Do Liberty City's Power Lines Connect To Anything?

Summary

In diesem Video untersucht der Host die Elektrizitätsversorgung in 'Grand Theft Auto 4', indem er eine Zufallselektronikumsäule in einem zufälligen Viertel kartografiert und die Verkabelung der Umgebung analysiert. Er stellt fest, dass die meisten der Tastspile in der Spielwelt nicht miteinander verbunden sind, was auf die riesige Spielwelt und die Tatsache hindeutet, dass eine vollständige Vernetzung unrealistisch wäre. Der Host vergleicht die Spielwelt mit der realen Welt und diskutiert die Plausiblerheit der Elektrizitätsnetze in GTA 4, während er auch die Verbindungen zu einem fiktiven Kernkraftwerk in der Spielwelt untersucht.

Takeaways

• 🎮 Der Spieler hinterfragt die Realität der Stromversorgung in Grand Theft Auto 4 und stellt fest, dass es unwahrscheinlich ist, dass alle Strommasten mit Kabeln verbunden sind.
• 🗺️ Die Karte von Grand Theft Auto 4 ist riesig und es gibt Tausende von Strommasten, die möglicherweise nicht alle miteinander verbunden sind.
• 🔍 Der Spieler beschließt, eine zufällige Strommast in einem zufälligen Viertel zu wählen und die Stromleitungen zu verfolgen, um ein Diagramm der Verbindungen im Viertel zu erstellen.
• 🌆 Es wird erklärt, wie Strommasten in der realen Welt mit Gebäuden verbunden sind, und der Spieler vergleicht dies mit der Darstellung in GTA 4.
• 🏭 Es gibt eine Kernkraftwerk in GTA 4, das vermutlich die Stadt mit Strom versorgt, aber es ist unklar, wie die Verbindungen zwischen dem Kraftwerk und dem Rest der Stadt funktionieren.
• 🏗️ Der Spieler entdeckt, dass es in GTA 4 Substationen gibt, die jedoch nicht mit dem restlichen Stromnetz verbunden sind, was unrealistische Darstellungen erzeugt.
• 🔌 Der Spieler stellt fest, dass die meisten Manhattans und anderer Bereiche in New York City tatsächlich keine oberirdischen Stromleitungen haben, da sie alle unterirdisch verlegt sind.
• 🚨 Es wird eine Verbindung zwischen der Untergrundverlegung der Stromleitungen in Manhattan und der fehlenden Darstellung von Strommasten in diesen Bereichen von GTA 4 hergestellt.
• 🔍 Der Spieler durchforstet das Spiel, um herauszufinden, wie weit das Stromnetz des Kraftwerks reicht und stellt fest, dass es eine beeindruckende Anzahl von verbundenen Strommasten gibt.
• 😀 Der Spieler entdeckt einen seltsamen, aber coolen Zug: Die Stromversorgung in seinem eigenen Apartment in New Orleans stammt aus dem gleichen Kraftwerk wie die in Niko Bellic's Apartment in GTA 4.

Q & A

Wie viele Stützpfähle und Verbindungen wurden im Spiel Grand Theft Auto 4 thematisiert?

Im Spiel gibt es tausende von Stützpfählen, die über die riesige Karte verteilt sind.

Welche Stadt ist in Grand Theft Auto 4 dargestellt?

Liberty City, die auf New York City basiert, ist in Grand Theft Auto 4 dargestellt.

Welche Firma entwickelte das Spiel Grand Theft Auto 4?

Das Spiel wurde von Rockstar Games entwickelt.

Wo befindet sich die vermutete Quelle der Elektrizität im Spiel?

Die vermutete Quelle der Elektrizität ist das Actor-Kernkraftwerk auf der Insel Alderney.

Wie wurde die Verbindung von Stützpfählen zu Gebäuden in der realen Welt untersucht?

Durch direkte Beobachtung und Recherche außerhalb des Spiels und Vergleich mit dem Spiel.

Was ist ein Service Drop?

Ein Service Drop ist der Punkt, an dem Elektrizität in ein Kundengebäude eintritt.

Warum gibt es in Liberty City (dem Spiel) keine sichtbaren Verbindungen zwischen dem Kraftwerk und dem Stromnetz?

Es gibt keine sichtbaren Verbindungen, weil entweder die Entwickler dies auslassen oder weil die Verbindungen unterirdisch sind.

Was sind die Unterschiede zwischen den Elektrizitätsnetzen in Grand Theft Auto 4 und der realen Welt?

