Another Post Patch Problem... [Archive]

Silkius

17-12-2004, 00:38

I have found very few problems with peeps post 'full' update #1 -
but you still need to make sure needs are met, most problems I have come across actually turn out to be player rather than game related (i.e. hungry peeps not eating at food stalls - can be because they don't like what your selling, what toppings you are/not giving them)

Try reading this from Frontiers' FAQ (http://www.frontier.co.uk/games/rct3/faq.html)-

Why don’t peeps get on my rides?

RCT3 has new features and so does not play exactly the same as RCT 1 or 2, so you should not assume that strategies you have used successfully in the past will work as well in this new game. We have examined several save-games from players who are seeing that peeps don’t get on their rides. In only one, rare, circumstance was this due to a bug, which is fixed in UPDATE 1a. In all other cases we found that the parks did not provide the basics for their guests, with the use of ‘fast-forward’ speeding up the on-set of the problem – for example peeps were hungry but had no food stalls, or had no cash but had no ATMs to get more. In response we have made some balancing changes in UPDATE 1a to make it more likely in several circumstances that peeps will queue for and get on rides compared to the retail game, with the net result that the game is a little more forgiving with UPDATE 1a applied. However you MUST still make sure you have the basics (food, drink, money, toilets and benches) provided for your peeps so they continue to enjoy spending their money in your park..

Here are a few possible reasons / things to try if you find peeps are ignoring on or more of your rides, either generally or after a period of time. See if any of the following apply to your park:

1) Hunger / Thirst / Toilet / Tiredness needs of Peeps. If many of your peeps are allowed to get hungry they will go in search of food, etc. – if you haven’t got adequate provision for them your park can experience problems - they will start to want to eat rather than ride, and the same goes for the other ‘basics’. Sample the status of a few of the peeps who are walking by your ride entrances or use the guest thoughts summary window - if they are hungry and / or have low energy, thirsty, need the toilet or are tired and you don’t have any / many of the correct facilities in your park your peeps will start to suffer at the expense of going on rides. Note that facilities can only serve peeps at a certain maximum rate, if you have more than around 30 peeps who all need a particular facility at any one time you should seriously consider providing more capacity.

2) Peeps’ Cash. After a time, peeps who stay in your park run out of cash and therefore can’t afford your rides. Sample the status of a few of the peeps who are walking by your ride entrances – if they don’t have any cash and you don’t have any / many ATM’s in your park, add some.

3) Intensity of Ride. Your ride (especially custom designed coasters) may be rated as having very high intensity values, which will put off all but the most courageous peeps. If so, you need to change your ride to be less intense (for example use banks to minimize lateral G forces, brakes to slow it down etc.).

4) Price of Ride. The price you are charging for your ride may be too high.

5) Peeps re-visiting rides. In the retail game, peeps can enjoy a ride and have the thought that they want to ride it again, but not do so immediately. This is by design, and is a piece of defensive coding to prevent loops occurring. There was a consensus of early feedback that this behavior should be altered, so UPDATE 1a contains code to make peeps more likely (N.B. not 100% of the time) to revisit rides that they enjoyed before going on other rides.

6) Queue path placement. Try and connect your queue to a busy path in the park.

7) Maps. Depending on where your ride is in your park, peeps may take a long time to ‘discover’ your ride. By selling maps you can make all those peeps who buy maps immediately aware of all the rides in the park. Otherwise, as in a real park, peeps will only know of the rides in their immediate vicinity. UPDATE 1a contains code that increases the distance over which peeps who don’t have maps will be aware of rides, and so makes them discover rides quicker compared to the retail game.

8) Queue path arrangement. In the retail game if there are two or more queues connected to the same grid square, peeps will only go down the first queue they see, so only one of the rides connected to the grid square will get any traffic. In UPDATE 1a this is fixed so if there are two or more queues connected to the same tile, people will make an informed decision as to which ride to queue for, rather than going down the first queue they see.

9) Queue path terrain. If you have modified the terrain under your queue path, there is a possibility that it has become ‘broken’ with adjacent tiles not being correctly butted up to each other. This can be fixed in the retail game using the terrain smoothing tools. Additionally in UPDATE 1a we have disallowed the editing of terrain under queue paths to eliminate this problem.

10) Testing a Ride. If you have not tested your ride, it has not yet been rated and information on it is not available to the peeps. This means that all but the most courageous peeps will not want to ride it until it is tested and rated.

11) Distribution of rides through the park. RCT3 peeps respond pretty well to park layouts where the big ‘star’ rides of the park are further into it, with gentler rides near the entrance.
How should I lay out my park to get best distribution of peeps round all the rides?

Here are some suggestions and tips to ensure your peeps flow through your park and visit all your rides & attractions:

1) Paths. Try and make sure the design of your paths leads the peeps through the park using main arteries, like in a real theme park.

2) Queue path arrangement. In the retail game if there are two or more queues connected to the same grid square, peeps will only go down the first queue they see, so only one of the rides connected to the grid square will get any traffic. In UPDATE 1a this is fixed so if there are two or more queues connected to the same tile, people will make an informed decision as to which ride to queue for, rather than going down the first queue they see.

3) Maps. Depending on the layout of your park, peeps may not know your rides are there. By selling maps you can make all those peeps who buy maps aware of all the rides in the park. Otherwise, as in a real park, peeps will only know about the rides in their immediate vicinity. UPDATE 1a contains code that increases the distance over which peeps who don’t have maps will be aware of rides.

4) ‘Chain’ your rides. Try and make the exit from one ride deliver peeps into the vicinity of the entrance to another.

5) Transport Rides. Its always a good idea to give your peeps a choice between paths and transport rides rather than relying on transport rides alone.

6) Prices. Make sure they are not too high and put peeps off.

7) Distribution of rides through the park. RCT3 peeps respond pretty well to park layouts where the big ‘star’ rides of the park are further into it, with gentler rides near the entrance.

8) You can manage the flow of peeps through your park using ‘No Entry’ signs – select a sign from the Scenery > Path Extras menu and when the sign is placed click on it, and on the view port that opens up check the ‘No entry’ tick box under the ‘Sign options’ icon. This can be useful for example to prevent peeps spending wasted time walking up a long exit path to one of your rides.

hope this helps