NAM Traffic Simulator and Data View Support Thread

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

On 6/3/2020 at 8:06 PM, tails2489 said:

I was trying to add it without changing my version of NAM

That's easy! Just find the original NAM34 download in the folder on your PC where you save all original downloads after installing them. Install right over the top of your existing NAM, but choose different TSCT options.

One hot warning: There's absolutely zero support for older versions of NAM, so you're on your own if anything goes wrong. I recommend copying your entire plugins folder to a temp location to be safe.

But before doing any installing, you might want to hunt around in the program files area for a program having TSCT in its name. TSCT might already be on your PC, just burried. It should probably be in the same subfolder as the SC4 exe itself.

EDIT: Install-over-the-top was the form for NAM-36. That's changing now with NAM-37, so read the new instructions carefully!

 

  Edited July 10, 2020 by jeffryfisher  
New version, new wisdom!

[rsc204 21,808]

My hunch would be that the TSCT from NAM 36 would work with a NAM 34 install. However, we do not provide support for older versions of NAM, so you'd be on your own if you run into problems.

I understand a lot of people are cautious when it comes to upgrading apps, drivers or their OS, but many of the reasons why you might not update, simply doesn't apply to a product like NAM. Our mod is progressive, we move forwards and add new things, it is incredibly rare for us to remove anything and legacy support exists for almost every situation where it's necessary. For example, one of the changes that led to issues with the older RHW SPUI, required us to find a new method which is present in NAM 37RC. However, if you had existing SPUI's made using the original setup, whilst you may not be able to add new or alter existing ones, they will still display/function as normal. This example typifies our approach to ensuring things built using NAM don't become a problem if NAM changes.

In addition, due to the flexible installer, you don't have to install any more or less of the NAM than you previously had. Meaning you've simply a more up-to date version of all the code that runs behind the scenes, in addition to any fixes/patches made since your old version.

[tails2489 350]

I'll definitely try to find that original download from 4 years ago. I double checked and found only an empty folder called Traffic Configuration Tool in my c: drive where SC4 is. Weird cause I wouldn't have deleted it since I never knew what it was until this week. If all else fails I'll DL the Tool only from the NAM 36 install and if that causes any issues I'll update my whole NAM. Thank you both for the guidance.

[tails2489 350]

Upgrade to 36 seems to have been a success.

[HippoTank 20]

Hi, i've been struggling to get my head around NAM and the traffic tool for years now (haha) so I was hoping someone can explain something very basic too me...

I am not playing with game-changing mods, and am trying to keep things quite "vanilla" - however one thing which I think makes a big difference is that the vanilla game uses a route-finder path that "gets sims to go to work with the shortest distance rather than the quickest route". So this can be quite restrictive when it comes to dealing with congestion. But what fixes this? I see NAM, Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool, Simulator Z, ??? I don't need/want all the extra roads, stations, adjustments (yet!) and just want to change the route-finder to something better. What do I need for this? Is there the Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool standalone? Thank you! Would be great to understand the basics as NAM seems so complex

Edit: reading all the install files, it says things like "The RealRailway (RRW) standard for Rail is now the default and only option."  Does this mean it will install and create options and not let me only have the pathfinder?

  Edited February 19, 2021 by HippoTank  

[Tarkus 6,932]

On 2/19/2021 at 6:13 AM, HippoTank said:

Hi, i've been struggling to get my head around NAM and the traffic tool for years now (haha) so I was hoping someone can explain something very basic too me...

I am not playing with game-changing mods, and am trying to keep things quite "vanilla" - however one thing which I think makes a big difference is that the vanilla game uses a route-finder path that "gets sims to go to work with the shortest distance rather than the quickest route". So this can be quite restrictive when it comes to dealing with congestion. But what fixes this? I see NAM, Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool, Simulator Z, ??? I don't need/want all the extra roads, stations, adjustments (yet!) and just want to change the route-finder to something better. What do I need for this? Is there the Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool standalone? Thank you! Would be great to understand the basics as NAM seems so complex

Edit: reading all the install files, it says things like "The RealRailway (RRW) standard for Rail is now the default and only option."  Does this mean it will install and create options and not let me only have the pathfinder?

You can indeed simply run the Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool (TSCT) out of the folder included in the NAM download, and end up with just the simulator/pathfinding.  It is effectively standalone.  Simulator Z is simply the name of the current NAM simulator core, named after its creator, z1 (z over at SC4D), which is what the TSCT uses.  If you want the capacity level that's closest to the original, select "Classic" under the "Base Network Capacity" drop-down menu.

Running the actual NAM installer entails getting into all the rest of the functionality of the mod in at least some capacity.  There's been talk about some sort of "Lite" version that isn't as full-featured, but what exactly would be included or not included hasn't been determined, and it hasn't gotten much beyond the drawing board as a result.

-Tarkus

[nickvon 161]

I think this is the right thread. 