Im Spiel gibt es viele sichtbare Stützpfähle und Kabel, während in der realen Welt, insbesondere in Manhattan, viele der Stromleitungen unterirdisch sind.

Wie wurden die Elektrizitätsnetze in Grand Theft Auto 4 modelliert?

Die Elektrizitätsnetze wurden als top-down-Repräsentation des realen Raumes modelliert, ohne tiefgreifendes Verständnis der tatsächlichen Stromnetzinfrastruktur.

Was ist die Hauptbotschaft des Skripts über die Darstellung von Elektrizitätsnetzen in Videospielen?

Die Hauptbotschaft ist, dass Videospiele trotz mangelnder Realität in der Darstellung von Stromnetzen spannend und engagierend sein können.

Outlines

00:00

🏙️ Analyse des Stromnetzes in Grand Theft Auto 4

Der erste Absatz beschreibt das Skeptizismus des Sprechers über die Realität der in Grand Theft Auto 4 dargestellten Strommasten und deren Verbindungen. Der Sprecher plant, eine zufällige Gegend und einen zufälligen Strommasten auszuwählen und die Stromleitungen zu verfolgen, um ein Diagramm der elektrischen Verbindungen im Bereich zu erstellen. Zudem wird auf die Detailliertheit von Rockstar Games hingewiesen, die sowohl Gebäude als auch eine vermeintliche Stromquelle in Form eines Kraftwerks in der Spielwelt modelliert haben. Der Sprecher schlägt vor, sich ein Hotdog zu holen, bevor er mit der Kartierung beginnt, was in eine Werbepause über einen Mahlzeitzustellungsdienst übergeht.

05:02

🔌 Detaillierte Kartierung der Strommasten und -leitungen

In diesem Absatz wird die Methode der Kartierung der Strommasten und -leitungen beschrieben. Der Sprecher erklärt, wie er die Verbindungen zwischen den Masten und Gebäuden aufzeichnet und wie er seine Skizzen nördlich orientiert hält. Es folgt eine Diskussion über die Realität der Darstellung von Strommasten und -leitungen in GTA 4 im Vergleich zur realen Welt, wobei der Sprecher seine Beobachtungen aus der realen Welt teilt, um die Spielwelt mit der realen Welt zu vergleichen.

10:02

🏭 Stromnetzanalyse und fiktive Kraftwerksverbindungen

Der Sprecher stellt fest, dass die im Spiel dargestellten Stromleitungen nicht zu einem realistischen Kraftwerk führen, was zu Verwirrungen beim Verständnis der Stromversorgung in der Spielwelt führt. Er recherchiert, wie echte Kraftwerke mit dem Stromnetz verbunden sind und stellt fest, dass Substationen eine wichtige Rolle dabei spielen. Der Sprecher diskutiert die fehlende Verbindung zwischen dem Kraftwerk und den Substationen in GTA 4 und zieht Parallelen zu realen Substationen in New Orleans.

15:04

🗺️ Erweiterte Stromnetzkartierung und Diskrepanzen

In diesem Absatz wird die weitere Erkundung des Stromnetzes in GTA 4 beschrieben, wobei der Sprecher auf die Komplexität und mögliche Ungenauigkeiten der virtuellen Darstellung eingeht. Er stellt fest, dass die Spielwelt sowohl realistische als auch unrealistische Aspekte des Stromnetzes kombiniert, was zu einer Diskrepanz zwischen der realen und der virtuellen Welt führen kann. Der Sprecher reflektiert auch über die Entscheidungen der Spielentwickler, bestimmte Elemente der realen Welt in die Spielwelt zu integrieren.

20:04

🏠 Abschließende Beobachtungen und Verbindung zur realen Welt

Der letzte Absatz fasst die Beobachtungen des Sprechers über das Stromnetz in GTA 4 zusammen und zieht eine Verbindung zu seiner eigenen Wohnumgebung in New Orleans. Er stellt fest, dass die Spielwelt zwar unrealistische Aspekte aufweist, aber dennoch eine Faszination für die Spieler aufbaut. Der Sprecher schließt mit einer Anerkennung für die Spielentwickler und einem Hinweis darauf, dass Videospiele trotz mangelnder Realität in bestimmten Bereichen immer noch großartig sein können.

Keywords

💡Utility Poles

Die Stützpfähle sind eine zentrale Komponente im Video, da sie das elektrische Netz in der Spielwelt von Grand Theft Auto 4 darstellen. Sie sind die Strukturen, an denen sich die Hochspannungskabel befestigen, um Elektrizität aus dem Kraftwerk zu transportieren und in die Stadt zu verteilen. Im Video wird untersucht, wie realistisch diese Stützpfähle und ihre Verbindungen in der Spielwelt sind und wie sie sich mit den Gebäuden verbinden.

