NAM General Support

[memo 1,444]

Thank you both for the kind words. You are giving me too much credit. I have been particularly sloppy in terms of software maintenance. But I am really happy to see all the new development by all of you and can't wait to try it myself.

[thornp113 54]

On 7/21/2022 at 7:33 AM, rsc204 said:

Sounds like you want to use the TSCT tool, a Java based app for altering various controller settings. Currently this doesn't get installed with NAM, instead it can be found in the .zip download of the NAM within a folder named Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool.

Thanks! This was what I was looking for.   Im wondering though, If I have cities started on Medium (American) and I switch to High (European) Will my game crash if I try to run those cities?

Ignore the line through the text.  Had a C.O.K (Cat on Keyboard)

[matias93 7,535]

34 minutes ago, thornp113 said:

If I have cities started on Medium (American) and I switch to High (European) Will my game crash if I try to run those cities?

Not at all, you'll just see more sims using transit and less of them using cars. It is possible, though, that you might get some transit stations overcrowded, if they were too sparse already.

[paddy0174 58]

Is there any tool, that can "safe" the installed NAM configuration? I know, I know, the installer can't read the actual config, and that's totally ok for me.

But can't we have something like a plain *.txt file or something like that, that get's written during the installation, just to have it handy, if one needs to re-install or want's to change settings?

What I'm thinking about wouold be a text file or even a screenshot of the settings, that are used for that install. One could simply open it in a new window next to the installer and so could see, what was checked in the install?

I don't need any fancy automatic whatsoever, just to take a look at it, while re-running the installer. I have it quite often, after a new version, that I wanted to know, what I had installed and that would give a quick overview. Last night for example, I stumbled across my one-way-arrow settings...did the install three times, after changing the one-way-arrows, I missed to check something different...you get the idea.

Something like this, as I can't seem to be able to make a screenshot of the installer window (at least not with a scrolling effect to see all the points):

Would something like this be possible? I have no idea how the installer is coded, or if this is even possible with this installer, but it would be a nice feature, and would ease re-installation for many users I believe.

Thanks for letting me know your thoughts!

[Zasco 105]

Is there a reason for the "DTR to STR Diagonal Turnout for the RealRailway (RRW)" to be located in the "RealRailway FLEX Turnout pieces" menu instead of the "RAM phase 1 - Single Track Rail" one like the "STR - Dual Track to STR Short Transition (1x3)" is? Because of this, I looked for it for ages... I have NAM44 installed. Sorry if this isn't the right thread for RRW.

[Eggman121 1,035]

2 hours ago, Zasco said:

Is there a reason for the "DTR to STR Diagonal Turnout for the RealRailway (RRW)" to be located in the "RealRailway FLEX Turnout pieces" menu instead of the "RAM phase 1 - Single Track Rail" one like the "STR - Dual Track to STR Short Transition (1x3)" is? Because of this, I looked for it for ages... I have NAM44 installed. Sorry if this isn't the right thread for RRW.

The Switches and turnouts you are referring to are part of the Flextrack work that I did for the RRW. Most if not all items from the RAM era have a Flex equivalent. The Rail Addon Mod or RAM is actually work done before the Real Railway and updated with some textures and paths to make the set look consistent.

Hence why you cannot find Pieces for the RRW in the RAM files. They where completed in two different eras. 

RAM phase one has been discontinued in favor of the RRW.

Thanks

-eggman121 (NAM Team Member)

[Zasco 105]

4 hours ago, Eggman121 said:

The Switches and turnouts you are referring to are part of the Flextrack work that I did for the RRW. Most if not all items from the RAM era have a Flex equivalent. The Rail Addon Mod or RAM is actually work done before the Real Railway and updated with some textures and paths to make the set look consistent.

Hence why you cannot find Pieces for the RRW in the RAM files. They where completed in two different eras. 

RAM phase one has been discontinued in favor of the RRW.

Thanks

-eggman121 (NAM Team Member)

Alright, thanks for the answer! This should have been obvious to me... I took for granted the menus were "FLEX Turnout" and "STR" pieces. Should I thus regard the RAM pieces as deprecated and avoid their use?

