Planet Coaster, RCT & NoLimits Quick Questions

[Burbs]

Just done the latest OS update and the same thing still happens. Very perculiar.

 

[MichaelTowers2001]

When making and creating Alton Towers on RCT3 do I have to build the rides and attractions on hillside?

I'm making my own recreation from my 2001 visit (first time to Alton Towers), The Black Hole, Corkscrew, Submission, Hex year peroid; before Duel and when it was still The Haunted House.

 

[DiogoJ42]

If you want to build Alton accurately (something all of us have tried at some point and given up on), then yes, you will need to create the right landscape. Good luck with the impossible!

 

[Martin]

Is there a way to use Google maps as the landscape on NL2 so you can design things to scale for fitting into real life parks? I'm pretty sure there was a pretty simple way on NL1. Anyone know?

 

[Nick]

Is there a way to use Google maps as the landscape on NL2 so you can design things to scale for fitting into real life parks? I'm pretty sure there was a pretty simple way on NL1. Anyone know?

If you have SketchUp you can, I don't know if you can do it straight into NL though.

 

[DiogoJ42]

I'm sure I remember seeing / hearing an interview with Wardley years ago where he was getting excited about being able to do this in NL2.
... Afraid I've no idea how though.

 

[Martin]

If you have SketchUp you can, I don't know if you can do it straight into NL though.

Nah I just mean as a flat texture, but that's really useful anyway and could come in handy one day so thanks!

 

[Ian]

Given it's been a while I thought it would be worth us updating this topic to also cover PlanCo (as this thread pre-dates the game!).

Question regarding PlanCo's version of the Mack Water Coaster (referred to as Cascade in game).

I've got my layout down but I seem to be having some serious blocking issues. Prior to a drop I have a short MCBR, just like the real world ones do, in addition to other MCBRs throughout the layout. This block will hold any boat back until the following one reaches the next lift (which is a small incline back into the station. However, I have quite a lengthy section where the channel winds its way through the basin, again just like you would expect from a real world example. Is anyone aware of any way to fudge a block section into this long section? At the moment every boat gets held for around 20-30 seconds and it severely disrupts the flow of the ride (making it a show section feels like a bit of a cop out).

In a real-world setting the end of the runoff from the drop would be treated as a block boundary, meaning a boat would only be held back if there was a risk of a high-speed collision in runoff area. However, as far as I can see the game does not seem to follow this sort of logic, and will treat everything including the free-flow areas as one block until you reach a lift/station.

 

[Burbs]

You could set the minimum dispatch interval for the coaster to the amount of time it takes for a car to travel between the 2 furthest away (in terms of time) block sections, if you get me. It would mean you won't get the high throughput and constant stream of boats that you see on the likes of Poseidon (where there's often 2 boats on the first lift hill), but then if that's what you want you could set the ride's settings to "normal" or whatever it's called (non-blocking) and set a dispatch interval from there.

 

[Ian]

Ahhh I’d never thought to turn off blocking. It would mean I need to almost halve the number of boats I can run due to the station length, but guess it’d get the job done.

It does seem daft that the ride isn’t able to ignore blocks with the normal channel sections like the real rides do. It always used to be the same frustration with rapids on RCT3. You could only have the number of boats you could fit in the station (a frustration that has also carried over to PlanCo).

 

[Burbs]

It always used to be the same frustration with rapids on RCT3. You could only have the number of boats you could fit in the station (a frustration that has also carried over to PlanCo).

No... I built a rapids a while back and had boats stacking way outside the station.

 

[Matt N]

I had the same issue @Ian. The thing to do is to turn blocking off, and then it works more like the water rides and car rides in that you can have up to 20 boats stacking way before the station.

I admit that that is one frustration of mine with Planet Coaster; with the other single-car roller coaster types (take the Maurer spinning coaster as an example, or the Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter), you either have to build a very long station or have lots of block sections to get decent capacity. I wish that there was a way you could have many cars without needing loads of block sections or a long station; I think it would add to the realism somewhat. Is there a way you could do this? I find it strange that it’s allowed on the water coaster, but not on things like the Maurer spinner.

 

[Burbs]

I admit that that is one frustration of mine with Planet Coaster; with the other single-car roller coaster types (take the Maurer spinning coaster as an example, or the Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter), you either have to build a very long station or have lots of block sections to get decent capacity. I wish that there was a way you could have many cars without needing loads of block sections or a long station; I think it would add to the realism somewhat. Is there a way you could do this? I find it strange that it’s allowed on the water coaster, but not on things like the Maurer spinner.

Real life spinners tend to have lots more blocks and MCBRs than most other coasters anyway though.

 

[Ian]

No... I built a rapids a while back and had boats stacking way outside the station.

Huh. I can’t get more than five boats on mine (the most that will fit in the station) and there’s no choice of operation mode. Just “standard”. Maybe it’s because I have a lift directly before the station, like you’d find on a turntable setup...

 

[Burbs]

Huh. I can’t get more than five boats on mine (the most that will fit in the station) and there’s no choice of operation more. Just “standard”. Maybe it’s because I have a lift directly before the station, like you’d find on a turntable setup...

Ahhhhh yes, I remember now that's a problem I had with mine. I had to add a bit of faff post-lift hill before the station.

 

[Ian]

Real life spinners tend to have lots more blocks and MCBRs than most other coasters anyway though.

This. You need a hell of a lot of blocks on spinners. It’s why they’re so difficult to get right and run smoothly in my opinion. The timing of each section needs to be very fine to prevent stoppages while keeping a realistic station throughout.

 

[Matt N]

I most often build Mack spinning coasters these days, as you can have proper trains on those.

 

[Tim]

Unfortunately you have to compromise. Either you'll have to split the water channels up by brining the boat out the water, blocking it and then dropping it back in. If you design the ride to include multiple mini drops this can look quite good. Or make a dark ride section at the end of the ride that is on track rather than water. This will allow you to run more boats than the station can hold. As soon as you put a coveyerbelt piece it stops you adding any more cars.

 

[Matt N]

Or make a dark ride section at the end of the ride that is on track rather than water.

That’s what I did with the most recent water coaster I built in PlanCo (Sakura Falls in my Worlds of Globala park: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threa...t-planet-coaster-park.5458/page-2#post-294045), and I actually thought that it worked fairly well; I was able to get 17 cars on the ride, with a throughput of just over 1500pph, and I had a dark ride section at the end.

 

[RicketyCricket]

Wasn't sure where to post this but the console edition is released 11th November. I pre ordered it on Wednesday and it's dropped through the letterbox already this morning

Been wanting to play this for years but have no intention of purchasing an expensive PC.

Been playing RCT2 for about 15 years and even now I still play RCT Classic on my phone. Buzzing to get stuck into this, just hope it's not too fiddly on a controller.

Looking forward to sharing my creations