DrawPaths cheat not working

[unseen4ce 36]

I use CTRL-X and then type 'drawpaths' push enter. Nothing happens. The cheat box remains with the text typed into it. Tried several times.

I then downloaded the extra cheats plugin. I right-click and select 'drawpaths', it works but I cannot turn it off. I try to select 'drawpaths' again but it does not turn it off. Anyone know how to use the drawpaths cheat?

[Terring 6,473]

Hello and welcome to Simtropolis

To hide the paths, you need to select the "hidepaths" cheat, not the "drawpaths" again.

[Raymond7cn 6,772]

Hi unseen4ce, Terring is absolutely right there, and also I remembered someone had told me before, Don't forget to use the hidepaths before you save you game. however I'd completely forgotten about the reason, but I guessed it maybe not harmful to you if you use this command to close the paths. I hope it helps.

Best Regards,

-- Raymond

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

Alright, I'll bite. What do these 2 cheats do, besides take up room on the list.

[Terring 6,473]

They help you checking your network systems and testing custom-made add-ons for any caps and wrong piece placements. A very useful tool for both mayors and modders.

[infamousjbe 592]

6 hours ago, Raymond7cn said:

Hi unseen4ce, Terring is absolutely right there, and also I remembered someone had told me before, Don't forget to use the hidepaths before you save you game. however I'd completely forgotten about the reason, but I guessed it maybe not harmful to you if you use this command to close the paths. I hope it helps.

Best Regards,

-- Raymond

I do believe if you save and exit to region with the "drawpath" left on that it will be visible in the regional view if my memory serves me correctly. Been some time since I've made that oops. I'm pretty diligent with turning it off right after what ever I needed it for is discovered. 

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

4 hours ago, Terring said:

They help you checking your network systems and testing custom-made add-ons for any caps and wrong piece placements. A very useful tool for both mayors and modders.

Let me ask another way. What am I looking for and where am I looking for it?

[unseen4ce 36]

You should see arrows show the direction of travel on your roads.

[SIM-ple Jack 17,444]

17 minutes ago, unseen4ce said:

You should see arrows show the direction of travel on your roads.

Oh that. I never use it. But thanks for an uncomplicated answer to my question. Need more people like you.

[Cyclone Boom 16,851]

4 hours ago, infamousjbe said:

I do believe if you save and exit to region with the "drawpath" left on that it will be visible in the regional view if my memory serves me correctly.

That's very true. I can confirm having DrawPaths active while saving a tile will cause the region snapshot image to be updated with the paths visible.

For example:

(Preview from Cori's currently under development B10 city tile.)

Paths aren't overly useful from the region, but have no gameplay implications when loading the tile itself as @Raymond7cn suspected, and it only affects the image. The fix is by entering the tile again where paths will be automatically toggled off, and then once saving it'll re-update the region view thumbnail to normal.

Back in the tile, here's a couple of previews also with Zones view enabled to show the paths more clearly:

 

And another:

Each of the colours correspond to a different type of transport. It's how the game's automata (vehicles and pedestrians) will travel, and it can be observed how they keep to these paths when they move around for the visual representation of traffic.

Sometimes they can be useful for identifying connection issues, especially when playing around with advanced network types.

[rsc204 21,805]

On 4/6/2020 at 8:58 AM, Raymond7cn said:

I remembered someone had told me before, Don't forget to use the hidepaths before you save you game. however I'd completely forgotten about the reason, but I guessed it maybe not harmful to you if you use this command to close the paths. I hope it helps.

On 4/6/2020 at 3:58 PM, infamousjbe said:

I do believe if you save and exit to region with the "drawpath" left on that it will be visible in the regional view if my memory serves me correctly. Been some time since I've made that oops. I'm pretty diligent with turning it off right after what ever I needed it for is discovered. 

On 4/6/2020 at 8:22 PM, Cyclone Boom said:

That's very true. I can confirm having DrawPaths active while saving a tile will cause the region snapshot image to be updated with the paths visible.

Paths aren't overly useful from the region, but have no gameplay implications when loading the tile itself as @Raymond7cn suspected, and it only affects the image. The fix is by entering the tile again where paths will be automatically toggled off, and then once saving it'll re-update the region view thumbnail to normal.

Indeed it just messes with your Region View and otherwise causes no harm. As a developer that works a lot with Transit modding, I've done this plenty of times myself.

On 4/6/2020 at 2:18 PM, SIM-ple Jack said:

Alright, I'll bite. What do these 2 cheats do, besides take up room on the list.

Although people think of them as "Cheats", because that's in the name of the DLL needed to enable them, they are in reality Developer Tools. When you are testing a game commercially, I can't tell you how useful a good set of such tools can be to speed up the process of creating specific "scenarios" to recreate problems and check if they are fixed. It's therefore super-handy for NAM developers and modders, since we can quickly verify if things work as they should.

If you build some of the more complex stuff with NAM, it can also be useful to check the paths all line up properly and are going where they should. It can be easy to rotate a piece 180° and not realise it, which could prevent all traffic from using it. However, usually using the Route Query tool is sufficient, if traffic is using a given setup, you can be pretty sure it works. Automata (the cars/trains etc we see), is not actually a reliable way of checking such things, since it's possible to see such, where no actual traffic exists.

[infamousjbe 592]

On 4/8/2020 at 7:25 AM, rsc204 said:

Automata (the cars/trains etc we see), is not actually a reliable way of checking such things, since it's possible to see such, where no actual traffic exists.

Certainly not a perfect science, but it is when a road doesn't seem to be showing use that makes me use it typically. Definitely the way I see if the FLUPS are working before I turn on the find paths. and for some reason on this PC, the paths are not visible on the underground tiles of the FLUPS pieces, so I kind of have to wait for automata to use it to be sure. Haven't gone so far as commandeering a vehicle to drive it myself. 

 

@Cyclone Boom  thank you for backing up my shaky memory.

[Naomi57 2,985]

On 07/04/2020 at 5:58 AM, infamousjbe said:

I do believe if you save and exit to region with the "drawpath" left on that it will be visible in the regional view if my memory serves me correctly. Been some time since I've made that oops. I'm pretty diligent with turning it off right after what ever I needed it for is discovered. 

If you ever want to decorate your Region View with Christmas lights, Ctrl+X drawpaths and then Save will do that very handily.   

16 minutes ago, infamousjbe said:

for some reason on this PC, the paths are not visible on the underground tiles of the FLUPS pieces

This tip is super useful for checking the paths on FLUPs pieces.

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/758813-show-us-your-SimCity-4-quick-tips-twitter-style/?tab=comments#comment-1724778