TPR's Game Exchange! BETA TESTING!

[mightbeawannabe]

Okay..so I just uploaded Serpentine to the exchange, and the first time it didn't take, but then the second time it did...but it took 30 minutes before it did. Is this uber-slowness the same for everybody or just me? It could very well be on my end.

 

Now the coaster in the pic that was somehow in mcjaco's possession is a reality for TPR's game exchange. I wonder how that happened...

[dmaxsba2408]

So sorry for slacking on this mcjaco, Robb. Uploaded my first file tonight. It was an RCT2 scenery item (RCT -N- Box). Since it is an animated scenery item I built a little park to go along with it and also shot a YouTube video of it. When I frist uploaded it all went smooth as could be. I put the link to it in the items description and it just showed up as something someone would have to copy and paste into their browser to access. So I decided to try putting the link in the "Forum Link" box and that made it a live link. If that is not allowed I will be happy to remove it.

 

My question is when I first uploaded the object and hit submit it instantly took me to the home page and the item was at the top of the list. When I went back to edit the item and clicked submit it just came back to the edit screen like nothing happened. So hit it again. Same thing. I clicked on Exchange Home and then my item and it was updated. So is it supposed to work that way when updating or was it stuck in a update loop?

 

...I agree with AJ, the original Roller Coaster Tycoons SV4 and TD4 are needed as file types and RCT2M's SV7 would be nice to have available also.

[mcjaco]

Now the coaster in the pic that was somehow in mcjaco's possession is a reality for TPR's game exchange. I wonder how that happened...

 

All pictures I added were already uploaded into the forum. So, either someone else has that coaster, or you posted it a long time ago and forgot.

 

My question is when I first uploaded the object and hit submit it instantly took me to the home page and the item was at the top of the list. When I went back to edit the item and clicked submit it just came back to the edit screen like nothing happened. So hit it again. Same thing. I clicked on Exchange Home and then my item and it was updated. So is it supposed to work that way when updating or was it stuck in a update loop?

 

...I agree with AJ, the original Roller Coaster Tycoons SV4 and TD4 are needed as file types and RCT2M's SV7 would be nice to have available also.

 

dmax, yeah I've noted that with Robb. I think that might be some of the confusion when people are updating/editing their stuff. They think it isn't taking since it's not defaulting back to the Home Page. But it is updating.

 

SV4, TD4 and SV7 files types are now allowable.

Edited December 21, 2010 by mcjaco

[robbalvey]

Okay..so I just uploaded Serpentine to the exchange, and the first time it didn't take, but then the second time it did...but it took 30 minutes before it did. Is this uber-slowness the same for everybody or just me? It could very well be on my end.

Hmmm...that is very strange because when TPR's server is working normally, it is uber fast. It could have been while the server was doing a database backup again. Would you mind trying to upload another file just to see if it's still a problem?

[robbalvey]

The three saved games - ashbrook_waters_park_125, legend_city_resort_293, and yorkshire_dales_100 - all contained invalid data, and I could not open them. The latter two parks are also sized at 0KB, even though they are saved games.

Ok, this is weird. I just went and tried these three again:

 

Ashbrook Waters: http://themeparkreview.com/game_exchange/track.php?id=365 - Got the 0 bytes error

Legend City: http://themeparkreview.com/game_exchange/track.php?id=58 - Worked fine

Yorkshire Dales: http://themeparkreview.com/game_exchange/track.php?id=253 - Worked fine

 

Can someone test Ashbrook Waters again and see if it works for you?

 

Matt - I'd check the admin side and see if there is anything different with Ashbrook - like was it uploaded via the admin panel or is it being linked to?

 

--Robb

 

ps. I'm testing this all on my mac with Firefox.

Edited December 21, 2010 by robbalvey

[mcjaco]

Matt - I'd check the admin side and see if there is anything different with Ashbrook - like was it uploaded via the admin panel or is it being linked to?

 

It was added via the admin, and uploaded from the forum. I deleted the original entry last week, and reuploaded from the thread once before, which got rid of the 0kb issue from my end using Firefox on a PC.

[mightbeawannabe]

No, I attempted to upload during the preview period just after you showed us the pic in the preview thread. It's not in the exchange except under my name that I just uploaded. I don't think I ever had a thread...It was only this late summer/fall.

[mcjaco]

All recent pictures, and requested changes in file types and and descriptions have been done.

[themeparkgc]

The three saved games - ashbrook_waters_park_125, legend_city_resort_293, and yorkshire_dales_100 - all contained invalid data, and I could not open them. The latter two parks are also sized at 0KB, even though they are saved games.

Ok, this is weird. I just went and tried these three again:

 

Ashbrook Waters: http://themeparkreview.com/game_exchange/track.php?id=365 - Got the 0 bytes error

Legend City: http://themeparkreview.com/game_exchange/track.php?id=58 - Worked fine

Yorkshire Dales: http://themeparkreview.com/game_exchange/track.php?id=253 - Worked fine

 

Can someone test Ashbrook Waters again and see if it works for you?

