Editing OVL Files

[RobertaME]

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

Edited April 21 by RobertaME
Update

[JB]

Thanks for this, RobertaME.  Skimming through it, I can see that it is well written and well illustrated. Not sure if I will ever get proficient enough to do HEX editing, but who knows. I always thought it would be great if we could add more than three balloons to jdrowlands Make Your Own Balloons set. I tried once; never could get the extra balloons to show up in the game.  I notice that you haven't gotten to the CSO part of the tutorial yet, so perhaps, when/if you get to that part it will help me solve the extra balloons problem. (crosses fingers)

[RobertaME]

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::

[wolfpaw]

Very nicely written and easy to follow, thanks for sharing! This will definitely come in handy!

[yali ben-shmuel]

when editing CSO will come out?

[Haggath]

I was gonna start a whole new topic, but I'm glad I stumbled across this thread. AFAIK, .ovl files are a package that contain all the data for that scenery piece? I'm only asking because I've been trying to create a scenery pack that is the original Coloured Walls pack, but with diagonal variants. Access to models/textures* would be a massive help. I know there's a Glass Walls Modified (Dark Ridley) that looks like it uses the original glass wall pieces.

*I did manage to rip the textures and apply them to a basic wall piece, however the results weren't the best (shown below). The colour is all washed out. Do you think what I'm trying to attempt is possible, and if so, is it simpler than having to re-create every single piece and apply textures? If not, any advice on how to tackle the texture problem I'm having? Honestly, I'm not a massive 3D modelling buff, so I think I'd be best leaving it to someone else to try, but I know that that's a big ask (hence why I'd try to do it myself).

[RobertaME]

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!

Edited July 24, 2023 by RobertaME

[Haggath]

16 hours ago, RobertaME said:

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)

This sounds like it could possibly work! I haven't got any experience with the CTR creator, however I could definitely learn it. I did actually use NinjaRip to rip the models, however the way the UV map was created, It placed the textures in the right place, but I don't think re-colouring would have worked. I will give the creator a try, however, but I think I'm also going start a new thread with my issue. Really appreciate the help though!

[RobertaME]

Just a heads up that work on direct edits to OVL files is still ongoing. It's a slow and arduous process of trial and error (with tons of game crashes) but it's paid off in finding the bytes that control what category a CTR or CFR appear in within the game menu. So now THAT can be edited without having to rebuild the entire attraction.

I'll be posting up an updated version of the PDF guide soon with the new processes added.

One additional area I've started to branch out into is making direct edits to the Vanilla, Soaked, and Wild OVL files so people can change the game's default attraction stats as well! (this is MUCH trickier because the Frontier OVLs are encrypted) I don't even know if it's possible yet, but I'll keep any interested parties up to date on my progress.

Edit: The updated tutorial is now posted.

Edited April 2 by RobertaME
Update

[RobertaME]

Another update has been posted! This time I've unlocked how to edit some of the original game OVL files so people can change even some default ride properties! (unfortunately, all the Vanilla rides are locked by the game code and cannot be edited in any way :^/ )

Keep watching this thread for further updates!

[RobertaME]

Haven't been around much this last week, but my absence was due to me spending all of my time completing a long-term project...

THE INDEX OF FLAT RIDE DATA IS FINALLY COMPLETE!

This project is really a big deal, even if you aren't interested in OVL editing because it shows every Flat Ride in the game and what all their stats are... such as Build Category, EIN calculations, Reliability Degradation, Peep Attractiveness, Height Limit, and even the baseline Entry Fee for each ride! No more guessing what your fee should be!

Also another update on Editing OVL Files is done and available for viewing! I'm close to completing the CFR section and more work has been completed on the CTR section. (still no progress on CSOs though :^/ )

Comments and criticisms are welcome, as always. :^)

[Kablary]

Holy WOW....and I mean holy  W O W 

These PDFs are immaculate! To think that there are still massive volumes of information coming to the "Editing OVL Files" pages is incredible. Thank you so much for putting all of this together, Roberta. It's super fun to see the guts of some of the game mechanics laid out like this 

[wolfpaw]

Those PDFs are insanely cool! All those details are for sure valuable, thanks for all your hard work @RobertaME!!

[RobertaME]

3 hours ago, Kablary said:

These PDFs are immaculate!

::blush:: Thanks! I'm trying to keep the data as clean and readable as possible so it's useful to anyone, not just us code-monkies. :^Þ

3 hours ago, Kablary said:

To think that there are still massive volumes of information coming to the "Editing OVL Files" pages is incredible.

I haven't even started making the PDF for the official Tracked Rides yet. That promises to be even more difficult because the number of data points per ride is just so much higher than the Flat Rides. I have no idea just when that will be available... but work is progressing. :^)

3 hours ago, Kablary said:

Thank you so much for putting all of this together, Roberta.

 

17 minutes ago, wolfpaw said:

thanks for all your hard work

It's the least I can do to give back to the community that's given me so much enjoyment over the past 20 years. Hopefully the data can be used to revitalize the game a bit. Being able to Mod even more of the game might breathe life into some excellent custom content that goes unused because of limitations in the tools when they were developed. We might even see someone develop new tools to streamline editing. (it won't be me, though... I'm too out of the game to try serious coding these days!)

At any rate, your thanks are very much appreciated!

[RobertaME]

I just posted up the first early version of the Index of Tracked Ride Data. It only has 3 rides so far, but before I do more I'd like to get some feedback.

The data provided on these first few tracked rides is as complete as I can manage, however it took an entire week just to get these 3 rides. Is the completeness of data to this degree worth the time it will take to put it out or is it overkill and I should just focus on the most important data to get it out sooner?

Comments, criticisms, and opinions are greatly appreciated!

[JB]

I'm impressed by, and grateful for, the time and effort you're giving this project, Roberta.   Perhaps you could tackle this in a 'most wanted' fashion: People can put in requests for the info on a particular tracked ride. If there are several requests for the same ride, then you could try and work to provide info for that ride. That way you wouldn't have to spend your time and talent on rides that folks aren't clambering for.

Alternatively, you could just do whatever rides you deem would be easiest to suss out, and we'll be happy to get whatever you come up with!

[RobertaME]

Thanks for the feedback, @JB! What I'm wondering most though is, "Does each ride need this much detail? Do I need to hunt down every variable that can be identified or should I just focus on the easily obtained data to get through it faster?" Each of the 3 rides in my first version of the Index of Tracked Ride Data took 2 days to find. Given the fact that there are 53 more Tracked Rides and 65 Coasters, that's 8 months of work before it's complete. (likely much longer since I can't devote 85% of my time to this task for that long like I did over the past week)

What I'm thinking of doing is just get the most critical data for each ride which takes much less time. For example, focus on getting the Reliability, Display Price, Peep Attractiveness, Entry Fee, Running Cost, and essential stat data... letting things like Price per Segment and complex stat data go by the wayside unless specifically requested. Basically trying to keep the data down to 1 or 2 lines per ride instead of 2-7 lines as seen in my 3 completed examples.

I guess what it comes down to is this question: "Is a totally complete data set actually useful to anyone or is it just button sorting?"

Thanks again for the comment! :^)

Edited April 22 by RobertaME