NAM General Support

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

17 hours ago, Tarkus said:

The game seems to look at the zone and wealth types fronting all the base orthogonal Avenue tiles on a connected stretch

What delimits a "stretch"? Do intersections? Do curves? Or do only transitions such as the paired OWRs suggested by @matias93?

[matias93 7,535]

In my experience, only transitions, transit-enabled lots and puzzle pieces can delimitate stretches of T21 prop theming. My recommendation is precisely to exploit that without taking a hit in terms of capacity, as OWRx2 = AVE4

[Wiimeiser 444]

23 hours ago, Tarkus said:

For whatever reason,

My hypothesis is it's supposed to be so both sides of the avenue are developed if you develop one side, but it might be a bug in the engine they couldn't fix. All we can do is ask someone...

[AlexandrosB13 184]

Hey guys, thanks for all the answers. I did some testings, and all i can say without writing an essay is that is behaves weird xD. Even with waaay more residential areas than industrial, the industrial still "win" and force their sidewalk in the entire (yep) city. I had to leave a very small industrial area for the sidewalk to change finally.

Anyways, my question is if this is normal and happens to everyone because i don't remember seeing this anywhere. If it is, i will just remove the turning lanes, don't really like them anyways (do they reduce traffic or are they just eye candy?)

[velrox 39]

when I zoom in on AVE4 x TLA3 intersection from level 4 to level 5, the crossings disappear.

[AlexandrosB13 184]

Hi, another quick question. I reinstalled NAM to remove some stuff that i didn't use and took a lot of space, and when i opened my game again half the buildings don't show.. I don't understand how the NAM can affect that.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

What else did you delete (or reinstall) while trying to reduce your plugins? If you're lucky, you can restore it from a trash can.

[Tarkus 6,932]

On 5/19/2018 at 7:58 AM, velrox said:

when I zoom in on AVE4 x TLA3 intersection from level 4 to level 5, the crossings disappear.

None of the FTLs are not capable of intersecting the base Avenue network, unless the Avenue also has FTLs, so that really just looks like your average sort of failure state from attempting to make that non-supported setup.  There are no plans for such a setup to be added, since it doesn't make much sense from a real-world traffic engineering standpoint (though the planned turn restriction FTLs will allow for something that looks like it with the "no left turn" variant--those are still a long way out, however).

Zooming also generally does not affect transit network RULs--if you clicked somewhere in the vicinity and managed to touch a transit network somewhere in the vicinity in the process, that's a more likely explanation for something changing (which it can do quite rapidly if you're in a failure state situation).

 

On 5/21/2018 at 10:42 AM, AlexandrosB13 said:

Hi, another quick question. I reinstalled NAM to remove some stuff that i didn't use and took a lot of space, and when i opened my game again half the buildings don't show.. I don't understand how the NAM can affect that.

 

The NAM itself does not touch non-transit-related buildings in any way, shape, or form.  As @jeffryfisher noted, check to make sure you didn't remove anything else in the process. 

If your NAM re-install involved running the NAM Uninstaller at any point, the Uninstaller basically wipes out the directory it occupied, so if you moved it, or had other things in the directory with it that weren't NAM related, they're gone (which is part of the reason we generally discourage using the Uninstaller--especially as it's possible in re-installation to just run the Installer right over top of things without issue).  The NAM's documentation does include a disclaimer about this, in the 2-installation.html file:

Uninstalling the NAM

To uninstall the files, simply bulldoze every NAM item from this download in your cities and delete the files from the Plugins folder afterwards, which will be contained in Plugins\Network Addon Mod and Plugins\z___NAM by default. Alternatively, one can use the included Uninstaller, uninst.exe, located in Plugins\Network Addon Mod by default, but this is actually not recommended.

Do NOT, under any circumstances, move the uninstaller (uninst.exe) and attempt to run it from another directory other than the default NAM installation directory. It uses a recursive algorithm, which may result in unintended consequences (i.e. deletion of non-NAM files) if run in a different location.

The only other possibilities I can think of are graphics settings, or if there's some sort of Immortal Lot or other building/lot file with similarly problematic modding sitting in your Plugins as well.

