Network Addon Mod (NAM) Version 47 for SimCity 4 Now Available news

The RealHighway Mod (RHW) has been a very visible and actively-developed part of the NAM ecosystem for over 15 years, under the auspices of NAM Team lead developer Tarkus. The RHW has provided users the ability to construct a dizzyingly complex highway systems--including those by popular SC4 YouTuber Haljackey. However, its widest network has topped out at 10 lanes (5 per direction) since 2009, when RHW Version 3.0 debuted as part of the NAM 24 release cycle. NAM 47 finally ups this limit, with addition of the long-awaited RHW-12S network, featuring 12 lanes (6 per direction), at ground level and two levels of elevation (Level 1/7.5 meters, and Level 2/15 meters).

Not only does this new feature provide wider highways, but it also brings with it the prospect of wider ramps. NAM 47 also marks the debut of two new types of ramp interfaces, Type A3 and Type D3, which add support for higher-capacity 3-lane ramps to branch off three of the widest highways in the RHW: the RHW-8S, RHW-10S, and the new RHW-12S. NAM Team member Ulisse Wolf's first "secret weapon" video for NAM 47 showcases all the features of these new wider highways and ramps:

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, NAM 47 brings substantial new gameplay options for active transportation to the table. The NAM has included the Pedestrian Malls feature--PedMalls, for short--since NAM 6 was released, way back in July 2004, which provide the ability to build completely pedestrianized streets. However, aside from some minor additions in the early days, and the vastly improved ability to connect PedMalls to the sidewalks along one's surface streets in NAM 33, and the more recent addition of the Midblock Crossings in NAM 45, the pedestrian side of the NAM's transportation toolkit has not seen much development until recently. This was in part due to the game's long-running (and hardcoded) issues with being able to properly support RCI (Residential, Commercial, Industrial) zoning along completely pedestrian-based networks.

However, thanks to the efforts of Pedestrian Revolution Mod developers Lucario Boricua and Ulisse Wolf, this restriction has finally been lifted. NAM 47 marks the debut of the Draggable Classic PedMalls feature, which features 8 different styles of PedMalls, all getting arond the game's hardcoded limitations and providing proper pedestrianized RCI zone access--even for Residential zones. Ulisse Wolf's second "secret weapon" video for NAM 47 showcases this groundbreaking development.

As these development show, the NAM Team remains committed to providing a wide range of new options for SimCity 4 transportation, whether you want to add "one more lane, bro", seek to build the ultimate walkable city--or perhaps even both. In addition, the NAM Team has also added a number of other features and fixes for the game's transportation system. Here's the complete feature list from the NAM 47 release notes:

