Invertalon

I liked Gatekeeper the first half the season, but now LOVE the ride. For those who have not ridden it since about June or July, it really has gotten much better... The vests no longer lock for one and the wheel combo has been changed and the ride has much better pacing. You actually get some nice floater on the second hill and it generally hauls around the course. I was quite disappointment with it media day and the first few months, but it really opened up... My top ride in the park now. Front seat at dusk/night leaning forward in those vests... Incredible.

Once the fixed the locking vests on Gatekeeper, it went from a fun ride to incredible... Nothing like riding front seat on GK at night, falling into that vest leaning forward throughout the course. Simply incredible. Made a big difference! Along with running much faster from what it did at media day and the beginning of the season.

B&M for me. Most of my top rides are B&M, and is the company I always get excited about with new rides. While clearly not as "extreme" as Intamin, I just prefer their rides overall. I don't exactly care how much ejector air and g-forces a ride has, as long as it is fun for me. B&M wins my heart.

Even though I am an engineer, I am far from that type of enthusiast. I could care less actually about most stats, g-forces, etc... I would say a combo between "Coaster Rider" and "Coaster Creator" out of those options/descriptions given. I will go to parks I never been to and I only ride what appeals to me... I am far from a credit whore, and will avoid riding clones if I don't enjoy them. I just don't really care about my "number" or the bragging rights. The ride experience as a whole appeals to me... It does not matter who built it, what park it is at, etc... I also don't care about the stats much anymore, other than maybe height and speed. You won't be able to point me out at a park as an enthusiast and I generally avoid a majority of other enthusiasts for a variety of reasons... Unless they appear "normal". That about sums me up... I go to parks to enjoy the overall experience... I don't have to marathon endlessly or care to know every single detail about rides. I dig the technical and mechanical aspects (given being a mechanical engineer), without needing too many details.

My first ride of 2014 will most likely be White Lightning... Orlando trip in March coming up, and while we are going to a few parks down there I bet our first stop is Sweet Tomatoes off I-drive followed by Fun Spot.

The first ride (B&M invert) Combustor been posted to game exchange... Just a nice layout, smooth... My first NL2 ride. And currently working on a tweaked clone of BKF/Dominator from GL/PKD. I always wished it had a zero-g after the cobra, so I added it. Everything else is quite close to the real ride though. I really like this one! Combustor BKF "clone".

Pretty cool park... I really dislike the use of drive tires on the MCBR's though... Especially on the B&M. I could see it being possible on the woodie, but still. Big peeve of mine considering most rides, especially all B&M's don't use drive tires... Just add a slope to it instead of using tires. Woodie had a nice layout... Some little tracking oddities for a wood coaster (banking/heartline issues) but overall was a nice ride. It had a more modern layout, so to me did not fit the "history" of the park. The B&M layout I really liked overall. Good job!

Those expecting a full out coaster experience will be disappointed... From what I have been told, expect something more along the lines of Mummy... More dark ride then coaster. I was told that it should be more impressive overall than Forbidden Journey, FWIW. I am looking forward to this expansion myself! I did not follow/watch any of HP stuff until the first area at IOA opened up... A month prior to going, we watched all the DVD's so we could enjoy the area more. The films are fantastic, IMO... Worth a watch if you have not.

It still blows my mind that waterslide manufactures don't have a method to seal the seams after construction, sand them, etc... Especially for body slides. Cedar Point refurbished their waterslides and did just this. The entire slide was completely seam free and like a giant slip and slide. The best body slides I have personally been on because of that! I avoid most body slides completely... I just never find them enjoyable (new or old). Give me a tube or a mat, and we are OK!

Makes sense though... I am sure Intamin and B&M have vastly different "standards" they contract out... Intamin may limit positive G-force to 4.5 for a specific duration, let's say 5 seconds... While B&M says 4G for up to 2 seconds. In the final design, they can feel much different in terms of intensity. At least, this is how I assume it would be done!

I built a really nice B&M invert in a few short hours last week... Smooth as can be. I simply LOVE the new editor. The ability to make smooth rides without 3 other programs is really, really nice. I wish there was a way to "lock" straightaways more easy, without having to do the multiple segments and such... But maybe that will come later on... Much like when you have transfers and stuff, how it "locks" the position and you add beyond those segments. Having that option would be nice. About to start my next project... A B&M floorless much like Batman/Dominator at GL/Dominion... But with tweaks I always thought it should have to make it simply perfect... G-roll after the cobra roll into a tight helix into the MCBR, for one... Second, eliminating the corkscrew finale and tweaking that up a bit... I think for the ending it will have a bunny hill after the MCBR drop, into an immelman to corkscrew combo, followed by a tight helix. Looking forward to starting on that today!

