Making Building Mods

[JoeStrout]

Almost any 3D modeling app can export OBJ files; it's a very common format.  Most people I know use Blender, because it is free, though I found its design rather difficult.  I use Cheetah3D, which is a commercial ($100) modeling app for Mac that I think is really good.  But SolidWorks ought to be fine too, I think.

For the textures and icon, use your favorite paint program — PhotoShop, Affinity Photo, whatever.

You can make a building require certain projects by adding a "requires" tag to the .hfmod file.  For example, the high-density agricultural buildings include this line:

Code:

requires: CELS

The services a building provides are defined by a "services" group.  Using one of the high-density ag towers as an example again:

Code:

services: {

    jobs: 80
    ambiance: 2
    taxBasis: 35000000
    waterUsePerDay: 500
    food: 15000
}

This says that this building provides 80 jobs, +2 ambiance to the city, etc.  You can leave out any tags that don't apply (e.g., leave out "food" if it's not a food-producing building).

Mods, like anything else, are best developed iteratively.  First try to make a building that looks like a simple box, has no special requirements, and provides no services.  Then tweak it to look and work more and more like what you want.  When you get stuck, ask us — we can either explain how to do it, or add something to the next version of High Frontier to make it possible!