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ESURE - Express Subways and Underground Rail Extensions

Started by z, March 25, 2009, 03:44:39 AM

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dragonshardz

You know, the technology from this could be applied to FLUPS...something that converts FLUP traffic to subway would be immensely helpful when passing under those massive lots and parks!

z

This discussion has already occurred, and there are two big obstacles here:  First, the speed of the subways is way too much higher than the speed of the roads, so the traffic simulation would be thrown off.  Second, you couldn't have buses go through, because otherwise, how would you know on the other end which passengers to convert to cars and which to buses?  I've even tried to build fancy switches that would handle this, but the subways don't work in a manner that would permit this to succeed.

dragonshardz

Oups, didn't think about that. Didn't know that the discussion had already happened either.

z

#23
Release of ESURE RC1

ESURE has finally been upgraded to the point where it should be ready for final release.  The FURLs are still implemented as lots, as getting them made into puzzle pieces has turned out to be much more time consuming than expected.  However, they work fine as lots, within the limitations described above, and allow both freight and passenger traffic to pass in any direction.

ESURE was originally designed as a way to help bypass the Eternal Commuter bug.  Ironically, what has been learned about the traffic simulator since ESURE was first created has made it clear that this is not possible.  The Sims' destination is decided upon unalterably before the pathfinding engine even starts, so it is not possible to use ESURE to detour the Sims away from a border crossing.

Other than that, though, all the features detailed for ESURE above now work reliably.  The biggest change between the initial version of ESURE and this version is in the instructions!  The initial instructions directed the player to always place the SURC lots with the arrow pointing toward the underground rail.  As noted a few posts above, it was discovered after the release of ESURE that this works only for north-south routes.  For east-west routes, the SURC pieces must be placed with the arrow pointing away from the underground rail, toward the outgoing subway line.

To make this work completely, a separate version of the road T-intersection had to be created for east-west routes.  This new lot now appears in the Misc Transport menu directly under the original T-intersection lot.  The new lot shows a T-intersection rotated to be on its side, to differentiate it from the original lot, where the T is upright.  Additionally, the description of the original lot now includes "N-S", while the description of the second lot includes "E-W".

The FURLs did not need to be changed at all.  Please remember that the SURCs and the road FURLs need to be placed before the puzzle pieces that go next to them; this was unavoidable with this type of hybrid lot.  This means you must also be careful not to pass the puzzle pieces over the lot as you're placing them, as that can cause an immediate crash to desktop.

At the time ESURE was originally created, I had SURCs and FURLs for grass and sandstone ped malls, even though there were not underground rail network pieces for these ped malls.  At my request, Jonathan has kindly created these pieces, and they exist in the current NAM.

I hope at some point to have the FURLs converted to puzzle pieces, as that will remove limitations on their use, as well as the CTD danger.  Hopefully, this will happen in a future NAM release.  If so, there will be complete compatibility between the puzzle pieces and the FURLs; I would expect to remove the FURLs from the menu then, so that although existing installations would always be supported, new installations would use the puzzle pieces.  In the mean time, I am now releasing ESURE as it is, as it is now fully functional.  Assuming no problems are found, it should show up on the LEX soon.  Enjoy!

Edit by BarbyW. I have removed the attachement as it needs to be submitted for scrutineering before being posted for all to use. I have sent a PM to Steve.

z

I am pleased to announce that the FURL portion of ESURE has been completely implemented as NAM puzzle pieces by Ebina, and they are now available in NAM version 30.  The FURLs are on a tab ring named "Underground Rail Miscellaneous Puzzle Pieces" in the Rail submenu, directly underneath the three other Underground Rail tab ring menu entries.

The remainder of ESURE will be released as soon as I can get around to it.

ScottFTL

I'm glad these finally saw the light of day.   :thumbsup:

Here's hoping the SURC's aren't far behind.  Those would be really useful with the much-improved Underground Rail in the latest NAM.

pierreh

Quite a while ago I downloaded the ESURE files (4 of them) on the side, but did not bring them yet to my active plugins. I have just installed NAM 30, in which the FURL portion of ESURE is now included. With a view to install and use ESURE, should I then move to the active plugins, only the RoadTexture_Euro and the SURC files?

z

In your case, yes, since you don't have any FURLs in your cities.  The FURLs were separated in their own file for just this eventuality.

For people who have any FURLs in their cities already, you will still need all four files.  However, if you don't have any FURLs, or if you bulldoze all the existing ones first and later replace them with the new puzzle pieces, you can keep only the three files that Douzerouge named.

fredskronk

Sorry for bringing this thing out of the dust but what happened to it? I remember reading about it a few years back but had no need for it by then. Am now back to playing the game and actually would need it. Can I still use the files in the first post? Cant find this on LEX or STEX.

z

Rest assured that ESURE is still alive, though currently in hiding.  As mentioned above, the FURLs are now available in the standard NAM Underground Rail menus.  The SURCs are actually scheduled for release as part of a larger project around the beginning of March.  Note that although they function exactly as described above, the non-intersecting subway function has turned out to be much less useful than originally hoped, due to the discovery that the traffic simulator's destination finder sets a Sim's destination before a path is selected, and trying to divert the Sims from that preselected destination simply does not work.

You can use the files from the first post, but beware that they suffer from the orientation bug that is described above.  They also use an obsolete texture for Underground Rail.  I would recommend simply waiting until March when ESURE is formally released.  The release will be announced in this thread.

z

I neglected to mention this at the time, but all the functionality of the original ESURE has been incorporated into the NAM since NAM 31.  As mentioned above, the FURLs were incorporated as Underground Rail puzzle pieces in NAM 30; the SURCs can now be found in the "Subway to Underground Rail Connectors (ESURE)" option under "Stations, Ports, and Network Transitions".  Both options are included by default.  Just recently, however, a bug was discovered that resulted in the straight road SURC texture not showing up if you didn't also have RTMT installed.  A patch for this problem can be found here; the patch file replaces the file of the same name in the folder "Plugins\z___NAM\Mass Transit Lots\ESURE".