GRAPHIC: New city view look

[jessewclark]

Wow, great idea. I hope it will work for me (I'm playing the Mac version). I felt so sad when I looked at my biggest city at the very end of the game and it was so... puny.

[Ismailov]

New version

Version 3.1 released!

Enhanced Background Files: Constrast enhanced in all types of metropolies. You can download the new background files from the same place you downloaded the old files: page 4, posts 12,13,14, and 15. In order to compare new and old versions, I have updated the screenshot at post 11, but screenshot at post 19 remains the same.

Besides, now I'm testing version 4.0: background files for 7-12 pop cities. I'm working with the buildings player1 found (thank you!). In this case, filler files have also to be updated, as the number of own style buildings must increaase. So, it will take me some days... As soon as possible, I'll post them here.

(jessewclark, did it work for Mac?)

[player1]

Hey, I just picked several houses which looked most sutable.
I bet that there are more of them to be found in original filler files.


Also, if 7-12 version becomes succesfull, maybe 1-6 version could be made.
Of course in that case they should be much, much less houses in backround in order keep "lower density" of smaller cities (they don't need to be crowded as high pop. cities).

[player1]

By the way, new versions of background look good.
Contrast is much better.

Only desert type is not perfect, but I doubt that it can be made much better then it's now (still great improvement above base version).

[jessewclark]

I am pop-rushing all over the place in my current game, so none of my cities are big enough to check! But I'll let you know. Why do they all have to be in separate files, can't you put them in one zip?

[Ismailov]

It is not possible to use one only zip file because the maximal size of attached files is 500kb. Nevertheless, once the mod is finished, I'd like to ask the apolyton guys for joining all of the stuff in one only zip file...

Another idea for 6 pop cities is to fill the background ground with huge crops...

[player1]

Originally posted by Ismailov
Another idea for 6 pop cities is to fill the background ground with huge crops...

Just remember that there are also modern 1-6 pop cities.

[Ismailov]

Ok, but in modern times there also exists villages with crops... People have to eat too, I think...

[player1]

It could be OK, as long as it does not look silly.
(skyscraper between two crops)

[Switch]

It's unfortunate that the skyscrapers are there in modern cities, as opposed to LARGE cities. I mean, I live in a modern 70 000 pop city, and there certainly ain't any skyscraper. Toronto, on the other hand.....

[jessewclark]

I checked it out on an old save game (Mac user here), and it works fine. It does look a little muddy though. But I'm not using the newest, high-contrast files. I'll have to check those out. If you want to bother, I wonder if there's a way you can make the edge of the city radius look more like a gradual blend of sparse houses and landscape--right now it's a clean circle, you can see the edge very clearly. Still, great work, a lot of effort for a small but gratifying aesthetic effect.

[Ismailov]

The muddy effect desappears completely with the new version. Just look at screenshots at posts 11 and 19 in page 4. Post 11 uses new files and post 19 uses old files...

The reason why I wanted to do this mod is the following: I remind that, when I played Civ1, I liked so much watching my cities grow up. I "felt" the cities, and, at the last stage of the game (peace, nothing happened), I was happy advancing turns just to watch how my cities grew. I "loved" my cities. Perhaps it was this pop-up when each improvement was finished, or when people revolted, or when people celebrated a "We love" day, I don't know... These cities were "alive".

Nevertheless, in Civ2, SMAC, CTP, CTP2, Civ3... this feeling disappeared. Cities were just "things to build military units"... And I wanted to try to recover this feeling. I don't know if I achieved it, but I tried...

(Switch: I agree. It's stupid that villages have skyscrapers...)

[player1]

It's interesting that only Civ1 had city-vies done in proper way.

Civ2 had only "shiny building in the forest" (it looked more like village, not city)

and SMAC, CTP & CTP2 had no such view at all.

Now Civ3 view looked promising comapring all those detailes worked out (all those walls, or terrain images).
But it just looks that its not finished (bad modern and Industrial pics) and that it's development is CUT in progress. Maybe Civ3 dev. team had no time to finish it normally).

[Skanky Burns]

Excellent work Ismailov, they actually look like cities now!

[aaglo]

Wow... these cities look cool ... And what makes them cooler, they are made with paint. wow... (according to him).

And thanks for the forest-city tip. I changed all terrains (grassland, plains, tundra and desert) to the unclear. all cities look better now, IMO.

10/10