NAM: Requests - 2nd Edition

[Wiimeiser 444]

Roughly how finished is P57-MkIV, as a percentage? If it's more than 95% I'd say finish the rest then release it separately once it's done.

 

So the biggest problem (aside from RL issues it seems) is the installer. Looks like you guys might need some outside help; unfortunately, I can't code at all...

[Tarkus 6,932]

It's hard to give a percentage.  Usually, when I pass things along to the Associates, I try to do so when I feel it has gotten to at least the 75-80% range.  I'll revise my perception of that percentage depending on the feedback I get from that trial.  The size of the project does complicate things--the overall controller on "Build 01" that went to the Associates in August 2018 had a RUL2 file of about 4.2 million lines.  The main questions we've been trying to answer in the initial testing are:

1. What kind of system specs does this size of controller require?
2. Is this an improvement overall compared to the "Project 57-Mark III" code that is currently in NAM 36 (originating with NAM 33)?

We've had a decent sample size with our internal test for #1, and the findings are that PCs newer than 2011 (and some top-of-the-line PCs from 2010) seem to be able to handle it, hinging on having at least 4GB RAM, a 64-bit OS, and the 4GB Patch.

#2 seems to be largely affirmative as well--there are, however, some issues that have not yet been addressed due to RL/other SC4 projects (mostly NAM 37 stuff) on my end.  The initial public "release" will probably be billed specifically as an "open beta" or "release candidate", though we will bill it as a possible solution to those who report issues with the P57-MkIII code.  P57-MkIII won't be getting any fixes or updates going forward, and is effectively "dead code walking" at this point. 

We're still trying to figure out just what to do long-term with the users who are on systems that can't run P57-MkIV, without having to still support old code/old versions.  The prospect of an "RHW Lite" is under consideration, which would entail some reduced subset of RHW features, and also be aimed at users who want to use the RHW, but not get into all of its intricacies.  That could take the form of a reduced set of networks, and/or dial back the modular intricacies for something QuickChange Xpress-focused.

-Tarkus

 

[Toby66 155]

Back in NAM there was more air support than from what i've experienced in SimCity so far and i think we're about to lose this fight if the top dawg's doesnt step in and starts to take this war a LITTLE bit more seriously.

Otherwise it's a pretty neat NAM.

For the roads, route 66 is not there though.

Oi!!

Good day

P.S

(The Tet offense and Da Nang almost killed me).

 

[rsc204 21,808]

There is nothing in the game's code that realistically allows for air-travel to be viably modded as a functioning component. Sure you can place an airport, that will generate automata (planes), which can take off/land and fly about the map. But no actual sims arrive in your city or depart from it. The benefits of having airports all come down to the "effects" generated by them, such as Cap Relief. Bear in mind, a simulation only needs to look and feel like it's working when you are playing it. Behind the scenes is simply handled by algorithms which when designed well help to make everything feel realistic. There isn't really a lot the NAM team can do to alter that. Although there are plenty of mods out there that can deal with the more realistic visual aspects of building airports.

6 hours ago, Toby66 said:

route 66 is not there though

Well, if you choose to build a motorway and name it Route 66, it could be. The RHW system allows for modular highways to be built which range from one lane in each direction (RHW-2) to five (RHW-10S). I'm pretty sure without any real knowledge of Route 66, that could be used to make a decent approximation of it.

[matias93 7,535]

Good NAM folk, would it be possible to add a couple of pedestrian paths to the T intersections, to make this coupling viable? Currently I'm using a one tile street stub to allow sims to enter the pedestrian-only area, but it looks a little awkward.

[Tarkus 6,932]

That should be a pretty easy addition--could easily sneak it into the next release without any real issue.  I'm still hoping to do an expansion/revamp on the PedMall/Trail/Overpass side of things one of these days, and this would tie nicely into that.

-Tarkus

[f3cs 1,063]

On 25/05/2019 at 12:50 AM, matias93 said:

Currently I'm using a one tile street stub to allow sims to enter the pedestrian-only area, but it looks a little awkward.

I use bus stops to connect Pedmalls for now. It looks pretty realistic.

[tariely 4,496]

I am advised to put my request here ; I was wondering if bridges for animals like this one existed and if not, if someone might be willing to do it, and Twalsh suggested I ask here, as that kind of bridge (of different widths) would have to work with any road transit system. I would be happy, I confess, with it working only for roads or the basic avenues, but... why think small  ?

