NAM General Support

[Tarkus 6,932]

1 hour ago, FireSka said:

Hopefully the RealExpressway team is working on this.

Presently, there isn't a RealExpressway team within the NAM organization, and there's no developmental capacity within the NAM Team to focus on the RealExpressway.  While possible expansion to the REW is in the team's long-term plans, it is uncertain as to when REW development will resume.  In the case of any resumption, priority would be on the various pieces of REW content that were cut when the project hit a massive roadblock during NAM 37 development.

The REW was a side-project of eggman121, who is actually the main developer (and pretty much only developer) of our "Rail Division".  Since the last batch of REW content was released in NAM 41, back in April 2021, he's been occupied with Hybrid Railway (HRW), Real High Speed Rail (RHSR), and more recently, real life (RL). 

Our "Highway Division" is continually occupied with RealHighway (RHW) development (currently focused on the RHW-12S network), and the "Surface Road Division" has been focused primarily of late on the diagonal intersection expansion of the Network Widening Mod (NWM).  The other active subgroups on the team would be the "Bridge Division", the "Mass Transit Authority" (handling transit stations), and the new "Active Transportation Division", which is focused on the Pedestrian Revolution Mod.

-Tarkus

[FireSka 20]

Thanks Tarkus.  Understood.  If only I could figure out how to convert a diagonal avenue to diagonal RHW then I could just use those ramps.  Can't figure it out.  Unfortunately RHW has always confused me for the most part and I still use the Maxis Highways which I enjoy the simplicity of.

[klm88 0]

I had install 46 NAM on Linux, the city doesn’t load with it - it hangs when loading, and the NAM 45th - crashes. JAVA is installed in Linux, and NAM 46 was installed (but I don’t know if he patched the exe.) I installed the GoG game through Wine - somewhere (approximately on the appeared disk c). 

 But the game with the outdated NAM (where there are NAM and z_nam) - works fine - everything loads. And in Linux game is working faster than in Windows.

[Tarkus 6,932]

Crash when loading a city = clear case of the 4GB Patch not being installed.

"Hanging" on loading is harder to tell.  The game is, in general, going to take more time to load with more Plugins, so keep that in mind.

Any NAM that has a "z___NAM" folder is at least 10 versions out of date, possibly as many as 15, isn't eligible for any sort of technical support, and isn't recommended.

-Tarkus

[klm88 0]

How to properly install nam46 and 4gb patch on linux(mint)? I run the jar, it installed, but the exe was not patched. I just launched .jar with a click (not through wine). if I run a separate patch, then we get a message about "couldn't open executable".

[rsc204 21,808]

Since you are not using Windows, applications and scripts designed for Windows will not work for you, this includes the BAT file script which can automatically patch the SC4.exe and the 4GB Patcher app, which handles patching it. It's also worth noting that the flag using this sets in the .exe, is intended so that Windows will treat SC4 differently, allowing it access to more potential memory.

Note that the installer .jar file uses a cross-platform tool, Java, so the NAM installer runs on any Java compatible device.

If I recall correctly from past users, there is a setting in WINE you need to activate in order to tell the OS to give more memory to SC4. The best information I could find after a lot of searching was this:

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/761291-4gb-patch-not-being-applied/

[auglove3rd 1]

Hey all, I've tried to install the NAM on a Mac (running Ventura) and there is no change to the game (App Store version, Deluxe, with Rush Hour). No new features, no sluggishness on startup, nothing that might indicate any change. The setup .jar file for version 46 works fine, and says the install was successful, but it's as if the game doesn't see anything new after the install. I'm assuming I've installed in the wrong place, but I've tried it clean in both /Library/Containers/com.aspyr.simcity4.appstore/Data/Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins and also /user/Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins - both of which have been mentioned as destinations by different individuals, although I think the first one is where it should be. I'd be grateful for any info or tips, and happy to provide more info if I've missed something.

[rsc204 21,808]

7 hours ago, auglove3rd said:

I'm assuming I've installed in the wrong place, but I've tried it clean in both /Library/Containers/com.aspyr.simcity4.appstore/Data/Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins and also /user/Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins - both of which have been mentioned as destinations by different individuals, although I think the first one is where it should be.

