NAM General Support

[Canubeetquad 8]

If I remove the previous NAM and install the latest edition will I still be able to play my current regions/cities?

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

2 minutes ago, Canubeetquad said:

If I remove the previous NAM and install the latest edition will I still be able to play my current regions/cities?

Yes

[simmering 2,638]

Hi Guys,

Is there a way to turn off the white info bubbles that hover over a piece before you place it?

[Flann 1,709]

6 hours ago, simmering said:

Hi Guys,

Is there a way to turn off the white info bubbles that hover over a piece before you place it?

I don't think there is a way to disable tool-tips.

[Rott 2,351]

I had some ideas for rail textures for the NAM, unsure if they exist already or not, two of which were decorative rail spur pieces for industrial areas, and a 4 wide avenue style rail piece.

Also is there a way to alter the textures for rail like there are streets?

[Paul 999 1]

I had a cool idea for a intersection, but I can't figure it out. Any tips to get this configuration working?

The left highway is a toll road. The right one is the traffic jam prone, but toll-free highway. These highways cross the underlying road network.

After a long time I picked up SC4 again, great to see that the community is still developing!!

[rsc204 21,808]

Your basic problem is a lack of support for L1 crossings under L2 networks. I'm sorry to say but I can't really think of a work-around that doesn't involve a lot of changes.

[Terring 6,473]

I've been using the @Ennedi's slope mod since 2009, and most specifically the mountain version (ENN_SlopeMod_Mount620). I discovered however that it's not fully compatible with the recent version of NAM. It still works for most of the networks such as the road and the monorail, but it doesn't work for the heavy railroadanymore.

Without NAM, everything is fine.

But with NAM (and nothing else, mind you), this happens

Notice that the road, the monorail and highway are working just fine.

Even adding a z_ to Ennedi's mod to ensure that the game will load it after NAM doesn't work.

Why it happens? Does it mean I need to look for a new slope mod? If yes, what would you suggest me?

[rsc204 21,808]

6 hours ago, Terring said:

Even adding a z_ to Ennedi's mod to ensure that the game will load it after NAM doesn't work.

Adding a z_ prefix to a file will only make it load last in that folder. If you want something to load after NAM you need that file to also be in a folder that loads after NAM.

I bring this up because there is a RRW slope mod now included in NAM and that must be overriding the settings for rail in your previous slope mod. 

[Terring 6,473]

@rsc204 It works! Thank you very much

[elavery 1,013]

After being away from the game for the last four years I decided to install NAM 48 but couldn't get it to work. I decided to simply remove the newly installed NAM and put whatever version of NAM I had back in the Plugins folder. Unfortunately I seem to have done something as now when I load a city many of my streets and roads are missing and some RHW networks have green and blue squares over them. I was hoping I could just go back to how things were but I seem to now have a problem.

Update: I fixed the problem, for whatever reason a whole bunch of files went missing from my previous NAM folder while I was switching things back and forth - not sure how that happened! I wouldn't mind figuring out why NAM 48 causes my game to CTD when opening a city, I have read everything but am probably misunderstanding something.

[CaptCity 4,753]

1 hour ago, elavery said:

I wouldn't mind figuring out why NAM 48 causes my game to CTD when opening a city, I have read everything but am probably misunderstanding something.

Well, if nothing else changed and depending on the last time you played using NAM, you may need to be sure to apply the 4gb patch that came with the NAM48 files The directions are in the download. An immediate crash upon opening a city is a symptom of not having that applied.

Be sure to unzip the files before running the patch file. And you may want to move the SC4 exe file out of the Program Files SC4 directory before patching (maybe to the desktop). Some have had issues with permissions when applying the patch. Afterwards, you can put the exe file back.

 

[elavery 1,013]

3 hours ago, CaptCity said:

Well, if nothing else changed and depending on the last time you played using NAM, you may need to be sure to apply the 4gb patch that came with the NAM48 files The directions are in the download. An immediate crash upon opening a city is a symptom of not having that applied.

