Feature Wishlists & Suggestions for ATSimulator

[fidelio]

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it gets so hot in some places in the southwest U.S. the asphalt road surface becomes soft enough to coat vehicle tires with tar, which then covers up the paint marks by coloring them black. if it weren't for these embedded road reflectors, there would be practically no lane markings. this is a particular problem in las vegas. the tar does a pretty good job of covering the reflectors too.

[rocknrollDaVE]

i was just thinking about the three major types of United States highways and i think its impotant that i explain the main diffrences between them

- US
- Interstate
+ Turnpike/toll roads

all US's and Interstates are owned by the United States goverment
*all Interstates and US's are toll free
-*except some major bridges and tunnels

what is a US
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a US is any major United States highway that is built to a standard that does not meet Interstate requirements.

these roads can have the following lane set-up
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they can also be multi-lane like an Interstate.

but unlike an Interstate they can have intersections and red lights and turn offs they can also use a more conplex lane set up when going through a town (like a center turn only lane)

US's can have exits but these for the most part are not numbered becuse US's are not required to use mile markers and will simply be marked with a EXIT sign (some major US's have mile markers along the road owned by the state)
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what is an Interstate
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-must have a minumum of 2 lanes + shoulder going in each direction
-must use exits to get on and off (no intersections or red lights or cross-roads)
-are required to have mile markers at least once a mile (some states have them every .1 of a mile so you get 45.4, 45.5, 45.6 ect...)
-all exits have the mile marked on the sign (mile = exit number)
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Interstate numbering

1 and 2 digits - the main Interstate
(5, 79, 4, 80, 77, 10, 95)
eaven numbers - east to west
odd numbers - north to south

3 digit - split off from main interstate (moastly around citys)
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Interstate 376 showen above goes from Interstate 76 in to the city of Pittsburgh
it will always lead back to the main Interstate in at least one direction

Mile Markers

-always start at 0 at the west end of the Interstate and get higher as you go east
-always start at 0 at the south end of the Interstate and get higher as you go north

***only mesures the miles within one state, does not mesure the entire length of the Interstate***

-must be placed every mile
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every interstate including 3 digit will have there own set of mile markers

what they mark othen then the mile number
- how far from one side of the state to the other (only in the Intestate runs from one end to the other)
- how far from the start of the Interstate to the state border
- how far from the state border to the end of the Interstate
- how far from one end of the Interstate to the other (only in the entire Interstate is within one state, moastly applies to 3 digit Interstates)

Turnpikes and toll roads
these are roads that are owned by the state, what ever state they may be in
-can be a part of an Interstate
-can be a part of a states own road system
-must have a toll of some kind to use

***WARNING***
these can be extreamily complex and very greatly by state in the way they are set up

like in New Jersey the exit numbers on the NJ Turnpike are not marked by the mile but are actully exit numbers like 1, 2 ,3 ,4 ect...

before putting in any Turnpike or toll road in look it up before attempting to put it in the game becuse these are not goverment owned they do not need to follow the same set of rules as Interstates

that is all for major highways

i can do an explanation of 'what is a state route' later

[rocknrollDaVE]

rumble strip, those tend to be quite loud when you run over them, of course they are meant to warn dozing drivers to wake the he** up! Although success rate varies.

every time you hit them you get that RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR noise

if you are dozing and you hit one they might have a chance of wakeing you up

[Centrino2]

rumble strip, those tend to be quite loud when you run over them, of course they are meant to warn dozing drivers to wake the he** up! Although success rate varies.

every time you hit them you get that RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR noise

if you are dozing and you hit one they might have a chance of wakeing you up

Like I said, success rate varies, plenty of drivers still seem to wreck out on interstates due to dozing.
I remember one time about a driver wrecking out after dozing almost a few yards away on the other side of the interstate where the high speed lane is, did not see it happen, but it didn't seem like the driver hit anybody but the guardrail, but traffic both ways came to a grinding halt.

Regardless, nice tutorial.

[rlrh1996]

Wait, can you guys see all my ImageShack pics or not? If not, I've to upload to a different site.

[rocknrollDaVE]

i can see them

[rlrh1996]

Thanks for your explanation rocknrollDaVE, it's really enlightening.

I've also put the reflectors suggestion under section 1.2.

[rlrh1996]

I was going through my photo album and came across these stuff. I think the truck-only lane is a good idea but don't know whether this is implemented in other states or only in California? Also the 'Fuel Next Right' sign complements the truck-stops idea really well. Now that I think of it, the truck-stops idea was actually in the 18 WoS games, right? They're also in Rig'nRoll, where the truck stops are really big with lots of parking spaces like in those images except there aren't any other trucks around except the player's.
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This one is just here for the lolz, might be one of the strangest road names in the US, it's along I-15 in Calif.:
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[celestra]

I hope when they make the game thay add a lot more stopping places . 18wos really bugged me that you could never get to a truckstop to park up in your driving hours and normally it was just stop the truck wherever you were at the time and sleep/forward the hours to do a rest period . I normally just even did it while still in the slow lane not even bothering to pull over onto the hard shoulder most times with no penalty for doing it

[rocknrollDaVE]

i have never seen a truck only lane before but i have seen 'NO TRUCKS LEFT LANE' going through the mountians

also for the lolz
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just outside of Myrtle Beach, SC