I don't think it could be that far out there to say they could within the next two years or so. Depending how profitable they are since their recent expansions, if the money is good, paying their current bills and profit in their pockets... They would for sure go ahead and expand. If they were just breaking even, obviously it would not be worth it anytime soon. Not sure how much attendance has gone up since the expansions... But we have been going down to Orlando since 2004 or so, and we never went until White Lightning and such was put in... Now we have annual passes for the place! I am sure there are many others just like me! I wish them luck though... The park is a lot of fun, even for being so limited compared to other options in the area. One thing that stands out to me though is the fantastic staff... They are always amazing... Dare I say more than Universal, Disney, etc... At least in my experience. Having fun, interacting, talking with everyone. I have not seen that many other places. I would love to see a mini-hyper though... Would be great for the park and draw in even more people routinely.

I was really surprised how much my girlfriend and I both enjoyed SFMM, after hearing so much bad about it. One reason may be the most absolute perfect day you could imagine there... A cold, January day... Walk-on everything in sight, including X2 where we did not even leave the station at times and re-rode. We had one day there, so we were so excited to see it so dead. My top ride at SFMM was easily X2... Nothing compares to that experience I have been on (Around 180 coasters?). My near-death experience on my last ride that night also made it more memorable (my harness popped up at the top of the lift causing me to go sideways in my seat and both legs on one side of the seat divider)... I seriously could have wiggled out if I tried, but I did not want to try that for obvious reasons. Needless to say, I was holding on quite tight for that last ride! I find it interesting how those harnesses will not lock down tighter throughout the ride. Wherever they lock in the station is where they stay during the ride. I think what happened with me is that the harness did not lock where it should have, and popped up when force was put on the harness to the next setting, which opened the two part vest quite a bit. Anywho... I actually liked many of the rides most don't... Revolution we rode front seat and I loved it... My favorite Anton design (I have been on a few including the ones at Hershey, Dorney, SFoG, SFoT) and Ninja was fantastic... My top suspended coaster right behind Big Bad Wolf. All the others were in the middle somewhere. Viper was the worst of them all, and I generally enjoy arrow loopers. Compared to Cedar Point, I would probably pick CP as well... If only X2 could be at CP, though... I think SFMM has a greater collection of "mid-card" attractions, while CP has more "high-card" ones... IMO, CP at the top end has MF, Dragster, Gatekeeper, Maverick and Raptor... While SFMM has X2 and Tatsu. At the mid-card CP has Mantis, Blue Streak, Magnum, Mean Streak, Wicked Twister... While SFMM has Riddlers Revenge, Goliath, BTR, Ninja, Apocalypse, Scream, Viper, Intamin-Zac Spin, Superman, Colossus... Both excellent collections, but I do prefer CP's a bit more.

Doubtful, as all the track with be in the same temperature and would have all shrunk at the same rate. They will bolt together just fine. Adjustments in the supports can be made to make small changes for tolerance. When it gets hot, the entire structure will adjust. Stresses may change slightly in the connections and such, but obviously are not an issue and is taken into account with design.

I find it funny with every new B&M installation anymore people think of how fast it went up, new record, etc... lol Land clearing, foundations, etc... Are usually done or well underway before the off-season. That is the long part usually, everything else is just bolting all the pieces together and electrical work afterward. I don't think Banshee went up quickly at all compared to other recent installations such as Gatekeeper, Leviathan, etc... All usually about the same IMO. I think they also start earlier in the seasons then they used to, which make these rides appear to go up quicker. Ride is looking great, though. I hope I can make it to media day but with a new job and stuff it may be a bit more difficult to get off. Hopefully I can make it work though!

I really hope Sea World as a whole benefits from all this "negative publicity"... It makes those who can actual read through the B.S. want to go out and visit these parks, spend money and support them. So hopefully, there are MANY more of us than those who are ignorant to life, and Sea World has a fantastic 2014! When I visit those parks, I always am impressed at the bond between these animals and their trainers... I really hope one day they can actually interact with the orcas again in the water. These trainers know the risk, much like any other animal... Big or small. Kudos to Sea World all around... I hope all those so against them open their eyes one day.

