City street grid

[H-Hour]

r29224 and 29225 fix a texture and add a couple tiles. In particular, check out the citystrc_sw_1a.map for an example of how I would do a 90 degree turn using the existing textures. As I said, it's a bit blocky and not ideal in terms of the center painted lines, but should work (haven't tested in-game, so let me know if there are seams showing).

I've been having a think about how I would implement better 90 degree turns and haven't come up with anything that slots well into the existing tile infrastructure and also looks good (smoother turn). One workaround might be to implement T-junctions instead of corners unless that really interferes with your map design.

[H-Hour]

For the side-of-street parking, do you want angled or straight on parking?

[Destructavator]

For the side-of-street parking, do you want angled or straight on parking?

In most U.S. cities that I've seen, in inner-city urban areas they almost always use straight-on parking but have nearby parking lots or parking buildings (multi-level lots with ramps inside).  I've really only seen angled in less dense suburban areas.

For other parts of the world, I have no idea.

Of course, in the future world of circa 2084 when the game takes place, who knows what they'll have?

Edit:  I'd also like to point out that in cities around landmarks or other special, important places - at least in the USA - sometimes the streets are laid out in special patterns.  Back when I was near Washington D.C., for example (the nation's capital where Congress and the President work), the streets around the government buildings were in these crazy concentric circles that looked pretty from above (if you were in an aircraft), but were a royal pain-in-the-aft to drive through, not to mention the frequently congested traffic.

[H-Hour]

These parking spots are for Kildor's map, which looks like a smaller city/suburban place.

The first building I'm working on for the city RMA is actually a multi-level parking garage.

[Destructavator]

Slightly different but related:

I'd like to point out that I've seen increased construction and use of skyways* in more recent times, in downtown city areas near where I live.  If the trend continues and spreads, they might become common in urban areas, something to think about.

*"skyway" refers, in this case, to an indoor (covered by a roof and walls with windows) corridor that connects two multi-level city buildings, and connects levels above the ground level, going over streets, so people can walk across from one building to the other while staying indoors and not have to bother crossing a street with traffic.

(I'm afraid I don't have a link or pic handy, sorry.  They're also known by other names.)

Heck, I've even seen a few "horizontal elevators (lifts)" in some places as well now.

[H-Hour]

Such things would be nice, but they produce dependencies which further limit the ability to randomize the map layout. Since I'm still just trying to work out a city block (and probably will be for a while), I'm trying to keep the buildings as swappable as possible, while still making each one distinct. That means for the moment focusing on the 4x4 block as the basic structure of the building.

Hopefully once the basic pieces are in place for a full range of city maps (small to large), I can then add some other elements like you've mentioned: a landmark around which the layout is significantly different, tiles that span even more than the 4x4 blocks and could be connected via skywalks (upper level shopping promenades, for instance), a raised monorail rather than a train line at street level, etc. But all of that looks a long way off for the moment. It takes me long enough just to slap a few layers of concrete together for a parking garage.

[MCR]

 

Man, your map looks great already !!!
Really TOP Work !
The textures are very detailed, all normalmaps I saw looked beautiful & there is lots of place to play animations 
But my slower computer really needed some time to open this, but I understood why as I saw the quality you delivered here. THIS REALLY LOOKS GREAT !!!

btw, if you still want me to post some screenshots, just give me a wink 

Again, ten thumbs up for this, really. I did not expect such a high quality. Please warn me next time 
I started the night version first & the way you placed the lights also looks fantastic.
 I wish we would have all maps in such quality !

[/b][/u]

[H-Hour]

Many thanks MCR! I would love some screenshots, since I can't view many of the material settings on my system to test them out.

Glad you checked out the night version first. The lighting really comes out there. Still some work to be done though, and I'm a little uncertain about whether the # of lights around the outer edges is excessive.

And a big thanks to BTAxis for adjusting some levelflags for me. The map is crippling my system in Radiant and it can take hours to fix those little things now.

[MCR]

You really should get a new system, you can get fast stuff so cheap now & if you choose a stationary computer instead of a laptop you get much more power for the money...
That is in now way a offense, but talent & time is lost when you have to wait for your machine all the time

I will try to make some screenshots for you, will upload them to hyperupload & post a link here. But this may take a while from now

[MCR]

I would suggest a Core2Duo cheap & fast, 2Gig RAM DDR2 cheap & fast, A i965 Mainboard cheap & fast, a Samsung F3 hdd cheap, reliable  & fast & some modern gfx card for 50 € & you can create everything much faster, without being limited & pulled back by your machine all the time...
I even would have a old i965 mainboard I do not need @ the moment for you...

[MCR]

@H-Hour: Did you get the link to the screenshots I made for you 

[H-Hour]

Yes, started the download last night and then went to bed. Haven't yet looked at them, but I really appreciate it.

[MCR]

Some of the screenshots I made yesterday 

Converted them from png to jpg, Q90, Color-Subsampling Average, Adjusted the gamma from 1.0 to 1.30 to make the colors a bit brighter. I hope everything turns out like expected by you...

[MCR]

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[MCR]

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