-Tarkus

[AlexandrosB13 184]

I'm not using any custom buildings, only vanilla. I didnt move any folders, simply delete the NAM folder and reinstall to remove the RHW and some stuff i don't use and take a lot of space. Open the game again and half the buildings are gone. I tried placing the NAM files from the previous installation but didn't help. Atleast i had made a backup of the region few days ago.. 

[velrox 39]

On 5/22/2018 at 9:10 PM, Tarkus said:

On 5/19/2018 at 10:58 AM, velrox said:

when I zoom in on AVE4 x TLA3 intersection from level 4 to level 5, the crossings disappear.

None of the FTLs are not capable of intersecting the base Avenue network, unless the Avenue also has FTLs, so that really just looks like your average sort of failure state from attempting to make that non-supported setup.  There are no plans for such a setup to be added, since it doesn't make much sense from a real-world traffic engineering standpoint (though the planned turn restriction FTLs will allow for something that looks like it with the "no left turn" variant--those are still a long way out, however).

Zooming also generally does not affect transit network RULs--if you clicked somewhere in the vicinity and managed to touch a transit network somewhere in the vicinity in the process, that's a more likely explanation for something changing (which it can do quite rapidly if you're in a failure state situation).

I was talking about the textures on the intersection.

[spiritualfire 138]

Hi all, perhaps this was answered earlier but how do you correct duplicate icons in the transportation menu? I get the TuLeps twice, the FAR twice, pretty much anything that was introduced new to NAM since v32, if I remember correctly, becomes a duplicate icon. I can't figure it out.... I would suppose that just deleting (not uninstalling) and then reinstalling NAM 36 is what I would have to do, and naturally I would check the folder to be certain there are no other files that happened to fall in there, as noted above. But I want to be sure that's even the right course? I have a store bought copy of Deluxe on Win7.

[Tarkus 6,932]

On 5/23/2018 at 3:42 AM, AlexandrosB13 said:

I'm not using any custom buildings, only vanilla. I didnt move any folders, simply delete the NAM folder and reinstall to remove the RHW and some stuff i don't use and take a lot of space. Open the game again and half the buildings are gone. I tried placing the NAM files from the previous installation but didn't help. Atleast i had made a backup of the region few days ago.. 

Those did indeed look like Maxis buildings, and those aren't even in the Plugins folder, so that's truly bizarre, and aside from some sort of inexplicable change with your graphical settings (switching to Low and back to High can sometimes fix inexplicable things), I'm at a loss as to an explanation.

On 5/24/2018 at 5:02 PM, velrox said:

I was talking about the textures on the intersection.

Just checked it further . . . seems that somehow, the closest zoom file is from original version of the TLA-3 x Avenue intersection textures (which didn't have the crosswalk), whereas the farther zooms are the new texture.  That's rather strange.  The attached file below, if placed in the Plugins\z___NAM folder, should fix it.

7 hours ago, spiritualfire said:

Hi all, perhaps this was answered earlier but how do you correct duplicate icons in the transportation menu? I get the TuLeps twice, the FAR twice, pretty much anything that was introduced new to NAM since v32, if I remember correctly, becomes a duplicate icon. I can't figure it out.... I would suppose that just deleting (not uninstalling) and then reinstalling NAM 36 is what I would have to do, and naturally I would check the folder to be certain there are no other files that happened to fall in there, as noted above. But I want to be sure that's even the right course? I have a store bought copy of Deluxe on Win7.

Duplicate icons means there's duplicate icon exemplars somewhere in your Plugins folder.  Usually, this is a result of bits of an old installation somehow clinging to life.  The TuLEP and FAR puzzle pieces (and really, any conventional puzzle pieces--very few have been added since NAM 32, and none since NAM 34) are actually quite a bit older than NAM 32--TuLEPs originated in NAM 29 (and were last updated in NAM 30), and the old puzzle piece FAR dates back to NAM 24.  In any case, you're going to have to find the redundant files and remove them, in order to get rid of the extra icons.  If you're lucky, there's simply an extra copy of the files in their original form somewhere.

If you've ever used the SC4DatPacker utility (or JDatPacker), it's possible there's a NetworkAddonMod.dat file sitting in Plugins\Plugins_Compressed, which would definitely cause the issue you're encountering.  If not, the next easiest potential fix would be to do a search for the appropriate file--i.e. NetworkAddonMod_TurningLanes_Extension_Plugin.dat--in your Plugins folder.  If more than one turns up, you have your culprit.  (The proper spot for the file is Plugins\Network Addon Mod\Turning Lanes).

