Ask the Experts / Kumba's Hack Tips

Kumba's Hack Tips
Version 2.1

Intro

I seem to have a rep for being the guy that knows it all when it comes to RCT2 hacking and have been called the "Hackmaster" and many other things... Well id say Evil WME knows the most, then id toss in my own name along with Phatage, Levis, Magnus, Junya Boy and Richie. Bottom line is I get asked tons of hack questions, so I wanted to make this guide so the info is more simple to get to, god knows its hard to understand me here let alone on AIM

Trainers

In order to hack you need a trainer. I am not really an expert on trainers, I have no idea how to make them, only how to do certain things with them. I will use the SoB trainer to zero clearance and 8Cars v1.21 to restore it, I think that just comes from habit. I feel using both works best, each has its ups and downs and I have never used any other types as I feel I can do everything I need with both of these.

Here are the downloads for both:



(SoB) Son of Beast Download Page



8Cars Trainer Download Page

8Cars Trainer version 1.21 Download Page

Hacking Tips

Mergeing (SoB)


Most people always ask questions about merging, and it really is very esay.

Step 1 - Put the two parts you want connected right next to each other, then zero clearance with the SoB trainer and build 1 track piece the “wrong” way in the opposite direction of where you want the track to go.

Step 2 - After you do that quickly close all open game windows (holding backspace does it really fast) to try and avoid “white glitchs”
Step 3 - Now go zero the clearance again with the SoB and build forward to where you want it to go and your done.

Note: You will need the coaster that contrals the coaster car to be set on Power lunched mode, or Boat hair mode if you want more then 1 car.

Also there is a way merging can be done with 8Cars that does not seem to leave “white glitchs”, however it takes a lot longer, and I don’t even know how to do it to be honest. A tutorial on that can be found here

Putting Path Objects on "Invisable" Path


It's not even a hack, just a trick really.

Step 1 - Build an invisable path peice (thats just a path object, so make sure its in your park).
Step 2 - Get the type of bench, lamp, litter bin or Q TV you want to add and on your keyboard press 0, a height mark will then show up (Unless you are not zoomed in all the way). Place the object on the height mark and it will be added.



Invisible Track


It sounds so hard, but it is very simple. Also these steps apply to track with a station and track that is just merged onto a coaster.

Step 1 – Set the coaster on test mode.
Step 2 – Use 8Cars to change the track type to Crooked House mode. Your done.


Note: Not all types of tracks work. Here is a list of things you cannot make invisible:

Large Loops
Vertical Track
Diagonal track
Large turns (small and medium work though)
Barrel Rolls (In-line twists on Inverted B&M coaster do work tho)




Also it’s not uncommon that when I have tried this sometimes my coaster will just freeze, mainly if I forget to set it on test mode first and try it after the hack. I think one of the best ways to use this hack is by merging the track on and doing it, rather then having it be a part of the station, but either way can work.

Wall Slanting


This hack is extremely easy.

Step 1 – Build the wall you want regularly on a slanted land tile

Step 2 – Zero clearance and lower the land. Restore the clearance and your done.

Changing Ride Cars (8Cars)


This can get a little tricky, but heres how you do it…

Step 1 – Once you have built the ride that you want to change the ride car on, bring down the 8Cars “Rides” tab and click the first bar “Edit ride stats”


Step 2 – Once their you will need to scroll the list of rides witch only will have one ride if theres one in your park, but for each ride or shop there is another number is added, so in large parks with many rides it can be a little hard to locate what you want changed. What I do to aid myself in looking for the ride is change its name to something in large caps like “LOOOOK THE RIDE TO EDIT IS HERE DUMBASS” that makes it easier to see at the top where the ride names are displayed.


Step 3 – Now once you have located the ride you want just flip throw the “Train Type” options till you find what you need, then click “apply” then click “Ok” your done.



Also it should be noted that doing this will most likely led to a great increase in the number of times your ride brakes down. What I like to do to avoid this is not change the car and just merge track to the ride type I want.


Stand Alone Coaster Trains (SoB/8Cars)


This hack is kinda tricky, for one thing it can ruin things around it (at leased the way I do it) so try and make sure you build it befor you build anything else, so when the area is empty is best.

