RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[MandelSoft]

Just got back from vacation, and what do I see? RHW-6 Curves, Functional RHW-6, RHW-3 and diagonal bridges. WOW! All of this happened behind my back? I'm so excited! Excellent

Best,
Maarten

[dragonshardz]

Maybe instead of full-blown interchange puzzle pieces, perhaps simple overhanging "guide" props on 1x1 lots?

As in, you plop a "6x6 loop guide" lot and make the MIS ramp following the curve of the overhanging prop.

~~Dragonshardz~~

[SamJam]

1) Some highways really kill the area, look how the American interstate killed route 66, now thats a real RHW. Its too bad stuff never is finished though, theres a literal dead end highway in Wisconsin missing an overpass just barely, and a highway that doesn't go to the Wisconsin border from Illinois by a bunch of communities. They also had this highway planned across people's farms that by the time its done, I will be in my mid 40's. Thats just two discontinued midwest routes, I could go on and on, but it just goes to show you how the American highway system.
///
2) And after 35 happened, lots of bridges were inspected in my area, and the conditions are actually really scary, but theres nothing you can do if you don't have Bill Gates money to repair a state wide problem.

1) That's where there needs to be a distinction between commuter and tourist bypassing. I find the real problem with virtually every major city in the U.S. is that there are continuous freeways cutting right through the downtown areas, or circling around downtowns so tightly that it cuts them off from the rest of the city. Detroit has a wonderful freeway "loop" downtown where, for a few blocks, the freeway becomes an at-grade city street. Torontonians are in the process of debating the same idea for the Gardiner Expressway which cuts through downtown--about half the city agrees that a portion of it should be grounded (it's currently elevated) and turned into a boulevarded street. You're bang-on when you say freeways 'kill' areas, because businesses often rely on casual passing. Whether it's small shops in a downtown neighbourhood or country stores on the main street of little towns, freeways are the enemy. Do some places need business access to freeways? Many times yes, but people are capable of driving into/out of town for a few minutes to reach a freeway that's farther away. Downtown Vancouver, representing a city of 2.5 mil, is flourishing beautifully and there's not a freeway to be seen for many kilometres (lining the edge of the city limits).

2) This is what I don't get about U.S. freeways. Yes, they're necessary, but there doesn't need to be a maze of them in every single one-horse town. When I travel down there I see a LOT of empty freeways, even in the middle of very dense areas. It's like someone got the idea of how a freeway system can work in one place and then the blueprint was stamped everywhere else regardless of how many people would ever use them. There's too many. A town of 10 000 people does not require a four-lane divided grade-seperated bypass. Freeways grow in the U.S. like weeds but nobody stops to think of how much it's going to cost or even if they're necessary. I've noticed Quebec has fallen into the same trap, where almost every Autoroute is either in horrible condition or is currently being repaired and snarling traffic... or going somewhere that doesn't need it at all.

I don't hate freeways, in fact I love them, but it's hard to find good strategy with them these days. Very little real planning overall, and polititians are sometimes too quick to pull the trigger to build them just so they can spend money (as an excuse to raise taxes of course). If they were built properly and efficiently there would be far less complaining about them.

[MandelSoft]

Maybe instead of full-blown interchange puzzle pieces, perhaps simple overhanging "guide" props on 1x1 lots?

As in, you plop a "6x6 loop guide" lot and make the MIS ramp following the curve of the overhanging prop.

~~Dragonshardz~~

Good idea! That would be a wonderfull helping tool. Beside that, I think that's easier to make than a full-blown ploppable interchange.

[nerdly_dood]

Although that's an excellent idea, the NAM team doesn't use any lots, so that would need to be by a separate creator, who might be on the NAM team, but probably will not release it as a NAM release - just a personal creation of their own.  Of course someone could release it who's not on the NAM team but who does have the necessary measurements and such.

[Shadow Assassin]

Although that's an excellent idea, the NAM team doesn't use any lots, so that would need to be by a separate creator, who might be on the NAM team, but probably will not release it as a NAM release - just a personal creation of their own.  Of course someone could release it who's not on the NAM team but who does have the necessary measurements and such.

*coughpuzzlepiecescough*

Of course, in a similar way to diagonal streets are constructed using the helper pieces?

[j-dub]

Doing some sort of guide line lots seem complicated. Well, I have an other idea its not the same, but similar. You could use something like Chris Adams draggable paths for planning, before you lay out MIS pieces down, Those paths can drag any direction. I don't know if that will be able to drag under the upcoming elevated RHW, but it can certainly show up after dragging under elevated Maxis highway.

[Streetlight 725]

How about this interchange?RHW 3 lane and a RHW 2 lane.Go to http://www.focal-plane.com/imagefolder/images_art_stock/Framed_large_photos/Highway_Interchange_04042001_74_large_text.gif

[Kitsune]

That looks very very similiar to a stack we have just North of Toronto.

[Crissa]

Freeways are built to peak capacity, and generally, tourists aren't there during peak.

You should see what the twelve lane freeways coming into LA look like after a long holiday; or trucks trying to cross a grade.  I've been caught in bumper to bumper traffic not only for hours, but for hundreds of miles across California.  Traffic jams hundreds of miles across happen out here.

Of course, freeways in the west are completely different animals than those in the east: The majority of them were built before the communities around them (instead of plowing through built up areas) so the freeway killing neighborhoods is more rare out here.  Also, only a tiny fraction are toll roads.  Which changes use behavior... Tourists wander freely without tolls, which is good for far flung community economies (though does encourage sprawl, to a certain point).

Anyhow, there's many examples out here now of towns and plazas growing and dying just because another plaza was built further down the line.  Which is no different than the little gas stops on route 66.  They come and go.

