Working with the slope mod

[dmrsunz 2]

I would expect a slope mod to make a smooth grade from the first tile to the last. But when I drag a street/road/whatever I get a smooth grade from the first tile to about the 3rd, 4th, or 5th tile.

Once while using the Hole Digging Mods to tunnel under a rail bridge I actually got a perfect slope about 12-15 tiles long, but I haven't been able to replicate anything like that since. Am I doing something wrong or are my expectations too high?

I'm using the JCS_TunnelAndSlope Mod. I have the latest NAM but I did not install all the mods of that set. Is there a slope function in NAM that I missed? If so does it conflict with JCS's?

[tf923 0]

I learned just enough iLive Reader to be able to modify the values in JCS_TunnelAndSlopeMod.dat to suit me. Even then, I still need different slopes in different situations, so I have to quit out, change the slope in Reader and go back into the game.

It's a pain. I wish there was a better way. Whenever there are no other buildings around, I just use the terrain tools to manually make the slope I want. When there are buildings around, I have to use the mod and pray that it gives an acceptable result.

There is also a parameter in those exemplars called MaxNetworkSlopeChange that is beautiful. It makes beautiful slopes exactly the way I want them every time. Unfortunately this parameter causes the game to be unstable and it crashes often. So I had to change my MaxNetworkSlopeChange back to the defaults.

[dmrsunz 2]

Seems to me that since there is an underlying grayscale heightmap image, there should be some way to sample Point_A cell and Point_B cell and have the program calculate a smooth transition between those values. Knowing image editing software better than I do SC4 underpinnings I'm sure it's not that easy.

If I could EXPORT the city-tile heightmap, edit it, and re-import it...

As it is I'm not even sure the slope mods I've installed are working. Would a road simply hug the cliff tile or fail to build altogether if the mod were not there?

Guess I could see for myself...

[Hthompson 0]

Hi, Where can I download the slope mod. I just find the overly steep roads on hills so annoying.

[Swamper77 90]

H Thompson,

Vlakhaas released the JCS Slope Mod on the STEX a long time ago. You can download it from there. However, at the moment, the STEX is having issues.

-Swamper77

[JayStimson 211]

I'm a big advocate of smooth looking roads/avenues/streets etc myself and I think I uderstand what your "griping" about. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a perfect solution. Just the way the game handles terrain.

tf923: Your approach is similiar in theory to the approach I use except I'd find it way too annoying to have to keep exiting the game, modding the values by trial and error, and then re-entering the game everythime I wanted to make a smooth incline. Ouch. However, the idea of modding the values is a good one except I only wanted to do it once. So here's what I did / do:

I did some testing to determine for 5 meter intervals (elevation differences) between tiles to find values for the different "road types" (road/avenue/highway, etc. where I'd get a nice smooth road from top to bottom of the incline. I then made a lifter lot and a sunken lot set for 5 meters up and down (modified from smoncrie's hole digging lots). I then use road dots to smooth up to where I want the road to take the next step (use the lifter or sunken to set the next level) smooth using dots, delete the dots, and draw the road. The slope comes out perfectly everytime. 5 meter increments are small enough so I can follow the terrain (hills and valleys) fairly closely for a reasonably realistic appearance. Since the slope values are set for 5 meters, any multiples of 5 come out perfectly too. Oh yeah, almost forgot, the "terrainquery" cheat really helps here. Hope I explained this okay. Anyway, that's my approach to the problem.