When the game was updated to be 64-bit, the AppStore version requires that all game data, which includes Plugins and Regions, remain sandboxed within the App container. Only the Steam version uses the user/Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins folder.

It's important to note that the SimCity 4 folder, which contains Plugins and Regions folders, should already exist, if you are creating the path manually then it probably won't work. The last information I can recall related to a change in Big Sur, hopefully the location hasn't altered since.

[auglove3rd 1]

6 hours ago, rsc204 said:

When the game was updated to be 64-bit, the AppStore version requires that all game data, which includes Plugins and Regions, remain sandboxed within the App container. Only the Steam version uses the user/Documents/SimCity 4/Plugins folder.

It's important to note that the SimCity 4 folder, which contains Plugins and Regions folders, should already exist, if you are creating the path manually then it probably won't work. The last information I can recall related to a change in Big Sur, hopefully the location hasn't altered since.

Thanks for the response. I can confirm that I didn't create the path, and that the installer found it right away. I did notice that change in file names, but it seems to only be a display name change, as the original format (com.aspyr etc) shows up when the installer goes to work.

It really must be something simple that I'm missing. Hopefully someone has had a similar experience. 

[rsc204 21,808]

The SimCity 4\Regions folder simply has to exist, otherwise you'd have no regions you could load/save when starting the game, so it's just a case of finding where the SimCity 4 root folder is. The original information actually came from one of the NAM Support threads on SC4D, the relevant stuff starts from this post. Perhaps that helps clarify things, of course it is possible too that in newer versions of MacOS this has changed again somehow. I'm sure it's simply a case of just finding the relevant folder though, as I said without it the game wouldn't work since this 'user' folder 'SimCity 4' has always been where the game keeps the savefiles (Regions) along with mods (Plugins).

Sadly, without having the same OS version and also owing to having the Steam edition, there is no way for me to see the folder structure you will have.

[auglove3rd 1]

3 hours ago, rsc204 said:

The original information actually came from one of the NAM Support threads on SC4D, the relevant stuff starts from this post.

Yep, unhiding the files revealed that there's a duplicate-ish path from the system root and I needed to use the one within MacintoshHD/users/(username)/Library/Containers/ (which was hidden), and not simply MacintoshHD/Library/Containers/. Dammit, I knew it was simple. Thanks very much for your help!

For anyone else on MacOS Ventura, I seem to have gotten everything working with version 46.

[jakis 287]

Hello! I have a problem here, trying to put flexfly mis-1 over a rhw-2. Same thing happens when I put rhw-2 under flexfly mis-1. I start to think, that it's not supported this way.

[Tyberius06 12,189]

8 minutes ago, jakis said:

Hello! I have a problem here, trying to put flexfly mis-1 over a rhw-2. Same thing happens when I put rhw-2 under flexfly mis-1. I start to think, that it's not supported this way.

Hi!

It is not supported. RHW-2 can not cross FLEX-Fly in any way.

- Tyberius

[rsc204 21,808]

Just to add, the reason why RHW-2 is not supported is because it’s the base network. If it was supported it would make the override RHW networks, i.e. everything else, much less stable. The amount of additional code to cover this is frankly ridiculous so the best way to have a working FlexFly system was to not include RHW-2. Note a similar change was made with the on-slope and height transition pieces, although a separate RHW-2 only version of these exists or certainly is planned to. Sorry been a while since I paid much attention to RHW. 

[Gable Patterson 9]

Hi there! I am having trouble with NAM crashing when placing puzzle pieces. I am not super skilled with computers, but am a big fan of SC4 and this site. I have downloaded a previous version of NAM and had similar problems, but somehow my dad did something with changing file locations and that fixed it? I still don't quite understand, but there have been no more problems on his computer. Now, however, I would really like to play SC4 on my personal laptop (Acer Nitro 5) with NAM installed, but I am running into the same issue: crashing when placing puzzle pieces. I know this is a tired issue but if anybody has any ideas about what might be going wrong I'm willing to try some solutions

[CaptCity 4,753]

Hi @Gable Patterson

If you're sure the game is only crashing when placing puzzle pieces, you may be experiencing the known issue with hovering a puzzle piece over a transit lot. This issue was resolved when the SC4Fix file became available. This may have been on the previous computer, but perhaps not on the new one...? Do you know if the original Plugins were copied over? Maybe the SC4Fix file was missed. It is often placed in the Program Files plugins folder rather then the User plugins.

