Outside Connections not Working

Incompatible mods

These mods are known to cause issues:

• Cargo Info - prevents vehicles spawning on highways, also causes Simulation error Array index is out of range error.

• 81 Tiles (all variants) - doesn't currently support intercity buses outside central 25 tile area

  • Quistar is working on new implementation of 81 Tiles mod that might fix this as part of his Extended Managers Library

General outside connection issues

• Outside connections must have green arrows at edge of map:

  • If arrows are missing, the connection is broken...

  • Roads: Only highway roads can be used by default

    • Use Any Road Outside Connections to overcome that limitation

    • Zoned roads don't work; use Zoning Adjuster to disable zoning while placing the outside connection.

    • Two-way roads break intercity buses; see: Intercity Buses not Working

  • Rail: Some custom rail tracks don't work as outside connections

    • The outside connection must be made from special station track

    • If you connect vanilla train track to outside, game automatically replaces with station track

    • Custom tracks (workshop assets) probably won't work; replace with few segments of vanilla track

    • If station track segment is too small, use Move It mod to stretch it, or bulldoze and rebuild

  • Ferry: These can not be used for outside connections (use ship harbours instead)

  • Blimps, Helicopter, Air tours: These can not be used for outside connections (use airports instead)

  • Tram, monorail and metro: These can not be used for outside connections (use train stations instead)

• Connections showing "no power" or "no water" notifications at edge of map are broken:

  • This can happen on any type of outside connection (for example: Aircraft, Highways)

  • Often caused by old Ploppable RICO mod; replace it with newer Ploppable RICO Revisited mod.

• Too many connections:

  • Each type of connection (road, rail, aircraft, ships) has a limit on how many connections of that type can exist

  • Use Unlimited Outside Connections to overcome that limitation

• Did you create your own connections?

  • If so, it sometimes takes a while for the game to start using them

  • Sometimes you might need to save, quit to desktop, then reload for changes to take effect

General station / port / hub issues

• The station must be connected to your city by road

  • Some stations (like this) require pedestrian path connection instead

  • Some stations are designed to work more effectively when connected to train (e.g. Cargo harbours) or metro (e.g. International airport)

• Broken workshop assets:

  • Stations must contain spawn points to function correctly

  • Use Spawn Points Fix or Building Spawn Points to repair

• Passenger stations:

  • Click the station, and on the info panel you'll see an Inter-city option

    • To get similar option on bus stations, use Intercity Bus Control mod

  • If you want inter-city vehicles to use that station, you must enable the option

Highways

In addition to general issues listed above, check for these issues:

• Broken connection between highways and your city roads:

  • Most highways are two separate 1-way roads; one incoming and one outgoing

  • Make sure both connect to your city road network

  • If in doubt, connect both highway roads with a bit of 2-way normal road and see if that helps

• One way roads preventing vehicles from reaching their destination:

  • Unless you know how to properly use one-way roads, it's best to avoid them.

  • Activate the road building tool, and you'll see white arrows on any one-way roads - replace them with 2-way roads

Trains

In addition to general issues listed earlier, check for these issues:

• One-way tracks preventing vehicles from reaching their destination:

  • Unless you know how to properly use one-way tracks, it's best to avoid them.

  • Activate the track building tool, and you'll see white arrows on any one-way tracks - replace them with 2-way tracks

• Outside connection platform not connected:

  • Inter-city trains always use the same platform, chosen by the game

  • If that platform isn't connected to outside connection the trains can't use the station

  • Simple solution: Connect all station tracks to the outside connection

  • Once you see which platform they use, you can disconnect the others if desired

Passenger Ships

In addition to general issues listed earlier, check for these issues:

• Not connected to shipping lane:

  • When placing harbour, you should see a purple line extending out in to the sea

  • If that line isn't there then the harbour isn't connected to a ship lane and no ships can use it

• Broken ship routes:

  • They can be hard to spot (because it's a dashed line, not a solid line)

  • Sharp bends or gaps in the route can cause problems

  • Use More Network Stuff to repair routes if required

Aircraft

In addition to general issues listed earlier, check for these issues:

• Not connected to aircraft route:

  • When placing airports, you will see a warning if the airport isn't in range of an aircraft route

  • If the airport can't connect to the route, planes can't use the airport

• Broken runways or taxiways

  • The aeroplane AI is easily confused

  • Used curved paths, not sharp corners (jumbo jets don't handle corners very well)

  • Runways and taxiways are usually (always?) one-way - make sure planes can go from runway to terminal and back to runway again

• Broken aircraft routes:

  • They can be hard to spot (because it's a dashed line, not a solid line)

  • Sharp bends or gaps in the route can cause problems

  • Use More Network Stuff to repair routes if required