Creating Rivers

[breezerHOG1]

Since the new collision detection toggle, people have been creating rivers using the water track rides. Wouldn't it be less taxing on CPU/FPS to give us a scenery object that looks similar to a river? it could be a tile like any other floor or roof piece, and it could come in a variety of types, fast moving, splashing, calm, etc. Could also be used for waterfalls [up]

 

[jamesviago]

Since the new collision detection toggle, people have been creating rivers using the water track rides. Wouldn't it be less taxing on CPU/FPS to give us a scenery object that looks similar to a river? it could be a tile like any other floor or roof piece, and it could come in a variety of types, fast moving, splashing, calm, etc. Could also be used for waterfalls [up]

outstanding idea

 

[Citytrader]

Very interesting idea. However, you would need transition pieces to change from calm to running water, etc. How about curves, eddies, etc? An awful lot of pieces to create.

I think it might be a little too many pieces to cover all the bases. And if they only made a few, everyone would be screaming for others.

Probably a bit too much work.

 

[Curlyriff]

Would it not be best to take the river rapids system where you lay the track how you want but actually have it as a scenery item. It could have tiles for waterfall, brooks, different widths like paths and that way it is easy to make a river run.

You just don't need the structure of the channel or the station or boats or all the data that goes with it and that way it would be the least taxing way to create such an element. I

In regards to the waterfall you could have a top section, a bottom section and then infill piece. make those pieces say 1m high and that way you could make things like Niagara Falls by creating large water masses and then placing the river structure along the edge.

 

[wowman]

yes - this is a great idea, but here is what I have experimented with for a river/waterfall with what we have to work with right now.

 

[breezerHOG1]

However, you would need transition pieces to change from calm to running water, etc. How about curves, eddies, etc? An awful lot of pieces to create.

We would only need 2 or 3 tiles, one that's calm, one that's fast, and a middle piece for transitioning. You would not need "curved" tiles or sloped ones. It would work similar to the way people place the river rapids under terrain. You place a bunch of tiles in the same area, remove the river rapids but keep the terrain covering the edges of the new water tiles to give the general shape outline that you desire [up] you would also be able to angle the wall pieces/texture tiles into any slant or position you want (even upside if somebody wanted that)

Would it not be best to take the river rapids system where you lay the track how you want but actually have it as a scenery item. It could have tiles for waterfall, brooks, different widths like paths and that way it is easy to make a river run.

The only reason I suggest wall tiles is that we can place 10 or 100 or 1000 or more tiles in a row to make a very wide river, but using the river rapids doesn't go very wide and placing 2 side by side creates a wall inbetween. Either way were still relying on the terrain to form the edges

I think it might be a little too many pieces to cover all the bases. And if they only made a few, everyone would be screaming for others.

So your saying that if we had a few choices people would cry for more, but having no choice (or even just one choice) that's a better idea? This would be very similar to the black walls they recently created with stars, its not the same as having dark rooms but its a good start [up]

 

[Chems]

To make it even better, the river system should be spline bases. Basically it is the same as the River Rapids ride, without the ride part. We would only have the "track" left to place so we can make rivers with proper curves and descending. Of course, it would be a little bit more advanced (different types of rivers, from calm to wild, and of course being able to increase the width) but the basic foundation already exist in the game. They only need to make more river-"textures".

 

[breezerHOG1]

The problem with a spline system is that it has limitations to the angle or width that it can have. By using tiles, we can make any angle we want (even upside down if somebody wanted it) and we could also place more tiles side by side to make even wider rivers without having any walls inbetween. Unless of course the new "river system" removed the walls that are part of the river rapids, but I think either way we would still have to mold the terrain around the river to form it correctly

A simple wall tile seems like the obvious most simple solution that would require the least amount of work (similar to the new black walls with stars for creating dark rooms)

 

[Chems]

The problem with a spline system is that it has limitations to the angle or width that it can have. By using tiles, we can make any angle we want (even upside down if somebody wanted it) and we could also place more tiles side by side to make even wider rivers without having any walls inbetween. Unless of course the new "river system" removed the walls that are part of the river rapids, but I think either way we would still have to mold the terrain around the river to form it correctly

A simple wall tile seems like the obvious most simple solution that would require the least amount of work (similar to the new black walls with stars for creating dark rooms)

The limited angle is one of those restrictions put in place by the devs. It doesn't need to be there. Even with the restrictions you could still use multiple splines. It would make creating large rivers so much more faster and less tedious than having separate tiles. We should really have a system that lets us place objects along a spline in general, for fencing, curbs, etc. Cities Skylines had something like this as well.

 

[Curlyriff]

The limited angle is one of those restrictions put in place by the devs. It doesn't need to be there. Even with the restrictions you could still use multiple splines. It would make creating large rivers so much more faster and less tedious than having separate tiles. We should really have a system that lets us place objects along a spline in general, for fencing, curbs, etc. Cities Skylines had something like this as well.

Exactly this and what I was getting at with my post. The width could be anything from 1m to 30m and really there is no problem with being able to offer it 360 degree rotation if you so want to. In fact you could have lovely curved slopes rtc with this and specialist tiles for waterfalls and natural rapids for instance.