NWM (Network Widening Mod) - Development and Support

[Vizoria]

The RD4 to Ave6 transition needs to be probably five or six tiles long. The reason being is how the lanes tighten into the RD4. Fantastic work with what you're doing by the way.

Also may I suggest curving the transitions from the 1-tile to 2-tile networks? They don't have to be symmetrical but the curves need to be roughly S-shaped or half-chicaned and rather elongated.. The Ave2 to Mave4 transition would benefit from this the most.

Hey,

Sorry, but i'm not sure I understood well your second part of the suggestion, you are talking about making curved transitions?

Not curved transitions. It's just in the space used in the transition, make the lane curve a little so as to make the transition smoother.

[Tarkus]

I've never expected anyone else to join me but it would be a nice gesture of confidence if new NWM, etc, stuff was being developed with the widths I've reasoned out. It does seem though that Willy's process with RRW, largely independent besides consultation and advice, will need to be repeated by me if I expect to get my project to the point of full public release.

I've watched your efforts from a distance.  I'm intrigued, at the very least.   And having re-done basically the entire RHW set three times, I know how much work is involved.

-Alex

[gn_leugim]

A problem virtually eliminated with my mod's geometry (NRD4 lanes are ~94% the width of RD4/MAVE4 and virtually all other networks aside from roads and OWR)--wish I could get more people developing content to be interested in that standard....

Well, I was complete unaware of your work on that matter. I just started to work based on what I was given :p

Not curved transitions. It's just in the space used in the transition, make the lane curve a little so as to make the transition smoother.

I got now. on the trasition I'm currently working on, I've made it one tile longer, and I think it looks perfect now.



(Still a WIP)

[dyoungyn]

All I see here is a serious "Bottle Neck"

[Tyberius06]

Is it still NRD4 or RD4? Anyway its looks very nice. I love NwM,  so anything new is welcome.

Other thing. I use the RHW FAR intersection puzzle pieces. Any chance something like that for NMW-road-ave-owr intersections?

[mgb204]

All I see here is a serious "Bottle Neck"

Are you familiar with Fluid Dynamics? When two lanes go to three, you will always create a bottleneck. Of course the way the transition is handled can improve or worsen the situation, but one way or another, you've got 50% less space to fit the same things into, a bottleneck can't be avoided.

[gn_leugim]

All I see here is a serious "Bottle Neck"

Are you familiar with Fluid Dynamics? When two lanes go to three, you will always create a bottleneck. Of course the way the transition is handled can improve or worsen the situation, but one way or another, you've got 50% less space to fit the same things into, a bottleneck can't be avoided.

Any advice on how can it be dealt better with? I mean, how can the transition be better handled.

[Seaman]

Any advice on how can it be dealt better with? I mean, how can the transition be better handled.

I think your proposal is pretty straight forward and any "nice-looking-streamlined" solution I can think of would result in a subtantial increase of space consumption (what I would try to avoid).

I'm a fan of additional markings on the road, so maybe you can fit in some "ghost islands" or "forbidden zones" (don't know the engl. technical term -> the zone with diagonal bars) for better lane clearing, but again, that would cost some space and maybe result in problems with left/right hand versions. In my opinion, the way it is right now fits best into the current set of other NAM/RHW transitions.

[MushyMushy]

I personally think it's current layout is good. It looks sufficiently smooth to me. I'm kind of confused about why bottlenecks are being brought up though. Of course it's a bottleneck - it went from 6 to 4 lanes. The NWM and RHW already have bottleneck transitions just like any real road network does - I've driven on a road that went from 2 to 7 lanes all at once.

[eggman121]

Just silently dropping these here 





The pieces are in quarters so you can mix and match the quadrants.

-eggman121

[Tarkus]

Stephen, those look amazing.

Any advice on how can it be dealt better with? I mean, how can the transition be better handled.

I might be inclined to extend the length another tile.  The TLA-3-to-5 and AVE-2-to-4 transitions are actually 4 tiles long, and there's less of a differential with them.

-Alex

[mgb204]

Any advice on how can it be dealt better with? I mean, how can the transition be better handled.

I agree with Alex, perhaps making it longer would visually improve things. That said, it's a balancing act, I know many players would prefer it be more compact so the piece itself is more flexible and can be used in tighter situations.

