Metarvo steps up to BAT

[metarvo]

TiFlo: Thanks for the compliment! The yellow tubes are quite common on distribution lines in my area, but some smaller transmission lines use them as well, particularly on turns.

Girafe: Well, thank you! 

louistsw: Yes, the wood set will include 15m slope pieces that function similarly to the ones in the metal set.  As for the Maxis transition, I've been playing around trying to get it right, but it's hard to get a BAT to line up with the Maxis wires, so it will probably be a while.  I appreciate the comment. 

djvandrake: Thanks for the kind words! 

SimNation: Maxis included power plants and power lines, but they left out the substations.  So, we BATters have to fill in this gap in the SC4 power system.  Of course, diagonal functionality is one of my primary purposes in most anything I do in the game, so a diagonal substation will be included.  Thank you for the compliment.

tulane633: Thanks for the kind words.    There are some good tutorials out there, including the one I followed [off-site linkie], so BATting shouldn't be too hard to pick up if you have the time.  As for the lines linking the lampposts, that would require either T21s, which I can't do yet, or overhanging lots, which can waste valuable road frontage.  So, this probably won't be happening for now.

canyonjumper:  I'm glad you like them, Jordan!    Actually, I did release the metal P3 Phase I set offsite at ST last month, but the site seems to be down today.

Buzzit:  Thank you for the compliment!  I'm pleased to meet another power line fan.  I've always noticed the different corner pylons that are used in my area, and they always seem to vary based on the angle of the corner.  As for BATting, I followed a tutorial [off-site linkie] when I decided I wanted to BAT.  Using some RL pictures, I built my first electricity pylon, which can be seen on the first page of this thread.  My latest metal pole design is actually a revision of my first BAT.  BATting may seem complicated at first, but it's not so bad if you have the time to put into it.  One of the things that really helped me was listening to the good BATters we have in the SC4 community.  They have always provided helpful tips and guidance to me.





Just a quick substation update.  I've switched out the textures on the transformers, and I've also redesigned the center transformer model somewhat because I thought it was too flat and boring.

Becuase of RL and other SC4 projects, progress will be limited for a time.

EDIT: Edited to add tutorial links.

[Buzzit]

wow! it looks really good!

wich tutorial did you use before you made your very first pylon?
i wanna try it aswell! maybe if i start to become good with it then i can help you with creating small and big pylons

[Highrise99]

Amazing!  I'm blown away.
I'm just wondering: how do you get the power lines to work?  Is it a similar proccess to TE?

[Buzzit]

hey metarvo got any updates on your powerlines?

[metarvo]

Buzzit: Thanks!    Your work has helped to inspire me to get back to work on my project.

Highrise99: Thank you!    The power lines work like any other lots.  Zones and lots conduct power over a 2-tile radius in each direction.  This effect can be seen with the Power Data View.  If the power radii of two lots touch, and one of them has power, then the power will be conducted.

Buzzit (2): Well, it's not much of an update, but I have decided to get this thing back out and see what I can do with it.





Based on my own RL observations as well as valuable feedback, I have decided that the wire spans of my power line set are broken and unrealistic.  To tell you the truth, I don't really like the 64m/4 tile span either, but I chose it because it would allow for power transmission in game.  Still, I've been playing around with the idea of longer wire spans.  The average wire span for the RL equivalent of this pole is about 1100 ft.  This translates to 335.28 m.  Since the tiles in SC4 are 16 m², the nearest whole tile this figure can be rounded to is 336 m, or 21 tiles.  As a result, I have chosen this wire span as a possible new default, although the "No Power" zots should make it obvious that power will not be transmitted this far in the game.  Of course, parks, other lots, and the invisible powerline technique could help to bridge the gap, but it's not the same as actual power transmission along the lines.  Still, what do all of you think about this as a possible option?

In addition, how do all of you feel about HD rendering?  I've heard that it has pros and cons, but what I've seen of it in action looks so cool!

[Lowkee33]

I like it.  The long power lines look much more realistic.

I was telling Buzzit that the power radius is something that we have control of.  If you are familiar with Reader, TGI: 6534284A, E7E2C2DB, C911E35B is the Utilities Simulator.  Within it there is a property called "power radiation radius", and it is the radius power spreads in terms of tiles.

There's actually a lot of interesting things in there that seem to control the way power lines behave.  There is also a similar property for water spread.

[Buzzit]

nice to see you back here Metarvo!
the long lines look great! allthough doesn't this get a bit hard with al the diffrent cornerings? or does it work aswell? because then i might think to make my lines longer.
andall i did is  with the nopower issue is just remove set the power consumpsion to 0 with the ILives reader.
and offcourse the endpoints as powerplants(wich works fantastic btw! i also did it with my medium voltage pylons and it works like a charm!)

could you show the pylon in HD?
i think it looks fantastic that way(only the long rendering times are a downside here!)

but keep 't up glad you are back on this!

[Aaron Graham]

I'm glad your back to making power lines. I like how you made the poles space much further out because before they were to close like you said, happy to see some more improvement.

[TiFlo]

I really like what I'm seeing there. I'm lloking forward to see what you'll come with from this. 

[metarvo]

Lowkee33: Thanks.    I agree that the longer spans look better, especially for these huge lines.  So, does this Utilities Simulator property affect the entire game, or just the lots?  I have Reader buried on my computer somewhere, so I'll take a look.

Buzzit:  I appreciate the kind words.    Yes, I do have to rebuild the wirespans, both for the corners and the straight segments.  Normally, I do set the Power Consumption to 0, but I forgot that time.  So far, I haven't set the end poles as power plants, but it is an idea.  Below is a comparison of the pylon in HD and SD.