💡Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games ist der Entwickler von Grand Theft Auto 4 und wird im Video erwähnt, um den Detailgrad und die Genauigkeit der Spielwelt zu betonen. Das Studio ist bekannt für seine sorgfältige Gestaltung und wird im Kontext der Diskussion über die Realität der Elektrizitätsversorgung in der Spielwelt herangezogen.

💡Electrical Infrastructure

Das elektrische Infrastruktur ist ein Hauptthema des Videos, da es sich mit der Darstellung von Energieverteilungsnetzen in der Spielwelt von GTA 4 beschäftigt. Es wird untersucht, wie die Stützpfähle, Kabel und Substationen in der virtuellen Welt modelliert sind und wie sie der realen Welt entsprechen.

💡Liberty City

Liberty City ist die fiktive Stadt in Grand Theft Auto 4 und dient als Hintergrund für die Untersuchung der elektrischen Verbindungen. Im Video wird die Stadt genutzt, um die Verteilung von Elektrizität und die möglichen Verbindungen zwischen den Stützpfählen und Gebäuden zu veranschaulichen.

💡Power Plant

Das Kraftwerk ist der Quellpunkt der Elektrizität in der Spielwelt und wird im Video als Ausgangspunkt für die Ermittlung der Verbreitung des elektrischen Netzes behandelt. Es wird diskutiert, wie das Kraftwerk mit dem Rest der Stadt verbunden sein könnte und welche Rolle es in der Energieversorgung spielt.

💡Substation

Eine Substation ist ein Teil des elektrischen Netzes, der für die Umwandlung von Hochspannung in Niederspannung verantwortlich ist. Im Video wird die Rolle von Substationen in der Spielwelt analysiert und ihre Verbindung zur realen Funktion von Substationen in der realen Welt herangezogen.

💡Service Drop

Ein Service-Drop ist der Punkt, an dem Elektrizität in ein Gebäude eintritt. Im Video wird erklärt, wie die Kabel in der Spielwelt zu den Gebäuden führen und wie dies im Vergleich zur realen Welt aussieht, was für die Realität der Simulation wichtig ist.

💡Transformer

Ein Transformator ist ein Gerät, das elektrische Spannung umwandelt. Im Video wird auf die Darstellung von Transformatoren in den Substationen in GTA 4 eingegangen, und es wird diskutiert, wie sie in der Spielwelt möglicherweise nicht korrekt funktionieren, was die Herausforderungen bei der Simulation von elektrischer Infrastruktur aufzeigt.

💡Underground Grid

Das Video erwähnt die Tatsache, dass in manchen Teilen der Stadt, die auf Manhattan basiert, das elektrische Netz unterirdisch verlegt ist. Dies wird als Beispiel für die Art und Weise diskutiert, wie die Spielentwickler die realen Welten in die virtuelle Spielwelt übertragen, und wie dies die Sichtbarkeit von Elektrizitätsversorgungselementen beeinflusst.

💡Manhattan

Manhattan wird als Inspiration für Liberty City im Video erwähnt. Die Tatsache, dass in Manhattan viele elektrische Leitungen unterirdisch verlegt sind, wird als Grund für die fehlenden Stützpfähle und Kabel in der Spielwelt diskutiert, was zeigt, wie die Entwickler die realen Gegebenheiten in ihre Kreation einfließen lassen.

