It's Time To Acknowledge or Fix this "That Queue Is Too Long" (But It's Empty) Thing

[AaronTuckwell]

I'm thinking that this is slowly but surely becoming a game breaker and I think that none of us really know why it's happening.. So my question is to the Devs - and as open and friendly as possible. Can you please tell us what's going on with this "That Queue Is Too Long" message when the queue is either empty or has 20 people in it?

I guess it's to do with the guest brain and balance etc.. but why.. and how? Is there a fix planned or is this it? Here are my observations on the matter:

You start a park (in Challenge) and you have a couple of rides. In order to increase attendance, you place loads of scenery, which boosts them numbers. But there seems to be a tipping point where you can add more peeps by adding scenery / rides etc but they just don't care and will complain. It seems that certain rides have a factor that means they will queue longer than others (Motor Cars, Magic Kats, Log Flume and Rapids are some) yet other's like coasters are a no-go.

I've tried all sorts to help: Shorter length queue lines, longer ones, better scenery, MORE scenery, NO scenery, Priority pass and none, triggers... Basically everything I can think of to get that magical 5 star prestige rating (above 1000) but that actually doesn't seem to fix it..

So, seriously, what gives? Is the guest brain broken? And are we going to get a re-balance to address this? Theme parks should have queues and it then promotes us as players to be better at designing throughput monsters and reap the rewards of a well designed machine as opposed to spending literally hours on a coaster for it to only ever see a handful of people in the queue...

 

[Dutcher]

I am not fully aware of the 'not queuing that long' thing remains that long while the queue is empty, but from what I have seen myself I notice that peep thoughts are processed more slowly and take a while longer to fade in or out that reality might suggest. Hence a busy queueline might create the 'not queueing' thought. Then nobody reaches the ride as the queue drains empty. As the queue is empty, no new thoughts of the ride (as no new guests got the start of the queue) were added hence the ride still registers the 'too long' effect.
I have even seen this happen on an individual level in an employee. I promoted an employee, who was happy, but I didn't give a raise (oops), it didn't take long for her to start nagging about her pay. I then boosted her pay, making her believe 'my pay is fair'. However, the 'I don't get paid enough' was still right below that message. So either she was conflicted, or the game hasn't updated that thought yet.

I'm not saying it's not worth checking into, but I think the delayed refreshes of new thoughts is the cause of what you describe.

 

[n8n8n8n8]

A peeps queuing capability should be factored by if they are in a family or solo, how many rides available in the park that are of that type of ride (thrill/coaster), the amount of money they have to spend on other rides/food, and whether or not they have to spend any money on the ride.

In any real scenario, it wouldn't take a peep 2 months to walk from one end of the park to the other end and only spend $8 on an energy drink. Also, that peep wouldn't refuse to wait 4 minutes in a queue if the park has 8 or more rides.

this game feels less like a modern simulator and more of a RCT1 remake with enhanced graphics and features.

edit: if our peep windows have to take a hit for better AI, than I'm all for it.

 

[grouchomarx]

They are looking into it. They locked the last thread I put anout in in the bug report. So take that as you will.

 

[breezerHOG1]

I have not experienced this issue myself. I've seen the threads and I wonder if people are making their lines too long? You dont need really really long lines because you want people buying from your shops too

all my lines are full, they have about a 25% guests think the lines are long, but i wouldnt want them any longer

 

[FinalMantasyX]

Your lines are also two inches long. [rolleyes]

 

[AaronTuckwell]

all my lines are full, they have about a 25% guests think the lines are long, but i wouldnt want them any longer

You're correct, your lines are shorter than most others are making theirs - my question here is: As your lines are not full to the path, are guests complaining that the lines you DO have space in are full or too long? If so, then this is the same "bug" just on a small scale


The other issue we have here is that the game has the facility to enhance your park rating by either marketing or placing a tonne of scenery. You'd expect that the extra guests that are generated by these actions would be accommodated by your rides? But it seems that no matter what ratio of scenery to ride rating I have the queues are unaffected. So... what are the extra peeps meant to do? In larger parks you can add 4000 peeps just by marketing, but they have nowhere to go as they just complain that queues are full or too long.. even if the queue is empty. So, something seems broken some-where...



I posted this a long time ago (I believe before even Alpha 1 was out:

One thing I've noticed about most theme park simulation games is that the queue has to whittle down before people start joining it again.. It's not so major in PC, but in RCT3 it was quite frutrating.. So, The system that's used in Cities Skylines and Sim City got me thinking; is it possible to have an agent / token system for rides in PC?

