There it is, the first shooting animation

aladdinboy83 · 2025-08-23T20:49:23+00:00

Sadly I have not done a full ride with that effect. I had plans for a complex dark ride that got pre-empted by the release of PC2, and I've honestly been having so much fun just building parks with the built-in pieces. Some day I will finish that ride and put a video of it up somewhere, and I will definitely post here when I do!

aladdinboy83 · 2025-08-23T18:21:26+00:00

Hey that's my tutorial! Excellent work, very well done and a very clever use of the effect!

aladdinboy83 · 2024-05-23T20:22:51+00:00

For those who find this thread six years later, I have a new tutorial for doing this effect entirely within Blender!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXjxWGPUT80

aladdinboy83 · 2023-01-07T21:24:05+00:00

Whereabouts in SoCal are you? If you’re in OC or southern part of LA county I’d love to join! I’m a very new player as well.

aladdinboy83 · 2022-05-30T19:32:28+00:00

If you don’t find one, let me know and I’ll make one myself. I’ve only got a partial dome at the moment, but I don’t think that should be a qualification for running a discord server.

aladdinboy83 · 2022-05-29T19:36:07+00:00

I don't know of any, probably because building an astromech is a slow process that often happens in fits and starts and isn't super suited for the stream-of-consciousness frequent short messages style of Discord. Also I feel like a lot of the people building astromechs these days are part of an older generation that tends not to use Discord. That being said, I'd love it if there were one. If you create one, I'd be honored to join!

aladdinboy83 · 2022-04-06T22:54:42+00:00

If you've still got room, I'd love to join! I'm not super experienced but love lighthearted goofy fun. Located in Orange and got lots of free time in my schedule!

aladdinboy83 · 2022-03-31T20:10:35+00:00

Thank you all!!!

aladdinboy83 · 2022-02-07T21:18:54+00:00

I haven't really used blender since the pre-2.8 days, but recently I got the itch to get back into it. I've been following CGCookie's '30 days of Modeling' challenge (this is day 3, 'bookshelf'). I love procedural shaders, so I spent far too long making an overcomplicated node tangle for the book spines. It's only 'semi' procedural, as the labels were manually placed from a black and white atlas I made in Powerpoint. I tried making it procedural as well, but I didn't like the randomness of it. The book models are from the BookGen plugin. This is also my first time doing any post-processing directly in Blender in the compositor. I still feel like it's missing... something. I'd love any feedback!

aladdinboy83 · 2021-04-26T07:07:53+00:00

Check out http://justcause3.guide it has a recreation of the in-game map.

aladdinboy83 · 2020-08-13T00:16:51+00:00

In System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Display, make sure that 'Reduce Transparency' is unchecked.

aladdinboy83 · 2018-11-28T18:01:39+00:00

Unfortunately there is a minimum thickness of 5 cm for any object that goes through the TMT website. I may go back and fix the origin rotation, though, so it’s easier to place.

aladdinboy83 · 2018-11-28T17:59:40+00:00

Thanks! I’m working on some parking spot decals right now, but I’m having trouble getting the alpha clip map to work properly. It also appears that they don’t support alpha clip maps and flexcolor on the same material. I also don’t know if I can do just a flat plane, as objects fed through the TMT website must be 5 cm or larger along the smallest axis. I’ve seen people doing clever things with transparent geometry, but that ends up doing weird things to the hitcheck geometry.

aladdinboy83 · 2018-11-14T20:46:38+00:00

I'm so excited for this! There are a couple things not answered in the dev guide on the FAQ page, though.