Highlights

怀疑《侠盗猎车手4》中所有电线杆是否真的通过电线相连，考虑到游戏地图的巨大规模，这似乎不太可能。

提出要随机选择一个电线杆和社区，用纸和笔追踪电力线，创建该社区的电力连接图。

在开始绘制电力图之前，通过赞助内容提到了Factor餐食配送服务，强调其便利性。

展示了如何通过观察现实世界中的电线连接来验证游戏中的电力连接细节。

讨论了游戏中电线杆与建筑物连接的现实性，以及与现实世界中观察到的连接方式的比较。

指出游戏中的电线杆和电力线的细节，如倾斜的电线杆和悬挂的标志，增加了游戏的真实感。

揭示了游戏中一些电线杆并未连接到任何东西，暗示了游戏设计中的取舍。

讨论了游戏中的电力系统与现实世界中的电力系统的差异，特别是在电线杆和建筑物的连接方式上。

探索了游戏中的电力系统是否有一个中心电源，比如发电厂，并确认了游戏中确实存在一个发电厂。

通过实际探索游戏中的电力系统，发现发电厂与电网之间并没有直接连接。

介绍了现实中的变电站如何与发电厂连接，并通过游戏内的探索寻找类似的连接。

指出游戏中的变电站设计与现实世界中的变电站在视觉上相似，但在功能上存在差异。

通过专家Grady的分析，揭示了游戏中变电站的不切实际之处，如变压器的错误连接方式。

讨论了游戏中电力线的分布和连接方式，以及它们如何与现实世界的电力系统相比较。

展示了整个游戏中最大的一组连接电线杆的电网图，并尝试将其与游戏地图叠加。

最后，以一个有趣的观察结束视频：游戏中的发电厂与现实中为制作者公寓供电的发电厂相同。

Transcripts

I'm just going to say it there's no way

that all of these utility poles in Grand

Theft Auto 4 are actually connected by

wires I know it looks like they all are

when you play it but this map is

gigantic and there have got to be

thousands of these poles all over it

connecting all of them even for

notoriously detail oriented game Studio

Rockstar Games seems like it would be a

ridiculous waste of time so what I'd

like to know is where did they give up

how much of a local area is actually

connected by utility poles and do these

utility poles connect to buildings or

other pieces of electrical

infrastructure or are they just

connected to each other is there a

source for all of this theoretical power

in the game a power plant perhaps yes

there is there's a power plant that's

what we're going to find out and we're

going to start by picking a random

utility pole in a random neighborhood

and then we'll get out a pen and paper

follow the power lines wherever they go

and create a diagram of how everything

in that neighborhood is connected okay

great the thing is making those diagrams

always works up an appetite so let's go

grab a hot dog from one of the hot dog

stands in Liberty City before we get

started oh thank

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know what was in those brownies I don't

know if I can say this but I never cook

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which is not a sanctioned way to cook

them but it should be and it still takes

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basically like Factor did all my meal

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next month of orders I do have to read

