RobertaME

The attitude of people like that who gave you feedback baffles me. All it does is discourage people from submitting anything. It's not helpful, no matter how well-intended it is. For every person it inspires to try harder, it makes many others just give up trying at all. This was the sort of response I got way back in the day which is why I never shared anything for a VERY long time. (this site was the first place I tried resubmitting any of my RCT3 creations... the last being the long-lost Atari forums) Thanks for sharing all your history, Kablary! I have a video somewhere that I shot many MANY years ago of my first pyro display set to Disney's "Fantasy in the Sky". It was made before custom pyro downloads existed, so it's 100% made of default pyro effects. I'll see if I can dig it up in the next couple days and post it. :^)

Welcome, Bookworm! Do you prefer Book, BW, or the full Bookworm? :^Þ You and I have something in common... an absolute obsession with all things Disney! I live over 500 miles from DL Anaheim and had an Annual Pass for two years when my boys were younger and have been there over 100 times. THAT is obsessive! I have nearly every movie they've ever made, tens of thousands of soundtracks, and tons of Disneyana. Your shows are amazing! I'm very much looking forward to your new creations!

Make a guy a mod and what's he do? Starts demanding stuff! Typical! :^Þ (just in case... yes this is humor... please don't ban me sir!)

Congats Cody! Of course, you did such a great job at SGW, you were a shoe in just by applying! This bodes very well for the site! --,--'--@

Sounds like the program makes it easy. I've done similar things in Paint.net by hand using layers, but if you wanted to do a lot of panoramas this would speed up the process quite a bit! One note: In one of the example screens you misspelled toggle as "toggel". Not a big deal, but thought you might like to know! Great tutorial!

::blink:: Wow. This is beyond just making a good park. This is epic-level detail work! The foundation you're making is basically what I've seen at construction sites! Bravo, PS!

Mindbender is awesome! Tons of detail work that make the whole thing work so well! Bravo! I'm in awe! My own meager efforts pale by comparison! Oh... and I liked it! :^Þ

Wonderful job so far! I can't wait to see the details!

The CTR Creator 1.00 by Markus Lomberg has under the Tools menu a "Recover lost MOD/XML files from Model.ovl" button that will usually extract texture files as BMPs and 3d models as XML files that can be changed and then made into new OVLs using the RCT3 Importer v18b2 by Belgabor. It's one of the ways I've found to change scenery objects that people have made over the years... extract the XML and textures using CTR Creator, make any alterations I need, then create new OVLs using the Importer. (eventually I'll get around to writing up the entire process in my "Editing OVL Files" tutorial) The main issue is that the CTR Creator can't read ALL .ovl files... so there are times this process doesn't work. However, after checking it myself, I find that it CAN unpack the model data from the walls you're looking to use. (at least, I think so... assuming that they're the files found under Style\Vanilla\WallSets\FlexiWallSet) I'm unsure though where the texture data is since these files don't seem to have texture data in them. (actually, I just found them under Style\Vanilla\WallSets\FlexiWallSet\FlexiWallSet01_Textures.common.ovl under the extracted files flexibasewalls.bmp and flexibasewalls-Alpha.bmp) flexibasewalls.bmp flexibasewalls-Alpha.bmp Hope this helps! :^)

Yes, .ovl files are essentially a package format for storing 3d objects, textures, and info that the game uses to interpret how to handle that object. What my studies are focused on is the info portion of .ovls to change an existing object so that the game handles it differently... such as changing its price, name, description, or EIN stats... without having to wholly recreate the object from scratch. I'm guessing that your issue with the texture is that my making the wall diagonal the texture is stretched out over a larger surface area, resulting in the texture being "thinned" so to speak. My only advice would be to try and take the original texture and darken it slightly before importing it into the new object. Unfortunately, I don't think my work will help solve your kind of issue. Changing the actual 3d model portion of an object within the .ovl by hand-hacking the hex values would be harder than making it from scratch... and the end result would be changing the original objects, not adding new ones. Same with fixing the texture issue... hacking the hex values would take more time than just remaking them using the existing methods. My current work with objects is limited to adjusting price, name, description, and other minor in-game effects of how the object is handled. About the only thing I could suggest would be to look at the "Recover lost MOD/XML data from Model.ovl" function of the Tools section of the CTR Creator 1.00 by Markus Lomberg to get the texture and model files of the original walls, edit the XML 3d data as desired, then create the new .ovls using the RCT3 Importer v18b2 by Belgabor. (which is, I'm guessing, what you already did to get what you have) Sorry! I really wish I could help more! :^/ If there's anything else you want to know that I might be able to help with, please feel free to reach out!

