99 replies to this topic

[Wolfman]

No. I tried to DL it again and all worked fine. Thanks.

[Wolfman]

Sorry. It was late last night and I didn't want to go through the deep explaination.

Other than the fifth train appearing on the chain block before the Helix & Inline Twist. It was just about right. The other thing was that the helix and the inline were misaligned. A slight drop was between the two, and the only way to correct for that, was to drop the helix, from the point of the chain block before it. Train five still made it through the inline, thanks to the ramp downhill of the helix.

What I changed (in red,) was...
1. The crest of the lifthill was dropped one level.
2. A wider turn was placed there for the faster speed that the trains would gain by cresting a lower hill.
(This did not change the overall footprint of the track.)
3. the Inline Twist was brought closer to the exit of the helix. Blending them together.


This does a few things...

1. The track involved is smoother. Less n00bish. Going right into the inline after the curves of the helix.
2. Now that the helix is a little lower, trains pass through it slightly faster. Thusly boosting throughput.
3. Adds a flat horizontal track section, to let the train clear the inversion a bit more before it hits the brake run.

[Woodpecker]

That is brilliant! The entrance into the helix looks much nicer (as does the rest of the ending) and it shaves a whole second off the lap time. It seems the fastest possible lap is now 1 minute and 34 seconds. That is my double-station version with your remodelled first drop, vertical loops, and finale. On the back of this, I've been experimenting with the zero-g to see if it could be improved.

1) The entry ramp was made into a gentle slope all the way up, coming straight out of the curve with an unbank/uphill section.
2) The original height (40 ft) was maintained.
3) The on-ride photo section was moved to the end of the ess-bend.

As a result:

1) The actual flow of the trains and the look of the roll is much more graceful.
2) The on-ride photo section blends in a lot better rather than being an eye-catching item at the front of the ride.
3) The ratings are much better: intensity is down from 8.69 to 8.54 with excitement reduced by just 0.06 - a welcome improvement.
4) The track is 10 feet shorter.

I also discovered the following:

1) Remodelling the MCBR as per your article extends ride time to 1:35.
2) Remodelling the zero-g as above extends ride time to 1:35.
3) Remodelling both together extends ride time to 1:35. Two for the price of one!
4) You CANNOT lower the zero-g to 35 feet as during testing train 5 forces train 1 to stop on the final chain block while it rolls into the offload. It only just clears in time with a 40 ft roll, and even then train 1 is slowed by 3mph (train 2 is not because it's sorted itself out by then).


What do you think? Is this remodelling of the zero-g worth it?

The latest track (with remodelled zero-g) can be downloaded here:

http://forums.rctspa...m...=10&Id=2457

P.S. Is there any way to make the game think the onload platform is "Station 1"? It's playing havoc with the testing - all the trains are stuck on lift chain safety blocks rather than parked nicely on the shuttle section and in the stations, which quickly disrupts proper testing measurements.

Edited by Woodpecker, 30 April 2009 - 10:50 PM.

[Wolfman]

Replace the stations. And the stations ONLY.

Rebuild the loading station first, and the unloading station second.

Replace the entrance and exit huts.

Test the coaster and all the trains will appear in their proper positions.

(Oh, and the Photo Track flash will blink too.)

I'm going to check out the new track revision.

[Woodpecker]

Thanks I tried it and discovered it's a one-time glitch with the scenario I was using to test. When I rebuilt it on a different one it all worked fine. The zero-g CAN be lowered to 35 ft without stopping or slowing train 1 - the glitch was preventing it testing properly. It also doesn't change the EIN numbers, but instead shaves off the second gained back by the ramp into it, so that's worth doing.

[Wolfman]

So, would you say that this ones a wrap?

[Wolfman]

BTW: If you want an image to go with the final track file. I'll make one for you in a snap.

You can find it HERE.

Edited by Wolfman, 02 May 2009 - 02:49 AM.

[Woodpecker]

“So, would you say this one’s a wrap?”

No, not quite. There are still a few points to be cleared up first.

