RHW - Questions, Errors, and Testing

[Tarkus 6,932]

rickmastfan67:  Well, I think that part of that has to do with the connections of surface streets to the RHW.  Having a long One-Way Road or Street as a connector decreases the speed at which vehicles get on the highway (this also applies to FHWs), and a lot of times, it can actually discourage commuters from using it.  I did this once by creating a C/D road with OWRs with the NAM ramps and an Elevated FHW, and suddenly, no one used it.

However, I later replaced that stretch of El-FHW with an El-RHW setup with an MIS ramp, and the traffic volumes rose sharply. 

So, at least in the interim, for the OWR and Street connections being used as makeshift ramps on/off the RHW, try to make them as short as possible, and it should mitigate that issue for right now, at least until the MIS is released.

-Tarkus

[rickmastfan67 0]

Originally posted by: Tarkus rickmastfan67:  Well, I think that part of that has to do with the connections of surface streets to the RHW.  Having a long One-Way Road or Street as a connector decreases the speed at which vehicles get on the highway (this also applies to FHWs), and a lot of times, it can actually discourage commuters from using it.  I did this once by creating a C/D road with OWRs with the NAM ramps and an Elevated FHW, and suddenly, no one used it.

However, I later replaced that stretch of El-FHW with an El-RHW setup with an MIS ramp, and the traffic volumes rose sharply. 

So, at least in the interim, for the OWR and Street connections being used as makeshift ramps on/off the RHW, try to make them as short as possible, and it should mitigate that issue for right now, at least until the MIS is released.

-Tarkusquote>

 

But this was @ a Neighbor connection that they didn't want to use it.  In one of the cities, I had replaced all but the Avenue GHW Interchanges & the Neighbor connection with the RHW instead of the original GHW and the traffic levels stayed the same.  The second I replaced the Neighbor connection with the RHW, no traffic period wanted to use it, and it was the only connection between the cities.  Then when I replaced the Neighbor connection back with the GHW, traffic returned, how ever, at really reduced traffic levels.

[Tarkus 6,932]

Hmm . . . one more suggestion I have--when you make the RHW neighbor connection, go into the neighboring city tile you're connecting to, and  make sure the RHW  that's coming out the other side is connected up to the highway system there.

It is rather puzzling, and you've got me thinking on this one.  We'll figure out something.

-Tarkus

Edit: Another thought--do you have any sort of overpasses on your RHW setup?  If so, check to make sure the yellow and white lines are lining up correctly at the overpasses.

[rickmastfan67 0]

Originally posted by: Tarkus Hmm . . . one more suggestion I have--when you make the RHW neighbor connection, go into the neighboring city tile you're connecting to, and  make sure the RHW  that's coming out the other side is connected up to the highway system there.

It is rather puzzling, and you've got me thinking on this one.  We'll figure out something.

-Tarkusquote>

 

It was connected on both sides.  That's what was driving me nuts about it.

EDIT: No overpasses on the RHW segments period.  The only overpasses are at the GHW/Avenue Interchanges.

[Tarkus 6,932]

That really is odd.   Do you have a pic of it?  That might give me a better idea of what kind of issues we might be facing. 

-Tarkus

[rickmastfan67 0]

Originally posted by: Tarkus That really is odd.   Do you have a pic of it?  That might give me a better idea of what kind of issues we might be facing. 

-Tarkusquote>

 

I'll get you a picture later tonight and post it showing you what the connection looked like.

[rickmastfan67 0]

Ok, here are those pictures I promised.  This time, I backed up the cities involved so I could just place the back again and wouldn't have to worry about any traffic problems.

First, from my city Alphaville:

This setup worked:

This setup didn't work even when connected correctly on the other side:

Now, this is from Eaton Beach:

This setup worked:

This setup didn't work even when connected correctly on the other side:

And here's a picture showing that only the truck traffic was willing to use the road in Eaton Beach.  Don't have any truck traffic in Alphaville.

I'm thinking it might have something to do the with "arrows" on the road saying that it's connected to the other city.  But that's just a guess on my part.  And if that's the case, you might have to work on a special "Neighbor" connection piece to fix it.

[Tarkus 6,932]

Hi rickmastfan67-

Well, from what I can tell about the neighbor connections, it doesn't look like the arrow direction would be causing the problem, especially since the side that has the connection on that side facing the correct direction (of course, the neighbor connection on the other side would be the wrong direction). 

