SAM Mod doesn't seem to work?

[DeviousTension]

I tried to lay out some of it but the arrow always stays red. Any Ideas?

[Tarkus]

If you're getting red arrows, it means you have a conflicting high-level transit mod in your Plugins.  I'd suggest removing the NAM temporarily, then running the BSC Cleanitol file included with the June NAM, which will remove any outdated transit mods.  Then, re-install everything in this order: 1) NAM, 2) NAM Essentials, 3) Additional Bridges and RHW (if applicable), 4) SAM.

Hope that helps! 

-Alex (Tarkus)

[DeviousTension]

Thanks for replying, I've tried all those as you said and still no cigar. 

[Diggis]

Can you please give us a pic.  Is it all the textures or only some of them?  There are some textures that are not done yet, so they will not show up properly.  Have you read through the SAM thread?  Link in my sig.

[Filasimo]

ill have to agree with diggis ya should provide us with a pic so we can further diagnose the problem 

[jplumbley]

Here is a quote from the SAM Mini Readme at the top of each page in the SAM Developement Thread.  If your answer is not here I need a more detailed description of why your SAM installation is not working.

If this does not answer your problem, as Tarkus said, it seems as though you may have a high-level Transit Conflict.  You may have OLD files from previous NAM, RHW, etc releases that have not been properly removed that are loading after SAM.  The easiest way to check if it is a conflict is by installing your Transit Mods in the proper order into a blank Plugins folder and then slowly adding everything back in folder by folder to find out where your conflict is.  Remember SAM MUST be the last Transit Mod to be loaded by the game (the game loads things alphabetically starting with folders).  You can put SAM into a separate folder and put z-SAM and it will load last, but you still may have issues with the latest NAM, RHW, etc if there is another Transit Mod loading after the other mods.

Frequently Asked Questions - FAQs

1.  What is a "Texture Variation"?

A texture varitation is a new set of textures for a network.  Essentially, these are replacement textures for the MAXIS Streets, but due to the new technology these textures have been given new IIDs and and a starter piece has been created to make these textures separate from each other and allow each one to co-exist with another.

2.  My textures revert to the vanilla textures when I delete the Starter Piece, why?

The starter piece is removable from the SAM network after the SAM textures have gone the sufficient number of tiles for stability.  It has been observed that the SAM textures have to be 5 tiles in length before being fully stable.

3.  My textures revert to the vanilla textures when I drag a new intersection, why?

There are two known reasons this can happen.
   A.  The intersection you have created does not have a SAM texture created for it yet.  Any dragged portion after this texture will be reverted back to the Vanilla textures.
   B.  The intersection you created may be a rare situation where two intersections are next to each other.  Side by side intersections have not been given their stability RULs yet.  So, for example if you drag a street and make a U-Turn to go back in the opposite direction in the very next tile, you will have the textures revert because the two 90 Turn textures have not been given their stability RULs.  This will occur in all instances where there are side by side intersections of 4-way, T and 90 Turn intersections.  Some of these stability issues can be worked around by creatively drawing your SAM network using multiple Starter Pieces, etc.

4.  Is SAM compatible with my Sidewalk Texture Mod?

Yes, any Mods that replace the MAXIS sidewalks it will show as it would on the original MAXIS Streets.  These are mods such as:

Street and Road Sidewalk Mod by Swamper77
Euro Asphalt Sidewalk by sap23
SMP Sandstone Sidewalk Mod by Mjig_Duty
BLaM Oriental Sidewalk Mod by Mightygoose
Other mods that work in the fashion as those stated above are also compatible.

5.  How will SAM work with my network props mod?

Mods like this are mods like Jeronij's Street Side Mod which add trees, cars, and other props to the sides of your streets.  These mods will work as they have been made.  Network props use specific exemplars called T21 exemplars (essentially Network Lots),  These "Network Lots" are made for a specific texture and will only effect that one texture.  So, if the "Network Lot" was designed for the MAXIS Street texture it will only be shown when a MAXIS Street is used.  If a SAM texture is used then there needs to be a separate "Network Lot" for the SAM texture.

Therefore these Mods will still work, but they have no effect on SAM since they were made for the MAXIS Street Textures.  In the future, these "Network Lots" will come out for the SAM and will be included for the SAM but this is just one thing in a LONG list of things to do.

6. Those experiencing the RED Tile while trying to place the SAM Puzzle Pieces:

TO SOLVE this issue:

Please REMOVE ALL of your transit related mods: NAM, RHW, Additional Bridges and SAM.

Now after removing ALL existing mods, go and download them again in this order:

     a)  NAM
     b)  RHW
     c)  Additional Bridges
     d)  NAM Essentials
     e)  SAM

Then install them in the same order stated above!

The issue is somehow you have a 2nd NAM_Controller file loading AFTER the SAM one.  SAM is based off of the JUNE 2007 NAM and if you have a previous NAM you are going to have this issue due to the changes of the NAM File names in the JUNE 2007 NAM.

If this does not work, there is a file somewhere that you have that is loading AFTER the NAM_Controller and is overriding the update that I have made for the NAM_Controller in the SAM.  And you will have to find that file as it is outdated and will conflict with ANY future addition to NAM, RHW, Additional Bridges, SAM, etc.

[DeviousTension]

I don't think I ever have RHW or Additional Bridges. And the issue is I never see anything but a red arrow, I can't shuffle through the pieces or anything. It never changes to green.

[jplumbley]

I need more information about what is in your plugins folder then.

My best suggestion is install ONLY NAM, NAM Essentials and SAM in that order.  Then start moving your plugins folder by folder until SAM stops working.  Then you will know what folder the issue is in and you can narrow it down until you find the culprit file.  The problem is not SAM it is something you have in you plugins which is conflicting.

[DeviousTension]

Well I mainly installed the SAM becuase of the street mod that was just developed for it. Do I need to keep it or just install only the sam?

[Diggis]

The Street Addon Mod adds the same details to the SAM streets as it does to the normal streets.  You can't use it without the SAM, but if you don't use the SAM, you don't need it.  If you can post us a screen capture of what is happening (as requested earlier) then we will have a better idea of what is happening.  a red arrow isn't really descriptive enough.