NL2 editor wishlist

There have been many threads about what we might like to see in the new NL2 sim... mostly coaster types or new style trains...

But what would you wish for in the EDITOR?

I'd like to see:
*Auto supports for steelies
*Click-and-smooth track sections
*Click a vertex and get G-force readings for the train at that point. This could save a lot of back-and-forth between riding and building when trying to eliminate G-spikes.
*Ability to speed up or slow down time when doing test runs (like in the sim)

I wish for

Coasters:
-4th dimension
-Rocket Intamin coaster
-Spinning mouse
-Mine Train
-Bobsled
-Togo

For Effects:
-Much more realistic water and terrain.
-moving foliage
-birds,animals
Improved sounds, different sounds
-Better graphics on everything, even NL.1.55 has blocky curved objects, so perfectly smooth and curved objects.

Supports/Tools:
-Auto support generator for steel coasters
-Support pieces like 3ds
-Perfect prefab elements, insert with chosen size and amount of segments.
-Have AHG and ELEMENTARY built into the editor.

yeah the G-force reading would be very helpfull and save alot of time.

[Dirk_Ermen]

what goes for me:

Editor:
- Copy and paste support nodes.
- G-force readings on the track sections if you click them.
- change speeds like in the sim.
- Better color picker. (so that you can see the rail with train, and that the color changes if you pick an other color)
- Lot's of connectors to choose from
- Different types of footers to choose from
- cartexture editor
- unlimited template size

Coasters:
- All x-car coastertypes
- Maurer spinning
- gerstlauer bobsledge
- arrow suspended (normal and floorless trains)
- tilt coaster
- 4th dimension coaster
- flying coaster (b&m and Vekoma)
- pipeline coaster
- water coaster
- rocket coaster (with and without osrt's)
- dive machine
- all other track types that exist [:D]

Sim:
- supported animated objects
- moving trees
- improved watereffects

that's what i can think of so far [:D]

Dirks list, I change my mind, add everything to my list that dirk wants. WATER COASTER!

[hyyyper]

I don't really have any catergories just overall

- all known tools incorperated (smoother, construction kit, trackpackager, OC, anim8, coaster calc, etc.)
- larger template, sumtin like 500x500x500
- rotatable template, i hate angled building
- like the heartline path, also a radius and g-force path
- feature to switch between 'real colours' and wireframe
- more tunnel models
- more different trains per track type, like intamins with/without OTSR's
- cable and airpressure launches/lifts
- vekoma tilt and thrill-lifts
- 12,5 % and 800% speed added
- people
- crashing coasters, not those who just 'stop'
- more 'stand-alone' circuit per template
- switch-tracks and duel station
- reverse tracks
- custom colors in eidtor
- support tester (is the structure strong enough?)
- connectors to footers
- support copier/saver (like elements with mirror and scaling)
- support coloizer
- dyamic enviroment (waves, animals, waving flora)
- higher speeds
- different speeds per section (like the trigger moment at the brakes, on a lift where the acceration should start
- railing on 'normal' track
- when loading the sim, the view from editor will be the starting position in the sim
- themed trains like in the rct-series
- animated objects

new coasters

- vekoma flyers, tilts, thrills
- arrowS&S 4D
- intamin reverse freefall, stand-up, ball and that new thing for portaventura
- b&m dive machine, flyer
- watercoasters
- spinners, mauershone and the other one
- x-car
- intamin and gerslauder bobsleds
- suspended (all known)

We should completely send this to OLE some how, I think hypers is now the best,we should just send him all this.

Well, for the tilts and thrill lifts, they just use standard Vekoma/Arrow cars, so all that's needed there is to make a couple of new elements, not new types, so then, the thrill lift and tilt could even be used on a Stand Up.[dorkhat]

- support tester (is the structure strong enough?)

I like that one! [:)]

the one thing that i really want is that if the track isnt connected and you accidentaly click on the simulator buttom, there should be a way to cancel that!! Other then that, everything on Hyyypers list is good. Also, if elementary or whatever is built into it, then there should be tutorials for them.

[Dirk_Ermen]

Originally posted by Raigodmaster141

We should completely send this to OLE some how, I think hypers is now the best,we should just send him all this.

hyyyper's list is a good update on mine list [:)] who is going to send over "the list"?????????? [:D]

I mean first we should create one large list, Weeweeslap could send it to Ole somehow I bet he is connected with him somehow. And then Ole could work with these ideas, its as simple as that... BAM!

