NAM Traffic Simulator and Data View Help

[z]

I notice that you have city squares that are offset in the north-south direction. For example, the 3 city squares at the bottom of your region: Near West Side, Downtown and Near South Side. How did you avoid triangular eternal commuting, either clockwise or counterclockwise, between those 3 city tiles? As near as I can determine, you have several connexions between each city square and the two others, both horizontally (Near West Side <--> Downtown) and vertically (Near West Side <--> Near South Side and Downtown <--> Near South Side). This should encourage triangular eternal commutes, especially since, in the north-south direction, it is not possible to locate the connexions between city squares close to their respective median border locations.

The reason of my question is that I have a similar situation of offset city squares in my current region, which has triggered heavy triangular flows of commuters.

That's a good question, and here's where an accident of geography saves me.  The upper left quadrant of the Near South Side has a huge number of industrial jobs, plus a large number of commercial jobs.  And the lower third of the boundary between Downtown and the Near West Side is strictly industrial on both sides.  So I've never had an eternal commuter problem in this area.

I did have a nasty one elsewhere, though.  Sims would cross from Logan Square into the Near West Side, stay near the top of the Near West Side, cross into the upper left part of Downtown, and then, instead of heading into the huge downtown business area (the Loop), they would cross into Lincoln Park, and then go back to Logan Square.  I eliminated this one completely by cutting all connections between the upper third of Downtown and the Near West Side.  The parts of these cities around the middle of this border, which I left open, have huge numbers of commercial jobs on both sides, so if Sims cross there, they find jobs much quicker than traveling to another border.

Basically, it just comes down to cutting connections where eternal commuter loops are forming.  But in my case, I had to do it only along one third of one border between two cities, and no changes to city zoning were made.

Meanwhile, there are huge flows of traffic from Lakeview and Lincoln Park to Downtown in the morning, and in the reverse direction in the evening, just as in the real city.  But there are no commuter loops there.

[z]

As of the May 2010 NAM release, Simulator Z has become the NAM Unified Traffic Simulator, or NAM Simulator for short.  The introductory post has been updated to reflect the changes that went into this upgrade.

[bob56]

Love the new release!!!

One Quick ?: When I installed NAM Medium Unified Simulator, the file name still shows up s Z_Medium. I was just wondering if it was supposed to say that, or if I did something wrong (this is with a clear NAM folder)

Thanks,

--Grif

[Andreas]

The unified simulators are based on the Z simulator, hence the filename. It's just for reference, though, as the name hasn't any meaning for the game anyway.

[bob56]

okay thanks

[bunnie1978]

How do you actually RUN the tool?  When I dbl-click, I just get a winrar window...  Is it incompatible with XP?

[z]

No, it should run on every type of Windows that SC4 runs on.  Please detail what you are doing, step-by-step.  Thanks!

[bunnie1978]

Yeah, so I didn't have Java... Duh, right?
I'm fixed now, but I'm still trying to figure out what the pedmall tiles are useful for. 

[z]

Yeah, so I didn't have Java... Duh, right?

Yes, that would do it.  I gather that you saw that it's listed as a dependency in the Readme file.

[Moshi]

Hello, I'm interested in translating the configuration tool. Could someone enlighten me as to what I should do? Thanks.

[z]

Thanks for your offer!  Making a translation for the entire tool is actually quite simple.  In your installation folder, look in the subfolder resources\lang\en.  This contains all the original English language documentation.  Translate each file into the language you want, although in the properties file, the words before the equals signs should not be translated.  The GIF flag file is optional, though nice if you can provide it.  Then zip up the files and post them here.  We'll get them integrated into the program as soon as possible.

We'd be very happy to have translations into as many languages as possible.  To avoid duplication of effort, if you're going to do a translation, please post here which one you're going to do.

[erikasdaddy]

Ok,   I have the latest Java run-time and all but when I click the icon on the desktop for this it starts the nokia ovi app...   How do I fix that?   I have looked for a way to 'open with' but can't find where java installs to or what I might open the TSCT with.   Help!   

