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

[Rady]

You should have two icons in your Rail menu, one for double-track wide radius curves, and one for single-track rail. IIRC, some FARR pieces and other stuff is located in the STR rotation ring, even though it's also for DTR.

Well, I reinstalled the Railway Addon Mod right now. I now do have:

> the "STR starter piece" icon in the railwa menu
> all the straight STR pieces already plopped

What am I missing:

> the "STR FARR pieces" icon
> all of my non-straight STR tracks!!! and my custom bridges both for STR and road



(Forget about the straight STR rail part  mentioned in the following pic, thats already back again)




I just owe you some beer if I missed some important information in the readme, but ... I can't think of anything related to that problem. Just checked the readmes again and found nothing ....

Thanks for you help anyway!!

Edit May 19th: Ok, forget all the above. I finally realised that I missed to download the most recent "NAM essentials" update - I have now downloaded the latest version, loaded my saved region and whoops - everything is ok!!

[Rady]

Did you install the Road Turning Lanes Plugin again after installing the new NAM? It's an optional plugin that's not selected by default. Maybe you just have installed the Euro textures for it, but not the plugin itself.

THanks Andreas, I reinstalled the NAM and checked both the avenue AND road turning lanes AND TULIP turning lanes- now it works!!

[Cosmic]

Well then; I guess I'll have to try running the city with a completely empty plugins folder and seeing if that solves the problem. *fingers crossed*

[BeaufortTiger]

UPDATE: 20:40 EDT (+4 GMT)
I believe I solved the issue.  In the NetworkAddOn folder, the last folder is "z_LeftHand Version Plugin"

If you delete the folder, it appears to go away.  Can the experts at NAM confirm that this is the correct way to fix the issue?  I've tried out TULEP since I did this, and it appears to be working fine... the left hand turn lanes using Right Hand Drive are back, and all seems good with the world.

Thanks again for the NAM and all you do...  BT


ORIGINAL MESSAGE

Hello Andreas and everyone at the NAM Team... congrats on the new release.

I have searched throughout the Readmes, Simtropolis, and this thread for my issue.  I am still relatively new at downloading Mods and going beyond Maxis' original gameplay, so please forgive me if I use incorrect terms...

I have SC4 Rush Hour and was able to download NAM NetworkAddOn Mod for Mac (May 2010) without issue.  The only issue I'm encountering is that the TULEP function shows right hand turn lanes at intersections, yet my U-Drive capabilities remain set for Right Hand Driving (I have the standard, unrigged US version produced by Aspyr).

Is this a quirk?  Do I need to download an additional mod or patch to fix?  I have never downloaded NAM or any other mod prior to yesterday, and I have cleaned the Plugin folder out until I hear a suggestion.  I should also mention that I started a brand new city to play with the NAM tools and have not gone back to check previously built cities.

Thanks for your help!

[Cosmic]

Well then; I guess I'll have to try running the city with a completely empty plugins folder and seeing if that solves the problem. *fingers crossed*

Observations:
Industrial grew more rapidly. (Probably due to absence of the CAM)
Those big yellow arrows are back.
The maxis terrain is kind of ugly.
So is the maxis water.
My UI is covered up by the task bar again...  (I run in windowed mode at my monitor's full resolution, which is 1440x900)

Conclusion: Maxis stuff is Boring with a capital B. Also, emptying the plugins folder did absolutely nothing. I'm thinking I may have to reinstall my game. 
At least the load times were faster.

Also, BeaufortTiger; the z_LeftHand Version Plugin is only if you have a LHD, i.e. UK version of SC4.
If you have a RHD, i.e. US version of the game, then you do not need to install that plugin. The readme specifies this if I recall correctly.

[catty]

...I'm thinking I may have to reinstall my game. 
At least the load times were faster. ...

Hi Cosmic, this is probably a daft question as you said you tested with an empty plugins folder, but I'll ask anyway, after you installed the NAM, and the option come up to run the NAM Traffic Subsystem (Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool) did you change any of the traffic simulator settings if so to what and what traffic simulator did you pick in the NAM?

catty

[Cosmic]

@catty:

I left mostly everything alone; I really only changed the network capacities (Used the NAM simulator high as a base and used capacity multiplier of 2.) and the mass transit fares per tile, though I do not think this is the cause, as the problem occurred long before this.
I also changed travel type usage (MT/Car/Fastest, if I recall the order right); but again this problem occurred long before I changed it.

