NAM General Discussion Thread

[dklap3 0]

First of all, thanx a lot to all the people that has worked on the NAM, I really enjoy it


Okay, now a crazy request. I would love to see a HUGE intersection, which connects highways in all possible directions (4 highways crossing). I'm doubt it is possible, but it would surely be very cool. It could look something like this:



And here a photoshopped in-game version, look really messy though:



Again, I strongly doubt it is possible, but if it is, there is probably better ways to make it than mine.

[galileo 0]

dklap3,

That was proposed and discussed a couple months ago... This is page 85, so try back in the 40's or so (a guess, could be way off). I wasn't real interested at the time, but I think what they finally concluded was that it would just take up too much space. Several proposals were made for ramp routes and no one could seem to get anything sensible to fit within the maximum size of an interchange. Too bad, because it certainly would be cool. I don't have a clue what I'd use it for in-game, but it'd be cool.

-- Kyle

[the7trumpets 10]

The maximum size of the interchange is the key here, the max size is 16x16 tiles.  In order to make such an interchange, it would have to be quite tall, and be very compact looking.  Like we've been saying, anyone who wants to try some of these things is more than welcome with the interchange tutorial now complete.  Good luck!!!

 

 

btw - I absolutely LOVE the avenue Y thingy red

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

That would be really cool, but i would hate to drive through that, i wouldnt know where to go! lol


Can anyone help me out with this;


https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=55021&pageNo=1


Thanks

[ScLu 3]

Perhaps, instead of making all four highways continuous, a central roundabout is substituted? I hand-drew something and used my dad's all-in-one printer to make a copy of it then scan the copy into the computer. I managed to fit the whole d*mn kit&kaboodle in the default 16*16 space. With a little room to spare (actually takes up less space than the Maxis clocerleaves). ANNNND...being a roundabout, all cars never travel up OR down to get where they're going, so the only UDI hassle it'd cause would be traffic jams in REALLY conjested cities. If y'all gimme till this weekend, I can have it posted as a zip (it's HUGE! the dimensions are in the 1000's). Just download, extract, and drool (okay, so I used a compass and ruler to draw it, but at least it's neat and readable). I'll also have a few more suggestions for the NAM (it'll be a LOOOONG post).

 

-EDIT-I'm busting with ideas that I haven't had time to suggest yet, but this weekend could be it.

[Dexter 40]

Talking of roundabouts, there is a thread that has some textures for the road and avenue here:

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/view.asp?mode=viewtopic&topicID=53646&num=30&pageNo=2  

 

When a good modder makes these into real network interchanges, it's another part added to the modd.

 

The textures were not made by me in the first place, but I have edited them to make them look better, but they may have to be changed.

[dklap3 0]

Thanx for the answers. Maybe a roundabout would be a better idea, that would also allow one to drive in whatever direction you want (something that would be nearly impossible to make possible with an interchange like mine). I've tried to make one earlier though, but it got too huge to be really usable. Maybe a mod can fix that somehow

[BrandonTheGreat 0]

A Question, do you guys plan to make Collector-Distributor Highways like the ones in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and not to mention Toronto. You know, the express-local setup, could you guys make that?

[jmrussell2003 1]

Those type of freeways are already possible. I am from Cleveland, and your talking about the express-local setup on I-271. Heres what I do in Simcity to mimick that type of setup.

[thpwrthtbe 1]

Hello ALl.  i had a few questions about the latest Network Addon beta release.   The htm arent loading so im wondering if there are certain files such as the Automata plugin files or any others that i have to pick from, as opposed to just dumping them all into plugins. thanks

[6459978. 106]

Oh! that's great; I never even thought of doing it like that! But does the middle highway serve any purpose? Are there any exits from express to collector lanes or vice versa? I don't see how there could be within the limits of the game...

[dominohobbes 27]

The middle highway DOES serve a purpose if you turn the side highways into oneway roads and make them turn off to the side- then there is enough room for an interchange with the middle highway. something like this:

As you can see I made the middle highway HOV lanes with Big Red Fish's Oneway road HOV lanes, I just converted part of the highway to oneway roads to fit in the HOV car blocker.

[zdog720 74]

Would the pathfinding on this interchange be alot of work?

Because i'm thinking about trying to do it myself, but I don't know how to do the pathfinding!

[ardecila 124]

Do you mean pathfinding, or path writing? If you want to do Path writing, just wait until qurlix comes out with his beta of XPath. It should only be a few days or so.

Oh, and if you're interested in the model, I can send it to you. Just PM me with your plans.

