willski

Usually, when you make B&M supports, you tend to use 4-6 segments of support, for Intamins, it's a lot more. With any supports, you just want to avoid making 2 supports go straight down from the track connector. Just lok at pictures of real coasters on rcdb.com and emulate their style.

Prefab=support given to you with the game (appears in yellow, not red or blue). Generally, you'd want to make your own supports, as the prefab ones aren't very realistic in some situations. Look at real supports and you'll notice that they have flanges (steel pieces jutting out with bolts in them to hold the pieces together). A good example of this can be found on Goliath at Walibi World (pics here on TPR). You can look at my Route 66 coaster for a good idea of what flanges in NL look like. You can also download an AutoFlanger that will make the flanges for you (it can be found at www.coastercandy.com). Heartlining involves rotating the track around the riders' heartline (or mid-chest area) to minimize G-forces and usually headbanging. Think of it this way: Take a pencil and poke it through a piece of paper. This is your heartline. Draw a flat line an inch below your pencil hole. Now, take the paper and spin it around the pencil. Notice how the pencil (heartline) moves very little, but the line (track) moves a lot around the heartline? This is a very basic heartline roll that you have just made. You also apply this heartlining to every other track piece, including turns and most inversions. To display the heartline in NL, simply go to---->Display---->Show Heartline (make sure it is checked). This will display the heartline as a yellow line above/below the track (depending on the coaster type). You may have to check "Show Heartline" for every view. Hope that helps (PM me if you need help with anything, I'd be glad to help you). EDIT: Also, Con Roll (short for continuous roll) will help the banking and flow of your ride be smoother.

Schwartzkopf lifts (and pretty much all other lifts) are straight lines, not curved upwards. I wasn't ripping him to shreds, I was simply pointing out that it was obvious he spent very little time on it and that he should use RCT if he doesn't want to spend a lot of time on a coaster.

*crosses fingers for soft opening Super Bowl weekend* I'm going down to Florida to hang with some friends (and go to BGT) on Super Bowl weekend, so I might spend some time at Animal Kingdom if EE manages to soft open by then.

^Well, uh, yeah. TTD goes 120 mph, which was 12 mph faster than the previous record holder. Kingda Ka broke TTD's record by 8 mph. How can you say, "Oh TTD doesn't go 128 mph", when at the time, TTD was much faster than anything else? Also, there was no airtime hill on TTD because it was not a clone of any ride, it was unique, and therefore didn't need a crappy bunny hill to differentiate itself.

Yeah, it makes it through the loop in the sim, but not the editor sometimes. I'd advise you not to bank a loop like that again though. You did a good job with supports, but you could've had more realistic loops (more circular, like Zonga). The track layout was not as tight as Zonga's, but I did like it. However, your trackwork was pretty sketchy in some places. Most of those transitions would be death if you had OTSR's (like on Zonga). I saw 1 support collision where the track was banked and a support passed through the track to reach the support point. Nice job, just keep working on your trackwork (and maybe use the smoother some, mixed in with AHG and Elementary).

Out of: Riddler Scorcher Mantis Vortex (PC) I would rank them in that order exactly. Scorcher (at my home park) is really fun, but way too short and has horrible loading times (it always has the slowest/fattest ride-ops, and they stack the trains all the time, making the wait way too long). Riddler's 2nd half reminds me a lot of Scorcher, and the first half has those kickass dive loops (and first loop) with great hangtime.

Uhhh, those coasters were terrible. They were undersupported, had terrible transitions, and the lift hill wasn't even a straight line, it was curved upward. Maybe this tribute should be done in RCT2/3, since you seem to want simplicity and a minimum amount of design time. I think those games would be better suited to your idea.

It was ok, but pretty rough and you need to heartline it badly. There were way too many support collisions, plus half of the supports were prefab (never use prefab anything, track or supports). Also, the layout was really odd (but unique), and B&M coasters never have inverted-U supports at the peak of their inversions. For your first coaster though, this wasn't bad, you did a nice job.

I finally realized that I should look in here (a few months after the announcement), but it's too late. I'll send in my deposit soon for the waiting list. Oh, btw, if we turn 16 before the trip but after the deposit(s) are due (my birthday is April 7th) do we still need the form? I'm guessing not, but just wanted to make sure. And for those who are going for sure. There is/was an airfare sale on Orbitz, I found Atlanta-London for $384 total.

Uh.......thanks. Any more comments, as I had zero time over Thanksgiving to work on it (research papers+flu=no free time or fun), and the next photo update is going to be around Dec. 1st or so. Keep the comments coming.

