RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[Patricius Maximus]

I'm liking all of it. Great, great, amazing work Tarkus. The new ramp styles are great. I've been waiting for left ramps, and B-ramps with acceleration lanes for a long time. Could you tell us the status of the ramps you mentioned? You know, textured, finished, in progress?

I voted to have it either way. I'm happy to wait until January if necessary, but it'd get kind of boring.

[Tarkus]

nerdly, I think you're right that having different letters denoting those ramp styles would be a bit overkill.  The nomenclature Jonathan suggested would effectively make the puzzle pieces "neutral" in terms of RHD/LHD, too, so I think I will go with that.  Ramp Style C will become "Ramp Style A-Auxiliary", as I think that is the best description possible--it has an auxiliary lane.

Patricius, to answer your question, most of those ramps I've mentioned are just coming out of the texturing stage.  The RULing on them shouldn't be terribly difficult (many of them have the same basic design as the existing RHW-4 interfaces), so most of the work will be pathing.  I've actually been going crazy with textures the past day or so (mostly ramp interfaces), and it's looking like the number of new ramp puzzle pieces in Version 21 will be staggering, provided they all make it in.

And the poll results thus far, with 88 votes . . . the overwhelming number of you seem to just want a new RHW without preference for the form it takes--more than the other two options combined.  The "more features, later release" option has a slight lead over "less features, sooner release", so it's looking like a larger Version 21 will probably be in order. 

I'm happy to wait until January if necessary, but it'd get kind of boring.

It would.   I can't specify any release dates, of course, but I'd like to get it wrapped up sooner rather than later.  A year seems a bit long.    Of course, that's still shorter than the time between Version 12 and Version 13 (1 1/2 years).

While I'm at it, a ramp interface or two is in order:

RHW-4/MIS Ramp Style A-Diagonal



And this appears like it may be something for the RHW-6 . . . but note the fact that it seems a bit cut off on the left side there. 



Actually, what you're looking at is RHW-10/MIS Ramp Style A.  It only covers the outer tiles of the RHW-10, so that one can do other stuff with the inner/median tiles--like building independent inside exits, or other possible stuff.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[metarvo]

It would.   I can't specify any release dates, of course, but I'd like to get it wrapped up sooner rather than later.  A year seems a bit long.    Of course, that's still shorter than the time between Version 12 and Version 13 (1 1/2 years).

-Alex (Tarkus)

Of course, I am familiar with what I consider to be the "mission statement" of SC4D.  It will be done when it is done.  So, I have conditioned myself to not expect any release dates on projects anyway.  In any case, RHW V21 will be well worth the wait for me.

[nerdly_dood]

  A RHW-8 ramp?! Excellent!

[SimsReporter]

What my biggest thing that I don't like is the Lines, I think there way too short. But thats my opinion.

Here's is what I did in Paint (Then i copy and Pasted into GIMP so i didn't lose quality) (and yes i finished the lane, it bugged the crap out of me  )


Also I fixed up the Transition (Upper Left) To The highway and MIS to make it more curvy

[Patricius Maximus]

Well, a 10 lane road with no ramps wouldn't be much good, will it  .

Tarkus: Good news. It's always nice to see a status report. The new ramps are great. More options! That is what I want, and I think you will deliver that.

- Patricius Maximus

[deathtopumpkins]

Wow. It seems pretty close to release.

Those diagonal ramps are awesome! These new additions should make the MIS relativly fully-functional, especially with smooth curves, elevated, and more ramps.

There is another ramp that I thought would be helpful though: One where the MIS continues straight but the RHW4 curves. Don't believe that one's been mentioned any time recently.

And as for the last one you showed, I don't get how it would work. Could you possibly show a version with the edge of the tile parallel to the highway marked?

[allan_kuan1992]

Here's a "left exit" ("right exit" for you LHD folks) in Ramp Style A.  I know some people have been waiting for this one for awhile.

it's upside down

should be a left entrance

however if you flip it vertically then you will get a left exit.

