NAM is Total Garbage

[jboord44]

Seriously, I got this so that I could build roundabouts and have cooler looking curved roads. This is 95% useless junk that nobody has any clue how to use. There are 800000 connector pieces linking up a million different transportation networks, it's just way too confusing, you can't click and drag build any of it so you have to place individual pieces that never wanna line up correctly. I find this mod to be total garbage. It's a bunch of complicated crap that sits there clogging up the hard drive.

And none of the pieces reliably works all the time. The fractionally angled road pieces can't even have regular roads connecting to their ends, so someone please explain when you would ever use this??

I felt dumb when first diwnloading this, thinking wow, all this stuff, I'm prob the only person on earth who doesn't have a clue how to use a straight URail under Diagnal DTR Viaduct piece. But come on, you could play this game for a million years and have thousands of cities and never have any use for any of this.

I think of all the things this game actually needed and it's weird they wasted all this effort on such absolutely useless crap. I like some of the curved roads, that's a nice touch, and the street textures are cool. But I find the NAM to be 95% useless junk that I have no clue how to use or what all that ♥♥♥♥ is or does.

[jboord44]

Oh and did I mention that all the pieces have their ends disappear at high elevations?? Yeah that's a nice touch too

[Speeder]

NAM is not easy to use :(

But after you figure how to use some stuff, it is awesome. At least, I like it.

But you won't be able to use everything from the get go.

Also lots of stuff DO support dragging, but is never obvious what does, and what don't.

[Ilja]

NAM came with user manual for each base system it has. All basics are covered there. Several of your questions has been covered there.

SC4Devotion has a full forum for NAM, filled with easy tutorials for more complex NAM creations.

Several FAR-pieces (among other prefabs) are meant for situations you can't drag the system for what you are after. Each system - RHW, RMT (etc.) has their own starter piece system in menus. You can use them by dragging road, rail or one way roads from their stubs.

Some pieces are not meant to get dragged. For example pedestrian lots are as they are and should be placed next to each other and connected to mass transit station, so pedestrians can use them.

NAM ends do not disappear in high elevations by default. If you have trouble to deal with terrain, then download NHP Ennedi slope mod from LEX, or use RHW sloap mod from forums (both can be actually used together.) I would give direct links, but I am writing this trough my cellphone.

[jboord44]

Well I just tried to make a diagonal 5 lane avenue, something you would think this extensive huge mod would allow for right?? Wrong. When you make five lane avenue, inexplicably you have to drag road away from starter piece twice, side by side. Why they didn't have you drag avenue away from the starter is beyond me, because then you wouldn't have to drag it twice to account for the two tiles of space you're using. Well anyway, what do you think happens when you try to do this diagonally?? Do I even need to explain? It falls apart

[Ilja]

RHW highway is a on-way system per direction. You can break and leave spaces between them with the method it got published. This makes creating various forms of HW possible, including several intersections that would be impossible otherwise.

Diagonal RHW does not break, if you place properly. If I recall right, tiles should be highlighted, when they are dragged properly. Once you get the part done, you can then drag it directly forward (in diagonal direction) without interruptions. Turns can be made by dragging right lane a bit higher than the left lane, before making the turn. Otherwise it will attempt to go above the other lane and - as you said - break.

There are things that would be easier to use, but that are impossible to achieve, because some of the base systems are hard-coded to executable. There is nothing we can do about those.

My SC4 isn't currently at playable state. I haven't touched it for a long time. Few conversations in this forum have urged me to set it up again and do some how-to pictures. I don't know when I have time to do that though. My work and Skyrim forums are keeping me quite busy. I will try to get to it soon, so new players get an idea what can be done with NAM.

In the mean time, I strongly recommend visiting Mayor Diaries in SimCity 4 Devotion and City Journals in Simtropolis. You can see plenty of examples how RHW can be used - including diagonal examples - including plenty of tutorials how to use them. :)

[colborne_greg]

NAM's main benefit is increased traffic handling.
NAM can have tighter on off ramps but it is more about making it look real.

Check out my screenshots.

Look at the filler pieces for connecting what seems to be broken connections.

