NWM (Network Widening Mod) - Development and Support

[ivo_su]

My guess for this first secret weapon of NWM is that it is a puzzle piece that can be:
- New roundabout
- A new method for building networks using UPS to track startet
- Intersection of two levels

Ivo

[Tarkus]

It's not puzzle-based at all, either. 

If I took a screenshot of the "secret weapon", you probably wouldn't be able to spot it.  It's not too exciting to look at and it'd probably seem "camouflaged".   It's quite exciting to use, however.

-Alex

[ivo_su]

So everything said here to draw conclusions  that would be a tool for construction of NWM without using a starter piece.

Regards,
  Ivo

[GDO29Anagram]

So everything said here to draw conclusions  that would be a tool for construction of NWM without using a starter piece.

Someone crafty enough would do THIS to obtain a network starter. But no matter what, you still need an actual starter.



Just for the record, the ability to do this has been around forever. Some starters are impossible to create this way, and the puzzle-plop starter would be the only way to get it.

[Korot]

Ivo_su's solution might work for certain occasions, but would only work on one network per width and base network type. Ergo: 1 road based 2-tile network (TLA-5 or MAVE-4), 1 road based 3-tile network (AVE-6 or TLA-7) and 1 2-tile OWR based network (OWR-4 or 5). The method I describe here is the one that was used on early RHW releases, when RHW-4 was created by dragging two RHW-2's side by side. But I doubt this will be used, since if it would work, why is it not used on the RHW-8 or 10?

My money is on using the AVE-4 as base network. Thus MAVE-4 would no longer be Road based, but Avenue based, making drawing it some easier, because you just have to 'pull' the network once, instead of twice. This fit's all of Tarkus' hints, and though it has been said that overriding is very hard, if not next to impossible (I remember a video or pictures showing it is possible, but the guy posting it also said it was difficult), but perhaps new methods have been found, making modding it easier.

Regards,
Korot

[ivo_su]

Korot if you read further back in the pages will know that the AVE-4 will not be used because it is too complicated to be based. That is why, and AVE-6 and TLA-7 will be based on road. Alex was explained in detail why not use AVE-4 because of my inquiry, but still I think I'm closest to the disclosure of surprise. This innovation is perhaps easier to use than in the NWM in RHW or I do not know but I think there is something revolutionary associated with the absence of starter pieces.

- Ivo

[Tarkus]

Korot if you read further back in the pages will know that the AVE-4 will not be used because it is too complicated to be based. That is why, and AVE-6 and TLA-7 will be based on road. Alex was explained in detail why not use AVE-4 because of my inquiry, but still I think I'm closest to the disclosure of surprise. This innovation is perhaps easier to use than in the NWM in RHW or I do not know but I think there is something revolutionary associated with the absence of starter pieces.

Actually, on the AVE/MAVE front, it'd probably make more sense to have a mod that converts the default AVEs into MAVE-4s, and do a copy-paste of the TLA-5 RULs to produce a Road-based "true AVE-4", with a split-tile rather than shared-tile diagonal setup.  I'm not sure how well that would work logistically, however--I'll need to study it further.

And no one's quite figured out the "secret weapon" yet.

-Alex

[GDO29Anagram]

Actually, on the AVE/MAVE front, it'd probably make more sense to have a mod that converts the default AVEs into MAVE-4s, and do a copy-paste of the TLA-5 RULs to produce a Road-based "true AVE-4", with a split-tile rather than shared-tile diagonal setup.

That would make perfect sense.

Just make an extra starter piece and put all the RUL entries between MAVE-6 and AVE-6. MAVE-6 is 0x5114xxxx, and AVE-6 outer is 0x5120xxxx. Just designate the "True AVE-4" as 0x5115xxxx, and configure two buttons: One with the current arrangement of networks (plus the three new ones), and one with the True AVE-4. And for the installer, make it so that one can select between having the True AVE-4 or not (hence the two buttons/tab menus).

