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Anyone play Cities: Skylines yet?

Started by Zeffy, March 12, 2015, 10:15:56 AM

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yand

Of course I make sure to use TMPE yield signs on the entrances. I see you're using larger 2 lane roundabouts which are more resistant to jamming than smaller 1 lane roundabouts, my point is traffic inside the roundabout should be able to keep flowing even if it is backed up/ being overwhelmed, regardless of roundabout size. TMPE yielding is imperfect and will let cars in that force roundabout traffic behind it to slow down, and when the last car fills up the roundabout it comes to a stop since no car can move forward. This is a known issue and of course not how roundabouts actually work, I live near a 5 way, 1 lane roundabout that gets backed up every rush hour (currently under construction to be upgraded to a 2 lane) but traffic in the roundabout always keeps moving.
I make videos for Full Length Interstates. FullLengthInterstates.com redirects to my channel at youtube.com/FullLengthInterstates


jakeroot

#151
Quote from: yand on August 07, 2018, 12:40:30 AM
Of course I make sure to use TMPE yield signs on the entrances. I see you're using larger 2 lane roundabouts which are more resistant to jamming than smaller 1 lane roundabouts, my point is traffic inside the roundabout should be able to keep flowing even if it is backed up/ being overwhelmed, regardless of roundabout size. TMPE yielding is imperfect and will let cars in that force roundabout traffic behind it to slow down, and when the last car fills up the roundabout it comes to a stop since no car can move forward. This is a known issue and of course not how roundabouts actually work, I live near a 5 way, 1 lane roundabout that gets backed up every rush hour (currently under construction to be upgraded to a 2 lane) but traffic in the roundabout always keeps moving.

You may want to consider upgrading your roundabouts to double or triple lane monsters. The trick with roundabouts in C:S is to get traffic through them as quickly as possible. The more cars you have waiting at the entry points, the higher chance of the intersection locking up. Consider installing a meter on one of the entrances that's the busiest. Do this by placing a crosswalk (using the "Crossings" mod) just before the entry point, and signalize the crossing with a timed light that goes red for 15 seconds every 60, or something like that. That will stop traffic from entering there for a few moments, allowing traffic to "breathe". That's something I have to do very rarely, but it helps.

If your roundabout is large enough (with 5 or 6 car lengths between each entry/exit leg), consider disabling intersection blocking. TM:PE allows you to disable this, and make all intersections blockable by default (so cars don't stop before entering if traffic is backed up). I always turn on intersection blocking, because the jams created by drivers stopping is greater than if they just entered and briefly blocked it. If you also allow this (by checking the appropriate box in TM:PE settings), this sometimes will create a situation where cars will block roundabout exits, not allowing cars to leave the roundabout if one entry was really busy, and locking the whole thing up. Disabling intersection blocking at the busier entry might help reduce the chances of the roundabout locking up.

As you can tell on the last page, I use roundabouts quite frequently, and I rarely have issues with them. When I do, I get creative. Don't just rage quit or blame Colossal Order (even if their default traffic AI is retarded).

Here's a right-hand drive (left-side traffic) parclo interchange I created that uses a roundabout at one entry, with another roundabout nearby. They replaced two signalized intersections, which didn't operate well due to their close proximity, plus the original signal didn't include a missing movement which the roundabout was able to include (before and after, respectively) (pardon the theme change):





Probably not very strangely, the one roundabout that I truly was never able to fix (besides the one on the last page which I admitted to replacing) was this single-lane double roundabout. I don't quite remember what I put in its place (I deleted this city 2+ years ago), but I think it involved a signal and the elimination of one of the roadways:


johndoe

Dang Mr. Root those are some cool cities!  Well done!  I feel like the traffic mechanic that bugs me most in the un-modded game is how early drivers get into their proper lanes.  They would rather sit in a queue thousands of feet long than go and make a different turn, etc.  Of course that's not ENTIRELY inaccurate

I also don't get how you can look at left-hand-drive maps...my brain gets confused really quickly!

jakeroot

#153
Quote from: johndoe on August 08, 2018, 08:18:31 PM
Dang Mr. Root those are some cool cities!  Well done!  I feel like the traffic mechanic that bugs me most in the un-modded game is how early drivers get into their proper lanes.  They would rather sit in a queue thousands of feet long than go and make a different turn, etc.  Of course that's not ENTIRELY inaccurate

Thanks! I have 4716 hours (196.5 days, or 53% of a year) of Skylines under my belt at this point (it's by far the best city simulator of all time), so if I didn't manage to learn some tricks in that time, I've completely wasted my youth. I've built basically every style of intersection at this point, and I've worked with hundreds of different road styles, so needless to say, I know what works and what doesn't; that doesn't mean I don't still screw around, though!