The pathing at least appears to work on correctly the neighbor connections, and the arrow facing the wrong direction on the other side I've always interpreted as a side effect of using an override to make a 2-tile network out of a 1-tile network.  And I've gotten traffic to actually come through on the inbound side where the arrow is facing the wrong direction.

That being said, though, I remember qurlix had mentioned something about finding some "trick" of doing neighbor connections awhile ago, but he never further specified what that was.  I'd be willing to try making a new neighbor connector piece, but the only model that there is to base it off of, the old GLR connector puzzle piece, seems to have disappeared, and I didn't manage to get it before then, so I'd have to find that piece before I can try that out.  (If anyone out there can send it my way, it would be greatly appreciated.)  It's something worth looking into, as it could have further applications as well. 

It appears there's just something odd with the traffic simulator as far as I can tell.  It can be rather temperamental, but I'll do some more experimentation to see if we can't get down to the bottom of this.

-Tarkus

[memo 1,445]

As far as I know, the GLR connector puzzle piece was simply a modified straight GLR puzzle piece in order that you may place it directly on the El-rail tracks and the neighbor connection. So if the neighbor connection for RHW doesn't work, you could easily create a puzzle piece which can be placed on ground highway and ANT.

[ebina 4]

Does anyone have a problem with RHW v13 and diagonal street?

Now I can't use the diagonal street helper puzzle pieces as usual. That doesn't connect to other networks such as road. And that works fine when RHW was removed.

I saw RHW and diagonal street have the RUL file that uses same Instance ID. But I don't know the mechanism of RUL file well.

I hope this will be fixed in next release.

[Bluepelican31 5]

Originally posted by: ebina Does anyone have a problem with RHW v13 and diagonal street?

Now I can't use the diagonal street helper puzzle pieces as usual. That doesn't connect to other networks such as road. And that works fine when RHW was removed.

I saw RHW and diagonal street have the RUL file that uses same Instance ID. But I don't know the mechanism of RUL file well.

I hope this will be fixed in next release.quote>

 

I too have this problem.  My diagnol streets placed before I installed RWH v13 still work, but if they get bulldozed or I try to redraw them or place new diagnol streets with the tool they wont connect to anything anymore.

[Tarkus 6,932]

ebina and Bluepelican31:  Yes there are indeed some weird things with the diagonal streets--from the looks of it, it's actually an override RUL type deal (0x10000002) as opposed to the puzzle piece RUL (0x10000000).  The puzzle pieces work fine, but there's a little weirdness going from the puzzle piece to the normal diagonal streets--a slight graphical/alignment glitch. 

The new version I've been testing that will be compatible with the next NAM release doesn't seem to have this problem, however, so this problem will be fixed by the RHW v14 release.  I could probably release some sort of interim patch as well, if enough people were interested.

Thanks for reporting that!

-Tarkus

[BigSlark 0]

And I thought I was doing something wrong...

And yes, Tarkus, a patch would be appreciated.

[ebina 4]

@Tarkus: Thanks for answering to my question. I'm looking forward to future release.

[Tarkus 6,932]

Well, I've found the problem, and it wasn't what I initially thought.  It was an old copy of RUL 0x10000001 dating back to September 18, 2005, from the previous RHW version (v12).  A new version of the RHW v13 .dat file will be uploaded to the STEX shortly.  There will also be another small fix which will speed up the ANT-to-RHW conversion.

My apologies for any inconvenience.

Edit as of 8:43pm PDT:  The updated version of RHW v13 Beta has been uploaded to the STEX.  Here's what has been included:

-Fixed NAM Diagonal Street Plugin issues

-Improved ANT-RHW conversion and RHW draw time (thanks to Shadow Assassin)

-Incorporated GLR Neighbor Connection compatibility (mainly to avoid conflict with the recently released mod, which uses the same RUL file)

Hopefully, this one will work better for everyone.

-Tarkus

[Bluepelican31 5]

Thanks for your investigation Tarkus

[ebina 4]

I've got v13a. My problem was solved. Thanks!

[BigSlark 0]

Thanks Tarkus, you've made my evening.

[Mayor Abe 3]

I had a problem with the NAM (June) 07 compatible RHW. when I drag it, it is the ANT texture and even when I lay it side by side, it is still the ANT base texture.

