Spa's Atlantic Retreat

[spa]

Sorry again everyone for the late replies. What can I say, it has been a busy summer between my European trip and moving into my new house

Matt: It was quite a trip and I'm loving the new house too. It has been a busy summer! There actually is an easy trick to mirroring bats in gmax. The mirror button doesn't work, but you can still use the mirror modifier from the modifier tab. I group everything, convert to an editable mesh, then add a mirror modifier and presto, instantly the building is facing the other direction. No need to rotate each object individually. The only thing that is a pain is the lights don't mirror without screwing up so I have to adjust all the night lights manually, but that's not all that bad. It would be nice if more creators took the time with corner buildings to make a version for each side of the street since it makes them twice as usable.
TiFlo: Bump indeed. News from the Maritimes is I have moved and I'm finally getting back into things. I have a ton of stuff to do around the new house, but I'm finding a wee bit of time for Sim City again. I hear you about Saint John. From what I gather, it's kind of where Halifax was about 30 years ago. It has so much potential, but it really is dead Downtown (or Uptown as they say). I visited Saint John on business a few years ago and my wife tagged along. We arrived at 9:00 pm and literally couldn't find anywhere open in Uptown to grab a bite. We ended up having to pick between Tim Hortons and Subway! A Downtown that can't support a pizza joint isn't that healthy.
Jack: Yep the move is done, but I haven't gotten out the digital camera yet. I actually haven't even uploaded my Italy pictures off of it yet. Labour day weekend is coming though and I have 4 days off so maybe I'll get to some of those odds and ends then.


So life is settling down a bit (finally) in this busy summer. I'm all moved into my new house and it's even feeling like home these days. I still have a long "to do" list, but I get the sense that when you own a home, it's no longer a list you ever get to the end of it, it's now just a list of competing priorities! On the Sim City front, Elmwood Apartments is now packed up and in the BSC internal testing process. I don't anticipate any problems, so I would say watch the LEX next week With my batch of old wooden residentials pretty much wrapped up (after a year and a half!), I'm switching gears. I have started a batch of Government of Canada Buildings from around Atlantic Canada. The first is Marine House in Downtown Dartmouth (other side of Halifax Harbour). Below is a picture of the real thing.

Marine House sits on a prominent corner in Downtown Dartmouth at the corner of Portland Street and Alderney Drive and is one of Downtown Dartmouth's larger buildings. It was built in the 1980s by a private developer and started out as the Dartmouth Medical Centre. It was never a hospital, but was one of those places where a ton of doctors end up with their offices. In the early 2000s the Government of Canada purchased the building and converted it into goverment offices. The building now houses the regional offices for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, hence the name Marine House. Not a whole lot else to say about it, below is my version.


The modelling is done, but I obviously haven't started to texture yet. I might be able to polish off the texturing this weekend since the building is a lot simpler then all those wooden structures I have been making lately! No superflous detailing, just straight modernist lines. After Marine House, I'll wander over to Saint John for one of its government office buildings.

[TiFlo]

Yay!!

[threestooges]

I'm definitely making note of that mirroring trick, and if/when I get around to a corner building, I'll be sure to make a mirrored duplicate of it. Love the details on this new work, particularly the skylights over the covered entryway, and the HVAC units. Looking forward to seeing it textured.
-Matt

[simdad1957]

Hey SPA, if you are going to do a series of government building BATs from Atlantic Canada, you should consider the Dominion Public Building on the corner of Main & Highfield in Moncton (it's right across the street from Highfield Square and the Bay department store).

It used to be the main post office in the city and now hosts a number of federal departments. It's an interesting example of early mid 20th century federal architecture and features a granite facade and faux pillars. It's actually a very architecturally interesting building.



(sorry, this is all I could find for a picture but it shows the portico over the main entrance   

[kwakelaar]

Nice looking building and a great looking bat.
So you went to Lucca, we might just have crossed paths this summer without any of us knowing it.
Congratulations on your new home and great news for us all here that you are settling down after summer and are back to batting.

[Jack_wilds]

SPA,

Hey, long tiime no hear and now -apparently, has slowed down enough to breath and be 'moved-in'...

So having moved in  (here we go  )

-Peace and Blessing be upon all in your house, the fullness of peace and joy keep all of you, as you fill your house with good stories, memories to carry the generations ahead... 

Looking forward to finally getting to play with the 'wood framed' houses, its been a subject of discussion and anticipation for over a year... thank-you for sharing

Government/civic subjects -A nice departure from the previous series... can you find a neat library or hospital /clinic for this series too 
UPDATE:

DL'd the knight-bridge and church street duplexes,  enjoy greatly...
the puzzle pieces combination to the knight-bridge apartments makes for endless combinations...  thanks for all the choices
however for the church street apartments have yet to pop up... removed a couple of blocks in  hopes of then popping up -nothing yet, and I also have a puzzler for you  as I am unable to locate the church street duplexes or Aaron Grahmn's "Grahmn's Apartments" in the 'buggi cheat -building plop' is there a size limit to the cheat in list length -thoughts  anticipating the release of the rest of the 'wooden residences' 

