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Neko's Japanese road mod stop lights

Started by art128, October 09, 2016, 01:08:22 PM

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art128

Hello Devotees, I need assistance from the great minds with a problem that I have noticed for some time now.

I'm using Neko's Japanese road mod but for some reason the stop lights that I have in-game aren't the one from the mod but the standard ugly maxis one. Would anyone know what makes then not appear correctly?

As you can see on these pictures from a fresh NAM install.



Now I tried to change the load order of the mod and I made sure no other mod conflicted with it (tried an install with just the NAM and the mod+dependencies in the plugin folder), I even went as far to change the system locale so the Japanese characters appear correctly in the folder names.

Does it have to do with the recent NAM? As I noticed some people have it working correctly on an older NAM version (pre RRW)
(image from Dantes' Tottori)
Top left for the first picture.

The middle blurred one. The others are part of lots.



Any help is welcomed.
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

Props & Texture Catalog

eggman121

Probably a T21 issue.

I can probably make a new T21 exemplar for the props.

I will look into it after I get home from work.

-eggman121

mgb204

#2
I'm pretty sure I got them working on NAM33... I'll check my Japanese region and come back to you.

I do remember them being one of the hardest things to get working though as part of the whole Japanese Street set.

Update:
Just checked and no problems for RoadxRoad T and 4-way intersections. RoadxAve and AvexAve are working also. Perhaps seeing the load order I've used will help you?



This is still using NAM 32 I believe, but I do have RRW installed. To my knowledge, nothing should have changed that prevents the T21s from working. Since all the IDs must be the same, therefore something with the Maxis T21s must be loading after the mod.

Update 2:
I just refreshed the NAM install with v34 and as I suspected, this did not cause any problems.

kelis

#3
I want to share a small bug that I have using this fantastic mod with the last version of NAM.



As you can see, if I'm using the normal road and I try to create some residential zones, for some reason the MAXIS street lights appears in these roads...
but only when I create residential zones close to the normal roads (I think I have the same problem with Industry zones)



If I create comercial zones the streetlights does not appear, if I create residential zones using streets or one way roads the MAXIS streetlights does not appear...
What is causing this ? I hope somebody can help me with this... in the meanwhile I just create residential zones connected by street and never by roads...

## I have the same problem with traffic lights Arthur... just in the new VERSION OF NAM !

Thanks and Greetings  :thumbsup:
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                                                                                     || Benelux Team || Windows on the World || My Photos on Flickr || Kelis BNL Projects ||

mgb204

I would check again the load order. I've been using this a lot in the last few days with NAM34 and have no such problems.

One thing that often causes problems is the changes made in the NAM a few versions back. People often used systems like:


  • z1_Mod 1
  • z2_Mod 2
  • z2_Mod 3 etc

To override the NAM. This no longer works. You must not only load NAM altering mods after the Network Addon Mod folder, but also the z___NAM folder too. Its the usage of these underscores that seems to be poorly understood.

An underscore will load after almost every other character you can use (perhaps even the actual last one). So to override z___NAM you must either use a z and four underscores to prefix the folder, or a z with three and a letter beginning after N thereafter for the 5th character.

In the example above, Windows will display the load order in a way that is the opposite of how SC4 loads them. I.e. This is the actual order of those folders:


  • z___NAM
  • z___RVT Mods
  • z____JPN_SideWalk_Mod
  • z____ML JPN Canal Lot
  • z____ML_JPN Street chg SAM9
  • z_____LightMods
  • z______JPN_SideWalk_Mod2
  • z________Super Light Asphalt
  • z____________LAST

Each additional underscore makes that folder load later than ones with less underscores. So many users complain mods stopped working, but with the exception of RHW mods made before the P57 ID changes (I think NAM31), no IDs have changed that affect their operation. I've even had complains/issues from users who've ignored my default z____MGB mods folder setup, renamed the folder and in the process stopped it from working.  ::)

Anyhow, as part of this setup, the Japaense Signal Pack is a subfolder inside the "LightMods" folder, as are the overrides from LRM (light replacement mod by Maarten).

Note also the somewhat crazy "z____________LAST" folder. If in doubt, move a mod into a similarly named folder. I know anything here loads after everything else. The problem with this particular mod is that you need a group of mods to all play nicely together, which means the order is very important. But you can simply adjust the number of underscores as required and with a bit of trail and error, you should eventually get there.

Whilst I did some modification/renaming of folders, hopefully you should be able to mirror my example setup without too much effort. But I guarantee you it does work.

art128

#5
Yay devotion is back.

Okay I tested again, and again.

This is how my plugin folder looked as I tested: (as you can see NO other mod is causing a conflict.