 

I have just downloaded NAM40.  I am curious if there is a way to affect how far sims are willing to walk to get to a transit station to get to work.  Is the TSCT the way to do this?  If so, how do I start with opening it up and implementing changes into the game?  Thanks for your time.

[Propfam 2,288]

9 hours ago, nickvon said:

I think this is the right thread. 

 

I have just downloaded NAM40.  I am curious if there is a way to affect how far sims are willing to walk to get to a transit station to get to work.  Is the TSCT the way to do this?  If so, how do I start with opening it up and implementing changes into the game?  Thanks for your time.

There's a fixed constant of 200 not-so-clear unit of commute time and it can be changed in the TSCT. If they can reach the station within the time, then it should be working. The problem becomes difficult when you should consider that they can only run about 15 not-so-clear unit of space per also-not-so-clear unit of time. So, make the way to the station short. Also, they won't commute in time when there's a jam in the way to the station. Make sure to reduce the jam under 100% of its capacity (check out sc4devotion.com/namdoc for more info, and it can be changed in the TSCT too).

[Mayor Failure 21]

I have 3 short questions regarding NAM 41 and it's simulator in particular:

1) Is there any reason one should use full NAM controller if RHW is not used at all?

2) I am comfortable with medium setting of simulator but street capacity seems quite high. Would halving it break something critical or would one just need more roads compared to streets?

3) Is transit stations capacity fixed and set high enough to support Ultra setting or is it dynamically changed based on settings chosen at installation of the NAM?

 

[Tarkus 6,932]

@Mayor Failure, to answer your questions:

1) If you're not using the RHW, there's no need to use the full NAM Controller. 

2) The NAM Simulator's capacity options are all roughly proportionally-based, so without manual editing, the proportion of Street capacity to the other network capacities is going to remain effectively the same--somewhere close to Roads being 1.67x Streets ("Classic" being the exception--the difference is Roads being 12x Streets there).  The "Low" setting will drop the capacity by 37.5% from "Medium" pretty much across the board, though there's option to do multipliers (both up and down) using the Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool (TSCT).

3) The transit station capacities are indeed set up to be able to support Ultra.

-Tarkus

[Steviefaux 1]

I've installed the latest build of NAM and can see all the puzzle pieces but the one issue I'm having are the data views. I'm not seeing any of the new data views as all. I have all the data view options ticked in TSCT.

Any ideas? I installed left hand side version of NAM, this wouldn't cause it would it?

[rsc204 21,808]

23 minutes ago, Steviefaux said:

I have all the data view options ticked in TSCT.

Bear in mind that the TSCT tool is not able to dynamically alter the settings of anything, once you've configured the desired settings, they need to be saved (into DAT files), which when loaded by the game, make the requested changes.

First check you've got the two DataView 'mods' within your NAM install, they should be inside of Network Addon Mod\5 DataView Options\. The TSCT was designed to update these files along with the Traffic Simulator files directly, the originals get moved outside of Plugins (Archived), then the new files with your current setup replace them. However, the tool was designed in an era when the NAM install structure was different, as such you may find this doesn't happen automatically.

If it's creating duplicate versions of these files, most likely the originals are loading after the new ones, which essentially wipes out these changes. You probably just need to manually handle the files here so the correct ones are loading.

23 minutes ago, Steviefaux said:

I installed left hand side version of NAM, this wouldn't cause it would it?

No.

[Steviefaux 1]

More digging and I think it is actually working, I was just being an idiot and looking at the wrong view. Just seen someone's video of the view and there it is on mine. Oops.

I was thinking it must be working as watching TSCT with Process Monitor I could see it opening the dat files then writing back to the new ones it sticks in the number 9 folder.

At least your post made me look more closely at it.

[Big Mountain 0]

[Dystopian Prophet 27]

I cannot get the patch or the NAM to 'take'. SC4L works, and I got the patch to load up but NAM wouldn't. In frustration, I started back at zero and reinstalled... now the patch won't take either. 

[Propfam 2,288]

On 26/8/2023 at 11:27 PM, Dystopian Prophet said:

I cannot get the patch or the NAM to 'take'. SC4L works, and I got the patch to load up but NAM wouldn't. In frustration, I started back at zero and reinstalled... now the patch won't take either. 

Run the patch manually by downloading it from TinyCore. It's called 4 GB Patch. Apply it to SimCity 4.exe and it should work.

[Dystopian Prophet 27]

I'm going to attempt the full shebang again when I have the time to carve out. I just got the link to the billboard TV squared away and I'd really like to make the tropical island city and the fictional war memorial city into order again. It's gonna need a lot of DLs but not worth the time until the basic are in order. It's a fun thing by itself that I can load the game in under 5 seconds in our brave new digital wasteland.

[Propfam 2,288]

33 minutes ago, Dystopian Prophet said:

It's a fun thing by itself that I can load the game in under 5 seconds in our brave new digital wasteland.

