I need info on building a bridge over a canyon

[reble]

I lost all my instructions on how to build things like a bridge over a dry canyon in SimCity 4. I would like to build the bridge instead of filling in the canyon. It isn't a wide or a deep canyon. The bridge is showed in the following screen capture picture with a red line.  I goofed, my hand jurked when I hit the button to save and post this. It seems to have made 2 of the same post.

[mgb204]

Your first hurdle here is that the game does not support diagonal bridges by default. A special NAM tool, the Diagonal Bridge Enabler (DBE), which is a separate download from the NAM mod itself can be used to bypass this limitation for Road, Ave, Rail and Highway networks.

The DBE can be found on the LEX here. A full guide to using it is on the NAM:Doc Wiki here.

Another important thing to consider here is that the canyon the bridge traverses must be one continual one. So the bump in the middle should be terraformed lower ideally before starting.

[reble]

Every time I try to download the DBE at  http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2690]LEX here[/url] Sc4devotion asks me to log in again. I do that and get an error message of "Username and password do not match". What gives?

Steve

Your first hurdle here is that the game does not support diagonal bridges by default. A special NAM tool, the Diagonal Bridge Enabler (DBE), which is a separate download from the NAM mod itself can be used to bypass this limitation for Road, Ave, Rail and Highway networks.

The DBE can be found on the LEX here. A full guide to using it is on the NAM:Doc Wiki here.

Another important thing to consider here is that the canyon the bridge traverses must be one continual one. So the bump in the middle should be terraformed lower ideally before starting.

[Andreas]

The LEX needs a separate registration, did you sign up there? Your forum registration won't work, but you probably should use the same name.

[reble]

I tried the same user name and email address that I used in the Sc4devotion forum and I get "user name and email address is taken already" I tried a password reset and the email never came through.

Steve

The LEX needs a separate registration, did you sign up there? Your forum registration won't work, but you probably should use the same name.

[reble]

I am now into LEX.  I registered new and I had to change my user name to "reble1".
There is 3 LEX downloads,  1. "Not LEX Certified / LEX Exclusive"   2.  "LEX Certified" and 3. "LEX Certified / LEX Exclusive". Which one do I use?

Steve   

[mgb204]

Now you have setup a separate account for the LEX, you should be able to use the link in my previous post to see the DBE download directly. I only know of one personally.

[reble]

Some how I must have been redirected to some other web page. I have been having a problem with been redirected lately a lot. I now have the DBE downloaded and I am reading through the instructions. Thanks. I think I can figure it out from here. If I am stuck again I will be back.        

Now you have setup a separate account for the LEX, you should be able to use the link in my previous post to see the DBE download directly. I only know of one personally.

[reble]

I have NAM and DBE installed and I am getting frustrated. I have been at it for 5 hours and I haven't completed the bridge over that canyon yet. I am just about ready to     say the heck with it and fill the canyon in and go on.  I can't figure out how to rotate the image of the bridge sections to fit the direction of the road. The directions that I found at http://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/index.php?title=Namdoc:Diagonal_Bridge_Enabler . It says to 1st drag a green line over the canyon in the direction that the bridge is going to go. There is no way to draw a green line in the game. I have posted a few screen captures of my attempts to build the bridge. I must be doing something wrong. Is there a doc for both NAM and DBE the explanes in detail what each item does?

Steve

[mgb204]

Those instructions were updated and posted by myself and are well tested, they do work. I've no idea where you are getting the green line from, it's not in the instructions at all. There is no need to make a green line, I can't think of how you could do this either? 

But the process is very sensitive to a number of factors, most importantly the order in which you do things. Whatever you do, DO NOT plop the DBE override starters until you've made the "bridge" part that floats in mid air completely. When you have the entire roadway in place, plop only one starter (Bridge override). Click along the entire bridge thereafter to make sure the override is completely in place, only then place the other DBE override piece on the other side.

Also I will add, the only piece you need to rotate is the DBE override starters to ensure they are in the correct direction. To do this, much as with all other puzzle pieces, just use the Home and End keys.

Hopefully this information clarifies things a little. I'll try to upload a video tutorial to YouTube in the coming days to work through each step.

[reble]

I figured out the green line bit in the picture bellow. I have my flat screen tv setup as an extended monitor so I can move an instructions file to the extended screen when I am working on a program or playing a game that requires the walk through file to be open to figure out were to go next. But when the tv is in pc monitor mode the color gain and tint controls are grayed out so the pulled across bridge on the picture bellow is green on the tv screen.  And I did finely figure out the rotate and tab controls very early this morning before I crashed out for 20 winks. Slowly I am getting hang of the DBE.       

