NAM General Discussion Thread

[EmergentFungus 29]

With the latest files, 'RoadxRail_TestingFile_MainFile.dat' and 'RoadxRail_TestingFile_2.dat' and 'RoadxRail_TestingFile_2.dat', the test works perfectly.

 

 

But with yesterday's file, 'NetworkAddonMod_EF_Testing.dat', it failed when I first tested it (yesterday 28th) The wierd thing is that this file now works. Here is the test I just did a few minutes ago.

 

[Tropod 144]

Once again, thanks EF!.

 

Ok folks; All of the Onewayroad overpasses for Left-hand drive [uK version] has now been fixed. So there should be no problems with them.

Also fixed; Avenue over Avenue overpass can now be plopped from straight from the menu button.

There is a ReadMe file which explains some more details, like what type of overpasses there are and which menu button an overpass belongs with & other stuff. SO BE SURE TO READ IT!

If you do not have the main mod from the mods section, I can not guarantee that the file will work for you.

Feedback on any aspects [apart from the visual aspects of the overpasses though] would be good. Like the costs of the overpasses, the visual aid/text on the cursor, and anything else.

 

The file should still be considered in BETA, so some bugs may still exist. Any bugs that you find, can be posted here [but please though, be sure that they're bug(s)].

 

 

It is important that you place the Unzipped [dat] file in the same folder as the main mod, otherwise none of the additional overpasses may function properly.

NetworkAddonMod_OverpassesPlugin_Beta.zip

 

 

I am aware that one or two of the previews need fixing still. I'll be addressing this next, hopefully. Once that's done, if there aren't any bugs reported for the overpasses, and if there isn't anything else that others have currently [as in it is in the testing stage] trying to get in, then I'll update the main mod when I think appropriate.

[alt+tab 2]

So may I ask exactly How Many files I need to download to make this work flawlessly?

[ardecila 124]

OK, guys . . . I'm ready to render my avenue Y-int. Any last-minute constructive comments you guys have?

I could also use constructive comments on the overpasses.

BTW, what are the limitations on the code that allows the Toll Booth to be represented by one icon? Can I use this code to create one icon for my Urban Overpasses? Oh yeah - there are more now.

The train one is the same but with a special Train on concrete roadbed deck texture, the onewayroad one has the onewayroad texture (w/o arrows), and the avenue one is double-wide with a 3d median.

Lights have also been added.

[Tropod 144]

Date:5/29/2004 9:18:08 PM
Author:ardecila

BTW, what are the limitations on the code that allows the Toll Booth to be represented by one icon?  Can I use this code to create one icon for my Urban Overpasses?  Oh yeah - there are more now.

The train one is the same but with a special 'Train on concrete roadbed' deck texture, the onewayroad one has the onewayroad texture (w/o arrows), and the avenue one is double-wide with a 3d median.

Lights have also been added.

quote>

About the Menu Slots for this stuff; we will worry about that, and change/make things as need be accordingly as we see fit. This has nothing to do with Toll Booths, at all, in any way shape or form. And for that matter, it has nothing to do with Lots at all either.

And about the lights; I'll be interested to see how this works out, since the games original interchanges doesn't have any.

[ardecila 124]

Yeah - The problem with the lights is that we have to have full s3d files. My lights are only on extremely simplified, regular LODs - A box with a hole cut through it for the highway and a trough on top for the road. That's how I got it into the game for the screenshots. Once you make it full 3d, you have to use 3d lights, too. We may be able to do that, though. Just put the existing light-cone s3d into the overpass s3d files.

As for the cycling, we can just use the tab cycle function. [slaps forehead]
The reason I asked was because I could do a variety of retaining-wall/ overpass styles. I'm gonna ask PEG for help/permission on modifying his CDK lots so they match my overpasses.

[redlotus 16]

Sorry for being so quiet the last few days.  I've been a little busy working on my latest project--the diag/orth highway interchange.  I've finally reached phase 3 of the project, which means that I actually have something that is worth showing to everyone:

 

 

Please ignore the blue ends and the red terrain.  They are both part of the Sim Mars mod that I forgot to remove for this screenshot.

 

As you can tell, I still have a bit of cleaning up to do with the skins of the models.  However, I'm going to hold off doing this part until after I've gotten all of the path files created.  I figure that I still have about 2 weeks to a month left before this will be ready for full beta release.