Here are some ingame example very easily labeled with a red x for not working and a green v for working.

Road X Road


Road X diagonal Road


Road T


Avenue T


Avenue X Avenue


Avenue Y diagonal avenue


diagonal Avenue X diagonal Avenue


Avenue X Road


Avenue T Road


Avenue End Road


Avenue X diagonal Road


I just made that test.
If you want to know the content of the NAM install (fresh one from today too), it's a very standard install with a lot of content not selected (stuff like RHW, additional bridges, BTM, El Rail, Flups, Highspeed rail, roundabouts, CANAM, draggable el road, standard hole diggers, etc are NOT selected since I do not need them.)

Windows 7 sp1 x64, steam sc4.

At this point I seriously believe something in the newer NAM was changed that cause this mod to not work properly cause that's the only reason I can think off from the test I just did. NO other mod is cause a conflict.
Makes me really want to install an older version so I can have these working.
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

Props & Texture Catalog

mgb204

I'm sorry mate, because I don't doubt this has been a frustrating experience checking things, but there simply must be a conflict and it can't come from the NAM.

For one, the NAM doesn't include such props, where such traffic lights are used, the NAM uses the Maxis ones. For two, these "pieces" IDs haven't changed, in fact, many are the original Maxis IDs, having never been altered since the base game came out. Not to mention, T21s haven't been touched during the last few development cycles. This area simply isn't being worked upon, perhaps with the exception of the FTL project, which is not released yet.

It looks to me like there is a conflict with T21s somewhere, but these things are a nightmare to pinpoint remotely without access to your files. Rivit's Datanode should help you to find what files are overriding the Stoplights from the Japan Signal pack.

I don't usually do this, since I shouldn't need to go to the effort of "screenshot or it didn't happen" tactics, but here's the proof:



This is with NAM 34 running, but it was working previously with NAM 32 when I first tested it the other day. For every junction you show, I am not seeing a single issue.

kelis

#7
Okay, I've been able to make this work but it was a loooooong morning trying all kind of things...anyway I just found one thing which is working fine for me...

http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/29521-jpn-sidewalk-mod-rhd-version/

Try to download this and just copy in your plugins the folder named "zReplacement", asuming that all your plugins are correctly named as mgb204 has explained it should works fine...



in other way, I found a conflict between the Japanese mod and the LRMv5_USA_Set by Mandelsoft that I was using, actually that mod was the problem with the street lights in the roads when I try to create residential zones...

Let me know if that work good my friend  :thumbsup:

mgb204 why your traffic light are brown ?
.                                                                                                                      

                                                                                     || Benelux Team || Windows on the World || My Photos on Flickr || Kelis BNL Projects ||

art128

Okay Jonathan I did just like you said and it does work, as you said. Now the only issue is that the zreplacement folder's T21 are made for RHD users so the stop lights are inverted.

As for mgb, I went through the datanode and found no conflicts that would cause such a behavior. Also as Kelis asked, your stop lights are brown which indicates you are using the Japanese Signal Pack "design" variant. What files are you using from it? Cause if I understand correctly it is a mod on its own so it should cause conflicts with neko's road side mod.
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

Props & Texture Catalog

kelis

Yes... so now we have a new problem... the question is, is it possible to invert the traffic lights ?
.                                                                                                                      

                                                                                     || Benelux Team || Windows on the World || My Photos on Flickr || Kelis BNL Projects ||

mgb204

Quote from: kelis on October 13, 2016, 08:33:43 AM
Okay, I've been able to make this work but it was a loooooong morning trying all kind of things...anyway I just found one thing which is working fine for me...

http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/29521-jpn-sidewalk-mod-rhd-version/

I'm unsure why you'd install this if you are using LHD. It's literally is designed to switch the mod for RHD users, so installing it would only complicate matters further. Logically if you install a RHD override to fix something, you won't see stop lights on the correct side anymore.

Quotein other way, I found a conflict between the Japanese mod and the LRMv5_USA_Set by Mandelsoft that I was using, actually that mod was the problem with the street lights in the roads when I try to create residential zones...

To my knowledge, the mod was designed to work with v4 of LRM, not v5. As such, I couldn't say if v5 would work, but I can confirm I'm using v4 (Belgian set) myself.

Quotemgb204 why your traffic light are brown ?

Probably because I've installed the optional files. Until this matter came up here, I'd hardly even used this Japanese plugins/region I've been testing. Actually I probably want to remove that thinking about it.

Quote from: art128 on October 13, 2016, 08:50:48 AM
Okay Jonathan I did just like you said and it does work, as you said. Now the only issue is that the zreplacement folder's T21 are made for RHD users so the stop lights are inverted.

See above, of course they are, that's exactly what you've installed, RHD stoplights.

