[Haljackey]

Announcement: The RealHighway Interchange Guide has moved to a new board. You can find it here.

RHW Interchange Guide

With the release of RHW 3.0 (and the latest release), there is virtually an infinite number of ways you can construct your highways and interchanges.  However, this is not a simple task, and takes quite a bit of getting used to.  Many folks have looked at several pictures of RHW interchanges and asked "whoa!  How'd you do that?" and have tried to construct something similar themselves, sometimes with much difficulty that eventually causes them to give up. 

This guide will show examples of various interchange types and will describe how they were made.  Feel free to ask questions after a guide has been posted if you are having difficulty.  I will attempt to show how to construct these interchanges as simple as possible, using only the necessary downloads.

If you'd like to submit your own guides to this thread, please send me a private message containing your guide in advance. Also be sure to follow the format set up in previous guides. Thanks!


Requirements

Before we get started, make sure you have downloaded the following:

Network Addon Mod (NAM) version 30 (September 2011)

PC:  http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=851
Mac:  http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=852
-Note: Select TuLEP (Turning Lane Extension Pieces) during the NAM installation. (Needed for some guides.)

Real Highway (RHW) mod version 5.0 (September 2011)

PC: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=853
Mac:  http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1432

Hole Digging lots

-Needed for some guides
http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=3599

Using a slope mod is also highly recommended for realistic results. Additional RHW textures and add-ons are optional.


Table of Contents

Section 1: Diamond Interchanges

1.1: Standard Diamond Interchange
1.2: Elevated Diamond Interchange
1.3: Left Exit/Entrance Diamond Interchange
1.4: FLUP Diamond Interchange
1.5: FLUP Left-Exit/Entrance Diamond Interchange

Section 2: Parclo Interchanges
     
2.1: Parclo A-2 Interchange
2.2: Parclo A-4 Interchange
2.3: Tight Parclo A-4 Interchange
2.4: Parclo A-4 Interchange with dual acceleration/deceleration ramps
2.5: Parclo A-4 Interchange with single acceleration/deceleration ramps
2.6: Realistic Parclo A-4 Interchange

Section 3:  Trumpet Interchanges

3.1 Simple Trumpet Interchange
3.2 Complex Trumpet Interchange
3.3 Compact, Complex Trumpet Interchange

Section 4:  Cloverleaf Interchanges
     
4.1 Simple Cloverleaf Interchange
4.2 Complex Cloverleaf Interchange (with collector/distributor roads)
4.3 Partially Unraveled Cloverleaf Interchange
4.4 Simple Elongated Cloverleaf Interchange

Section 5:  Dumbbell / Raindrop Interchanges
     
5.1 Basic Dumbbell Interchange
5.2 Elevated Dumbbell Interchange
5.3 Sunken Dumbbell Interchange
5.4 Avenue Dumbbell/Raindrop Interchange

Section 6:  Single Point Diamond Interchanges, or Single-Point Urban Interchanges (SPUI)

6.1 Basic Single-Point Diamond Interchange

Section 7: Diverging Interchanges

7.1 Basic Diverging Diamond Interchange

Section 8:  Roundabout and Rotary Interchanges
          
8.1 Basic Rotary Interchange
8.2 Standard Roundabout Interchange

Section 9:  T-Bone Interchanges

9.1 Basic T-Bone Interchange

Section 10:  Windmill Interchanges

10.1 Standard Windmill Interchange

Section 11: Cloverstack Interchanges
     
11.1: Basic Two-level Cloverstack Interchange
11.2: Standard Two-Level Cloverfold Stack Interchange
11.3: Three-Level Cloverstack Interchange

Section 12: Turbine / Whirlpool Interchanges
     
12.1: Standard Turbine Interchange

Section 13: Volleyball Interchanges

13.1: Standard Volleyball Interchange

Section 14: Directional and Semi-Directional-T Interchanges
     
14.1: Standard Directional-T Interchange

Section 15: Free-Flowing Diverging Interchanges

15.1: Standard Diverging Windmill Interchange
15.2: Diverging Partial Cloverleaf Interchange

(Table of Contents will be filled in as more guides are posted.)


Reserve images
-Examples of RHW interchange types not yet shown in this guide.

Full Y
No reserve diagram at the moment. (Can't find one.)

Stack


Box / Divided Volleyball


Full Diamond


"Basketweave" Configuration (for interconnecting a Multi-RHW)



Useful Links:

-NAM tutorials on the SC4 Wiki

-RHW Development Thread

-Your RHW Readme File

-Draggable MIS Ramp method.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/SirdKOFtwzg" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/SirdKOFtwzg</a>

-Asteconn's video tutorials:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/p/58B81B77927B6E7C&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/p/58B81B77927B6E7C&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>


Anyways, that's it for now.  The first guide will be for making various diamond interchanges. I hope you enjoy this guide!
-Haljackey[/s]

[Ryan B.]

