RCT Discussion / OpenRCT: advantages and disadvantages

Hi, another OpenRCT2 dev here.
 
We have now also a fix for the issue that caused Cocopa Bay park (mentioned in the initial post) not to work.

Wow, that's fantastic! Didn't expect that you would fix it. Can't praise you guys enough!

I have installed OpenRCT2 for a week, I think it is great. 

I hope dev can add some new feature about "make your own objects and rides". We already have a programe which can make objects and rides, but a in-game easy-to-use object/ride maker is what I always dream of. I think this can make OpenRCT even greater and add lots of deepth to the game..

How do you think that should work? I can't see what would be the advantage of having such a tool integrated into the game - most of your time would be spent in an external 3D modelling program anyway.

How do you think that should work? I can't see what would be the advantage of having such a tool integrated into the game - most of your time would be spent in an external 3D modelling program anyway.

 

I think maybe the can improve the current tool, for example, import an image and the tool will automatically creat a .dat file of a wall so we can make custom billboard like RCT3. I think that's very easy to make. You have to import a picture, ajust the picture and set some value with the current tool.

Yeah, something like that shouldn't be at all hard to implement. I already have most of the code needed to do it. I also thought of making a tool that would let you load a texture and automatically generate a set of walls from it. I'm just not sure if there's an advantage to actually integrating this as part of the game versus an external tool.

Advantages
- Changing the object selection without parkdat or going into scenario editor
- Object selection window has great new functions such as filters and a search bar
- Multiplayer
- Speeding up the game (several speeds)
- New type of zero clearances (includes being able to build paths through land and lowering large scenery into the ground/water!)
- Automatic placement of staff
- Firing staff with a single click from staff menu
- Unlock all prizes
- Scenery removal tool can remove small scenery, large scenery and paths - all three optional
- Scenario editor has interesting landscape generator function
- Change map size, entrances and build outside owned land - as if in landscape editor
- Control sound effects and music volumes in the game
- Run without CD
- Saving the game removes ghost scenery
- Change object drawing order on a tile (reminiscent of codex)

Included hacking functions:
- Mountain tool
- Land mover max size is 64x64
- Track merging (using the new zero clearance type)
- Minimise/maximise hunger/thirst/energy
- Park maps, balloons, umbrellas
- Trams
- Open/close park
- Sunny weather/freeze weather
- "Have fun!"
- Change train type and operating mode
- Add money (5000 at a time)
- No money
- Make anything on any tile invisible

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Disadvantages
- New saving/loading window is inferior to default windows window (at least in my experience)
- Gee hacked tiles often become visible again
- There are some bugs. Not quite enough to make the game unplayable, but you will find them
- Can't open the game by double clicking a savegame
- Hex-edited parks may not open, crash the game instead (Cocopa Bay does this, thanks Levis )
- New ride hut style makes huts invisible, but renders the savegame not backwards compatible

Missing hacking functions:
- Can't raise water or land without deleting scenery (no more slanted wall trick or making scenery underwater)
- Weather other than sunny
- No map object manipulation
- No ride hut rotating
- Change track type
- Add money (more than 5000 at a time)
- Remove border fence and all related functions




Please contribute to the list.

 

Out of this list, few items have already changed.

 

- Gee hacked tiles often become visible again – a recent commit made sure we support such elements. We even one-up this now, as we support both the "gee hacked" items as well as our own, so you can possibly be more specific in what you want to hide. Our tile inspector tool also allows you to reorder elements on each tile and insert such "corrupted" elements.

- Weather other than sunny – you can control weather easily now, set it to any of the allowed values or freeze it
- Add money (more than 5000 at a time) – we only expose a button that add 5000, but you can enable in-game console and execute a command such as "set money 99999999"

- Change track type – I don't think we can do it (yet)

- Hex-edited parks may not open, crash the game instead (Cocopa Bay does this, thanks Levis ) – we strive to support as many of the parks you guys have in a safe (reliable and deterministic) way but this is always work in progress. If you find a park that crashes a game, we'd appreciate an issue filed with our issue tracker: https://github.com/O...RCT2/issues/new
- New ride hut style makes huts invisible, but renders the savegame not backwards compatible – this is true, however we clearly mark this option as "openrct2-only" and reverting the entrance style makes the savegame compatible again.

