RCT 3 PC A New Patch For New Rides....?

[daboywunda]

There's one thing that's been bugging me about RCT3... thats the fact that when you open a new ride, no-one seems to care at all! Could Frontier not release a patch to fix the AI so that when you have spent hours developping a new ride, guests in the park that are "meeting with group" "Wandering" or just generally tarting around the park doing nothing at all.. want to actually gather towards a new ride openning and maybe Q to ride it!

Would make it more real, as in the real world, when a new ride is open, every-one wants to ride!

 

[sebar]

Unfortunately I would have to say that they will....DHYB you.

Now in case you don't know what that means, in simple terms like me, DHYB means "Don't hold your breath." That is because Atari would probably have to pay Frontier to fix the game and since nobody is getting paid, well, you know what this all means. That RCT3 and its great potential have most likely been abandoned. So when you need to buy a new rollercoaster game from Atari, just tell them to DHYB for your money.

Ain't capitalism great

 

[rosscoe(au)]

Sebar, don't blame Atari for this!!

2 sets of Beta's we said the AI was flawed, David and MBrookes told us we where playing the game wrong, don't make things up to big note yourself. They had more than enough time to fix the AI.

That problems is solely at the feet of Frontier, I still have all the threads from the beta forums, more than happy to show you!

 

[sebar]

Actually I blame the 2005-2006 Atari board for it so I do blame them.

Sebar, don't blame Atari for this!!

2 sets of Beta's we said the AI was flawed, David and MBrookes told us we where playing the game wrong, don't make things up to big note yourself. They had more than enough time to fix the AI.

That problems is solely at the feet of Frontier, I still have all the threads from the beta forums, more than happy to show you!

Not sure if it is wise to post those beta threads as you might be violating the original NDA you signed when you joined up. I would read that agreement first before you did that.

Actually I feel that Frontier was pressured to make a Christmas season on deadline. Once the assets are locked in a project, there is no turning back or slowing down. So I place blame more on the Atari team that managed the game at that time. I also am of the insider opinion that Ken Allen is not to blame for this either. I am more apt to hold Bruno and the former board far more liable for what we got, and than all their problems that followed and helped kill the 2005 Game of the year, more than anyone else.

It takes a pretty dumb group of buisness people to squander this as it panned out and not promote it right and build it right. Had I been in charge, you would have had many things done accurately and as bug free as possible. I wouldn't have pushed for a December deadline, but rather have let the community know we were delaying things so that the game would have been fixed properly rather than try to fill Santa's bags for quick big sales. The flaw in Atari's way of doing business was that they had a sell now, worry later approach to this platform, and that is what really helped kill it, besides the rumors that they shafted Chris Sawyer out of his royalties. As a Author or "Literary" artist I can easily identify with what Chris must have felt like, and in fact if they did stiff him out of his money, he should own them, yes own them for that. The one thing that burns me more is hearing that an artist was stiffed by some greed-mongering business jerk(s) who took advantage of them. But until it all comes about in public transcripts I will reserve my judgment.

So the big question comes to where do things go from here. Well depending on how David moves things along, we could get a Thrillville for the pc, and in this case I will turn to David Braben and say, "sir, if you do this, make sure we get everything from RCT3 plus many new features. The community won't support less of a product, capice?"

That aside, there is Activision which is now in some part involved with RCT3 and its golden expansions. Remember I posted this a while back in rumorland that Activision and EA were rumored to desperately want into the RCG field, so it appears that Activison with all their denials did get their foot in the park, so-to-speak.

Than there are No Limits as well as Virtual Rides, two simulator only products which may have accurate rides, but don't offer you actual parks nowhere in comparison to either RCT3 or TV. Finally there are several community projects underway, and always the possibility that good ol' Ken Allen might try and bring back his CM.

The people that have the best chance right now though, remain Frontier and ol' Georgie Boy Lucas with their Thrillville. They do desparately need the PC platform, but where they go with it is anyone's guess and like I just told David, anything less than what the community in RCT3 had will not do well.

 

[daboywunda]

Lol... so does that mean then that we wont see a patch to fix the AI attraction of a new ride?

Lol.. if its us playing the game wrong.. then how are we supposed to play it? Has any-one been told?

 

[Michael Brookes]

Generally it's best to put rides close to the main path, they need to be easy for the peeps to find. Don't make your queues too long. Also ensure that the peeps other needs are being met, place ammenities like food stalls, toilets and cash machines in clusters of 2 or 3. This allows the peeps to use them more efficiently. If a peep is hungry, thirsty, needs the toilet or has no money then they will not get on rides.

If it is a large park then make sure there are information kiosks so the peeps can buy maps, and if you have th eexpansions then passport machines can be used to encourage them to areas far away from the park entrance.

Also ensure that you have the latest updates installed for RCT3.

Michael

 

[gwolking]

If it is a large park then make sure there are information kiosks so the peeps can buy maps, and if you have th eexpansions then passport machines can be used to encourage them to areas far away from the park entrance.

In my experience, selling maps in a large park is detrimental to ridership, due to an apparent flaw in the guest AI. The logic is something like this:

1. A guest without a map can only "see" attractions within a certain distance from his current location.

2. A guest with a map can "see" every attraction in the park.

3 When the AI goes to choose an attraction, it chooses one (apparently at random) from all of those that the guest can "see". So, the choices for guests without maps are much more limited than for those with maps.

4. If the guest has a map, the AI doesn't seem to consider the guest's current position in the park when choosing a ride. It is not at all uncommon for a guest to choose a ride that's all the way on the other side of the park, even though there is a similar ride right next to him. I have seen guests do this time after time, trekking from one side of the park to the other.

5. Guests don't seem to be able to recognize "transport" rides as actual transport. They are no different than any other ride; guests only ride them according to their excitement/intensity/nausea tolerances.

So, you have a scenario like this:

1. Guest enters the park and buys a map.
2. He sees your big "feature" coaster all the way at the back of the park.
3. Even if he is only two steps away from the queue for your monorail to take him there, he proceeds to *walk* to the coaster.

The net result is that in a large park in which maps are sold, it won't be very long before your paths are jammed with guests walking from one side of the park to the other, and very few of them actually queuing for rides.

So:

1. Do *not* sell maps at all.

2. Distribute a good mix of attractions and facilities throughout the park so your guest can "see" different types of rides no matter where they are, thus creating a "visibility line" that allows your guests to move farther and farther into the park. It also helps to place your entrances and exits so that the exit paths dump your guests back out on the "main drag" near a different selection of rides instead of back near the entrance of the ride they just lef.

3. Build a couple of transport rides from the entrance to the farther regions of the park.

When you first open the park, the attractions near the entrance will be very crowded but before too long, your guests will "percolate" throughout the entire park and your rides will get a *lot* more business -- they're spending more of their time riding rides instead of walking around from one to another.

Final note: Don't build monorails, steam trains, or other "transport" rides with more than two stations. Due to a bug in the game, such rides with more than two stations will soon become completely filled with guests who can't get off until you close the ride. I'm guessing that this is due to some sort of logic that allows a guest to get on a ride at one station, then get off at any other station they choose (which makes perfect sense), but it doesn't work right. If there are only two stations, the trains empty completely at each station. If there are more than two, any guest who doesn't get off at the next station after he got on is stuck on the ride forever.