Roller Coasters Dark Star - a underground cavern coaster

[Tquat]

Further adventures in radical terrain sculpting - taken underground!

[video=youtube_share;o5wHJ33zSxw]https://youtu.be/o5wHJ33zSxw[/video]

Hidden beneath the hill behind the loading station is Dark Star. Creating a below-ground coaster was challenging for me. I started by excavating a large pit. Then I built track down into it - the track dives into the pit without a lift so as to minimize the height of the terrain above it. Track laying was very iterative - it was difficult to figure out whether the pit was deep enough where I wanted the track to go until after I was tried to lay track there. Once the tracks were in place I grew a bunch of stalagmites and fiddles with other terrain mods around the tracks.

After the tracks and terrain were in place I pulled a terrain "roof" over the top of the pit to make a cave for the coaster trains. Of course a "feature" of PC got in the way - you can't move the "camera" through dirt. So it's necessary to follow the track's tunnels to get into the cave. That was a pain, so I tried putting some "sink holes" in the cave's roof to provide easier access, but they let in too much light. I ended up making a hole in one cavern wall, then covering it with a castle wall and pair of towers. While the camera won't go through dirt, it goes through castle wall just fine.

The next problem was darkness. There's no way for us virtual (not NPC) riders to see where the tracks are going (at least at night), and without any G-forces it's boring riding an invisible coaster. So I started sticking lights (mostly very dim) everywhere. This was difficult because at first I couldn't see where to put 'em! So I used a full-brite light so I could see where I was going, then added the dim colored lights to illuminate the tracks and rock formations. I found light-color preset colors weren't usually dim enough, so I used the palette to make them really dark, almost black.

After riding Dark Star for a while I made some changes. I replaced the single long lift at the end of the ride with two shorter ones and cranked up their speed. Instead of more stalagmites and other rocks around the lifts I added some critters, an underground castle, and a couple subterranean lakes with a creatures lurking. I also built a waterfall though it's pretty hard to see it in the dim light.

EFN: 4.20 / 3.03 / 0.87 - make this ride suitable for all ages and easily upset tummies. The queue is usually full.

Hope y'all enjoy it.

TQ

 

[CommandoSanta1]

Wow! Very neat. The underground castle was my favorite part. Then the last little scare you get at the end is great! I have not done a dark ride yet, let alone underground. How were the terrain tools underground? Any tips?

 

[Tquat]

Wow! Very neat. The underground castle was my favorite part. Then the last little scare you get at the end is great! I have not done a dark ride yet, let alone underground. How were the terrain tools underground? Any tips?

Wow commando, you do such good work I value your comments. I was thinking about doing a "how to" on building something subterranean. Don't know how long it will take to get it all together though. The best way (that I know of) is to start at the bottom (digging a pit if necessary) then add stuff in layers. Finally when ALL the track and major terrain is in place, then add the top of the cave. At least that's how I did this one.

If things need to be changed later, such as when I replaced the single original lift with the two in place now or if you additional triggers are needed, is to surgically remove the top of the cave so you can better see what's going on down there. I don't think I'd have had much fun building the castle with the cave roof in place!

The real key to radical terrain seems (to me) to be set the effectiveness on max, but keep the diameter down fairly low. Keep an eye on the target disk and how its oriented. Putting on the roof makes me think of botox - set the target on the edge of the "pit" so the target is aiming inward and maybe a tiny bit upward. Then use short bursts of the mouse button to swell up the terrain. Lots of passes are much easier controlled they attempting to do lots at once. If I do lots at once, I find the target gets buried behind the newly "puffed up" terrain which makes it extremely difficult to aim.

Stalagmites are similar. Looking as straight down above the stalagmite site as possible use very small diameters (smallest is hard to control) and lay up layers of rock taking frequent looks at what has been built so far (from other angles) to detect crooked pillars before too much time is wasted.

Thanks again for watching.

TQ

 

[Bullethead]

VERY NICE! That's quite beautiful with all the colors and it's a nifty layout.

Having just finished my 1st dark ride, I feel your pain. I did things much the same as you, and I have a few other little tricks I found useful.

1. Put enough lights on the floor and walls before putting on the roof that once the roof is on, you can at least see something.

2. Put a temporary roof of flat roof tiles over the pit and do set the time to the middle of the night. This gives a fairly good idea of how things will be when it's truely dark, although of course some moonlight will still get in. But the shadow of the temporary roof makes it darker than if it was open, and you can fly through the temporary roof.

3. If you have to follow a tunnel to get in or out of the ride once you put on the dirt roof, use a "flashlight". Go into building editor and select the colorable area light. Then just move the mouse to where you want to go. The light will be on your cursor so you can see where you're going. At your destination, you can either stick the light on a wall or hit ESC to eliminate it.

4. If all else fails, you can click on the coaster track, which highlights the whole thing even through dirt. Then you can just follow it to where you want to go even in total darkness.

 

[CommandoSanta1]

3. If you have to follow a tunnel to get in or out of the ride once you put on the dirt roof, use a "flashlight". Go into building editor and select the colorable area light. Then just move the mouse to where you want to go. The light will be on your cursor so you can see where you're going. At your destination, you can either stick the light on a wall or hit ESC to eliminate it.

Planet Coaster Horror movie when?


Thanks for the tips Tquat. I'll make sure to let you know when I make my own dark ride! Keep up the good work! Looking forward to more.

 

[Tquat]

Bullethead, thanks for the suggestions. I don't know why it never occurred to me to put lights on the floor and walls before I put the roof on! And definitely using a "flashlight" can be necessary.

I noticed that the amount of light being passed by a translucent dirt/rock ceiling or wall seems to depend on the thickness of the dirt/rock. A really thick layer is darker.

Build walls/ceilings seem to be even more translucent but if colored black are they more opaque? Guess I need to do some experiments!

And thanks for the compilments, flattery will get you everywhere!

TQ

 

[Bullethead]

I noticed that the amount of light being passed by a translucent dirt/rock ceiling or wall seems to depend on the thickness of the dirt/rock. A really thick layer is darker.

Yeah, you need about 10m of dirt for total opacity, both above and to the sides. HOWEVER, where a tunnel opens to the outside (even if inside a building, and even if not facing towards the sun), light will still shine down the tunnel about 20-30m, illuminating its walls and percolating into a room within that range which is otherwise surrounded by 10m of dirt.

Build walls/ceilings seem to be even more translucent but if colored black are they more opaque? Guess I need to do some experiments!

Yup, I find that black walls to the most good. So, like if I want to present the illusion of being in a vast void, where I can shine a short-range box light on an object and not illuminate the wall behind it, I build a box out of smooth concrete, which I paint black. It's got a matte texture so is pretty much invisible. Then, when I fill in the pit, I select the terrain lock option to keep dirt out of my black box .