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

[tkirch]

I am just getting back into SC4 and trying out the new NAM.  You can see my picture below.  An RHW-2 going over a RHW-4.  Couple of questions:
1. What piece do I use to make an intersection between the RHW-2 and the MIS?  On one side I used an Avenue-MIS Intersection but I have no stoplights, could see some danger there.  Is that the right piece.
2.  I placed a RHW-2 Starter Piece and it connected to the other side fine but I can't get it over the other side to connect over the RHW-4. 

Could someone please help with this?


This is my interchange.

[jdenm8]

Okay, you've used ERHW-4 for the overpass. The most common network used is Elevated Avenue (Completely puzzle piece based) because it's capable or intersecting ERHW-4 and EMIS (sort of). ERHW-4 which you've used isn't.

[GDO29Anagram]

1. What piece do I use to make an intersection between the RHW-2 and the MIS?  On one side I used an Avenue-MIS Intersection but I have no stoplights, could see some danger there.  Is that the right piece.
2.  I placed a RHW-2 Starter Piece and it connected to the other side fine but I can't get it over the other side to connect over the RHW-4. 

In addition to what jdenm8 stated, I can't help but take note of the following:

- That's Elevated RHW-4 over RHW-4. There's no starter for RHW-2 because that's the base network, though there is one for Elevated RHW-2, but it's a two-lane two-way road, just like RHW-2.
- EMIS crossings are only intended for pieces like the elevated AVE-MIS crossing.
- You have a texture pack that's been outdated for the past three RHW versions.

[Wiimeiser]

This is just what I gather from what I've been told or have read previously. Correct me if I'm wrong here...

-To activate the Puzzle piece/TE Lot crash, you only need the paths used on the lot.
-The tollbooths and car ferry terminal are the only TE lots immune to crashing; no puzzle pieces are.
-Puzzle pieces were originally designed and coded expressly and exclusively for highway interchanges
-Snap-to cannot be disabled if you are on a puzzle piece, presumably due to the fact the automata do not take the height or design of a puzzle piece into consideration
-As far as UDI is concerned, lots and terrain have collision, nothing else does
-Even if you could add non-monorail paths to the Monorail network, the game would instantly convert them to monorail paths
-Even if you could add El-Rail paths to a non El-Rail network puzzle piece, the game would automatically convert that piece into an El-Rail piece
-The game will crash if you have too many empty zone tiles for it to develop at once. The limit appears to be about 50-100 tiles
-It is actually illegal to modify the network data, we just weren't told because no one expected us to
-The Simpsons Game 2 was cancelled because Lisa, The Simpson was shut down
-EA is grossly incompotent
-There is at least one EA employee who, if powerful enough, would want to see the NAM shut down

[jdenm8]

-Snap-to cannot be disabled if you are on a puzzle piece, presumably due to the fact the automata do not take the height or design of a puzzle piece into consideration

False. I updated the WRHW-2 to RHW-2 transition back in Alpha days to a new path layout and I forgot to turn the 3D key on. The result was a Puzzle Piece that had paths that acted like dragged ones and could be driven over without Snap on.

-As far as UDI is concerned, lots and terrain have collision, nothing else does

Maxis did build in the facility for Props to have collision (Can't remember where I read that) but they didn't finish it.

-Even if you could add non-monorail paths to the Monorail network, the game would instantly convert them to monorail paths
-Even if you could add El-Rail paths to a non El-Rail network puzzle piece, the game would automatically convert that piece into an El-Rail piece

As far as I'm aware, they just don't work and fron what I've heard from Tarkus, only Monorail exhibits this behaviour.

-The game will crash if you have too many empty zone tiles for it to develop at once. The limit appears to be about 50-100 tiles

I've had far more than 100... It's probably more of a memory or processing limitation.

[Tarkus]

-It is actually illegal to modify the network data, we just weren't told because no one expected us to
. . .
-There is at least one EA employee who, if powerful enough, would want to see the NAM shut down

Sounds like ranting of one of the few (but very vocal) disgruntled "militant vanillists" and anti-NAMites out there.

Given past experiences of the community's interaction with EA/Maxis employees, the former is extremely unlikely.  Back in the early days of the modding community, toroca and the7trumpets had direct discussions with MaxisFrank, an EA/Maxis employee, relating to the traffic simulator.  MaxisFrank did not tell toroca or the7trumpets not to modify the traffic simulator--quite the contrary, in fact.  There's also the case of Buggi getting permission to release the ExtraCheats.dll file.  Paul Pedriana (SC4's lead programmer, still a part of Sims development) has also posted at ST and gave simmaster07 some files relating to DLL integration.

As far as someone in the lower ranks at the company having a problem with the NAM, while I wouldn't say that's entirely impossible, everyone the NAM Team ever had contact with who is connected directly or indirectly with EA/Maxis hasn't expressed any concerns about our doings (and in fact, has usually expressed support). 

-EA is grossly incompotent [sic]

I don't think EA is incompetent.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  They're turning a profit, and I think they understand the city simulator market.  They were smart enough not to budge as folks were demanding an SC5, knowing that the hardware could simply not support what the market was demanding yet, and they knew they could remain profitable by sticking with tried-and-true SC4, releasing SC:S (which I believe was intended as a spinoff, not a true sequel) and continuing development with The Sims (which has been the most profitable PC game franchise of all-time).  If you want to question that wisdom, take a look at what happened to Monte Cristo--they went under trying to out-do SC4.  Even with the release of CXL 2012, SC4 is still the dominant city-simulator.  It's going to stay that way at least until mid-decade.