Yea that would be so cool if nl 2 has everything on our lists

I doubt WWS has any connections to Ole. He probably already gets peppered with another NL2 want lists. Give the guy a break and let him program.

Yeah, over at CS they have a huge topic about this, and I'm pretty sure Ole reads it over there.

Pretty much everything that I would've said has already been, so I have nothign to add.

I was simply complimenting him as well for being so successfull, i assumed he knew a lot of people such as Ole, I'm sorry if I seemed offensive....I mean it was a lot to make this site.

No offense taking, I was just saying. I think this post what I'd want most.

I appreciate the opportunity to give suggestions for what I think should be implemented in future versions of No Limits, therefore I've created a list of improvements (most with explanations) that vary from the usual and obvious ?????????Oooh I want flying coasters and better graphics????????? which should be more helpful to the game?????????s designers.

-Several sliding bars that allows one to manually set the roughness of a particular coaster. Not all coasters of a certain type have the same level smoothness; for example Drachen Fire was much rougher than Loch Ness Monster, even though they were designed by the same company.
-To expand on that idea, the user should be able to set a particular kind of roughness. Superman SFA predominately shows mild shuffling (lateral shaking), Hercules at Dorney Park, and Rolling Thunder at SFGAdv mostly have severe jackhammering (vertical roughness). Other coasters exhibit more of a combination of the two.

-The user should be able to set a specific amount of ?????????jerk????????? for launches. Top Thrill Dragster?????????s launch has a higher initial jerk value than Kingda Ka?????????s, even though Kingda Ka reaches a higher speed in a shorter amount of time. This design feature should be able to be recreated in a No Limits launched coaster without the need for dozens of small segments.

-The wheel assemblies on Arrow coasters and wooden coasters, among other styles, are not spring loaded, therefore there should be a gap between wheels and rails, and a variation in the movement of the coaster car while in motion should reflect that gap.

-The colors that represent certain levels of g-forces should be dynamic based on constraints of the duration of g?????????s, onset quickness, and magnitude. These constraints should vary by manufacturer and train style. ?????????Red positive G?????????s????????? for inverted coasters should begin at around 5.3 G?????????s, while for Schwarzkoph, they would start at 6.7 G?????????s. The same principle should be applied to lateral, negative, and acceleration G forces.

-One should be able to texture the ground in the editor using a satellite picture of a particular coaster, which would greatly help with recreations.

-Several preset rail textures should be available in the editor, including rusted, painted, steel, or mostly painted with small unpainted connections between track segments (like Nitro). The user should also be able to use their own texture for all track segments.

-Certain parts of the track should be able to be painted a different color, allowing for color schemes similar to that of Talon, Mantis, or Silver Bullet.

-When terraforming land around a coaster, one should be able to choose whether segments that touch the ground either become tunneled, create a natural ditch, or make a cement trough. These features should also be customizable.

-Tree size should be able to be easily modified, without being too detrimental to texture quality.

-It should be possible to easily implement boards of various styles into wooden coaster tracks. GCII?????????s have wooden covers on crossovers, and sometimes have boards running diagonally inside the track, as seen on Roar?????????s first drop.

-One view in the simulator should be a rider view. Users would set the amount of space between the rider?????????s lap and the lapbar, along with the amount of slack in the seat belt. The camera view would then react to the forces of the ride with the constraints of the restraints. For floater airtime and two inches of space between the rider and restraint, the camera view should float at head height, with two inches of travel space. For ejector airtime, the jerk when the rider?????????s legs hit the lapbar should be evident in the motion of the camera. Lateral forces should move the camera laterally as much as the seating will allow for the specific rider.
-Maybe there should be a maximum value for space allowable between rider and harness, as I'm sure parks wouldn't appreciate a game condoning leaving excessive amounts of space between rider and restraint. However, some trains, such as PTCs with ?????????buzz bars????????? are designed to have a large amount of space between rider and restraint, and the camera view and height should reflect that. Ofcourse, aforementioned dynamic G force meter should lower the acceptable magnitude and duration of negative G?????????s accordingly.
-Provided the option is toggled on, G?????????s should realistically affect restraints in this view. Pullouts and turns especially on B&M speed coasters push the lapbar down, and cause it to lock into a lower position. The same happens on many other styles of coaster, to varying degrees. Intamin restraints are stiffer, therefore don't move down at all, unless subjected to relatively large G load.

-Maybe add a slight blur effect, which can be toggled on or off. That would greatly enhance the sense of speed.