It's pretty hard to do tbh

[Dystopian Prophet 27]

On 8/28/2023 at 7:05 PM, elfrjz said:

It's pretty hard to do tbh

I paid almost $4000 for this Alienware hotrod. 3090, SSD, I run Star Wars Battlefront 2 at 700 fps (well okay peak at 700, play at 550+ just to be honest). It's madness, and SC4 is the game I've wanted to try based on the rendering power alone. Yes, the game in patched mode loads in seconds and it's... arousing, frankly. 

  Edited August 31, 2023 by Dystopian Prophet  
clarification of a brag

[Dystopian Prophet 27]

got it all straightened out, except now it won't save. It saved without the NAM, but won't save with it installed. Gave up the superfast load time, too. I've been through the permissions angle and there's no issues there. Could this have to do with W11 instead of W10?

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

6 hours ago, Dystopian Prophet said:

got it all straightened out, except now it won't save. It saved without the NAM, but won't save with it installed. Gave up the superfast load time, too. I've been through the permissions angle and there's no issues there. Could this have to do with W11 instead of W10?

If you have NAM installed it is normal for loading times to become long. This is due to the fact that in addition to having large quantities of lots, props and textures we have the RUL code. The RUL Code is the code that governs the SC4 transport system for which having FULL NAM involves longer loading times as it must load all the RUL code into RAM (For this reason the loading of the first city is always long compared to the other cities open in the same game session).

To reduce loading times and especially if you use many mods you have to use DATPACKING which is a technique of incorporating multiple mods under a few files. Datpacking requires a more careful organization of the Plugins folder and NAM Datpacking instead requires more particular procedures:

This is why Datpacking is always recommended in performing because it allows to reduce loading times in a reasonable interval. Plus Windows 10 and Windows 11 are the same thing

 

[Propfam 2,288]

The only way to speed up the NAM is to use NAM Lite instead, or maybe NAM without RHW. Datpacking, according to my experience, isn't worth the hassles. And with Evermore and its consolidated packaging (I know, this is for outside of NAM), datpacking isn't that relevant anymore.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

12 hours ago, elfrjz said:

The only way to speed up the NAM is to use NAM Lite instead, or maybe NAM without RHW. Datpacking, according to my experience, isn't worth the hassles. And with Evermore and its consolidated packaging (I know, this is for outside of NAM), datpacking isn't that relevant anymore.

From our tests we found that SC4 is optimized to read a few large files. So if you have a lot of small files there is a slowdown not only in the loading phases but also in the gameplay. So datpacking turns out to be convenient. Especially if you have an SSD and / or an NVMe SSD the datpacking is very decisive in fixing the performance of SC4 on modern computers. 

If before the NAM Team advised against datpacking now we strongly recommend the datpacking of NAM and the various mods.

[Dystopian Prophet 27]

I expected to give up the load time, that was a clean install with zero plugins. It was just really nice, lol. I did some experimentation and traced everything back to the NAM for saving. I can use other plugins, and save cities, but it will not save if the NAM is present. That is the only variable to produce the unwanted effect.

[simster007 370]

7 hours ago, Dystopian Prophet said:

I expected to give up the load time, that was a clean install with zero plugins. It was just really nice, lol. I did some experimentation and traced everything back to the NAM for saving. I can use other plugins, and save cities, but it will not save if the NAM is present. That is the only variable to produce the unwanted effect.

Did you try to datpack the NAM?

[Dystopian Prophet 27]

no, that's a strange new concept to me and I'm not being sarcastic.

[Tarkus 6,932]

I will also note . . . if you're coming from running the game "vanilla", the game might well seem like it's not going to save, as particularly with a larger city, the time for the save process may be quite long--a minute or more.  I generally recommend using the dedicated Save button, then exiting out to region when leaving a city tile, rather than using the combined Save & Exit To Region, which is actually (from my experience) slower and more temperamental.

-Tarkus

[Dystopian Prophet 27]

1 hour ago, Tarkus said:

I will also note . . . if you're coming from running the game "vanilla", the game might well seem like it's not going to save, as particularly with a larger city, the time for the save process may be quite long--a minute or more.  I generally recommend using the dedicated Save button, then exiting out to region when leaving a city tile, rather than using the combined Save & Exit To Region, which is actually (from my experience) slower and more temperamental.

-Tarkus

it's giving the error saving city dialog box. Saves are really fast, comparatively. 

[simster007 370]

15 hours ago, Dystopian Prophet said:

no, hat's a strange new concept to me and I'm not being sarcastic.

why don`t you give it try? It´s an easy process once you installed one of the tools, you don`t loose your unpacked content so you can always step back if you need and like to.

 It makes the whole gaming process faster, easier, less trouble concerning ctd´s and saving issues - I tried it myself some times ago when I was forced to (MAC issue when usinh to many single files as plugins) after long time hesitating like you, but it was a real gamechanger!

I know that the windows and mac versions are different and that it maybe will not solve your issue. Just be assured that datpacking is no harm for your game

[Dystopian Prophet 27]

whilst poking around, I must have jarred something loose. I got the NAM working and can save games. I have no idea what I did, but I guess we can mark this one solved.