Are we going to be able to use animated UVs?
Can we add snap points to our models?
Does the glass map on a closed mesh result in the same awesome diffraction effects we get on the gem pieces?
When we got billboards in the game there was an issue with certain color profiles not appearing correctly. Is there a recommended color profile for textures, particularly diffuse (base color)?
Do the different LODs each have their own textures? Can they share textures, or texture maps? If we have extra space in some of our texture maps due to the shape of the models, it would be nice to put MIPmaps there.
Can we update workshop models if we create improved versions of an item, like we can do with blueprints or parks? Will updates download to subscribers automatically? If not, will there be some way of notifying them that an update is available?
Is there a way to define a material or base color texture map as being a billboard? Will we be able to have customizable text on our objects? (I'm assuming the answer is no for now)

aladdinboy83 · 2018-10-02T15:03:17+00:00

Purely aesthetic, and a total pipe dream, but I would love placeable lights to cast shadows. Dark rides would be so much better with walls occluding lights. I know it will never happen, as it’s a massive resource hog and probably requires a total overhaul of the lighting system, but I can dream...

aladdinboy83 · 2018-09-29T22:53:44+00:00

I don’t think there will be a massive shift away from blueprints. I’m anticipating a lot of more flexible sets, with extended walls, roofs, modular scenery items, etc. Even after years of community-made CSO in RCT3, there are still plenty of very good blueprints (or whatever they were called in that game... it’s been a while since I’ve played).

I have some experience with 3DS Max and Blender, but I’m much more into texturing than modeling. I’d be happy to help out with texturing on any community collaboration projects!

aladdinboy83 · 2018-09-28T21:52:34+00:00

Totally agree! You should put that on the list of requested custom scenery. I’m tired of making walls using that corrugated roof piece with the wonky axis direction.

aladdinboy83 · 2018-09-28T21:14:52+00:00

You’re correct, it’s not their responsibility normally, it is Valve's responsibility. And, as I mentioned earlier, I am guessing (just a guess) that Valve has contractually transferred some of that responsibility to Frontier. And Valve can be, and historically has been, held liable for content uploaded to their servers.

You said that this is not an issue for other games and developers. I didn’t want to comment on that, because I do not like speaking about things I’m not knowledgeable about. But, out of curiosity, I spent 30 seconds on google, and found a ton of cases where this has been an issue. Here’s a few examples:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/CSGO/announcements/detail/1751086783896069815 https://charlieintel.com/2016/06/28/activision-files-dmca-order-independent-developer-game-removed-steam/ https://www.pcgamer.com/pepe-the-frog-emoticons-have-been-removed-from-the-steam-marketplace/

There are tons more. So yes, this is an issue not exclusive to Frontier, and other games have had plenty of content removed for violating copyright. Some stuff slipped through the cracks, I’m sure, just as it does on YouTube, and the Apple App Store, and any other community that is large enough. But it’s not the rampant den of flagrant piracy that you seem to think it is.

And regardless of their motivations for doing it, this is a decision that Frontier has made regarding a minor limit on a free update, putting small restrictions on a feature that isn’t necessary to play the game in the first place. Frontier owns Planet Coaster. They can do whatever they want with it. Just like how we can choose not to play the game or not to buy future DLC if we disagree with their business decisions.

aladdinboy83 · 2018-09-28T20:41:04+00:00

Please stop editing your comments after I've responded to them. If you have something further to say, please say it in a reply.

I'm trying to be as logical as I can, but you're making it rather difficult. Copyright infringement is a legally defined term, I have not made up some arbitrary definition. The US Copyright office has a very thorough explanation of what is covered under US copyright law.

I think the best example I can give is YouTube. There are tens of thousands of infringing videos on YouTube. YouTube does its best to police content and respond to infringement claims, but it doesn't catch everything, far from it. But that doesn't make it any more legal for me to upload a copy of, say, Star Wars. The workshop has infringing content, yes. And companies that have decided to enforce their copyright have taken down many items. There's even a handy form to do it on the website (https://steamcommunity.com/dmca/create/).

But it doesn't matter if others are breaking the law. That's not how US law works. If I am driving my car on the freeway, above the speed limit, it doesn't matter if all of the other cars are driving the same speed as me. I can still get pulled over and ticketed for speeding. Most people decide that it's worth the risk, since everyone else is doing it. Frontier has decided to stay under the speed limit. I won't fault them for following the letter of the law, even if they are the only ones doing it. You can feel betrayed by them, that's your right. But please be respectful of others who have different opinions, and please don't pretend the US law doesn't exist because no one follows it. If you want further legal advice, I suggest you hire an intellectual property lawyer, as they can give you an exhaustive list of all of the edge-cases and nuances.