 

Matt - I'd check the admin side and see if there is anything different with Ashbrook - like was it uploaded via the admin panel or is it being linked to?

 

--Robb

 

ps. I'm testing this all on my mac with Firefox.

 

Ashbrook Waters downloads fine (1.13mb) but I am missing some custom objects which are not included so I cannot open the file. I'm using Firefox (with Download StatusBar) on Windows. It seems that this file and many others download a small part, pause and wait for a fair while causing the download figures to appear as below. It then continues and downloads successfully. Maybe it's timing out for some people and causes the downloaded file to be half-complete and corrupt?

 

[dmaxsba2408]

I had no problem downloading the park. I opened the park using the ParkDat utility to see what may be causing issues. The park is full of Amazing Earl rides, non of which will export. They must be downloaded into the game by hand.

 

To open the park you need WW and the following rides...

AE-BUSST

AE-CHAOT

AE-CDINV

AE-DINVT

AE-ICESK

AE-RIPSW

AE-WHIRL

CLJMPRND

All are currently being held in the RCT/RCT2 download topic.

[mcjaco]

I had no problem downloading the park. I opened the park using the ParkDat utility to see what may be causing issues. The park is full of Amazing Earl rides, non of which will export. They must be downloaded into the game by hand.

 

Do any of you have any ideas on how we can logically post additional files (like custom scenery) that are needed for parks?

 

I'm wondering if for RCT2 park files we just refer to the ParkDat utility as "needed" to open the file properly.

[A.J.]

I can only think of two other options -

 

Option A - post a link to dmaxsba's thread in the forums prominently on the exchange somewhere.

 

Option B - add new categories to the exchange - original custom scenery, and linked custom scenery.

 

Which brings me to another thing -

 

Has a layout similar to this one ever been considered for the exchange? I've navigated through this one and similar ones very easily. You could break everything into specific categories, and have a "view all" link that would take visitors to the exchange in its current format.

[dmaxsba2408]

Here's the thing with RCT2 parks (RCT3 parks also?). If someone uploads a park that has any kind of basic custom content and forgets to check mark "EXPORT PLUG-INS" anyone who downloads it and doesn't have the content will have to go and find the items they need. The good news is the game will tell you what your missing. The bad news is it only tells you one item at a time and for only for a few seconds. With some parks that could be hundreds of items. There will never be a way to make sure that every park that is uploaded is exported unless the parks are sent to someone for approval first so they can be checked out for proper function.

 

The second issue will always be parks with custom non exporting rides. We can ask that every person who uploads a park include with it all the custom ride DATs and put them all in a ZIP file to solve the problem. I highly doubt with all the laziness that is so common these days that would ever happen. Besides many players would have no idea what the DATs they need to include are. In the Lost ObjData topic I was trying to help everyone I could to get park to open by providing a folders for each park request with all the custom rides. This got to be very repetitive. There must be 6 different folders listed for 6 different parks with AE-CHAOT in them. Not only was doing that very time consuming for me but it also wasted a lot of bandwidth for TPR. This was the main reason for the request to have such items listed and available for download by users in one convenient search-able place. So in short having someone post non exporting rides along with their parks would also waste TPR bandwidth because of all the duplicates.

 

*mcjaco, all these folders with the same items it them is one of the reasons I suggested skipping the Lost ObjData topic during your search for items for the database. Figuring out what was new and what was repeated would have been a waste of time and huge headache for you.

 

The ParkDat... while it is a great tool to use to see what is in a park many of the less hardcore players have no idea how to use it and many more are afraid of it and for good reason. It can really screw up a park if you don't use it right. The utility can remove and add items to the game just by clicking on one button. If you remove an item by accident that was used in the park or add items to a park causing the game to go over it's hard-coded limits you will cause the park to crash your game. So I understand why many will not use it. However I must say once you learn how to use it, it is really very simple and one of the best (if not the best) tools every created for the game. We also have the issue of parental control over what some of the members of TPR are aloud to download and what they are not. I can't count how many PMs I have received from the younger crowd here at TPR with park issues that are a simple fix but they can't fix the issue because their parents have given them rules against downloading trainers and such. So I fix the issue for them and send the park back. Now don't get me wrong I think it's GREAT that some parents take such an active roll in keeping their young ones and the computers they use safe online and wish more would do the same. But it along with the fear factor of using the ParkDat keeps the idea of just pointing players to it an option that just won't work.

