Follow up to Monorail BTM and HSRP poll!

[noahclem]

We encourage you to give us your input to this follow up question

You can find the first half of the poll here.

[mgb204]

Seriously now, does anyone using the NAM still use Monorail, it's just, well the politest thing I can say is of all the networks it's the worst looking one.

Please keep a ground based-version in mind, it's primarily why I use HSR, ground and elevated in one network is pretty handy, despite it's compatibility issues. I keep BTM around because sometimes it's superior compatibility makes it useful, but if a blend of functionality between the two could be made, I know I'd be happy to condense everything into one Monorail network.

[jlt122]

Well I still use my monorail along with HSR and the bullet train. I guess my old age is catching up to me cause I thought monorail was suppose to be slower than the other two and that was why those were made. I mostly have them for a more modern look in my cities and to help with transportation from major city to another etc.. Though I do use my monorail for inner city usage because it ties in well with the subway, say like, New York city's system does for an example.
 I say if you're going to replace it, please do something about the textures used on the HSR & BTM that overrides the monorail because they look bulky in a sense or modernize the look of the monorail cars? Just putting my two cents worth in cause you asked.

[compdude787]

I have the Bullet Train Mod installed (maybe) but I never use it, nor do I use HSRP because I don't have that much interest in creating high-speed rail networks. I think that mainly is for the following reasons: (1) I only like focusing on roads and freeways in my cities and only have a small subway network in my main city, and (2) high speed rail hardly even exists in the USA (except for the Northeast Corridor).

But, I don't use monorail either, so I don't care if that goes bye-bye.

[Mad_genius]

I have used the HSRP in the past but, currently, I'm using only the monorail, with the CSX monorail stations by Colyn.

I think the main "frustration" with the vanilla monorail is that it appears to fulfill the same functionality of intra-city transportation like the subway and Elevated-rail, just at higher speed. That makes it, well ... not redundant, just somewhat underwhelming.

I would have much rather prefered a full fledge Maglev network implemented similar to the one-way-roads where you would drag the maglev tool in the direction you want it to be, or optionally drag a 2-tile wide "maglev avenue" with both directions paralell to each other.
The Maglev would have a much higher speed to be more directed towards regional/inter-city transportation. That's why I tried the HSRP for awhile but, as the texture quality and HD textures started to improve the game, I've found the HSRP to be lacking behind the rest of the game.

The reason I haven't moved on from the monorail is that it provides a more modern look which I find to be a better fit for dense urban environments like dense downtowns with high-rising buildings along with subways.
For the more rural, suburban, industrail and low-rising apartments and offices the RRW, GLR and the Elevated-rail do the job very well in my opinion.

So my conclusion is, whatever the awesome NAM team decides to do with the monorail, you should consider these 2 main points:

• Modern look suited for dense urban environment;
• Drive the network towards regional/inter-city transportation.

Just my 2 cents. 

[APSMS]

I used to use monorail all the time before I downloaded the NAM, and even for a short period afterward until I started focusing more on realism in my cities/got a taste of GLR (still not there yet, though).

As it stands a non-override HSRP network would be nice, if perhaps it was in the vein of RRW with a clean, modern twist (like concrete sleepers, etc.--I think Ron (rivit) made something like this for it a while ago). But I also think axing the base monorail network would be a turnoff to new users, especially those who have found new use for them after installing the NAM (The no.1 problem I had w/o NAM was getting Sims to ride the monorail, but riders surged afterward). It's an unrealistic network (unless you're modelling Disneyland), but it's not the most horrible looking, just underrated and it suffers from lack of improvements made to other parts of the game.

If a switch was made, it should be optional to convert the base network, and I would like to leave BTM functionality around as well, because there are situations where I think BTM looks more appropriate than HSRP--at least in the current situation. But who knows what the future may bring?

[Dantes]

I recently published his own thoughts.
http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=12747.msg498526#msg498526 I am pleased that the topic HSRP gets attention.
I' use to test / my favorite is the Moonlight Shinkansen Mod. This mod is the BTM similar.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/moonlinght/archives/cat_59226.html

Me it would be important that there is a variety of stations. I like the modern HSR stations. However, there are few stations.
There should be a modern roadbed give the same time to classical rail route recalls would be the ideal. For example, German, French or Japanese high-speed line.



