NAM

[Decaf Table 0]

I'd like to try downloading the NAM. I'm curious as to how this effects the game and is it cheating?

I've read there are a few different capacity options, like classic, low, etc. How do I know which one of these to use?

Also, my main city right now is abandoning due to commute issues (of course right?) will this fix the issue and allow my demand to go back to normal?

[Tysons4 68]

if you've given up on the stratigy of the game and just want it for looks then go for the nam.

sim city 4 is a really hard game to master and most people will tell you nam isn't cheating... in my opinion you are only cheating yourself... and as added incentive you get a few more interchange types and can control how your sims commute... i personally dont use it... the game is already fragile enough with the crashing, and all extra addons will only increase that factor

building networks is very counter intutive, however nam has made it so that you can control capcities and network usages and take all the guess work out of building a simcity.

here is how i take care of commute issues

1. red networks get upgraded

2. reduce intersections

3. mass transit

4. zone commerical on your busiest routes, industry near the edge and residental in low traffic areas

5. repeat steps 1-4 and enjoy

[jgehrts 18]

On the contrary, the original highways are a cheat - the size is FAR too small, which one could easily argue gives you an unfair capacity for the size of the road.

Both the non-NAM networks, and the NAM networks, have benefits and drawbacks if you want to discuss "cheating." If you feel that not adding anything to the game is the only way to not cheat, then so be it. But for the sake of more realistic cities, I'm a fan of the NAM.

[Tysons4 68]

Originally posted by: jgehrts

On the contrary, the original highways are a cheat - the size is FAR too small, which one could easily argue gives you an unfair capacity for the size of the road.

Both the non-NAM networks, and the NAM networks, have benefits and drawbacks if you want to discuss "cheating." If you feel that not adding anything to the game is the only way to not cheat, then so be it. But for the sake of more realistic cities, I'm a fan of the NAM.quote>

how would original highways be a cheat? they came with the game and highways are designed to handle massive ammounts of traffic.

[Vahr 341]

NAM is not a "cheat," in technical terms. It simply allows for more options with your transportation. Got a funky junction that you can't seem to get right? Get creative with the NAM and fix that! Also, it makes maxis items more easy to use (ie you have more control over interchanges, you have more interchanges, you have new intersection possibilities, you have more transitions (like onewayroad to Avenue), tons more to say here).

As for the traffic simulators, the main function is to provide a more sensible pathfinding for the sims. The "flavors" are merely your choice if you wish to make managing traffic easier or harder; the Medium setting is about the same (capacity wise) as the maxis.

the game is already fragile enough with the crashing, and all extra addons will only increase that factor

quote>

Then explain how I can play for 4 hours straight with 3.1 GB of plugins without a single crash? That claim has no basis unless its your computer's fault (ie you dont have enough RAM, your video card is a fail, your CPU is too slow, you're running it on more than one CPU (MUST SET AFFINITY TO USE ONE CPU FOR SC4))

EDIT:

how would original highways be a cheat? they came with the game and highways are designed to handle massive ammounts of traffic.

quote>

First of all, "massive" isn't really that much. Also, if you're saying that RHW is a "cheat" because it didn't come with the game, then explain the fact that we merely "unlocked" the network.

Secondly, its because they're grossly undersized (In no place IRL have I seen a highway ramp that is only 150 ft long) which is why I use RHW 95% of the time for highway usage (plus I kinda need that extra capacity of the wider RHW's, something the maxis highay, even when dobuled or tripled, can't do). I mean, in a real city, highways take up space.

However, your choice, not mine. You can suffer from dull completely agonizingly limited setups that repeat themselves thousands of times over and practically force a grid city (UGH) if you want it to be that way, as long as you're happy.

[Bplax15 2]

IMO it's not cheating. I really feel Maxis was not thorough enough in making of this game. Without nam it is very limited to how you can design transportation systems. Also you really should not worry about the game crashing with most plug-ins. My computer is pretty stressed but it will run fine as long as my McAffe security system doesn't keep popping up every 20 minutes.

[Tysons4 68]

well, then have fun building ferries... or don't because of the issue with nam causing ferries to crash the game

and my game never crashes... i can leave it running all night and usually fall asleep to watching the sims go about their business, only to wake up and realize the neighbors were not supplying enough utilities and have a few no power and water zots and garbage piling up in and around the city... and i have a quad core and never set the affinity to one core (however it us running in compatibility mode for windows xp)

oh, and have fun looking at your newly created rwh networks in regions transport view... wait don't because they dont show up

[CaptCity 4,673]

You know, a few days ago I commented to another member about the wide range of opinions he may find in the forums when it comes to NAM and how it affects game play, and this thread is a perfect example of that. Now, I'm not saying that the discussion hasn't been meaningful or appropriate, but like everything else available on the various exchanges in the community, it's up to each individual player to determine if something is useful in his or her own case.

With that, I would just like to say that the original poster did have other questions in his original post. So, if we could veer it back in that general direction, it would be appreciated. Thanks.

Oh, yes, this is being moved to Modding - Transit Networks

[Tarkus 6,932]

Actually, the ferry issue has been fixed on our end and will be released to the public in our next update.

As far as the RHW/Region Transport View thing, a member named jondor over at SC4D has had some success in getting around that issue.  See here.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[Vahr 341]

The ferry issue is easy to remedy in the temporary, simply remove the NAM Controller dat file from your plugins, build the ferry, and put the dat back in. I personally don't have to, seeing that I use a PEG ferry that doesn't have that issue.