that verbatim so that's why I sound like

a dork when I do it but I know you'll

understand now like I said the first

thing we're going to do with this whole

electricity thing in case you forgot is

we're basically going to take this

random neighborhood and map out every

electrical connection that stems from

this point that point right there as we

go along we'll sort of build a little

diagram map thing like we do with the

rivers on it will hopefully be

significantly less complicated than the

rivers we'll see our little utility pole

will look like this if the wires lead to

another pole we'll mark it down like

this if it connects to a house or a

building we'll mark it down like this

I'm going to try to keep the map

oriented to the north as well but it's

sort of hard for my tiny brain to

constantly be reorienting itself as we

move around the game so who knows I

might give up on that but that's the

goal anyway let's take a look so first

and foremost we've got this power pole

connected to this apartment complex now

it's connected to the apartment complex

just by going directly into to the brick

on the corner of the building I don't

know if that's realistic or not that's

going to be something for me to figure

out later and tell you uh right now okay

so we have this question of how power

lines actually connect to buildings in

real life I think the easiest way to

answer that will be for me to just go

outside and look so I'll do that in just

a second but I would also like to pay

lip service to the fact that I think

it's neat that Rockstar bothered to

connect to buildings at all even if the

spot they connect isn't fleshed out or

accurate cuz honestly would we notice if

it didn't connect at all probably not

Grand Theft Auto 3 doesn't have any

utility po at all and no one seemed to

care so it's cool that they went the

extra mile okay come

here oh hey look we're outside so I

found this big church building which I

figure is a decent standin for the

apartment complex we were looking at in

the game at least in my neighborhood and

I began the task of trying to figure out

where the heck it connected to the power

grid funnily enough I ended up having to

do basically what I was doing in Grand

Theft Auto but in real life and it only

took a couple of minutes around the side

of the building before I located this I

think and I'm going to tell you now I'm

I'm not an expert on this at all so

please give me some Grace here as I

learn alongside you but I think what

we're looking at here is that the wires

actually enter the building like this

and that these four anchor points are

just there to hold the wires in place

this whole thing is called a Service

drop which just means it's a point at

which electricity enters a customer's

you know building or house or whatever

and it's generally designed uh like this

to protect the wires and the inside of

the building from inclement weather like

rain and stuff go look outside your

house right now and you'll probably see

something similar anyway let's continue

and then we've got this power pole

connect to two more power poles down

that way that's got a nice little

mattress in the corner here that's nice

and then it looks like this one on the

left goes to this weird building back

here three wires coming off of that

building two of them are going across to

that building and one of them's going to

that building okay that's fine what

we're actually going to do with these

buildings is just represent them uh like

this I don't think it's actually all

that relevant informationally to

literally put down every single wire

here so just representing that they're

all connected is more than enough I also

really love how many small details there

are in this game this is kind of a

separate thing but like that mattress

you know I wish I could shake the hand

of the person who put the mattress there

because somebody did there's a person

who on in a moment in time at their job

at Rockstar put that mattress in that

Alleyway but also maybe even cooler take

a look at this leaning utility pole this

is a real thing that does happen

honestly unless you live in a

particularly well-run City or suburb you

can probably walk outside for less than

20 minutes and uh find one of these in

your neighborhood and the fact that

someone at Rockstar decided not to just

copy paste the same utility poll across

the whole city is super cool another

thing about this leaning utility pole is

that the sign hanging off of it is

slightly offset from the utility pole

but also slightly offset with the ground

which makes it seem like the pole leaned

a little bit then they hung the sign to

align with the ground and then the pole

continue to lean meaning that the sign

was no longer aligned with the pole or

the ground which is a crazy detail and I

possibly just made it up and I'm just

seeing things but it looks like that to

me now is a leaning utility pole is that

a bad thing I mean it's an eyesore I'm

sure whether it's a safety risk is

dependent on the specific situation you

know maybe they should install one of

those anchor points to straighten it out

you know those things that uh from the

utility poles that you thought if you

touched them as a kid you would get

electrocuted even though they were just

there to like hold the pole in place now

this set of utility poles continues

onward from this area out towards the

circumference Road of the island

connecting to one other building and

then splitting off in two directions

just like every video we make at this

point I immediately realized that this

was not going to be as simple an

undertaking as I initially thought I've

already run out of room on my goddamn

paper however check this out heading

south along the road just a few more

poles in the line and we run into boom a

utility pole that simply does not

connect to anything could they have

connected this utility pole to the one

that's less than 100 yard down the

street probably would it have made an

appreciable difference on the quality of

Grand Theft Auto 4 probably not there

are actually a variety of these

Standalone unconnected utility poles

heading further to the South and if you

play GTA 4 for any amount of time you'll

see them scattered around the city in

ways that don't end up making a ton of

realistic sense at least as far as I can

tell now is probably a good time to tell

you that I am neither an electrician nor

a city planner nor an engineer I dropped

out of college I had a pretty bad GPA in

high school so you know grain of salt I

try to get you know at least 80% of my

facts right uh and you can see the

sources I used in the description but if

you know better than me or if I say

something wrong please leave a high

quality comment down below so we can

upvote it and learn uh the truth

together heading back to that place we

