1) HOV Lanes
HOV lanes are a must in large cities, and they often switch directions
View Larger Map
Barrier to Entry: High. It would be a nightmare to make traffic actually switch according to day. Then again, with the STR (Single Track Railroad) it might not be so difficult.
2) Power lines over GLR lines
Come on, where was the last time you saw a light rail without power lines over them?
Barrier to Entry: Low. All it takes is a cheap model and mild skill.
3) Stoplights that Face the Right Way
Do these look wrong to you?. Yes. Most real stoplights look to the cars from the inside of the stoplight square, not to the out. The one exception is this intersection, Valley Mills and Memorial, Waco, Texas. But as you notice, the "wrong way stoplight" is a special instance, not a normality. Sorry, SimCity, you fail!
Barrier to Entry: High. It may be hard-wired.
4) Continuous flow intersections
It's too cool to be expressed in my words.
Barrier to Entry: High. If pulled off, that would be the end-all of road coolness.
5) Nice-looking RHW-Avenue Crossings
A picture would really help here, but RHW currently does not have a good Avenue-to-RHW crossing texture!
Barrier to Entry: Low. It takes but a texture.
6) Businesses and residential along RHW
With SimCity 4's third-party add-ons I can finally create that lovely strip of highway between Hempstead and Navasota...rolling hills, lots of wildflowers, the farm houses, the watermelon stands...wait, scratch that. Unfortunately, RHW won't let you place RCI (or anything) on RHW. Well, you CAN, but it won't function. Drat.
Barrier to Entry: Medium. RHW can be recoded to allow RCI, but if you wanted to make an Interstate-style set-up, you still can...just don't place anything along it!
7) Puzzle Piece Neighbor Crossings
Currently, Streets, RHW, and GLR cannot cross neighbor crossings, which leads to an unrealistic replacement. All there needs to be is a puzzle piece to fill in the gap.
Barrier to Entry: Medium. It could be done.
8) Park & Ride Equality
Suppose you've got two SimCity cities: a suburb and a huge city. Most of the suburban residents go to the city for work. You've got a nice RHW for them, a park & ride for buses, and a commuter rail. Sims will take the highway, leaving your bus and railroad to gather dust and eat up funds. Desperate, you install the Park & Ride mod, and suddenly, RHW traffic drops off. Why can't everyone get along? People take Park & Rides AND the highways in REAL LIFE.
Barrier to Entry: High. Two traffic simulators do not make a stable game.
9) Ploppable road left turns
You can get a mod that adds a left turn for roads when they approach an intersection, but when it does it to every intersection, it's not realistic. It should be ploppable, so that some intersections have it, others don't.
Barrier to Entry: High. Although it could be possible, most people will find it irritating.
10) Integration with the RAM
More puzzle pieces, like, say, Avenue over STR.
Barrier to Entry: Medium. It's entirely possible, but would take lots of time.
Hi Pseudo3d, let me give you feedback on your comments.
ReplyDelete1. Not possible. Creating HOV lanes have been tried before but failed every time because they need their own network. Creating new networks in SC4 is not possible as it would require modifying the EXE file, which is illegal.
2. Possible. Models are generally frowned upon for NAM components, but I could see how it could eventually get worked in. They could also appear near development just like how sidewalks and streetlights appear near road networks.
3. Certainly possible. I remember someone uploaded a mod like this to the STEX but it was deleted for some reason.
-I think the traffic lights appear in the front because it makes it easier for players to see them from the viewing angle the game provides. Realistic? No, but if everyone viewed the city we do it would be fine.
4. I highly doubt it. Seems like a massive undertaking and takes up way too much land. Want continuous flow? Plop a roundabout.
5. You mean a transition? Its possible, but visual astetics come second for the RHW mod.. functionality first!
6. This won't happen. The RHW code is extremely complex (it uses the unfinished dirt road network Maxis left in the game) and the decision to make it a highway network was done about 5 years ago. No one is going to redo the code not to mention reconfigure every single puzzle piece.
7. Again, this is hardcoded into the EXE. GLR will connect to neighbour cities because it is just a visually modified elevated rail network. Having Streets and RHW's connect is not possible (except for the RHW-2 which may become a reality).
8. I have no experience with simulators. My guess is to find a balance on the A, B, or Z simulators and see what works for you.
9. Nope, not going to happen. Way to hard to code and all those puzzle pieces will take forever to make and crash many games.
-Here's a helpful note. Uninstall the turning lanes mod and redraw intersections where you do not want turning lanes. Then reinstall it so all the other turning lanes will work.
10. In time, they will come.
Thanks for commenting!
ReplyDelete