Sunken Symphony Help

[citycowboy 183]

Hi, I recently downloaded and installed NAM 34. I noticed there were a lot of differences from NAM 31. i checked the maxis override box.  Right now, I've built a sunken highway (ground level project symphony highway) and am trying to cross over it using the traditional road over highway puzzle pieces. I am having no such luck. I didn't find a way to do this in the RHW Users Manual PDF, the NAM31 User's Guide Manual, or the internet. Can I not cross over project symphony? Is there a way to transition from symphony to RHW? What happened to the cool interchanges from NAM 31? Also, my rail over road is the same as NAM 31 where it doesn't cross over one ways. Do I need to reload NAM 34 but set it up differently? Right now I made a trick by switching back and forth from ground highway to avenue but it looks bad because it's in my downtown area and theres lots of overpasses. What I want to do is build a sunken highway that cuts through the middle of my downtown just like before. Is there an advantage to using symphony?

[rsc204 21,866]

PS or the Maxis Highway Override is something we Brits would call Marmite. That means you'll either love it or hate it, there is rarely someone in between.

For starters, MHO is not maxis highway. It does not support the traditional ramp/intersection pieces you may be familiar with. Instead, it relies on a new set of pieces, including ramps that are designed to be used in combination with the RHW MIS or Modular Interchange System.

A number of additional pieces are available to quickly build intersections, for example a T-Intersection, Cloverleafs and Roundabout Interchanges. Beyond that, you are free to combine these pieces with whatever parts of MIS you can think of, to build some very flexible intersections.

The big advantage of MHO is that you can have this immense flexibility, which retains much of the simplicity of building without RHW. It's a great way to get a grasp on the fundamentals of RHW, without having to jump right in IMO. It also then happily interfaces with RHW, so can be used as an extension to it, think RHW-4C.

Of course the biggest drawback many face is that MHO doesn't use the original ramps and interchanges. To be fair though, some of those pieces individually took over a year to make, the models are that complex. Converting them to work with MHO is not as simple as changing textures, completely new models would be required. It's also not really part of the philosophy of MHO, which is to use MIS and other RHW networks to have far greater flexibility than the original highway system. I think this is the thing that you're either OK with, or that will turn you away from the mod.

I am totally unsure what problem you are having with the puzzle piece viaducts? Perhaps you could explain what you mean by "I didn't find a way to do this?". Because the pieces are still there, MHO is just a re-skin and there is no code that prevents anything from working like before. If you mean that the models for the highway don't change to MHO, then that is because this model has yet to be updated for that particular piece. It's not as simple as making one new piece and it updating everything. Hundreds if not thousands of individual models must be created anew with the new highway. The developers original did a great job, I've been trying for about a year to fill in the gaps. However, I have personally verified that the Puzzle-Piece overpasses work correctly with MHO recently.

Do you perhaps have the Japanese NAM Facelift Mod overpasses installed? Because those models will override the MHO, but they do not support MHO. I have as it happens recently finished making new models for these that are compatible. Bear in mind, any other mod that changes these models, would also need to be updated for MHO support.

I've recently extended support to the draggable overpasses too, at least those supported by the code. I hope to get a lot of updates into NAM 35 for other missing models, but to be clear, those unrealistic old interchanges are not ever coming to MHO.

[citycowboy 183]

It wasn't letting me plop the 'road over ground highway' or 'one-way road over highway' viaduct pieces yesterday. It kept changing to red, and kept 'bouncing' off the area where it needed to go. The game was refusing to play nice, and since it was my first day using it, I wondered if it was something anew. Today it is working fine with the viaducts. Same place, same city, same everything, so I don't know what happened. As far as the old prefabs went, they were pretty cool, because when you connected the X with the trumpet, you got I-90 to I-5 with the off-ramp on 5th Ave in Seattle at Dearborn Street, not a bad place to be. However if this is the new way of doing things, then this is the new way, and I'll create my own monster. Is there a tutorial on how to use this new highway system? Is there a way to connect it to RHW so I can widen the lanes? (4 lanes will never satisfy me, I grew up on the West Coast!) How do I use the on/off ramps? (I tried connecting a single lane one way starter into it, and it didn't work.) Also, can we still not cross an El over RD4 with a one way? Is there a way to turn an El from an El over RD4 onto an El over Road, ending the El on the RD4, and turning onto the road? Thanks in advance.

[rsc204 21,866]

MHO comes with it's own user manual (PS Users Manual.pdf), you should be able to find that in My Documents\SimCity 4\NAM Auxiliary Files\Documentation.

The ramps all connect to the MIS, one of the RHW networks. In addition it will interface with most MIS-Based pieces like FlexFly and Ramps. A number of special MHO "helper" pieces are included which make it simpler to create some interchanges, all are discussed in the readme.

You should be able to cleanly transition MHO to RHW-4, from there you can utilise any of the other RHW networks.

As for info on the El over X networks, I'd check this video Ganaram made, since it shows how to build everything.

OWR support does exist, but you need to use Road stubs for the first tile from the intersecting road, then make the intersection with Road. After that, dragging OWR or Street will override the intersection accordingly.

Also the Curve when the EL leaves RD-4 and switches to El over Road is possible, and requires a special starter. All this shown in the linked video.

[citycowboy 183]

thanks a lot, i appreciate it.