This tutorial was posted in my MD Developing Islas Gemas, but I thought it might be useful as refernce material too.
Minitutorial on making transit enabled lots
I know that most of this stuff is so easy, that it's self explanatory, but it took me a really long time to find the proper tools to do it, and I wasn't able to find any comprehensive tutorials on the subject, so I decided to make a small step-by-step just for people like myself who might think that this is really advanced stuff, when infact it's dead easy.
Anyway, here goes...
Most lots can easily be made transit enabled with the brilliant SC4Tools (http://www.simszone.de/simcity4/downloads/sc4tool_en.php) by Andreas Roth. It's as simple as pushing a button, but I'll go through it step-by-step just for clarity.
For this tutorial we will make transit enabled beaches (very useful for... eh... GTA style beach races or... eh... I don't know, I just thought it would be funny really).
1. Open a park or plaza lot in the Lot Editor.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut1.jpg&hash=dfd7f24685d4a2a545ab7d25d6b0a7a6482e488c)
2. Change the base texture to "beach" (0x21f0000).
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut2.jpg&hash=aa09b20e9de7753dbb0dc9117bf43cd37eacf4ac)
3. Increase the depth of the lot to wanted size.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut3.jpg&hash=6b5615945ba86bcbb814a5829a9a366d07664325)
4. Duplicate the base texture to cover the lot.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut4.jpg&hash=a55292cff50284c3ecf17b45321d96711b3a3ca4)
5. Save as "new name".
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut5.jpg&hash=cd5f3e986ee6ee03e9817d0aad7284ae7bfedbca)
6. Now fire up the SC4Tool and chose the transit enable option.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut6.jpg&hash=b3d54e29c9fe6aa7a3f9e85e98013c5d0466b454)
7. Chose the "road" option called "c" and use the directional indicator to chose the possible ways that the traffic can travel.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut7.jpg&hash=34fa30a0875f4ca489d9e060b19d205b729ac05c)
8. Right click and "add transit".
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut8.jpg&hash=afb5f2809214fdcb41390ad8932ed9a42ab5793b)
9. This is what you should have now:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut9.jpg&hash=8284d66821fad6d58dabc65771193c0d4a61a528)
10. And add transit points for the rest of the lot.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut10.jpg&hash=34005be792978db5b9c1ac26c148f8fe0ddd495d)
11. Now, let's try it out. Here we have a rudimentary beach site:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut11.jpg&hash=c75147291aaea4bea794ce60918051e42f5f2912)
12. And we add some of the new transit enabled beach lots.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut12.jpg&hash=4e0f2330d817633bb28b93285347d3271826f915)
13. This certainly looks transit enabled to me...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut13.jpg&hash=c183ef13c2c0a79a7f5f8ca155b926403f9d67ff)
14. And it IS transit enabled. What a kick! :P
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi109.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn65%2Femilin_2006%2Fpltut14.jpg&hash=c93f389f0d64e08132fdbab2c0c5dc71b1393629)
Despite from me not being able to see the purpose of transit enabled beaches, I think this is a great tutorial and definitely very useful! :P
:thumbsup:
Thank you Emilin! &apls
Great-working tutorial! Karma +1 to you ;)
oh man.... i love u!! :thumbsup:
i think i have a problem with sc4 tool.... i've downloaded it and try to run it..... but the only thing i found, are these two error message.....
first at start...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg340.imageshack.us%2Fimg340%2F2425%2Funtitledyx5.png&hash=86bae63cfeda2382d33a6c16030a4945d62ce0c6)
and when i'm going to do this tutorial....
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg141.imageshack.us%2Fimg141%2F2903%2Fedch7.png&hash=6f63853b8d6da7bf3879302a2bc042c227c16f2a)
the program runs, but it wont load any lot.... what happen???
sorry if i post in the wrong place..... :P
i have done something with MenuShowDelay.... i add value 50 to it.... but still show the same caution message..... how do i solve this?
this is just what I've been looking for! I'm going to start it right now! Thank you !
Quote from: sarungman on March 27, 2007, 06:37:43 AM
i think i have a problem with sc4 tool.... i've downloaded it and try to run it..... but the only thing i found, are these two error message.....
first at start...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg340.imageshack.us%2Fimg340%2F2425%2Funtitledyx5.png&hash=86bae63cfeda2382d33a6c16030a4945d62ce0c6)
and when i'm going to do this tutorial....
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg141.imageshack.us%2Fimg141%2F2903%2Fedch7.png&hash=6f63853b8d6da7bf3879302a2bc042c227c16f2a)
the program runs, but it wont load any lot.... what happen???
