Problems with Fractionally Angled Roads

[bearcatnat 3]

So I'm starting slowly on my masterpiece--a Simcity Paris! I've downloaded tons of buildings and cool stuff, and am installing them slowly, piece by piece. So far I have a grand Paris map, some steps (for Montmartre area), 1 or 2 BAT buildings, and the churches of Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame.

 

I've found out quickly that Paris is a tough city to tackle, which I think I remember reading about when I was downloading buildings. The way the map is turned, it makes most of the streets run diagonally. I've decided to start on the Ile de Cité as my first tile to build up. This is where those two churches are located.

 

In short, I'm having a terrible time building roads that are even a close approximation to correct! I've installed NAM and have been using it for some months, but fractionally-angled roads are a headache for me. I don't understand how to integrate them. If I plop down a piece of FAR, it seems like there is no way to connect it at the ends! I can't drag road into or out of it.

 

I've attached an image. The road at the far right on the island is what I'm talking about. It won't connect! I started just dragging out streets and using diagonal streets, but I don't like it.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Bonne chance.  Any large European city is going to have streets running off in all directions since most of them started life as cattle trails.

[bearcatnat 3]

Ha! And my Nonny Moose who usually has all the answers has nothing. That must mean I'm really doomed! Well, I forgot about draggable FAR, so I'm playing with that in a sandbox tile. I can see it is much easier to start with that, then add puzzle pieces as/if needed. This draggable stuff needs lots of room for mistakes, though! Are there any tutorials, per chance? I found a youtube video by MandelSoft, but it is pre-release for draggable FAR, and really just a demo, not a tutorial for use.

[MushyMushy 3,618]

The NAM manual!

 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8Tb6LVuRM4QNHNYeFVZcDMyVmM

 

Scroll down to page 45, that's where the information on draggable FAR-3 and FAR-2 is. Info on draggable WRC's is also somewhere nearby.

This should help you set up your roads, I still refer to it sometimes...

[bearcatnat 3]

I did take a look at the NAM manual, but I just don't find it super helpful, what with all those abbreviations for things! I think I'm getting the hang of it. Here's where I'm at now. Those roads are much straighter! I'm not going for an exact replica of Paris, but a "Paris-esque" city.

 

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

You are going to have an awful problem with Parisian streets.  As I recall, they wander off in all directions.  How had you planned to do L'Etoile?

[rsc204 21,861]

One thing that may help, the angle the map is oriented to, if you can rotate it 45 degrees all the diagonals become straight and that will make life a lot easier, although I think a lot of Diag and FAR will need to be incorporated for any European city to really look right.

 

As they say, Rome Paris wasn't built in a day, so take it slow there will be plenty of time to practice with the Dragabble FAR as you go (much better than puzzle pieces, but takes a while to get a hang of the patterns). Perhaps try starting somewhere away from the river so you've more space to get things clearer. There is really no easier tutorial than looking at the patterns in the NAM manual, the hard part is the rotation/flipping so you are looking at a pattern but it needs to be the other way round, you can solve this by printing the images from the manual, that way you can orient them the correct way to work out exactly what you need to do. Best of luck.

[McDuell 301]

This might give some ideas for the Place de l'Etoile btw. :

[bearcatnat 3]

This might give some ideas for the Place de l'Etoile btw. :

 

That's a great inspiration picture! Like I said, I'm not overly concerned about getting every street on the map, and perfectly aligned. I'm more about building a Paris-esque city. LOL I want to incorporate all of the major landmarks, plus some cool BATs and landscaping stuff.

 

On a related note--are there any like building packages to swap out for the growable houses/businesses/industries? I've collected quite a few different buildings that are growable as commerce or residential. I know I can change between the overall built-in building styles (Chicago, Boston, modern Europe), but do any custom sets exist, or do you just have to acquire a large number of BATs? Am I making sense??

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I don't think there are any custom sets.  Collect lots of BATs of all descriptions for your city.  Paris isn't like Bordeaux with a building code that demands certain facades.  Bordeaux has a by law that requires buildings on the main drag to be faced with the local golden limestone.

 

If I were doing this, I would start with L'Isle de la cité and the Seine and go from there.  You may find that some BAT buildings are very much out of proportion, especially landmarks like Notre Dame.

[bearcatnat 3]

Okay, got it! I'm building my collection.

[cmdp123789 710]

Well then you should for starters download a better map =P

 

You need the one by drunkapple, and go with that one. That one is rotated in a way the champs runs straight from West to East.. so I would do that first =)

[bearcatnat 3]

Actually I am using drunkapple's map. I used SC4Mapper to create the region, per directions included with the file. Did I do something wrong?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Probably not.  Aux Bastille!