TrimoParks

Oh thank you! It's greyed out in my settings, because my graphics card doesn't support raytracing. Good to know, I completely missed that. My mistake..

My biggest issues with PC2 remain the lack of (mostly flat / gentle / common) rides, and the way everything looks, as if it doesn't exist. Coaster supports look like plastic straws, if you know what I mean. It would be nice to get an option for more realistic looking graphics, like we had in PC1. And still, it would be nice to get darkness in caves. This pack looks nice, but it's nothing that will bring me back to the game. Give me a powered coaster, rowing boats and a Huss Condor (and so many others), and I'm giving it another chance.

Welcome to ParkCrafters!

Wow, what a cool project! The details are incredible. I love how you included some Europa-Park and Phantasialand inspired elements into this project. Personally, I haven't been to Phantasialand since before Klugheim opened, but with Gondlheim, you really nailed Klugheim's vibe that I only know from photos and videos. Another favourite of mine is the Poseidon style water coaster passage between the Greek facades. In some images, I really felt like I'm actually in Europa-Park (especially that view on your water coaster with the Eurosat dome in the background), but you really made your own thing out of it, and it's so good. Can't wait to see more! Of course I am torn between Gondlheim and Apollonia, but my vote is on Gondlheim :)

I'd love to see DLCs based on decades, with classic rides from the 1960s, 70s, 80s and so on. A 1990s DLC could then also include dinosaur animatronics, because of the dino hype after Jurassic Park. And I agree, any animatronics should look and move like real animatronics, not like real dinosaurs.

Wow, great project, Wagi! Loving the idea of turning this old park concept into "reality". Storyville is fantastic. I'd never have the patience to build a main street style area of this scale, great job. And here's another fan of the Whacky Shack.

I also noticed the international languages subforums still have Planet Coaster 2 sections. For example, the Planet Coaster 2 thread in the German subforum is still open. It is weird.

It’s been a while! Thank you, JB! And yep, golden hour is so beautifully done in Planet Coaster 1, wonderful vibes. Thanks, Wagi! The first ideas for The Lotus were quite different to the „real“ thing, the final version somehow evolved while playing around, and I’m very happy that it did! Probably my favourite structure in the whole park. :) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Re: Explorica Post #9 - 28-05-2008 Around sunset, our guided tour ahead of tomorrow’s soft opening came to one of its highlights: The Exclusive Ride Time on Karma - followed by our dinner in Everest Inn. We from the press were among the first people ever to ride this gem of a coaster. Right behind the entrance gate, the queue path takes us to the heights of the Himalaya: Eventually, we reached the very atmospheric station of the coaster. The interiors are inspired by monasteries of the region. Unfortunately, it’s forbidden to film on the coaster, but the park provided us with three shots taken on Karma. The launch… Himalaya realness.. …and oh, another launch! There’s the enclosed second launch section with the spinning prayer wheels - this is a truly surprising and memorable part of the ride. Karma is such a fun launched coaster, runs super smooth and the views from it are spectacular. Back to my own photos now! Leaving the station building: Some of us couldn’t get enough of Karma. Meanwhile, I decided to walk around the empty Shangri-La area a bit, and enjoyed the calm atmosphere here. Approaching the Everest Inn, the location for our group dinner. Everest Inn is a two-story restaurant and a sight on its own. Shortly before six o clock, all the event attendants gathered in this truly magic corner of Explorica and waited to be let into the restaurant for the much anticipated dinner. The most curious ones (like me) were getting a sneak peek through the windows… …and finally, the doors were opened to this most beautiful restaurant of Explorica. The weather was so good that we could sit in the outside areas of the upper floor, enjoying our dinner with wonderful views upon Shangri-La. Karma did some more test runs before tomorrow’s big day. Almost an hour later, the park showed its nighttime magic. It was time to head back to the central hub of Explorica. That’s all of Explorica’s themed areas covered, but Discoverytown by night was a special treat. But that’s something for another time!

So nice to see some new and some familiar names here, so: Welcome and welcome back to ParkCrafters. 🥳 The frustrating state of PC2 and the whole genre actually inspires me to push myself into creation, and to contribute more to the forum again. As much as life allows it. Though, with the roller coaster that 2025 has been here in real life, who knows what's behind the next curve 🤪

Welcome to ParkCrafters! Looking great. The monochrome interior pics are kinda magic!