Even an advanced highway technician like myself is looking forward to this guide, Hal.  I'm gonna learn a metric ton following this thread!

[Haljackey]

All right, let's get started, shall we?

Section 1:  Diamond Interchanges


To quote from Mightygoose's Compendium of Interchanges:

"A very simple design involving two carriageways, usually perpendicular to each other however other angles are perfectly possible, of different grade (grade being quantity of traffic usually handled). The major grade carriageway in a diamond is referred to as the surface road, as it is customary that the road with higher usage has the least deviation from the horizontal. The minor grade carriageway is reflected to in this case as the street. The street may go either over or under the surface road but it will clearly undergo a greater elevation change if both routes intersect on level ground.

Diamonds are the simplest 4 ramp interchanges. They are often used in where there is a very large grade difference in the carriageways such as highways passing through inner boroughs of cities. However they scale up badly. At the ramp/street intersection, unless the street is very low grade, there must be lights. This slows down traffic, and if the street is high grade, cause congestion. Furthermore if the majority of traffic is using only one ramp of the interchange then efficient light timings are going to cause congestion on the street, especially if it is cross-carriageway turning (a left turn in the US or a right in the UK)."

Simply put, a diamond is a simple, space-saving low capacity interchange between a highway and a road.  All the road/highway interchanges Maxis included for the elevated and ground highways are diamonds and follow this concept. 

Now, I will show you how to make diamonds for the RHW!


Section 1.1: Standard Diamond Interchange

This is almost a direct copy of the RHW Readme file, showing how to make a RHW.  I will make a 4-lane RHW with a 1 tile median to keep things as simple as possible.

Place your starter pieces...


Drag the RHW using the RHW tool...


(Optional) Delete the starter pieces to create a RHW without any overrides.


And drag the stable network over it.


Voila!  You have a RHW!  Now lets make some diamond interchanges for it!


Standard RHW-type "A" diamond interchange.

From this part forward, the pictures will do most of the talking.  Note, this is just for reference, and your results can be different than mine!

Build your overpass.  For this example, I will use a simple road overpass using the NAM raised road pieces.  You can use proper land grading to create a much better looking, realistic result.


Get some RHW-2 action going now.  Drag your ramp setup at the ends of the overpass.


With those RHW-2s placed as visual examples, you now know where to plop your RHW type "A" ramps:


Connect the edge of the ramps up with the RHW-2s, and they should override to create the MIS ramps. 


All right!  You have made your first diamond interchange!

The same setup can be applied for type "C" Ramps.  Just make sure you leave enough room next to the RHW for accel-decel lanes (RHW-6S).


Standard RHW-type "B" diamond interchange.

This setup will make the ramps intersect the RHW at a 45 degree angle, which will result in a smaller, better-looking diamond interchange.

Do all the steps used in the first guide up to here:


Now, instead of plopping the RHW type "A" ramps, plop the RHW type "B" ramps.


Now, connect the edge of the ramps up with the RHW-2s and you should get your MIS ramps working.


There you go!  Another RHW diamond interchange!


Standard "Space-Saving" diamond interchange.

Up to now, all the examples I showed were possible with RHW 2.0.  Well, RHW 3.0 is out now, allowing for even more possibilities!  Here is one example.

You'll need to construct the overpass a bit differently this time, putting the new RHW/MIS 4-way intersection piece on either side of the RHW.


Use the ground to elevated MIS pieces on all four corners of the intersections you first built.


And then just use the type "A" RHW ramps to connect everything together.


Now, that's quite a space-saver eh?

The same setup can be applied for type "C" Ramps.  Just make sure you leave enough room next to the RHW for accel-decel lanes (RHW-6S).


Sunken Diamond Interchange

Two things you should get before we get started: hole-digging lots and a slope mod.

I am going to use both of them for this tutorial.  The end result will look similar to the sunken highway tutorial, but with the RHW!

Place your hole-digging lots.  (Hole diggers for sunken.)


Drag a road over each to create your hole.


Plop road stubs to level the ground properly.


Once stable enough, delete the hole digging lots and the road segments.


Dig yourself a trench.  Use road stubs for the length of your sunken segment.


Once complete, delete the road stubs.


Now construct your RHW inside the trench.  Use the steps at the very beginning of this guide for best results. 


Create your sunken overpass.


