GLR issues

[Quiksilver4250 0]

Hi, Im new here but have had SC4 and Rush Hour since they came out. I just reinstalled them on my laptop and recently found out about how SC4 is moddable. I downloaded the June 2009 NAM, GLR stations and hubs, RTMTV3.5, BFR traffic control set 1.2, and all the required dependencies. I made my first attempt at creating a commerce only district and experimented with the GLR. I set up a nice network, however, no one uses them. In the attached picture, 4 trains are clearly visible, yet the income from fairs is only $10. What is going on here? At one point, fares were over $400, but I had to change part of the network so they stayed at zero for several (game) years until right before the screenshot was taken.

[k808j 0]

You have a lot of abandoned buildings in the area. Your commerce and industry has to pick up before the sims really start using the GLR.

[CaptCity 4,753]

Hi Quiksilver4250... Welcome to Simtropolis...

I noticed that your population is '0' so I'm assuming you have this city connected to a residential city. Have you checked your neighbor connection(s) to verify they're still OK and if sims are leaving the other city to this one (you didn't accidently block any with the traffic control set). Also, what traffic simulator do you when you installed NAM? Sometimes it can take them a long time to adjust after changes to the transportation system. Just a thought...

[Quiksilver4250 0]

Yes, the city is connected to a residential city. The main avenue in the middle actually leads right off the map to a mainly residential city that has almost no commercial at all.

I installed simulator Z Ultra when I installed NAM. No roads are blocked in this city. I am currently planning to form another residential city and connecting that once it starts developing. The abandoned buildings seem to pop up, then become active again frequently.

[Retep Molinari 68]

You may need a parking lot so that the sims can get out of their cars and get on the tram.

[CaptCity 4,753]

Hmmm... Have you gone back into the residential city and checked to see if sims are leaving (any idea how many were before)? Do you have any idea how many game years it's been since the changes were made? It may just be a case of waiting for the simulator to 'recalibrate'. I also use the z-simulator, and I've had to wait a bunch after changing traffic patterns.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Thats a nice looking system there, but I'd recommend downloading a better tram. The default El-Rail trains look crap on the GLR system, so search the STEX for some better trams.

Make sure the system goes well over the city, from residental to commercial/industrial, so sims use it. Place lines along heavily used roads as you will relieve the pressure of the roads (it will go to the trams) and it will increase riders. Use it with buses and rail for maximum usage.

[RedImperator 16]

Does the GLR connect to the residential city? And if not, do you have park-and-ride parking lots available? If the sims are driving in from elsewhere and there's noplace to park their cars, they'll just drive straight to work and ignore the trams.

[mayor_brando 8]

I believe the draggable GLR is able to connect to neighbor cities, and for the parking lot, you could just use the regular parking garage that comes with the game. If not, there are many good parking lots on the STEX.

[RedImperator 16]

Originally posted by: mayor_brando

I believe the draggable GLR is able to connect to neighbor cities, and for the parking lot, you could just use the regular parking garage that comes with the game. If not, there are many good parking lots on the STEX.quote>

I discovered by experient that you don't even need the draggable GLR.  Placing a tram-in-avenue or tram-on-road puzzle piece directly on an avenue or road tile with a neighbor connection will create a working GLR connection to a neighbor.  It's very nice; if you're so inclined, you can now build seamless streetcar networks across multiple city tiles.

[Quiksilver4250 0]

@RedImperator: I actually thought about creating a neighbor connection with the GLR, but didnt realize that it was possible.

@CaptCity: Last time I checked, a couple thousand sims enter and leave the city during rush hour.

@Retep MolinariI: I actually never thought about placing parking garages. Now that you say that, I realized that thats probably a main issue is theres nowhere to park and ride.

Thanks for the advice. I'll go back later, make some improvements/changes and see what happens

[CMan72 0]

Is the GLR directly connected to another residential city? Maybe you could do better that way.

[CaptCity 4,753]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver4250

...Last time I checked, a couple thousand sims enter and leave the city during rush hour.quote>

So you have a couple thousand leaving the neighbor city, but none coming into this city? Might try to redo he connections.

Or perhaps, the sims would just rather drive. If you use the Route Query tool to query your stations, what do you get? Does it show the stations being used? Sims should be able to walk from stations even if no parking is available.

[RedImperator 16]

Originally posted by: CaptCity

Originally posted by: Quiksilver4250

@RedImperator:...Last time I checked, a couple thousand sims enter and leave the city during rush hour.quote>

So you have a couple thousand leaving the neighbor city, but none coming into this city? Might try to redo he connections.

Or perhaps, the sims would just rather drive. If you use the Route Query tool to query your stations, what do you get? Does it show the stations being used? Sims should be able to walk from stations even if no parking is available.

quote>

Sims won't walk very far; if there aren't stations in walking distance of residential zones, they MUST have parking available or the sims won't use them.  Even if they do have parking, if all the stations are in or near the commercial core, most sims will just ignore them and continue driving to their destination.