 

I don't know other hacking functions you mentioned, so I'm not going to comment on them.

 

For a more up-to-date list of advantages and changes, please see our recently updated changelog: https://github.com/O...n/changelog.txt

Some of the shop/stall base pallets still show up in Open.  Near the back corner of Thorpe Park: http://www.nedesigns...00/thorpe-park/ around the log flume and carousel they are most noticeable.  

Some of the shop/stall base pallets still show up in Open.  Near the back corner of Thorpe Park: http://www.nedesigns...00/thorpe-park/ around the log flume and carousel they are most noticeable.  

I'm not sure which ones do you mean. Can you provide a screenshot with offending item highlighted?

Right in the center of this picture, the wood bases for the invisible shops still appear in Open.  I'm not sure if they were hidden with the Gee hack or some other method though.

 

^ I've noticed that happening with the way I hide those bases. If you build the hut first, then the scenery, the platform stays, but if you build scenery on the tile, at the same height as the shop, then place the shop through it with ZC, the platform will disappear. Both methods result in a visible platform in Open.

They're not hidden with the Gee hack. Rather, a shop with completely clear sprites (automatically invisible) was used.

Right in the center of this picture, the wood bases for the invisible shops still appear in Open.  I'm not sure if they were hidden with the Gee hack or some other method though.

 

 

OpenRCT2 70f38aa fixes this problem. See https://imgur.com/a/nx66f (I can't post pictures here)

Sweet, awesome work guys.

Is there anything else?

- No map object manipulation
- No ride hut rotating

These would be nice. Map Object Manipulation is a tool in 8cars that allows you to remove or raise/lower any selection of rides, path, small and large scenery, etc, based on the ground type beneath them. A reasonable alternative would allow you to raise/lower individual objects via the tile inspector in OpenRCT2, giving more flexibility than the current method, but potentially being more difficult if a mass raise/lower was needed. 

 

A lot of people here like to rotate ride huts to either allow more realistic queue lines, or to be able to fit more things into a given area. I imagine that the ability to rotate objects, especially huts, could be fairly easily added to the tile inspector as well.

 

A final wish would be that a cloning tool, similar to the one in RCTLL's Codex trainer, could be implemented into the Tile Inspector, allowing users to convert any object into any other object, by dragging one object's data over the other's. This allowed for some cool innovations in RCTLL, such as Bumper Car balconies and Flying Saucer roofs, and made building massive structures a fair bit easier. A version of this tool for OpenRCT2 might cause some similar innovation.

- No map object manipulation
- No ride hut rotating

These would be nice. Map Object Manipulation is a tool in 8cars that allows you to remove or raise/lower any selection of rides, path, small and large scenery, etc, based on the ground type beneath them. A reasonable alternative would allow you to raise/lower individual objects via the tile inspector in OpenRCT2, giving more flexibility than the current method, but potentially being more difficult if a mass raise/lower was needed. 

 

 

The no clearance check already does this for large scenery items, but yes, for track this would be nice, but it's still not a HUGE problem. 

The no clearance check feature is not at all what I'm describing. No clearance checks applies on objects as you place them. I'm talking about modifying the values on existing pieces.

I'd love that if parks made in OpenRCT2 would be shown exactly the same in regular RCT2.

Like for example as has been pointed out in this topic if you used corrupt elements to make pieces of track invisible with scenery on that tile it would be shown differently in the original game.

I'd love that if parks made in OpenRCT2 would be shown exactly the same in regular RCT2.

Like for example as has been pointed out in this topic if you used corrupt elements to make pieces of track invisible with scenery on that tile it would be shown differently in the original game.

 

We won't support that. We aim to have a compatibility of a park created in RCT2 to show up the same in OpenRCT2, but we will not bother doing it the other way round. There's simply no rationale behind such compatibility.

Not everyone will want to switch to openrct2. Not sure why, but it's true.