[Ilja]

Originally posted by colborne_greg:

NAM's main benefit is increased traffic handling.
NAM can have tighter on off ramps but it is more about making it look real.

Check out my screenshots.

Look at the filler pieces for connecting what seems to be broken connections.

There are really nice screenshots there.

Only thing that I was left missing were waterfront lots. Those riverbanks would have been much more lively with them. Messing around with tile sets would also be cool, to create more variety between district trough age.

But that is just nitpicking from me. You have built a beautiful city and managed RHW really well. You screenshots were a pleasure to look at.

[jboord44]

Originally posted by Ilja:

Originally posted by colborne_greg:

NAM's main benefit is increased traffic handling.
NAM can have tighter on off ramps but it is more about making it look real.

Check out my screenshots.

Look at the filler pieces for connecting what seems to be broken connections.

There are really nice screenshots there.

Only thing that I was left missing were waterfront lots. Those riverbanks would have been much more lively with them. Messing around with tile sets would also be cool, to create more variety between district trough age.

But that is just nitpicking from me. You have built a beautiful city and managed RHW really well. You screenshots were a pleasure to look at.

I have a new game. After watching all the tutorial videos I could find online, and reading the useless, outdated tutorials on scdevotion, I came up with a new game, and here is the gist of it. I start with a Strip of RHW and see if I can connect a ramp off of it. Haven't been able to do it yet. Sometimes I will reverse engineer that and just plop down a ramp and see if I can figure out what kind of highway network it would be coming off of. Haven't been able to make one connection yet. Oh, and eke states RHW pieces?? Forget it, no chance you are connecting those to ground level. If you're gonna put elevated RHW in your city, you better just have it run off the screen to a neighbor because you aren't connecting that thing to the ground. What would you even use? Flex fly? Flexramps? Flexheight? All these options, no clue what the difference is, barely any tutorials on YouTube. I just seriously could punch a hole through a wall in frustration with this mod. It is the most dysfunctional, broken, poorly and complexly organized mod I've ever seen. Thousand bucks to whoever can win my game btw. Just put down a strip of elevated RHW, and connect ramps to the ground road system, and tell me what pieces you used. I bet nobody wins

[Ilja]

Originally posted by jboord44:

I have a new game. After watching all the tutorial videos I could find online, and reading the useless, outdated tutorials on scdevotion, I came up with a new game, and here is the gist of it. I start with a Strip of RHW and see if I can connect a ramp off of it. Haven't been able to do it yet. Sometimes I will reverse engineer that and just plop down a ramp and see if I can figure out what kind of highway network it would be coming off of. Haven't been able to make one connection yet. Oh, and eke states RHW pieces?? Forget it, no chance you are connecting those to ground level. If you're gonna put elevated RHW in your city, you better just have it run off the screen to a neighbor because you aren't connecting that thing to the ground. What would you even use?

Please don't post walls of text. They are very hard to read and understand.

Ground level RHWs can use MIS-ramps. They are in the menu on their own category. You can select versions from turning lanes to elevated MIS, allowing you to connect to elevated overpasses.

As said, MIS-ramps allow you to connect elevated RHW networks to ground networks, including standard roads and avenues. My usual connection is an avenue drawn under RHW and connected with 4 MIS-ramps. You can either connect them by drawing MIS-ends trough avenue, or use MIS lanes to connect them further in to avenue, to avoid congested connections.

RHW has ramps that allow you to get on and off from elevated network. As other ramps, they can be toggled out of the menu.

Personally I rarely ever use them, because I am using lots allowing you to raise or lower the ground that came with NAM - and another version of these lots is also available as individual download. With these lots you can very easily create elevated points to connect your network - as is done with several bridges and intersections in the real world - or actually make an elevated network with them.

NAM has lots that stick to cliffs as elevated RHW entrance and exit points. Either use pre-made ramps, or raise the ground, place these pieces and draw your elevated RHW to connect them. Stubs on the other end of these pieces can be drawn and continued as a ground RHW, when dragged down the elevated area.

