Invertalon

3hrs left for me... Should be done around 11:30, if it does not delay further.

I was very frustrated at first in the editor, but after just 15mins or so I love it... Once you learn the tricks, it gets very easy. I made a great mini coaster that was extremely smooth without pumping... It would have taken me much longer in NL1, taking away the learning curve at the beginning... I like that I can get such smooth results so quickly in NL2. One trick... Use lots of nodes... Then use the straight command and your all set. You use bank and section nodes often. Maxed out, my rig does bog down a bit to 20-30 FPS at points... So I have a new Gigabyte GTX 770 4GB OC graphics card arriving Monday, hoping that helps. Upgrading from my 570 GTX... I heard its roughly 2x the performance, so I am hoping! Otherwise, simply stunning... Except for the fact 5hrs still remain on my full-download, 3hrs into it.

Great pics! SO excited to try it out! I will be home within the hour to get the install going

Agreed ^ I can see if it was $400 software with a 40% discount if you have NL1 to save some big money... But I imagine it will be relatively minor, like $5-10. I would be surprised if more. I am sure the discount will come eventually, just have to wait for it. Probably delaying to help distribute all the downloads going on.

Great to hear! I am running the same processor, overclocked from 3.4 to 4.5Ghz though... My GPU is a superclocked version of the 570 GTX (overclocked even farther) which may get replaced depending how the game runs... Happy that it is running well maxed out... Makes me more excited. On a side note, I am not too concerned about the discount if you already have NL1... I have been playing it for nearly what, 10 years? Cost per year is so low... With all their hard work on this project to bring us this game, I will gladly pay the full price (which IMO is still way underpriced). No reason it could not have been $100 for the normal version and I would have still gladly paid for it. The best game/simulation on the market. Nothing comes close and IMO, nothing will.

I can't believe people expect great performance on demanding games with a laptop... Unless you spent thousands on extremely high end gaming versions, they are crippled compared to most desktop rigs. This is the nature of the beast. This is why a PC is my workhorse... Easily upgradable and extremely powerful for far less money. I could not live with a laptop, honestly... Especially for my photo/video editing and gaming. Those with laptops will probably have to dial down the settings quite a bit, especially compared to NL1. Anybody with a serious gaming rig yet to try NL2 out? How was the performance?

Can't wait to get home to see how it performs... My computer is quite powerful, but may require some upgrading as I am a max-out-settings kind of guy. Currently I can max out everything in NL1 on a 24" screen and regardless of size, FPS never comes off 60FPS (my refresh rate of my screen). I have never seen it ever move even with 3D stuff, textures, etc... Hoping NL2 performs nearly as good... Currently running an overclocked quad-core processor at 4.5Ghz (from 3.4 I believe), 570GTX GPU (also overclocked), 16GB of DDR3 RAM at 1866Mhz and will be installed on my SSD (although that won't have any effect on performance of FPS). I may need a newer GPU, which I will easily do if need be

Now it may just be perspective, but I am a bit disappointed with the lack of "snap" into both the dive loop and batwing... On the batwing especially, as the transition looks painfully "sterile" and linear in terms of the roll if that makes sense. I have a feeling it will be very floaty, versus having any aggressive quality to it. I know the B&M inverts have been getting less and less aggressive, but I was hoping there would be some exceptions in the design. This is coming from a big fan of Silver Bullet, so I am not expected Raptor or Batman the Ride type stuff here! I don't like to judge before I ride, but you can generally get a good idea of what a ride may feel like before-hand. I hope it exceeds my expectations though, as B&M inverts are my favorite rides. I hope it is just a perspective thing though!

I don't remember the last time I rode Mantis and the trim was on... Granted, I only ride it a few times a year and it may have been cold those days. Mantis has its good/bad days... Most of the time its just fine. I really enjoyed Green Lantern at SFGAdv, probably my favorite standup. Georgia Scorcher is great as well. Riddler's Revenge is somewhere in the middle for me (it ran terrible the only time I rode it).

I enjoy standups... I don't really see them as a gimmick at all. It is an entirely different sensation when riding one... The high center of gravity, turns, etc... They are fun rides.

at Cedar Point: 1.) Wrecking Ball to Mean Streak and large GCI Twister put in its place. 2.) HalloWeekends scare-zone overhaul... All the zones (especially Carnevil) are getting old/stale. Need to keep things fresh. Houses have been updated but the zones get minimal changes. The zones make the event while houses "accent" it, IMO. Also, adding a haunted train on Friday and Saturday nights would be great. They could do round-trip's starting by MF, not requiring the other station to be open. 3.) FREE "metal, computer controlled cubbies" for the duration of time you are in line... Just like the systems used at Universal / Islands of Adventure. Perfect! 4.) Addition of a classic "whip" attraction. Would be great for families! That is about all I can think of! I think cost wise it would be OK as well...

I agree with that ^... Never quite understood why they require 48" on those rides.

IMO, Cedar Point has some of the longest, but quickest moving lines of any park I have been to. While other parks like Hershey may be less busy, operations are usually worse. I have noticed this at most other parks (aside from say Universal, Disney, etc...) and we always talk about how spoiled we are with CP. As long as you avoid the BUSY peak days at CP, you are generally looking at 45min max waits for most everything. With good timing and planning, usually far less. BGT has some of the worst operations out of any park I can remember... Each time I go its usually painfully slow everywhere, even on dead days. Our "should have been" 5-minute wait on Gwazi was a half hour due to the triple-check-super-slow-op system they have. How do you stack 2-train operation on a ride like that? Its LONG.

