NAM Issues Thread - PLEASE POST YOUR NAM QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS HERE

[jdenm8]

I, personally have never seen those wall textures before.

As for the turning lanes, I swear they were replaced by more International ones in NAM29.

[Magneto]

Ok, at least I know I don't have to try every version of the RHW 
Well too bad for the lovely cross hatches... I tried to play LHD just to get them but I always end up messing my highways exits
Anyways thanks you guys for your answers, it's appreciated.CHeers

[Tarkus]

Ok, at least I know I don't have to try every version of the RHW 

It'd be a bit difficult to do that anyway.  We completely discontinue old versions as soon as a new one is out, to prevent people from mixing and matching incompatible versions.  Trying to use an older RHW with a newer NAM, or vice-versa, results in broken functionality across the board.

-Alex

[Magneto]

Maybe this issue will be adressed in the next release but anyway here it is



Monorail is disrupted above center lane of TLA-7.

Last version of NAM, NWM and hotfix installed.

Cheers

[Skreeg]

Hi, I'm new to SC4 and the NAM (bought the game during the steam sale and installed NAM immediately). I am having a hell of a time getting RHW interchanges to work when there is even the slightest elevation change involved.



I'm not sure why it won't let me drag my highway here, or why the elevated highway sometimes, but not always, reverts to ground-level where I've circled in red.

Also, the starterless MIS ramps - they seem more annoying than helpful as I can't drag MIS off of them. I have to plop a starter and drag MIS off of it, then build the ramp on top of that. Then, when I'm working on nearby stuff, they sometimes randomly revert back to RHW-2 anyway. Am I just using them wrong?

Does anyone have any tips or any insight into the inner workings of RHW so that I can tell what is and isn't possible?

Finally, how does one get that arrow overlay like in the post above me? It would be handy for double-checking things.

Thanks -

Resized image from 1600x1200 to 800x600, with link to original, to eliminate scroll issue. -Tarkus, Admin

[jdenm8]

It greatly depends on the ground underneath the highway when you get those messages about it being unable to be built.

The deconversions are a limitation of the current RULing. We don't cover every circumstance in the current version of the mod and it would require a lot of reworking to get it to. We are in the process building a new version which will hopefully fix this in most circumstances. As an interim solution, increase the amount of space between the curve and the intersection. This will allow the code in the current version to continue the override.

[Tarkus]

Catching up here . . .

Magneto, sorry for the delayed response.  That particular item was in fact fixed by Hotfix 301, in the file zzz-NWM_2.0.4_Patch.dat, which should be installed if you select the NWM fixes from the installer.  I'd reinstall the Hotfix.

Skreeg, first of all, welcome to SC4 Devotion--and to SimCity 4!  I've resized your image and linked to the original--while we don't have a strict image size rule here, 1600x1200 causes scroll bars for most users, making it difficult to see your whole image easily.

Starter pieces, in general (RHW or otherwise) tend to be a bit finicky on slopes, as in essence, they're unbuildable (or "false") intersections that we're able to override, and cause existing networks to take on different characteristics without interfering with their basic functionality.  The game's terrain and road placement systems flatten terrain at intersections, leading to that effect.  The reason you can't drag that highway is because there's a starter on the end of that onramp, and it's causing terrain difficulties.

The reason you're seeing that Elevated RHW-4 (ERHW-4) revert to a ground level RHW-2 (the base RHW network) is because there's something in your particular setup for which we haven't coded "adjacency stability".  Most likely, it's because that curve is right next to a Road intersection, which would indicate that the current public release NAM controller doesn't include override code to cover that particular curve next to that particular Road intersection, in that particular orientation, for the ERHW-4.  As jdenm8 mentioned, the next RHW release (part of NAM 31) will cover a lot more of these "adjacency" situations, though we're going to have to add millions of lines of code to the controller to handle them (there's really that many--when you have to handle Piece X next to 100 other pieces in multiple orientations, Piece Y next to Piece X and 99 other pieces, etc., it adds up quickly).

As far as the "starterless" MIS transitions, those exist mainly to allow more compact setups without starter pieces interfering with the terrain, and are especially designed for setups in which a ground RHW is connected to the NAM Elevated Road, One-Way Road, or Avenue viaducts via the MIS/Viaduct intersection pieces.  If you're on any sort of terrain that starters with which starters will interfere, you'll only be able to access the starterless versions in that particular spot.