Agreed! Those shots of the playground at night are even a little creepy... which is how unlit playgrounds look at night IRL! I half expected to see a drug deal about to go down in one shot! (and that is a compliment to you, PS... a testament to your authentic design :^) )

Having never been a member of Vpyro, I for one would love to see what you had there! Also, welcome to Parkcrafters! It's always great to see new faces! :^)

I think I'll take your comment about my style of verbose communication as a compliment! (I'm sure it was intended that way) :^) And no... no traps! :^Þ

It's not really a dedicated gaming room, through. It's also our laundry room, library, entry room, and where we keep our bulk freezer. Really, it's just a converted two-car garage, (the cars now park in our carport) but it turned out nice with beautiful plush carpet and full HVAC. (of course, being my choice, it's done in shades of my favorite color... pink!) It's nice though to have a room where we can always game without disrupting the rest of the house. Here's a quick pic I took of it from next to the front door. :^) The big table is our gaming table with 8 chairs. (you can see one up-side-down after my SO and I fixed it... the glue is still setting but it should be stronger than ever now) The laundry closet is off to the left of the image near the back door. (it's behind two large mirrored sliding doors, which makes the room look even bigger than it is) For scale, the TV in back is 52". (it's also where the boys have a hookup for their laptops or game consoles) The PC is in the cabinet below the TV along with spare toner cartridges for the laser printer that's behind the TV. It's hooked up by WI-fi to the central router that connects the printer and PC to my main file server and entertainment center in the living room with the big 4k TV. (the one I use for playing RCT3!) That's where we store all our movies and TV shows that we've ripped from the DVDs and BRs you can see some of at the end caps of the bookshelves. (about 1,300 movies and 10,000 TV show episodes that are available to anyone on the network) Speaking of my network, it's all but bullet-proof from anyone trying to crack in. Wireless devices cannot change the router settings... only hard-wired Ethernet connections can change it... and wireless devices can't even access the network unless they've been individually white-listed... and the network name isn't broadcast, so you'd have to know that it's there, what its name is, and what the pass-code is! I also dabbled in making our home security system. Multiple HD night-vision cameras covering every entrance to the house are hardwired to a central DVR that records to a hidden server with enough memory for a 3-month loop, so even if someone were to break in, we'd have video of it that they couldn't steal because they'd have to know where it was hidden. (it connects to the router in read-only mode, so all you can do is monitor it or play back a recording from a connected device) You can't even disable a camera without being seen because every camera is covered by at least one other camera! Twice after we moved in we got video of people steeling from us (someone stole our older son's bike) or our neighbor (stole their TV) and got them turned in to the police. Now there hasn't been a break-in in our neighborhood in over 6 years. So I guess you can add "home security systems" and "file server design" to my list of hobbies... but those kind of dove-tail in with my electronics and computers hobbies, so... ::shrug:: Oh! I can't believe I forgot to mention that I also write fiction. I've written four full-length novels (one being an autobiography) with a 5th half done... as well as a novella and a comedic short story. It's mostly romance / coming-of-age stories with some fantasy elements, but my current novel is historical fiction set in 1860s Nevada. (I grew up in rural Nevada as a 3rd-generation native, so I know its history very well) I don't really have any plans to publish them, though... it's amateurish at best. (my SO is the actual novelist in the family) I'll hush now! :^Þ

