NAM General Discussion Thread

[Dolfan348488 0]

Holy ****, last time i checked this thread, it was at like 7 pages

 

Im not even going to attempt to read all 60 pages ive fallen behind.  Whatever you guys are doing, you have my good luck

[Tropod 144]

Ok, seeing as how a great deal of content of the NAM deals with this, if people could just take a moment to read this thanks, it could save a lot of headaches. The following will be included in the next update though.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An issue with the game which can cause the game to crash has been identified. At this time the exact precise cause of the issue is still to be determined. The following outlines the general-case scenario in which the issue can cause the game to crash:

Items related to known issue:

-Transit Enabled Lot(s) (TEL); this can include both Maxis originals & any custom made TEL.

-Interchange Related Item(s) (IRI); this can include both Maxis originals & any custom made items that are interchange-base related, such as; Highway Overpasses; Cloverleafs;PuzzlePieces; & other similar item(s).

-Cursor of Interchange Related Item(s).

Point of Crashing:

If the Cursor contains an IRI on it & then this Cursor is hovered over &/or clicked (&/or repeated) on a TEL, it can in some circumstantial cases cause the game to instantly crash to the desktop. Currently this is only known to occur if the IRIs' network on the Cursor is the same network with which the TEL is compatible with.

Solution

Currently at this time, a full-proof work-around to the issue is not yet known. It is simply advised that users avoid moving the Cursor over a TEL if the Cursor has an IRI on it to minimize the chances of the game crashing.

 

For more detailed information on the above issue, see the following webpage RUL+Cursor+ Transit Enabled Lot =Crashing .

Anyone with any information pertinent to the above issue, please post with any specific details at the following thread  RUL+Cursor+ Transit Enabled Lot =Crashing .

The issue described above has been looked into, & at this time currently deemed a bug within the game itself.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Eastian 0]

I found a small bug in the pathfinding of one of the NAM interchanges:

Another angle:

[drew 0]

I have a similar glitch too...

[The Great Chozo 34]

...........   TGC quietly shuts the door behind him so no one would notice him slipping in  ........

 

Hey guys. Yeah so when I left, this baby was at like 40 some odd pages, now it is in the 60's. I'm glad this is still progressing.

 

Tropod, I sent you an e-mail about 2 or three weeks ago, but while reading through the posts, I noticed a post that said you have a new one, so if for some reason you still check your old ftc.net account, disregard the message.

 

BTW - Congrats on becoming a Moderator.

 

Needless to say I have been EXTREMELY busy, last semester before graduation, brand new job (I get to play SimCity in real life now !!!!!!! not as easy as it sounds might I add), NABL baseball tournament (which we won, woohoo), and real life (a lot of family probs, that I won't get into). Some of my work projects have slowed down as they have come to completion, and from talking to some of my co-workers, this time of year things start to slow up a bit. So I may actually have some time to devote to SC4 and helping out with the NAM again.

 

So.... on to the point.....

 

Date:9/19/2004 6:56:42 AM
Author:Tropod

xannepan:
Well, looks like I have TGC's ElevatedHighway over GroundHighway interchange & also Y-Groundhighway stack; both of which need to be sliced (properly) before even being rendered (May I remind people that I'm really no good with BAT). And then of course there's the skining & everything else as well after they're rendered. The BAT/GMAX files for these two are over 5MBs together, so I think it might be a good idea if someone could possibly spare/donate a few MBs worth of online file storage for us to be able to upload & host these sorts of things for others to download & work on.

quote>

I saw this on like page 64 or 65. I still have these models in my hard drive, and was wondering if you still need them sliced, or has anyone finished them yet ???  If I am not mistaken, the Y intersection on my comp. is sliced up. I remember sending these files to you or Red, or maybe both. Have they been worked on at all ????  What about the Elevated over Ground Highway Intersection, did Red ever get that one done ???

Please pardon my ignorance as I have not been here recently. I got (and still have) a SEVERE case of the Real World Virus , but I'm glad that I have a little more time now, to devote to making my favorite game even better (my favorite game that I haven't played in over 2 months ).

I take it by the new thread Interchange Model Tutorial (or something like that) that Red finished the Tute that I was using in August. I need to check that out and see how it turned out.

Let me know what's up with these things, as I would like to get back on board.

