RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[CasperVg]

-Fixes to the Orthogonal-Diagonal Transition dragging mechanism for MIS

Does that mean that the MIS will not automatically change to RHW-2 once you have passed 2 ortho-diagonal transitions? Wonderful
It sounds great, and I like the look of the new texture mod.

[Alfred.Jones]

Loving the new texture!! It will much better suit more urban environments now. Looks awesome

[Pat]

Hey Alex,

So no more grey texture for RHW?  I do also like the Idea of more updates...

[Shadow Assassin]

Actually, the existing RHW textures still will be available. They'll just be in a separate download, that's all.

[jplumbley]

Actually, the existing RHW textures still will be available. They'll just be in a separate download, that's all.

If thats what the texturer wants.  And he would still need to be able to keep his set updated with the latest version of RHW to stay current.  We dont really have an answer to what he wants to do, and it is not our place to upload it in his place.

[Pat]

Ahhhh OK kewl SA thank you for the quickie response there   If thats the case then Alex great job on the new texture there, I dunno honestly if I would use them cause Im partial to the Grey but hey everything is worth a shot  


Argh lol OK Jp, I guess I will wait Alex's thought then on that new texture placement 

[cammo2003]

Hi everyone-

I'm finally back with an update on all things RHW.

While there will not be a full update ready any time soon, a "Version 20a" will be ready, which will incorporate a number of fixes to features already in Version 20:

-Fixes to the Orthogonal-Diagonal Transition dragging mechanism for MIS
-Stabilized Road/MIS T Intersections
-Draggable (non-smooth) S-Curve for RHW-4 fixed (which will make the smooth Lane Shift/S-Curve pieces easier to place)
-Rail-over-RHW-4 puzzle piece Pathing Fix
-Fixes for "Orphaned"/"Artifacting" textures on some ground level puzzle pieces (like the RHW-4-to-6S)
-Sidewalks removed on MIS textures in zoned areas

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After Version 20a, I am planning on implementing a new strategy with all future updates to the RHW mod.  Instead of having 8 months between releases (as was the case between the original v13 and v20), I am planning on doing a series of smaller, incremental updates which will add just a few new features, but will be released more frequently.  How does that sound?

-Alex (Tarkus)

Yes, FINALLY! The removal of sidewalk textures is a fine improvement. 

Look forward to the other improvements also.

Great to hear work's being done and a release is on the way sometime this decade*. 

Regarding the new texture - I think the dashed lines need to be either longer than they are, or there need to be more of them.


* this is a tongue in cheek poke at Tarkus' legendary teasing

[Tolsome]

maybe different textures for RHW in a SAM System would be cool, for so much different textures we get now. 

[Haljackey]

Wow, that's great news Tarkus!
-Glad to hear that the rail over RHW piece will be fixed.  This will really improve the network!

Regarding the new texture - I think the dashed lines need to be either longer than they are, or there need to be more of them.

I agree, there should be more broken white lines in the middle.  Take One-way roads, avenues, and ground/elevated highways for example, sure they aren't that closely spaced in real life, but they look good in SC4.  Because the lines in the current RHW are longer, I don't have a problem with it, but the new ones look out of place compared to the rest of the SC4 multi-laned networks.

Best,
-Haljackey

[quackmofro]

Glad to hear about an update. Some of these fixes will be really helpful.

I agree about what people said about the stripes in the textures. They should be a little longer, about a car length, for the sake of realism. The textures, by the way, are great. Many of the interstates here have that darker asphalt pavement. I can't tell from the pic, but are the rumble strips still there? I really liked them in the old textures and, and they are a standard feature on limited-access highways.

[jplumbley]

maybe different textures for RHW in a SAM System would be cool, for so much different textures we get now. 

Thats a little more difficult to do.  For Streets its easy because people can avoid creating intersections bewteen SAM variations.  With things like RHW which is intended to be a major artery highway, it is highly likely that these will intersect with each other.  Since a SAM-like variation setup would overrinde the actual textures in the original network itself they would conflict with each other if they were to intersect and we can never make it reliable and stable.  This will not happen because of this reason.
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Glad to hear about an update. Some of these fixes will be really helpful.

I agree about what people said about the stripes in the textures. They should be a little longer, about a car length, for the sake of realism. The textures, by the way, are great. Many of the interstates here have that darker asphalt pavement. I can't tell from the pic, but are the rumble strips still there? I really liked them in the old textures and, and they are a standard feature on limited-access highways.

-  There is currently the Euro Textured RHW by ShadowAssassin which will not change, it is a replacement of the default textures.

-  Tarkus has made a new set of default textures, for reasons that he required himself to do so (he made this decision).  They are not intended to look like the grey textures we are all used to, so I wouldnt start comparing Tarkus' textures to the grey ones.  From my discussions with Tarkus, he is looking to make them more simple to make RULing easier.

