Network Addon Mod (NAM) - Cross-Platform 49 (rev1)

i downloaded and installed NAM 44 and I gotta say, it was a nightmare.

1. the current readme says if you own the Steam version, you do not need to patch. That is wrong. If you do not patch, you will get a CTD. you will manually need to patch via the patch exe that comes with NAM (manually because see 2.)

2. the .bat executable does not work when run "as Admin" (as was also suggested here in comments), but then will result in the error that the patch exe could not be found in the NAM directory, while it is of course clearly there. you have to run the .bat with double click, not with "run as admin" - this is completely counterintuitive.

3. when I have NAM finally installed, it takes ten minutes (clean SC4 install, no other plugins whatsoever) to open/create a city on a lesser (2 year old) work laptop, and still 6 minutes on a dedicated gaming laptop.

this is supposed to get better AFTER the first boot up /w NAM, as things to get loaded in for the first time, I understand? but when will it get better, as with my second and third boot up it still took so long?

On 13.2.2022 at 10:19 AM, Tarkus said:

Is it just freezing (and you're having to Ctrl-Alt-Delete or otherwise manually close the game), or is it actually crashing to desktop on its own?  If it's merely freezing, keep in mind, if you've never played with a larger plugins folder (a full NAM install runs about 1GB, and one of the main files is especially large), the game will take longer to load.  It may simply still be loading rather than actually freezing (note that subsequent loads of city tiles after the first one will be quicker).

If it's actually crashing to desktop on its own, and you're on Windows, that's a sign that you're running the Full version of the NAM Controller, and either (a) the 4GB Patch wasn't installed properly, or (b) you're on a system that's not capable of handling the Full NAM Controller (i.e. you're on a 32-bit version of Windows, you have less than 4GB RAM, or both).  Try running the .bat file again, right-clicking it and selecting "Run as administrator", and making sure the command prompt window that pops up indicates the 4GB Patch was successfully installed.

-Tarkus

so you mean that initially the first boot up with NAM will take long, but after that booting up the city will not? or what does "subsequent loads of city tiles" mean?

because i installed NAM on a fresh SC4 installation without any other plugins, and it takes 5 minutes to load into a just created city (with stuff to load, as there is nothing built yet). I just want to know if this will get better, because i am at a loss here. thanks in advance!

46 minutes ago, mister sparkle said:

Descargué e instalé NAM 44 y debo decir que fue una pesadilla.

1. El archivo Léame actual dice que si posee la versión Steam, no necesita parchear. Eso está mal. Si no parchea, obtendrá un CTD . necesitará parchear manualmente a través del parche exe que viene con NAM (manualmente porque vea 2).

2. El ejecutable .bat no funciona cuando se ejecuta "como administrador" (como también se sugirió aquí en los comentarios), pero luego dará como resultado el error de que el parche ejecutable no se pudo encontrar en el directorio NAM , mientras que, por supuesto, es claramente ahí. tiene que ejecutar el .bat con doble clic, no con "ejecutar como administrador"; esto es completamente contrario a la intuición.

3. Cuando finalmente instalé NAM , se necesitan diez minutos (instalación limpia de SC4, ningún otro complemento) para abrir/crear una ciudad en una computadora portátil de trabajo menor (de 2 años), y aún 6 minutos en una computadora portátil dedicada para juegos.

se supone que esto mejorará DESPUÉS del primer arranque /w NAM , ya que las cosas se cargan por primera vez, ¿entendido? pero ¿cuándo mejorará, ya que con mi segundo y tercer arranque todavía tomó tanto tiempo?

HII, I have never had any problem since NAM 38 and I have a folder full of plugins, I think some errors are random, sometimes an old region takes less time to open than a new one, currently I have a huge region and everything takes 5 minutes the process of launching the game and reaching a city in the region, and sometimes 10 minutes and sometimes less than 5, is all very random.

P.S. some plugins don't work due to age or duplicate files, that's where sometimes the NAM doesn't start right and I was cleaning from NAM 42 before installing.

