Building a canal advice

[Dazontheweb 5]

Hi again,

The new city I'm designing is going well and I'm really enjoying it.

Today I noticed I was able to place a canal. Is this part of NAM? Anyway, if I do decide to add a canal, are there any mods that will allow me to place a canal boat on it? I've not had a good search around yet. I was just looking for feedback from someone who might have already done this.

Also! Is there any mods that will allow me to place a Fence/wall along the canal?

Thanks

[kristoferpetit 3]

i second this…. anyone?

[Grumbs64 27]

Well I typed a long reply earlier, then firefox crashed, which is normally very rare for me....

 

1. Yes, the NAM contains the CAN-AM, the Canal Add On mod.  It adds pathing lots for Simgoober's canals.

 

2. Yes, there are static boats you can plop, and there are boats which move along special paths in some canal sets.

 

3. There are stand-alone lots which can put a fence + grass (etc.) alongside anything, but I think you will find that whatever canal set(s) you choose have the eye-candy along the borders taken care of.

 

There are a quite a few canal / waterway / stream / etc. sets.

 

1.  Simgoober's BSC Brick Canal sets -- probably the largest and most diverse, with a bunch of add-ons.  Look for "SG canals" or "BSC Brick Canals" in the mod title.  Mostly available on the STEX.

 

2. callagrafx redesign of the SG canals (AKA "CAL SG" or just "CAL Canals") -- a visual reworking of Simgoober's orginals, also lots of add-ons.  Mostly available on the LEX.

 

3. PEG Productions Channel Stream Kits - CSK and CSK2.  Available on the STEX and at simpeg.com

 

4. oh yes, there's more -- the ARS, Artificial River System by RLM Productions.  Interestingly there are raised lots for this that allow canals to cross other canals...

 

5. no no, not done yet -- the Japan Suburban Canals and Urban Canals sets.  Not sure where those are now.

 

6. and then there's jeronij's urban canal set, and then there's the LA River Project (a dry variant of RLM's ARS), and then there's zero7's Sunken Canals........

 

My advice would be to start with one set, say the BSC Brick Canals (Simgoober's) and download everything for it you can find, and play around with it.

[Prophet42 1,503]

Excellent reply Grumbs64.  Thanks for taking the time to put together an informative and thorough reply.  I found it useful.

[Dazontheweb 5]

Thanks for the info Grumbs64!

 

I've started designing a canal using BSC Brick Canals (Simgoober's) and have to say its a very nice mod! 

 

All I need to do now is locate a nice boat for the canal!

 

Thanks again! 

 

Edit/update: I'm now using this mod and was wondering if its possible to have canal boats/ferries that travel along the canal? Or are they just static? 

[glazert 89]

If you plop canal stops/stations they should appear. Make sure you have downloaded and installed the listed dependencies.

[Dazontheweb 5]

Thanks,

 

I did plop them down but didn't notice any of them travelling along. I wasn't sure if it was possible as the canal water is a mod that is just covering a normal tile. Would it act like road or rail?

[glazert 89]

Thanks,

 

I did plop them down but didn't notice any of them travelling along. I wasn't sure if it was possible as the canal water is a mod that is just covering a normal tile. Would it act like road or rail?

 

You do, of course, have to use the CAN-AM canal pieces to connect them. This will mean that the canals effectively act like roads. You may have wait to see automata activity. You have to ensure that the passengers or freight can reach the stops/stations and that there are residential, and commercial areas to generate the passengers or freight.

[Dazontheweb 5]

Thanks,

I just discovered this thread from the forum. I'm going to try it out later on.

[Dazontheweb 5]

Well I followed the guide here  and still saw no moving boats. There were numbers (usage) at the stops but no animated boats along the canal.

[glazert 89]

Have a look at the thread for CAN-AM over at SC4Devotion:

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=7662.0

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The main animation is controlled by the game executable.  Since canals are not included in the game, I'd not expect them to be populated with animated eye-candy like the roads.

[Dazontheweb 5]

Thanks all,

 

This is a screenshot of the canal I'm currently using. I've not yet seen a single canal boat travel along it. Am I using the correct stations?