- Allan Kuan

[nerdly_dood]

It's not upside down, traffic is coming from the bottom up towards the top, merging from the left towards the right.  Yellow lines are always on your left in the US, which usually means towards oncoming traffic.

[Tarkus]

It's not upside down, traffic is coming from the bottom up towards the top, merging from the left towards the right.  Yellow lines are always on your left in the US, which usually means towards oncoming traffic.

Actually, Allan's right.  It really is an entrance ramp there.  But really, it won't matter what it looks like now.  All I need to do is just flip the textures around in the Reader, and it'll be both.   

Wow. It seems pretty close to release.

Those diagonal ramps are awesome! These new additions should make the MIS relativly fully-functional, especially with smooth curves, elevated, and more ramps.

There is another ramp that I thought would be helpful though: One where the MIS continues straight but the RHW4 curves. Don't believe that one's been mentioned any time recently.

And as for the last one you showed, I don't get how it would work. Could you possibly show a version with the edge of the tile parallel to the highway marked?

Define "close". I don't think I can.     

That's a good suggestion for a ramp interface, too.  I had that thought in the back of my mind, and I too, think it could be useful.  Certainly something you see a lot in RL.

As far as the RHW-10 interface I showed there, the inner tile of the highway is just to the right of the ramp piece.  So you'd have the part with the yellow line and the other two lanes over there.  Basically, setting it up that way increases the modularity of it.  It works just like that RHW-6C interface I showed a few pages ago:

By itself


In context, as part of an RHW-6C




Back with more in a bit . . .

-Alex (Tarkus)

[nerdly_dood]

I'm busy photoshopping creating from scratch an image of something I'd like so see as a ramp in some version or another of the RHW project that I think would be useful for a collector/distrubutor setup in an urban environment...


Here it is - ignore the "traffic goes this way", it could be either RHW-6S + MIS > RHW 4 x2 or RHW-4 x2 > RHW-6S + MIS.
And yes I am taking into account the fact that with RHW-6S, one tile is barely used, only occupied by the shoulder and no pathing for traffic. I'm not sure how this would work for RHW-6C.

[Streetlight 725]

RHW 3.Looks good!
I want that into my citys a lot to.Exit ramp with the RHW 6.Thats great.
I really can't wait for it.

[deathtopumpkins]

Got it now Alex. Thanks. That is very clever.

Not sure how I'd define close either. Probably as "many of the features are done and they are asking us poll questions coupled with showing us numerous teasers." 

nerdly: That would be a nice setup, but I'm not sure how possible the MIS sharing a tile with RHW6-S would be. It'd be cool if we could though.

[Tarkus]

Not sure how I'd define close either. Probably as "many of the features are done and they are asking us poll questions coupled with showing us numerous teasers." 

Well, if we were to limit it to the 4 RHW-2 Ramp Interfaces, RHW Bridges and a couple other little things (MIS-OWR transition, etc.), it would be very close.

nerdly, what you're thinking of would be possible, more or less, if you have the RHW-4s separated by one tile at the split.  Doing a RHW-6S/MIS Ramp "Tile Share" wouldn't quite be practical, unfortunately, from a modding standpoint.  However, you could have the RHW-4s adjacent most of the time, actually, and just use the S-Curve pieces right at the split, without taking up too much room.  At 1-tile separation, you'd basically use some sort of RHW-4-to-Dual Orthogonal MIS splitter (not yet made), with an MIS S-Curve (coming in Version 21) connecting into RHW-4 Ramp Style A-Auxiliary (currently Ramp Style C in Version 20). 

Oh, and just out of curiosity, I did some calculations on the number of MIS Ramp Interfaces needed to, in my mind, effectively make the RHW "complete" in that regard.  Assuming seven width variations--RHW-2, RHW-3, RHW-4, RHW-6C, RHW-6S, RHW-8, RHW-10--and three heights--Ground, Elevated, High Elevated--there would be roughly 50 basic ramp designs (combining both orthogonal and diagonal), so total, there'd be about 300 MIS Ramp Interface puzzle pieces when it's all said and done. 

-Alex (Tarkus)

[allan_kuan1992]

OMG... that many?

