NAM General Support

[Tarkus 6,932]

@KBH-IZ, welcome to Simtropolis!

To answer your question, NAM 36 is no longer available, and will not be made available again.  The NAM Team has long had a strict policy against the continued distribution of old versions, because their continued availability has proven to be a massive tech support liability in the past, and anyone still using NAM 36 (or earlier) is not eligible for technical support.

NAM 37 did make some big changes with the Rail systems, by making the new RealRailway (RRW) design the default and only option.  There are legacy support files included in the NAM 37 RRW package, which are designed to prevent situations like you've described.  It's possible you may have inadvertently unselected the "0_Rail_Legacy" option under "2_Additional Network Features > RealRailway (RRW)", which would most definitely cause your STR to appear invisible.

There have been plans to offer a separate-download "Legacy Maxis Rail" plugin to allow for non-RRW usage (albeit with no new Rail-related features added--all NAM Rail development has been RRW spec since NAM 32 in 2014), as well as several cosmetic reskins of the RRW, but neither is available for download at this time, nor is there any timeline for when they will become available.

-Tarkus

[KBH-IZ 0]

@Tarkus Thank you for your reply!

Okay, I'll check my install option carefully. I am not familiar with NAM, so I would like to know the features and notes of RRW (especially the compatibility with existing station BAT). I think if I know this, I can install RRW without any problems. (When I installed NAM before, I was confused because I could not use Custom Interchanges of Maxis Highway because I installed Project Symphony without knowing it)

And where can I find alternatives to the graphics options that were available before NAM36?

[rsc204 21,808]

On 26/07/2020 at 6:57 AM, Missecho said:

was watching a series of videos by Rob's Red Hot Spot...

Would that be from this video, the screen that appears around 6m in? If so, yes that is the TSCT, which I do cover how to run in the tutorial I uploaded earlier. Although I don't get into any of the settings there.

But in terms of "controlling" traffic, that's not really what it's designed to do. On the one hand, you can set both the Base Capacity and adjust the preference for Mass Transit usage. There are some other "advanced" settings here too, the average player really has no need to be messing around here. In any case, before meddling, check out the documentation for the TSCT (found in it's folder of the NAM installer package). If you just want to choose the base capacity, that can be selected during the installation of NAM. But if you are really struggling with traffic management, the options here may not be the quick solution they seem.

The standard capacity values for the game are terribly low and are a by-product of how you couldn't dream of buildings cities like we can now, on computers available when SC4 launched. But, now we can and whilst some people are looking to create regions with millions of sims, others are less bothered about numbers and prefer to make visually pleasing regions. Without some modding, this simply doesn't work, there is a reason most SC4 players use NAM .  But, there are caveats, because if your networks never gets even slightly close to capacity, you may kill off a lot of CS demand. This can be a vital part of keeping demand balanced overall. CS thrives on passing traffic, which is good because most other zoning types really prefer to be well away from it.

So the point here is not simply to use the highest setting, you ideally want a balance between not having congestion everywhere and networks actually seeing decent usage. Generally speaking, the Medium setting is more than sufficient for most users. But you can change this setting if you later find that's not sufficient or conversely if it's too high. 

Perhaps though, you might want to reconsider how and where you are zoning and your implementation of transit networks. For example, if a junction is congested because traffic from one direction, going mostly right at that intersection, it's a perfect usage-scenario for Turning Lanes (FTL / Quickturn). Perhaps you haven't placed stations in the ideal spots for them. This is a really complex area in some regards, but if you were to open a thread on the forums and show us some pictures of your cities, especially any problem areas, we'd have a much clearer idea of the problem.

8 hours ago, KBH-IZ said:

I would like to know the features and notes of RRW (especially the compatibility with existing station BAT

If the station uses Lot Textures for the rails, there are plenty of solutions for that, as a last resort you can open the LE and just change the textures used. However if the rail textures have been made as part of the model for the station (thankfully rare), there isn't really a solution. Altering such textures is simply very difficult and time-consuming work and when you are done, technically it's against the rules of the community to release them for others to use.

8 hours ago, KBH-IZ said:

And where can I find alternatives to the graphics options that were available before NAM36?

It might help if you could be a little more specific, which cosmetic options in particular are you wanting to keep? Do bear in mind, most of the optional texture mods are terribly out of date, meaning they don't cover much new content anyhow. Given our focus internally on simplifying the NAM installer, in future such texture mods are likely to be kept as third party mods and will not be part of the NAM. Of course what was created still exists, it's just a case of digging out the old files and loading them after the Network Addon Mod folder if you prefer to keep using them.

