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

[Strategist01]

OK, so I've been happy with the NAM 2009 everything is working great except for one thing. My advisor person says that a lot of avenues are over congested, and some of them are, but my problem is the distribution of the congestion. I was using sim. Z ultra, as released in the NAM, then switched to A better path finding and 5x capacity, as I wasn't really using the RHW anymore.

However my problems began with the Z simulator. In an avenue, I would have 2000 cars and 3000 buses. Normally my congestion would stay green, and then no problems. But it seems that in said Avenue (this is rounding off of numbers in an actual avenue BTW) Most of it would be green, some would be yellow, which was fine but then...Along a whole row of green uncongested avenue one square would turn red, but it would be green before and after that, no yellow, it would have the same amount of traffic flowing along it as the tiles before and after it and it wasn't near an intersection. please can you tell me why this is happening? Is it something to do with my testing of the new CAM(Midrise)?

[z]

This is a direct result of the intersection and turn effect.  In SC4, this is implemented by reducing capacities around an intersection.  The idea is that by reducing capacity, the resulting congestion slows down traffic enough to approximate a stop sign or stop light.  The standard simulator settings didn't do that, though; where you don't see congestion, this wasn't happening, and the Sims just zoom through the intersection at full speed.  (This is regardless of what the automata appear to be doing.)  Simulator Z implements this feature in a way so that there is a genuine slowdown around heavily trafficked intersections.  It's not quite enough to emulate a short stoplight, but it's a step in the right direction.

Your experience has nothing to do with the new CAM per se, and is certainly not indicative of any problems in the new CAM, or in your use of it.  Simulator Z was originally designed specifically to work with the CAM, so there should be no problems there.

The advisors can be a pain, especially when it comes to traffic congestion.  If there's demand, I could release an optional patch that restricts these congestion messages to the news ticker, instead of causing popups all the time.  Personally, it seems to me that that's how these messages should have worked in the first place.  Their existence as popups imply that no city should have serious congestion anywhere, which does not seem to be a realistic goal.

[SimNation]

Hello I wanted to ask a question about what file in the NAM traffic file would one need to edit to change the maximum walk distance for the sims. I want to make my sims walk no more then 21 tiles for how I develop my cities instead of the 43 that Sim A Medium uses but when I opened the traffic file I saw everything else ecept for the maximum walking distance.

[Korot]

Hello I wanted to ask a question about what file in the NAM traffic file would one need to edit to change the maximum walk distance for the sims. I want to make my sims walk no more then 21 tiles for how I develop my cities instead of the 43 that Sim A Medium uses but when I opened the traffic file I saw everything else ecept for the maximum walking distance.

That property is in fact the Maximum Trip time, or something like that. Your 43 tiles means that a sim can walk for 43 tiles, but can't move, be it by car, bus, or otherwise, any further. However, unless you know what you're doing, I don't suggest altering the Traffic Simulator yourself, and leave it to the experts.

Regards,
Korot

[z]

However, unless you know what you're doing, I don't suggest altering the Traffic Simulator yourself, and leave it to the experts.

I would strongly second that.  Also, it turns out that the maximum commute time is one-way, so the actual number in Simulator A is 88.  But there are many reasons you don't want to change that number, among the biggest being that it has a huge effect on mass transit usage.  You should pick the traffic simulator that suits you best, and design your mass transit and roads to work with it.  There are just so many things you need to understand and test before changing anything in the traffic simulator.

I'll be responding to your PM in more detail later on.

EDIT:  To bridge the gap between regular players and traffic simulator writers, I'm working on a configuration program for Simulator Z.  This program will allow players to modify those parts of the traffic simulator that are safe to modify, using an easy-to-understand interface, without exposing the parts of the simulator that shouldn't be touched.

[SimNation]

Had no idea it was that complicated I will be leaving it alone trust me. I thought it referred only to actual pedestrian walking distance.  I misunderstood  how that portion worked but I understand what it means thanks to your description. I'll make sure not to touch it since it was not really a critical reason for me to change it anyway.

[Korot]

I'll be responding to your PM in more detail later on.

PM? I never send you a PM. However, a configuration program would be really nice. It would indeed be THE way to distribute the Euro version, without clogging up the NAM menu. I think that with this program, you only need one version of Sim Z in the NAM install, and that the configuration program alters the capacity to the one you want, IE: Low, Medium, High, Ultra and the other one I forgot.

Regards,
Korot

[Boerentoren]

Can someone help me with this?

Do these tunnels (FLUPs, or what are they called) work? Are they functional?

[MandelSoft]

Yes, they are functional. I've seen this issue before with the GLR, but it's nothing to worry about.

