11 replies to this topic

[Madforit]

OK, so upon searching the internet fairly exhaustively for pics of the Flyer, a roller coaster that was one of the highlights of the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto from 1953-1992, I came across this site and found that Steve Franks had already created a near-perfect version of it, or as close to perfect as you can get using RCT2.

I have a couple questions, then...

What is a 'bench', and is it available for download? And why do I need it to use his real world tracks? And does anyone know if Steve Franks plans on updating these for RCT 3? The man has made some amazing recreations of roller coasters.

Thanks people...

[rcthelp]

Welcome t the forums Madforit.

The Track Packs include a saved park with the ride in it. But [for RCT2 only] some also include the saved ride along with all its scenery. The idea is that you can just 'plop' the ride into a park of your own.

However, unless you have ALL the scenery items in the park, some of them are lost when you try to import the ride. In RCT2 you see a message that the saved ride design includes some scnery items that are not available in your park, that kind of thing.

The idea of the bench therefore is a saved empty park that includes all the scenery and custom objects you need to build ALL of Steve's Packs in a single park. You can find it on this site at http://forums.rctspa...mp;showfile=241

Steve has some personal issues that prevent him from either visiting the site very much and/or dedicating much time to create any more track packs of any description. I believe that the very poor physics engine in RCT3 has dissuaded him from doing much with RCT3. In RCT1, if he got the track layout accurate, the trains would run at realistic speeds. In RCT3, he has previously reported that the results can be unpredicatable and don't support the realism he is striving for.

[Woodpecker]

Welcome to the forums!

Steve is not going to do any revisions for rct3. He'd have to overhaul 100+ track packs, and the physics of rct3 is grossly flawed. He only uses it to check how smoothly his recreations 'ride' for the peeps (banking and that sort of thing). His rides can of course be imported into rct3 from rct2 via the spanner icon in the rct3 rides menu, or by noting down every square of track in the order it comes and then rebuilding it piece by piece in rct3.

He has an excellent eye for detail, and it's worth heading over to the RCTStation archive. Some of those packs weren't updated for rct2 and aren't available here.

Edited by Woodpecker, 03 February 2009 - 11:33 AM.

[Madforit]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

I've figured out how to get it to work in RCT2, it's amazing the amount of detail in the tracks, down to the support structures and stations.

I had a problem when importing the track packs into RCT3 though, as none of the scenery shows up along with the ride itself. Same with other RCT2 tracks. Does this mean you have to just rebuild the scenery?

[rcthelp]

I'm afraid so. The import utility is only good for the track layout.

[Sambo]

Also for reference - checking the "low friction" option in RCT3 is usually necessary to make the converted tracks function well.

Part of the "flawed physics"...

[Woodpecker]

You know what's odd? For a feature that was touted everywhere I could not find its location anywhere in the manual! There wasn't a single mention of it being under the spanner tool. Then again, I bought the game on the day of its release so maybe the manual has been re-written since then.

[rcthelp]

I think it was semi-official and unsupported?

[Sambo]

You know what's odd? For a feature that was touted everywhere I could not find its location anywhere in the manual! There wasn't a single mention of it being under the spanner tool. Then again, I bought the game on the day of its release so maybe the manual has been re-written since then.

The only mention is on Page 83 under Loading Rides from RCT and RCT2.

[Woodpecker]

Have rechecked the manual and it was the CoasterCam I couldn't find not the rct ride converter! I found it in the end by accident I think, a few days after buying it, but really the manual isn't that helpful:

Double click in the ride's thumbnail picture located in the ride's control panel to activate the CoasterCam.

No, click the film camera button in the ride's control panel.

Edited by Woodpecker, 20 February 2009 - 11:04 AM.