BTW - dominohobbes (I think it was you) Those cobble stone ped mall tiles you got textures for and T7T is working on, look great. No offense T, but they look better then the ped mall tiles that you orginally created.

Redlotus,

If you read this, I just want to say congrats on the addition to your family.

Peace Out,

The Great Chozo

(damn, three months or so away, and there are like literally 50 or so, maybe more BAT's that I need to download, sheez if everyone in the world was as productive as this community we would have discovered cold fusion by now. Oh well, I better get to downloading.)

 

[frogface 352]

good to see ya back TGC

[The Great Chozo 34]

Date:10/12/2004 6:19:33 PM
Author:frogface

good to see ya back TGC

quote>

Aw shucks .

Thanks Froggy, good to see you again as well.

TGC

[salehsamee 1]

hello everybody.

by the way TGC, i am glad that you can take sometime out of your busy life for simcity and simtropolis, because beleive me i only get to run simcity 4 once a month, and that is when i sit for about 15 or 16 hours straight and my butt goes numb

anyway, i luv NAM, its the best thing that happend to simcity4. but is it real if i have a commute time of about .9 in a city of 850,000 Happy sims, large city. i use the perfect path finding, 2x capacity and 10x commute time mod, and road top mass transit and all other forms of MT except monorail ( i am afraid of anything that walks/rides on one ... leg or rail.

anyway, is 10x commute mod real, cause i think something like 2 x commute would be nice. THANK YOU.

by the way, the above mentioned bugs in path finding of diagonal and orthogonal highway interchange, i never came upon one, i checked for like hours straight but i didnt get those kind of paths. KEEP UP THE GUD WORKS EVERYONE. thank you and bubye.

[Tropod 144]

Well, it's been awhile......

 

EDIT: opps, had posted a bad link. This one should work: NAM_TemptTestingFile

For newcomers; This is NOT intended for you. Newcomers should download the existing mod from the mods section right  here.  This file above is for this thread only & is intended for testing purposes.

Place the unzipped file in the exact same folder as the main mod file. This does not contain prompting, so please don't even ask, as this is only a thread file (Auto-prompting may be phased out though). 

 

Added items;

-Rail Puzzle Pieces (Note; the Start/End piece is 4x1, not 3x1 like the other PPs).

 

Additional Ped Mall Tile(s):

-1x1 CobbleStone

-1x1 Pavement (Some might consider this as brick??)

-1x1 Grass

(Note: That these particular ones have only been added because of the nature of Ped Mall Tiles. Ped (foot) bridges are to be done). The 1x1 CentrePole PedMallTile may be replaced with something else, like a different texture or something (if there's no objections).

 

-Lights for various Puzzle Pieces & overpasses (Not including Rail PPs).

 

Some other minor changes made as well, such as the AvenuexAvenue overpass.

 

 

If anyone wants to put Props (using Type x21 Exemplar) on the Ped Mall Tiles, &/or Rail PPs, by all means do so.

 

EDIT: If you see replicated menu icons, that's ok. Just delete the older version of the file if you want, but it is not necessary to do this for testing purposes.

[A Killer Ewok 2]

oooh... now we have rail pp eh? and more ped tiles! yeah i like the rail pp there's one about 20 km from where i live...

[Craigsters 3]

Awesome Changes Tropod!, I removed all 37 NetworkAddonMod DAT file's, before putting in the the NAM_TemptTestingFile you posted, I liked that the NAM_TemptTestingFile is one big DAT file, instead of 37files, are the Rail Puzzle Pieces for passenger trains if so awesome ideal!.
I also like that you can finally connect the ANT Network road to a regular road, I couldn't before with the old NetworkAddonMod, unless I was doing something wrong!.



Craig

[dominohobbes 27]

Yay! A new update. I've been waiting for the rail PPs for a long time. oh, BTW, are the ped mall tiles I helped make in the file? The ones with dark brown bricks and a tree in the middle?

[Tunafish 48]

check it out!

 

 

 

 

Awsome huh?

 

i tested both the rail pp and the light rail mod. Both are AWSOME. the new ped malls are excellent. the new textures are great. the rail pp and the ped malls should be incorperated into the new update of the NAM.

[Mexicanboy13r 12]

wow really cooL!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait!!!!!!!! 

