NAM on Windows XP - Just to cross-check

[TheMurderousCricket 5,097]

Yesterday, I installed the NAM's traffic simulator element and would just like to hear one of the NAM expert's opinion if what I did was correct.

First of all, my current Windows XP setup is unable to run Java environment. It just says that my "CPU is incompatible" or some other nonsense along these lines.  This is why I had to perform a manual install. Again, the only thing I wanted to get was the improved traffic simulator (read: fastest not shortest). In order to make it, I did the following:

1. I copy-pasted the mandatory core .dats into the "Plugins" folder.
2. Then, I copy-pasted the traffic simulator .dats. into the "Plugins" folder.
3. Then, I browsed the simulator presets, copy-pasted .dats located in the "Low" folder and, again, dropped them into the "Plugins" folder.

That is all. When I launched the game, I was happy to find out that the simulator has indeed taken effect - most of my streets have low traffic congestion. Also, the fastest routes are indeed the ones most used - a chain of farms located in the vicinity of a rail cargo station has finally started to send their goods via rail, instead of a winding, rural road located nearby.

Is it reasonable to call it a successful installation? 

The only two issues that I can see;

1. Sometimes, I can't connect diagonal road pieces to horizontal/vertical road pieces. However, I'm not sure if this has already been the case previously or not. It seems it has something to do with other objects being right next to the road.
2. In the highway menu, there is a NAM icon telling me that some element is outdated... Which I don't really mind, given that simulator is the only part I use.

[Tarkus 6,933]

It sounds like, for the most part, you did manage a successful installation.  A couple of notes on your issues:

1) This is likely due to the impact of NetworkAddonMod_IndividualNetworkRULs.dat.  The default feature set for a standard install of the mod includes the Multi-Radius Curves, Fractional Angles, and Roundabouts on the Road network, and the drag pattern for the R1 Multi-Radius Curve is identical to the "rough" orthogonal-to-diagonal curve.  The Individual Network RULs (INRULs) file also switches all the IIDs of the Rail network over to those used by the RealRailway (RRW)--I suspect you might encounter some issues if you were to try to build a new Rail line, or to rebuild any section of an existing one.

2) That's the Controller Check.  Since you don't have a NAM Controller installed in any form, its default is to show that the Controller is "outdated" (it was originally intended to alert someone if their Controller was from NAM 25 or earlier), so you're okay there.  There are some fixes of base content that are in the NAM Controller--though trying to extract those out from the base Controller file (which is >280MB and is the main reason why we tell people to install the 4GB Patch) without being able to use the Java-based Controller Compiler is something that only a NAM developer could reliably pull off.

I think your particular case is rather instructive for our proposed idea of creating a "NAM Lite" package.  We're actually somewhat surprised just how many people are still trying to run the game with Windows XP or some other 32-bit flavor of Windows, so knowing what that userbase can/can't run and wants to see in a minimal install is very useful.

-Tarkus

[TheMurderousCricket 5,097]

Thank you @Tarkus. I have managed to solve both issues, simply by... removing NAM core files...

This was my #1 suspect anyway. I have removed them completely, because I suspected the game might recognize this as an incomplete install. Something like "what the heck am I supposed to do with this?!".

Anyway, road construction went back to normal and the warning icon disappeared. The traffic simulator, however, still works like expected. Apparently, one does not need any core files to actually run the traffic simulator on its own, which is great news.

By the way, I am glad I could contribute to your "food for thought". If I may add another stone to the mosaic, here's a list (in the order of importance) of what me, as a SC4 newcomer, would like to see in something like a "NAM Lite" setup:

1. NAM traffic simulator
2. Over, and underpasses for roads and rails (don't even have to be diagonal)
3. Roundabouts (even if just a single item, maybe of different sizes like 3x3 cell roundabout, 4x4 cell roundabout)
4. Executable instead of .jar (for those who, like me, cannot set the Java enviro on their system)

Cheers!

[rsc204 21,866]

2 hours ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

4. Executable instead of .jar (for those who, like me, cannot set the Java enviro on their system)

I seriously doubt we'd do this, the new installer system is most likely what we'd use.

Honestly, it's nothing you can't resolve, I have no problems getting Java installed on my XP 32-bit systems. I posted full details and tested working versions of Java only recently, so am 100% sure it's possible.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,097]

1 hour ago, rsc204 said:

Honestly, it's nothing you can't resolve, I have no problems getting Java installed on my XP 32-bit systems. I posted full details and tested working versions of Java only recently, so am 100% sure it's possible.

Unfortunately, I couldn't install it for some reason. Not sure why.

The manual installation is relatively easy though. There are, however, many people who are not as computer-savvy as we are, and it is their comfort that I have in mind. Just my two euro-cents for your consideration.