UK Road Textures

[WannGLondon]

Hey NAM Team, big fan of your works, but I was wondering if any of the team was working on a UK Road Texture mod. I would love to have some UK road textures on my roads (zig-zag markings, etc.). Thanks guys.
Like these;

[cmdp123789]

Actually, it would be really nice to have an UK texture... its different and at the same time it somehow differs from the "european" one.

[Lowkee33]

Making a texture override isn't the hardest thing in the world (I'm not calling it easy), you might want to try it yourself.  I'm pretty sure you can find textures like that out there that exist as overlays as well.

[WannGLondon]

Actually, it would be really nice to have an UK texture... its different and at the same time it somehow differs from the "european" one.

We seem to always be interested in the same things haha.

Making a texture override isn't the hardest thing in the world (I'm not calling it easy), you might want to try it yourself.  I'm pretty sure you can find textures like that out there that exist as overlays as well.

Alright, thanks. I will check it out.

[MandelSoft]

Well, those wiggly lines are really hard to realise. Not texture-wise, but more the technical implementation. This would require

a) RUL2-code override, which is undesireable for people outside the UK and probably it will not happen due to the possibility of incompatability, or
b) Extra puzzle pieces, again undesireable for people outside the UK, or
c) Transit-Enabled lots, which are somewhat tricky to work with and can cause CTDs when hovering over Puzzle Pieces(not to mention that residential lots can cut off by them)

Option a) and b) also require proper IID allocation of which I don't see within what NAM project range this would fit.

Road markings are in every European country slightly different. Check out how different the road markings are if you compare Sweden with Germany with France with the Netherlands and with the UK. Then you see that there can be quite some differences, yet there are quite some things they have in common. It's impractical to make a road texture set for every country. It's quite labour intensive, especially when you realise we're talking about thousands of texture files! Heck, it took for me three and a half months to complete the Euro RHW Texture Set (3800 textures in total in the basic set) and I'm not even finished with updating the NWM Euro textures! I also had to made up some textures for road setups that are not seen here, like the TLAs, I'm trying to make my textures as generic as possible.

But if you want to make these things happen, make them yourself. To me, it was the most quick route to get my Euro RHW textures for the past three releases

Best,
Maarten

[Lowkee33]

That is if you want to make a set in addition to NAM, right?  Oh well, Maarten knows much more about this than me.

[cmdp123789]

Well, I know... we always end up with basically the same ideas... the thing is, UK architecture and the basically the engineering through the country itself is amazing... I like how they have this euro skyline yet they manage to add or build different styles from victorian to modern skyscrapers, the subway system in london, the euro tunnel, etc etc... cities like portsmouth... birmingham... so different and yet so alike, you know?

Plus, lately I've studying on my own some history about the london's underground, the unfinished rings... the history of the city itself and I must say that Im impressed... Thats why Im waiting for the London map that dobdriver said was making... so I can start a London recreation, It wont be exactly 100 percent since we know the limitations, but, as close as possible.

About that, I will PM later since there is something I would like to discuss.

Textures now... well Maarten's gotta point there... it would be waaaaay to difficult to release a "pack" of only UK textures... and it would take probbly years to finally accomplish some textures good enough to put them in the actual game... BUT HEY! dreaming on new stuff is what keeps the game alive...

[noahclem]

That would be a really cool addition for British-styled cities. I think the only reasonable way to implement it would be as cosmetic puzzle pieces for when you want the squigglies and perhaps some minor changes to the Euro texture mod if you thought they were necessary. The easiest way would be TE lots--you wouldn't have to wait til the next NAM release cycle and you wouldn't have to learn to create puzzle pieces (or get a NAMite enthused enough to do the legwork for you). As Maarten mentioned there are real disadvantages to going that route though....

[Lowkee33]

Okay, so here's an idea.  Focusing on the non-T basic turning lane piece (0x5B010004).  Take the lanes out of the FSH.  Then make a new FSh with the lanes, apply it as another Anim group, and give it transparency.  The other groups can be the same, just add the new FSH as another Mat.

Sorry about the image size, if ImageShack is going to limit me I have to get as much info in one picture as I can.


Now as long as whatever override you need to do has the same skid marks, all that needs changing is the new "Lanes" FSH.  Though I understand the work involved in making every puzzle piece work like this (and the added vertices), it may make cosmentic mods easier.

As a side, I notice this particular piece isn't using the mips (Every S3D uses FSH 0x5B01000E).  Is there a specific reason why this model doesn't need the mips, or wouldn't it be ideal to have every piece without mips to save file space?

By the way, do all London crosswalks have the "Look Right/Left" paint marks?

[jondor]

As a side, I notice this particular piece isn't using the mips (Every S3D uses FSH 0x5B01000E).  Is there a specific reason why this model doesn't need the mips, or wouldn't it be ideal to have every piece without mips to save file space?

That one was probably an accident, but thanks to a new discovery (hopefully) all new content will be produced with embedded mips and using RKT0s instead of 3s.  Older content may be converted over as people (probably me) have time to do so.

[Wiimeiser]

I can see such a piece allowing pedestrians to cross roads, which would add to the usefulness of Pedmalls as well