NAM: Development

[Jonathan]

This something something like you wanted? I used existing SFBT rural powerline models. It replaces the HSR bridge so you use monorail to create it(but any network could be used) and only looks right in this rotation (Because I haven't got the hang of Resouce Key properties) but it works and proves it can be done. Also I made puzzle piece that "hides" the end monorail stubs, and then used the Street crossing lot to overhang the lines over the puzzle piece.
And to prove it carries power:


Obviously this is not going to be released as someone (such as choco can do it better but it is just prove-of-concept)

Jonathan

[metarvo]

Oh, my.  What if custom power line bridges are released as part of the new NAM?  That I just couldn't get over.   Anyway, that looks good, Jonathan, even though there's an odd shadow.   I believe that we are one step closer to a "SAM" for power lines, at least over water.  Since land bridges can be built with a little effort, it may be that these lines can be dragged over land.  Of course, there are no diagonal bridges  , but it's a great idea otherwise.

[choco]

@warrior: thanks....but i dont know much about the powerlines yet...   i suppose all one would need is the exemplar group ID....then anything should be possible.  i may need to pick your brain a bit later though...

other good news....i have a working 1008 RUL file going.  not all lengths are correct, but proof of concept.


should have the 1009 working soon as well.....
 

[pilotdaryl]

Is that the Vancouver skybridge!?
I go over that bridge at least 3 times a week!
Should be taller though... approx. 123 metres tall. in real-life.

[choco]

supposed to be...

i put it together rather quickly to start testing the RUL necessary to build that bridge correctly.  i didn't invest too much time on the model as i wasn't sure (at the time) if it would be possible or not.  now that i got it working, on to the actual models.  unfortunately, its like #7 on the to-do list.

[allan_kuan1992]

Is it possible if someone can create extra raised bridges for GLR and Rail?

I've had problems trying to bridge bodies of water when the land between the bridges is low and the waterway happens to be one of those ship-carrying ones. =O

- Allan Kuan

[buddybud]

Hey guys. A request if you will, I'm recently back and want to complete my el-rail project. I would like to avoid conflicts and be able to integrate this as seamless as possible with nam and possibly sam. What i need to know is what ranges are ok to use for the following, textures, transit textures, s3d models, props,   etc. I'll have a fair  amount of all so i want to keep it organized and safe so to speak. I figured this would be the place to ask.

second can i control textures on an el-rail 3ds models like other network tiles. For intersections i would like the appropriate texture to appear for sidewalk and road texture. Where should i start to look for this? I am now using 3ds models as base plates under the el. They are used as props with an orient to slope property added. Can i control the texture on these also?...... I just answered that question my self...LOL...if i'm using them as props i can easily control them. x sidewalk model underlays each with a default maxis texture id's for each zone /wealth. Make each a prop and assign each prop make a t21 exemplar for the appropriate zone and wealth. Any overides for textures should then overwrite and be used on the model/prop. and the t21 exemplar will detect the wealth If it works i'll do the same for the intersection road surfaces.  I'll experiment over the next day.

Cheers and thanx for any help.
Bud

Edit

well that worked. It was really easy. We can now have sidewalks that can be effected by wealth and texture mods. Here's an example. With Jrj's mod.....



With out mod.


Basically for the intersection you need a t21 exemplar for each wealth level. On each exemplar layout you have a 3ds model with the appropriate sidewalk texture id attached to it. This model is used as a prop. The t21 detects the surrounding wealth and as long as the texture mod is loaded first the appropriate texture appears. The same for the roads as before.

Its all good except the textures are slightly lighter when used on prop models for some reason. Quite annoying. I would go so far as to suggest creating a new range of id's for these sidewalk textures since there are only a few and make appropriate variations for this use and expect others to make these new ranges for their sidewalk mod since only a couple textures are used. Anyways.....

Pm me if you need any more details.

Bud

[Jack Bauer]

It os well realistic!! will is there a version with roads underneath?

[j-dub]

What Jack said. I also think this would be an awesome replacement to El-Rail over Road as well. I don't think you have to worry about overwriting something, since the DAT for this would replace the El-Rail, and existing NAM EL-Rail over Road pieces anyway. At the moment, SAM is just going to have to end before this, as people have done different not yet released replacements to some SAM networks. Not all things stay continuous for real, anyway. Looks like you'll have to discover what ranges are needed to be replaced for what crossing. I know you want to integrate as much as possible, but if you mean doing something like crossing this over a RHW 10, which is a custom network or something, then yeah that will need major discussion with Tarkus for example.

[buddybud]

Hi j-Dub 

Actually i'm aware of all you mention. And you misunderstand me. But thats to be expected!!!.... First as for the el-rail mod, i'm fully aware of how to implement it and am only concerned with NEW id's i create because there will be so many. I contacted tarkus over this but have yet to here back. So no issues there. Go to my thread to check out the work. I just returned but was actually a member of nam for all of a day at one point.....then rl kicked me in the head. So the modding part isn't an issue.

Second as for the sidewalks.......ignore the el-mod. Whats done for the sidewalks could easily be done for all raised network
intersection's.....Thats right.. have functional sidewalks underneath. This could be done on elevated nam road ways or road/street under nam pieces.

Take care and nice to meet you.

cheers
bud

[sithlrd98]

Hey BuddyBud,
I am curious to exactly what you have done on the sidewalk wealths , mainly since it was suggested to me for my avenue curve sidewalk mods...I just could'nt wrap my head around what needed to happen.

Jayson

[buddybud]

No prob.