19 hours ago, mister sparkle said:

 

1. the current readme says if you own the Steam version, you do not need to patch. That is wrong. If you do not patch, you will get a CTD. you will manually need to patch via the patch exe that comes with NAM (manually because see 2.)

2. the .bat executable does not work when run "as Admin" (as was also suggested here in comments), but then will result in the error that the patch exe could not be found in the NAM directory, while it is of course clearly there. you have to run the .bat with double click, not with "run as admin" - this is completely counterintuitive.

3. when I have NAM finally installed, it takes ten minutes (clean SC4 install, no other plugins whatsoever) to open/create a city on a lesser (2 year old) work laptop, and still 6 minutes on a dedicated gaming laptop.

this is supposed to get better AFTER the first boot up /w NAM, as things to get loaded in for the first time, I understand? but when will it get better, as with my second and third boot up it still took so long?

1.  There's two different patching process--the 4GB Patch, and the Maxis patches (Version 1.1.638 and 1.1.640).  Right at the very start of the Release Notes section, you'll notice it states "Note that without the 4GB Patch being properly applied to the game by Windows (and Linux/WINE) users (or the use of the "Low RAM/No RHW" Controller option for users on lower-spec systems/32-bit operating systems), the game will crash to desktop."  Anyone running a Windows version of the game needs the 4GB Patch to avoid the CTDs, whether it be from Steam or anywhere else, and this is all over the documentation, and in the first page of the installer itself.

The Steam version does not require the Maxis patches, however, as it's already at Version 1.1.641, and any references to the Steam version not needing patches are referring to this, not the 4GB Patch. 

2. Running an executable file (including a batch file) as an administrator should give it additional permissions, not fewer, so this is very strange.  We have had users report 4GB Patch failure, in spite of following the instructions, and the general thought there was that the user did not have sufficient permissions to patch the executable.

3.  This is going to depend on the specs of the system to a large extent, as well as what's in the city, and how big your Plugins folder is.  I'm on a 4-year-old desktop with moderate specs (AMD Ryzen 7 1700, 16GB RAM), and about a 6GB Plugins folder, and haven't had it take more than 2-3 minutes.  If you load up SC4 the first time after booting up your computer, that's when the peak slowness will occur.  That first city you load up--regardless of what city it is, or what's in it--it's going to be slow.  If you open any subsequent cities during that session with the game, or close the game and reopen it at any point on that session with your computer, it should not be as slow, because your system has some of the heavy lifting already done.

-Tarkus

Love NAM, but just did a new install 

 

Why do I have brown boxes on the regular passenger train station? What dependencies does NAM use?

49 minutes ago, rescuerandy_ said:

Love NAM, but just did a new install 

 

Why do I have brown boxes on the regular passenger train station? What dependencies does NAM use?

Can you send an image? We need to figure out which station it refers to

excited to get back into building, i cannot believe origin is selling the corrupted version of the game, i ended up repurchasing from GOG. so when i run the installer, it goes to the patch, succesful, then hit any key. im not getting a install wizrd or anything else, is there something im missing? Ive deleted the origin version, so idk what im missing?

1 hour ago, lazytiger20 said:

excited to get back into building, i cannot believe origin is selling the corrupted version of the game, i ended up repurchasing from GOG. so when i run the installer, it goes to the patch, succesful, then hit any key. im not getting a install wizrd or anything else, is there something im missing? Ive deleted the origin version, so idk what im missing?

Make sure you have JAVA installed. Without Java the NAM installer does not start

On 4/28/2022 at 8:06 PM, ulisse said:

Can you send an image? We need to figure out which station it refers to

i figured it out, it was just a seasonal tree mod i had installed but missed a dependency

Really happy with this mod so far. I was just wondering if a toll booth/RFID toll bypass lanes would be added for simulating turnpikes other then using the vanilla toll booth, unfortunately the vanilla tollbooths are a rather unfortunate bottleneck at times.

Also will Ploppable full interchange for the various freeway sizes be added in far future?

