RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[blunderclod]

If the neighborhood connections don't work with RHW, then how come I'm getting message, would you like to connect to <name of zone> and when I do, I see the arrows showing a connection to other zone?

[Shadow Assassin]

Drawing the connection works, but people can't travel from city to city.

[Alfred.Jones]

Does it work with freight trucks though?

[blunderclod]

So you're saying this is not a connection?
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj312/blunderclod/IF-3-Meridia-1.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj312/blunderclod/IF-3-Foxtown-1.jpg

Views of Foxtown-Meridia border. IF-3 (Island Freeway 3) and Island Railway.  Codename: The Island Project.

[Shadow Assassin]

I'll say it again: The connection works visually, but people won't use it to commute into the next tile.

Alfred.Jones: I'm actually not sure about that, because I've never tested it myself. But since freight trucks don't travel between city tiles, the possibility is that maybe it works.

[jplumbley]

The reason the connection doesnt work is because there is "no return".

You have created a one way connection, yes.  But unfortunately due to the way the game deals with neighbor traffic it does not have functionality.  Here is why.

Imagine the neighbor connection as a commercial lot that is 1x1 tiles in size.  The game when you enter the city calculates the number of jobs that are available in the neighboring cities and keeps "track" of them within these 1x1 neighbor connections.

Now, as soon as a Sim reaches the neighbor connection it is considered "Employed".  It does NOT matter whether it actually goes into the next city and finds a job via the paths or not.  So, in essence the neighbor connection can be considered a "lot" because anything beyond that means nothing.

So, if the neighbor connection is a "lot" then there must be by definition for a "connection" an Entrance and an Exit.  The Sims MUST be able to find thier way TO and FROM work.  The game only has the capacity to think to the city border and not beyond.  So it MUST find a way TO and FROM the same tile of a neighbor connection.  Unfortunately, RHW-4 and beyond uses ONE WAY paths.  Therefore, these paths do not complete the circle for TO and FROM.

We must complete this circle for the connections to work.  I have just had an idea on how to do this but, it is not something that will be easy to work with.
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I know someone is going to come out and say, well, if this is the way it is then why do Avenues and Highways work?

To be honest, I dont know.  But, I do know that it has something to do with the way they were coded as 2-Tile networks by MAXIS.  2-Tile networks are unique in every way shape and form.  I cannot comment on how they did it but they are a separate entity from the 1-Tile networks.  ANT has been designed as a 1-Tile network and we have expanded the abilities of it to be greater than 1-Tile wide.

[blunderclod]

More than likely, the reason why the avenues and maxi freeway can connect as a neighborhood connection, vs the one way avenues and NAM is a result that both directions are connected. Meaning that it is merely a larger version of a two way road taking up two tiles across vs the road or rail which is one tile wide.

I have to rethink how to redo my network in a few sections of my island. One of these days, I'll have to show ya all what I'm talking about. But one section of the island has only the highway as it's only connection. The terrain is very mountainous and everything is slammed against the coastline, so development is limited.

[Shadow Assassin]

I know someone is going to come out and say, well, if this is the way it is then why do Avenues and Highways work?

To be honest, I dont know.  But, I do know that it has something to do with the way they were coded as 2-Tile networks by MAXIS.

Avenues have a little problem with going into the neighbouring city tile... Sims living alongside the avenue near the city border can't get to jobs or come home from jobs unless there's room to do a U-turn [ie. a street or road before the connection]. If the Sims needed to get home, they'd go into the next tile, and well, get lost.

As for the two tile thing, it's basically just two one-way networks duct-taped together. The duct-taped thing actually is for the benefit of the path-finding engine, but it doesn't always work. The 2 tile networks are coded such that when a neighbour connection is made, all the engine has to do is calculate a way back in the next tile with a source of the incoming connection, and the destination of the outgoing connection, rather than guessing if there's a connection somewhere nearby, like for the RHW. It's also for this reason that 2-tile diagonal neighbour connections can't be made, because there would be three choices to choose from, rather than just two for an ortho network.