[z]

This problem happens because the Nokia-Ovi Suite is associated with .jar files.  These file are used as programs on Nokia or other Symbian-OS phones.

In order to fix this, in Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows, go to Control Panel -> Folder Option -> Tab "File Type".  In Windows 7, open the Start menu, click on Default Programs, then click on "Associate a file type or a protocol with a program".  In either case, scroll to the .jar extension, select it, and click on the Change or Change Program button.  In the popup window select Java(TM) Platform Binary from the programs list.  Close the windows you opened to make this change, and the TSCT should now work.

[erikasdaddy]

That didn't work.   I have several application file options to choose from in the java folder, 
java
javacpl(control panel)
javaw
javaws
jbroker
jp2launcher
java-rmi
jqs
 



and a few others.   I went through and tried multiple ones.  I also uninstalled the Nokia OviSuite as I never use it...  and will never buy another nokia...   but that's another story! 

Also when I hover over the filename it says Java(TM) Platform SE Binary.    I wouldn't think the SE is anything super special,  but then again maybe it is. 

Thank you though for the quick reply!   You guys do amazing work! 

[z]

You're welcome!

Probably the easiest thing to do is to uninstall Java and then reinstall it.  That will establish the proper file association for you.

[rodhunt]

Hi Z, further to the thread over on NAM video tutorials, here are a few pics.

Here are my settings for the traffic simulator, notched up to hi on j-dubs recommendation.



Here is the city exit...  380 freight trucks, and RHW shows up as highly congested:



No traffic whatsoever and it shows up as congested...



Here's hoping you know what's wrong!

[z]

Thanks for all the pictures!  They are extremely helpful in illustrating what is definitely a very unusual situation.  I can think of only two possible scenarios that would explain what you're seeing.  The first is if you have a congested subway line running directly below your RHW.  This could give the results you see, although the specific congestion patterns present make me doubt that this is your situation.

The second and most likely possibility is that this is caused by a little-known bug in the congestion display.  This display has occasional bugs; in my own cities, I've sometimes seen streets with a traffic volume of five show up as completely red; there was no subway beneath them, nor any other reason for them to be congested.  Sometimes this bug shows up in just the opposite way; networks that should show up as congested show up as completely green.

Normally, this bug is restricted to a few tiles; I've never seen it manifest to the extent shown in your pictures.  Both the cause and the cure of this bug are unknown, although it is not restricted to any particular traffic simulator; switching traffic simulators does not help in the slightest.  However, from previous experiments I have found that this bug can sometimes be affected by the Intersection and Turn Capacity Effect property.  Fortunately, this is something that is easy to test on your own using the Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool.  Take the Intersection Effect Multiplier and reduce it from its current value of 1.0 to its minimum of 0.2, then run your city for two years.  If that has an effect, then please post back here.  Otherwise, I would recommend repeating your post in the RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support thread.  They may have some ideas there.  Good luck!

[Blue Lightning]

Uh, tried evening commute?

[rodhunt]

Changing the IEM made no difference and with evening commute there is no change either. Thanks anyway guys...

[Wilfried]

I have quiet the same problem, though on a more general scale, i.e., not bound to the RHW network alone. Here's the story:

Sometimes, after changing some capacity settings and later setting them back in the Traffic Simulator, or after installing another Congestions View plugin, I get either strongly congested networks or completely green ones which, however, are respectively reported to be uncongested or congested.

The funny thing here is that the Traffic Simulator has a capacity setting of, say, 2,400 for a Road, with 4,000 cars using it in the morning  as well as in the evening, all that being accordingly reported in the ticker, but the Congestion View for the Traffic Simulator in use displays it as green.

I've come across this bug several times now. It seems to me that the game stores some of that ill data in the City file, eventually resulting in an effect similar to the one known as Prop Pox...