[NL2] Six Flags Great Adventure: A Collaborative Recreation

DechLave wrote:

Now that Superman is only main coaster left, are we planning on adding any of the smaller/miscellaneous coasters?

It's not, there are also Runaway Mine Train and The Joker. Dark Knight should be doable but will be tricky as it relies heavily on scenery. The two kiddie coasters don't have an appropriate coaster type in NL2. After that it's all flats and scenery, lots of it.

Got a small update done, I tweaked the brake settings and dispatch timing on Toro, Bizarro, Nitro, and Green Lantern. I also made Nitro's entrance. It's made from supports and is part of the main Nitro coaster:



All it needs now is the sign, anyone good with scenery is welcome to make it. This would be a good reference image to use, it's the one I used to make the train logos:



Download the updated park from Google Drive or Dropbox.

I don't want to step on anyone's toes here but, if nobody had claimed or started work on Runaway Mine Train, I'd be glad to do it... I have a thing for Arrow coasters lol

DechLave wrote:

I don't want to step on anyone's toes here but, if nobody had claimed or started work on Runaway Mine Train, I'd be glad to do it... I have a thing for Arrow coasters lol

Sure, go right ahead! I'm pretty sure the best style to use is Vekoma Minetrain Coaster with locomotive. Mkj332 is working on the fort, you should see if he wants to do RMT's station as well since they're the same style and part of the same complex.

That's the next piece im working on, just keeping it a separate file from the fort.

After some tedious Photoshop work and flailing around in Sketchup for a while trying to figure it out, my first piece of custom scenery is in:



In case anyone missed my previous post, it's just the sign. The supporting structure is actual supports.

Mkj332, if you want to, feel free to use the model for the sign to re-do the rusty letters on the station, as it's a lot more accurately shaped. It would also be good to use for the ground sign. The model used in the park is a Collada one (no 3ds export in free Sketchup!). If anyone wants it in Sketchup format, just let me know.

Download the updated park from Google Drive or Dropbox.

Dusso Janladde wrote:

DechLave wrote:

Now that Superman is only main coaster left, are we planning on adding any of the smaller/miscellaneous coasters?

It's not, there are also Runaway Mine Train and The Joker. Dark Knight should be doable but will be tricky as it relies heavily on scenery. The two kiddie coasters don't have an appropriate coaster type in NL2. After that it's all flats and scenery, lots of it.

Cool, then I'll get started on that and now that I have clear insight on how to use the overlay, I'll be sure use that when doing RMT. When I'm done, (provided he's okay with it) I'll send it over to Mkj332 for him to work on 3ds?

I'm sure if this was discussed earlier in the thread but, is Mkj332 doing the other miscellaneous buildings for around the park, just curious?

DechLave wrote:

Dusso Janladde wrote:

DechLave wrote:

Now that Superman is only main coaster left, are we planning on adding any of the smaller/miscellaneous coasters?

It's not, there are also Runaway Mine Train and The Joker. Dark Knight should be doable but will be tricky as it relies heavily on scenery. The two kiddie coasters don't have an appropriate coaster type in NL2. After that it's all flats and scenery, lots of it.

Cool, then I'll get started on that and now that I have clear insight on how to use the overlay, I'll be sure use that when doing RMT. When I'm done, (provided he's okay with it) I'll send it over to Mkj332 for him to work on 3ds?

I'm sure if this was discussed earlier in the thread but, is Mkj332 doing the other miscellaneous buildings for around the park, just curious?

That seems like the best way to do it, yep. You'll have to ask him if he's doing more buildings.

...and I almost forgot, there's still one more coaster aside from the ones I mentioned earlier... Skull Mountain. It's going to be just as tricky as Dark Knight since it's so hard to see the layout.

Turns out that I don't have as good of a hold on how to use the overlay as I thought I did, I sat for over an hour trying to figure it out and became annoyed lol. As to not burden anyone with the task of teaching me how to use it, I'm willing to put RMT back on the board for someone else to tackle if they want? I'll take a look at as many pics/videos as I can find of Dark Knight and see what I can do with that. If I'm not mistaken, Dark Knight is a clone, so if I have to, I'll just base my recreation off of that.

Can I add this Ferris wheel for the parks official Ferris wheel when I finish it?

DechLave wrote:

Turns out that I don't have as good of a hold on how to use the overlay as I thought I did, I sat for over an hour trying to figure it out and became annoyed lol. As to not burden anyone with the task of teaching me how to use it, I'm willing to put RMT back on the board for someone else to tackle if they want? I'll take a look at as many pics/videos as I can find of Dark Knight and see what I can do with that. If I'm not mistaken, Dark Knight is a clone, so if I have to, I'll just base my recreation off of that.

It's easy once you know what to do. In this case I've already got everything set up, all you need to do is download it and enable it in NL2.

1. Download this file and extract the package.

2. In the NL2 editor, open or create the park where you'll be making Runaway Mine Train. I suggest using the one from the package.

