New Elevated *Network* Facelift Mods

[Diggis]

Yeah, why waste one of the only people doing T21's when we are inundated with people who *cough* ENJOY!?! RUL's 

[MIncroabl]

@Warrior & Diggis:
Yeah, I know, but I've been wanting to learn some RUL basics for along time. This is just another reason to learn.

[Diggis]

I don't think we'll let you.  Now get back to work! 

[FrankU]

I like your parking lots very much. I don't really care what distance you make between the entrances. Choose for yourself. I will use them anyway.

But I have an idea: is it possible to give the elevated highways, where there are no adjacent lots, a run down sandy or muddy look? More or less like the dirt roads? Because that is probably what the ground under the highways look in real life.

[metasmurf]

I love your mod for el-rail! One request though. Would it be possible to do a no-zone version, meaning that there would be textures underneath el-rail regardless if there's development next to it. Something like this mod.

[snorrelli]

I would also like some texture provided for parks, civic and landmarks, despite the diversity between types of lots in those three categories. I would think a green park texture with some flora would be suitable enough for all three...

[toxicpiano]

 All I can say is:

[MIncroabl]

While I've been browsing through the NAM files, I've made some T21s for the network tiles it has added that I consider essential:

Some double networks running under el-rail:


Diagonal streets:


Unfortunately the tile with diagonal el-rail and rail/OWR cannot be affected with this mod, as the zone triggering the props has to be no more than one tile away. I'm not going to add a similiar T21 for double roads, because I've never seen anyone do them and do not ever expect to. The rest of the network tiles are just road stubs and corners under the el-rail that I'm not going to bother with. Well actually, now that I think about, I'll add the corners, as they are quick to do and most likely somebody would miss them.

I've also added OWRs to the list of intersections:

But I have an idea: is it possible to give the elevated highways, where there are no adjacent lots, a run down sandy or muddy look? More or less like the dirt roads? Because that is probably what the ground under the highways look in real life.

I love your mod for el-rail! One request though. Would it be possible to do a no-zone version, meaning that there would be textures underneath el-rail regardless if there's development next to it. Something like this mod.

Both ideas are possible, I'll have to see what I can do when I start the primary work on the elevated highways. I'll definitely add a no-zone set because of the new street light configuration I'll use.

I would also like some texture provided for parks, civic and landmarks, despite the diversity between types of lots in those three categories. I would think a green park texture with some flora would be suitable enough for all three...

I've been bouncing a similiar idea around myself. It would be quite easy to create a new set with some formal looking hedgerows and/or other flora that could fit all.

[FrankU]

Nothing will ever be perfect. The small glitches I see in your pics are probably very hard to change, so I say: let it be as it is. it's a great work you have done here!
Thanks for that.

[SC4BOY]

agreed.. but then I see little reason to be picky about things other people do for the game.. I mean if you don't like it that much you can either not use it or change it yourself.. hehe

what you have is a major improvement.. thanks for your work...

[vistla]

This is a great mod, and I personally like the idea of the parking lots under the E-highway (from picture on page- 2). I think that these would be perfect in commercial/industrial zoned areas, as I've seen this in several cities across the states.

[Henry Midfields]

I must say thanks to you as well. There were several times that I didn't want a "el-rail above an empty grass space", which it felt out of space for me. I especially liked having the commercial pavements under the el-rail, between the commercial zone and a road. At this point, I've got a few questions/requests:

1. Will there be one for the NAM's High-Speed Rail, or is this function already "inherited" from the default Monorail?
EDIT: Actually...maybe not... ...; sorry to say this, but I haven't seen any pedestrian pavements under the tracks of the Shinkansen in Tokyo (my home city, by the way). Although then again, I haven't even seen the TGV at all, and only rode the ICE for an hour in Switzerland. For the ICE, I haven't seen any elevated sections. Any witnesses?

2. Now, what pavements shall we have for Civic Buildings? (I personally am thinking of Medium/High-Wealth Commercial Pavements for Police Stations, Big Hospitals, and other Landmark type Civic Buildings...)

3. Is it also possible to not just have the el-rail pavement adjacent to the zone, but also for another tile beyond as well?

Anyway, keep up your awesome work!

[Jonathan]

Firstly HSR is not part of the NAM ... yet and secondly the current version will "inherit" the pavements, but the version I am working on will not.

[MIncroabl]

1.
2.
3.

1. - As Warrior stated, the monorail version will work with the current incarnation of HSR, with the exception of the longer curves (I'd think, correct me if I'm wrong).

2. - I haven't decided yet, but I was thinking along the lines of a very tidy garden layout with trees, flowers and shrubs arranged in formal patterns. This is as far as I can see the only real possibility, as any kind of pavement or brick base looks absolutely horrible going through parks, whereas grass seems quite neutral next to landmarks and civic buildings.

3. - Unfortunately, no. T21 network lots have some drawbacks to them, and this is one.


I haven't really made any significant progress with the highways lately, except that I found out that the new RULs for the street connections isn't perfect after all. This is because I (currently) have no reliable way to have the props appear on top of the street part of the 3d network model. I also realised that it isn't possible to have the street connections every 5th tile either, due to the limitations of T21 pattern sizes. So, it seems I'll eventually go for the pattern I showed earlier.

Even though I haven't made any progress with the highways, I haven't been completely sitting on my hands:



That is the result of about half an hour of playing with T21s for fun. Can you guess which network was the target? I'll give you a hint: it isn't streets, and it isn't elevated.. 

[Filasimo]

as if we are playing jeopardy: " Ill take 'adding T21s to pedmall tiles for 1000 Alex!' " 

[Andreas]

Ahh, finally someone grabbed the bland ped-malls and turned them into something beautiful. I envision a "PAM" (Pedmall Addon Mod) someday, with multiple starter puzzle pieces for the different texture styles, and various T21's that add pedestrians, lampposts, benches, trees, trashcans and the like.

[snorrelli]

2. - I haven't decided yet, but I was thinking along the lines of a very tidy garden layout with trees, flowers and shrubs arranged in formal patterns. This is as far as I can see the only real possibility, as any kind of pavement or brick base looks absolutely horrible going through parks, whereas grass seems quite neutral next to landmarks and civic buildings.

Exactly!

The ped mall markets look great too...

[MIncroabl]

Sorry, haven't given an update for weeks now. The fact is that I've been a bit tangled with RL and when I've had the time, I've found playing the game for a change more enjoyable. I did, however, get something done today:





This is what I had in mind for the civic T21s. I've made use of placement patterns here, so the prop setups are not random this time. Naturally, I've used prop families so that they won't be too repetive. It also seems that the grass prop needs some minor texture adjustments. That'll be pretty simple, not counting the horrendous amount of trial and error renders I'm in for (If any BAT texturing experts happen to wander here, any tips are appreciated).

As for the elevated highways, for some extraordinary reason I haven't gotten the T21s to work on any other network tiles but straight diagonal and orthogonal ones. I'm certain though that I'll fix that issue once I find the time/energy.

[figui]

nice to hear you're still around this.
and btw, looking really nice

mauricio.

[Meastro444]

great work! ill get it when it comes out