Traffic Signals in SC4--A Discussion Thread

[j-dub]

Thats stupid though, I mean the 45 school zones, especially in my city. 45 does not save a life, but the best they could do on that rural highway was make it 45 through that school zone but at least three lives have been taken there. There are other schools off four lane avenues in my city, but that one has the worst traffic safety issues. I guess they did not keep the speed limit 55, but then again laws are broken. Pedestrian and motorist both don't always obey the traffic signal. Momentarily the area aforementioned has a 35 mph speed limit as I type this post, but is only temporary, by the summer it will be back to 45.

Who am I kidding though, you can get flattened by 5 mph. Whats real stupid is when I saw on FOX this body sculpted guy get run over by multiple semi trucks and all it did was break open his skin from the truck axels, but the same can kill other people. Which is why I don't get why my state has no legal consistency for schools, because there is this other school on a rural highway where they bothered to set a 35 mph speed limit and strictly enforced school zone with the 20 mph on that rural highway 2. However the high schools in my district, despite the four lane highways, did not have extended school zone warnings. The very least my high school had multiple traffic lights to really slow things down. By the time I was out, their finally was a overpass for pedestrians, but that does not stop kids from jaywalking against traffic, but it also does not stop those in cars who do not care about getting their car damaged and blood on their hood. Other places bother putting speed detector signals up on some of these avenues/highways, but not every school. This should of been considered.

Considering these simple overhead signal solutions, I don't get why America does not use these more often. There are so many places where these are lacking, whether they are pedestrian crossings, and school zones. As for these school zones though, the publicly visible speed detector on the side of the road alone does the trick because drivers know they are being watched, they also actually resolve issues when used in subdivisions, rather then speed bumps.

As for the HAWK, I did not know thats what they were called. That setup is used in my city. It does not look exactly like that though, again in my state this type of signal is allowed to be designed in no particular fashion, but so far, I never have been stopped by the last one installed in my city.

[Ryan B.]

Thats stupid though, I mean the 45 school zones, especially in my city. 45 does not save a life, but the best they could do on that rural highway was make it 45 through that school zone but at least three lives have been taken there. There are other schools off four lane avenues in my city, but that one has the worst traffic safety issues. I guess they did not keep the speed limit 55, but then again laws are broken. Pedestrian and motorist both don't always obey the traffic signal. Momentarily the area aforementioned has a 35 mph speed limit as I type this post, but is only temporary, by the summer it will be back to 45.

Who am I kidding though, you can get flattened by 5 mph. Whats real stupid is when I saw on FOX this body sculpted guy get run over by multiple semi trucks and all it did was break open his skin from the truck axels, but the same can kill other people. Which is why I don't get why my state has no legal consistency for schools, because there is this other school on a rural highway where they bothered to set a 35 mph speed limit and strictly enforced school zone with the 20 mph on that rural highway 2. However the high schools in my district, despite the four lane highways, did not have extended school zone warnings. The very least my high school had multiple traffic lights to really slow things down. By the time I was out, their finally was a overpass for pedestrians, but that does not stop kids from jaywalking against traffic, but it also does not stop those in cars who do not care about getting their car damaged and blood on their hood. Other places bother putting speed detector signals up on some of these avenues/highways, but not every school. This should of been considered.

Considering these simple overhead signal solutions, I don't get why America does not use these more often. There are so many places where these are lacking, whether they are pedestrian crossings, and school zones. As for these school zones though, the publicly visible speed detector on the side of the road alone does the trick because drivers know they are being watched, they also actually resolve issues when used in subdivisions, rather then speed bumps.

As for the HAWK, I did not know thats what they were called. That setup is used in my city. It does not look exactly like that though, again in my state this type of signal is allowed to be designed in no particular fashion, but so far, I never have been stopped by the last one installed in my city.

Here's a little more on school zone speed limits here in WNY:

Regular Speed Limit  /  School Zone Speed Limit

55 MPH  /  45, 40, 35 MPH
45 MPH  /  35, 30, 25 MPH
40 MPH  /  30, 25, 20 MPH
35 MPH  /  25, 20 MPH
30 MPH  /  20 MPH

Also, I did take your advice and changed the color of the signal housing to a darker yellow.

[Monorail Master]

I made a 2 models using MS paint to help you all. (american version. IDK what the euro or asian ones look like.)

Picture:



This one is commonly found in the U.S.  And has 2 versions. Mounted on a concrete pole that's used for traffic lights. And suspended from 2 wires that are held by wooden or concrete poles.

