RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[MandelSoft]

In my opinion, the RHW-10 was rather useless (I've never used RHW-10 nor RHW-8C). This was because the RHW-10 misses C and D type ramps and splitters. So I decided to make some 

[jdenm8]

Well, while RHW-8C is a great addition, are there any ramps for it?
I assume there's no DRI ramps for it but I can't find any puzzle piece ones in my menus and there don't seem to any neighbour connector pieces for it. I built a special motorway for RHW-8C specifically but can't (so it's RHW-6C and 6S in bits).
I just found their absence a bit... unusual.

EDIT: Also, those ramps that mrtnrln posted would be useful for when a major highway is splitting into two minor highways, like in a major Metropolitan area. The lesser being a spur for example. Are they actually going to be included in a Subrelease? _{(please say yes)}

On another note, how hard is it to make cosmetic puzzle pieces (like the straight ones included in RHW V4 - I want to put speedlimits on them)?

[sitejunction]

You mean something like this?
   

Yah, somehing like that, also  one with a mis ramp coming off it and RHW-8 afterwards

[MandelSoft]

EDIT: Also, those ramps that mrtnrln posted would be useful for when a major highway is splitting into two minor highways, like in a major Metropolitan area. The lesser being a spur for example. Are they actually going to be included in a Subrelease? _{(please say yes)}

Well, that's up to my fellow NAM Teammates. I only have euro textures yet and the Controller I built for this piece (along with some other pieces) has a annoying habbit to crash when I select the RHW transistion pieces 

On another note, how hard is it to make cosmetic puzzle pieces (like the straight ones included in RHW V4 - I want to put speedlimits on them)?

It's not really hard to make the pieces (basicly, some pieces are a simple copy-paste job). It only takes quite a lot of time. It also involves editing the NAM Controller, but thats not a big deal, since it's largely a copy-paste job. By the way, those painted Speed Limits could be part of the yet unreleased SPM (Signage Piece Mod).

On a sidenote, the cosmetic pieces change a little in appearence in the next version. The arrows are now full 3d objects. This means...
   a. ... we need less textures for more pieces
   b. ... you can choose between arrow styles without changing the RHW textures (so yes, you can have US arrows on Euro Textured RHW).
   c. ... that it's easier to make more cosmetic pieces.

To show you the difference:

Left: new style cosmetic pieces
Right: old style cosmetic pieces

Best,
Maarten

[Haljackey]

You mean something like this?
  

Oh yeah... 

The RHW-10 didn't have a lot of connectivity added to it in 4.0, and seeing these textures makes me happy. I do know that the RHW-10 is purely a cosmetic piece since it has the same capacity as a RHW-8, but people always like to add some wide routes in their cities. Nice work! 

[noahclem]

Expanding RHW-10 usage would be great! Since the new RHW spoiled us with those C & D ramps I've been trying to give my traffic a realistic amount of space to merge and prepare for off-ramps, which presently excludes RHW-10. Pieces like that would make a realistic-looking high-capacity, 4-way interchange with 2 lanes of traffic on all ramps possible. A version transitioning from RHW-10 to RHW-6C+RHW-4 would be really exciting too 

Maxis highways looking like RHW would be really cool! I still love the idea of a 6-lane version though--since much of what makes Maxis highways scaled to poorly is having to have empty space on the edges of its tiles to be able to have some roundness to curves and since a significant amount of space in RHW is unused in the median. I made this rough example with BlueLightning's darker asphalt textures--it has ~4.33m wide lanes compared to RHW's ~5m and MHW's ~3m so it would blend pretty well with RHW but still need some kind of transition piece. It fits entirely within a 2-tile space.

Such a network wouldn't be able to have decent-looking dragable curves though. It would open a lot of possibilities for tunnels and bridges though.

[Haljackey]

noahclem, your textures remind me of this:


(Taken from my archives page. Click the link in my signature to see more if interested.)

That's a replacement texture for the Maxis ground/elevated highway, made by Deathtopumpkins (if my memory serves me correctly). The only major difference I see is that yours has a shoulder and rumble strips. Squeezing that into the tight Maxis Highways would be a challenge, especially for the elevated and curved portions.

[Blue Lightning]

RHW-8C Ramps are right after the RHW-8S ramps. The 8C is a pretty small use network for now, its main purpose is similar to the 6S. But eventually it will be developed out more.

And I like those MHWY textures. They're more American and dark

but they can't extend underneath the FlexFly

Actually, they can, and its generally more stable that way. Doesn't work on the anchor tiles however.

[io_bg]

Squeezing that into the tight Maxis Highways would be a challenge, especially for the elevated and curved portions.

As noahclem pointed, there's some empty space around the highway (something like 2-3 metres probably) which can be used

[noahclem]

There's also space in the median--small, but significant when trying to work things into a tight space. Between that space and the inner shoulders there is room for almost a full lane. The picture I showed was made adding an extra lane to Bluelightning's RHW-4 darker asphalt texture from the RHW thread and but cutting and pasting the lanes slightly inward and removing the median, so it's really on two tiles. The lanes are ~12.5% narrower than RHW but still a pretty realistic width that will look fine with other RHW stuff. I think they're quite similar to MAVE-6 and wider than some NWM lanes. Curves would extremely sharp though and what I envision probably wouldn't make sense for people who really use Maxis HW (unless someone wanted to do the wide-angle turn pieces)--but for tunnels bridges and parts of interchanges they could be real handy, even with just a straight texture and paths, a tunnel entrance, and a transition to RHW-6S

[Highrise99]

Thank you, everyone, for all of your advice, but I still have the backwards ghost arrow issue with LHD.  I have a game where the cars drive on the left side.