[Thalassicus 33]

Is it possible to add shadows to the puzzle pieces? I always thought they looked a little odd in that respect. If it can't be done that's a shame

[frogface 352]

Rail puzzle Pieces! nice
what happened to the red brick viaduct type mikeyb66 was making though?

[Swamper77 90]

Thanks for the testing file Tropod!

 

Now I can finally raise my trains up over the roadways when there isn't room for the roadway overpasses. I just finished experimenting with the Ped Mall Tiles. I can plop the different types over existing ones. So I can change the style without bulldozing the existing ones. There is one little problem with the Ped Mall Tiles. It costs 10 plop each square and 100 to bulldoze each square. Rather pricey demolition....

 

-Swamper77

[Tropod 144]

dominohobbes; I don't recall whose file(s) it was.

 

Thalassicus; Possible; probably. Worth it; not in my opinion~it'd be too time consuming to do.

 

frogface; The moment someone actually bothers to take the time to do them properly, then they might be used (instead of these), otherwise for now this is what it'll be. If someone wants to change them, I've no problem with that. I do realise the current ones aren't all that great & could probably be somewhat better. But the time it takes to do these sorts of things, properly, well I have said numerous times I'm not that great with BAT, yet hardly anyone is willing to help out with these things. We could do with some more Batters/Texturers.

 

Swamper77; The Bulldoze cost could be changed, but then it'd affect any & all bulldozing of highway pieces, not just specifically PedMallTiles. So essentially the bulldoze cost for these items can't be seperated. There's actually a bug with the game (anyhow) for the bulldozing cost/tool.

[mikeseith 457]

Tunafish,
Could you make those rail puzzle pieces available for download? We could really use those puzzle pieces for the light rail mod. I am not so sure if it is going to work out with the ANT so using rail puzzle pieces should be the next best thing. Using transit enabled lots doesen't work too well and I don't seem to have the skill required to make my own rail puzzle pieces. Please IM me if you are interested in helping with us with the light rail mod. You would ,of course, get full credit.
Thanks

[dominohobbes 27]

I know this belongs in the requests thread, but while we're on the topic of rail puzzle pieces...

 

How about a rail-over-blank terrain to elevated rail puzzle piece? It might work kind of like the rail to el-rail lot.

[Thalassicus 33]

Date: 10/16/2004 6:15:10 PM
Author: Swamper77

Thanks for the testing file Tropod!

Now I can finally raise my trains up over the roadways when there isn't room for the roadway overpasses. 

quote>

 

Well, you could always do it with an el <-> rail converter (and have the advantage of the draggable el network, with corners and intersections), but the puzzle pieces will eventually allow for different visual styles. Like Tropod said, all it requires is the models

 

They do look 90% done though, someone should probaly E-mail/PM mikeyb66:

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files/Viaduct%20Ramp.jpg width=475 border=0>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files/Viaduct1.jpg width=226 border=0>

 

All they would need is the track texture on the slope and slicing.

[Tropod 144]

Date:10/16/2004 10:43:51 PM
Author:dominohobbes

I know this belongs in the requests thread, but while we're on the topic of rail puzzle pieces...

 

How about a rail-over-blank terrain to elevated rail puzzle piece? It might work kind of like the rail to el-rail lot.

quote>

That would only affect Automata really (i.e. it'd only be visual). It wouldn't be functional, not unless some changes were made to the Traffic Simulator Exemplar, & even then the EI Rail Train Stations would have to be changed to allow GroundRail Commuters through it, otherwise GroundRail-based commuters wouldn't be able to get through as the EI Rail Train Station pretty much sits right on top of its network, thus acting as a barricade.

[Tropod 144]

Well, something some might find of interest;

There's some good news & not so good news with the following (pic) though. I'm posting this hear, to hopefully get folk to discuss the prons n cons of this.

 

Essentially, the center tile is actually only 2 Networks, not 3 as it 'may' appear to seem. The ground rail running underneath is functional only because of changes made in the Traffic Simulator Exemplar (& not entirely appealing changes, though it's not all bad). Currently the way this is being done, building this isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to do, but it can be done. Trying to build double dual EIRail/Road by GroundRail becomes even more complicated, though it too can be done.

 

The actual implications of this, well I've only done limited testing with this. So I can't say for sure how wide its impact might be. Personally though, I don't think it's all that bad, but some reasonable testing would be good all the same, to get some idea.

