RCT Discussion / NE Multiplayer Server

Introduction
It has been more than a year since OpenRCT's multiplayer functionality took off. So far, the vast majority of the multiplayer servers available have not been quite up to NE standards though. And we think this is a missed opportunity. Therefore, we introduce our very own multiplayer server! Together, we will try to create a single park that will blow any other multiplayer park out of the water. This can be the start of a new era in group park making.

Special thanks to the Tycoon Paradise community, who is hosting this server for us. For slightly more casual RCT fun, Tycoon Paradise's servers are recommended.

Goal
The goal of this server is to co-create a single consistent and coherent park. To cater to all audiences as much as possible with one park, a realistic high-budget theme park a la Islands of Adventure, Phantasialand, Happy Valley or Port Aventura. This means both unrealistic content such as floating islands and flying cars are prohibited, as well as bare bones generic rides one might find in the cheapest of Cedar Fair and Six Flags parks. Whether this is a park with only a handful of large theme zones with multiple big rides each, or a patchwork of stand-alone themed rides, is completely up to you. Other than the park type, what is also important is that the landscape and scale is consistent. If one guy builds his area with lots of pine trees, single wide paths and buildings that make the peeps look like midgets, and another guy builds his area with tropical foliage, wide paths and buildings on a miniature scale, the park will look weirdly distorted as a whole. Therefore it is very important to be aware of what other people, especially those close to you on the map, have been doing. You are advised to build considerately.

Once the park is completed, we will release it on the site officially and we will start over with a clean sheet. The next park might very well be hardcore realism, or all-out fantasy!

General Rules
To achieve the park goals described above, we believe some practical rules are necessary.

Try to not reserve space on the map if you're not going to build on it on a short term. If you do, just place a sign with 'reserved' and your name on it. Similarly, you can use signs to invite other people over to continue your work.
Do not remove or modify other people's work without their permission.
If you sabotage the park or harass other players, you may be stripped of your permissions. Don't be a dick.
If you have access to the cheat menu, announce it in the chat whenever you are about to switch on/off zero clearances
Only enable sandbox mode for whenever it is aboslutely necessary
Duplicate rides and themes are discouraged.

Clicking the 'research' menu button will crash your game. Do not click it unless you want to exit the game anyway. The default hotkey for the research menu is 'D'. Pressing D while not in the chat will similarly cause a crash, so you are advised to perhaps change the hotkey to some obscure key you will never use or accidentally press. In the worst case, it's simply a matter of restarting the game and joining the server again. No progress will be lost in any case, so it is only a minor inconvenience.

Permissions
There are four user groups on this server. Anyone can enter the server, spectate and chat. These are the 'guests'. Anyone who is a registered NE member with a solo release scoring over 50% with the panel, or has otherwise proven to be capable of producing such high quality work, is eligible for the 'player' position. A 'player' can build on the map freely, but does not have access to the cheats menu or the pause button, and nor can he edit permissions and kick other players. 'Moderators' are trusted and experienced players that will have access to all menus and settings. Ideally the majority of players will be 'moderators'. Lastly, there is the position of 'admin'. This one is reserved purely for the server bot and is to be ignored. These permission levels are purely practical, they do not come with prestige.

'Moderators' are the ones reponsible for assigning these user groups to people who join for the first time. If a moderator is sure the newcomer is who he says he is, and his building qualities are good enough to be eligible to build on this server, this is how handing out permissions works:

1. In the top left of the screen, next to the menu button, there is a button with two sitting peeps. Clicking this button will open the multiplayer menu, which looks like this:

2. As you can see, the multiplayer menu contains a list of all players currently on the server and the user group they're in. You can click on anyone's name, and it will open another window very similar to a guest window.

3. This is where the magic happens. In the dropdown menu shown above, you can change anyone's user group. In this example I am making RWE a moderator, because he will know who to give permissions and who not to. And I know that he won't abuse his powers. Fun fact: the player menus also contain the buttons for kicking (the trash can), shows you where that player has last clicked on the map, and some general statistics.

'Moderators' are encouraged to verify that a newcomer is who he says who he is. Either by asking a personal question, having the newcomer send you a PM on NE, Facebook, Discord, or whatever works for you.

