Project Slaanhatten

[Slaan]

Link has been updated in OP and is HERE for convenience

 

20 'complete' sections with a map included to show where they are. Give it a try and see how you think the performance is running around the newer sections.

 

**edit** I stripped out all of the prefabs from navezgane for this so that the distant meshes for the buildings I'd overwrite don't clip through the city. BigC has made me a nifty script that will remove the offending prefabs from the XML but I don't have that to hand atm so you get the quick and dirty version.

 

@stallion, gonna crack on with the RWG tests now

Edited September 14, 2017 by Slaan (see edit history)

[Slaan]

 

This be the game freezing error, I think this is the same one I got back in experimental. There's a whole bunch of null errors popping up but this was just a quick setup of the mixer at my end and I've a bit of 'tidying' to do as far as the layout code goes.

 

Same as before tho mostly, the hub can be previewed without issue and it's not till you visit the areas in game that it throws this at me.

[stallionsden]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]22666[/ATTACH]

 

This be the game freezing error, I think this is the same one I got back in experimental. There's a whole bunch of null errors popping up but this was just a quick setup of the mixer at my end and I've a bit of 'tidying' to do as far as the layout code goes.

 

Same as before tho mostly, the hub can be previewed without issue and it's not till you visit the areas in game that it throws this at me.

 

Ok will pm this to kin. Could it be a rwgmixer thing i remember putting in something wrong like the sections not matching how they spose to be and getting that error. And def not saying thats whats happening as you are brilliant doing the custom layout whereas i not so much lol.

 

Maybe also if we add some output.logs as well might be helpful for kin

Edited September 14, 2017 by stallionsden (see edit history)

[Slaan]

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197978747455/screenshot/880874231530917717 after some tidying up.

[Pille]

Other than the layout code issues with RWG, my biggest worry atm is performance, as gorgeous as it looks I think the constant switch from distant terrain to nearby draw distance is having a huge impact, try stacking a socket city full of big buildings over a large area and you'll start to see what I mean.

 

Actually the performance isn't bad if you walk through the city (flying or driving is another story though, lol). However, the memory consumption is very high. You need more than 16 GB. I think that's ok. An extraordinary project should require an extraordinary amount of memory.^^

[Slaan]

Actually the performance isn't bad if you walk through the city (flying or driving is another story though, lol). However, the memory consumption is very high. You need more than 16 GB. I think that's ok. An extraordinary project should require an extraordinary amount of memory.^^

 

As of 16.3 I think things seen an improvement or maybe it was my corrupt as hell installation. I'm working on fleshing out the remaining empty hub lots to better define the hub area as a more finished 'shape' to make it a bit more clear on where's good to build/what needs to be a hill or ramp for terrain blending etc. So expect the next version of the project to balloon in size with possible resource consumption increases but I think after that I don't predict it ever getting much bigger, the odd extra building and features will not add much more onto the final file sizes.

 

I've moved onto what I would call the next level of building style (the v2.0 I spoke of earlier) where instead of building everything into a single cityblock prefab I've decided to take the 'safer' approach to my liberal use of the vanilla and community released builds that make up the content of the city. Without being able to actually get into a game where I can fly to the coordinates to check placement of prefabs it's a bit of a slower process atm getting the exact coords needed to spawn something in the exact spot (actually I think I can use navezgane as a temp solution for this come to think of it).

 

This probably sounds like the ramblings of a crazy man, but the short version is I'll build up the cityblocks with the terrain/layouts and smaller permanent features (highway/sewers) but will switch over to dropping the buildings themselves in through the hub layout code and drop then into the city ontop of the cityblocks. I need a way to minimise the 'converting' and fixing between alphas and this is defo the best way I can think of atm. A good 60% of the buildings within the hub are from vanilla, imagine if all I had to do between versions was to rename a bunch of vanilla prefabs, the layout code itself very rarely has to change once it's set.

 

I'll state officially here and now tho, I'm working entirely on a concept that technically does not work, until the issues with custom hubs are fixed this is just a dream until the next patch....Alpha 17... just saying...

[Pille]

Slaan has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space.

 

Naughty boy. I cannot contact you.

[Slaan]

Naughty boy. I cannot contact you.

 

fixed

[Slaan]

So it's looking like a17 could be the time for custom hubs to make their return, outside of the test version I've already put up I don't intend to release another 'playable' version till the code is working properly.

 

Gotta admit I'm a little disappointed about the wait but I'm fairly confident we'll get them back now at least so it's time to start taking things a bit more seriously again and get some videos/blogs pumped out as I've got a ton of new 'content' that only a handful of people have been privy too.

 

The hub area itself has almost been completely fleshed out with it's base terrain/hills/road layouts, this is gonna make people who want to get involved have a much clearer indication of what's 'empty' space waiting for some love and what's to be left alone. My main objective atm is to finish these prefab sections off and not necessarily set the hub area in stone, but get it to a point where it just needs some buildings and wilderness love.