If not, then you're going to need to actually look inside the contents of the .dat files and find the duplicate Icon Exemplars. 

The way I typically use for such tasks involves ilive's Reader.  While there are newer versions around, old-timers like myself use the old 0.9.3 release (still up on the STEX) for at least some purposes.  Once it loads up, go to the Tools menu, and select "Plugins Analyzer".  Go down the (alphabetically-sorted) list and find the appropriate file for each of the icons that's duplicated.  That does require some knowledge of the NAM's file architecture (which I can help you with here).  Note that the Plugins Analyzer can take some time to load, as it is effectively scanning your entire Plugins folder before working its magic.

In the case of the TuLEPs, the file you'd want to look for on the list is called "NetworkAddonMod_TurningLanes_Extension_Plugin.dat".  The window on 0.9.3 doesn't really expand out the file names too well (don't know if the 1.x releases fixed it), so you may need to click on multiple "NetworkAddonMod_TurningLanes . . ." entries to find it.  Usually, in a typical full NAM installation, it'll be the third one (first one if you don't have the old Avenue Turn Lanes plugin installed), and you'll know for sure if the top listing in the "Instance" column of the table is "0x5b000000".  The "Display only common files" checkbox will limit it to files with duplicate Type/Group/Instance (TGI) entries. 

You will for sure see a "DIR" file listed that has a ton of duplicates--ignore it.  The one you're going to want to look for is an Exemplar file that has an Instance of "0x6a4704e0", which is the Instance ID (IID) for the TuLEP Icon Exemplar (all but a handful of network-related Icon Exemplars will have an IID that begins with "0x6a47").  If it shows up in a shade of blue, there is indeed a duplicate, and two columns to the right of the Instance column, you'll see a very wide column with a file path listed.  This file path will give you the exact location of the file that contains the duplicate instance, thereby allowing you to find and remove it.

Hope that helps!

-Tarkus

z_TLA-3xAvenue_TextureFix_05262018.zip

[bonkey 2]

How do i get el rail to transition to ground rail? theres a gap i cant close

[shanghai kid 6]

Looking at your pic, the el-rail on the left is Elevated Rail, and the elevated to ground rail on the right is "heavy" Rail or RRW(Real Rail Way).

The Elevated Rail(left part) connects to a elevated --> ground piece to connect GLR or ground light rail(like subway but above ground). The Rail(right part) connects with Elevated "Heavy" Rail/RRW.

Try and remove/delete the elevated part on the left, the in the pic with your menu open, click on the second menu button(under the rail lines button) and place a elevated heavy rail piece, then click on the rail line button(the first button in above pic) and try and drag from the elevated piece on to/over like 1/2 way, the elevated--> ground piece and see if it connects now. The elevated heavy rail railtracks should look simular to the one one the ground on the right.

If i remember correctly there might be a elevated --> ground rail starter piece under button 3(the one with a little white arrow on). Just scroll through the different starters with the "tab" button on your keyboard, if it's there place it in game and use rail line button piece and drag out both ground and elevated lines. Haven't played in a long time so i'm not 100% sure.

 

This pic shows the difference between EL-Rail (top, and right) and EL-RRW/Heavy Rail(middle, and on ground bottom).

 

[bonkey 2]

Nothing drags into either heavy rail pieces (the elevated part) and the heavy rail pieces wont allow traffic from a station onto them...i dont seem to have draggable heavy rail (although the regular rail looks like it and connects to the ground part of the starter piece). The good thing is that the draggable glr tram menu has the piece i need, but i have to use el rail to drag the ground piece out.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

"Heavy Rail" == regular rail -- It's a retronym induced by light-rail.

"El Rail" = elevated light-rail. If you want regular / heavy rail to get off the ground, then you need the ERRW part (formerly "viaduct rail") of NAM.

There's also some underground rail that is not subway.

[Tarkus 6,932]

It looks like you're using Maxis-spec Rail rather than the RealRailway (RRW) system, which contains the Elevated RRW (ERRW) draggable viaducts.  The Maxis-spec Rail does have viaducts as well, but they're all static puzzle pieces, and not draggable.  They also don't support some newer features.

