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Interchange Guide Submissions

Started by Haljackey, November 26, 2011, 12:55:11 PM

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Haljackey

RealHighway Interchange Guide


This is the place where you can submit your own tutorials to be added to the RealHighway Interchange Guide.

Please post your tutorials here to have them reviewed. Also be sure to follow the format set up in previous guides. Once your tutorial is reviewed and approved, it will be added to the appropriate thread identified by the table of contents. Also be sure to check the Table of Contents to make sure you aren't creating a guide that has already been written.

Swordmaster

Let me kick off this new thread with my suggestion for an elevated SPUI tutorial, which was already partly in the RHW readme. The current entry for ground SPUI is not possible anymore with RHW 5.0, after all.



1. We'll start by placing the SPUI pieces. They're found at the back of the Avenue/RHW interface tab ring:


2. In this tutorial we're dealing with a RHW-6C freeway, so leave one tile in between the pieces:


3. Connect them with an avenue:


4. Put four ground-to-elevated transitions in place, like this (beware of the correct direction):


5. The result should look like this. If you've got trouble getting the SPUI pieces to elevate properly, try to click around them to get them right. You can also bulldoze the constructor pieces by now.


6. Drag up your RHW-6C all the way through the SPUI. You might need to place a new starter piece at the other end, but if you drag far enough, it should be allright.


7. Put some MIS-to-RHW-4 transitions there.


8. Use D1 entrances and exits if you want to add accel/decel ramps. Otherwise, A1 pieces should suffice.


9. Add the RHW-8C-to-6C pieces for the accel/decel ramps. Again, if you've got your RHW network resorting to wrong widths somewhere, click around to fix it.


10. We're done with the RHW part now. The result so far:


11. Now comes the arterial part. Get a 15m hole raiser in place, like this, on both sides:


12. Next area is up to you, but I like to use smooth ramps while not having too much of a restrictive slope mod for the avenues. That's when I use El-rail to create slopes and put an avenue in place afterwards. All up to you, of course.


13. Get to the TULEP tab ring...


14. ... to find the on-slope piece at the very end:


15. Drag an avenue out of it, and put a transitional TULEP in place to close off the section:


16. Alternatively, you can use a TLA-5:


17. Here's some nice SPUI:

mike3775

great guide swordmaster.  I actually used it to make my first interchange using the SPUI's

Haljackey

#3
Quote from: Swordmaster on November 26, 2011, 03:32:15 PM

The current entry for ground SPUI is not possible anymore with RHW 5.0, after all.


That's a very good point. Your guide is very well done. I don't think we need to review anything. The images are great and the text goes with it. Your guide's approved!  :thumbsup:

Feel free to post it in the Single-Point Interchanges thread. Your section number will be 6.1 and title will be Elevated Single-Point Diamond Interchange, since it overrides the original SPUI tutorial in the RHW Interchange Guide. I'll add it to the Table of Contents once you've posted it (you deserve the credit for your guide!).

It should look something like this: Section 6.1: Elevated Single-Point Diamond Interchange. It should go at the top of your post.

Once again awesome work! A fantastic start to the submissions thread!  :)

Swordmaster

#4
On we go then! Here's the follow-up, for the ground SPUI that is possible with the current RHW.




In this guide, we'll be building this:


1. Plop the SPUI pieces found in the Avenue/RHW interface tab ring:


2. Plop four ground-to-elevated transition ramps (beware of the correct direction):


3. Use 15m hole raiser lots to get your elevated freeway in place. You'll need to use an earthen embankment for now, as there are no ERHW 2-lane exits yet.


4. Get RHW-4 on-slope pieces.


5. Plop four of them: two "TO ELEVATED" ones, and two "TO GROUND" ones. Like this:


6. Repeat this on the other side, and connect them by dragging RHW across the SPUI.


7. Put in RHW-6S A2 exits and entrances:


8. Drag out RHW from them, and add transition pieces at the end of the acceleration/deceleration ramps:


9. Don't forget the TULEP pieces on the arterial road:


10. Now, you're done!



(Edited version)

Haljackey

This guide looks great too! Just a few things to go over...

-Remember that this guide is meant to show how to build these interchanges as simply as possible. You get complicated by using GDO29Anagram's trick to save a couple tiles in the ramps. I would avoid that as it does take some familiarity to get used to.
-If you want to save some room, maybe consider using RHW-4 elevated to ground transitions as you did in the last guide? That way you don't need room for a MIS to RHW-4 transition.
-You can keep the entire RHW elevated. This is of course a elevated-to-ground interchange and I'd be willing to bet most are going to keep the RHW elevated past the interchange. It also simplifies the guide a bit in the pictures.
-There's a small TuLEP error in the northbound left-turn lane. The textures don't line up (you have dashed line pieces and a lone solid line piece).

