Flat rides

A flat ride is any ride that doesn't run on a circuit: a carousel, a drop tower, a swing ride, a teacup ride. Ultimate Theme Park runs the boarding for it — countdown, gates, restraints, unloading — and hands over to your machinery for the ride itself, through commands.

How it works#

The seats are a TrainCarts train (or a single cart) standing on a utp-flatride sign. Guests sit in it as they would in a coaster.

1. A guest sits down: the countdown starts.
2. The gates close, the restraints come down.
3. Instead of launching the train, the plugin runs your Starting the sequence commands. That's where your machine starts moving: an animation plugin, a TrainCarts animation, redstone…
4. When the ride is over, the restraints open, riders get off, the gates open. With an operator on duty, nothing opens on its own: the riders get off once the operator opens the restraints.

Set it up#

1. In the administration, Rides → New ride, and choose the type Flat ride. Give it a station region, as for a coaster: that's where the operator panel appears.
2. On the Machinery tab, fill in:
   • Starting the sequence — the commands that start your machine. Required.
   • Opening the gates and Closing the gates, as for a coaster — see Gates and effects.
3. Save, note the ride's number, and place the sign under the seats' track:

[train]
utp-flatride
3

1. Put the seats (a train) on the sign.

Fresh seats on every restart#

Like a coaster with a transfer table, a flat ride can put itself back in order every time your server starts. Save your seats once with TrainCarts:

/train save crazy-bus

Then, on the Machinery tab, write that name in Seats. From now on, a few seconds after each start, the plugin removes whatever stands on the utp-flatride sign and puts a fresh set of seats there, facing the same way. /utp ride reset 3 does the same on demand.

Leave Seats empty and the plugin leaves your seats alone: it simply takes in the ones standing on the sign when the server starts.

Ending the ride#

The plugin needs to know when your machine has finished. Three ways, whichever comes first:

• A fixed length. Fill in Cycle length on the Machinery tab — for example 45 seconds. The ride ends 45 seconds after it started.
• A redstone signal. Leave Cycle length empty, and power the utp-flatride sign with redstone when your machine is back in place. This is the best choice when your machine's timing varies.
• By hand. /utp ride end 3 ends the ride now.

Drive the machine with a sequence#

A real flat ride doesn't go from standstill to full speed in one go: it speeds up gently, holds, slows down and stops. The best way to get that is a sequence — a timeline of commands — without music: each cue changes the speed of your TrainCarts animation a little, and the last one ends the ride.

1. Name the seats' train. Commands need to know which train to animate. In the game, select the flat ride's train with TrainCarts and give it a name:

/train rename flat_3

2. Build the sequence. In Sequences, create one called "Top Spin cycle", with no region and no music. On its timeline, add a cue per step. For a spin animation called spin, made in the train's attachment editor:

The speed ramps up over four seconds, holds for 26, and comes down again. The last cue stops the animation and ends the ride: the restraints open and riders get off — with an operator on duty, once they open them. You can add anything else on the way — a sound at full speed, particles, lights.

3. Start it from the ride. In the ride's Starting the sequence, write only:

utp sequence start 12

(with your sequence's number, shown next to its name). Leave Cycle length empty: the sequence's last cue ends the ride.

Every time guests are strapped in and the gates are closed, the sequence starts, the machine speeds up, spins, slows down, and the ride ends — at the same pace every time.

Everything else works as for coasters: custom actions, the operator panel and a soundtrack.