Hybrid Railways and caterneries

[MatlockMan 370]

Hey!

So finally took the plunge with NAM39 - wow it looks really good. I have a few questions.

I am struggling to find documentation for Hybrid Railways - they look really cool and I love the art style. Is there supposed to be a tile which adds the ability to drag Hybrid Rail, or is it merely meant to be a transition between regular rail and HSRP? I'd love to have my entire inner network a hybrid network so that all-stops and commuter services can share tracks.

Also, is there a way to get the caterneries used in the Hybrid Rail to automatically show with the RRW?

Finally, has anyone had trouble placing the rail switches? Mine doesn't seem to like me placing them anywhere - they're red all the time. I'm trying to make a flying junction.

[Tarkus 6,932]

First off, thanks for the kind words, @tmorgan96--glad to hear you're enjoying the latest release!

The Hybrid Railway (HRW) system does not yet have an official section in the NAM Documentation, but a few days after its debut in NAM 38 back in September, @Tyberius06 did write up a very thorough tutorial on how to use it over at SC4 Devotion. 

The hardcoded quirks with the associated network and transit types required that any feature that combines Rail and Monorail/HSR traffic have flags for both the Rail and Monorail networks on each tile, which necessitated the FLEX piece solution, and ruled out a draggable one.

The system is admittedly slightly ahead of its time, in that it's designed to work with Real High Speed Rail (RHSR), a future new RRW-based spec for HSR, rather than the existing HSRP that's been a NAM plugin since NAM 23 in 2008.  It's possible to bump an existing HSR starter or filler right next to HRW, and get the functionality, but it's not going to be a particularly clean-looking transition until the new RHSR spec arrives.

With regards to the switches, it depends on which switches you're using--Tyberius06's guide does go in to some detail about the switches, and hopefully provides some answers on that end for you.

As far as the catenaries go, that'd be a question best left for @Eggman121, who is our chief Rail developer within the NAM, and oversees RRW, HRW, and RHSR.

-Tarkus

[rsc204 21,808]

3 hours ago, tmorgan96 said:

Also, is there a way to get the caterneries used in the Hybrid Rail to automatically show with the RRW?

Not easily, you'd need to really know what you are doing with both S3D models and T21s I suspect. I can't say for sure what implementation @Eggman121 eventually went with, I have a feeling these are part of the "model" that displays the rail texture, but they could also be T21s.

In any case, it's worth noting that these catenaries were originally intended for use with RRW. The issue being creating the T21s (which attach props to networks), is a lot of work for such a large set of textures as RRW. Therefore they debuted with hybrid rail, where it will be much easier to make them work, than trying to fit an already complex legacy system.

[Eggman121 1,035]

Hello @tmorgan96

First of all thanks for your kind words about the rail workings!

@rsc204 is quite correct. The retrofitting of the centenaries on the base RRW (which was toyed with since the RRW's Conception) was going to be quite a struggle especially due to the scope of the project and subsequent expansions made it unfeasible to say the least. So the HRW or Hybrid Railway was the best way to get the catenaries into the NAM. Being a new project with a smaller tile set meant that catenaries where quite feasible on the HRW.

I am glad you like the catenaries poles.

As for the flying junctions bit. I do have some plans (Time Pending) to make some specific models that will suit RRW and HRW.

But they are still being experimented on at the moment so I don't want to divulge too much.

And you say that you are not able to place any of the Rail switches? If you have been a long term NAM user it may pay to check that the Z_NAM folder has been removed from your plugins.

The RRW Core file is contained withing that does not have the FlexPiece code for the plop-able switches. 

I'm trying not to get more technical but the RRW INRUL files are in the actual NAM folder itself. So, If you have upgraded from a pre-Cross Platform NAM edition (NAM 36 and previous) Please check that the Z_NAM folder has been pulled from your plugins.

Bed time in Sunny Australia. Thanks for the pings @Tarkus and @rsc204

-eggman121 (NAM Team Member)

[MatlockMan 370]

15 hours ago, Eggman121 said:

And you say that you are not able to place any of the Rail switches? If you have been a long term NAM user it may pay to check that the Z_NAM folder has been removed from your plugins.

Yeah the new FLEX switches - they seem not to be ploppable. Same with fractionally angled rail curved ploppables.

[MatlockMan 370]

16 hours ago, Eggman121 said:

As for the flying junctions bit. I do have some plans (Time Pending) to make some specific models that will suit RRW and HRW.

Very exciting! I think that's one feature I'd be most excited to see, alongside quad tracking allowing an up up down down with express and local configuration.