NAM General Support

[APSMS 1,892]

2 hours ago, Evanjs said:

I have had this problem befor but got around it befor. But it's been a long time Ived downloaded it. My is the now is the origin version. I used to have the CD but my PC don't take them anymore, so I had to buy the download version of Origin.

I would ask for a refund and buy the game on sale from GOG.com for $5. It goes on sale there fairly regularly and the GOG version will still let you use 3rd party tools like Gmax BAT or the Lot Editor. Plus no DRM means you can use it till the sun burns out.

[Tarkus 6,932]

The Origin version is unpatched (Version 1.1.610), and because they ended up changing the checksum of the executable to add the Origin DRM system, the patcher will not recognize it as a valid executable, so it can't be updated at all.  They fixed it once, after I put a bunch of pressure on them and PC Gamer ended up picking it up, but when no one was looking, they switched back, and actually issued an "update" that reverted properly-patched copies back to the unpatchable Version 1.1.610.

I believe the actual message the installer gives out now when detecting an unpatched copy should make mention of the Origin issue now.

7 hours ago, jeffryfisher said:

If you still possess your CD, then you might be able to claim a fully patched digital version of the game (if the offer is still open). Search for threads about that redemption.

I've heard reports that they've stopped that deal, but it's worth a shot.

If nothing else, I advise everyone who has the "nerfed" Origin retail copy to pursue a refund, even if they are well beyond the normal refund window.  It's been known to succeed, as per this earlier ST thread .  Origin might actually listen if it hurts their bottom line.

-Tarkus

[pedrorlz 1]

Guys,

I'm really having some trouble in the instalation of this one.

I've read the readme file, and aparently did everything right, but the draggable elevated rail and the textures won't show for me.

I thought it was because of some older version in my computer but, I unistalled everything that was there before and keeps on not working.

Sorry for bad english an thank whoever answer.

 

*EDIT: the files are in the right places but won't show up in the game.

**EDIT²: could a plugin be stoping NAM?

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

4 hours ago, pedrorlz said:

the draggable elevated rail and the textures won't show for me

I think there's a NAM installation log. You could ask how to find/make it (and restate your problem) in the NAM General Support Topic.

And yes, any mod that loads after another can override something.

PS: Did you look in both the rail submenu and the misc transport submenu?

[rsc204 21,808]

Whilst overrides can cause problems, who would make an override for a project that's been in the wild of all of a few weeks? I think therefore this is a very unlikely scenario.

Are you saying that E-RRW appears in the Rail Menu (not the old Viaducts, but the new one with the Red Bar at the bottom of the icon). However, the pieces do not show at all? Can you place either of the on-slope or ramp pieces, do those appear correctly? In short, if you can walk us through what steps you are taking, and at what point it fails, it would be much easier to understand where the problem might come from.

[pedrorlz 1]

1 hour ago, jeffryfisher said:

I think there's a NAM installation log. You could ask how to find/make it (and restate your problem) in the NAM General Support Topic.

And yes, any mod that loads after another can override something.

PS: Did you look in both the rail submenu and the misc transport submenu?

I looked in both menus, and nothing

[pedrorlz 1]

36 minutes ago, rsc204 said:

Whilst overrides can cause problems, who would make an override for a project that's been in the wild of all of a few weeks? I think therefore this is a very unlikely scenario.

Are you saying that E-RRW appears in the Rail Menu (not the old Viaducts, but the new one with the Red Bar at the bottom of the icon). However, the pieces do not show at all? Can you place either of the on-slope or ramp pieces, do those appear correctly? In short, if you can walk us through what steps you are taking, and at what point it fails, it would be much easier to understand where the problem might come from.

I'm saying that the rail menu is equal as it was before the upgrade, no new nothing. The only on slope I can place is the old L2 one.

my walk through was simply intalling v.36 of NAM (complete version- the last option before customized instal), opening SC4 when it ended and some things had changed, but not the rail and textures. 

That made made me sad because all I was waiting was the draggable elevated rail.

Thanks for the help.

 

PS: (if u need prints or something, just let me know)

[rsc204 21,808]

Mod hat on: I've moved this to the relevant topic.

1 hour ago, pedrorlz said:

I'm saying that the rail menu is equal as it was before the upgrade, no new nothing. The only on slope I can place is the old L2 one.

Before we begin, you understand the Elevated RRW option is only available for RRW users. If you are not using RRW, you won't be able to use the new draggable pieces.

