The Cities Unlimited Archives: Interchange Editor

Next archive: the Interchange Editor. Posted with the permission of their orginal author, tr0ub1e, these are articles archived from the Cities Unlimited website (along with the first page of their respective comment threads) before the boards were closed down. A huge thanks to Metropolis member Ephemeron for his foresight in hanging on to these, and his hard work cleaning up the formatting! The usual Drawing Board disclaimer applies. Note: dark red text indicates links to other pages on the boards that are no longer active.

Interchange Builder/Editor for Roads & Highways

a Conceptual article by tr0ub1es0me

#13948 tr0ub1e

(author & contributors: cityplanner145, MrGSCoTTc, tr0ub1es0me)

There are some SimCity fans who know how to make custom interchanges in SimCity 4, including myself, but it's not a user-friendly process. Nor is it a feature which Maxis intentionally put in the game as it is achieved through modifying files...

Wouldn't it be pretty cool if Monte Cristo took this idea of making custom interchanges which had been developed at Simtopolis (www.simtropolis.com) - and created a real in-game Interchange Editor within CITIES XL, which you can load at any time and the Editor GUI window would appear. It would take a bit of work on coding from Monte Cristo but ultimately I think it could allow you to make any number of completely dynamic and unique interchanges, perhaps by letting you piece it together from smaller parts or something along those lines: using different radius bends, slip lanes merging or splitting, and straight pieces; all with varying numbers of lanes, etc. The smaller pieces would need to have a decent amount of precision in their positioning (at least by using the denser grid idea, see the Concepts article Denser Grid than SC4), and we would need the ability to raise or lower individual pieces, creating sloping pieces between two other pieces we have set at different heights - and ultimately allowing us to include underpasses and overpasses within. After you save the creation it would then become available in the game's interchange menu as a functional single structure.

I know that an Interchange Editor featuring precision positioning of a variety of functional and connectable pieces is a very possible concept. I know how it could be programmed, and there have been plenty of similar things in existence in other games before; such as course/track editors for racing games. I know that if I had the time (and if I knew how to use the programming codes in conjunction with things like DirectX and all of the PC's hardware, to create the graphical interface and appearance for the program), then I could make an Interchange Editor like this. Of course, it wouldn't be that useful without being part of a game, but you could sure enough build your own realistic interchange models with its own path-files, for the fun of it. I don't have the time or quite enough knowledge; but i know it can be done.

The editor would be good for saving the entire structures as single plop-able features, which would save so much time compared to putting them together each time from loads of smaller pieces whenever you want that same interchange. It would also be quicker for when you want an interchange similar to a built-in or custom one, but with a very slight and subtle change! Rather than building again from scratch piece-by-piece ? you can simply load the existing one in the editor, make the minor change, save as a new interchange, and voila... I personally feel that the Interchange Editor would be a very good idea; and if Monte Cristo create the Editor first, they can then also use it to make all the default in-game interchanges themselves, and in turn, testing the functionality of the editor.

You could say there is no need for an editor if the wide variety of smaller pieces used to construct an interchange, are already available and easily positioned together in-game - but it would be more time consuming to construct a different style interchange in-game every time you need a copy of it, rather than plopping down the custom interchange that's all-together, finished, and saved. That is why an Interchange Editor is such a good idea: supply the editor to the players along with the core pieces, and see what the community can do with them! (SimCity 4’s expansion pack Rush Hour could have been so much more... I hope Monte Cristo do not disappoint in this respect!)

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Post any other comments, suggestions, additions, or adjustments here too.

#13952 JC Scooby

I think this is a really great idea tr0ub1e! I was thinking like on the UI it could have a little button that you press and time freezes and some kind of grid comes on and buildings and etc. just like disappear or like outline themselves that way you know where they are. Like there is this one intersection on the I-10 in Califiornia on from LA to Palm Springs there is this really cool intersection (and i'm not talkin 'bout ur normal cloverleaf intersection people!) and you probably don't no wat im talkin bout since i can't show u a pic or anything!

I would give this on the importance level a 61% I think this would be really cool to hav i just don't want the develpoers to stress about this or waste their time on this, but it would be awesome! :)

#13954 ToeJam

5 ;)

#13955 J0nnD0ugh

Whatever could be implemented that would allow us to customize our road systems, I'm all for. Not every highway system has the same needs. And to me, its the roads & streets that make city building games.

#13980 Zimpe

5

#13966 TheWhitestOfFangs

I love building transport networks!

5!

#14000 John

-5

Yes I like this idea very much. This was a big problem for me in SC4 with the limited choice of interchanges. I wish I was competent enough to create my own interchanges in SC4 but it is too difficult. An editor as you speak of would be a big plus for CU for those who like to really customize. Also for those who like to recreate a copy of a real life city this would be a must. Thank you for adding this idea to the forum.

#14098 jon

yeah... 5. i would really like this and i think it would save the transit gurus from SC4 (see: "NAM") time to work on perfecting other things.

aww who am i kidding, the'll find a way to better this, but still 5.

#14103 Jman47

chalk me down for a 5 on this one.

#14111 The Yeti

Ditto on the whole 5 thing ;p

#14833 g314

5 - Very Important. These features are a must-have! (100%)

I already mentioned something about 3ds splines in earlier posts. This is very important, as long as I can do the same with any kind of transports, with no limitations and working on free elevations. Chances will be endless!!

#14853 Don Mikimax

5.

#14896 owenluby

I would love to see this in the new game! What I would also like to see is a way of doing this while still in the city view so we can make it conform to its boundaries (eg. surrounding buildings, parkland, ocean etc).
5 Stars no doubt!

#14957 tr0ub1e

owenluby wrote:

What I would also like to see is a way of doing this while still in the city view so we can make it conform to its boundaries (eg. surrounding buildings, parkland, ocean etc).

that's an excellent point. but what i would propose and like to see is a "preview" window in the editor.

here you could actually see in your city (at the active viewpoint) the current interchange that is loaded into the editor, and have the ability to position and rotate it. you would not be committed to build, and any buildings or lots around it would not be affected. you would literally be able to move it straight through buildings. perhaps anything which would be destroyed to make way for construction would be highlighted in red.

this would allow for shaping a custom-made interchange so that it fits straight into that really tight space between a lot of developments which you don't want to destory.

building or modifying interchanges in the editor should be completely free. it is basically like a "drawing board" used by the transport department.

the editor should also be able to calculate the cost to build any custom interchange. it would simply know the cost to construct different pieces; add more to the cost of each piece depending on how wide it is (or how many extra lanes have been added to the original single lane); and then add a further cost for the construction used to elevate any pieces, depending on the height (how many levels it has been raised).

#14961 Molybdane

5

But only if some of the pieces that are sharp turns have a lower maximum speed for the vehicles, thus affecting the interchange capacity in some way.