In real life, of course, sims at work might still use an all-downtown GLR system, to, say, run errands, or go get lunch, but SC4 doesn't model any of this behavior.  In SC4-land, sims only ever leave their houses to go to work, and then they come straight home.  Which, come to think of it, was exactly the way the sims lived in the first Sims game.

[CaptCity 4,753]

Actually, a characteristic of the z-simulator is a greater 'tolerance' for walking if it's a more efficient route. This is, of course, dependent upon the layout of the city. 

[Quiksilver4250 0]

My sytem is working pretty well now. I made a neighbor connection of GLR and added a few parking garages. Now during morning rush hour, the fare profits increase to over $800. It made me happy to see trains like these on my network (see pic). Sure, I know the trains I'm using arent GLR specific, but I wanted something that wouldnt look stupid on my el rail. I think it looks kinda cool.

Note: my pics are being downsized for some reason, so they are smaller than they should be

[RedImperator 16]

Originally posted by: CaptCity

Actually, a characteristic of the z-simulator is a greater 'tolerance' for walking if it's a more efficient route. This is, of course, dependent upon the layout of the city. 

quote>

Yeah, that was one of the reasons I switched to z.  But unless you're using a really radical version, they still have their limits.  I think the furthest mine will walk is down the long side of three 6x4 blocks.

Originally posted by: Quiksilver4250

My sytem is working pretty well now. I made a neighbor connection of GLR and added a few parking garages. Now during morning rush hour, the fare profits increase to over $800. It made me happy to see trains like these on my network (see pic). Sure, I know the trains I'm using arent GLR specific, but I wanted something that wouldnt look stupid on my el rail. I think it looks kinda cool.

Note: my pics are being downsized for some reason, so they are smaller than they should be

quote>

Glad to see things are working out.  I guess I've become something of an evangelist for GLR, partly because I'm a trolley geek and partly because it just works so well in my own city.  Incidentally, I went the opposite direction from you when selecting automata: I picked a one-car streetcar that would look good running the streets and I've accepted how silly that looks on an elevated line.  I wish we could have separate automata for GLR and El-rail, but that would involve hacking the .EXE.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Hell, I use a W Class Style Red one-car tram on my network and don't use el-rail. To make the system look good, replace most of the el-rail with Viaduct rail and connect some of the el-rail to the tram system. I saw a city journal that linked them and it looked cool.

Is there a tramcar download that doesn't replace the existing one, but adds to it? As I would love to have some old-style trams with modern low lying articulated trams.

[CaptCity 4,753]

Originally posted by: RedImperator

...Yeah, that was one of the reasons I switched to z.  But unless you're using a really radical version, they still have their limits.  I think the furthest mine will walk is down the long side of three 6x4 blocks.quote>

I usually use the High vesrion, and I'll get a good number of sims walking several blocks (6x4 variety). Probably depends on what alternatives exist and how close they are.

Originally posted by: Quiksilver4250

...My sytem is working pretty well now...I know the trains I'm using arent GLR specific, but I wanted something that wouldnt look stupid on my el rail. I think it looks kinda cool.quote>

Good to see things are working. I see you use the BART trains. I use those quite a bit because there are also other BART transport methods (buses, trains, bullet trains), and I can have a matched set (I'm kind of funny that way    )

[reedalson 0]

It looked silly to see 16-car BART trains on your GLR network!You should reduce the number of cars to just 1. Plus, for more sillines sake, connect heavy rail to GLR and have a freight train run on it! I saw, once, here, a picture of a freight train on a GLR line!

[hey zeus 6]

Originally posted by: reedalson

It looked silly to see 16-car BART trains on your GLR network!You should reduce the number of cars to just 1. Plus, for more sillines sake, connect heavy rail to GLR and have a freight train run on it! I saw, once, here, a picture of a freight train on a GLR line!quote>

How do you reduce the number of cars??

I think it looks ridiculous to have a glr train that is 7 or 8 cars long when 90% of the stations i use are 3 tiles long

 

[zurrabear 20]

Originally posted by: reedalson

It looked silly to see 16-car BART trains on your GLR network!You should reduce the number of cars to just 1. Plus, for more sillines sake, connect heavy rail to GLR and have a freight train run on it! I saw, once, here, a picture of a freight train on a GLR line!quote>

The default is just one tram car, isn't it?  I have seen images posted in forums here and elsewhere showing multiple cars, and I agree that's just wrong, but I figured someone had used a custom skin to get that look.  I use a custom tram car plug-in and it's always been just one car.

 

[marsvolta176 0]

My trams do not appear on the tracks of my GLR. What's wrong? it says that the stations are being used, but I don't see any trams on the tracks.