Sorry Regina, didn`t mean to cause offence.
Estyle36, I particularly like the beach at the bottom right of the first pic, it looks like it just slopes to the sea nice and easy. A good place for a lot or two. Good luck with it. Nice work
And Yay!! I THINK I almost got my mountain range shaped and the rocks all textured--maybe! They're not very good mountains in the grand scheme of things, rather a bit flat because of a lack of space, and somewhat on the side of whimsy. When I get them farther along I'll have to start my own thread maybe and post a screenshot.
Oh, I was going to tell you in case you don't know and I forgot. If you do start playing with your own terrain textures, it's good to know that they can replace any texture you're currently using easily. Right-click on the texture you want to replace and choose edit then navigate to where the new texture is. The Source Texture directory can take subs as well to help keep things organized.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you do replace the texture then still want to do some work on the replacement, save it with a new name each time you work on it. Otherwise C-A-W won't update what's on the map without reloading. It's rather a pain in the rear. Sometimes I have twenty images before I'm done.
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And Yay!! I THINK I almost got my mountain range shaped and the rocks all textured--maybe! They're not very good mountains in the grand scheme of things, rather a bit flat because of a lack of space, and somewhat on the side of whimsy. When I get them farther along I'll have to start my own thread maybe and post a screenshot.
Oh, I was going to tell you in case you don't know and I forgot. If you do start playing with your own terrain textures, it's good to know that they can replace any texture you're currently using easily. Right-click on the texture you want to replace and choose edit then navigate to where the new texture is. The Source Texture directory can take subs as well to help keep things organized.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you do replace the texture then still want to do some work on the replacement, save it with a new name each time you work on it. Otherwise C-A-W won't update what's on the map without reloading. It's rather a pain in the rear. Sometimes I have twenty images before I'm done.
Thanks Regina :oops: this is a neat little tip and one I only VERY recently discovered (bear in mind I also only just managed to change the source texture of an interior dirt track road on my island which was a revelation to me).
Regarding your mountains, sometimes you never quite get it 100% to your imagined idea and if you keep tampering and tweaking you can get stuck in a quagmire of add and erase and repeat (I know i`m going through that right now with the terrain textures).
I started off with the terrain sculpting then added the roads then added the lots but now I can see where the terrain could be changed a wee bit, but I dare not tamper with it in fear of a domino affect on other areas of my island (a new tear here, a bit of road clipping there etc), so I`m leaving it be.
Okay, I knew from reading some threads you replied to that you are going to take some time working on your world before even the slightest hint of a thread dedicated to it and that`s exactly what I was doing, well, until now. You and I know there are some really beautiful, awesome worlds in the making out there and to be honest with you I was just too timid and humbled to think my little world would be of any interest to anyone after seeing pics of those worlds in the making.
I won`t name names but you probably know to whom I am referring. Still, we furrow our own paths into the wilderness of our imagination and hope we find a place our sims can call home. That last sentence was completely unnecessary, but I had to go there
There will be a time we just have to add that full stop to our work and it can`t come soon enough for me. You will know those times you cannot bear to open CAW as you are sick to death of seeing that world look back at you asking `those` questions of you! That`s when I find myself on the forum and that`s usually the time I see these amazing worlds and feel even worse about my own world...it`s a neverending conspiring spiral of anxiety. Saying all that...
...it`s the sims! Yay! All you need to raise those spirits is to create a nice lot or a lovely beach and all is back to being good with the world. As you can tell, I`m having a "I cannot bear to look at CAW right now" moment.
But as the popular sheakespearian actor and thespian governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger once said "I`ll be back!" :roll:
I have, "Oh my word, I can't look at it!!" times with C-A-W at LEAST twenty times a day, especially if I'm spending much time working on it. I'm sort of there now but not quite, but I won't blame anyone but myself. I was having way too much trouble getting my textures to go where I wanted them, as in they just weren't in the right order. (How in the world do you put dirt on grass anyway?)
So, I traded my grass texture for dirt then started layering my textures in a way that makes sense. Dirt first, then rocks and a couple of reserved slots that currently hold textures I'm not using in case I want to add something later. After the rocks will come the grass then all of the stuff that can go on the grass like flowers and crops. Maybe I'll have a better time of it this way, maybe not. So, I'm back to repainting my mountains because to get it all ordered properly my poor mountains had to return to the basest of dirt.
I have my roads in place but they aren't really set yet, not much more than thrown in where they go. Once I get finished with the whole world I'll try to make sure they are where they should be and I'll be following your advice on checking in EIG to make sure nothing has shredded itself in the process. There is so much work to do still it'll be days, maybe weeks before I get to that point.