-The tollbooths and car ferry terminal are the only TE lots immune to crashing; no puzzle pieces are.

I think you're partially confusing "puzzle piece" with TE Lot here.  Those lots will actually not crash if placed over Maxis Highway interchanges that shipped with the game, too.  The issue can occur with any custom TE Lot or custom puzzle piece within certain parameters, and even then, sometimes it won't occur, depending in large part of the CheckTypes of the puzzle piece.

-Puzzle pieces were originally designed and coded expressly and exclusively for highway interchanges

That is what they were originally intended for, yes (and overpasses over GHwy, which are actually implemented as RUL0 AutoPlace setups).  All puzzle pieces that shipped with the game were Maxis Highway interchanges, though RUL0 supported other networks, too, which is why everything else works.  The bulldoze cost on puzzle pieces is, as I recall, linked to Maxis Highway costs as well.

-Alex

Edit: Minor grammatical and quote fix.

[CahosRahneVeloza]

A round of applause  for Mr. Tarkus 

Seriously, people who dislike mods &/or custom content should wake up & smell the coffee. Mods such as the NAM & the Unified Traffic Simulator have revolutionized & improved how the game plays, no more stupid SIMs driving around in circles to get to work thanks in part to the better path finding system. And who wouldn't like more options for transportation networks? Aren't you bored of the four road types (road, street, OWR & avenues) that you'd get with Deluxe or RH?

[Jsthreadgill]

In the New NAM Automata, there are 4 plugins. However, I'm not sure what the "NetworkAddonMod_Automata_Plugin_BL_Radical.dat" is for. Should this be combined with one of the original 3 plugins or is there something different so that this one is installed alone?

[Blue Lightning]

That's a completely new automata controller file made by me, featuring more accurate representation of traffic volumes (especially in cities) in sync with the time of day. Its an alternative to the other automata controllers (which are very old might I add).

[Wiimeiser]

I'm not saying I dislike anything (except the Zone and TE Lot crashing), I just wanted a few things cleared up, that's all.

[noahclem]

Thanks for the report there Alex. Besides the clarification, it's always nice to get a bit of historical context for the NAM and SC4's development--I actually really enjoyed reading the detailed history of NAM updates in the last readme.

Cheers to SC4's continued dominance (and awesomeness) through mid-decade    If SC4 is still my version of a "model railroad" when I'm an old man I think things could be a lot worse 

[tkirch]

Is there a puzzle piece I am missing for the following scenario.

I have RHW-4 and I used the MIS to create off ramps onto RHW-2.  I am just doing a four way interchange.  But no stop and go lights appear at this interchange.  Is there a way to create a four way stop interchange at a MIS-RHW2 or at MIS-Road interchange

[Tarkus]

There aren't any T21s for stoplights on any of the MIS intersections.  This is in large part due to the fact that RHW-based networks cannot support stop points without resorting to using a puzzle piece or really weird workarounds that don't really work that well.  (To better qualify my remark, I'll note that the Road-based NWM crossings do have some signals on them, but only on the NWM approaches--for the same reason).

The idea of having "Signalized Intersection Pieces" (SIPs) for such intersections has been discussed, actually (as is the case with One-Way Roads), though none have been implemented yet.

-Alex

[chadmichael03]

I just updated to RHW 5.0

The only problem seems to be the above:  anything dealing with avenues over RHW pieces.

Could this be that I don't have the latest NAM?  I have at least the second-latest NAM, and I thought I had the latest NAM.

[Tarkus]

You need the latest NAM in order to use the most recent RHW.  The Elevated Avenue models were completely changed in NAM Version 30, and the fact that your image still shows the old models explains why you're getting the missing texture error there.  Additionally, without the latest, pretty much any new RHW Version 5.0 functionality (including the DDRHWs, Wider RHW Diagonals and FlexSPUI) will not function at all.

-Alex

[jdenm8]

Not to mention the puzzle piece you have selected was deprecated in RHW 5.0 and is no longer supported.

[Tarkus]

Not to mention the puzzle piece you have selected was deprecated in RHW 5.0 and is no longer supported.

Good catch there--hadn't seen that the first time around. 

This sort of stuff is actually a large part of the reason we're switching over to the "monolithic NAM" paradigm--no chance of version mismatches between components like this.

-Alex

[reignerok]

On-road bus/metro station

Hi. I've installed NAM 30, between other reasons, for the on-road bus and metro stations but I'm not able to find them on the menus. Maybe now it's a separated plugin? If so, where can I find it?

Thanks.

[Tarkus]

The NAM has never contained stations.  It sounds like you're referring to the RTMT (Road-Top Mass Transit) set.  See here.

-Alex

[mike3775]

On-road bus/metro station

Hi. I've installed NAM 30, between other reasons, for the on-road bus and metro stations but I'm not able to find them on the menus. Maybe now it's a separated plugin? If so, where can I find it?

Thanks.

An addition to what Alex(Tarkus) mentioned, see if their is a lot you have to plop in order to get them to appear in the menu as well.  I had the same issue until I noticed the MML lot plop, which I plopped and within a game month(about 45 seconds) the options appeared in the menu.

Whenever I start a new city, the first things I do is get the RHW connected, and plop the 2 plop lots needed to unhide things(the SFBT sound walls and the RMTP options)