Best Wishes

Jack

[spa]

TiFlo:
Matt: Thanks. I like the skylights too. Hopefully they won't end up looking weird because of the angle of Sim City.
Simdad: The Moncton Dominion Building is a really great piece of architecture and would definitely be on my list. Unfortunately, when I was in Moncton, I couldn't see much of it because of all the scaffolding and hoarding. I would definitely like to make the Moncton GOCB one day, but it won't make this batch simply because I don't have the needed photo references. I pass by Moncton several times a year on business, so hopefully as the restoration proceeds, I'll have a chance to snap some pics.
Kwakelaar: Yep I did go to Lucca. It's a neat spot, in that it's a city of bikes. We noted that everyone there biked from the very young to the very old and it wasn't just tourists up on the walls. I even noted the postman delivering the mail on his bike. I was there in early July if memory serves. Stayed in the American run hostel by the market and the tower with the garden on top (really neat!). I take it you were there site seeing too?
Jack: Thanks for the kinds words. By the end of the week, all my residential projects will be available for download Regarding the Church Street Apartments and the buiding plop cheat... I actually don't know! I have never used the cheat plop so I can't say why the Church Street Apartments don't show up. I'll take a look just to confirm that they're installing properely.


Well the weekend is done and I have some textures on Marine House. Didn't get as far as I wanted to but what else is new Below is how it's shaping up.

I scaled it down just slightly as I have a tendency to make things too big when I'm modelling. I'm quite pleased with it so far, especially the windows, which were once my achilles heel

As a sneak peak at what else is in store for my federal government buildings of Atlantic Canada set (Simdad you might recognize these) we have the Customs Building from Saint John, New Brunswick

Ugly isn't it! Maybe I'm weird, but it has a very strange kind of charm to me, even if it is ugly. Not everything the government has built to house office workers is quite so brutal though. Vintage 1950s, the Federal Building from Fredericton, New Brunswick is also on my list.

These will be the first 3 of 7. Hopefully it won't take me quite long this time to finish!

[simdad1957]

Thanks SPA.

I know what you mean about the scaffolding around the Dominion Public Building. That's been there for several years now but the good news is that the feds have finally committed funding for the restoration of the facade. The scaffolding should be gone by early 2012.

Speaking of mid 20th century federal brutalist architecture, don't forget the Dominion Building in Charlottetown PEI. It has been superceded by the Jean Canfield Building as the main federal office building in the city. The Dominion Building will se new life as a mixed use commercial/residential building.

[Jack_wilds]

Hello SPA,

...concerning the church street duplexes and the 'buggi cheat'...

the duplexes are listed by their color... and the new Aaron Graham apartment by 'AG' -case anyone cares to know,

perhaps I use the cheat too much but it just bugs me that the building(s) that I want 'there' don't -so I put it there, whether or not the game likes it  ...it also helps that its installed correctly, located in the program folder sc4deluxe/plugins folder and not in two other folders  got that fixed, then I found another gaff concerning the D.A.M.N. fixed that up -tell ya, file management can get out of whack if not regularly raked and groomed

not much to say, it appears that the next series is coming into focus and ought to keep you out of mischief for awhile... trust that the house suits the two of as ya make it your own...

still the dog days of summer...growing on a farm a dog 'butch', laziest thing in the world, would be on the porch whiny about the heat and the teasing -miss that dumb dog

Jack 

[rushman5]

spa, ive got only one issue with your victoria apartments... they grow on low density.

I know the file say stage 5 bu the exemplars dont match.

Thought you should know if you wanna update it

-sean

[spa]

Simdad: Yeah it's unfortunate, but scaffolding and hoarding seems to be part of the federal government landscape in Atlantic Canada. The Ralston in Halifax is in real bad shape, both the Postal Station and Customs Building need work as, of course, does the Dominion Building. They seem to be picking away at it now though. I suspect that economic stimulus money is at work in getting projects that should have been done long ago moving. At least the Federicton Federal and of course Halifax's Dominion Public Building are in good shape!
Jack: Glad you found them. I took a look and didn't see anything amiss. Good to know it's just the nomenclature. The house does suit, but man it's hot in it right now. 32 in Halifax today. Very unusual for this end of the country and potentially a weak hurricane for the weekend.
Thanks Rushman! That definitely shouldn't be! I will update my file.

[spa]

Just a quick note. As you've probably seen, I'm releasing my files this week. In the Victoria Apartments that I uploaded yesterday, as Rushman spotted (thanks!) there was, unfortunately, a small error. One of the two lots included was accidentally set to grow on low density, which of course the Victoria Apartments are a little too big for. I have corrected the problem and updated the upload. Any of the 500 or so people who have downloaded it already (stex + lex), if you don't want to see them popping up on low density, should download the fixed version. Sorry for any inconvenience, but I too err now and then

[rushman5]

it works perfect spa.  glad I caught it quickly!

Keep up the work, and do you think its possible to make 176 Portland street slope-functional like the rl picture?