3. Go to File>Preferences>Overlay tab. Choose whichever viewport has the top view (you'd normally leave it at 1). Click Load and navigate to the Runaway Mine Train folder from the package you extracted. Click On Runaway Mine Train.nl2ovl and click open. Set the transparency (I suggest 50%) and click OK.

4. In the viewport you selected in step 3, click Display and make sure Draw Overlay is selected. That's it!

As for how to MAKE an overlay, I've developed a foolproof process. You first need Google Earth Pro. It's free, and you can download it here. When you install it, use use your email address and the key GEPFREE to sign in. Once you have it...

1. Find the area you want to make the overlay of. I recommend always making your overlays North-up (this way you'll be building the coaster in the correct orientation), so click the N on the compass in the upper right corner to do this.

2. Go to File>Save>Save Image. A toolbar will appear at the top of the screen. Change the resolution to Maximum. This is why you're using Google Earth Pro, the regular Google Earth is limited to your screen resolution.

3. Resize the window until the resolution shows 4800x4800, which will give you the largest and highest-resolution overlay possible.

4. Without resizing the window again, zoom and pan the view until it's exactly how you want it. Turn off any map labels you don't want on the overlay.

5. This is the most important part. You need the image scaled accurately in NL2. To do this, in Google Earth Pro go to Tools>Ruler. Set it to Feet if your NL2 is set to Imperial units or Meters if it's set to Metric. Click on the absolute far left of the view window and then the absolute far right, making sure the yellow line is completely horizontal. Write down the exact Map Length figure. Once you've done this, do not zoom, pan, or lose the number, or you'll have to re-do it.

6. Click the Save Image button at the top and save it. As long as you have the Map Length number, you can close Google Earth Pro now.

7. Open the NL2 editor. Go to File>Preferences>Overlay tab. Open the image you just saved.

8. Here's the whole trick. Use a calculator to divide the exact Map Length number by 4800 (not the other way around!) and put the result in under Scale. Don't round it or anything. This will make the image exactly its true size, and if you're doing this for a single coaster the overlay will be ridiculously high-resolution.

9. Save the overlay setup and click OK. If you need to, enable the overlay display in the top viewport.

This is tried and true to give you the best possible overlays, all the ones in the original post including the one for the whole park were made by this method.

Figured I'd try and tackle Dark Knight, here's the trackwork so far...

Easy part's done, it gets quite a bit harder after this as it's harder to see the below track on satellite images!

Dark Knight trackwork is done and ready for support work to start! There are no orange or red Gs (the lats do cut it close though) and it passes clearance and block checks. The station doesn't have rolling load/unload as that would require scripting.


I'm not going to really add it to the main park until the supports are done, but here's where it will go:

^ As one compact coaster fanatic, I love to see some people creating mini layouts not just for fun but for a pretty big project! I know that it's really good to work on small rides or teeny-weeny tracks!

Family tracks are awesome when it comes to actually building those models! Great chance to learn the origin of manufacturers as well!

Update on Dark Knight: Supports are well underway, they're being done in the "tree" style rather than the more accurate "lattice" style since the lattice style supports violate horizontal clearance very badly. They were at least a foot into the clearance envelope on both sides and moving them away from one track just moved them closer to another. Added an additional block before the lift and another right before the station and changed the dispatch pattern (it's similar to Maverick's now), it now runs eight cars very smoothly with them spaced 15 seconds apart, for a capacity of 960 PPH.

Current progress:

Dark Knight (just the coaster itself, not the building or scenery!!) is now complete and integrated along with its station music.



I've also released the coaster on its own: http://www.coastercrazy.com/21255/Wild-Mouse (the only difference is the color scheme)

Download the updated park from Google Drive or Dropbox as usual.

Wow!

[Coasterkidmwm]

I think you could get away with the original supports. Keep in mind that clearance envelope is for a train style that isn't used on the real rides (which I recall have much higher sides preventing reach).

Coasterkidmwm wrote:

I think you could get away with the original supports. Keep in mind that clearance envelope is for a train style that isn't used on the real rides (which I recall have much higher sides preventing reach).

I'm just not comfortable with making a coaster that deliberately contains clearance violations, even if it technically wouldn't. If NL2 gets a more accurate coaster style (ideally an actual Mack Wild Mouse style) I'll change its style and re-do the supports if the new style's clearance envelope is tighter. Besides, I really like how the supports turned out.

[TTD03]

Nice shots. I'll be at the park tomorrow, sat, and sunday so if I need to grab any shots, let me know.

TTD03 wrote:

Nice shots. I'll be at the park tomorrow, sat, and sunday so if I need to grab any shots, let me know.

I want to do car textures for Dark Knight. I could use clear, straight-on pictures of the GCR logo for the front of the car and where it says "GOTHAM" and "CITY RAIL" on the side.

I personally think the close clearance enhances the ride in this particular situation, it really gives the perspective of traveling in gotham at night imo.

The close clearance that makes guests follow the ride's rules or that is apparently safe?

Just to show what I mean, this is the current closest clearance on the coaster, both horizontally and vertically:


With the lattice supports, you have this every time it passes through one:


This is on the standalone version of the coaster because it's easier to deal with, it's identical in every way except colors.