I'm bout to give up!!!!!

I did the station at both ends. I am not sure if there is a way to launch them backwards. This is something NoLimits needs to add in their next version because this is a very basic shuttle coaster.

the lims will launch backward on a shuttle coaster. This works on the Mr. Freeze recreation that comes with NoLimits.

I'll have to try it when I get home, but are you able to set a negative number for the launch speed? Not sure if that would work. In the past I've just made a second station, hid the building in the settings, and told it that it was a reverse lift start and that seemed to have worked.

I'm only running 1.5, so I'm not sure if anything has changed in 1.6

~Rob Willi

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DantheCoasterman said:
If I were just to try the demo...........
1.) can I ride other peoples designs?
3.) could I design my own rides and then ride them?

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Haha. If those options were available in the demo, why would anyone buy the game?

Hey Acoustic Viscosity,

Which recreation is the Mr. Freeze? I want to see how they did it. I have tried using a brake segment, station segment, and transport segment. I can get the train to stop but when it launches the car it launches it forward not backward.

It's called "Diving LIM Shuttle" and is in the update "v1.5 folder" in the tracks folder.

I'm about to join you in hanging it up. I bought the new version a couple days ago. While the game is great for making very real looking and riding coasters it almost is too real. I spent an hour on trying to get a inclined s type turn to be smooth. I never did get it so I decided to go another direction. The supports take way too long. The prefab ones are nice but they aren't detailed enough. I don't know if I am missing something in the editor but sometimes it seems no matter what I do the track piece will be a little off, meaning not lining up with the grid even if it's a straight piece. Also when I try to make a verticle lift and then straight down drop I have all sorts of problems. Some where along the way it gets completed twisted and I can't straigten it out. I often find myself connecting the track then test riding what I have done so far. I can't seem to find a way in the editor to test speed and g's. Everything about the game takes too long. For some people this is everything they have ever wanted and I can see why. I really can't believe how nice of designs I have seen people make.

Don't think of it as a game, people. It's a 3d modeling program for roller coasters. It's not supposed to be easy and quick--that's what RCT is for.

You have to take your time experimenting with all the settings and seeing how the track behaves based on how you position the handles and vertices and the banking of the vertices. Don't look at the big picture. Focus on a small element like a perfectly symmetrical bunny hop and think about how to make it happen. Analyze and understand why it works then move on to something else. Study the tutorials. If you can't get them to work, you're not ready for a full coaster.

I can understand it's not suppose to be quick. However, if its made to be enteraining then I consider it a game. It's not like most of us are using it to make coasters that we plan on making in real life. I just wish there was a little bit of a scaled down version, maybe somewhere between RCT and NL. Where you have the ease of RCT with added features but the graphics of NL. I say I'm going to hang it up but I'm sure I'll be toying with it a few weeks from now. Look at a very detailed design someone makes. I wouldn't doubt if it took them over 40hours from start to finish.

The old Disney coaster game (the one that was on 3.5" floppy) was an excellent game that would have fallen between the two. I was so disappointed when my disk was erased and I could no longer play it.

A great way to learn how it all works is to study someone else's track in the editor. Look at how they shape each element and try to recreate it yourself. It's really not that hard once you "get it". Looking at the big picture of trying to do a whole ride is overwhelming at frist. So just focus on perfecting a single element. Once you can do that with ease, add another element and so on. Stay away from inversions until you can perfect a simple out and back woodie. The inversions are the hardest thing to "get" IMO.

Don't give up. Feel free to e-mail me your track file for advice. And FYI, I do all my tracks free hand without any third party cheater apps, as I don't care about getting it that perfect. :)

I have to echo what Matt is staying here. I took a few files with out and back woodies and really worked on getting the shape of the hills right. Pay special attention to how a ramp up to the lift would work. Also note that you don't want any sharp changes in vertical direction just like you wouldn't want a super sharp horizontal turn either.

I find just getting the little quirks in the ride to work is the game of the whole thing. Yeah it can be frustrating, but when you get something that runs really smooth and does not go in the red numbers for G's you take a lot of pride in that.

I think that's a good idea taking a look at other designs real closely. I think I will try that now and see where it goes. The thing that bothers me the most, and maybe you could shed some light on this, is the support building. When placing nods in free space it gets real hard trying to get them where you really want them. I find myself going from view to view moving it a little in each view. Is this just the way it is or is there an easier way? I also found an auto support function in the track settings window. I have tried to use this but it never adds the supports. Any thoughts on this tool or way to make it work??

You have to get used to continuously switching between views to get your vertices and nodes in the right place. That's just how 3D modeling works.