Hi Sarungman,
I've had both those error messages myself and found that you should be able to fix that if you set the MenuShowDelay to 400 (that's its default setting). The error can be caused if you've used TweakUI or some other Windows tweaking program to modify the Start Menu speed. That should fix your problem (I say should because that's what I had to do the first time I got those errors on my old system. I've got the second error message on a new system and it's not because of the MenuShowDelay setting). Hope that helps you out.
LoneDog
Emilin it was because of this tut i learned to TE and thank you for showing this off - pat
Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.
Yes I am sure because I want to encourage those people who make wonderful and easy understandable tutorials like emilin.
If everyone would make tuts like this, I think everyone else would be able to create things with everything. I am a real *nogood* when it comes to tweaking lots etc and I have tried many times to transit enable lots without ever really understanding it....well you did it, and I am the king now......lol ;)
Thanks and much appreciated for a wonderfully detailed tut like this.
mrbisonm.
What exactly does enabling transit on a lot do? I'll say thank you for the tutorial even though I don't know what enabling transit on a lot does because I've been goofing around with sc4tools and didn't understand how to use that option so I never bothered to look further into it to see what it does but as long as this tutoria was posted felt I'd at least ask what it does. Who knows it might come in handy for one of my bats.
Thanks
TE Lots can be evils, so please read the following to understand the ins & outs of them
http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=2763.0
TE'ing a lot can be evil if you make it completely TE'ed but if you just do the entrance to say a parking lot there is no harm or foul... Basicly TE'ing is for that bit more of realizm.. TE'ing should be used on plops only and not growables...
If you only want to be able to drag a network (street/road/rail) into or through the lot, you shouldn't make it a transit switch at all.
The transit switch properties turn your lot into a station, and will allow people to use it as a shortcut, jumping across it in no time and resetting the accumulated commute time.
If you don't want to create a mass transit station, but just want to "network enable" your lot, you must delete the Transit Switch properties. This can be done either in Reader or in SC4Tool's Exemplar Editor:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi232.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee198%2FRippleJet%2FDeleteTransitSwitch.jpg&hash=2c19b714b9d983c0afe634778ad7829f91750642)
All three transit switch properties need to be deleted (one at a time):
- Transit Switch Point
- Transit Switch Entry Cost
- Transit Switch Traffic Capacity
Thanks Tage that sheds some more light on things and about how to deal with TE'ing... thank you for that info...
The Difference between Network Enabling and Transit Enabling
To further visualize the importance of removing the transit switch properties if you are not creating a station, let's take SimGoober's Heloport as an example. It's currently being tweaked to become a functional airport without causing CTD's, but for this purpose I made two other types of lots out of it.
Network Enabling
In the first test, the heloport is an eye-candy lot with an avenue and a railroad dragged through it.
All transit switch properties have been completely wiped out.
Thus the avenue and railroad that are dragged through the network enabled lot function as any avenue or railroad elsewhere in your city:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi232.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee198%2FRippleJet%2FHeloportNetworkEnabled.jpg&hash=c869775812e5c959505eb447358a9b70d3fe8e21)
Cars are driving and pedestrians are walking along the avenue, and both passenger and freight trains are going along the railroad.
Transit Enabling
For the second test, since the heloport does have a train platform, why not make it a functional train station.
The Transit Switch Point was made as simple as possible:
- All Sides; Outside to Inside; Pedestrians to Passenger Train
- All Sides; Inside to Outside; Passenger Train to Pedestrians
The Transit Switch Entry Cost was set at 0.07, which is more than the time it takes for trains to drive 7 tiles (0.064).
This was done in very faint hopes that the avenue and railroad would still allow traffic going through the station, without going in and out of the Transit Switch Point. However, these hopes were severely dashed:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi232.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fee198%2FRippleJet%2FHeloportTranistEnabledforRail.jpg&hash=8c237307c12b11f749f95e16bf5bb8863d7f63e8)
No cars, no pedestrians and no freight trains were passing through the station anymore.
A lot of pedestrians entered the building though and turned into passenger trains which converted back into pedestrians on the other end. A few cars entered the building, but those were only the daily workers going to the Heloport and not going out of there, and home, until later in the evening.
Every passenger going through the lot (out in the morning and home in the evening) is counted towards the Transit Switch Capacity, causing congestion and delay. And once they have passed the station, the stupid sims think they are standing at their home doorsteps, trying once again to find the shortest route to work...
The only surprise was that passenger trains were able to enter the station. Obviously it was possible for trains to run inside since the railroad was dragged into the lot, and across the station due to the transit switch point. Upon exiting the station, they were converted back into passengers though, and shortcutted a Maxis station before going back onto the railroad.