[jonnboy1976 218]

I'm slowly upgrading and/or replacing many of my 4 lane avenues and MHW with various RHW and NWM options.  Thank you for all the various NAM videos (tutorials and others).  They've always been helpful, informative and greatly appreciated!  

A few questions.  A couple weeks ago I was reading about RHW either here or SC4D and ran across a list that stated each type of roadway (starting with street and ending with RHW10, including MHW, and all the NWM and RHW) and the vehicle capacity AND speed for each type.  Can y'all tell me where I can find that information again please?  

Are there ramps that can be used with avenues and all the NWM variants?  

The other questions are asking your advice, opinions, or preference -- When you have heavy rail that needs to cross major multi-lane roadways that aren't highways, what option do you prefer or use most often in your own cities?  Over with viaduct, or going under the roadway, or just drag the RR across on top of the roadway?

When upgrading a road in your own cities, what's the best choice or your favorite? (Upraging to a roadway/hwy of the same width).  And same question upgrading from AVE4?

[Lucario Boricua 7,028]

Hello @jonnboy1976 !!

Let me answer some of these questions:

 

1. You'll find the network capacity tables here, in these sections of the NAM feature guide website (showing the new links, migration from old website in progress):

• The NAM Traffic Simulator: this one lists capacity and speed by base network, not overrides nor dual networks. The capacity here is listed on a per-cell / per-tile basis. Count your network tiles, and multiply by that to estimate the capacity.

https://www.sc4nam.com/docs/feature-guides/traffic-sim/

 

• The Network Widening Mod and the RealHighway Mod have their own capacity tables by override network. Keep in mind that these networks can use a path trick to add some extra capacity, adding some more granularity to their capacity beyond their width.

https://www.sc4nam.com/docs/feature-guides/realhighway-mod/

https://www.sc4nam.com/docs/feature-guides/network-widening-mod/

 

2. Ramps usable with Avenue? Yes. Keep in mind that we've changed these to use drag patterns, starting in NAM 44. The puzzle pieces are still accessible through selecting the RHW Legacy Puzzle Piece menu buttons in the NAM installer. Using the RealHighway network tool, draw the shapes shown with the One-way Road (left) for the A1 (orthogonal branch) and B1 (diagonal branch) ramps. The C1 ramp is found now at the end of the Fractional Angle RHW ramp puzzle pieces.

 

• Ramps with other Network Widening Mod (NWM) networks? Only for OWR-1 and OWR-3 (and OWR-2) as part of the RealExpressway (REW) Mod. These are intended to be used as a way to add frontage road and parkway functionality to surface road networks. Ramps for bidirectional NWM networks (the ones overriding from road) are not supported at this time. Depending on your set-up, you could get way with doing short transitions from RD-4, RD-6 and TLA-5 to OWR-2 or OWR-3, to connect with the REW FLEX ramp pieces.

 

3. Grade separation of rail crossings when wide arterial roads are involved. I think it depends, especially since we still have a lot to do to complete diagonal support for the Elevated RealRailway (ERRW) viaducts. I often prefer to raise the roadway with a surface viaduct overpass, transition to RHW (ex. necessary for several NWM options currently) and keep the track at ground level. Otherwise I use elevated Rail viaducts if the alignments are orthogonal X orthogonal (+ overpasses). In select cases, I may route the railway going through a short tunnel under an embankment. Keep in mind that I like to shape my terrain for realism and to take advantage of the topography. players who use flat cities will have better results by using the ramp-style height transitions as appropriate. The realistic option is to chose on a per-case basis based on the local circumstances. Only if my space is really restricted do I go for at-grade rail crossings.

