NAM General Support

[rsc204 21,808]

20 minutes ago, jeffryfisher said:

There are things like RRW that will be left unticked even if you installed them last time

That shouldn't be the case as of NAM36. This was done deliberately before then, as RRW was still considered in a developmental state.

Similarly, depreciated items like the RHW Puzzle-Based Ramps/Height Transitions do not stay ticked, because we want to encourage users to transition away from their use.

Yes, some installer issues may affect certain other options not appearing correctly, but by and large mostly everything does work as I described in most cases.

[Tyberius06 12,189]

11 minutes ago, rsc204 said:

Similarly, depreciated items like the RHW Puzzle-Based Ramps/Height Transitions do not stay ticked, because we want to encourage users to transition away from their use.

It's my personal user opinion, but those RHW PP ramps/Height Transitions are still very usefull in tight setups and there are setups which haven't been covered by flex ramps yet. The short L2-L0 ramps, the L2-L0 90 deg MIS ramps. It's really tricky because in most of the cases the flex solutions cover everything quite well, but in some cases the Disconnector and Static PPs without starters are the only working methods. 

Anyway I'm going for "flexifying" everything, specially if one day the FLEX-FAR will be introduced for RHW. 

- Tyberius

[redfox85 659]

14 hours ago, Tarkus said:

The NAM does write an log to the main install directory--look in the My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Network Addon Mod folder (or wherever you installed the NAM) and there should be an "install.txt" file, which contains the entire log of the installation process (including file removals upon upgrade).

The stuff that is being installed will be prefixed by either "Output folder:" (for folders being created) or "Extract:" (for individual files).  If you do a "Find" operation (Ctrl-F) in Notepad on the document and search for "ML Shinkansen MOD", and find it behind an "Extract:" line, then that's a sign you have installed.

The Bullet Train Mod is an easy mod to spot in-game if you have it installed, though, as it's a total replacement skin for the Monorail network.  Just try dragging a Monorail, and if it looks like the standard Monorail, that's a sign you don't have it installed.

-Tarkus

 

Could this not be an issue for people ... like myself ... who clears out any txt, jpg, gif,html etc out of the plugins folder on a regular basis? .... Maybe it could be placed in the aux folder instead ?

[Tarkus 6,932]

Regarding the Legacy RHW Height Transition Puzzle Pieces, the unchecking behavior upon re-install is unintentional, and the same with the RRW.  Indeed, the installer is supposed to check whatever you had checked the last time, but for whatever reason, there are some options (mostly newer ones) that we have not been able to get to behave.  The installer script became an incredibly complex beast with a lot of bells and whistles back with NAM 31, when z1 did a massive upgrade.  Unfortunately, he's since had to retire from modding, and no one has quite the same understanding that he did, and it's progressively gotten more and more broken each release, particularly as the crosslinking on some components (especially the whole RRW vs. Maxis Rail situation) has really thrown a wrench into things. 

NAM 37's installer will likely be in the same state as the NAM 36's--we're aiming to scale down that release for a closer release timeframe (the REW is one of the things being cut)--but after that, we're going to have to evaluate our options.

-Tarkus

[Patchy6 4]

I think I have encountered a bug. The FAOWR leads to the opposite direction of the pointer arrows. When I place it like in this picture it will lead to the left. I have the standard euro replacement textures installed.

 

Another thing: Today I updated my current NAM installation with some new settings. When I ran the included cleanitol afterwards it removed these files from my plugin folder:

Quote

\z___NAM\a_Maxis Highway Textures\zzzMHW_Retexture_Euro.dat => zzzMHW_Retexture_Euro.dat
\Network Addon Mod\Elevated Road Networks\NetworkAddonMod_RoadViaducts.dat => NetworkAddonMod_RoadViaducts.dat
\Network Addon Mod\Elevated Road Networks\NetworkAddonMod_RoadViaducts_Draggable.dat => NetworkAddonMod_RoadViaducts_Draggable.dat
\Network Addon Mod\INRUL Overrides\NetworkAddonMod_Roundabouts_Roads_x_draggable_FANs.dat => NetworkAddonMod_Roundabouts_Roads_x_draggable_FANs.dat
\Network Addon Mod\INRUL Overrides\NetworkAddonMod_Roundabouts_Streets_x_draggable_FANs.dat => NetworkAddonMod_Roundabouts_Streets_x_draggable_FANs.dat

I don't think I had an older version installed before. So why does it remove these files? Could this be related to the changed settings?

