NAM General Discussion Thread

[thpwrthtbe 1]

i may have missed these in the thread, if not this is a simple and obvious suggestion for overpasses/on-off ramps of roads/trains......well actually it suggests that roads and avenues be able to passover and/or connect with ground highways and vice versa at a diagonal. 

[gambit529 0]

so the suckiest thing has happened. my pc crashed....everything was deleted. which is why i havent been here for a while. tomorrow or thursday i will install sc4rh again. reason for posting yes there is a reason. can anyone point me in the right direction for the best lots. you can pm me so tropod and company doesnt get mad. cant wait to see whats been happening with this mod. time to read from page 38.

[dominohobbes 27]

Well of course my lots are the best lots (just joking ) I really don't have any suggestions for lots, but for mods, get the NAM, the water flora mod, and the cul-de-sacs mod. Sorry about your computer.

Anyways I had a question about the NAM, on the new avenue Y-Stack, the pathfinding is a bit messed up, people take the left lane and moraculasely jump to the right lane in the middle of the stack This probably can't be fixed but I was just telling you.

[dominohobbes 27]

double post (sorry) delete this

 

[DuskTrooper 314]

Isnt Tropod leaving?

[qurlix 20]

dominohobbes, it is because of the approximation system thingy, (right T7T?) I think the automata program sees the paths as one because they are so close. I just learned this, so I may be wrong.

Wow, I didn't even realize that a newer version of NAM had been uploaded! There's a Y Change?! I need to pay closer attention...but there are only 72 hits, so I'm not completely oblivious.


PS: thx for picking Cul-De-Sac as one of your favorites!


PPS: As for Tropod leaving...I never heard this. What do you know??? Tell us! Rumours! Rumours! Spread like wildfire my children!

[dominohobbes 27]

Yeah, it wasn't made obvious to me that a new NAM was released maybe tropod is gone? Thanks for your reply, and those cul-de-sacs really are great, the 2nd best mod around (to this one of course)

[thpwrthtbe 1]

hmm. .. exactly when was this new release   and where might one find it

[dominohobbes 27]

The new release includes an avenue Y interchange and can be found in the mods section under NetworkAddon_Beta

[pitch 0]

I can't find it there, and the link in Tropods sig doesn't work[:0]

[lakeyboy 12]

I feel bad being the one to tell you folks this but tropod has left Simtropolis and I don't think he's coming back.

 

I don't know what is going to happen with the NAM or in this case, modding now he's gone. Hopefully others will come together to replace Tropod's absence.

 

If you still believe he's around, click the following and scroll down to his final post.

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=52500&pageNo=3

 

For those who are wondering how to get the NAM, click the link in my post below. I've updated the link so it goes to the new page for it.

[the7trumpets 10]

Date:9/7/2004 9:07:42 PM
Author:dominohobbes

Anyways I had a question about the NAM, on the new avenue Y-Stack, the pathfinding is a bit messed up, people take the left lane and moraculasely jump to the right lane in the middle of the stack This probably can't be fixed but I was just telling you.

quote>

 

The way it's modeled, that's about as good as we can do.  The only way to have it not cause that weird route querry arrow is to branch the two lanes off to different sides of the tile within the first tile of the interchange.  It's purely a cosmetic problem though, and once you have enough traffic going through the interchange, you won't notice as much automata dissapearing/reappearing.  I have had some luck at reducing this effecty by playing with the lookahead value in the automata exemplar, but it makes the game EXTREMELY unstable, so it's not really an option unless you're running sc4 on a room full of SUNs or a CRAY.

[redlotus 16]

It is truly a sad day, but it looks to be true.  I guess that Tropod has left us to return to real life.  And as much as I hate adding salt to the wound, I myself will be unable to continue working on new interchanges for the foreseeable future.  A few weeks ago, my wife and I found out that we will be having our first child some time in March.  There are a lot of things that we have to get done in order to prepare for the pitter-patter of little feet  and I won't have the time to spend working on the modd.

 

On the positive side, I will still be visiting regularly and will be happy to answer questions/help out anyone who decides to continue where Tropod and I have left off.  Don't be afraid to send me a PM if I can be of help.

 

As for the Avenue 'Y' Interchange, I was aware of the lane-switching problem that dominohobbes pointed out.  Unfortunately, as T7T has stated, it is not something that I am able to fix.  It is an unfortunate side-affect from the way that the transportation system was set up by Maxis.  There is also one other problem with the interchange that I didn't have time to fix.  The pedestrian paths through the interchange don't seem to work correctly.  I wasn't able to test it thoroughly, but I believe that one of the three transitions (the SE-->S path, I think) doesn't allow peds through.  I will try to take a look at them when I can, but I can't promise anything at this point.