 

If anyone has any comments/suggestions on how to improve this, I'm certainly open to critique.  One thing to remember, though, is that the basic structure is finallized.  I know that some of you won't approve of the 'weave lanes', for example, but they were the best way that I had to solve certain problems.

 

As to the light issue that has come up.  I honestly don't think that we will be able to implement them.  The only way that Maxis was able to get them in the game at all (over the trans system) was through the use of Network Lots.  Since we can't create new network lots, we may be out of luck.

 

-red

[Sabretooth78 808]

redlotus - As a real-life highway designer, I have to say you're doing some incredible work.  That interchange is possibly the coolest looking thing I've seen yet on Simtropolis, and I'm not kidding.  I want to see that in one of my cities!

 

While you could probably come up with a more efficient layout (maybe like a squashed cloverleaf), this interchange gives a much more custom look that to this point, we just don't have in SC4.  And we don't have any weave lanes yet besides the center of the cloverleaf.  I really like it.  I also really like the split horizontal mainline.

 

Will there also be a ground-highway version?

 

-Chris

[galileo 0]

Wow... I only signed up to SimTropolis a few days ago, downloaded the NetworkAddon and started reading this threat. 3 days and 8 pages of conversation later, I've certainly learned a lot about the way this game works. Thanks for the education. Specifically:

Overpasses & Interchanges
I'm generally pretty picky about what I contaminate my stock game with, but I look forward to several of the things you've got working here. I'd love to see the Y-intersection doen for highways. And the ground x elevated interchanges would be nice as well.

ANT/SLR
After reading the readme in the addon, I was totally confused. It wasn't until about page 5 of this thread that it started to make any sense to me at all. Once I did start to get it, I didn't get the purpose, but now I think the SLR is a great idea. I'd love to put San Francisco trolley cars on my city streets. :-D I would strongly suggest, however, clearifying the purpose and condition of the ANT in the documentation so it's not so confounding for us newbs.

Thanks for all your work! I'll keep reading and look forward to downloading.

[Ryan B 35]

WOW!!!  Redlotus, THAT IS AWESOME!!!!!!

[MTLT_17 26]

OMG I have so many places for that in my coming city. Can't wait!

-MTLT

[BarbulaM1 38]

OMG that is awsome, although some of the curves are alittle sharp. still. GO RED

[cammo2003 20]

redlotus: the only problem I have with that interchange is the unbroken lines. Change that, and it's sweet. I am definitely a fan of that intersection otherwise, though.

[Gemika 6]

Redlotus: That intersection came out great this is prolly one of the coolest things I've seen done I can't wait till its in our cities. Great work and thank you for the effort and time you put into it. Flat out Awesome!

GE

[Pkmnrulz240 11]

Tropod: I also have been having problems with the extra overpasses file that you posted. Same red cursor and no model problem as ckokotay seemed to have. Only, none of my overpasses work. None from the ANT mod at all... Could you possibly tell me which .dat files that the beta of the extra overpasses pulls models from?

And just so you know, I have the .dat file that you posted in the ModFiles folder of the ANT mod.

PK

[joexcooldude 1]

..The most beautifullest thing in this world is just like that...
NICE!! Redlotus, my department of transportation will worship you.

[Ryan B 35]

Ditto.  My city and regional DOT offices can't wait to be able to use this!

[Tropod 144]

Date:5/30/2004 10:45:03 AM
Author:Pkmnrulz240

Tropod: I also have been having problems with the extra overpasses file that you posted. Same red cursor and no model problem as ckokotay seemed to have. Only, none of my overpasses work. None from the ANT mod at all... Could you possibly tell me which .dat files that the beta of the extra overpasses pulls models from?

And just so you know, I have the .dat file that you posted in the ModFiles folder of the ANT mod.

PK

quote>

Is this with the more updated OverpassesPlugin_Beta file? The more up to date one has a 05/30/2004 date stamp on it. 

if the ANT stuff isn't working either, big chances are you have a file conflict, either that or the files you have aren't being placed in the Plugin folder properly.

As for which file models are pulled from; both. That is, just one reason, why it is important that the OverpassPlugin I've posted in this thread be put in the same folder as the main mod file.

 

 

To everyone; Anyone who has problems like this; best thing to do in the first instance is to remove anything/everything from the Plugins folders except for the Mod, and then see if anything works [& then go from there]. 99% of the time, when people have problems with something/anything/mod not working, at all, generally it's because of a file conflict. I have had people already come to with problems of this n that not working, only to realise they still have old(er) Traffic related files in the Plugin folder still. It's for this reason I made it very clear in the documentation, that anything transit related be removed prior to using the Mod.