Step 1 – On the SoB trainer go to the landscaping tab and select “Begin Special Build Mode”

Step 2 – Build a small station and a short length of track.

Step 3 – Using 8Cars set the ride to power lunched or reverse incline mode. (If needed)

Step 4 – Click the flag on the rides main menu so the ride starts its test mode, then as fast as you can close the ride so the train sits on the track.

Step 5 – Go to the SoB trainer landscaping tab again and select Execute Special Build Mode then Execute Sink Scenery.

Step 6 – End Special Build Mode on the SoB, your done, but don’t mess with it to much, its best to just leave it alone at this point, or you mite end up needing to do it over again.

Error Free Parkmaking Tips

Always Save!

Not a hack, just some friendly advice. I always save my games right before I start a hack, you never know what can happen as you work, glitches pop up from time to time, so it is best to have a safe version handy. Saving more the one version of your park is also a good idea, in some cases I have saved a park over 100 times and have loads of versions I can back track to if I ever run into a major error.

New - Error Scanning

It sounds hard and complex, but this is just a simple method I use to check my parks for errors after I have hacked in order to know that I am saving my game without an error in it. Press 3 and 4 on the top left of your keyboard in-game. Once you press those you can see through scenery and rides and will be able to view any problem without rides and scenery in your way, then you just need to have a look around, if you can't see any problem save your game. What you should be looking for is tiles that have gone corrupt, these can be found anywhere! even underwater or under a path, but normally you can see a shade of darkness, if you do zoom in on the area, and check to see what is there, if it is an error don't save the game and backtrack to an error-free version of the park.

Hacking Errors

I have no idea how you get most of them, but do know how to get rid of most of them.

A "White-Out" Glitch Scenery Error from Fright Nights by Phatage

White glitch scenery errors – If you get this on a scenery object your best bet is building the same object over it at the same angle and deleting the object you just build on the bad one. Also you can sometimes just use the games clear scenery tool after you build over it. When you get this error on a coaster or rides track I am not exactly sure how to remove it for good, but deleting the track and re-building seems to help a bit, or just deleting it because sometimes it’s like there is just an extra piece sitting there. A good way to hide this error is by placing a full tile (sometimes a ¼ tile object will work) over the error, though it only hides it and does not fix it.

New - I have found that recently with people useing more large scenery objects converted to match full tile small objects "white out" errors seem to happen a lot more. The error is likely to happen if you have the parks clearance set to zero and one large or "MT" scenery peice cross' another, try to avoid letting large scenery objects come in contact with each other. Small scenery will almost never give you this problem, so don't worry about that as much, if at all.

A Rasied Land Error from Epica by Phatage

Raised Land errors – Most of the time I just get rid of this by using the “Cap land at max height” option under 8Cars Landscaping tab. It’s an annoying error but most of the time that will fix it.

A "Black Hole" glitch I caused in Bayfront Parc's Erwindale Village Theme

Corrupt Tile ”Black Hole” errors – This is the only thing I really worry about when I hack, as far as I know there is not certain way to get rid of it. When helping with a park once, I ran into this error and called it a “Black Hole" I did a few hacks on it (Own all land and restore clearance) but did not get it out, I covered it with that 2x2 ruin to try and hide it and sent the park back saying I could not fix it, and when the parkmaker got it he removed the object and the "black Hole" was gone or something like that. I think that mite work if you try it, most likely due to having the game re-saved with data over it on a computer that should have working settings. Sometimes I have heard of them just going away if ignored, but I would not count on that. Lastly a few times I have tried using the games clear scenery tool on it and it froze my game, so you mite not want to try that.


Error Trappers – When you see this, your game is over and there is nothing you can do. You will get them if you try things that are to high risk, like you merge a ride onto another track then delete the track its on you’ll get one, I have even gotten them at random on very rare occasions, but your park would need to be very hacked for that to happen.

Kumba's Hack Tips Version 1.0

Well I guess thats it. I am not going to reveal everything I know, but if you have any questions about what's here, or even not here, please feel free to post some questions or contact me at:

E-mail - DRC2828@aol.com
AIM - DRC2828

Edited by Kumba, 19 August 2006 - 12:30 PM.

One note about the "black hole" glitch... this has happened to me more than a few times. The best preventative measure I suggest is to save milestone copies of your parks to different file names, so that if one file is corrupted beyond repair, you can at least revert to an earlier copy, rather than lose everything.

