Only one lane change per node

[originalfoo]

From Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/583429740/3264459260619301162/

Greetings! How difficult would it be to force traffic to only switch to the lane next to them at any given node? There are tons of annoying 2+ lane changes on 3+ lane roads, for example: far left to far right lane, that cause all kinds of traffic flow issues because they block vehicles behind them if they do so into a congested lane, this is unnecessary. Currently I manually set each node to do this in my cities but having this behavior built into the dynamic lane changing option should fix tons of other cities' issues if implemented.

[originalfoo]

There are some potential issues that we'll need to consider; for example what happens on wide roads if a vehicle isn't able to get to the inside/outside lane to make a turn?

[dymanoid]

I think this should be an option, if it will be implemented.
In real life, this happens pretty often. At least, I do that almost every day on the Autobahn 😄 (without causing severe traffic havoc though)

[UtterBob]

I was just about to make this suggestion when I spotted this. Rather than becoming an option/imbedded behaviour, I would suggest that it's added as a shortcut (similar to the existing 'Shift + S' one). Other than no changes, it's the only thing I do a lot and consistently.

[originalfoo]

IMO it would perhaps be better to have it sort of an 'intelligent always on' (optional feature of course).

Doing it manually will take a shed load of time on extensive road systems. Hence desire to make it at least somewhat automatic.

The problem with C:SL is that vehicles can only lane change at nodes. So, what happens if there's not enough nodes in a short stretch of wide road for a vehicle to cross all lanes (assuming it can't find a way to get in to a viable lane when entering the road for whatever reason) to reach a required exit lane?

What we'd need to do is ensure that for a given stretch of road between two junctions (also factoring in transitions between different road prefabs I guess) that the goal is to only allow single lane change per node, but if that is insufficient to cross from outermost lane to innermost lane then multiple lane changes would be required.

[UtterBob]

That would end up defeating my most common use! Although I can still use the lane management tool to override it, so that would be nice behaviour as default. For my purposes, I'd still love a lane manager short cut to speed the process up a bit.

I use single only lange changes to control distribution, especially for things like busy roundabouts; forcing the AI to pick it's "lane" at the start of an area and take one, pre-defined route to its destination but where the games default behaviour would allow the vehicle options to change lane and/or the AI doesn't see the optimal route through a complex junction.

[originalfoo]

What about something like:

• Shift + S = Straight ahead only
• Shift + L = Limited (single lane change)
• Shift + U = U-turn (only at junctions, maybe also at some transitions?)
• Shift + D = Default (whatever vanilla would do)

And also, at some point in future, an optional setting to apply Limited lane change globally (but it could be overridden on node-by-node basis)?

Notes:

• We are planning to draw thin white lines (or similar) to depict 'default' lane routing when no customisations are applied (likely part of More Accurate Lane Connection Arcs #282 PR)
• I'm still in the process of going through all the tools to check their keyboard shortcuts in hope of ensuring as much consistency as possible, so those shortcuts above would likely change.

[UtterBob]

That would be amazing!

[s2500111]

What about something like:

• Shift + S = Straight ahead only
• Shift + L = Limited (single lane change)
• Shift + U = U-turn (only at junctions, maybe also at some transitions?)
• Shift + D = Default (whatever vanilla would do)

And also, at some point in future, an optional setting to apply Limited lane change globally (but it could be overridden on node-by-node basis)?

Notes:

• We are planning to draw thin white lines (or similar) to depict 'default' lane routing when no customisations are applied (likely part of More Accurate Lane Connection Arcs #282 PR)
• I'm still in the process of going through all the tools to check their keyboard shortcuts in hope of ensuring as much consistency as possible, so those shortcuts above would likely change.

Or just use Shift + S and cycle through those options, as long as there aren't to many. There's already a confusing amount of inconsistent shortcuts within the game, I personally don't need any additional ones.