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Custom Distant Terrain Kit
tjstreak
Posts: 808 Member
A while ago, I started work on a custom distant terrain kit. http://tjstreaksnotsonaughtysims.blogspot.com/2011/10/custom-distant-terrain-creation-kit.html
The idea is actually pretty simple. One starts with a flat distant terrain. And I mean as flat as Kansas.
As things stand, the distant terrain extends one world length in each direction. It can be extended quite easily and with very little trouble. But at this size, it really is difficult to see any water in the background.
The top picture above shows a view of the distant terrain. The hole in the center is where your world goes. A compass rose in the middle of the distant terrain goes in the dead center of your world.
You then can slide other terrain elements onto this flat terrain. (Using the blue, red and green lines, it is possible to slide objects onto the distant terrain). Many of the screenshots I have made are of objects (like ships and aircraft) which actually have been placed on distant terrain with the camera facing my world.
I have made a few hills, a few forests, a residential neighborhood and even several castles. Also, many of the deco buildings I have made can be placed on the distant terrain.
A residential neighborhood as a single object.
I was highly reluctant to make this kit, and whether I continue work on it sort of depends on whether there is any interest in a project like this and the reception it gets.
Future additions would include more hill objects, towns, rivers, roads, mountains, cityscapes and even a full sized airport, like LAX. I have backburnered a modular mesh which allows the creation of hills, mountains and other local relief with a minimum of meshing skills.
The idea is actually pretty simple. One starts with a flat distant terrain. And I mean as flat as Kansas.
As things stand, the distant terrain extends one world length in each direction. It can be extended quite easily and with very little trouble. But at this size, it really is difficult to see any water in the background.
The top picture above shows a view of the distant terrain. The hole in the center is where your world goes. A compass rose in the middle of the distant terrain goes in the dead center of your world.
You then can slide other terrain elements onto this flat terrain. (Using the blue, red and green lines, it is possible to slide objects onto the distant terrain). Many of the screenshots I have made are of objects (like ships and aircraft) which actually have been placed on distant terrain with the camera facing my world.
I have made a few hills, a few forests, a residential neighborhood and even several castles. Also, many of the deco buildings I have made can be placed on the distant terrain.
A residential neighborhood as a single object.
I was highly reluctant to make this kit, and whether I continue work on it sort of depends on whether there is any interest in a project like this and the reception it gets.
Future additions would include more hill objects, towns, rivers, roads, mountains, cityscapes and even a full sized airport, like LAX. I have backburnered a modular mesh which allows the creation of hills, mountains and other local relief with a minimum of meshing skills.
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Comments
I'm more interested in the natural elements like new rivers, but man-made objects really make a neighborhood look more realistic unless you're strictly playing an isolated old-fashioned world, which I generally don't do. I like the idea of an airport. I love the customization possibilities that this whole project presents, with the ability to make a terrain that is as natural or as urban as the creator wishes. I can't wait to make really beautiful natural landscapes studded with distant buildings and objects; I think I want to play with a similar idea myself to get some coastline in there.
I'll be watching this very closely and I definitely hope you continue working on this project. Thank you so much for sharing.
Open the package with s3pe.
Scroll down and select the OBJD file, then hit the Grid button at the bottom to edit it.
In the popup window, open CommonBlock > BuildBuyProductStatusFlags and change the value of Unknown7 to 0x01.
Hit the Commit button at the bottom of the popup window, and don't forget to save your package.
That said, TJ is clearly far more versed in this material than I am, so there's probably a reason. Likewise, I can only speak for the files as they are when extracted to packages, since I don't mess around with Sims3Packs very often.
For some reason, completely unknown to me, items which have been enabled for CAW, do not work when extracted to packages. This has not always been the case. Prior to Generations, there was no problem with this. But Generations did something, I don't know what. And I really don't care to investigate beyond that.
So, all of my stuff is in Sims3packs, where they continue to work just fine. In fact, I just placed Stonehenge in Flatworld (one of my testing worlds) without any problems.
It's real simple, just double click on the sims3pack, and the launcher does all of the work for you. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.