Lava Blast (update 11/21)

sweeeeeeeeeeet

Eh, been a bad week for me. I still haven't been able to test the new version out for you. I'll get to it when I can.

"CYCLONE" UPDATE:


The Bad News:

Well, I'm officially canning it. I made the huge mistake of rushing through the trackwork. AHG + rushed trackwork is a bad combination. I was left with a moderately smooth coaster with good adrenaline but a lot of technical problems. And one very bad thing about AHG is that once you have used it, the coaster becomes nearly impossible to modify. I screwed up, and I was left with a subpar coaster. Since it was never too original, and the adrenaline was only there in the very end, I opted to can the whole project instead of spending another 25+ hours fixing the technical problems and making the supports. So, anyway, RIP "Cyclone".

Also, looking back at the 6 or 7 other coaster projects that I was working on and then stopped after the layout was done, I realized that the track construction style that I had a year ago when I began building them was now beyond repair. Basically, I'm canning all of them. So long "Cheetaking", "'Oasis' modified", "'Tempest 2' modified", "Timber Streak", "Cedar Point Coaster Package", "Cedar Point Extreme Coaster Package", and all of the unfinished contest coasters I have laying around. All of them are now filed as being forever incomplete, and canned.


THE GOOD NEWS:

On a more positive note, the canning of "Cyclone" has opened the door to another coaster project... one that I have been working on and endlessly modifying for 3 years now... THE ROCKLER 2!

Yep, it's officially back on. I'm tackling this infamous 400+ ft terrain wood coaster from square one all over again. 4 vertex hills, mammoth custom supports, and true underground tunnels will finally make this coaster a reality. I will post a new topic for this project as soon as I have begun work. It is quite a show coaster, so expect screenshots to start pouring in as soon as work begins.



Well, that's my update. It's going to be one heck of a summer... I'll be working on the 2 biggest coaster projects of my life, "Lava Blast" and "The Rockler 2" simultaneously. Stay tuned!

What about Hyper X?

But SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET

I'm bored with Hyper X for now... I'm storing it away for a few months until I can find the inspiration to finish it. The first half is WICKED, and the turnaround is pretty awesome as well, but I'm having huge problems with the sequencing in the second half. If I can find something interesting to do in the second half, I'll bring Hyper X back up, but until then it's been put on the back burner.

Also, "Star Wars" has been put on hold until I get Adobe Photoshop. It's still on, though. I just want to keep the hype low on these 2 coasters until I'm ready to make some progress and finish them. Nothing pisses people off more than when you try and hype a coaster that seemilgly never gets any more done. Everyone hates waiting... and that's why I'm sticking to talk about Lava Blast and The Rockler 2. Once those two are finished, that's when I'll move in to talk about "Hyper X", "Wild Mouse X", "Star Wars", and the other 4 "Adrenaline Land" coasters.

UPDATE ON LAVA BLAST:

After reading the reviews that everyone gave me, and taking a look at how Thrasher 2 was torn apart for having a 'simple' layout, I've decided to change the layout of Lava Blast. The big tophat, first hill, and vertical overbanked turn are staying, but now instead of doing the outerbanked hill I'm going to add a completely different element to break up the layout. I'm having the train turn around 360 degrees through a tunnel instead of having a simple hill, and I'm hoping to do either an inverted camelback or a sideways camelback as the exit.

So, what do you guys think about this idea... much better, better, doesn't matter, worse, or much worse? And would you rather see an inverted camelback where the train goes over a parabolic hill at zero gravity while upside down, or a sideways camelback where the train goes over the same parabolic hill while banked at 90 degrees?


UPDATE ON "THE ROCKLER 2"

It's coming along great so far! I made tons of progress last night, and I'll be ready to post the behind the fence topic as soon as I get to Cedar Point tonight. My big decision with this coaster right now is whether I should leave it as a completely wooden coaster, or update it to be a steel-structured one. I'm adding some things like outer-banked hills and 90 degree banked turns, so I'm leaning toward making this coaster a steel structure. I think it makes sense considering that the coaster pulls 4+ g's several times, and it goes 98 mph. I don't think wood structures are built for that...

