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NAM Issues Thread - PLEASE POST YOUR NAM QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS HERE

Started by jahu, June 03, 2007, 10:15:49 AM

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kassarc16

Quote from: HandsOn on June 01, 2008, 03:33:21 PM
This is slightly off-topic but has bearings, I think: Home and End keys only work - it seems - if there is no adjecent road/avenue/street. Once you have those nearly everything in SC4 clings to that like its existence depends on it. Is there any way to switch that behaviour off?

I don't believe so, but if you don't move the cursor, you can get it to stay at least long enough to plop the lot.

Ok, a question from me. Is it possible to get sidewalks on the gentle Road and Ave curves?

HandsOn

QuoteOk, a question from me. Is it possible to get sidewalks on the gentle Road and Ave curves?
Yes it is, in two ways: one is to create your own: make a 1x1 lot with the texture you want, plop it whereever needed, then resize it with the single texture at the end (there's a tutorial here somewhere applying said principle to under-highway stuff; and another by Rochefort in SimPegs Simposium).

The second method is somewhat simpler: check the latest downloads on the STEX (I posted a query about it a page or two back). It was posted by someone about four days ago: he created overlays for the three NAM curves: 45, 90 & SS curves. Sorry - no link handy.


Meanwhile I have a question of my own (sort of):
Although NAM works fine since installation, I finally encountered a strange and ultimately little problem: the invisible puzzle pieces: what you see in the pic is actually an elevated rail piece (with a somewaht strange price-tag): it happens at all zoom levels and at times requires two or three changes of said zoom level to reappear. And it happens with all puzzle pieces except those that have starter pieces (RHW, dragable GLR).



At first I, of course faulted my graphics card, then my sizeable plug-ins folder. But I haven't made change to the former, and it happens also with only NAM in the plug-ins folder.

Any comments?


Why not visit The Empire MD
Just updated on July 2nd, 2008
And after the game's done.. - The Storyteller's Logbook

Andreas

If you encounter "invisible" puzzle pieces, then there's something conflicting or missing in the NAM files. You might have either an outdated or buggy NAM Controller, or not the most current NAM DAT for those puzzle pieces. Please check if your NetworkAddonMod2.dat has a datestamp of April 22th, 2008, and the NetworkAddonMod_Controller.dat should say April 23th, 2008.
Andreas

HandsOn

Quote from: Andreas on June 02, 2008, 10:41:44 AM
If you encounter "invisible" puzzle pieces, then there's something conflicting or missing in the NAM files. You might have either an outdated or buggy NAM Controller, or not the most current NAM DAT for those puzzle pieces. Please check if your NetworkAddonMod2.dat has a datestamp of April 22th, 2008, and the NetworkAddonMod_Controller.dat should say April 23th, 2008.
They do have those dates - both. I ommitted that this is a recent effect, and I am beginning to think it was something I ate, eh, installed. Because a second side-effect, on/off these past two, three days, is that the usual affinity of even simple pieces such as sunken highway walls, cannot be averted from roads/streets. Home/End keys turn the stuff, but nefore you can say cl... it's back towards the road/street. Trouble is, I got the behavious in the sandbox with clad in nothing but NAM (felt rather embarrassing - luckily nobody was looking).

The invisibility did always happen to some pieces, such as long curves hitting a slope. But now it affects every puzzle-piece in NAM, and it starts usually after a few plops. Then the only remedy is to zoom in or out, sometimes repeatedly.

It's not the end of the SC4 World, but it does annoy..  %wrd


Why not visit The Empire MD
Just updated on July 2nd, 2008
And after the game's done.. - The Storyteller's Logbook

sffc

I seem to be having a graphics problem with the GLR OnSlope puzzle pieces in the new NAM.

The textures or something in the puzzle pieces seem to have a problem.  Based on the pictures, there are two graphics problems: the railings on the elevated rail and the track itself.  Here's a screenshot:



They work, though:


I checked for plugin conflicts, but found none.  I emptied half of my plugins folder, and this issue existed, and then I emptied the other half, but the issue still exists.  What is the problem?

P.S. The "T" OnSlope Puzzle Piece has the same problem.

Tarkus

Sapphire Blue, thanks for the kind words, and I'm glad I was able to help you sort things out with the RHW and MIS.  :) 

To answer your questions, the reason why the diagonal MIS draggable stub shows "Elevated Rail" on the Query is a side-effect of the "puzzle-drag override" method that was used in creating that network.  As far as the game is concerned from a technical standpoint, that tile is actually an intersection between the RHW network and Elevated Rail, which has just been defined as the diagonal ramp texture.  It shows up as Elevated Rail instead of RHW because of the hardcoded "network hierarchy" scheme, and the Elevated Rail is higher in the hierarchy than the RHW.

As far as the terrain issues go, I think that is partially a side-effect of the "puzzle-drag override" method, and possibly also something to do with the ConsLayout section in the RUL defining the puzzle piece.  It becomes especially noticeable when using a slope mod that affects the RHW--I've run into this as well myself, so it is something I do intend to look into very soon.

I also plan on modifying the Preview Models for the puzzle pieces slightly, such that they show up a bit more above the ground.  It's easier to plop the pieces in the correct direction with the default American textures, since one side has a yellow line, but as popular as the Euro mod is, I may need to look into a way of making it easier to tell which direction things are facing.

Thanks for the detailed comments/suggestions! :thumbsup:

sffc, the weird brightly-colored squares are a sign of a missing texture on a model.  I'll take a look into those pieces and see what I can find.

-Alex (Tarkus)

sithlrd98

Quote from: kassarc16 on June 01, 2008, 09:42:06 PM
Ok, a question from me. Is it possible to get sidewalks on the gentle Road and Ave curves?
Quote from: HandsOn on June 02, 2008, 05:10:56 AM
The second method is somewhat simpler: check the latest downloads on the STEX (I posted a query about it a page or two back). It was posted by someone about four days ago: he created overlays for the three NAM curves: 45, 90 & SS curves. Sorry - no link handy.


Don't know if you still need this but here is the file HandsOn was referring to by Uroncha
Sidewalk For NAM Smooth Curve

smoncrie

sffc, as Tarkus says there are missing textures.

In the latest version of the NAM (April 2008), both of the GLR OnSlope pieces use a method to compensate for the "shadow" you get at some angles on OnSlopes pieces.  This compensation is done with both the tracks and the railing.

The textures that are missing are the ones that were modified to compensate for the shadow.

[edit] At first look it seems that these textures are in the High ELRail Plugin but not the the GLR plugin.  Try installing the High ELRail Plugin.  Sorry about that.

sffc

Quote from: smoncrie on June 02, 2008, 06:50:39 PMAt first look it seems that these textures are in the High ELRail Plugin but not the the GLR plugin.  Try installing the High ELRail Plugin.  Sorry about that.

That fixes the problem!



Thank you so much for researching this issue!  Would it be okay for me to create a patch with the textures copied from the High ElRail plugin file?  If so, could I post it on the STEX (I have not begun my candidacy on the LEX)?  It would not be reasonable to create a full NAM update to fix this relatively small issue.  If you would prefer, I could send the fix to someone else so they could post it under the "NAM Team" username.  Again, thanks for taking the time to investigate this texture mix-up.

VeTram

Quote from: VeTram on May 29, 2008, 11:51:30 AM
Hi to all !....here is my problem...
-I downloaded today the new version of NAM April 2008 , and naturally i updated my previous zip file of NAM ( I think it was June's 2007 version)
Now the problem is that when i returned to continue my game , i realised that my game generally begame more slow , and the worst is that whenever i am trying to replace an old road or avenue or rail , the game seems frozen and i must wait about 10 minutes (!) to continue...the same happens with new roads , rails etc.....also i dont see any more trains in rails , where i could see many trains before...what has happened?? i tried to find the older version to download , but there is not exist anymore..... :'(.............help :'(

Come on guys , i need some help , dont forget about me....i am still waiting for some help....did i posted it in a wrong thread? ...i have already mentioned some experiments that i made , exactly after i first posted my problem , but i get no answer....is it so difficult?

For every friend of this community , do NOT forget to send me a p.m if ever visit Greece .

Tarkus

VeTram, my sincere apologies that your question got lost in the shuffle there. &mmm

Would you be able to take a pic of the Network Addon Mod\Plugins folder?  I'd like to see what you have going on with the Simulators/Automata Plugins.

-Alex (Tarkus)

VeTram

Alex (Tarkus) i have already done this under my first post ....here it is..
Quote from: VeTram on May 30, 2008, 12:15:51 PM
back to my problem......thanx for reply , but need more help
here is two pics below with NAM in my plugins folder , and it's subfolder PLUGINS , with all their context..

NAM FOLDER


and here is the PLUGINS SUBFOLDER IN NAM FOLDER..

..I would appreciate some more help...thanx


I have also used and the others options for Automata , and the result was the same .....read also below and some final conclusions that i have reached...

For every friend of this community , do NOT forget to send me a p.m if ever visit Greece .

VeTram

and here they are some conclusions that i have reached...

Quote from: VeTram on May 30, 2008, 11:12:00 PM
at the meanwhile waiting for a reply , i have some new informations to add..

-Well , the problem is centre on rails , where there is much delay (about 5-10 min) whenever i am trying to lay down a rail-line in city. The game as i have already written completely like frozen , and i cannot do anything else but wait for the new rail-line to complete.. and the worst is that i cannot see any train in excisting rail-lines , which means that the capacity of my station is falling into zero..
-I have already followed xxdita's suggestions , but the problem insists....i also made some tests and here are the following results..

1) without NAM , the problem dissapear..
2) NAM without PLUGINS , the problem stays the same..
3) NAM in another city in the same region , the problem stays the same
4) NAM in another new born city in another new born region , the problem stays the same....

-i repeat the problem , focus on rails , the other types of network seems o.k
waiting forward for some help... %wrd




Thanks for interesting and i am waiting to follow your suggestions..
For every friend of this community , do NOT forget to send me a p.m if ever visit Greece .

Swamper77

VeTram,

Do the cars drive on the left in your game. If so, you need to install the "Left Hand" plugin when you install the NAM. It's one of the options in the NAM installer.

-Swamper
You can call me Jan, if you want to.
Pagan and Proud!

FrankU

Quote from: HandsOn on June 01, 2008, 03:33:21 PM
This is slightly off-topic but has bearings, I think: Home and End keys only work - it seems - if there is no adjecent road/avenue/street. Once you have those nearly everything in SC4 clings to that like its existence depends on it. Is there any way to switch that behaviour off?
Yes, the lots always want their arrows to point at the adjacening road, street or avenue (not highway).
I sometimes had to demolish a complete bridge only to place a wall texture in the right position. Quite an expensive business.
Somehow my game changed this, some weeks ago. The default position of the lot is still with the arrow pointed at street/road/avenue, but if I want to rotate it the lot stays rotated and I can place it in the position I want to. I have no clue what did this. The most important thing I did was DatPack the whole stuff. But I can't guess if this is related.

HandsOn

Quote from: FrankU on June 04, 2008, 03:40:45 AM
Yes, the lots always want their arrows to point at the adjacent road, street or avenue (not highway).
I sometimes had to demolish a complete bridge only to place a wall texture in the right position. Quite an expensive business.
Somehow my game changed this, some weeks ago. The default position of the lot is still with the arrow pointed at street/road/avenue, but if I want to rotate it the lot stays rotated and I can place it in the position I want to. I have no clue what did this. The most important thing I did was DatPack the whole stuff. But I can't guess if this is related.
Correct, Frank. It appears to happen randomly. The day I wrote that message, going back to the game - without any changes at all - the rotation was possible again. What I think is this: I know a lot of folks have stipulated the order in which the game loads plug-ins; but I do not think that is fixed, and I do think available memory addresses (which the OS changes all the time) have a bearing on this. Because I also noticed that the order of icons in the mayor tree menu keeps changing, although I have not installed anything in months in that area. Conclusion: the ace modders need to start thinking again..  :P

Edit: VTram's issue used to happen with rails curves and a lot with the "old" NAM - since the latest install this has totally disappeared. I did notice something else, though (and it maybe irrelevant, but it helped my games speeds): there are unnecessary files in his plugins (uninstall.exe's). Since I removed ALL non-essential files, AND DAT-packed the plugins, the only time the game hesitates is when opening the overstuffed park menu..


Why not visit The Empire MD
Just updated on July 2nd, 2008
And after the game's done.. - The Storyteller's Logbook

sithlrd98

Well , I've been having an issue similar to VeTram , mainly with the new highway curve piece (probably because of the complexity of the RULs and such?) , and sometimes with the RHW , (don't know why , but its usually when doing the starter) and when demolishing  , but never for the amount of time that he is seeing .

wouanagaine

Rotation are always possible, however if you move the mouse ( even 1 pixel ) then the rotation will be reseted to face the road. So you'll have to be very cautious when you click to not move the mouse at the same time

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FrankU

Quote from: wouanagaine on June 04, 2008, 05:01:43 AM
Rotation are always possible, however if you move the mouse ( even 1 pixel ) then the rotation will be reseted to face the road. So you'll have to be very cautious when you click to not move the mouse at the same time

Thanks Wouanagaine,
That answers my question indeed: I did not only DatPack (did I thank you for this tool already? No? Thanks then!  &apls), but also use my mouse since my ten year old tablet appears to have broken down last month.

VeTram

Quote from: Swamper77 on June 03, 2008, 10:03:45 PM
VeTram,

Do the cars drive on the left in your game. If so, you need to install the "Left Hand" plugin when you install the NAM. It's one of the options in the NAM installer.

-Swamper

Swamper what for? I think this is an option for U.K players....is that anything to do with my problem?
For every friend of this community , do NOT forget to send me a p.m if ever visit Greece .