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ay platypus
08-27-2012, 04:37 PM
Hey guys.

So i have wanted to do a guide for a while, i know im by far not the best in the business, but i like to think i know my way around the park creator as well as the next guy.

In this guide i hopfuly will give new and old park builders a better understanding of CAP and in turn i hope to see A wide range of parks from new and up and coming park builders.

To start i wanted to find out how much tarrain there was per lot. Annoyingly i couldnt find this out on line soo i had to do it in game :/ I was suprised to find out that all the lots had the same amout of tarrain (625 standard pads) They also all go yellow at 469 SP and red at 562

One of the first things you should think about when starting a park is to think about what the park is going to be, this will help you choose the lot. I shall come back to this point.

before starting a park i would recommend using the "merge glitch" (founded by Rellz, made awere by fully)

Click on the links below if you dont already know how to do the glitch.

Xbox.

http://skatefluckit.com/showthread.php?t=11492

Ps3.

http://likebuttermag.com/forum/topics/ps3-merge-glitch-tutorial?xg_source=activity

Back to picking A "lot"

as we al know there are 7 different lots they are, Zen Plaza, Downtown Night, PCU, Team HQ, Downtown Day, Stadium and Back lot. They all have good and bad features, which i shall go though in turn.

Zen Plaza - The Zen Plaza has good lighting and in my opinion a nice-ish back drop. It also has a bunch of nice stair sets and manny pads built in which if used well could looks good and save abit of tarrain. The main reason it is hardly used is due to the shape, it can be awkward at times. i would recommend using this lot for high end schools, business districts or a pirvate graden, walkway place.

Downtown Night - Now i have to be honest i really dont like building in this place due the hight you can go whilst in the editor. however it does have its good side, this place looks stunning once the park is complete, so if you can stick at it, its well worth it. I would use this lot for a plaza of some sort or maby apartments.

PCU - This lot is used realy now days but I still think its a little gem. Though not great for normal indoor park this would be great a small grunge wherehouse, the eco is almost perfect for this. A down side to this lot though is the lighting is just off it feels to light when you have a park with a roof on it.

Team HQ - The team HQ is my choice of lot for indoor parks. The reason for this is down to the lighting. there are meny ways you can use this place, you can have the brown metal layer either a floor of roof making,which not only looks good if down well but also saves tarrain. Saying this there are a cupple of down sides to this lot, first is the brown layer, if you dont intend to use it, it can become a problem and may limit your space, The other down side to this park is the other brown metal layer, this creates an ugly shadow which you cant get rid of, however you could use this to your advantage if thought about. I would use this lot for indoor parks.

Downtown Day - This is my favorite lot, in my opinon its perfect the lighting is almost spot on, maby on the bright side, the space can be tad limiting and the back drop isnt to great but its simple and great for anyone building a park. i have built a few parks here and my only big concern is the back drop but you can normaly hide most of it if you try. i would recommend using this lot for... most thing indoors, plaza's, city's its the safe bet.

Stadium - I must confess i have never built a park here, but from the parks i have skated here its seems to be a good place to build large indoor parks or wherehouse's. The lighting is fair but the eco is over done a bit. The space given is very generous. like i said i would use this lot for large skateparks or Wherehouse.

Backlot - the back lot is a very controversial some people love it, some people hate it, (Its like Marmite) I really like this lot because its back drop is low, there for you can see it if you build the park the right hight, and the size of the lot, it gives you the freedom to build were you need to build. The lighting i my pet hate in this lot it either works really well and give the park a kinda Skate 2 vibe or it makes the park to dark to skate. I would use this park anything other than indoors.



Earthquakes - An Earthquake is when pad start to move ramdomly, now this really pisses me off when this happens, but there is a way to stop. Its fairly easy, just annoying all you need to do is delete the piece's that have earthquaked.

Freezing - This is another glitch EA have not botherd to fix, luckily there is a simple solution, fill the prop bar up to full.

for more tips click the link below

http://skatefluckit.com/showthread.php?t=6502

I hope this has help and not bored you all to sleep haha

Platypus,

Ohmidineffect
08-27-2012, 05:12 PM
Also drink a lot. then pass out. then drink more. then drink more. then drink more. then drink more. When you see the light, go to the light...the light leads to the greatest skatepark to ever exist. Then you wake up. Try to remember that park, and then recreate it. This is the one piece of advice you missed. That and always spell check :p much love platty good to see people still trying to keep things alive.

The RellZ
08-27-2012, 05:59 PM
Bout Time I Get Some Credit !!! ( Shout out To Fully )

Fecal Face
08-27-2012, 07:47 PM
Bout Time I Get Some Credit !!! ( Shout out To Fully )

Calm down there bud. haha.