It would then be possible to mod existing high stations subsequently and integrate.



An upgrade or new HSRP would be ideal as a counterweight to RHW. A public wide area network for commuters. Between cities and regions. The normal railway I use for public transport in urban areas.

[vershner]

Me it would be important that there is a variety of stations. I like the modern HSR stations. However, there are few stations.
There should be a modern roadbed give the same time to classical rail route recalls would be the ideal. For example, German, French or Japanese high-speed line.

Have you seen my skin update I released a few months ago? - it should be included in NAM33. It's has different colours than the picture above, but it is a modern concrete roadbed.

[eggman121]

Ok. Here a dev picture I made a while ago...



Not indicative of the final product!

Still need too figure out what people want.

-eggman121

[Dantes]

Excuse me, I was absent for personal reasons in the last few months. The new textures look great! I especially like the GHSR!
That being said, I stand by my opinion. I thank you for the correction Vershner.

@eggman121: This is impressive!

[stevyloh]

Not sure if thats on the list but could we get a fix for that? (attachment)
Really needed so we can use bigger stations.

[eggman121]

Hello stevyloh

Since the situation is governed by mechanics of the game there is no easy fix. What I would do is separate them by a tile and use an S curve to make them dual over 2 tiles.

That being said there is some neat stuff around the corner and Bigger stations will adopt the new standard that is to be used.

Hope this helps!

-eggman121

[eggman121]

The polls are both closed!

Thank you all for the input 

The results will be collated and a proposal will be presented at some stage this month.

-eggman121

[stevyloh]

Hello stevyloh

Since the situation is governed by mechanics of the game there is no easy fix. What I would do is separate them by a tile and use an S curve to make them dual over 2 tiles.

That being said there is some neat stuff around the corner and Bigger stations will adopt the new standard that is to be used.

Hope this helps!

-eggman121

Thanks, I can deal with the textures.
Right now the only option to split them is with 2 empty lanes between them. Maybe a puzzle piece is the only Solution.
For the el. HSR theres no S curve. I also know why the restrictions are needed for the sake of realism.
Since even with 1 space between you will have the texture off just on the other side of the split. I did try all the possible ways to make a split, maybe I missed one?

Anyway good job with the mod, I prefer the HSR pillars over the BTM Pillars. I think they should be used in both, since theres a way too many pillars used in the BTM (for the sake of more realism  ).

[mgb204]

Unfortunately it's not possible to get them 1 tile apart the usual way. This could be "fixed", but it's not really broken, it was made this was to keep the angle of the rails smoother.

With a little creativity though, you can make such setups work:

[jessilaurn]

For what it's worth:  I still use monorail with NAM.  Aside from the appeal of retrofuturism (remember, back in the 50s, monorails were supposed to be the Next Big Thing), there's the real-world examples:  Seattle, Tokyo, Las Vegas, Chongqing (China), the now-defunct loop in Sydney, and projects starting to crop up in Malta, Malaysia, and Brazil.

Mind, it would help if the NAM would include some smooth switches to go along with the smooth curves.

[Mad_genius]

Well I still use my monorail along with HSR and the bullet train.

Just to add an extra detail into the discussion.
The thing that makes me dislike the option of using the monorail alongside the HSR or the BTM is the "incompatibility" of the rail cars. Rail cars suited for a single rail track (monorail) will look weird on a double-rail track (HSR or BTM) and vice-versa. That's why I end up using either one or the other.
Based on that, it feels to me that the best option would be to replace the monorail completely instead of trying to work alongside it, although I understand that many players would not like that to happen.

One possibility that occurs to me is to do something like an "High Speed Monorail". Place the pillars with a flat base on top of them and then place two monorail lanes on that base (one in each direction) with some sort of retaining wall on the sides. Give it speed suitable for regional transportation and smooth curves, s-curves and switches. Update the looks of existing stations, bridges and automata and it could look and work good, I think.