split off and now going north instead of

South the path splits into two

directions once more taking the left

path we find our first commercial

building on the line Rusty Salvage

that is not a curse word so to the guy

who dm' me saying can you please not

curse so I can show these videos to my

students it's not a curse word read the

letters Rusty Salvage connects in

much the same way as the other buildings

just by having the line go straight

through the brick there is one small

point of confusion here though I guess

one thing that's a little confusing to

me about this is the fact that like the

these power lines split off here and

then you've got one two three like power

poles just to get uh Power to this

building when it feels like it would be

easier just to connect that right to the

building but I don't know I'm not an

electrical infrastructure engineer I'm

sure some of you nerds are I love you

guys by the way you guys are my favorite

this will definitely be a common theme

going forward and there are some really

pretty funny examples of this that I can

show you later but maybe there's a world

where this situation uh it doesn't

necessarily make sense but it is still

realistic I think anyone who spent any

amount of time interacting with

infrastructure in a serious way can

vouch for the fact that it often isn't

constructed in the most efficient way

for a whole lot of reasons so it's

sometimes funny how video games can

mirror that because they themselves are

also a complicated team-based effort

that require a myriad compromises to

make into a reality resulting in some

head scratching implementations that is

how that's how life works okay big mess

anyway sorry I get so sidetracked I have

so much to show you I need to stay

focused okay do you want to know how

this local power grid ends it goes like

this this this and then this what's that

you ask for some reason these power

lines connect directly to one of those

big construction site lighting rigs via

the top of the fixture which does seem

kind of weird to me you know maybe this

is how these things work but I would

have assumed like anything you plug

these lights into some kind of Outlet

rather than directly rigging the high

voltage line into the top of it but you

know who know I don't know anything

continuing Beyond this lighting fixture

not too far we have 1 2 3 four more

utility poles and then nothing just like

the path to the South it all ends uh

right here with no explanation no

Fanfare no special modeling just a

lonely utility pole with nowhere to go

so at least as far as this area is

concerned let's take a look at the full

electrical

map it's a thing of beauty you know it

really is worth every minute that I

spent on it but wait until you see the

second one that one's worth every hour

that I spent on it um unfortunately

unlike the River maps we don't actually

have any way of noting the directional

flow here because there's no actual

source for any of this power power uh

usually would come from a power plant

but these power lines they just are they

they simply B I'm not even sure there's

any proof that they're successfully

bringing electricity to any of these

buildings do these construction lights

even work except there is a power plant

in Grand Theft Auto 4 if you've played

the game through you'll know that all

the way on the western most island of

alderney there is a very prominent

nuclear power plant on the south end of

the island called the actor nuclear

power plant which introduces a new

confusion we know that actor power plant

doesn't connect directly to the grid

we've already mapped out because nothing

connects to that grid but actor power

plant must connect to something right

now when I tell you I spent a long long

time trying to figure this out after

doing laps around the power plant

looking for any kind of connecting wires

to the building I gave up and just

decided to look up how uh power plants

connect to the Grid in real life maybe

that would give me some sort of a clue

coincidentally I actually have a nuclear

power plant a sort of small one pretty

close to where I live in New Orleans and

what I learned from that as well as from

other local power plants is that power

plants are usually paired up with

substations if you've ever seen one of

those intimidating death trap looking

things in your city these things here

with loads of weird structures and wires

that's a substation usually power flows

from a power plant through a substation

before it makes its way to the regular

lines in the neighborhood what a

substation is going to do is take the

power from a power plant and increase

the voltage a ton because higher voltage

electricity travels better over

distances apparently I don't know why

you know I'm that I'm not that guy so I

figure you know substations pretty

recognizable structures maybe what I'll

do is I'll steal a helicopter and go

substation hunting in Minecraft in Grand

Theft Auto so that's what I did okay

we're looking for some kind of

electrical infrastructure sorry about

the beeping I'm really I'm really not

seeing a lot like are there are there

even any transmission lines coming off

of the island is the question this looks

like some kind of prison what is that oh

that's prison now all of this isn't to

say that Liberty City doesn't have

substations the game has substations the

Grand Theft Auto Wiki literally has an

entire page dedicated to substations in

every GTA game which is amazing there

just isn't one near the power plant

which is the first and perhaps most

important place to have a substation the

closest substation to the power plants

is all the way over here still on the

same island but in no way close enough

to be the primary pass through for all

of the generated electricity heading

towards the rest of the city let's zoom

in for a second and see what a GTA

substation looks like to the untrained

eye it actually looks pretty good I

myself have admired a variety of

substations from afar and aside from

being a little smaller than the ones I

normally see this is pretty much how

they look that said I am far from an

expert on this topic and it would you

know it would obviously be awesome if we

could get an expert you know like say

Grady from the legendary YouTube channel

practical engineering to take a look at

it you know unfortunately that's not

going to

happen anyway here's Grady from the

legendary YouTube channel practical

engineering to tell us about the

substations in Grand Theft Auto 4 you

have some of the basic pieces of a

distribution substation bus workor

Transformers disconnects scary sparking

noises but there are a lot of things

missing too for one there's no

connection to any part of the power

system Maybe maybe it comes into the

substation underground I don't think so

given that the Transformers aren't

connected with any Fidelity to basic

