Curious question/NAM bug?

[Flobey 0]

 I have a question related to NAM that I haven't seen answered in any of the "check here first" locations. I've been playing for a while and have really started getting a handle on the game's behavior but after frustration, finally checked out the world of custom content and of course, 1st things 1st, I just added the NAM. I know well enough to scour the site and do my homework reading any and all articles but I haven't seen anything about this.

First, my concept (what I'm attempting to do):

Just added NAM and began building from scratch. (In the beginning) I am isolating the wealth levels for every zone in the region by taxing accordingly to spike demand. I am starting by filling non-adjacent zones as full as possible with only ID, $CS and $R and providing no services. I grow a huge population and get rich so I can spend it later. Once I have the region as bloated as possible, I add only elementary schools (but nothing else) to grow the demand for IM. This always produces for me multiple, non connected regions of around 250k sims, exclusively R$, but educated to around 120. These dense zones surround empty ones which, when connected, begin with massive IM, CS and R$$ demand. Eventually, my plan is to expand in this same way, providing more to my IM/R$$ zones to spike demand for new zones of CO, IHT and R$$$. Using the tax grid and efficient design, I'm trying in the beginning to create these modular zones that have no mixing of wealth levels and most importantly-the Res. population and the amount of jobs all grow next to each other in proportion to minimize inter-zone commuting. 

That's my concept. Where I am currently at is trying to make these IM/R$$/CS zones that fill in the gaps between the poor and dirty zones. This is where my problems arise:

1) I am new to the NAM and though it has helped traffic flow/city growth immensely, I've noticed that I am registering absolutely 0 car traffic. Not a single car. With the poor zones I figured it was normal for the NAM. All the jobs were in walking distance and I was able to get them to take the subway so those were the only forms of traffic occurring. I didn't think much of it since it was all low wealth. I am growing skeptical though now that I am developing these other regions with R$$ and massive amounts of jobs in both IM and CS$$ but still I have not a single car. Is this a bug in the NAM for Macintosh? Is there a patch, fix or other MOD file that corrects this?

This lack of cars leads to my next curious situation:

2)In growing these IM/CS$$/R$$ zones, I am getting huge development of all types as a result of the great demand, which is what I'd hoped for. The problem is that I am getting lots of "no job" zots. Obviously, not being a dumbass, I checked them out and as I suspected, it is due to commute time. This doesn't make sense to me because A) the distance between the homes and the jobs is no greater than in the dirty cities, so they could walk, and B) I know that all of the ID jobs in the other regions do not require any R$$, so it cannot be the case that they want to make the long commute to other zones. 

In a middle class zone, if there was no bug or problem, I would expect to see some cars. Perhaps not everyone, but wouldn't at least one R$$ sim be brave enough to buy a car and use it? I know this is a long post, but like I've said, I've done my homework, and I'm starting to get a decent grasp of game dynamics and I'm still hitting a wall. If anyone has the attention span to read and shed some light on this, me love you long time. Thanks.

Matt

[Flobey 0]

I forgot to add also that the problem with my middle class cities is not the obvious. I am providing the middle class with all of the services and parks and rec they need. The problem is not getting the development, it is that they don't want to work. Perhaps the farmers in a nearby zone are growing pot?

[Tarkus 6,931]

Hi Flobey--welcome to Simtropolis!

All of your issues seem to suggest that you may have installed a "Park and Ride" Traffic Plugin by mistake when you installed the NAM.  These "Park and Ride" plugins basically prevent cars from being able to directly access places of employment, requiring the use of parking lots for cars--otherwise, the sims will take transit, or in absence of that, walk the entire way.

Reinstall the NAM with another Traffic Plugin option that does not say "Park and Ride", and things should be working more normally.

Hope that helps!

-Alex (Tarkus)

[Flobey 0]

Thanks Alex, I'll check that out. Like I said, I'm using the Mac version and I never found or used an actual installer application. All I did was a drag and drop to the the plugins folder. I'll take a closer look.

[Tarkus 6,931]

Originally posted by: Flobey

Thanks Alex, I'll check that out. Like I said, I'm using the Mac version and I never found or used an actual installer application. All I did was a drag and drop to the the plugins folder. I'll take a closer look.quote>

Glad to lend a hand, and I'm sorry, I didn't catch the Mac part earlier--should have read more carefully.   But if you were to just move the entire "Traffic Plugins" out of the NAM .zip into your Plugins, since the game loads Plugins in alphabetical order, it would effectively mean you'd be running the "Park & Ride" version of Simulator Z Ultra by default.

Actually, the solution should be easier for you as a Mac user--just remove all the Traffic Plugins from the Traffic Plugins folder except the one you want to use, and save the unused ones outside your Plugins folder, in case you want to experiment with different options.  In fact, I sometimes recommend to the Windows users who want to experiment to download the Mac version for that reason.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[...~*{ALEX}*~... 1]

just out of curiosity, is there a park and ride version that allows for SOME car traffic as opposed to none?

[CaptCity 4,669]

Originally posted by: ...~*{ALEX}*~...

just out of curiosity, is there a park and ride version that allows for SOME car traffic as opposed to none?quote>

Don't think so - it's all or nothing. At least I haven't seen anything saying otherwise.

[z1 566]

Originally posted by: CaptCity

Originally posted by: ...~*{ALEX}*~...

just out of curiosity, is there a park and ride version that allows for SOME car traffic as opposed to none?quote>

Don't think so - it's all or nothing. At least I haven't seen anything saying otherwise.

quote>

It's literally a binary value in the traffic simulator.  However, if you build parking lots or garages near rapid transit, Sims will use them, so you can get a sort of partial Park & Ride that way.