OK, glad I was not the only one to think that! I did not shut them off yet (because they do look great... if they did not flicker/move). I think I may though because it is really distracting.

Got it thanks, had to use the twisted options. I was using default and suspended which didn't work. Anyone else noticing flickering/moving shadows? I know it is not only my comp, as the official NL teaser had it as well on the dive machine video when the camera is panning at it about to drop. Wonder if these will get corrected later on with a patch. They just kind of look flickery when riding and panning around on the track and supports. The only visual "issue" I have seen though. Just a small thing.

Not the corners... Those work just fine for me. I am talking the track-to-support connection only. The new ones show bolts and nice flange connections, where the ones I made look like a round bar stuck to the top of the track without any nice connection flange... The piece that coaster track would bolt to the support with.

Here is a question for those with more support experience... I was adding a few supports to my B&M invert... Just like I did in NL1, place a "rail node", some free-nodes and footers and all that. But I don't get the nice support-to-track connections that the pre-fabs do. Are they not supposed to be upgraded now? Mine look like they did in NL1, a pole that just ends on top of the track. Am I missing something to get the nice support connections?

I personally think the layout is very strange and highly unrealistic. Strange elements, the overall flow of the ride, excessive braking in awkward spots and the cost would be completely insane, just to name a few. I could never see this being built, ever. So in my opinion, highly unrealistic. Not sure why you care though... If you enjoy your ride, that is all that matters. Who cares what others say? Its a game.

Got my new 770GTX installed today. 1920x1080 with maxed out settings across the board, game just sticks at 60FPS! The only time I ever see it drop is when there are multiple coasters in a park with terrain and water and such. So happy with the performance! Just finished my first ride as well, just needs a few more supports!

Maybe I missed it, but is there anyway to switch between tracks/parks once one is loaded up without going back into the editor and loading it up there? For example, I made a coaster... Went into simulator, rode it, whatever... Is the only way to go to a different track (not in the same "park") to go back to the editor, re-load there, freeze, exit editor and back into simulator? Or can I just open it from the simulator?

After spending more time in NL2 and almost at the end of my first design... I am blown away by this game/simulator. I have been an avid fan of NL1 since the original demo days what, 10 years ago or so? So I have been a LONG time player since the start. First off, the editor is just awesome. No longer do you need three different software to help create smooth, heartlined designs. Simply setting the node method or whatever to heartline does it for you, and the great new track design method eliminates the pumping and other issues. I can build smooth, flawless inversions in a minute or two, versus spending an hour on perfecting the shape and transitions to eliminate pumps. It really can't get any easier. I dig the section separators and how you input roll. It is just so well thought out, I love it. As long as you know how to shape the inversions, the rest is easy as can be. Graphic wise, stunning all around. I have everything max'd out and its just eye candy. Runs great on my rig, aside from a few FPS drops when there is a lot of water or many trains in the scene, but hoping my new GPU that arrives today helps eliminate the drop (570 GTX to a 770 GTX)... If need be, I may go to SLI in a month or two if more performance is needed. I want that FPS to stick at 60fps all the time regardless of what is in the scene My only negatives... First, I miss the old method to fly around the simulator. Wish it was an option to chose between the two. I know the new method will grow on me, but sometimes it feels a bit clunky. Secondly, I wish it was slightly easier to make straight track sections. Be nice if there was an option that you can lock and make the track perfectly straight between one another without having to make four nodes or whatever to stop the piece you want from bending around. Again, I am sure I will get used to it, but still would be nice! Lastly... I know they are coming, but I really wanted B&M wing coasters! But I look forward to the update whenever they do come! More to come as I dig even deeper into it... Have not got into much terrain or custom supports. Just working on getting used to the track design and such. My first design is wrapping up... A Great Bear / Montu hybrid of sorts... A 67mph B&M invert with a great steep banked first drop, loop and then a slight turn into the immelman and zero-g combo... Which right after drops into a batwing that goes underground and after exiting, a tight upward helix into the MCBR... Right from the MCBR there is a downward Jo-Jo roll and a turn-hop with some airtime down into a flatspin which will be the start of the helix finale which I am currently working on. Can't wait to finish it!

Updates to my GPU settings and NL2 is running quite good at max settings. I still see drops to 20-30fps at times but it sticks at 60fps often. Hoping the new card helps even more keeping those FPS at 60 all the time! I must admit if was bummed to see no B&M wing coasters... For some reason I thought they were included. was excited for those lol. Love the suspended coasters!