NAM configuration software

[GoaSkin]

Windows version is also updated: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1914

[z]

This is the first version I could look at in a while - the others kept expiring on me before I could download them.   

A few comments:  Under "other settings," I assume that the clean air ordinance you refer to is the revised version present in Simulator Z, as we discussed.  This isn't in your documentation anywhere, so there's no way for people to know what it does, or even that it's not the standard Clean Air Ordinance.  I'd recommend updating your documentation here, and also adding the word "revised" or "new" in front of "clean air ordinance."

Most importantly, the Congestion Data View appears to be the one released a year ago by the NAM team.  This view is completely broken, always gives erroneous results, and never works properly with any traffic simulator.  This is why it is not present in the January 2009 NAM.  No one should ever use it.

Personally, I don't think the pathfinding heuristic belongs in this program.  The effects of its settings are highly interlinked with a number of other settings in the traffic simulator that aren't present here.  Also, its effects are highly nonlinear, and fully understood by a relatively small number of people.  In general, people who know enough to change this setting properly would use Ilive's Reader, where it can be coordinated with its other related settings.  If you do keep this setting, which I don't recommend, it would be a good idea to set its minimum at .003, as anything lower than that is detrimental to the performance of all traffic simulators.

Other than that, I like the program.   I think it is most useful for the user interface settings, making it much easier to change them than it would otherwise be.  I also like the way it makes it very easy to switch traffic simulator capacities or versions.  So I think most of it is fine, but there a few points left that still need work.

EDIT:  After checking further, I also noticed that if one of my custom Traffic Volume Views is present, and the traffic simulator capacity or version is changed, the Traffic Volume View is not changed.  These always need to be changed in tandem; otherwise, the Traffic Volume View will display erroneous colors and percentages.

[GoaSkin]

All the static plugin content is taken from the Macintosh version of the Januar NAM. Either it is my fault and the system did not overwrite the container files or the Mac NAM is not similar to the windows download or the NAM I used was too early.

The heuristic I may disable - no problem. Saves space for other controls.

So please say me which current values must be set to which value! Thanks.

[z]

So please say me which current values must be set to which value! Thanks.

I'm not sure what you mean here.  Could you please elaborate?

[GoaSkin]

The tool is currently being actualized for the June NAM. All the values will be adjusted to values currently used in the NAM.

[GoaSkin]

A version which is compatible to the June NAM (and July update) will be finished soon. A preview version can be found in the test center (no Macintosh build yet).

There are translation source files added to this posting.

Is there someone who can complete me the french translation? (for this, open the SC4Ctrans_fr.ts in a text editor)?

The spanish translation also needs to be a little bit modified.

[z]

I just took a look at the preview version, and I have a few comments.

The most important thing I want to stress is that the traffic simulators exist as integral constructions.  Tuning them really shouldn't be attempted by anyone other than experts.  To have their parameters available in a program used by ordinary players is only going to create trouble for the players and will also create additional support problems.

For example, in my previous message in this thread, I strongly recommended removing the pathfinding heuristic setting.  At this point, I would make this recommendation even stronger.  Experience has shown that setting it to any value other than 0.003 essentially breaks Simulator Z.  Simulators A and B are built around their own value of this parameter, which shouldn't be changed for them, either.  I would request in the strongest terms that this setting be removed from the NAM Tool.  Supporting the standard Simulator Z both here and at ST is enough work; I could not support nonstandard variations of this simulator.  As for Simulators A and B, active support for them is limited at best; the last entry in their Help thread is from last November 5th.

Under "other settings," "clean air ordinance" should be removed.  It is an integral part of Simulator Z and should always be present.  On the other hand, it has never been a part of Simulators A and B, and no one has requested it.  There is no one to deal with the support issues if it is introduced into these simulators and causes problems.

Similarly, the "volume data view" should not be an option here.  As of the June release, it is a mandatory part of the NAM for all traffic simulators, and also contains exemplars governing more than just volume data, such as the Subway and Subway Building views.  New features in RTMT that are being released depend on these features, and will break if they are not present.  Similarly, there is consideration in the NAM of extending the RTMT features to other transit stations in general, but this requires the presence of the features in the volume data views.  They should be considered a mandatory part of the NAM.  They should also be considered permanently linked to their respective traffic simulators, as they are during the NAM installation, and should be updated whenever the traffic simulator is.

The zone data view is a little more complicated.  It really belongs with the other data views.  Although it is shown in an option in the NAM installation, the default has been changed to "on," which is what I had recommended initially.  Since it is designed to fit in with the other data views and there have been no problems with it, I expect that in the not-too-distant future, it will lose its optional status, and just automatically be installed like the other new data views.  For this reason, I would strongly recommend removing it as an option from the NAM tool as well.