In real parks, rides are busy throughout the day, with varying queue lengths: Each ride has a number of tokens assigned to it (based on the amount of effort you put in to theme it, throughput of the ride, queue path length, popularity / satisfaction / intensity etc). Each time a person leaves the ride, the token becomes free, allowing for some-one new to join the queue. The number of available tokens can be increased or decreased by the simulation depending on things like weather, cleanliness, reliability, crash history etc and the total is based upon the ratings of the ride compared to other rides in your park (the more effort you put in, the bigger the draw will be... with an increase when the ride is new) as other things happen. This system means that you can have rides that were built many years ago still popular because you put love and care in to them.

If all of the tokens are taken up, any-one wanting to join the queue will display a thought of "I'm not waiting that long for [ride]"

It would seem that something LIKE this has indeed been implemented with the ride system - especially where the ageing and reputation is concerned.. so "theoretically" speaking, this would be easy to fix and would be numbers to change... but that said I don't have a single letter of knowledge of the code so I'm probably trivialising it.. And if it's embedded into the AI then we are in for a long wait..

 

[gregorburns]

I have not experienced this issue myself. I've seen the threads and I wonder if people are making their lines too long? You dont need really really long lines because you want people buying from your shops too

http://i.imgur.com/6oCqpEV.jpg

all my lines are full, they have about a 25% guests think the lines are long, but i wouldnt want them any longer

I have the same creaper. But its not related to queue length at all seemingly, as anyone who knows me knows that I love my extremely long queues. I'll take some screenshots later when I get to my PC.

 

[breezerHOG1]

my question here is: As your lines are not full to the path, are guests complaining that the lines you DO have space in are full or too long? If so, then this is the same "bug" just on a small scale

I don't understand. If you make a queue that is too short, a group of guests will pile up at the end of the queue and other guests will walk away disappointed letting you know the queue has no room, obviously you don't want that. But if you make your queue too long, guests will consider the extra walk not worth it (even if the line is half full) thats why you want a happy medium of a queue thats not too big and not too small (think goldilocks) it makes perfect sense to me

some guests have different tolerances and if every single guests never complained and every single line was full (even the really really long ones) then I think that would be dumb... In my experience with real life parks, only certain rides have really long queues

Your lines are also two inches long. [rolleyes]

if I took the time to count, I'd say my shortest line easily has at least 30 guests in it, and my longer lines have 100 guests. Why would you want to have more guests in your lines then anywhere else? You only need to have the equivelint amount of guests in line as it takes to fill a ride. If a ride carries 16 guests, a line doesnt need more than 32 guests to fill it up twice over. If a ride carries 50 guests, a longer line is required.

You guys are complaining about something that is not a glitch, but in fact the games way of letting you know that your long lines are actually hurting your profits because you have too many guests standing around waiting instead of spending money on shops. This was something I learned back in RCT1 not to waste money on long queues

its not related to queue length at all seemingly, as anyone who knows me knows that I love my extremely long queues

I have seen pics of other players with really long queues, but again I think it depends on the ride, the park and many other variables

Ill agree some balancing is probably needed but I wouldnt say this makes the game unplayable

 

[FinalMantasyX]

if I took the time to count, I'd say my shortest line easily has at least 30 guests in it, and my longer lines have 100 guests. Why would you want to have more guests in your lines then anywhere else?

Because I was told I'm playing the most advanced theme park simulation ever made, and in real theme parks, hundreds of people are in each coaster line at all times, and wait times are above an hour and a half.

I'd rather have a few hundred people dedicated to giving me money for a high-cost coaster than wandering the park for 4 real world hours constantly whining that they don't want to wait in line for anything because it takes more than 3 minutes.

It's inconsistent with reality and it's inconsistent with the game itself!

 

[breezerHOG1]

Because I was told I'm playing the most advanced theme park simulation ever made, and in real theme parks [...]
It's inconsistent with reality and it's inconsistent with the game itself!

I do not agree with "realism = the way it should be"

I do think certain things could be better like the economy system and how the flow of time works in this game. We can't realistically have guests waiting in line for 2 hours, and we can't get 1,000s of guests to ride a single ride in just ONE day because each day goes by in about 10-20 seconds.

In real life, parks are intentionally spread out to make guests "wander" around and enjoy scenery or shops and other things. I have never been to a park where the paths were empty and not one person was seen outside of a queue, I think it is natural to have about 1/2 your guests in line, 1/4 guests on rides and 1/4 of guests in paths. Maybe its a bit unbalanced right now and its more like 1/2 in the paths and 1/4 in queue, but I think for the games economic mechanics to function, it has to be that way.