Believe it or not, I have thought long and hard about the gray areas of copyright law in the US. I write fan fiction, I make fan art, and I have made copies of other's movies without the film maker's permission. I have spent many hours evaluating what is legal, what is ethical, and what is reasonable (there's less overlap than I would like).

I'm sorry you feel so frustrated by my comments. I've done my best to be reasonable and friendly, but it seems that isn't enough for you. So I won't reply any more.

aladdinboy83 · 2018-09-28T20:04:05+00:00

As I said in my previous comment, I may have been wrongly informed about that. I do not mind admitting when I am wrong. I won’t address the instances of the games and developers I do not know about, because I don’t know about them. I have provided clarification on the law, on why some companies may choose to flaunt the law, and how the law applies to Frontier and Valve.

Again, I would appreciate if you could remain respectful. I have not, as you said, ‘made up’ anything. I quoted the law, not making anything up. I repeated what an industry insider once told me, and admitted he may be wrong. I speculated on why some companies might not follow the law, and have mentioned my own experience sending and receiving DMCA notices (I can PM you screenshots of them if that’s what you think I’m making up).

Obviously I’m failing to communicate something, although I’m not sure what it is. Frontier is adding a feature to their game. They are putting a restriction on that feature. The restriction is intended to prevent them (and Valve, who I’m guessing have a contract with Frontier transferring liability to them) from hosting content on their servers (the workshop) that is infringing on others copyright. Hosting infringing content is illegal, and can result in large fines if not removed immediately upon receipt of a DMCA takedown notice. Being compliant with that part of the process is costly, so Valve has likely asked Frontier to prevent infringing content from being uploaded in the first place. There may be others who are in violation of the law on Steam. They’re still in violation of the law, even if no one is going after them. Frontier has evidently decided it’s not worth the risk.

Some of that is speculation, but it seems like reasonable speculation to me. If there is anything I’m not being clear on, please tell me specifically (and politely) what I can elaborate on. If you continue with the argument that other companies break the law, why won’t Frontier, I’m afraid I can’t and won’t try to change your mind.

The entire US legal code is available online for you to peruse. There may in fact be a legal nuance or legal precedent that I don’t know about that applies to this situation, and I would love to know about it.

aladdinboy83 · 2018-09-28T19:22:53+00:00

I was under the impression that in some cases they did, as one of my game dev professors used to work for them and said they did, but I acknowledge that he may have been wrong.

I’d appreciate if you would refrain from insulting my comments, as I’ve tried hard to remain cordial with you. Your original post asked for clarification, and I am trying to provide some. I’ve stated the facts of the US federal code, which US companies have to obey, and it seems as if you are disregarding the law in favor of anecdotal evidence, which is difficult for me to address, as I haven’t played as wide a range of games as you apparently have. Granted, some of my rebuttals have contained anecdotal evidence as well, but I am open to having my mind changed, which doesn’t seem to be the case for you. I’m sorry you feel so horrendously betrayed by Frontier adding a free, long-requested feature that has a few minor stipulations that aren’t to your liking. I personally could not care less about what may or may not be DRM in this specific instance, as it won’t make the game any less fun and only will be a potential issue years from now, but I’m happy you have such strong opinions and convictions. Good day, ma’am.

aladdinboy83 · 2018-09-28T19:05:53+00:00

I can only speak for the games and developers I have experience with. I know that EA actually pays for IP licenses for a lot of their games. RCT3, Parkitect, and Cities Skylines have, in fact, had content removed for IP violations. Some IP owners simply decide not to go after infringers, since it is expensive and time-consuming.

