choco's attempts at BATing bridges

[Nexis4Jersey]

Congrats on your NAM associate's badge and job.    One question can the Bridges be for multiple uses like, not just a one tile HSR but a street or Road , or rail? 

[choco]

@andreas: thank you, much appreciated! 

@LEO: thank you as well....if ya wanna learn....    ive only been at this 7 months, and most of that was studying other bridges.  btw, you happen to be a psychic?  cause after i finish the rail bridges, i was going to move on the RHW/NWM stuff..... 

@Pat: thanks again!  i wake up this morning a NAM Assoc.....haven't even finished my first cup o' joe, so im still trying to wrap my head around it.

@matt: thanks!  one little number....one little number has to ruin the whole thing.     but, once this rule is done, that'll be the ball game.  so.....whats this NAM Assoc. gig pay nowadays?   

@Nexis: thank you!  i think i mentioned a few pages back that these bridges have been BAT'd with no transit textures, which was a method recommended by cogeo early on in my bridge-making endeavor.   with some work in the reader, most of these models could be converted to another network type.  this will be much easier on my beta bridges, but after beta, this will not be possible (well, possible, but not easily).

in beta, i apply the network textures/models using a T21.  a major problem with this method is that when drawing the bridge (in preview mode), T21 based props do not show in the preview.  this is nice, though, when one has a model that may change.  here's a pic (from page 5) showing what i mean....



however, once the models are finalized (getting close for the HSRP bridges), i'll be adding the transit props directly thru the reader, which eliminates the problem shown above.  this is a very laborious task, and one that i hope to only do once per bridge. 


thanks for all the kind words everyone!     never imagined this would get to page 10......   

[choco]

decided to play around in the RHW a bit....

not sure if something like this would be useful or not, but this was a first try while taking notes of IID's.




edit: not sure about this one either.....works in theory (theory being the operative word).  just to quell any doubts, this is not a single bridge.....the floating paths just have the model removed.



i'll put something together in the next few days.....

[threestooges]

Always something interesting going on around here. I haven't had the chance to look at your bridges yet (law school is back in, and that brings with it all of the work). I like what I'm seeing, and I'm curious to know what theory you're testnig with the last picture. I'll let you know what I find out about the SAM thing when I get back around to testing it, but until then, congrats on the NAM Assoc. thing. As a member you get to help design and test new NAM elements, and in return, all you'll need to give up is sleep, sanity, spare time, etc. (only kidding of course... maybe). With the work you've shown here, I'll look forward to seeing what you'll do.

[JoeST]

that indeed looks rather interesting...

looking awesome as always

[Fresh Prince of SC4D]

Sorry I have'nt reply lately
But anyways the bridges look great, I really like what you did with my request.

[LE0]

Double decker bridges are possible? Are diagonals too, if they're made differently?

And the MIS bridge could be useful maybe for a interchange next to river...

And no, im not a psychic

[choco]

@joe: thanks for stoppin by....

@prince: glad ya like it.....thanks for the request! 

@LEO: DD are possible, yes.....practical...well, not so much at this time.  diagonals i think were lot based....not much came of that i guess.

@matt: trying to find a work around for bridges wider than rhw6......i dont think its going to work, and puzzle pieces would be needed to connect the paths.  i have a feeling that the paths will be invalid since they are not contained in the tiles the "bridge" is constructed on.....

need to figure out how to make puzzle pieces.....is it even possible in BAT? edit: found the script.....

here's a better pic....


MIS with a bit of modding.....

[Pat]

Choco no problem and I am glad to see yourself was shocked about the NAM assocaite appointment     WOW a MIS Bridge, a wider RWH 6 Bridge, just more bridges wow!!! Gezzs man talk about some wicked stuff and I think they would be usable for sure!!!

[choco]

   i was just toyin with some ideas.....there's an EMIS, ground MIS, and ERHW4 in my plugins, but i needed to modify the bridge controller specifically for them.  so these may stay on the shelf for a bit......

i think i can get a RHW6 bridge going fairly easy.....but there's a couple things i need to check on for viability.  i think the paths are contained on one tile....if so, then we're in business. 

too many plans....not enough hours.  good news is progress on the other bridges is going swimmingly.....sans the stupid RULs.....

because i like posting pics.....



 

[Jonathan]

Well done on the NAM Associate, you definately desevered it
Your churning out bridges so fast, it's amazing!

That's an interesting experiment with the wider bridge, I looking forard to seeing the final outcome.

Jonathan

[deathtopumpkins]

Whoa! Those look great! I can't say I like the pillars though... any way you could persuade swamper to make models with longer pillars to be used on the bridges?

[choco]

@jonathan: thank you!  it started off really slow, but the modding aspect has become very easy.  i think it was about 20 minutes to configure the first MIS bridge.....and most of that was tracking down the right ID's.  i think i need to learn to make puzzle pieces, but doesn't that require RULing (the complicated kind...not bridge RULs)?