 

4. As for my roadway capacity upgrade options, I like being creative about it. More often than not, I prefer to use these options:

• Small capacity boost for road: replace the road for an appropriate single-tile bidirectional Network Widening Mod network (NWM). These include TLA-3, AVE-2, ARD-3 and NRD-4. I generally go with TLA-3 in urban areas, AVE-2 if I want a grassy median, or ARD-3 if I want a mountain route with climbing lanes. Despite its popularity, NRD-4 doesn't provide more capacity than the other three options, due to how capacity boosting works with road networks in SimCity 4.
• Large capacity boost for Road: I replace the Road with a One-way Road, and convert a nearby parallel street into a One-way Road in the opposite direction.
• Capacity boost for Avenue: you'd need to change to the TLA-5 or the RD-6, or if you want to maintain the look, you can also replace the orthogonal and diagonal segments with two One-way Road segments in the same Avenue footprint. You'd just then need to transition back to avenue for intersections, roundabouts and turning lanes.
• Build a detour: this one's my favorite, I'll often build some kind of detour connection around the city's busy areas, and re-route non-local traffic through there.
• Build frontage streets or pedmalls parallel to a road: you can also reserve space along a future avenue corridor by building a street, or pedmalls! They preserve access to zoned land next to the roadway, and help you avoid costly evictions to widen from 1-tile networks to 2-tile networks.

 

Here's some examples of the more elaborate options:

 

 

 

[jonnboy1976 218]

19 minutes ago, Lucario Boricua said:

Hello @jonnboy1976 !!

Let me answer some of these questions:

 

1. You'll find the network capacity tables here, in these sections of the NAM feature guide website (showing the new links, migration from old website in progress):

• The NAM Traffic Simulator: this one lists capacity and speed by base network, not overrides nor dual networks. The capacity here is listed on a per-cell / per-tile basis. Count your network tiles, and multiply by that to estimate the capacity.

https://www.sc4nam.com/docs/feature-guides/traffic-sim/

 

• The Network Widening Mod and the RealHighway Mod have their own capacity tables by override network. Keep in mind that these networks can use a path trick to add some extra capacity, adding some more granularity to their capacity beyond their width.

https://www.sc4nam.com/docs/feature-guides/realhighway-mod/

https://www.sc4nam.com/docs/feature-guides/network-widening-mod/

 

2. Ramps usable with Avenue? Yes. Keep in mind that we've changed these to use drag patterns, starting in NAM 44. The puzzle pieces are still accessible through selecting the RHW Legacy Puzzle Piece menu buttons in the NAM installer. Using the RealHighway network tool, draw the shapes shown with the One-way Road (left) for the A1 (orthogonal branch) and B1 (diagonal branch) ramps. The C1 ramp is found now at the end of the Fractional Angle RHW ramp puzzle pieces.

 

• Ramps with other Network Widening Mod (NWM) networks? Only for OWR-1 and OWR-3 (and OWR-2) as part of the RealExpressway (REW) Mod. These are intended to be used as a way to add frontage road and parkway functionality to surface road networks. Ramps for bidirectional NWM networks (the ones overriding from road) are not supported at this time. Depending on your set-up, you could get way with doing short transitions from RD-4, RD-6 and TLA-5 to OWR-2 or OWR-3, to connect with the REW FLEX ramp pieces.

 

3. Grade separation of rail crossings when wide arterial roads are involved. I think it depends, especially since we still have a lot to do to complete diagonal support for the Elevated RealRailway (ERRW) viaducts. I often prefer to raise the roadway with a surface viaduct overpass, transition to RHW (ex. necessary for several NWM options currently) and keep the track at ground level. Otherwise I use elevated Rail viaducts if the alignments are orthogonal X orthogonal (+ overpasses). In select cases, I may route the railway going through a short tunnel under an embankment. Keep in mind that I like to shape my terrain for realism and to take advantage of the topography. players who use flat cities will have better results by using the ramp-style height transitions as appropriate. The realistic option is to chose on a per-case basis based on the local circumstances. Only if my space is really restricted do I go for at-grade rail crossings.

