Adding RCT3's Native Car Types To Other Tracks

The simplest way to become introduced to CTR Creator is to place one or more of the cars that come with the game on to track types that also come installed with RCT3.

There are nearly two hundred different cars that come installed with RCT3 and while technically it's possible to place every car type on every track type, putting every car type on any type of track isn't a logical approach for the use of this utility.

You'll find that RCT3's car OVL's are installed in two different folders. The usual place to install downloaded cars and to extract data from them for use with CTR Creator is

C:\Program Files (x86)\

Atari\RollerCoaster Tycoon 3\Cars\TrackedRideCars

There is a lesser known location for car OVL's and that's

C:\Program Files (x86)\

Atari\RollerCoaster Tycoon 3\Cars\CoasterCars

Below is a list of each car's folder name ready to copy and paste into the BahnDaten_'s CarTypeName field. As many of these names as you wish may be copied over into the BahnDaten_. The names may either be separated by a comma or simply with a space. Slideshows illustrating the car types follow each table.

  Table: Cars/CoasterCars Folder Contents

  Slideshow: Cars/CoasterCars Selection

  Table: Cars/TrackedRideCars Folder Contents

  Slideshow: Cars/TrackedRideCars Selection

CTR Creator Errors And Limitations

  Version Limitations

►

CTR Creator v0.85 can process up to 500 track sections. Several custom tracks including most of the Europa Park tracks have several thousand track sections and for this number of track sections you'll need to use CTR Creator v0.95 and above.

►

V1.0 comes with limitations as to the number of alphas, non-alpha textures, and polys it will process. Problems will occur when using around five car textures and with car models made with almost 3,000 polys. V0.95 for the most part comes with these same limitations. Error messages thrown by either of these two versions indicating you've reached alpha, non-alpha texture, and poly limitations aren't an issue with v0.85.

  Other Limitations

►

The game engine automatically animates some of the native coaster car and ride car wheel textures to make them appear to be rotating. Setting up this effect with CTR Creator is not possible.

►

CTR Creator cannot combine custom tracksets with in-game tracksets.

  Known Issues With CTR Creator

CTR Creator does occasionally throw a very few select error messages which do indicate specifically what the problem is. However, apart from the Ride Train With No Seats error and the occasional error regarding duplicate or out-of-order transformations, error reporting is very limited with this utility. CTR Creator typically processes incorrect and inappropriate entries while giving every indication that our content has been generated correctly, the results of which can be an inability to build a new track design in the game, the inability to put a particular car on the track, or the park file might not load at all if the track and car are already in the parksave and you are revisiting the park after making further changes to your car or track.

  Error: Ride Train With No Seats

Attempting to load a ride car in the game which has been Imported without peep effects is the most common reason to get this error. If this error displays and you're certain you've correctly included the peep effects with your car, to see another reason this error may be thrown and to review how to fix, please read the text in this session.

  Error: Access Violation

If the files with which you're working with CTR Creator are too far down inside the Windows file hierarchy the Windows address for the files with which you're working becomes too long for the utility to handle which results in an Access Violation error. Simply move the files to another location on your PC with a shorter address, e.g., your Desktop, and this error will go away. If desired, after your OVL's have been created you may move your directory back to your preferred location.

Just like Park CleanUp, when CTR Creator can't freely access your system's resources it will occasionally throw this error. This could happen if there's a huge amount of data being cached by your system, your RAM and CPU are being used near capacity, and if your system is overdue for a restart.

  Error: Unresolved Track Section

When we get this error the game has crashed because data being sought by the game engine is not where it is expected to be. CTR Creator is handy for determining if this error is due to missing folders, something that may be of concern if we've cleaned out our Tracks/TrackedRides folder and we later find we can't load a particular track.

Let's say six months ago I cleared out my tracks and cars folder and today I attempt to place the EP Schlittenfahrt Schneefloeckchen track in my park during which I receive the Unresolved Track Section error message.

►

I'd use Print Scrn on the keyboard, or a camera or mobile phone to take a photograph of the error message so I'd know what the problem file is after the RCT3 process is ended.

