NAM General Discussion Thread

[mr.v 40]

thankyou greyveil

[redlotus 16]

Date: 2/3/2005 3:27:35 PM
Author: smoncrie

I have a patch that allows one to use the new stack and all the other NAM stuff.  I have only given it a quick test, and it still does not allow one to rotate the new stack.

Should I publish it?

smoncrie

Hey folks,
Sorry about the mix up with the new interchange.  Seems that I've been working on it for so long that I forgot that I was using an old RUL file.  I have whipped up a quick fix and it's on its way to NYR right now.

smoncrie:  I received your on-slope puzzle pieces the other day.  I won't be able to take a look at it for another couple of days, though (I'm upgrading my computer this weekend ).

-red

[LBII 3]

Hi to all!

Since english is not my first language, I tried to find informations and answer to these questions about the NAM. I hope that you will be able to help me with these. Thanks!

1- I want my sims to be able to do longer distances between home and work. I want to know if the X10 commute is the best file to use.

2- I am already using the pathfinding file (The moderate one) And it's perfect for my cities: Sims are using highways But if I use another file for my problem in no. 1, how can I preserve the better pathfinding?

3- What are the effects of the radical file in the Traffic plugins? I tried to understand, but it's a little complicated... But, Do the file has a big effect on the computer's speed?

BTW, best wishes for the Mod, it help to reconciliate me with the game! 

EDIT: Oh! And what about the request in the Request topic: Is it possible to know what ideas will be develpped and the one rejected in a) and b) ?  I know that the category c) are the one rejected, but what about the a) and b) on the first page?

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

OK people, I have gotten redlotus' updated stack, and I will be placing it on the site shortly. So be patient and I will announce when it is on there. Thank's for your patience.

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

OK people, I have the latest version of the TGC stack on the NAM site now. Just click on the link in my sig and you will go to the beta site and download from there. Thank you for all the input so that redlotus was able to figure out was wrong with it and was able to fix it. Have Fun!!!

[redlotus 16]

Date: 2/4/2005 9:32:43 AM
Author: LBII
Hi to all!

Since english is not my first language, I tried to find informations and answer to these questions about the NAM. I hope that you will be able to help me with these. Thanks!

1- I want my sims to be able to do longer distances between home and work. I want to know if the X10 commute is the best file to use.

2- I am already using the pathfinding file (The 'moderate' one) And it's perfect for my cities: Sims are using highways But if I use another file for my problem in no. 1, how can I preserve the better pathfinding?

3- What are the effects of the 'radical file' in the Traffic plugins? I tried to understand, but it's a little complicated... But, Do the file has a big effect on the computer's speed?

BTW, best wishes for the Mod, it help to reconciliate me with the game!

EDIT: Oh! And what about the request in the Request topic: Is it possible to know what ideas will be develpped and the one rejected in a) and b) ?  I know that the category c) are the one rejected, but what about the a) and b) on the first page?

Welcome to SimTrop LBII.  I think that I understand all of your questions and I'll do my best to answer them.
1.  Yes the X10 file would be the best one to use in your situation. 
2.  To get the better pathfinding and the longer commute times, just use the NetworkAddonModd_TrafficPlugin_BetterPathfinding_10xCommute.dat file.
3.  In short, the radical automata file increases the automata present on the screen at one time.  Also, each individual automata will stay on the screen for longer amounts of time.

As for which ideas will be developed in the future, it is really hard to say.  Right now there are very few people who can actually bring these ideas into the game.  The rule of thumb so far has been 'if you can't do it in the game right now, it gets higher priority.'  For example, the Highway 'Y' Interchange and Diagonal Highway/Orthagonal Road On-ramps are more likely to be included in the modd than a different looking highway stack.  Hope this makes sense.

-red

[sepsis 17]

How do I fix this?



In any other zoom or angle it's a church, but here it seems to conflict with NAM somehow..

[momo 1]

The Ground-Elevated Highway transition and the ped malls now work with the newly updated stack! I can't wait to see what Tropod is up to. Maybe he has discovered cold-fusion?! Thanks to RedLotus and others for this!

Sepsis:

Bulldoze the entire area and rebuild. I'm assuming you are using a lot from the STEX? Only 1 out of every 4 or so lots from the STEX work for me. Buildings and props often don't show up and these lots don't have any dependencies according to the author(s). I usually just delete them and then find other lots that work. I've never had a problem with the puzzle pieces from the NAM. They can be tricky at times to rotate and place if there are other things too close. You might also want to contact the owner of the lot you are using.

[Tunafish 48]

how do you edit the props on the ped malls? what ids the lot name in the LE?

[GoaSkin 2]

Date: 2/5/2005 12:55:12 PM
Author: Tunafish
how do you edit the props on the ped malls? what ids the lot name in the LE?

quote>

Tunafish: to find out the IDs:

1.) open the INI-file with ID 0x10000000 in NAM (pathing group)
2.) look for the ped mall tiles rotation ring and note the first HEX-id in each line (for example 607A).
3.) search for the intersection infos for the noted hex IDs
4.) note the ID in the autoTileBase declaration there
5.) use one of these IDs in your own LOTs as ped mall props.

[vil 3]

Sepsis: Every tiny piece of sc4 (like for instance the render or part of a render of a building from one view angle at one zoom) is identified by three randomly chosen numbers - type, group, instance (the dreaded (by me) TGI) so if two such numbers happen to randomly be the same youre fried. Its, i hate to say it, the game designers fault.

Occasionally the type actually stands for the type and/or the group stands for a group and only the instance is random - that just makes things worse - and totally untestable as independent people make bats in brasil, japan, south africa and Rudn

[zdog720 74]

The latest TGC Stack interchange has a placement string missing on it. In other words you can place it down, but you just can't see the interchange before you place it. I also realized that you still can't rotate it, is this because its not finished yet?

[kingofsimcity 5,739]

That Stack interchange looks cool. I wish that the interchange goes on top the highway. kind of like the logo on newyorkrunaway1's signature.

[silvercanyon2000 0]

Can I download this? Where? I can't find it in the recent NAM (11/29/2004)

[sepsis 17]

Date: 2/5/2005 1:36:26 PM
Author: vil
Sepsis: Every tiny piece of sc4 (like for instance the render or part of a render of a building from one view angle at one zoom) is identified by three 'randomly' chosen numbers - type, group, instance (the dreaded (by me) TGI) so if two such numbers happen to 'randomly' be the same youre fried. Its, i hate to say it, the game designers fault.

Occasionally the type actually stands for the type and/or the group stands for a group and only the instance is random - that just makes things worse - and totally untestable as independent people make bats in brasil, japan, south africa and Rudn

[Tunafish 48]

opps, I made a typo, I meant to say what id the lot name, like ped malss-brick or something like that?

[pitch 0]

typo?? And what's this??

[LBII 3]

Date: 2/4/2005 11:53:23 AM
Author: redlotus

Date: 2/4/2005 9:32:43 AM

Author: LBII

Hi to all!


Since english is not my first language, I tried to find informations and answer to these questions about the NAM. I hope that you will be able to help me with these. Thanks!


1- I want my sims to be able to do longer distances between home and work. I want to know if the X10 commute is the best file to use.


2- I am already using the pathfinding file (The 'moderate' one) And it's perfect for my cities: Sims are using highways But if I use another file for my problem in no. 1, how can I preserve the better pathfinding?


3- What are the effects of the 'radical file' in the Traffic plugins? I tried to understand, but it's a little complicated... But, Do the file has a big effect on the computer's speed?


BTW, best wishes for the Mod, it help to reconciliate me with the game!


EDIT: Oh! And what about the request in the Request topic: Is it possible to know what ideas will be develpped and the one rejected in a) and b) ?  I know that the category c) are the one rejected, but what about the a) and b) on the first page?

Welcome to SimTrop LBII. I think that I understand all of your questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

1. Yes the X10 file would be the best one to use in your situation.

2. To get the better pathfinding and the longer commute times, just use the NetworkAddonModd_TrafficPlugin_BetterPathfinding_10xCommute.dat file.

3. In short, the radical automata file increases the automata present on the screen at one time. Also, each individual automata will stay on the screen for longer amounts of time.


As for which ideas will be developed in the future, it is really hard to say. Right now there are very few people who can actually bring these ideas into the game. The rule of thumb so far has been 'if you can't do it in the game right now, it gets higher priority.' For example, the Highway 'Y' Interchange and Diagonal Highway/Orthagonal Road On-ramps are more likely to be included in the modd than a different looking highway stack. Hope this makes sense.