 

[Dazontheweb 5]

Update: After spending a good few hours of trying to get working traffic/boats on the canal, I sadly gave up. I just couldn't get any traffic to spawn on the canal. I've checked the mods and tried building it different ways. No luck at all! 

 

I've been reading through the thread over at SC4 Devotion but still had no joy. 

[Grumbs64 27]

As you can see from that thread, lots of people report problems getting automata to appear using the CAN-AM.  The canals I've made have just been eye candy, I haven't messed with the CAN-AM yet.  I run with automata set to "low" anyway, and I would not expect canal traffic to appear unless set on "high".

[Grumbs64 27]

By the way, in that other thread I think this part is key to getting the CAN-AM to work:

 

 

 

Hi

I've been trying to get this mod to work for hours. I've installed and re-installed everything relevant listed in this thread, but no matter what I do I can't get the ferry traffic to show up.

Does anyone have any idea why it isn't showing? The only traffic I've managed to see is a few buses that look like they're under water, and they only appeared for a second.

Hi there greg0418, welcome to SC4D ! 

First of all the Can-Am actually is a bus based transit system and intended for use on (flat) land. Hence you'll not get any ferry traffic.

To make the system work, first lay down roads with the road tool. Then select the Can-Am piece from the miscellaneous traffic menu and plop it on top of the road - this ensures UDI functionality. Use stations so sims can use the canals to travel to work or ship freight and finally plop some ordinary canal pieces alongside to finish up your canals!

Hope this helpes!

 

i.e. build the CAN-AM part of the canal FIRST (by placing roads and dropping the override on top of them) and then fill in the surrounding eye-candy pieces.

[Dazontheweb 5]

Thanks for the reply,

 

I tried a range of canal set ups with different stations etc, but nothing appeared to make the boats/traffic spawn. 

 

Here's a list of mods I'm using:

 

NAM 32 (with CAM AM installed/checked during NAM set up)

BSC_Install_Canals_BasePack

BSC_Install_Canals_Gondolas

BSC_Install_Canals_Paddleboats

BSC_Install_Canals_Terraces

BSC_Install_Canals_Wharfs

BSC_Install_EssentialFiles

BSC_Install_texturesVol01

BSC_Parksv2_TextureSet_v102

Install_BSC_CAN-AM_NAM

Install_BSC_MEGA_PropPack_CP_Vol01

Install_BSC_MEGA_Props_D66_Vol01

Install_BSC_MEGA_Props_D66_Vol02

Install_BSC_MEGA_Props_MBEAR_Vol01

Install_BSC_MEGA_Props_Misc_Vol02

Install_BSC_Textures_Vol02

Install_BSC_Textures_Vol03

Install_BSCMEGAProps_NewmanInc_Vol02

SG_INSTALL_MEGAProps01

 

From my understanding quite a few of these are dependencies required by the mods in order for the canal set up to run. Would anyone know if I'm missing anything?

 

Thanks again

By the way, in that other thread I think this part is key to getting the CAN-AM to work:

 

 

 

 

Hi

I've been trying to get this mod to work for hours. I've installed and re-installed everything relevant listed in this thread, but no matter what I do I can't get the ferry traffic to show up.

Does anyone have any idea why it isn't showing? The only traffic I've managed to see is a few buses that look like they're under water, and they only appeared for a second.

Hi there greg0418, welcome to SC4D ! 

First of all the Can-Am actually is a bus based transit system and intended for use on (flat) land. Hence you'll not get any ferry traffic.

To make the system work, first lay down roads with the road tool. Then select the Can-Am piece from the miscellaneous traffic menu and plop it on top of the road - this ensures UDI functionality. Use stations so sims can use the canals to travel to work or ship freight and finally plop some ordinary canal pieces alongside to finish up your canals!

Hope this helpes!

 

i.e. build the CAN-AM part of the canal FIRST (by placing roads and dropping the override on top of them) and then fill in the surrounding eye-candy pieces.

 

Thanks,

 

I spotted that post while reading through all 17 pages of the thread. This also didn't work. I'm sure I must be doing something wrong.

[Dazontheweb 5]

Update:

 

Here's a screenshot of the latest canal I'm testing out. As you can see, the ferry station at the top has usage but no boats have spawned.