First you have to create 4 s3d files each like below but with the appropriate default sidewalk texture iid's attached. One for each wealth level. I'm not sure how to do it the Right Way, So i just used an existing model and adjusted it in the reader. If you do it that way make sure you don't invert your triangles cause the textures will be wonky.



Next you need to make a s3d prop. I used the one found in Marrasts el/sub-hill side transition lot found on the stex. Be careful since this file is unstable in reader for some reason. I had to use text edit to change the instance that points to the model and the decoded hex editor to change the name. Do not reconfig the prop file itself after manually editing it, otherwise it will become corrupted.

After making the four models you then have to make four t21 exemplars for each intersection you want to use your new sidewalks on. One exemplar for each wealth lvl.

compile your dat.
Of course these models can be reused for any orth road under an elevated or whatever. The only problem is the sheer number of intersections.

If you need more details or don't understand any of that i'll put together a simple dat minus all my other garbage. Let me know if you need more info.

Take Care 
bud

[sithlrd98]

Yeah,I thought as much. I was pretty sure I would have to make props for all wealths , just needed some idea of how. A template .dat would definitely be great , and of course I would give credit for the help!

Jayson

[buddybud]

Hey guys.
a little more info. It seems i was doing something i was unaware of. It turns out the 3sd prop piece i used as a template has a non standard resource key type the reader doesn't recognise. its this. "Network Model Resource Key 3" The reason i bring this up is because i've had problems implementing digaonal mirrors for this. I can get my model to show up on orth and the diagonal but on the diagonal mirror i can not get it to recogonise the wealth via a t21 like the orth and standard diagonal. No wealth do flip though(i was wrong there but fixed it)? Any help would be appreciated since i am so close to getting this to work.

above you can see how the non mirror diags respond to high wealth but the mirrored ones only show my No wealth.(filler lots are there to trigger the high wealth sidewalks) The roads and sidewalks are 3sd props, no overhanging props were used. The t21's do all the work....well almost. And for further reference, i know how to mirror standard bat props on flipped t21's. but that aint working here. Ive tried using that method and the kSC4BuildingModelRotationProperty to flip it. They work but just won't acknowledge wealth......arg. Why do the No wealth road/sidewalk props work but not the others.....so close but yet so far......again i have orth and standard diag's working but not the mirror diag's. I think it's because of the "network model resource key 3" but am a bit stumped. Is there a "network meodel resource key 3xm"??

cheers and hope to get a response to this.


edit.....   I got it working. I had to do some heavy hex editing to got the 3ds props to work with the t21 exemplars.  Here's a picture and i'll upload a proof of concept dat in a day or so. It does'nt rely on nam or rul's so it should work fine with both i think.





2nd edit..... After sharing my information with goa i was informed of potential problems with my excessive hacking of the exemplar file. Thankfully he shared with me the proper method for implementing this....and of coarse it works...Thanks Goa!!! But i have to redo the exemplars i created. I have great confidence in this and hope to produce some viable results that will further enhance both my mod and potentially any elevated intersection found in sc4. (with do time of course). The method seems not to be intrusive and can be easily implemented with small patches that would in theory come out over a period of time. But lets first see where this goes.  I'll Post any further updates in my thread found here. http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=2913.0.


3rd edit.   Beta found here..... http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=2913.msg212945#msg212945
Cheers.

Bud

[b22rian]

i Had a question on the 2 semi- used ,non- transit networks that have slots in the illive reader for
"capacity" and "speed".. namely the "water - pipes" and "power line" networks...

Is there any hope or chance of one day converting those into some form of a "transport network"
in the game.. Possibly by using some form of "over -ride" with them ?

Or has this already been looked into and not much you can do with them ?

Thanks Brian

[Tarkus]

Brian, good question.  As far as the Water Pipes, they work kind of like the Subway network.  It is possible to do some overrides on them, but there's some significant limits.  Powerlines are set up kind of unusually--they're not controlled through any of the RULs, but by a small section in the Network INI file.  The Powerline section in the INI is rather restrictive in what it allows, so it's not likely much can be done there. 

-Alex

[z]

Well, so much for fixing the traffic simulator to allow Sims to walk to work over the power lines.

But I'm really curious about the pipe network.  Is it possible to use empty pipes as vehicular tunnels?  The traffic simulator certainly permits any travel type in the pipe network.  But I don't know if the other necessary support is there, or could be added.  If so, you could have a system something like FLUPS, but with a draggable network that could also run diagonally.  And you could build anything you wanted on top of it, or build your tunnels under pre-existing buildings.  So, is this something that is at all possible?

[Jonathan]

We've tried making cars go on subway (actual cars not converting it Subway traffic) but they jump up or just don't work a lot. We haven't tried pipes becuase we haven't found which IID the paths should be. (Subway models IIDs begin with 06 and the paths begin with 07, pipe models begin with 07) Also overriding subway/pipes also overrides pipes/subway and the road network. It's all a bit of a mess really.

Jonathan

[z]

Yeah, I figured there was probably a reason no one had done this, but I had to ask.  Too bad - you could have had tunnels with speed limits between roads and highways, and capacities in between as well.  I guess it's just not to be.

[buddybud]

Yeah, I figured there was probably a reason no one had done this, but I had to ask.  Too bad - you could have had tunnels with speed limits between roads and highways, and capacities in between as well.  I guess it's just not to be.

I have noted recently a "under ground railroad" which can be used with a Brussels station or something. Could a underpass, much like the ones i made using subways,  be bated to then be joined by the under ground railroad. Thus being able to convert truck bus and car traffic and allow it through.

I know it's not what your looking for but sometimes the illusion is just as useful for the average user?

Just a thought.

Bud