[Eggman121 1,035]

20 minutes ago, Zasco said:

Alright, thanks for the answer! This should have been obvious to me... I took for granted the menus were "FLEX Turnout" and "STR" pieces. Should I thus regard the RAM pieces as deprecated and avoid their use?

You don't have to avoid there use. They are more legacy content now for pre existing cities.

There is alot of nifty functionality for the RRW that has not been realized yet to most players due to lack of documentation.

Documentation writing is on the cards in the short term however. Essentially delayed due to RL on my part.

-eggman121 (NAM Team Member)

[moart4 24]

Not sure if I should open a new thread but I'm trying to make a stacked highway in my city.  I am not sure how to finish the transition from top and bottom to my off suit ramps.  I have tried several pieces but can't seem to transition the end of without looking like old school SimCity 3000 dead end of highway.

Any suggestions?

If there is already a thread explaining this... please feel free to direct me to the correct location.  Thank you greatly friends.

 

[Lucario Boricua 7,028]

This is a really niche and really interesting configuration you're trying out! Here's the way I would do it, using the RHW FLEX width transitions:

 

1. These are the pieces you'll need. You already figured out the approach configuration, so that one doesn't worry me. The main piece you'll need is the offset RHW-2 to RHW-4 FLEX width transition. Make sure to rotate the double decker RHW-4 starter to have the upper deck line up with the half of the transition which shifts laterally in the width transition. Then, you can adjust the spacing between the FLEX-Fly curves and the FLEX-WT, it's possible to get them closer than I'm showing here.

 

Once all the tinkering is done and everything is in place, you'll get something which looks like this.

 

 

     Really hope this helps!     

 

EDIT: make sure to direct your NAM gameplay question to the NAM and Transit Networks forum, either on the NAM General Support thread or the various NAM network development and support threads relevant to whatever you might want to do.

 

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/forum/30-NAM-transit-networks/

[moart4 24]

14 hours ago, Lucario Boricua said:

This is a really niche and really interesting configuration you're trying out! Here's the way I would do it, using the RHW FLEX width transitions:

 

1. These are the pieces you'll need. You already figured out the approach configuration, so that one doesn't worry me. The main piece you'll need is the offset RHW-2 to RHW-4 FLEX width transition. Make sure to rotate the double decker RHW-4 starter to have the upper deck line up with the half of the transition which shifts laterally in the width transition. Then, you can adjust the spacing between the FLEX-Fly curves and the FLEX-WT, it's possible to get them closer than I'm showing here.

 

Once all the tinkering is done and everything is in place, you'll get something which looks like this.

 

 

     Really hope this helps!     

 

EDIT: make sure to direct your NAM gameplay question to the NAM and Transit Networks forum, either on the NAM General Support thread or the various NAM network development and support threads relevant to whatever you might want to do.

 

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/forum/30-NAM-transit-networks/

Thank you, thank you!  I did exactly as you showed here and IT WORKED!!  I was completely overthinking it and you instructions broke it down really well. 

I will make sure to post in the NAM section... thanks for letting me know about that section. 

[serpe 75]

Hello, not sure if this was addressed elsewhere but I cannot find someone with the same problem in the forum.

After installing NAM45 the GHSR does not convert properly as it leaver the Maxis monorail pillars in the middle of the HSR tracks.

 

Not sure why it is doing this. If someone would like to help me figure it out, I am providing more background here:

- I'm running SC4 in a "Test" region with no other plugins in the plugins folder besides the NAM45, so I cannot be a conflict with other files.

- I have instralled NAM45 using the "manual" option. I was very careful but maybe I made an error and left something I was not supposed to?

- My previous NAM version was NAM36, I did not have the issue with this version. It is only with NAM45.

- I have a Windows XP machine and I installed the No RHW version without the 4gb patch.

 

Again thanks,

 

SP

 

[CaptCity 4,753]

Hi @serpe

Since your previous NAM version was 36, did you completely remove that from your Plugins before installing 45 - including the z___NAM folder? Your issue reminds me of a similar thing when an older version of something (maybe the BTM) had not been removed.

