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Are intersections really that important?
Pyronium3
Posts: 443 New Member
Hey guys,
I've been wondering about roads and their routing. I think most of you know the golden rule to 'always end a road with an intersection', but how important is that really?
It's been bugging me because you can clearly see that EA's builders don't always do this. There's clear examples of it in the Location worlds, and also in Bridgeport. For example: in Egypt there is more than 1 road just going 'into' another without an intersection connecting them.
[img]http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7020/screenshot2jh.jpg "width=640"[/img]
In Bridgeport there is a road that goes up to a lot and ends there with no intsersection. There's more instances of this in the various location worlds too.
[img]http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/9928/screenshotmv.jpg "width=640"[/img]
So what I want to know is whether these things have actually caused routing problems for people? I've tested this in multiple ways, and there doesn't seem to be any issues. The 'Cars can't turn around without an intersection' arguments also seems to be moot, because they can :P.
I've been wondering about roads and their routing. I think most of you know the golden rule to 'always end a road with an intersection', but how important is that really?
It's been bugging me because you can clearly see that EA's builders don't always do this. There's clear examples of it in the Location worlds, and also in Bridgeport. For example: in Egypt there is more than 1 road just going 'into' another without an intersection connecting them.
[img]http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7020/screenshot2jh.jpg "width=640"[/img]
In Bridgeport there is a road that goes up to a lot and ends there with no intsersection. There's more instances of this in the various location worlds too.
[img]http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/9928/screenshotmv.jpg "width=640"[/img]
So what I want to know is whether these things have actually caused routing problems for people? I've tested this in multiple ways, and there doesn't seem to be any issues. The 'Cars can't turn around without an intersection' arguments also seems to be moot, because they can :P.
0
Comments
I do have a few roads which do not end with intersections *(only one end). My understanding is that One end must have an intersect. I've not tested it though.
*Well, I guess I have since there are roads in my worlds which do not have both end intersections.
These are the roads leading out of town and off the map like. This I saw in Sunset Valley. They do not have end intersections on the roads going out of town. Besides... they are cut off with the routing paint which for all purposes cuts them off as if there are not ends (if there were).
So, I don't see why both are needed... I just like them before going on a lot. Unless the lot has a road which looks like it is going into it.
But I think EA have done it wrong on the roads in your Egypt picture, because a sim would get out of their car/moped and walk to the adjacent road then get back in their car and carry on driving wouldn't they? Rather than just turning a corner if there was an intersection.
I always thought that intersections were needed on the ends of roads (except for the ones leading out of town) so that cars and taxis could turn around?
I don't really know whether the road in your Bridgeport pic would cause problems like this because chances are, taxis aren't going to drive down there.
Also, sometimes they look nice because they create a cross walk on the road, like around the main park in Sunset Valley.
Still, better to be safe than sorry. I think? I`ll still be using intersections, but I might try a few testing experiments to see how it goes.
Interesting.
I plan to "finish" my world this weekend, but if I finish early, I would be glad to create a small test world for the sole purpose of testing the various scenarios or participate in the testing if someone else wants to create the test world. I don't think we should judge by EA created worlds -- who knows what they have in them that we haven't figured out yet.
Also, I think it would be a good idea to see if we can find some folks with various combinations of base game and EPs -- and just base game folks. For all we know something in each EP could have changed the way the game handles roads and routing, and we should see if we can figure that out.
I see three identified scenarios so far to test & verify -
#1 - intersections at the end of roads leading out of town beyond sim/camera routing - are there adverse affects? what actions does the game take on those roads?
#2 - two roads merging with out an intersection (egypt example)? What routing issues does this cause, if any? What actions doe the game take on those roads?
#3 - road ending with no intersection (ending in lot?) Adverse affects? how does the game handle those scenarios?
By game handling the scenario I mean does it ignore the road in case #3 or react as angel_lillie describes in case #1?
Of course we judge by EAs worlds. They are our example.
1. How long to you think to test?
As I said, With the routing paint over the roads they are not routed so it matters not if there is or is not an intersection at the end of a road going out of town. It only matters there is one on the other side. If it has either the Non Sim or No Camera paint then it's cut...
**I am not saying don't test. I think you should.
Actually, I meant that we should not judge what works in our custom world based only on examples from EA's worlds. We have know way of knowing if they a)ignored their own rules, b) changed the rules -- but only for them, or c) changed the rules but only if you have an expansion pack, etc.
We have great examples of what EA has done in WA and Ambitions or Late Night -- but will these examples work in a custom world or on a system that is base game?
Its also a question of what really happens at these points?
As for how long to test -- I am not sure. I think I am more concerned with immediate problems (routing issues and game play issues/oddities) and the difference in different systems and EP combination.
If we could find maybe 10 or 15 people to run specific tests and maybe let the game run for an hour watching for routing issues and report back - it could all be done over a weekend once the test file is built and the "survey" for the data is prepared.
Make sense?