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Bus Lanes Concept

Started by allan_kuan1992, September 22, 2007, 01:08:11 AM

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allan_kuan1992

Now... as an introduction, this project is focused on new bus lanes. A few years ago, someone else in Simtropolis also attempted this and they were successful, but the mod stalled and eventually died because of a lack of time and because of lack of modders. Of course, with the SC4D modders occupied with other projects and RL, I've taken the initiative of making the textures, or at least the straight network textures. They are attached below.

With the rise in draggable technology, this is the time to start a revival of an old project, albiet with new textures from scratch. From what I know, the predecessor to this project used puzzle pieces, which, although useful, were slow to lay down. Using draggable overrides will definitely speed up the game. However, from what I've seen in other projects like the GLR and the RHW, using this new technology requires overrides, and possibly lots of them. That i am unfamiliar with... but with some teachings from the experts, I might be able to get myself running in time.

As for textures, I'm using very primitive and basic texturing tools like MS Paint and Paint.NET. I do have Inkscape, a free vector graphics editor, but it is not easy to use the thing, especially since I'm totally new to the world of vector graphics. I may need help with the textures with the intersections and curves, but we'll see.

EDIT: Forgot to add, the bus lanes are coloured red because I thought that would make them easier to be seen. If you object to it, then tell me and I'll create black versions instead.

- Allan Kuan

Jonathan

Unforunately the game can't tell the difference between Buses and other road vehicles, the only way to do it would be to have a TE lot, which blocks everything except buses, at both ends of the Bus Lanes.

allan_kuan1992

Not really...

http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=124&threadid=67307&STARTPAGE=1

This link goes to the predecessor project. And some photos of the alpha version done by edcase2k4:

http://home.btconnect.com/SMD/simcityfiles/buslaneworking.jpg

http://home.btconnect.com/SMD/simcityfiles/buslaneworking2.jpg

However, the paths and type21 exemplars gave edcase2k4 trouble, and he eventually abandoned the project because of lack of time to fix them.

Of course, I would like to see this project revived, but in a draggable format, since the one they did was based on puzzle pieces.

- Allan Kuan

Filasimo

allan,
i remember me and alex had discussed some methods we can do to make this work perhaps it may become reality when we get to it... ;)
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figui

this seems to be a good idea.
about the colours: i think the red one is not realistic, but if you want to make it different to the black of the asphalt road, you can use a grey like concrete. it's just my opinion.
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Shadow Assassin

Actually, in most parts of the world, the asphalt is painted a different colour to signify that it is a special occupancy lane.
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figui

thats a point.
we don't have this kind of hov lanes in uruguay (neither in montevideo) so i had no experience about this.
local government is about to implement this next year, but i really don't think that the asphalt would be painted (to save $$). it's more likely that they will draw some signs (those diamonds) or just paint "bus only" (but in spanish)
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allan_kuan1992

In Vancouver, believe it or not... the only red bus lanes are in the Granville Mall, and that area is closed for Canada Line construction!

In other places, diamonds and the words BUS LANE are used on plain black asphalt... which to me can make it hard to tell the difference between the standard lanes and the bus lanes. This is why I coloured it red, but with a few simple tweaks, it could be changed to black.

- Allan Kuan

Andreas

In Germany, there's only the word "BUS" painted on the road, and blue signs with a bus symbol are put up. The only red marking on roads I know is for a bicycle path, or in some cases it's used instead of a zebra crossing, i. e. if it's near a school, so kids are using the crossing.
Andreas

Shadow Assassin



As you can see, the section's painted red with BUS ONLY on it. Cars are only on it because it is legal for a car to use a bus lane for 50m as long as they use it to turn into an adjoining street.
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Diggis

Yeah they are red here too.

Indisguise

stubled apon this onea little late..:S

my question(s) would this type of road be truely functional (the buses actually the only ones using the asigned roadway) or is this just a eyecandy type thing ???