 

And since I'm posting;

This is what I call engineer gone wrong

Don't ask me how....I am guessing it's because of the way the terrain was there that this happened. It's not something that happens all the time it seems. Seems more like a freak occurrence. In any event, it's a funny site to see.....I can just imagine the sign on the road; Steep decent, go slowly

[caghaasnoot 11]

For those still working on the ANT or SLR - have a look at this BBS page:

http://hide-inoki.com/cgi-bin/levbbs/lev-bbs.cgi?bid=sc4lot=&skin=c:/apache/public_html/bbs/levbbs/skin/default/=/bbs/levbbs/skin/default/&style=0

It's Japanese, what I extracted from it that they have been toying with similar ideas as I've read about in this thread. The posts are from Feb/March this year, but I have the feeling they didn't get it working.

Cf. attachment for nice pic.

[Djohaal 121]

Date:5/31/2004 4:14:20 AM
Author:Tropod

And since I'm posting;

This is what I call engineer gone wrong

 

Don't ask me how....I am guessing it's because of the way the terrain was there that this happened. It's not something that happens all the time it seems. Seems more like a freak occurrence. In any event, it's a funny site to see.....I can just imagine the sign on the road; Steep decent, go slowly

quote>

 

LOL! try gong up with a bus in that road

[Tropod 144]

Interesting............a problem I can see with that is, it's too wide. Wouldn't work to well on diagonals. Where abouts was this exactly? That specific URL you mention doesn't seem to have anything there in regards to the pic? [unless I've missed it?]

I see they're using the Reader, ilive should be proud .

 

btw, that more upto date Overpasses plugin can be found on the previous page in a post of mine.

[caghaasnoot 11]

Tropod,

 

The URL is correct, you just have to look halfway the second page (go to the bottom of the first page and hit the < button displayed there).

 

You'll find an .lzh file with a dat-file in it - furthermore the following pics:

 

 

 

 

 

I got the feeling though that it is mostly eyecandy - they didn't get it working.

 

What seems to work though is something I found on the same BBS but again one page further back (so again to the bottom and hit < again):

 

CROSSING NETWORKS!

 

 

Seems to work:

 

The posts give some clues how the trick is done!

 

---

 

Finally, you posted indeed on the 5/29 a Passover-plugin in this thread - however on this page of the thread you are talking about the 5/30/04 version - just can't find it!!

 

cag

 

[caghaasnoot 11]

Ryanb - the pics in the STEX are down also, I guess it's the Simtropolis bandwidth (or something) that playing up again. Try again a little later - if they aren't there by then - let me know and I'll try again

[Tropod 144]

caghaasnoot;

Those pics need to be online, somewhere, not your computer [in Rich Text mode, when replying, you need to click on the Image button]. Either that or attached to a post. The forum can't call images straight from your own hard drive.

 

 

As for the .Izh file; anyone able to unzip that, and put it into a format that doesn't require having to download some winzip/winzar [or whatever else have you] program. I have WinXP zipping program, and that's good enough for most things I need. Done. Thanks to xiziz for this.

 

 

And about the overpasses plugin; it's probably because of the time difference, of where I am, and the [forum] dates, why it's probably a little confusing/different. The post may of been on the 29th, but the file date stamp should be 05/30/2004 [least on my computer that is what it's shown as]. Sorry for all the confusion.

[Tropod 144]

Regarding the mentioned Japanese SC4 related BBS site;

I've yet to see any RUL type files used at all. Near as I can tell, they're just using Lots to do this stuff. Which while in some ways is rather clever, & could be quite useful in some ways, it does have its pitfalls.

The IZH file that caghaasnoot makes mention of, lacks Path files, Properties, & proper Pointers for it to be functional. It's probably the reason why it doesn't work. I can't say I've looked through their whole forum though, so maybe they've since gone beyond this. Judging by one of their programs I came across [ http://hide-inoki.com/sc4/howto/sc4hex.htm ] I'd say they have [well in regards to Lot files anyhow].

 

 

For interest: We what do in this thread, makes use of INI/RUL/Path/Exemplar & other files to do what we do. Nothing to do with Lots though [least not yet anyway].

[ardecila 124]

RedLotus/Tropod: Okay. Unless anyone has any suggestions or objections, I'm going to start rendering my Urban Overpasses. However, I have a few questions I would like answered before potentially wasting hours rendering.