[Missecho 99]

5 hours ago, rsc204 said:

Would that be from this video, the screen that appears around 6m in? If so, yes that is the TSCT, which I do cover how to run in the tutorial I uploaded earlier. Although I don't get into any of the settings there.

 

Yes that was what I was watching.  I have now found in the NAM installation folder where the 'settings' are for Low to Ultra when you are running the installer with the default installation set at medium.  I guess my question is how do you actually 'open' up that panel as show in the video if you want to change the setting at a later date without re running the installler?    Or can you give me a direct link to the tutorial  you uploaded earlier?  Every time I google or search for it I am getting threads created in 2010 and am finding this forum extremely difficult to find anything in, assuming it is even on this forum.  

I do not want to muck around with many of the settings just know how to access it if I want to experiment later.  I was running pure vanilla simcity4 with zero mods for a week or so and have found the congestion issue the most off putting thing in the game, constantly having to micromanage streets.  I would like to be able to change the settings "easily" to find the one most suited to my gameplay.  Last time I really played a lot of SimCity was back in 2003 long before all this modding got going, and not played at all since 2015 after win 10 killed my disk version of the game.

All I really want to know is simply how do I access this panel, everything I read seems to assume you have the panel open.  It is probably really obvious where it is but having spent close to an hour I can't figure it out.  Cheers!

[rsc204 21,808]

On 26/07/2020 at 4:38 AM, rsc204 said:

I did say we wouldn't be making a tutorial video for installing NAM 37.

The link from my previous post should take you directly to the tutorial which shows how to run the TSCT.

9 hours ago, Missecho said:

I was running pure vanilla simcity4 with zero mods for a week or so and have found the congestion issue the most off putting thing in the game, constantly having to micromanage streets.

There are bigger problems than simply capacity in vanilla SC4. The traffic simulator, used to decide where sims find work, was hideously broken without NAM. This meant in practise two things that really limited what you could build where. Firstly, sims would always take the most direct route everywhere, ignoring the speed benifits of faster routes. This led to much congestion, sims not using highways and all sorts of other problems. Secondly, because of the first problem, if you tried to zone say industrial areas too far from residential, sims would simply never want to work in those places. The improved NAM simulator makes it possible to build more natural cities, with large industrial parks, commercial and residential areas all separated from each other. Provided of course sufficient transport exists for sims to get there and back.

 

[Missecho 99]

16 hours ago, rsc204 said:

The link from my previous post should take you directly to the tutorial which shows how to run the TSCT.

There are bigger problems than simply capacity in vanilla SC4. The traffic simulator, used to decide where sims find work, was hideously broken without NAM. This meant in practise two things that really limited what you could build where. Firstly, sims would always take the most direct route everywhere, ignoring the speed benifits of faster routes. This led to much congestion, sims not using highways and all sorts of other problems. Secondly, because of the first problem, if you tried to zone say industrial areas too far from residential, sims would simply never want to work in those places. The improved NAM simulator makes it possible to build more natural cities, with large industrial parks, commercial and residential areas all separated from each other. Provided of course sufficient transport exists for sims to get there and back.

Thanks now I have found it.  Seems very odd ............. I watched your video and checked my files.   I downloaded NAM on 24 July and extracted it yet at that extraction the folder "Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool" wasn't there.  Having watched your video I did another extraction from the same downloaded zip and what do you know there it is.   I think I have gremlins.  I took a screenshot before I did the second extraction.  Either way, thanks so much for the time you have taken. I now have everything I need.   !!! 

 

  Edited July 29, 2020 by Cyclone Boom  
Fixed the quote for you. ;-)

[rocker289 75]

Is there anyway to put stoplights in?

[junspud 1,066]

On 8/20/2020 at 3:24 AM, rocker289 said:

Is there anyway to put stoplights in?

I don't have a great answer, I think the only way to do that would be to make a custom T21 mod.. If I were you I'd probably just make the intersections road/road instead of road/street, you could transition immediately after the intersection back into tramstreets so just the intersections are tramroad, it's more work/cumbersome but I think that would add stop lights in.

I was wondering if anyone knows how to fix this issue? I thought I'd figured it out previously but I don't remember now...

Thanks.

[MichaelJBull769 55]

Does the bullet train mod still work with NAM 37?

[rsc204 21,808]

3 hours ago, junspud said:

I was wondering if anyone knows how to fix this issue? I thought I'd figured it out previously but I don't remember now...