That leaves Park and Ride.  Although it's fine to have it as a selection here, I should point out that a large portion of Simulator Z support problems come when people select this option and they don't know what it does.  If you are going to keep this option, it is essential that there be some sort of warning right next to it that this option significantly changes the behavior of the traffic simulator, and people need to read the documentation before choosing it.

On the other side of things, you might want to add a Bullet Train option, which would allow people to choose the Bullet Train version of Simulator Z.  But as with Park and Ride, there needs to be a prominent warning that this option fundamentally changes the behavior of the traffic simulator.

I'll look forward to hearing back from you on these requests.

[GoaSkin]

But the NAM comes with a large list of Volume Data View Plugins belonging to different Simulators. If Volume Data View is activated, a different plugin file is saved depending on the selected simulator.

For AB NetworkAddonMod_Volume_Data_View_AB_Medium.dat, for Z NetworkAddonMod_Volume_Data_View_Z_Medium.dat etc.

For the clean air ordinance I thought that it's functionality does not depend on any specific simulator.

Well... I will make some modifications later.

[z]

But the NAM comes with a large list of Volume Data View Plugins belonging to different Simulators. If Volume Data View is activated, a different plugin file is saved depending on the selected simulator.

For AB NetworkAddonMod_Volume_Data_View_AB_Medium.dat, for Z NetworkAddonMod_Volume_Data_View_Z_Medium.dat etc.

Yes, this is completely correct.  The plugins are tuned to the capacity of each simulator.  My point was simply that Volume Data View must always be activated, as it is in the NAM installation; otherwise, various things in the new NAM will break.

For the clean air ordinance I thought that its functionality does not depend on any specific simulator.

Technically, this is true.  But the overall functionality of Simulator Z depends on the presence of my modified version of this ordinance.  If you turn it off, what you're left with is no longer Simulator Z - it definitely will not function as well.  Theoretically, you could make this an option for Simulators A and B, but you'd have to explain in detail exactly how it's different from the standard Clean Air Ordinance, and what the implications are.  And you'd have to make sure that this ordinance was always present for Simulator Z.  Personally, I don't think it's work all the trouble to do this, but that's your call... 

[GoaSkin]

I have upgraded the source code...

* the zone data view defaults to be turned on
* the pathfinding heuristic slider isn't removed yet but deactivated (greyed out). That is temporarily an easy solution because removing it completely requires many changes in the source code.
* 50% of the strings have been translated into french (still looking for a native speaker)
* the clean air ordinance option has been removed. The Exemplar is now beeing created dynamicl<
* volume data view greyed out and activated (same as above)


I have currently a few other things to do and will start to compile and repack it later.

[GoaSkin]

test version has been actualized in download center

Please upgrade to version 1.3.1!

[z]

Thanks for taking my suggestions!  It's much appreciated. 

[GoaSkin]

Does anybody know if changes have been made in the old simulators (C, D and E)? I cannot find anything but the files included in the NAM have a newer date.

[Andreas]

They haven't changed, and I don't know why they show a newer date on your system. Here's how the ZIP file with the June 2009 NAM should look like:

[GoaSkin]

That isn't what I mean...

They show a date from march 09, a date after the January 2009 NAM release. But these simulators are very old and do exist much longer than the NAM itself. There haven't been any changes on it since many years. So, possibly there were changes made in march 09 or the date has been renewed for another reason.

[Andreas]

I don't know which changes have been made in March, if the files are identical to the January 2009 version, it's probably only the filedate that got changed accidentially.

[Chrisim]

Does anybody know if changes have been made in the old simulators (C, D and E)? I cannot find anything but the files included in the NAM have a newer date.

I am sure that there was no change - as Andreas said, the files got a newer date

[GoaSkin]

Has anybody tried the tool out execpt Z? Is it ready to release?

Btw.: How to translate 'pathfinding' into french and spanish?

[z]

I saw some anomalies in other parts of the tool, but since it was an early version, I didn't worry about them at the time.  In any case, I think your latest build needs to be tested out a bit before releasing.  I'm a bit busy right now, but later this week I should have some time.

[dragonshardz]

Btw.: How to translate 'pathfinding' into french and spanish?

Spanish: camino para encontrar
French: chemin de la recherche

Please note, I got these from Google Translate by separating "pathfinding' into "path finding" and then translating. So if it's not 100% correct...blame the languages, not me.