To install RRW, you need to perform a Custom Install, under NAM Networks and Network Expansions / Rail tick the option RealRailway (RRW). There is no separate option for the E-RRW plugin, like most RRW content, it will all be there when the RRW mod is selected. However since RRW is the only supported rail type moving forward, those who decide not to upgrade will be missing out on the SC4 rail revolution.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

21 hours ago, pedrorlz said:

simply installing v.36 of NAM (complete version

Aha! Since RRW still isn't included in any preset version (not even the "complete" one... Maybe the version names need to be rethought?), that's not the same as the abstract "did everything right". Thanks for clearing that up. Leave your installation in place and follow rsc's instructions to install a custom NAM on top. While you're at it, you might read up on the other custom options and find more to like about NAM.

BTW, I'm close to upgrading my own NAM from 35 to 36 (I'm waiting for a day when I'll have time to perform backups and then recover if necessary). Is there an installation log file left somewhere (or a way to spawn one)?

[rsc204 21,808]

All I do when upgrading (something I have to re-jig a lot more than the average user) is copy the Network Addon Mod and z___NAM folders elsewhere. There really is no need to make any backups beyond that, the installer simply doesn't touch anything that might cause wider issues.

The log file is in the Network Addon Mod folder: install.log

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

36 minutes ago, rsc204 said:

The log file is in the Network Addon Mod folder: install.log

Found my NAM35 log (knew I'd seen a log, but was slow to recall where I'd moved it). It shows that besides deleting a lot of plugins, NAM installation also deletes a bunch of auxiliary files from a folder outside of plugins. When I do my backup, I should also make a temporary copy of that in case I need to roll back.

[rsc204 21,808]

The auxiliary files are NAM content like the documentation and controller compiler. Back them up if you want to, but whatever you do, don't mix and match them between NAM versions.

As for deleting a lot of plugins, the installer doesn't do that, at least not directly. It uses Cleanitol to find/remove any conflicting plugins which could cause issues with the NAM. Additionally it will locate stations that have been updated by the SLURP process, but those should not be removed. Anything that is removed should have a suitable CleanItol backup made in the SimCity 4 folder (one back from Plugins). These can be restored regardless of the NAM version and totally independently of it. There isn't a whole lot of plugins it would remove however, a handful of very specific things at most. But it does remove the NAM files before installing new ones.

[airman15 4,111]

I'm trying out NAM 36 and I have to say I am thoroughly impressed as I were with the previous version! I even have a new city i've worked up to nearly 40k sims and despite being on separated islands, everyone has an average commute time of 20 minutes!

However, I do have a question pertaining to some rail textures. I feel the Real Railway textures don't really fit with the aesthetics of my cities or match all of my other rail lots and during installation I accidentally let it go. So I went with a manual removal by taking out the y_realrailway folder and the INRUL file with it (courtesy of another thread). Fired up the game and it worked! The textures reverted to the default ones and they match the stations and other misc rail lots!

Buuut.. When I use the wide radial curves, the RRW textures show on them. Is there another file I missed that is causing it or is it something else?

[APSMS 1,892]

1 hour ago, airman15 said:

Buuut.. When I use the wide radial curves, the RRW textures show on them. Is there another file I missed that is causing it or is it something else?

The issue is probably due to the fact that the WRCs (puzzle pieces or dragged out?) are going to be coded into the controller since they require RUL overrides. If you've just removed RRW without uninstalling it via the NAM installer, then those files and code are still going to be referenced in the controller.

Since there's only one curve variant for non-RRW (part of the now deprecated RAM), only one curve matches that texture, but to simplify the codebase the RAM's semi-draggable overrides were removed so that @Eggman121 didn't have to go back and forth with the code in two separate rail versions.

Simply put, almost all of the new WRCs are RRW only, so only those textures exist for them, and the controller is referencing the standard RRW textures because you haven't actually uninstalled the code that makes the RRW work.

[airman15 4,111]

It's always the hard coded ones that will sneak up like that, haha!

I should have read the fine print during that first custom installation. It would be a good time to revisit that when I get home.

[APSMS 1,892]

It's worth noting that draggable rail viaducts are RRW only, and with NAM 36 out of the way the project to allow easy rail texture conversion is next in line to be finished.

Also, the RRW includes texture overrides for all the Maxis textures, and Eggman released a mod that overrides popular expansions to the texture set like the ones by NCD. https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3350

 

[rsc204 21,808]

Actually, when you switch between RRW and not having it, you will notice that all pre-existing dragged rail disappears. This is because the originals are texture based and RRW is model based, hence you need to click everywhere to restore them. With one exception, puzzle pieces, because these were already model based. I suspect you simply forgot to remove this file:

\Plugins\Network Addon Mod\Wide Radius Curves\NetworkAddonMod_WideRadiusCurves_RRW.dat

That said, APSMS is absolutely right when he states you really should re-run the NAM installer and remove RRW properly by de-seletecting it. A lot of the RRW content simply won't work if not using RRW, there are many potential problems I can foresee with not doing this.