Here's where things get tricky.  Extend the sunken segment and create a sloped RHW-2 connecting the road to the sunken segment.
-Your results will probably be different than mine!


Repeat, 3 more times.


Delete any remaining road stubs and level any remaining rugged ground.


Plop the new type "A" RHW ramps that separate the RHW and MIS with a 1 tile gap in the remaining sunken areas.


You're done!  You can now rest easy.

The same setup can be applied with the "space-saver" concept displayed above.


Anyways, that will do it for now.  Have fun making some diamond interchanges for the RHW!

Best,
-Haljackey

[Tarkus]

Haljackey, this is a fantastic tutorial on Diamond Interchanges you've written up here.  It's very clear and easy to follow!  I'm looking forward to seeing further installments of the Interchange Guide--I have no doubt it will become invaluable reference for all RHW users.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[JoeST]

yes indeedy, that is awesome good tutorial

and you made me think, does the RHW now come with a default "maxis-fixing" slope mod? or does it still look real ugly whenever you use it without a rhw enabled one?

Joe

[MandelSoft]

Nice tutorial, Hal! There's actualy one diamond space saving interchange you forgot, and that's the variant that you elevate the RHW instead of the ramps.

By the way, to make my slopes smooth, I use another network (like El-rail) to do that. I think you used that method too.

Can't wait to see the next part, because you are never old enough to learn 

Best,
Maarten

[ehbk2006]

Nice 

[Haljackey]

Thanks everyone!

and you made me think, does the RHW now come with a default "maxis-fixing" slope mod? or does it still look real ugly whenever you use it without a rhw enabled one?

I don't think so.  There is a optional RHW slope mod out there I think, and like Maarten stated, you can use another network like rail or monorail to create a somewhat smoother slope.

Nice tutorial, Hal! There's actualy one diamond space saving interchange you forgot, and that's the variant that you elevate the RHW instead of the ramps.

Elevated RHW diamonds are going to be the next guide  .

Best,
-Haljackey

[LE0]

How about diagonal diamond interchanges?

The A-wide ramp at the end there, will it be in future RHW releases for wider RHWs? Seems useful

[girlfromverona]

Thanks for this very useful guide, Haljackey! I always have difficulty deciding which type of interchange to build, so it's good to see the different varieties mentioned here. Looking forward to the next part! 

[Haljackey]

Once again a huge thanks for the feedback everyone! It means a lot that you are finding this guide useful!

How about diagonal diamond interchanges?

The A-wide ramp at the end there, will it be in future RHW releases for wider RHWs? Seems useful

Well, remember this is just a basic guide.  If you want to go diagonal, then apply the concepts I used, only diagonally.   


Section 1.2:  Elevated Diamond Interchanges.

The El-RHW is a real beaut when it comes to making diamond interchanges.  In this guide, I will show you how to build 3 more diamond interchanges with the El-RHW, using the El-RHW type "A" ramp and ground-to elevated MIS transitions.


Getting the basic stuff out of the way

For this guide, I will construct a El-RHW with a 0 tile median.  This makes sense as it gives the appearance that the entire highway is one structure, and because the El-RHW can easily be used in dense urban areas, a place where having a multiple tile median is rarely seen.

Place your starter pieces...


Drag the RHW using the RHW tool...


(Optional) Delete the starter pieces to create a RHW without any overrides.


And drag the stable network over it.


Congrats!  You now have a El-RHW!


Standard El-RHW Diamond Interchange

This setup is probably the easiest and most common type of elevated diamond interchanges, and is quite a space saver!

Drag a road under your El-RHW:


Place 4 ground-to elevated MIS transition pieces on each corner:


Plop your El-RHW type "A" ramps.
-Currently, this is the only El-RHW ramp.


Drag the MIS on the ground to intersect with the road and connect to the other side.


And you're done!  Pretty simple eh?  Looks great too!


Higher Capacity El-RHW Diamond Interchange

A downside to diamond interchanges is that they have a low capacity.  When space is an issue, diamond interchanges will be placed in dense cities, creating a lot of traffic problems if overused.  This setup will be better to use in those areas because it contains an extra lane at the intersection and traffic lights for better flow.

Because this is going to be higher capacity, lets put an avenue underneath instead of a road.


Drag one-way roads on either side of the RHW to create intersections.  Continue to drag them for at least one tile on each side of the intersections.


Place 4 ground-to elevated MIS transition pieces on each corner, just like we did in the last guide:


And again, plop your El-RHW type "A" ramps.


Now, drag the MIS on the ground to the one-way roads.  The ramp will widen to two lanes, allowing for dedicated right and left turn lanes and giving the appearance that it is of higher capacity.


