#20yearsSC4 – NAM 46 and NAM Lite 2 Now Available

Yesterday marked a significant milestone for SimCity 4: 20 years since it was released, back on January 14th, 2003. Now, right on the heels of this momentous occasion, the NAM Team is pleased to announce the release of not one, but two new packages: NAM 46 and NAM Lite 2.

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NAM 46 is a full-blast transportation extravaganza, and includes among its new features the first phase of diagonal intersection and crossing support for the Network Widening Mod (NWM), over 20 new bridges by the team’s highly-prolific new bridge modder, IDS2, and much much more. Here’s the full list:

• Network Widening Mod (NWM) Features:
  • Support for diagonal 4-way (+) intersections and crossings has been added for all six single-tile NWM networks (TLA-3, AVE-2, ARD-3, OWR-1, OWR-3, and NRD-4), including orthogonal X diagonal (OXD), diagonal X orthogonal (DXO) and diagonal X diagonal (DXD). These networks may cross one another, along with all base Maxis networks, Ground Light Rail (GLR), and Single-Track Rail (STR). Support for 3-way intersections, other NAM network families (i.e. RHW, SAM, etc.), and those involving multi-tile NWM networks will be added in a future phase.
  • A preliminary version of an Avenue-based form of the 6-lane Avenue (AVE-6) network has been added, which supports full wealthing. To build an AVE-6 with the Avenue tool, overlap two orthogonal Avenues, and they will convert (diagonals are not presently supported). Most intersections supported by the existing AVE-6 are supported with this new implementation, and it is also possible to transition to the traditional Road-based AVE-6 for any functionality not yet supported.
• New Bridges: Over 20 new Bridges have been added, courtesy of IDS2, including the first Bridges for the OWR-4 and OWR-5 networks (which are Avenue-based Bridges, due to the side-by-side Bridge limitation). Further bridge support has been added for RD-4, RD-6, SAM-6 (Klinker Streets), SAM-11 (MGB Industial), Double-Track Rail (DTR) and Single Track Rail (STR).
• Hybrid Railway (HRW) Features: L2 HRW support has been added, along with LHD improvements, and a reimplementation of the OnSlope Transitions to improve slope handling. Elevated support includes R2 elevated curves (at L1 and L2), orthogonal X orthogonal (OXO) crossings with the base road networks (Road, OWR, Avenue), the Network Widening Mod and the RealHighway, and diagonal X orthogonal (DXO) includes the base road networks and the RealHighway.
• Rail Slope Settings: An improved set of Rail Slope Settings has been prepared, providing more user choice and greater usability with the smoother/more restrictive options.
• Base Network Features:
  • Courtesy of the recently-returned Shadow Assassin, the diagonal transitions between the Avenue network and the Road and RHW-2 networks have been dramatically improved, and extended versions have been added. Direct connection transitions were re-designed for a smoother look, and the new extended versions use a stub-to-stub override.
  • In preparation for future phases of the NWM diagonal intersection expansion, the base T-intersections involving diagonal Road and/or One-Way Road have been revamped.
• RealHighway (RHW) Features:
  • The long-awaited Dual Type 230 QuickChange Xpress Diamond Interchange setups are now available, which allow one to quickly build pre-fabricated interchanges between various RealHighway (RHW) networks and the triple-tile NWM networks, complete with turn lanes and all the bells and whistles.
  • The Diagonal Ramp-Style FLEX Height Transitions now support RHW-3 and RHW-6S.
  • The Double-Decker RHW-4 (DDRHW-4) models have been revamped, courtesy of Ulisse, coupled with some improvements to base functionality.
  • The Type E1-Inside ramps now have elevated forms, and various incremental improvements have been made to the elevated ramp interface models.
  • The Type A2 and B2 merging ramps have been re-designed to feature a lane drop prior to connecting with the mainline lanes.
  • A new FLEX Width Transition piece has been added, to better facilitate transitions involving multi-tile S-type networks (especially the previously unstable RHW-8S-to-6S transitions, with their tile drop).
  • The MIS 2-Lane FLEX Turn Lanes (including the FLEX Height Transition) can now connect smoothly to FlexSPUI and FlexDDI.
• FLEX Turn Lane (FTL) Streetlights: The FLEX Turn Lane (FTL) setups (except the very limited Avenue Type 020) now support streetlights.
• New NAM Website: An official Network Addon Mod website has been launched, https://www.sc4nam.com, featuring NAM documentation and feature guides.

In addition to the full edition of the NAM, the NAM Lite package, introduced as part of NAM 45, has been spun off to become a standalone download, with the release of NAM Lite 2.

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A much more compact version of the flagship mod, NAM Lite features just the most essential of NAM features, including the renowned Traffic Simulator Plugins, refining SimCity 4’s pathfinding engine to work as it was originally intended, along with Automata Controller options, updated textures (including a Euro/International texture option), Roundabouts, Diagonal Streets, additional interchanges for the game’s base Highway system (the “Maxis Highways”), and (optional) Hole Diggers/Ground Raisers, allowing for precise terrain alteration.

Here’s the full list of what the NAM Lite update brings:

• NAM Lite is now offered as a separate download.
• Issues involving the Additional Maxis Highways feature have been addressed, including fixing functionality with Road and One-Way Road Perpendicular Interchanges with Elevated Highways, some of which affected users who did not install this option.
• Some features from the full edition of the NAM that were unintentionally accessible through NAM Lite menu buttons (in very broken forms) have been removed from the Perpendicular Interchanges and Avenue Roundabouts buttons.
• The Hole Digger and Ground Raiser items have been added to NAM Lite, as a strictly optional additional feature. They can be selected under “3 Additional Network Features”.

The SC4 anniversary has also started to attract the attention of some parts of the gaming press, including some very nice articles at Rock Paper Shotgun and the German GameForest. I shall be doing some further celebration of this anniversary (there may be some things afoot with Tarkusian Cities soon, even), and I can’t wait to see what all of you will do with these latest NAM features. Here’s to 20 years of SimCity 4, and many, many more.

-Tarkus