So with all that said n done........

 

(for those that might ask; no it's not photoshopped~read the above).

[Pkmnrulz240 11]

1000 bunnies for Tropod!!! x1000

Holy crap, dude... thats awesome! Whats with the center path though for the ground rail?

[Swamper77 90]

Tropod,

 

That looks good. I can't wait to actually be able use it. However, I noticed something odd in that picture. The road texture for the railroad crossing is flipped compared to the usual crossings. I could help with re-installing the gates for the railroad crossing, as I am working on a railroad crossing mod for avenues to remove the wig-wags from the crossings.

 

-Swamper77

[builderman 3]

Date: 10/17/2004 2:16:40 PM
Author: Swamper77

Tropod,

That looks good. I can't wait to actually be able use it. However, I noticed something odd in that picture. The road texture for the railroad crossing is flipped compared to the usual crossings. I could help with re-installing the gates for the railroad crossing, as I am working on a railroad crossing mod for avenues to remove the wig-wags from the crossings.

-Swamper77

quote>
Nice catch.

[dominohobbes 27]

That looks great, tropod. Maybe you could upload it to your site so we can test it.

[Thalassicus 33]

What did you have to change? My first guess would be enabling el and rail networks to accept the same traffic...

[Tropod 144]

An updated file has been uploaded NAM_TemptTestingFile  (again, this file is not for newcomers: Newcomers download the Mod from here  thanks).

I uploaded the file before reading the replies......so save me having to upload another file, just to enable this (of which, I may not anyhow, considering all the changes needed & its ease/difficulty of use ?).

I'll just explain what you should do to enable this;

Find the RUL file with the InstanceID of 0x10000000 (there is only one such file in the mod).

Locate the following section (it is near the top of the file, part way down);

;LIGHTRAIL BUTTON SECTION

;LIGHTRAIL BUTTON SECTION

;LIGHTRAIL BUTTON SECTION

;ElevatedRail Dual Networking

RotationRing = B03A, B03B, B03C, B03D ;lightrailxroad Dual - Straight Piece

AddTypes = B04A, B04B, B04C, B04D ;lightrailxroad Dual - Corner Road1 Straight LightRail Piece

AddTypes = B05A, B05B, B05C, B05D ;lightrailxroad Dual - Corner Road2 Straight LightRail Piece

AddTypes = B06A, B06B, B06C, B06D ;lightrailxroad Dual - T-Intersection Straight Road Straight LightRail Piece

AddTypes = B07A, B07B, B07C, B07D ;lightrailxroad Dual - T-Intersection Dead-End Road Straight LightRail Piece

AddTypes = B08A, B08B, B08C, B08D ;lightrailxroad Dual - +-Intersection Road Straight LightRail Piece

;;AddTypes = B09A, B09B, B09C, B09D ;lightrailxroad Dual - +-Intersection StreetxRoad Straight LightRail Piece

;;AddTypes = B0AA, B0AB, B0AC, B0AD ;lightrailxroad Dual - +-Intersection RailxRoad Straight LightRail Piece

 

And remove the semi-colon comments at the start as follows (but nothing else). So it should look like this;

AddTypes = B09A, B09B, B09C, B09D ;lightrailxroad Dual - +-Intersection StreetxRoad Straight LightRail Piece

AddTypes = B0AA, B0AB, B0AC, B0AD ;lightrailxroad Dual - +-Intersection RailxRoad Straight LightRail Piece

(make sure you press Apply & save) Then in-game, just tab through the menu button & these two items will now be there to build.

As for its functionality;

The Traffic Exemplar needs to be modified. Modify the following properties;

Train Speed (0x491332EA) Property.

Freight Train Speed (0x491332EC) Property.

Modify the *FIRST* value in both of these properties, so that it is >0 (make it the same as its own network speed. 110/150 comparatively). This will enable PassengerTrains & FreightTrains to use EIRail Network. Doing this should also allow using the Rail PPs to connect to the Dual Network pieces & be functional (just so long as it doesn't run into a Elevated Rail Train Station~that too would have to be modified).

As for the texture being incorrect for the EIRail/RoadxRail.......opps! I totally didn't see that. Thanks for pointing that out.

[DuskTrooper 314]

Ok, Sorry for not reading if this is already covered, but will this be compatible witht he light rail mod?