[Lucario Boricua 7,028]

@tariely

 

You don't need new content in the NAM to make your own! I just published my tutorial on making wildlife crossings, as part of my Earthworks Tutorials series.

 

If anything, you could make (or have someone else make) a custom overhanging tunnel portal to mimic the appearance of some wildlife crossing styles.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

I like the improved traffic volume view with its greater number of colors. However, in the mini-display of the whole city, the mostly green background camouflages many of them. Is there a way to change the background (e.g. paint it black) so the transport volume colors stand out? Then I'll be better able to see the routes that are just warming to the 100% level that I look for to start zoning commercial.

[Lucario Boricua 7,028]

@jeffryfisher

 

I'd ask @CorinaMarie and @Cyclone Boom about this, as they've been the ones to be modding game data views for the sake of visually impaired players. Who knows, they might get things solved faster than the NAM team could between the installer re-building and the SC4 Devotion migration.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

8 hours ago, jeffryfisher said:

Is there a way to change the background (e.g. paint it black) so the transport volume colors stand out?

In all truth I can definitely say: Maybe. (I'll have to take a peek and see.)

 

@Lucario Boricua Thanks for the beep.

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

As @Lucario Boricua eluded to, we did release a mod for people with Deuteranopia colour blindness. This also expands on the Data Views so they show additional breakpoint values on the scales, meaning there's more detail represented on those (which might be useful for those with trichromatic vision).

As follows:

Which all first came about from the topic @Noobville Mayor started here.

As revealed in the file description, it was found specifically how the Data View preview map didn't appear to be editable.

Perhaps that's something which might be viable following further investigations though. Because admittedly when we first looked into this, the main focus was to enhance the data views and zones to help people see the game in a clearer way. Something I feel has been achieved very well in our released mod (of which Cori purely did the modding). If whether or not that preview map can be edited too, it really depends on if it's not locked down and inaccessible as some things are.

But with the developments of saved game modding opening up a potential whole new genre of custom content, who knows what the future holds...

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

@jeffryfisher

CB and I have both looked into this thoroughly and we simply cannot find anything which will do what you'd like to have.

You could peek at the Duet mods we did make in Reader and maybe alter the colour ramps such that the 100% you are looking for would stand out even more. Might be the least worst way to go.

[gweed123 33]

There are two RHW pieces that I'm missing that I'm hoping will be included in the next version of NAM. They are:

1) A 270º L1-L0 ramp (basically, the loop ramp inside a cloverleaf). There's the 180º version for on/off ramps now, but that doesn't perfectly suit a highway to highway interchange where the two meet perpendicularly.

2) The inverse of a Type A2 ramp that can be used on the inside (currently inside only supports A1). I'm looking to create an express-collector system, and I'd like to have two lanes exit the right of the express lanes (which I can do now), and then merge onto the left side of the collector lanes (which I can't do now).

If anyone could tell me if these are planned to be included, that would be greatly appreciated. Keep up your great work!

[rsc204 21,808]

1 hour ago, gweed123 said:

A 270º L1-L0 ramp

It's certainly something that was being planned, but I doubt it will make NAM 37 at this point.

1 hour ago, gweed123 said:

The inverse of a Type A2 ramp

I don't recall anyone planning on adding A2 Inside ramps, they are a bit niche. That said, it doesn't mean it won't happen in the future.

[kschmidt 6,164]

Avenue GLR bridge dragable as RHW made wider !

There´s a tram on road bridge available wich with cut network tool can be atached to normal Tram on road, aren´t there similair for a combined avenu GLR bridge added to thee bridge menu doing the same. This will reduce the need for seperate GLR bridges such like the FLUP GLR tunnel ?

[kschmidt 6,164]

Today, plunched myself into the NAM 36 install issue´s. Apparently, once I had a trouble free NAM 36 install as I updated a copÿ of my ANNO Europe to this version with RAM as the rail mod. Experimenting with a empty instalation I observed that the installer completly removes a just excecuted install, knowliedge able I made a backup of this working NAM 36 afther the first install and restored these. Furthur I discoverd that there where only FLEX ramps available in NAM 36 not 35, wich doesn´t have the network cut option with the french dragable bridge issue, why is this type present. Last I noticed that the RAM an RRW dragable rail pieces in the last install apeard draging brown line end afther showing nothing ? My working NAM 36 doesn´t have this issue, so installing one way or the other something wrong ! As I am using UserDir where to put the NAM files I never experienced these problems up to know. NAM 35 probably may have the same installation issue, so I backup that aswell, but customization and those weird instalation issue´s removing older installs, I know that NAM install somewhere stores the last used configuration but if you choose a custom install and location why does it bother with previous installations ! Ibecome very frustrated with these latest NAM versions issues !