Nice little guide. What makes best for filling up the prop bar? Some objects make the framerate go down a lot.

m.seven
08-27-2012, 08:35 PM
i have never once tried to make a park,but with a little info like this i may give it a shot

rzrfvr
08-28-2012, 12:39 AM
Nice writeup Platy, any reason you didn't use this thread http://skatefluckit.com/showthread.php?t=6502?

I have a question about size that I haven't been able to check myself. Which parts take up most space and what combinations of different pieces take up the most space? You just stated regular pads which is good to know but you'll rarely build a park with just those pads.

In my experience, using many different pieces that have different textures makes the terrain meter fill up faster. It makes sense cause the amount of textures and the amount of grindable edges is probably what sets the limit, not the amount of geometry. I'd also like to know how many half pads it takes to fill up the meter.

Here are a few more advanced tips
• Fill up terrain meter and prop meter all the way up even if it's outside the skateable area to make the timeline a good length when filming.
• Props load from the bottom up (in terms of altitude) when online. All props won't show up but you can control which ones show up by placing props you don't need on top of a building.
• When selecting several pieces and rotating them, the first piece you select determine the axes of rotation and movement. This is handy when you want to make a ledge of that concave bench for example. I sometimes place a halfpad, select it, then the rest of the objects, rotate my selection and then delete the temporary halfpad.
• You can change brand, style and color of objects without selecting them by placing the cursor on them and hitting select (PS3)

ay platypus
08-28-2012, 12:54 AM
Thanks guys

Ohmid - yeh I was gonna do that to day, it just got abit late so I left it ;)

Rzrfvr - I dint know how often people looked into the thread and I didn't want this to get over looked. As for the tarrain meter yeh I need abit more time to work that one out but I will give a full list of how much tarrain pieces can use. I did miss out quite alot which I hopefully will resurrect.
Thankyou though rzrfvz much appreciated!

riki2cool
08-28-2012, 06:48 AM
Other tips:

- Try not to use standard pads, rails and ramps unless it's the only way possible or if it really fits. Try mixing and matching different world, downtown or misc pieces. If your going to make a rail, try using the catwalk support piece.

- Remember to not make it all size-tardy. Nothing sucks more than having a rail that reaches to the neck or only to your knees. Try using your skater as a measurement tool (props to the guy who came up with that)

- Remember to fill up the prop meter when you're done to prevent the skate.reel replay editor glitch.

ay platypus
08-28-2012, 06:57 AM
Very true riki though normal pad used in the right way can look just as good as other stuff! Later on today I will try and find out how much misc and world piece take up.

To all, feel free to post your tips as well the more tips the better the parks In the feature!!

old-skooler-34
08-28-2012, 07:20 AM
AY, you are the man and I agree having this in a separate thread will get it more noticed. Stickies tend to get overlooked IMO.

Hopefully more guys start feeling better about building and more importantly showing their parks.

Wiltzuh
08-28-2012, 08:04 AM
Let me give you few words. I've faced some problems recently while making parks and also i felt i have something to say here...so:

IF MAKING CUSTOM SKATEPARKS

1) Try to make as much lines as possible, but avoid overloading your park. Personally, I try to make my skateparks to flow as good as possible. Instead of starting from the flatground, create some different platforms and levels to get more options and possibilities. I've also noticed that making levels helps to save space (not meaning terrain) because you don't build everything on same flatground. To get your park flow better try for example to link different platforms to each other.

2) Try to avoid dead-end-lines...if u don't know what i mean, let me tell you. Obviously, dead-end-line is line which doesn't continue well anywhere...stairs and handrails especially big ones are riskiest to this. NEVER build park where landing area of handrail or stairs is on bottom level of the park. That causes dead-end-line for sure. You lose your speed and there's no way to get them back. I've faced that kind of dead-end-lines way too often even in my own parks.

3) Keep colours clean. Well, this may be a bit depending on a person BUT, I hate parks with million different colours with none of them going together. You can mess up even most beautiful park with stupid coloring. So my advice is to test different coloring options. That doesn't take lot of time so it's only depending on you. Try to mix different colours and search for the best combination. You will see when you have overcoloured your park.

