Canada screamin' - Completed

[Ingested Banjo]

I had an urge to go on No limits again, after not having been on it for a while. After opening the program and finding no inspiration I left it for a few days. However, a conversation with a canadian (non enthusiast) friend of mine gave me some ideas for the new coaster.

I asked her what she'd like in her favorite coaster, she said she'd like it to be black with green supports, have a 'straight up and then straight down bit like on saw' and then it would curve to the left, into a building. It would also have two corkscrews in it, but be smaller than stealth. I took this as a brief and set to work.

Thing is, I'm terrible at making smooth rollercoasters on no limits. I have then layout done, but there's now 3 things I still need to do:
1) smoothen the track

2) insert 3d's and scenery

3) use screencapturing software to film it for my friend, who doesn't own no limits.

And none of these things, I know how to do. So if you're too busy to help me, bear with me whilst I figure it out on my own, if you can help me it would be much appreciated.

Here's the file for anyone who wants to help, or just wants to see it out of curiosity (it's not very good)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/wivndmmyktu/Canada Screamin'.nltrack

EDIT: Link seems to have not copied correctly, so just copy into address bar at the top.

 

[Ingested Banjo]

How do you change the colour of supports? Or can't you? I want to make a log cabin, and I can do that without having to learn how to use wings3d, but I need to know how to make some supports brown and some green

 

[Anonymous]

^ Build what you want first, then select all the supports you want a certain colour, double click on any of the selected beams, this will bring up the support panel.
Check the individual colour box and choose colour...

 

[Ingested Banjo]

Cheers! The house is looking great, now just need to work out how to smooth one bit and record video. Is there a recording function built into nl itself? I downloaded fraps but it only records 30 secs at a time, and my ride is about 2 mins long including lift hill, and I have no editing software or know how to use it.

I'll edit this post soon and upload pics of the house.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes if you have NL 1.7 you can use it to record the movies, press '0' on the numpad to start/stop the recording.

Note, change the resolution of the screen to a suitable ratio before recording, since if you are using a large screen the files becomes massive...

 

[Ingested Banjo]

Coaster is finished. Soon have youtube vid up!

File: http://www.mediafire.com/file/yrycneqvohz/Canada Screamin'.nltrack

 

[Ingested Banjo]

And here is the youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMfIzdXKI5I (I can't do URLs)

Hope you enjoy it!

I tried for about an hour just trying to fix the transition into the first corkscrew, but it wouldn't go, so I left it as it was. There's only one lateral spike to about 2.2g on that transition.

It was my first time building corkscrews anyway. Tell me what you think! This is about the fourth or fifth serious coaster that I have spent a long time on, so don't be too brutal about the roughness or how the supports aren't flanged.

 

[Ollie]

Real honest. Not that good at all. Could be alot better with a few easy tweaks. The layout was cool but it was really rough and full of pumps. If you click on a node or a piece of track and press ctrl+g then it'll auto-smooth it and make it a bit better.
Just next time spend a bit more time on the trackwork rather than rushing to get it released.
Also work on your transitions between elements. Here it just snapped really quickly when you want a smooth and steady lead in and out of each inversion/element.
I don't like pointing out negative points. But hopefully you'll take this and improve it or spend more time on your next ride.

 

[Hixee]

I completely second what Ollie has said, but I will add that I thought the layout was quite nice. If it was smooth this could make a really funky small-scale Eurofighter. The trackwork however, would need a lot of work. Ollie's tips are basically all I can add, except possibly trying some of Loefet's track shaping aids.

It's not all bad!

 

[Ollie]

^I said the layout was cool as well.
But yeah Loefets track shaping aids could help you. Also search around for some tutorials on how to make smooth corkscrews. Or just press CTRL+E and find a premade one in the elements folder.

 

[Ingested Banjo]

^ Well the first corkscrew I couldn't use a premade one anyway, I wanted the track to slope up into it. I also find that on some premade elements the forces are a bit off.

I use Ctrl+G on all (apart from brakes, lifts, launches and stations) my track, but sometimes the track still doesn't want to become smooth. I also add vertices and remove vertices to try and get the track to roll slightly better, but I still get that rough effect on most of my track, and sometimes a snap that I can't remove like on the corkscrew entry and the top of the airtime hill.

You mentioned rushing to complete it, but I've spent a good few hours on this. Is my problem that I'm completely underestimating the amount of time needed for a project? I really like using No limits, but I find it frustrating when I have to work on a small segment for ages just to get it smooth, and I'm not sure I could do that/have the patience to do it.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[Hixee]

NL isn't a click-click-done sort of game. You have to spent time getting used to how it works, how to shape the track, how to build elements etc. It takes time to learn and time to use. It is well worth putting in the time though, it can be very rewarding*.

*It can also pulverise your optimism.

 

[Ingested Banjo]

Well I did spend a couple of hours over a few days over it, so the coaster wasn't really click click done. I guess it was still too short a time, or maybe if I practise more I can get better and build faster as well. So I've decided to start on another coaster, which I will upload first pictures of soon. Currently it doesn't have any snaps. I don't want to work on this coaster again because I've now got it into my head that I'm finished with it XD

Maybe once I get better I'll have another go at sorting out the track.