Red, calm down. Rotating the track element is the only function of Purg that many of us use, most people have no idea how to work the other components of it. I don't see why you got so ticked off, but whatever. Also, to sbrownttd, have you tried raising the 3ds object up? Sometimes they will be placed underground (with terraforming or without, I've seen it either way) and you need to lift them up a bit.

Ride the coaster in the simulator, and the g's will be at the top. If they are not, press F2, and that should work. Use the h (help) button in the sim before asking anymore questions, it helps (pun).

The math contained in these programs is similar to the math used by real coaster designers. AHG-found on CoasterCandy.com Purg-same Elementary-same Smoother-same AutoFlanger-same

Uhhh, it doesn't take any math knowledge at all besides basic angles (that's about 4th grade level math) and typing in some values that you want (1st grade math). I have no use for track smoother, but I use Purg to rotate, Elementary to create, and AHG to, well, AHG the track. Yep, it's an NL competition, and I intend to make an NL track using any tools I feel like using. I find that using tools allows the builder to think more about 3ds, layout, terrain, and supports. You don't have to worry as much as with handbuilt track. I spent 2.5 years playing NL, and even after 2.5 years, my coasters, though good, were nowhere near as good as the coasters of others who had been playing for a short amount of time and used tools. Originally I took the same stance as you and said, "Tools are for losers who suck at NL". But then I decided to learn how to use the tools, and it took me forever (June-October) to understand them and how they worked (I still don't fully get Purg). I do have two questions. 1. How long do you spend on trackwork when you build a track? and 2. Why do you think tools are easy, as you can't just put in some values and expect a good coaster? It takes so much time to get it where you want it to be. So far on my Route 66 project (first project to use tools), I have spent over 30 hours on what I have done so far (trackwork and supports), and you think that because I used tools my coaster is inferior to an imperfect handbuilt one? Ever notice that the best designers over at CS all use tools, and that professionals use the same type of math as tools (and also that I want to be a professional designer)? Yeah, thought so. Try using tools, you'll see it is the same amount if not more "hard work" to make a good track.

^Yeah right! How will you be able to tell if someone used Auto-Flanger, AHG, Elementary, Purg, or Track smoother? The fact is, unless they put a segment every 3-6 feet, you won't be able to tell. I say allow anything, just make your coasters as good as possible.

I decided to make an Intamin Mega-Coaster themed to Route 66. The track is black with a yellow spine (for the road centerline) and white rails (for the outside of the road). The supports are a dirty white color (to represent concrete supports of the road). The ride runs 2 trains with 7 cars per train. The train colors are Sunburst Orange and Tubular Teal. Currently, the coaster is about 6027 ft. long and 197 feet tall, with a top speed of 68 mph. The ride is a combination of EGF and Goliath. The first two hills are much like EGF, while the next part is like Goliath through the 2nd twisting hill. The ride performs two overbanks and then heads into a series of 5 bunny hops, interrupted by a 240* helix, a 45* turn, and a final overbanked turn. The trackwork is currently done, and the supports are maybe 20% done. My expected release date for the non-3ds version is around Thanksgiving (November 24). Any comments on this coaster would be greatly appreciated. My NLDC page for this coaster: http://nldc.interfix.net/p1182

NL=me, and I'd be happy to judge as well.

^That is exactly how I would classify it as well, good job there. I wasn't aware that designers in the Golden Age even used Calculus, I figured it was all protractors, compasses, etc. to make the blueprints.

It's a wooden coaster that uses poly wheels and is heartlined, unlike most wooden coasters. The design is radically different (laser cut beams, not placed by hand in the traditional manner, that's how it is more like a steel coaster, red). I'm between the Real camp (not a woodie) and the everyone else camp (woodie).

Nah. If a park truly allows their prefab coaster go down the tubes (think some Six Flags and CF), it will suck. It's basically a steel coaster on wooden suppports. It takes less TLC than a normal woodie, but you still have to maintain it somewhat for it not to suck (just like steel coasters).

Well, the Immelmann is an actual flying manuver (named after WWI pilot Max Immelmann), and since B&M wants the Invert to feel like a fighter-jet, I'd say it fits quite well. A dive loop would be awesome though, especially one that goes into a tunnel.

Dive Machines aren't 90* because the trains would "hunt" for the track. Even with a spring-loaded suspension, the trains would not maintain solid contact with the track, causing horizontal shifting. I have been on both, and I must say: SheiKra>Oblivion (in overall ride experience) Oblivion's drop>SheiKra's drop (better theming around the drop, tunnel, and also it was before I became a jaded coaster enthusiast)

Is the park even open next Sunday? Saturday is season passholder day, so I think the park is closed on Sunday. I'll be there on Saturday, maybe they'll have more of the lift up by then.

^Except when BTMR derails+all the other unreported accidents they have every year.