RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[penguin007]

Great work here at the moment SA I have fallen in love with your textures and tarkus although Im not sure about the new textures yet (I like the current ones but origanally didn't so its not criticism) theyre still great although I would bring the lines closer together but thats only because thats what Im used too

Keep up the great work

Will

[Tarkus]

videosean, to answer your questions, technically, due to the way the game configures capacity (on a "per-tile" basis), the MIS ramps will actually have the same capacity as one side of an RHW-4, so there's no difference between using an MIS and an RHW-4 ramp from a functional standpoint.  And as far as the RHW-4/Avenue comparison goes, if you're using the most recent NAM Traffic Simulator set by jplumbley and mott (which I'd highly recommend--they will be replacing the existing simulators in the next full NAM release), the breakdown is as follows:

Hard Simulator--RHW-4=9600, Avenue=5000
Medium Simulator--RHW-4=14400, Avenue=7500
Easy Simulator--RHW-4=21600, Avenue=11200

So in most cases, the RHW-4 is actually at about twice the capacity of Avenues, and the RHW-2 only has slightly less capacity than Avenues.

Hope that answers your question!

caspervg, to answer your question about the fixes, the one you mentioned is to fix this issue which mr. v pointed out on Page 66, where one of the 4 possible Orth-Diag transitions was "deconverting":


Palpatine and pilotdaryl, to answer your questions about the cat-eyes, eventually they may be added.  I've been considering methods for implementing them, and am leaning toward using T21s rather than building them into the texture.  Either way, they will be solid-colored reflectors, so as to not introduce unneeded asymmetry. 

As far as the whole concrete/asphalt thing goes, most of the ones here in Oregon are asphalt, but we do have some concrete ones here and there (I-5 in Salem, I-84 on the east side of Portland, many elevated stretches).  I definitely see the value in producing a concrete set, though. 

Thanks again for your continued feedback and support, and I'll be back with some more new stuff in a little while.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[Haljackey]

Well, coming from one outside the US, I can say that most of the highways here are asphalt.  There are some exceptions, though. (Ever heard of the electronic Highway 407?)

About the catseyes and things, it really wouldn't bother me if I don't see them in the next version.  The one thing that would bother me is seeing the broken white line so short and spaced very far away from one-another.  It is just something we're not used to in SC4.  If the broken white lane markings occurred a little more often (like aves and one-ways), I think it would make the RHW look much better in the game, even if it isn't that realistic.

Like Palpatine001 stated, constructive criticism is hard to do, but I hope you see where I am coming from.  He said that the lane markings occur closer together in New Zealand, and I can confirm that they are also closer here in Canada. 

Anyways, good luck with the development!

Best,
-Haljackey

[el_cozu]

here in mexico... the line markings for highways, avenues and streets are 5 meters of line (like 15ft)- 10 meters (30ft)space - 5 meters line... etc....

and yeah I agree... it should be more acurate to the game textures...

some of the highways here in mexico are made of asphalt but the government just made a huge make up of the main highways turning them to concrete... and most of the highways in the US are concrete...

I haven't heard of this electronic highway..... but I'll check it up in wikipedia

[j-dub]

What would be nice if the electronic highway automatically controlled how everyone drove, but anyway...
Is a RHWAM (rhw add on mod) in favor, or out of ? I don't know what the NAM team's opinion was on this, because it sounds like more people will make different textures, but with the number of different RHW textures compared to the number of textures for SAM, could doing a RHW add on mod be justified? Function before cosmetics of course, but I just thought that would be cool. Its just with what we now know of SAM, starter pieces and overides, it sounds people would like to use more than one RHW texture or have a facelift. I don't mind the texture change myself, but could this be considered in the future if and when there enough different texture work by other people were finished?

[Palpatine001]

Excellent, everything seems to be going according to plan then

Waiting patiently now for the next release 

[Pat]

  Alex I soo look forward to what you have for us next!!!!!

[videosean]

There are online resources for finding out what the proper lengths and widths of lines should be if anyone cares to go through the effort of making it scale properly... the standards could very well be different in every country and hard to find. 
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003r1/part3/part3a.htm#section3A05

Standard:
The widths and patterns of longitudinal lines shall be as follows:

   1. A normal line is 100 to 150 mm (4 to 6 in) wide.
   2. A wide line is at least twice the width of a normal line. The width of the line indicates the degree of emphasis.
   3. A double line consists of two parallel lines separated by a discernible space.
   4. A broken line consists of normal line segments separated by gaps.
   5. A dotted line shall consist of noticeably shorter line segments separated by shorter gaps than used for a broken line. The width of a dotted line shall be at least the same as the width of the line it extends.

Guidance:
Broken lines should consist of 3 m (10 ft) line segments and 9 m (30 ft) gaps, or dimensions in a similar ratio of line segments to gaps as appropriate for traffic speeds and need for delineation.