I think part of our dissatisfaction is that many of us badly want that ultimate realistic theme park sandbox builder and simulation... and Frontier - while in theory able to make it possible - apparently not wanting Planet Coaster 2 to be that. The comic style that was there from the start is even more obvious in PC2, with a more flat look and less visual realism, so "realism" doesn't seem to be their aspiration in other aspects of the game, either. Way too much work was put into details of entertainers, which can be translated as "it's us who are doing the art, and not giving you all the elementary 'theme park tools' for you being the artist." Some aspects of the game were excessively taken care of, while other basic essential aspects were ignored. It's so sad really, we've been waiting for so many years now for something that meets RCT3's standard (including user content) regarding ride variety. I even find RCT3 to be more atmospheric than any Planet Coaster game. Of course, the grid and the lack of an undo button were some of the biggest downsides of RCT3, but Planet Coaster 1 and 2 had their own reasons why they didn't surpass RCT3's popularity in our community. I just wish we'd finally get a game with the perfect mix of realism, features and usability, without losing the fun of a snappy game, which was last found in RCT1 and 2. It's perfectly possible, which makes it even more painful that it isn't striven for (by Frontier), and us not listened to. And the closure of the official forum is the ultimate unmistakable punch. So sad. The genre deserves better.

I haven't been active here for the past months (mix of stress and demotivation with the state of the genre), but wow, this is really bad news, so I thought I'd add my lines here. I checked out Discord a few times and didn't really feel the wish to use it. I much prefer the structure and the usability of forums, so the closing of the official forum (as my main news source) is really a bad surprise for me, and I wasn't happy with PC2's development anyway. It's a bitter taste. Glad to have ParkCrafters, and I hope we can get something positive out of the situation.

Wow, the details in the Emerald City are simply gorgeous. The facades, all the little things, wonderful! One really feels the atmosphere. Great job!

Thanks Wagi and JB! And that's so good to hear. Originally I wanted it to be a dome, but once I had the track of Voodoo finished (a few years ago), I struggled to achieve what I had on my mind, and my work on the whole park project came to a critical break due to my frustration and lack of inspiration at the time. Eventually I had the idea for the final shape, and it kinda rescued the whole park. Glad you guys like it :) Aw thanks wolfpaw :) Appreciating it. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Re: Explorica Post #8 - 21-05-2008 Late in the afternoon, it was time to explore the last area of Explorica: Shangri-La. The Asian area has a focus on the cultures around the Himalaya. Besides the main attraction of the area, Karma, the launched coaster, there’s also the condor „Typhoon“. The most iconic building in the whole park must be the Lotus, which hosts a magic show. And the Everest Inn is an excellent place for Himalaya cuisine. On one side of the Lotus, there are food stalls, and on the other side of the street, we have the entrance to Karma. At the end of Shangri-La’s main path, just where the curve leads the visitor in the direction of Africa Adventure, there’s another station of the Explorica Railroad: The Himalaya station. Now we turned around again, observing the launch from the Karma station: There’s still a small piece of land that we haven’t covered yet… home to Twisting Teacups… ...and the unspectacular station of Bengali Nights, a boat dark ride. Our exclusive ride time on Karma was scheduled for 5:30 pm, so it was time to go back… …and there we were, excited to ride Karma for the very first time!

Just wonderful. The "three-dimensional" layout with all the bridges is really well done, and I love especially that night shot with the boat ride and the wave swinger above. Great use of space, very efficient and effective!

Re: Explorica Post #7 - 14-05-2008 In the warm light of the afternoon hours, our guided tour took us to Africa Adventure. The complex path system here, as well as the large amount of trees and shrubs make this part of the park feel very natural. One of the highlights in this area is Anansi, a giant frisbee: However, the absolute highlight in this area is Voodoo, previously known as „Project V“. But wait, what’s inside the building? I’ll get back to that later in this post! In front of Voodoo, there’s the „Savanna Deli Hut“ with a picnic area, right next to the lake. In the background, you can spot the Crazy Caterpillar. Savanna Deli Hut, Voodoo and Anansi: On the other end of the lake, there’s probably the largest restaurant in the park: Zambezi Lodge. And of course, right underneath Zambezi Lodge, we have Zambezi Cruise, which takes us on an adventurous journey through the jungle. But back to Voodoo! The moment I took this photo, we all didn’t know yet what’s actually inside the massive structure… …and after so many speculation threads across the internet, we were all excited to learn that we could now just walk inside and see for ourselves… … Tada! The Voodoo building houses both, an enclosed spinning coaster (Voodoo - Fear of the Jungle) and a walkthrough (Voodoo - Walk through the Jungle). What a surprise! Took this photo from the walkthrough path: For me, finding out what Voodoo is, and even seeing the coaster in testing mode, was one of the highlights on our first day in Explorica. As the sun moved further towards the horizon, it was time to get on our way out of Africa Adventure… …through the jungle… …until Shangri-La appeared in front of our eyes. And that’s where my next post will take us to. Stay tuned!

