NAM: Development

[gregfry 0]

you should look at Lakeboy's Multi Highway guide. It show how to use those half pieces of highway you created. I think this is the link.

 

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?mode=files&filetype=Lot&Str=lakeyboys%20multihighway%20guide%20third%20edition%20in%20jpeg%20format

[smoncrie 43]

I have done some more experimenting with wealth-dependant models.  I tested with orthogonal (my crosswalk piece) and diagonal road puzzle pieces.  This time I tried copying all the Maxis orthogonal straight road FSH files 0x00004bWZ and diagonal straight road FSH files 0x000014WZ (W from 1-3, Z from 0-4 in both cases) so that first six digits of the IID was the same as the puzzle piece.

When I did this, the textures on the sides of the puzzle piece matched Maxis roadside textures for every wealth level, every type of zone, and every zone density I tested.  Sidewalk textures and grass textures matched perfectly.

The Maxis roadside texture changes with more than just the wealth level, as did my puzzle pieces.   This means that the W part of the address in the above textures is not really the wealth level.   The actual roadside texture depends not only on the wealth, but also on the zone type, density and transit type.

I made a mistake and gave the S3D file the wrong address.  As you would expect, the texture on the tile was missing when the puzzle piece was plopped, but as soon as anything was zoned or plopped next to it, the road texture from one of the copied

[Tropod 144]

Admittedly, the tests I've done have been rather limited. I wouldn't be to surprised if there were some variations in the way some of these worked though, considering the normal network textures are handled slightly differently. Most of the rail textures only have the set of base (0) textures.
There may be an elevation factor involved too from what I've seen. I know if the Transparent part of the Colour Map is black (as opposed to actually containing its own proper wealth) for a texture, it seems to use the default wealths (like Rail does). I'd be willing to bet that if textures like 0x00000100 had a set of textures (with black colour maps) for the 0x0000014# set, or only had the base (0) texture with the black color map, that it'd use the standard internal dirt FSH texture when triggered.

[smoncrie 43]

When I was testing rail with the

[GoaSkin 2]

What do I have to do for the straight GLR puzzle piece if I want to appear the rural version if there is nothing around and the regular puzzle piece, if there are buildings?

[smoncrie 43]

GoaSkin,  When there are buildings next to it, do you want it to change with different wealth levels?

 

EDIT: Would you prefer grass for low density and pavement for mid and high density? (this option will vary with wealth level)

 

[GoaSkin 2]

I thought about grass if there are no surroundings only but without needing a separate rural style puzzle piece.

[smoncrie 43]

GoaSkin,

 

Sorry, it can not be done with just one piece. It can not distinguish between being away from all development and being in a city core between two one way roads.

[buddybud 63]

i hope this is the right place to post this since it nam related.....as of late ive been playing with underbridge stuff...i dont like the green space....all is almost good...

i've modded some off center texture props to be placed under this rail and ive noticed that the nam avenue under rail pieces (may be others) change position depending on the perspective of the view.......the question is...is there a way to have these lined up...heres a picture to show you the problem...(purely asthetic but im a bit of a perfectionist...lol)

 

 

anyways....what gives...is there a way around this or should i just ignore it?

[Tropod 144]

Just to clarify; that picture of yours is one in-game shot right? You haven't taken two shots & put them together into the one image?
EDIT: What are you actually doing technically? Modifying the RailxAvenue PuzzlePiece models, or using NetworkLotProps?

[buddybud 63]

yes...that is in game....

technically its just a one by one (green) lot with a overhanging prop i made myself (blue)....its that simple...its just eyecandy

so no....no modifications ....and no...no networklotprops.....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//offcenter2.jpg align=baseline>

 

EDIT..........This should give ya a better idea

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//offcenter3.jpg align=baseline>

[GoaSkin 2]

Is there anybody who can create me GLR-textures (rural and urbanized style) for that?

[Tropod 144]

buddybud:
To be honest, after looking at the pics I can't really see a problem , otherwise I've completely missed the point I think. To me the two look exactly the same, just rotated 180 degrees.

[smoncrie 43]

Tropod, budybud,

If you plop the NAM puzzle piece on an avenue without using any lots you can see that the avenue texture under one side of the puzzle piece matches up better than on the other side.  It looks to me like the Maxis avenue texture is off-center by a pixel or two.

The match could be improved if the models on the side of the avenue that do not match as well were rotated 180 degrees.   I am not saying that this should be done, because the change is quite small.

[GoaSkin 2]

Just for information:

I placed two railway ramps in a city connectiong two raised railways using a short ground railway stretch. In UDI-mode the game crashes if a train enters the second ramp on ground level and some cars have not left the first one.

I re-constructed the situation two times and the game crashed.

Please check if you can reconstruct that on your installation too to recognize if this is another Simcity bug!

[buddybud 63]

thanks all....yes the difference is a pixel or two.....no biggy...just trying to get it as close as possible...lol...anyways thanks for the replies...

hophop

[Tropod 144]

Date: 7/7/2005 7:38:38 PM
Author: GoaSkin
Just for information:

I placed two railway ramps in a city connectiong two raised railways using a short ground railway stretch. In UDI-mode the game crashes if a train enters the second ramp on ground level and some cars have not left the first one.

I re-constructed the situation two times and the game crashed.

