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

[Rady]

AFAIK the network capacity is per tile, so with road you have 12.000 for both directions, that is 6.000 for each direction. Avenue however is 12.000 per tile, and avenue is two tiles wide, so you have 12.000 for each direction - double the capacity of the road.

[Tarkus]

I would like to ask a question concerning the Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool of the NAM. If this is not the appropriate thread. I would also appreciate anyone to point me to a thread dealing with the TSCT cause I didn't find it.

There is a thread dealing with the NAM Traffic Simulator in general, which can be found here.  There's an extensive post by z at the start of the thread that covers Park & Ride and most other matters pertaining to the traffic simulator.

I am using Ultra capacity and roads and avenues have the same capacity (12000). What's the point of putting avenues so?

As Rady mentioned, it's on a per-tile basis.  Whatever number you see listed for Avenues or Elevated/Ground Highways, double it and you'll have the capacity for the full width of the network.

When looking over capacity tables in readmes/FAQs for the NAM and its related plugins, check to see what units are being used.  The capacity tables on the RHW and NWM threads are on a "full-span" rather than "per-tile" basis, for instance.  There usually should be some mention of whether or not the values listed are "full span" or "per tile"

-Alex

[MithSimCity]

Thank you for clarifying this. Now that I look closely at the TSCT I see it says "network costs per network tile/ network traffic capacities

[cogeo]

Street and El-Rail/GLR tunnels impossible?



So it seems! And it happens with or without NAM, or slope-mods installed. Played a little with the network placement tuning parameters, but to no avail. Looks like a hard-coded thing (or the program has some special requirements about the tunnel resources, which we currently do not know).

Any hint? (I have seen some "solutions" on the STEX; they are TE implementations, and of course I don't mean this)

I'm gonna try making some puzzle-pieces (which are real networks), but before digging into this I would like to know if there is some other solution, or an easier and more straightforward way.

Thanks

[Chrisim]

As far as we understand, street or El-Rail/GLR tunnels are not possible. A way around are TE-Lots or the FLUPs underpasses that can carry cars, trams and pedestrians.

The FLUP's tunnel follows the surface elevation, and therefore can be quite steep.

[kefkapelazzo]

I've been having some issues getting NAM 29 working on Mac OS X.

Like some others my game seems to freeze when I enter city builder mode. I've done some testing and the freeze actually occurs when the date rolls forward in city builder mode, it is just fine if paused.

The freeze seems related to the "NetworkAddonMod_Bridges_Plugin_Controller.dat" file - if I take that file out of my plugins directory ... things work fine, but that introduces a host of other problems such as no RHW bridges.

If the file above is in my plug-ins folder ... the UI freezes solid. If it isn't, my game runs fine.

So what is this file, what does it do, and why might it be malfunctioning in such a way?

So anyways ... full NAM mac install, I've tried both the LEX and STEX downloads, I've also used Wine to install the Windows variant but have the same problem across all versions. There is an installer, unofficial, linked from the LEX download page and while it works, it doesn't include the bridges plugin controller. I've tried installing NAM in a virgin plugins directory by itself, paired with RHW, on old and new map to no avail.

Mac OS 10.6.8/Rev 1.1A Rush Hour

If this is a known issue, my apologies ... I certainly have searched and searched to no avail.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[Tarkus]

I received word from another Mac user recently that there were some quirks with using Mac OS X Lion (10.7) with an odd, isolated contingent of items (just the High Elevated Rail and High Monorail puzzle pieces), in part because of the fact that the game requires the quirky Aspyr Intel Mac patch.  His issues were happening when the game was not on pause as well.

That's really odd that the "unofficial" installer by werl didn't include the Bridge Controller.  I'd hazard a guess that he may have run into a similar issue.  I'm not sure how the High ElRail/Monorail pieces play into it (they're unrelated to the Bridge Controller, except when the game is in LHD mode and uses the Bridge Controller for UK path remapping), so this is very puzzling indeed.  Just out of curiosity, are you running the game in LHD and/or do the issues happen with the High Elevated Rail and High Monorail Plugins installed?

I suspect it's something quirky involving the Aspyr patch and the new operating system, and how they interact with certain files.  I don't have a Mac, so I can't really test anything in that regard myself.  I believe most of the rest of the NAM Team is non-Mac users as well.