[Flann 1,709]

Is there no support for 7.5 meter draggable elevated avenue over diagonal RRW?

[Wiimeiser 444]

IIRC there's no support for draggable viaducts over RHW involving any diagonals yet.

[rsc204 21,808]

Indeed there is very partial, if any, support for Draggable Viaducts with diagonal networks at the present time. However, the older puzzle-based versions do have full diagonal support, so for such a crossing, I'd recommend using those.

[Flann 1,709]

On 11/15/2018 at 4:53 AM, rsc204 said:

Indeed there is very partial, if any, support for Draggable Viaducts with diagonal networks at the present time. However, the older puzzle-based versions do have full diagonal support, so for such a crossing, I'd recommend using those.

I did end up going with the old puzzle pieces.  Thank you.

But wait, there's more:

Why are my diagonal streets and FLUPs seemingly not pathed correctly?

[Tarkus 6,932]

That's pretty bizarre to see, given that the Diagonal Streets Plugin's main .dat file contains both the textures and the paths.  With a Plugins folder only containing the NAM, AFAIK, there is no way to get the textures without also having the paths, unless one has taken it upon themselves to modify the original .dat to separate them.  The only other possibility I can think of is that you might not actually have the Diagonal Streets Plugin installed (it has had some weird tendencies to get unchecked in the installer of late), but may have its INRUL file, as well as a cosmetic mod of some sort that contains a version of the Diagonal Street Plugin textures.  I would run the NAM installer again, go into Custom Installation and make sure the Diagonal Streets Plugin is indeed checked.

The way to make sure that the Diagonal Streets Plugin is installed would be to go into the Plugins\Network Addon Mod folder, and see if there's a Diagonal Streets subfolder with "NetworkAddonMod_Diagonal_Streets_Plugin.dat" inside it.

The FLUPs paths will not show up due to how the LODs are set up on the portal models (the "On-Slope" one in your image also looks like an alternate model not used by the NAM).  The models for the FLUPs tunnels are actually overhanging props, placed by Type21 exemplar over top of blank flat planes, and since the paths on the FLUPs tunnels go beneath the flat planes, they're not ordinarily visible (but become partially so in Subway view).

-Tarkus

 

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

6 hours ago, Flann said:

But wait, there's more

I notice in your picture that you have selected "build all styles at once". In another thread, we determined that this feature does not work, so you might want to shorten the rotation time if you want more variety in your city. IIRC, the minimum effective period is 1 year.

[Flann 1,709]

7 hours ago, Tarkus said:

The way to make sure that the Diagonal Streets Plugin is installed would be to go into the Plugins\Network Addon Mod folder, and see if there's a Diagonal Streets subfolder with "NetworkAddonMod_Diagonal_Streets_Plugin.dat" inside it.

 

Indeed it was not there.  I reran the installer and it works fine now.  This also explains why the diagonal streets took forever to draw, like several seconds per tile.

1 hour ago, jeffryfisher said:

I notice in your picture that you have selected "build all styles at once". In another thread, we determined that this feature does not work, so you might want to shorten the rotation time if you want more variety in your city. IIRC, the minimum effective period is 1 year.

Thanks for the heads up.

[Brian554xx 0]

NAM is the first mod I have used, starting today.

Lots of it is fun, sometimes even intuitive, but the curves and fractionally-angled roads have me near tears. Every tutorial or manual I have looked at either shows disconnected pieces or shows features or steps that have little or no resemblance to what actually happens when I try to do things. I don't need help creating disconnected pieces; I need help connecting them.

 

In addition to being new to NAM and mods in general, I have never got the hang of forums. I've been online since the early '90s and my job is primarily to help people get the most out of technological solutions, but somehow forums just never made sense to me. I don't know how to find anything of use; I feel like I'm wandering on one-way roads with great distance between poorly lit street signs. My point is please be patient and as instructive as you can be: show me how to find whatever answer you found.

[Tarkus 6,932]

Glad to hear it's mostly been a good experience for you, Brian554xx!  As far as the curves and fractionally-angled networks, I'm guessing that you're using the draggable versions from the sounds of it.  If the bit in the NAM Documentation isn't helping, there's a couple other sources I'd recommend trying, if you haven't already--one would be Indiana Joe's tutorial at SC4 Devotion, and the other would be MandelSoft's video from when we first added the feature (though I'll warn you the audio is a bit rough):

Beyond that, the old puzzle pieces do still exist (though aren't recommended, as they have a much lesser feature set, and can be rather unwieldy)--and we're looking to potentially create new FLEX pieces that have all the same bells-and-whistles as the newer draggable implementation, but can be plopped down without having to remember the dragging patterns.