principles of electrical engineering in

fact if you follow the conductors you

can see that all six bushings on each

Transformer are shorted together just to

be clear when you do this in the real

world it breaks the Transformer

presumably it's getting power from

somewhere since you can hear that nice

hum I checked and the frequency is

actually 60 HZ so they got that right at

least these disconnect switches between

the two buses are kind of realistic

except again all three phases are

connected to only one phase of the bus

work on either end the center phase of

the bus work is sparking but that's the

only conductor in this whole facility

that doesn't seem to be attached to

anything this is kind of like the

engineering equivalent of those

paintings of cats by people who had

never actually seen a cat before looks

okay at first but it doesn't hold up

after much scrutiny okay so to the

untrained eye this looks pretty good to

the trained eye this would not literally

not even function that's why it's

important to defer to The Experts folks

if you want to learn something you

should go to school for a long time cuz

your brain will fill up I actually uh

purchased Grady's book Engineering in

plain sight to help me with this video

and a lot of his videos were helpful in

me understanding River Dynamics for the

last video makes very excellent content

now there are two things that Grady

mentioned that I'm going to attempt to

expound upon firstly these big boxes are

called Transformers the job of a

transformer is to take electricity of

one voltage say a really high voltage

and convert it to another voltage say a

lower voltage generally you want the

electricity to go in one of these

bushings at one voltage and flow out

another one of these bushings at another

voltage if you connect the two bushings

together the mismatched voltages will

cause the Transformer to break and

everyone in the neighborhood will lose

power possibly there will be some kind

of explosion bad news all around

secondly this substation doesn't connect

to anything meaning that in the literal

interpretation of the game environment

this substation isn't doing anything

power is neither flowing in nor out and

yet it obviously is because of that 60

HZ hum that we hear and Grady did

mention this idea that the power could

be coming in from underground and while

there is absolutely zero good evidence

of that and no supporting digital

infrastructure bear that idea in mind

because we are going to come back to it

briefly later Grand Theft Auto 4 does

have a second substation in the game

once again it's not actually connected

to anything despite the fact that

there's a utility pole right there you

know they could have just Boop but you

know whatever I mean it's not like any

of us noticed it while playing it me and

you and Grady I guess are probably the

first three people in the world to

actually look at this stuff outside of

the four people on the development team

who put it together and most likely me

and you and Grady are thinking about it

a hell of a lot harder than they did

because guess what it doesn't really

matter turns out games can be awesome

even if they don't have realistic

electrical infrastructure I know who

would have thought anyway back to the

task at hand if we had to pick a spot

that could potentially represent the

source of all the power in Liberty City

where would it be assuming we're going

to be as flexible and as charitable as

necessary

which piece of the electrical grid could

we consider the first stop in the chain

of power that creates all of the city

lights all of the advertisements all of

The Office Buildings well after a few

hours of scouring there's only really

one good candidate and it is right here

this utility pole can be found within

the property lines of the actor nuclear

power plant and it's as close as any

piece of connected infrastructure

actually gets to the plant what this

means for us is that this is the point

that we're going to start from when

trying to figure out how big of an area

this power plant covers cuz at the very

least we know it doesn't cover the first

little area that we mapped I mean it

doesn't even make it to the substation

on the same island and frankly I don't

see how this game expects us to believe

that it's going to power the Liberty

City equivalent of Time Square I mean

for for Christ's sake you probably need

a ton of power lines to keep all those

Billboards running in Time Square you

probably need tons of power lines where

are all the power lines in Time Square

there are no power lines in Time Square

what the hell there are definitely power

lines in plenty of neighborhoods in New

York City but most of Manhattan and a

lot of the other areas don't have any

power lines you know what that means

right all of Manhattan is actually

powered by individual solar panels just

kidding they actually moved all of the

power grid underground because of a

really bad blizzard in 1888 which is

incredible foresight if you think about

it and it probably causes the grid to be

ridiculously annoying to repair if it

breaks on a side note one of the many

wild stories about that blizzard is that

the snow was so heavy that it stopped

the trains in place up on the raised

tracks and some uh enterprising New

Yorkers they brought ladders out to help

get people down but they would only get

people down if the people would pay the

money I know we like to say that we're

like way greedier and more evil than

ever but man the things we were doing

out in the open you know at the turn of

the 20th century crazy I guess in some

sense we've just sort of outsourced that

uh ethical dilemma but in any case now

what's really cool about the fact that

this electricity mostly runs underground

is that whether intentionally or not

Rockstar did include a small reference

to the underground power grid in Grand

Theft Auto 4 run into any street light

or traffic light with a car and it will

break off its foundation in a shower of

Sparks where do you think those Sparks

come from underground get up close and

you'll even see wires connecting those

lights onto that underground electrical

grid pretty cool Rockstar big thumbs up

this Revelation doesn't totally explain

our previously perceived unrealism but

it does add some useful context for

example it definitely explains why we

don't see power lines all over this area

of the game because this area is modeled

after Manhattan which doesn't have any

power lines in it in real life and while

it doesn't excuse the total lack of

visible infrastructure to indicate it it

does kind of give us a possible hint as

to why the development team may have

forone including an above ground

connection between the substations and

other power infrastructure here's a

picture of a substation in Brooklyn New

York that has no visible above ground

