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Rain City Alpha 5
tjstreak
Posts: 808 Member
I have started serious work for the Alpha 5 version of Rain City. My goals for this alpha version are:
(1) to rework the custom distant terrain,
(2) finish putting down the major railroad main line. I may not add any engines or rolling stock at this stage, but my try to build a depot in Simvue and a terminal downtown. Eventually, I plan on adding a rail yard south of downtown. I definitely want to replace some of the at grade railroad crossings with overpasses and build anyther rail bridge.
Two railroads will serve Rain City. One is based on the Great Northern, and the other based on the Northern Pacific.
(3) Add spawners.
I spent most of the day today working on the distant terrain in the SE quadrant of the world. Here, Mt. Rainey towers over the south end of Lake Millard Fillmore.
The alpha 4 version of Mt. Rainey just looked too cartooney for my tastes, so I redid it.
I spent several days working on the distant terrain in the northern part of the world. Above is a picture of the NE quadrant, which is mostly rural, containing a number of farms. In the distance, I added a waterfal to a resort located at the NE corner of the world.
The north end of Lake Fillmore is also part of the distant terrain. A railroad bridge has been placed just about where the world ends and the distant terrain begins.
There is a world to the north of Little Transylvania -- a slum inhabited by Transylvanian immigrants. I have not decided whether I want to urbanize this distant terrain more, or just leave it as is.
The Space Shaft remains untextured -- a future project.
Custom content really does not get more "in your face" than this, does it?
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Work continues on my custom distant terrain. Today, I added the islands and far shores for Pluggit Sound, seen above.
I also worked on the southern isthmsu where Rain City is located. I have built some insta-neighborhoods - 15 deco buildings and roads placed as a single texture. It is strictly lo rez and place in non-routable terrain, but it gives the illusion of being a much more heavily populated place.
I have been conveting a number of at grade railroad crossings with overpasses. The overpass itself is a simple model:
I googed and put the Great Northern logo on a bridge which really is part of my Northern Pacific line!
Eventually, I would like to have several styles of railroad bridges and overpasses.
Today, however, I got distracted from railroad building and started converting some X-Plane files for the Sims 3. For example, I converted an American Airlines 737:
And a squadron of F-15 at Benedict Arnold AFB:
Since Rain City is one of the few cities (if not the only city) with an airplane manufacturing industry, I have a 747 being fitted at the Boink! Flying Machink Company:
And next to its big sister, a 737 is also being finished:
Outside of the Boink! headquarters a Concorde is on display:
No, Boink! did not build the Concorde, but it looks cool anyway.
Anyway, converting models from X-Planes is a very simple process and can be done in less time than it takes CAW to save a game.
Eventually, I will upload these models to my Disney rated blog.
You make them. Now train tracks are available in CAW. However, I made them dual guage and added a roadbed. I have not made any trains yet, althoug Carlos at Simming in Magnificent Style has. However, trains are on my to do list.
Many of my finished items have been uploaded to my blog http://tjstreaksnotsonaughtysims.blogspot.com/ Some items are works in progess, and have not been uploaded. A few are so unique to my world, that I probably will not make them available as independent downloads.
I have made some lessons on basic creative content creation, also on the blog. The lesson on making deco buildings will get you started. Knowing how to mesh and texture a cube is a basic skill. Just about every object in the game is based on cubes, although a few are based on cylinders and spheres. I stopped making these lessons because I did not see a whole lot of interest.
I have been converting planes from the X-Planes flight simulator. Their terms of use are pretty liberal: do with these models whatever you want. I have not made low LOD versions yet, choosing instead to pump out several conversions a day. But there are hundreds of planes, trains, cars and buildings.
In terms of finding models which are easy to convert, I have hit a motherlode. It's so easy to convert these models to Sims 3, I might do a quick lesson on it.
Speaking of lessons, I already have posted over 20 on making creative content. I stopped making them because no one seemed interested. If people hate creative content so much, why should I be posting lessons on how to create it?
Also, I have been toying with the idea of making a kit for the creation of custom distant terrain. This would include an easy to modify mesh along with a variety of textures. It would also have a lesson on how to do it. But people around here insist on crapping on me and my creative content at every opportunity, so my attitude is becoming one of "figure it out yourself."
When one starts taking a look at real skyscrapers (and every skyscraper above is modeled after a real life original), one realizes how weird the EA skyscrapers really are. They certainly do not mimic American architectural styles. One would be hard pressed to find a skyscraper anywhere in the U.S. which look even remotely like those made by EA.
I have been experimenting with nightlighting, as with this McDonalds:
The McDonalds is actually combines three experiments: (1) adding night lighting, (2) making it as a rabbithole -- in this case it works like the diner, and (3) it is a conversion from a Sketchup model. The mesh needs more work as does the texture, but I have been testing this version in game for a while and it does not seem to have any issues.
I also finally made added a decent looking Space Needle to Rain City:
The model was converted from the one appearing in Microsoft Flight Simulator. As it turns out, Flight Simulator models are made to the same scale as Sims models (more or less). The convervsions are real easy to do once you know how.
Sorry for bad english, it's not my first language.
http://tjstreaksnotsonaughtysims.blogspot.com/