If it is fuctional would it effect ped walking or possible trafic flow of the path finding (eg will cars turn right or left over top of this road, and would these be a new type of road differnt from existing roads (if thats possible)

as an eyecandy type mod, you could release several differnt colours, around here we don't have "bus lanes" but have many bicycle only lanes (eviromentally friendly ppl seem to get the right of way)
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jplumbley

Functionality wise, you cannot currently get this to work.  Atleast not properly.  You may be able to create TE Lot to block Car Traffic from using the road, but you will not be able to allow both Car and Bus traffic and determine which lanes they drive in unless they are in separate tiles.  Essentially, the best way to implement a "functional" HOV/Bus lane system would be a 3-tile wide Avenue, or a 3-tile wide Highway where in both cases the middle tile is the HOV/Bus lanes for the network.

With the TE Lots you will only be able to outrigth block traffic fully for either busses or cars.  You cannot prevent car traffic in only one lane.  This is the limitation due to the fact that busses follow the same paths as cars.  The only way I can see this working functionally would be by changing bus traffic into say monorail traffic and set the monorail traffic speed to be equal to the bus speed on this network.  But the issue with this is you will get monorail automata rather than bus automata.

So, for the functionality of this you will be losing asthetics, if you are going for asthetics you will be losing functionality.  IMHO, this is something that is not worth the effort.
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CarmineHilton

I think it would look very sexy in CJ's..
For me it may even be eyecandy.. I just love the red parts :D

Good luck on this project!

Jonathan

Doesn't automata spawn from certain buildings? and if track is connected to that buiding they can use it?
So if you don't directly connect a monorail station to the bus lane network you shouldn't get monorail on the bus lanes, although it may work better with subway paths.
Also what tells automata which paths to follow?

Emperor Stormont

I think this is a fantastic idea and would make a fantastic addition to the game.

In Northern Ireland we tend not to have the asphalt a different colour, instead the bus lane is marked with a BUS LANE when it starts and a very thick white line along the length of the lane, breaking at junctions and where traffic are allowed to turn into other roads/streets and usually monitored by bus lane cameras to ensure compliance.




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Haljackey

Nice topic, allan_kuan1992.  Interesting idea, I will be following this thread.

I just had one image to post here to show you what HOV/bus lanes look like here in Canada.  (A picture says 1000 or so words)



Also, I don't know if this is helpful to you at all, but there are two items on the STEX that allow only bus and ped traffic to use a road/one way road once they pass this icon.

Link to HOV Bus Lanes on STEX

I hope you found this helpful and best of luck with the project!
-Haljackey.

jplumbley

Quote from: Warrior on September 24, 2007, 10:23:46 AM
Doesn't automata spawn from certain buildings? and if track is connected to that buiding they can use it?
So if you don't directly connect a monorail station to the bus lane network you shouldn't get monorail on the bus lanes, although it may work better with subway paths.
Also what tells automata which paths to follow?

Yes, Swamper and I have talked about Automata Spawners...  But I am still not 100% sure how these work, so I cannot make the definative answer on that.

As for what tells the Automata which paths to follow.  The EXE for the most part, the Automata is given a specific network to follow, but you cannot prevent certain Automata that follow the same paths (Trams and El-Rail Trains) from using a specific path.  So, if you were to make bus Automata that run on Monorail paths (which you can do), you cannot prevent these busses to travel on the actual Monorail System or HSRP.

The reason the Monorail Trains would show on the bus lanes would be because to split the cars from the busses you would have to create a TE Lot that converts bus traffic into monorail traffic, these would essentially be considered Monorail Stations since they are converting one form of traffic into Monorail Traffic.  Catch my drift?  If these TE Lots are not placed at the begining and end and every intersection inbetween on the system you will not be able to convert bus traffic into Monorail Traffic and they will only follow the regular Car Paths instead of the "bus lane" Monorail Paths.

Quote from: Haljackey on September 24, 2007, 04:17:31 PM
Also, I don't know if this is helpful to you at all, but there are two items on the STEX that allow only bus and ped traffic to use a road/one way road once they pass this icon.

Link to HOV Bus Lanes on STEX

I hope you found this helpful and best of luck with the project!
-Haljackey.

Yes Haljackey, this is known.  Thank you for the link but those lots prevent Car Traffic completely, what allen wants to do is have both Cars and Busses exist in the same tile but separated from each other, which is not physically possible in the game itself.  My posts are ideas of how to make it functional within the games limits.
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mightygoose

in the UK the bus lanes are red with a heavy painted white line bordering them, no dimond however, merely the words BUS LANE printed on the surface
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