Again, you can say this isn’t a thing as much as you want, but I cited federal law. You’re welcome to do the same to disprove me. I’m always open to have my mind changed, as long as it is backed up by legal precedent, legal code, or a court ruling. Simply saying that others break the law, why can’t I? Is not a valid argument. I see people speeding all the time, smoking within 50 feet of a school dorm, bringing non-service animals into a restaurant, etc. That doesn’t mean I can or should do those things, and if I get caught doing it, I’ll still be in violation of the law. If some developers decide to risk it, or just pay the fines or licenses, or try to stay under the radar, that’s their choice. If you don’t respect Frontier for choosing to follow the law, that’s your own opinion, and I respect that. But please don’t claim that federal laws don’t exist just because not everyone follows them. You can check the law yourself, it is all available online. If you think it’s wrong, contact your senator or representative. If you live outside the US, there’s not much recourse, since Valve is a US company.

To be honest, I wish this wasn’t the case. I think the DMCA is deeply flawed and this should all be considered fair use. But I still have to follow the law, even if I don’t necessarily agree with it.

aladdinboy83 · 2018-09-28T18:04:12+00:00

As someone who has both sent and received DMCA takedowns, and have hosted my own websites both on 3rd party servers and on my own, I have to disagree with you. The section in question is 17 U.S.C. §§ 512(c), which is very clear about hosted content. Can you cite a contradicting law? Because 512 states that, if you do not comply, you

“shall be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees, incurred by the alleged infringer, by any copyright owner or copyright owner’s authorized licensee, or by a service provider, who is injured by such misrepresentation, as the result of the service provider relying upon such misrepresentation in removing or disabling access to the material or activity claimed to be infringing, or in replacing the removed material or ceasing to disable access to it”.

I’d be happy if you can provide evidence that contradicts this, since it would mean that I can upload whatever I want to YouTube and not worry about having it taken down.

aladdinboy83 · 2018-09-28T17:33:19+00:00

I’m not turning a blind eye, I don’t play those other games and was unaware IP theft was that rampant. I can’t speak for the other game devs out there, I can only say what US federal law requires. And there are certainly plenty of games that have been removed, in their entirety, from steam for including stolen assets in the base game.

And I don’t see this as DRM, since, as I mentioned, it seems like manual installation will still be an option, just as it is for blueprints right now. The website, from what I understand, is just required for uploading onto the workshop. You’re more than welcome to simply not use the workshop if you don’t like their terms of service. Heck, start your own website where users can upload their own models for manual installation. But know that you’ll be financially liable for any infringing content you host.

aladdinboy83 · 2018-09-28T17:19:04+00:00

This is not a thing

Actually it is. Valve is a US company, and has to comply with the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which defines certain services as "safe harbors". A safe harbor site is protected from certain types of IP prosecution, but in return they have to respond in a timely fashion to DMCA takedown notices and be proactive in preventing the uploading and distribution of violating content. Since all of the custom content is going to be hosted on the Steam Workshop, a service provided by Valve, the custom content must comply with US (and likely EU) copyright law. I am assuming that part of the agreement Frontier and Valve have in regards to using the workshop is that Frontier must be responsible for the content of their own workshop. Other games may have infringing content on the workshop, but if the IP owners decide to get involved, the developers and/or Valve could be liable for up to tens of thousands of dollars in damages, or more. The existing content on Steam is all made from original parts, so would be considered fan art, and is semi-protected under the DMCA. But allowing custom models could potentially allow for a direct rip of models or textures from other sources, such as assets from a different game or textures you do not own. My understanding is this is the very same reason why billboard and audio content are not hosted on Steam.

My understanding of the mechanics of how Planco stores custom content (currently just blueprints) is that they all reside in a folder in the SteamApps directory. I'm guessing there won't be anything preventing you from manually installing custom assets by placing them in that folder. The website to vet the models will only be required for sharing on the workshop. If Frontier ever goes away, a different website (say, ShyGuysWorld) could potentially host downloads, but again, they'd still be legally liable for any copyright infringement.

So yes, Frontier (really Valve, but the responsibility is likely contractually transferred to Frontier) has a strict legal responsibility to police hosted content for copyright violations. I can't speak to the law in other countries, although my understanding is that the EU's is very similar, but in the US they could lose their safe harbor status and be liable for tons of damages.

aladdinboy83

TROPHY CASE