FLexible UnderPasses (FLUPs)

dragonshardz · September 15, 2009, 11:06:45 PM

A FLUP-under-RHW (MIS, 2, 4, 6, 6C, 8, and 10) would be handy, as would a RHW FLUP ramp. One-way FLUP ramps would be nice as well. MHW could be useful as well...

As for ESURE, I'm going to check that out, it looks interesting.

io_bg · September 16, 2009, 03:55:20 AM

dragonshardz, there are already one way FLUP ramps

joelyboy911 · September 16, 2009, 04:01:47 AM

I've seen people's pictures with an on-slope tunnel entrance, which I guess converts to a subway. I was wondering if a similar type thing for FLUPs could be an option? It would certainly come in handy.

Shadow Assassin · September 16, 2009, 04:02:55 AM

Quote from: io_bg on September 16, 2009, 03:55:20 AM
dragonshardz, there are already one way FLUP ramps

There aren't any RHW FLUPs yet. That was what he was hoping for.

Quote from: joelyboy911 on September 16, 2009, 04:01:47 AM
I've seen people's pictures with an on-slope tunnel entrance, which I guess converts to a subway. I was wondering if a similar type thing for FLUPs could be an option? It would certainly come in handy.

It certainly would. Buddybud's on-slope pieces actually do work with FLUPs... they have to be plopped at a height of 10m however.

juleskeith · September 16, 2009, 10:11:52 AM

Is it possible to use FLUPs for residential buildings? As far as I can see they're roads buried under ped tiles so do they behave in the same manner?

I've tried experimenting and maybe it's me not understanding the game but the results seem rather random.
The layout

The initial result - Some buildings use the FLUP road system but some don't, especially the bottom left Tai-Pan (I think) building

Part of the FLUP road was demolished and a small normal road section added. That bottom left building suddenly had commuters.

Is this just the oddities of Simcity or do some building not recognise FLUPs as roads?

Thanks for your help and for the never ending work of the NAM team. Do you guys ever sleep!?

dragonshardz · September 16, 2009, 09:24:52 PM

Quote from: io_bg on September 16, 2009, 03:55:20 AM
dragonshardz, there are already one way FLUP ramps

OK then. Must've missed 'em while looking through the tab ring.

juleskeith, it looks like that lower-left building might be TE'd. Try dragging road into the lot tile with a road texture. If it is TE'd, that may have something to do with it.

juleskeith · September 17, 2009, 07:03:30 AM

dragonshardz thanks for the advice I will give it ago and let you know.

Does anyone know if FLUPs act the same way normal roads do albeit it with a different tile texture?
If I create a FLUP T or X junction will there be underground traffic lights?

Thanks for all of your help

dragonshardz · September 17, 2009, 07:48:55 AM

FLUPs ae puzzle pieces with roads paths that go underground. So yes, they do act like normal roads do. I assume that there are stop paths on the intersection pieces, but I don't think there are undeground traffic lights that are visible to anyone but the Sims driving underground.

Andreas · September 17, 2009, 07:59:29 AM

Well, even the surface traffic lights are merely eye-candy - for the simulator, only the stop paths count.

juleskeith · September 17, 2009, 09:06:08 PM

Thanks for the advice.

I was kind of hoping that Sims had to drive in total darkness in the FLUP tunnel and play a big game of blind chicken at intersections!

Once again excellent work on FLUPs, my favourite new toy to play with at the moment

FrankU · September 21, 2009, 06:57:46 AM

Quote from: juleskeith on September 17, 2009, 09:06:08 PM
I was kind of hoping that Sims had to drive in total darkness in the FLUP tunnel and play a big game of blind chicken at intersections!

No! I am sure the NAM team will never allow our beloved Sims to drive in such dangerous circumstances!

Chrisim · October 10, 2009, 06:43:02 AM

It is time for a teaser for the next version ...

Andreas · October 10, 2009, 08:08:08 AM

Sweet! If possible, relocate the manholes to the "triangles" with the pavement, though.

bob56 · October 10, 2009, 08:46:25 AM

ooh! GLR underpasses. those will surely be a great addition!

Quote from: Andreas on October 10, 2009, 08:08:08 AM
Sweet! If possible, relocate the manholes to the "triangles" with the pavement, though.

