Bridge Engineering Challenge

[Filasimo]

those are some good ideas guys but when u have an area in the seaport where its not wide enough for raised bridges im curious to see what u guys can come up with 

[Sir Charles of Dunlap]

Why not a bridge in which the the middle piece, or the raisable piece has traffic set so that it rides below the sea floor, making it "non-existent," and have a seasonal prop that raises and lowers, or animated I guess. Then have car props that show up when the bridge is raised and gone when it's lowered. The only problem is what would happen when the bridge is closed? It would be like the cars were traveling on an interdimensional bridge. lol Okay nerdy.

-Charlie

[mightygoose]

we can control the distance between centre sections right as well as the minimm span for them to occur. well cant we just make the minimum span like 200m and the distance between like 4km, make the raised bit as one long centre section. so you have low level cuaseway effectively and then the bridge...

[Glenni]

Either that or you could basically just make the LODs cover the road deck completely for the raised version, so cars ain't visible 

[TheGunkid]

I've got a Challenge, but this may resurrect the Double-Deck Bridge Experiment . GLR in the center of the Avenue), so everybody already has the required pieces....right?  I'm asking to make bridges for these, plz.

Avenue+GLR Bridge?


You like?

[mightygoose]

i think your right hand bridge on the top photo is brilliant...

[TheGunkid]

i think your right hand bridge on the top photo is brilliant...

It's the same one as pic #2

[jeronij]

I am a bit short of time, and I cant support these threads as often as I would    ¡¡¡

But I finally found some time to reply:

DD Bridges:

The main unsolved problem with these is the traffic congestions they create, even if the traffic density is really low. Actually, some NAM core files must be manually edited for them to work, so dont expect much progress with them unless a solution for this problem is found  .
TGK, your design is really clever and I like it, but a quite looooooong start piece would be needed to give the bridge a credible shape. Remember that the GLR starts on the ground level, and it has to climb to ... how many... 15 meters ?¿. At least a three tiles long start piece would be needed. Also aditional connector puzzle pieces should be done to make this beauty work... I cant see a DD bridge working in the near future.... 

Raised bridges:

As in RL, these bridges should be short, and this is a problem when it comes to design something like that. The key would be the start, end piece. These pieces should be seasonal props, which are lowered or raised. These pieces could be up to 5 tiles long ( 80 meters which is quite unrealistic imo). And their lenght sets the bridge lenght (2x5 tiles). We could add another seasonal prop for the repeat piece, which simply dissapears when the bridge is raised. This would give some more flexibility, up to 12 or 13 tiles total. Whatever bridge that exceeds these dimensions would look odd and unrealistic. There is no way to set the maximum lenght for a bridge actually, so the player should place such a bridge very carefully. I cant see any use for the center pieces (pylons) for such a short bridge.


I'd also like to announce that shortly I will have more help with this thread, and hopefully we will finally make some working bridges  .

[willvette]

COOL!!!!!!  I was having the same idea about the GLR and Avenue, except I was thinking GLR going below the Avenue, but no problem.  Also I'm making a Double-Decker (road over rail) based on the bering strait bridge (extreme engineering) I have it set so that the rail is 14m below the road, plz tell me if this incorrect. (note: I'm using sketch-up pro)


I'm not vary good at texturing in the BAT, so if anyone wants to texture it, tell me. Also, jeronij I'm make this bridge Double-Decker compatible, for now its a road bridge, but if DDBs are possible than its a DDB

[freedo50]

!!!! DISAPPOINTMENT ALERT !!!!

Unfortunately, using sketchup seems to be a no-no for BATting, I can use sketchup just fine, but I dislike other 3D modellers, so I thought I would take a shot at importing my sketchup BATs into the real BAT, but the BAT just had a kick-off and spat out a load of junk at me. It seems to be something to do with the way that Sketchup creates the models, but it is actually completely impossible at the moment to import sketchup models into the BAT to texture. The problem arises because, even if the model is properly made, with separate components for each object, sketchup converts the whole model into a single mesh when it converts from .skp to .3ds
Sorry to disappoint you, I hope you can model in GMax, 'cos that's one mighty fine lookin' bridge right thar. 

Fred

[willvette]

  Funny, I've got mine working just fine...


if only I had more concrete textures, a in game road and rail texture, and a dark steal texture.
notes:
    1- I use a duel-screen when I'm at home.
    2- FiSHMan does not work for me, can someone plz up-load in game road textures w/ sidewalks

[threestooges]

willvette: I don't know the program you are using so I don't know what format textures need to be in, but if you look at the end of the first post of jeronij's bridge tutorial, he provides the game road files at the bottom. Good luck.

[willvette]

threestooges, I already have that, I'm look for roads with sidewalks and rail with dert.  jeronij's road and rail textures are clear.

Nevermind, I've found what I was looking for, here

[jeronij]

Hello to all,


wilvette, I like the bridge design. Actually it will have to be a SD road bridge. I have to check the height of the rail in the puzzle pieces, but since the road deck is at 15 meter, the rail should probably be 3 or four meters lower. I have to check that. However, this week I have almost no time for these matters, due to RL. Send me a PM if you dont see a new reply here in the next few days 

About the model itself, it should be made into 3 pieces, as short as possible. I can see a problem with the column piece, well, with the suspension wires and the anchor pieces for them, These anchors are a few tiles far from the column, and since they are BATted and not added by the game, this make the center piece be around 1x11 tiles long. We can not mod a bridge like that actually with our knowledge  . Please, try to make the bridge pieces as short as possible. 1x1 or 1x2 maximum. The suspension cables and the anchors could be BATted with the column piece, making it an overhanging prop, but this must be carefully done, if we want to avoid graphic glitches once in the game 

About the sidewalks or dirt, you can easily create a plane and apply a texture for it  .

[ExplodingSims]

This is looking good, but is anyone working on the Drawbridge/Raising bridge project yet?

[ban1jm]

Hey everyone I left some pictures of me driveing on the causeway from the Tollplaza in Near Manderville too the causeway express  and the GEO Bridge. Westbank area. I notice the bridge issues and stuff. I am from Louisiana so I decided too show you some pretty cool bridges. Maybe if anyone like the birdges , maybe someone might design them. By the way I love SC4

MOD EDIT: You haven't actually posted any pictures, you pressed the img button plenty of times, but didn't actually put any URLs in take a look here and here for info on how to do it. - Fred

[smoncrie]

I would like to report something about my old method of making double deck bridges.

As other people in this thread have said, the problem with my method was that it caused the bridges to become congested, even at low traffic levels.

This is true for rail and elevated rail, but not monorail; I found that a highway bridge that also carried monorail did not become congested.  I assume that this is because the monorail network cannot become congested.  I did not test high traffic volumes, so I still do not know if this is a viable solution.




On the subject of having a raised section in the middle of a level bridge, this is perfectly possible, as is a single bridge with steel arch and suspension sections.   To do this one needs to define a special bridge RUL.  In this RUL one specifies, separately for each possible bridge length, the model to be placed on each bridge tile. It is also possible to adjust the relative height of the model on each bridge tile.

[deion30296]

The main encounter is capactiy issues. Also the no islands may be possible. Maybe put some pillars and make a lot that you plop in the water that maybe it hides the base ground. Or one that maybe blends in with the water by using transparency. The ground is still there but very "clear". 

[T1]

Hey, I like the idea of a lift bridge for SC4, I've got a good video that might help someone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmO_HGMlb4c

[carkid1998]

To make a realistic(ish) GLR in avenue bridge use draggable GLR and have 2 one way road bridges eithier side in opposite directions