Hope that helps!

-Tarkus

[Brian554xx 0]

Thank you so much, Tarkus!

With that video, now the documentation makes more sense. I tried it out and it's so much easier!

One thing, though. What if I want to do something like one of the patterns without the roads automatically joining?

[Wiimeiser 444]

On 18/11/2018 at 2:52 AM, jeffryfisher said:

I notice in your picture that you have selected "build all styles at once". In another thread, we determined that this feature does not work, so you might want to shorten the rotation time if you want more variety in your city. IIRC, the minimum effective period is 1 year.

Wait, really? Exactly how is the feature broken? Crashing issues?

23 hours ago, Tarkus said:

we're looking to potentially create new FLEX pieces that have all the same bells-and-whistles as the newer draggable implementation, but can be plopped down without having to remember the dragging patterns.

Plus they should even be slope tolerant. As it is draggable FAR creates an absolutely flat plateau. Hopefully you can work around the construction tile limitation...

[matias93 7,535]

10 hours ago, Wiimeiser said:

On 17-11-2018 at 12:52 PM, jeffryfisher said:

 

Wait, really? Exactly how is the feature broken? Crashing issues?

No, simply doesn't work, the tilesets still are alternating

[Wiimeiser 444]

8 hours ago, matias93 said:

No, simply doesn't work, the tilesets still are alternating

So does it set the wrong flag or don't we know exactly what it does? I think I experienced crashing when growing large amounts of residential at once, if that setting is the trigger, maybe it sets a debug flag that generates an exception if a cap is reached? I dunno...

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

19 hours ago, Wiimeiser said:

So does it set the wrong flag or don't we know exactly what it does?

The "use all styles" checkbox appears to do nothing at all, much like a "Close Door" button in an elevator.

[TakemeThere 5,833]

Run into a strange issue. Can no longer make smooth curves for elevated 3 lane RHW networks where in the past I could.


Trying to do so results in a missing texture;


I assume a file is missing or dated in my Real Highway Folder;




I've also done some modification to the BaseContent.dat file removing certain street, road & one way road textures but haven't removed anything related to the RHW from any file. Could these changes have possibly affected the RHW network?

[rsc204 21,808]

7 hours ago, Takingyouthere said:

I assume a file is missing or dated in my Real Highway Folder;

More likely there is an RUL problem, because in the screenshot we can clearly see the RHW-2 failing to be overridden. If it was a missing model or such, then it would be invisible.

7 hours ago, Takingyouthere said:

I've also done some modification to the BaseContent.dat file removing certain street, road & one way road textures

This isn't likely to cause problems with the RHW, since no RHW content resides there. But, I don't really understand why you'd go removing things, it's a recipe for potential problems. Perhaps you aren't using those textures yourself, but almost certainly if you tried to, you'd find they were necessary. However, that's not really the point, which is that removing a small handful of textures makes absolutely no difference in terms of load times/performance. You are literally trading almost no benefit for a potential bunch of problems.

If duplicates/overrides bother you that much, I'd DATPack the NAM, which will take care of all that for you automatically, without risk of removing necessary files. It's not that doing so prevents NAM from working, but we can't provide support for such setups. Plus you need to remember to switch back to an unpacked set before changing/upgrading the NAM.

[Tarkus 6,932]

There was a late change to fix another feature before the release of NAM 36 that ended up breaking that curve in the process.  The issue was reported very shortly after the release, and there is a fix for it (which I've attached below), though you'll need to run the NAM Controller Compiler manually on your own to install it.  Just take the attached file, unzip it, and put the Sec7n_MRC_Overrides.txt file in the My Documents\SimCity 4\NAM Auxiliary Files\Tools\Controller Compiler\Network Addon Mod\Controller\RUL2\07_RHW\Sec7n_MRC folder, then go back to the Controller Compiler folder, and run NAMControllerCompiler.bat.  If it asks you about overwriting your existing controller, click "Yes". 

-Tarkus

 

Sec7n_MRC_Overrides_09142017.zip

[TakemeThere 5,833]

14 hours ago, rsc204 said:

But, I don't really understand why you'd go removing things, it's a recipe for potential problems. Perhaps you aren't using those textures yourself, but almost certainly if you tried to, you'd find they were necessary. However, that's not really the point, which is that removing a small handful of textures makes absolutely no difference in terms of load times/performance. You are literally trading almost no benefit for a potential bunch of problems.