 

 

I've not counted them but you can see the 1521 x 1521 area is almost complete. The other major change to the hub as a whole is the Y offset has been removed so the bottom layer of the hub sits at ground level. This is basically to keep the distant terrain meshes looking sexy and although it has meant a reasonable amount of work to facelift the outside of the hub it's well worth it when you can see from one end of a tunnel to the other, or see the river/ships/docks and other things that would have been below ground level and hidden by the 'natural' distant terrain.

 

 

 

The Slaanfrancisco bridge should be open for business soon, standing at 120m tall at it's highest point and expecting to be around 500m long, it will close the highway loop within the city and have it's own fair share of sleepers/loots/explorable hidden bits. The last picture shows roughly where it will cross and engineers from around the world are scratching their heads at how to stop it from collapsing the second someone farts in that direction.

 

All you prefabbers with a16+ builds, now is the time to start thinking about where they would fit in the city, Slaanhattens retirement plan is second to none with views and vistas just waiting to overlook your prefabs.

 

Get ya thinking caps on, I'd like to add/build something special when I hit 3000 hours played, a commemorative milestone to celebrate still being at it almost two years after I started the project.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Slaan (see edit history)

[legendfire77]

hi, would it be compatible with Magoli's Compo-Pack ?

[Kaiser502]

Cant wait.

[Slaan]

hi, would it be compatible with Magoli's Compo-Pack ?

 

Yes, the hub itself will take up a single cell and work much nicer with magolis' or the vanilla mixer now the cell size does not need to be crazy big.

 

Still the thing to remember is we probably won't be able to use the hub other than in Navezgane till the layout code is fixed, means the next playable version will seem like a whole new mod even for the people who've used it since the beginning. My last post was just a heads up that the project in general is alive and kicking.

[stallionsden]

So it's looking like a17 could be the time for custom hubs to make their return, outside of the test version I've already put up I don't intend to release another 'playable' version till the code is working properly.

 

Gotta admit I'm a little disappointed about the wait but I'm fairly confident we'll get them back now at least so it's time to start taking things a bit more seriously again and get some videos/blogs pumped out as I've got a ton of new 'content' that only a handful of people have been privy too.

 

The hub area itself has almost been completely fleshed out with it's base terrain/hills/road layouts, this is gonna make people who want to get involved have a much clearer indication of what's 'empty' space waiting for some love and what's to be left alone. My main objective atm is to finish these prefab sections off and not necessarily set the hub area in stone, but get it to a point where it just needs some buildings and wilderness love.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]23040[/ATTACH]

 

I've not counted them but you can see the 1521 x 1521 area is almost complete. The other major change to the hub as a whole is the Y offset has been removed so the bottom layer of the hub sits at ground level. This is basically to keep the distant terrain meshes looking sexy and although it has meant a reasonable amount of work to facelift the outside of the hub it's well worth it when you can see from one end of a tunnel to the other, or see the river/ships/docks and other things that would have been below ground level and hidden by the 'natural' distant terrain.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]23041[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]23042[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]23043[/ATTACH]

 

 

The Slaanfrancisco bridge should be open for business soon, standing at 120m tall at it's highest point and expecting to be around 500m long, it will close the highway loop within the city and have it's own fair share of sleepers/loots/explorable hidden bits. The last picture shows roughly where it will cross and engineers from around the world are scratching their heads at how to stop it from collapsing the second someone farts in that direction.

 

All you prefabbers with a16+ builds, now is the time to start thinking about where they would fit in the city, Slaanhattens retirement plan is second to none with views and vistas just waiting to overlook your prefabs.

 

Get ya thinking caps on, I'd like to add/build something special when I hit 3000 hours played, a commemorative milestone to celebrate still being at it almost two years after I started the project.

 

THAT BRIDGE (SLAANFRANCISCO BRIDGE) I AM IN LOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEE. welcome to take a look at any of my city combos lol if you wish :-) nice downtown business. Really thinking a link from slaanhatten to my airport would be cool hehe (if you liked the international airport I am building currently that is haha :-P it will be 1023 x 1023 approx in size.

 

AGain SLaan your work is totally awesome and look forward to seeing what other goodies you come up with :-)

[legendfire77]

Yes, the hub itself will take up a single cell and work much nicer with magolis' or the vanilla mixer now the cell size does not need to be crazy big.

 

Still the thing to remember is we probably won't be able to use the hub other than in Navezgane till the layout code is fixed, means the next playable version will seem like a whole new mod even for the people who've used it since the beginning. My last post was just a heads up that the project in general is alive and kicking.

 

thank you

[Pille]

Looks fantastic.

[Spectral Force]

Whats the FPS like? Also are you releasing any of the buildings as individual prefabs?

[Kam R.]

Bridge looks awesome, nice work.

[Slaan]

Whats the FPS like? Also are you releasing any of the buildings as individual prefabs?

 

Checkout the first post, the download link for the test version is still up and your able to load this into navezgane for the time being so I'll let you be the judge of that. It's not quite what you see in the pics above but it's pretty close.

 

As for individual releases of particular builds, things like the bridge will be a 'separate' prefab that I drop over the city so it will be there in the prefabs folder for people to use as they want, anything else in there takes your fancy then feel free to extract any or all of it and use however you like. Due to the way I started the project almost every section of city has all of the buildings added as one giant prefab, this method will change slightly for some things as It moves forward but generally speaking most of my personal builds are set into those city sections.