[spa]

Rushman5: Me too! Unfortunately, the same error cropped up with some of my others (see below). Strictly speaking, it is possible to make Marine House slope conforming, but it would be very cumbersome and difficult. Assuming the goal would be to create detail on the basement level similiar to what's on the real building, it would need to be plopped at an exact elevation to make it work and not look silly (a door half out of the ground for example). The in-game utility compared to the effort just isn't there. I would rather move onto other things


I have some bad news to report, the error that Rushman caught with Victoria Apartments... well it's a little bigger. I'm sorry everyone, but Victoria Hall will grow on low density, as will the larger lots of the Halifax Boxes and the B&B lots for Dundas Terrace. All three files were updated last night with fixed versions (no problems with Church Street Apartments, Knightsbridge or Elmwood Apartments). I believe the error occurred as a result of creating lots in the maxis lot editor and then running them through pim-x. At some point, some of the lots were reset to allow low density (they didn't start out that way). It's obviously something that I'll have to watch in future since it affected 4 of my uploads. In the mean time, I would suggest that anyone who downloaded Victoria Hall, the Halifax Boxes or Dundas Terrace before late on Sept 6 or Victoria Apartments before Sept 1, delete them and download the fixed version... unless of course you don't mind them popping up on low density now and then!

In happier news, Marine House is rendered and in game. Below is how it turned out.




And a night shot.

Next up, the Saint John Customs Building.

[Lowkee33]

The zone issue has happened to me while using PIMX alone.  It works both ways too.  I have had quite a few stage 1 lots be assigned mid/high density.  It is something to watch out for.

I have also found construction time to be looked at as well.  My only thought is that these stats are based solely off of the filling degree, and not what the capacity/stage actually is. 

[Jack_wilds]

Hello SPA,

Isn't it funny  when one thinks everything is good to go ; headaches pop up  -concerning the low density 'error',  but now its fixed and all is good again 

Really like the 'Marine House'  , I know its meant to be a government-civic project however if you don't mind    I'm 'pretending it to be a mid-rise commercial lease office space called 'Marine Center' and/or 'Marine Bank'   

So whats up over there in Halifax  did the hurricane/ storm hit your area ?

We had a bad cold snap here and its affected my crops and gardens and other stuff... nature sure can play some mean tricks sometimes...  but all is well because the raccoons  got to my garden corn before the cold and me  ... if I had a shot gun I'd be having coon stew and wearing a coon hat... 

Jack 

[cubby420]

Well Jack, I think you now hold the SC4D record for legitimate smiley use in a post 

The Marine House is coming along great Spa. It looks perfectly bland and inconspicuous. Just tried out the Halifax residentials for the first time today...so luckily I missed out on any zoning irregularities  They are working out great so far and I am beginning to integrate them into the small coastal village I've been working on for it seems like forever. Great stuff Spa! I waited all summer just for them and I was certainly NOT disappointed.

[Jack_wilds]

Well Jack, I think you now hold the SC4D record for legitimate smiley use in a post 

...a dubious honor, I'm sure. I must have gone click happy -didn't preview just posted, 

just wanted to comment...

Jack

[spa]

Lowkee: Thanks. Construction time isn't one I'll go back to adjust. Not really worth the time, but I'll keep an eye on that in the future.
Jack: Indeed that's a lot of smileys! Marine House may be a government building, but it'll be coming to SC4 as a Co$$. You could always pretend they're nautical insurers too. Hurricane Earl did hit here, knocked my power out for 24 hours and left pieces of a big maple down in my backyard, but we got off lucky. Hurricane Igor though has caused all sorts of problems next door in Newfoundland. Hopefully this will be the end of the hurricane season for Atlantic Canada now that the Fall is approaching. Sorry to hear about the raccoon bandits. They can be a real nusiance. We're keeping our eyes out for mice since it's the season where they try to come inside where it's warm. No signs of any yet!
Cubby: Glad you like the wooden buildings. I have plans for more editions, eventually, but for now a break from having to figure out new versions of backyard patios is in order

With Marine House done I have been slowly making progress on the Saint John Customs Building. I'm now done the modelling of the structure. Below is where things are at.


The roof junk on this one is quite elaborate and took a while to do. As far as I can tell from Bing, it's what's really up there. My guess is that when they built the Customs Building, they didn't fully anticipate the HVAC needs. The amount of stuff up there, to me, suggests that equipment has been added over time as I can't imagine the spaghetti duct system was the initial design! One thing I had to compromise on is the look on the back and sides. The real building is built into the side of a steep hill which creates not just one, but a two storey elevation change from the front to the back. I kept the look of the back and sides as best as I could and made up the difference by cutting extra floors. The front Prince William Street side is the only one that's a true to scale replica of what the real building looks like. Next step, texturing

[Jack_wilds]

Hey SPA,

great to hear from you... its good to know that the Earl's and Igor's of life haven't buffeted around too badly

that 'saint John customs building' sure has a lot of retro fit HVAC, -viewing it via google, does look like the designers didn't take it into account when it was built.

I like the 'marine house' and will pretend it to be Mariner Insurers headquarters and other marine business that may lease such space...

catch ya later

Jack