There is a big difference between installing newer NAM veersions (37 and newer) compared to NAM 36 and previous versions. It no longer checks/updates the previous components during installation. Older versions must be removed manually before installing newer ones.

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

7 hours ago, serpe said:

Hello, not sure if this was addressed elsewhere but I cannot find someone with the same problem in the forum.

After installing NAM45 the GHSR does not convert properly as it leaver the Maxis monorail pillars in the middle of the HSR tracks.

 

Not sure why it is doing this. If someone would like to help me figure it out, I am providing more background here:

- I'm running SC4 in a "Test" region with no other plugins in the plugins folder besides the NAM45, so I cannot be a conflict with other files.

- I have instralled NAM45 using the "manual" option. I was very careful but maybe I made an error and left something I was not supposed to?

- My previous NAM version was NAM36, I did not have the issue with this version. It is only with NAM45.

- I have a Windows XP machine and I installed the No RHW version without the 4gb patch.

 

Again thanks,

 

SP

 

If you have done a dirty update of NAM you most likely have there are critical issues as the NAM 36 and NAM 45 architecture are completely different.

The solution is as follows

1 Delete the Network Addon Mod folder and Z__NAM from your plugins folder

2 Reinstall NAM 45

One consideration: HSRP is considered a Legacy mod and if there are no critical bugs it will not receive any feature updates and will be completely replaced by RHSR (Real High Speed Rail)

[rsc204 21,808]

On 28/08/2022 at 4:20 PM, paddy0174 said:

What I'm thinking about wouold be a text file or even a screenshot of the settings, that are used for that install. One could simply open it in a new window next to the installer and so could see, what was checked in the install?

This is something you can already do and it basically comes down to the fact that the checkboxes each relate to a folder that will be installed. In other words, all you need is to move your existing Network Addon Mod folder out of Plugins, then use the contents to select the tickboxes that match the folders from your previous install. Doing this before you start will give you an identical set of features to before, but don't forget new features may have been added, so it's worth going through the list in the installer a second time, just in case there is something else you want to add. Once the new install is verified as containing the right features, you can safely archive or delete your old NAM version as you wish.

[Leathershoes&corn 829]

excuse me. does anyone know how to use the underground highway to build an underground ramp? 'course sometimes I could use the underground highway to build an underground ramp for rhw2, but I actually want ramp for underground rhw4. could someone teach me how to build the ramp for underground rhw4? and how to make it functional.thank you all for your kind words.

[Flann 1,709]

3 hours ago, Leathershoes&corn said:

excuse me. does anyone know how to use the underground highway to build an underground ramp? 'course sometimes I could use the underground highway to build an underground ramp for rhw2, but I actually want ramp for underground rhw4. could someone teach me how to build the ramp for underground rhw4? and how to make it functional.thank you all for your kind words.

Hi - check the documentation with NAM 45, there is a feature guide for FLUPs.  Let us know if it answers your question.

Edit* that particular guide is also available here on our new documentation website (which is a work in progress)

https://www.sc4nam.com/docs/feature-guides/flexible-underpasses/

[serpe 75]

14 hours ago, CaptCity said:

Hi @serpe

Since your previous NAM version was 36, did you completely remove that from your Plugins before installing 45 - including the z___NAM folder? Your issue reminds me of a similar thing when an older version of something (maybe the BTM) had not been removed.

There is a big difference between installing newer NAM veersions (37 and newer) compared to NAM 36 and previous versions. It no longer checks/updates the previous components during installation. Older versions must be removed manually before installing newer ones.

 

Yes, all other plugins, including z___NAM, were removed from the plugin folder. I was running NAM45 by itself on a "test" region. The older version, NAM36, did not have that issue.

[serpe 75]

8 hours ago, ulisse said:

If you have done a dirty update of NAM you most likely have there are critical issues as the NAM 36 and NAM 45 architecture are completely different.

The solution is as follows

1 Delete the Network Addon Mod folder and Z__NAM from your plugins folder

2 Reinstall NAM 45

One consideration: HSRP is considered a Legacy mod and if there are no critical bugs it will not receive any feature updates and will be completely replaced by RHSR (Real High Speed Rail)

I can definitely try that but the only plugins in my plugin folder are from the NAM45 install. ALL other plugins have been removed from my plugins folder in order to test NAM45.

