SAM - Street Addon Mod

[Sir Charles of Dunlap]

Okay, I am only saying anything because it's been brought up, and I am not suggesting, I am asking, and yes, yes the readme does say don't ask, but I must ask if it is possible to make puzzle piece diagonals like are included in the current NAM for regular street. Just a question...

-Charlie

[rickmastfan67]

Okay, I am only saying anything because it's been brought up, and I am not suggesting, I am asking, and yes, yes the readme does say don't ask, but I must ask if it is possible to make puzzle piece diagonals like are included in the current NAM for regular street. Just a question...

-Charlie

From the README on top of every page:

PLEASE DO NOT ask about Diagonal Textures.  If it is possible then they may get done.  The original MAXIS Streets were not equipt with diagonal capabilities.  The Diagonal Streets are an addon made for the NAM, but due to the way they have been created there may be stability issues with making Diagonal Streets for SAM networks.  I am not promising anything about this.

This is our standard answer on this subject.  It will not change unless Jason says it should.

[Crissa]

Hum, that makes me wonder if eased curves would be easier for streets to code than diagonals?

Either way, I still say we should probably think ahead of time so the textures are available if the technique becomes possible.  What do we have to lose, right?

-Crissa

[Filasimo]

crissa: feel free to take a stab at it but we probly wont get to it til later on our things to mod list 

[dragonshardz]

Diagonals may come, they may not. Those of us who are not NAM Team (myself for one) will just have to wait and see!

Not a big deal, I really don't use diagonal streets anyhow!

[jplumbley]

Hum, that makes me wonder if eased curves would be easier for streets to code than diagonals?

Either way, I still say we should probably think ahead of time so the textures are available if the technique becomes possible.  What do we have to lose, right?

-Crissa

There are textures available to use as a base guide for making diagonals.  It is not a question of can it be done anymore.  It is a question of whether I have the time to RUL them.  Some of you may remember last time I had in the range of 450 lines of RULs from BETA v1.  This time I am pushing 1000 lines (just for one set of SAM).  There are still "stability" issues that need to be addressed.  What I mean by "stability" is when there is two intersections side by side, or a 90 turn beside an intersection, etc.  This stability work is MUCH more demanding than  one may think, I could probably do an entire update just for stability and not adding any "new" material and noone would really know the difference when I write an extra 1000 lines of code for each set.  Yes, I did say an extra 1000 lines of code for each set just for "stability". 

EDIT:  The BETA v2 RULs for SAM are currently 96 or 99 pages in Word.  Each page is 66 lines.  The Parking Lots set requires not even a third of a normal set and is not really considered a set..

When I started this project I knew it was big, I knew there would be 100s or 1000s of textures to edit and create.  Each SAM set is approximately 44 textures in size (176 with the 4 wealths).  Most sets were only completed to exist on one possible wealth meaning the other 3 wealths needed to be created.  That alone is 75% of the textures and some sets only had the base 5 piece set that is required to make everything else.  Lets just say currently, there was work on over 1300 textures.  There are still another 5 or so sets in the planning stages.  SAM will be pushing 2000 textures easily.

Diagonals will at my current estimate take another 15 to 20 textures at minimum per set x 4 wealths x maybe 13 sets by the end..  Approximately another 1000 textures.  RULs for diagonals are a little bit different.  And may take a bit more to get them working, but once I get them started it will be easy to continue.  It will take probably 6 months at the very least to do diagonals, maybe more.  I am not ready to put that type of effort into Diagonals yet.  There are other projects I would like to get off the ground before I even go into Diagonals with SAM.

What would I like to do instead of diagonals?  Here is a short list:

- Continue work on my Optional Turning Lanes Plugin.  This will include optional Left AND Right hand turn lanes for many networks, RHW-2, RHW-4, AVE, TLA-3, TLA-5, Road.

- Work with Tarkus on the Turning Lane Avenue Project.  I have worked on TLA-5 intersections and have the major ones setup.  More textures are required.