 

4. As for my roadway capacity upgrade options, I like being creative about it. More often than not, I prefer to use these options:

• Small capacity boost for road: replace the road for an appropriate single-tile bidirectional Network Widening Mod network (NWM). These include TLA-3, AVE-2, ARD-3 and NRD-4. I generally go with TLA-3 in urban areas, AVE-2 if I want a grassy median, or ARD-3 if I want a mountain route with climbing lanes. Despite its popularity, NRD-4 doesn't provide more capacity than the other three options, due to how capacity boosting works with road networks in SimCity 4.
• Large capacity boost for Road: I replace the Road with a One-way Road, and convert a nearby parallel street into a One-way Road in the opposite direction.
• Capacity boost for Avenue: you'd need to change to the TLA-5 or the RD-6, or if you want to maintain the look, you can also replace the orthogonal and diagonal segments with two One-way Road segments in the same Avenue footprint. You'd just then need to transition back to avenue for intersections, roundabouts and turning lanes.
• Build a detour: this one's my favorite, I'll often build some kind of detour connection around the city's busy areas, and re-route non-local traffic through there.
• Build frontage streets or pedmalls parallel to a road: you can also reserve space along a future avenue corridor by building a street, or pedmalls! They preserve access to zoned land next to the roadway, and help you avoid costly evictions to widen from 1-tile networks to 2-tile networks.

 

Here's some examples of the more elaborate options:

 

 

 

Thank you very much @Lucario Boricua.  Such good advice and answers!  This is really informative and is going to be very helpful to me!  Thanks again!    

[Jo1 5]

Good evening all,

i installed 4gb patch and Nam46 successfully. In the game i see the icons but cant bul a NAM thing. It shows only a red arrow. 

Kindly asking for advice.

Thx in advance,

Jo

[CaptCity 4,753]

3 hours ago, Jo1 said:

Good evening all,

i installed 4gb patch and Nam46 successfully. In the game i see the icons but cant bul a NAM thing. It shows only a red arrow. 

Kindly asking for advice.

Thx in advance,

Jo

Hi @Jo1,

Moved your questions here where it will probably get more views...

Just a quick check, had you had previous versions of NAM installed? If so, you'll need to be sure to remove all previous NAM files from your Plugins folders manually (including the old z___NAM folder). Also, you will want to unzip the NAM file before running any of the installer files. 

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

4 hours ago, Jo1 said:

Good evening all,

i installed 4gb patch and Nam46 successfully. In the game i see the icons but cant bul a NAM thing. It shows only a red arrow. 

Kindly asking for advice.

Thx in advance,

Jo

There are two hypotheses

1. Upgrading NAM from an old version
2. NAM installation not properly performed

I recommend

1. Download NAM 46 again
2. Delete the Network Addon Mod folder and Z_NAM
3. Extract the contents of the ZIP file
4. Run the JAR file NetworkAddonMod_Setup_Version46
5. Start the game

[Jo1 5]

Thanks for the quick answers, will install again

 

[Ganbare Shamiko 45]

Oh hi! Are these transitions simply not possible yet? The descriptions says this kind of transition is supported but I suppose it's merely a pipe dream for future NAM releases.

I'm loving the new stuff though! RHW-12S is stuff of dreams.

 

[CaptCity 4,753]

18 hours ago, Ganbare Shamiko said:

Oh hi! Are these transitions simply not possible yet? The descriptions says this kind of transition is supported but I suppose it's merely a pipe dream for future NAM releases.

I'm loving the new stuff though! RHW-12S is stuff of dreams.

 

Hi @Ganbare Shamiko

That issue was brought up here. There is some (but limited) support for DDRHW to RHW connections. The 'shift' piece has some support, but the 'symmetrical' piece doesn't. See @Lucario Boricua's response.