All standard RRW pieces show normal, dragable RRW and RAM afhter seemles install show at dragable stage a brown color and are aftheward invisible for the eye, back bridge is OK, but the normal rail no textures nothing of the dragable rail ?

Kschmidt

[Tarkus 6,932]

Looks to me like an installation issue, possibly the installer skipping something, or installing something it shouldn't have.  You likely have the RRW INRULs (installed to Plugins\Network Addon Mod\INRUL Overrides), but none of the rest of the RRW (installed to Plugins\z___NAM\y_RealRailway).

The issues with the existing installer (serious enough we need to replace it), coupled with the RRW vs. Maxis Rail mess, is a large part of the reason NAM 37 is taking as long as it is.  We're trying to solve it once and for all.

-Tarkus

[kschmidt 6,164]

3 hours ago, Tarkus said:

Looks to me like an installation issue, possibly the installer skipping something, or installing something it shouldn't have.  You likely have the RRW INRULs (installed to Plugins\Network Addon Mod\INRUL Overrides), but none of the rest of the RRW (installed to Plugins\z___NAM\y_RealRailway).

The issues with the existing installer (serious enough we need to replace it), coupled with the RRW vs. Maxis Rail mess, is a large part of the reason NAM 37 is taking as long as it is.  We're trying to solve it once and for all.

-Tarkus

Tarkus, I rerund the installer with a working NAM 32 instalation. dragable RRW is working, no brown lines. Network disconnector tool is available from the menu but doesn´t work with elevated rail networks. Strange the NAM 36 ordinaire maxis version hasn´t this last problem. NAM 37 hopefully will bring a end to those issue´s. City like I most probably won´t use RRW with large cities, so the ordinairy maxis will do,  yet installer what doesn´t do what it supose to is a real headache making up custom instalations, so many options !

Sincerely yours,

Kschmidt

[Tarkus 6,932]

Maxis Rail is actually planned to be moved out to a separate download plugin for NAM 37, as part of the solution to all the crosslink woes.  The main mod will be RRW-based across the board, since that’s the only Rail spec that has been receiving active development in the last 6 years.

Only one “original vs. reskin” option will remain in the mod—default Maxis Highway vs. Maxis Highway Override—as the polling suggested an even split between the two. That same polling showed a 75/25 split in favor of RRW.  The new installer’s design is also not conducive to having two high-level splits like that.  

-Tarkus

[Naomi57 2,985]

First off, thank you so much for all the work the NAM team has put together over the years.  It's truly astonishing how many features you've managed to add to the game!  Wow, hats off to all of you, seriously.      I so appreciate all that you've done.

Here follows some ideas for future enhancements.  I come from a development background, myself, so I totally understand that some of these might be easy, and some might be darn near impossible, and others might simply be too much work to fit into the development schedule.  Some of these ideas might run a cropper with preferences from other NAM users, too.  All good, I really do get that!

Some of these ideas are to make the NAM more approachable for a wider audience.  Other ideas are just for fun or might have potential for improving interchange building.  I'm two months into my NAM learning curve, so I probably see some issues of usability that I won't even notice in another 12 months time.
 

A.  Accessibility for visual impairment:

1. Increase the brightness of the yellow centre line.  I have trouble enough spotting it when the pieces are plopped.  Sometimes I need to move to maximum zoom when choosing a starter piece, because the preview is grey-ish.  I know you probably can't control the ghostiness of the preview, or where the caption bubble appears, but making the yellow line brighter might be something you can do someday?
           
    
2. Enlarge the outside shoulder to MIS roads, so that direction is easier to spot.  I've learned to distinguish RHW-4 starter pieces by their shoulders, rather than the faint yellow line, but that trick doesn't work for MIS, because the shoulder is a tad too small to spot.
           