Doesn't matter anyway, as I'm already in the process of reinstalling SC4. (Yay for saving all my plugins! Good grief, it would be a chore to find all that stuff again...)
Hopefully reinstalling SC4 will solve my problem... If not, I guess I'm just stuck with a curse of randomly not being able to build my cities... 
(The fact it occurs with an empty plugins folder suggests it is a problem with one of the SimCity_* files, but I won't be able to find out until I get it reinstalled and try again.)

Edit: You know what? I'll just show a picture of my NAM settings.

Unless I'm mistaken, R§ will still drive their cars if there's no mass transit available, yes?

Edit 2: Deleted.

Edit 3: MAJOR discovery:
After the reinstall, I loaded up the city which had the "No Traffic Blues" bug, and after quite awhile (and about 30,000 lost because of no income... Thank goodness I saved it with 9 million in the bank...) in game, Residential finally started to grow. However, this was not the initial fix. There was still no traffic volume. So I tried something: After making a backup copy of the save file (While SC4 was running, even!!!), I quick-saved, and exited to region. Then I re-entered the tile, and SHAZZAM~! A bunch of the industrial buildings started producing freight trucks. Still waiting for the graph to fully update, as it still shows only freight trucks, but it's a start. I guess I just have to save&reload a city if this happens... Who'da thunk it was so simple........ I guess now I have to see if this is a permanent fix.
And no, reinstalling did not completely prevent the issue, though maybe it will reduce the chance that it will happen...

Edit 4: Last time, hopefully. This "Band-aid-fix" is so far holding together, and it looks like it will at least fix cases where residential will grow but not generate commuters.
As for where residential will not grow at all...well, I have no idea; I'll have to test when the occasion comes up.

Edit 5: Thanks for the clarification, z.

[z]

Unless I'm mistaken, R§ will still drive their cars if there's no mass transit available, yes?

This is correct, as long as you don't use Park & Ride, which you don't.  The Mass Transit Usage settings are merely preferences that weight the Sims' choice of mode of travel.  Those traffic simulator settings are all fine.

[Moonraker0]

There seems to be a problem with the Avenue T-intersection - 4way tram (normal tram on one side) puzzle piece in the GroundLightRailxAvenue Dual Networking Puzzle Pieces button.  The "normal tram" tracks (independent ground light rail connection) are facing the wrong way at zoom 3.  I run the game in hardware mode.

Kind of hard to see unless you look closely, I know.  Maybe someone at the NAM team can check this out in their own game.

[shinkansen1]

Problem: For whatever reason (and I'm not sure how), I have two N.A.M. folders in my SC4 Plugins folder.

I had only just recently just discovered this after searching for my old version of the N.A.M. so that I could replace it with the new May 2010 version. I did have two icons for some of the same things in my transit menus, but I always thought that this was just a minor glitch. With this discovery, and the desire to replace my current N.A.M. version(s), I have several questions as a result:

• Will I have to demolish all of the old N.A.M. content that is currently being used in my cities before attempting to install the May 2010 version?
• How can I tell what I have had included in the installation of my old N.A.M. versions?
• Do any previous versions of the N.A.M. have to be deleted before installing a new version?
• If a bridge style came as a seperate add-on in an old N.A.M. version's folder, will I have to demolish all bridges in my cities using that style?
• Will the content available in old versions of the N.A.M. be included with new versions of the N.A.M.?

These are the only questions I have in regards to the installation of this new N.A.M. and the current situation I have found myself in. I wish to know more about this so that I won't accidentally ruin my cities due to improper installation procedures.

[Andreas]

Problem: For whatever reason (and I'm not sure how), I have two N.A.M. folders in my SC4 Plugins folder.

Well, there can only be one. Doubled NAM installations will result in doubled icons, and although this normally doesn't break the functionality, it can be an issue if the older components are loaded after the new ones, commonly resulting in the infamous "red arrow" bug, if an older NAM Controller overrides the new one.

Will I have to demolish all of the old N.A.M. content that is currently being used in my cities before attempting to install the May 2010 version?

No, any new NAM version always contain the items that have been included before as well. Some of them might have been reworked, but the NAM will contain "legacy" support for old items, if not noted otherwise.

How can I tell what I have had included in the installation of my old N.A.M. versions?

Well, those things that you can see in your menues. By default, then NAM installer has most of the items preselected, only a few ones are not selected by default - probably the most common item is the Road Turning Lanes plugin. If you're not sure, simply select the "Full Installation" type from the drop-down menu at the top of the components selection page.

Do any previous versions of the N.A.M. have to be deleted before installing a new version?

