RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[mike3775]

Wow this is looking great.  I have been wanting to play SC4 for a bit now, but I may just have to wait longer until this comes out, and just continue playing app games on the iPad 

[spot]

great job on the new RHW. I have stopped playing until the new release

[jmyers2043]

... I have stopped playing ...

What!    Don't do that. You can still play the game. 


- Jim

[sunv123]

The wider networks looks a lot smoother.


Just a quick question, what does the 8C's smoothened turn look like?

[GDO29Anagram]

Just a quick question, what does the 8C's smoothened turn look like?

It already is. (The pic's cut off so it can't show the entire thing, but it'd effectively be the same radius with its ground-level counterpart.)

[roadgeek]

Yay!!!! It's here!

Ummm! What's here? Got my hopes up there for a second 

[sunv123]

The boomerrang turn is here, that's what. No, not the new release. I'm sorry if i hurt your feelings.... I just get excited for some things.

It comes out sooner than you think though. (I think I should shut up.)

[AngryBirdsFan436]

WOW!  I had to buy a new laptop because I drooled too much on the LCD screen and keyboard! 

[jondor]

Supports, perhaps.

Texturing? That's actually a lot harder than you think, and it's most concerning when you have something like this:

[image]

This is because the curves and diagonals don't work the same way as they did in the past; They instead use a morph model that doesn't fit with what one may have in mind for a different ideal for line spacing (more dashes in between, and in my case, reflectors).

Jondor, whatever tutorial you have in store for how the geometry on this works, you may need to make it public knowledge...

Rest assured, I'll publish something as soon as I'm done with my current top secret project 

The real trouble with bending such a wide texture around a curve comes down to those dashes.  Do it the easy way and you end up with something like this:

Notice how the dashes to the inside are much smaller than those on the outside?  It gets even worse with the 8C and 10C.  Easy to retexture, but ugly.

The projection I used is harder to retexture (in terms of features that don't repeat down the entire v-coordinate space), but solves the dash problem as well as certain rendering problems especially apparent on the wider curves.  In game, the above curve was pock-marked with fuzzy spots where the rendering engine made poor texturing decisions.

[AngryBirdsFan436]

IS THAT RHW-12S??

[jondor]

Yes, but i should point out that although models for the base network and overpasses for the 12S and 10C have been created, they will most likely not be available in NAM31.  In order to be a fully functional network, they will also need paths, RULs, starters, transitions and ramps; all of which take time.

[SimCity V6]

OK, sorry for interrupting, but I just wanted to point something out for the FlexSPUI, OK? 

I notice that on many RL SPUI interchanges, the ramp from the freeway starts usually as an MIS (or FAMIS), but then changes suddenly in to a 6S (or FARHW 6S), and at the top SPUI intersection usually splits into 2 left lanes, and a right slip ramp on to the surface street.

On the other hand, the surface street has TULEP type B onto the freeway, while right turn lanes on to the freeway    merge in to the 2 left turn lanes just near the intersection without an acceleration lane as they join together.

The ramp remains 4 lanes, until it narrows to an MIS just short of the freeway, and then joins it. 

But on the SC4 FlexSPUI, the 4S splits in to 2 MIS' and then joins the surface street, while the surface street's TULEPs are only a single lane, and are only compatible with the Avenue and the TLA-5.

BTW, are you planning capability with TULEP type B, and the AVE-6/TLA-7, and other widths of surface streets, transitions for the ramps like RL SPUI's, more freeway width compatibility, and perhaps - FlexSPUI with surface street on top-ground, and even landscaping pieces  ? OK, sorry for this long post, I had lots to say, and wish for (It's OK if something is not planned or will come after NAM 31 to me), and sorry I used Comic Sans MS. I hope you all won't mind!

~The Battery Mill

(EDIT 12.24.12 /made the post cleaner)

[Tarkus]

There have been plans to add more types of FlexSPUIs since that system came to be, but the new variants won't be part of NAM 31.  I actually still have to rework the code for the existing FlexSPUI, to align with the new specs for the RHW.

-Alex

[ivo_su]

Can we expect any surprise from NAM-team for Christmas, as a new video with a secret weapon ...

[Shadow Assassin]

Can we expect any surprise from NAM-team for Christmas, as a new video with a secret weapon ...

If we told you then it wouldn't be a surprise, would it? :p

[Tarkus]

There will be no secret weapon video for Christmas.  My main effort on the SC4 realm has been trying to get a new build to the Associates--this next one will be Build 07, and it'll be a fairly big leap forward.

-Alex

[vinlabsc3k]

Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year!!

I'm waiting the new NAM as a wish for the new year!!

[wschmrdr]

There have been plans to add more types of FlexSPUIs since that system came to be, but the new variants won't be part of NAM 31.  I actually still have to rework the code for the existing FlexSPUI, to align with the new specs for the RHW.

-Alex

Here's a weird one, not sure if it's a good idea to include, but what the hey, I'll ask:

How about access for a half-SPUI? Here's a real-life example: https://maps.google.com/?ll=42.881908,-73.170608&spn=0.002732,0.004823&t=h&z=18

I'm not sure how difficult it would be; basically the same thing as the normal half-SPUI you have now, except connected to a road instead of an avenue. Of course, the connection to an avenue could be OK, but with just the one side?

[dragonshardz]

Had a thought - with the FLEX Height Transition, are the same processes applicable to things such as RHWxRHW overpasses for tight spaces where you can't easily have a stable override?

Such as, you have a L1MISxL0RHW4 pice that you plop down, but dragging L2MIS to the L1 makes it L2xL0, etc.?

[Wthrwyz]

Here's a weird one, not sure if it's a good idea to include, but what the hey, I'll ask:

How about access for a half-SPUI? Here's a real-life example: https://maps.google.com/?ll=42.881908,-73.170608&spn=0.002732,0.004823&t=h&z=18

I'm not sure how difficult it would be; basically the same thing as the normal half-SPUI you have now, except connected to a road instead of an avenue. Of course, the connection to an avenue could be OK, but with just the one side?

I was able to construct something similar to that using existing pieces:

Granted, it's not as small as a SPUI piece, but it's probably more realistic in scale as compared to your example than a half of a SPUI would be.

I would be curious to learn if there are any more RL examples, especially with a freeway that continues past the cross-road. The only place I can think of where a true half-SPUI might even be built would be in an urban or semi-urban corridor outside of a major city, where there might be partial interchanges that only allow access in the direction toward the core city (i.e. inbound entry for morning commuters, outbound exit for evening commuters). However, the only real benefit to such an entity would be the real estate savings to either side of the freeway - the other traffic-flow benefits of the SPUI design would be diminished by the lack of a fourth direction of traffic. Plus, you still incur the added expense of a wider-than-normal bridge structure, which might make the entire idea cost-prohibitive in real life.