RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[jplumbley]

@TEG24601  To be honest those are some of the biggest cities in the States.  And it makes for a fairly strong case for concrete Highways.

Obviously, there is only so much time one can devote to creating something for SC4 and Tarkus has chosen to make his textures based off of an Asphalt base.  One of our "themes" so to speak for the NAM team is "Function before Asthetics".  Our goal is to add more function to SC4's networks.  We dont worry as much about asthetics because we can always find someone who wants it one way or another and we leave it upto them to make an alternative to what we have provided as the default.  If there is someone who would like Concrete Highways in place of RHW then we welcome anyone who would like to provide the alternative textures.

@Filasimo  I dont see the reason you made the comment:

lets have this matter closed since this is albeit going offtopic whether or not a city has concrete or not its already been addressed and will no longer be spoken about. thank you

This is not really going off topic...  It is offering a suggestion as to the direction of the project.  Of course there have been many decisions already made for this project as to what is more important and although we do share the "function vs asthetics" psychology its not a bad thing to discuss other ideas.
______________________________________________________

I dont see any reason for this discussion to be required to come to an end, but I would prefer to see someone willing to make the concrete textures than just a discussion about something that wont change without someone willing to step upto the plate.

[videosean]

In my feeble attempt to create a SPUI (figured it wasn't going to happen so no big deal) I came across this interesting way that MIS wants to connect (or not connect depending on how you look at it?) to the RHW4. 

[TEG24601]

TEG24601:  Keep in mind that you have only made reference to a few cities in the USA.  The RHW applies to all countries around the world, and I can say from my own experience that the RHW can be made to fit any urban environment with proper placement.  (In SC4 and real life.)  Know that the RHW can go as wide as 6 lanes with the current release, and if you need more, expand it to a Multi-RHW setup with a collector/express system to accommodate the extra lanes.

I understand that.  My only concern is that resources that could be better served by focusing on improving the existing RHW and MIS, instead on creating another layer to the system, that in my opinion is already well served by the existing Maxis Highways.

@TEG24601  To be honest those are some of the biggest cities in the States.  And it makes for a fairly strong case for concrete Highways.

Obviously, there is only so much time one can devote to creating something for SC4 and Tarkus has chosen to make his textures based off of an Asphalt base.  One of our "themes" so to speak for the NAM team is "Function before Asthetics".  Our goal is to add more function to SC4's networks.  We dont worry as much about asthetics because we can always find someone who wants it one way or another and we leave it upto them to make an alternative to what we have provided as the default.  If there is someone who would like Concrete Highways in place of RHW then we welcome anyone who would like to provide the alternative textures.

I dont see any reason for this discussion to be required to come to an end, but I would prefer to see someone willing to make the concrete textures than just a discussion about something that wont change without someone willing to step upto the plate.

I really was not talking about making concrete textures, as I feel they are well served by the Maxis Highways.  Although, now that it has been mentioned, a Euro road color mod, with North American striping would make the RHW seem more realistic (at least for most US localities), as that coloration is much closer to real paved freeways than the current one, which looks like very old asphalt or dirty concrete.

The only reason I made my comments in the first place is from my extensive travels throughout North America, the RHW is perfect for rural settings, Maxis for Urban, and creating an elevated RHW seems unrealistic.

TEG

[deathtopumpkins]

Teg, I have to but in and say that the real purpose of the elevated RHW would probably not be to build elevated highways, but to build overpasses with, so we don't have to switch to avenues. I agree with you that we should have the euro color with american stripings as an option though. Even VDOT (VA Dept. of Trans.) maintains the roads enough that they aren't that grey.

And on the concrete vs. asphalt debate, they're about 3/4 asphalt around here, as they switched from concrete panels to asphalt about a decade ago, and only currently use concrete on bridges and overpasses.

[Shadow Assassin]

You mean like this?




It ain't gonna be released, though.

[deathtopumpkins]

Exactly!
Aww... come on! Pretty please? 

(You could just privately send it to me  )

[Tarkus]

I understand that.  My only concern is that resources that could be better served by focusing on improving the existing RHW and MIS, instead on creating another layer to the system, that in my opinion is already well served by the existing Maxis Highways.

TEG, thanks for your concern.   However, it really won't take a lot of extra resources to make an El-RHW.  The basic RULs can transfer over entirely from the Ground RHW--all I have to do more or less is just do a "Find-Replace" to change some 1s over to 2s.  That part is an entirely automated process.  It requires a few models to be made, but nothing terribly intensive.

Because of the way the RHW is set up, being a 1-tile network, it is also theoretically possible to make Wider Elevated RHWs (up to an Elevated RHW-10, 5 lanes per direction).  Fully draggable, too, I might add. That's something you're not going to be able to get with the Maxis Highways, as the two-tile networks are rather inflexible. 

