Woodworks Lots

[woodb3kmaster]

This is the first time in years that I've considered releasing any of my custom lots, so I figured it deserves its own thread. Once I have finished BATs, this is where I'll show my lots for them. For now, though, I'm only going to show lot that use other peoples' props. Whether I upload any of these lots anywhere will be determined by your feedback, so please speak up if you have anything to say about my lots!

Here's a sneak preview of a couple of specials coming to Nyhaven next Thursday:





These are two urban squares I made to replace a combination of other parks lots I had been using (mostly PEG seasonal trees and Maxis parks). They're both 9x8 and were designed to fit in an existing grid of 8x4 city blocks. It occurred to me when I posted these pics over in the "Show us your custom lots" thread that some of you might acutally want to use these lots yourself. So I'm now considering making a few more similar squares and bundle them together for release. Be warned, though, I make use of a LOT of prop and texture packs. So, thoughts on these two lots?

[tcx]

 

I like your urban square and it will be great to have them in my cities. I don't care about the dependancies

[hooha47]

I agree, I would love to have those, and dependencies are not an issue.

[M4346]

I agree, I would love to have those, and dependencies are not an issue.

Ditto! 

[io_bg]

I really like the first one. The second (with the dirt paths) needs some more detail IMHO (flowers, bushes...) Can't wait to use them!

[SC4BOY]

Keep it up and we'll promote you to Woodb4kMaster..

[woodb3kmaster]

Well, I'm flattered! I'm so glad you all like my squares so much that you'd download them. I just now had the chance to make a couple more for a new city (if you follow me on Twitter, you know that I've started working on a new major city, Astoria, in Nyhaven's region. If you don't follow me, give it a try!) The first of these is similar to Spring Square, with the same set of CP's dirt path textures:



In honor of the 200th replier in Nyhaven's SC4D thread, Ryan B., this square is called Burgess Square. I took io_bg's suggestion to add more flora when I created this 9x6 lot (an updated version of Spring Square, the lot he was actually referring to, will come soon).

The other new square, called Astor Square, is more pavement than grass, since it's meant to be a civic focal point:



Because of the reduced amount of green space on this lot, I'm not sure how interested you all would be in having it. For the same reason, I'm also considering including two of my earlier squares, which are also mostly paved:



Fitzsimmons Square, 8x8


Founders' Square, 8x6

Including these two squares might also present an additional problem, since they use the NDEX Konietzko Fountain as their centerpiece and I'm not sure if I can use it as a dependency on my own releases or not. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can fill me in...?

EDIT: One thing I should mention is that most of the trees on each of these squares are seasonal. I just prefer to take pics in spring or summer. I'll probably post one or two autumn pics at some point.

[tamorr]

    I really like the Burgess Square and Fitzsimmons Square Those two peak my interest... And usually as long as you list it as a dependancy in the readme it should be fine. Having a link to that dependancy will help quite a few that do not have it yet too. Great work on the lots though...

   Personally I am not partial to the almost all pavement ones, but still have a good look to them.

[Pat]

Zach looking real sweet with those squares!!! All I got to say is I want!!!!

[tag_one]

Wonderful work there!! I really like the look of Founders' Square  Great to see you're using seasonal trees, I can't imagine playing the game without them anymore. Don't worry about the NDEX Konietzko Fountain, just link to it as a dependency as tamorr already said. I'm sure that the guy who made it will be proud to see his model being used on your lot

[woodb3kmaster]

Thanks, guys! I'm glad that using the Konietzko Fountain as a dependency won't be an issue. On the subject of dependencies, BTW, I've compiled a list of them based on what the Reader tells me about each lot. Here are all the prop packs it lists (it doesn't list texture packs, which means I'll have to look those up in SC4Tool, nor does it mention Konietzko Fountain):

BSC Mega Props - CP Vol 01, D66 Vol 01 & 02, Gascooker Vol 01, MJB Vol 01, Misc Vol 01, and SG Vol 01
BSC BAT Props - D66 Vol 11
Plugin_landmarks_and_other_missing_Props.dat (I believe this one's available on the STEX, but I'll check once ST is back online)
PEG's Pier Set 1 & CDKN Submarine Base Resource files, from the PLEX (I'll see if I can eliminate the need for these two)
Aldara6166's addon pack for jeronij's modular zoo and aquarium (presumably on the STEX, but once again, I have to wait until ST comes back online to find out)

So it's a fairly long list - not gargantuan, but still more than many files on the LEX use. Of course, I'm going to link to all of these in the readme. Thoughts?