Yeah, I've noticed IRL that traffic sometimes does that, especially when there's a turn immediately after an intersection. Here in Seattle, such behavior is not too common, as drivers will sometimes turn single-lane left or right turns into double turns, because why the hell not?

An issue in the game (well, not an issue, but an integral part of the mechanics) is that drivers can only switch lanes at nodes. So a single block might have no nodes in between two intersections, meaning drivers cannot change lanes at all between the two intersections. Basically, drivers have to choose the correct lane as they turn onto the street. This can sometimes create issues in areas with wide streets, as left and right turning traffic will conflict, turning into the lanes they need. Typical traffic requires the lane opposite of their turn (right turns need the left lane, and left turns need the right lane), so I sometimes will add my own nodes if I notice issues (by placing a road from any point along a path, and then deleting the road (this leaves the node in-place with two shorter paths on either side). Traffic in this game would massively improve if vehicles were able to change lanes at any point.

Credit to the author of TM:PE where it's due. The mod has really improved over the last year. One of my long-time complaints was that cars couldn't change their mind about their path after they spawned. This has changed, much to the chagrin of my processor, over the last six months, as vehicles can now change lanes on-the-fly (dynamic lane selection is what it's called, I believe).

Quote from: johndoe on August 08, 2018, 08:18:31 PM
I also don't get how you can look at left-hand-drive maps...my brain gets confused really quickly!

Virtually every city that I've built in city sim games since Sim City 4 have been RHD (sitting on right side of car; aka LHT -- left hand traffic). At this point, I'm so used to it, driving around in real life, I sometimes [unintentionally] visualize changes in infrastructure backwards (thinking of a new ramp alignment, but in the wrong direction, for example). During my visit to the UK in 2014 (pre Skylines but well after CXL and SC4), I did not find driving on the left all that odd, perhaps as a result of this.

MikeTheActuary

I know that this thread has been dormant awhile, but this seemed like the best place to share. 

I'm in Montreal, waiting for bridge traffic to clear before I start home, and over on the Montreal sub-reddit, I encountered this:


Apparently one resident, frustrated with one particularly unfortunate persistent area of construction (the Turcot Interchange) was curious about what the interchange will be like if/when completed.

He couldn't find any images publicly available online, so he used Skyline to speculate on what it might be like.  :)

ET21

The local weatherman, trust me I can be 99.9% right!
"Show where you're going, without forgetting where you're from"

Clinched:
IL: I-88, I-180, I-190, I-290, I-294, I-355, IL-390
IN: I-80, I-94
SD: I-190
WI: I-90, I-94
MI: I-94, I-196
MN: I-90

rickmastfan67

We're FINALLY getting the ability to Toll highways in Skylines!!  It's coming in the next patch.  And the best part about it?  It's a FREE update to the game, and not in a DLC!!!!!!!!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/255710/announcements/detail/2530352848516861391

QuoteThe free update coming alongside Industries will introduce toll booths (and road tolls, naturally), which will slow traffic's roll a bit, but generate extra income for the city.

jakeroot

That's fantastic. I hope there's an option for electronic tolling, as I'm more in it for the revenue. Would rather not have to pay people to man a tollbooth.

Would love a variable toll lane feature as well, but that might be a bit more complex then they are willing to code.

johndoe

I wanted to make a city that would encourage citizens to take the bus.  All the streets are dirt because...I don't know why  :spin:
Notice how inconvenient the street connections are (hardly any "up-to-down" streets, only pedestrians paths):


I made the majority of the bus stops in those little turn-offs, which double as a way for pedestrians to cross the street.  The green bus route is an "express" route with only one stop at either end of the map.

