Network Addon

[samowsalford 0]

Hi, I havn't posted here before but I could really use some help and this seems like the best place to ask.

I have Simcity 4 Rush Hour (UK version) (not delux) and recently installed the Network Addon.  Now the program crashes to the desktop with alarming regularity every 5 minutes or so.

I checked the help file with the network addon and it said that problem was something to do with me moving the curson over transport enabled lots.  Sure enough, a quick test in the game seemed to show that this is indeed the problem.

I am not to sure of my computers system stats (sorry!) but I'm fairly sure I have at least 512mb of RAM and a pretty decent video card (one good enough to run the sims 2 and Simcity rushour no probs)

Does anybody know of any patches or anything I can do to fix this?  I realise I may have to uninstall the modd but I would rather not.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks

Sam

[mayormot 4]

Hello, Samowsalford. Welcome to ST.

The problem you are experiencing is a known problem. It occurs when you have a so-called NAM "puzzle piece" selected, and then you hover the cursor over a transit-enabled lot. This is, as you have no doubt discovered, extremely easy to do and it can occur with annoying frequency.

It the long-term, the NAM team appears to be working toward eliminating the "puzzle piece" approach in favour of draggable networks, which will solve the problem entirely if and when they are successful. At the time the current NAM was developed, the draggable method had not yet been discovered, so for now, we just have to be very careful.

I have found that when using puzzle piece networks such as the GLR (ground light rail, aka "trams"), it is always best to lay the rails first, then plop the stations. If it should be necessary to work with puzzle pieces in close proximity to existing transit-enabled lots, sometimes I will even go so far as to pause the game, demolish the existing lots, and then rebuild them and continue the game after the puzzle piece work is complete. This is annoying, and gets expensive at times (so I use a money-cheat; it's not really cheating if I'm working around a bug, is it?), but in the short-term, it is the only way to be safe. And of course, always save the game first.

Oh, and as soon as you've plopped the last puzzle piece, hit the escape key to de-select puzzle pieces. That way you won't accidentally pass the cursor over a transit lot and crash the game by accident while trying to select a new tool. Working at the closest zoom level that is practical also lessens the possibility of such a sudden and inadvertent return to the desktop.

Again, hopefully this will all be fixed in a future NAM revision (whenever it should appear, as assuming that the NAM team has cracked this nut by then). Until then, best of luck. Uninstalling the NAM is an option also, of course, but I do miss its features when it's not there. You could always leave it be and just not use the puzzle pieces, that's another option. The extra highway ramps are just so useful...

I hope this is helpful to you in some way, and happy gaming.

[samowsalford 0]

Hi, mayormot.  Thanks for the advice.  I agree, it's annoying but something I'm prepared to live with for now.