Models are not supported by the Alternate El-Train mod, but textures from it (ML's El Rail), are being used on them. You could possibly fix the texture problem, but you'd need to give the S3D's new unique IDs and make a copy with transparency. Otherwise you might need to edit the Mats settings (super complex if you've not done this before), to turn on transparency, assuming it exists already with the textures in use. It's been on my ToDo list for a while, since the El Over AVE-4/RD-4 network was never properly supported.

No promises, but I'll see if I can find a moment to look into this one, since it's pretty obvious where the problem is.

1 hour ago, MichaelJBull said:

Does the bullet train mod still work with NAM 37?

Yes, it's just no longer included as we needed to remove a lot of Cross-Linking to make a functioning installer for NAM 37. In due course we will be releasing both ML's BTM and El-Rail mods as optional and probably (officially), unsupported cosmetic options. No code is required in NAM for these to work, just the updated files that alter the appearance of the usual Monorail network. You can if you have a backup from NAM 36, find the BTM Mod inside of the z___NAM folder, copy it in it's entirety and make sure it loads after all other NAM files. That will restore this as a workaround for the meantime.

On 8/20/2020 at 10:24 AM, rocker289 said:

Is there anyway to put stoplights in?

In essence it would require something called a T21 mod to do this. To my knowledge no such mod currently exists for the GLR networks, only catenary mods. It's of course possible to make one if that sounds like something you'd like more info about, just ask.

[junspud 1,066]

Very cool of you, thank you. The tracks aren't a huge deal but of course the gray blocks blotting everything out are pretty ugly.

This is what I'm trying to achieve ultimately.

Edit; figured the el rail avenue still requires road stubs through it.

[thomp_mic 0]

I've recently installed NAM 38 and have found a couple of missing textures. When crossing the HSR with rail, the HSR bridge disappears. And with rail over road texture the maxis default texture appears instead of the RRW texture.

Does anybody know how to solve this?

[DangerRick 0]

Going to be entirely honest here (and please direct me to the appropriate sources if its easier), but been playing SC4 for years and finally want to start getting crafty with it. I've read all the basics guides and such but still can't seem to understand how it all works. Starting with NAT 38, having some questions/issues regarding correct file locations.

First question: I have the correct Deluxe version through Steam, and the NAM files are showing up in the plugins folder file path C:\Users\*my user name*\Documents\SimCity4\Plugins

I'm noticing that Steam also has C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Plugins where there is no NAM files

Could I perhaps have installed it to the wrong plugin folder or does any Steam user know how to set up the NAM installation location?

Secondly, I have the NTCore 4GB patch file, and to be honest, have no idea what to do with it. I couldn't seem to find a readme or explanation if anybody has any insight on this as well.

Bottom line I definitely did something wrong. The game will work and load to the region screen and then once I click into a city it will sit on the load screen and eventually crash to desktop.

Apologies for potentially sounding like I have no idea what I'm doing because honestly that's more than likely the case. Any help or references to previously submitted solutions much appreciated

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

First of all, welcome to Simtropolis and the SC4 community.
 

43 minutes ago, DangerRick said:

Could I perhaps have installed it to the wrong plugin folder or does any Steam user know how to set up the NAM installation location?

Although I don't run the Steam version here to check, I'm fairly sure that looks correct. Also the NAM and other custom content is recommended to be installed in the Documents Plugins there at the 1st path you specified, so that will be perfectly fine.

It is true how from NAM 37 onwards, the 4GB Patch is now required. What this does is allow the game to use more system memory, and this helps to make the NAM in particular run smoother since it completely overhauls the traffic simulation rules and parameters.

My post in this topic explains a bit about installing the patch. I'd also recommend watching the video linked at the end too for a visual overview of the process.

For why the game is crashing, that sounds a bit unsettling. Maybe try with no plugins and in an empty test region to see whether the problem persists. Also one important step to help with game stability is to add the -CPUcount:1 switch to as a command line option. (See this post for more info.)

Let us know if we can be of further assistance with getting the game running as smoothly as can be.

[rsc204 21,808]

@thomp_mic:

I've attached two files which contain the missing content, I guess these got lost somewhere in the NAM 37 new installer or something.

z_RRW_DxD_EU_Patch_RHD.dat
Update: See later post for improved HSR Patch.

Note the former is for RHD users only. These may need to load later than other NAM content to appear correctly.

On 12/10/2020 at 6:07 AM, DangerRick said:

I'm noticing that Steam also has C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Plugins where there is no NAM files

There are two Plugins folders, this one is located in the Install DIR, but you should not be installing Plugins here. Ultimately, if you trust the NAM installer to do it's job, it will correctly install everything into your User DIR Plugins folder.

On 12/10/2020 at 6:07 AM, DangerRick said:

Secondly, I have the NTCore 4GB patch file, and to be honest, have no idea what to do with it. I couldn't seem to find a readme or explanation if anybody has any insight on this as well.

Bottom line I definitely did something wrong. The game will work and load to the region screen and then once I click into a city it will sit on the load screen and eventually crash to desktop.

The CTDs you are experiencing are very typical of this patch not being correctly applied. From NAM version 37 onwards, the previously optional patch is now mandatory. NAM's additional code requires that SC4 has access to the additional memory this patch enables. All you have to do is run the Patch application, then point it to the file you want to patch, which is SimCity 4.exe. This will be found in the Install DIR of SC4 in the Apps subfolder, so in your case:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps

Once this patch is correctly installed, SC4 should start without the crashing problem.

[Kraiger 1]

Hello, I am using NAM 38. Upon installing the mod, I've lost all basic rail-track build options. I've got all the puzzle pieces, but can't do anything with them. Passenger and freight stations are worthless to me. I've still got all the elevated rail options, though.

[rsc204 21,808]

Are you saying you can't use the Rail tool to drag/create rail lines?

Such functions not working are generally down to missing RUL files, but the new NAM installer installs a Full Controller by default. So unless you've run the optional Controller Compiler, there is no good reason why it would be missing.

The other potential cause is conflicting NAM controllers being installed. Probably the simplest solution is to manually remove any NAM folders/files from your Plugins folder, then re-install the NAM again, which should get everything working.

[Kraiger 1]

Yeah it was weird and dumb. It is now fixed thanks to your assistance!

[rsc204 21,808]

On 25/08/2020 at 8:10 PM, rsc204 said:

No promises, but I'll see if I can find a moment to look into this one, since it's pretty obvious where the problem is.

@junspud: Just to provide a quick update on this... Whilst the theory is not too complex, a bunch of texture issues on the S3D models, in practise the sheer number of models and no decent way to visualise the problem in either SC4 Reader or iLives Reader really doesn't help. So I'll probably not look at this again until such time as I'm ready to update the models for this addon at the same time, because there is no way I'd want to work on this twice. As such, don't expect any developments on this for a while, unless i catch a lucky break.

5 hours ago, Kraiger said:

Yeah it was weird and dumb. It is now fixed thanks to your assistance!

I'd imagine with the sandboxing issue, it probably explains why necessary parts were missing. Glad you got it working .

[thomp_mic 0]

@rsc204 Thanks for the files. The missing texture above the straight pieces of HSR and RRW have been restored. Unfortunately with some of my other cities, I did find missing textures for straight HSR above diagonal RRW. Should the patch have solved this problem too? 
Also, the maxis texture on the railroad crossing still persists. 
I placed the second file (z_RRW_DxD_EU_Patch.dat) along with the other RRW textures in the same folder. I'm not quite sure what i'm doing wrong.

  Edited October 18, 2020 by thomp_mic  
Updated information

[Wiimeiser 444]

Sidenote, I've been previously informed the current HSR is deprecated and RHSR is in the works, so I don't think that's a priority...

[rsc204 21,808]

20 hours ago, thomp_mic said:

Unfortunately with some of my other cities, I did find missing textures for straight HSR above diagonal RRW. Should the patch have solved this problem too? 

No, the patch only included what you showed as missing, i.e the Ortho x Ortho crossing, I have no quick way to check for what's missing. The basic issue here is that the models were not copied over, as part of the complex job of removing the cross linking from the NAM 36 setup to the new installer, which needs setting up very differently on our end. During that process, quite a few things have come to light which went wrong, such user reports are really helpful, since it frees the development team to concentrate on improving NAM with new features.

I've merged the original OxO fix together with the OxD one, so please remove the previous file z_HSRxRRW_OxO_Patch.dat, and use this one instead:

z_HSRxRRW_Patch.dat

12 hours ago, Wiimeiser said:

Sidenote, I've been previously informed the current HSR is deprecated and RHSR is in the works, so I don't think that's a priority...

Perhaps not a priority, but everything was fine in NAM36. So it's just a case of digging out what's missing and adjusting the new development files.