[thpwrthtbe 1]

OK so im late to the party, Ive been searching for instuctions on how to properly install the network addon mod and its all been removed, or has it....... anyone know where i might find the instructions.. im looking for info on how to select between the different pathfinding files etc. 

[the7trumpets 10]

Date:9/1/2004 11:06:14 AM
Author:Thalassicus

Here's what I was referring to earlier, is this possible? If we use the puzzle-piece method (like the Pedestrian Mall) and enable car transit with these four textures:

 (rough sketch)

 

Could we create transit-enabled parking lots like this one:

We could use the same building methods as the pedestrian mall, with real parking lots

There's a huge amount of 1*X CS

[kassarc16 4]

 

I really would like to see this one, maybe even an all-way version of it, where people coming from the right could take the other highway too.

[a11eria 3]

lol kassarc that would be called a T intersection.

[Zeddic 3]

Well, not necessarily. One highway is coming to interchange diagonally, so it isn't a 'real' T. I think I'll call it DOT-interchange. (Diagonal-Orthogonal T-interchange)

Kassarc propably meant something like this:

[redlotus 16]

@zdog720

Would the pathfinding on this interchange be alot of work?

 

Not a lot of work.  I could probably get it done for you in a few hours.  Just let me know when you are ready and I can get the paths and RUL changes done for you.

 

@the7trumpets

Any new discoveries on the '2' lines?

 

This rep controls the 'Level of Detail'.  If set to 0x00, the prop will always show up no matter what the City Detail level is set to.  Setting it to 0x10, the City Detail must be set to Medium or High in order for the prop to show up.  Setting it to 0x20, the City Detail must be set to High in order for the prop to show up.

 

btw - I absolutely LOVE the avenue Y thingy red

 

Awww, shucks.   I'm glad you like it.

 

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

 

Thank you.  We don't know what it will be.  Since my wife wants it to be a surprise, we won't know until the baby is born.

 

-red

[kassarc16 4]

Date:9/10/2004 6:00:54 AM
Author:Zeddic

Kassarc propably meant something like this:

quote>

 

Very much so. Highways don't always connect in a perfect T shape.

[Thunderman 30]

Hi guys!

First of all i'll like to say that you guys deliver great work with the NAM!
Pls keep it going!

But my mainly problem that I have is that I can't select some of the features that the NAM has!

As for instance, I can't select the new cloverleaf, and some of the seperate on/off ramps!

I can however select the ANT tool, but that's about it...
I have tried to re-install the NAM but didn't work...

Can someone help me with this? Because I like those features alot!

Thanks in advance!

Thunderm@n

[ardecila 124]

Call the interchange an oblique T. Oblique means somewhere between parallel and perpendicular. T is self-explanatory.

And guys, Builderman is BATting it already.

[6459978. 106]

Okay, here's a photoshopped example of something I have seen suggested MANY times before, but never taken past the brainstorming stage. Hopefully this picture will pique some capable peoples' interest:

 

 

And along with this, I'd also love to see ground highway one-sided perpendicular offramps.

 

Please and thanks.

[The Great Chozo 34]

Date:9/8/2004 11:53:12 PM
Author:shasta

I've got a question:

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

quote>

Well Shasta, I have answer for you.

I am right here.

As of the past month, I was given a seat on the real world monorail, and I haven't stopped off at a station since then. Hmm.  Ok here that is in English.

I have just started the last semester of undergrad, and I finally got hired at a job that I was trying to get since May. Unfortunately I have virtually no free time at all, whatsoever anymore. I just sent an e-mail to Tropod to let him know, and then I got here and saw that he has done exactly what I did. Well it is unfortunate that he is gone, but as others have said, the NAM is not dead, especially with the transit godfather t7t back in the fold .

Tropod, if you read this, it was a great ride, and best of luck with whatever you are doing in the real world.

Now as for YOU Redlotus, many many many Congrats on what will become the best gift you have ever received in your life. I remember you telling me several months ago that you and your wife were planning on this, and I am delighted to see that it is going to happen. I hope you will have the time every now and then to check up on things here, but by all means focus on little Redlotus Jr.  !!!!!!!

About my interchanges:

Some of them were waiting in queue to be modded simply because they were graphic overhauls of interchanges already existing in the game. Others have been worked on. At last I knew Red had the Elevated over Ground intersection, which I remember had a lot of interest. Since I haven't been around I don't know the progress of the model.

I have the 3 Highway Y Intersection on my comp. I started to modd it, but then got picked up by the real world bus, so I stopped it. To be honest I am not going to have the time to work on this model, like I did during the summer. However, if someone wants to pick it up and try there hand at modding it, then by all means PLEASE let me know. At last I checked this one had A LOT of interest, and I myself would love to use it in the game. t7t, I would prefer that you take up the task if you want, simple because of your history and past work, but the offer is open to anyone who had good modding skills and know how to modd a s3d network interchange model. For those of you who forgot what this intersection looked like, I am going to double post right after this post, with a reply to the orginal post where I first showed the Highway Y.

