RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[mightygoose]

sorry to be a stickler for realism but normally the lanes nearest the edge have more pollution staining (darker black band) than the innermost lanes....

[Nego]

The RHW is looking really nice! I do have a suggestion on the RHW-8 curve. I think you should add another set of dashed white lines on the curve itself so that there isn't such a great space in between the ones that are there now. You could even make them different lengths if you needed to, that way, they're not too close together on the inside and far apart on the outside of the curve.

Thanks for all of the new textures. They look great! And about your concrete textures, I think they look a little too grey. Try adding a more cream color. I remember someone posted a good example a while back. I'll see if I can find it. Keep up the great work!

Edit: Found it!

I thought these would look good if they were given a little tune up. Adjust the lane width, change the colors slightly and I think we will end up with a great concrete texture. What do you think? (remember, this texture isn't mine, it's packerfan386's texture)

[DCMetro2834]

Looks pretty good here, will definitely add realism to the Real Highway system. 

DC

[Ryan B.]

Alex, thanks for making my job making signs a lot easier. 

[Nexis4Jersey]

Can we have a concrete texture similar to this......it should be more whiter , and with the slab textures added in...

[MandelSoft]

The textures are looking great! Although I have to mention that the Euro versions of the RHW-#C networks should have a grass median...

EDIT: An Euro concrete version would also be nice, for instance if you want to create some old German Autobahns.

[toja]

I think so, too - on both subjects 

But I've another question: I'd like to rerender the RHW-2 ramp with the new texture(s). Are these the draggable or the PuzzelPiece texture versions?

[mightygoose]

toja i assume the draggable as the puzzle piece ones need a darkening filter...

[MandelSoft]

Here are some ideas for some RHW-texture variations...



(NOTE: Some variations are quite exotic, but you get the idea of some setups...)

I know it would be hard to make all these setups, but it would be nice if we have some of them. Tell me what you think 

Best,
Maarten

[Girafe]

Euro Autoroute is the best according to me or which one I prefer and I used to see 

I am really asking if we can't do anything about the "urgence way" at the left of these textures, indeed I think this part of the texture doesn't fit good in the game (certainly because there is no variations and it's a unique color). I will think about what we can do and post more ideas later if I find.

[MandelSoft]

You mean the emergency lane? That's one of the vital aspects of a freeway! The MHW was lacking those. This lane is ment for traffic to stop in case of vehicle break downs or other emergencies...

EDIT:
Now what you may want is a difference between freeways (like the french Autoroute or the German Autobahn) and freeway-like roads (like some french Routes National or the German Gelbe Autobahnen). The last one doesn't have a emergency lane and can have at-grade intersection. Therefore this is not a freeway.

In the US this might seem hard to understand, but let me show the difference:
Freeway:
  

Freeway-like road:
   

Best,
Maarten

[WC_EEND]

I like Euro Autoroute and Euro Standard and the addition of an emergency lane is indeed quite vital. I've always wondered why Maxis left that out

[Tarkus]

Might have gone too far on the light side here . . .



Second draft:



Tried to incorporate the "seams" Nexis4Jersey described as well in both drafts.

sorry to be a stickler for realism but normally the lanes nearest the edge have more pollution staining (darker black band) than the innermost lanes....

Definitely an interesting point to consider.   From what I've seen, though, the darkness of the "staining" is largely a function of the lane's traffic volume.  There are many situations in which the outermost/shoulder lane is indeed the most used, but this can vary substantially, particularly on wider networks  and in the proximity of interchanges.  Interstate 5 near Tigard, Oregon is a prime example.  It might also be a bit difficult to really work that out from a logistical standpoint within the game context as well. 

But I've another question: I'd like to rerender the RHW-2 ramp with the new texture(s). Are these the draggable or the PuzzelPiece texture versions?

Draggable versions . . . to create puzzle piece versions, I adjust the Lightness in Photoshop by -14.

-Alex

[Andreas]

While I agree that some variety couldn't hurt, I think we should be careful not to get carried away too much. It's easy to whip up some variations for straight RHW, but think of all the curves, on-ramps and interchanges. I'm not entirely sure, but we don't even have a complete Euro texture mod yet (when I looked last, some special textures were still missing, but maybe Maarten added them already). There's no doubt that we learned quite about about creating textures lately, and texture quality improved a lot as well, but for the average user (including me ), it probably gets quite confusing if there are too many options.

[Girafe]

You mean the emergency lane? That's one of the vital aspects of a freeway! The MHW was lacking those. This lane is ment for traffic to stop in case of vehicle break downs or other emergencies...

Yep, I agree with you about this lane, what I mentionned is the fact that it looks like "untextured". Indeed, the other lines have different colors (different grey and black what break the monotony)



Moreover I found this texture and asked me if something with a grain texture could be work or not.


Really nice job Tarkus  

[MandelSoft]

@Andreas: agreed, I think it would be logic if first the standard US and Euro version first, then we could consider a few variations...

By the way, the current Euro set is still quite incomplete. But I like the version Alex has come up with...

[j-dub]

Wasn't the issue that the grain is so small, the game wouldn't be able to see it? However, if it is do-able, I would like to see those details in the final.

[Tarkus]

While I agree that some variety couldn't hurt, I think we should be careful not to get carried away too much. It's easy to whip up some variations for straight RHW, but think of all the curves, on-ramps and interchanges.

I'd agree there.  Obviously, getting a default North American set and a Euro set together are the highest priorities, and those need be done first.

Fortunately, the new methods I'm using make generation of the "hard stuff" (curves, ramp interfaces) much easier to make than in the past.  Once the defaults lay the "groundwork", it won't be nearly as difficult to generate additional sets.

-Alex

[Ryan B.]

That looks pretty good, Alex!  My only suggestion would be to add "contrast markings".  Here are some examples:





Heck, they even do this stuff for turn lane arrows & words:

[Rionescu]

The 401 has something similar where it has a black stripe between the lanes with the white markings on top.