If anyone would like clarification for any of these ideas, don't hesitate to ask. Feel free to add onto or comment on my ideas.

[coolbeans326]

^ some of those (like the ruffness idea) are retarded. Its just another way for a roller coaster nerd to get off on his coaster porn, but when you think about it all, its really not neccessary at all, NL is fine the way it is as far as riding goes. But they do need to fix the pacing/friction problems that NL seems to have.


What I'd like to see is the most advanced shawdow/shading engine ever built into a game, its got to have shading and shawdows like what Keith McVeen's 3D Max Renderings have. It's got to have uber cool water like either HL 2, or RCT 3 (surprisingly, RCT 3 has some of the best water effects I've seen in a game, as far as reflections go, and stuff)
Also, the car should be semi-reflective, like on real trains, and the chrome portions of the PTC trains need to be uber reflective. [:D]
Of course all of it can be turned on or off to help improve porformance.
Also, they need support of OGL 2.0. With 1.5 my framerate constantly pops from 100 down to 30 (and depending on how much 3D objects are used, it can pop down to 12 or 7) And I'm pretty sure its not my card, because I can play games like CoD 2 or Doom 3 just fine, and I'm pretty sure they have a higher poly count than any of Phyter's rides (in particular Thunderhead.)
So basically they just need a faster engine that can keep up with my video card.

Thats about it, he already knows what rides he's going to implement next, so there's not point in asking for it. It will come. Also, I don't think the 4D coaster would be that good, I still haven't even figured out the seat rotation on the RCT so I definately wouldn't be able to figure it out in No Limits, plus who would build them? It would probably turn out like some of the other designs whole has given us that no one ever uses.

Also, I hope he keeps the editor the same way as before, it seemed to work well, I'd also like to see more realistic supports, and not have these little stubs when you connect to supports off of the same node, I think rather it should connect like real supports do. Also, I'd like to see the support connectors on the B&M if its all possible.

Along with that, there is one final thing I'd like to include.... The Tools.

All tools should come available with the game, no extra costs, and no extra downloading, you should be able to do it with in the editor.

They tools they should have to have is an auto flanger/de flanger, auto pumper/smoother, and a built in Auto Heartline Generator. They can also include that coasoter calculator all you seem to be fond of. But I don't think they need an auto steel supporter. They have the base supports that you can place down, but I don't think it would be fair just to cheat like that, if you want it, you should have to make it yourself.

I think that's it for my wish list. The biggest things for me is graphics and fixing the problems they have now. They could probably use the new models that they're putting into NL 1.5/NL 1.6 and just give them those reflective things I talked about. Also the enviornment should look more realistic on the default, cuz it really doesn't look real now, and the only thing that does are the user made ones.

I think thats it....

[hyyyper]

Originally posted by Dirk_Ermen

Originally posted by Raigodmaster141

We should completely send this to OLE some how, I think hypers is now the best,we should just send him all this.

hyyyper's list is a good update on mine list [:)] who is going to send over "the list"?????????? [:D]

that was indeed the intital plan of me, to just update the feats that have already been brought up

My main want is the "click on a vertex or track piece and see G forces". I hadn't seen that on any other wish list before.

I would also LOVE it if the tools were included. The Mac version of NL is IMHO superior to the Windows version, but most of the 3rd-party tools (AHG, Smoother, elemental, etc) are not available. It would also help if the smoothing tools worked better and were easier to use.

For contests and such, having those tools available to everyone would mean the submitted entries would then truly show the creativity and uniqueness of the DESIGNS as criteria for winning... not just reward those with the time to spend meticulously smoothing and de-pumping an otherwise mediocre design.

All you guys' list are good.

One thing i would add...

Put water anywhere, so you dont have to make .3ds water.

[coolbeans326]

^ that would be cool, like adding water sort of like how RCT 3 does it...

minicooper, just out of curiosity, what makes the Mac version superior to the Windows version in your opinion? I haven't seen much of the Mac version because I have it for windows so I was just wondering.

Apparently, and I didn't know this until after someone told me, Ole and the other game designers can't blatantly use overly specific suggestions because of copyright issues...hence one of the reasons why he doesn't post in these type threads is to not get nailed for "stealing" ideas. I believe that's true, but I'm not sure the extent of what he can and can't use (though I'm sure he knows).

I would like to see a 'layer' feature, similar to Adobe Photoshop's or AutoDesk's CAD programs. It would make it alot easier to do supports, add scenery and some other things, especially on woodies.

My number one request is realistic friction.