 

Thanks for all of your support,

 

-red

[Swamper77 90]

The NAM is undownloadable because Tropod has cleaned out his webspace. The ONLY link left in his webspace goes to the site that was hosting his personal space. See for yourself at: http://www.ftc.net.au/tropod/

 

-Swamper77

[fosterk 4]

AAAAW!!!! NO!!! Why did he have to take em with him?!?!?! no more NAM dammit man, hes pulled a peg.... (hehe, ive coined a new phrase)

[a11eria 3]

i just checked the mod section the sept 4th nam is downloadable. Although last i new you had to right click and save as to get it to download.

[the7trumpets 10]

It is indeed sad to see that Tropod has left. He has left a legacy, and I hope he will be remembered fondly. Modding will not be the same without him, and to be honest, I'm a little concerned for him, since it was so sudden with no warning.

Concerning the NAM, it is FAR from dead. You may not realize it, but we are in an age where creating new network options is easier than ever before. With Redlotus finishing up his tutorial, anyone with a computer who can run gmax can make new interchanges. In a sense, we have gone from myself and others discovering how the interchanges are coded, to two people knowing how and having the modeling ability to make interchanges (Tropod and Redlotus), to anyone on this site who wants to spend the effort being able to make new interchanges. Stack and more, here we come!!!

So I don't want to hear too much whining or complaining. It's sad to see Tropod gone, and I do hope the best for him. But the NAM is not dead, it has just begun. If you want to see a new interchange or transit option, go for it, and make it yourself!


As for non-interchange additions to the transit networks, the RUL editing for those is not quite as well documented, at least not with an easy-to-follow tutorial. For the time being, if you'd like to see another ground based FSH intersection, just make good FSH textures and paths and post them up here, and I'll do the RUL editing.


On a lighter note, congrats Red! Will we have young Pink or Blue? I do wish the best to you and your wife. Good luck, and have fun with your new stage of life

[+Guest]

Tropod, if you ever read this, godspeed.

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who will carry on his legacy?!!?!?!?!??!??!??!

He was an asset to us all, now what do we really have to look forward to now when it comes to transportation?!?!?!?!

[Dexter 40]

 It is really sad that Tropod has left, but we must continue with this project. Tropod has made the main start of this project, and now with all of the knowledge that is available, we will all be able to make this project complete. As T7T said, he should be remembered fondly, and I hope we will see him here sometime again.

[airmale007 3]

Tropod is... gone?! You miss so very much when you have to go to school everyday...

[andreharv 1,197]

hey red, what's your network tutorial going to be called. Sometimes when you need something done right, you got to do it yourself. I was hoping that someone would mention how these fabulous interchanges could be made by any typical joe with time on his hands.

[dominohobbes 27]

Maybe tropod felt that he was being taken advantage of because of his skills? Well anyways, its too bad he left...

[+Guest]

For whatever reason he left, he will be missed, but let's stop spamming this thread with Tropod stuff, and stay on task.

[zdog720 74]

What happened to this interchange?

 

Has it been finished or worked on at all?

[qurlix 20]

That is sad...but iamrobk is right! Let's get to work, now that the rest of us can do it ourselves.

...hmmm...

I don't know how much is going to get done if everyone goes their own way. We should rebuild the modd squadd! With all the dissappearings and moving-ons, how many active modders do we really have left? And no one knows why there are no roundabouts in simnation even though it should be incredibly simple? That's what I really came to ask.

I'm in forensics this year, don't worry. Oops, there goes a fact about my pesonal life...

[zdog720 74]

Will the people that are leaving going to finish the projects that they were currently working on, or do we have to finish them?

[dominohobbes 27]

I'd love to help with this mod, in fact I feel obligated to after all the requests I've made . The only problem is I don't really have any skills, except I'm pretty good with ilive's reader.

 

zdog: That looks cool, I hope it gets finished

[shasta 1]

I've got a question:

What ever happened to The Great Chozo and his kick-ass stack interchanges?????

[wicher 0]

Date: 9/6/2004 1:50:05 PM
Author: iamrobk

Date: 9/6/2004 11:04:26 AM

Author: WJ_Webhog

Date: 9/6/2004 9:23:54 AM


Author: iamrobk


Just to show what it may look like in-game, I put some very basic textures on (just a slightly modified one we are using in the 6/12 lane highway project), and did a quick render. Note that these are by no means final or anything, they are just to show you all what it may look like. Btw, I know the one is sideways lol, but I don't care:

quote>



You might want to take some inspiration from this one that looked so much better than yours:

quote>



Only problem is, that was photoshopped. I'm sure even I could make that in PS Elements if I tried hard enough. As for your other comment, if you want to create a neighbor connection with one ways, just convert them to normal roads right before the border.

quote>
I know that batting my photoshopped interchange is a lot harder than photoshopping it.
I think it is really cool that you are working on it, and respect your work.

However, I too think that the interchange should look more like the photoshopped one, to really use it in the game.

Most important points are:
- The curves could be smoother;
- the connections could be smoother;
- the direction-split could be closer to the intersections, so the whole thing takes up
less space.