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Weird roller coaster dreams you've had
Off Topic

So I was at silver dollar city which happens to be my home park. I was riding time traveler and after it dispatched and was half way out the station, the restraints released and I couldn't jump off for some weird reason but I was able to scream "stop the ride". The ride didn't stop and so when it went over the drop, I flew out of my seat and some how landed behind the drop on my back. I just sat there crying and then for some weird reason, the dream started from the beginning. That's it ig

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Amusement Park name and ideas
NoLimits Coaster

I agree with Coastin' Dave that Planet Coaster has much more complete publicly released theme parks than NL2, due to more diverse scenery in the game. If you want a high-quality theme park, you will have to create some of the 3D models yourself, as you wanted to with Wings 3D. Some people publicly share their 3D models, which might be helpful in your park. One website I suggest is Sketchfab, which has many 3D models that are free, although some are for sale. I recommend downloading the files, importing and editing them to suit your needs in Wings 3D, and exporting them to NL2. I often use SketchUp's 3D Warehouse for scenery in NoLimits, but it only works if you have SketchUp Pro (a free trial is available). Be sure to give credit though! ;)

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Amusement Park name and ideas
NoLimits Coaster

RMC It is right - there's not a lot of full parks in NL2, mainly cause it takes a very long time to make a full park and you might lose a lot of FPS if you don't optimize carefully. For inspiration on park design I recommend three things:

  1. Google Earth - study real parks you love and explore how they're built. You can even measure altitudes and grab the tape measure tool to measure building dimensions! It is incredibly helpful to understand spatial relations and park layouts.
  2. Watch Planet Coaster videos - I find more complete parks in Planet Coaster than I do in Nolimits 2. The Planco community has a lot of bright and creative minds so be sure to check them out and see how they handle their park designs.
  3. Documentaries. DisneyPlus has a documentary series called "The Imagineering Story" - watch it if you can. They're releasing another series on ride design coming out July 16. I've found plenty of other video series on ride and theme park design.
    I'll leave you a few below, but definitely look up some more on your own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tztpkgDLNAU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVbQp53xHNo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2apx2YRSNes

I liked this guy's videos because he really gives a nice overview of many topics in theme park design.
He has a few more videos that may help you as well - and again, there's more out there so keep researching.

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Looking to contribute for my roller coaster to make things better
NoLimits Coaster

I think of coaster design as both an art and a science. There are limits to what the human body can handle for G-force - and then there are limits for what will be comfortable to riders.

On the science side:

I like to cap most of my rides at about 4 G's positive (on rare occasion I'll approach 5 - but I'd say 5 is a hard limit, 4 is a good restraint and more comfortable - plus if you go slightly over 4 you're still fine). I'd say keep negative G's to about -1 G but occasionally you can spike at -1.3 or even -1.5 (and I'm sure some Sky Rush fans will disagree with me, but I don't like to exceed -1.5).
Laterals depend on the ride - big fast coasters usually keep laterals low. Ideally you won't ever go past 1 lateral G but wild mouse coasters can get more (I think of laterals like negatives - I cap at 1 for most rides, but occasionally go to 1.3 or even 1.5 depending on the ride).

It's also a good idea to build final brake zones and stations first before the rest of the layout. I like to get transfer tracks for maintenance in early - makes the whole build so much easier because transfer tables and maintenance bays take up a good bit of space. I like to build or at least have a good amount of space specifically set aside for my final brake run - even though often I don't know what the final speed of the ride will be, it's always good to just leave some room ahead of time.

Also - every coaster has block segments - any segment of track the train can come to a complete stop and then resume motion. LABEL YOUR BLOCKS. This will make your life so much easier. I like to use Disney's method and just name them "Zone 1" "Zone 2" etc... starting with the first block and then work my way around the track. I personally name my maintenance bays "Bay 1" and "Bay 2" and so on - but use a system that makes sense to you and helps you understand your track layout.

With brake runs - if you don't have drive tires or magnets, slope them. Easy to remember but this has been forgotten on even real rides (looking at you Space Mountain WDW).

Finally - build for people. Your station and queue need room. I have a guide on building codes on the forums, but it's very technical so I won't post it here. Just be sure to walk around in first person mode to get a sense of your space when it comes to queues and stations - that's a good start and you can dive into more technical stuff later.

For the art side:
Rides not only need to be fun to ride, they should be aesthetically pleasing. Good coaster design also involves a good choice of color scheme, a good vehicle choice, and using buildings and terrain to your advantage. I always like to incorporate iconic photogenic moments to my track layouts - it's great for advertising your ride too.

As with any art form, like others have said, study existing artists. Spend a day and just watch Vekoma ride POVs - get a sense of their style, what maneuvers do they use on their different ride systems - are banking transitions similar on mine trains as they are on their mega coasters?
Do they heart-line? If so, by how much?
Pay attention to the little details - where do lift chains start and stop? How long are brake runs and how quick do trains stop?
How do they do their maintenance bays?
Spend a day with the other manufacturers doing the same - anything from B&Ms to Intamins, to Mack coasters, RMCs, you name it.

Once you learn the conventions of style - THEN you can break the rules.
But learn the rules FIRST - you can't innovate and explore your personal style until you understand the basics.

Don't try to force your own style - that will happen naturally over time as you make more rides and try to replicate real manufacturer's styles. Personal style tends to arise organically so don't worry about it and just go with the flow as you design.

