149 replies to this topic

[Steve Franks]

Greetings,

It has been a very long time since I have been here (again). As you will remember, I originally promised a new Version 2 bench incorporating many of the new scenery objects and flat rides that have been contributed by fellow users of RCT2. That was more than a year and a half ago.

Well, let me tell you that I did indeed start new benches, but it wasn't until much progress was made that I discovered they were all useless due to the sim's sign bug. It seems that while creating the new benches, and finally testing them, the sim would not allow the placement or use of signs. An error message would come up saying that the sign limit was reached, despite the fact that no signs were yet placed!

After spending six months collecting useful scenery and new flat rides, winnowing out dats to come up with the final selection of practical bits and pieices, and a batch of benches made useless, I just threw up my hands in disgust, abandoning the entire project.

Though RCT has played in my thoughts from time to time, it was not until Woodperckersdelight recently emailed me requesting an old track that finally got me back into the saddle again. A certain Mr. Panzer and his occasional inquiries contributed to my guilt and personal promise to return to my old project.

I am happy to report that over the last few months I have begun again, having to recreate all my previous version 2 benches entirely from scratch!

So far I have the following new benches nearly ready save for documentation and any roller coasters that relate to the bench.

County Fair.
A very small park set just outside a small town, surrounded farms and orchards. As its name implies, the park will cater to food, flat rides and small family coasters expected at a county fair. It small size and limitations should be challenging.

Lake Winnie.
This bench is patterned after the park that surrounds Lake Winnepesaukah. I used some aerial photos to accurately lay out the bench and lake. Lake Winnie's Cannon Ball and Boat Chute have already been updated, or recreated, for those who wish to recreate Lake Winnepesaukah's amusement park. Of course one can make his own free-form park with other coasters which is the real point of a bench.

Lake Chippewa.
I love the water and have recreated, again from aerial photos, a bench resembling Lake Chippewa Park, Ohio. Some of the park's original buildings have been meticulously recreated as has its roller coaster and scenic railway. One can either attempt to recreate Lake Chippewa amusement park from the provided map, or just free-form your own park layout. The bench includes a nice little waterfall.

Bob-Lo Island.
This was my home park. This bench was created using aerial photos. It has been a labor of love since Bob-Lo Island and the two great old steamers that transported us there is so much a part of my greatest childhood memories. The Sky Streek, Screamer, flume and Wild Mouse are finished for their own Bob-Lo Island Coasters pack. But again, the bench is meant to have fun, so one can throw away the park map and do his or her 'own thing.'

Ocean Park.
An old bench from RCT1. This park is located strictly on a pier. It will have its principle buildings recreated like the Bon Ton and Egyptian ballrooms, and structures along the main avenue. One of the two coasters specifically for Ocean Park has already been completely recreated.

Tommorrow brings a new RCT2 v2 bench project.

After hammering in the final nails to each pack and doing some additional playtesting, I will arrange for their uploading to this site.

Of course there will also be at least two v2 Master Benches that is just a flat piece of land allowing you to create your own topography. More than one may be necessary to include any future coaster tracks that I have not already worked in. Naturally, the point of all these new benches is to provide new homes for my entire collection of roller coaster recreations. Each will have to be individually examined and updated so that their stations will be visible under v2 with all its new scenery objects.

It is a giant project, but good progress has been made thus far.

Regards,
Steve Franks

[wabigbear]

YAY! This is fantastic news Steve! I'm really looking forward to these.

[ride_exchanger]

Good to have you and your passion for RCT back again, Steve.

[Buckeye Becky]

Me Three! Can't wait to see what you have created

[Emergo]

And four!!

I know a lot of members are really waiting for your new works

Eemergo

[Trainman 2000]

F-F-F-Frank! Me five! I can't wait to see what you'll give us next.

[Steve Franks]

Greetings,

I could have popped up on the boards much earlier, but after the first fiasco, I thought it better to make some meaningful progress first. I didn't want to make a fool of myself, or let down my friends at RCT2.com again.

