Cities: Skylines

Scotty123 · 19 Mar 2015 at 21:57

Hoping to finish this at the weekend. Nearly finished making the "shell". Then I'll give it some depth, overlapping faces etc to represent the glass panes - the finer details. Not so flat and boring then. Following that, a cleanup e.g. delete non-visible polygons. Finally will be texturing. Although it is mostly glass so the maps are pretty straightforward!

It's the Shard (well almost, can't go too detailed with polygons in games etc, want to keep it as low as possible

).

Scotty123 · 20 Mar 2015 at 01:01

I thought about using solidworks but then from past experience the stl files have so many triangles, as you would expect from cad. I figured I can't be bothered to fix it for a game. Best to design it ground up with few polygons. Given the nature of what I'm making, no curves etc, it's not going to have many.

Still, parametric modelling is more suited to buildings and I get fussy if dimensions etc don't match. Was a bit of a fiddle in Blender, but then I got some cad addons for it. Made the job so much easier.

I usually use gimp to get dimensions from drawings. Again, I'm fussy about everything being perfect haha.

Scotty123 · 20 Mar 2015 at 09:12

Illgresi said:
I'd love to have the time to sit and learn 3DSMAX again, but its been 15 years since I could call myself proficient! I learned a little SW over the course of the past couple of years during my current degree, so I felt it was a good starting point. I'm sure I could make a more 'tri' efficient model in 3DSMAX if I spent the time, but SW makes it so easy.

Also, I partly did the model as an exercise to see how accurate I could make it. There are curves and details where there need not be. The curve under the canopy and the overhangs of the tiers...

https://christoskoukis.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/40.jpg

...which would never be seen in game.

I reckon I could half it if necessary. Let's face it, for a unique/monument building, even 12k wont break a reasonable computer.

I can't skin to save myself tho!

Substance Painter is easy for making professional looking textures on the UV maps. I'd recommend trying the one month trial. Unwrap your mesh in Max, import into Substance Painter, then get painting onto it.

Scotty123 · 13 Jul 2017 at 18:49

Not played this since it first came out and would like to get into it. Quite overwhelmed now with the amount of mods for it and how to get started. It's the pretty videos on YouTube that have roped me back in to it

.

I only have the vanilla version, no DLC either. Some people's games on YouTube look very realistic too, better trees. Must be a mod I guess.

Scotty123 · 13 Jul 2017 at 21:19

That's what I've wondered. Are there any essential mods so to speak?

Scotty123 · 15 Jul 2017 at 19:27

Vimes said:
^^^^ some of the city layouts are also amazing....! I only have around 300 hours in this game, not a lot compared to many, and yet my cities tend to implode at around 180,000 pop. Often that is due to traffic or just me getting fed up with how they tend to look - not much flow or style. Watching several "Lets Play" vids on YT, I'm following a few now, and I have got the feeling that this game can suit the person who obsesses over detail, and symmetry. The time that some take to place rails and roads and then decorate them with props is staggering. I'll drop a road and it will have to look really bad for me to try and alter its shape much to be considered perfect.

I do not have much of a creative flair and coupled with not a great need for things to be that symmetrical or organised it goes to explain why my cities look as they do and yet others produce such masterpieces.

I have severely reduced the amount of assets that I used to create building themes in districts. It was fun for a while but can be very hardware demanding. Also it can be annoying when they require so many other props to look as they should and some author removes or renames a prop in the workshop.

I now only have a few assets and around twenty or so mods.

Bottom line is for me though is that I have fun

Great game and I have bought each of the DLC's as they were released. I was disappointed with Snowfall as I thought, my bad, that it would introduce seasons like they did in the Total War games. Instead you get to play on a permanent Winter map only. After Dark is good, but for building the night cycle is rubbish for visibility so I have turned off the day and night setting.

Be careful, the Workshop can be an addictive place....!

Yeah I've seen some lovely ones on YouTube. I don't have much creativity, I just make lots of bland grids

.