Roller Coaster Simulation Encyclopedia

[Golfie]

Here is a list of terminology and definitions that refer to coaster simulations for your convenience! If anyone has a suggestion for an addition or modification, please post it. Oh yeah, please don't steal!

 

If something says "see '........'", the word is an acronym or abbreviation.

 

 

 

Roller Coaster Simulation Encyclopedia

 

 

3ds - A three-dimensional object that is used for any kind of scenery in NoLimits

 

AHG – See "Automatic Heartline Generator"

 

Auto Flanger – A tool that adds flanges to a track’s supports in NoLimits

 

Automatic Heartline Generator – A tool that correctly banks a NoLimits track to get rid of any lateral forces

 

Block – A section in a track that allows a train to stop in case of an emergency or if the next area of track is occupied by another train

 

Block Section Mode – Coaster uses blocks to regulate train positions

 

CoasterSims – A website that is available for people to download, rate, and share their NoLimits, Scream Machines, and Ultimate Ride: Coaster Deluxe coasters

 

CSO – See "Custom Scenery Object"

 

Corkscrew Follies – The first expansion pack for Roller Coaster Tycoon 1

 

Custom Scenery Object – A scenery object that was not included with any Roller Coaster Tycoon games

 

Element – A pre-made track segment that can be scaled and mirrored for use on a NoLimits Coaster

 

Elementary - A tool that creates elements by using mathematical formulas

 

E-Stop – If something bad should happen (a train valleys or crashes), the other trains are brought to a stop when they reach the nearest block

 

Flange – The joint between two supports

 

Gravimetric Studios – A website created by Jennifer “Tia” Lynn that offers many helpful NoLimits tools such as the Object Creator and Elementary

 

Hand-Made- Any NoLimits track that is not aided by the use of tools such as the Automatic Heartline Generator, Elementary, or the Purgatorium. If a track is run through a track smoother, it is still considered to be hand-made.

 

Loopy Landscapes – The second expansion pack for Roller Coaster Tycoon 1

 

MCBR – See "Mid Course Brake Run"

 

Mid Course Brake Run – A section of track in the middle of a coaster (after the lift and before the end brakes) that normally uses blocks to insure safety

 

Nl – See "NoLimits Coaster Simulation"

 

NoLimits Coaster Simulation – An extremely powerful roller coaster simulation program

 

NoLimits Dev Center – A website used for people to show the development of their NoLimits coasters

 

Node – The section between two segments of track used to shape those segments; in NoLimits, a track node is indicated by a three-dimensional blue dot

 

Pump -An inconsitency in an element's radius on a NoLimits track. These can be seen by sitting in the back row of a train when the front cars "pump" within an element.

 

Purgatorium - Created by Theme Park Review's redunzelizer, this program can rotate track pieces created in Elementary by the Z, X, and Y axis and much more. Track is manipulated by mathematical calculations, so it is not recommended for people that have trouble visualizing 2D images into 3D images or NoLimits novices.

 

RCT – See “Roller Coaster Tycoon”

 

RCT1 – See “Roller Coaster Tycoon 1”

 

RCT2 - See “Roller Coaster Tycoon 2”

 

RCT3 - See “Roller Coaster Tycoon 3”

 

Roller Coaster Tycoon - A popular theme park simulation game series started in 1999 mostly available on the PC and Mac; it has one title for the Xbox console

 

Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 – The first game in the Roller Coaster Tycoon series; its expansion packs are titled “Corkscrew Follies” and “Loopy Landscapes”

 

Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 – The second game in the Roller Coaster Tycoon series; its expansion packs are titled “Wacky Worlds” and “Time Twister”

 

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 – The third game in the Roller Coaster Tycoon series, the first one to feature 3d graphics; its expansion packs are titled “Soaked!” and “Wild!”

 

Soaked! – The first expansion pack for Roller Coaster Tycoon 3; Soaked! featured the add-on of pools, slides, laser shows, Atlantis theming, and tropical theming

 

The Scrap Yard – A place where abandoned NoLimits coasters lie; these usually unfinished tracks are available for anyone to download and work on

 

Time Twister – The second expansion pack for Roller Coaster Tycoon 2; Time Twister featured the add-on of scenery objects and rides from different eras including prehistoric, medieval, and the future

 

Track Packager – A NoLimits tool that puts everything included with a coaster into a single “Package” file including 3ds, textures, and a track

 

Wacky Worlds – The first expansion pack for Roller Coaster Tycoon 2; Wacky Worlds featured the add-on of scenery objects and rides from different areas of the world including Europe, China, the United States, France, and more

 

Wild! – The second expansion pack for Roller Coaster Tycoon 3; Wild! Featured the add-on of animals, dozens of new coasters and track elements, custom billboards, prehistoric theming, and safari theming

[coastercrazed49]

Thanks for poasting this, I finally found out what AHG means.

[Golfie]

^That was my purpose!

[Angry_Gumball]

[b]Hand-Made[/b]: Kinda obvious. Refers to a NL (See NL acronym) track being made entirely in the editor without the aid of 3rd party utilities such as AHG, Elementary, etc. Using the CTRL-G function in the NL editor still counts as hand-made.

 

Pump:: An irregularity in a turn on an NL track. Basically, the curve's not perfectly round leading to a weird "pumpy" feeling. This can be ironed out by the use of 3rd party tools, really good eyes (doing by hand) or the CTRL-G depumper in the editor.[/u]

[Calaway Park]

Purgatorium: Created by redunzelizer, this program can rotate track pieces created in Elementary by the Z, X, and Y axis, among MANY other things, this program is manipulated by mathematical calculations, not recommended for people that have trouble visualizing 2D images into 3D images.

