Question about transportation

[NYCorBUST 0]

Ok so I have been using the NAM for about 3 weeks now and I have some questions.

GLR

Why use GLR when you can just use EL? 

Is there really a difference? Isit faster?

Why doesn't GLR have city connections?

Do you really have to drop every individual rail? Is there a way to drag and drop like other transportation?

Maybe I just don't get the hole GLR "thing" but it sure take a LONG time to use/set up.

ROADS

I was once told not to use avenues but use One way roads (2 opposite with GLR or EL down the middle) Does this really make a difference? (Capacity/air polution wise)

DIGGIN HOLES

I saw this on STEX, is this how you get underground roads/highways??

If so, is it hard to use?

GRAPHS

I read alot of things about information concerning R and it took a while but I stumbled accross someone who said they use some kind of Plug-IN concerning graphs?  - Which give them added information the game doesn't deliever?  

Is this true and what is this "Plug-In' called?

Alot of people use "Plug Ins" but I am unaware of what these are and how they work? Can anyone give me some advice?

PLOPPABLES

How well does the "Landmarks with jobs" Mod work? I have heard it has some major glitches.

PED MALLS

Can these be used like roads? or are they simply for looks?

Any advice on anything one can use to edify the gameplay (that is not a cheat like a the money tree) would be great.

Thank you and have a great day!

[vester_DK 477]

Welcome to Simtropolis (ST). Hope you will enjoy yourself.

On GLR: Why use it instead of EL ? If you are just playing with the game as game there are no reason, becauce there are no different between them.

It's EL placed on the ground, that say its has them same speed and use the same trains. GoaSkin made a neighbour connection, but it was lost in the ST update.

At the moment you have to place each puzzle piece one at the time. The dragable version is in the works, but it needs a lot more modding and some new solutions.

Why people use GLR then ? A lot of people used the game as a canvas and like to variation in there cities. In some city here there are trams, and GLR is a way to get that into the game.

Hole digging lots: They are used to make sunken highways and lowering terrain, ec to the entrance of a tunnel. Could be used toghter with a tunnel and slope mod (or just slope mod), to make it easier to make tunnels.

Graphs: GraphModd. V2 by Tropod in the Modds & Downloads.

PED MALLS: Yes they work as roads, but only for pedestrian trafic.

Advice: Have a look around the forums. There are a lot of advices here, just get cracking.

I would recommend the New members information forum and the INFO: Getting Up and Running thread.

[soldyne 111]

Vester_DK gave some good info there, but I would like to expand on the Ped Malls:

Ped Mall Tiles will allow pedestrian traffic to move across them and will allow commercial to be bulit next to them. Residential zones still need to have an actual street, road, one-way or avenue. The best way to use ped malls is to set up a subway or bus station next to the ped mall commercial area so that the sims can use the street to get to the station and then use the station to switch to pedestrian so they can walk to work.

I have a excellent example of ped malls in action in my CJ Newtopia Valley. Posieden's Reef is a huge island in the middle of a large river that is 100% commercial and 100% pedestrian malls. the only way to get on the island is by pedestrian ferry or subway. check out the CJ if you want to know more.

hope that helps.

[NYCorBUST 0]

Thank you so much for such a helpful reply!!!!!!!!!

That forum is great all I need thank you so much!

But I did want to know about:

PLOPPABLES

How well does the "Landmarks with jobs" Mod work? I have heard it has some major glitches.

&

ROADS

I was once told not to use avenues but use One way roads (2 opposite with GLR or EL down the middle) Does this really make a difference? (Capacity/air polution wise)

[paperboy15 4]

I don't know much about landmarks with jobs, but....

Avenues have a higher speed and therefore higher capacity than two one-way roads running opposite direction. However, Avenues do cost more to construct and maintain (.25 per tile compared to .10 per tile) and you cannot run rail down the middle.

As far as auto/truck air pollution is concerned, I think that is directly related to traffic volume and congestion, so either one may be better than the other.

[soldyne 111]

ah yes, sorry about that, I got carried away with ped malls I forgot you had other questions.

I too have no experience with the landmarks with jobs mod as I do not use landmarks! yep, never, just dont like em for some reason. anyway, about the road question.

It is really all about design if you want to use two one ways with a tile in between or an avenue. there are many reasons to use both infact and I have done both even in the same city. For the record I call two one ways with a tile down the middle a "Boulevard" just to help distinguish.

If you are indeed going to use some kind of rail mass tranist (passenger rail, GLR, EL, or monorail) then the two one ways is a good choice to use for that. however, in parts of the town where the mass transit is subway or just not there avenue is the prefered option. the main important difference between useing avenues to one ways is that two avenues intersect and make one large intersection, four one ways intersect and make 4 intersections!!! the more intersections you have the more congestion you will have.

now, one interesting thing you can do with oneways and avenues is that if you have an avenue running through your city and it runs into a blockade (hill, lake, reward building, landmark, etc) and you dont want to or cant destroy the blockade then you can turn the avenue into two oneway roads and "envelope" the blockade, then when the oneways converge again go back to avenue.

<shameless plug>

Boulevards can be good too if you like using parks and what not to decorate your city. I have created over 40 different plaza gardens for the purpose of decorating that 1 tile space between one way roads. check out the links in my sig!

</shameless plug>

hope that helps

[architect2k 0]

Here's something common people forget - cars can only park in buildings and parking lots. If you place your skyscraper on a ped-mall then car drivers cannot get to it. They cannot park on the street and walk. You must provide a parking lot nearby to allow them to park then walk to the nearby office.

Hope this helps

[Keiran Halcyon 0]

Originally posted by: paperboy15 Avenues have a higher speed and therefore higher capacity than two one-way roads running opposite direction.quote>

This is not correct. Speed and capacity are coded entirely separately in SC4. According to the Prima Guide (which has been wrong in the past, but it's my best reference) a one way road (henceforeth OWR) has speed 46 "kph" and a capacity of 2000 trips. Avanues have a speed of 40 kph and capacity 2500 trips. So dual ONRs are 15% faster but have only 80% of the capacity of avenues. I also believe the statement about having four times as many intersections when crossing two dual OWRs causing extra congestion has some truth to it as well.

It's an oddity that roads have a capacity of 1000 and OWRs have a capacity of 2000. Really, normal roads should have a capacity of 1000 in each direction if they wanted to be realistic, as far as how the number of lanes affects capacity goes.

[Bones1 96]

Paperboy is correct. You can get the exact numbers from the exemplars. Don't believe the Prima Guide, as it's full of errors.

The exemplar breaks speed down into intervals of 25 minutes, and how far (in tiles) sims will commute in that time.

For driving:

Street: 21

Road: 31

One-way: 31

Avenue: 40

Highways: 82

(The distances are greater if the sims are traveling by bus.)

If you work out the speed, it's very slow! For example 31 tiles is only 496 metres. That works out to a driving speed of 1.19 km/h.

Capacities are as follows:

Street: 100

Road: 1000

One-way: 2000

Avenue: 2500

Highways: 4000

Those numbers are for a 1-tile strip. So, an avenue actually has a total capacity of 5000 (2500 in each direction). An avenue is thus both slightly faster and has slightly more capacity than two 1-way roads put together.

I think the numbers for roads and streets are in each direction. So, I don't think a 1-way road has any more capacity than a road, it simply allocates the entire capacity in a single direction. (I'm not positive on that point, though.)

[Zelgadis 638]

As for the landmarks with jobs mod, I use it and I have had no problems with it so far.  There is, however, an extensive readme file that goes with it.  Be sure to read it carefully.

ISF