For some reason my WindowsXP version refuses to accept Java so I'm forced to install NAM45 manually. I am deleting some of the ^Legacy folders to see if that fixes the problem.

Do you know if the upcoming RHSR update will require a 64bit windows version? Previous attempts to run SimCity 4 with a OS other than Windows XP had resulted in headaches for me.

Thanks again.

 

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

1 minute ago, serpe said:

I can definitely try that but the only plugins in my plugin folder are from the NAM45 install. ALL other plugins have been removed from my plugins folder in order to test NAM45.

For some reason my WindowsXP version refuses to accept Java so I'm forced to install NAM45 manually. I am deleting some of the ^Legacy folders to see if that fixes the problem.

Do you know if the upcoming RHSR update will require a 64bit windows version? Previous attempts to run SimCity 4 with a OS other than Windows XP had resulted in headaches for me.

Thanks again.

 

We discovered the problem. Manually installing NAM can cause problems with the RUL code.

Now Windows XP is a very old OS and SC4 works well with Windows 10 and 11. There are additional procedures that need to be carried out. I advise you to follow this guide on how to install SC4 on Modern systems

 

 

[CaptCity 4,753]

18 hours ago, serpe said:

- I have instralled NAM45 using the "manual" option.

 

1 hour ago, ulisse said:

We discovered the problem. Manually installing NAM can cause problems with the RUL code.

Might this issue be related to load order? I tried a manual install without RHW similar to @serpe. Then I removed all the special characters from folder names so that they matched the names of the .jar installed folder names. Doing this eliminated the pylon issue with the HSR tracks. Not sure if other issues may be present.

For what it might be worth...

[Leathershoes&corn 829]

3 hours ago, Flann said:

Hi - check the documentation with NAM 45, there is a feature guide for FLUPs.  Let us know if it answers your question.

Edit* that particular guide is also available here on our new documentation website (which is a work in progress)

https://www.sc4nam.com/docs/feature-guides/flexible-underpasses/

thanks, I didn't found this doc, I will try it later.

[Tarkus 6,932]

2 hours ago, serpe said:

For some reason my WindowsXP version refuses to accept Java so I'm forced to install NAM45 manually. I am deleting some of the ^Legacy folders to see if that fixes the problem.

The version of Java that's bundled in with the NAM is intended for 64-bit Windows (that's what about 85% of our userbase runs), but Adoptium does have an x32 Windows distribution of the Java Runtime Environment. See here--scroll down to where it says Windows x32.  That should, in theory, work on XP.

2 hours ago, serpe said:

Do you know if the upcoming RHSR update will require a 64bit windows version? Previous attempts to run SimCity 4 with a OS other than Windows XP had resulted in headaches for me.

A 64-bit OS is required if one is running a NAM Controller of sufficient size (we don't know the exact threshold, but it's somewhere in the ballpark of 150MB, ±20MB or so), and the primary driver of NAM Controller size is RUL2 override code.  As of right now, RHSR hasn't gotten to a point where its RUL2 code has made our depository, nor have its files made it into an internal build, so it's an unknown just how much it'll contribute. But based on the scope of the project, even if it is very intense in terms of adjacency code, I don't expect it would push the Low RAM/No RHW Controller option over the threshold.

-Tarkus

[serpe 75]

31 minutes ago, CaptCity said:

 

Might this issue be related to load order? I tried a manual install without RHW similar to @serpe. Then I removed all the special characters from folder names so that they matched the names of the .jar installed folder names. Doing this eliminated the pylon issue with the HSR tracks. Not sure if other issues may be present.

For what it might be worth...

@CaptCity That fixed it!! Interesting how the load order of files can cause such strange glitches.

The NAM team may want to update the instructional for manual install of NAM45.

 

Thanks again!!

 

SP

 

[rsc204 21,808]

8 hours ago, serpe said:

That fixed it!! Interesting how the load order of files can cause such strange glitches.

The NAM team may want to update the instructional for manual install of NAM45.