For now I'm posting these fixes here, but they should get added into the next NAM release.

Of course new support/features for HSR is totally off the cards, it's not seen development for many years. In fact, these pieces are the original Rail ones, just using a texture override for the rails to support RRW.

20 hours ago, thomp_mic said:

Also, the maxis texture on the railroad crossing still persists. 
I placed the second file () along with the other RRW textures in the same folder. I'm not quite sure what i'm doing wrong.

Bear in mind, since the models were totally missing, the HSR patch doesn't have any special load order needs. Whereas, the crossing textures clearly do exist, just the wrong ones, so for the patch to work, it must be overriding the originals. That it's not showing, suggests it's not overriding them, If you create a folder in the root of Plugins named z________LoadLast, then place the file there, I'm certain it will work.

[robrien83 0]

Question- Novice to the core here.  Have MAC AppStore version of SC4.  Downloaded recommended Java.  Ran NAM 38 installer w/ no issues.  I understand I am directed to move folder to another location, however the default location installs to the plug-ins folder within SC4.  So....Idk.  Anyways, I Open up and start new city, no dice.  
I’ve tried to read as many posts/forum Q&A on this to avoid redundancy, but failed to find resolution.  Apologies.  Take care.  

[rsc204 21,808]

The new cross-platform installer should only install to one location I believe. This would be correct for those using the Steam edition of the game. But, if you are using the App Store version, then you should move the folder Network Addon Mod in its entirety to here:

/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.aspyr.simcity4.appstore/Data/Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins

At present the installer can't be made to install there automatically.

[Dutchdragon 74]

Hello there. I seem to have a problem with the NAM controller dat file. I can load the region screen but not the cities, as the loading screen freezes. This doesn't happen when I put the other NAM subfolders in the plugins; only when the NAM controller file is there, but this of course renders all puzzle pieces unusable. I've used the 4GB upgrade thing on the sc4 file. Does anyone know what to do about this? I have a digital SC4 Deluxe copy from Steam. 

[Pemberley 0]

I have exactly the same problem Dutchdragon mentioned. I have installed NAM38. It has run a few times but far more often it does a crash-to-desktop after seeing the region and taking a while to load the city. The city never comes up but the ctd occurs in at least 9 of 10 loads. I believe I have properly patched the exe file... I dragged it over the 4gb patch and it said it was patched. I have not found a solution.

If I remove the NAM controller DAT file I get the city to load and I can see NAM pieces but I cannot build anything.

I should disclose that I am running Windows 7, 32 bit, with 2 GB, with a SC4 Delux+Rushhour install and my exe is sc4_v1.1.640_NoCD. I have the cd, but my computer's cd drive is old. I would think the no-cd was the problem except that the games loads a city once a week if i keep trying and restarting.

Is my computer just too old and slow?

[junspud 1,066]

On 23/10/2020 at 6:51 PM, Dutchdragon said:

Hello there. I seem to have a problem with the NAM controller dat file. I can load the region screen but not the cities, as the loading screen freezes. This doesn't happen when I put the other NAM subfolders in the plugins; only when the NAM controller file is there, but this of course renders all puzzle pieces unusable. I've used the 4GB upgrade thing on the sc4 file. Does anyone know what to do about this? I have a digital SC4 Deluxe copy from Steam. 

@Pemberley

Until someone more knowledgeable can try and help you out, have you attempted to reinstall NAM? Or maybe run the 'Traffic Simulator Configuration tool' on your controller file to see if it produces any errors while loading it? I've never run into this problem and I can only deduct it may be a corruption issue.

[junspud 1,066]

2 hours ago, Pemberley said:

 

Is my computer just too old and slow?

I really doubt it, my 2011 circa laptop can take over 5+ minutes to load with NAM+5+gb of plugins, but it still loads and have never had that sort of CTD. I'd try reinstalling NAM and/or running the traffic simulator configuration tool to see if it produces any errors while loading your controller file.. Could be wrong but it sounds like the controller file got corrupted. Someone more knowledgeable can probably help you out but while you're waiting that's what I'd try.

[Pemberley 0]

I just reinstalled. No change. You mentioned running the traffic simulator. Where is that?

[junspud 1,066]

It's in a folder in the unzipped NAM package. After you unzip it instead of running the NAM executable, click the 'Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool' folder and run the Start.bat executable.

 

Maybe it's some weird new bug or something, I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will come along and help you out.

 

You could also attempt to run the controller compiler yourself, that folder is also in the unzipped NAM package.