Plopping Mechanics
1} Will it be possible to integrate my lots into the game without obfuscating the current overpasses?
1b} Can I make the Urban Overpasses ploppable-only, so as not to prevent the game from automatically placing the current overpasses?

Terrain Issues
2} Can I make the game maintain the flat surface across the overpass? If the pieces automatically adjust to the terrain, we have the same problems that the current overpasses do. Can we solve this?

If I can't resolve these problems, I'm going to resort to lots, at least for this transit project.

[Tropod 144]

ardecila;

Date:5/31/2004 11:56:13 PM
Author:ardecila

Plopping Mechanics
1}Will it be possible to integrate my lots into the game without obfuscating the current overpasses?

I've said it time and time again; this stuff has nothing to do with Lots. So I don't see how it would relate to lots at all, in any way? Otherwise, I am not sure I understand what you're trying to get at here?

1b}Can I make the Urban Overpasses ploppable-only, so as not to prevent the game from automatically placing the current overpasses?

There is code that we can use so that it requires people use a Menu button to build something in regards to networks [overpasses/interchanges/etc]. We can also disable the games automatic building [overpass/interchange] function. Doing this though would require that the overpass/interchange exists in one of the menu buttons somewhere, otherwise it's a bad idea to do [& rather pointless].

Terrain Issues
2}Can I make the game maintain the flat surface across the overpass? If the pieces automatically adjust to the terrain, we have the same problems that the current overpasses do.Can we solve this?

As far as *I* am aware; the game will, and needs to, adjust the pieces to fit the terrain accordingly, otherwise they may not show up at all [propely]. It's one of the reaons why the models/S3D pieces need to be done with L:ODS.

If I can't resolve these problems, I'm going to resort to lots, at least for this transit project.

Using a Lot for any significant interchange would not be the easiest, or best, thing to do. By all means do it, I am just saying you may not get the results you're looking for, depending on how you do it.

[Tropod 144]

Ok; a semi-update [kinda].

Because the mod file now has over 800 files, and since a few seem to be having some problems, I've done up a file that contains everything. People may still have a problem, especially with the overpasses that don't have proper previews, but hopefully that won't be to big an issue at the moment.

 

This only contains the Mod file itself, and it approx 900KB zipped.

NetworkAddon_Beta_02.06.04.zip

 

If you have the main mod from the mods section, &/or any other previous version of the mod, including the OverpassesPlugin file, then get rid of it before using this mod file [keep the Traffic Plugin file though].

 

Things that need to be done for the above mentioned mod file before it can be released main stream;
Proper Models/S3Ds for the Preview of:
Avenue over Avenue overpass
Avenue over Road overpass
Road over Avenue overpass
Road over Road overpass
Highway Ramp-OnRamp. Single-sided.
Highway Ramp-OffRamp. Single-sided.

All the other stuff has been done for these ones above; all that is needed is some proper preview S3D/Model file(s). All of these above items require BATTING skills, something I'm not all that crash hot with. So if you can, and want to, help out then post saying so. For an idea of how the Preview model(s) should look, download the above mentioned mod file and place the ramp/overpass in the game [it takes a little playing around with].

 

 

Now because the above file does not contain any documentation, and since the mod will probably somewhat increase in file size soon, I may end up having to seperate the documentation for it & make it a seperate download [we'll see].

 

Feedback/comments/problems etc.

[galileo 0]

Before I start, I want to preface by saying that I've not yet had a chance to try the new 01.06.04 version of the plugin, but...

I downloaded the 5/30/04 partial update last night and started playing with it. I have one request: Can the game not prompt us for road/ave or ave/road overpasses when you lay the road? It makes sense for the road/rail and ave/rail overpasses, but (for me, anyway) ave/road intersections are pretty common, and it's an nuisance to have to answer both pop-up boxes every time. These, I think, would be more appropriate as ploppables in the menu (much like the existing */rail overpasses are when not placing them automatigically).

Other than that one little detail, I've thoroughly enjoyed the updates. Keep up the great work!

PS: Also looking forward to that non-ortho highway interchange! :-)

[joexcooldude 1]

These highway projects are what i have dreamed of, and many people are staying with their SC4 just for that. Anyway, I cant wait to see these in game. However, i do have one request (that you should put at the bottom of you list): how hard would it be to make a trumpet interchange? I was just wondering because those are what you see on the turnpike.