• Pedestrian Revolution Mod Features:
  • The NAM Team is pleased to present the Classic Draggable Pedmalls, courtesy of Ulisse Wolf and Lucario Boricua. These come in 8 styles, 6 of which are equivalents to the Pedmall Puzzle Pieces, and introducing 2 new designs: the Retrowave Red Brick, inspired in the old brick texture used for the U-Rail in earlier NAM versions, and the Industrial Style, using the concrete surface typical of industrial lots. The initially supported features of these pedmalls include:
    • Multidirectional draggable starter pieces using the Street network, supporting all orthogonal, diagonal, intersection and roundabout configurations, with the exception of wide radius curves.
    • Intersection support (OXO T and 4-way) in the form of mid-block crosswalks. These support Road, Avenue, and all two-way Network Widening Mod override networks (TLA-3, AVE-2, ARD-3, NRD-4, TLA-5, RD-4, RD-6, TLA-7 and AVE-6). These draggable pedmalls are also compatible with the FLEX mid-block crosswalk pieces.
    • Special underground paths enable residential zone development, while crossings discourage car traffic through restricted car paths.
  • In addition, some enhancements to existing functionality have been implemented:
    • The override code for the size 3 mid-block crosswalks for TLA-7 and AVE-6 have been overhauled, enabling these to be overridden from one side.
• RealHighway (RHW) Features:
  • RHW-12S A new, 12-lane quadruple-tile RHW network (separable into two dual-tile halves, carrying 6 lanes in each direction) has been added, with the following features:
    • Three height levels are supported: L0/Ground, L1/7.5-meter elevation, and L2/15-meter elevation. Transitioning between these height levels is supported by the ramp-style FLEX Height Transitions (FLEX-HT), as well as the FLEX OnSlope Transitions (FLEX-OSTs), by connecting them to the RHW-12S networks.
    • The RHW-12S features the same network crossings presently available to the other S-Type RHW networks, including crossings in all orientations for all Maxis base networks, all other RHW networks, Draggable Ground Light Rail, and Draggable Road Viaducts (L0-under-Viaduct-only), plus Orthogonal x Orthogonal (OxO)-only support for Network Widening Mod networks, Elevated RealRailway (ERRW) Viaducts, Tram-on-Street, Tram-in-Road, and Tram-in-Avenue. Limited Hybrid Railway (HRW) support also exists.
    • Extensive ramp interface support: supported ramps using FLEXRamps and Draggable Ramp Interfaces (when applicable) include Orthogonal Type A1 (all levels), Type B1 (all levels), Type D1 (all levels), Type E1 (all levels), Type A2 (all levels), Type B2 (L0 only), Type D2 (all levels), Type E2 (L0 only), Type A1-Inside (all levels), Type B1-Inside (all levels), Type D1-Inside (L0 only), Type E1-Inside (L0 only), the new Type A3 (L0 only) and Type D3 (L0 only), plus Diagonal Type A1 (L0 only), Type B1 (L0 only), Type D1 (L0 only), and Type E1 (L0 only).
    • FLEX Width Transition (FLEX-WT) has been added, to support width transitions between RHW-12S and RHW-10S at all applicable height levels.
    • FLEXFly over and undercrossings are supported with the RHW-12S (orthogonal-only, as diagonal undercrossings for FLEXFly do not presently exist for any network).
    • Several bridges have been added (see Bridge section).
    • Support for FlexSPUI is presently limited, and Three-Level Crossings are not yet supported.
  • RHW X3 Ramps: The first two FLEX 3-lane ramps, in A3 and D3 configurations, have been provided for RHW-8S, 10S and 12S. At present, only L0 support is available.
  • General Improvements:
    • Some enhancements, courtesy of memo, have been made to facilitate FLEXFly-over-FLEXFly functionality.
    • Some enhancements, courtesy of Flann, to elevated RHW network models have been added.
    • Various adjacencies involving RHW x RHW crossings next to the base orth-diag curve on the smaller networks (RHW-6S and smaller) have been addressed.
• Bridges: A multitude of new bridges have been added, courtesy of IDS2 and Kitsune:
  • New viaduct bridges for L0 RHW-8S, L0 RHW-10S and L0-L2 RHW-12S.
  • A pair of new Steel Arch bridges for RHW-10S and RHW-12S.
• Base Network Features: A new 5x5 90° Wide Radius Curve FLEX piece has been added to the Avenue network.
• Miscellaneous: A huge number of bugfixes have been done for this release, including:
  • Various RHW situations involving "tile drops", such as the RHW-8S-to-6S FLEX Width Transitions, the RHW-8S Type D1, E1, and B2 ramps, and the RHW-10S Type D2 and E2 ramps, have received considerable stability upgrades.
  • The orientation of the Road end-T on OWR-1 intersection has been corrected.
  • The orientations of certain NWM intersections involving the OWR-1 network with Euro textures have been corrected.
  • Stability improvements have been made to the Ground Light Rail crossings with various wider RHW networks.
  • The Dual Type 230 QCXs with L1 Dual Type 230-over-RHW-8C/6C and RHW-10S/8S have been improved.
  • Issues in which lane drop arrows appeared in the wrong places on the S-to-C FLEX Width Transitions have been corrected.
  • The ramp textures for the RHW-10S Type D2 and E2 ramps, as well as for the RHW-8S Type A2-Wide and B2 ramps have been improved.
  • Orientation and stability issues have been fixed with the Avenue-based AVE-6 and its Thru-T-intersections with Street, Road, and One-Way Road (both Short-T and Long-T).
  • Orthogonal x Diagonal slip lanes involving Road and One-way Road (OWR) have been re-implemented.
  • Several hundred path files across all areas of the NAM have been fixed by memo and Tarkus.
  • More SAM Street crossings with the Rail network have received crossing gates.
  • Euro wealth textures have been added to the Avenue-based AVE-6 network.

Download NAM 47 today from ModDB:

Additionally, for those seeking a lighter, more minimal NAM experience, the new NAM Lite package has been upgraded to Version 3, featuring a number of fixes over its predecessor, and also adding support for FLEX Road Overpasses, which allow users to easily cross over railways and other surface streets with their Roads, One-Way Roads, and Avenues.

We hope you enjoy this latest offering of the Network Addon Mod--and stay tuned, as we continue to add even more functionality on all fronts. More on the NAM, including documentation, feature guides, history, and general reference can be found at our new site, sc4nam.com. You can also interact with the NAM Team on the SC4 Devotion Discord Server.

Download NAM Lite 3 today from ModDB: