Thunder Lakes - RCT2

[dmaxsba2408]

Sorry for the delay. Today we will be taking a look at the Outer Space and Martian areas of Thunder Lakes. These two areas are not very big but they are crammed full of rides. 5 coasters, 2 tracked rides and 5 flats along with 3 food areas. An these areas have the largest death count of any area in the park.

 

I am going to skip on any videos for this update. All but one of the coasters are of the smaller types (mini steel and single rail). Going to wait and see how the voting turns out before I make anymore videos of the coasters.

 

Back to the Outer Space area for one last ride. This ride is really a set of two and was built long after the Space area was done. Under the ground just past Atomium and beneath the very last area of the park built (Jurassic) you will come across this ride. It is Time Warp (Back To The Past). It takes you from the future of space travel back to the days of the dinosaurs and right next to it on the Jurassic side of the boarder is it's twin Time Warp (Back To The Future).

This ride was at first the Suspended Single Rail Hover Board coaster. It ran that way for many, many years till one day I noticed something. The peeps on the ride are HUGE!, they are way out of scale. They look like giants. Things like that are something I just can't ignore. So the ride was closed. I left the track intact just in case I ended up using the regular Suspended Single Rail coaster in its place. I moved on and built 2 more areas of the park (Western & Jungle) before Infectious Infestation was hatched. Was watching that movie where the BUG planet has attacked earth and... (can't remember what it's called). That's when it hit me why not use the Dragon Fly coaster in the Martian area. So I did and here is what you get. The other day it crashed and killed 2 people. Have not figured out what happened yet. It had ran as Hover Boards for years without any problems and had ran even longer as Infectious Infestation without any issues till now.

Low "G" Speeders was the first coaster to hit the area. Haven't killed anyone on this one --YET--. What it is, is just a series of 4 small lift hills, about 40ft. each that lift the speeders just high enough to zip around until the next lift. The timing on this ride is amazing. Didn't plan it that way it just happen to work out perfectly. Each section is almost exact in length and time. Coaster cars never get hung up at the top of hill waiting for the car in front to leave the next block area. Yet there is never a time when there is a gap in the action either.

The railroad was the first track ride in the area making this Hover Car ride the second. It goes all over the place. It surrounds the train station and Saucer Bump, goes under the tracks, into the mountain side and over and under paths. Its a great way to view the next two coasters also.

Ever since RCT2 came out and this version of the Observation Tower showed up I always wanted to use it somewhere and until this park I never got the chance. I almost didn't use it this time because I thought it would be stupid to put in another "TOWER" ride. I put it in anyway with it's base underground and a path going around where it comes out. I think Blob From Outer Space (still trying to think of a better name) fits in quite well and is far enough away form the main tower that it is not tower over kill. It is also a lot shorter than the main tower in the park giving a great view of just the immediate area not the whole park.

Saucer Bump was the first ride to arrive in the Martian zone. It is built right on top of Old Iron Horse's station. It makes a nice focal point for the area sitting up so high. Just like the Flower Power ride I dressed it up to fit the area better and not make it such a boring to ride. It has the highest excitement rating for this type of ride I have ever seen. Under this ride and the train station is a food area and a bathroom. It is a very confusing area to look at with the land removed, paths are going everywhere.

This ride was not here at first. It was the site of Time Machine ride. I like that ride but it just didn't have the height I wanted for the area and at the time there was nothing in this area but that ride. After a few game years the giant Atomium was installed and so was this ride. It was named the same as the piece of scenery. A few years and a lot of vomit later a First Aid booth was put installed on its exit path. A few years after that food arrived in the area, another Moon Juice Stall and a bathroom.

Right between Sputnik Obit and Station Alfa Launch Centre you find the 3D movie complex showing the "Space Raiders" film. There is also a small food area with the ever popular Moon Juice stall, a bathroom and ATM just down the hill and around the corner.

Station Alfa Launch Centre is another ride that had constant problems when built and for many years after. Tried to make it without block brakes only to have cars stall and crash or just stall and pile up on a curve. Killed over 50 on this one over the years till I got it right. It sat idle for about 20 game years while I worked elsewhere in the park thinking about how to fix it. Happy to report it now works without any problems and has become the ride of choice for the peeps who like small low nausea coasters.