-red

quote>


Thank you! you explanations are exactly what I need to understand a lite more the possibilites of the God-blessed NAM! My Sims will be grateful for the distance boost!

[Ryan B 35]

About these stacks:  It looks like there's a BAT piece missing out of the elevated highway direct connector ramps leading off to the right.  It prevents UDI from accessing that ramp, resulting in a mission failure.

I don't have a pic on me right now, but I'll get one in a bit.  My question is - redlotus - is a fix for this planned?

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

i have the same issue with the stack, i will post a pic shortly with it. I noticed that in the first and second release on the NAM site.

update on site, faring well, i never thought i would see so much traffic on that site, ever. lol

[redlotus 16]

Date: 2/5/2005 11:58:40 PM
Author: ryanb_sc4
About these stacks:  It looks like there's a BAT piece missing out of the elevated highway direct connector ramps leading off to the right.  It prevents UDI from accessing that ramp, resulting in a mission failure.

I don't have a pic on me right now, but I'll get one in a bit.  My question is - redlotus - is a fix for this planned?

I would be glad to fix the problem.  However, I'm not seeing it on my end as far as I can tell.  If you (or anyone else) could post a pic of the problem, I'll take a look at it.

Everyone else:  Sorry about the rotation and preview problems.  Guess I was just moving a little too fast and missed those things.  I've got them fixed on my copy, but I'd like to take a look at the problem ryanb and others have reported before I submit the update to NYR.

Sepsis:  The BAT has several 'blocks' of numbers that it uses to assign to the Group and Instance numbers of the models and lots.  Unfortunately, one of these 'blocks' conflicts with the NAM.  Since the Group that we are using for the NAM overrides any other models with the same Instance number, you get the problem that you are seeing.  In order to fix it, you would have to change the Instance numbers of all files (and their corresponding references in the Exemplars).  The best way to do this in the Reader is to use the TGI Editor under the Tools menu--move the Instance numbers out of the 0x5xxxxxxx range and hope that it doesn't conflict with another BAT.  Then you would have to change all of the reference Properties in the Exemplars.  Hope this makes some sense.  If not, let me know.

Thanks for your patience

-red

[Ryan B 35]

redlotus & NYR1 - Here's a picture of the problem:

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//1.GIF width=28 align=baseline>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//2.GIF width=29 align=baseline>

Sorry about the kinda-sorta poor image quality.

Basically, the missing BAT pieces are on the direct connector ramps leading to the right, as per the pictures.

redlotus - I hope this helps!

[heartofsong83 0]

Problem here: I downloaded it and all it says is Missing Thumb in the highways menu...no link at all to the stack

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

that is it.it specifically said read the readme, we put it there for a reason, it details on the icon thing. it is there, click on the missing thumb and plop it, hope that helps. and read the readme!!!!

[Andreas Roth 607]

Well, I could make a good-looking icon (I did the other NAM icons as well), but I wanted to wait until the final look of the stack interchange is ready. As suggested, use the missing thumb icon, it works fine.

[Chanv 0]

how long will it take to finish the missing pieces

[rubberduck 3]

I'm sure he'll get it done soon!  I can't WAIT!!!  hehe (sorry)

[redlotus 16]

Date: 2/7/2005 4:14:38 PM
Author: ryanb_sc4
redlotus & NYR1 - Here's a picture of the problem:



Sorry about the kinda-sorta poor image quality.

Basically, the missing BAT pieces are on the direct connector ramps leading to the right, as per the pictures.

redlotus - I hope this helps!

Aha!!  I've figured out the problem here.  For some reason, the game does not use the correct RUL file if the NetworkAddonMod.dat and NetworkAddonMod_TGC_El_Grnd_Stack files are in the Program Files\..\..\Plugins directory.  If you move both of these files to the My Documents\..\Plugins directory, everything works correctly.  I'm not sure why this happens, because I've never really understood the processing order of the .dat files completely.  Anyway, I've included a note about this in the new readme file for future reference.

NYR:  Expect another update coming your way in a little while.

-red

[greyveil 37]

ok, that is odd! glad you found a fix.

[zdog720 74]

Will the interchange download updated be on the network addon site, or where can we download it?