My thoughts on No Limits 1.6

I've been looking forward to getting the new update for no limits, so the moment it came out, I was on it.

I paid, and got my key/link instantly, however the download was incredibly slow. Two hours later, I was able to install the update, pretty sad considering that I have COX broadband.

Once I got it all installed, I had to check out all the new goodies that it includes. In less then 5 minutes, I started to feel a little ripped off. The only good that came of this was the new braking features, oops, I meant feature (the ability to have no brakes in a segment).

The track smoother wasn’t all that I expected it to be. Sure, it does its job by aligning the heart-line, but you have to be some type of professional CAD user to understand the rolling effects. I “smoothed” a cobra roll to come out with a strange looking pretzel turn around.

The new track styles are nice, but nothing to get too excited about. There’s one track style with three different trains. The two spinning coasters are nice and all, but it’s just that, a spinning coaster. One train the seats face each other, and the other one is back to back. Yippee! Not feeling the excitement that I thought I was going to. When I saw bobsled coaster in the description, in my head, I’m thinking “bobsled” not “mouse.” That should really have been specified.

The Flying Dutchman is cool and all, but I think the only thing that gets me going about that style coaster is the station in which it should have. When I go to Geauga Lake, and X-Flight is running two trains, I can actually sit there and watch the station for hours, so having the one station was kind of a buzz killer for me.

The new brakes and kicker wheels are very realistic, but not worth $14.95. The B&M style tracks got new LIMs, but only the hyper coaster trains have fins and track support for them. If this update was supposed to offer more realism, it lost points in that respect.

The new sounds are nothing to get excited about. All the coasters have the same sound as it did before, just less clicking except for the “bobsled” coaster has a faster click. Still does not match the pace of train. The kicker wheels have the “ear ringing” noise that the real coasters have, but it’s very faint. The brakes still sound the same. The actual coaster moving sounds are much improved, still not worth $14.95.

The new blur effect is just annoying. Maybe my eyes just focus a little faster then most, but watching a three minute coaster could possibly give you a headache, as it did to me.

The new train models are very nice, that’s all I can say about that.

Am I impressed with this update? Hmm… Not so much. I really don’t think this should have been a pay-to-update version. I understand that software makers want to make a living, but come on. Give us what we really want. I know on my behalf, I don’t care if the track styles are labeled with a manufacture’s brand name or not. I think No Limits sold out a bit to provide to manufactures that are willing to pay more for the software, we, the average consumers are the ones that put the software on the map by purchasing it, and spreading the word about it.

Ugh! I’m sure Coaster Sims will have a field day with this…

//DS

Thanks for an unbiased completely critical review...

I don't like when one plays it forever and then an update comes out & calls it the best thing since sliced cake.

I still may wind up forking over $15.00 for the update if only because I'm on the fence on this, and I'd rather just invest in the update NOW, rather than wait until it goes full-price & regret it. It may re-new my interest in the game.

But glad to know that the new features are nothing to scream about.

I had the complete opposite thoughts as DS, as all of the features he just mentioned were ones I was impressed with.

Every single new feature for the update was plainly stated on the download site; I think you're just splitting hairs here. The website says "Gerslauer Bobsled." That's exactly what Gerstlauer calls that type of ride. *** Edited 9/17/2006 1:10:56 PM UTC by PhantomTails***

Look at it this way... $15 isnt a lot of money. There is a lot of worse things you can spend it on, and REALLY feel ripped off:

Parking at a Six Flags park. :)

*** Edited 9/17/2006 2:09:59 PM UTC by 1EyedJack***

The update was released? Am I missing something? I went to their website and I couldn't find anything about downloading the update. What's going on?

You should see something about it now.

I think the update in and of itself was not worth the $30 I paid for it (I was too impatient to wait until morning and save half), but you've gotta look at the fact that so many updates along the way have been free. When I first bought NL, there were just 9 track styles and it cost me $25. Since then, I got the addition of wooden coasters, motorbike coasters, Intamin inverts, Premier LIMs, invertigos, eurofighters, shuttle coaster options, and so much more. Ole didn't charge us the extra $5 when the price of the sim went up way back when.

Essentially, if you look at it as us having paid for the many updates along the way, as well as the fact that we're paying for many years of use until NL2 comes out, it shouldn't seem so bad.

I purchased and downloaded my copy in a few minutes yesterday morning so two hours to download seems an awful long time...

I have to say I am more than impressed with the update, better fps, sounds, aesthetics and I love the new camera modes - now I can sit back and track the train with out scooting my mouse all over the desk :)

I'm going to spend some time working with it this week, it has certainly fired up my enthusiasm again.