I'd have to agree.

can't wait!

Chrisim · October 10, 2009, 11:01:02 AM

Quote from: Andreas on October 10, 2009, 08:08:08 AM
Sweet! If possible, relocate the manholes to the "triangles" with the pavement, though.

There are five different underpasses as shown in the top part of the picture, two straight and three diagonal underpasses. Without a manhole cover in the middle of the road, it would not be possible to recognize what had been plopped. The only thing I can do is to darken the manhole cover for the dark road.

Better?

On my way to work, there are several dozens of manhole covers somewhere on the road. The bumps are annoying for me as car driver ... and even more annoying for the poor bikers, but it is a very realistic feature.

Just in case that somebody will ask, why there is no diagonal underpass parallel below the diagonal road: it is not created because traffic would jump between surface and subsurface.
And if somebody will ask, why there is no diagonal ramp: nobody created one. If you are a skilled BATter and you are interested, please go for it

Andreas · October 10, 2009, 12:29:56 PM

Well, there's nothing wrong with manhole covers on a road (actually, every road has them), but those square ones look a bit out of place, and yes, they were a bit too light as well. I wonder if anyone could BAT one of the typical German ones that is completely flat?

smoncrie · October 10, 2009, 02:12:56 PM

What about using ghosted manholes, like the ghosted orientation arrows in the elevated 1-way roads?

JoeST · October 10, 2009, 02:18:17 PM

what about 'aligned' man holes, that are orthogonal to the direction of the road's direction rather than the tiles?

Its looking awesome btw

Joe

dragonshardz · October 10, 2009, 02:22:21 PM

Just changing the texture of the manholes makes them look flatter. I think that they should be made round(er) at least, square manholes are rather unrealistic.

You could do away with the manhole covers completely, and just use ghosted orientation arrows that show when you mouse over them when in inquiry mode (the mode where you can click on a house and get more details about traffic, health, etc...I forget what it's proper name is.)

Round manholes would make aligning the manhole covers unnecessary.

Chrisim · October 10, 2009, 05:04:50 PM

The FLUPs have been available for a long time, and I always wondered why nobody asked for more background information on the ventilation louvre. It is a ventilation louvre, not a drainage system like manhole covers are. The FLUPs ventilation louvre is actually ancient Roman (and this is no joke

):

The SPQR was lost when reducing the photo to 8x16 dots shown here:

I had used this manhole cover because I could not find any ventilation louvre that looked good when reduced in size. There are many types of manhole covers in the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhole_cover. I had tried out several versions, and this one was the best. The advantage of this particular shape is that it is symmetric in both directions. The hole direction (the black lines) gives the direction in which underground traffic is leaving the tile, and the neighboring tile will perfectly match (if it was plopped correctly).

Andreas, I did also create the typical German version, but it did not look good when reduced to 16x16 dots. It does look very different from a ventilation louvre and it does not permit to recognize the direction of underground traffic flow.

Dragonshardz, I tried several round shapes, and all (in such a small size) had the disadvantage that you cannot recognize the direction of underground traffic flow.

Quote from: smoncrie on October 10, 2009, 02:12:56 PM
What about using ghosted manholes, like the ghosted orientation arrows in the elevated 1-way roads?

I am considering adding ghosted orientations as additional support, but the problem with ghosted orientations is that you can see only one tile at a time. The advantage of the ventilation louvre is that you get the complete overview of all tiles that were plopped to create the underpass. It allows to verify whether a possibly complex underpass is correct and will function.

Quote from: JoeST on October 10, 2009, 02:18:17 PM
what about 'aligned' man holes, that are orthogonal to the direction of the road's direction rather than the tiles?

The idea is that they are orthogonal to the underground road ...

Quote from: dragonshardz on October 10, 2009, 02:22:21 PM
Round manholes would make aligning the manhole covers unnecessary.

They do align automatically when they are set correctly. If they do not align, something is wrong and the underpass won't work. So, the alignment is a visual quality control whether they are plopped correctly.

Any questions on the new stuff that I had presented this morning?
(I will be travelling for a week and have no clue whether I will have internet access. Please be patient)

Again - why is there no diagonal ramp: nobody created one. If you are a skilled BATter and you are interested, please go for it