►

If I used Print Scrn I'd save the screenshot as an image. Next I'd review the error message which tells me the folder that caused this error is CTR_EPSchneefloeckchen so I know this is the folder from where I need to extract the BahnDaten_ text.

►

The BahnDaten_ file tells me the car type that will be requested by this track is CTR_Schneefloeckchen. I observe that this folder is where it's supposed to be in Cars/TrackedRideCars.

►

I also read in the BahnDaten_ that the track type for this ride is TrackCTR_RR05GuidedTourConcrete. I observe that this folder is missing and was likely deleted six months ago while I was clearing out my tracks and cars.

►

Now that I know what folder is missing I simply copy it from my RCT3 backups and then paste it into my Tracks/Tracked Rides folder.

After this the EP Schlittenfahrt Schneefloeckchen track will load in my park and the park will again be available for my enjoyment.

  Errors For Reasons Unknown

Occasionally while using CTR Creator, getting around an inexplicable error is as simple as closing the utility and re-launching it.

CTR Creator's Toolbox

This utility comes with a on-board toolbox that's handy for recovering useful data from various files.

  How To Recover Lost BahnDaten_ Details

Lost BahnDaten_ details can be recovered from the Ride.ovl. To do this you’ll need to find the Tracks/Tracked Rides folder, locate the track in which you're interested, copy and paste it, work with the copy, and extract the data from the common.ovl in the copy. The extracted BahnDaten_ is ready to use to make another track through CTR Creator.

     Creating A Faux BahnDatan_ List

Sometimes the required BahnDaten_ details can't be obtained in this way with this tool. In the event CTR Creator is unable to recover a BahnDaten.TXT file you may build a quasi BahnDaten_ list by using an application that will list/extract the file names from the same Tracks/Tracked Rides folder from which CTR Creator couldn't extract. This data, minus any line breaks, may then be pasted into the BahnDaten_ as track section data. Directory List & Print is a great application for listing file names in folders.

  How To Recover Lost MODXML Car Data

If you need the MODXML Data for a particular track it can usually be recovered from the Model.ovl. You need to find the Rides/Tracked Rides folder, copy and paste it, work with the copy, and extract the data from the track's common.ovl copy. This tool also extracts the textures that were used to paint the car model. As with any RCT3 Utility RECO textures do not extract accurately.

  How To List Scenery Used In A Structure.dat File

Forget about DATCSO! This extremely handy tool is the do-all-and-end-all tool for finding out what's in a Structure DAT file. As usual when working with RCT3 utilities it is recommended to take a copy of the original file and to work from the copy. To obtain your list, in CTR Creator left-mouse click on Tools>List Scenery and then navigate to the Structure DAT file. Not only will this tool tell you what sets are used in that Structure DAT file but it will list them in alphabetical order and also identify the actual pieces from each of those sets that were used to make up the scenery file. This is a must-have! tool for anyone with a huge repository of saved structures.

This tool is also handy for those times we have lots of scenery in a park, have put our park aside for another time, have again taken up with our park at a later date, and don't recall the sets from where we got all the scenery items we've placed in our park. Simply save a custom structure that includes everything in the park and run that DAT file through CTR Creator which will then list every item you've placed in the park.

In view of this it would be a good idea when we're temporarily done with working on a park to save a Custom Structure made up of everything in our park to put aside with our parksaves ready for later use. Of course, if you haven't already saved a DAT file including all the scenery in your park and you are unable to launch the park because you don't know which sets should be in your Themed folder then you'll need to rely on Park CleanUp to get this information for you.

When using this tool you won't receive any message that the process has been completed but you will find the list created by CTR Creator in the same folder as your DAT file. In addition to a rough overview of the scenery sets used in the park, and a listing of each specific piece used from each set everything will come numbered which will tell at a glance how many items are in each list. The list ends with the total number of different scenery items identified in the DAT file.

The downloads referred to throughout the preceding sessions are available at File Transfer Database. The links are provided below.

Drag the above toggle to a

convenient place on your screen.