First I must state a so-called manual install is not supported. If you bypass the installer, you are on your own. Finding a working copy of Java for 32-Bit XP is not that easy, you know like finding pretty much any programs are for what is now an ancient OS. However a working version of Java does still exist, I suggest you pay heed to the version Tarkus noted a few posts back.

It all makes sense and CapCity has correctly identified the problem. The way the installer works (developmentally speaking), it must use special characters so the Installer App then gives users the expected options. The installer knows this and such characters do NOT end up with the folders/files installed using this process. Likewise SC4 uses file/folder names to determine load order, so when these characters got copied across, it throws off the load order, which can cause many problems, some which may not be obvious. Therefore again I must stress the importance of having Java so the NAM installer can work as intended to prevent unintended issues. The team has put a tremendous amount of work into ensuring the load order is setup so things work properly. If that gets altered it's possible to completely break things, everything depends absolutely on a specific load order within the NAM installation.

For the average computer user that requires a secure environment, it's hard not to recommend using only Windows 10 or more ideally 11. This is not because I like them as OS's, I literally switched to a Mac to avoid Win10 after 20+ years of DOS/Windows exclusivity. But the simple fact remains, WinXP is hideously out of date in terms of security. Of course there are users and use-case scenarios, where this doesn't matter and whilst it's somewhat true that SC4 runs better under XP than newer OSs, it's not always the case. Usually to make things work with newer hardware/OSs just requires a bit of additional setup. It is quite correct that there is nothing in any version of Windows, including the latest version 11, that by itself will cause problems with running SC4.

[serpe 75]

On 9/19/2022 at 5:42 AM, rsc204 said:

First I must state a so-called manual install is not supported. If you bypass the installer, you are on your own. Finding a working copy of Java for 32-Bit XP is not that easy, you know like finding pretty much any programs are for what is now an ancient OS. However a working version of Java does still exist, I suggest you pay heed to the version Tarkus noted a few posts back.

Understood, however, the manual install is literally spelled out in the Installation Instructions file that comes with the NAM45 packet.

I agree with Windows XP being a very outdated OS. For some reason my machine refuses to run any Java related .msi files, even the 32bit version. Thus I am unable to run the NAM installer app. I do have a Windows 11 machine that I am looking into for playing SimCity 4 using the steps outlined by @ulisse above. So fingers crossed on that.

[rsc204 21,808]

4 hours ago, serpe said:

Understood, however, the manual install is literally spelled out in the Installation Instructions file that comes with the NAM45 packet.

Providing that information in the documentation doesn't necessarily mean we will support users doing so.

Personally, I can't think of a single scenario where that would be necessary, since you can use Java on literally every OS I can think of, maybe some obscure version of Linux can't, but I doubt it?

4 hours ago, serpe said:

I agree with Windows XP being a very outdated OS. For some reason my machine refuses to run any Java related .msi files, even the 32bit version.

I don't know which, if any, versions of Java from the linked site might work with Windows XP, I will note having tried it (v11), the installer specifically notes it requires Win7 or later, that would have been useful information to have had.

Honestly I am not going to start going through endless archive posts looking, the version I mentioned in this post I can personally verify works under WinXP:

Tested again today and indeed the installer runs without error, I'll note it's Java version 7, which gives you some idea how out of date a version you need for XP.

Otherwise if you have another machine, you can use it to bypass the problem. Just run the NAM installer app on the new machine, then copy/move the resulting Network Addon Mod folder it creates to the machine you use for SC4.

[Leathershoes&corn 829]

sorry to bother you, but how to solve it ?

[rsc204 21,808]

In the same tab-ring as the Turn Lanes there are special intersection pieces, did you place one of those before building the rest of the intersection? Only the RoadxRoad intersection is able to override the centre intersection without resorting to using these special intersection pieces. 

[Leathershoes&corn 829]

3 hours ago, rsc204 said:

In the same tab-ring as the Turn Lanes there are special intersection pieces, did you place one of those before building the rest of the intersection? Only the RoadxRoad intersection is able to override the centre intersection without resorting to using these special intersection pieces. 

every time i place the intersection pieces, they are as normal as it used to be, but once i drag the road through the corner of them in order to link them to the turning lane, the error appears.