    
3. Increase the visual difference between RHW-2 and RD-2.  My eyes literally struggle to see the difference.  Brighter yellow lines and/or brighter white lines would totally do the trick there, too.  Upon writing this post, I've finally realised that RHW-2 has shoulders, but a wider shoulder that I can see at Zoom level 4, or some other visual difference, would be very helpful to me, and for other people with visual impairment.
           

I just spotted Cori's  CoriBoom Color Blind Views for Deuteranopia , which is really awesome.     My suggestions here are for those that struggle with low contrast colour schemes or nearsightedness (or small laptop screens!).  I've a 19-inch monitor myself, and so wish I had the money to buy a bigger one.
 

B.  Cosmetic:

1. SAM back lane (aka narrow Street).  I do lots of frontage roads, for densely packed urban neighbourhoods, and it would be fun to have a realistic looking back lane access, which is more narrow than a regular Street.  The wider sidewalks would be a neat spot for all sorts of interesting props, such as back alley dumpsters, illegally parked cars, trees, street gardens, loading palettes, rubble, bicycles, motorbikes, alfresco dining, and more.  This might be implemented as similar to SAM 1, or else as a draggable Street that just happens to have wider prop ploppable sidewalks, or a narrow draggable Street with variation depending on adjacent RCI wealth categories.
     https://www.google.com/search?q=inner+city+back+lane&&source=lnms&tbm=isch
    
2. Trees inside or beside the RHW tiles?  I love trees, cosmetically, and even tend to plant them in hedges along my MHW, between the concrete border and the edge of the highway tile.  These could either be trees in the medium strip like the Maxis vanilla AVE-4, or possibilities for plopping trees.  I'd especially love to do this on diagonals or curves, but I realise that might not be possible.
    
3. Click-replace on Bus Stops, ala Paeng's Pedmalls.  I rather dislike the fence backed Bus Stop in my commercial districts, and if there is a Pedmall or Street or frontage road on the other side of the Bus Stop, then I prefer the grass backed one, which happens to be the rarest in the random Maxis vanilla plop sequence.  It's not unusual for me to plop and bulldoze a single Bus Stop a dozen times, before I finally get the grass-backed one!    
   e.g. Click once for grass backed, twice for hedge backed, three clicks for fence backed Bus Stop.
   
   https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/26454-paengs-pedmall-parks/
   The specialty here: Plop a piece, move the mouse away and back again, click - a new piece will plop (so no need to bulldoze, just always move the mouse out and back in)... that way you can cycle through all the attached PedMall Parks in an endless loop.
    
4. A Pedmall with a Pedestrian burst or pedestrian magnet feature?  Three styles:
   • A periodic Ooooh and Ahhh crowd, similar to the plopping of a Mayor Statue,
   • A periodic Protest crowd, like plopping a Toxic Waste Dump, and
   • A pedestrian commuter automata magnet, that populates nearby Pedmalls so that they look busy! 
    

C.  RHW interchange complexity:

1. L2 RHW-4 orthogonal over L0 to L1 "1 Level Flexible Height Transition" pieces, which would avoid having to use MHW tunnels for the orthogonals on interchanges like this one:  High Capacity Turbine-ish Interchange
    
2. L2 RHW-4 orthogonal over diagonal L0 and L1 MIS.
    
3. Ability to run RHW-4 overpasses and underpasses over and under the "L0 MIS Filler (Diag)" and "L1 MIS Filler (Diag)".  This would be absolutely amazing for directional interchange building ... such as this one:  High Capacity Directional Interchange
    

D.  NAM simplicity:

1. A 2x2 MIS 90-Degree Curve (Small) on the RealHighway Wide Radius (Smooth) Curves menu.  You can already make one by dragging with the RHW-2 tool, so it would be a boon for NAM neophytes if they could plop one, rather than having to learn how to draw one using the RHW-2 tool (which is far from intuitive, even though it's easy).  If it's possible to make the 2x2 MIS 90-Degree Curve (Small) more stable, that would be even better!  
    
2. Adding MIS folded wye, RHW-4 to MIS inline branch, and RHW-2 to MIS inline transition, to the menus.  These are already possible with DRI, but that's an advanced technique as far as NAM beginners are concerned.
    
3. Reposition some of the most frequently used beginner pieces first in the tab sequences:
       - NWM 1-Level Flexible Road On-Slope (which probably shouldn't be called "on-slope", because there are separate FlexOST pieces???)
       - RHW 1-Level Flexible Height Transition (FlexHT).
   
