JBSimio Inc.

[threestooges]

Looks pretty spiffy. I am curious though, as to what the silos are dumping their load into in that picture (a barge?). Regardless of that, this is another thing for you that is really showing promise (I've only seen 1-2 grain elevators in the game and they are ok at best) so I will be looking forward to seeing the continued development. I would like to see it adapted for rai transport (but if nothing else, that's an easy tweak in the LE. One thing I did notice, is that the stairs on the side do not seem to quite reach the ground (unless there is a ladder that drops down that I can't see). It's always fun to watch these things develop. I'll try to come by a bit more often.

[tag_one]

great progress, the barge is pretty cool imo. 

[sebes]

The grain elevators look fantastic.. and very MidWest!

[Sim Shady]

Man that is nice!  God i cant wait to see that angled building on the LEX  Plz dont finish it up, then be busy so u cant release it like Marcszar lol.  Talk about torture   Looking forwards to seeing that new grain silo train station thingamajig too.

[hydra]

That's wonderful worker JB your is fantastic can't wait for more of your work.

Regards hydra

[BigSlark]

Nice industrial project! You've never done any industrial BAT's before, correct?

Looking forward to the next update.

Cheers,
Kevin

[JBSimio]

Wow... what a response!     Thanks everyone!  Here we go...

Robin:  Yes... I promise you a diagonal version for Rau's.  The new one is a grain elevator for water and/or rail shipping.  Glad you like it so far!

Oldrogue:  Thanks!  Yeah, the scale issue has been discussed ad nauseum on ST and probably this site somewhere.  The way BAT is set up, keeping measurements is quite easy if not a necessity... so it should be simple to keep a uniform scale.  The main problem is that Maxis did NOT use a uniform scale.  Smaller structures tend to be exaggerated (think about the size of the bus stop, for example) and larger structures were scaled way down to make them take up less space (the major sports baseball field comes to mind)... basically Maxis scale is all over the board.  The SC4 perspective angle doesn't help either... as it tends to make things look squashed and much shorter than they really are.  This all means that different BATters most likely chose different things to compare to (if they compare ingame to begin with) and so the scale varies depending on what they lined up with.  I generally try to use the same floor height for most things, although even then it varies to some extent.  (Residential buildings are often shorter floor heights than commercial...)  Does that answer your question... or did I completely miss the point?

Zaphod:  Sorry... no roof garden for this one.  I'm hoping to do a test render of Rau's this weekend and I'll show you all what I came up with then.  I've thought about doing some of those types of businesses, but just never seem to get that far.  A lot of my store fronts are generic enough that it would probably just be a matter of slapping the right sign on the right sized shop.  Glad you like the grain elevator!  I'd like to make a seaport version as well, but I'm not sure yet.  My big concern is that PEG raised the bar so high with his self leveling and such... and then there's SOMY... don't even get me started on how good his ports are!  So, I'm having a little performance anxiety!     But we'll see what happens.

Threestooges:  Thanks!  Yes, that's a barge that Jestarr made for me.  It will definitely be TE for rail, so no worries there.  You're right... the stairs don't come all the way down.  They're meant for maintainence/emergeny use on the elevator shafts, so I wouldn't want kids climbing up there.  There will be a retractable ladder at the bottom of all that, but I haven't added it yet (I'm also missing a railing on the upper landing... note to self)

Tag_One:  Thanks, but the barge is all Jestarr.  I cannot and will not take any credit for that part!

Sebes:  Thank-you!

Sim Shady:  Thanks!  I'll try not to get too distracted... I'm going to test render Rau's this weekend, so we'll go from there.

Hydra:  Thank-you!  And, since I believe this is your first post here, welcome to my little corner of the world!

Kevin:  Thanks!  You are correct... this is my first stab at anything industrial.

Whew... now I need a nap!

How about some new pictures, huh?  I added some more details... catwalks, ventilation, closed up the main elvator shafts... this, that, and the other... I really don't remember what all I did!  I also got the bulk of the truck loading garage done.  You can also see the humble beginnings of the intake area.  Those are the bins that trucks will dump into to start the whole process.





That's all for now!

JB

[rooker1]

ohhh........I like this more and more.  It's getting bigger.  I like big industrial lots.
No suggestions..................yet.


Robin   

[oldrogue]

Oh yeah, you got the point thanks so very much... it had just been driving me nuts!

Ok, nuts(er), and to top it off, I even understood your explanation.... ....
loving the eleveator......and keep up the good work.....performance anxiety?   nahhh, you are one of the best there is my friend....don't worry.....

[JBSimio]

Robin:  Thanks!  Yes... this will be a pretty good sized lot by the time all is said and done.

Oldrogue:  Thank-you!  You're too kind.