It's really an educated guess. Maybe someone could clarify?

[Kitsune]

So what happens if you build a small connector in the middle of a RHW-4 right at the neighbour connection of eithier side of a city tile?

[RebaLynnTS]

Just so you know ... freight trucks do use the connection. You can convert to a RHW2 to make the connection, because that does work.

[jplumbley]

So what happens if you build a small connector in the middle of a RHW-4 right at the neighbour connection of eithier side of a city tile?

It wont work... RHW is a 1-tile network no matter which way you look at it.  The game expects the Sim to be returning in the same tile, which is impossible for RHW-4 and greater.  These all have one way paths.  The ONLY way around this is by making each tile physically 2 way and then adding a connector between each side.  To make this "appear" one way there needs to be aa puzzle piece that is will make the textures just before the neighbor connection have 2way paths on the same texture.  Then a connection from both sides of the RHW needs to be created so that the traffic coming back goes to the proper side of the highway.  This will complete the "circle".

[A200]

Hi all
I downloaded the new NAM recently  and I started using some of the new RHW peices, especially the MIS. So I made this pretty good freeway for my city with 3 interchanges, but the problem is- noone uses it  even though it provides a more direct and quicker route across town.

However, the freight trucks do use it to get to neighbours, but thats pretty much it!

Any ideas on why its laying there, empty?

[allan_kuan1992]

if the highway is getting little usage, then three or more things must be happening:

- the interchanges were placed at locations that would negate any speed or travel time advantage that the RHW4 had. (e.g. too far from population)
- the interchanges are too complex to be used easily by the simulator or they prevent travel in the direction desired.
- the interchange ramps are made of networks other than the RHW (does not apply to at-grade intersections of the RHW)

When building the RHW, always make sure to use the RHW in the on-ramps and offramps, as using other networks fools the traffic simulator into believing that the network is slower than other routes.

- Allan Kuan

[JoeST]

and if you use some of the Puzzle pieces, (namely the Rail over RHW) then check the paths out using the SimCity 4 Extra Cheats Plugin.dll and drawpaths cheat

[Jonathan]

Or if the RHW-4+ was transfered to subway just before the neighbour conection?

[Palpatine001]

I am sure I brought up RHW going into Neighouring cities and how you need to convert back to Maxis stuff first for the connection to work properly about 4 pages ago. (RHW - Ave/Road - Connection to city - Ave/Road -RHW Again)

Anycase AJ what is this about Freight and RHW?

Errrr last I looked the Freight Trucks were using the Auckland Bypass that connects Auckland to Broken Mountain and the River Expressway between Rangitoto Town and Solarian City and they are RHWs with highways of avenues being used as the connector to the city next door.

[Shadow Assassin]

Some of you folks may have seen this previously in my MD, and the curves have been completed.

Next up: RHW/GLR, a revised version of the RHW/Rail crossing, S-curves, and the completion of the MIS intersections. RHW-2 will need to be done, still. I'm still finalizing the road markings to be used for that.

[Diggis]

It wont work... RHW is a 1-tile network no matter which way you look at it.  The game expects the Sim to be returning in the same tile, which is impossible for RHW-4 and greater.  These all have one way paths.  The ONLY way around this is by making each tile physically 2 way and then adding a connector between each side.  To make this "appear" one way there needs to be aa puzzle piece that is will make the textures just before the neighbor connection have 2way paths on the same texture.  Then a connection from both sides of the RHW needs to be created so that the traffic coming back goes to the proper side of the highway.  This will complete the "circle".

hang on, how does normal OWR work then? Apparently it doesn't.

[rickmastfan67]

hang on, how does normal OWR work then? Apparently it doesn't.

Drinking too much tonight Diggs?

[Diggis]

it's 10am here.....