Is it just me or...?

[Ryans1983 8]

I am amazed by the NAM and the amount of functionality the mod provides. Thank you to all the people who work on it. As a perfectionist though part of me just downright despises it because it brings out some of my worst tendencies as a perfectionist. A few weeks ago I downloaded a number of maps from this website to work on. Mostly cities and regions I am familiar with, or some the just looked awesome, like Lagos, Nigeria. I try to model the major roadways and freeways as close to truth (aka Google Maps) as possible (at least at the macro level). So for Maxis connections that was easy, just drop and drag, the intersections create themselves and wham bam thank you ma'am I have a region laid out in an hour or so, though all on one layer.. Now with the NAM I have the ability to really deep dive (aka drive myself up a wall, which some Sims seem to think is possible) and make the maps of my dreams. An 8 lane L0 freeway under a 6 lane L1 highway for example, like I started working with first. It involves a few more steps but is totally worth it...until I get to the junction in the photo below and have to create all the ramps and flyover and such. Now after three days of trying to create this intersection in San Ysidro, California and literally blowing it up God-mode no less than 10 times I've hit a brick wall. Not that it can't be modeled, I'm sure it can, but I ran out of room for the parclos and I'm honestly not sure how to do the flyover. I've kinda waved a white flag for this particular map and have decided to model it differently for my sanity. Maybe after I've spent more time using the NAM I'll come back and update it to something I'm happier with. As for now I've moved freeways so I have more space and had to forgo the Surface to L1 flyover. Based on most things I've seen highways seem to be a bit gauche? Maybe I'm wrong, I'm just a NAM noob, but I'd really like some input. Thank you for your interest and again, thanks to all the designers, programmers, beta testers, etc when it comes to the NAM. For me right now the NAM is like a 1,000 piece puzzle of a Jackson Pollock painting and I've been working with 25 piece Thomas the Tank Engine puzzles.

[Naomi57 2,985]

NAM allows for fascinating possibilities, and frustrating limitations.  A steep learning curve but with many joys along the way.

I've read NAM 39 increases stability for this kind of advanced interchange building, so I've got it on my todo list to upgrade from NAM 36 to NAM 39.  If you haven't upgraded to NAM 39 yet, you'd best do that first!

I started my own NAM journey in just September 2019, and click on the screenshot below, to see how far I got with RHW in about 4 months.  There's a huge learning curve, and this cloverleaf interchange is MUCH EASIER than the parclo with FLEXFly flyover that you've been trying to build.  Elevated FLEXFly over other highways is difficult!  You might be best off to focus on easier tasks first, with a goal of tackling FLEXFly flyovers in several months.

I've a background as a technical writer, a fascination for NAM highway building, so you might find some of my journal entries and tutorials useful.  Here's a few places for you to start ... I've bolded the best ones:   

• Taking NAM for my very first test drive, in East New York
• NAM36: Starting Out advice for newcomers
• OWR-4 Ferry Loop (NAM36 visual tutorial)
• RHW-2 FLUPs underpass
• Hendrix Creek & Starrett City RHW-4 diamond interchange
• Canarsie Veterans Circuit Interchange & Canarsie Pier
• Compact RHW-4 T-Interchange (NAM36)
• A Quirky Little Paperclip Interchange
• Tram-Avenue x Highway Interchange
• NAM Transit Stations — SC4/NAM Encyclopaedia