OK... long story which I will try to keep short.  (The lawyers said something about this story not being an acceptable substitute for any prescribed sleep medication which you may or may not be taking... I'm not real sure what they're talking about though!)  I came home yesterday planning to fire up the old BAT and get some stuff done.  To my horror, the computer decided to go on strike... no warning, no union negotiations, not even a picket sign that I could find... just up and walked off the job.  So... I tried a couple things... but nothing seemed to work.  Skip ahead to my trip to Best Buy to visit with the Geek Squad.  They started working on things (I had discovered by this time that the hard drive wasn't completely lost) and I decided to wander around and drool over stuff I don't have.  Apparently HP just rolled out a whole new line that had just come in that day... and doesn't actually go on sale until tomorrow or Monday.  Well, Jon got excited... and talked them into selling him one early.  To get to the point (I guess this wasn't so short after all...), I now have a new computer that blows my old one out of the water.     

After a number of hours putting things back in order, I got back to the grain elevator and now have some new pictures to show you.  I also made the unexpected discovery that I now have a wireless internet connection at my house.  This is more exciting than it may seem because I haven't had internet at home for over two years.  But enough about me... here's some pictures:

First is the "intake building" back and side views.  This is still little more than the basic shell... lots of details to come yet.  But it's an idea of where we're going:

     

Here is an overview of the whole complex at this point.  The train hoppers are once again courtesy of Jestarr who has been a huge help with this project.



More to come!

JB

[Pat]

OMG WOW JB I'm sooooooooo drolling here i think i totally need a new keyboard or a droll rag lol.
One thing i think that would be interesting is something with the barge idea is to leave it blank so
that plop-able water could be used cause that has made me think of some way i could use it.
Sorry that I'm rambling on here but wow I'm just in amazement by Grain elevator.  BTW
BSC reward would be good i think?  But anyways my hat off to you great work man - pat

[jacqulina]

hi jon hows you,now this is something different for you but you are doing so well with it as well,wonderfull work my friend

[oldrogue]

What do you get a man who has a new computer?

That's easy....a new career as an industrial batter

Congrats on the new pc...ain't that a fun experience ....and the elevator is looking mighty fine.

[meinhosen]

The grain elevator is looking real good JB.

One note- the rail cars from Jestarr you are using are coal cars.  Grain railcars have covered tops.  Here's a reference link, link 2, in case you're interested.  And yes, I'm aware that's probably a minor detail as far as the overall lot is concerned... I'm just excited to see some more great stuff from you.

[Sim Shady]

hurray for your new pc   You scared the crap out of me when you said that you pc wasnt working.  My first thought was "Not Buddybud 2.0! nooo" *whew*

[JBSimio]

Pat:  Thanks!  I seem to have an extra keyboard now if you need one!     To be honest, I don't know a whole lot about getting this all to work with the various canal options or ploppable water just yet.  It sounds like a good idea, but I don't even know if it can be done or not.  I'll keep it in mind for when we get that far, though.

Jacky:  Thank-you!  Yes... it's a little departure from my usual style.

Oldrogue:  Thanks!

Meinhosen:  Thank-you!  You know, I kind of wondered about the hoppers... glad you mentioned that.  For the moment, they're only there for the sake of measurements anyway.  But I'll certainly look into that... or try to bribe Jestarr some more since they are his models 

Sim Shady:  You think you got scared???  I was ready to cry myself to sleep...  and it was only 2:00PM when that happend! 

More pictures... I wrapped up the structure on the intake building.  It still needs a lot of the little details... roof junk, access ladders, etc.  But the hard part is done.  I also made the conveyor systems which connect to the main elevator shafts.

First some views of just the new bits:

   

And now a couple angles of the whole complex again:





That's all for now!

JB

[threestooges]

A new computer and a new zest for batting. It seems like you have made some great progress (and I'm guessing the new computer helps with that). Glad to know nothing was lost (or completely lost). The intake building looks great and it all seems to be coming together nicely (who knows what this will lead to next).

[oldrogue]

very well done...out of curiosity.....how large of a lot will it be.....?..

[Strechnitz]

Hi JBSimio,

Nice to have a new computer, and gladly your harddrive wasn't totlay screwed up. So now you are going industrial? great. Is it going to be a reward?

Strech.

[JBSimio]

Threestooges:  Thank-you!  Yes, the new computer definitely helps.  Generating these pictures takes about half the time it used to!     (I've always wanted to use that one somewhere!)

Oldrogue:  Thanks!  Hard to say for sure... but it's shaping up to be in the 8x8 range, including (I think) the SG canal pieces.

Strech:  I don't know if I'd say that I'm going industrial... just trying my hand at it.  I'm enjoying the change of venue, but I'm not sure if it will become a regular thing for me.  Right now we are thinking about making this a reward with the BTE farms... but time will tell.

I decided to experiment with some textures today.  My idea is to make this intake building look like the original building and that the rest of the complex grew from there.  With that in mind, I went with a pretty dark and grungy brick for this part.



I'm not real thrilled with the pipes just yet.  They look too flat at the moment.  I also need to fix the painted on billboard... fade it out more and attempt to create some "peeling paint."  Beyond those things, I'm pretty happy with how it came out... but that's just me.  How y'all feel is the more important part!

JB