The RTMT V3 Support Thread

[z]

Is the problem that I have all of these other PropS and Prop DAT files from the ZIP download in my Unused Props folder? Is this what is preventing the configuration that I want from appearing? 

That's exactly what the problem is.  And "Unused Props" is late in the alphabet, which means it gets loaded after "Props," and takes precedence over anything in that folder.

Fortunately, the solution is simple.  Just move your "Unused Props" folder outside of the Plugins folder hierarchy.

[bladeberkman]

Thanks for the fast response!

I just moved Unused Props to my desktop, out of the hierarchy, and tried to plop RTMT. But the DAT files I have placed in Props still don't show up. I also tried renaming the file to something that isn't alphabetically a problem. This didn't work either...

But your advice was still good! I just switched the contents of my Props and Unused Props files so that the props that I wanted to load would load after the content that I didn't want to load. Voila! Haha...

You have saved my life!

Thanks,
Blade

[pierreh]

I am posting this here because two RTMT stations are involved, but it is possible that it is not a RTMT problem, but rather a T-RAM one - in which case this will have to be moved. We will see.

The problem is: along a long established GLR-in-avenue stretch of tracks, part of a fairly extensive GLR network in the city, there is no GLR usage between two stations. Both are bus+GLR-in-avenue stations. Sims board off the trams at one station, go by bus to the next station, and re-board on trams there. This has been going on for a long time, most likely since the GLR tracks and stations were laid, at first I thought that this would correct itself with time, but since it does not, I decide to report the issue.

The setup is the following:



The tracks and the stations are on the avenue running from bottom left to top right of the picture. The two stations involved can be seen. Although the tracks are partly masked by a tall building, they are continuous on the avenue, and tram automata merrily ply the line and stop at the stations.

The traffic flows at each of the two stations are:



(Some Sims terminate their transit journey at that station and go from there by foot to their places of work - this beiing morning commute; evening commute is the same in reverse; but other Sims take the bus to the next station).



Since the stations were installed quite a while ago, I bulldozed them, replopped and traffic-enabled them this morning. To no avail, Sims will not stay on the trams between those two stations. This does not occur anywhere else in cities where I have implemented GLR-in-avenue.

[z]

Oh, this looks nasty.  My guess, though, is that it's a pathing problem.  There are various tests here you can do to check out this hypothesis:

• If it's a pathing problem, it would be in one of the intersections.  Try replacing the intersections between the two stations with straight sections of GLR-in-Avenue.
• To make sure it's got nothing to do with the station, try a plain GLR-in-Avenue station, without the bus stop.
• Turn on the "drawpaths" cheat and look at the paths closely.  If you could post a picture of the nonfunctioning section at Zoom 6 with the paths shown, that would be helpful.
• Try moving the stations back from the intersection by one square, so that they're not adjacent to it.
• Try replacing the stations with plain GLR-in-Avenue - first one station, then the other, then both.

Doing these things would tell us a lot, and chances are good that you wouldn't even have to try them all.

[pierreh]

It looks like a nastie indeed. I performed all tests suggested above.

a) Replacing the intersections with straight sections.
No change in GLR/bus usage, except of course that the flows that exited or entered at no longer present intersections between the stations disappear and there is an overall reduction of car and bus traffic.

b) Replacing the bus+GLR stations by plain GLR-in-avenue stations.
Still no usage of the GLR between the two stations, but since the Sims can no longer take the bus between the stations, there is a reduced usage of the GLR, and very nearly all Sims that exit the GLR at one station walk the rest of their way to work in the morning, walk back from work to the station in the evening. However I could identify 10 Sims who walked along the avenue from one station to the other to resume their journey on GLR.

c) Drawpaths.
First again a global view of the two stations and stretch of avenue, pivoted 180 degrees so that the entire setup can be seen without masking:



Now 4 pictures of the paths at zoom 6, taken from top station to bottom station in the above picture:









To the extent that I can see the faint pinkish GLR paths (I have a mild case of color blindness), they seem OK to me, as well as all other paths on the avenue and intersecting roadways.

d) Stations moved one square back from the intersections
No change.

e) Stations replaced with plain GLR-in-Avenue. This subdivides into 3 tests:

e1) The upper station (in the global picture above) is removed.
No passengers on board the GLR between the remaining lower station and the next station up the avenue from the removed station.

e2) The lower station is removed.
No passengers on board the GLR between the remaining upper station and the most proximate stations beyond the traffic circle. (At that circle the GLR line intersects another line on the perpendicular avenue with a full 'grand union' intersection. There are stations on the perpendicular avenue on both sides of the traffic circle. Beyond the circle on the problematic avenue the line enters a GLR/subway transition, object of tests documented in another thread)

e3) Both stations are removed.
No passengers on board the GLR between the next station up the avenue from the removed upper station, and the most proximate stations beyond the traffic circle.

I then performed another test: I inserted a 3rd station (plain GLR-in-avenue) between the two stations:



There are still no passengers on board the GLR between the two original stations; stats for the 3rd intermediate station show traffic going through the avenue there, although there is no boarding or exiting any GLR at that station.