   I've other ideas along these lines, to make features more accessible for beginners, if that's of interest.
    
4.  Reposition some of the most frequently used beginner features earlier in the menus:
       - Draggable Elevated Road Viaducts
       - Network Widening Mod Starter Pieces
       - Avenue Intersections (this one is already fairly high in the menu, but it's literally one of the most exciting menu items for NAM beginners,
         so lifting it even higher would be good).  Also lifting the Flexible Underpasses (FLUPs) menu item, to keep it just below Avenue Intersections
         would be good, too, given these two are related because of the fountain AVE-4 roundabout.
    
5. Separate tabs for the Ramp for underground Road (RD-2) vs Entrance Ramp for underground Onewayroad (OWR-2), under the FLUPs menu item.  The Home/End method of selection is no trouble for me, but downright confusing for some NAM beginners.
    
6. QuickChange pieces which are simply collections of commonly needed pieces for very basic (and stable) compact interchange building.  I describe one potential option along these lines in this post.  This would seem completely irrelevant to advanced NAM users, and has become irrelevant to me, but could be a boon for beginners:  Proposal for a new 3-Level Stack QuickChange Piece  

Sorry, this must seem like an idea avalanche!  No need to respond to all the items, but if this stuff triggers thoughts or ideas, I'd love to hear about it.  

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

I'll attempt to answer what I can.

A and B in general. Anything related to textures or aesthetics has historically been a relatively lower priority feature especially given that there are very few people willing to maintain different texture sets. If it's instead T21's, then that's been a matter usually left to third-party development. Again, there's never enough development for these things, and to an extent, it's prone to disagreements over aesthetic standards and possibly conflicts from using different T21's at once.

B1. There are two ways to go about this:

1. Program a new SAM network from scratch (SAM supports up to 16 different textures and the code is mostly copy-paste).
2. Retexture an existing network whose default textures are of least concern.

B4. Effects like that would most likely be impossible to program without having to resort to a TE lot. (Personally, mixing up "TE lot" and "puzzle piece" is, in my book, the most aggravating and one of the most pervasive mixups ever, and it may be pinpointed to a NAM tutorial dating back to the late 2000s.) That said, most of NAMdev has solely been on transit network modding, not transit enabled lots (basically stations), but in recent years, that restriction's been lifted somewhat. (I'm not saying it's impossible, it's just that it's kinda out of line with general NAMdev.)

C1. I'm not sure if I'm understanding you properly, but I had proposed a feature that would obsolesce even the FlexHTs. I've never shared this publicly before.

C2. If it's how there's very little RHW DxD, OxD, or DxO support, that's basically been the biggest plague of the RHW for the past several years.

C3. This is a feature that can sorta be done with RHW starters in general (kinda sorta), but still requires that one tile of space be devoted to placing down a starter. I'm spoilering the details because it's extremely intensive.

Spoiler

A lesser known feature about orthogonal RHW starters is that they can be bisected by perpendicular RHW-2. In fact, this is something that I specifically exploited a long time ago.

Even more fascinating is that elevated RHW starters can also be bisected, and once bisected, the RHW-2 down below is still overridable.

In fact, C2 and (to an extent C3) can be solved by one proposal alone: the creation (and readdition) of RHW diagonal overpass pieces that are, 1, Flex pieces, and 2, include OxO overpasses, such that, 3, the taller network has priority over the physically lower network and, 4, the lower network ALWAYS defaults to RHW-2 that, 5, can be overridden like any other piece which, 6, reduces many of the adjacency headaches that are always brought to the table. The specific solution being described where the lower RHW-2 is some other network is, sadly, a combinatoric nightmare because whatever pieces are needed to make the FLOPs (Flexible Overpass Pieces; I don't wanna call it FOP because FOP is a horrifying disease) would then be multiplied by at least 2 (at worst, 10-ish if we wanna restrict the lower network to L0; 30-something when you consider every possible RHW).

 I really hope this makes sense; it's been a nightmare getting others to understand what I'm saying.

D1. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of the MRCs (multi-radius curves), but (I can't recall if I developed it or someone else did) there was a proposal for 2x2 and 4x4 90-deg curves. 5x5 curves would be two R2 45's glued together; last I checked and I may be wrong, I don't think a 5x5 90-deg FlexCurve was ever implemented beyond the FlexFlys.