Also, it just so happens that most of the actual lots in this town will be off of the roads. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that this might help somewhat with the lots splitting from the world. I KNOW the lots are nothing but holes poked into the world, but my holes need their edges even with the NOT holes! In the end I will no doubt run into all kinds of these problems. The nature of this particular world is one that stretches C-A-W's limits. We no doubt understand why so many people make ordinary flat worlds. LOL
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I have my roads in place but they aren't really set yet, not much more than thrown in where they go. Once I get finished with the whole world I'll try to make sure they are where they should be and I'll be following your advice on checking in EIG to make sure nothing has shredded itself in the process. There is so much work to do still it'll be days, maybe weeks before I get to that point.
Regina, if you want to check for road tearing the best way I have found is to go into EIG but to not go into Edit Town yet (keep that for possible lot tearing). Move your camera just above the road in question and `drive` along it where you have placed a lot or where a lot is near. If the road is unbroken then go into Edit Town and check for lot tearing. I do this everytime I place a single lot or road. What a hassle :?
Best of luck with the hills too...I`m making a big decision right now regarding terrain painting and it involves my hills too. I`m being bold and going for granite and working my way from the mountaintops down. I think I may have worked a way to mix the waterfall`s shale(y) look with the granite, grass and light dirt look of the mountains. Well, as we both know...I think I may have worked it out, maybe? perhaps? possibly..?
The choice of trees, grass, and foliage gives beautiful coloring to your 2nd and 3rd image. I love the blend and how depth is achieved by color, placement of objects, and the overlapping effect. The cabin and the town in the background made for a nice photography angle and shot...good eye! The rocks in the foreground really set off the scenery. Overall, the basic shape and layout of your world looks really good. The mountains...fantastic!
I also like the time and detail you seem to have put into the cabin too. The overall layout is grand.
I admire your tenacity to continue to want to improve upon your textures and can understand the trials and frustrations of making your vision a virtual reality.
I have no doubts that many will like your world and would want to download it. I appreciate the time and effort that you have put into it so far and am grateful for your dedication to the task at hand.
Great job....looking forward to seeing more of your progress! Keep it up! Doing a good job.
P.S.
I haven't created my own world yet, it would be done much later down the line as time permits. I just wanted you to know that I have an appreciation for all who have taught themselves well to use the CAW tool and hopefully within the next few days, I may be able to start learning the tool myself.
Regina, if you want to check for road tearing the best way I have found is to go into EIG but to not go into Edit Town yet (keep that for possible lot tearing). Move your camera just above the road in question and `drive` along it where you have placed a lot or where a lot is near. If the road is unbroken then go into Edit Town and check for lot tearing. I do this everytime I place a single lot or road. What a hassle
Thank you, Johnny! I will definitely keep all that in mind. It definitely sounds like a hassle but it doesn't seem like there are many alternatives. I currently have a single lot placed that I don't want to have to place again, ever, and it's one that is in such a position that it gives easily to tearing the edge. I know overall when it comes to lot placement in this world I have my work cut out for me. Many of the lots will be placed on hills in spaced clusters (as in they won't be real close to each other either), although back from the roads. I hope C-A-W and I will eventually be able to come to an understanding so in the end there will be minimal problems.
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Snuttdi, thank you very much for your kind words. It`s always nice to know your work is appreciated. I feel all floaty and happy now so thank you so much
I hope you find your niche when you start using CAW and with a bit (a LOT) of patience and a keen eye you never know, you might be a CAW genius. I know I`ve given up before but second time round it is better, third time may even be great (be optimistic if you can, it helps a lot)
Regina, All I can do is wish you the very, very best when it comes for you to start placing those lots. I won`t say too much as it was hell for me, easily the most frustrating part of making my world (well, as yet?). Still, your policy of placing lots a wee bit from the road may be to your benefit regarding tearing and road tearing. Just go caw canny (as they say here in Scotland), just watch for that nasty smooth road option if road tears occur.
I resorted to not placing lots down in areas that it appears because smooth road cannot be trusted not to have an affect somewhere else in your world. Just pour yourself a strong coffee and always have a councillor handy just in case of mental breakdown.
BTW, it might be an idea to actually `drive` round your entire road network (once completed) in EIG (not in Edit Town) to check for road tears. I do this a lot, it`s a poor man`s Grand Theft Auto but it helps in the longrun.
Ooh, a strong cup of coffee. I can wish! I'll have to make sure I have plenty of ice water and fingernails! LOL (Caffeine doesn't do me well at all.) It will be days before I reach that stage, though. I didn't get to do much in C-A-W today so I'm hoping I'll be able to do at least a little bit tomorrow.