@dtp: sorry its takin so long to get ya the next set.....found a couple little things that need worked out.  i know what ya mean about the pillars.....if Jan's busy, i can simply BAT some props to cover them.  i always hated the maxis pillars anyway.....

general question: i was thinking about trying to make a prop that would act similar to the wake, in the respect that it would be applied at the water surface.  in searching, it doesn't look like the wake is a prop...in the conventional sense.  how is the wake made, and can we create something to mimmick the water height effect it creates?

eff dir?

[Swamper77]

Whoa! Those look great! I can't say I like the pillars though... any way you could persuade swamper to make models with longer pillars to be used on the bridges?

@dtp: sorry its takin so long to get ya the next set.....found a couple little things that need worked out.  i know what ya mean about the pillars.....if Jan's busy, i can simply BAT some props to cover them.  i always hated the maxis pillars anyway.....

I could see about making some different models that have longer pillars. Keep in mind that these are True3D models that I did for the RHW Project. Hence the lack of shadows on the pillars and such. Of course, we could always BAT the bridge deck without the RHW/MIS textures and add in those textures separately. I'd be willing to provide the source models if Choco wants to go that route.

general question: i was thinking about trying to make a prop that would act similar to the wake, in the respect that it would be applied at the water surface.  in searching, it doesn't look like the wake is a prop...in the conventional sense.  how is the wake made, and can we create something to mimmick the water height effect it creates?

eff dir?

Choco, the wake/wash at the bridge supports is a prop that references an entry from the game's EffectsDirectory. It always appears at the water level, regardless of how high above the water the bridge is. That said, the reference point of the prop is probably above the water all the time, but the effect appears at the water level.

There isn't a way to make new effects like the wake/wash effect that I am aware of. Those are using a particle system of sorts and you would have to understand how the effect works in the EffectsDirectory in the first place. And the only way to view that information is through a hex editor.

[choco]

thanks for weighin in on that, swamper....   kinda figured the wake was a unique beast......

insofar as the pillars are concerned, i can take care of extending them.  i only have access to BAT and blender though....



on another note; looks like the the HSR and light rail bridges are compatible with APTX's shinkansen mod....

[Swamper77]

thanks for weighin in on that, swamper....   kinda figured the wake was a unique beast......

insofar as the pillars are concerned, i can take care of extending them.  i only have access to BAT and blender though....

I'll package up the files for them and get them out to you as soon as I get home again. I'm at my parents' house and away from my desktop, which has all the files. I modeled them in True3D, meaning there is only one model that is used in the game. BAT will spit out a minimum of 20 models and images for the rendered models. They also will have a lot of blurred details so the details of the side barrier textures will be lost if you render them with BAT.

I'm more than willing to make better supports for the Elevated RHW/MIS bridges. Just send me the designs and textures you want used on the supports. I'll model them and send the finished DAT for you to work with. I have a means to export models out of GMAX without using the BAT

on another note; looks like the the HSR and light rail bridges are compatible with APTX's shinkansen mod....

That's because APTX's mod replaces the models used by the Monorail network. He made copies of the Elevated Rail track models and changed the ID's of these copies so they will override the Monorail track models. Since your props reference the monorail track model ID, they will pick up the changes from APTX''s mod.

-Swamper

[Fresh Prince of SC4D]

I really happpy of how all the brigde came out, nice job as always.

[Dethsrow]

 :thumbsup:Hello choco these are nice bridges I was wonder since your interested in BATing bridges will you be trying to recreate famous bridges from different cities particularly NYC?

[choco]

@FP o SC4D: 

@Dethsrow: thank you.  nice to see some new faces around!     i had thought about the manhattan bridge; but honestly, i dont think my BAT skill are quite up to par to pull something like that off.  maybe down the road with more experience, sure......

im still learning at this point, and am just starting to delve into 2-tile network bridges, which are a slightly (sometimes greatly) different ballgame. 


for example: even studying old exemplars doesn't tell the whole story of how to construct a bridge.  i was trying to recreate an effect by another great bridge modder, smoncrie, and failed miserably.  this is something that happens on bridges with oneway paths.  i know the starter piece gets flipped, so I BAT'd an end piece as well with a different ID.  but, I'm still missing something, and was hoping to find a solution.  there has to be a solution other than a RUL.....i just can't find it.

this is the end where the drag is initiated....


and this is the trailing end.....


the extra end piece has its own ID as well......its off center as a result of the way i BAT this bridge, to accommodate the paths.  if the end piece were working, it lines up correctly (its offset same x-direction, only spun 180*).

[MandelSoft]

Wait a sec, did I just spot some RHW Bridges that are 2 tiles wide? Cool!