[Andreas Roth 607]

It seems that you forgot to install the NAM Essentials, which is required for the latest RHW version.

[simwithoutacause 0]

is there a mirror for downloading this? The file that's been uploaded on STEX seems to be corrupted

[Andreas Roth 607]

Try to download the file from SC4Devotion's LEX.

[Haljackey 17,306]

B.U.M.P

 

Please Read the following:

Due to Tarkus' recent departure from the RHW project, and with Qurilx, Teirusu and Zeddic's long disappearance, any questions relating to the Rural Highway network should be posted here.  The remaining members at this site will continue to answer your questions to the best of our ability.

General comments and any other developments to this project should still be posted in the main RHW thread, and contributions from members at this site is still very welcome.

Thanks a lot for your cooperation and have fun using the RHW network in Sim City 4!

LINKS

Most recent RHW network: (compatible with the June 2007 NAM)

download the Rural Highway (version. 0.13 "B")

NAM Essentials (needed for the RHW Network)

June 2007 version of the Nam Essentials

Main RHW Thread:

Rural Highway Development Project

Multi-lane RHW guide:

Guide for Multi-Lane RHWs

[BigSlark 0]

Tarkus didn't "disappear," he's working on the Network Widening Mod with the rest of the NWM team and the NAM team through a different forum.

[nerdly_dood 26]

I really want the MIS to be done, and I would like intersection textures, for one way roads, avenues, and a right hand drive rail intersection, and what's this about a ground highway intersection?

And how about a MIS<->one way road transition? If a ground highway straight offramp is made, this could help with a ground ro elevated highway/rural highway cloverleaf, or a trumpet interchange, or something else that is equally strange.

[Haljackey 17,306]

nerdly_dood:

Right-hand drive rail intersection? What do you mean? Don't we already have this?

Oh and by the way, this is an questions, errors and testing thread. If you have requests, please direct them to the main RHW thread (which has seemed to die here @ ST ) for a better response. If you have questions about the current RHW, post here. Thanks a lot!

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Right-hand drive rail intersection? What do you mean? Don't we already have this? quote>

There's a problem with the rail intersection - it seems to have been flipped for some reason.

[Haljackey 17,306]

Shadow_Assassin: Well, my bad then.

nerdly_dood: With what Shadow_Assassin stated, what you can do in the meantime is use the rail overpass puzzle peaces to create a "elevated rail" bridge over the RHW network. There is a Rail over RHW piece included in there, and it will also grade-separate your RHW and rail, making the RHW more like a real highway!

[Johnnyman7 0]

Hello all,

I've been lurking this thread for a very long time - and honestly, I never expected to post here.

But I just installed the new NAM and RHW last night, and unfortunately, it's not working for me. I followed Tarkus's instructions exactly - first deleting the old NAM, then installing the new one, installing the NAM Essentials, and then the new RHW.

When I fire up Simcity, the RHW icon shows up, but when I go to plop the highway the way I did before, it doesnt show up. In other words, it just stays as a road - not switching to the RHW when its supposed to.

Am I doing something wrong? I used the prior RHW with no problems at all. Is there a certain order that the RHW has to be loaded in the Plugins folder? Thanks in advance for the help.

[Haljackey 17,306]

Hmm... When you downloaded the new NAM, did you install the ANT Network? Its an optional plugin! This may be your problem!

If the answer is yes, it gets more complicated im afraid!

It looks like you may have a conflicting issue with some of your plugins. Something that was compatible with the old NAM/RHW is now incompatible with the newer files. This happened to me, eek!

The best way to solve this problem is to move all the files in your plugins folder elsewhere. Then redownload the NAM (Installing the ANT network, too!) , the NAM: Essentials file, and then the RHW network. Make sure that the RHW folder is IN your NAM folder. Then, run the game, preferably in a new city. The RHW network should work properly.

Then, theres the painstaking task of moving all your plugins back into your folder to see who the violator is. Try sorting out possible incompatible files from the rest and put these back, in blocks at a time. If one block disrupts the RHW, then you can look into that "block" and find the offender.

Now, if THAT doesn't work, I would suggest you have a look at the readme file to make sure you didn't miss anything, unless someone else has a possible solution!

Best of luck Johnnyman7!

-Haljackey