SC4 and the NAM - A Poll for All SC4 Players

[Superbacon 380]

I'd be using 31.2, but it won't install for me. Despite the fact that I've installed the latest patch several times in order to try and make it work. So I'm using 31.1. 

[Turjan 1,048]

1) Is it possible to make a "No $$$ Palms" option that truly works on all streets and roads available in the installation checklist? I am using Swamper's mod, but palms still show up on the SAM streets.

 

That's not really part of the NAM at the moment. Try Cycledogg's Palm to Aspen or Palm to Lodgepole mods (you have to choose only one of them). These mods also change the trees on the SAM streets.

[Tariel 50]

What RickDuzEnuff said/asked.

 

Also, as I am presently in a transitional playing mode phase (from green country to big city) I shall only test the newer NAM later -- I don't even play with much of the new features of the previous release, which skewed my answers to the poll. One hurdle at a time. But I remember how WOWed I was way back then, discovering the earlier iterations of this great addition to the game ("Curves !!!"); the way it evolves never ceases to amaze me, and I look forward to exploring it further when I'm ready for it (and hopefully the eventual kinks will have been smoothed out !

[jaredh 195]

It's always been my opinion that software should be maintained at a regular clip for bugs.  I would encourage the team to go to a more Agile style development cycle where bugs get patched on a regular release schedule (monthly/quarterly at the most) and major features trickle in.

 

Big bang releases always result in big bug problems.  If you trickle in the new features, you can get focused testing on smaller feature sets. 

[blade2k5 1,523]

I think the NAM is the best thing that ever happened to this game. I as well as many others greatly appreciate the dedication and hard work these people do. 'nuff said!

 

This is the same darn thing I was gonna say.

[LReyome254 6]

I do support quarterly releases, it would raise popularity of the NAM, and delays would be acceptable if they are in the interest of bug fixes. I do use most of the options, but I love using the RHW the most. I also believe that a yearly release cycle (which we currently have) is what contributes to loss of interest, because people don't want to wait a year or two to add something to their cities that are already established.

[Fatherted 129]

Personally I'd love a bigger focus on Rail Interchanges for NAM 33. W points on Viaducts, triple and quadruple lines (similar to RHW 8S, except two one way and two the other, or one way each with a third shared rail), and easier-to-make railyards to make a beautiful city-interchange would be amazing.

[kschmidt 6,195]

NAM is a making SC4 more customized for a lot of people, creating a own local world idea. Work with NAM on my fastest computer and one without NAM on the slower machine also without moolah cheat. Difference between those two, one spartan with al Maxis created and its limitations; authentic gameplay the other all things not allowed just for fun. Great is NAM still complicated for me. Bought SC4 some years ago never bothered because of the strict budget restriction, never played on the medium or hard level. As with other games i played i like te difference between the original and the expended versions. NAM makes the city more attractive and turbulent.

[Swordmaster 50]

Personally I'd love a bigger focus on Rail Interchanges for NAM 33. W points on Viaducts, triple and quadruple lines (similar to RHW 8S, except two one way and two the other, or one way each with a third shared rail), and easier-to-make railyards to make a beautiful city-interchange would be amazing.

Rail development has been slow for the past few years but is picking up again. Please direct all your thoughts and ideas on rails here.

Cheers

Willy

[dyoungyn 5]

I think all the hard and ABSOLUTELY AMAZING work the NAM team does, is stupendous.  Keep up the great work.  Honestly, without the NAM updates, SC4 would be dead on it's track.  SC4 gets more and more amazingly fun and interesting. 

 

Don

[CGMozart118 14]

Long-time lurker here:

To reiterate what everyone else has said: NAM is AMAZING!!! It is the one thing that brought me back to Simcity 4 after ~6-7 years of neglect (being older and understanding economies of scale, property values, etc. also helped!) When combined with a few other strategically placed mods and custom content, it makes Simcity 4 into a brand new game.