I also prefer TTD to Kingda Ka... I have been on KK a few times years apart and it was always rougher than TTD...The launch felt "awkward" and not as powerful as well... By awkward, I mean a gear-changing sensation... Like it would pulse faster and faster down the launch. Dragster is very fluid and smooth. Dragster also has lapbars, better view and higher capacity (in my experience).

I find the launch on both TTD and Ka to be one of the best moments of any ride I have been on. Dragster is one of my favorite thrill-rides, anywhere. Note, thrill-ride. While it is a coaster, I don't exactly judge it as such. More of a ride experience than anything, as the coaster itself lacks a bit of substance. Either way, I love it...

Maybe around $1000 on our trip to Cali... Most of our trips are usually sub $700 a person with airfare, hotel, cars, etc... We find amazing rental homes for a fraction of the price as the hotels we usually stay at (Hilton Vacation Resorts and such), so it helps cheapen it quite a bit. We go to Orlando very often but its extremely cheap for us there, sometimes under $500 for a week with the flight, rental car, park tickets (we have passes so sometimes we don't need to buy any) and food.

Although I try, I just never really enjoy Magnum. I like the first half, but as soon as it hits the pretzel turnaround things go downhill fast... The transitions, abrupt hills, etc... I just don't find it enjoyable. The trains are just TERRIBLE as well... Being 6'6", it is trickery to get into that train. I guess the ride is becoming a bit too dated for me I suppose... I would rather see a GCI along the beach

Yeah, that ending helix is extremely intense. I think more-so than Raptor and few others. I am surprised so many think its so "forceless". The only low point to the ride, IMO is the first drop. Everything else is excellent. I remember when Talon opened everyone said the same stuff... Forceless, not as good as the other inverts, etc... I loved it and still consider it a top invert (hense my username)... But what is funny is that today, many people now consider Talon one of the better ones, which is great, but interesting how opinions have changed over the years on this ride. Just something I have noticed!

As a big fan of Silver Bullet (probably considered one of the "tamest" B&M's from what I hear), I don't need extreme forces to make a ride fun. It is a variety of the elements on the ride, surroundings, among others. While B&M's like Kumba, Batman the Ride and Montu are great rides, those are all lower on my personal list. I *love* aggressive rides as well... But it is all about balance for me. Skyrush and I305 *by design* do not appeal to me at all. I have yet to ride those two so while they may be top rides, this is just speculation... Sadly, Intamin has changed their design style on most new rides (aside from the mega-lites, which look fantastic) and its a bit sad. I really miss the designs of 2000, such as the SROS's, MF, Expedition GeForce, Goliath, etc... There is a reason many of those remain top rides to this day. I don't see Skyrush and I305 having the same impact as those, even with being much more intense, twisty, etc... Great for the intensity enthusiasts, but not as well-rounded as their old stuff. I feel B&M continues to push the envelope with recent designs, while still keeping the rides very versatile force wise. This is a reason people love/hate them so much I think. But this is why competition is good, we get a nice variety in the industry! I love B&M and Intamin, but I just wish Intamin went back to creating those epic designs from 15 years ago. I miss those. Those layouts just had great appeal, visually, that you just knew they would be fantastic rides. Today, I don't get that same impression when I see the new designs.

I find Magnum extremely uncomfortable. I could ride it once a year (or not at all) and be perfectly fine with that. I would rather see a GCI racing alongside the beach, personally!

Mine would be: 1.) Raptor 2.) Gatekeeper 3.) Dragster 4.) Millennium Force 5.) Maverick 6.) Mantis 7.) Magnum 8.) Blue Streak 9.) Gemini 10.) Mean Streak 11.) Iron Dragon 12.) Corkscrew 13.) Mine Ride 14.) Wicked Twister 15.) Woodstock Express

I was surprised, after talking with a few enthusiast friends we all unanimously agreed that a GCI would be preferred over RMC on Mean Streak. I did not expect that to be honest. I just think Cedar Point needs *legit* wood... They have enough steel coasters and its time to build up the wood... While RMC would be simply awesome, a standard GCI would be ideal IMO. With a 48" height requirement as well would add another family type ride in the lineup as well, if not 46" (are any GCI's 46"?) Plus, just to think.... The RMC treatment of Texas Giant cost $10mil... A brand new mid to large-size GCI would be around the same cost at around $8-10 million. They could do BOTH for less than most modern steel coasters in the $18-20 million range. So why not go for it?

I usually just have my car keys, wallet, phone and sunglasses. Sometimes I will bring some headache medicine if I know I will be power-riding, along with some ginger candies. If I am taking pictures, I will have my camera and a few lenses, along with my camera bag loaded up with CF cards, batteries and other random items.

I dig the format of the video. I much prefer it over past videos myself. Thanks for the coverage!

Some pics from a ghost tour we did this past weekend... Note, most of these images had to be taken at ISO 25,600 or 51,200 at f/1.4 and shutter speeds as low as 1/20-1/40... Extremely harsh conditions. Still LOVE how these came out though. Love the creepy vibe. The tour was amazing. Here is link to full set: 5D3_2061.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 5D3_2070.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 5D3_2076.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 5D3_2088.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 5D3_2091.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 5D3_2121.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 5D3_2124.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 5D3_2146.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 5D3_2155.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 5D3_2197.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr 5D3_2205.jpg by invertalon, on Flickr