Diagonal Bridge Enabler

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

I've downloaded and installed the DBE (dated 12-Sep-2011). I have NAM 32 and the RHW that came with it (highways up to 10S whose dat files are dated between 2-Feb and 2-June 2013).

 

Water disappears as expected, but roads and highways fail utterly. I start on perfectly god-mode level terrain and then drag into the abyss, but no matter what network type I try, it dives down the cliff until it generates a red streak with a "failed to smooth terrain" bubble (or builds a road/avenue/freeway on the bottom of an empty SF Bay).

 

Nothing I tried would generate any pylons in any direction.

 

Obviously I've done something wrong, but I'm not sure what. I tried setting aside my entire plugins folder and running with only the NAM and the DBE, but I got the same behavior.

 

I've hunted for threads on this, but the mod seems to work for everyone but me. Is the RHW stuff in NAM 32 the wrong version (or incomplete)? Does anyone know the actual filenames I need to see in my NAM folder? Could the DBE from 2011 have been obsolesced by NAM 32?

 

I guess my confusion comes from trying to use 2013's available downloads to satisfy dependencies described in 2011.

 

PS: I'm building on parts of a life-sized San Francisco region. In an ideal world, I would build a double-deck (5 lanes each way) highway suspension bridge from Pier 24 to Yerba Buena Island, maybe 100 map cells away. Using a canonical diagonal, I can make my neighbor connection on the island and still hit Pier 3, an acceptable distance north of historical. I just need a bridge. Am I doomed to kludging E-W and N-S bridges via a god-mode artificial island for the neighbor connection?

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

The DBE should work with NAM 31.2, the latest version.  It should force all networks to be completely level, so they shouldn't curve up or down hills in any way.  Make sure you have the actual and not just Blue Lightning's

 

Also try forcing it to load last by putting "zzzz" in front of the folder's name.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

The DBE should work with NAM 31.2, the latest version.  It should force all networks to be completely level, so they shouldn't curve up or down hills in any way.  Make sure you have the actual and not just Blue Lightning's

 

Also try forcing it to load last by putting "zzzz" in front of the folder's name.

Right, NAM 31.2 (I just checked the zip file I downloaded in early August). DBE removes water, but it is not forcing level roads. Instead, roads starting from dead-level terrain are breaking straight down cliffsides.

 

I have NAM_DiagonalBridgeEnabler, not the toggler. And yes, I put enough z's in front of the name to load it last. And I have tried running SC4 with just NAM and the DBE, all other plugins removed.

 

I kept my NAM install log. Does anyone know what I need to see in there to be sure that I have the right dependencies?

[Tarkus 6,931]

It sounds like you have another slope mod overriding the DBE's Zero Slope Mod.  The DBE's default directory should be ~Diagonal Bridge Enabler.  Beginning a folder with a tilde (~) actually causes it to load after any z/zzzzzz-type folders.

 

-Tarkus

[APSMS 1,892]

I have this same problem with the DBE. I have Blue Lightning's toggler, but have ensured that the files are in the proper place and have an inordinate amount of red drags when stretching over rivers and such. I also get some strange locomotive T21s/automata when I drag the diagonal Avenue bridge with RHW (sort a plugins conflict on my end, except that I'm using rivit's German trainset, which doesn't have props, so I'm not sure why I get this).

 

The DBE for me has ended up being sort of useless. Almost none of the roads wanted to drag out diagonally over water, even if I flattened the landing point first, and the RHW was not really feasible to use to even cross orthogonal rivers, which I thought it could do (advertised feature, as long as I could stand the pylons). I tested all this without my slope mod as well, which doesn't even have an RHW parameter anyway (I removed it from Ennedi's version).

 

Also, the toggler won't run without the proper files present and named exactly, so it prevents faulty installation (nifty feature; I know cause I renamed [the DBE] and [the toggler] told me so).

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

It really sounds like there are some hidden conflicting plugins.  Try using the DBE with a fresh NAM install and an otherwise empty plugins folder.  Make sure the C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 plugins folder is also empty, in case you put something there for some odd reason.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

The fresh NAM install is the best suggestion so far, since a missing dependency is possible. I already ruled out conflicting slope mods when I tried the DBE with only the NAM 31.2 and nothing else. I should have a result on Wednesday.

 

The progfiles plugin folder has only background png's and the bldgprop dat files in it.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

After re-installing NAM (including over an hour of carefully reading the install text and manuals), the behavior is unchanged. My opinion is that something in NAM 31.2 has obsolesced the diagonal bridge enabler. Starting from a god-mode level platform, neither Maxis nor NAM highways (nor avenues nor roads) will produce a single pylon. The water goes away, but level roads and pylons are no longer exist.

 

I have decided to go ahead with ortho E_W and N_S bridges via an artificial god-mode island well to the south of Yerba Buena.

 

This professional QA engineer says that the diagonal bridge enabler from 2011 is incompatible with NAM 31.2 (something that it needs has vanished).

[Tarkus 6,931]

I just did a clean install test myself with NAM 31.2 and the DBE, and ran into no problems.  The diagonal drag across the chasm may sometimes need to be started with just a small increment (it can be difficult to get it to cooperate dragging the whole way across), but everything appears to be working as intended.

 

-Tarkus

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

I could get the first three segments on flat, level ground, but as soon as I encountered any slope, every kind of transit net dove down until it turned red. There's not a pylon to be had for anything anywhere.

 

I am beginning to wonder if something in the rendering of my map is limiting what the mod can do. I am trying to build on the 1:1 scale San Francisco region from "Mallow the Clouds", which was rendered using Mallow's 1500 height mod (removed after rendering).

[Indiana Joe 1,750]

But it should really work on any terrain.  Screenshots might be helpful.

[Janbiya 71]

I'm getting the same problem as the original poster. Freshly installed NAM 32 today, and I removed my slope mod before I even tried to use the Diagonal Bridge Enabler. Can't get it to play friendly with slopes of any kind, using any network. Just burned more than an hour wrestling with it. Here's proof I wasn't doing anything wrong.

I never had an issue with the Diagonal Bridge Enabler under previous versions of the NAM, so this is definitely an issue worth looking into.

[dirtguru 24]

Same here. Prior to installing NAM 32 had no problems with DBE. Have used DBE extensively throughout my region. Tried removing ENNEDI slope mod as well as all plugins except NAM V32, no luck. All [11] diagonal bridges built prior to installing NAM 32 remain and function properly just can't build new ones.

After about 3 hrs of trying the only workaround I have found is to uninstall NAM 32, reinstall NAM 31 and DBE works fine. After finishing my new bridges went ahead and reinstalled NAM 32.

Kind of a PIA but it worked for me.

Except for the DBE issue I am really impressed with NAM 32, much more stable, great new menu's.