Project Symphony - Development

[nimafarid2007 27]

The ramps entering and exiting the highways dont look smooth enough. It is like they just end when they hit the highway instead of having a lane specified for them for 50-100 meters.

[Haljackey 17,306]

The ramps entering and exiting the highways dont look smooth enough. It is like they just end when they hit the highway instead of having a lane specified for them for 50-100 meters.

 

...And that's what the RHW is for. If you want to make accel/decel lanes the RHW is what you want to use.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

Yes, you would need to use RHW here. Project Symphony is supposed to be the more simple counterpart of the RHW. It's a stepping stone between the original MHW and the RHW, so some things may not be all too realistic. Otherwise, the mod would be too complex to use (and to assemble too). Remember, this is only the first edition of this mod...

[Mutilated_Pixie 2]

This looks amazing,

[sandy9900 0]

i have the new nam 31 and i thought that symphony was included in it, but mine got the RHW and the default maxis highway in it not symphony. ive chosen standard installation. can anyone help me.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

i have the new nam 31 and i thought that symphony was included in it, but mine got the RHW and the default maxis highway in it not symphony. ive chosen standard installation. can anyone help me.

Try again using Custom Installation, but then locate Maxis Highway Override (under NAM Networks and Network Expansions) and select it.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

NAM V31.  Attempt to Tee a ground highway with an elevated highway got me this.

 

 

This is a generated intersection.  Will these textures be fixed on V31.1?

[Swordmaster 50]

No, the standard Maxis interchanges are too underscaled. There is a symphony T interchange found in the prefab rotation ring.

 

 

Cheers

Willy

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

But this was created simply by dragging the elevated highway into the ground highway.  Project S. should have created the proper interchange.  So, what you are saying is that one has to rebuild all the auto-constructed interchanges by hand? 

 

Not much of an improvement IMHO.  The textures are nice but I am not sure the game is worth the candle.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

But this was created simply by dragging the elevated highway into the ground highway.  Project S. should have created the proper interchange.  So, what you are saying is that one has to rebuild all the auto-constructed interchanges by hand?

Unfortunately, that's the case.

Having PS place the correct PS interchange instead of the MHW interchange would entail having two copies of the Controller be included with the installer, and the increased filesize is not worth the effort.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

Yup, it's that bloody Auto-place feature. Or we enable it for everyone, making all auto-place features for Symphony (except for the long height transition) bugged like this, or we disable it for everyone, displeasing the oldschool MHW users...

Besides, the T-interchanges from Symphony and Maxis have different footprints:

- Maxis: 10 x 6 tiles

- Symphony: 16 x 10 tiles

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Thanks.  Well, that means if I want to use Project Symphony interchanges in place of existing maxis ones, I have to do some extensive urban renewal.  Looks like this is really only good for new cities.  A nuisance, but thems the breaks.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

Well, the new T-interchange shouldn't take up that much extra space. For the old cloverleafs, you can use the three-level roundabout as a substitute when the space is not that big

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, that's cool.  But for now, I've turned it off.  Other things to test/solve.  I am much more interested at this point in the rural roads stuff.

And, even though I've updated my wine library to VS2010 controls, I am still having scroll bar problems with the installer.  More digging to do there as well.  Doing a custom install is a trial of patience and high frustration at the moment.

[aaaling 83]

Besides, the T-interchanges from Symphony and Maxis have different footprints:

- Maxis: 10 x 6 tiles

- Symphony: 16 x 10 tiles

 

So essentially, the Symphony T-Stack just narrowly made it to the 16×16 tile limit?

[MandelSoft 2,769]

That's right. I had to modify the ramps at both ends of the continuing stretch just to make it fit.

[JessiLaurn 183]

You know, this looks simply lovely.  But, as with A Nonny Moose and shinkansen1, the lack of the compact, prefab Maxis interchanges are a killer for me.

 

I don't use nice flat regions with gentle gradients.  No, the maps I use are mountainous, with rivers at the bottom of deep valleys and peaks high enough to be above the tree line.  While I'm certain that it would be more realistic to consume the bulk of what semi-flat space exists with expansive interchanges, the reality is that the compact MHW interchanges are the only workable solution in tight quarters.