[Terring 6,473]

I have a very old version of NAM, released in 3rth of September, 2017. I think it's version 36 or 37. Please don't criticize too harsh

I want to update to the newest NAM and I want to be sure that I'm not going to do something so stupid that would mess with my game and cities. What exactly should I do? For the record, I have Windows 10 with 4GB memory and in 64-bit, and a digital copy of the game from GOG.com. How should I remove my current version? Should I use the uninst.exe or just manually removing all folders is enough? I have Java -just updated- and I'm sure (I think) I have the 4GB patch from the older version. Should I re-download or update the patch? Please, feel free to treat me like a little child that have never been played with NAM before

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

1 hour ago, Terring said:

I have a very old version of NAM, released in 3rth of September, 2017. I think it's version 36 or 37. Please don't criticize too harsh

I want to update to the newest NAM and I want to be sure that I'm not going to do something so stupid that would mess with my game and cities. What exactly should I do? For the record, I have Windows 10 with 4GB memory and in 64-bit, and a digital copy of the game from GOG.com. How should I remove my current version? Should I use the uninst.exe or just manually removing all folders is enough? I have Java -just updated- and I'm sure (I think) I have the 4GB patch from the older version. Should I re-download or update the patch? Please, feel free to treat me like a little child that have never been played with NAM before

This is the procedure to update NAM:

1. Delete Network Addon Mod folder and Z_NAM folder
2. Download NAM 47
3. Extract the contents of the zip file
4. Check if your computer's RAM is greater than or equal to 8GB
5. If the RAM is greater than or equal to 8GB you can apply the 4GB PATCH. If the RAM is less than 8GB then you can't run the 4GB Patch
6. Install JAVA
7. Start the NAM 47 .jar file
8. Perform the installation instructions remembering to select DN if you use Dark Nite and the controller that must match if you have applied the 4GB Patch or not

 

[rsc204 21,808]

33 minutes ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

• Delete Network Addon Mod folder and Z_NAM folder

I would personally just move both the Folders somewhere else, for two good reasons:

1. So you can restore them if things don’t work out.
   Of course we will endeavour to assist you if something doesn't go to plan.
2. As a reference of your previously installed options, when installing the new version.

33 minutes ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

If the RAM is greater than or equal to 8GB you can apply the 4GB PATCH. If the RAM is less than 8GB then you can't run the 4GB Patch

As for the 4GB patch, you can run it provided you have a 64-Bit system, it doesn’t really matter so much how much RAM you have, the LAA flag it sets is only recognised on 64-bit systems.

Of course, SC4 can only use whatever RAM is left after Windows and everything else on your computer has loaded, but this flag alters the way 32-bit apps access memory on 64-bit systems and is pretty much always of benefit to activate.

Certainly RAM will not be an issue really if you forgo RHW and use the Low RAM controller, although I'm convinced with a small enough footprint for Windows, the 4GB/RHW controller can be made to work with a 4GB system, certainly a system with 6GBs or more should typically have enough space to cover this, although due to the nature of RAM, 8GB is the more typical step up. However on systems with lower RAM, it's highly recommend not running other applications at the same time as SC4.

Assuming your computer supports it, 2nd hand RAM is a bargain for 8gb these days. If it works when you install it, chances are it’ll work forever. Nasty cheap stuff aside, almost all RAM is hugely reliable. That said unless you want to use RHW, purely from an SC4 perspective it wouldn't really be necessary.

[ellis896 20]

Since the new installation (NAM47) many vehicles turned the way the photo shows. I cannot recall installing any vehicle files in the NAM folder. When NAM46 was installed everything was fine. After deleting the folder in plugins folder and installing the new version I get that issue. Any possible idea? Thank you.

 

[Terring 6,473]

@Ulisse Wolf and @rsc204: I moved the previous version (NAM 36) to another folder and installed the new one. I selected the ultra version, I didn't installed the 4GB patch (and yes, I have it), and this time I let outside the RHW and the CANAM (mostly because I've never used them). No crashes, no problems, so far so good. The only thing that bothers me a little is that even if there is no other mod in the plugins folder, and even if I open a small and empty tile, the game takes a lot more time to load than before. But as Twilight Sparkle would said, never be overly critical of something free and generously given to you. I'll just deal with it and maybe invest in a SSD. By the way, if I change my mind and want to add CANAM or RHW, should I use the installer to do that?

In case you're wondering where have I been, here's the answer. I've been playing and having fun with NAM and the new stuff, and even build a city with the new pedmalls

I was also doing some experiments with the pedmalls. Expect interesting results and ideas very soon