Tonytone

This is a great game. You can create traffic headaches & then fix them. I play it on my downtime. The last sims is horrible. Sim city. Rush hour edition in the early 2000's was that shit. Best simulator game they have ever made.


iPhone
Promoting Cities since 1998!

jakeroot

Quote from: johndoe on October 14, 2018, 04:56:33 PM
Notice how inconvenient the street connections are (hardly any "up-to-down" streets, only pedestrians paths):

That's basically a Hoddle Grid (minus alleys), made famous by Melbourne, Vic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoddle_Grid

Tacoma, WA uses the same grid. It's definitely not ped-friendly.

Quote from: Tonytone on October 14, 2018, 05:06:11 PM
This is a great game. You can create traffic headaches & then fix them. I play it on my downtime. The last sims is horrible. Sim city. Rush hour edition in the early 2000's was that shit. Best simulator game they have ever made.

Totally agree on SC4. Certainly one of my favorite games of all time. Pretty sure it's why I'm a roadgeek.

C:S is great for problem solving, but even the modded AI (TM:PE) isn't perfect...memory hog even on my extreme setup. Hopefully C:S2 steps it up a notch.

paulthemapguy

Quote from: Tonytone on October 14, 2018, 05:06:11 PM
This is a great game. You can create traffic headaches & then fix them. I play it on my downtime. The last sims is horrible. Sim city. Rush hour edition in the early 2000's was that shit. Best simulator game they have ever made.

1.  Wholeheartedly agree that the last Sim City is trash.  I still go back to SimCity4 and it's great.'
2.  You're totally right that Cities:Skylines has traffic headaches that you then go back and fix, but I never looked back on it and truly appreciated it until you brought it up just now.  I don't know how many times I had a blast reconfiguring an interchange that was no longer performing well.  This grade intersection isn't working--I know, I'll try a roundabout!  Roundabout isn't enough?  Diamond!  Diamond isn't enough?  Parclo!  And so on.  I would create elaborate interchanges leading to the cargo terminals so that the shitload of freight trucks could move through smoothly.  That's always fun
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

Tonytone

Quote from: paulthemapguy on October 14, 2018, 07:53:45 PM
Quote from: Tonytone on October 14, 2018, 05:06:11 PM
This is a great game. You can create traffic headaches & then fix them. I play it on my downtime. The last sims is horrible. Sim city. Rush hour edition in the early 2000's was that shit. Best simulator game they have ever made.

1.  Wholeheartedly agree that the last Sim City is trash.  I still go back to SimCity4 and it's great.'
2.  You're totally right that Cities:Skylines has traffic headaches that you then go back and fix, but I never looked back on it and truly appreciated it until you brought it up just now.  I don't know how many times I had a blast reconfiguring an interchange that was no longer performing well.  This grade intersection isn't working--I know, I'll try a roundabout!  Roundabout isn't enough?  Diamond!  Diamond isn't enough?  Parclo!  And so on.  I would create elaborate interchanges leading to the cargo terminals so that the shitload of freight trucks could move through smoothly.  That's always fun

Exactly. & after the trucks crowd the roads. You realize you have to make one ways & less connecting roads. I think they took out the sim city franchise because. Unless they return to the pervious SC4. The brand will go bankrupt. I dont know what made them change the game from being able to control everything. To you can just build a road & place some houses & ems. Its a disgrace. Im glad C:S brought back the true gameplay.


iPhone
Promoting Cities since 1998!

Tonytone

Quote from: paulthemapguy on June 12, 2018, 12:25:40 PM
I have an addiction to this game that is adversely affecting my health.  I stayed up way too late playing it for 2 nights in a row...and now I am trying to function at work...

On the bright side, my 7th city ever Grace Valley* just broke the 175,000 population mark!  I've staved off the floods and epidemics, for now...

*-I name my cities alphabetically.  First one starts with A, second one starts with B, etc.  I employ naming schemes like this on my streets sometimes as well, in the stylings of Minneapolis and other cities.
I swear. Ive stayed up till 6 Am. Playing this game. Shit when I was younger minecraft came out when I was about 11-12. Im 20 now. These simulation games can really have you creating beautiful things. & keep you up for months.


iPhone
Promoting Cities since 1998!

RobbieL2415

Toll roads have finally been added to C:S with the Industries DLC.

Tonytone

Quote from: johndoe on November 03, 2018, 06:19:45 PM
I got the new Industries DLC, it's a nice new variation.  But man, it's really easy to make money.  I started a farming city and I have more than I think I'll ever be able to spend!