The pathfinding algorithm used in these tests was the Promote Biking, which allows people to walk extensive distances, and thus increases the number of pedestrians. It isn't the best algorithm there is, and it won't survive the next updates of NAM and CAM, but it's good for testing pedestrian behaviour.
Regarding SimGoober's Heloport; it won't be modded as a train station, it will only be network enabled! :thumbsup:
So, I'll have to start thinking NEL instead TEL ::) , this is a very clear and useful explanation about the differences betwwen those two entities :thumbsup:
I makes me see that I have to remake some of my TEL .... someday :-[
So to understand this Tage instead of saying TE'ing as Jeroni has pointed out we should think about the Network as whole and not just the lot? A lot can be TE'ed but will it screw up the NE, I think I truely get it now...
I know transit enabled lots can't be placed next to each other, but can network enabled?
Actually it IS possible to transit enable lots so that they can be placed next to each other, but traffic will not pass through both lots. Oddly, UDI can pass through. This one of several differences between the routing of traffic and UDI in lots.
Quote from: smoncrie on May 02, 2008, 10:42:36 PM
Actually it IS possible to transit enable lots so that they can be placed next to each other, but traffic will not pass through both lots. Oddly, UDI can pass through. This one of several differences between the routing of traffic and UDI in lots.
This is a very interesting sentence... ;) . Can you explain a bit more about placing TE lots near each other ?¿
It is a little hard to describe, but basically, for tiles at the edge of the lot, one uses a RUL value of zero for the direction where the traffic enters/leaves the lot.
I discovered this when I was working out how to transit enable stations for the original (puzzle piece only) GLR. Such stations are transit enabled, and one can plop them next to each other.
Thanks, it is interesting, but it is also very limiting that the traffic will not pass through both lots ::) ... anyway, it is good to know that the option exists. Thanks for sharing the tip :thumbsup:
So its truly possibly to have 2 TE'ed lots next to each other then that is sweet!!! But some carefull modding would be needed to follow then, if one does that...
Pat,
I think that jeronij is right, and unless someone discovers a way for the traffic to get through, it is more of a curiosity than anything useful. That is why I did not say more in my first post. I guess I should have explained it better.
The only useful thing I can think of, that might work, is to provide an alternate route for emergency vehicles when the traffic has been converted to subway.
OK Smoncrie thank you that is better understanding... So its possible but not so far practical as its only limited traffic...
All I see is a bunch of blocks that say "Not Found"??
HI there Simcrazy123,
The reason behind that is the base texture you have used is not a maxis texture, it has to do something with the coding where it can only notice the maxis textures... if you use just a maxis texture first then replace it with a texture you want.... IE I start off with the maxis grass textures as a base route.... Does that make a bit of sense?
I have found that if you place the textures in your Maxis/SimCity 4/Plugins folder, the textures will show up in the TE editor.
I hope this helps.
I just start to use SC4Tool to help TE a railyard Lot I just made from an old smaller one.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg695.imageshack.us%2Fimg695%2F6162%2Fgaredetriagegmn.png&hash=27ca8a054cc5469b0963e7d475982d9030fb50fb)
Now, I open SC4D and I made the modifications I want. My pb is that I cannot save, the icon (top left) stays light grey ()what().
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg196.imageshack.us%2Fimg196%2F1953%2Fpbavecsc4toolsu.png&hash=7dfc7971dcfb1a128f3f358b7c66403b1f1f1458)
I was able to TE my smaller lot and now I've got the same grey useless Save Icon with it...
I want to understand and I'm not ready to delete my nice LOT to create another one from scratch ()sad().
Can somebody help ???????
Your TE isn't properly done. The arrows on the TE'd tiles need to point into both directions (left and right). Have a look at various existing lots in order to understand how you need to setup the directions etc.
Question!
Is it posable to make your own base texture? If so, how?
Quote from: Nego on April 18, 2010, 07:11:03 PM
Is it posable to make your own base texture?
Most certainly. :)
Quote from: Nego on April 18, 2010, 07:11:03 PM
If so, how?
Start by reading
Textures - Base and Overlays - and SC4Tool (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=9.0).
Thanks :)
I realize that I didn't ever thanks Andreas for his answer.... Thanks Andreas !!! :D
I didn't quite understand how can you make such transit enabled lots which can be placed next to each other. I have made some fun pedestrian plazas, and I want to place them like the pedestrian plaza puzzle pieces which are included in the NAM, but I just can't seem to make them work. Can someone tell me how to do that?