Be sure to unzip the files before running the patch file. And you may want to move the SC4 exe file out of the Program Files SC4 directory before patching (maybe to the desktop). Some have had issues with permissions when applying the patch. Afterwards, you can put the exe file back.

 

Which one of these is the .exe file? 

[Tyberius06 12,189]

23 minutes ago, elavery said:

Which one of these is the .exe file? 

SimCity 4 / Application (type) 7,348 KB (size) - Second file from the bottom

[Nite Owl 79]

1 hour ago, elavery said:

Which one of these is the .exe file?

Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View Tab -> Look for Hide extensions for known file types and remove the check mark to the left of it -> left click apply and OK as needed to exit the Folder Options. This is on an ancient Windows 7 Machine so the options for Windows 10 and 11 may differ slightly but should be similar.

What this does is allows you to see the .exe and all of the other extensions at the end of the files in your folders. There are many other very useful settings in that Folder Options listing but it is best if you learn about them through your own means. Have no fear, there is nothing that you can royally screw up in the Folder Options that cannot be undone with either the check mark system or by left clicking on the Restore Defaults button.

[elavery 1,013]

Thank you both for your help, I have the new NAM working now. One query, I am recreating Los Angeles and am thinking I need the heaviest traffic possible, which setting should I select during NAM installation to recreate SoCal traffic?

[Nite Owl 79]

49 minutes ago, elavery said:

I need the heaviest traffic possible...

By "heaviest" are you referring to the greatest number of visible Automata or the greatest maximum capacity of your various types of roadways? These are two totally different options in the NAM installer. You could decide to go with the maximum on both options to achieve your desired goal but the following links will give you a good idea of the various combinations of possibilities within both categories.

For the visible Automata look HERE.

For the maximum capacity of your various types of roadways look HERE.

[elavery 1,013]

Thanks! After reading the visible automata info am i correct in thinking I want the Radical option? I am wanting the most automata visible as possible, just like SoCal has!

[Lazarou Monkey Terror 1,819]

Is this just me or have I missed a NAM update? 

Missing Diagonal Monorail/Rail cross pieces

 

[rsc204 21,808]

On 20/07/2024 at 9:12 PM, elavery said:

Thanks! After reading the visible automata info am i correct in thinking I want the Radical option? I am wanting the most automata visible as possible, just like SoCal has!

Well you’ll actually see more automata with a lower capacity as it scales up depending on utilisation of said roads. So you’d need a lot more traffic running a higher capacity simulator to get the same number of vehicles.

As a rule, everyone should start off with a lower option for capacity. Only if your cities are big enough to require it, go for the next highest setting.

9 minutes ago, Lazarou Monkey Terror said:

Is this just me or have I missed a NAM update? 

Missing Diagonal Monorail/Rail cross pieces

This was briefly added to NAM, but currently unsupported again. The reason is that the transition to diagonal takes two tiles, so the Monorail needs to be a tile away from the parallel RRW to transition. I’m going to look at restoring the additional code that made it possible to transition without the gap. 

[1some 0]

Hi sorry total noob here, I dl the NAM , clear version of steam SC4, everything seems to be working but most of my sims using cars and later on some res buildings get abandoned due to long commute time, even I Invested greatly and cleverly (followed a lots of good advices that I found on net) but all of them guys use like old versions of NAM where they could play with settings of the traffic which I cant do in this version so can you help me as How do I get them Simeons to use them busses and trains and not to use the cars most of the time? Cheers and muchas gracias 

[matias93 7,535]

On 27-07-2024 at 7:54 AM, 1some said:

Hi sorry total noob here, I dl the NAM , clear version of steam SC4, everything seems to be working but most of my sims using cars and later on some res buildings get abandoned due to long commute time, even I Invested greatly and cleverly (followed a lots of good advices that I found on net) but all of them guys use like old versions of NAM where they could play with settings of the traffic which I cant do in this version so can you help me as How do I get them Simeons to use them busses and trains and not to use the cars most of the time? Cheers and muchas gracias 

Hi!

