NWM (Network Widening Mod) - Development and Support

[BigSlark]

Alex,

I hereby proclaim that for you to have a MD OR enter the Picture Contest would be considered cheating, simply because the "look" you are able to produce blows everyone else's away.

Oh, and add me to the list of people who are very, very excited about TLA's.

Cheers,
Kevin

[thundercrack83]

Dustin (thundercrack83):  Thanks!  And prepare for some more jaw-dropping, as I've included another pic of the TLA-7:

I'm speechless. That Campus Boulevard picture is outstanding. Every college town in America looks exactly like that! The TLA is absolutely amazing, Alex!

[pvarcoe]

Yep, I gotta agree. Those shots are beautiful. Great work!

Looking at the road markings; are the 6 lane versions meant to be euro style or standard maxis style?
I'm good either way, but kinda hoping standard.

[Tarkus]

Thanks for the compliments, everyone!  Kevin (BigSlark), that's just too funny.   I'm actually a little afraid I'll get banned now if I update Argentum.   

And Dustin, the college town I'm living in has one of those too, though it actually looks a little bit more like the AVE-6 in most spots.  I'm glad to hear you like it.

Phil (pvarcoe), thanks! It may be a little hard to tell, but there is a yellow line on the inside, so it's actually more "US style" than Maxis or Euro style.  It's a little too hard to see since it's right next to the median.

And another little development I should also show--some of you may have seen this before.  It's the Turning Lane Road, or TLR-3.  Basically, the TLR-3 is a 2-lane Road with a consistent center-turn lane.  This pic was taken quite awhile ago, and it was produced by simply bulldozing the sides of a TLA-7.  I'd like to implement it through some sort of puzzle drag method, though, similar to Draggable GLR, though my earlier attempts to do it failed because I chose the wrong "starting point" for the overrides.



-Alex

[Tarkus]

Sorry for the double post, but I felt this was worth it.

I'll let the pictures do the talking :





-Alex

[Filasimo]

thats just downright wrong takus u posted that!  im curious as to how the traffic lights will look like perhaps if its possible to make a model for the traffic lights to be horizontal like they have it in some cities or on powerlines....that would really add some realism in our cities!

[thundercrack83]

We're getting closer and closer! Looks great, Alex! I can't wait to see more development!

[threestooges]

So, first you astound us with the center turning lanes, and now you get them to be 1 tile wide? It looks great though the lack of a sidewalk will somewhat limit its applicability in some circumstances (though places that would have those lanes wouldn't be the most ideal for sidewalks anyway). I am curious to know however, will this be in addition to regular roads, or will this replace them (and if so, what tool did you use to drag the road)? Second, did I notice you mention something about draggable glr? Does that exist (or were those the earlier attempts you were referring to? Whatever the answers to those questions, well done.

[Zaphod]

already said it on ST, but that is sooo cool

okay, i know you have a million zillion mod projects underway, but im just throwing this out:

can this be done with streets?

[Tarkus]

Thanks for the compliments, guys!  To answer a couple of questions, Filasimo, well, that could be done, but apparently the traffic signals are very finicky beasts.  I've talked with Jan (Swamper77) about it, and he may be helping out.

And Matt (threestooges), to answer your questions, I am planning on squeezing down the center lane a little bit and adding a narrow sidewalk to the edges.  Right now that texture is basically lifted directly from the center tile of the TLA-7.  The TLR-3 is indeed an addition to the Roads, and does not replace them.  Basically, the way the TLR-3 works is that you place a "starter" puzzle piece, and drag a normal Road out of it.  Due to some additional coding added into the puzzle piece, it actually converts the Road being drawn out of it into the TLR-3. 

That's the same principle used for the Draggable GLR (starter puzzle piece -> drag Elevated Light Rail out of it), which does indeed exist and will be released as part of the next NAM, which is coming out very soon.   Basically, with that technology and the override technology used for the RHW, OWR-5 and the other TLAs, it's possible to extend the existing networks almost infinitely, such that you can get them to act as if they are completely new networks.

And yes, Steve (Zaphod), it can be done with pretty much whatever network.

Hope that answers your questions.  Thanks again for the feedback--I really appreciate it, and I'll be back with more soon.

-Alex

[Travis]

Wow, Alex, my heart stopped beating for a moment looking at those roads, they're just soooo realistic.  Nifty way of implementing it too. 
Does that mean you could use the same method for any kind of network? Hmm, I always wanted 4-lane roads without a median. 

One thing that bugs me though; wherever I've seen TLA's before in RL, they've always had the left turn arrows in the middle.
It might look too close together if you were to add it in to the texture though, the other way is to add it in as a T21 exemplar, and I hear those are difficult. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that suggestion out there.  Keep up the good work. 

[Filasimo]

ok i see it all coming together now which gives me a cooky idea if this can be possible....Tarkus since you were able to make the road variations such as the TLA-3 is it now possible to make draggable pedmall tiles which ultimately opens the possibility for a pedestrian bridge? I know some major cities have one and my city of Nashville, TN has a great one that they converted a TLA-3 into a pedestrian bridge that spans over the river see link:
http://www.civicdesigncenter.org/announcements-Shelby.html
Also leads to asking if anyone is working on bridges for the TLA project?

[HabLeUrG]

I really like that road... just one question, that will replace the original maxis road? better if thats releases separate could be better. 

[threestooges]

So, one last question if I may, regarding the puzzle piece that you drag from: will you have to plop a new piece to change the direction or will you just start where the previous part ended?

[Tarkus]

Filasimo:  Thanks for the compliments! Draggable Pedestrian Mall tiles is something that can definitely be done.  As far as bridges go, there's probably some logistics to work out, but I'm optimistic it can be done.

HabLeUrG:  Thanks!  And no, it won't replace the original Maxis Road. 

threestooges:  As far as changing the direction, you'll only have to plop the piece down once to allow the override.  You can actually then demolish the piece, and continue dragging Roads out of the stubs from the TLR-3 sections and they'll still convert.

-Alex

[Rayden]

I've been just lurking around this topic, but following it with great interest. Now you can imagine my faces when looking at your pictures and reading your notes and descriptions
I think this speaks for itself

[BigSlark]

Alex,

Any TLA news? Curious minds want to know...even if they are in Central America.

Cheers,
Kevin

[jplumbley]

Hey BigSlark...  I have a feeling it is being held for a undetermined amount of time since the NAM team have given us some teasers about a new release.  Maybe Tarkus since hes part of the NAM team is helping out on the    That would definately be awesome if we could get a new NAM soon, think about Draggable puzzle piece networks!!

Draggable puzzle pieces will be transferable to NWN and make it much, much easier to implement the TLAs publically.  I predict that this project will pick up steam when the new NAM is released... Whenever that may be.

[Tarkus]

Silvio:  Thanks for the compliments!  That really means a lot to me to see people talking about the project with a plethora of smileys.

Kevin:  Well, it's been slow-going lately, but there's some interesting things in the works.  See my post in the RHW thread [linkie] for a rather big announcement.

And if anyone is wondering what jplumbley is talking about by the NWN (actually, NWM ), he's referring to the new Network Widening Mod, of which the TLAs will be a major component.   And the next NAM is very, very close--can't give a release date, though.   

[bat]

That is looking beautiful, Tarkus! Looking forward to more!