Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project (Big Dig)

[blahdy 21]

Originally posted by: dac8767 how does this interpret bus and freight trucks? can it transfer that over to the other side, or does it turn them all into cars? how can it know?quote>

Bus and freight traffic are prohibited on big dig tunnels unfortunately.  Most people don't have problem with this policy though, because these tunnels are only used in limited downtown locations where majority is car traffic.

LivingInThePast:  no, not yet, but we're getting there... slowly...

[Du Peixoto Rbd 0]

Wow... PERFECT! It's... Amazing! I hope anxious at download!.

I love Boston, The Project Big Dig it's fantastic.

When he will give for act a part the download? To anxious even.

Thanks, Du Peixoto (Of the Brazil).

[blahdy 21]

Okay, just to keep you guys updated...

The current gating factor toward release cycle is technical problems with the LOD creation process.  Our Plan A LOD drawing method had failed, it's simply too complex for SC4 rendering engine to display it, so it trashes the whole model or doesn't even display it altogether in-game.

We'll be trying Plan B shortly to simplify the LOD complexity a bit to see if that eases up the process.  If that fails too, Plan C is the last resort option, that is render all signs, street lights and miscellaneous support apparatus in their own props and LOD the tunnel boat structure separately, which should work at sacrifice of rendering quality.

Given the RL cycle, it will be a few more weeks until LOD engineering issues are resolved.  New models may be BATted in the meantime while that is in process.

Once we've discovered the right method to LOD these ramps, selected beta testers will be announced and formal beta testing will commence with select 2.0 ramps.  One of the main problems with former version 1.0 was that lack of prolonged beta test resulted in unacceptable bugs that ended up chasing away many CJers from using the tunnel system (such as the shadow issue).   We want to avoid that for 2nd release cycle.

Also, the concrete tunnel boat structure texture has been re-adjusted to have a slight bit of greyness and weather effect (yellow tint) to look more realistic and better-blend with in-game environment.  Here is the tunnel pics again with new concrete tunnel boat texture:

[IdeaWorld 4]

I like it! Not sure about the water though. I like it though

[nycsc4 5,250]

i think this all looks amazing, but the only two problems I have are, the ground texture (which looks great) won't match cycledog's terrain mod, and, this is just my opinion, but i think you could do without the water

[simzebu 20]

^ Well, it'll probably be in the middle of Downtown, so you'll probably see more buildings around it than terrain.

[tommiej 0]

the length doesn't matter to me, but maiby nycsc4 is right, the ground textures don't match with, for example cycledog's terrain mod.. it doesn't really matter to me, thought. like sumzebu said, in your downtown you will only see buildings surrounding it.. but what a great job blahdy!! always looking good.. looking forward for more!!

[Sim shady 12]

grr keep forgeting this was moved over to transit networks...o well. great tunnel there and i hope you can fix whatever that technical mumbo jumbo you're talking about there

[hamsterTK 93]

the water isnt my favorite, mainly because it seems too special a landscape feature to be used in a setting like this at least normally, sort of a unique thing to the real life version that could be done without in the simcity version.

Anyways, though, I like the amount of detail like those curbs which keep that mound of dirt at the end from going away and those electrical boxes

[rodent1989 9]

Personally, I would like the tunnel more if the water was replaced with trees, grass, or even a non-functional bus station.  IMHO the water just looks out of place.

[Cartographer29 13]

I'm assuming given that how far this project has advanced, there is no chance (or nobody knows) how to incorperate this with the in-game "tunnels" so that these lots become drivable?

That is probably the biggest issue with me not downloading them (that is not to say I don't support it). I build cities for function and fun ... I like them to work and i like to drive in them to (all networks). While I enjoy driving the GLR the most, I also like driving vehicles around my road networks, and not being able to drive through these wonderful models is a bit of a drag.

- Josh in T.O.

[Swamper77 90]

Elgoalio,

Because the lots are car<->subway transfers, you can't drive in at one end and out at the other.

With the custom LODs, you will see traffic driving down into the "tunnel" and you can UDI into the lot, but the cars and UDI will end at the tunnel entrance on the model. It's a limitation of the game that doesn't allow you to do UDI into the subway system via converter lots, such as these Big Dig lots.

-Swamper77

[blahdy 21]

Originally posted by: elgoalio_29

I'm assuming given that how far this project has advanced, there is no chance (or nobody knows) how to incorperate this with the in-game "tunnels" so that these lots become drivable?

That is probably the biggest issue with me not downloading them (that is not to say I don't support it). I build cities for function and fun ... I like them to work and i like to drive in them to (all networks). While I enjoy driving the GLR the most, I also like driving vehicles around my road networks, and not being able to drive through these wonderful models is a bit of a drag.