Picture:




This one is commonly found on OWR or Roads (not avenues nost of the time) and is mounted on a Traffic Light pole, light pole (concrete or wooden), or mounted on a 8ft high concrete pole.



Well, I hope that this helps you all.

[j-dub]

To show an example of what Monorail Master said, one of these others may go along with the sign.


I also fixed this up in MS paint. This is more of the font I see on these signs in RL.
Personally though, using lower case is actually easier to see then full caps, but they don't do it that way, they do it like this.

If such development on school zones is going to be a thing, I'm sure other regions of this planet do not want to be left out?

[Shadow Assassin]

School zones in Australia tend to look like this:



The exact design varies, some have flashing lights on top of the actual sign, some are in orange, some are just plain white, like below:

[grey_wolf07]

Some good idea's here. When they're not so busy, I wonder if Ryan or j-dub could Mod a few Canadian Traffic Signals. I'll post up pictures when I get a chance. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[j-dub]

You mean like this?

[grey_wolf07]

You mean like this?

That's pretty bang on to what I was thinking.  Except, I was thinking more... western Canadian Style. But Eastern Canada is nice too.

Note: None of these Pictures are mine, I'm just using them as examples of what i'm thinking of.  http://hearstolympics.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/022010-021.jpg (Regular)

http://hearstolympics.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/traffic.jpg (Large)

http://hearstolympics.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/no-interstate.jpg (Medium)

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/18067073.jpg (Don't ask, I just like the fog)

EDIT: Pictures were changed to links.

[Haljackey]

grey_wolf07, you should resize your images as they are way too large, even for me with a big monitor.

This site recommends 1024x768 max, so try to keep it no more than that. Just a friendly reminder. 

Nice shots by the way! I like the last one the best.

[grey_wolf07]

LOL None of those were taken by me. But just goes to show what happened during the Olympics... and the weather.

[j-dub]

Since I saw so many slight variations of that type of light set, here is my interpretation of Canadian lights in game. This took forever to make.



With that, I thought to post it, before attempting the rendering process.

[grey_wolf07]

Since I saw so many slight variations of that type of light set, here is my interpretation of Canadian lights in game. This took forever to make.



With that, I thought to post it, before attempting the rendering process.

That's awesome!  I would ask for an extra light pole, and the signs to be named but that would be too much work for you. Will the lights replace the default Maxis ones, and will the animations work?

[Blue Lightning]

I could animate them for you, but I'm unsure about how much modding time I have these days since RL is encroaching rapidly.

[j-dub]

That's awesome!  I would ask for an extra light pole, and the signs to be named but that would be too much work for you

You mentioned an extra pole, where would that go exactly? As for the street name signs underneath, its not impossible, its just the only issue about throwing words on there is that it would appear the same at every intersection, there would be no control to prevent it, but then again, at a standard render they should not be too obvious to see on the average computer screen. I suppose I could upload a BAT version of this so the signs could be modified. Otherwise, I did not know how to finish that off.

Blue: Animation would be great, its one of the things I always had difficulty with. I probably would toy with this game more if RL did not bother me this whole summer either.

EDIT: in any event, attached is the BAT version of the signals, but included textures will need remapping.

[grey_wolf07]

You mentioned an extra pole, where would that go exactly? As for the street name signs underneath, its not impossible, its just the only issue about throwing words on there is that it would appear the same at every intersection, there would be no control to prevent it, but then again, at a standard render they should not be too obvious to see on the average computer screen. I suppose I could upload a BAT version of this so the signs could be modified. Otherwise, I did not know how to finish that off.

Blue: Animation would be great, its one of the things I always had difficulty with. I probably would toy with this game more if RL did not bother me this whole summer either.

EDIT: in any event, attached is the BAT version of the signals, but included textures will need remapping.

I was talking about, basically a standard light pole above the traffic signal. But that would be asking too much. I'm unzipping it as we speak, I'll have a look.

EDIT: Just realized they're GMAX files... there's no BAT files inside the zip file.

[j-dub]

Woops, my bad. Attached to this post is a SC4Model and descriptor file type for the lights, so they can be viewed in game/lot editor. I have managed to get a street name onto the sign underneath, and I put tiny silver poles behind the back of the lights so they now mount onto the overhanging pole properly. See for yourself.

[grey_wolf07]

Looks good, I'm just going to try it out now.

[TJ1]

Im glad this thread is active again.

[grey_wolf07]

It looks nice in game, other then the fact its a separate lot. But still it looks great to replace the standard maxis signals. Now all it needs is the animation, and some HD work and you're golden.  . Can't wait to see what else this forum turns up.

[drjumbajookiba]

When will you release the traffic singnals



anyway i like those signals