Spoiler

Basically my crazy end goal was, apart from placing down starters, to be able to draw an entire interchange without ever having to reach for the RHW menus.

 

D2. [WARNING: RANT]

Spoiler

I basically programmed EDRI to avoid having to resort to adding any ramp interface back to the menus, and apart from the little bits of help I've gotten trying to convey the ease of use of EDRI, I've done everything I can to make the patterns as easy, intuitive, and accessible as possible. The way I saw it, FlexRamp dev was too inconsistent and the slope tolerance argument of using FlexRamps over anything else was not enough to get me to use it, and I absolutely despise puzzle pieces. In fact, making ramp interfaces DRI-exclusive was how I can say that DRIs are superior to puzzle pieces. It's always disheartening to see all the work I've put in be underappreciated and un-understood.

Apologies if I've not answered anything else; I'm in the middle of making soup. I'll try to get back to you.

[Naomi57 2,985]

21 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

D2. [WARNING: RANT]

  Reveal hidden contents

Just so you know, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE DRI, or perhaps EDRI (I'm not sure the difference between them).    I've been puzzling over how to make DRI easier for NAM newbies to understand ... so that's a work in progress for me.  I've a technical writing background (professionally), in addition to my database programming background, so writing accessible tutorials is something I'm good at.  Loving that MIS folded wye, too, and have 12 of those in my latest city tile.  

21 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

D1. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of the MRCs (multi-radius curves), but (I can't recall if I developed it or someone else did) there was a proposal for 2x2 and 4x4 90-deg curves. 5x5 curves would be two R2 45's glued together; last I checked and I may be wrong, I don't think a 5x5 90-deg FlexCurve was ever implemented beyond the FlexFlys.

We've already got 2x2 90-degree MIS curves, here's a couple I used for my favourite RHW-4 T-Interchange, along with RHW-4 to MIS inline branch, and RHW-2 to MIS inline transition,  Totally loving it, and much cuter than the FlexFly over FlexFly concept promulgated by MHW T-Interchange.

About to embark on your videos, @Ganaram Inukshuk.  Thank you!!  

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

46 minutes ago, Naomi57 said:

Just so you know, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE DRI, or perhaps EDRI (I'm not sure the difference between them).    I've been puzzling over how to make DRI easier for NAM newbies to understand ... so that's a work in progress for me.  I've a technical writing background (professionally), in addition to my database programming background, so documentation is something I'm good at.  Loving that MIS folded wye, too, and have 12 of those in my latest city tile.  

We've already got 2x2 90-degree MIS curves, here's a couple I used for my favourite RHW-4 T-Interchange, along with RHW-4 to MIS inline branch, and RHW-2 to MIS inline transition,  Totally loving it, and much cuter than the FlexFly over FlexFly concept promulgated by MHW T-Interchange.

About to embark on your videos, @Ganaram Inukshuk.  Thank you!!  

I must warn you.

1. I'm the sole developer of EDRI (Extended/Expanded Draggable Ramp Interfaces was the project name) and even explaining this to the other devs during the NAM 33 dev cycle was a nightmare. (And I REALLY mean sole developer.)

B. You're literally seeing the tip of the iceberg, or rather, the iceberg that broke off the main glacier, when it comes to my vids. There are a lot of unlisted vids.

C. Please, do everything you can to make EDRI even more readily accessible to beginners. I adopted the death-to-puzzle-pieces paradigm far faster than nearly anyone else on the team, and I want to show to everyone that the draggable+flex paradigm is the superior method of constructing interchanges and not just an inconvenient alternative.

 

[Naomi57 2,985]

44 minutes ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

Please, do everything you can to make EDRI even more readily accessible to beginners. I adopted the death-to-puzzle-pieces paradigm far faster than nearly anyone else on the team, and I want to show to everyone that the draggable+flex paradigm is the superior method of constructing interchanges and not just an inconvenient alternative.