[Boerentoren]

Yes, they are functional. I've seen this issue before with the GLR, but it's nothing to worry about.

OK tnx! 

(bedankt )

[Andreas]

Try the "DrawPaths" cheat from the Extra Cheats Plugin DLL - if the paths appear fine (and are not reversed or something like that), it should work. You can also try U Drive It; if the vehicle can pass fine, there shouldn't be anything to worry about.

[Moonraker0]

I have a sort of bug report-type thing concerning a certain GLR-in-Avenue/Tram-In-Road triangle puzzle piece.  The tram just turns left then right instead of going straight.  Here's the picture of it:

[ebina]

Can someone help me with this?

Do these tunnels (FLUPs, or what are they called) work? Are they functional?

Isn't language setting of your game UK English? Try to install the NAM Left Hand Version plugin.
All FLUP pieces use path files of different ID from RHD versions in LHD versions. If those LHD paths are missing the error you showed will occur.

[Boerentoren]

Isn't language setting of your game UK English? Try to install the NAM Left Hand Version plugin.
All FLUP pieces use path files of different ID from RHD versions in LHD versions. If those LHD paths are missing the error you showed will occur.

Hi, my language setting is indeed UK English ( I think cus traffic drives on the left side..) I did what you suggested; I installed the LHD version, started the game and checked the tunnel.. NO sim uses it. I constructed the road again, still nothing, the sims drive 10 block around it to go to their jobs.

I tried driving through with the u-drive thingy, that did work.
(also, I wasn't able to construct the 'tunnel road under avenue piece' and the connect my normal avenue to it. I had to construct the avenue first and then build the 'tunnel road under avenue piece' on top of it, is that normal?)

Here is an image

[ebina]

Hi, my language setting is indeed UK English ( I think cus traffic drives on the left side..) I did what you suggested; I installed the LHD version, started the game and checked the tunnel.. NO sim uses it. I constructed the road again, still nothing, the sims drive 10 block around it to go to their jobs.

I tried driving through with the u-drive thingy, that did work.

Since you confirmed that the tunnel was passable in UDI, paths do exist there.

I downloaded the June 2009 public version from the LEX and tested using a new Plugins folder to see if I made mistake in LHD plugin.
The piece functions correctly in my game. Files appear to be correct at least.


Could you limit the route to cross the avenue, force drivers to use the tunnel?

(also, I wasn't able to construct the 'tunnel road under avenue piece' and the connect my normal avenue to it. I had to construct the avenue first and then build the 'tunnel road under avenue piece' on top of it, is that normal?)

This depends on creators' taste, many puzzle pieces were created in that way.
It's possible to add draggable network stub to all pieces, though, sometimes it can be inconvenient than the pieces with no stub in some situations.

[Wilfried]

That avenue seems to have a somewhat weird 1-way RHW connection which is supposed to work rather badly, so the opposite direction of the ave will remain unused for some distance.

[SC4BOY]

As I understand it (if I interpret Maarten's post properly) this is not specifically a NAM issue, but it seems logical for the NAM team to "fix" it as it's right up their line. I'm surprised it has not been patched before... I guess it's only this specific intersection shown in THIS THREAD As I understand it this is a "Maxis" oversight right from the Rushhour release.

Just for convenience here is the intersection as of the last patch version I have but I suppose it should just be patched from the ground up (Maarten's patch is attached to that other thread).



Have any of you NAM guru's revisited this issue with a patch for this Maxis intersection? I know all of you are busy with "your own thing" but it would be nice to have it work properly. It would seem logical that the "fix" should be integrated into the NAM eventually.

[j-dub]

Well, before I say Maxis only patched the texture for this intersection, and not the paths, because without the patch, you don't even get that street crossing the median, can you turn draw paths on, and submit the picture again? I would not bother but the bus line appears to want to stop at that building after the ramp, and if they turn left they will miss their stop before getting to that tile. However, judging from the bus line not making a left from the highway across that avenue, this is further proof Maxis did not fully correct the paths. Stuff has come up before where more Maxis pathing was lacking, and previously it was brought up to the NAM team's attention about a certain Maxis rail bridge, which ended up being corrected. That bus would not be making another stop off the picture would they?

[z]

A given bus makes only one stop, namely its destination, since each bus carries only one Sim.  Based on this, the picture contains sufficient information to show that the pathing is broken and needs fixing.

[fafalone]

I'm having an issue with the HSR... the monorail pylons simply will not go away. The elevated HSR has both its own pylons and the monorail pylons, which isn't that bad, but the GHSR has the monorail pylons sticking out of the ground, making it completely unusable. I've re-installed the NAM, made sure I had the latest version, and the pylon_remover.dat file didn't resolve the issue. Any ideas?