Thank you :) Something with "fiesta" would be a cool name for a ride, maybe in the future, now you inspired me :D Thank you JB, nice to hear :) Thank you! Haha... I'm also quite happy with it :) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Re: Explorica Post #6 - 07-05-2008 Hey everyone! My visit to Explorica is now already three weeks ago, but I still have a lot to share. Let's continue in the Grand Gardens. The actual Grand Gardens area is located on a hill in the north of the park, above the central "Balloon Plaza". This hub here is truly the center of Explorica, and here we learned a lot about the decision-finding process behind the overall layout of the park. In the beginning, the creative heads were pondering whether the park should have a central signature structure - or not. After some discussions, one idea became the most popular one in the team: The one "thing" that should be the center of the park is the visitor. To symbolize this, they wanted to enable visitors to be exactly there - in the very center of the park. No structure, no lake, no ride should be "in the way" there. To highlight the exact spot, a windrose was placed right into the middle, so that visitors could walk or stand on it. Behind the balloon, there are several ways (stairs or sloped paths) to get on top of the hill. Up there, we have the Grand Carousel, but also the car ride "Scenic Drive", as well as beautiful pavilions with breathtaking views. Some impressions: North of the hill, there's another station of Explorica Railroad - the "Garden Station", located at the northernmost edge of the park. Right next to the station building, there's this charming "Café Flora": Coming from Café Flora, we get to see a little lake with a limestone cave, inspired by European landscape gardening of the romanticism era: ...and to the left, the path leads us away from Grand Gardens, right into the beating heart of the African themed area. That's it for now. Grand Gardens is the smallest area in the park, so there were naturally less photos that i had to share, but I'll post more again when we get to Africa Adventure.

Loving this area! It's so much fun to let my eyes wander around these photos and discover all kinds of things. And the shot from above in the last picture… it's all so complex, wow!

Thank you, Wagi and JB :) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Re: Explorica Post #5 - 30-04-2008 Our guided tour around Explorica continued in the Latin American themed area, Eldorado. Coming from Taboo Lagoon, the first thing you see of this area are these colorful houses. To the right, there’s a flower shop, and to the left, we have „Las Trompetas“, a location that combines food and music performances. Rehearsals were going on in Las Trompetas, so we could just take photos from the outside. At the end of the part with the colorful facade, the main path continues further into Eldorado, but you can also choose to turn left, as did we. It all seems so friendly and peaceful here… but not quite everything is…. if you have zoomed into the right part of the picture above, you probably already know what’s special about this corner of Eldorado…. but if you didn’t, now it should become clear: Fog, white roses, more fog, and there always seems to be midnight in that monastery - it’s „Midnight in the Monastery“ - Explorica’s most scary ride! This one was actually open for us, but I changed a setting on my camera by mistake, so my video of the ride turned out unusable. Maybe another time. We continued to explore Eldorado, with Gold Fever, a mine train, in testing mode. „Los Globos“, the balloons, are ready to do their rounds at the northern edge of the park: Next to them: Agatha’s Arcades… …and Café Balcón: I guess you all already spotted the pirate ship La Tormenta: We briefly walked into the tunnel that connects Eldorado with Taboo Lagoon, but only to be pointed to this window in the rock that offers a wonderful view upon Discoverytown. Eldorado has its own vibe really. One last look back… …before we continued our guided tour with visiting the Grand Gardens. That’s it for now!

Some first reactions: The potential is incredible. However, at this point, the interface is extremely confusing to use. The need to click "confirm" on so many things is one of the worst things about the UI. I know it's designed with console in mind, but I doubt this complex game is really easy to use there either.