I am rather excited and pleased with the detail and work put into my new benches. And, it is nice to see some of my old coasters again in more interesting surroundings!

A few of my coasters, like the Cyclone @ Puritas Springs or the Kennywood coasters (Jack Rabbit and Thunderbolt), were impractical to distribute due to the huge task of the user having to create a unique bench with the necessary ravines. Tonight, I am starting a bench based on Puritas Springs where, unlike the other benches, will have a coaster already installed and ready to run. In this case, John Miller's amazing ravine coaster, the Cyclone. Of, course, it can always be deleted for quick cash if one has his or her own coaster ideas for the ravine and associated park land.

These new benches are being made mainly to be used without restrictions, but have a varied enough location and terriain to make my old and any future coaster recreations more interesting. A considerable improvement over the original single bench which was flat, flat, flat, boring and loaded with too many old default scenery objects.

My final selection of scenery objects was geared strictly to what simple shapes can be tinkered together to make interesting structures and realistic stations, and dropping many default shapes in favor of objects that were colorable. Color and texture are two important components in making coaster structures.

Edited by Steve Franks, 08 January 2008 - 11:07 PM.

[Steve Franks]

Greetings,

Well, I have basically finished another bench called Puritas Springs Park. I have also finished, or updated, the park's namesake coasters Cyclone and Comet Jr., the Miniature Scenic Railway, and its dark ride - Ghost town.

Of course, this Cyclone was John Miller's masterpiece. One of the most breathtaking and brutal ravine coasters ever built.

After a week of squeezing the net park information and photos, work began sizing a bench and then raising the entire land table 70 feet so that the 'world' would be at the same level at the Cyclone's station. Fashioning a deep and rugged ravine filled with trees was the next step. Lastly, testing the coaster and making sure it would settle itself properly when positioned on its tiles markers.

The Puritas Springs Park bench is one of the most detailed in the collection, complete with its old dance pavilion, roller skating building, foot bridges over the ravine, and a couple parking lots at each end of the park. Puritas wouldn't be complete without Mr. Gooding's home on the park property. You see, John Gooding built his home right on the park grounds when he became owner so that he could watch over his park like a father does his child.

The park's unusual layout may seem constricting with a ravine prettymuch splitting it in half, but there is a lot of property for park building. And, provisions have been made to purchase additional land if absolutely necessary.

Edited by Steve Franks, 13 January 2008 - 11:38 AM.

[dcornel]

Nice. This sounds like a lot of work. I am glad and grateful for your efforts.

[Steve Franks]

Greetings,

I didn't relish starting this bench due to its daunting nature and kept putting it off. Having to raise the land height of an entire bench, then size it before even laying out the park was not something I looked forward to. But once the weekend arrived it was "now or never." Knowing that at some time the bench would have to be reloaded as a save game after test placing the coaster a few time was another concern. It could be the source of the dreaded sign bug issue.


The first session was 13 hours non-stop except for food and calls of nature. While eating at my computer desk [not wanting to stop working], I wasn't the complete barbarian in the other department. Bedtime didn't come until 7am. That pretty much shot my Saturday.


Its success, however, gives me enthusiasm for making a bench with Kennywood's ravines. My Jack Rabbit and Thunderbolt from Kenny, along with its Racer, were never posted at RCT2.com because of the BIG job installing these coasters as well. I was especialy satisfied with the Jack Rabbit recreation in RCT1 and am anxious to see it with RCT2's building possibilities, and RCT3's pov.


Final runs in RCT3 are worthwhile to iron out any transitions and profiles to insure the smoothest ride and best profiles.


Too bad RCT3's construction problems were never solved by Atari. For instance, if you have a coaster track at 10 feet and and another traveling underneath it at ground level, one cannot place a flat roof piece between them in making a tunnel. Then there is the laying limitation of objects in some situations. Besides, working in RCT3 is tedious compared to RCT2's whizbang menus and screen control.

Edited by Steve Franks, 15 January 2008 - 03:28 AM.