@Gully911, thanks for the kind words!  To answer your questions:

Toll booths/RFID: Surprisingly, toll booths aren't an area where we've really done much.  Aside from some stat fixes on the Maxis ones, there aren't any added in the mod, partly a vestigial remnant of the era when we didn't allow Lot-based transit items (including Toll Booths and Stations) into the NAM.  We've had some preliminary discussions internally about rectifying this gap.

Interchanges: If you're referring to the RealHighway (RHW) system, there has long been a plan to add FLEX-based full interchanges, known as QuickChange Xpress (QCX), for those networks.  It's suffered some setbacks over the years, but finally getting an initial phase of it in place is a top developmental priority for me right now.

-Tarkus

i need some help, i have downloaded the mod, unzipped it into a folder. when i double click NetworkAddonMod_Setup_Version44.bat the installation window shows that the 4GB patch was successfully applied press any key to continue. but when i press the "Enter" key, the installation window immediately get closed and the installation process stopped. i don't know why this is happening, i have tried to install NAM after shutting down my anti-virus software, the same problem persisted. 

4 hours ago, Pepe The Great said:

i need some help, i have downloaded the mod, unzipped it into a folder. when i double click NetworkAddonMod_Setup_Version44.bat the installation window shows that the 4GB patch was successfully applied press any key to continue. but when i press the "Enter" key, the installation window immediately get closed and the installation process stopped. i don't know why this is happening, i have tried to install NAM after shutting down my anti-virus software, the same problem persisted. 

You need to install java to run the NAM installer

8 hours ago, ulisse said:

You need to install java to run the NAM installer

Thank you that solved my problem. when i was reading the installation guide, i didn't see a line stating potential user need to have Java installed as a pre-requisite. Maybe should add a note in there just in case. 

3 hours ago, Pepe The Great said:

Thank you that solved my problem. when i was reading the installation guide, i didn't see a line stating potential user need to have Java installed as a pre-requisite. Maybe should add a note in there just in case. 

Good news, what you're suggesting already exists, you must have overlooked it, because it's right here on this page under requirements, and also says in the documentation that comes with the download. 

Before all, I followed the instructions and installed the 4GB Patch and the Java Runtime Environment. Then proceed to next step NetworkAddonMod_Setup Version 44.bat for windows and then that message ''The 4gb_patch.exe file was not found in this folder.'' How could it be, if I patched to the game folder ?

 

5 hours ago, speakerK3 said:

Before all, I followed the instructions and installed the 4GB Patch and the Java Runtime Environment. Then proceed to next step NetworkAddonMod_Setup Version 44.bat for windows and then that message ''The 4gb_patch.exe file was not found in this folder.'' How could it be, if I patched to the game folder ?

Make sure you unzip the contents of NetworkAddonMod_Setup_Version44.zip into a folder.  If you try to run the .bat while it's still inside the .zip file, the 4GB Patch process will fail every time, even if it looks like it's done something (i.e. modified the file dates).

If you managed to manually apply the 4GB Patch without the .bat, you can then just run the .jar to install the NAM.  You'll know if you were successful or not if you're running the full version of the NAM Controller and the game doesn't CTD upon trying to load a city.

-Tarkus

5 hours ago, Tarkus said:

Make sure you unzip the contents of NetworkAddonMod_Setup_Version44.zip into a folder.  If you try to run the .bat while it's still inside the .zip file, the 4GB Patch process will fail every time, even if it looks like it's done something (i.e. modified the file dates).

If you managed to manually apply the 4GB Patch without the .bat, you can then just run the .jar to install the NAM.  You'll know if you were successful or not if you're running the full version of the NAM Controller and the game doesn't CTD upon trying to load a city.

-Tarkus

I decided to do all the steps again, deleting all files and installing again as clean setup. Now it worked.Thanks for answer and helped me out  =) 

With the latest version of NAM, DBE with MHO stopped working for me:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mAn8buRwknTd8XV49

Also noticed that RRW 7.5 changes MHO to MHW:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/r958PWhi77vZHRqZ7

Please help me with a solution!

21 hours ago, Alan Waters said:

With the latest version of NAM, DBE with MHO stopped working for me:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mAn8buRwknTd8XV49

Also noticed that RRW 7.5 changes MHO to MHW:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/r958PWhi77vZHRqZ7

Please help me with a solution!