AGAIN, these were tips for custom SKATEPARKS, not for remakes or spot-CAPs

I also don't know how much you guys have messed with Merging glitch but i've done it for a while and that's why i'm a bit confused, why only few have used this.
So, basically with merge glitch, you can sink props in terrain with different results. I try to keep it clean:
- Place prop somewhere. I always place just basic pad first and then put that prop on it.
- Choose the terrain piece you wan't to sink prop into and place it on prop (let's call it PAD2). It should work. In this point prop should be able to pop out of that piece of terrain. And also i don't recommend you to delete that original pad (let's call it PAD1) because there is a chance that your prop falls down if there's nothing under it.
- After this you can try if you can move your Prop+terrain setup from place to another without your prop popping out. If it does, you can always undo that. It's little risky anyways because sometimes (only very now and then) undoing doesn't help and prop pops out anyways. Only fix for that is to create your setup again from the beginning.
- I haven't tested this with every prop so i can't really tell you how it works with different props. But i recommend you to put small terrain pieces (like rails, bent poles or support poles) around your prop to make it stabile when skating it and avoid it to pop out. It should also help you to keep its place so it should move at all. Just don't put these support-terrain-pieces inside the prop.

So basically you sink terrain into prop because it only works that way. Hope this helped you even a bit. You can always PM me or ask here if you need help.
And if you worry that your beautiful prop-handrails made of bikeracks doesn't show up on multiplayer session, just check RZRFVRs tip above; Put needless props higher than those you want to keep because highest props doesn't appear on online session.

To make better custom spots.
- Just make sure you have good idea(s) and inspiration when you start your park
- To get inspiration, watch skate videos, videos of architecture, pictures of buildings, park-areas, cities, fountains and all kind of modern art. I get ideas everywhere. If I walk down the street and see some cool spot or even spot looking place or some nice building, I grab my phone and take picture of it. Later I check if I can use it on CAP.
- THIS IS MY BIGGEST PROBLEM; People...please...try to finish your parks. I have SO MANY parks that I have never finished. I really know lot of people want to see and skate new parks so do a favor to whole community...finish em !

And if you don't really get any inspiration, let me help you with few ideas I have.

-Waterpark
-Chinatown
-Abandoned depot turned into skatepark w/ flatbeds and tankers sunk into concrete
-Wiltzuh's mansion. I would live there
-Suburbs
-Kids playground
-Landfill
-Resort right next to water
-Museum (art, history, science)
-Mine
-Construction Site
-"After Earthquake" -scenario
-Oriental Bazar or marketplace
-Ghetto
-Beach area
-Police Station
-Fire Station
-Unfinished skatepark
-Big water treatment plant
-Docks
-Carfactory
-Graveyard
-Illegal spot at night

Just few to mention...there's endless count of ideas so do a brainstorm and amaze us.

I hope i didn't miss anything important. If so, correct me please.

thesignguy
08-28-2012, 08:10 AM
I got to ask this.

The whole deleteing data yada yada to get unlimited merge
Since you are denying the update, doesn't this go back to the reverse magnetism that the patch fixed???
To me it is not worth the reward

riki2cool
08-28-2012, 08:28 AM
Reverse magnetism?

Wiltzuh
08-28-2012, 08:37 AM
Reverse magnetism?

thesignguy
08-28-2012, 08:58 AM
when skate 3 came out one of if not the biggest gripe was "reverse magnetism"
If you go straight at a ledge for a grind, the physics engine would force you to the left or the right.
The first patch fixed this problem
So if you deny the patch and find yourself having troubles grinding then you will know why

ay platypus
08-28-2012, 09:04 AM
Wow wiltz you have given park building a fair bit of thought!
I think when it comes to different levels you are undeniably correct and just this piece of info alone will help with meny parks to come!!

thesignguy
08-28-2012, 09:13 AM
heres more things you will be denying:


Filmer pack - if you already have it, it has been fixed to perform as advertised. If you don't have it yet, it will be available relatively soon.

Camera collision fixed in replay editor.

Online - postures are on all the time. Host can reset all objects and people can upright objects that get knocked over.

Head tracking in switch and half-cab grinds working.

Skate.park - Mege objects by turning collision off.


here is the thread, it really gets going around here
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/30/497061.page

Wiltzuh
08-28-2012, 09:35 AM
Yeah signguy i see your point ! I have to say haven't faced that in any parks...even in merge-glitched parks.
So i'm kinda sure that's as real problem as man-eating-unicorn.

I'm not sure and i'm dumb but I think that even if there would be that problem, it would be fixed in multiplayer since you need to have that patch to play online.

Fecal Face
08-28-2012, 09:52 AM
When you deny the update your game runs a little shittier than normal, because you deleted all the updates for the game in order to do the glitch. When you finish your park and apply the update, everything works totally fine.

thesignguy
08-28-2012, 09:56 AM
ahhh that answers my question
so then you dont skate without updates, just build
i thought to do this and keep skating them you had to deny updates always

Ruben_Williams
08-28-2012, 10:09 AM
nope u gotta deny the updates, build ur park offline, and then asoon as u want to upload it just click connect, accept updates n everythings back to normal. :)