But from a technical standpoint, the bottleneck would be exactly the same no matter what you do with the textures. I've always been fascinated by the parallels between road building and fluid dynamics, it's odd to think the two are so intertwined.

@Eggman121 - Oh yes, that's a pretty roundabout! 

Nickpicking... we have roundabouts for so few networks, Avenues are reasonably well covered. Now if somehow you could integrate AVE-6/TLA7 into that, that's something sorely missing IMO. Again, NRD-4 and possibly some other NWM options. I'll stop there before getting too gready, but more roundabouts, yes please .

[JoeST]

IMO it would make more sense if the dedicated right lane didn't yield, and the outer roundabout lane became the inner exit? the yield lines are a bit strange to me, but I guess that could be me being used to UK rules (and also just general inexperience XD)

It looks fantastic though!, as do all of the rest of the pictures recently released

[druidlove]

These are looking nice. As for the bottleneck in the above, it will always be a problem. The only thing I think gn_leugim needs is a lane marker dividing the left lane from the right. A dashed line is good, though I can also see a solid line as well (the latter is more popular in construction zones).

eggman, I like the roundabouts. I even like the right turn parts. One thing that does bother me is that I've never seen a roundabout with stop lines in the circle. Could those be removed?

[Seaman]

I've seen roundabouts with stop lines and even traffic lights, but there are usually only one or two. The cool thing is: if I understood correctly, eggman has built it modular, so maybe if he could add some pieces without stop lines, we could mix up really amazing asymetrical roundabouts... (something like this: https://www.google.de/maps/@52.1388232,11.6396268,123m/data=!3m1!1e3)

[dyoungyn]

Ya well, I have never been a fan of round-a-bouts.  In the real world, I think they are dangerous.  Washington, DC has many and I HATE them and fear for my life every time.  It makes is very difficult to follow a navigator if you miss the exit.  Lanes mysteriously end and one ends up going in a totally different direction. 

Regardless,  I understand SC4 works differently.  The round-a-bout above does look much better then the current NAM version.  Again, I think it looks GREAT.  Only concerned about the surrounding around the round-a-bout IRT zoning.

[mgb204]

Ya well, I have never been a fan of round-a-bouts.  In the real world, I think they are dangerous.  Washington, DC has many and I HATE them and fear for my life every time.  It makes is very difficult to follow a navigator if you miss the exit.  Lanes mysteriously end and one ends up going in a totally different direction. 

Regardless,  I understand SC4 works differently.  The round-a-bout above does look much better then the current NAM version.  Again, I think it looks GREAT.  Only concerned about the surrounding around the round-a-bout IRT zoning.

I guess roundabouts are simply just more a European thing, but dangerous they are not. For example, in the UK we have them on motorway junctions, some which you can legally drive through at 70mph, which I've done. The key to safety is good lane markings and as always, drivers following the rules for using it. No doubt if they were more prevalent, you'd all get used to them. If I've learned one thing driving many hundreds of thousands of miles, it's that the most dangerous situations are unfamiliar ones.

Zoning will never be as simple as with 4-way intersections. But you don't have to zone every possible tile, sometimes it simply isn't realistic to do so. Big roundabouts like this one are more commonplace in more open spaces. In congested cities, very major routes excepted, they are typically more compact.

[dyoungyn]

Eggman,

All i can say is each to their own.  I am sure the U.S. particularly Washington, DC, as I personally feel they are dangerous.  Of course they do slow traffic down.  I am also not saying all round-a-bouts are the same.  Like you stated, in congested areas, there is more traffic and opportunity for more failures and not following the laws. 

Again, in SC4 it is a different realism and traffic does not react with the in-consistencies as the real world

[Tarkus]

Most of the ones in DC technically count as "traffic circles"--there's actually a distinction between those and "roundabouts", based on the traffic control and rules of priority at the intersection.  A true roundabout, at least per most definitions I've seen, has drivers entering the intersection yield to those already in the circular roadway.  I have mixed feelings about them here in the US.  They have their place, but I can also cite plenty of places where they've either screwed up the design, or simply put them in spots they shouldn't have.  The driver education for them is also inconsistent, and frankly, terrible in most parts of the US, too.

All that said, I'm all for trying to recreate as many of the possible real-life design options in SC4 as is feasible.  It's the goal of the NAM Team to try to provide you with the ability to make those transportation decisions for yourself, and explore the options.

-Alex

[Gugu3]

That looks great!