NAM / RTMT question

[Aquilaspqr 1]

I've recently returned to SC4, installed tons of plugins but I somehow forgot to install NAM. I don't use non-maxis streets too much so I did not notice it. I also installed RTMT for the first time in all my SC4 history. Now, when I have already built a city with 300 000 inhabitants - I noticed there's something odd with my traffic. And I realised it's probably because I don't have NAM, and previously I was playing with NAM all the time (hence the difference I believe). So now I'd like to install NAM. Would it work and alter traffic data on a already built city? And what about all mass transit stops/stations I've already built with RTMT? Will I have to delete all my stops/stations and built then anew to have their capacity changed? Or maybe I should reinstall RTMT after installing NAM?

 

[rsc204 21,866]

It could be as simple as the fact that you are using the original traffic simulator from Maxis. The NAM one has many improvements, I personally consider it a fix, since the old one was very limited especially with regards to making more realistic styled city layouts.

Similarly, another thing the NAM addresses are very low capacity stations that simply don't hold up well creating larger cities.

You can simply install the NAM at this point, there is no need to change anything else or use a specific order. Bear in mind you'll want to run any cities for a number of years whilst all the changes are going on. During this time you may find drastic changes in commuters routes and perhaps some sims moving jobs. If you keep an eye on the Jobs/Population graph, you'll see when things settle. Since RTMT is already optimised for use with the NAM's updated Traffic Simulator, I'd imagine you'll see improved Mass Transit usage once the NAM is present.

[Aquilaspqr 1]

So I can install it without worrying it won't work or break anything in my existing city?

[rsc204 21,866]

As I stated before, this will change how things work, so there can be some effects surrounding that to deal with. But it's not going to break anything or lead to your city burning into oblivion.

[Aquilaspqr 1]

Thanks!

[Aquilaspqr 1]

Well, bad news. All my old transit stations retained the old capacity values even after few months. The diference is colossal - 2000 for old train stations compared to 34000 of new ones. In the result almost all old transit stations are overcowded, since traffic was recalculated and there's now much more mass transit pasengers. I was hoping they will update automatically but now it seems I'll have to do what I hoped to avoid - rebuild completely all my bus/metro/trail/monorail stations... Hundreds of them...

[rsc204 21,866]

If you were using RTMT, none of those are changed by installing NAM. You only need to re-build any Maxis stations you may have had. You say hundreds of stations, but with the exception of Bus Stops/Subway stations, I’ll bet that number is actually reasonably small. So my advise would be to start with replacing those other rail, el-rail and monorail stations you have beforehand.

Bear in mind that these capacity increases are not always necessary for every bus stop/subway station. That rather depends on the actual usage of each. But assuming you were using the RTMT stations, I suspect there won’t be too many Maxis Bus and Subway stops either. But it really depends on the specifics of what you’ve built and how your city works.

Ultimately we can’t do anything about how the game works, to refresh these capacities and other properties, they need replacing. 

[Aquilaspqr 1]

I had RTMT bus stops/metro stations only and I was building a lot of them (one on almost every intersection). After installing NAM and reinstalling RTMT (just to be sure) old RTMT bus stops have 3000 capacity while the same bus stops built after installing NAM have 5000 capacity. The same with subways stations - those I built before installing NAM have lower capacity than the exactly same ones I built after installing. But that's OK, I've already replaced the most important ones.

[rsc204 21,866]

3 hours ago, Aquilaspqr said:

old RTMT bus stops have 3000 capacity while the same bus stops built after installing NAM have 5000 capacity. The same with subways stations - those I built before installing NAM have lower capacity than the exactly same ones I built after installing. But that's OK, I've already replaced the most important ones.

The NAM doesn't alter anything in RTMT, as the person in charge of things and a NAM team member, I can say this with absolute certainty. So I'd suggest when you re-installed RTMT you probably went with a different capacity setting, because I don't see what else could have caused this change.

Those numbers still look on the low-side to me however, which version of RTMT are you using?, the latest and recommend version is RTMT 3.6, this requires v3.5 to be installed first. Assuming you have the latest version, which capacity option did you choose Low or High? I'd recommend the High option, v4 will do away with these choices altogether, there is just no benefit whatsoever from using a lower capacity. By comparison I think until v3.5 there were 5 different options, one for each corresponding traffic simulator option (NAM). This is about more than simplification, a higher capacity doesn't make mass transit more desirable, but one too low risks triggering a bug that can cause many problems. These changes are aimed at making it virtually impossible for any station to get so far over-capacity that it stops the entire transit type from functioning properly.