Maybe we can remove some duplicates to reduce the amount of work needed to complete all that?

for example, current RHW 4 ramp style A isn't helpful in building diamond interchanges due to the lack of 1-tile separation, and ramps leading to side roads could be built with style B. so I think that might be a candidate for removal.

- Allan Kuan

[Tarkus]

OMG... that many?

Yes, really.   From what I've counted on my hard drive, though, textures for about 30 of those are already done (that's counting orth and diag separately).  And fortunately, there is still a lot of crossover.  The RULs will more or less be copy-paste.  Aside from the texturing/modeling end (for the elevated stuff), most of the work will be in the pathing area.

I did, however, end up eliminating the RHW-8C, as with the "widening" of the lanes on the RHW-6 and wider that I did with the new texture set (on the old set, the lanes actually narrowed slightly from the RHW-4 widths), it didn't really fit anymore.  And it was just kind of awkward to begin with.  So that saves some.

so I think that might be a candidate for removal.

Well, considering that piece is already done, I figure it makes just as much sense to leave it in--think of it as an added bonus.  The RUL does have a finite number of pieces it can accept, but even with those pieces, we should still be safe.

I don't think, however, that many people will be building High Elevated RHW-2 or 3 ramps.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[deathtopumpkins]

Well, if we were to limit it to the 4 RHW-2 Ramp Interfaces, RHW Bridges and a couple other little things (MIS-OWR transition, etc.), it would be very close.

Oh but there's way more to do... Although I would think that would be enough to do a small release, and you've said that in the future there will most likely be small releases periodically instead of big releases spread apart.
Anyway, by all means keep working, we can wait a little longer.

Oh, and just out of curiosity, I did some calculations on the number of MIS Ramp Interfaces needed to, in my mind, effectively make the RHW "complete" in that regard.  Assuming seven width variations--RHW-2, RHW-3, RHW-4, RHW-6C, RHW-6S, RHW-8, RHW-10--and three heights--Ground, Elevated, High Elevated--there would be roughly 50 basic ramp designs (combining both orthogonal and diagonal), so total, there'd be about 300 MIS Ramp Interface puzzle pieces when it's all said and done. 

Wow... I never thought there were that many. Good luck!
And what ever happened to half-height elevated RHW? Has it been replaced by High Elevated RHW?

And the A style ramp, I use it a lot. It's really good for building tight urban diamonds, where the RHW goes elevated over the intersecting surface street using avenue puzzle pieces (to be replaced by ERHW in the future).

Speaking of elevated RHW, are the ramps up to it going to be 3 tiles long like regular ones? I'm wondering because I think it would be neat to have a longer one for a smoother transition, about the length of the GLR-ELR transition. Is anything like this planned?

[redraider147]

i like nerdly's suggestion for the RHW4->dual MIS transition. there is already a piece for the RHW2 i believe so hopefully it wouldn't be too hard...it would be great for use as an HOV lane like dallas and houston tend to use them. where one lane goes straight under the bridge, and the other connects with the bridge, or one lane goes straight and one exits to a feeder road or park and ride area. (of course it would only go one way, but that could be dealt with.)

[Tarkus]

And what ever happened to half-height elevated RHW? Has it been replaced by High Elevated RHW?

The 8m/half-height was never officially a part of the project.  The High Elevated is what I've had in the plans the entire time.  I know there are some who aren't keen on the heights, but I'd like to keep the RHW stuff at the same height as the other NAM stuff, to make it simple to interface between the two.  Likely, though, there will be some "in between" pieces (which can't pass over/under anything) for use as fillers (which will come into play with the modular loop ramp pieces, when those get made).

Speaking of elevated RHW, are the ramps up to it going to be 3 tiles long like regular ones? I'm wondering because I think it would be neat to have a longer one for a smoother transition, about the length of the GLR-ELR transition. Is anything like this planned?

The ramps for transitioning between Ground and Elevated RHW (and MIS) will be 4 tiles in length. 

Hope that answers your question.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[MandelSoft]

Great!, More diagonal transistions ! And I can't wait for the El-RHW!