Alternately, take a look here, here, here:

& here:

...for exciting developments for RRW which are very close to release. You can totally customise the RRW with two textures and an automated script. I'm sure amongst the endless potential options that gives you, there should be a way to keep RRW and be happy with the style. That last link even has a 90% complete mod you can install and play with right now. We (the NAM team) are very hopeful this development should encourage any holdouts to get on board the RRW train. No new content will be made for the original Maxis rail, it's all RRW from here (well about NAM34 actually).

Another bonus, the RRW Reskin won't even be an override, it will replace the NAM textures entirely, so no extra space or loading times either.

[airman15 4,111]

I did notice that, and was able to resolve it by using the rail tool on where I had the lines. It's just when I tried to replace the 45 degree curves they were still on the RWW Texture. Interestingly when the catenary mod was loaded, it only showed on those same curves when on straight sections they didn't. That wasn't meant to be a permanent addition, only to see how they'd look paired with electric train models (Diesels for the win!)

Within the links, the textures showing grey ballast with concrete ties caught my attention! That was the look I am trying to go for since the UP/Amtrak lines in my old city looks like it. While I removed the RRW files, they weren't actually deleted. Rather moved into another subfolder I keep archives, unused content, and backups of downloads into. Could I get away with moving them back or should running the NAM installer be the way to do it regardless?

[rsc204 21,808]

1 minute ago, airman15 said:

Could I get away with moving them back or should running the NAM installer be the way to do it regardless?

Provided you don't miss any, that should work just fine.

[spiritualfire 138]

Hi all. Perhaps I missed it (please post a link to the topic if one exists), but does anyone have knowledge concerning the sidewalk texture that fills in when you plop a lot or zone near a NAM road or avenue curve? Correct me if I'm wrong, I vaguely remember something about having a grass texture at first and the sidewalks were normal curves. Was this an option in earlier NAM installations and if possible how do I change the texture to grass?

[APSMS 1,892]

Could it be that you have a mod installed that removed wealth textures?

Keep in mind grass only shows on low-density zoning. Medium and High Density do not have grass spacers in-between the roads and the zones/sidewalks.

[rsc204 21,808]

There are two types of WRC, the older Puzzle-Type ones which you select from menus and the newer draggable type, which rely on patterns to be dragged. I'm guessing you are talking about the former, which need a special texture override (or other mod) to display sidewalks. But, take a look here, the draggable ones are much better and include full sidewalk/grass texture options like the default game textures:

Not all the old Puzzle Pieces have newer Flex/Drag equivalents, mostly the Avenue and OWR stuff remains to be converted to the newer type. As such, the above video is no help for these, but this mod will add a custom sidewalk onto those pieces for you:

Note such mods have never been included within the NAM itself though.

[matias93 7,535]

ALL THOSE THINGS WERE POSSIBLE SINCE 2015!!??  

I'm feeling so much noob right now... 

[rsc204 21,808]

Even earlier, I wasn't even on the NAM team when these features were introduced in NAM 31 (2013).

One of the flaws with the draggable content, is that it's not immediately obvious such things exist, unlike items you can see in menus and scroll through. I must admit I too was unaware of a lot of this functionality for some time myself. Note that the Street WRC pattens can now be used with SAM too, one of my favourite addons for NAM36 which I've been wanting to see for some time.

Thanks to the hard work of @Tarkus, you can find a comprehensive guide also in the NAM documentation under Base Network Additions [WIP]  / Draggable Wide-Radius Curves and Fractional Angle Functionality. Useful if you need a quick reminder of one of the patterns.

[spiritualfire 138]

@APSMS @rsc204Right, I will look into all of those other methods, I appreciate the feedback. But more specifically what I was referring to was in the Wide Radius Curves where if you zoned or plopped a lot right on the edge of where a curve connects with a straight network, it fills in a sidewalk texture... Maybe this picture can explain better what I mean. Hopefully you can see it... Notice near the bottom of the picture where the sound walls are, I have an avenue using the WRC and it fills in the spaces between the sound walls and the road with that texture.

[rsc204 21,808]

I don't know of a mod (nor any way to make one) that will automatically fill that space. I'd fill it with a combination of Half Grass/Sidewalk fillers from this set:

Then I'd use the half-diagonal props from this set (currently still just a forum attachment, but the preview has no issues):

Which fill in the outsides to give a smooth diagonal without jagged edges.

If you look at the screenshot of the Japanese NAM FL tutorial...