QuoteAs for mgb, I went through the datanode and found no conflicts that would cause such a behavior. Also as Kelis asked, your stop lights are brown which indicates you are using the Japanese Signal Pack "design" variant. What files are you using from it? Cause if I understand correctly it is a mod on its own so it should cause conflicts with neko's road side mod.

Really? Datanode is not checking for conflicts, but overrides. There must be overrides, after all the mod itself is an override. Are you saying that nothing further is overridden by the mod in question? Because again, logically if you aren't seeing the correct mod, something must be overriding it. The only other explanation is that you simply don't have the necessary files installed full stop.

Data node is not exactly the easiest tool to use. Because with large sets of data, there is often a huge amount of files you need to go through manually to get to the bottom of things.

The main point here, this is not caused by the NAM. If you don't accept this fact, you will never get to the bottom of the problem. Perhaps it's worth starting over and slowly going through each element of these mods one at a time, so you can see how adding each component affects things. This will give you a better idea of what is happening. I tried yesterday to "break" my setup to see if I could replicate your results, but after an hour I was no closer to working it out. I don't read/understand Japanese, nor do I have Japanese characters enabled in Windows. So I have to go through things at the level of reading the dats manually. I tried to find the exact cause of your problem, but it simply wasn't happening in a reasonable time period. As such, all I can tell you is what I've already stated. It can work, so logically the issue might reside with your plugins folder somewhere.

art128

#11
OKAY. I think I finally got this thing working after many years.

I've put the following file from the japanese signal pack (Which can be found here) into the empty zzOptionFile folder of Neko's mod: signal1.dat and it worked.

The other files in the mod (since yes the Japanese signal pack is a MOD) are not needed, they will just add more poles along with neko's which result in a very ugly thing. Also from the Japanese signal pack there is two version, a normal 通常色 and a design version デザイン色 (which is the one MGB uses) only one version is needed.

Still who would have thought about putting what is seemingly a dependency inside an option folder?

Though I have to say static props from the RHD version look better than the animations. :D


I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

Props & Texture Catalog

Shark7

This is a great mod, though I have had a small issue with it as well.  I am using the Japanese Sidewalk mod as well.

I play a RHD version of the game.  The problem is that on the avenues, there is a billboard type street sign that appears in the t-21s that shows up backwards...IE, it still acts as if it were a LHD version of the game.  I can't figure out which one of the files I need to remove to finally put an end to the backwards signs.

I'm completely happy with just removing the offending file, if I can find it.  At least I hope it is something as simple as that.

And after reading art128's post, I'm wondering if I put too much stuff into plugins folder again.  :-[  Conflicts are a bad thing.

mgb204

See this thread, Magneto attached an additional file to remove them there.

Mack The Finger

Quote from: kelis on October 10, 2016, 03:45:18 AM
I want to share a small bug that I have using this fantastic mod with the last version of NAM.


If I create comercial zones the streetlights does not appear, if I create residential zones using streets or one way roads the MAXIS streetlights does not appear...
What is causing this ? I hope somebody can help me with this... in the meanwhile I just create residential zones connected by street and never by roads...


Kelis, I've had the EXACT same problem as you did with this mod and I searched for an answer and found this thread just today; so mgb mentioned how it may not work with LRM v5? He's potentially hit a 180 with that because as soon as I installed v4 with the Belgium set the problem was solved! No more MAXIS lamps along my residentials. I don't know if it does or does not work with v5, but I personally could not get it to work with v5, and v35 of NAM. With LRM v4 and NAM v35 everything is fine.

I know this is a thread from last year, but if you see this kelis, or anyone else with this problem, you should check your LRM version first before using the RHD version.

I really do love JPN's street mod and the LRM, but I do wish I could customize it exactly to my liking; I'm building an historic city and I would like to have the $$$ lamps show up on streets by $$ zones and even $ zones but I don't think there's a way to customize the LRM like that is there? You can pick any country's style, but you cannot choose to have $$$ and park lamps show up on lower wealth zones?

The historic city I'm basing mine on had Victorian/old town/park lamps on most streets back at the turn of the century, so that's what I would like to achieve. But I don't suppose there's a way to do that without making T21 mods myself?

mgb204

Adapting a T21 mod is relatively easy, but in essence that's what you'd have to do here to alter the props being used.

So if one T21 currently covers all wealth/zoning types, you'd need to copy it to make duplicates for the number of different zone types you wanted to have. Just give each an incremental ID and you should be fine. Then just change the Prop Exemplar ID for the relevant T21s to the ID of the prop you wish to use instead. T21s do have a learning curve, but if you aren't making new ones from scratch, you could work out the basics and complete such a task with a reasonable effort.