-Alex

[kefkapelazzo]

Thanks for the quick reply! I've no word of Lion, currently running under Snow Leopard. In any case, using RHD. Have tried with and without the High Elevated Rail and High Monorail Plugins insofar as I recall. Fairly certain. I've noticed a mention of this issue in a few other threads including a fairly recent one on ST. I'm fairly certain the shoddy port is to blame as well. :/

As a temporary workaround I'm able to pause, install the bridges controller, lay bridges, quit, and remove but its quite a burdensome process so was hoping for some better news. Gahhh. Meanwhile plenty of others don't seem to have the issue, though as mentioned I've tried it with a virgin plugins folder and even a fresh install. Blah. =/

Thanks anyhow!

[Kevin1a]

Are there any pieces to cross GLR and ELRHW4 at this point?  Does anyone know of a work around that isn't an eyesore?  I tried to drag GLR under the highway and it reverted to ELrail breaking the highway; then I searched for puzzle pieces, but didn't find anything (though admittedly there are several places it could be.  Is this something that we are likely to see in the upcoming NAM whenever that might arrive?

[Wiimeiser]

How'd you get those street tunnels? Hex Editing? (On that note, if two bridges were hex edited next to each other, how would the game react?)

[jdenm8]

Are there any pieces to cross GLR and ELRHW4 at this point?  Does anyone know of a work around that isn't an eyesore?  I tried to drag GLR under the highway and it reverted to ELrail breaking the highway; then I searched for puzzle pieces, but didn't find anything (though admittedly there are several places it could be.  Is this something that we are likely to see in the upcoming NAM whenever that might arrive?

Not in RHW v4.2, though GLR under ERHW will be in RHW V5.0 as far as I'm aware, as well as many other intersection capabilities.

How'd you get those street tunnels? Hex Editing? (On that note, if two bridges were hex edited next to each other, how would the game react?)

They aren't street tunnels, they're Street FLUPs, which are Puzzle Pieces.
As for Hex Editing, people have tried and failed to edit the city files directly. There are multiple checksums that SC4 uses to ensure that its City Files aren't corrupt (checksums that only exist in the SC4 files that SC4 uses for its city files), and nobody has invested the time needed to figure out how these checksums work.
When SC4 finds that one of the subfiles in the SC4 file is 'corrupt' (The checksums don't work out), it deletes them.

[Ramona Brie]

Are there any pieces to cross GLR and ELRHW4 at this point?  Does anyone know of a work around that isn't an eyesore?  I tried to drag GLR under the highway and it reverted to ELrail breaking the highway; then I searched for puzzle pieces, but didn't find anything (though admittedly there are several places it could be.  Is this something that we are likely to see in the upcoming NAM whenever that might arrive?

Not in RHW v4.2, though GLR under ERHW will be in RHW V5.0 as far as I'm aware, as well as many other intersection capabilities.

How'd you get those street tunnels? Hex Editing? (On that note, if two bridges were hex edited next to each other, how would the game react?)

They aren't street tunnels, they're Street FLUPs, which are Puzzle Pieces.
As for Hex Editing, people have tried and failed to edit the city files directly. There are multiple checksums that SC4 uses to ensure that its City Files aren't corrupt (checksums that only exist in the SC4 files that SC4 uses for its city files), and nobody has invested the time needed to figure out how these checksums work.
When SC4 finds that one of the subfiles in the SC4 file is 'corrupt' (The checksums don't work out), it deletes them.

Kinda like Pokémon bad eggs: if the checksum doesn't work out, it becomes useless and glitchy.

[jdenm8]

Kinda like Pokémon bad eggs: if the checksum doesn't work out, it becomes useless and glitchy.

Not quite. Pokemon Bad Eggs don't trigger any exceptions, the game handles it as best it can, whereas SimCity 4 just deletes the city file completely. No glitchy, it's just gone.
There are a few exceptions though (The prop exemplar (Can't remember the proper name) is one).

[Wiimeiser]

Prop Pox?

Also, the GHW/AVE Parallel Ramp doesn't have any paths.

[sffc]

Dear NAM Team,

There seems to be a small mixup in the DAT files relating to elevated train and GLR.  The following screenshot was taken with all of the GLR plugins installed, but not NetworkAddonMod_High_ElRail_Plugin.dat:

It seems that some props and/or textures are missing for certain orientations of smoncrie GLR OnSlope puzzle piece.  However, after installing NetworkAddonMod_High_ElRail_Plugin.dat, the textures work fine:

This normally would not be an issue, because one can simply install the High Elevated Rail plugin to have the extra textures.  However, I run OS X Snow Leopard, and installing the High Elevated Rail Plugin causes an immediate CTD when starting time in SC4.  (Notice how I had to pause time in order to capture the second screenshot.)  I can live without using High Elevated Rail, but would it be possible to have the necessary textures moved from NetworkAddonMod_High_ElRail_Plugin.dat to NetworkAddonMod_GroundLightRail_Plugin.dat in Version 30?