 

Roundabouts have become endemic in my cities, and between the Viaduct rail, STR, HSRP, GLR, NWM, SAM, El-Rail over Roads (and their gorgeous stations) I'm able to truly bring cities to life in new and unique ways. As of 31.2 I've started playing around with CAN-AM, and I like what I see so far! And I'm keeping my eye on Project Symphony, that'll be my next big experiment when I start a new region. I like to use a mix of Maxis highway and real highway - Maxis in the cities (I tunnel like a mad mole, Big Dig-style) and RHW in the suburbs/country (a RHW-6C to Maxis transition would be a dream come true, but I know that's easier said than done on several levels).

 

NAM Team: release it whenever you darn well please; I'd like to see new content every week, but I'll take quality over quantity and I know how hard you all work on this stuff. Keep up the phenomenal work - if you ever need a tester (I'm good a breaking things) let me know.

  Edited November 17, 2013 by CGMozart118  

[urielgarcia 344]

I read all the comments and had to add - You guys are awesome!

 

Sadly, I don't use many of the features - STR, RHW (overwhelms me), CAN AM (mostly because in my country, canals are undesirable) but I do love Project Symphony (really miss horizontal ramps though), NWM, SAM and other features.

 

Love your work but especially thankful that you guys share some amazing stuff with the Simcity 4 Community!

[Shark7 118]

Personally I'd love a bigger focus on Rail Interchanges for NAM 33. W points on Viaducts, triple and quadruple lines (similar to RHW 8S, except two one way and two the other, or one way each with a third shared rail), and easier-to-make railyards to make a beautiful city-interchange would be amazing.

 

I agree.  I wouldn't mind seeing a set of pre-made rail 'intersections' like a T where you can branch one line into another line yet giving both direction of travel on both lines.  Right now I build these myself, and its not the space it takes that concerns me, I'd just like a quicker way to do it.

 

The mono-rail (which I use a lot) could use a little work in this area too.

[KevinPaul06 57]

NAM is almost perfect, I think the only thing that its lacking are advance elevated wider highways. 

 

Edited: I forgot to say that I don't care how long the releases will take. The NAM team can release it anytime they want too. 

[GeometryMath Algebra 614]

NAM is almost perfect, I think the only thing that its lacking are advance elevated wider highways. 

 

Edited: I forgot to say that I don't care how long the releases will take. The NAM team can release it anytime they want too.

Wider elevated RHWs already exists.

[KevinPaul06 57]

 

NAM is almost perfect, I think the only thing that its lacking are advance elevated wider highways. 

 

Edited: I forgot to say that I don't care how long the releases will take. The NAM team can release it anytime they want too.

Wider elevated RHWs already exists.

 

Actually, no it doesn't. Wider elevated RHWs, Yes. Advance wider elevated RHWs, No. And when I say advance means transitions, on/off ramp and stuffs for wider elevated RHWs. 

[TekindusT 3,809]

I'd like to throw in my opinion on the frequency of releases. I voted for an annual frequency because I really think it is ideal for my personal needs and, I think, for the needs of a large part of us.

On one hand, releasing once a year or less avoids us having to do that tedious process of downloading, installing, checking boxes, going to the game and checking the novelties, learning how to use the new goodies, discovering the new stuff hidden behind Tab rings... On the other hand, my very personal view is that one year is time enough to present a NAM update with some cool new content. I would never download a monthly update that only contained a couple of RHW ramps, because this is the only finalized thing the NAM Team has been capable to do in that given month. Instead, an annual release with a good number of cool and new features will be downloaded for sure.

Just the personal views from a lazy and average (but proud) NAM user.

[Haljackey 17,380]

A good argument for a quatertly / semi-annual release in my mind is that it helps rejouvinate interest in SC4. The news of a new NAM release can draw many inactive players back to the game and may help motivate the NAM team too. With the latest release, over a year since the last NAM release, there was a lot of content that had to be added, organized and tested to see if everything was compatible with one-another. (Not to mention the deadline but that is another story.) Smaller, more frequent releases may help keep things less complicated on our end.