Option:
A dotted line for line extensions may consist of 0.6 m (2 ft) line segments and 0.6 m (2 ft) to 1.8 m (6 ft) gaps. A dotted line for lane drop/add markings may consist of 0.9 m (3 ft) line segments and 2.7 m (9 ft) gaps.

This one has info on HOV lanes:
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/PavMkgs/Tutorial/wide_lines.htm
This next one has nice images of lane markings and intersection markings:
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003r1/part3/part3b1.htm
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003r1/part3/part3b2.htm
The pantone color #s for the lines LOL
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno-colorspec.htm

[Ryan B.]

There are online resources for finding out what the proper lengths and widths of lines should be if anyone cares to go through the effort of making it scale properly... the standards could very well be different in every country and hard to find. 
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003r1/part3/part3a.htm#section3A05This one has info on HOV lanes:
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/PavMkgs/Tutorial/wide_lines.htm
This next one has nice images of lane markings and intersection markings:
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003r1/part3/part3b1.htm
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003r1/part3/part3b2.htm
The pantone color #s for the lines LOL
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno-colorspec.htm

Thanks for sharing the info!  I've got all those saved as PDFs on my computer here.

[Gaston]

I'm not sure what I did but I can't seem to find RHW2 now.   I have the RHW4 puzzle pieces still, but no RHW2 at all.   Any suggestions?   I'm sure all the files are stiill there but I must hve moved something the last time I played with the plugins.    What file do I need to look for?


---Gaston

[nerdly_dood]

There is no puzzle piece for RHW2.  Just drag it like a road, you don't need any puzzle pieces for RHW2.  Yes, I do mean the gray two-lane highway with a rumble strip on either side and a dashed yellow line with reflectors.

[Alfred.Jones]

There is no puzzle piece for RHW2.  Just drag it like a road, you don't need any puzzle pieces for RHW2.  Yes, I do mean the gray two-lane highway with a rumble strip on either side and a dashed yellow line with reflectors.

I think he is saying he is missing the button for the RHW-2.

@ Gaston. You could try to re-install RHW?

[JereUsa1]

Would it be possible to get puzzle pieces (i.e. road, avenue) over RHW-6, so I can have traffic crossing over the free way when it is 3 lanes wide in places?

[Gaston]

I think he is saying he is missing the button for the RHW-2.

@ Gaston. You could try to re-install RHW?

Yep that is what I ment Alfred.Jones.    I guess I'll have to try that.    I just have to remove all the old files first.   


---Gaston

[Tarkus]

videosean, thanks for sharing the MUTCD guidelines! 

The exact scaling on the striping I have right now is 3.5m (28px on 128x128px textures equalling 16m), which is actually 0.5m longer than the MUTCD recommendation.  As far as 9m goes, it's a little more than half of a tile.  If I were to actually increase the size of the lines to 4m (32px), which seems to be somewhat acceptable under the MUTCD, as per this phrase (emphasis mine):

or dimensions in a similar ratio of line segments to gaps as appropriate for traffic speeds and need for delineation.

the 9m spacing would be upsized to 12m, following the 3:1 ratio.  Considering that the 4m lines are to be centered perfectly in the middle of the 16m tile, they would effectively extend from the 6m mark to the 10m mark, which, on a two-tile stretch, the second line would be situated at 22m-26m.  And subtracting the point of the end point of the first stripe from the start point of the second, 22m-10m=12m. 

This solution would effectively fit the MUTCD's 3:1 ratio while fitting within the game's scale and the modding requirements of a symmetrical (length-wise) texture. 

The resultant texture:



(Please forgive me for the mathematical digression. )

Gaston:  Hmm . . . . that is rather odd.  The RHW-2 is integrated into the main RHW .dat file now (no more ANT Plugin), and the icon should be directly above the RHW-4 puzzle piece icon as the first button on the Highways menu in-game.  I'd also suggest re-installing the RHW as well.

JereUsa1:  Yes, it would be possible, and I can say with almost absolute certainty that those pieces will be incorporated into RHW Version 21.

Back with more later . . .

-Alex (Tarkus)

[Pat]

LoL Alex its all good that you went mathematical on us and whats really scary is I actually followed along with it... SO if I get this right your math is right on compared to the MUTCD ratio of 3:1???

[Ryan B.]

Alex, that looks great.  Take that and run with it.

[thundercrack83]

Alex, that texture looks spot-on to me, my friend! I'm definitely curious to see how it translates into the game!

Take care!

Dustin

[Gaston]

Gaston:  Hmm . . . . that is rather odd.  The RHW-2 is integrated into the main RHW .dat file now (no more ANT Plugin), and the icon should be directly above the RHW-4 puzzle piece icon as the first button on the Highways menu in-game.  I'd also suggest re-installing the RHW as well.

Hmmm, re-installed it but still no RHW2.    I have what looks like ANT still.   ??


---Gaston

[Tarkus]

Gaston, could you post a pic of your problem?  That would help me diagnose things.  Thanks in advance.

-Alex (Tarkus)