Credits
Of course, it is good to know who built what. There are several ways to put your name on your work, such as on signs and in ride names. Possibly the best idea however is to hire an entertainer, give him your NE username, and mark your work using patrol areas. The enterainer could roam the park/your area, but can also be hidden away on a single tile of path in an obscure corner of the map. As long as we can track down your work using the staff menu.

Disclaimer: just like the park will evolve in a direction that depends on what the players contribute, so will the format and the rules evolve depending on how things work in practice. This multiplayer service is a pilot, a voyage into (exciting) unknown territory. If you have any ideas on how to improve this project, do not hesitate to share it in a comment below.

I've been working on an entrance tonight. But it is themeless and uninspired, so anyone, feel free to remove it and replace it with a themed entrance.

 

This is a truly fantastic idea and something I would love to be apart of. However, notification of every time you're about to use a cheat such as zero clearances seems like a hinderance. Is this needed?

I'm having connection issues, so I'll try and be back tonight to check up on things.

 

@Steve: Usually, I'll just leave ZC on, as most people will be needing it.  Other I don't think cheats are really going to be used much in general building.  However if you have a suggestion for improvements for the server, we're all ears.  At this point the server is probably going to end up being largely experimental as we figure out the best way to do everything and try to get some logical and quality work done.

I'll be sure to check it out. Not sure if I'm gonna build anything though. I might...

Sounds great! I'll definitely check this out after the holidays and just spectate the building process, cause i'm sadly not allowed to build myself.

Sounds great! I'll definitely check this out after the holidays and just spectate the building process, cause i'm sadly not allowed to build myself.

 

This is (or was!) a minor problem with the rules. The 50% thing though is only meant as a guideline. A poor one, I admit. I changed the wording a bit so it encompasses people like you: no solo releases, but definitely 'tested in battle'. You should be fine, RWE.

 

Anyone who is a registered NE member with a solo release scoring over 50% with the panel, or has otherwise proven to be capable of producing such high quality work, is eligible for the 'player' position.

Great! Thank you, Liam!

Wow. Good job with coming up with all these logistical solutions. The entertainer for credits idea is quite clever.

Oh, man! I would love in on this!!

@Liampie: https://github.com/O...nRCT2/pull/4918

 

Please report such issues to us.

These permissions can only be handed over to you by a 'moderator' personally, while both being on the server. Because of this, you may not have the permission you want right away. Hopefully it'll be only a matter of days until everyone is set. 'Moderators' are encouraged to verify that the player in question is indeed who he says he is; impersonators are known to roam the OpenRCT Multiplayer servers from time to time.

 

This is not necessary. You can ask applicants to post their key hash and emplace it into users.json file, it is re-read each time someone connects.

 

For example mine is 814950fd63716fc273171515ce51a29580699d0b.

Can this also serve as a submission thread for the server? I have some very high-quality content I would like to submit in order to apply for the server.

Are we able to add a few objects in? I was planning on building a Nepal themed area so I would need 4-5 objects.

Are we allowed to contribute bare layouts?

@Janisozaur: I don't have the time and energy to report every bug and problem to you guys, but maybe I can report a few in the near future that will keep you occupied for a while?

 

@YoloSweggLord: we have a very nice screenshot and park submission system. It's called "Add Screenshot" and "Add Park", which you will find under the top menus on this website.

 

@Bubbsy: I have some ideas of missing objects of my own too! I don't think we can add objects while the server is online, so i guess that in a few days we'll take it offline and I will add some stuff. Please submit your requests here with the DAT-name and a thumbnail image from our database!

 

@BelgianGuy: Sure! But I suppose that if no one wants to theme yours, and someone comes along with another layout AND a desire to theme it, your bare layout won't survive.

@Janisozaur: I don't have the time and energy to report every bug and problem to you guys, but maybe I can report a few in the near future that will keep you occupied for a while?

 

If you don't report them to us, you'll just have to make do with a broken tool. It's not us who suffer, it's you.

 

When and if you decide to report, make sure to file each bug on its own issue.

Of course! It's more the small obscure cosmetic bugs that are not really a high priority, at least in my personal experience. When something is really bugging me, I'll be sure to report it! That is my duty as a grateful player.

I updated the first post with a small tutorial on user groups and permissions. I also expanded on the research menu error a bit.

This has been fixed now. https://github.com/O...nRCT2/pull/4918