Aaron Graham: Thank you.    After hearing that my lines were too short, I decided to do something about it.  The short wirespans were too restrictive, making it difficult to build a line across a highway with frontage roads, so I knew something had to be done.

TiFlo:  Thanks for the compliment! 






I can't remember ever showing a Zoom 6 picture anywhere before, so here's my first one.  The P3 Phase I pole has been given the HD treatment, and the HD pole can be seen on the left, with the SD pole on the right.


The other zoom that is affected by HD is Zoom 5, so here's a Zoom 5 comparison.  HD is on the left, and SD is on the right. 

So far, I haven't gotten around to rendering any wires in HD (render times ), but the good news is that I don't actually have to rebuild the BATs to convert them to HD, with the exception of the rebuilding I might do anyway to get longer wirespans.

[Buzzit]

WOW
the HD pylons look fantastic!
whats the thickness of those struts and the structure it self?
seems alot thinner and more realistic then the pylons i created so far!

edit:
What i forgot to ask
could you send some coordinates on google earth were i can find your pylons?
i tryed finding them in texas but  i haven't had any luck so far..
only found wich to me looks like an older model.

[Lowkee33]

It would effect the whole game.  It is possible to make power lines completely unneeded, but I think the point of your work is realism, and not so much the aspects of the game.  If the game gets in the way of the realism I think we should to the best we can to alter the game.

The values are hexadecimal.  I would guess you would want a radius of 10 tiles, which would be entered as 0x0A.  11 would be 0x0B.  255 (the maximum) would be 0xFF, and make power lines not needed at all.  Similar values can be used for water pipes too, and I am not sure why we haven't seen a mod out there like that.

There are other variables in that exemplar that may be interesting if tested.  They seem to effect the behavior of power lines.  I haven't changed anything there myself.   

[Aaron Graham]

HD looks a lot better than the SD version, keep it up. I'm going to keep checking on this thread a much as I can, I'm here to support you the best I can.

[FrankU]

Great work!
In zoom 6 the HD version is much better, of course, but in my opinion it's getting a bit too thin in zoom 5. There I prefer the SD version.

And @Lowkee: there is a mod that changes the radius of waterpipes and power to a whole large city. I use it all the time, because I am lazy and don't want to fool around with pipes and powerlines.
It is the "Utility Radius and Traffic Pollution Modd" by Ralphaelninja: http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=21352

[Aaron Graham]

A question to you metarvo and Buzzit. Do any of you powerline guys put fences around substations, if not kids and dumb teenagers are going to playaround it that area and people will most likely get hurt.

[Buzzit]

A question to you metarvo and Buzzit. Do any of you powerline guys put fences around substations, if not kids and dumb teenagers are going to playaround it that area and people will most likely get hurt.

at first (my first release) i didn't had a special substationbased pylon just a pylon ending
but if you check my dutch set you will see a pretty nice fench with a warning sign

i can't speak for metarvo entirely  but i assume he isn't done yet with his substations and maybe he will add additional props and eye-candy as the finishing touch 

[metarvo]

Buzzit (1): Strut thickness is 0.02.  As for the coordinates, try this [linkie].

Thanks for the compliment!    I'm still undecided about the whole HD thing, but I like how it's worked out so far.

Lowkee33:  Thanks for the info.    I guess I could play with that some, but I'm still afraid to mess around too much. 

Aaron Graham (1): I appreciate the support!    I'm glad you like the HD version, too.

FrankU: Well, there's the pros and cons I mentioned.  Unfortunately, this thinness in Zoom 5 is a known side effect of HD rendering.  So, I'm still not totally sold on it, but I do like what it does for Zoom 6.  As for the mod, thank you for the link.    The trouble with a mod like this one is the fact that power lines would no longer be needed, so it wouldn't matter if these lines carried power or not.  I guess this beats the alternative, though.

Aaron Graham (2): This has truly been bothering me just a little.  I have actually had a fence prop BATted and ready to use for a little while now, but I haven't showed it anywhere.  Until today, that is.

Buzzit (2): Not only will there be custom fences (with warning signs) that I have BATted just for the substations, but there will be other props, too.  A few will be Maxis props, and others will be from BSC Mega Props SG Vol. 01, which is a commonly used dependency.




What kind of electric company would I be running if I didn't build fences around my substations?  I plan to use one dependency with this set, BSC Mega Props SG Vol. 01.  This pack includes the trailer seen here, where the maintenance people stay.


Here is another angle and zoom.

[Aaron Graham]

I'm am glad you have put down the fence around the power substation, another thing that bothers and I really wish I would of thought of it earlier, what bothers me is it the density of the power substation because it carries a lot of power. You will understand what I am talking about if you look at the pictures that I have gotting from google. I hope you like the pictures and I hope they can build up your ideas for making the ultimate power substation.

That does not only go for metarvo, that goes for a lot of the guys who are interested in making power poles.

[metarvo]

Aaron Graham: I have thought about this too, but the truth is that the substations generally used for this particular pylon model in RL are rather low-density.  They are typically built out rather than up, which consumes more real estate.  Ironically, I usually see the more vertical substations used with poles that are smaller.




I have resumed construction of longer wirespans for my pylon set.  This includes longer spans for the corners as well.


These are the new deviation pylons that will be used for corners from about 47.5° to 62.5°.  Of course, this is the only corner (~53.13°) presently in the set that falls within this range.

[Aaron Graham]

Looks good and I am so glad that you are working on those power line some more.