In general, to avoid those sorts of issues like you've experienced, I'd try to ensure there's at least one straight, "orthogonal" tile between any curve/intersection/overpass with any other curve/intersection/overpass.  It'll take up a little bit more room, but those situations are the most stable with the code in its current state.  Also, don't be afraid to flatten or tweak some terrain--real highway construction projects involve earth moving.  Laying 1x1 Road tiles over an area is a good way to flatten terrain, and for sloped setups, installing a good RHW slope mod (either Ennedi's or bigdope404's) can help.  You can also avoid having starters in your way by using Draggable Ramp Interfaces, which are detailed in the Readme, and on my YouTube channel.  I'd also recommend checking out the RHW Interchange Guide, curated by Haljackey.  As he's been using the RHW the longest of just about anyone, he has a lot of good tips.

Hope that helps!

-Alex

[Skreeg]

Ah sweet, thanks for the quick reply. I actually have Ennedi's slope mod already, and have found Haljackey's guide. I will definitely have a closer look at these draggable ramp interfaces, they sound very handy. The next version of NAM sounds like it will be totally badass (painful programming notwithstanding .

I did have one other newb question though - how might I view the line-arrow overlay like in Magneto's post?

[Tarkus]

You're most welcome!   To answer your other question, the arrows are from the DrawPaths cheat, which is enabled by Buggi's SC4 Extra Cheats DLL Plugin--you can pick that up here (make sure you're logged onto the LEX to see the download link).

-Alex

[TEG24601]

Tarkus, does draw paths work on Mac?

[Tarkus]

DrawPaths only works if you have the ExtraCheats DLL file installed.  DLLs (Dynamic-Link Libraries) are a Windows file format.  I've not heard of anyone being able to run ExtraCheats on a Mac without WINE or some sort of virtualization software or a dual-boot involving the Windows version of the game, unfortunately. 

-Alex

[RickD]

I seem to have a problem with the Tram flups. The ramps are supposed to switch between different types by rotating, right? Well, this does not work. I can rotate as much as I want, the ramps stay the same. Can anyone help?

[memo]

Not all of them change by rotating. For instance, the first piece changes between road and oneway road ramps, whereas the second piece (via Tab) is an avenue ramp only and the third piece is the tram-avenue ramp only. The fourth piece is street ramp, pedestrian und street tunnel, though.

Indeed, I consider this quite confusing as well, as the description text always says to rotate for other pieces, I think.

[Skreeg]

Couple of quick things -

Alex, draggable ramp interfaces are orgasmically amazing. I will be using them whenever possible from now on. However, I had to go without any insight you put into your video on the topic, because it has been removed from youtube due to what I assume is an extremely bogus copyright claim. Just a heads up.

Secondly, I see pictures of these curving MIS ramps that actually go over RHW. Are those part of the RHW pack? If so, what menu are they under? I can't seem to find them.

[jdenm8]

I just had a look and I could see the Draggable Ramp Interfaces video fine.

The DDRHW one is missing because of unforeseen circumstances regarding its implementation if that's what you're talking about.


As for the curved Elevated MIS Ramp, that's FlexFly, a feature implemented in RHW 4.1 if I remember correctly. It can be found at the end of the RHW Wide Curves menu (Use Shift-Tab to get to it quickly).

[Tarkus]

Alex, draggable ramp interfaces are orgasmically amazing. I will be using them whenever possible from now on. However, I had to go without any insight you put into your video on the topic, because it has been removed from youtube due to what I assume is an extremely bogus copyright claim. Just a heads up.

Thanks--I'm glad you're enjoying the DRIs!  Thanks for the heads up on the video as well . . . they didn't like the audio I stuck on there, so I'm fixing that.

Secondly, I see pictures of these curving MIS ramps that actually go over RHW. Are those part of the RHW pack? If so, what menu are they under? I can't seem to find them.

Those are FLEXFly ramps, and they are indeed included.  You can find them at the very end of the RHW Curves button. 

Hope that helps!

-Alex

[TEG24601]

OK, so I was able to obtain SC4 for Windows and was able to check out my cities using DrawPaths, and have a simple question, should all traffic lines connect?  I'm wondering because I have found a few places where I appear to have disjointed paths, and was wondering it that could be the source of some odd traffic behavior I've been having.  Regardless, I did find an issue with how I was using my RTMT lots, and will now have to make some adjustments for them being too close to intersections.

[jdenm8]

As far as I'm aware, the game does have a rather generous allowance. As long as the path enters on the same side, the pathfinder will generally continue, preferring the closest one.

[z]

As far as I'm aware, the game does have a rather generous allowance. As long as the path enters on the same side, the pathfinder will generally continue, preferring the closest one.

It's a bit more restrictive than that.  My understanding is that the paths need to be within 4m of each other for a connection to be made.

[jdenm8]

Eh, regardless, there isn't a gap that wide that I know of. The EMHWY sharp diag bend paths may suck, but they don't suck that much.