I broke my own lift hill rule with Sputnik Orbit. I knew where I wanted it to go and I just couldn't get enough speed to get it done with only one lift. I did manage to keep it nice looking though and the second lift starts in a great place rising up in the opposite direction side by side with the first lift. The ride also slowly travels around a giant Sputnik statue right where the second lift starts. This has to be the most exciting Suspended Single Rail coaster I have ever built. Prior to getting this ride in it's current state I killed 18 peeps with it. Since that time (about 120 game years) it has worked without a single death and is one of the most liked rides in the park.

I started the Space area of the park with Jet Pack Booster. It is located along the very edge of the park. This ride makes the coolest sound of any coaster in the park. After leaving it's underground station it shoots under the waiting line and hits a series of tunnels. The tunnels are only one square long and end right where the ride starts to go vertical. You can't see the tunnels the whole launch track is covered by the space style roof and lined by laser fence. The sound of this ride rocketing down the track in and out of these tunnels is very cool.

The first ride of the area is an old one from the Entrance area of the park. It's Old Iron Horse. The train ride is not seen in either of these areas but travels through both with a station underground in the middle of the Martian section.

Here is the park map with the area labled. This map is new and it has the Jurrasic area done on it.

[themeparkman25]

It looks like you hack nothing, is that correct? And then also, it seems like you have absolutely every kind of scenery in all 3 of the rct2 programs, how did you pull that one off?

[dmaxsba2408]

^ there are some "0 Clearances" being used in various places and "Any Height Construction" was used to get the Info Booth, Toy, Sun Glass and T-Shirt stalls to the top of the parks tower. Other than that nothing has been hacked.

 

edit-oops, forgot about the biggest hack in the park, Thunder Lakes tower has duel elevators

 

As for the senery items used, it's just very careful selecting before starting the game. I don't use any of those so called "PRO-TOUR" senery groups in any of my parks. If you don't know what those are, they allow you to have more items then what was intended by taking a normal small senery item like a tree and turning it into a large senery item freeing up the small group for other items. At the time this park was started I didn't know such things existed. If I did this park would be even more decorated than it is. Then again I am getting to close to the games maximum limits for a park (rides/map data and sprites) so it may not have mattered having them. The game only lets you use so much "stuff" before it cuts you off.

 

This park has...

128/128 - ride/attractions

252/252 - small senery

039/128 - large senery

127/128 - wall/fence

007/032 - path signs

014/016 - foot paths

015/015 - path extras

019/019 - senery groups

 

Mini Golf - Update - Before I started decorating the course I went ahead and opened it. I never really payed much attention to the golfers before and was shocked when I saw the reaction the little guys have when they get a Hole-In-One. So I staked out a hole and took some pictures and made two very short videos. The action takes place at hole 12 on the course. If you have never seen a Hole-In-One happen you should enjoy this.

Hole In One (front).avi

Hole-In-One (front side)

Hole In One (back).avi

Hole-In-One (back side)

Hole-In-One play by play.

[Stoksy]

It brings back memories about when I saw my FIRST ever hole-in-one on RCT2, it was GREAT.

 

The celebration is quite un-expected, but it's worth it.

[rctneil]

When will this park be released for download so we can all enjoy playing through this park and seeing it real for ourselves?

[dmaxsba2408]

^ I know it's been a long time coming and thank you (and everyone else) who has been following this park. Sorry it has taken me this long to get this far. I needed a break form the game for a while. Since the break has been over, there have been changes all over the park. The last area (Jurassic) was finished, First Aid stations have been added to the exits of every ride with a nausea rating over 6.0 and decorations have been changed all over the park. Now I am looking around for other things to change, like adding the Mini-Golf course.

 

There will be 2 more updates coming very quickly. They will be the Western area of the park and the Jungle area. After that the park will be released. The last area of the park (Jurassic) will be a total surprise for anyone who takes the time to download the park.

 

Have a question for all those who might download this park, should I leave everything the way it is, rides 100+ years old or should I re-set the park back to day one? Peeps or no Peeps (keeping the peeps could make for a very large download size)?

 

I will go start on getting the next update done ASAP, hopefully it will be up mid week.

[rctneil]

I would say leave it to you to decide how to provide us with the park. Peeps would be good and keep the year as it shows how much effort was put in.

 

Most people have a speedy network connection so file size won;t be a massive issue.

 

Great work so far and looking forward to seeing it in person

 

Regards,

Neil

[dmaxsba2408]

Little update today. The Mini Golf is done and I never mentioned the other rides I was working on. I put them in the previously done Spooky area of the park. Two giant pumkins gone two new rides show up.

I just can't leave things alone.

