johnnybnjp

Hello, Is anyone else having a problem with the Diagonal Bridge Enabler not setting the sea level to zero anymore? It was working fine a couple months ago but now the water doesn't disappear the way it used to when I place the DBE in my plug ins folder. I just downloaded the file again to see if that might solve the problem but it did not. Could this be a conflict with the latest version of the NAM? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks for your help. Yes, I needed to remove the old CD version first before Origin would allow me to download the new digital version. I am up and running again. So long real life!

Thanks rsc204. This makes sense. Do I really need to uninstall everything in order for the digital version to work? I have over a year of work put into my region and about 2 gigs of mods. Should I just put these on a separate drive and install them later?

Hello, this thread has been very helpful. I finally decided to redeem my product code from EA/Origin but am now experiencing a new issue. Perhaps someone who has redeemed their code from Origin can help me. I am new to Origin (just downloaded it). The representative I chatted with was able to add SC4 deluxe to the "My Games" folder but when I select "Play", I get the same "Please login with administrator priveleges..." message I received when trying to play with the game disk. The rep. then suggested that I right click on the SC4 icon in my Start menu and select "run as administrator". I am then asked if I want EA to make changes to my hard drive, I select "Yes" and then nothing happens. So, I am still stuck not able to play and not sure how to proceed. Has anyone else found a work around for this issue? Should I be asking EA/Origin for a downloadable version of the game as opposed to the Origin "My Games" play window version? Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hello All, I just downloaded the Diagonal Edges mod and am currently using the Appalacian terrain mod as well. I couldn't seem to get the Diagonal Edges mod to work. After reading the directions more thoroughly, I noticed that there is a link to a support thread. The support thread doesn't appear to be active. Can someone direct me to where I can find the necessary file to make this work with the Appalacian terrain? Thanks! Johnny

Thanks for the input. I just read the information about the reader provided in the link by rsc204 and think I will give this a try. The one thing I am concerned about is that it sounds like once you change the MaxNormalYforCliff it will affect already existing landscape. I really don't want to change the whole landscape, just the areas that I am working on. I have been building a 7.5m trench for rail and the frustrating thing is that with the diagonal trenches, I have inconsistent results. Sometimes I will get jagged edges and sometimes not. Thanks again.

Hello All, I am working on my city and regional rail systems (heavy rail) and, before I get too invested, I am hoping to get some suggestions on how to plan for commuter, regional (three or more tiles in length?), and freight lines. For example: Should I have dedicated tracks for commuter rail, regional rail and freight lines or should they share rail in some places? Could a regional rail just have a spur to collect freight and then recombine later to move the freight off the edge of the tile? I guess what I am looking for is some advice of how this operates in the real world. Any input is appreciated. Or, if this has been covered in another string, feel free to direct me there (the search doesn't seem to be working so I couldn't easily browse the topic) Thanks for your help, Johnny B

This is fantastic!  I really like how you made use of all those great small town buildings (especially the corner lots).  May I ask which grass plops you are using to edge your rail on the diagonals?  I've been looking for something like that.

Okay, this is great stuff. I will keep chugging along with my current plan and see how my sims make use of it. Even if they are only travelling one city tile it sounds like I could have a continuous line through multiple tiles which is the real life look I am going for. I do have a second question, however: when does it make sense to use the Single Track Rail? Is this more geared toward freight spurs (since freight only travels in one direction to the edge) or are there other situations (perhaps for commuters) where it would make sense to use it? It seems like if used incorrectly collisions could happen. Thanks again, Johnny B

Thanks Ltw, this is great info. So, just to clarify: If I have a commuter rail that passes through three ctiy tiles and each tile has it's own station (we'll call them station A, B, and C all in a straight line) commuters will travel from station A to station B or from station B to station C but not from A to C? Or, can I force them to travel from station A to C by having a bypass rail that doesn't stop at station B? I perhaps should also clarify that I only plan to have a large city in the tile with station C. The other two tiles are more suburban with smaller stations but my hope is that even in the further out suburban tiles commuters will travel all the way to the city to station C. I hope this makes sense.

Thanks Nonny, I am still a little bit confused. When you say to only put stations on a spur that doesn't reconnect with the main line are you talking about freight stations only? For passenger rail, can't I have a main line that passes through multiple tiles with stations placed right on the line (like in real life)? And would it make sense to use two lines (one for commuter and one for longer regional travel)? I know that with this game you sometimes have to strike a balance between game mechanics and your own aesthetic vision. What I hope is that I can create a real life look and have it function without having to fight game mechanics too much.