[meinhosen]

Fitzsimmons and Founders look great.  I'd love to see a closer view of Fitzsimmons and an unobstructed view of Founders.

Good luck hunting down all the dependancies.  I think that anyone with a sizeable plugin folder is probably going to have all of those already, so I wouldn't sweat how many there are.  Anyhow, finding plugins is not a task I envy, but its all worth it since those plazas and parks look so good. 

[hooha47]

Good luck hunting down all the dependancies.  I think that anyone with a sizeable plugin folder is probably going to have all of those already, so I wouldn't sweat how many there are.  Anyhow, finding plugins is not a task I envy, but its all worth it since those plazas and parks look so good. 

I completely agree.  As long as you list and link them all, dependencies are not an issue.  I think they all look great.

[BarbyW]

PEG's Pier Set 1 & CDKN Submarine Base Resource files, from the PLEX (I'll see if I can eliminate the need for these two)

You may find that these are actually false dependencies when you check in SC4Tool. Remove them from plugins before doing the SC4Tool check and see if you are missing any dependencies. If you aren't then you know they are not needed. If you are missing dependencies put them back into plugins and re-check to find out which props are from those packs.

[woodb3kmaster]

You may find that these are actually false dependencies when you check in SC4Tool. Remove them from plugins before doing the SC4Tool check and see if you are missing any dependencies. If you aren't then you know they are not needed. If you are missing dependencies put them back into plugins and re-check to find out which props are from those packs.

Thanks for the tip, Barby! It turned out that only the PEG Pier Set 1 Resource file was a true dependency, and I've edited the lots to use a similar prop that isn't in that file. So there are no longer any PEGPROD dependencies for my squares.

Here are links to how all six squares look in spring and fall (the images are too wide to put directly into this post):
Spring
Fall

I've finished all the modding for the squares, so all that's left to do is create the readme and installer and they'll be ready for upload! With that in mind, I'd like your opinions on whether I should pursue LEX candidacy and submit the finished squares and their installer to the scrutineers. I can't find anything in the LEX candidacy forum that says that uploads lacking original BATs aren't allowed, but I want to make sure it would be alright. Supposing the scrutineers find nothing technically wrong with the square pack, how likely do you all think it is that it would be approved for the LEX?

[sithlrd98]

I for one would love to check these out! They look very well done , and that being said...If you plan on making any others in the future , I think that at least for the paved sets, Porkissimos trees and props would fit in quite nice! I see no reason not to try for LEX candidacy! Just remember , the readme and installer are scruitenered just as hard as the lots!

Jayson

[woodb3kmaster]

Thanks, Jayson! I just uploaded the square pack to the STEX, and it's now available: check it out! I think I'll still pursue LEX candidacy, though.

[westamastaflash]

These look great!

[woodb3kmaster]

Thanks, westmastaflash!

Just to show you all that I'm still hard at work:


These are the first 22 overlay textures I've ever made, and as you can tell, they're all part of one set - the first-ever oblique path set. I chose not to call them Fractionally Angled Paths because they're not offset from the grid at the same angle as the FAR(R) puzzle pieces; my textures are at a 26.6° angle (a slope of 1/2), whereas the FA networks are at an 18.4° angle (a slope of 1/3). These textures are designed to integrate with the sharp-cornered path textures in the BSC texture packs, which are used in (for example) Jon (JBSimio)'s University of Clayhurst lots. I'm making these textures for a new project to be seen in my MD, but I'd be happy to upload them as a texture pack for others to put together as they see fit. These are only a first draft; looking at them all in the same place, I can tell that at least a few of them need to be redone to make them fit together seamlessly.

More to come!

[adroman]

They look great, wood!

Extra pathing options are always welcome, in my books... I'm looking forward to using there 

Adrian.