All right!  This should work perfectly for any urban setting.


Now for something different

This guide is made for ultra-dense cities where interchanges need to consume as little room as possible.  It may not be the best looking interchange, but it will get the job done while conserving space.

Place a elevated highway/avenue interchange in the middle of the junction.  Then drag El-RHWs up to the elevated highway, leaving one tile vacant between the elevated highway and the El-RHW.
-You can also use the elevated highway/road interchange too.


Now, cycle through the raised avenue puzzle pieces tab until you find the raised avenue-elevated highway transition puzzle piece.  Place them on either side of the elevated highway in the one tile you left vacant to create a working connection.


And that's it!  The raised avenue-elevated highway transition puzzle piece can be used whenever you want to connect a El-RHW to a elevated highway.


I hope you find this guide useful!  The El-RHW is a fantastic addition, and its very useful for making interchanges!

Best,
-Haljackey

[JoeST]

Hey Hal, is it alright if I copypasta your tuts over to the wiki? they are too awesome not to be there

Joe

EDIT: The first one is up [linky]

[Ennedi]

yes indeedy, that is awesome good tutorial

and you made me think, does the RHW now come with a default "maxis-fixing" slope mod? or does it still look real ugly whenever you use it without a rhw enabled one?

Joe

Thanks everyone!

I don't think so.  There is a optional RHW slope mod out there I think, and like Maarten stated, you can use another network like rail or monorail to create a somewhat smoother slope.


Elevated RHW diamonds are going to be the next guide  .

Best,
-Haljackey

Older slope mods didn't include RHW. There was a separate slope mod for RHW made by kt3. All my slope mods work with RHW. I choosen RHW smoothness (max slope change between neighboring tiles) and max slope identical as for avenue. Ground highway smoothness is the same, it's max slope is a bit less.
Please try use my slope mod (version Medium 315 or - maybe better - Smooth 212) and tell me if RHW parameters are good for your needs. I can modify them if you want.

Haljackey - great tutorial! Very clear and helpful. 
Some people showed interchanges with inside exits (in the "Show us your interchanges" thread). Maybe you could show them in your tutorial?

Adam

Edit: sorry, bones1 slope mod works with RHW (but it is very steep), JRJ BRF one doesn't.
Here is a comparation from my slope mod readme:

[JoeST]

I knew there were actual slope mods that included RHW, I was just wondering if there was one included, maybe there should be, if that's possible (without interfering with other mods)

Joe

BTW: I will stick the next tutorial up soon

[deathtopumpkins]

Excellent guide you've got here, Hal! It's made me think a little bit about the techniques I use to build my interchanges, and I think I might change a few things now... 

[Haljackey]

JoeST:  Looks good!  I will give you guys full permission to post my guides on the Wiki.  There are still some spacing problems with it, and the images are still not hosted on the Wiki.  Since my free photobucket account can easily exceed its monthly bandwidth, it may be a good idea to host them on the Wiki.

Ennedi:  Very interesting.  I use the Bullet Train Slope Mod that APTX included with his amazing bullet train mod (BTM) for most of my slopes.  I think I am also using kt3's RHW slope mod as well, which is not as restrictive as the bullet train slope mod and better to use in hilly areas. 
-I don't know the specifications or angles APTX included in his bullet train slope mod, but I'd recommend you check it out.  There's a direct download to the mod on the Wiki.


As for left exit diamonds, you can take the concepts I applied and just use them for left exits instead of right exits.  Perhaps I will show a few examples using the left exits before I leave diamond interchanges and begin a new interchange type.

Personally, I don't like left exits at all.  Although quite useful, they are very unsafe compared to right exits since you are exiting/entering into the inside (passing) lane, which is usually the fastest lane of traffic opposed to the outside which is usually the slowest.  It can also catch drivers offguard since they are not the norm and may unintentionally use it or miss it.

Anyways, that's it for my little rant.  I will show a few left exit diamonds in the next guide.

Best,
-Haljackey

[JoeST]

Hey Hal: I wont upload all your images right now, but if you maybe infuture upload some of them to the wiki instead of your bucket ? might be easier than duplicating

Joe

[Haljackey]

Thanks to all for your continued support!

Hey Hal: I wont upload all your images right now, but if you maybe infuture upload some of them to the wiki instead of your bucket ? might be easier than duplicating

Joe

Well the problem with that is I can only upload one image at a time, unlike uploading multiple images at once like photobucket and other free hosting sites offer.
-But don't worry too much.  I have multiple free accounts that help me spread out my monthly bandwidth. 


Section 1.3:  Left Exit/Entrance Diamond Interchanges.