- Rail Addon Mod.... Well, this is a SAM-like mod I would like to start.  It will give you the option to drag, NCD Rails, NOB Rails, ArkenbergeJoe's El-HRail system (all 3 variants), all within the same city with only Starter Piece Puzzle Pieces.  For Inter-RAM Intersections it will require a puzzle piece due to limitations on RULing.  Much safer overall than puzzle pieces.

To be honest, I feel that these are much bigger and important projects to work on than diagonal Streets for the SAM.  If I work on Diagonals for TLA-3, I may be able to transfer some of the RULs from that project to SAM since SAM was the base set of RULs used for TLA-3.  I would like to use my free time in the most opportune way possible for the good of our great game, and unfortunately I cannot survive if I did this as a full time hobby.  I simply dont have the time to give to the community as much as it wants, I can only give what I have to give and so far you have seen how SAM has come along in the past 7 months.  I hope you guys can understand why I am so reluctant to start RULing Diagonals.

[Diggis]

Okay, I am only saying anything because it's been brought up, and I am not suggesting, I am asking, and yes, yes the readme does say don't ask, but I must ask if it is possible to make puzzle piece diagonals like are included in the current NAM for regular street. Just a question...

-Charlie

Hum, that makes me wonder if eased curves would be easier for streets to code than diagonals?

Either way, I still say we should probably think ahead of time so the textures are available if the technique becomes possible.  What do we have to lose, right?

-Crissa

Thats 2 more faries you killed! 

[Crissa]

Diagonals or eases aren't high on my 'need' list for fancy streets; as long as they're available at all, I'm fine.

But I'll have to go begging for copies of the diagonals so my textures will match up.

On that note, who do I send textures to?

-Crissa

[Jonathan]

Diggis: One more for your dead fairy count.

JPlumbley:6535 approx. lines?? Wow I knew it was a lot but that many 

[dragonshardz]

@jplumbley: I understand perfectly. I am willing to live w/o Diagonal SAM.

[Filasimo]

so moving on anyone ever seen that old 70s show CHiPs??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOD53VKBWPM

[dragonshardz]

Nope.

[Crissa]

What does CHiPs have to do with SAM?

-Crissa

[Shadow Assassin]

It could be a chip off the old block.

[Tarkus]

What does CHiPs have to do with SAM?

Well, they are the California Highway Patrol . . . they may be a little bit more relevant to the RHW, though.

But we do have a quadruple fairy homicide . . .

-Alex

[Palpatine001]

Well, they are the California Highway Patrol . . . they may be a little bit more relevant to the RHW, though.

But we do have a quadruple fairy homicide . . .

-Alex

Oh dear... 

Ah well send in the CSIs... errr then again maybe not 

Btw what was the Bets running at for release day?

[Diggis]

Diagonals or eases aren't high on my 'need' list for fancy streets; as long as they're available at all, I'm fine.

But I'll have to go begging for copies of the diagonals so my textures will match up.

On that note, who do I send textures to?

-Crissa

What textures are you sending?  Are these ones you have done up for inclusion?  I guess thats my department. 

You can beg for diagonal textures all you want but they do not exist so you will not get them. 

[simzebu]

Btw what was the Bets running at for release day?

I got 20 cookies on January 18, 2038, at about 10 PM EST. 
Now let's see how many people get it...

[Crissa]

Well, I can't tear the diagonals from the NAM so I'm kinda up a creek there o-o;

okay, Diggis, I'll message you when I'm happy with them.  Park blocks away

-Crissa

[jplumbley]

SAM Beta v2 has been released to the SC4D LEX and the STEX.

Link to the SC4D LEX: Linkie

MAC Versions will be uploaded eventually, been having internet issues and I was lucky to even get this far.

Thank you everyone for your support throughout the project and I hope that this version exceeds your expectations.  Have fun with it!