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I`m just working on the placement of trees at the moment and reaching the last few hurdles before I test in game to see if it works or to see if the last six weeks or so have been a complete waste of time? I must say though...adding trees has turned out to be quite a tricky business. How many fir trees is overkill? Buckthorn ~ my forest floor`s new best friend. Aspen trees for that lighter touch of green they add to a forest. Yellow daisy bushes resemble bracken and are therefor special. Randomly placed Boston ferns are my favourite `bottom of tree` decoration. Why not to place trees on mountaintops...and always wary of too many trees and that threat of a possible lag.
We shall see?
Well, I asked the question the other day of basically how many trees are too many and someone tested their world, which has a lot of trees, for me on a couple of different computers. One of theirs was an older lap-top with specs slightly under my PC (which is something like five years old and definitely wasn't state of the art when it was built) and had only very minor choppiness when in extremely heavily wooded areas. I concluded from their research and testing that a world could have a decent amount of forest without bogging the system down too much.
I figure it this way. If I can do something in a world and still run C-A-W then it will play in-game fine.
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Regina, I recall seeing that post regarding the tree/lag situation and if I remember correctly I recall a poster`s reply saying they had thousands of trees, perhaps six or seven thousand and only a wee bit lag in the most thickly wooded areas. Still, I have found myself getting a wee bit carried away with the old fir trees then stopping and working on actual arrangement of trees instead (a tall fir here, a clump of small firs there, an aspen or two here, a clump of junipers and spruce here and there).
I`m trying to layer the trees so that the coniferous trees exist on the higher ground and a gradual introduction of deciduous trees can be found as you reach sea level with islands of each variety on high and low ground. At least that`s the theory anyway.
But harking back to the trees/lag situation...I was kind of relieved when I saw that posting but it won`t stop me from being extraordinarily nervous these next few days.
Okays Regina, I have some pics of my forested areas on my island. I`m not sure if I should have posted them on the front page or not, oh well. I`m still placing trees in certain areas and it`s kinda tough but getting there...
Thanks dlegrow, I wasn`t too sure about that country sign but decided to keep it. Oh Regina, that`s really sweet of you. The scenery looks better from a distance...preferably from space
Johnny, maybe it's not the most perfect job out there, but I love it. Really, I do! So quit beating yourself up over it! It is way, way better than a huge amount of the worlds I've seen!
So, how is the play-testing going, and are you going to share it when you're finished or just torture us all with the beautiful scenery?
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Comments
Estyle36, I particularly like the beach at the bottom right of the first pic, it looks like it just slopes to the sea nice and easy. A good place for a lot or two. Good luck with it. Nice work
And Yay!! I THINK I almost got my mountain range shaped and the rocks all textured--maybe! They're not very good mountains in the grand scheme of things, rather a bit flat because of a lack of space, and somewhat on the side of whimsy. When I get them farther along I'll have to start my own thread maybe and post a screenshot.
Oh, I was going to tell you in case you don't know and I forgot. If you do start playing with your own terrain textures, it's good to know that they can replace any texture you're currently using easily. Right-click on the texture you want to replace and choose edit then navigate to where the new texture is. The Source Texture directory can take subs as well to help keep things organized.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you do replace the texture then still want to do some work on the replacement, save it with a new name each time you work on it. Otherwise C-A-W won't update what's on the map without reloading. It's rather a pain in the rear. Sometimes I have twenty images before I'm done.
Regarding your mountains, sometimes you never quite get it 100% to your imagined idea and if you keep tampering and tweaking you can get stuck in a quagmire of add and erase and repeat (I know i`m going through that right now with the terrain textures).
I started off with the terrain sculpting then added the roads then added the lots but now I can see where the terrain could be changed a wee bit, but I dare not tamper with it in fear of a domino affect on other areas of my island (a new tear here, a bit of road clipping there etc), so I`m leaving it be.
Okay, I knew from reading some threads you replied to that you are going to take some time working on your world before even the slightest hint of a thread dedicated to it and that`s exactly what I was doing, well, until now. You and I know there are some really beautiful, awesome worlds in the making out there and to be honest with you I was just too timid and humbled to think my little world would be of any interest to anyone after seeing pics of those worlds in the making.
I won`t name names but you probably know to whom I am referring. Still, we furrow our own paths into the wilderness of our imagination and hope we find a place our sims can call home. That last sentence was completely unnecessary, but I had to go there
There will be a time we just have to add that full stop to our work and it can`t come soon enough for me. You will know those times you cannot bear to open CAW as you are sick to death of seeing that world look back at you asking `those` questions of you! That`s when I find myself on the forum and that`s usually the time I see these amazing worlds and feel even worse about my own world...it`s a neverending conspiring spiral of anxiety. Saying all that...
