Question about mod tools and techniques

[MandelSoft]

[*]You have the lamp posts wrong, but that's okay with me.

No we don't they are modelled 1:1 on Google Streetview + images

May we see a picture of the reference material then? Because how they look now, they look just like the modified Belgium street lights...

[*]Your Swedish signs are seriously f-ed up. Nowhere in this country do we have more arrows pointing in a direction than there are lanes.
Then, this sign:


You got the colours somewhat right at least. The arrows are too big in comparison to the text, and the white capital text should use the TRATEXNEGVERSAL variant of Tratex. The arrows also need to be two ahead and one turning left, the turn integrated into the ahead arrow, like the example MandelSoft posted.

You're wrong there, I have modelled this sign upon Google Streetview images of actual signs in cities (predominantly Stockholm, Göteborg anywhere with lots of lanes).
The big arrows are quite normal like here:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=v%C3%A ... 95.28,,0,0
and here:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=v%C3%A ... .5,,0,1.81

Yeah, but look at the lanes and then again at the arrows. If you look right, you see that each arrow indicates one lane. And that's exactly the point here. You now indicate four lanes when there are actually two.

The amount of navigation signs created for Sweden exceeds 20 types, this is nearly double from what SCS have created for the other countries.
There are too many specific situations (and also unrealistic situations like the highway splitting junctions) to accommodate correct arrows in every situation. PLUS you probably don't realise that the place where arrows are stored (symbol.dds) has limited space to fit any new type of arrow (such as 1 arrow branching off from another one).

I call this argument just crap and lazy. I've demonstrated in the post above that it's actually quite easy to make custom signs. I even used my own arrow texture set for this sign (signarrow_de1.dds, which is actually twice as tall as the original symbols.dds measuring 512x256px) and the game doesn't even mind the new textures! Heck, the splits signs is even a brand-new model, not even used elsewhere in-game!

So yes, it is actually quite easy to make new signs, and then you can easily add 10 signs with this method. Heck, I'm even willing to make such a prop pack!

We don't sign "Helsinki", that's the Finnish name, we sign "Helsingfors". There's probably more details, but I think this will suffice.

There is an EU-directive which states that European city names in other countries must be referred to in their local names.
10 years ago you would still find signs to "Keulen" and "Aken" in NL, now they have been replaced with "Köln" and "Aachen".
As a result of this most signage in Sweden towards Helsingfors has been replaced with Helsinki and we stuck with that rule.

Also a bit nonesense. Why do you still sign "Malmø", "Flensborg" and "Hamborg" in Denmark instead of "Malmö", "Flensburg" and "Hamburg". In that regard, it's not less wrong to sign "Köbenhamn" and "Helsingfors" in Sweden, as I still see that "Köbenhamn" is still widely used in Sweden.

[ScuL]

Here's one example of Swedish lamp posts
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=v%C3%A ... 12,45,,0,0

I wouldn't call a person lazy that has spent 10 months of past time on building a mod.

Also a bit nonesense. Why do you still sign "Malmø", "Flensborg" and "Hamborg" in Denmark instead of "Malmö", "Flensburg" and "Hamburg". In that regard, it's not less wrong to sign "Köbenhamn" and "Helsingfors" in Sweden, as I still see that "Köbenhamn" is still widely used in Sweden.

DK hasn't followed up on replacing old signs yet. I have never seen a sign to København in Sweden either.
Maybe an easier solution is to just replace Helsinki with Finland which is probably more accurate.

[MandelSoft]

Yeah, when browsing through Stockholm, I've only seen directions to "Finland", so I think Finland will do.

Here's one example of Swedish lamp posts
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=v%C3%A ... 12,45,,0,0

I wouldn't call a person lazy that has spent 10 months of past time on building a mod.

Well, that doesn't look anywhere close to what you've put in game. I think I can come up with something more accurate.

I know you've spend quite some time on this mod, but still, I hate to see that people don't spend enough attention on some details like signage and streetlights. And this is also very true to SCS itself. I do care about it quite a lot, and fortunately, I'm getting more and more comfortable with Blender, and I see what I can come up with in the next few days...

[ScuL]

Well there's one thing about being critical but another about being anal.
I mean if you compare to most other mods out there, we are probably the only guys that have actually bothered to recreate traffic signs, navigation panels, railings/guard rails etc.
Most other modders just put a German sign there and use Times New Roman to write new city names which is absolutely terrible

But anybody that is willing to contribute to making our mod better by providing signs & models is appreciated, we'll simply include them in the pack and credit appropriately

[Koen]

Well there's one thing about being critical but another about being anal.
I mean if you compare to most other mods out there, we are probably the only guys that have actually bothered to recreate traffic signs, navigation panels, railings/guard rails etc.
Most other modders just put a German sign there and use Times New Roman to write new city names which is absolutely terrible

But anybody that is willing to contribute to making our mod better by providing signs & models is appreciated, we'll simply include them in the pack and credit appropriately

Ofcourse it is better when you compare it to some others. But that's comparing two broken legs to one broken leg. Ofcourse one broken leg is better, but it's still not totally good.

PS: Europe Rebuild comes as close to the reality (maybe even closer)

[MandelSoft]

So, I manage to mod the Polish median light in such a way that it resembles a common dutch lamp post for motorways. I made new entries of course, but I've also made an override for the current median light. Making the lamps 40% smaller than the original model does look a heck of a lot better:





Reference:
https://maps.google.nl/?ll=51.552633,4. ... ,,1,-10.77

Small steps...

[MandelSoft]

Double post, but some noticeable progress: I've managed to build a model part from scratch:



I've used the post from the standard curved lamp post. However the lamp itself is completely created from scratch. I've never created a model from scratch before in Blender, so I'd call this an achievement for me.

It's a generic dutch streetlight that can be found on almost every motorway and a lot of provincial routes. This could work as a replacement for the current dutch streetlights on the map

A few demo pics:



I also modified one of the Belgian streetlights. This one should be used in cities instead of the current motorway streetlight.


Maybe this should be moved to a new topic, since this is no longer a question anymore, but rather a showcase of improvements...

Best,
MandelSoft

[MandelSoft]

Triple post, but no-one seems to reply on this...

I've managed to replace the replace the Swedish lampposts with something more genuine:


I used these lamp posts on the E4 near Norrköping as reference, as I've seen them more often in other locations in Sweden too: https://maps.google.nl/?ll=58.576764,16 ... 6,,1,-9.18

I also started to modify the Netherlands on the map, applying my new streetlights and new road markings:


And yes, I play with Project Realism. I like what it does to the street lights in general.

Best,
MandelSoft

[ScuL]

I'd be happy to include your work in the mod (with full credits) of course as it saves us time re-inventing the wheel

[MandelSoft]

That would be great

But first, I'm going to redesign the Swedish signage so that too makes sense.