tables. There is also a small playground, symbolised by the slide.


You like? Please comment.

A set of four windmills modded as water treatment plants will be the last set. For this set I will use LordQuillian's Nutley Windmill.
And then there will be some reward replacements.
And of course the long awaited Farms set with Fred's props.

[peter007]

I like!

Looks very promising

-Ernst

[kelis]

The Windmill Looks so good, I can't wait to use it 

[alex_bervoets]

I love the windmills... great idea to make them usefull...
They look stunning too, can't see anything wrong with them

[FrankU]

OK, guys,

Because you all love my stuff so much that there is apparently nothing to improve, I did some small improvements myself. 
And I put the bunch on the STEX.

(I really should start a LEX candidacy one of these days....). 

On to the next Lotting set! The fourth windmills, or another reward? While Fred is recovering the farms set is waiting....

If someone cares for BATting a Dutch Farm house? It would immediately be taken into the farms set!

[FrankU]

OK friends,

So I am waiting for Fred to finish his farms.
Also I was standing in doubt wether to wait for the VIP team to finish their really beautiful farm props.
I was even considering to start my whole farms set anew with other prop families and completely other dependencies like Manchou's cows, Namspopof's farm machinery etc.....
I decided not to. It can take months before they finish their set and there is always someone who develops something that might find a good place in my farms set. So if I wait for that the set will never be finished. And I can not let that happen! Can I?

This brought me to the thought that the lack of SC5 makes us work on and discover the possibilities of SC4 in this way. It forces us to use our imagination and make use of our perseverance to squeeze the most out of what we got here. And could Maxis ever imagine what we have achieved?

Anyway. I have the first versions of my fourth and probably last set of windmills.
They are based on Lord_Quillian2's Nutley Windmill. This one looks like the Dutch standertmolen and I thought the set might come in handy as water purification plants. So they are modded like that. Everything conforming the SC4-PIM standards.

So here they are:

de Gouden Engel


Nieuw Leven


de Leeuw


t Roode Hert


All really simple straightforward 2x2 lots. I guess they fit into a rural area quite well.

Comments please?

[w_swietwoot]

He, nice. I like those first two very much. Will defenetly use them. I think those other two could use some extra work so they become a bit more interesting.

I would like to see those farms ready too, your first pictures looked very nice. Very realistic, nice props by Fred and I could definitly use some variety. I've read Fred was sick, hopefully he'll get better soon and not just to finish the props. Have you found some extra farmhouses yet?

[supremec]

Nice lots!
When will you upload your farms lots with warehouse? They looking amazing 

[FrankU]

Hi Wouter and Supremec,

I will take a second look at the last two lots.
I also was thinking about making landmark versions of all windmills. Do you think that would be useful? For those who have already enough water facilities in their cities?
I just don't know what happens to a rural area when you put a lot of landmarks into it?

About the farms:
I have to wait with finishing them untill Fred finishes his set and I haven't heard anything from him lately. I am sure he is working on them and when his set is out I am sure he'll show you and me.
In the maentime I am still adding new farms to the set. It's growing into a set of about 60 farms from stage 1 up to 6 and I have already ideas for an additional stage 6 set.

And no, I haven't found new Dutch farmhouses yet, so I am still working with the same as before.

[mrbisonm]

I just don't know what happens to a rural area when you put a lot of landmarks into it?

Well, all you have to do is open the Reader and put the LM effect to 0 in all cases. That way, it won't bother plopping them in rural areas.

About the farms:
I have to wait with finishing them untill Fred finishes his set and I haven't heard anything from him lately. I am sure he is working on them and when his set is out I am sure he'll show you and me.

True, I have started rendering again and I am just about to finish (again) the barn set. Final, this time.... I will show a picture later of the barns that had a LOD problem. I simply fixed it by rendering them with the props.

Fred

[FrankU]

Well, the title says it all. I released the fourth and last set of windmills on the STEX yesterday night, and already 30 downloads.
Despite Wouters remarks I did not change them. These small windmills are meant to be not too eye catching, so I made them a bit inconspicuous on purpose.

I also made landmarks versions of my Dutch Farmers Market. Tariel asked for this and I thought it wouldn't be too hard to do. This appeared correct. It was simple and quite quick. Making a good Readme file took me more time that the whole lotting stuff.

I hope you like the windmills.

What do you think, would it be useful to make a complete landmarks-eyecandy-only version of the 17 windmills? I can do that if you like.

On to the next job! Proceeding with the farm lots....

[carlfatal]

Hi FrankU,
my first words here and i have to say: i love Your lots although i´m not planning to build some dutch region. But to look on Your stuff is really inspiring, and You´re one of my favorite lotters...
Simply stunning work, so impressive and detailed! 
Greetz, Carl

[FrankU]

@ Carl: thanks for the compliment!

I hope I won't disappoint you with the newest developments.
It may seem that I have done nothing this month, but that is far from the truth. I did several things while I wait for Fred to finish his Modern Farm Props.

First of all: I had a very long list of dependencies. I did some revisions and that reduced the list with four or five files. At the moment the list still counts 25 packs of different sorts, so don't panic, the list is still not for the faint of heart. And I fear I will not be able to reduce this list.

I also even decided to add a dependency:  Simpeg's SPAM resource pack. It contains some very good props and textures. I hesitated a long time but decided to do it, because they are so good. Because of these props I also decided to revise my farm fields. I changed the flowers into Simgoober's tulips and I added some new farm fields.
I gave them a certain kind of seasonal behaviour: All fields grow a bit at random with a first prop untill the field is full. Then after some time a second props grows over the first, also in a randomized way. Then at the end at one day all crops disappear. Thsi resembles the best how it works in real life, in my opinion: corps don;t grow all in exact the same speed. They are reaped in one time though.

UI have some random images.

The flower fields
seven colors by Simgoober

The flower plants grow


Some flowers already bloom


All flowers blooming, send in the tourists!


The farm fields
13 different ones
Some Simgoober props, some Simpeg and one MJB (triticum (wheat))

The empty hops racks and the first asparagus show up


The apple trees and some brassica show up


Hops showing, triticum growing


Hops, rubus idaeus and the first solanum


The second stage of brassica shows up, together with apple trees in bloom and some triticum growing


Many fields flourishing


The first cucurbita fruits and solanum flowers, zea mays growing in the lower left corner


Lots of blooming crops


Most are reaped, the apple trees are bare again


Almost everything has been reaped, the hops are gone, just the rubus fruticosus still has leaves, funny enough


These were the fields.

Because of the revisions some old farms look very different now.
But I also added some new farms. And some of those I want to show today.

Six farms, all of them stage 4. They have already a quite industrial look.

Harleman Eieren 1
An egg farm: chicken running around in their coop, laying their eggs in the barns.


Harleman Eieren 2
An old farm with a newer addition in the back with lots of chicken


Harleman Eieren 3
A farm with an open spot in the front half, waiting for a machinery shed by mrbisonm


Vorderman Varkens 1
A piggery of quite some scale


Vorderman Varkens 2
A compact version


Glastra Tuinbouwprocducten
A glass house farm, obviously


These farms all have 100 jobs.
Which is quite funny, by the way. In one or another way we all have the idea that these farms represent some kind of reality. Well, they don't. In real life there are no farms with a 100 jobs. This kind of farms (meaning: farms that look in real life like this in scale) have maybe 4 or 5 jobs. In the Netherlands almost all farms are family businesses: father, mother, sons(s), daughter(s) and maybe sometimes one or two outsiders. They run the whole business with maybe 120 cows, or 500 pigs or 10.000 chicken.

Anyway: what do you think?