...it`s the sims! Yay! All you need to raise those spirits is to create a nice lot or a lovely beach and all is back to being good with the world. As you can tell, I`m having a "I cannot bear to look at CAW right now" moment.
But as the popular sheakespearian actor and thespian governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger once said "I`ll be back!" :roll:
So, I traded my grass texture for dirt then started layering my textures in a way that makes sense. Dirt first, then rocks and a couple of reserved slots that currently hold textures I'm not using in case I want to add something later. After the rocks will come the grass then all of the stuff that can go on the grass like flowers and crops. Maybe I'll have a better time of it this way, maybe not. So, I'm back to repainting my mountains because to get it all ordered properly my poor mountains had to return to the basest of dirt.
I have my roads in place but they aren't really set yet, not much more than thrown in where they go. Once I get finished with the whole world I'll try to make sure they are where they should be and I'll be following your advice on checking in EIG to make sure nothing has shredded itself in the process. There is so much work to do still it'll be days, maybe weeks before I get to that point.
Also, it just so happens that most of the actual lots in this town will be off of the roads. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that this might help somewhat with the lots splitting from the world. I KNOW the lots are nothing but holes poked into the world, but my holes need their edges even with the NOT holes! In the end I will no doubt run into all kinds of these problems. The nature of this particular world is one that stretches C-A-W's limits. We no doubt understand why so many people make ordinary flat worlds. LOL
Best of luck with the hills too...I`m making a big decision right now regarding terrain painting and it involves my hills too. I`m being bold and going for granite and working my way from the mountaintops down. I think I may have worked a way to mix the waterfall`s shale(y) look with the granite, grass and light dirt look of the mountains. Well, as we both know...I think I may have worked it out, maybe? perhaps? possibly..?
Johnnywr
The choice of trees, grass, and foliage gives beautiful coloring to your 2nd and 3rd image. I love the blend and how depth is achieved by color, placement of objects, and the overlapping effect. The cabin and the town in the background made for a nice photography angle and shot...good eye! The rocks in the foreground really set off the scenery. Overall, the basic shape and layout of your world looks really good. The mountains...fantastic!
I also like the time and detail you seem to have put into the cabin too. The overall layout is grand.
I admire your tenacity to continue to want to improve upon your textures and can understand the trials and frustrations of making your vision a virtual reality.
I have no doubts that many will like your world and would want to download it. I appreciate the time and effort that you have put into it so far and am grateful for your dedication to the task at hand.
Great job....looking forward to seeing more of your progress! Keep it up! Doing a good job.
P.S.
I haven't created my own world yet, it would be done much later down the line as time permits. I just wanted you to know that I have an appreciation for all who have taught themselves well to use the CAW tool and hopefully within the next few days, I may be able to start learning the tool myself.
Keep pressing forward!
Thank you, Johnny! I will definitely keep all that in mind. It definitely sounds like a hassle but it doesn't seem like there are many alternatives. I currently have a single lot placed that I don't want to have to place again, ever, and it's one that is in such a position that it gives easily to tearing the edge. I know overall when it comes to lot placement in this world I have my work cut out for me. Many of the lots will be placed on hills in spaced clusters (as in they won't be real close to each other either), although back from the roads. I hope C-A-W and I will eventually be able to come to an understanding so in the end there will be minimal problems.
I hope you find your niche when you start using CAW and with a bit (a LOT) of patience and a keen eye you never know, you might be a CAW genius. I know I`ve given up before but second time round it is better, third time may even be great (be optimistic if you can, it helps a lot)
I resorted to not placing lots down in areas that it appears because smooth road cannot be trusted not to have an affect somewhere else in your world. Just pour yourself a strong coffee and always have a councillor handy just in case of mental breakdown.
BTW, it might be an idea to actually `drive` round your entire road network (once completed) in EIG (not in Edit Town) to check for road tears. I do this a lot, it`s a poor man`s Grand Theft Auto but it helps in the longrun.
We shall see?
I figure it this way. If I can do something in a world and still run C-A-W then it will play in-game fine.
I`m trying to layer the trees so that the coniferous trees exist on the higher ground and a gradual introduction of deciduous trees can be found as you reach sea level with islands of each variety on high and low ground. At least that`s the theory anyway.
But harking back to the trees/lag situation...I was kind of relieved when I saw that posting but it won`t stop me from being extraordinarily nervous these next few days.
So, how is the play-testing going, and are you going to share it when you're finished or just torture us all with the beautiful scenery?