I still check my PM's, and my email addresses are still the same, Red I guess you are the only one here who has mine, other than Builderman.

Well sorry about the absence, but I have more important things going on nowadays. I won't be completely disappearing, BUT I can't say how often I will be here either. I have a fairly slow and relaxing weekend coming up, so I will try to pop in in the next few days.

Have a good one everyone !!!

The Great Chozo

[The Great Chozo 34]

Date:7/11/2004 11:15:45 AM
Author:The Great Chozo

Ok, without further ado, it is done.

 

Finally we can intersect 3 highways at one junction. (We will be able to after some considerable modding, but hey the model is done.)

 

Well here are some pics of it:

 

 

 

Look Tolomar, you are famous .

 

 

 

 

And here are two preview render shots, which came out pretty in my opinion:

 

 

 

Please, Please, Please, no comments about the textures. 1) I know some of them came out funky, there is nothing I can do about that. 2) These are not even the final ones, they are on the model so I can see how it looks.

 

A quick note about the splits. There are two splits here:

 

1) The highway seperates the two different sides.

 

2) The main lanes split from One 3 lane deck, to Two 2 lane decks. At this split the middle lane of the highway, will split off to both directions, and the two outer lanes will be exit only lanes going to their respective ramps. Refer to the above pictures for clarification, if you need any.

 

All the ramps have more than enough clearance.

Every direction is accessible from the highways, ie from one highway you have the options to get to the other two.

 

Well what do you think, anyone like this?

 

The Great Chozo .

quote>

 

This is a double post in concert with the post I just posted. This is to show those who haven't seen, or have forgotten what my Highway Y intersection looked like.

TGC

[the Monkeys Uncle 35]

Damn, that sucks. Oh well, it was and still is the greatest modd ever! Good job well it lasted! And I hope it can be picked up again some time.

[Thalassicus 33]

Date:9/10/2004 2:00:42 AM
Author:the7trumpets

You know how the ped mall tiles require that the sim comes from a MT lot, like a parking lot?  Well, this would be no different.  The transit enabled lot would do nothing more than pass cars from the road to the parking lot, but it's still necissary.  That doesn't make this project impossible though, it makes it just slightly more complex:

quote>

I had assumed they only needed to transfer from a MT lot because they were pedestrian traffic, which requires a transition...if car puzzle pieces require this, how were road/avenue bridges done?  Anyways, it should be easy to make the extra tile, I was considering it since the parking lots already need a way to visually connect to roads.

You would have to be mildly careful of how you design your parking lots if you had more than one entrance, to discourage thru traffic.  However, we could increase the transit switch property of the entrance lot to discourage such pathfinding.

quote>

Remember in SC4's geometry the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to both sides combined, so going through a parking lot wouldn't be a short cut. Speaking of which, what network does the ped mall use the speeds of? If it's streets, since large parking lots are commonly found next to avenues it will inherently discourage shortcuts combined due to the lower speed, plus the geometry factor.

This would only be overcome if congestion is sufficient enough that the transit speeds become equal or disproportionate on the main thoroughfare, and only be a factor for sims turning left or right. Then again, this is a problem in real life too. To discourage through traffic from surrounding neighborhoods all the strip malls in my area are not connected to the residential streets, typically with a brick wall between to discourage vandalism and such, and taking right-turns through parking lots is illegal (although you still see people doing it...) So it would basically be it would be more of a realistic design factor to consider when building the parking lots, probably not neccessary to address too strongly from a switch-point standpoint.

The current car 'props' have only 5 cars wide accross one tile, not 6.  In order to use the cars which are included, these tiles will need to have only 5 spaces per tile width, or 25.6 pixel wide parking spaces.

quote>

The tiles themselves are actually 6 cars wide, and the cars are spaced too close together to use wider spaces, leaving an empty car space between each tile:

If there a limitation to using the 6 cars I'm unaware of I can remove the extra lane, otherwise it would probably look best to have the lot full of cars

[timotheus4 39]

1 other thing that would be great, is avenue and ground highway cloverleaf interchanges.

Like this:

Moving on to more complex stuff:

And more complex stuff:

And still more complex stuff. LOL! Incidentally, I live roughly 1000 feet west of this one.

[Thalassicus 33]

You can accomplish that by transitioning the avenue to a highway right before entering the interchange  It doesn't look quite as good, but it is fully functional and allows for easy highway expansion later on.