The AutoSupports are only meant for creating woodie style lattice structures. There is no AutoSupports mechanism for adding individual steel columns to your B&M--wouldn't that be nice. Anyhow, there are several settings you have to specify in the AutoSupports window. You have to choose the style and the "quality". By default, it is set to not make the supports (Disabled). You have to choose Generate Final for the supports to actually be generated. And you have to make sure the supports are checked in the Display menu or they won't show up.

Doing custom supports is my least favorite part of building a ride. I often try to just get by with the bare minimum.

Some tips to get you going....

In the preferences, set the grid to 1ft x 1ft and set the snap to either 1ft increments or 0.5ft for more precision and make sure Snap mode is turned on. Snap is a fundamental feature of any kind of modeling/drafting software. Also make sure the grid is checked in the View menu.

Try to build a simple oval shaped woodie layout with two perfectly symmetrical 180 degree turns, a perfectly straight lifthill and some nice parabolic hills.

Lay your track in the top view and switch to the front, back, left and right views to raise the track to change the elevation. But make sure it's going in the right direction in your top view. Make sure the handles are snapped to the grid and aligned with the track in all of your views. Only use the 3d view for fine tuning and getting a 3d sense of the model. Avoid fine tuning in this view until you can make simple oval shaped layout.

Make your pieces of track in multiples of ten feet so you can easily keep track of your position on the grid. For example if you want to make a 90 degree turn, after you place the first vertex of the turn, place the second one 40ft over and 40ft up from the first one. If you want a constant radius, don't turn more than 90 degrees without adding another vertex. This is something you have to play with and see how the shape of the curve is affected by the vertices.

Look at one of the "expert" tracks and notice how the length of the vertex handles relates to the size of the turns. It's not random. There is math behind it. The Coaster Calculator may be a handy third party app to help you understand this. I figured it out myself using a little logic... Divide the length of the handle by the radius of the turn and you'll have the answer. It's approximately 0.523 or 52.3% if I recall.

To slide the entire track in any view so your current vertex/node is always on the grid dot you want to start from, select all and then click on thecurrent point and slide it to the desired location.

All this may sound complicated, but it's really all logical stuff that makes sense once you see how everything relates to each other. It's trying to understand it all at once that is scary. You have to figure it all out over time.

AV is exactly right. Some people say they will just give it up instead of taking time to really get to know the program. One thing that really needs to be understood when starting with NoLimits is that you cannot build a decent coaster in thirty minutes. Like all good things in life, NoLimits takes time.

Ok. That makes sense or at least it's starting to. I never really messed with the grid and snap settings. I'm going to start with that and mess around. Thanks for the help. That really was a very simple way of putting it.

Added - Just tried this...

I made the grid 1ftx1ft with a snap of 1ft. I then tried making an inclined s type turn. I laid the turn in the top view just like you said, putting a vertex 40 up and 40 over, then the next vertex 40 up and 40 over. I then went to another view and raised what would he the higest point of the turn to 40ft. I then adjusted the control arm (cant remember exact name you called this) on the middle vertex so that is lined up with the first and last vetex. The turn looked just how I wanted it to, far better than anything else I have made. Now I took it further. Obviously banking comes into play as the train would change direction twice during this type of turn. What I did was split the two pieces that made this turn up so that I would then have 4 vertexs to adjust. I did this to adjust the banking changes that would be needed during the turn. Was this the correct way to handle this portion of it?? I am getting a little excited now because I think I was just looking at this the wrong way before.

Yes that is how you do it! Good job!

From your description, it does sound like you have the right idea. I haven't messed with NoLimits in about a year or so (since my PC crashed). I can remember that feeling of excitement once I started to 'get' it. Everything will start to fall into place. This makes me want to get back into it again; I miss creating (or recreating, as that was my forte) coasters in NL.

You're on the right track. Proper banking is a little tricky. The point of it is to reduce lateral forces on the rider. You can't just switch from flat to "banked" without a transition. And if the transition is along a constant radius turn, the forces will be be very high at the start of the turn. So to fix this, you have to either make the transition before the turn or start the turn with a higher radius and gradually make it tighter to the point of maximum banking.

Physics is at play here. Forces are due to acceleration, and acceleration is due to either a change of speed or a change of direction (or both).

Also, to get smooth transitions, you want to shape your path along the heartline. Make sure Heartline is selected in the Display menu. If you see any dips or kinks in the heartline, there will be jerks in the ride regardless of how smooth the track path looks.

You'll notice that on smooth transitions, the track may sweep out to the left a bit before turning to the right. This is to keep the heartline centered as the banking rolls to the right.

What you're doing is a great start though!

What exactly is the heartline? I'm not on my NL pc right now so I can't look. Is this the center spine visible in the editor view?? I think that was part of the problem I was having with turns. You said if turning right have the piece jog a bit to the left before turning right. I haven't been doing this. I also would not bank the pieces just before a turn which would result in the lateral g's being too high.