 

As for the RCT/RCT2 download topic, once all the items are moved over to the database it will be removed. Right? So pointing to it will be of no use once it is gone. Also I have been meaning to ask so I will do it here. mcjaco, would you like me to start moving it's content to the database? If so I would like to request some RCT2 sub categories. We have Scenery. We need Rides, Stalls, Paths, Utilities and the search box so people can input a missing DAT and find it. That search function needs to encompass the title and the description box unless I just post one item at a time. If I do it that way then only the title needs to be search-able. That reminds me I need to put the proper DAT id in the title and/or description for the one scenery item I have posted.

 

Hope I covered everything, if I missed something ask again and I will get back to you late tonight.

[A.J.]

As for the RCT/RCT2 download topic, once all the items are moved over to the database it will be removed. Right? So pointing to it will be of no use once it is gone. Also I have been meaning to ask so I will do it here. mcjaco, would you like me to start moving it's content to the database? If so I would like to request some RCT2 sub categories. We have Scenery. We need Rides, Stalls, Paths, Utilities and the search box so people can input a missing DAT and find it. That search function needs to encompass the title and the description box unless I just post one item at a time. If I do it that way then only the title needs to be search-able. That reminds me I need to put the proper DAT id in the title and/or description for the one scenery item I have posted.

 

RCT3 parks will open whether you have the custom objects or not. The objects you don't have will simply be absent when you open the park.

 

I didn't think you were going to move all the files to the exchange. That makes the argument for a category-based database instead of a filter-based database stronger, in my opinion.

[mcjaco]

As for the RCT/RCT2 download topic, once all the items are moved over to the database it will be removed. Right? So pointing to it will be of no use once it is gone. Also I have been meaning to ask so I will do it here. mcjaco, would you like me to start moving it's content to the database? If so I would like to request some RCT2 sub categories. We have Scenery. We need Rides, Stalls, Paths, Utilities and the search box so people can input a missing DAT and find it. That search function needs to encompass the title and the description box unless I just post one item at a time. If I do it that way then only the title needs to be search-able. That reminds me I need to put the proper DAT id in the title and/or description for the one scenery item I have posted.

 

RCT3 parks will open whether you have the custom objects or not. The objects you don't have will simply be absent when you open the park.

 

I didn't think you were going to move all the files to the exchange. That makes the argument for a category-based database instead of a filter-based database stronger, in my opinion.

 

Let's just keep testing the Exchange for now. Once we feel it's up and running the way it should be, we can mash out some sub categories that make sense for rides, patches, etc.

 

We'll have to think on how to link to other needed files for parks, etc. Perhaps once it'll all goes up, we'll change the RCT Download thread to common files needed for parks, and post the file links from the Exchange. I don't want to make uploading files so confusing and time consuming, no one bothers.

[robbalvey]

Has a layout similar to this one ever been considered for the exchange? I've navigated through this one and similar ones very easily. You could break everything into specific categories, and have a "view all" link that would take visitors to the exchange in its current format.

Once we get everything into the system I can see us having a nav bar at the top of it that simple says stuff like "Parks", "Tracks", "No Limits", "RCT 3", etc, basically the most popular searches.

 

The layout is pretty much there so we can "test" right now and we can always change things around to be more suitable for what people want out of it.

 

I suspect we'll be in this beta testing phase at least through mid-January.

 

--Robb

[A.J.]

Ah, I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

I'm also feeling very seasonal...

 

Summer...

 

Autumn...

 

Winter...

 

...and Spring!

 

Keep in mind that these are compressed. The original ones look a lot better.

 

Notice that the trains are colored in Green, Red, and Blue...TPR colors!

[mightbeawannabe]

AJ-Those do look marvelous, but is there any way to have NL, SM, and RCT3 representations too? Or have individual RCT1/2, RCT3, NL, SM etc. banners, pending on the user.

 

Those RCT2 ones do look wonderful as is! Just have one like that for each game (that you have).

[Midgetman82]

The ones AJ made seem fine to me. I could try to do one with RCT3, or I can just take a picture in a park I made and let someone else crop it and put text in it.

 

Still not my original computer, I missed my flight . When I get back, I'll check the other RCT3 files to make sure they're working.

[A.J.]

Making banners for all the games was my original plan. I just finished the RCT2 ones first because they were more interesting to me.

 

The only kind of banner I can't make is one using Scream Machines.

[mightbeawannabe]

Is there even any SM ride on the exchange?

 

EDIT: I lied. There is ONE SM ride on the exchange.

[A.J.]

Not to toot my own horn, but...

 

-cough-

-cough-

 

Photobucket automatically compresses every image I upload, so...

Edited December 23, 2010 by A.J.

[mightbeawannabe]

Oooo...Ahhhh....Pretty....

 

Can we see a non-compressed version, pretty, pretty please...?

[Midgetman82]

That does look good. Summer season banner?!

[A.J.]

I only made seasonal banners with RCT2. I'm aiming for four RCT2, two NoLimits, and two RCT3. I'm currently in production of the second NoLimits banner, which is a scene of Doppel Looping.

 

I'm sorry, I'm getting off topic!