Puzzle pieces are not the same as transit enabled lots. For adding new puzzle pieces, you'd have to edit the NAM Controller, which requires extensive modding knowledge.
Is it possible to do a rail/road crossover in the middle of a lot with sc4 tool or does that require expert modding?
My initial reaction would be impossible:
http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=2763.40 (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=2763.40)
However, NAM has puzzle pieces with rails crossing roads, although from what I understand these are real network pieces and work differently.
I think that you could get what you want though. It may take some expert modding skills, but you could split your one lot into four lots that surround a blank space. That blank space would be your intersection and you may not even need a puzzle piece. A picture may help me describe this.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fa.imageshack.us%2Fimg825%2F9518%2Flotb.jpg&hash=d4cf10d82e5394a51da8b6fd9503b6f29e145c2b)
This is just an example. There would be better ways to make that specific lot (no TE at all). If those rails/roads were diagonal it would be more helpful, but I dont know how well diagonal transit on lots work. It might not be worth the time. This all depends on how comfortable you are with lot making, the size of your lot, and the buildings involved. It might be a very functional piece of art.
Hi everyone,
I'm having trouble creating network enabled lots with two one way roads running through them.
The lot is 3 x 3 with two one way roads running through it from south to north and north to south (LHD) one tile apart like this:
\/ X /\
\/ X /\
\/ X /\
The original 3 x 3 lot had a road running through it on each side and was transit enabled as follows (just flip it):
<><><>
X X X
<><><>
How should the OWR lot be TE'd in SC4Tool? I've tried a variety of configurations but the pathing in-game still runs like a normal road.
Should it be A:
<><><>
X X X
<><><>
Or B
> <> >
X X X
< < <
Or some other configuration?
I can't find any information or example lots using this (which makes me doubt whether it is possible?)
Thanks,
M
Although traffic flows in one direction only on oneway roads, their settings in a TE-Lot are the same as for road, namely bidirectional. This means configuration A is correct, provided you have changed the network types from road to OWR. If you switch to expert view in SC4-Tool, the flags should be 02 for the entry side and the exit side of each tile occupied by OWR.
Thanks memo!
I assumed as much, but wasn't sure, because the in-game pathing for the OWR over the lot still runs like a normal bi-directional road as per below:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1214.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fcc486%2FMarius_Manqoba_Redelinghuys%2FI-3-6Mar_zpsa89c746a.jpg&hash=09e631314558b3ce7ee6fc46a0da12cf8ef47086)
I stumbled upon this when I tested the functionality of on and off ramps at the interchange close to the lot with the UDI (as I normally do to make sure everything runs smoothly).
The police car was driving in the OWR on the left in the right hand lane and disappeared because it couldn't enter the lot in that lane.
Is this normal?
You are welcome. It seems you have to link to a custom path file in order that the paths face into the right direction. You may want to use the path file 0x29c2d03e, which is included in the RTMT Lots_US file, in case you have it. Add it as Rep16 to each tile in SC4-Tools advanced view. You may also need to change the direction of the path. I think this is done via Rep3. Per default, the mentioned path file runs from south to north.
Edit:
Quote from: M4346 on January 06, 2013, 01:16:57 PM
Is this normal?
Of course, it's not! ;)
Quote from: memo on January 06, 2013, 04:10:37 PM
Quote from: M4346 on January 06, 2013, 01:16:57 PM
Is this normal?
Of course, it's not! ;)
I didn't think so ;)
It works! ;D :thumbsup:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1214.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fcc486%2FMarius_Manqoba_Redelinghuys%2FI-3-26Jan_zpsfbc47505.jpg&hash=43c9b26e664acf45289334ce88c08f5c52d59147)
I added the custom path (had to download the RTMT again, seems to have disappeared from my plugins) as follows:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1214.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fcc486%2FMarius_Manqoba_Redelinghuys%2FSC4ToolOWRTE_zps8c08922a.jpg&hash=3f305aa8a3d0a3cbd76107fff304d3af92fc4cd9)
Initially just adding the custom path didn't work, so I also modified the Rep 3 for each TE / NE tile.
Great! Thanks a lot! ;D :thumbsup:
I created a parking lot and wanted to connect it to the road network via transit enabling, but the only the basic networks are available in sc4tool and I wanted the path to be in line with the parking lot markings. In this case it would be a single direction OWR. I tried using path creator, but I have no clue how to apply the paths to the entire lot, specifically the ends, where there are curves. Path creator allows you to path each tile, which gives me 6 different path files for each tile. Which one do I use to edit the sc4path file in reader? Am I supposed to edit the rep 16 to a particular code? I have no clue what I'm doing, and I can't find an exact answer anywhere.