Simcity's Bermuda Triangle - Trains Disappearing on NAM Y-Stack

[Mayor Maddox 1]

Hello, all!  I have gotten back into Simcity 4 after almost 10 years' absence (Happy 13th!), and I have to admit, the mods this community has produced has certainly helped to continue stoking the fire that is my love for this game.  I've got a small problem though.  I admit, this is purely aesthetic, but it is just a tad immersion breaking.  On most-all the tracks I have laid out in my cities, the trains travel fine.  However, as soon as they hit a Y-Stack, no matter what side it approaches on it, the buggers disappear.  Is there any way to make that stop happening, or will it just be a thing that just...is?

[rsc204 21,866]

This piece has been removed for RRW, because it is considered to be wholly unrealistic. In that sense, any problems will not be resolved by the NAM team I suspect.

Usually when automata suddenly disappears, it is because the pathing isn't complete/correct. Hard to test, I don't have this piece anywhere in my various dev setups as it's all moved to RRW a long time ago. However, if you have Buggi's extra cheats.dll installed, open it with CTRL + X in-game and use the command "DrawPaths". You should now see coloured lines everywhere representing the paths for trains. If you could post a screenshot showing these I can see if there are any obvious problems there.

[Mayor Maddox 1]

7 minutes ago, rsc204 said:

This piece has been removed for RRW, because it is considered to be wholly unrealistic. In that sense, any problems will not be resolved by the NAM team I suspect.

Usually when automata suddenly disappears, it is because the pathing isn't complete/correct. Hard to test, I don't have this piece anywhere in my various dev setups as it's all moved to RRW a long time ago. However, if you have Buggi's extra cheats.dll installed, open it with CTRL + X in-game and use the command "DrawPaths". You should now see coloured lines everywhere representing the paths for trains. If you could post a screenshot showing these I can see if there are any obvious problems there.

Certainly.  I should be able to do that later tonight.

[Mayor Maddox 1]

11 hours ago, rsc204 said:

This piece has been removed for RRW, because it is considered to be wholly unrealistic. In that sense, any problems will not be resolved by the NAM team I suspect.

Usually when automata suddenly disappears, it is because the pathing isn't complete/correct. Hard to test, I don't have this piece anywhere in my various dev setups as it's all moved to RRW a long time ago. However, if you have Buggi's extra cheats.dll installed, open it with CTRL + X in-game and use the command "DrawPaths". You should now see coloured lines everywhere representing the paths for trains. If you could post a screenshot showing these I can see if there are any obvious problems there.

Sorry for the double-post, but a quick question.  Do you want a screenshot of the entire network, or just the area leading to the Y-Stack?

[rsc204 21,866]

Just a picture showing the paths as it enters and a sufficient section of the stack (assuming paths are visible) to see it clearly. Ideally make this in Zoom 6 view, it shouldn't be necessary to see more than a few tiles beyond where the automata disappears.

[Mayor Maddox 1]

Took me a little time to get the cheat thingy to work (one of the few mods I've encountered that has to be directly in the Plugins directory lol), but here's the shot.  Hope it helps.

 

Edit: It's not terribly sharp...  Should I try another shot at a higher resolution?

[rsc204 21,866]

No it's fine, thanks, I can make out the paths well enough. They all appear to be present and connected, so perhaps the pathing is not the problem. If I take my mind back far enough I seem to recall similar issues with this piece, but I could be mistaken, it's been a while. I put it down to being on a LHD installation, which often has such side effects.

I'll see if I can dig out a region that still uses Maxis rail, I've probably got one archived somewhere. I didn't want to go to the hassle if it was something obvious, but that's not the case so far as I can see.

A couple other things to briefly check before I do though:

• Do you have any rail automata installed, or do you see the Blue/White default trains?
• Is you game fully patched to 1.638.0.1?
  CD versions need this applied manually - Digital versions are usually pre-patched.
• What version of NAM are you using currently?

[Compdude787 916]

He should be using the 1.1.638 version of the game if he has NAM installed. It requires you to have that version of the game installed in order for the NAM to install.

[Mayor Maddox 1]

At current, I'm patched to version 1.1.640.  As far as NAM, I have version 34 installed and am using the default automata.

 

A quick adjustment to my original complaint - there appears to be at least one approach where the automata stays visible and runs the rails smoothly (this is the approach from the north).  However, the automata always stops and disappears on the western approach.  What's more, it appears to not simply be disappearing, but de-railing.  I'll try to capture a screenshot of that exact moment.

[APSMS 1,893]

How much traffic is on the rail line, and can you run UDI through the stack piece?

[rsc204 21,866]

The problem is path jumping it seems. Even though the paths are correct, sometimes the automata jumps from one rail to another. When it does, the automata disappears. UDI is fine in all directions. This is an inherent problem that can occur in certain situations, my guess is if it wasn't fixed before now, perhaps it's related to the issue (game bug) that causes similar effects in TE lots placed next to networks. I wouldn't expect anyone to look at it either, since that piece is no longer part of RRW, the NAM's focus for rail projects for the future.

If it had been a simple fix, I'd gladly have updated a path file or two, but as it stands, I think you'll have to live with it. Note it's not any particular entrance that's faulty, the automata only disappears when the trains jump tracks. Watch closely and you'll see what I mean.