connections to the grid here's another

one in lower Manhattan that not only has

no above ground connections but is also

semi- indoors now we don't have the

luxury of seeing inside these

substations to figure out how they may

connect to that underground grid but we

can at least see how if they were going

based on you know scouting photog graphs

Rockstar may have thought substations in

New York are just Standalone little

sites of their own that said it still

doesn't make any sense to have these

substations right next to a bunch of

above ground utility poles with power

lines you know your your grid is either

underground or not underground you can't

have it both ways maybe you can I don't

know so how does this happen how does a

game end up with substations that are

realistic for an area and power lines

that are realistic for the area but

accidentally put those two things

together canceling out the believability

of both of them while one who cares and

two one of the coolest things about

video games is that they are top- down

representations of real life spaces

developers artists spend a long time

looking at uh listening to absorbing the

energy of a space and then they recreate

that space from its constituent Parts

there's no fundamental understanding of

the space itself and there doesn't need

to be the developers of Grand Theft Auto

4 know that Manhattan feels like

Manhattan partly because of its lack of

power lines and so they don't add power

lines to Manhattan they may not have

even thought that the reason Manhattan

doesn't have power lines is because they

all underground and they don't need to

think about that they're just capturing

a space it's top down does that make

sense if not don't really worry about it

that's not the point of the video what

is the point of the video is mapping out

the power grid so as we said we're going

to call this utility pole the power

plant for all intents and purposes and

from here we're going to map out every

connection on the grid get ready because

it's a doozy I'll do my best to get

through it quickly the lines run north

to another utility pole that then splits

off with one connection going to this

little trailer inside of an industrial

park that looks like it's an office for

the workers but is actually apparently a

place that either makes or sells hot

dogs the other line continues North and

then East and then it splits off again

following the Northeast past along the

road takes us across five more utility

poles and then a six that has not a

two-way split not a three-way split but

a four-way split I know let's take the

South heading line first which

immediately leads to a nether pole with

a three-way split both of these lines

also lead to two more three-way splits

now what it turns out is that this

particular section of the grid down here

by the power plant has a lot of

interconnectedness a lot of sections

that just loop back on themselves this

makes it really annoying to map Because

unless you have a really good memory of

exactly what each power line Looks like

or a really methodical way of measuring

distance between the poles you are not

going to easily know whether this

section you're mapping is a new section

or just an old section that you're

retreading because you didn't recognize

it I was literally using a pen and paper

to try and draw this out I'll put a

picture of it up right now so I ended up

having to read draw these diagrams from

scratch like four or five times as I

realized I needed to be connecting

disparate portions together now what

ultimately ends up happening is

something like this from the four-way

split we go south and then East and then

this Loops back around to the South to

meet back up with two of those splits

this eastern most line goes north along

the road and then splits again one line

of which goes back West to connect to

the four-way split from before these two

lines toward the South both Head West

separately but eventually meet up at

this point beneath the overpass I don't

know what the heck this is it kind kind

of looks like they were supposed to put

a uh utility pole there and they just

forgot so then it's just a jumble of

wires you'll have to email a rockstar

and then this spot goes back West and

TAA it meets up with the two-way split

that we talked about earlier zooming

back out we've got two lines headed

north the good news is that these lines

do actually connect and form a nice

complete circle the bad news is there

are two more lines shooting off in

different directions we'll tackle this

one to the east first it's more or less

straight forward heading east and then

North and then immediately terminating

with two poles along this road here one

further north and one to the east the

other path going north connects to the

dirtiest police station you'll ever see

and then from that police station it

also heads up further west with 1 2 3 4

5 6 7 eight more utility poles are we

done nope now I'm going to need an

electrician or something to help me

explain what's going on here cuz I've

got a line going north connecting to a

building and then it keeps going and

Loops back around from the north to

connect to the same building again and

then the southern split also goes south

but then Loops back around to connect to

the same building a third time is there

a reason why you would ever need that to

happen especially if a small building

like this I don't know so are we done

nope there's another offshoot thankfully

this one just goes across two utility

poles and then mercifully terminates by

connecting to the refinery on the west

side of the island that's it that's the

whole grid shall we look at it together

wow it's beautiful now I put it together

in such a way that we can actually

overlay it on top of the map in Grand

Theft Auto so you can see kind of what

we're looking at it's not perfect I

prioritized diagram Aesthetics over

proportionality so you know it

mismatches a little bit but I think and

I'm fairly confident I think this is the

single biggest collection of connected

utility poles in the entire game so what

have we learned I honestly don't really

remember so let me just leave you with

one of my favorite video game

observations ever the power plant that

powers the lights in my apartment in New

Orleans right here is the 9M Point

Entergy number 5 natural gas power plant

in 9M Point Louisiana the power plant

that powers the lights in Niko bellic's

apartment in Liberty City in Grand Theft

Auto 4 is also the 9M Point Entergy

number 5 natural gas power station in 9M

Point Louisiana absolutely incredible

I'm Anie Austin thanks for

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watching I look you up I got to take

time

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you hey

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