 

And yes, while longer and more gentle ramps are commonplace in modern highway construction, tight ramps are not without precedent.  Look at some of those in downtown St. Louis... or, gods help you, New York.  Indeed, the ramps on the old West Side Highway in NYC make the MHW offerings seem generous by comparison (frighteningly enough).  Or, in deference to the mountainous maps I use, check out some of the dinky little interchanges on the Quickway through New York state's Catskill mountains.  No, they don't meet the AASHTO Interstate Standards... and yet, these old compact designs soldier on despite reconstructions of the highways they serve, for the simple reason that they're the only solutions that don't involve leveling neighborhoods or dynamiting mountains.

 

For players like me (and it does not appear that I'm alone), the best option would have been to convert the MHW stock interchanges while also including the new PS options.  That would allow for the tight networking needed in - and accurate for - old cities and narrow terrain, while still offering the more gentle options representative of level terrain and new-construction suburbia.

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

Converting all of the Maxis interchanges would just be way too much work.  It took many years for all of the available ones to be built.  The modelling involved is very difficult and time-consuming.  The NAM has dropped all work on prefab highway creations for the most part.

 

You are stuck with one or the other--either you can install Symphony, or you can choose to keep the old Maxis highway.  The latter option really isn't that bad, especially with the new textures by Samerton.  They are an option in the NAM installer.  Both the American and Euro versions match their respective RHW textures very nicely.

[Wiimeiser 444]

I wonder how hard it would be to convert the MHW interchanges to avenue...

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

It was attempted to a certain extent.  I think you can still find the avenue freeway-style diamond interchange among the avenue pieces (the button with the roundabout).  It looks pretty ugly if you ask me.      And there's the avenue Y-stack too.  That one came out decently.

 

But anything involving prefab modeled interchanges like that is a huge pain.  Worse than normal BATs and other models because you have to add paths and such.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

Furthermore, maxis made a mess of UV-mapping when it comes to Maxis Highways, making them a pain to mod in any other kind of network.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I am sticking to MHW with the new asphalt textures.

  Edited August 3, 2013 by Ganaram Inukshuk  
Purged unnecessary part of comment.

[Omehenk 9]

I am sticking to MHW with the new asphalt textures.

 

Me too for now. Mainly because i don't like the 1 less lane and the big gray strokes look off to me somehow.

[Wiimeiser 444]

We really need a stack interchange, and I don't mean the T-Stack (though if you're willing to make a version with the ramps cut off...)

[MandelSoft 2,769]

A full stack interchange will probably too big to fit within the puzzle piece constraints. Even if you make it half, it would still be a pain to model and path...

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

I would love to see something similar: a prefab stack center-piece.  But it wouldn't be a Project Symphony thing.  It would use standard RHW overpass models, only it would be compact in a way that you can't drag.

 

And I'm pretty sure that a prototype has already been made, especially since there's a picture of it at the top of the RHW User's Manual.  

[Tarkus 6,932]

I would love to see something similar: a prefab stack center-piece.  But it wouldn't be a Project Symphony thing.  It would use standard RHW overpass models, only it would be compact in a way that you can't drag.

 

And I'm pretty sure that a prototype has already been made, especially since there's a picture of it at the top of the RHW User's Manual.  

 

That might not be what it initially appears to be.

 

-Tarkus

[Wiimeiser 444]

We'd really only need the central intersection piece. If the upper freeway needs to be raised a level, so be it.

 

EDIT: Maybe a couple of Flex pieces in different sizes, some with ramps directly connecting the levels and others without?

[Haljackey 17,306]

I would love to see something similar: a prefab stack center-piece.  But it wouldn't be a Project Symphony thing.  It would use standard RHW overpass models, only it would be compact in a way that you can't drag.

 

You're talking about the holy grail for the RHW: central 4-level stack interchange piece where you can attach each multiple heights of the RHW to it. Now that the RHW has multiple heights, something like this could become quite popular.

 

 

On the Symphony side, perhaps 1/4 of the junction could be made and plopped in a rotated fashion so that everything connects? That would increase the 16x16 limit to as much as 32x32.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

Nope. That wouldn't work, because a Stack interchange only has one rotation symmetry axis around 180 degrees, so the quarter method can't work here. It's the middle overpass that ruins it all here, because the overpass ramps for NE and SW have a different height level then the ramps coming from NW and SE. Same goes for the two overpassing MHWs...