Back to the "black hole" glitch... in the times this has happened to me, the glitch has also somehow managed to resolve itself later on. I have a feeling it's connected to restoring clearances and the "raised land" error. Basically, it's the inversion of the raised land glitch, and that one is definitely caused by restoring clearances.

So if you get the "black hole" glitch, my suggestion is to either revert to an older file OR just keep working like usual and hope it goes away.

The "black hole" glitch has happened for me in my Calatravas H2H park as well as my Pro Tour 2 and my Cliffia project. In all three cases, it sort of corrected itself. It's not really a major problem, just a hassle because you cannot build on it or manipulate it in anyway (unless you want to risk a trapper error). Worst case scenario... build around it and surround it with trees.

i like that you're doing guides but damn is it awfully made up and arranged ...

You dont need to 0 clearances for that sloped fence, just pull down from the lowest edge on the square.

I got mentioned

Also, please put up this link for 8cars, the new 1 is fucked. No matter how many times people say 'i cant restore clearances' noone seems to get it.

THIS IS THE BEST VERSION OF 8CARS!!!

Eh. 8 Car Version 1.302 fucks up for me from time to time anyway. I use 1.22 but I also have 1.302 and SOB all of which I use for some various things.

Oh and while the guide is nice it certainly doesn't help me other than in the case of a black hole showing up, which it may well since I'm getting error trappers in my PT entry all the time. Prolly wasted 4+ hours in 10 to 15 minute chuncks thanks to those damned things.

ride6

1.302 has worked the best for me.

I've gotten that black hole glitch quite a few times, and 90% of the time they fix themselves after a while.

I've removed the black hole glitch many times from woe, but the thing is that sometimes while doing so more come up. What happens is that tiles are translated along the map, along with all scenery/rides/path/whatever is on it, and if I remember correctly you have to delete the image before being able to alter the original, and even then it takes some trial and error with different things to get it back to normal. The thing is, you shouldn't be doing that heavy of hacking if you can't clean up after your oil spills.

The raised land glitch is pretty easily fixable, since it's really just that. The 'black hole' is tough. Stuff dissapears in there! It's seriously a black hole =P. I don't know if i ever fixed one, i think i might've once. Better just get around them. haha.

Anyways, it's really time for Kumba to learn some hex-editting .

I had one of those black holes on my Nemesis:Apocalypse, the Rct2.com October competition winner. I fixed it by raising a tile of land to the side of it, and it raised the other 3, so by raising one piece of land, I was raising 4. Then I could build on it.

Anyways, it's really time for Kumba to learn some hex-editting .

looking forward to see you guide about hex-editing

I have a challenge for you WME, ive had an idea ages but havent managed to get it working properly yet..

about that Stand Alone Coaster Trains ,

why don't you just build the track, pause the game and press test and then close again (in that way you see the trains), unpause it and then make the track invisible ?

and you forgot to say that every banked track piece can't be made invisble also (or am i wrong ).

Edited by Levis, 20 November 2005 - 11:55 AM.

Well you can do that but then you would have 2 big station right next to the coaster car.

And you can use some banked track, not large or steap tho, I really need to add more to that part...

I have a challenge for you WME, ive had an idea ages but havent managed to get it working properly yet..

A challenge haha. ok.

Well you can do that but then you would have 2 big station right next to the coaster car.

there you have got a point.... I normally only sink the station buildings I remember now, but maybe youre right and is youre way better .

And you can use some banked track, not large or steap tho, I really need to add more to that part...

Banked turns can't be made invisible and vertical track also ( ). but you say that banked straight track can be made invisble (if so i've got a little idea ) ?

How do you make custom supports actually connected to the track?

How do you make custom supports actually connected to the track?

zero clearence maybe ?

You know.. I would have never thought that.

there you have got a point.... I normally only sink the station buildings I remember now, but maybe youre right and is youre way better .
Banked turns can't be made invisible and vertical track also ( ). but you say that banked straight track can be made invisble (if so i've got a little idea ) ?

Banked turns CAN be made invisable, just not the big ones, the twisting ones or the 45 deg. ones. You can also use the B&M invert to do small half loops and in-line twists. Also you can do helix's.