Hello All, As I expand my commuter rail out to the 'burbs I am discovering that I have become reliant on rail over other networks. It appears that the only height currently available for rail viaducts and the onslope rail overpasses is at 15m. Does anyone know, with future updates to the RRW, if there is a plan to have 7.5m (or level 1) viaducts and onslope rail overpass pieces. This would be a great space saver as you wouldn't have to use up as much space to get to the rail up to the 7.5m height. Also, this seems to be a more realistic height for rail over road in the suburbs and small towns. While we are at it, it would be great if someone could continue the work of BuddyBud and his awesome set of underbridge rail sections for RHW. Thanks in advance for your input and please let me know if this question should be in another thread. I always appreciate these discussions as I have learned so much. Cheers, Johnny

I just had a thought about why I am noticing both rail and road bridges in the suburbs I am using for reference (after reading T Wrecks comment about rail slope tolerance). Perhaps it is the land around the rail that is changing elevation and it is the rail that is staying at a relatively consistent elevation. I would imagine that anyone who is taking on the challenge of a particularly hilly city tile would be needing to deal with the problem in a similar way.

The FLUPs would solve the problem technically. Aesthetically, I'm not really a fan of the FLUP's, however. The underpass slopes seem to be a bit extreme and, what I am hoping to achieve, is a more realistic looking commuter rail. I know it sounds picky. Actually, if anyone knows where I can find Buddybuds FLUPs (the onslope versions that looked more like tunnels that have disappeared from the exchange) and can pass on the link, I would be grateful.

I have been using the commuter rail just north of Boston as an inspiration for my own. The rail passes over roads, is at road level and there are roads passing over the rail. I actually really like the variety (especially as a former model railroad enthusiast). Where the rail is elevated and not crossing a road it is more of a 'land viaduct' than a stone or steel viaduct. So, 7.5m onslope pieces would be needed for crossings. Here is a link to the Google maps I have been looking at: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Malden,+MA/@42.4267374,-71.0724234,704m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x89e373d5cdc028c3:0x5e52fc1c1d5af24a Just follow the rail north from Malden Center and you can see just how dynamic the road/rail interplay. A 7.5m option for rail would make recreating this so much easier. If you go down to street view at a few of the rail overpasses it actually looks like the height is more like 15-16 feet. Cheers, Johnny

Thanks RSC204. I will make due with what is available for now. Dragable viaduct sounds like a fantastic upgrade. Best, Johnny

Hey All, I just ran a span of 4 lane road (the two tile version in the NWM) just to mix things up a bit and am noticing some of its limitations and am looking for advice/workarounds. It appears that 4 lane road can only be converted to avenue but not other width roads. I was hoping to narrow the stretch to regular road but this doesn't appear to be possible. There isn't a piece that converts RD4 to RD2 for the two-tile version (only for the narrow one-tile version). It also seems that you can't end 4 lane road at a T-intersection either. At one intersection, I wanted to create some turn lanes but noticed that there are not any Tuleps for RD4. So, if anyone has suggestions for working with RD4 I would appreciate your feedback (or images if you have some). Should I use another, more flexible, network. I was hoping to avoid using full avenue. Thanks, Johnny

Thanks for the input! I am looking forward to the next installment of the NAM especially the draggable NWM transitions. Cheers, Johnny

Yes, ultimately I did transition to avenue so I could then transition to regular road. Hopefully more NWM options will become available with future NAM updates. Right now RD4 is hard to work into a dynamic network (with Tuleps, etc.) Thanks!

Excellent Nos. 17!

Good to know. I guess I shoulda researched this a bit more before commenting. Am I correct in assuming then that a faster (ie. highway) but not necessarily closer (congested & slow surface roads) route between a sim and his or her job would be the route taken. Or is it not that simple. Thanks again, Johnny

It would be great if, in the future, someone could develop a traffic simulator that takes into account speed (ie how fast a vehicle can travel) on a particular stretch of highway, street, etc. to encourage highway use. I imagine this would be a very daunting task, however. Thanks for the information. As always, very helpful. Cheers, Johnny

Greetings, I am sorry if this is the wrong forum for this question but I couldn't get the NAM support link to work. I am having a difficult time accessing the RHW S-style bridges. I have them in my plug ins and selected them at the install. The NAM manual mentions a Maxis Highway Bridge menu. Is this separate from the menu that automatically pops up when you stretch RHW across a body of water? I have stretched long lengths of highway at various heights and I can't seem to get access to these new bridges. If anyone can help me out I would be very appreciative. Thanks! Johnny

Thanks for the input. This makes lots of sense. I was just happy to see the 6 - 10 RHW bridges finally appear in the menu no matter what method. And, I am relieved I wont have to re-install the NAM...... again. Cheers! Johnny