...that's exactly what I did there with my own custom sidewalk. Both the linked files are designed to auto-match to the sidewalk in use too.

[Tarkus 6,932]

2 minutes ago, rsc204 said:

Thanks to the hard work of @Tarkus, you can find a comprehensive guide also in the NAM documentation under Base Network Additions [WIP]  / Draggable Wide-Radius Curves and Fractional Angle Functionality. Useful if you need a quick reminder of one of the patterns.

I can't take all the credit for the FAR/WRC info, as I merely extracted the images from the old PDF documentation and adapted them to the new (old) format.  I did document the new SAM functionality, however.

@spiritualfire, the 90° Avenue Wide-Radius Curve only comes in a static puzzle piece form.  Due to the fact that static puzzle pieces have weird quirks with wealth textures (i.e. grass/sidewalks), the NAM does not include sidewalks or grass textures (AKA "wealth textures", as they're activated by the having zones/lots at certain wealth levels adjacent) on the vast majority them.  The curve in question is included in that vast majority.  There are a few pieces that were small enough that we were able to do a workaround, but even then, issues can actually result with certain graphics cards and Z-fighting. 

There are third-party mods out there that place sidewalk textures under the static puzzle piece curves, but they're not actually wealth textures, and are baked onto the curve when installed.  It appears you must have one of those installed, and to my knowledge, there is no mod of that type that includes grass textures--all of them completely fill in the portions of the tile not covered with the Avenue with sidewalks.

The 45° Avenue Wide-Radius Curve does, however, have a FLEX version, and does support proper wealth textures, including grass.  Part of the reason we've been switching away from static to FLEX/draggable items is in fact because of the wealth texture issue, which has been a common complaint about static puzzle pieces for over a decade.  There hasn't been much new development with the Avenue Wide-Radius Curves for awhile now, but I'd imagine that a FLEX version of the 90° Wide-Radius Curve would be a part of any such project, if it were to be picked up again.

If there's anyone really curious about the technical side of this, the seventh digit of a given network tile's Instance ID (IID) is normally used to determine the proper texture for a given wealth level/zone type, but Maxis also reserved the sixth and seventh digits as a way of specifying a coordinate grid for the placement of static puzzle pieces, with the sixth digit indicating the x-coordinate, and the seventh digit corresponding to the y-coordinate.  That "overloading" of the seventh digit--reserving it for two different functions--makes wealth textures unfeasible on puzzle pieces, and especially so with something as large as this WRC piece. 

For instance, the Avenue 90° Wide-Radius Curve Puzzle Piece is defined in the RUL0 file (the file that handles the placement of ploppable network items--i.e. puzzle pieces and FLEX pieces) as having an IID grid that starts at 0x542BE000 in the upper left corner of the piece, via the AutoTileBase property.  Normally, the low-wealth/low-density texture for a network piece with an IID of 0x542BE000 would be 0x542BE010.  However, the definition of 0x542BE000 in RUL0 specifies that there is a tile directly below it on the grid, which is automatically assigned an IID of 0x542BE010.  If one included a wealth texture for 0x542BE000, and tried to place a zone adjacent to it, the result would depend on the load order.  You'd end up with either pieces of the curve that are out of place, or overlaid on top of one another, both of which are pretty unsightly.

We avoid these issues by omitting wealth textures, and offsetting the eighth digit of the IID (normally reserved for the zoom level) on the texture (FSH) files.

FLEX items are actually seen by the game as if they are draggable network tiles, instead of static ones, and as a result, the tiles do not need to follow a strict IID grid formula in order for the game to know where they are to be placed.  That is why they can handle wealth levels properly.

-Tarkus

[spiritualfire 138]

@rsc204 Oh wow.... you just gave me a much needed clue and went exploring my plugins just now. Found a few files related to the "NAM FaceLift Mod"

Does that sound familiar? It had a foreign author and he referenced the NAM 31 in the notes. I found the readme by chance and confirmed what I had.

The file was called "NAM WideRadiusCurves FaceLift". Just deleted it so I'll run the game now and test.

I appreciate the help everybody!

[rsc204 21,808]

9 hours ago, spiritualfire said:

The file was called "NAM WideRadiusCurves FaceLift". Just deleted it so I'll run the game now and test.

Well if you wanted rid of the sidewalks on that piece, that would do it, although it would leave the piece as just the avenue textures.

[timmie 988]

Great! Yet another NAM release. Lots of thanks to the NAM-team!

However, there's still an issue with the Euro textures for RHW, some parts do not show up in the region overview ('satellite photo'). I think RHW4 is fine, but RHW6 is not visible for some reason. I know the fix is in deleting a file, but a pity the bug is still in the (huge) NAM