RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[Geometry123]

Here's a bug I found on the RHW-10S Inner Smooth Curve:

Fixable by attachment? :/

[Tarkus]

Already was by Maarten after the first time you reported that, IIRC.  But I'm not sure where the patch is (which is the problem with fix-by-attachment).

-Alex

[drjumbajookiba]

Needs a Filler

[Tarkus]

The wide-radius curve pieces are meant to be plopped after a drag-out of non-wide-radius curves, thereby mitigating the need for fillers.  Fillers probably could have utility for those situations, but after the NAM 31.x releases (and the experiences of the pre-draggable wider RHW diagonals), I've sworn off touching the RHW fillers.

-Alex

[APSMS]

Hopefully this question is in the right thread...

After downloading and extracting the Road Texture Database from somewhere (I think it was here on the LEX), I got an itch to make a concrete RHW mod to make the freeways like Southern California. The problem that I'm currently having (and I just started; I figured if I was going to save time and energy I'd better ask now), is that all of the textures appear to be fragmented by tile, which makes it extremely difficult for me to make any of the diagonal or WRC pieces. Assuming that I make it that far, of course.

Is there anyplace where the original geometry of the curve in its entirety can be found? Or do I just need to combine the pieces in Photoshop and work from there?

And how does Maarten manage to make all of those texture replacements so effortlessly? (I know he has originals, but dividing and then splicing them into the existing files seems ridiculously tedious w/o automation.) If there is a tutorial on this, I'd appreciate direction. I couldn't find any with the search function here.

[MandelSoft]

Well, regarding the diagonals and the curves, I've done something pretty neat that did put most of the effort on our end; Jondor converted all small curves and diagonals from all RHW networks but the L0 RHW-2 and L0 MIS to models, MORPH curves to be exact. I've turned all Smooth Curves and FARHW curves to MORPH curves too. The RHW-8C to 8S transitions are MORPHED too and all dragable RHW networks too, and so is most of Project Symphony.

How does this work? Well, instead of making an individual texture for each tile of a curve (which we did in the past, which is tedious), we just bend the model and the texture co-ordinates too. This means you only need one simple straight texture for all the curves of that network.

For instance, take this curve:


It uses the same texture instance as it's totally straight variant...

Here is an example picture of how the texture wrapping actually works (ignore the rightmost one, that one was bugged at the time):


When applying the regular texture to it, you see the simple brilliance of this method come to live:


The same principle is applied here on all these curves, putting all the effort on my end, and making the life of a re-texturer easier:



The textures in the Database are all you need. There are at the moment simply no more textures than this (other than one or two new ramps perhaps).

Best,
Maarten

[Wiimeiser]

I wonder how long it would take to make a set with neon pink surface, blue innermost and outermost lines (the ones that are yellow in some sets) and green middle lines(the ones that are always white)...

[Kitsune]

The wide-radius curve pieces are meant to be plopped after a drag-out of non-wide-radius curves, thereby mitigating the need for fillers.  Fillers probably could have utility for those situations, but after the NAM 31.x releases (and the experiences of the pre-draggable wider RHW diagonals), I've sworn off touching the RHW fillers.

-Alex

See... the issue though is that when going tight (making a lane shift), it converts to rhw-2..

[Glazert]

Maarten, that is a really neat development with Morph curves and textures. It is really elegant when less (need for fewer new textures) produces more - a range of curves.

[Gugu3]

Well done Maarten!!!

[MandelSoft]

And the best thing, this is all included in then NAM 31.2

[Wiimeiser]

Did anyone read my suggestion?

[Tarkus]

Did anyone read my suggestion?

Yes, all 40 times that you've posted something to that effect.  The NAM Team will not be taking you up on it.  But you're more than welcome to do so on your own.

-Alex

[Indiana Joe]

Did anyone read my suggestion?

It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to add abstract texture mods to the agenda--it's already overcrowded enough as it is.  But I encourage you as Alex did to give it a go.  Texture modding is the easiest part of what these guys do.  It gets easier all the time as new tricks with image-editing software are discovered.

[MandelSoft]

It takes more effort and time then you think. I can make my new texture sets in a week, but that's because I use a similar base and I already have the right vector images ready and most of the time I only have to change the style or colour of a line. If I have to start over from scratch again, expect that it would take several months. This is especially true with your very odd colour combination set, which would mean I have to start over again with all intersections...

Besides, I can work like mad on texture mods, so it takes less time that I can complete a set than most other people do.

[Durfsurn]

It might have been asked for before but are diagonal starters possible? Or are they too impossibly unstable to work with? It would also be nice to have starters on each of the ends of smooth curves (however I believe this was answered before).

[Tarkus]

They are possible, and in fact, the actual false intersections have been in place for the RHW-4 and MIS since RHW 2.0, and are applied to some of the old-style static Type B and E ramp interfaces. 

We decided back in the RHW 2.0 and 3.0 days that we were not going to put starters on the ends of the smooth curves, because the starters interfere with slopes (read: any sort of bump or incline in the terrain, and you wouldn't be able to build a smooth curve) and complicate the otherwise simple process of mirroring the curves.

-Alex

[Durfsurn]

I knew there was a reason for not having them on slopes. Would it be possible to add them as a standalone starter in the next nam?

[Tarkus]

It's certainly under consideration.  It would require a little "letting go" on the part of the "if X exists, how about Y" people.  The issue, of course, is that we don't yet know whether or not it's possible to make starters for the multi-tile diags (e.g. 8S, etc.).

-Alex

[Wiimeiser]

I've been thinking for a while...
Maybe the issue with the FlexTrans instability is of priority? As in, which starter override is taking priority over the others. Just a thought.