The ability to transition from True AVE-4 (NAMAVE-4) to Maxis AVE-4 (MaxAVE-4) should also be given, so that people who use the ATL (like myself) can still make an ATL crossing and connect it to the NAMAVE-4. It wouldn't make sense to convert the MaxAVE-4 to MAVE-4, because it would ruin the ATL (Not everyone uses TuLEPs, you know...). Also, puzzle pieces that involve connections to the MaxAVE-4 won't be that hindered (just plop the NAMAVE to MaxAVE transition right across from it).

There's also another advantage to this: MaxAVE-4 is a "sticky network" in the sense that wealthification is sticky (Zone something next to it, and the entire stretch becomes wealthified, not the tiles within a certain radius). A NAMAVE-4 would eliminate that.

As for TuLEPs, it would be no different placing them, because they're made that way. And just for the record, why not make the NAMAVE-4 with yellow lines not only to distinguish it from the MaxAVE, but to make it like all the other AVEs?

Does that solve all the logistical problems? Its RULs would need to be copied off of the MAVE-6 instead of TLA-5 (which is also "schizotile"), so it has all the intersection information from TLA-3 to MAVE-6, and the remainder of the intersections, other than intersections with itself, just needs to be coded into 0x5120xxxx and 0x5121xxxx (The IIDs for AVE-6, AVE-8, TLA-7, and TLA-9).

[Tarkus]

It wouldn't make sense to convert the MaxAVE-4 to MAVE-4, because it would ruin the ATL (Not everyone uses TuLEPs, you know...).

Not necessarily . . . one could just modify the MAVE-4-to-TLA-5 transition textures to add in a turn lane, and stick them in as a MAVE-4 TL setup. 

If folks wanted an ATL-style setup, now that I have a better understanding of how the RTL works, it might be possible to override the RTL to make turn lanes for the "true AVE-4".  I've been considering turning the NWM's interaction with the RTL into actual NWM turn lanes for some networks in a future release.

-Alex

[Ramona Brie]

*is still wondering what the secret weapon is*

So it's mainly useful to use, not to see. Perhaps...is it some sort of stability improvement?

[jdenm8]

This makes it far, far easier 

[Kitsune]

a one tile starter the behaves as a normal network piece so we dont have to delete anything?

[ps2owner]

Hello, NAM team, and today I am requesting a texture variation piece, much like the RHW-2 texture variaton piece. It's a TLA-3 with bike paths on both sides. It would be a texture variation for the TLA-3 of course.

(That's a section of road in Provo, Utah, up on the foothills)
Thanks!

[Rionescu]

I don't think bike paths would be feasible on the TLA-3 because at 3 lanes, it already fills the tile for the most part, and adding in bike lanes wouldn't leave room for sidewalks. You'll notice that the MAVE-4 has bike paths, but that's because it's a narrow network for two tiles, and the sidewalks would be abnormally wide otherwise. By the same token, the MAVE-6 doesn't have bike paths because 6 lanes is plenty wide as it is, and adding bike paths would take away from the sidewalks.

[Kuewr665]

The picture you posted would take up 2 tiles in SimCity 4. It looks like a TLA-5 with the shoulder lane replaced with a bike lane and parking lane.

[Tarkus]

My thoughts on the matter are the same as those expressed by Rionescu and Keuwr665--not really feasible.

On another note . . . a couple heavily-requested transitions are now implemented.





-Alex

[rhwfanatic221]

My thoughts on the matter are the same as those expressed by Rionescu and Keuwr665--not really feasible.

On another note . . . a couple heavily-requested transitions are now implemented.





-Alex

That's very cool, I think the OWR 6 transition from a Mave 6 will be handy for me 

[Exla357]

Is anyone else getting the feeling that the OWR NWM setup is kinda RHW - like?  All those splitters, many different lane configurations...

-Alex 

[j-dub]

The picture you posted would take up 2 tiles in SimCity 4. It looks like a TLA-5 with the shoulder lane replaced with a bike lane and parking lane.

It looks that way, because that road is that wide, its painted like that to prevent it from being the case, I have seen a lot of situations like these. If someone else took the extra time to make that a puzzle piece for the TLA-5, textures alone, you would need to mod the blocked lanes of travel, and parked T21 cars, where there normally would be through traffic. I think you may be on your own with this one PS2.

[Shadow Assassin]

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/563/nwm072420111.jpg

Looks like a narrow AVE-6. Just what I want.