- Josh in T.O.

quote>

The problem is as Swamper77 said, it is a limitation of "Sim City 4.exe", not something we are incompetent or otherwise lazy to accomplish.  Perhaps, if, and that is a big if, EA ever decides to partially release source code to the community, we will finally see light at the end of the tunnel, including multi-levelled subways to create underground interchanges like Southbay Interchange in Boston.

Newsflash:

"First car enters the Big Dig tunnel in Simtropolis history"

Courtesy of Swamper77's LOD work:

[dadyrghluv 8]

IT WORKS PPL! w00t w00t! u and swamper rock on and pat yourselves on the frickin back baby. can't wait to put them in ma citay!

cheers guys, great job.

[blahdy 21]

Okay, here is question/poll for all you:  what capacity value do you want to have for Big Dig on-ramps?

Here are some ideas/constraints to consider in deciding capacity values:

1. I've been told that default Maxis subway tube network is 3,000 in capacity per tile.  Although NAM might have a mod that increases this capacity.

2. As many people would argue, the default capacity of 3,000 is sometimes quite unrealistic in urban environment.  It's very trivial to easily kill 3000 capacity in any metro city.  So I'm trying to figure out... do most people use over-capacity mod of some sort from NAM, and if so, what is the capacity value of subway from increased capacity mod?

3. We may want to reduce capacity value of on-ramps by 500 points from whatever the subway capacity ought to be -- it is a consideration to be made.  As you may have noticed in some of the latest models created here, the on-ramps start with 2 lanes at the entrance, but smoothly begin merging into 1 lane as it enters the tunnel.  The underground section of the on-ramp eventually turns to one lane before merging with main underground highway.  The rational behind this design is that, no matter how many lanes you throw onto a crowded highway, it's still going to be congested anyway.  So the idea is to create an artificial bottleneck at the on-ramps, where everyone rushes to merge before even entering the main highway.  This pushes the bottleneck away from the main highway, allowing transit traffic on the main highway to continue to move mostly unabated.

[Swamper77 90]

To get the model to successfully render and display properly in the game, I had to resort to rather boxy LODs. There is a cutout for the ramp surface, but there is some "clipping" when vehicles go behind objects on ramp model:

-Swamper77

[buddybud 63]

looks great peeps. cant wait to try it. woot

[Shinnie02 17]

WOW~! It just gets better and better...

[tommiej 0]

that looks great!!! cars in the tunnels.... awesome!! i can't wait...

[vester_DK 477]

What about making a seriel of plug-ins, so people can install the one that correspond to their NAM installation ?

[Du Peixoto Rbd 0]

Wow, very nice, perfect!!!! =)

[Sim shady 12]

that is amazing that you have got automa to drive down there swamper! congratz

[dadyrghluv 8]

thats a good idea vester_DK! if that is possible swamper77 and blahdy, u might wanna try that route so ppl can pick and choose according to their particular NAM install. i like that idea.

[blahdy 21]

Originally posted by: dadyrghluv thats a good idea vester_DK! if that is possible swamper77 and blahdy, u might wanna try that route so ppl can pick and choose according to their particular NAM install. i like that idea.quote>

The problem is, I don't know what capacities NAM sets, may be someone from NAM team or a modder could chime in here and let us know.

In addition, the other problem I have with doing default 3000-500=2500 capacity for ramps is, one of the biggest complaints from people using Big Dig 1.0 lots is that it attracts too many Sims to the point that even unused highways would become 50% loaded when there is Big Dig path in it.  I'm not sure how default Maxis capacity of 3000 would realistically take on the load, when 10,000 load is just enough to realistically serve many CJ's.

[Swamper77 90]

Blahdy,

I will make the various configurations to match the NAM files, as I am a co-developer of the NAM

-Swamper77

[dadyrghluv 8]

also u might wanna see if right hand driving can be done, for our european friends. the values of the NAM capacity's should be in the readme file. but since swamper77 is a co-developer, u have inside intel on that sort of thing.

just a few suggestions, thats all. just trying to be helpful. great work as always guys and look forward to its release.

[crazychickensc12 84]

this is gonna be an awesome set, especially with visable automata, great work team can't wait to try it out!!

[blahdy 21]

Swamper77 has successfully completed LODing work of short-version straight on-ramps, both blue gantry (based off of Leverett Connector tunnel) and black gantry editions.  The LODs are now finalized, and we can proceed to modding/testing of these ramps soon.  Once that is completed, Atlantic Avenue I-93NB on-ramp will be worked on next, then the curved ramps.

The pictures were taken on Swamper77's machine during test phase.  An extreme engineering breakthrough to see cars visible for first time through Big Dig tunnels that are more realistic than ever.

[crazychickensc12 84]

Amazing work!! and the transition from road to tunnel as far as textures go is much smoother then in 1.0 good to see that!! Great work Swamper on modding that!!

[bwatterud 7]

Can I get a "whoop whoop!"?