Please check if you can reconstruct that on your installation too to recognize if this is another Simcity bug!

quote>


Post a picture of the set-up please, thanks.




buddybud:
I get what you mean now (thanks smoncrie ). That particular puzzlepiece item, the same model is used for both of the tiles. This is often done in some cases to reduce the need for replicated (Model/FSH) files. If you wanted to change/fix it; all you'd have to do is clone the original models (changing the IID in the process), change the Exemplar references to point to the cloned models, & then rotate the model itself 180 degrees. I've not really worried to much about these sorts of minor items where a slight alignment might exist, though I try not to make a habbit of it.

[GoaSkin 2]

As a request from ArkenbergeJoe, I am currently re-pathing his railroad Y-stack. While the most major bugs are fixed, there is a strange behavior on the elevated parts of the stack where the paths are just copied from the avenue Y-stack. Sometimes, trains which use the left way behind the junction jump to an overpassing rail from the opposite directions and then down again to the rail going right. Only sometimes, not everytime.



When using the query tool, the orange arrow switches every few seconds from the well path to this behavior shown on the picture.

In UDI-mode, all combinations you can pass over the stack work without bugs.

Download

This is no download for BETA-testing. Please download only to find out the bugs!

[Tropod 144]

The following is an extract from the NAM documentation:

From the technical notes;
1.3 Paths
....some aspects of SimCity 4

[GoaSkin 2]

The preview model is currently to small because the junctions haven't been added to it. ArkenbergeJoe is currently modifying it.

About the showed bug: This means that the same path coordinates show a different behavior if they're used for railways and not for cars?

As said: All combinations to pass the object work well in UDI mode. Only computer-controlled trains have this behavior and that in one of five cases only.

The right top side of the Y is affected with the bug. Everything seems to work well for trains entering the object from the bottom or the left top side.

When the textures are fixed, the stack will be a case for the NAM cosmetic MOD. Currently, type0 models are used. The game does not resize them very well and railways look incredible in zoom sizes 3 or lower if resized by the game.

[ArkenbergeJoe 35]

Yes! A side is already finished in the preview model

 

Translated by Babelfish = TBB

Eine Seite ist schon fertig im Vorschaumodell

[GoaSkin 2]

Here is the first screenshot of the freeway ramp (straight version):




It will keep much time until the models and the textures are adjusted to look usable. The iLive Reader shows bull on this models.

|Edited for language| T.

[Tropod 144]

The Reader is not always able to update how the models look like, what they may look like in game. Depending on how the item is being handled & where the FSH files are, you may need to save the file & reload the Reader & the file in order to view it properly.

[Glenni 1,444]

whoa that rail thing there is that really a rail interchanges with bridges?

[Tropod 144]

Thought I should show this considering what you're trying to do there:

This is an idea I had a while ago, but have yet to really figure out all the finer details/issues. Hopefully though the idea comes across;

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Networks_Puzzle%20Pieces_Idea_008.JPG align=baseline>

 

 

[GoaSkin 2]

I have to fight with FishMan at the moment. In my WIN32-emulator the program crashes if the handlet image sizes are too big (I had no success with 256x256 imagesI

[GoaSkin 2]

Update: Problems solved. Puzzle piece is being tested.

[Tropod 144]

I wanted to further this idea, so thought I'd post more of a breakdown of this concept:

Ramp PuzzlePieces

 

 

 

 

A = Network specific Puzzlepieces (i.e. Road, OneWayRoad,Avenue). These would need to be flexible, but self-containing. i.e. no neighbour tiles automatically appearing when placed. The height of this would need to be the same as existing puzzlepieces over the whole piece, & be flexible so that the majority of existing puzzlepieces can be used in the neighbouring tiles (where Z is).

B = Generic Ramp, which would/should be capable of being used for any situation with different pieces of A & C. The height of the highest end would need to line up with tile A. The height at the lowest end would need to be configured so that it would be equally suitable for the different pieces on tile C.

C = Network specific Puzzlepiece (i.e. groundhighway, road,avenue,onewayroad ~ maybe not all of them?). These would need to be flexible, & expanding/expandable. i.e. neighbour tiles automatically fill if/where needed. Depending on the network, the right side portion of the tile may need to be raised slightly to go inwards/outwards relative to tile B ramp.

Z = existing puzzlepieces already contained in the NAM.

Essentially each lettered tile would be a seperate puzzlepiece item (excluding Z, as these are existing puzzlepieces).

At this point, I am thinking maybe a Ramps PuzzlePiece menu button could house these particular items that are specifically directly related to Ramp PuzzlePieces.

This concept would give the greatest amount of control, flexibility & usability with these items, especially in conjunction with all the existing (raised) puzzlepiece items. Obviously this poses a challenge (especially if/when it went into diagonals), especially with regards to tile B & C & tile A relative to tile Z. Coding wise I do believe this is doable, but proper models &/or adjustments would need to be done for tiles A, B & C to fit into the whole scheme of things.

 

 

As I said, this is only a concept at this point in time. Nothing more. At this point in time nothing is actually being done. But feel free to give your suggestions on the matter (technical minded feedback prefered).

 

 

[GoaSkin 2]

That is nothing I can do with my knowledge. I can neither create models, nor do I have experience on creating pieces with a gap.

If gaps are possible, I have another idea: Fake tunnel puzzle pieces with a given distance.

Two tiles show tunnel entrances. Bethween the entrances, no tile is occupied with a model. The cons layout should allow the user to place bethween the entrances what he wants but a path connection exists.

If this works, the following may be possible

- commute train tunnels with underground stations
- UDI-enabled el-railway tunnels
- tunnels with curves
- underwater tunnels without the need of terraforming

[Keiran Halcyon 0]

Tropod, I like that. See my related requests in the Request Thread .