I definitely agree with RMC It's recommendation to build recreations - they challenge you and help you learn coaster design better.

Above all else: practice, practice, practice.

Your first coasters aren't going to be the greatest rides ever made. That's ok. Just keep building coaster after coaster after coaster. It really is an input/output machine like any other skill - the more time and practice you put in, the more you will get out. You can't rush it.

I've been designing coasters for well over a decade in several softwares and I still learn new tricks and ideas all the time - so never stop learning.
Don't beat yourself up if you made a ride and it's not that great - even the greatest artists have a giant catalog of scrapped projects behind every successful design.

So get out there, learn what you can, and build as many coasters as you possibly can.

Happy building man.
-Coastin' Dave

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Amusement Park name and ideas
NoLimits Coaster

RedemptionGabe posted on June 30th, 2021

but how do I make buildings using programs like wings 3d and get it to ready correctly to nolimits 2

Export to .3ds, .dae, or .obj. If you click on the "filetype" at the bottom of the Select Scene Object tab, you can change it to your file format (it defaults to .nl2sco) and see what files NL2 is compatible with.

RedemptionGabe posted on June 30th, 2021

and if I want a boardwalk how do I make sure it's a boardwalk like Daytona beach Florida

Confused on what you're asking here. If you would be able to, could you provide a more detailed explanation?

RedemptionGabe posted on June 30th, 2021

How do I make a amusement park so good in NL2 feel free to give me ideas and models

Full parks in NL2 are hard to come by. a few I would recommend taking a look at would be Terra Park (by multiple users) and Lochedge Towers by Tyrush.

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Amusement Park name and ideas
NoLimits Coaster

How do I make a amusement park so good in NL2 feel free to give me ideas and models

The idea.

The idea in no limits 2 is so I can have multiple coaster in one park.

but how do I make buildings using programs like wings 3d and get it to ready correctly to nolimits 2

and if I want a boardwalk how do I make sure it's a boardwalk like Daytona beach Florida

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Looking to contribute for my roller coaster to make things better
NoLimits Coaster

I have broken parts of making a good coaster/park down into a few sections. I hope that this may help.

Creating a Realistic Ride

The best way to make a realistic coaster is to watch POVs and look at pictures of existing rides of the models that you are trying to build. For example, watching the POV of an existing Vekoma Minetrain. and then building one in NoLimits. I also recommend taking a look at some of the parks on the exchange for inspiration. However, something that can make coasters much more interesting is adding a few unique elements to the layout. Another way to practice making coasters is to recreate existing rides, even a simple ride like Thorpe Park's Stealth. It can help you get to know a manufacturer's style better. Use multiple elements in layouts to make them more diverse.

Smoothing and G-Force

The most important thing to smooth a track layout in NL2 is the Depump function. It reduces the sudden changes in the track's curvature to smooth the layout. I recommend depumping every section of a layout (besides straight sections), although it sometimes may not give you what you want (don't in that case). It can also help reduce G force. As Soko mentioned, use the radius comb to measure how smooth your track is. The lower the spike is, the smoother your layout is. Almost always keep G forces under 5G, and eliminate red force sections. Bank the track where necessary, and make sure that laterals are kept low. Make the curve wider if red G force cannot be eliminated. Also make sure that transitions from straight to curved track are smooth. I sometimes allow a few extra laterals to keep the banking consistent throughout the curve.

Supports

This is a hard section to explain, since each manufacturer has their own style of supports. There are some YouTube tutorials for this. Recreating a ride may also help you get to know a manufacturer's support style. Add supports frequently, and never give more than 20 feet without supports.

Hope this helps,
RMC It

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3ds Max Track Importer for No Limits 2
NoLimits Coaster

Hey, glad to hear you like the tool and that you're putting it to good use! I'm also working on my own STC at the moment. I also use the tool to create shapes for catwalks, railings etc.:

Your question made me think. I never really looked into creating diagonal ties as most track styles that have them are already in the sim. But I quickly generated cross ties by extruding a triangular section as you mentioned. Then converted it to an editable Poly and then add an 'edit patch' and 'lattice' modifier:

It's quite quick and dirty.

Another method I was thinking of: The script does generate a spline that can be used for all kinds of stuff (the trackspline). I could use this piece of the script and have it offset each vertex that is created. Then simply add a sweep modifier. Only downside to this is that the sweep will always be aligned to the world-coordinates, so basically only round crosstie sections will work this way.

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3ds Max Track Importer for No Limits 2
NoLimits Coaster

I just wanted to give PvM a public shoutout in that this tool has been excellent for my personal work. I use it mainly to generate coasters out of NoLimits for use in larger 3D scenes in stuff like V-Ray and Unreal Engine. I work professionally in the theme park business and I'm dying for an opportunity to use this in a work-work viz project, one just hasn't come up yet.

Here's a sample of what I do with it, a Vekoma STC that I also use a modified version of Serming's STC trains for. Modified track generation, extra clearance envelope.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xTXaHH2mqZZ-nQcd8xYjhGDA-P1aw9o6/view?usp=sharing

PvM, I looked at the first post of the thread...Have you ever figured out diagonal cross ties? I know a manual method would be to sweep out a simple triangular or quad cross-section using the Importer script and then just draw the edges yourself as splines with snaps and then Sweep modifier, you think there would be any way to automate that? Is it possible for the script to recognize which vertices are diagonal from each other?

Just wanted to make sure you know that there's at least one other Max user actively using this script!

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