Steve

Those instructions were updated and posted by myself and are well tested, they do work. I've no idea where you are getting the green line from, it's not in the instructions at all. There is no need to make a green line, I can't think of how you could do this either? 

But the process is very sensitive to a number of factors, most importantly the order in which you do things. Whatever you do, DO NOT plop the DBE override starters until you've made the "bridge" part that floats in mid air completely. When you have the entire roadway in place, plop only one starter (Bridge override). Click along the entire bridge thereafter to make sure the override is completely in place, only then place the other DBE override piece on the other side.

Also I will add, the only piece you need to rotate is the DBE override starters to ensure they are in the correct direction. To do this, much as with all other puzzle pieces, just use the Home and End keys.

Hopefully this information clarifies things a little. I'll try to upload a video tutorial to YouTube in the coming days to work through each step.

[reble]

The step in the quotes bellow isn't in the instruction guide   http://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/index.php?title=Namdoc:Diagonal_Bridge_Enabler . That's was the problem as to why I didn't understand the picture bellow. I understand the meaning of the screen capture picture bellow now, I didn't before.

Steve

"But the process is very sensitive to a number of factors, most importantly the order in which you do things. Whatever you do, DO NOT plop the DBE override starters until you've made the "bridge" part that floats in mid air completely. When you have the entire roadway in place, plop only one starter (Bridge override). Click along the entire bridge thereafter to make sure the override is completely in place, only then place the other DBE override piece on the other side."

[reble]

No mater how hard I try or how I go about doing it. I just can't get that floating bridge in place in the 1st picture the way I want it, bellow. I always end up with something like the 2nd picture bellow.

[mgb204]

Just drag the road, don't place the starters at all, then it will look as per the screenshot. Only AFTER you have done this should you move on to the starters, you must have the road in place first.

[reble]

I tried to duplicate the terrain the best that I could in the 1st picture bellow so that all the variables are the same. The next 3 pictures I tried at 3 different angles to drag the floating bridge across the hole with no luck. The yellow arrow shows whitch road icon I used. All 3 attempts are with the DBE temp directory installed. I must be doing something wrong and I can't figure it out. It is probably something right under my nose, but I can't see it. This is frustrating. I don't normally have this much trouble learning a new program.       at my self.

Just drag the road, don't place the starters at all, then it will look as per the screenshot. Only AFTER you have done this should you move on to the starters, you must have the road in place first.

[Simcoug]

I believe the area where you start your bridge and the area where you end it have to be completely flat, and the exact same elevation.  You will need to do some terraforming to achieve that.

[reble]

Here is my progress so far. I tried dragging 3 bridges over different types of canyons and holes.  I think I completed 2 bridges. The other 2 I think have an elevation problem in that one side is not level with the other. So the floating drag across won't complete. See the last picture with the yellow and red circles in the picture that shows all the bridges. Any comments?

Steve

[mgb204]

By the way MBG what are the following image files for that came with DBE? See the picture bellow.

(I'll respond here to keep things in one place)...

The image files are simply needed for the included readme file. But since the plugin is temporary only, having those kept in the DBE package won't cause any harm.

As for terraforming, it's tricky because when the DBE is there (in Plugins), it prevents some functionality that usually works. Before adding the DBE, one solution is to use the level terrain tool over the entire valley to get a completely flat surface on both sides of the bridge. Place some stubs around to lock in the height on either side, then very carefully make a valley in the middle between them. This way you can be certain that the terrain should be right. But even so, this is another of those finicky things that may require a bit of trail and error to get right.

[reble]

What do you mean by  " Place some stubs around to lock in the height on either side"? I understand now about making and/or leveling the canyon before installing the DBE.

By the way MBG what are the following image files for that came with DBE? See the picture bellow.

(I'll respond here to keep things in one place)...

The image files are simply needed for the included readme file. But since the plugin is temporary only, having those kept in the DBE package won't cause any harm.

As for terraforming, it's tricky because when the DBE is there (in Plugins), it prevents some functionality that usually works. Before adding the DBE, one solution is to use the level terrain tool over the entire valley to get a completely flat surface on both sides of the bridge. Place some stubs around to lock in the height on either side, then very carefully make a valley in the middle between them. This way you can be certain that the terrain should be right. But even so, this is another of those finicky things that may require a bit of trail and error to get right.

[Andreas]

"Stubs" are the 1x1 pieces of street or road (or any other network) that show up when you click with the mouse just once, without dragging. You can level a slightly bumpy terrain quickly by making a checkerboard-style area with those stubs. You might have noticed that building transit networks and growing buildings on zones always "auto-levels" such terrain bumps, but when those 1x1 stubs are in place, the land under them doesn't change, so they make pretty good "level locks" when fine-tuning your terrain.