I've been finding your videos super-interesting.  If you have info and/or videos on DRI (and EDRI?), which is usable already in NAM36, I'm 100% interested to learn and teach.  I've already learned a few things from your listed videos ... particularly this one.

https://youtu.be/G4h0Jq2vClQ?t=39
https://youtu.be/G4h0Jq2vClQ?t=52
Network Addon Mod Version 33 Teaser 6: RealHighway Draggable Ramp Interface Extension, Part 2
starting at 39 seconds, and 52 seconds, by Ganaram Inukshuk

I've been using this DRI Draggable Ramp Interface cheat sheet posted by @matias93 , which helped me to do a BEx Inside ramp (I think), for one of my weirder interchanges ... but I suspect that cheat sheet is out of date.  I also got this animated GIF from @GeauxWave, which I've ferreted away for future reference.  Animated GIFs are really great for this teaching purpose, because they show the one technique over and over, and the exact movements are one of the things that is intimidating for NAM newbies ... most videos going too fast for them.  Animated GIFs will be a new documentation technique for me to learn ... but I'm up for that.  

EDIT: I presume the techniques in your unlisted videos are not in NAM36?  I tried some of them in my Sandbox just now and they didn't work.  

[Naomi57 2,985]

2 hours ago, Ganaram Inukshuk said:

Basically my crazy end goal was, apart from placing down starters, to be able to draw an entire interchange without ever having to reach for the RHW menus.

 

Well I don't have your special DRI height transitions, and I think I'm missing something on the curves, but I used your video DRI techniques to put together my first NAM cloverleaf ... dubbed the "Ganaram Cloverleaf.jpg", in your honour!   

These two DRI techniques are very suitable for instructional tutorials, because it's mostly about counting tiles, which is something that NAM neophytes really need to learn.  Doing it all with the all-purpose RHW-2 tool, is actually a big advantage, because it saves wading through intimidating menus and tab sequences.  I've invented about a dozen RHW-4 interchanges in the last month, and this is definitely one of the easiest to learn ... and will be easy to teach.

Does NAM36 support the DRI technique for the smooth curve on the diagonal RHW-2 portions?  That part of your video didn't work for me in my Sandbox.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

20 minutes ago, Naomi57 said:

I've been finding your videos super-interesting.  If you have info and/or videos on DRI (and EDRI?), which is usable already in NAM36, I'm 100% interested to learn and teach.  I've already learned a few things from your listed videos ... particularly this one.

https://youtu.be/G4h0Jq2vClQ?t=39
https://youtu.be/G4h0Jq2vClQ?t=52
Network Addon Mod Version 33 Teaser 6: RealHighway Draggable Ramp Interface Extension, Part 2
starting at 39 seconds, and 52 seconds, by Ganaram Inukshuk

I've been using this DRI Draggable Ramp Interface cheat sheet posted by @matias93 , which helped me to do a BEx Inside ramp (I think), for one of my weirder interchanges ... but I suspect that cheat sheet is out of date.  I also got this animated GIF from @GeauxWave, which I've ferreted away for future reference.  Animated GIFs are really great for this teaching purpose, because they show the one technique over and over, and the exact movements are one of the things that is intimidating for NAM newbies ... most videos going too fast for them.  Animated GIFs will be a new documentation technique for me to learn ... but I'm up for that.  

EDIT: I presume the techniques in your unlisted videos are not in NAM36?  I tried some of them in my Sandbox just now and they didn't work.  

As far as I know (and as bad as I want them to be implemented and I have no specifics on NAM 37 dev, let alone what happened between now and the release of NAM 33), the super-duper advanced/experimental techniques I've developed have never been implemented so far.

But I do have the code for the stub-to-stub height transitions. If you can find the uncompiled RUL2 files in your SimCity 4 folder and sneak this in and recompile the NAM controller, you can activate this feature like literally right now.

https://gist.github.com/GanaramInukshuk/6fdfc53c7f89828a43b4

https://gist.github.com/GanaramInukshuk/2eb5f22b83ccb3597525

NOTE: This requires a snippet of RUL1 code and this is it:

;Added 08 Oct 2014, Ganaram Inukshuk
;Anti-Override RHW-2 Stub, Orthogonal
rot0=0x00000000,0x02000000,0x57000100,0,0
rot1=0x00000000,0x00000002,0x57000100,1,0
rot2=0x00000000,0x00000200,0x57000100,2,0
rot3=0x00000000,0x00020000,0x57000100,3,0

;Anti-Autoconnect RHW-2 Stub, Diagonal Unmirrored
rot0=0x00000000,0x01000000,0x57000300,0,0
rot1=0x00000000,0x00000001,0x57000300,1,0
rot2=0x00000000,0x00000100,0x57000300,2,0
rot3=0x00000000,0x00010000,0x57000300,3,0

;Anti-Autoconnect RHW-2 Stub, Diagonal Mirrored
rot0=0x00000000,0x03000000,0x57000300,0,1
rot1=0x00000000,0x00000003,0x57000300,3,1
rot2=0x00000000,0x00000300,0x57000300,2,1
rot3=0x00000000,0x00030000,0x57000300,1,1

Instructions:

0. Realise that this is technically an unauthorized modification to the NAM and that none of the NAMdevs will be able to help you in case something breaks. Save an unmodified copy of the files to be modified somewhere.