I'd rather have a few hundred people dedicated to giving me money for a high-cost coaster than wandering the park for 4 real world hours constantly whining that they don't want to wait in line for anything because it takes more than 3 minutes.

No you would rather being making profits on shops, and from a business owner or managers perspective, that is actually realistic. The longer a guests stands in line, the less they are spending. Thats why you want short lines.

 

[Wablamo0821]

I do not agree with "realism = the way it should be"

I do think certain things could be better like the economy system and how the flow of time works in this game. We can't realistically have guests waiting in line for 2 hours, and we can't get 1,000s of guests to ride a single ride in just ONE day because each day goes by in about 10-20 seconds.

In real life, parks are intentionally spread out to make guests "wander" around and enjoy scenery or shops and other things. I have never been to a park where the paths were empty and not one person was seen outside of a queue, I think it is natural to have about 1/2 your guests in line, 1/4 guests on rides and 1/4 of guests in paths. Maybe its a bit unbalanced right now and its more like 1/2 in the paths and 1/4 in queue, but I think for the games economic mechanics to function, it has to be that way.



No you would rather being making profits on shops, and from a business owner or managers perspective, that is actually realstic.

Then they need to give us better feedback. If it's working as intended, the feedback is wrong. If people really don't think that a 3 minute queue is too long, it shouldn't say on the ride tab that they are thinking a 3 minute queue is too long.

It should be something entirely different... like, "7% - I'm actually not caring about the queues at all; I just want to walk 3 miles for an overpriced coffee" (passing three other overpriced coffee shops along the way)

 

[breezerHOG1]

"7% - I'm actually not caring about the queues at all; I just want to walk 3 miles for an overpriced coffee" (passing three other overpriced coffee shops along the way)

lol how about it should say either "guests think the queue is too crowded"

OR

it could say "guests think the queue is too much of a walk"

or it could even be both

 

[Wablamo0821]

Exactly! I can't help but be annoyed with the feedback when they say the line is quick, but also full when it's not, or too long when clearly it can't be.

There has to be some serious incorrect values on "Peep Patience" or something. If it's all gravy and working like it should, they need to change feedback quite a bit.

I feel as though there are still quite a few glaring issues with the "brain" as described by many others in many other threads.

 

[tyczj]

A 3 minute queue time is several game days though, I know I wouldnt want to be waiting in line for a ride for days lol

 

[Wablamo0821]

A 3 minute queue time is several game days though, I know I wouldnt want to be waiting in line for a ride for days lol

Well sure, but when you put it like that, I don't know of anyone who goes to a park and walks around for months either. LOL heck it takes ingame days to walk across most parks

 

[breezerHOG1]

i started a thread about the flow of time here https://forums.planetcoaster.com/showthread.php/19996-What-is-the-purpose-or-function-of-time-in-PC

 

[portside]

QA- Mark has replied to the topic https://forums.planetcoaster.com/sh...s-only-filling-up-halfway-after-todays-update this week asking for save games and any other useful information that can help. I'm sure this bug will be fixed soon. However, I refuse to play the game until they fix it. Call me immature, but It totally ruins my mojo and I don't want to open my rides because of it.

 

[tyczj]

its the position they have always been in when they said they were looking into it weeks ago like I said, they wont say anything until its fixed or they said its working as intended, no need for daily/weekly updates on the issue just for them to say the same thing again

 

[FinalMantasyX]

I have never been to a park where the paths were empty and not one person was seen outside of a queue

Hey, look at that, neither have I. Probably why I never said anything close to that effect.

The simple fact is, in every other game in the genre, we can make long lines and they will fill. People get upset about them AFTER waiting, not before waiting, and accomodations can be made like queue TVs or entertainers to make the line less annoying. In planet coaster the guests refuse to do anything but hang out in 5 foot long lines and it is bad.

We build queues 1/4 the length of a realistic queue and get nothing but guests whining, and it's clearly imbalanced!

Again, why would guests cry about a 4 minute wait for 5 hours straight rather than just getting in a line?!

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Well sure, but when you put it like that, I don't know of anyone who goes to a park and walks around for months either. LOL heck it takes ingame days to walk across most parks

As in all simulation games ever, time scales do not work that way. Guest time is real time. Queue time is real time. Guests will walk around for a real world hour, never getting in line because every line is 3 real world minutes.