NB: I have posted about this issue before, but at that time I was running OS X Tiger, which did not fuss about the High Elevated Rail data file.

I also have a little comment relating to the issue kefkapelazzo raised a couple of weeks ago.  Other than High Elevated Rail and High Elevated Monorail (and the issue I pointed out in this thread), NAM Version 29 runs beautifully on my SC4 installed under OS X Snow Leopard.  The NetworkAddonMod_Bridges_Plugin_Controller.dat file is present in my installation, and I have never run into any problems.  I am using all NAM plugins except CanAm, Custom MiscTransport and Rail menus, Turning Lane Avenues, and of course High ElRail/Monorail.  I am using RHD with Standard Automata, Z_Low traffic controller, and the Volume Data View mod.  I can perform tests if that would be helpful.

[mcarch]

I have used starter pieces to Street Addon Mod and Muli-lane Roads.  When these starter peices are constructed there is a construction sound (like there should be).  When construction is complete the sound still continues, even AFTER demolition of said starter peices and all other pieces.

This is a problem that I myself have also encountered, and it's usually the rail construction sound that plays. It tends to happen when the starters in question are made from Rail, such as the TLA-3 or SAM-1. (See below to see what I'm talking about).

What I do to combat that problem is drag out only four tiles at a time until it's about 8 or 12 tiles from the starter itself. At that point, I can drag out freely without having the infinitely looped sound track occur. If it DOES happen, you could just save and exit to region then enter the city again; The sound will then be gone.

If you drag a network out and it's under a certain amount of tiles (about 4 tiles out), then the construction animation (and SFX) doesn't occur. Keep that in mind.

Why it happens, however, is a mystery to me...

Hmm, mine is just road construction.  Not rail construction.

[Tarkus]

Dear NAM Team,

There seems to be a small mixup in the DAT files relating to elevated train and GLR.  The following screenshot was taken with all of the GLR plugins installed, but not NetworkAddonMod_High_ElRail_Plugin.dat:

. . .

This normally would not be an issue, because one can simply install the High Elevated Rail plugin to have the extra textures.  However, I run OS X Snow Leopard, and installing the High Elevated Rail Plugin causes an immediate CTD when starting time in SC4.  (Notice how I had to pause time in order to capture the second screenshot.)  I can live without using High Elevated Rail, but would it be possible to have the necessary textures moved from NetworkAddonMod_High_ElRail_Plugin.dat to NetworkAddonMod_GroundLightRail_Plugin.dat in Version 30?

NB: I have posted about this issue before, but at that time I was running OS X Tiger, which did not fuss about the High Elevated Rail data file.

I also have a little comment relating to the issue kefkapelazzo raised a couple of weeks ago.  Other than High Elevated Rail and High Elevated Monorail (and the issue I pointed out in this thread), NAM Version 29 runs beautifully on my SC4 installed under OS X Snow Leopard.  The NetworkAddonMod_Bridges_Plugin_Controller.dat file is present in my installation, and I have never run into any problems.  I am using all NAM plugins except CanAm, Custom MiscTransport and Rail menus, Turning Lane Avenues, and of course High ElRail/Monorail.  I am using RHD with Standard Automata, Z_Low traffic controller, and the Volume Data View mod.  I can perform tests if that would be helpful.

It would not be difficult to move the affected texture to a different file.  Regarding the MacOS X Snow Leopard and Lion issues, we still don't know what exactly is causing them, other than the fact that they're likely related to the Aspyr Intel Mac/Xcode patch--in fact, they're pretty bizarre, as to my knowledge, there's nothing really unusual or exotic in the High Elevated Rail and High Monorail plugin files.  I'll take a deeper look into them and see if I can find some answers. I did end up modifying those two files slightly as part of development on the upcoming version, in order to replace the models for the pieces where the high networks cross over the NAM Road/OWR/Avenue elevated viaducts--I don't know if that has fixed it or not.

-Alex

[Kitsune]

are there hidden bridges in the bridge controller? I'm going about modifying a bridge (.... I'm in desperate need of a cable stay/long span heavy rail bridge) and I'm discovering some bridges in the rail rul that I definitely don't recall seeing .... (ie a estr bridge). I've also hit a limit in ilives it seems (aka the rail rul seems to be maxed out and another entry is needed... oy).

[jdenm8]

There are tons of placeholder values, most of which were claimed (sometimes even allocated to projects) but never used.

[Kitsune]

There are tons of placeholder values, most of which were claimed (sometimes even allocated to projects) but never used.

I can see that... I just came across the entries for the RHW-8 bridge.... and a rhw-10 bridge too.