Your first coaster

This guide starts from a coaster you have already built with TrainCarts: a loop of track that comes back to where it started, with a train that can go round it. We turn it into a ride that runs by itself.

Before you start, check that /utp status says Link: established — the ride and its signs need UTP Connect.

1. Draw the station's region#

Stand in your station and draw a WorldGuard region around the platform, where guests wait and board:

//wand
(select the two corners of the platform)
/rg define station_plunge

Use a lowercase name without spaces. This region is where the operator panel appears — see Operating a ride.

2. Create the ride#

In the administration, open Rides and click New ride. On the General tab:

Click Save. Your ride appears in the list with its number, for example #7. Note it: it goes on every sign of this ride. (In the game, /utp ride list shows the numbers too.)

3. Place the station sign#

Under the track, at the spot where the train should stop in the station, place a sign:

[train]
utp-station
7

(with your ride's number on the third line). The chat confirms: "Sign utp-station linked to The Plunge."

4. Put a train in the station#

Place a train on the track just before the station, the way you usually do with TrainCarts, and let it roll onto the sign. The plugin catches it, stops it, and opens the station: the ride is waiting for guests.

5. Ride it#

Sit in the train. The countdown starts, and ten seconds later… you're off. When you come back, the train stops, the restraints open, and you're let out.

That's a working ride. Now make it better:

• The train leaves the station at walking pace, like after a block section. To send it off faster, put a slope or a TrainCarts launch right after the station.
• More time to board? Change Countdown on the Machinery tab.
• Real gates that open and close, lap bars that come down? See Gates and effects.
• Your train back in the station after every restart? See below.
• Several trains on the same track? See Block sections.
• A soundtrack? See Ride soundtracks.
• A photo on the drop? See On-ride photos.

A fresh train after every restart#

A crash or a restart can leave your train halfway round, or stuck on a brake. The ride can put a fresh one in its station every time the server starts:

1. Stand in your train and save it with TrainCarts: /train save plunge-train.
2. In the administration, Rides → Edit → Machinery, type plunge-train in Fleet, and save.
3. Ride it once. That lap shows the plugin which way the train leaves the station.

From then on, on every restart — and whenever you type /utp ride reset 7 — the old train is removed and a fresh one appears in the station, ready for guests.

If the train stays where it is, /utp ride reset 7 says why — for example which way its train leaves the station is not known yet: send a train round once, or a sign has not been read: see A ride keeps its old trains after a restart.

Other options, on the Machinery tab#