I ran into something in the scenario conversion project that is a small bug/problem. It wasn't the biggest deal in the world at the time so I just dealt with it and moved on - now I've run into it a second time and it is more than a little annoying so I decided to post about it and realize I should have pointed it out a few days ago when I first came across it.

As many of you may have noticed (or may not if you use the default settings for the game which show "actual" height values) the game's numeral scale for showing height levels has been rewritten. Most land blocks no longer start at level 6 as they did in RCT1. Now they start at Level 0 and there are negative values in the game - so base land for most scenarios ion RCT1 was 6 - now they are just at 0 - no big deal. A couple of scenarios, however, started at base 1 - the lowest level possible (see, in particular, Lightning Peaks and Thunder Rock - also, from LL, Micro Park). In RCT1 that was no big deal.

Now - if you lower land all the way down you receive a numerical value of base -6. Try it with a scenario that uses no money - you'll see. The land is underneath - base -6 translates correctly from base 1 in RCT1 BUT you CANNOT build any rides on RCT2 base -6. You will get a "Too Low" message. Strangely - you can build paths and place scenery at level -6 - but no part of any ride.

Both Lightning Peaks and Thunder Rock use the lowest possible level (RCT1 Level 1 - RCT2 -6) for the level at which the entrance gate is. The paths and scenery that was placed in an RCT1 game port over with no problems to RCT2 - but RCT2 won't let you add any rides at that particular level. Both scenarios also have a chairlift that starts at that level - in Lightning Peaks, the scenario is a mountain - so it goes upward immediately - Thus, I just placed the Chairlift at level -5 and ignored it. BUT with Thunder Rock - part of playing the scenario is learning how to build both on top of the rock formation and then below and through the rock formation - I am thinking I may need to raise all land in the scenario to base -5 to be fair - at the very least all rides will have to have a platform at level -5 and an entrance and exit that involves at least one ramp level (from -6 to -5).

Because scenery and paths can be placed at that lowest level, I am inclined to believe it is a bug in the game - at the very least it has revealed itself to be more than mildly annoying. Just something I though you all should be aware of.

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I believe that the heights that are being displayed are relative to the Park Entrance. Or at least that's what the manual says. 

So one way around this might be to lower the entrance? 

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If that's true, then that is also a bug - land always starts at a base level of -6. I have imported two scenarios that start at the lowest level - both of them have an entrance at that level and it still shows up as -6. I then created a scenario in the editor from scratch to see if it only happened with imported landscapes - but it does not. Anyway - the ride bug is there no matter where the entrance is - as I said above, you can place any path or scenery you want at the lowest level regardless of what it's numbered (I believe that it always stays at -6) but you cannot place any ride or portion of ride there.

PS - anyone can feel free to test this out - I would love to be wrong about this, but unfortunately, I do not believe I am in this case. 

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With the sweep of his hand, Mr. Saywer has arbitrarily changed the height mark standard of 8.6 feet for 2HMs (in RCT1) to 10 feet in RCT2. That means that all our previous rides are suddenly too large. Unforturnately, in changing the scale of the sim, he failed to make the track components 14% smaller to "fit" the new measures. That makes coaster recreations that much harder to do since all the old track pieces are now cruder (in effect longer) to work with since they remained the same size from the old version.

I take my Giant Dipper @ Santa Cruz as an example. The actual coaster's height is 70 feet. The closest I could come with RCT1 and make a decently shaped first drop was 73.9 feet. Now suddenly that same 73.9 feet has become 85 feet in RCT2!!! Any attempts to rescale the ride is impossible since the track pieces are still the same size as in RCT1. The swoop track sections are too long for instance. And combinations to get me to the ground in the second drop either are short by 10 feet or below ground level by 10 feet. There is no intermediate swoop track to compensate for the downsizing and yet keep the layout essentials intact. 

This, along with his merging the two wooden coasters into the twister only with its hideous banked track, the separating of the minis and still leaving out some its track combos, some coasters making the use of blocks obligatory to get the proper number of cars/trains, losing our hill tool, etc. has turned RCT2 into a real pig's breakfast for me. I am somewhat demoralized at this point. 

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Steve 

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Forgive me, guys, if this question has already been posted. Please direct me to the post if it has, as I really don't have a lot of time right now to search around.  

How is it that some of the pre-built rides (such as the towers in the elevator ride) have walls all the way up at the top of these 300' high towers, and when I try to recreate something along those lines, I can't get the wall to go above a certain height before it stops and my cursor scrolls to some other part of the map? 

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Actually, just within the past half-hour, I figured out how to do it!  

RctBuilder hit the nail on the head. Here's what you do. (You might want to print this out as a reference.) You need to raise a desired parcel of land to the highest level (which is only 120'), then you use THAT tower of land as the base upon which you stack your scenery. 
To reach the max height, first zoom out 1 click from the closest view, and then re-center the top of the land tower so that the it is near the bottom of your screen. Now, find the square on the top of the land tower upon which you want to stack your scenery, and position that square as close to the bottom of the screen as possible. Then, choose the scenery you want to stack, and position it on the square, and hit the shift key. Then just raise the cursor all the way to the top of the screen and click the scenery at the level it stops at. 
Now, all you have to do is lower the land tower back down a little and stack again using the same method. Continue until the land tower is back to normal, and stack again. That's all you do.

It IS tedious, so if you are sure it is something you really want to do, make sure you prepare yourself and have the patience to do it. 

