NAM failing to solve problems

[DaRaddishman 0]

Hola all.

Okay, so I am having strange issues with the current version of the Network Addon Mod, Beta 06/17/05 while running SC4 RH on MAC. (Clearly. heh.) I am using the Perfect Pathfinding, 5x capacity, 10x commute time.

When I first inserted the NAM into the plugins folder, things seemed to really improve, especially in terms of transit times. I had everything clicking along fantastic for a number of years. Sims were pleased as punch and commuting to work in nice managable times. None of these 'no job' zots at all! Short to Medium commute times anywhere on a 'medium' sized map.

Then one day I loaded up the game, and jumped into a city and ran it for a few minutes, and BOOM! All over the map no job zots exploded. Everyone's commute times went through the roof. My graphs went from 5 to 15 minute commutes to 45+ minute commutes.

No reason I can see other than simply coming back into a saved game. So I ran the city for a while, to see if it corrected. After a few years of game time it did not improve, even as I added more transit networks. So I blasted that city to kingdom come, and started from scratch, building the mother of all transit systems.

Took all of two game years for things to fall apart again in a bad way. Info on housing units were showing long commute times on a meduim map, and the sims have narry a few blocks to travel. Very bizzard.

Anyone else had something like this? I am completely zonkers? Are there evil gremlins afoot destroying things?

More importantly, anyone know any fixes?

[DaRaddishman 0]

So, to be helpful and illustrate the strange things going on in my city, here are screenshots, slightly doctored to illustrate my point with short distances and 'long' commute times.

[DaRaddishman 0]

unhappy house.



happy house next door.

[Tropod 144]

This has nothing to do with the NAM really.

There is a neighbour connection issue that exists with the game, that may cause something like this to happen. When cities get saved, a variety of variables get saved, with Demand being one of them. If for any reason the exe fails to properly recognise neighbour connections (& it does happen), then it can be like not having any neighbour connections at all, & demand/access can suffer as a result & can cause widespread NJZs in a city. One thing to look out for, is a high number of pedestrian commuters commuting to neighbouring cities, when they shouldn't be, when it's clearly obvious that cars should be commuting instead. In this case, the neighbour connections affected & any nearby should be bulldozed & rebuilt.

 

EDIT: I've just seen the pics. The above paragraph is still applicable though, & can still cause something like this to happen.

Those pics don't really illustrate any significant issue per se. There could be other factors involved. Abandoned due to commute time is a generic reason, on the UI display for abandoned houses, that covers a few issues that are indirectly related to commute time. In the RH Update1 there was a similar issue like this that was supposedly fixed though, but seeing as how no one really knows for sure what's in Mac version (as far as fixes go), well I couldn't elaborate on the matter. It is clearly stated in the NAM though, that it will not & can not solve NJZ issues (no amount of modding commute variables can do this). It only helps improve/increase the distances that sims are able to go, depending on which traffic plugin you use. Other variables still have a big play in how abandonment occurs.

 

[DaRaddishman 0]

Groovy. Thanks Tropod.

So I took a swing at your suggestion, toasted my connections, and rebuilt them.

Same problem keeps happening. Houses directly next to each other, going to jobs in virtually the same area (as above images) are showing radically different commute times, concistantly. All over my city. Like, in those images I posted, the house that is circled in GREEN is going FURTHER than the house circled in RED. Yet it says a short commute time.

And, frankly, both houses only have a pitance to commute. Why would EITHER of them say 'long' commute time?

This isn't about 'No Job Zots' really, it's about trying to build an effective transit system and being stimied by things that make absolutely no sense to me. NJZ's seem to be just a side effect of stange commute time issues.

I am very frustrated to say the least. As to the NAM, the only reason I downloaded it was because it claims to help with commute time issues. I get this stuff with or without it.

[Tropod 144]

Well, as I mentioned in the post above; there is a similar issue such as this that was supposedly addressed in RH Update1 for PC version, with residential buildings maintaining a long commute, but there's apparently no comparable update for the mac version. So this is probably something you'd have to get in touch with Aspyr about really.

*From what I understand* though; the issue (or bug rather) is related to the job where the sims work. For some reason once a house has become abandoned due to long commute, the commute stays 'long', which is why this happens to some residential buildings & not others despite the relative similarities between a house with short commute & long commute. The only way to *perhaps* rectify it is to bulldoze (& maybe even dezone) where they work &/or the residential building itself as well.

[DaRaddishman 0]

Mucho Madness.

Thanks for all the info Tropod. I'll muck about in the game and see what happens, baring that I'll give a shout to Aspyr about it.