At this point it does not look like the GLR stations are the cause of the problem. There appears to be 'something' on that stretch of avenue that prevents correct GLR traffic. Should I try to bulldoze the entire stretch and reconstruct it?

[z]

At this point it does not look like the GLR stations are the cause of the problem.

I think you're right.

There appears to be 'something' on that stretch of avenue that prevents correct GLR traffic. Should I try to bulldoze the entire stretch and reconstruct it?

You could try that.  But before you do, please try something else.  Use the setup from your last picture, with the intermediate station.  Leave the intermediate station, but replace the two surrounding stations with plain puzzle pieces.  My guess is that you'll get tram traffic to that station from at least one direction.  In any case, this would be interesting to try...

[pierreh]

I ran the test suggested above. The picture below illustrates the result (the station has the Shmails shelter because that is the one currently in my plugins; I do not think that there would be any difference if I had used the previous 'ShortWhite' shelter).



In other words, the result is a combination of the results of the previous tests 'both stations removed' and '3rd station inserted'. There is no GLR traffic between the next station up the avenue from the removed upper station (on the right of the above picture), and the most proximate stations beyond the traffic circle (on the left).

Bulldoze/rebuild time?

[z]

Bulldoze/rebuild time?

Yes.

If that doesn't fix it, I think it's time to bring this to the attention of our friends over at T-RAM.

[pierreh]

Well. I did bulldoze the entire stretch of avenue with GLR, and reconstructed it. The two new stations were displaced to the other sides of their respective intersections (not purposedly: since the entire stretch was gone, I did not remember exactly where the original stations had been positioned). And that fixed the problem. I let the game run for about a year, until the paths were recalculated: there is now normal GLR usage between the stations. It could even be (I did not check in detail yet) that the GLR line has gained in attractivity. I will see how this develops with game time.

I have to assume that there was 'something' in the original layout of the GLR tracks in that area, that caused the anomaly. We will never know what it was - some glitchy behavior, whatever. Whenever possible I avoid using 'brute force' to solve a problem but in the particular case, which we can now close, there was in the end no other choice.

[zoot]

Hi, great mod!  I was wondering, is it possible to remove the vending machine/dustbin combo that always pops up?

I use rtmt stops for smaller roads/streets where a simple uk bus sign and road marking is most common.  The extra props look very out of place!

[z]

RTMT was designed by Cogeo to be quite customizable, and I've been continuing efforts in that direction.  Unfortunately, the props you mention are actually Maxis prop groups, and there's no easy way to make them optional.  However, RTMT is gradually making all of our props high definition, including the Maxis ones; the creation of new props that this entails in some cases is necessitated by the diagonal stations project (which is still a ways away).  When this is done, it will be very easy to make these props optional, and part of the general customization scheme.  This will take a while, though.

[zoot]

oki doki, thanks for the quick reply!

[GhostBuster]

Hey i just downloaded RTMT but i see big boxes instead of the bus stations for example. Are the needed models included, i used to the installer to install if that makes a difference, I was thrilled to find this mod but not so much when it didnt work...

I saw the "Boxes?" button at the top of the page but its a 404 error... HELP?

EDIT: After alot of digging i have found the models so i can see them in the ghosted preview of the building but when actually placed i dont see them... I see boxes... A step i missed somewhere?

[catty]

Hi GhostBuster

Welcome to the RTMT, as part of the install you should have got a readme, this covers most problems encountered by our users, in your case it sounds like you are still missing some dependencies.

I have quickly gone thru the readme and given you links to most of what you need to get started

http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=3194
http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=3195
http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=12499
http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=11421
http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=18441
http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1040
http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=4079
http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=3050
http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=11467

hope that helps

Cathy

[GhostBuster]

Thanks cathy, that did the trick, i dont just see the ghost anymore =D

[junepaul]

Hi Z,

I just downloaded RTMT Add-on Pack V3.60 with thanks.

It's a great news that DAMN menus are included in the package whereas I've made my own DAMN menu for RTMT previously.

Does the menu in V3.60 have all stuff including the old lots that I need no more for my own DAMN menu?

Thanks
Paul

[z]

Yes, all RTMT lots are now present in both the standard menus and the DAMN menus.

[jpj_starfleet]

I just downloaded the 3.60 but I have a couple of questions about the Models Folder, unlike the original RTMT pack which had only 4 models you have 12 not counting SG's Bus Stops, do I kept them all? including all the Sign's in that folder or do I remove the ones that I know I am not using? also if I am using Bus Stop SG-12 style 4 do I kept Model SG_BusStop12? it wasn't explained (that I could see) in the read-me also I do not see any pictures regarding the new GLR Stations & the NYC Bus Stop, are there any?   Thank You

[z]

There were no specific instructions given for the Models folder because there's nothing you ever have to do there.  Basically, you just leave all the models there, all the time.  It's the files in the Props folder that determine which models actually get used.

The GLR stations were previously displayed on the RTMT Creations board.  But the NYC bus stop hasn't previously been displayed on the RTMT boards, though it has appeared elsewhere.  I should fix that soon.  In the mean time, here's a picture of that bus stop and sign:

[Gwail]

(...) I do not see any pictures regarding the new GLR Stations & the NYC Bus Stop, are there any?   Thank You

Here you are the NYC bus stops: