Try out a new city?

Earl · Post by **Earl** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:02 am

Hey folks, I think at least one of my cities is now ready for your purveying...

http://rcpt.yousendit.com/702393664/7f3 ... 4bd197f1e5

All you have to do to try it out is de-compress the environment folder I provide, and drop into your root folder for EL(Where all the other files are. Mine is C:\\sw3dg\\EvochronLegends)

This will change the default city to a simple city I'm working out, I'd say it's about 60%. I made one kindof 'archetype' using those arched forms, and I'm going to use it to make several variants for different population sizes. This one's more of an outpost than a full out city.

However, the one I'm really proud of and have been spending way too much time on, I'm going to give you as a city-specific planet. Just for fun, you'll have to find it. It's located on a planet called Serene, which can be found in Clan Richton territory.
You can cheat and rename the file 'cityserene.x' to whatever planet you're closest to if you like(cityX.x), or just 'city.x' to set it as the global default.
This city still has a few texture issues and I'm going to keep adding more to it, but it's about 90%. There's one main entrance to the commercial bay area, and three service-tunnel type entrances you can use for variety. I'm thinking of a variant where the main bay is only accessible by the tunnels, but that might be too much hassle for the player.
Let me know what you think is missing. Next thing I want are some air ducts exposed on the inside walls to break up the space... and if there's still some loose polycount, some parked ships.

warsign · Post by **warsign** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:02 am

We need a screenshot to see it before downloading.

Awesome job. I like it so much.

Thank you very much Earl.

[Edited on 6-18-2009 by warsign]

dogeddie · Post by **dogeddie** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:30 pm

I'd love to see it. Will it change all the cities; is there a way to keep some of the originals and some of your new ones? This is gonna be cool!

Knight Rider · Post by **Knight Rider** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:55 pm

I would love to see a pic before downloading.

Earl · Post by **Earl** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:42 pm

Ah, you guys are no fun.
I didn't include a picture because I wanted you to explore

Plus the download is very small.
While taking screens I noticed a few strange missing faces.... Pay no mind, I've fixed them already.

http://azurewitch.deviantart.com/art/Co ... -126370012

From the way Vice has it set up, in order to do any custom cities you first have to change the default. If you try to do a planet-specific model, it will still come up as the default, or at least it did every time I tried. So, no, if you go custom, you can't have the original.

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:17 pm

Very, very nice indeed!

Post by **Vice** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:28 pm

Wow, very nice work Earl. I enjoyed exploring through the city before I saw the pictures

Earl · Post by **Earl** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:57 am

Hope I'm going in the right direction. It's still a little bit away from my final idea, but the all enclosed not-quite-a-dome shape is complete, there won't be any outlying buildings. I think I may make the shape more solid by removing some window space to make it look more like a bunker/outpost for hazardous planets. Mainly I just want it to be more worthwhile to go planetside and go in there. I spent some time beefing up the textures... Considering a slight change of color scheme, swapping the the yellow signage for blue, but since I tend to go for that all the time in my projects, just this once I might avoid it out of principle. On the other, less complete one, I'm thinking of creating a large docking pad/hanger complex with something battleship-sized parked there, like a colony ship.

Spartan992 · Post by **Spartan992** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:03 am

Gonna give it a go, but from the pictures it reminds me of Dragonball Z cities!:D

warsign · Post by **warsign** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:00 pm

Box design is so nice. Was good feeling to get in and out, like it definitely so much (serene city).

Good job there. Cheers!

Knight Rider · Post by **Knight Rider** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:56 pm

Wow. I've got to try this out. I'm on my way to Sol at quite a clip thanks to auto pilot, and was thinking of trying it on Mars. What's the easiest way to install it, and how do you change back, once you have tried it out? Thanks!

Earl · Post by **Earl** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:42 pm

Dragonball? LOL! Not so sure about that.
To add it to the planet of your choice, just change the file 'cityserene.x' to 'citymars.x' or whatever you want.
I haven't tried out the autopilot yet.... Actually I haven't played much due to obsession with this model, haha.

Daedalao · Post by **Daedalao** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:51 pm

It really does look great, haven't had a chance to explore it as I'm fussing with my own 3d models at the moment, anyways... Great job on that city!

Accountant · Post by **Accountant** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 1:18 am

Looking good, Earl! Very interesting to fly though the city. Only thing that bothers me is that it is so tall. I love the concept, though!

Also, when you release your final version, be sure to include a lights mesh. When I was browsing through the city, I noticed that the lights mesh of the city I am working on were used because the serene city did not have its own lights mesh.

Keep up the good work!

-Accountant

Earl · Post by **Earl** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 4:35 am

I'm starting to creat a lights mesh, but the thing is, as soon as it turns that on things get a lot darker. I'm going to have to adjust some of my textures. It does look cool though. Along with a few running lights, I've used it to put shields over the roads in the exposed bay areas. I figure, in an industrial/commercial center, by the 2xth century we'd have thought of it for protection from falling objects

I'm doing a little planning for my new job (HS Art teacher right in my hometown. TOTALLY psyched) so I may not post the final version right away. But I promise, the next thing I post will be the final version.
I actually like it very tall! It seems like the game engine makes things just a tad taller than my modeling program. When I scale it up to export, I decided on (For this model anyway) 17/15/17, which makes it look kinda fat in the export, but still a tad tall ingame. I wouldn't mind making it shorter and fatter still, but I'm concerned about the ease of flying through it then. The tunnels are already a bit jostly. I can scale those up a bit more though.

Accountant · Post by **Accountant** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 9:55 pm

Yeah, I understand about the sizing issues. I just thought that I would throw that out there

The shields on the roads sounds cool. Seems like everyone has neat ideas, and then there's me

Good luck with the new job!

-Accountant

Earl · Post by **Earl** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 6:52 am

Here's the latest... Figured a video would be neater than a screenshot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSDlHEoOqyk

A lot has been added since the last time, including a docking bay and a very large cargo ship parked outside...
Sizing has been addressed. It's still big, but I was able to shrink it a bit by making the service tunnels much larger and widening the docking bay area.
More suggestions, please! I'm not going to add any more geometry as game stability is an issue I'm starting to rub into, but refinement is still needed.

Post by **Vice** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:05 am

Wow, are those transparent glass covers for the internal roadways? That's amazing Earl, nice work! The detail on that, especially on the inside when your flying around to land at the docking platform, is awesome.

warsign · Post by **warsign** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:54 am

Looks awesome!
Thank you Earl.

DennyMala · Post by **DennyMala** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:01 am

Really awesome job. That is entirely another dimension to cities in EL.

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:24 am

Yeah! it is good! How come you can't do that Vice?;):P

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 12:03 pm

Whoa! that's really impressive !!!!!

tha_rami · Post by **tha_rami** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 2:03 pm

Impressive indeed. Could be interesting to see the city processing developed further to support such cities better.

By the way, I'm honored you put that on Serene planet

.

warsign · Post by **warsign** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 2:43 pm

Agreed.

Earl · Post by **Earl** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 5:01 pm

Yeah, it does load rather suddenly, if that what you guys are takling about

It's mostly my fault for making something so huge. It is shorter than it was before.... I can make it shorter, if you think I need to