When you learn how to do this, then these elevations are easy to decorate with lots available from BSC LEX and STEX, or just use your favourite trees and flora to for this purpose.

As another example, I rarely use elevated rails, except when crossing parks and plains. I usually raise the ground by 15m and draw rail over. This is an easy way to build elevated networks and roads can be drawn as small tunnels trough them. I am often using 15m pieces, but NMA now has other pieces as well. To make the tunnel trough such network to look good, widen the network by 1 tile for both directions and draw the road trough it.

It is also worth to point out that raiser lots can also sunk the ground, allowing you to create sunken networks. Again, I usually use them for -15m networks.

[colborne_greg]

Originally posted by Ilja:

Originally posted by colborne_greg:

NAM's main benefit is increased traffic handling.
NAM can have tighter on off ramps but it is more about making it look real.

Check out my screenshots.

Look at the filler pieces for connecting what seems to be broken connections.

There are really nice screenshots there.

Only thing that I was left missing were waterfront lots. Those riverbanks would have been much more lively with them. Messing around with tile sets would also be cool, to create more variety between district trough age.

But that is just nitpicking from me. You have built a beautiful city and managed RHW really well. You screenshots were a pleasure to look at.

One thing at a time, I am only so good, I am working on NAM right now, I will get to improving waterfront next.

[colborne_greg]

Originally posted by jboord44:

Originally posted by Ilja:

There are really nice screenshots there.

Only thing that I was left missing were waterfront lots. Those riverbanks would have been much more lively with them. Messing around with tile sets would also be cool, to create more variety between district trough age.

But that is just nitpicking from me. You have built a beautiful city and managed RHW really well. You screenshots were a pleasure to look at.

I have a new game. After watching all the tutorial videos I could find online, and reading the useless, outdated tutorials on scdevotion, I came up with a new game, and here is the gist of it. I start with a Strip of RHW and see if I can connect a ramp off of it. Haven't been able to do it yet. Sometimes I will reverse engineer that and just plop down a ramp and see if I can figure out what kind of highway network it would be coming off of. Haven't been able to make one connection yet. Oh, and eke states RHW pieces?? Forget it, no chance you are connecting those to ground level. If you're gonna put elevated RHW in your city, you better just have it run off the screen to a neighbor because you aren't connecting that thing to the ground. What would you even use? Flex fly? Flexramps? Flexheight? All these options, no clue what the difference is, barely any tutorials on YouTube. I just seriously could punch a hole through a wall in frustration with this mod. It is the most dysfunctional, broken, poorly and complexly organized mod I've ever seen. Thousand bucks to whoever can win my game btw. Just put down a strip of elevated RHW, and connect ramps to the ground road system, and tell me what pieces you used. I bet nobody wins

Those videos don't help.
I'll make some videos this weekend, maybe I can help.

[jboord44]

It was a paragraph man, relax. And I cannot get MIS Ramps to work at all.

I have an L1 straight 8C RHW. I have a regular road running perpendicularly underneath. All I wanna do is build a ramp from the highway connecting to the road.

None of the quick change Ramps work. Oddly enough they work if I put them on backwards to where the yellow line is on the opposite side as it is on the highway, but no traffic could go on it that way. When I try connecting them so that the yellow line is on the same side, suddenly it had to be oriented less optimally and it won't actually connect upon dragging to my highway, it just winds up breaking the highway.

So what ramp do I need to use? How do I connect it? Which heading is it under? Flex fly? Flexheight?? Ramps? Flex ramps? QC pieces? Have tried almost everything, nothing will work

[Ilja]

I am unsure what you mean. Could you upload screenshots, so we can take a look at them?

[colborne_greg]

Originally posted by jboord44:

It was a paragraph man, relax. And I cannot get MIS Ramps to work at all.

I have an L1 straight 8C RHW. I have a regular road running perpendicularly underneath. All I wanna do is build a ramp from the highway connecting to the road.

None of the quick change Ramps work. Oddly enough they work if I put them on backwards to where the yellow line is on the opposite side as it is on the highway, but no traffic could go on it that way. When I try connecting them so that the yellow line is on the same side, suddenly it had to be oriented less optimally and it won't actually connect upon dragging to my highway, it just winds up breaking the highway.