I'm thinking if these get fixed the overall quality of the tutorial will improve. Don't get me wrong it's already excellent, but I feel some of these changes will make it even better! The pictures and text are very informative and accurately show what you are doing. If you have any comments regarding my review, feel free to ask if you don't think the changes are warranted.

MandelSoft

#6
Question: what happens to the older entries? Are they re-organised too? If so, this makes the whole guide more easy to look through and overview.

Anyway, how about some extra tips and tricks? For instance, you can make your interchanges look compact, but that isn't quite realistic. So you have to keep some distance between several (parts of) the interchanges, use certain curve radii, etc.
Lurk mode: ACTIVE

Swordmaster

Well, maybe we need an additional thread in this board with general tips and tricks that don't belong to any specific interchange? That way we can leave the more advanced features out of the basic guides and move them to that thread. If so, I'd agree with making it more simple.

Quote from: Haljackey on November 27, 2011, 08:21:15 AM
-You can keep the entire RHW elevated. This is of course a elevated-to-ground interchange and I'd be willing to bet most are going to keep the RHW elevated past the interchange. It also simplifies the guide a bit in the pictures.

I think that would depend on the particular situation, so it's not really crucial to the tutorial either. I just show one of the many options you have.

Now, I'll rework my original post, so keep an eye on it.

Haljackey

Sure, I'll set up a thread for support and tips and tricks.

Swordmaster: Glad you agree with many of my points. I'm looking forward to the revised guide.

jdenm8

Probably shouldn't copy over the Partial Cloverfold tute. I (and a few others) have figured out how to completely remove the weaving and I will eventually (tonight or tomorrow) make a new tutorial for it.


"We're making SimCity, not some dopey casual game." -Ocean Quigley

Will12

My tutorial is on 2 types of Diamond Interchanges.
Ther first one is the monst simplistic:
Plop 2 RHW-4 starters in opposite directions side by side:


Drag out the RHW and demolish the starters (optional):




Plop the elevated avenue transitions one tile away from the RHW:


And plop the EL-AVExMIS intersection in the one tile space with the el-MIS transition (not starterless) and avenue over RHW-4 puzzle pieces:


Extend the mis stubs 2 tiles and drag the ramps like so:


Do that 4 times and you should end up with this:


Now onto a more complecated one:
Place the starter pieces like before but with a 2 tile median. And add the 4 a-type inside ramps like so:


Add the el-MIS transitions like so:


And the road ramps:


Plop the el-MISxroad and road over RHW-4 pieces:


And your done. Haljackey watch this space as I will be adding 2 more tonight I just don't have enogh time now.

mike3775

One suggestion I may make on those guides Will, is to say to make sure the lines line up if you are not using the Euro texture(like you are), because many may be using the yellow line which needs to be on the left on RHW, and if you don't have it set up that way, the traffic will not use them if they are lined up wrong(I found that out a while ago when I first started using RHW  lol)

MandelSoft

^^ Then you check the location wide shoulder lane, which should be always on the outside (left in LHD, right in RHD). Method works with both US and Euro versions of the RHW ;)
Lurk mode: ACTIVE

mike3775

Quote from: mrtnrln on November 28, 2011, 05:29:22 AM
^^ Then you check the location wide shoulder lane, which should be always on the outside (left in LHD, right in RHD). Method works with both US and Euro versions of the RHW ;)

True, so that should be mentioned as well, maybe in the tips and tricks thread. 

Haljackey

#14
On top of what was mentioned, these guides have already been made Will12. Check the table of contents for guides that have already been written. Section 1.1 and 1.3 covers them.

The guides on the former thread have yet to be brought over to the new section. It will take some time to move them over here (took long enough to get all the threads set up! :P)

Also it should be noted that guides should use only the minimum required downloads to show them as simply as possible. You are using the Euro textures which is not a necessity.




Swordmaster: Great job with the revised guide. It's approved. It will be Section 6.2: Ground Single-Point Diamond Interchange.

MandelSoft

For the Tips & Tricks section:



The Cosmetic Pieces

Introduction:
The CPs (Cosmetic Pieces) one and only function is to customize the appearance of certain sections of the RHW, mostly involving special markings. Other than that, they serve no other function, however, the CPs add quite some detail to your RHWs, making them look more realistic.

Take for example this stretch of RHW-2:


With cosmetic pieces, you can replace the double center line with a broken line (with or without another solid line). You can simply plop them over an existing stretch of RHW-2. This is how the same stretch of RHW-2 looks like with CPs:



Accelleration/decelleration lanes

Another example is this RHW-4 exit. It will work fine, but it doesn't look that good or realistic.