 

 

I HIT YEAR 300 YESTERDAY

YEAR 300

Completed area improvements.

BIG spider about to show up.

Finished area ready to re-open.

The area about to be destroyed.

All done, 12 holes of multi-level mini golf with fire, water falls and pirates.

Right before demolishing the area.

[netdvn]

Man, the pirate area looks much better than before! The new mini golf course and the flaming pirate ship really add to the atmosphere. I can't wait to see the Jungle and Western areas. The new rides in the Spooky section look excellent!

 

Amazing work overall...

[COASTER FREAK 11]

When and if you do decide that the park has reached its end, you should post a download for it!

[sfmmcrazy101]

You should really come over to www.nedesigns.com

 

You'll love it because your going to be introduced to great parks, custom scenery, and hacks!

 

Great park btw.

[rctneil]

I'm really desperate for this park now!

 

Looks soo great!

[dmaxsba2408]

Hi everyone, update time...

 

after finishing up the Space/Martian area I decided to move over to the other side of the map. I had 3 themes left to do and wasn't shur which of the 3 I was going to do next or which 3 areas I was going to put them in. Western was the one I went for. So here is what I came up with for the area. There are 8 rides in the area. 3 coasters, 1 log flume, 3 flats and the 2nd of the 3 railway stations.

 

 

Be shur to read the comments for Stampede. Three of you will decide it's fate.

Mine Shaft.avi

Since the VIDEO VOTE is about done and keeping them is winning at the moment here is a short little video of Mine Shaft.

Back out of the pit we have the final ride to be placed in the area. It's Stampede with a wicked little first drop that I am not showing in this picture. This coaster is still in limbo as to the kind of trains it will have. It can be a stand up with 6 inversions witch fits the name better (I think) or a floor-less monstrosity with 7 inversions the best of witch is a Zero "G" Roll right next to the train tracks. Just like Cronos did in the Roman area. I just can't decide. so here's the deal... the 3 people who reads this first get to pick what trains will be on the track. A simple 2 out of 3 vote. Just mention it in your post as to how you want it to be. The Mid-course brake run has had a major face lift witch will be seen in the download. Oh before I forget, if Stampede goes stand-up that means Cronos could easily go from regular twister trains to floor-less.

In the back corner of the area there was this blank spot. Ore Express came close to filling the area but missed this 5x5 corner. I plop-ed in a Hat stall and some Ice Cream in an effort to bring more peeps to this corner of the park and that worked to a point, but putting this ride in really did the trick. Its base is buried and so are the paths coming to and from it. Powder-Keg explodes out of the pit at 67mph to a height of 150ft above ground level (for this park that ground level is 0ft) A few changes have been made to this ride since the pictures were taken. Hope you like it when you see it in the download.

This coaster should have been built before the saloon was. Trying to build it turned out to be quite the task. When it was finished I was quite happy with it. The ride has some fast turns and great pops of air. It also uses the paths in the area for added excitement. There are several great viewing areas for the little guys to watch the ride.

I had in mind where the next 3 rides were going and that left this space. It was almost a perfect square. I built a large saloon to the left of the depot and put in food and a restroom. Then I sat there and stared at the area trying to figure out what to fill the space with. I thought about converting what was left to the jungle so I would have more space for that area. Then it hit me. The Crooked House. It to me was always one of those rides that was great to fill space but never really looked good with anything. So I took the large senery western buildings and made a miniature western town with this ride in the middle. Turned out pretty good in my opinion. In my mind its like the kiddie area of the western theme. In those buildings are toy stalls, cotton candy and so on.

Not much to really say about Sawdust Splash, it is just your typical log flume set in a mill theme. Most of the ride is inside the building. There is a path right at the end of the splash zone where peeps can watch as others get soaked. The building this ride is housed in is my favorite in the park though.

Ore Express. This ride caused a two week break in the parks construction. I just couldn't get it together. The center part of the ride where the coaster pops out of the hillside past the on-ride photo and then back into the hillside was the only part that went well. Everything else was a struggle. These coasters are very easy to build but making them look good is not so easy. It ended up being a very traditional Mine Coaster. It leaves the station and doesn't hit the lift right away. It just meanders around the bottom of the mine building the riders anticipation. When it does hit the lift it is back in a tunnel and stays there till the lift is over so the riders have no idea how high they have went before being tossed out of the wall of the mine into a twisted maze of turns and tunnels. The big lift is the second one. It cuts a diagonal path through the mine giving great views of the area before sending you diving in and out all over the place. I think it turned out to be one of the best rides in the park. When it opened it was so popular I was running 5 trains on it. Several seasons later 2 of them have been parked. The area pictured is where the rides station is located. There are also food and gift stalls in the the area along with a restroom and first aid station.