So what ramp do I need to use? How do I connect it? Which heading is it under? Flex fly? Flexheight?? Ramps? Flex ramps? QC pieces? Have tried almost everything, nothing will work

If it works backwards then the road isn't level.
Sounds wrong, but if I take a road piece and make sure the highway and the area I want the ramp to go to be level then pieces fit closer together.
You can also delete the section of 8C where you want the ramp to snap into place.
The ramps for 8C RHW are in the ramps section, keep pressing tab until you get past the 8S RHW section and you will find a selection of ramps to use on 8C, once you find the piece press home or end to rotate the piece to how you want it.

[TarkusSC4]

NAM developer here. The biggest problem that usually leads to new users becoming overwhelmed and making angry, frustrated posts like this is when they try to do too many things at once with the mod (and try to build things on too steep of a slope). There are a lot of different options, and at full blast, the NAM can be an extremely complicated beast. It's designed to be a comprehensive mod, which has some features that are definitely the domain of advanced users (i.e. the RHW), but there's options to dial it back.

Our bundled documentation is, unfortunately, in a state of flux, in large part because the mod has been undergoing quite a few structural changes, which, in the long run, will improve the user experience. The main change that's been ongoing (and is not yet complete--keep in mind that the NAM is in constant development) is the effort to kill off a lot of the menu-clogging static puzzle pieces, and replace them with FLEX and draggable items.

(BTW, if you're wondering what the difference is, a static puzzle piece is one that serves exactly a single purpose, and can't do anything else. A FLEX piece might initially look the same, but it can interact with its surroundings, and a single FLEX piece can sometimes handle functionality that would otherwise take 30 or more static puzzle pieces, thus simplifying the interface greatly.)

If you are wanting to just get the roundabouts and the wide-radius curves and fractional angles, my advice would be to act as if you're doing a Custom Installation, and once the options page appears, go up to the drop down box and select "Traffic Simulator and Maxis Fixes Only".

From there, you can then just pick the following:

1. "Fractional Angled Networks (FANs)" (from "NAM Networks and Network Expansions")
   
2. "Roundabouts and Other Interchanges" (from "Additional Features and Customizations"),
3. "Wide Radius Curves" (also from "Additional Features and Customizations"--it's the last checkbox on the list).

Each of those boxes also expands (click the plus sign), to list different sub-options, so you can customize what you are getting even further. I'd recommend trying to use the draggable options for the FANs and curves, which were added in NAM 31, and as such, are included in the documentation--check Section 3.11 of the NAM 31 User's Guide (which is still included in NAM 34), and it'll show you the drag patterns. (It's useful to run the game windowed and have the PDF open for quick reference.)

Now, if you are really committed to figuring out just how to actually build an interchange with the RHW, this video from another NAM developer will show you the draggable method for building the ramp interfaces. From there, you can drag the ramp branch either to meet a surface street (only works with the single lane ramps--dual-lane ones must convert to One-Way Road), or into another ramp interface (to hook two RHWs together).

Also, the reason that the 5-lane Avenue in the Network Widening Mod (NWM) features (known as the TLA-5) is built using the Road network instead of Avenue is because:

1. When the feature was developed, overrides of the Avenue network were not nearly as developed as Road-based overrides.
   
2. The original design geometry that EA/Maxis used in designing the base Avenue network's diagonals would create a number of issues with a true 5-lane setup, namely, severe compression of the center lane, as well as capacity issues, which can be clearly seen when an Avenue hits moderate volume and the congestion view gets a "patchwork" look to it.
   
3. For the sake of consistency. The NWM also features 3-tile-wide networks, and we found that the simplest way to build them was to use a single-tile network (Road) as the override base, rather than forcing the user into awkward contortions with a 2-tile-wide network. As such, all two-way NWM networks are built with Roads, and all one-way NWM networks are built with One-Way Roads.

I hope this post explains things, and helps show you the road to a "non-garbage" experience.

Tarkus
NAM Developer