If duplicates/overrides bother you that much, I'd DATPack the NAM, which will take care of all that for you automatically, without risk of removing necessary files. It's not that doing so prevents NAM from working, but we can't provide support for such setups. Plus you need to remember to switch back to an unpacked set before changing/upgrading the NAM.

It's not load time or duplicates that I'm worried about, it's purely aesthetics. I've been modifying the base content file of the NAM since version 29 with no issues. It's only some FSH's that I've removed and replaced by other alternatives for certain road intersections & textures.


@Tarkus Thanks for the link, works like a charm now.

[junspud 1,066]

I've been trying to get the hang of NAM and have a question;

https://imgur.com/a/FLh3SpN

Is it possible to 'switch' the traffic lights on the circled intersections? As in add the traffic lights on the NAM interchange mis intersection and remove them from the road viaduct intersection? I tried messing around with the different puzzle pieces but none of them seem to be what I'm looking for.

I'd like to make it look more 'rural', the set of traffic lights on the viaduct make it look messy, but I wouldn't mind having them on the mis intersection instead.

Thanks.

[rsc204 21,808]

Such props (traffic lights) are added onto networks by the use of T21s. Whilst theoretically you can add them for MIS intersections, due to the underlying game mechanics, traffic lights can not work properly with the RHW networks. I believe such lights will simply remain green constantly. That's why as part of the default NAM install, we didn't add lights to RHW crossings. New implementations of junctions using the FTL system allow for a work-around, but those are in development right now.

There isn't a fixed setting within the NAM options that will change this behaviour. But if you are willing to do some modding, you can remove the lights from the elevated road intersection. Note however, T21s are an all or nothing choice, either a given setup always has props or never does. You could manipulate this using wealthing, but since the intersection part of two roads at a cross junction never touches any zoning, that solution is no use here.

[spiritualfire 138]

So perhaps this is a no-brainer but I have a small issue, and I provided a photo. I have NAM 36 installed. Can’t tell if it’s a conflict between the RRW or the RHW. The last time I played the game it didn’t have this issue. I’ve since reinstalled the game after that Win7 security update with a fresh install of NAM. I’m trying to keep the Maxis highways since this is an old city I’ve put so much work into.

[junspud 1,066]

Are road/Train crossing supposed to have this weird bar in front of the crossing?

And is the RRW mod not have the crossing texture yet, as it looks like it's reverted to the original textures?

Sometimes when I am dragging zones and hold down CTRL, the zoned land disappears and turns blank, so you can only see the terrain underneath, it comes back if I release the ctrl key. Is this normal?

Thanks. I keep running into problems when I try to install a bunch of mods at the same time, so I'm trying to take it slow this time so it doesn't become a mess.

[rivit 3,391]

The weird bar is actually a stop line - assuming you have drive on the right. 

 

[Tarkus 6,932]

5 hours ago, spiritualfire said:

So perhaps this is a no-brainer but I have a small issue, and I provided a photo. I have NAM 36 installed. Can’t tell if it’s a conflict between the RRW or the RHW. The last time I played the game it didn’t have this issue. I’ve since reinstalled the game after that Win7 security update with a fresh install of NAM. I’m trying to keep the Maxis highways since this is an old city I’ve put so much work into.

That's actually a Maxis Highway Override (MHO) conflict.  The MHO makes the Maxis Highways look almost identical (slight difference with the inner barrier) to the elevated versions of the RHW-4 network.  It looks like you probably ended up with the RRW's MHO support files in your Plugins--the file should be called "z_RealRailway_MHO_Patch.dat", in the z___NAM\y_RealRailway folder.

The crosslinking support between things like the MHO and the RRW (and by extension, original MHW and Maxis Rail) have proven to be . . . rather complicated in terms of setting up the installer to cooperate, so it would not surprise me if the installer failed in this particular instance.

-Tarkus

[rsc204 21,808]

15 hours ago, junspud said:

Are road/Train crossing supposed to have this weird bar in front of the crossing?

And is the RRW mod not have the crossing texture yet, as it looks like it's reverted to the original textures?

The texture in your screenshot is absolutely how it should be.

Stoplines as Rivit explained are used on all the crossings as of NAM36. Likewise, the concrete crossing part is there because the colour of the rails for RRW, simply doesn't show up well when used with a black/dark texture such as the Avenues. If the non-RRW textures were present, you'd notice, because the rails themselves wouldn't line up.