Thank you, JB :) Thanks, Wagi :) Thank you! Of course, the colors are partially influenced by my editing software. It took me a while to find the right setting for editing these screenshots, and now I just found that the setting I used so far doesn't work that well for the next area which is a lot greener, so I had to finetune a bit for this one. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Re: Explorica Post #4 - 23-04-2008 Back to Europe! Finally time to write my next post. After our little coffee break, the tour continued in Taboo Lagoon, the Polynesian themed area. Its two major rides welcomed us with this view, with the station of Wailuku Cruise (log flume) in the center, and the lift hill of Tumu-Nui to the right: Before we entered the main part of the area, we turned right to check out Tahiti Beach Bar: This is going to be such a cool place to hang out on on warm evenings. As a big fan of log flumes, I am so looking forward to ride Wailuku Cruise! This is the heart of Taboo-Lagoon for me: Watching the boats splash into the lagoon, with the snack stalls of Polynesia Pleasures behind me. Between Polynesia Pleasures and Waikiki Lodge (see the big buiilding in the next photo which looks almost like the station of Wailuku Cruise), there’s this nice corner with lots of shades to enjoy your drinks or ice cream, while watching the splash of the log flume. Also in the next photo: The only bit of Kanaloa (the octopus) that I captured with my camera - maybe you can spot it near the center. This view really. Tumu-Nui lift hill to the left, then the station of Wailuku Cruise dominating the view, then to the right (under the tower of Discoverytown) there’s the Beach Boutique and Polynesia Pleasures. Passing by the octopus (sadly missed to take proper photos of it), we’re in this part of the area, with one of the Explorica Railroad stations to the left, and the entrance of Tumu-Nui (the B&M inverter) to the right: Lots to do for the staff, one day before opening… Tumu-Nui over Explorica Railroad: Eventually, we turned to the right and entered a tunnel through the mountain, to give us this view from the other side upon the Wailuku Cruise station, with cute huts over the water: Back through the tunnel… …and more impressions of Tumu-Nui… … …before we leave Taboo Lagoon and enter Eldorado. More soon. :)

Yeah. I could write an endless post listing everything I have to say, and I nearly did. But let's keep this one short for now: I am very, very disappointed. The lack of custom media is a big letdown, but especially the poor variety of classic flat and gentle rides make it impossible for me to start any of my planned park projects with PC2 as it stands. I said I'd do a European timeline park from the 1960s onwards once PC2 is out, but within realism, it's just not possible considering what's available in terms of rides. I hope for all things to get sorted eventually, hope for us getting heard, rides being added, problems getting fixed. I really hope. Maybe we know more already in a few days.

Wow, really impressive. Doing such complex and detailed structures is really a challenge in RCT3. Well done, and fingers crossed for your game performance!

Post #3 - 18-04-2008 What a day this has been! I don’t even know where to begin… It's way past midnight and I’m finally back in my hotel room after an extended evening in the hotel bar. I am quite exhausted, but full of impressions from my first visit in Explorica. There’s a lot to see, and a lot to walk in this park. Explorica is very spacious, in large parts very green (especially the center), but the balance between calm areas and rides, thrill and gentle rides, is still spot-on. I took hundreds of photos, and selecting the best isn’t done that quickly, so today I’ll only be covering the entrance area and Discoverytown. Here we go! The first stop of the guided tour was the bus station, which gives us this view upon the park’s logo over the path towards the entrance gate. There’s no parking lot directly near the park, but frequent shuttle busses to the big one a bit further away. The entrance area has several fountains, small lakes, ticket booths to the left and right of the gate, and a very inviting vibe. Let’s go! Grab your park map, and… …we’re in the park. The plaza right behind the entrance gate offers wonderful views over Discoverytown. Especially from this pavilion: On the left edge (above photo), you can see a bit of the main station of Explorica Railroad. The bridge in the middle is used by the train and a path, I’ll show you more of that later. Sky Explorer, the hot air balloon, is located in - almost! - the center of the park. The white building to the right houses the park’s main gift store. Broad paths lead the visitors left and right of the canal, under the bridge, through Discoverytown, right towards the central hub. There’s a lot to discover here! The largest part of the park is situated at a lower elevation than the land surrounding Explorica, so you first have to get one floor lower. You can take either the stairs next to the pavilion, or one of the barrier-free alternative routes. Speaking of routes, Discoverytown isn’t just a basic main street. It has a really complex path system, including side streets, bridges, plazas etc., and left some of us in confusion. Time to approach the first ride… can you guess which? Here it is: Explorica Railroad’s Central Station - one of four stops on its circuit around the park. After one of those confusing walks around house corners, alleys, vista points etc., we’ve made it to the central bridge across Discoverytown. Here you can spot the entrance gate in the right third, and the dome of „Explorica Theater“ (which is not a theater!?) just left from the middle. Don’t ask me how we got back to this spot, but, here I am looking back towards the (double decker) pavilion: After we’ve passed the bridge, there’s a weird mix of facades popping up over the canal. The east side, where we find a candy shop, churros and the Explorica Store: The west side with Captain Clutter's Tavern and the Harbor Bakery: Finally, at the end of the „Main Street“, which is in fact what feels like dozens of confusing paths, we’ve reached the central hub and take a look back. There are two major restaurants at this central junction, „The Plaza“ on the left edge (service, fine dining, lots of style), and „Captain’s Happy Place“ to the right (burgers etc.). And that was our stop for a coffee or two, some needed three. And finally: The central hub with the „Balloon Plaza“. That’s it for now - one area covered, five more to go! And obviously, I will return to the park for the actual (soft) opening tomorrow (or rather, today already), so that means even more photos in the pipeline. Of course, showing you all these impressions will take some time. Weeks? Months? I’ll keep you updated - bit by bit. I’ll cover the next area, Taboo Lagoon, in a few days, once I’ve returned to Europe. See ya!