1. Look for a folder in your "SimCity 4" called "NAM Auxiliary Files". From there, go to Tools > Controller Compiler > Network Addon Mod > Controller > RUL1 > 06_Lightrail. There should be a file with the network names "lightrail" and "dirtroad" (09_Lightrail_Dirtroad.txt unless the filename got changed). This is a section of the RUL1 file that governs intersections between lightrail and dirtroad (RHW). If the code snipped I posted is NOT already present in there (these things are meticulously annotated), add that snippet at the end of the file and save. If you're lucky, that autoconnect disabler is there already.

2. Look for Tools > Controller Compiler > Network Addon Mod > Controller > RUL2 > 07_RHW > Sec7h_FlexHT-OST. Without a reference as to what each 32-bit code stands for and without any means of visualizing any of it, it's basically like looking at the Voynich Manuscript. Copy all the code from the two Gists and paste them at the bottom of the file Sec7h.FlexHT-OST.txt.

3. Recompile the NAM Controller by running NAMControllerCompiler.jar. Be mindful of the settings you've selected and where the output directory is.

4. Pray that these instructions haven't broken anything as you start up the game.

Too much time trying to disable autoconnect using every method conceivable when it could all be selectively disabled using just 12 lines of RUL1 code, and that alone unlocks the ability for RHW to do the one thing that nearly every other network can: stub-to-stub transitions. I cannot stress how important this is because it literally means bye-bye every non-onslope strictly orthogonal height transition in existence, even the flex pieces that are still technically needed for prefabs and therefore should be kept AND bye-bye every puzzle-based width transition because those aren't even needed anymore and this implementation is easily copied over to different height levels AND hello theoretical width transitions with lane changes greater than one lane assuming the setup of width transitions matches exactly that of the height transitions in that a width transition of +/-1 lane is EXACTLY 4 tiles long and progressively larger lane transitions are +3 tiles for each additional lane added like how the HTs are +3 tiles for each additional height level.

In short, this alone eliminates nearly an entire button's worth of puzzle pieces when generalized to encompass both HTs and WTs.

[matias93 7,535]

On 11/8/2019 at 6:09 AM, Naomi57 said:

I've been using this DRI Draggable Ramp Interface cheat sheet posted by @matias93 

I just reposted it, is from the NAM team. In fact, I haven't even been able to replicate all those combinations in-game, still trying though.

[Naomi57 2,985]

7 hours ago, matias93 said:

On 08/11/2019 at 8:09 PM, Naomi57 said:

I've been using this DRI Draggable Ramp Interface cheat sheet posted by @matias93 

I just reposted it, is from the NAM team. In fact, I haven't even been able to replicate all those combinations in-game, still trying though.

I'm deeply indebted to you @matias93, as I wouldn't have found that cheat sheet if it wasn't for you.  

If anyone has further info or resources on DRI, I'd be fascinated to see.  Most of my learning DRI has been from watching videos, and going, "Ooooh, I don't know that one yet, pausing the video, and replaying the same 10 seconds over and over!  

I'm still in process gleaning DRI techniques from this one:

https://youtu.be/G4h0Jq2vClQ
Network Addon Mod Version 33 Teaser 6: RealHighway Draggable Ramp Interface Extension, Part 2
starting at 39 seconds, and 52 seconds, by Ganaram Inukshuk

He goes into RHW-8S DRI techniques later in that video, which I'm about to embark on!

Consider that my NAM special request E1  , a collection of DRI learning resources, beyond what I've mastered so far,  beyond basic ramps (AB1 Outside), and the stuff I've collected in my NAM Starting Out tutorials so far, posted in the comments under this other thread.

https://community.simtropolis.com/journals/entry/29083-nam36-advice-for-newcomers/

I'll certainly continue to glean DRI techniques from random videos, and puzzle over the cheat sheet, but it would be so helpful to know if there is something more?