Other hobbies? You mean there ARE other hobbies? :^Þ Seriously though, I've done a lot of mods to games over the years. The original The Sims... SimCity 4... but not much since my boys were born. (not enough time... does being a stay-at-home Mom count as a hobby or a career? LOL!) I used to play the viola back in High School. I even got a chance to play Handle's Messiah for the local Community Orchestra one year when I was only 16... playing alongside collage kids 4-5 years older as well as full adults that were old enough to be my parents or grandparents! Unfortunately, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (first diagnosed when I was only 2 years old) took that from me before I hit 20. :^/ My father recognized my ability with math and began teaching me electronics when I was only 8, (he was a avionics repair and maintenance technician for the local Air Guard, servicing F-4s until they were retired and so did he) and it became a bit of a hobby for me. Back in my early days of using computers I even built an 8-bit DAC and turned my C-128 into a digital audio recorder... two years before Creative Labs came out with their first Sound Blaster! Not bad, huh? My latest project is my whole-home battery backup system that I'm building to add on to the PV system we bought about 7 years ago. It's complex stuff because you have to take the house physically off the grid if the power goes out, (so you don't electrocute some poor lineman trying to get the power back on) yet still monitor the grid to know when the power does come back on and only reconnect AFTER the power stabilizes... so it's a long term project while I get all the parts in place. (maybe later this year) The system I'm building lets me monitor each battery in each bank both separately and individually, so I know if any battery goes bad. Speaking of my old Commodore, I dabbled in coding back in those days and even wrote a sprite-based version of Lunar Lander in 8502 Machine Language on it before my father got his first IBM XT... and I got that when he upgraded to a 286 (at my suggestion) and then I get the 286 when he got his 486 DX-33. After that I seriously got into PC hardware and even had my own computer repair business, REComputing, for a short time before I settled on my career in Statistical Data Analysis. I also am into table-top role-playing games and have a weekly game I play with my SO, our two grown boys, and four of our friends. We host the games at our house and I GM. We have a dedicated Game Room with a big gaming table and a big screen TV hooked up to a PC for maps, tracking player info, putting up images for the payers to see, and background sounds/music to set the mood for the session. We're just ending a campaign arc that's lasted years and I'm wondering what they're going to want to do next! For a time I was into Kerbal Space Program because it gave me something I could do with my boys. I've been a big space nut ever since I was a little girl home sick from school with the flu and got to watch the first Space Shuttle launch live, so making rockets that actually worked was fun! Other than that I do target shooting with my father, boys, and SO. Don't get out for that as much as I'd like, because it's such an expensive hobby! (ammo is NOT cheap!) My favored weapon is my S&W 686 that used to belong to a local Deputy Sheriff. (including the original leather holster and speed-loader pouch) I can put 17 out of 18 on target at 20 yards in less than 30 seconds using my speed-loaders... so I'm not too bad! (not as good as my father... to be fair he was in the USMC, though!) I think that covers MOST of my hobbies... the ones I'm willing to talk about, anyway! ;^)

See... I go away a few weeks and I miss the official welcome thread for JB! Great story on your background! A lady never tells her age, but if you take a look at my intro thread you'll see I know a thing or two about early PCs. Good to have you and look forward to seeing your stuff!

Falken is awesome! Great attention to detail and just an overall fun ride! <---Jealous!

I really LOVE the way you've written this up! This is a journey... showing the evolution of the park as an organic thing rather than a flat, "Here it is. What do you think?" It makes it feel more real... more a natureal place that grew with outside forces defining its ultimate fate. I can't wait to read more! <3

Just my opinion, (which is worth exactly what you paid to hear it) but I liked the bit you managed to save! If you change your mind, you'll get at least ONE Like!

This has been a project of mine for a while. The new site just gave me a push to clean up what I had done and put it up in its current form. I may not be able to create custom content of my own, (due to the fact that my art skills are right up there with your average Kindergartner) but I've always been a decent code-monkey! I have no idea when I'll get to the CSO section. It's so complicated because documentation of CSO is so sparse now-a-days, especially with SGW gone and not archived here yet. Most likely the next sections to get updated will be the parts of CTR and CFR editing that are incomplete. Thanks for the kudos just the same! ::blush::

Sorry your bubble got burst like that. :^/ That's the reason why I write anything more complicated than a post like this in Word or something first before posting them, so I not only can make sure my thoughts are in order and all but then I can save the document and keep it as a backup just in case. The write-up looked awesome!

Tutorial on how to edit the contents of OVL files for CTRs, CFRs, and CSOs to change cost, excitement, maintenance, and many other aspects. Editing OVL Files.pdf Note: This is a Work In Progress. Some sections are incomplete. Edit: The tutorial has been updated with even more ride aspects identified! Still a Work In Progress, but getting closer to having CTRs and CFRs completed. :^) Edit 2024-04-03: I'm really making progress. This new version of the tutorial now includes instructions on how to edit Themed Attractions that come with the game! Someday soon I'll be posting up a PDF with EVERY RIDE listed and how people can edit their game files to customize each ride however they want! Edit 2024-04-13: Major update and now includes a full Index of Flat Ride Data! Edit 2024-04-14: Minor update to fix typo in Tagada and Twirler unique.ovl addresses and add Insect, Nocturnal, and Reptile House data in Index of Flat Ride Data PDF. Edit 2024-04-21: Update to include an early version of the Index of Tracked Ride Data PDF. Index of Flat Ride Data.pdf Index of Tracked Ride Data.pdf

I've tried messing around with the AFE several times, but not knowing the vocabulary it uses made it next to impossible. This is a HUGE boon to me! Thank you very much! Maybe now I can start making my own custom pyrotechnics instead of solely relying on the generosity of others sharing their work. :^)

Great to see some classic RCT2 here! Looks like you have a lot of space available to add to it. Is there more coming from this park or is it supposed to have that open feel to it? Either way, great job!