Thanks, Wagi! And that's good to know :) Thank you JB, and that's fine regarding my old SGW name :D Yeah, I don't know yet how the timing of my posts will work out in the end, but I certainly plan to keep this thread updated for a longer time, so yep, "months" should be correct. I will post more frequently now at the beginning, and then spacing it out a bit, especially once the thread is reaching the park's (soft) opening and we're getting going with its timeline. Thank you, Wowman! Hah, thanks wolfpaw. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Re: Explorica Post #2 - 17-04-2008 Hello from the park’s own press center! In just a few moments, we will all move to the main entrance, and then through the main entrance. We, at least the fan representatives and the creative heads behind Explorica, are all very excited for this big day. We just had the press conference, when I noticed I forgot to charge my camera battery over night, so I did exactly that while listening to the moderator and the folks from Trimontis. Some insights out of my memory coming further down, but first: There were new files in the digital press kit, new concept artworks that weren’t released before - one for each area, so I'm going to post them here. Above these artworks, I'm also adding the highlights of each area that were mentioned in the presentation: Discoverytown Highlights in this area: Explorica Railroad - Central Station Grand Gardens Highlights in this area: Scenic Drive (Oldtimers) Sky Explorer (Balloon) Explorica Railroad - Garden Station Shangri-La Highlights in this area: Karma (Launch coaster) Bengali Nights (Boat dark ride) The Lotus (Show venue) Everest Inn (Restaurant) Africa Adventure Highlights in this area: Voodoo - Fear of the Jungle (Ride type not revealed yet!) Zambezi Cruise (Gentle boat ride) Eldorado Highlights in this area: Midnight In The Monastery (Ghost dark ride) Gold Fever (Mine train coaster) Taboo Lagoon Highlights in this area: Tumu-Nui (Inverted coaster) Wailuku Cruise (Log flume) Before we go, here are the promised quick insights from the press conference, out of my memory: The park has a total of 18 rides, including at least 3 coasters. The hot air balloon isn't counted here, you also have to book a ride in advance. Future additions to the park are a possibility, but nothing specific is planned yet Christine Metzger, previously head of the German Trimontis parks, who we all know from our last fan meetup in Tauber-Park, Germany, is now the project manager of Explorica Trimontis is now introducing several subsidiary companies, such as Trimo Logistics, Trimo Creations, etc., but most notably: The actual Trimontis theme parks (like Three Mountains Park, Tauber-Park, and now Explorica) now all run under the brand „Trimo Parks“ The guided tour around the park will take the whole day - that means you’ll hear from me after my return to the hotel. I'm not going to carry my laptop around the park. We are encouraged to take photos, however, most rides will remain closed or in testing mode There will be two exclusive ride times, one on „Midnight In The Monastery“, the other on „Karma“. No information yet whether it's allowed to film these, I will find out later. That’s all for now. I won’t be able to post before the end of the day, and I plan to split up all my photos into different posts - probably one post for each themed area. Excited. Gotta go. See you later!