Working On It

[curiousb]

I've been randomly and sporadically working on those default replacements that I was wittering about a couple of weeks ago, and thought it was time to post some WIP pictures.

Progress has been slow, mostly as work is completely hellish at the moment (and I'm not joking), and is draining all my energy and what little creativity I possess, but I have snatched a few minutes here and there in all the madness to experiment with some terrain replacements, my bigfoot eye replacement and a vampire default. And here is bigfoot himself, to start things off:

I've simply combined NekoSurge's default skin replacement with some of my own NLTS eyes (in Yumedust's 'Coals'), on a dark sclera. I like him so much like this that I think every one of my families should have one!

OK, onto the vampire replacement - this is Pyxis' 'Snow' skintone, at 50% opacity (shown here overlaying one of Pyxis' 'Venice' skintones), with my own NLTS eyes in 'Scarlet' - I'm not sure about the eyes, and might change them, and I will be doing a version without a replacement eye too. And yes, it's a vampire in a swimsuit, for no really good reason, doing the traditional vampire 'bleh' (at poor old bigfoot, who seemed rather upset about it to be honest, especially since she 'bleh'd' him several times!):

Terrains! Vibrant grass and worn road (the road has had a bit more work since this, to smooth out any obvious joins in the texture, but is essentially the same):

Hmmm, is the grass too green? I wanted greener than the Maxis version, but something that still looked natural. Oh, and the road is a completely separate replacement to the grass, so there's no need to have both if you prefer not to.

Desert - I've scaled the texture up a bit since this, but it gives you the idea:

Dirt - I'm aiming for scrubby ground, rather than just earth, which I think looks a bit overwhelming when spread over a whole terrain:

Possibly my favourite, concrete:

There's a bit of a weird issue with 'hood lighting not matching lot lighting, so there's a very obvious join between the two in lot view that I need to fix:

I'm also going to experiment with some other textures, but I'm pretty pleased with how they're coming along. Annnnnd, that's all, folks!

(P.S. Thanks to Eva, for her marvellous suggestion of using SimWardrobe's 'Bigfoot in a Box' to test the eye default; the idea of a pre-packed yeti tickled my sense of humour so much that I couldn't resist adding it to my game on a permanent basis!)

Comments

[eefje00704]

I really like all of them, actually. I'll definitely be downloading the bigfoot eye replacement. About the vampire, how does it look with a dark skin underneath it? And can I suggest doing a transparent overlay for the eye as well? I think Rensim had one like that, where the original eye shows through, with a reddish sheen over it. I like being able to see the sim's original genetics.

I think all of the neighbourhood terrains look great. I think they're the best ones I've seen so far. Do you know if it's possible to use separate terrain and road replacements? I used to know this but forgot. Not that your roads aren't good, they look very good, just not very suitable for my medieval 'hood ;)

[curiousb]

Thank you, Eva!

I did have a quick look at the vampire overlay on a darker skin, and I liked the effect, but didn't get a picture I'm afraid. When I get around to sharing them, I will provide more (and better!) pictures though. Oh, and yes indeed, I am planning on also making a version that doesn't completely replace the eyes, and I rather like the idea of some sort of translucent eye overlay (might be hard to get it looking right though, as irises can vary so much in size...)

It's perfectly possible to have separate road and terrain replacements, and in fact that's exactly what mine are (I'm sorry I didn't make that very clear!), so there's no need to have the road as well if you only want the terrain. I have also considered making a more rustic (more suitable for people with historically-themed games) looking road, but haven't yet found a suitable texture. :)

[eefje00704]

Aha. I think I'll be downloading everything but the concrete terrain then!

[kizzy_sims]

This all looks great! I really like the grassy terrain, I have (or want to have) a very brighly coloured game, and that would look great in it! xD I hate the Maxis original one, it's so shabby, not particularly realistic and just not nice in general. I will be glad to get rid of it! ;D

[curiousb]

Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants bright green grass! :D

Thank you!

[zx-ta.livejournal.com]

I love every single part of this! Can't wait to try them (especially this concrete and the road, they're AWESOME :) )

Zx_Ta

[curiousb]

Thanks! Yes, I'm pretty pleased with the concrete and the road myself! :)

They're coming soon, I promise!

[digitaldollies]

I love how green the grass is as well. As most everyone knows I love bright cheerful and fun. I'm going to snag all of this once you get it done.

[curiousb]

Yay, someone else who wants bright green grass! I really must get off my backside and finish these...

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Can you please tell me what you change in order to change the neighborhood terrain textures? I have searched and searched and cannot find them. Since so many people have done this, I keep thinking the answer must be obvious, but I can't figure it out. And I've asked in a couple of places and not gotten an answer (my paranoid mind says it's because it's a dumb question, that the files are obvious, so nobody wants to deal with me on it). I've got most of the graphics made for a yellow-grass desert replacement (California style), but I don't know where they go.

[curiousb]

Oh, that sounds like an interesting default - would love to see it!

Anyway, the easiest way to make any default, including terrain defaults, is simply to change the textures in an existing default replacement (since you can only have one default of any type in your game at any time, it doesn't matter that they have the same GUID, etc.) - as the basis for mine, I'm using Ja's files. (Find them here: http://javiera.dreamwidth.org/). Hope that helps!

terrains

[xtinabobina]

*o* omg your terrains are ah-may-zing. i cannot wait!

Re: terrains

[curiousb]

Thank you! :D

Sorry to keep everyone waiting on these, but there are some improvements that I really want to make, and real life just keeps thwarting me!