Track extensions suggestion..

While I am no programming genious (far from it) I do have one suggestion to the people that are making No Limits and that is to make the actual program recognize a bundled track. For those of you who have been digging around in the directories like I have, i'm sure you've stumbled upon the textures directory which house the graphics for the trains. Being the custom freak that I am.. I want for people to not only make some kickin' tracks for trade, but also some spiffy textures to go along with it! Imagine watching Alpengeist with a "No limits" textures on it... ewwww!

A simple measure for this is already being used for applications such as Winamp and Windows Media player where all of your graphic files and such are zipped up and then the extension is renamed from .zip to .whatever. The application then reads inside of the zip file and uses what is stored. I don't know about you guys but I would rather do that then to have to move a bunch of files every time I download a track.

And not only would I like to make textures for just the trains... but how about being able to include textures for tubes/tunnels.. new skies.. a better looking grass texture. Or better yet.. importation of custom created models to place into the scenery, like fences or sheds, tombstones, pyramids, volcanoes..that sorta thing would be nice. All of these things could be stored in one lil' zip file, renamed and uploaded to a site that's going to support this game for the world to enjoy your coaster with No Limits (sales pitch -hehe) 

Good idea or bad idea?

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Riding the rails from the East Coast to the West Coast

I don't know about the other graphics, but you will be able to skin the trains.  It's already a feature that's in the editor.  Under the "Coaster" menu, choose "Settings."  Then you can click the "Trains" tab, and use any texture you want for your trains.

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Jman
Webmaster: Gravibulb Coasters - Home of Professional Quality Coaster Photos
http://balder.prohosting.com/gravbulb/coasters/

Right I understand that.. but from a gamers perspective.. downloading a zip file and then having to place the track file in one spot and the texture in another could become a real pain in the arse if you happen to download 100+ coasters in one sitting.

My suggestion wasn't a design feature to help the programmer (features never are), but was more intended to ease the process on the user.

Oh.. one other thing.. the ability to disable the lens flare! With the calculations already going on for track polys... CPU cycles on a lens flare seems wasted to me and I personally could live without it. (Just my opinion)

 A programmer friend of mine from a big gaming studio (makers of games for the PS2,PC, and theXbox) has given the demo very high remarks and commends the guys working on it. He also made this very true comment... "The best feature in any game, is the disable feature."

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Riding the rails from the East Coast to the West Coast

Pressing the H key while the simulator is running will show a bunch of different keys you can press to disable/enable various features including the lens flare. 

You are welcome to make your own textures for use with the game.  The ones included are specially created so that they will blend into any color you choose for the trains. 

-Ride_Op

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Visit my old Ultra Coaster page: www.geocities.com/ride_op