-  The reflectors and the rumble strips and the grey RHW textures are not efficient from a RULing standpoint, in fact they over complicate things and make it much harder to physically mod them.  The reason is they are not symetrical.  Since these textures are not symetrical it is required that extra textures be created for the curves, bends, intersections, etc... more textures means more RULs... more RULs means more complicated combinations of RULs.  To make the textures more simple Tarkus has removed the rumble strips and the relfectors.  This is more of a simplicity move to make it easier to get things functional and released to the public faster because there will be less work involved by making less textures required less RULing.
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Again, we cannot tell you if the grey textures will be available.  The textures will become outdated when Tarkus decides to release RHW v20a because there will be missing textures...  You guys will complain about missing textures and unfortunately, we are not able to make those missing textures to the exact same quality (luckily Tarkus has made this awesome new set).  That responsibility lies on the texturer who created them.  Whether or not this texturer wants to continue his work or not, the RHW project will go on and will proceed faster than it ever has before.  But again, it is not our place to upload an incomplete set of textures in future releases and we can only work with what we have, our hands are tied and it is upto the texturer to continue his work... or not.

[quackmofro]

I understand. I didn't realize that those things made the job more complicated. The Euro textures and Alex's textures are great as they are, in my opinion. And I agree, functionality first. Thanks for the information.

[nerdly_dood]

WHOA.  That new texture looks WEIRD.  and i LIKE IT.  seems more realistic and yet umm, oww headache... MENTAL WHIPLASH...  I agree that it should have more lines to fit in better with the default SC4 networks, but actually in RL, it seems to me that on what translates to RHW in SimCity, the dashes in the lane lines actually ARE farther apart than they are on avenues or one-way roads, or sometimes on--well, i can't think of a place where there is a highway that looks like the maxis highway...  but i like it!  good work.

[Pat]

Jp thank you again for clairify further and explaining why the new textures where made... That helps alot more to understand that the Grey is PITA and then new one is easier to work with....

[zakuten]

Since as you say these new textures are simplified to avoid problems with the asymmetrical texturings, will that mean the loss of such elements as stop-lines on entering streets and roads, for those of us who don't make RHW interchanges but rather intersections?

[Orange Julius]

It's like when a friend comes in with a butt-ugly haircut and you say something nice just to not hurt his feelings. 

My opinion, unfortunately, is that it is ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS, at least compared to when I last checked up on it (which was, what, Dec. 2006?). It now looks like a poor imitation to the OWRs. The lanes and striping are all wrong and out of proportion now. At least we'll have the old textures available...right?

[jplumbley]

It's like when a friend comes in with a butt-ugly haircut and you say something nice just to not hurt his feelings. 

You should really think about your words before you post.     There are much better way to provide critism.  Not one word in your post is constructive and it is very demoralizing.  If you have a problem with the work maybe you should try and do it yourself and see what you can come up with.

[Haljackey]

My opinion, unfortunately, is that it is ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS, at least compared to when I last checked up on it (which was, what, Dec. 2006?). It now looks like a poor imitation to the OWRs. The lanes and striping are all wrong and out of proportion now. At least we'll have the old textures available...right?

Well, you have to take into account the work being done on this project.  Nothing you see here is final; its always functionality first, appearence second.  Let the team get it working before we debate about "where that yellow line should go" and such things like that.

Appreciate the work that has been done here.  Constructive criticism works, direct criticism does not.  Please take that into account as the RHW Team continues to break down the walls of transit modding for the betterment of the SC4 community at large. 

Sure, the textures are a big change from what we have now, but change is inevitable.  Besides, if you don't like it, don't download it! No one is forcing you!  You can just continue as-is with V.20 and wait until the next release after V.20a. 

One thing I've learned here is if you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all.  Sometimes keeping your thoughts to yourself can work wonders, and there is no exception here.  I personally like the current textures better, but the new textures are just a prototype, as were the textures before V.20. 
-Like the NAM, the RHW will always be beta, and will never be fully complete.  Please understand that because many members have spent countless hours working on this project and when you say something like that, it doesn't help anyone. 

Please take this into consideration. 

Best,
-Haljackey

[Tarkus]

Hi everyone-

Thanks for the feedback!    I'm thrilled to hear that the whole "smaller but more frequent" scheme is to everyone's liking--I think it will be a win-win situation all-around, and it is something which wouldn't have been feasible without the NAM modularization efforts.

Regarding the textures, as far as the striping goes, I did base the length/spacing off of my own (fairly precise) measurements (using satellite imagery)--I found that the striping used in the existing set was actually at 254% scale, which was rather surprising.  I can see how they could look a bit "sparse" to some, and it is possible that they may be tweaked at some point, but it will likely be after Version 20a.  I realize the new set is quite radically different and it may take some time getting used to it.  The darker pavement, as you can probably guess, is to help it blend in better with the other networks.

As far as the existing texture set goes, I can confirm that it will not be included as an option.  That set is already somewhat incomplete (for instance, I had to fill in about 20% of it myself for Version 20), and its continuation depends on the texture artist responsible for it.  That is all I will say on the matter.

To answer a couple of questions:

quackmofro:  Actually, the rumble strips are still there, but they're a lot more subtle.  This is what the actual 128x128px texture looks like outside the game:



And the good news is, they won't have any negative effect on the RULs.

zakuten:  The stop lines will no longer be directly incorporated into the texture, but rather, they will be implemented through a series of Type 21 exemplars, which also means they will be attached to stop signs and other traffic control devices.  Because it is possible to have multiple T21s for a given intersection, this means that it will be possible to control (to a certain extent) where the stop signs and lines are placed.  It will also be beneficial to the LHD users as well, in addition to helping out with the RUL situation.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[zakuten]

Ah, that's even better than before! Good, good. Even though I love the MIS dearly, most of my uses for the RHW aren't busy enough for interchanges and the like.