The current version of the NAM Traffic Simulator is designed to be extremely sensible to any and all in-game changes factors to determine the usage of transportation modes, so as to make the old TSCT tool unnecessary.

The best way to get more of your Sims to use buses and trains is to build more bus stops, train stations, and to connect them in a way that makes them more efficient than keep using cars.

You can still modify the traffic simulator DAT file using iLives Reader, at your own risk, to force the Sims' preferences like with the TSCT, but keep in mind that the new traffic simulator was extensively tested, and such changes will almost surely reduce the efficiency of the traffic and even the game performance.

[kaimai 1,042]

Actually playing the game again for once and finding that I apparently can't have a L2 avenue cross a L1 railway. Is there a puzzle piece or something I'm missing, or is there currently no solution for this interchange other than raising the terrain 7.5m and using onslope transitions?

edit: there also seems to be no L1 -> L2 onslope, just the ramp transition, which leaves an uneven road surface unless you can somehow raise tiles 3.75m...

[Propfam 2,288]

Everything has changed since you left, especially in NAM 45-48. Puzzle pieces are deprecated now, tho you can still install it optionally with the installer (more specifically, the option name is Legacy Road Viaduct Puzzle Piece Menu Button Access). You can still cross L1 railway with L2 avenue using the new draggable elevated road viaduct pieces. The button is in the road network, with the apt name. There's an L1 and L2 starter piece, and afaik yes, even onslope, tho it's a bit hard. Fortunately, there are already elevated pieces again at L1 and L2. You can use those and transition using the onslope transition (OST), with either the flex and puzzle pieces, if you wish. More info is at https://www.sc4nam.com/docs/feature-guides/road-viaducts/.

[kaimai 1,042]

I have NAM 48 but I'm not seeing it. Dragging a L2 road/avenue over L1 rail yields this

and trying to create a L2->L1 onslope with draggable road viaducts yields this

which is why I asked about legacy puzzle pieces, or if there's some other option I'm not seeing.

 

It also does work the other way round, obviously (L2 rail over L1 avenue)

[rsc204 21,808]

L1 - L2 on-slope pieces never existed until recently with RHW. But not currently supported for Ave.

Likewise L2 Rail over L1 Ave probably hasn’t been added either. Although L1 or L2 RRW can go over Ave viaducts just fine.

[matias93 7,535]

7 hours ago, rsc204 said:

L1 - L2 on-slope pieces never existed until recently with RHW. But not currently supported for Ave.

So an option would be to transition to a small segment of RHW for that overpass...

[kaimai 1,042]

Trying to cross a L1 railway with a L2 RHW yields the following:

I will later test this sort of thing in a fresh region with no plugins other than NAM & its dependencies, because my game CTD'd while experimenting with laying other networks over a L1 railway (it reverts to L0 under a monorail, for example), as sometimes happens when I try to use RHWs.

[memo 1,444]

5 minutes ago, kaimai said:

my game CTD'd while experimenting with laying other networks over a L1 railway

Please send the crash report .txt file and exception minidump. I'd like to check if it's related to a similar problem I've observed recently.

[kaimai 1,042]

58 minutes ago, memo said:

Please send the crash report .txt file and exception minidump. I'd like to check if it's related to a similar problem I've observed recently.

Done.

After a bit of testing, it looks like the available L2 x L1 intersections are:

• Any L2 network, other than L2 road, over L1 road
• Any L2 network, other than L2 rail, over L1 RHW

No viaduct can cross L1 rail, not even L2 rail. I assume you'd also have to turn a L1 road into a RHW to cross under a L2 road.

One thing I'm curious about is whether there are transit-enabled (or purely cosmetic) lots that cover any of the unavailable use cases, along the lines of the various underbridge lots. Like a L2xL1 rail filler piece or something.