DS - if you have another $15 going spare I could always sell you my copy of RCT3 ;)

-Jimvy!

Could someone post a link where I can download the update? I still can't find it and I'm not sure why.

Well, this update is almost exactly what I expected it to be. Sorry to hear that download times were so long; I'm not sure what caused that because mine took all of three and a half minutes. (However, that is on one of the best campus networks in the country!

The features I like best about 1.6 are not the motion blurring (which I turned off) or other fun visual stuff, but the built in smoother, which saves a little time when I occasionally build by hand, and the improved friction settings. I'm also excited about the new viewing methods in the simulator, which make it really easy to get good screen captures.

Anyhow, after only spending $25 on the game for the last however-many-years, this was certainly worth an extra $15...

^bakeman, you should have received an email if you already owned a copy and would get the half price discount. However, here's a link for ordering it:
https://secure.element5.com/esales/checkout.html?PRODUCT[150807]=1

hope that helps *** Edited 9/17/2006 4:13:44 PM UTC by Kevin Brennan***

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DS said:I paid, and got my key/link instantly, however the download was incredibly slow. Two hours later, I was able to install the update, pretty sad considering that I have COX broadband.

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How big is the file? I have dial-up...

66mb...

I'm interested in the "improved friction" feature, as previously it was difficult to accurate recreate a real coaster of the same height and maintain the actual speed to the end of the ride. I've had to resort to shortening the train on rides such as Voyage and Ghostrider; the seven car PTC trains wouldn't make it to the block brake, let alone the station. Same with the 12 car GCI trains, In contrast, the B&M invert trains went too fast.

I think your review was pretty good and informative, except for this:

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DS said:
When I saw bobsled coaster in the description, in my head, I’m thinking “bobsled” not “mouse.” That should really have been specified.

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What would you expect them to call a coaster type they are modeling after the Gerstlauer Bobsled coaster?

http://www.gerstlauer-rides.de/Produkte/P1_BobsC_E.html
*** Edited 9/17/2006 8:08:36 PM UTC by GoliathKills***

Gerstlauer isn't really a company that I follow. When I saw bobsled, I was thinking intamin bobsled.

If anyone is going to get this update, I highly suggest to get it now, rather then pay $30 for disappointment.

//DS

DS, that is your opinion.

I also love how DawgByte hears one bad review and automatically accepts it at face value...

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Thanks for an unbiased completely critical review...

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Most people I know are quite happy with the update. The best thing for me is the increased FPS. I already was getting good FPS before, but now everything is much faster and I can have anti-aliasing set on 3 now instead of 2.

The target view camera absolutely rocks for screenshots/videos.

I also agree with the guy who said that everything being included was clearly stated BEFORE you bought the update.

So I guess my review is unacceptable because I didn't bash the update? Sorry, but I can't find anything wrong with it. Maybe it wouldn't be worth a full $40 for this update, but it's certainly worth $15 IMO. YMMV.

Maybe I'm not most people. It's nice, but it's not everything I expected and more. So that's right, its my opinion. I don't think it was worth a pay-to-update version. I didn't bash anything, I just clearly stated that I was not completely happy with this update.

//DS

DS, I never said you were bashing it. You're entitled to your opinion. My "that's your opinion" comment was specifically directed at this statement you made:

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If anyone is going to get this update, I highly suggest to get it now, rather then pay $30 for disappointment.

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I was more surprised by DawgByte's comment. He had seen a few positive reviews that apparently meant nothing to him, but as soon as he sees one bad review he says "AHA! I knew it!". It's like he was just waiting for that one bad review.

I have to say that my favorite improvement by far is the screensaver function. I know, it's not an improvement on the gameplay itself, but it has been on my wish list since the game came out. It's so cool to wake up to one of your designs playing on your comp :-P

MrX... I was looking for a more critical review because it's good to know the nit-pickers on what has actually improved, to warrent it as being a major upgrade, or just a few minor cosmetic changes.

If everyone was positive and saying it was "teh best!!1!1!!"... you'd never know of any negatives, and for every game out there, no matter what it is... there's always a down-side, no matter how small it is.

I'm glad someone picked it out. It's great that there's underground tunnels & such. I still wish that there'd be an "auto supports" function for each coaster (not just wooden), but oh-well. It's not that important.

I'll invest in it, because it's going to be a long off-season & there's no new Rollercoaster Tycoon game (or expansion pack) coming out (except the X-Box game of a different name)...
I know Ole & company put a lot of work into this sim... the question is whether or not it really is worth the investment. I think it is, because there doesn't appear to be any major bugs... yet.