Wow that easy huh. I see that you can even make express lanes in the new Tolls.


iPhone
Promoting Cities since 1998!

paulthemapguy

Does anyone get a kick out of watching youtube videos where a player will improve the traffic on a cities skylines map?  I get a kick out of doing it, and I get a kick out of watching people like Biffa fix the traffic in the simulated cities.  It does get frustrating, though, because, as someone who has been learning about traffic geometry and congestion relief for his whole life, I think I can do a much better job improving the traffic flow than the gamers.
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

vdeane

What gets me is how many options aren't available, at least without mods.  One time I had a major backup on a ramp that went onto the mainline; I wanted to split the ramp into one ramp for each direction, but nobody used the new ramp, and without the ability to ban left turns, I was stuck.  I tried cutting off a nearby street (which caused problems on a parallel road but took out a major intersection backup near the ramp), but that only helped a little, and I was forced to ban trucks on the arterial.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

index

I got a neat mod called CSL map viewer that generates maps of your cities:

This is based on Lake Havasu City, AZ, but if it had freeways.
I love my 2010 Ford Explorer.



Counties traveled

ftballfan

Quote from: paulthemapguy on December 30, 2019, 10:13:21 AM
Does anyone get a kick out of watching youtube videos where a player will improve the traffic on a cities skylines map?  I get a kick out of doing it, and I get a kick out of watching people like Biffa fix the traffic in the simulated cities.  It does get frustrating, though, because, as someone who has been learning about traffic geometry and congestion relief for his whole life, I think I can do a much better job improving the traffic flow than the gamers.

I watch Biffa as well!

yand

Quote from: vdeane on December 30, 2019, 01:35:54 PM
What gets me is how many options aren't available, at least without mods.  One time I had a major backup on a ramp that went onto the mainline; I wanted to split the ramp into one ramp for each direction, but nobody used the new ramp, and without the ability to ban left turns, I was stuck.  I tried cutting off a nearby street (which caused problems on a parallel road but took out a major intersection backup near the ramp), but that only helped a little, and I was forced to ban trucks on the arterial.

You can use traffic manager to manage lane arrows and ban/force turns

edit: lol you specify without mods. I am a huge advocate for integrating TMPE as a paid DLC (mainly so they have a responsibility to keep it working with every update) but the player base seems to hate realism and makes a ton of excuses for the gamey-ness of CS.
I make videos for Full Length Interstates. FullLengthInterstates.com redirects to my channel at youtube.com/FullLengthInterstates

paulthemapguy

Quote from: index on December 30, 2019, 11:02:33 PM
I got a neat mod called CSL map viewer that generates maps of your cities:

I WANT THAT MOD SO BAD.  Can you link me to it?  I've taken to drawing paper maps of some of my cities, plus paper maps of my metro subway systems.

Quote from: vdeane on December 30, 2019, 01:35:54 PM
What gets me is how many options aren't available, at least without mods.  One time I had a major backup on a ramp that went onto the mainline; I wanted to split the ramp into one ramp for each direction, but nobody used the new ramp, and without the ability to ban left turns, I was stuck.  I tried cutting off a nearby street (which caused problems on a parallel road but took out a major intersection backup near the ramp), but that only helped a little, and I was forced to ban trucks on the arterial.

Did you get the mod "Traffic Manager: President Edition?"  I just got it for myself and it's wonderful.
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

jakeroot

Quote from: paulthemapguy on January 01, 2020, 01:25:25 PM
Quote from: index on December 30, 2019, 11:02:33 PM
I got a neat mod called CSL map viewer that generates maps of your cities:

I WANT THAT MOD SO BAD.  Can you link me to it?  I've taken to drawing paper maps of some of my cities, plus paper maps of my metro subway systems.

If you search "Map Mod" in the workshop, you'll see it pop up.

andrepoiy

I play Cities:Skylines and I've played for a few years now. It's awesome!

Thunderbyrd316

   I just got this AWESOME game for Christmas for my PS4! I have been having a BLAST playing it. Here is a link to a brief You Tube video of my very first city which is VERY MUCH still a work in progress.

   Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uviSUgMB668

   If you are easily offended you are ESPECIALLY encouraged to read the description! :P

   Comments are welcome!



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