RHW Real Highways Help

[bearcatnat 3]

So I've installed the RHW package and even managed to customize the installation by removing some things I don't want to use right now (like canals). I've begun a city where I want to create a ring highway, with most of the industry on the outer edges and residential areas in the center. But I'm having a hard time using the RHW pieces. I've read through a lot of the PDF documentation with RHW, but there are so many abbreviations and terms I don't know, so it's really hard to grasp. I looked up Youtube video tutorials, but most of them were from 2012 and earlier, and did not have all of the newest features. Are there any newer video tutorials or even simpler text tutorials you can recommend?

 

My biggest trouble is that I want the highway to curve around a bit to fit the shape of the outer edges of my map, and I can't get curves figured out. I know there are curve puzzle pieces, but then I have trouble properly connecting those to the existing highway. I also can't quite manage to figure out how to connect my ramps to my streets. Last, I have built it as RHW-4, which I understand is one direction on each side. Sometimes when I drag out from the existing RHW-4 to add to it, it reverts to RHW-2.

 

I've attached a screenshot of what I've built so far. Help???

[rsc204 21,866]

First tip, especially for curves, ramps and elevated sections you really want to be working on flat land. You can either use the terraforming tools or plop lots of sinlge 1x1 Road/RHW tiles individually and they will level off an area for you. I'm guessing that's why the curves won't plop right now.

Drag RHW from the end of the exit lanes of the ramps and you should be able to connect it directly into your streets like a regular road/street interchange. Honestly can't remember ever using streets for this, so maybe if that doesn't work transition to road for the junction.

The RHW system works as an override network, when you place the starter pieces this tells the game what network the generic RHW piece you drag should display. However a number of things can cause instability, especially a lot of networks crossing next to each other or puzzle pieces (such as ramp, transitions or curves). If the overrides fail in this way you can either add another override piece (assuming there is space) or plop fillers (Fillers icon in Highway menu) to fix the markings in place. For RHW-4 you have both straight and diagonal fillers but they do not cover every RHW possibility. Generally speaking all this stuff really just takes experience, the more you practice the better you will get and the more understanding of the features available and their limitations you will have. Take it easy, open a test region and just play with the pieces building through some of the intersections there are tutorials for and you'll gain confidence in no time.

One last tip, you should try to use one of the RHW Height or Flex-Height transitions to switch to E-RHW (Elevated RHW) so you get nice smooth ramps, it looks like you've tried to just transition them, they don't come automatically like the Maxis Highway ramps, you need to place them like with the Road/Ave elevated pieces.

[APSMS 1,893]

It should be noted that at this time there are no elevated smooth curves.

 

One thing I usually do when placing curves, is draw out the network as I want it first (with the sharp diagonal transitions and all), and then go back and plop the smooth curves over the RHW that I've already built. This doesn't always work; sometime you'll have to destroy the bend and a few extra tiles to place the piece, but trial and error should go a long way with these pieces.

 

The reason I drag the diagonals out first is because there are currently no [standalone] diagonal starters (some exist on the diagonal ramp pieces). Dragging the RHW out first allows you to easily continue the override.

 

Also, a lot of RHW features are highly slope-intolerant, so I'd either find yourself a decent slope mod (CSX's or Ennedi's are recommended, as is the RHW slope mod), or be prepared to smooth out the terrain with a different [slope-controlled] network. The bumps will prevent a lot of pieces from placing properly, can lead to the China Sinkhole bug (where a piece randomly makes a 1-tile hole of doom upon placing), and just generally looks bad. After trying them out, I can't go back.

 

Finally, there are a number of Youtube videos of people using the RHW. Videos by Haljackey and Mandelsoft are popular and current, but for the beginner, I'd recommend Asteconn (or this link). Yes, I know his videos are extremely outdated (back when it was still the Rural Highway Mod), and really only useful (in the specific sense) to users of the older NAM (30 and previous). However, what his videos do show (and this hasn't changed) is the basic understanding of different parts of the RHW, like the ramp interfaces, elevated networks/pieces, ramp design, and how they all fit together. If you can get past the fact that almost none of the pieces look like what you're stuck using, I think you'll find his videos extremely helpful in wrapping your head around the RHW, even if the specifics are no longer accurate.

 

I'd watch Haljackey, too, just so you can share in his frustration and because he is generally good at explaining what he's building, but his videos aren't tutorials, so just be aware that you may not always know what's going on. There are more picture-based RHW tutorials here for various interchanges, but again they're very basic and slightly outdated (though the methods, surprisingly, are still current).

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

However, what his videos do show (and this hasn't changed) is the basic understanding of different parts of the RHW, like the ramp interfaces, elevated networks/pieces, ramp design, and how they all fit together. If you can get past the fact that almost none of the pieces look like what you're stuck using, I think you'll find his videos extremely helpful in wrapping your head around the RHW, even if the specifics are no longer accurate.

I don't like to mention Asteconn's videos, not because they're inaccurate, but because they're also skipping over much more fundamental basics, like starter bisection and general RHW dragging practises. Also add to that the idea of Flex pieces, which is something that people need to start grasping fast, because the first set of puzzle pieces are gonna go away, and having a video series that only focuses on puzzle pieces just detracts people from the big feature of the NAM, and also reinforces functional fixation of puzzle pieces, something that I have brought up a few times before.

Demonstrating the RHW in the state that he shows it implies that the RHW is just a series of variable-width RHW networks with a suite of puzzle pieces that perform the bulk of the functionality. That's not how it is: the RHW is a system of variable-width modular or fixed-width highway networks of varying height levels, with an ever-growing system of flex pieces, each offering growing functionalities to the mod itself.

What I'm saying is this: even if he does go over the basics, he only goes over about half of them. I can't entirely blame him for that since his series straddles two different RHW versions, but he just stops at the wrong time without going over anything new from RHW Version 4 or beyond. You're only getting half of the story, and additionally, the wrong message. ANyone watching Asteconn's videos should be aware that you're only getting the proverbial tip of the iceberg; the RHW is far more capable than what you're seeing.

[Compdude787 916]

Oh, and I'm planning on making a set of video tutorials for the RHW for the very reason that most of the ones on YouTube are out of date. Of course, I'm waiting for NAM 33 to come out so I can demonstrate all the new draggable ramps.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

Oh, and I'm planning on making a set of video tutorials for the RHW for the very reason that most of the ones on YouTube are out of date. Of course, I'm waiting for NAM 33 to come out so I can demonstrate all the new draggable ramps.

And to that, I say good luck to you and be sure to be more Flexcentric than any of the other tutorials out there. Though in saying that, nearly all of the patterns, with a few 8S exceptions, have periodic patterns to them, so it'd be a bit too easy to show all of the patterns.