Ask the Experts / Seph’s Beginners Guide to RCT2 and NE

Hello Everybody! New Element Designs (nedesigns.com, or NE) is often considered the place to go for the highest quality creations for RollerCoaster Tycoon - Loopy Landscapes [RCTLL] and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 [RCT2] on the internet. If you're wondering about how the parks earn awards at NE go here. People see the parks made from this site and then ask “Hey, how can I do that?” And often end up confused if they aren’t familiar with the games. For RCTLL help go here, as I'm not familiar with that game. The point of this guide is to help the newcomers get the tools and know-how to make parks in RCT2 like you see on NE.

 

You’ll also notice that I put some initialisms in brackets in the previous paragraph. Anything you see that I put in brackets can be searched for on NE through the tag system, and the engine will show you parks that fall into those categories.

 

The Basics:

 

Where does one start when trying to make an awesome park? Well, RCT2 doesn’t have a feature specifically called “Sandbox Mode”, which can be confusing because you CAN have a “Sandbox” mode if you know what you’re doing. “Sandbox Mode” in RCT2 disguises itself under the name “Scenario Editor”. Basically, you need to make a scenario that is built specifically playing sandbox in. At NE, a scenario whose purpose is to play sandbox in is called a “Bench” or “Workbench”, and the names are interchangeable. You can either make your own bench or download one that someone at the site has made to jump right into playing. Users at NE also use tools called “Trainers” to bend the rules of the game to allow them to more accurately represent the vision in their head. Trainers allow you to tinker with various aspects such as clearances, chain speed, and so on. Lastly, RCT2 has been made what it is today by the people who have labored over making custom objects for the game, which now make up the majority of the objects used in modern releases. Each of the concepts discussed are expanded upon in the following sections.

 

Running RCT2 on Modern Windows Operating Systems:

 

Louis made an excellent guide for this here. Make sure that your trainers and parkdat are using these settings too.

 

Expansion Packs:

 

There are two expansion packs made for RCT2: Wacky Worlds [RCTWW], and Time Twisters [RCTTT]. Parks that use both expansion packs are labeled as [RCT2WWTT]. It should be noted that a large majority of the users at NE either A) do not own the expansion packs, or B) do not like the look of the scenery objects and rides that came with them. Therefore, most users at NE do not use these rides and scenery objects in their work. So, most of the accolades here do not use the expansion packs. If you choose to use them in your work just keep in mind that many members will not be able to view it in-game.

 

Custom Scenery:

 

Custom scenery (or CS for short) is what most of the users at NE wish the expansion packs had done. The nice thing about CS is that it is automatically added to your computer when you download a park that uses it. If you ever come across a park that gives you an error saying "missing object id", go here to search the object database and hopefully you'll find what you're looking for. Some users make parks that purposefully do not use CS for the challenge, and this work is often referred to as No Custom Scenery Objects [NCSO].

 

Trainers:

 

Trainers are found on NE under the Game Utilities section of the website.

 

Benches:

 

As mentioned in the “Basics” section, benches are the “Sandbox Mode” of RCT2. They are custom scenarios made for building whatever your imagination can come up with. Benches made by users at NE are specifically designed to include as many tools as possible to the player given the restrictions of the game, and often contain many custom tabs that try to optimize object organization. Downloadable benches can take a little extra work to find on NE, but they are there. Here are some that contain modern custom objects and let you make pretty much anything. Louis also made one that uses old objects for nostalgia's sake.

 

Louis’ Workbenches:

2014

2013

2012

2011

Nostalgic Workbenches

 

Xtreme97’s Workbenches:

2014

2013

2012

 

Closing Remarks:

 

Hopefully this gives the newcomers a jump-start. My hope is that this reaches the other communities like YouTube and whatnot because I read so many comments fawning over a creation and begging the creator to tell them how they did that or where the sandbox mode for RCT2 is, etc. Happy building!

Read it all, waiting for a snarky Seph remark, found none

 

Nice post, I'll definitely refer people here. 

^So did I csw.

 

Still, pretty informative. Where was this 5 years ago when I joined lol.

Bumping this for quick bench set access. And to remind myself to update it to include OpenRCT2. And probably X7's custom rides.

I hope it's ok to post some newbie questions here... I've tried starting a few parks, but I get stuck very early. I just don't know how to do track designs, which I think is the first step... I did one NCSO Contest, but I also feel like I don't know where to place scenery and buildings ( or how to even start in CS). My question is, do you think it's better to start with a small project, or even one ride and work from there? I recently visited Elitch Gardens and I really love the atmosphere, and I know it's small... Would it be helpful to start with one ride, let's say Mind Eraser, even though it's a clone, or is that not even gonna help me? I know there are a few cool rides there (Drangon Wing and Half Pipe), so maybe I can work up to them? Also how do I know how big to make the map? (I want to include some surroundings)

Don't be afraid to try and copy stuff, to see which objects and building styles suit you, then you can use that info to try and build something you came up with yourself.

I recommend posting a screenshot here every now and then, and explicitly ask for feedback. Do you want to build in the detailed NE-tradition, or do you just want to have fun? Or do you have other goals? That's the kind of thing you should mention when you're new, I think, because otherwise it's hard for us to know what is valuable feedback. It makes no sense telling a 13 year old kid who's trying to cram 3000 meters of track on a 5x5 surface for fan that his layouts aren't realistic and that he needs custom supports.

Starting with a small project sounds good. Maybe don't start with a project at all, by calling it a 'project' you're committing to something and adding pressure for yourself, maybe.

Are you using OpenRCT? In OpenRCT you have the option to change the map size without going back into the scenario editor. Very useful for when you don't know how large your park/project/thing will end up being. Try it.

As with everything, do small steps first. Make your projects bigger and bigger over time. Accept the fact that you may not be amazing at the very beginning. Make mistakes and analyse them once you're done. Also post screens so others here will analyse them for you.

About building with custom scenery, the object selection may look overwhelming at first, but you can try practicing in some older benches, or maybe the Improvising bench from the olympics, just so you can get the hang of it. Also, something that really helps is looking for real life images of the architecture you're going for, and of course, taking inspiration from other builders is perfectly fine. And some personal advice: don't get angry if you can't finish something, and don't work yourself too hard to try finishing a project you don't want to build on. Sometimes, it's better to move on...

Thanks guys! That's some great advice to start and maybe the inspiration I need. I eventually want to be able to do NE level realism, but it's very intimidating lol. I'm definitely not a 13 year old boy, lol (I'm actually probably the person in my demographic on here, but I have too much free time). I'm thinking copying something and not calling it a project are a good place to start. I'll try to post screen shots at some point!

I found this topic, very good, because now I know the difference between RCT2 and RCT2WWTT