[Steffen_Dk]

Thanks for poasting this, I finally found out what AHG means.

 

Me too

[coasterfan200692]

When someone says that pumping is caused when the radii aren't the same, what is the radii/radius, is that the part inside the little window that is accessed by double clicking on a node, if so, how does that little screen work? Any time I try to mess with it and figure it out, it messes the track up really bad, I don't get it, please help me.

[Guest]

radii is just the general size of the turn. If you go in elementary and make a 10m 270* turn, it will be 10m all the way around. Pumps or inconsistent radii might mean it's 11m at one part and 9m at another. The general idea is to keep the turn circular.

[Golfie]

I've added Purgatorium, Hand-made, and pump - thanks Gumball and Calaway!

 

[xascher]

^^ Or at an ellipse, depending on how complex your coaster is. Plus I always found the definition of a 'pump' to be a sudden inconsistency in the radii of a curve. Otherwise wouldn't most, if not all complex elements be considered... 'pumpy'.

[Golfie]

Fixed! Thanks for clearing it up a bit.

[Guest]

^^ Or at an ellipse, depending on how complex your coaster is. Plus I always found the definition of a 'pump' to be a sudden inconsistency in the radii of a curve. Otherwise wouldn't most, if not all complex elements be considered... 'pumpy'.

 

Well, that's getting more complicated. Usually when I see pumping in NL with a lack of vertices like this, just using circles and straights seems to be the simplest way.

 

Though as you said, there are a lot of oddly shaped things, like a radii change (going from a smaller circle to a bigger one), or a clothoid for a loop. But I'd think it's be better to get an idea on how to control the shape, using the right amount of vertices, etc. before starting to play with more complex elements and shapes.

[xascher]

^ and then we can get into the vertical pumps, which I found are actually treated differently from any other curve, using shifted parabolas blah, and parabolas with horizontal radii curves blah blah blah.

I'm going to stop rambling now

[Guest]

vertical pumps are the same thing. Just keep the parabolas circular or straight (like in the sense of a lifthill) for basic stuff and you're all good.

[Angry_Gumball]

Here's a few more:

Tunnel Test: An invisible tunnel around your track, basically a safety boundary so no hands/heads get chopped off. A coaster can "Pass" or "Fail" the tunnel test if your imaginary rider goes through safely or loses an arm or head, respectively.

 

(I'm not sure if it goes by the old school tunnels from 1.5 or the much wider 1.6 tunnels.)

 

Peep Bowling: A humorous thing to do in RCT3 by taking a coaster track and have it aimed directly at a midway and launching a train into a group of peeps. The end result is knocking peeps over like bowling pins and making a huge mess of lost peeps afterwards.

 

Construction Kit: A tool kit made for NL that was able to convert your NL track to a .3ds as props for another track, depump, add flanges, add gradients to your track, and so on. Unfortunately, anyone without the construction kit can't download anymore as it's no longer up for purchase/download.

[thrillrideseeker]

WoW! Thanks for making this! I now know several terms that I never knew before. Thanks again!

~Matthew

[redunzelizer]

Ah well... "pumping"... all these misconceptions and half-truths again... no, pumping is NOT about any radius changes in general, this is a very distinct phenomenon.

 

"Pumping" == from any *unintentional* radius change, where a certain geometry (like circle, ellipse, parabola, clothoid) is not followed the way it originally was meant to be...

 

AND / OR

 

"Pumping" == from failing to use enough vertices for resembling any such geometries, since the beziers used in NL are not able to represent these geometries, when used over larger turn angles and/or with longer segments. the radius will then "wobble", where a gradient change should have been

 

Now please pay attention: Radius changes on real life coasters that might cause "pump-like" movements are very common in fact. Any plain parabola will show such an effect. Nevertheless, all these real life shapes are made up of combinations of *exact* geometries! Hence these effects are *in no way* similar with the "pumping" that's often occurring in NL-tracks.

 

To precicely resemble such real life "pump-like" motions within NL, one has to entirely re-create the according geometries, which naturally will require top notch track shaping.

 

Thus, any of the above causes of "pumping" in NoLimits are *entirely* the designer's failure, and can't even be blamed on any technical shortcomings of editor or sim.

 

Finally, anyone claiming that his NL-track is "pumping" just because some real life counterparts *seem* to do too, is either clueless, severely misinformed, or just a lazy liar.

 

 

P.S. You do always ride last car in NL as well? Do you?

 

 

 

EDITS: spelling && "last car in NL"

[coasterfan200692]

Wow, that was very detailed and helpful, thanks for that.

When you said do you always ride in the back, who are you talking to, do you mean on Nl or on real roller coasters?

[BorisTF]

No Limits. It's much easier to notice pumping from a back seat because you'll notice the train 'snap' as the radius has a sudden change. Also, you should always ride a coaster front middle & back plus seats either side just to make sure Gs are in check everywhere.

[BiCoastal Kid]

keep the parabolas circular or straight

 

[BiCoastal Kid]

Wow, that was very detailed and helpful, thanks for that.

When you said do you always ride in the back, who are you talking to, do you mean on Nl or on real roller coasters?

 

NL. You shouldnt have to worry about pumping in real life.

[Guest]

keep the parabolas circular or straight

 

 

You know what I was trying to say..