As for the region view, see what Alex said, and also, you really don't need to use it, I made this map without looking at the region transport view at all. And either way, you shouldn't even really need a map at all if you know how your transit is laid out (I only made the map for my CJ)

---

Back on the main topic, again, the flavors should be used to how "easy" you want to have your transit setup to be. If you set the simulator on ultra, you only have to worry about a few troublesome spots. If you put it on low, you're going to need to get creative. And again, medium is the closest setting to maxis simulator (capacity wise). You can even tweak the capacity values to your heart's desire, if you wish, using the NAM Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool.

Your commute time abandoning can actually be 1 of 2 things:

1. There are not enough jobs that support that sim.

2. There is no good way to get to the job (ie, the best path it can find takes too long, or the path is non-existant)

Now #1 can only be partially remedied, NAM Unified Simulator allows sims to travel somewhere around 3 large city tiles to search for jobs that fit. And #2 usually is more greatly remedied because the simulator is able to pathfind (basically find the best route, in this case, the fastest route) better.

[z1 566]

NAM Unified Traffic Simulator and Data View Support Thread

Originally posted by: Decaf Table

I'd like to try downloading the NAM. I'm curious as to how this effects the game and is it cheating?quote>

The NAM Traffic Simulator (which I gather is what you're mainly concerned with here) fixes many of the bugs in the Maxis traffic simulator, and provides varying capacity levels for various types of cities.  For a summary of its capabilities, please see the first post in the NAM Unified Traffic Simulator and Data View Support Thread.  You can find a more in-depth discussion of the traffic simulator in A Guide to the Operation of the Traffic Simulator.   Use of this traffic simulator is definitely not cheating; the NAM Team is not in the business of providing  cheating mods.  There is a fair amount of evidence that the current NAM Simulator is actually closer to the traffic simulator used internally by the Maxis development team than the traffic simulator that actually shipped with the game.

I've read there are a few different capacity options, like classic, low, etc. How do I know which one of these to use?quote>

The first post in the NAM Unified Traffic Simulator and Data View Support Thread will give you detailed guidelines on this question.

Also, my main city right now is abandoning due to commute issues (of course right?) will this fix the issue and allow my demand to go back to normal?]quote>

Fixing abandonment due to commute issues is one of the greatest advantages of the NAM traffic simulator.  In a properly built city, these issues can be eliminated entirely.  The original Maxis simulator was not given the horsepower to do its job properly, due to the much lower level of computing power available when the game was released in 2003.  The NAM traffic simulator has unlocked the power that was always present under the hood of the Maxis traffic simulator, and by utilizing perfect pathfinding, abandonment issues can be eliminated with no significant impact on performance.

[Decaf Table 0]

I've enjoyed reading everone's responses to my issues. One of you mentioned that my commute abandonment could be due to a lack of jobs? Is this possible? I realize my Residential demand is negative and my Commerical and Industry is positive at the moment. Could I fix this problem by simply removing some residential zones and putting in more industry?

One final question, is it possible to only download the traffic simulator and keep out all the puzzle pieces, road tools and stuff? I'm more or less only interested in this Traffic Simulator and not the other game additions.

[z1 566]

Originally posted by: Decaf Table

One of you mentioned that my commute abandonment could be due to a lack of jobs? Is this possible?quote>

Yes, most definitely.  Specifically, it's a lack of jobs that are suitable for your Sim population when wealth and education levels are taken into account.  If you're using the NAM traffic simulator, this is one of the few ways you can still get abandonment due to commute time.

I realize my Residential demand is negative and my Commerical and Industry is positive at the moment. Could I fix this problem by simply removing some residential zones and putting in more industry?quote>

Yes, this could work, provided that your industry was matched up with your residents, as described above.

One final question, is it possible to only download the traffic simulator and keep out all the puzzle pieces, road tools and stuff? I'm more or less only interested in this Traffic Simulator and not the other game additions.quote>

Yes, you can do exactly that by downloading and installing the NAM Traffic Subsystem.  If you do this, or even install the traffic simulator asa part of the NAM, run your city for a while before making zoning changes.  You may find that the commute abandonment problem clears up by itself.

[Decaf Table 0]

Maybe i've done the wrong thing by only using high industry in my city now. I'm guessing not everyone wants to work there and now I can't get my RCI stable again! Agh!! This game is so difficult...I still love it though!

Lots to master

[deanej 2]

Originally posted by: jgehrts

On the contrary, the original highways are a cheat - the size is FAR too small, which one could easily argue gives you an unfair capacity for the size of the road.

quote>

The size isn't far too small when you compare it to the size of everything else in the game rather than the Maxis-given size of the tiles.  Say all you want about the size of the highways not fitting the tile scale, but nothing else in SC4 matches the tile scale either.  Personially I just ignore it.  Only in SC4 with the RHW are interchanges the same size as a military base.

Yes, the highways may be undersized, but so are the city sizes and just about everything else in the game.   But they aren't as undersized as you think; just check out this interchange (as well as the ones before and after it on the same road): http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=&hnear=Rochester,+Monroe,+New+York&ll=40.806736,-73.922775&spn=0.005896,0.013894&t=h&z=17

The Maxis highways may be way undersized compared to midwest interstates, but compared to the old expressways in the northeast, they're not that bad.

[z1 566]

Originally posted by: Decaf Table

Maybe i've done the wrong thing by only using high industry in my city now. I'm guessing not everyone wants to work there and now I can't get my RCI stable again!quote>

I have many cities with only high tech industry, and without any problems.  The key is that if you want to go this route, you need to have a very well educated population - your EQ should be very close to 200.   (This will take some time, though.) Have full coverage of elementary schools, high schools, colleges and universities, musems, and libraries.  Also, your Sims need to live long - the average age should be over 90.  This means complete hospital coverage of residential areas.  Keep pollution low by planting lots of trees and plopping parks.  This should go a long way toward making your situation workable.