[Lost Realist 762]

A good argument for a quatertly / semi-annual release in my mind is that it helps rejouvinate interest in SC4. The news of a new NAM release can draw many inactive players back to the game and may help motivate the NAM team too. With the latest release, over a year since the last NAM release, there was a lot of content that had to be added, organized and tested to see if everything was compatible with one-another. (Not to mention the deadline but that is another story.) Smaller, more frequent releases may help keep things less complicated on our end.

 

I can only speak for myself but I find this to be true. I've lost interest in SC4 a lot of times during the past and always only came back when I heard that a new NAM was about to be released. I also see a lot of reason in the second argument, that smaller releases at a higher frequency will help keeping a grip on things and not having to bugfix a whole huge release right after releasing it, especially since I understand that the hotfix approach was deemed undesired.

[Legatus Legionis 1]

I first only used the NAM because of the corrected traffic simulations.

 

And the fact I enjoyed playing the original without many MODs.

 

Only in the last year did I finally decide to expand my gaming experience, and started to incorporate/use MODs/pluggins more fully.

 

But I found that with the NAM, SimCity4 is more complete, more realistic, more options for city building.

 

Is this what SimCity5 should have looked like.  Giving the player more options on city building!

 

And while answering the questions on what I use/don't use...

 

I consider it all as giving the players "options".

 

After all, SimCity4 is all about options, creating unique citys.

 

Some Mods/functions I don't use (yet), some I use a little, some I use alot.

 

Others, I want to use but they don't fit in the type of city/region I am currently making, or I have not yet played around with them enough to know how to use them.

 

Watching youtube channels like Haljackey's "building a city from scratch" series as well as his "highway interchange" videos demonstrates on how to use NAM and so many of its options/functions, I would never have been able to discover on my own.  And it reveals how much work and details the NAM team puts into it.

 

And please, don't rush releases.  Quality in the game we all love and enjoy playing is better than making quick products and having to provide tons of patched to fix.

[glad2meecha 26]

All honor and appreciation to Their Eminence the Road Wizards,

 

Along with those of the BAT-masters and other Modding Pooh-bahs, my SC4 hobby has been sublimely enhanced by all your efforts.  Dirk, Jeroni, and other site hosts and staff provide the means for it all to succeed.  By no means have I considered any NAM release anything other than a resounding success.  We played, we learned, we discussed, we solved, we in time conquered our frustrations, in every one.

 

I voted for the semi annual release, but honestly, am of a hearty opinion that whatever makes the releases smoother for your team is the best, and know you have many things to consider of which I haven't thought.  That you would take the time to ask our opinions is most considerate.  If it were just myself playing, I would be busy trying new things for a few more years.  I'm a granny who plays the game, lol.  But I know there are those who devour every shred of your work and come out the other side saying, "Bring it on!" 

 

There is a lot of joy in your work.  It shows.  Whatever upholds that joy and keeps your interest flowing is a beautiful thing.  If that means you would like to keep the pot cooking, and feel inspired by faster progress, carpe diem!  No doubt there are members on your team from both the Slow and Steady and Tearin' It Up camps.  Each brings his or her own assets.  I hate to spoil it for the younger members , but you're actually learning a lot about life in coordinating all this.  Any time that a team gets together and pulls out a project, you've done a great thing. 

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Welcome to the conversation, glad2meecha.

 

Although you've been around for a few years, it is good to have a new member join in the dialogue.  That's quite a first post.

[Meeston 0]

i like NAM 31.2. but the "Road Turning Lanes" is not working in the NAM 31.2.

NOTE: in the earlier versions of the NAM. the "Road Turing Lanes" are just like "Avenue Turning Lanes".

[Kuewr665 40]

Have you clicked on the intersection tileusing one way road?