 

My mini-fabs folder I used to provide with the project download included everything I've ever made to use as part of the city from small sections of highway to things like the toppled skyscraper, however due to a lot of them being around since A12 the conversion process was mostly skipped. I'll defo try to continue that as I find having all these props ready to use (especially with the way pilles editor is working now) is quite handy and they often form a good starting point for new builds. If I find I've completed things like the bridge before custom hubs get fixed then I will make the prefabs available for people to use... tho I can't imagine what you'd use a giant bridge for (for me I actually 'needed' one lol), your more than welcome to use it however you like.

[Slaan]

THAT BRIDGE (SLAANFRANCISCO BRIDGE) I AM IN LOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEE. welcome to take a look at any of my city combos lol if you wish :-) nice downtown business. Really thinking a link from slaanhatten to my airport would be cool hehe (if you liked the international airport I am building currently that is haha :-P it will be 1023 x 1023 approx in size.

 

AGain SLaan your work is totally awesome and look forward to seeing what other goodies you come up with :-)

 

An airport the size of a city... is that a single giant prefab? I still think an airport would be a great addition but I want to try hold of extending the hub beyond it's current size and just don't think I have space once the highway loop is set in properly. Ofc things can and probabl;y will change as the base terrain gets completed so I may end up reworking some parts to try and squeeze in a runway or two, we'll see how things work out.

[Pille]

Checkout the first post, the download link for the test version is still up and your able to load this into navezgane for the time being so I'll let you be the judge of that. It's not quite what you see in the pics above but it's pretty close.

 

As for individual releases of particular builds, things like the bridge will be a 'separate' prefab that I drop over the city so it will be there in the prefabs folder for people to use as they want, anything else in there takes your fancy then feel free to extract any or all of it and use however you like. Due to the way I started the project almost every section of city has all of the buildings added as one giant prefab, this method will change slightly for some things as It moves forward but generally speaking most of my personal builds are set into those city sections.

 

My mini-fabs folder I used to provide with the project download included everything I've ever made to use as part of the city from small sections of highway to things like the toppled skyscraper, however due to a lot of them being around since A12 the conversion process was mostly skipped. I'll defo try to continue that as I find having all these props ready to use (especially with the way pilles editor is working now) is quite handy and they often form a good starting point for new builds. If I find I've completed things like the bridge before custom hubs get fixed then I will make the prefabs available for people to use... tho I can't imagine what you'd use a giant bridge for (for me I actually 'needed' one lol), your more than welcome to use it however you like.

 

Mhh I think I should give u a way to export and import sleeper volumes (not just blocks). So it would be very easy to make individual prefabs. This is necessary for another feature anyway....

[stallionsden]

An airport the size of a city... is that a single giant prefab? I still think an airport would be a great addition but I want to try hold of extending the hub beyond it's current size and just don't think I have space once the highway loop is set in properly. Ofc things can and probabl;y will change as the base terrain gets completed so I may end up reworking some parts to try and squeeze in a runway or two, we'll see how things work out.

 

Haha yeh it's massive. But still a long way off finished lol. Yeh I know it be to big to add to slaanhatten lol. But hoping to finish it before a17 comes out haha.....

[Slaan]

Mhh I think I should give u a way to export and import sleeper volumes (not just blocks). So it would be very easy to make individual prefabs. This is necessary for another feature anyway....

 

When I've added thinds like the dishong tower, rather than make them a permanent feature I dropped them into a spot that's been tailored to fit them, just re-naming the prefab and trimming layers/rows/columns if needed, however adjusting the overall shape of the prefab messed up the sleeper volumes but even then it was not too much work to skim thru the layers and adjust them. Means in A17+ when the block id's explode again I can just do this process again for a fully updated prefab instead of the manual by had/editor fixing I've been doing.

 

I'm imagining being able to select an area similar to the export prefab box but it would only include the volumes and just adjust the coords so they fit nice when importing into another prefab? I think with most vanilla prefabs all volumes are mostly contained within the building anyway and only a few (ground level hospital is one) have volumes that extend the full size of the prefab.

 

*edit*

 

Perhaps even having a folder of volumes designed to fit into pre-determined sized buildings and being able to import them as needed. Or the reverse for me and being able to export the volumes from say a stucco house and importing it over all the stucco houses I have in the south of the hub.

 

Gah... rambling now... the possibilities!!

Edited October 21, 2017 by Slaan (see edit history)

[Slaan]

Not quite finished, but the first version of the bridge is almost done and it's a bit of a beast. 530m long, 120m tall.

 

 

Probably gonna remove the cables for the mesh, not a big fan of them tunrning into blocks and the frame/towers of the bridge itself will look decent enough on the horizon.

[Guppycur]

I'm imagining hitting one block and the whole thing comes crashing down...

 

...but it's frikkin' beautiful.

[Slaan]

I'm imagining hitting one block and the whole thing comes crashing down...

 

Something like that haha but truth be told I've not tested to see how bad it is, It will probably end up needing some ugly support legs beneath.