Made by request(s), I will show you how to make some diamond interchanges using the new left exit/entrance ramps included with RHW 3.0.


Getting the basic stuff out of the way

For this guide, I will construct a RHW with a 2 tile median.  You will need to have a RHW with a median of at least 2 tiles in order to get use left exit/entrance ramps for diamond interchanges.

Place your starter pieces...


Drag the RHW using the RHW tool...


(Optional) Delete the starter pieces to create a RHW without any overrides.


And drag the stable network over it.


Ok, your RHW is now set up.


Standard RHW left exit/entrance diamond interchange

Again, I will use a road as an overpass this time.  Make sure you put two 4-way El-MIS/raised road intersections in the median tiles, and make sure they are facing the right direction!


Plop 4 ground-to-elevated MIS transition pieces next to the intersections you made in the RHW's median.


...And then place the left RHW type "A" ramps next to the MIS ramps.


And you're done.  That's an odd looking diamond, eh?


High Capacity RHW left exit/entrance diamond interchange

This higher capacity interchange will not take up any additional room than the standard RHW left exit/entrance diamond interchange, and will look more at home in urban areas.  Like the higher capacity El-RHW diamond interchange, it will include an additional lane at the intersection and add traffic lights.

I will use an avenue for this diamond.  Place a 4-way raised avenue intersection in the median of your RHW.


Now use the ground-to-raised avenue puzzle pieces inside the median like so:


Place the left RHW type "A" ramps next to the avenues in the RHW's median.


Then all you have to do is drag the MIS coming from the ramp to the avenue to create a working connection.


And there you go.  Kind of a mini SPUI for those who know what I'm talking about.


After I made this guide, I decided to play around with my new interchange for a bit.  I ended up making this interesting creation:

Click for full resolution!


This 8-ramp monster handles traffic traveling in all directions.  The new outer 4 ramps handle right turns while the original 4 left ramps handle left turns.  It is truly amazing what you can make with RHW 3.0, there's just so many possibilities! 

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this guide.  That will just about do it for diamond interchanges I think.

Best,
-Haljackey

[A200]

Yay my interchange was included in this thread 

Good work 

[Ennedi]

Hal, I checked APTX Bullet Slope Mod.

- It's not a standalone mod, it is a part of the railway.dat file which reskins monorail ( and probably El Rail too, I'm not sure). The APTX mod includes Traffic Simulator too, I don't know if it is compatible with the current NAM version - but it is probably possible to use only a part of it (reskinning network and trains, but without simulator).

- This mod changes only Monorail placing parameters. So if you want to make a soft slope, you must use the monorail first. I checked it.

- How does it change the network shape?
  - Max Slope Along Network = 4; very low, the slope is very small.
  - Max Network Slope Change = 30; it says how much can change the angle between neighboring tiles. Very high, similar to Maxis, BRF JRJ and CSX parameters (in fact all slope mods but mine have this property high). It means that the network will be bend at slope ends. It is not much visible in APTX mod, because the Max Slope is low, so the slope change can't be higher than 4 in any case. But the bend is visible.
Comparing to my "Smooth" version (see the table in my previous message)
- Monorail - Max Slope Change = 1, Max Slope Along Network = 6 ( 1,5 x APTX)
- RHW Max Slope Change = 2, Max Slope Along Network = 10.

There is an important factor which we must take into account comparing these parameters:
- If the Max Slope Change is low, the network at both ends of the slope (top and bottom) will be rounded and it will look smooth - it is one of main features of my slope mods. But it increases a distance needed to cover a given height difference, because the network needs a few tiles before it reach the max angle.
This is a reason why earlier slope mods creators used so high value of the Max Slope Change - because it makes the needed distance smaller, even if the Max Slope is low. But the price are bends at top and bottom 
However, if we have a small slope (as when we build multilevel transit networks, the typical height difference is 15 m) with my mod installed, the network most often doesn't reach the maximum slope value, the Max Slope Change parameter doesn't enable it.

For your information, I made also a "Diabolical" version of my slope mod (so called by Shadow Assassin who requested it and as he said he was very satisfied). Some parameters of this version:
- Monorail: Max Slope Change = 0,6, Max Slope = 4 (exactly as in APTX but more smooth)
- EL Rail: Max Slope Change = 0,8, Max Slope = 5
- RHW: Max Slope Change = 1,6, Max Slope = 8

I didn't release this version because I didn't know if anybody would be interested in it (I asked and haven't no answer). But maybe you can try it and maybe you would be able to use directly RHW to make soft slopes, without placing another network first?
If so, please download and check 
Attention: Your other networks will be very smooth too 

Adam