RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[Kitsune]

hmm figure I would ask here... is there a how to path tutorial somewhere?

[Exla357]

Yep. Check the NAM how to's and tutorials thread. I believe Maarten did one.

[Nego]

@Exla357: That's it! I was wondering if that is a part of the new NAM or just GDO29Anagram playing around with the buttons. Either way, it came out looking really good!

[GDO29Anagram]

@Nego and anyone else who's curious: That was a custom menu button I made for myself. (I've been meaning to change the entire SC4 GUI for my own personal benevolent purposes, and I only got as far as the Highways Menu Button. Consider it an Easter egg, in the sense of how Pixar treats Easter eggs.)

Getting back on topic,... Perhaps I should ask anyway: How do people think of the current arrangement of the RHW Puzzle Pieces?

[Ramona Brie]

@Nego and anyone else who's curious: That was a custom menu button I made for myself. (I've been meaning to change the entire SC4 GUI for my own personal benevolent purposes, and I only got as far as the Highways Menu Button. Consider it an Easter egg, in the sense of how Pixar treats Easter eggs.)

Getting back on topic,... Perhaps I should ask anyway: How do people think of the current arrangement of the RHW Puzzle Pieces?

It's annoying that you now have to scroll down for neighbor connections.

That said, some icons are now confusing, especially between the WR Curves and FA rings.

[Nego]

That said, some icons are now confusing, especially between the WR Curves and FA rings.

I have to agree. I get those two confused all of the time.

[banditp61]

Very confusing.

[Twyla]

Discovered a minor (reproducable) glitch:



This is the pure RHW-6S coming off a north-bound (RHW-4) Type-D onramp, beneath a pure eastbound ERHW-4 (the starters are adjacent to the glitched tile) - and it ONLY happens with this configuration/orientation.  It does not occur with north-over-west, west-over-south, or south-over-east orientations.  Happens every time, whether the ERHW-4 is dragged east-to-west or west-to-east, before or after completing the westbound side.

[firefighter57]

I 2nd that.  I have noticed the same thing.

[GDO29Anagram]

@Twyla and firefighter57: That happens when a two-tile 6S starter gets too close to an overpass like that.

It's because that the 6S starter is composed of an RHW4 starter and a second starter to the side that converts it to 6S, which is the part that was needed to be dragged to create the shoulder back in RHW V3. (It's also the center part of all the C-Type RHWs, 6C, 7C, and 8C. And it's also the SAM 3 starter, I believe.) If an EHRW overpass isn't far enough from a 6S starter, it reverts to RHW4.

Believe me, I found that as well, but I have YET ANOTHER trick: Remove the starter, remove the RHW stub, replace for a Diag STR starter (YES, it has to be STR, and it has to be placed carefully!!!), and drag RHW from the starter. The end result should be 6S with the overhang, coming out from a different starter.

How do I know this? Currently there's one transition piece, the 6S to 6C transition, that sports a single-tile 6S starter (And I'll bet single-tile starters will be incorporated into later pieces), and guess what? It's also a STR starter.

[Shadow Assassin]

How do I know this? Currently there's one transition piece, the 6S to 6C transition, that sports a single-tile 6S starter (And I'll bet single-tile starters will be incorporated into later pieces), and guess what? It's also a STR starter.

All the puzzle pieces that used the old 6S starter will have them replaced with the new single-tile starter.

[gooper1]

I wish for a few things:

• FLUPs under ERHW/EMIS
• 2 parallel MIS ramps>RHW4 transition
• ERHW4-EMIS transition
• RHW6S/8S, and 8S/10 Type-C and D ramps
• RHW6S>Ground Highway transition (and once an ERHW6 is made, make an ERHW6>Elevated Highway transition)
• More cosmetic pieces

If you could do this, that would be great!

[GDO29Anagram]

@gooper1: No need to ask for those; at least half of those are being developed. To be more specific, though, ramps and CPs. Sorry; No FLUPs this time.

Finally, I've been working up a few more splitters, including the "full Y" splitters that have been on the drawing board since 2007:

(a little pixel offset to fix here still)

At least THESE have been in development for a while...

-----
Alex, I believe you brought up the prospect of "How wide should RHW be?"

First, consider the prospect of 12S and 10C. That would be the absolute max for Mainstream "Tri/TetraTile" RHWs. "Penta/HexaTile" RHW (Yes, C-Networks are five-tile and S-Networks are three tiles per side) would be maxed at 16S AND 16C (They can actually go further, but 16 is a nice round number). I would be comfortable at cutting it off at 14S/C instead, but having that "extra" lane serves as an "insurance policy" in case someone wants it to be even wider.

I did my research, and found a picture of an in-development "Hexatile" RHW-18 on this thread (I believe it was an RHW V1 picture). Don't forget the ever-famous RHW-26.

I looked at a real-life highway that contains a segment of 26-lane highway, particularly in the El-Toro Y Interchange in the Orange County area. It ain't 13 continuous lanes side-by-side; It was still well-divided into pieces; More like an RHW14, with an additional combination of MIS/RHW2/4/6S that totals it to 26 lanes; An elaborate setup of Collectors and Distributors, one would say.

My reasons for cutting it off at 16S and 16C:
- 14S/C is good enough, but one extra lane provides that extra insurance policy needed, just in case.
- I like to have both flavours. Yum.

Even still, 12S/10C is still plenty wide, but I want to cover all potential bases.

[jdenm8]

To sum up anagram,

• FLUPs under ERHW/EMIS
• 2 parallel MIS ramps>RHW4 transition
• ERHW4-EMIS transition
• RHW6S/8S, and 8S/10 Type-C and D ramps
• RHW6S>Ground Highway transition (and once an ERHW6 is made, make an ERHW6>Elevated Highway transition)
• More cosmetic pieces

Red means not in the next version at the moment, green means it's already in, black needs more information on what exactly you want.

[Kitsune]

Are some of the bridges shown (ie 6S/C) be in the next version?

[GDO29Anagram]

@Kitsune: Bridges wider than RHW4 are unknown at this point, but they won't be available in the next version, that's for sure.

[MandelSoft]

Psssst... Here are some sneak peeks of some new puzzle pieces for the RHW, fully functional:





















Best,
Maarten

[RickD]

Unbelievable. Really outstanding work. 

[metarvo]

I like those C- and D-Type Ramps for the RHW-6S and RHW-8S very much.  Good work! 

[mave94]

Looks great! Will you also make a European textured version?