Going elevated will actually improve the existing RHW and MIS by allowing more ramp and interchange design possibilities as well. 

The ultimate goal I have in mind here is for a more realistic highway system.  The Maxis Highways are 50% scale compared not only to RL, but to the rest of the SC4 networks.  Personally, I don't think the Maxis Highways serve their intended purpose effectively, though I know there's definitely a few who will disagree with me.  (Of course, I'd love to see what they'd think of an RHW with jersey barriers.  )

On the road surface topic, being a native Oregonian, I can tell you that while Portland does have some concrete freeways, most of them (esp. the "urban" ones) are actually grayed-out asphalt and not concrete.  And some of them do in fact have lengthy RHW-4 stretches (I-5 in the Rose Quarter, parts of I-405), probably owing to the infamous "freeway revolts" of the 1970s (which, imo, were a bad idea).

And SA, yellow lines?    I thought I'd never see the day.   The devil needs to buy a winter coat, methinks.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[TEG24601]

You mean like this?




It ain't gonna be released, though.

That is exactly what I was thinking.

As for overpasses, I understand.  I had read the posting about an elevated RHW and a double decker RHW and though... Why?  That was why I posted.  I would like to see overpasses over other networks.  I was under the impression that it would require a lot of work, and of course need Jersey Barriers or other walls on the sides.

I-405 - 4 lanes, yea there is a short stretch between exit 1B and 1D like that.  And yea, there is that incredibly short section of 4 lanes at Broadway, but that will soon be replaced with a new structure and the road actually built to original specifications.

And yea, while the Freeway Revolts gave Portland the MAX, it did deny the city of a good connection across SE (and getting rid of a bad neighborhood), and a direct connection from downtown to the airport.  It is also why Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco have horrible traffic.

TEG

[Shadow Assassin]

The final textures for the RHW-2.

Dashed lines will probably be used on the straights, though.

[Tarkus]

Those look fantastic, SA.  

I've kind of been toying with going the double-line approach on my RHW-2 textures as well (I already did with the Rail crossings, and the 90-degree sharp and smooth curves).

-Alex (Tarkus)

[superhands]

nice texture SA.
ps: what is that black/white object near the outside of the corner, directly from the van and blue car?
dave

[Swamper77]

A llama

-Swamper

[MandelSoft]

Wow! The RHW-2 looks good, SA. And actualy I prefer it with unbroken lines (as you have shown above) instead of dashed lines.

[The REAL Tolsome]

@Tarkus: You say the only thing that you need there are some models?

hmmm.....I think this would be possible

look here:

[Shadow Assassin]

That model looks great, but keep in mind that the texture does not flip... it simply rotates 180.

[The REAL Tolsome]

thanks
the rhw texture is now rotate.

How can I flip a model or group? ( I don't want rotate the model 180.)

[deathtopumpkins]

I'm liking the solid lines too, and that elevated RHW looks great, but I bet Tarkus already has models somewhere up his sleeve (its probably really crowded in there).

Shadow Assassin: How could I change the textures like that for myself? Would it be that hard, or could I just do it with paint?

[nerdly_dood]

Great textures, SA!  And although I like the solid lines better, I think that a dashed line setup would make it fit in better with the Euro wide-radius road curves. (I like to use those instead of the sharper curves that the RHW-2 provides ATM, but I hope that I will soon be able to use a separate wide-radius curve for RHW-2)

And if a concrete RHW texture set is released, I would prefer that it be broken into two parts:  elevated RHW and ground RHW.  The purpose of that is because ALL ground RHWs where I live in southwest Virginia are paved with asphalt that has faded to the lighter gray color that the current RHW has, but I don't really care about that, the black color American RHW Tarkus is making fits better with the other road networks.  ALL bridges and overpasses, however, are concrete. (But it's not much of a big deal, it's just my preference as a result of what i'm used to in RL)

[Tarkus]

Rechi, that model looks fantastic!  If you havent already, I would recommend checking out the Transit Model guidelines.  If you have any questions or need any help integrating them into the game, feel free to drop me a PM.

nerdly_dood:  Well, there will be separate wide-radius curves for the RHW-2 in Version 21.  That's one feature I can confirm.

As far as breaking the textures up, the way the textures are assigned, the El-RHW will have a separate texture IID range from the Ground RHW, so it will be possible to confine concrete textures to one or the other.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[nerdly_dood]

Cool!    I must admit that I hadn't even thoughtthat they may have the same texture IID range... but again, it's not a big deal.  I'm really looking forward to RHW v.20a and 21!