1) I’ve uploaded what is likely to be the final track layout, but there is a second station glitch. Sometimes the bars will come down early before everybody has had a chance to get on, even with a full queue and before the previous train has reached the top of the lift. Because of this, I was unable to get throughput beyond 4,000 per hour. Has anyone else seen this happen?

2) Is it reasonable to expect the ride’s throughput to go over 6,000 an hour given that an earlier version’s did? This latest version’s ride time is 2 seconds faster – is it possible the faster run will prevent guests from lining up in time?

3) rcthelp: would you mind doing a final overnight soak test? I would do it myself but I can’t for the next 2 days as I’m on a laptop and it has the annoying habit of stopping testing when the screen is off. In addition, you will be able to compare with your previous test results.

4) The platforms now unload from the middle for maximum efficiency.

If the ride is fine and nobody has any further comments to make, I will do a final upload with credits. Many, many thanks for all your kind comments, suggestions, and tweaks in this thread. The ride is a lot better for them. Regarding a track photo, yes please! I can't get it down to 75 Kb for some reason.

P.S. rcthelp: What’s the plan for this topic after the project is finished?

[Wolfman]

The shouder harnesses are probably malfunctioning. I'll bet that they'll get stuck pretty soon. Boost your mechanics. Assign two mechanics. One to cover repairs to BOTH stations, and one to perform inspections on both stations at like 10 minute intervals.

Are the entrance & exit centered to the station, or centered to the trains IN the station? I ask because there looks to be a bit of room to the rear of the stations, so the huts might be better off if moved forward a little. Also, since there are two stations, off loading passengers shouldn't interfere with the loading of passengers. Because I'm pretty sure that the trains will advance to the next station regardless if there are peeps still on the unloading station or not.

The photo I have uploaded (at the topic on my forum,) is 36.kb. And when I zipped it, it dropped to 32 kb. But I suppose if you viewed it full size, and moused a right click directly on the image below, and "save picture as"... you could probably DL & save the image directly to your desktop. Then you can post it along with the final coaster file version. The image is called "SHOCKWAV.JPG" and it falls within the specified demention requirements. I've uploaded a series of my tracks as well. So I know what the image dementions are.

I don't think people are going to really care if the hut positions are exactly the same in the image. Their mostly concerned with the looks of the track.

Edited by Wolfman, 02 May 2009 - 07:37 AM.

[Woodpecker]

The shouder harnesses are probably malfunctioning. I'll bet that they'll get stuck pretty soon. Boost your mechanics. Assign two mechanics. One to cover repairs to BOTH stations, and one to perform inspections on both stations at like 10 minute intervals.

That would be strange since it happened within a month of the ride opening, with a mechanic for each station (with 1 square pacing ground) and the ride inspection set to 10 minutes. I'l reassign them and see what happens.

Are the entrance & exit centered to the station, or centered to the trains IN the station? I ask because there looks to be a bit of room to the rear of the stations, so the huts might be better off if moved forward a little. Also, since there are two stations, off loading passengers shouldn't interfere with the loading of passengers. Because I'm pretty sure that the trains will advance to the next station regardless if there are peeps still on the unloading station or not.

My concern was with the length of time it takes for the peeps to get from the exit hut to the queue entrance, where the queue entrance is next to the entrance hut. In addition, for no reason whatsoever the game only allows 7 cars, as opposed to rct1's 8 cars, per train *Rolls eyes* so it's hard to find the middle of the train. Previously I had the entrance on the second square and the exit on the first square, but on the loading platform it seemed like the guests weren't entering into the middle of the train. Perhaps this is the fault of the 7 cars, or the game's isometric perspective. I'll move the huts back to where they were and see what happens.

The photo I have uploaded (at the topic on my forum,) is 36.kb. And when I zipped it, it dropped to 32 kb. But I suppose if you viewed it full size, and moused a right click directly on the image below, and "save picture as"... you could probably DL & save the image directly to your desktop. Then you can post it along with the final coaster file version. The image is called "SHOCKWAV.JPG" and it falls within the specified demention requirements. I've uploaded a series of my tracks as well. So I know what the image dementions are.

Sorry. When I followed your link I didn't think to scroll to the bottom, and thought you meant the first photo on your page!