[Specific logos for buildings]: Small details, great impact

[M4rkus]

Promods is pushing much to bring across a country specific feeling for the locations it includes. It does especially well when it comes to signage and country-specific infrastructure. Yet I see some room for improvement in the cities - with an idea that is rather simple and does not require major changes in mapping. However, it has the potential to make cities more vivid and more specific.

Perhaps some of you have noticed, in the game there is a house model with an inscription on it saying something like "Loft mit Meerblick" - it can be met at several locations in the map. This is German for a rather classy appartement with ocean view. Well, this building is not to be found in Germany only, and when I come across it somewhere else, it occurs to me that it is somewhat implausible. But why not turning the tables - you could bring more of such buildings or objects into the game with inscriptions in local languages, with country or even city specific skins. Making the skins and spreading them across suitable locations might not take too much time compared to other modding related activities but it would increase immersion feeling a lot. This might also help to make frequent models appear less repetitive and more specific, e. g. the hotel model with the sign before it. It could be also done for the car repair shops and job centres.

I know, there are billboards in the game and that's a good start but there's more to it than billboards only. I will give you some examples to let you know what I mean. Some of it has been done in Promods already (some skins in Poland rebuilding, I think, and realistic subway signage in upcoming Vienna as well as Basque flag near the French-Spanish border) but there's still room for improvement in my opinion.


Example for German bakeries. Could be put in front of any building or as skin of a window


Examples for snack bars: The typical Döner (you know, in Promods Berlin there's not a single Döner shop), another one from Germany and a Friterie (no Friteries in Promods Belgium and France, either)



Realistic tram skinning from Dresden and Leipzig (note the visible DVB inscription meaning Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe, realistic main station inscription from Köln Hauptbahnhof and realistic bus stop sign from Dresden




Subnational Flags: Bavarian Flag and BVG, Berliner Verkehrsgesellschaft, the public transport company in Berlin



A German chemist's and a sign for a vacational home



Czech "Beware of the dog" sign and city-specific wastebin from Hamburg



Feel free to add your own ideas in this thread!

[Vøytek]

Great idea, sure, but it'll take a lot of time... If there were some skilled guys that can reskin the models, then they try to help with it

About the dog - It's not Polish sign. Looks like Czech
But it's very similar in this case
UWAGA!
DOBRY PIES
ALE MA SŁABE NERWY
good dog
but he has weak nerves

[M4rkus]

Any more input on this? Perhaps a developer could say if he liked that idea ... people might also turn this topic into a collection of country and city-specific models such as those given in the first post, if they want.

Because I don't think country/city-specific shields at a buildings are hard to do. Not much harder than traffic signs perhaps and Promods does very well at country-specific signs. So why not expanding to that area as well? Here is an example from Barents sea extension where this was done already, to illustrate what I mean:



That Russian shield at the building probably wasn't very hard to do but imo it does something for an authentic atmosphere, indeed. This is basically what I meant with my suggestion. And more grafical shields such as the ones shown above with the bakeries aren't much harder either, I suppose. There are lots of opportunities for them - several kinds of shops, the barber's, the florist's and so on. If they all had country or even city specific signs in local language, I think, scenery would look more vivid in the cities.

And here is a cool example for city-specific "advertising" which I recently came across in Dresden. It provides you help about a proper cover for your head when you're cycling Would be cool to see this in-game, too.