The issue applies to every ploppable RHW piece as well, except for the RHW starter pieces.
Please help!

[Tarkus]

Thank you, everyone, for all of your advice, but I still have the backwards ghost arrow issue with LHD.  I have a game where the cars drive on the left side.

The issue applies to every ploppable RHW piece as well, except for the RHW starter pieces.
Please help!

Looking over your screenshot, and from the fact that the arrows are going the right way on some of the pieces, my guess is that you don't have a conflicting file, but have the LHD file in the wrong place, such that it's loading before some of the RHD files (the transitions, namely) and as such, the RHD arrows are showing up.  Take your LHD Plugin file, and put it in a subfolder of the main NAM folder, and call it "z-RHW LHD Plugin" or something of the like.  That should absolutely ensure it's loading after all the RHD stuff, and should fix the arrows.

Are you by chance using the Mac version?

-Alex

[Nego]

Here are some suggestions for a future RHW release:

New avenue to RHW-2 transitions:




New ramps:


New RHW-2 and street intersection textures:



*Note how the RHW fades smoothly into the street


Of course the textures will be changed to conform to the new RHW 4.0, and don't forget, these are only suggestions; pulse, these pictures are not development pics so don't get exited and think that these will be in the next update.

**Note: all of these pictures are from Haljackey's Simcity 4 Archives on page 6.

[jdenm8]

Well, just to show you what I mean, I violated one of the RHW-10 exits of yours (mrtnrln) you posted above simply to demonstrate a few features I would like to have in the RHW at some point.



I would probably have to stretch the numbers a little more but you get my point. My cateye idea is in there too. (The red/white/green thing that would overcome most mirroring issues)
There's also a little weathering on some of the lines.

It's not perfect, but it does its job.

[k808j]

I think this question was asked before but I can't find the post, is there a MHW to RHW conversion piece. If not, is there a way possible to join them?

[Nego]

I think this question was asked before but I can't find the post, is there a MHW to RHW conversion piece. If not, is there a way possible to join them?

I know that you should definitely be able to drag RHW-4 into MHW because I used to do that for neighbor connections before v4.0, but there is currently no way to connect any other type of RHW directly to MHWs right now. I think Blue Lighting may be working on a MHW to RHW-6 transition piece, though.

[jdenm8]

RHW-4 and now ERHW-4 can interface with Maxis highways. I have not used the ERHW-4 one personally (It was only introduced in this version and it's a little rough), but it exists now. And I have seen a transition that BL has made for RHW-6S to MHW. Probably the same one Nego is thinking of.

[Tarkus]

Here are some suggestions for a future RHW release:

Certainly plausible as future additions, though you can already do the RHW-2/Street diagonal intersections (and I've started on a T21-based stop line setup, which I'll be unveiling soon), and I don't really see the need for hooking RHW-2s into Street Roundabouts.  I am looking at expanding the existing connectivity with the One-Way Road (3x3) roundabouts and expanding to add Avenue Roundabout connectivity and possibly a proper RHW Roundabout system in future releases, however.

Well, just to show you what I mean, I violated one of the RHW-10 exits of yours (mrtnrln) you posted above simply to demonstrate a few features I would like to have in the RHW at some point.

I would probably have to stretch the numbers a little more but you get my point. My cateye idea is in there too. (The red/white/green thing that would overcome most mirroring issues)
It's not perfect, but it does its job.

Looks nice!  As far as implementation, the markings would probably make sense as part of the Signage Piece Mod (which is going to be revived here soon) or other cosmetic pieces.  The multi-color cateyes would work best as a flat prop applied via T21.  That way, you'd be encapsulating them, which would allow them to be extended to other texture sets, in addition to eliminating any chance of mirroring issues.

-Alex

[jdenm8]

Hm... Signage Piece Mod? I haven't heard of that one... I'll have to have a look when I have time.
EDIT: And I now get the whole T21 idea.  I have holidays starting soon (I'm only one assignment away ) and I might have a crack at it.
I've also done a mock-up of common KPH and MPH speedlimits on a trial section of texture. I have posted weathering and no weathering just to show the difference.



I've also revised the size of the text down five points to be more prototypical but the only area where I can locate this around where I live has the text much smaller (Half how I had it) as well as 100 being wider than the actual lane . I think I compromised well.
I've also done the maths and I would need to do... (15 limits, all RHW networks excluding the Cs... diags... They're only MIS and RHW4... Hm...) 105 textures but I could probably cut 30, 35, 40 and 45 or 120.

[k808j]

@jdenm8

I tried to drag ERHW4 into the MHW and it didn't work and I presume this transition that Blue Lightning created isn't public release yet.