RHW can be intimidating for people who have never used it, and much more for those who are still new to the game. Here you'll find everything you could possibly know about how to use RHW.

Different Network Types
Basic Network Types
There is an assortment of different network types (essentially, how many lanes you want, and other variables.) Here's an illustration of the most basic ones:

Draw two of these parallel and opposite to each other like on real life roads (the yellow line is on the left for europeans). The most important network out of all of these that you'll be using is RHW-2. You'll find out why later in this tutorial.
In addition to these is a one way, single lane network which will be especially important in the construction of functional interchanges.

And finally, there's one more network you'll find appealing.


Elevated Networks
In addition to the basic network types there's an assortment of elevated types you can use also.

They essentially work the same way as ground level RHW, except roads can be drawn underneath them, much like the elevated maxis highway.

Filler Pieces
At the back of the menu for starter pieces you'll find a wide assortment of filler pieces. You'll find fillers for the following networks:

• RHW-4 (straight and diagonal)
  
• RHW-6S
  
• RHW-6C
  
• RHW-8S
  
• RHW-8C
  
• RHW-10
  
• MIS (straight and diagonal)
  
• RHW-3
  
• ERHW-4 (straight and diagonal)
  
• EMIS (straight and diagonal)
  

You'll find the fillers very useful in the future. Their usage will come later in this tutorial.

Exit/Entrance Ramps
RHW would be useless without these. You might find yourself using them more than the actual networks if you're an "interchange freak". Here's the various different ramp interfaces, and how they work.

























A lot to learn, isn't it?

As you can tell the ramps provide an interface for networks to be drawn from. The network type you need to continue your network past the ramp pieces corresponds to what the end parts of the piece look like so to speak. For instance, on the ERHW-6S piece, you'd drag ERHW-6S into the top part and EMIS and ERHW 4 from the bottom, accordingly.

You'll notice that some networks, namely 8C, use MIS starters instead of 8C starters. This doesn't matter, simply draw the RHW2 as you normally would.

Also, by rotating any of these a few times they'll convert to "entrance" interfaces which allow traffic to come onto the highway.

Transition Pieces

Transition pieces convert one network type to another. Here's the basic ones:


Like the ramp interfaces, drag the corresponding network from the starter pieces using RHW2. Additionally there are pieces to convert from ground level to elevated:



There are also pieces that convert directly from ground to elevated without a slope. You'll need to place them directly on the edge of a hill for them to work. Instructions on how to do that will come later.

There are two other different types of elevated transitions as well for DDRHW (DD = double decker)



These are used for the the DDRHW exit (which as you know is on the top level) and to convert from DDRHW to standard elevated or ground.

By rotating the 6S, 6C, and MIS ground to elevated transitions you can change the type from on to off. 4 has separate pieces for on/off transitions.

Wide Curves

It's possible to draw on a diagonal without using these, but wide radius curves provide a more smooth appearance when changing direction or switching to a diagonal.


The various different smooth curves one might use.

They're a bit tricky to place on a slope, which is why its always best to flatten the area you'll be building these on. Also, you can't directly place them on top of a network, you'll have to place them beforehand and drag the network into them.

One use for fillers is where two curves are in close proximity to eachother and it wouldn't be possible to drag a highway. Place the fillers between the two curves and you're good.

Also included with the smooth curves is flexfly, which is a smooth 90 degree turn for elevated highways. The nice part about this is, highways can be dragged underneath it without obstruction. This is particularly useful for a space saving design.



Part 5 will be coming later.