RHD and LHD Traffic Explained
I figure before getting into this, it might be useful to explain just what the heck we're talking about, eh?
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RHD - Right Hand Drive
Where traffic drives on the right hand side of the road.
Usually this is the default setting for users in the US, Canada, Continental Europe and most of the world. -
LHD - Left Hand Drive
Where traffic drives on the left hand side of the road.
This setup is suitable for the UK, Japan, Australia and other countries where drivers use the left side of the road.
Yes, the car industry terms for which "hand drive" relates not to the side you drive upon, but the side which the steering wheel is located on the car.
If you think about it, since someone might use a LHD car in a non LHD country, it wouldn't make much sense to refer to the side of the road. For example, if I ordered a part in Germany, a RHD country, for my RHD (UK) car. I wouldn't want that part to fit a LHD vehicle such as those most common here.
Hence in the car industry, it always refers to the side the steering wheel is upon. Therefore if like me, you are familiar with such terms, you need to get used to the SC4 community using these terms to mean the opposite of what you expect. Given this is how things have been for 13 years, trying to change it now would just result in mass confusion for everyone.
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= How to Switch Driving Side for SC4 =
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CD Versions:
- Choose US English during install for a RHD Game
- Choose UK English during install for a LHD Game
Note: If you do not have these options (not all discs support all regions), you may want to try the alternate method below.
GoG Version:
- Locate the installation directory for SC4 and run the file Language Setup.exe
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Choose between English (US) or UK English, as above, then click Save and Close
Digital Versions (Alternate Method for CD users also):
1) First check the Install directory for SC4, here should be at least one language subfolder, "English" being the default for using RHD setups, whereas "UKEnglsh" is needed to use LHD. If whichever of these folders you need already exists, you can skip step 2.
2) Pick whichever option applies:
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Changing from RHD to LHD |
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▪ In the install directory, you should have a subfolder "English". |
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Changing from LHD to RHD |
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▪ In the install directory, you should have a subfolder "UKEnglsh". |
3) Now you have a duplicate copy of the localisation texts (SimCityLocale.DAT), but more importantly, we have the correct folder for it. SC4 will ignore any language you tell it to use, if its folder is missing. So once the correct folder/file exists, now we need to tell the game which one to use. To do that, we need to add a Command Line Argument, see the instructions below to do this for the various editions of SC4.
Add Command Line Argument for versions of SC4 run from a Windows Shortcut (clicking on SC4 icon):
- Navigate to the icon, Right Click upon it
- Select Properties
- At the end of the "Target" line, you should add the command, then click OK
Add Command Line Argument for Steam Users:
- Open the Library, then Right Click on SimCity 4 and select Properties
- Add the command into the text field Launch Options.
Add Command Line Argument for Gog Galaxy Users:
- Right Click on the game's title and select Settings
- Fill the checkbox next to Add command line arguments
- Add the command into the text box
Add Command Line Argument for Origin Users:
- Open the Library, then Right Click on SimCity 4's box art and select Game Properties
- Select Advanced Launch Options
- Add your command into the field box, then click Save
What if I don't have either an English or UKEnglsh Folder?
This is totally possible, although it should not prevent us altering the driving side. What exactly is inside these language folders?, simply just a locale file, i.e. a file containing all the localised or translated text. So if you have a folder, for example, Spanish, you can still copy that folder to another and re-name it either English or UKEnglsh. Not only will this procedure still work, assuming the correct Spanish SimCityLocale.dat file was inside it, you'll even still see the Spanish text in game, despite selecting English.
In short, use of a supported language, brings with it either LHD or RHD as the default. So if you installed a Japanese version of SC4, it should already be in LHD. But let's say you wanted to keep the Japanese text, but switch the driving side to RHD. To do that, SC4 needs to load a language where it sets RHD, for example English (US). So if you had a folder English, set the Command Line Argument to run SC4 in English, but copied the SimCityLocale.dat from the Japan folder to the English one. SC4 would use the English (US) driving side, i.e. RHD, but it would load the Japanese localisations, because these are now in the English folder.
So whilst I've used English and UKEnglsh here as examples, you can mix and match driving sides / languages and create whichever setup you want.
For directories other than English or UKEnglsh to work, the target switch must be altered from "-l:"English", to the equivalent language. For details of other available languages, see here.
Bear in mind here, not all versions of SC4, include all locale files / translations. So you may wish to play with Japanese Text, but without the locale file, you won't have the Japanese translations to do so. The disc versions had at least 5 SKUs which were intended for different regions. Some digital versions include more than one locale option, others only work based on the location you purchased it from.
Can't you change this using Windows Registry too?
