"3d Trial Mods"

Well. Just finished reading all the tutorials required to create mods. Doing this while I'm waiting for my switches to be shipped out, LOL.

Now that I have a real good heads up on these tutorials, it isn't so bad after all. Actually, the hardest part is placing the furniture without actually being able to see where it's going.

Creating the class file, especially if you use an existing one, is real simple. And by the way, that's cheating for anyone who actually knows XML language. (only kidding!)

Honestly, I would advise anyone who is learning to create these mods to check out some of the courses by Linda.com in XML, or even go to w3schools; http://www.w3schools.com/. It's free, and if people understood a little bit about XML and HTML, and how it's structured, they would find this to be a whole lot easier.

Now once I get my system put together, maybe we can start pumping out some mods for the world to share.

Many thanks to all of you that created these tutorials. Hats off to all of you, great job!!

Time to call it a day, or a night. LOL

 

Have a question, 2 Sided material.

In most other modding, such as Trainz, or Rollercoaster Tycoon, you can use a single plain, and select 2 sided material when importing the model, and your material shows up on both sides, like with a fence. Without, the poly is transparent on one side.

In 3ds max, there is a setting for 2 sided material. Do we use this, or am I missing something?

If you must extrude out the poly, and use single sides, on a pole using 2 faces, your triangle count goes from 4 to 24.

Thanks

 

Gotcha, So no 2 sided faces in Cities XL.

This explains why I have over 1000 less triangles than the tutorial!

Thanks for he help!

 

Another question.

The building in Mr.X²'s tutorial is a t3 industry, with a carpet size, so far, of 40m x 80m. The back base of the train platform is at Y 20m, the front edge of the carpet is at Y -20m, but the back side of the awning hangs over at Y -21.3m.

Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe everything on the model must be within that 40x80 carpet. Is this right?

Simple fix, shift the carpet Y 1.3m and reset the pivot point to 0.0, or do I shift the carpet, center the pivot on the model, then center the model to 0.0?

Then do this to l2, l3, l4,


Thanks

 

Thanks nicko2u, I think I have it now.

How are you Mr.X²? So far all is well with your tutorial, now that I got my Win7 and using Max 2012.

Yes, I am fallowing your exact building, I just could not get a good view of the back, outside of the one on your actual mod page. I was using measurements from where I had scaled up the actual Sketchup model to the size of your model, and when I did the awning was hanging over the platform.

I figured this would be OK though, since, things such as cranes, and booms would stick out over some areas in the game,
I just wasn't sure. I am quickly realizing that these models require a little more effort than I thought. And I don't want to have to go back and start over.


Anyway, the base model is now finished, I am working on the texture package now. That part should go pretty easy.

For the record, I am using Gimp to create the textures. The "Gimp Normal Map Plug-in" can be found here; http://registry.gimp.org/node/69
I have Photoshop set up, but for those who don't have Photoshop, Gimp is freeware. Also the settings on the program match very close to the one in the tutorial.


Thanks again for all the help, will be back when I have the texture pack done.

 

Well, I'm back!!

I have a few questions about the textures. I will try and cover them all in this one post.

First questions are for Nicko2u about the "Basic Light map Tutorial"

1. "Under Output, click the ADD… button and then select the LightingMap option. Add a File Name and Type for
your new map. .png file types are good."
Do I only type in the name field the file name and type, or do I select the file tab to the right, this promps me to save the file, do I save the file at this time? Or, when you render out the lighting map, do you save the file at that time, or simply close the renderer, and keep the one before?

2. "Done. Apply the material to your model."
I noticed in Mr.X2's tutorial, it seems that he is using one material ball for all textures, and it appears that you are using a material ball for each texture. If this is correct, are you adding the textures to the model individualy, by selecting the _LM texture from the main map, and then on the screen with the coordinance, naming and assigning the material to the model at that point?


Second question is for Mr.X2

1. When you add your textures to the Material Editor, Are you adding the name in the name feild, just above the Coordinance field? Or, are you simply adding them to the Map field, naming the material ball, and then assigning the entire ball to the model.

2. Assigning materials using both prosedures as above, when I export to viewer, I get no reflection, no bump at all, all I seem to get is my opacity map. Am I doing something wrong, or do these textures even show up in the Viewer, such as normal maps and reflection maps?

Well, Just about got it. The file part will be simple, as long as the pack-unpack works the way it should. LOL


I am going to add the images of my texture pack bellow. Please let me know if they are correct, how they look and how I named them.

1. b_trs_" "_t3_dif_l1 1024 x 1024
2. b_trs_" "_t3_bp_l1 512 x 512
3. b_trs_" "_t3_sp_l1 256 x 256
4. Four was questionable, since the abbreviation for the reflection map was not included in the tutorial I seen about textures. But I think this is right; b_trs_" "_t3_rf_l1 512 x 512
5. b_trs_" "_t3_op_l1 1024 x 1024
6. b_trs_" "_t3_ill_l1 256 x 256

Again, Thanks for all your help.
It isn't far now, just get over this little hump, and it's all down hill from there!!