What I want to do with Real Highway is to attempt the truck-only lanes they've put in (and are proposing) on our shipping corridors.  One of the suggestions is to embed induction coils in the lane so the farm trucks can run via the grid instead of each needing its own generator to run.  I know we can't simulate that, but it's still a neat idea.

-Crissa

Removed unnecessary political reference. -Alex (Tarkus)

[dragonshardz]

n_d: I know the NAM team doesn't do lots, however, as SA said, it wouldn't be that hard for someone with a little bit of GMAX/3DSMAX ability (ie NOT me) and some other skills to make unpathed puzzlepieces. If that's possible.

SA: Puzzle pieces would probably work better than lots, thank you for pointing that out.

~~Dragonshardz~~

[Tarkus]

Even if it was just the starter ramps spaced the proper distance from an overpass to make a decent Diamond, that would help immensely.

That's a good idea, TEG.   I've been considering doing something that looks like Ramp Style A, but has a one-tile offset between the RHW and the ramp.  Also, once the Elevated MIS appears, it will be possible to simply build a Ground-to-Elevated MIS transition between the existing Ramp Style A, leading up to a standard NAM Elevated Piece (or vice-versa, using Elevated RHW).  That would require minimal slope alteration as well.  We'd probably be looking at 4 tiles for a Ground-to-Elevated transition.  So, for the most compact Diamond setup, you'd have only a 4-tile wide footprint then.  The total lengthwise footprint, including the RHW/MIS Interface pieces, would be 15 tiles for an RHW/Road diamond, and 16 for an RHW/Avenue diamond (or a SPUI, once those are completed).

As far as placing some sort of guide in game, nerdly_dood is correct that Guide Lots could not be included in the RHW Mod itself, since the RHW, as a NAM Component, cannot/will not contain lots.  As far as going for a puzzle-piece based approach, I'm not sure what exactly is intended by that suggestion, but from the sounds of it, it won't work.  Unless you're talking about some sort of "terrain altering" puzzle piece, like Jonathan (warrior) had been experimenting with awhile back.  I think ultimately, paying attention to the preview models and experimenting/becoming familiar with the options in the mod is the best approach.  Perhaps to aid this, I could use the LTEXT files to mark the dimensions of each puzzle piece.  So, for RHW-4/MIS Ramp Style A, you'd see "RHW-4/MIS Ramp Style A (3x2)".

How does that sound?

I'll be back with more (hopefully) later.  I've been in the process of moving everything on to my new laptop (yay!) so I haven't had much time to develop anything new.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[Kitsune]

Tarkus, lets here the specs of that new laptop!

[simzebu]

How about this interchange?RHW 3 lane and a RHW 2 lane.Go to http://www.focal-plane.com/imagefolder/images_art_stock/Framed_large_photos/Highway_Interchange_04042001_74_large_text.gif

That's a pretty normal four-level stack interchange. My guess is that they put two of the ramps below ground level in order to decrease the height. They can be pretty tall, especially when overbuilt (as many highways around here were). My favorite of that type is this one in Albany. It's built into a large valley (which Google Maps doesn't show very well), so US9 stays nearly level over the top. It was intended for the highway to continue all the way across the middle of Albany, but thankfully the project got cut.
Also, the signs on I-90 mark the exit as "Loudonville/Arbor Hill," which are the best and worst neighborhoods, respectively, in the region.

[j-dub]

Alex, use of dimensions is a great idea. I never came across an issue, because I have always had a huge amount of open space, but the tile size information would be of help to alot of people.

[dragonshardz]

Quick question: can someone direct me to the location of the current asphalt mod for the RHW? I can't seem to find it myself.

Thanks.

~~Dragonshardz~~

[Monorail Master]

Yea, back on that page 134 when the topic about the boat making the bridge collaspse. I remember reading about in the 1980's when a cargo ship couldn't see in the fog in Florida, and hit and collaspsed several sections of the Sunshine Freeway Bridge and it was a upper-cantivlered truss bridge. Now it's a banana yellow and white cable-stayed bridge(like in Boston) with those dolphins (bridge's defense aginst big ships moving blind in the fog or rain) and the bridge is doing fine since it was finished in 2000 replaceing the old one. And also many of you might have didn't know this, but the bridge made its appearence in the game Burnout Revenge. Also for the RHW crew, can you make an option in the RHW v21 installation setup that places the HOV-2 markings in the left lane on the RHW-6? Since adding that would make it look even more realistic mainly in the large cities. Also for the RHW-6 tunnels, copy and past the ground highway tunnel enterence/exit, for RHW-4, use the OWR tunnel enterance/exit, and for the RHW-2, use the road tunnel enterance/exit. what about using those tunnels and modding them to fit on the RHW network. Because I'm saving for a computer since my computer right now can't handle Gmax. So I just wanted to share you some history and some ideas for the RHW v21 release.

[deathtopumpkins]

Quick question: can someone direct me to the location of the current asphalt mod for the RHW? I can't seem to find it myself.

There's a euro mod here on the LEX.

[dragonshardz]

thanks dtp

[Shadow Assassin]

Also for the RHW crew, can you make an option in the RHW v21 installation setup that places the HOV-2 markings in the left lane on the RHW-6? Since adding that would make it look even more realistic mainly in the large cities. Also for the RHW-6 tunnels, copy and past the ground highway tunnel enterence/exit, for RHW-4, use the OWR tunnel enterance/exit, and for the RHW-2, use the road tunnel enterance/exit. what about using those tunnels and modding them to fit on the RHW network. Because I'm saving for a computer since my computer right now can't handle Gmax. So I just wanted to share you some history and some ideas for the RHW v21 release.
   

Whoa, whoa. You're not making sense there, slow down and make it clearer.