Technically yes, but why mess about with the registry, when it's so simple to do it with the other two methods outlined above? As such, I won't be going into this here.
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= How to Switch Driving Side for the NAM (Network Addon Mod) =
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If you switch the driving side for SC4, you must also update the NAM to reflect this change. This will require running the installer once more for NAM. The reason is because the installations for RHD/LHD are completely different, so you need a LHD specific controller, which can not be simply switched on the fly.
It's painless enough however, when you run the installer, just be sure to select one of the LHD options (Red Arrows):
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It is necessary to remove your old NAM install, before you can change to a LHD installation, if you need to do this just delete the old Network Addon Mod folder, before you install the LHD NAM.
I want to switch to LHD, what limitations/problems will I encounter?
Speaking as a predominantly LHD user and NAM Developer, I can tell you LHD has been an uphill battle for me. Support for LHD in the NAM can sometimes be a little flaky, mostly stop lines on the wrong side of the road, paths that don't have LHD variants and very occasionally, features with no LHD support at all. Things are improving though, not to mention, most of what the NAM doesn't cover can be rectified by using some additional mods.
Stop Lines / Textures
It would probably help if I explain how LHD works in practise within the NAM/SC4. Typically for textures, you need a special set, although the defaults are mostly neutral without stop lines, so it's not the biggest problem. Not to mention, some pieces don't support mirroring, this means if you drag a diagonal through the left side (top to bottom) of a road for example, the stop lines will be one way. But dragging from the right side in the same manner, the stop lines appear reversed instead. This is an issue that affect both RHD and LHD installs, so it's not strictly a LHD problem. Thankfully most pieces have special extra pieces to cover these situations, like the Rail Crossing textures for example, so provided you have LHD textures, they will display fine.
If you use my TGN (Terrain Grass NAM) and SWN (Sidewalk NAM) mods, I've tried my best to fully include LHD support:
Of course these are big changes, but together you will get a very compatible LHD setup.
TGN only makes sense if you use one of the four supported HD Terrain Mods.
SWN currently supports three different sidewalk mods.
It is possible to create your own custom variant of either TGN or SWN to change the default grasses and sidewalks respectively. All the resources you need can be downloaded from my OneDrive account, you just need a copy of GoFSH and the basic textures and GoFSH will do all the work for you.
Paths
The next problem you'll likely encounter is with paths. Typically, SC4 knows you are using LHD and simply reverses the paths automatically. However, rail-based networks were never supported by Maxis, these require dedicated paths for LHD. So any piece with Rail, El-Rail or Monorail as part of it can be affected, including overrides like HSR and GLR.
This is a minor issue within the NAM, but there are gaps. Actually, if you find one, just let me know about it, I'll either already have it patched or I'd happily do so. The paths don't break anything, it just stops automata or UDI from acting normally, the former of which I dislike intensely and am only to happy to know about any situations I may have missed.
I am slowly pushing all these fixes into the NAM, so the more problems that get reported, the better LHD support will become.
T21s
You might ask what the hell is a T21? Well you know when you connect two roads in a 4-way intersection, you'll see traffic lights? The props that display In such situations are handled by T21s. By default all stop lights are on the wrong side of the road, but this fantastic mod by Maarten fixes that:
Note too my own add-on which includes support for FTL, QuickTurn and OWR SITAP for SRM.
The other thing that's on the wrong side, are the crossing barriers on Rail/GLR Crossings. Again, simply fixed by this fantastic mod by Jondor.
Not to mention that both these mods look so much better than the default props too. There are other T21s out there, but few where LHD/RHD matters, things like placement of trees really don't need to be LHD specific.
Custom TE Lots
A TE is lot is a lot that allows transit networks to pass through them. This includes any station where you drag the network through it. When modded correctly, these should almost always support LHD, but sadly not all are. Some have complex custom paths, in which case if the modder does not include LHD variants, it won't work.
However, it's a two second job to switch paths directions if you know what you are doing. So again if you do come unstuck, feel free to ask for help.
Summary
I really hope this whole raft of potential pitfalls does not put anyone off LHD. I wanted to explain the issues, but show that there are many solutions to them. When I started playing, I considered ditching both EU Textures and LHD for the longest time, because I was frustrated with their coverage. Instead of doing that, I dedicated myself to fixing the problems instead. As a result, I'm confident that these days things are nowhere like as bad. It does take a little more work to setup, but both EU and LHD are so intrinsic to the style of my cities, I'm glad I didn't ignore them.
With the exception of TE Lots / NAM networks, there is no content out there that won't work with LHD. Since those are the only things that require LHD support.
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