-Tarkus

[bonkey 2]

Thanks for the help you guys...for some reason, i dont seem to have rrw even though i have NAM 36...any idea how to get it to install?

[Tarkus 6,932]

The RRW isn't a default option at present, so it would be necessary to select it specifically via Custom Installation.

-Tarkus

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

12 hours ago, bonkey said:

i dont seem to have rrw even though i have NAM 36...any idea how to get it to install?

Re-install over the top of your existing NAM. Select the custom install, and then choose RRW. You'll probably also see some other things you'll decide to add as well (when you see unchecked features you don't understand, give them a look in the online NAM doc). Also, if you Google for non-default NAM options, you'll find other similar posts (many buried deep within this thread), and they're not all for RRW.

[velrox 39]

Why is RHW-6S is placed on 2-tile CPS despite being a 1-tile network?

[Tarkus 6,932]

9 hours ago, velrox said:

Why is RHW-6S is placed on 2-tile CPS despite being a 1-tile network?

The RHW-6S actually was a dual-tile (per direction/carriageway) network when it was first introduced in 2008.  The conversion to an overhanging, model-based single-tile (per direction/carriageway) implementation for the base RHW-6S draggable network didn't happen until 2010, which was around the same time that the CPs were being developed.  Per the comments in the RUL0 entries, it looks like the 6S CPs remained dual-tile until July 2012, which would have been during the latter stages of NAM 31 development. 

My guess is that the decision to split the CPs into multiple buttons based on tile-width (and the transitions button) occurred before the 6S CPs were converted, and as CP development more or less stopped after that point, their placement wasn't changed after the fact.

Changing the placement isn't too hard, though it will require re-IIDing the menu button for the dual-tile CPs, as the current IID is dependent on the 6S CPs being at the beginning of that TAB Loop.

-Tarkus

[monkeywater 910]

Is there an underground rail under GHSR puzzle piece anywhere?  I can't find one and am not sure if this is a competency-related issue or it really is not there.

[Tarkus 6,932]

1 hour ago, monkeywater said:

Is there an underground rail under GHSR puzzle piece anywhere?  I can't find one and am not sure if this is a competency-related issue or it really is not there.

The answer is yes, there are a series of four (two TAB Loop entries, which each house two versions via Home/End rotation) located at the end of the GHSR button's TAB Loop.  Hitting "Shift-TAB" will take you right to them.  FLUPs support is also under there.

-Tarkus

[adsii1970 85]

I am having a problem using the Avenue Overpass - highway with exchange ramps pieces. I can get half of it to elevate but not the other half.  Any suggestions?

[matias93 7,535]

Can you add some images? I'm struggling to visualise your problem :/

[adsii1970 85]

9 minutes ago, matias93 said:

Can you add some images? I'm struggling to visualise your problem :/

Ok, when I get home later tonight, I will!

[adsii1970 85]

Ok, I have no idea why sometimes when I type a post, the dialogue box disappears. It seems to be ok now...

@matias93: Here are some images... I remember when this intersection first came out there was some strange way to make it work. But for some reason, I just do not remember it.

Any advice or instructions would be greatly appreciated!

[Tarkus 6,932]

That looks like FlexSPUI.  That particular item has been in a weird state of limbo since the massive under-the-hood RHW overhaul ("Project 57") that started 5 years ago with NAM 31.  While there have been some efforts to at attempt to make it play nice with the newer specs, it is, at its heart, still a pre-Project 57 item, and is prone to instability as such.  Clicking around with the RHW tool may help snap the overrides into place (as it looks like it has partially in the upper left of your last image), but it's still going to be very finicky.

There are plans for a "FlexSPUI-V2", which will add some new configurations to the mix (plus support for L1 RHW networks), but it's been on the backburner for awhile, in part due to the need for Elevated FLEX Turn Lanes to fully support it properly.  I have been meaning to dust it off and see what kind of shape it's in . . . the plan is to have it in place by NAM 38 (mainly as there's already a massive logjam of content potentially headed for NAM 37--some of which may end up being pushed out), but I may see if there's a way to get enough of it done to at least replace the old NAM 30-era FlexSPUI-V1 once and for all.

-Tarkus

[velrox 39]

There is a texture issue in FlexRamp A1 INSIDE RHW-4.

Also tested with the draggable version and same issue.