Those images suggest that you have some sort of conflict going on between MHO and MHW.  There could be any number of possible causes, including having a mix of files from different NAM versions, to file architecture issues with the mod itself. 

We've just redone a bunch of stuff on this end as part of the massive cleanup project ("NAM 44X") that we did before beginning NAM 45 development, so this should be fixed with our next release.

-Tarkus

Hello! I am trying to use this. I installed OpenJavaJDK, and then tried installing through the bat file. I even ran as admin.

 

I get this error message:

 

SimCity4_4GB_Patch_Script_v3.bat
--------------------------------
This command script automates applying the 4 GB Patch to SimCity 4.exe.

FIND: '/i/$RECYCLE.BIN/S-1-5-18': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/$RECYCLE.BIN/S-1-5-21-542289625-3427918826-1529921023-1001': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/Backup': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/Binn/Xtp': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/DATA': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/JOBS': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/Log': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/repldata': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/System Volume Information': Permission denied
FIND: 'SimCity 4.exe': No such file or directory
FIND: '/i/$RECYCLE.BIN/S-1-5-18': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/$RECYCLE.BIN/S-1-5-21-542289625-3427918826-1529921023-1001': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/Backup': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/Binn/Xtp': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/DATA': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/JOBS': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/Log': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SQL Server/MSSQL14.DRAGONICA/MSSQL/repldata': Permission denied
FIND: '/i/System Volume Information': Permission denied
FIND: 'SimCity 4.exe': No such file or directory

* * * ERROR * * *

The 4 GB Patch was NOT applied. :(

Press any key to continue . . .

 

Not ran as admin.
 

SimCity4_4GB_Patch_Script_v3.bat
--------------------------------
This command script automates applying the 4 GB Patch to SimCity 4.exe.


* * * ERROR * * *

The 4gb_patch.exe file was not found in this folder.

Press any key to continue . . .

Ran as admin.

 

I notice that it's trying to use my SQL server files, dragonica, as a lookup table. Why might this be?

On 9/6/2022 at 10:44 PM, Bnthomason said:

I notice that it's trying to use my SQL server files, dragonica, as a lookup table. Why might this be?

The only way it could do that is if your Windows Registry entry for SimCity 4 is somehow instead referring to your SQL server files.  The .bat file does a look up of the Windows Registry to (a) find if the user is on 64-bit Windows (if they have a WOW6432Node section), and (b) to then locate the user's SimCity 4 installation (the key is generally Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Maxis\SimCity 4 on 64-bit Windows), such that the game's executable can have the 4GB Patch automatically applied to it.

Check the registry, and/or manually apply the 4GB Patch to the game's executable.  Here is more information on the 4GB Patch from its creator, NTCore.

-Tarkus

The mod will not install. i followed the steps and it simply doesnt work. Ive modded alot of games in my time but the installation guide to this is alot of word salad.Just make simple bullet points of what to do and in what order

YOU ARE NOT MAXIS

 

Lets stop the pretense with the huge document that comes with the NAM and just keep it simple. Youve forgotten the most vital part of modding and thats making the installation process the focus of the whole thing and MAKE IT CLEAR and cut out all the guff that tries to look like its the official manuel to SimCity 4.

@Nintenzo

If the mod is not installed it means that you have not installed JAVA. In the installation package there is the java installer. Once you have done this procedure try to run the NAM installer. The instructions have been detailed as NAM is a complex mod and all the procedures you need to do are indicated as your problem can be solved easily without making unnecessary complaints.

@Nintenzo

We are willing to help you with getting the NAM to work, but please be courteous and constructive. The tone of your reply comes across very disrespectful to the numerous people and volunteers, who invest countless hours into making SC4 more enjoyable for many. A lot of this requires patience and working through problems. Remember how none of us are paid any salary for contributing to the community. We're not competing with what Maxis made, but building on their excellent sturdy foundation.

This is all voluntary in freely dedicating time to make the game better for all, now almost 20 years and counting.

In your next reply, we encourage you to respectfully keep this in mind.

-Simtropolis Staff