What you can do is replace a small stretch of RHW-4 with RHW-6S to create accelleration/decelleration lanes. These help drivers to slow down for an exit or speed up to merge with other traffic. Decelleration lanes don't have to be long, however, for safety reasons, keep as a standard length for the accelleration lanes of 10 to 20 tile (which will measure in RL 160m to 320m). After adding some RHW-6S stretches (including new ramps and transistions), it looks like this:


But it still looks bare. That's were CPs kick in. By adding some block markings, it's more clear that these lanes are no ordinary lanes, but have a special function. You can plop the cosmetic pieces over existing stretches of RHW, and you can also override the transistions by plopping a CP-transistion on top of them:


Now that looks better! You can repeat the same process with other RHWs and their corresponding CPs.

NOTE: The CPs have the habbit of flattening slopes. They do have some slope tolerance, but not much. However, if you have realistic, gentle slopes on your RHW, this shouldn't be a problem.

Ramp OverPlops:
One special kind of CPs are the Ramp OverPlops. These pieces are plopped over existing ramps. For the RHW-4, there are Ramp OverPlops available for the draggable RHW Ramp types A1 and B1 (the A1 wide is corrupted at the moment). These are neccesary to connect the ramps with the NEL (Narrow Exit Lane) CPs.

First, plop down the NEL CPs over the RHW by the known method described in the previous section:


Then plop the Ramp OverPlops over the existing ramp:


Adding arrows:
If you want to, you can add arrows on the exit lanes. You can try out various styles. Here are a few examples:

Setup with only turn arrows on the decelleration lane:


Adding merge arrows to the accelleration lanes:


Remove block markings at the accelleration lanes:


Adding thru arrows:


Of course, you can try out your own setups, or combine a few of the above.

Now there is an aestetic question: how far apart do I have to place the arrows? My answer: 3 or 4 tiles apart looks the best. 2 tiles apart is still OK (but not prefered). Placing the arrows right next to each other should be avoided (painting an arrow every 16m/53ft is a bit overkill)



Alternative transistions:
Sometimes it's not prefered to end the outside lane of a RHW. It's quite common in Europe when freeways are narrowed down when no accelleration or decelleration lanes are involved, the inner lane (the lane with the fastest traffic) end. It's easier for fast vehicles to merge with slow ones than the other way around. There is a piece for that in the CP TAB-ring to serve this function. Note that these pieces can't be plopped over existing transistions, since they are twice as long as regular transistions:


To conclude, be creative and add some detail to your RHWs!


Best,
Maarten
Lurk mode: ACTIVE

TheAttendee

Awesome tutorial Maarten! I wasn't sure how to use those narrow exit pieces before.  :thumbsup:

Haljackey

Yes very nice work Maarten.

Also you don't need to post tips and tricks here for review. That can go right into the new thread.

I just want to review interchange tutorials here so they're clear and concise before before going in the guide.

MandelSoft

OK, they are now posted in the Tips & Tricks topic ;)
Lurk mode: ACTIVE

apeguy

I decided to make a tutorial for a partial Y interchange, seeing as one hasn't been made yet. So let me know what you think:




For this tutorial we will have a RHW-6S splitting into two RHW-4s. So we'll start off by drawing some RHW-6S. Leave a 2 tile median between each carraigeway. You'll see why in the next image. Then add an orthogonal RHW-6S splitter on the opposite side of the where the two highways will split. On the other side add a diagonal RHW-6S splitter.




Next, add a RHW-4 smooth curve on the northbound (southbound for RHD) carriageway, and draw some RHW from it. Do the same thing from the diagonal splitter piece in the same direction. this will be the carriageway splitting off from the orthogonal road. Now you can see the reason for the 2-tile median is to have enough space for the smooth curve peice. You could just have a 1-tile median if you left out the smooth curve, but it wouldn't look as good.




Now place a couple of RHW-4 starter peices to convert the diagonal RHW, and then build an overpass over the northbound. (southbound for RHD) It's best to convert the RHW before you build the overpass.




Then bulldoze the RHW-4 starters and continue dragging the diagonal carriageways, and then do the same with the orthogonal RHW-6S splitter.




To finish off, just continue the southbound carriageway northwards from the overpass, use FAR peices to bring the carriageways closer together, and there you have it! A complete partial Y interchange! You can customize the interchange, for example...




You can use RHW-8 splitters instead, which adds an extra lane for traffic entering and leaving the main carraigeway. This is more realistic, especially for busier roads. With the help of a few cosmetic peices, the interchange looks much more realistic.




You can also use some smooth curves to bring the diagonal carraigeways closer together, both saving space and making the interchange more realistic.




Another space-saving solution is to use FAR peices on the other side of the carriageway.




Or why not turn the RHW-4 into RHW-6C?


Of course these are just a few ideas on how to customize this type of interchange. Just experiment around and see what's best for you. :) :)

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