Diamond Cutter was the first new ride to hit the area. I dug out a huge pit, the kind you found in the old Dynamite Dunes scenario (from RCT1). In it I put this ride. Had it themed and everything until the next ride was being build and that caused this ride to be moved around the pit several times. Since this picture was taken improvements have been made to the way the coaster goes over the ride. Some thing to look forward to when the park is released.

Old Iron Horse's station was the deciding factor for me to start the Western area right here. I figured since I used the Miniature Railroad in the park might as well go ahead and build a western themed building at one of it's stations. The Old Depot was the end result. It is a large building with a train shed, back loading dock and a tall hotel on the front.

[rctneil]

Looks awesome, Deffo floorless!

[GriffyTiffy]

Park is looking great! I say floorless as well.

[raptor2011]

I know it doesn't count because majority won, but I'll make it unanimous and say floorless

[dmaxsba2408]

Thank you for your opinions.

 

 

FLOORLESS it is.

 

Working on another coaster right now, just about have it done. It will be in the Medieval area of the park. Its called Pestilence. Wonder what kind of coaster would be named that? Guess if you wish, the pictures will be up in a few days.

WINNER by unanimous decision... thank you raptor2011, B&Man and rctneil

[dmaxsba2408]

The new Steel Mouse has opened in the park. Over a hundred game years ago I thought I was done with this area. I was wrong. The castle has had a major re-work and the Castle Haunt ride that runs through is has been updated. The castle courtyard witch housed a bathroom and hidden exit is gone and the new coasters stations are in it's place (exit is still accessible). Re-theming of the area is not quite done but will be before the parks release.

 

In other news the last area of the park which I finished a few weeks ago has been updated again. A car ride now goes through the Jurassic area traveling past all major rides and senery.

 

The poll results are in and keeping the videos has one but not by much. So here's what's going to happen. I will keep making them but will cut back on the quantity and length. Hope that is a happy medium for everyone who takes the time to visit this and any future projects. Thank you to all who took the time to vote.

Now the after. I really like this little coaster. Great air and quick turns in and out of the castle with it ending over the waters of the moat.

Here is the before pictures of the area. In these pictures you can really see just how bad the castle looked before and how boring the back area was.

[dmaxsba2408]

Well here it is. The final area of the park to be seen before the download. This is the Jungle area of the park. It has seven rides and 3 of them are coasters.

 

Been working very hard in the park trying to get things done for the coming download. I have hit the game limit for ride/attractions and am in the process of shifting things around all over the park. Should have it ready to go very soon.

 

I know videos won the poll but I think with the download a few days away I am going to skip them this time. Hope you like what you see.

Tacker Safari was the ride that was about to be build back when I first started this thread about my park. It took a lot of land movement and the re-tracking of Hippo Adventure to get it in but it turned out GREAT. I am so happy with it. The trucks travel in and out of tunnels, over the water many times and roll past all kinds of animals. There are no lions stalking zebras, no crocodiles about to eat a wildebeest. All the animals are separated the way they should be to keep them safe just like you would see in any wildlife park.

I knew what kind of coaster I wanted to use in this area long before I ever got here. I have no idea why I didn't build Vulture first. It would have been much easier to build everything around it instead of trying for weeks to make it fit the space that was left. Well anyway I got it. Even got in the must have pretzel loop and barrel roll. Most of the ride is spent just flying around something I wish the real ones would do instead of just up, down, loop, twist and done.

Ahhh, the Jungle Show. Hummmmm, what can I say it's the games circus ride. I put inside a building and tried to theme it in such a way that it was kind of like a zoo setting. There are elephants in the front of the building and inside if you look closely there is a tall glass area with a giraffe inside.

Right behind Piranha Attacks station house there was this little strip of land just like I had in the Egyptian area. Since I used the Inverted Twister there, the Heart-line Twister was in stalled here. It's not quite the standard layout. After the lift and drop the car hits the 2nd transfer and drops into a tunnel, bunny hops out right into the roll. Themed it with crocodiles and named it after the death roll they do to kill and tear apart animals.