Usually, you can simply overwrite your old NAM installation. The installer will update older files automatically, and we also added some code that removes outdated files (this only works if you select the same installation folder as before, though). For even more outdated stuff, a Cleanitol file is supplied. If in doubt, remove the old NAM folder from your plugins and then install the new version. You might have to put other NAM downloads, such as the RHW, the SAM or additional bridges, back into the plugins folder manually after that, though.

If a bridge style came as a seperate add-on in an old N.A.M. version's folder, will I have to demolish all bridges in my cities using that style?

No, just make sure that the files are still in place after the installation of the new NAM, as described above. You only have to demolish structures if you decide not to use that particular NAM feature in the future, and thus delete the associated files.

Will the content available in old versions of the N.A.M. be included with new versions of the N.A.M.?

See above.

[Rady]

• Will the content available in old versions of the N.A.M. be included with new versions of the N.A.M.?

May I add a little hint, since that was something I stumbled over when replacing the old with the new NAM: Don't forget to reinstall the Railway Addon Mod (Single Track Rail or STR, that is) as well as the SAM (Street Addon Mod) since they are installed into the NAM directory by default. So when I moved away my old NAM folder, I also accidentially removed the SAM and STR - this resulting in serious damage to my region as far as STR is concerned (glad I did read the Readme carefully and backed up my region in advance).

[Floydian]

(copied from the release thread since it belongs here)
Not sure if anyone has picked up on this one yet (but there is far too much to search through), but the new NAM no longer allows you to make driveway-like junctions using the elevated rail over road/street puzzle pieces. When you demolish the stub without the overhead rail, the piece reverts to a normal street stub instead of an invisible piece like it used to.

[j-dub]

Oh, don't get me started about that Floydian, I used to love having such previous puzzle piece exploits, but alas they are no more. My favorite one was the way you used to be easily to make 1x1 avenue stubs with the light rail pieces, just like the old wayto do driveway connections.
Sadly, such exploits have been patched up.

Some workarounds for driveway connections:

1.) Heavy Rail over street puzzle piece: place two tiles of rail, put rail over street on one of the tiles, demolish the rail on the ground next to the piece, the street should remain, it does for me.

2.) On-Slope T puzzle pieces. These are really fast, you place the slope where you want your drive way positioned over existing road, just demolish the slope, the T shall remain, but so do the traffic lights. Some cases you may like that, in others maybe not. In this case you could make the T part RHW, while the slope still stays as a road, this way you avoid the lights, and because there is a tiny bit of road despite it being RHW in front of the lot where the driveway is, it should actually work. If that method allows commercial growth on RHW-4 it should be the same here.

3.) Unless I am mistaken, the TuLEP's addon T's and X's should not draw roads when the puzzle piece is placed, so you have a connection without demolishing anything, or extra steps, but again, traffic lights.

4.) The NWM's TLA-3 has less of a sidewalk you need to look at because its designed to have crossover turns for driveways.

[shinkansen1]

I appreciate the information so far, and I have removed and backed up my old N.A.M. folders and their contents in case this goes wrong, but I'm still having trouble installing the new May 2010 N.A.M., specifically, installing the traffic controllers. From what I found in one of my old N.A.M. folders, I had the following installed:

• perfect path finding
• x5 capacity
• x10 speed
• x10 commute

I am unable to understand the traffic controller installer enough to find out which options hold what I have been previously using.

[z]

Picking the High capacity of the NAM Simulator will give you something very similar to what you've been using.  I think that that should work very well for you.

[MOREOPTIONS]

New Problem I think, as i don't see any thread on the topic.

I make a bridge over small area replasing one old bridge,  the next time I try making bridge to replace on Weider river,. I see bridge drawing , but when i let off the mouse to see the list of bridges it turns red and showing no price for any bridges no mater if i slide to raise or lower the bridge.  I have jest added the block top for the roads.. would that be the problem..."Say Not"  I remmed it with same results...   

so what am I missing?  or having that may be the trouble

P.S.  I had tryed the bridge leveler and also remmed it. with no changes...

[z]

I've seen this happen many times.  I've found that it means that the game thought it could build a bridge where you drew it, but later discovered that it can't.  Drawing a longer bridge usually fixes the problem; alternatively, you can build up the level of the land near the riverbanks.

[k808j]

After installing May 2010 I no longer have train automata at any time of the day. Does selecting automata24 have anything to do with this?

[Tarkus]

After installing May 2010 I no longer have train automata at any time of the day. Does selecting automata24 have anything to do with this?

It may be an RHD/LHD issue as well--turn on DrawPaths and check to make sure the tracks have paths. 

-Alex