This is where the lost bumper boats vanished to. When I started this area I had every intention of using the Jet Skis but then everything changed as the swans went to the castle kicking the bumper boats out and the jet skis went to where the swans were... anyway all this moving water rides around turned out great, especially this ride. If there were a real bumper boat ride like Piranha Attack it would be so much fun.

Across the water and around the corner the 2nd ride of the area was Hippo Adventure. There are not to many rides that came out with RCT2 that I cared for but this one I thought was pretty cool. The ride travels all over the area. The station house has an under water glass viewing area for those in line.

I love this coaster, Monkey See - Monkey Do was the first ride to hit the area. Don't know why there is no real coaster like this. It's an interesting twist on the standard Face-Off type coaster. Took me a long time to get the intensity rating down below 10, ended up using a trim brake at the bottom of the drop. It's not much of jolt, it only lowers the speed by about 2mph. Anyone know if there is a way to put a chain on the 2nd hill like the real rides of this type have? I tried everything I could think of to get one on the hill. Something to look for in the download will be all the monkeys swinging in the trees around this ride.

Park Map - Labled

[themeparkman25]

How did you get every single piece of scenery of every single themed area?

[nin]

Nice update! Though this may not be extremely detailed/realistic, this park contains someting that so many other sacrifice;the fun-factor. This parks is going to be a blast to look through and explore, I cannot wait.

[dmaxsba2408]

Just wanted to let everyone who's waiting for the park what's going on. I have been very busy working in the park. TWELVE new coasters/rides have gone in the place of shops/stalls that were not turning a profit. Many old rides have been moved around the park and tons of new senery and landscaping has been done all over the place.

 

The park is DONE, however I have sent it off the be checked by another park maker on this site. I am not shur it will open. I tried sending it back to the scenario editor to see where I am at when it came to ride/stall and senery counts and it Error Trapped me. It just refuses to open in the editor so I am worried a download of the park may not work. When I get the word that all is fine it will be posted. If there is a problem I will try to fix it and if that doesn't work I will be posting all the changes for you to see.

 

*dmaxsba crosses fingers that all is good with the park.

 

Anyway I thought I would share with you the LAST RIDE to hit the park and some of the awards the park has received over the years. Yes it is true, at one point or another I did get every one of these even the bad ones. Those issues were of course fixed immediately.

 

...enjoy and thank you for your patience.

Now there are 2 new Roman Baths. In order to do this the Colosseum and its contents had to be moved the river rerouted 2 new bridges and a move of an old one. The exit to the coaster Cronos was changed and in the Egyptian area the coaster Pharaoh's Whip was moved to left about 10 squares and all the theming with it. This is an example of what had to take place to get the new attraction into the park. It was repeated with all 12 of the new rides. This is what has been taking so long.

In the Roman area of the park was this big fountain and a long winding path connecting to the Egyptian area.

...the award list (not in order that they were received).

[dmaxsba2408]

Well here it is. The word has come back that all is good when it comes to getting the park to open. FYI - this park has both WW and TT items in it, if you don't have both expansion packs it will not open. It also has 17 custom rides which are available in the second download if you happen to be missing a DAT.

 

While the park was off being tested I kept playing around in it and managed to get 4 more NEW rides put in the park, replaced and entire coaster and moved 2 other rides to new locations along with continued senery improvements.

 

The download here at TPR is Thunder Lakes CLOSED. Even zipped the park with just over 7000 guests in it was almost 6MB. The limit for the site is 5MB. So I took the suggestion from mcjaco and Stokey to make the big download available off site. If you want to see the park OPEN with 7000+ guests in it you need to head over to RapidShare and pick it up. It doesn't cost anything and you don't have to sign up for anything either. Just click and go.

 

*UPDATED PARK DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE* http://rapidshare.com/files/357314894/Thunder_Lakes__UPDATED_.zip

 

This park really is a lot more fun to look at and play around with when it is full of guests. So if you choose to download the closed park, open it up and let the little guys back in. The park has nothing done to it that will crash your game if you hit "open all".

 

Thanks for making it fun to post this park at TPR. Enjoy.

Thunder Lakes (rides).zip

Thunder Lakes (RIDES)

Thunder Lakes (closed).zip

Thunder Lakes (CLOSED)

Finished Park

Edited October 3, 2010 by dmaxsba2408

[nin]

Oh, this is just too cool.

EDIT: wait, nevermind. has TT/WW.

[J K]

Wow that is one full map you have there. Really good job. Your screens really take me back to how fun themes like this can be done. Looking forward to your next parks.