Yeah, I think that having a steel structure is better, but its up to you... cant wait to see what wicked rides you come up with next!

The Rockler is kind of a scary construction project for me, because it is the first time that I am truly breaking off of the grid. Usually, all of my hills are nice and parallel or perpendicular, but on this coaster the only things that are parallel to the grid are the station, the lift, and a few of the hills near the end. I've NEVER tried anything like that before, and it's really scary for me to be doing it. So far the shaping is good, so I'm hoping that it isn't a fluke and I have indeed finally learned how to break off of the grid. The only other time in the past that I truly broke from it was on the grand finale of Meteora. Most of you know just how insane that finale was, so picture that finale but sustained through 12,500 feet of coaster. Yeah!

The Bad News:

Well, I'm officially canning it. I made the huge mistake of rushing through the trackwork. AHG + rushed trackwork is a bad combination. I was left with a moderately smooth coaster with good adrenaline but a lot of technical problems. And one very bad thing about AHG is that once you have used it, the coaster becomes nearly impossible to modify. I screwed up, and I was left with a subpar coaster. Since it was never too original, and the adrenaline was only there in the very end, I opted to can the whole project instead of spending another 25+ hours fixing the technical problems and making the supports. So, anyway, RIP "Cyclone".

Don't you have a brain? What I do is save the ahg'ed version under a different name and then I can always go back and do some edits if needed.

Too bad though, you learn from your mistakes.

^I built the coaster piece by piece rather than building the whole track and then running AHG, so I didn't have an un-AHG'ed track to save under a different name. I did the same thing with Hydro Thunder, which could just as easily have runied it, but luckily it turned out just like I wanted it to. Anyway, yeah, I've learned better now. The next time I make a multi-looper or a GCI, I won't screw it up.

By the way, I edited your post so that it didn't stretch the right side of the screen out and make everything un-readable.

I save under a new name every time I make a change.

Right now, my round 3 contest entry is up to 100 saves with over individual elements that I save and insert in peices so I can control sizing and such. I have a weird method but it ends up in controlled madness.


I got burned once with saving over so I learned too. I never save over ANYTHING. Whats another 5kb file going to hurt?

that way worse for Lava Blaster

[Brtnboarder495]

I got burned once with saving over so I learned too. I never save over ANYTHING. Whats another 5kb file going to hurt?

Heh, good point. That's partly what is awesome about No Limits, the editor, simulator and even the majority of the files are really small and easy for internet usage (uploading and downloading) and they take up nearly no hard disk space,

Originally posted by EElover2

that way worse for Lava Blaster

Uh, English please?

Are you saying that I should leave the third big hill in rather than replacing it with the tunnel turn and sideways/upsidedown camelback?

I prefer the new idea over the old. Coasters need a helix and gimmick element.

I have to agree with Woodie Man. Just hills, even if taken fast, can get very boring. Braking it up would make this ride alot better IMO. I think the perfect floater, or 0g idea sounds like the way to go.

No one banned me

[hyyyper]

^what's he doing here?

UPDATE:

I'm just passing on the official word that this, as well as The Rockler 2 and all of my other current coaster projects, are now officially on hold until the end of the summer.

With CP smothering me with 70 hour weeks, I barely have time to get online at all, let alone build coasters. Therefore, all of these projects are on hold until August 16. Once I am done with CP and back to college, I'll pick up the work again with the photos and such that I promised.

Cya' in 2 months!

awwww man

[hyyyper]

Originally posted by hyyyper

^what's he doing here?

UPDATE 9/25/06:

Lava Blast is now officially off of holding! After one of the shortest sabbaticals in history, I'm back to building coasters with a fire I haven't had in years. Lava Blast is back in the works.

I have finally decided on the elements that will replace the mediocre third hill... these elements are a twisted stengel dive, and a 90 degree camelback, where the train will be traveling over a parabolic hill banked at 90 degrees. (It will still have perfect 0-gravity sensations despite the sideways nature). Then, there will be a quick high bank to the left that leads into the spiral/transition/double-up finale already mentioned. I'm not doing time constraints anymore, so I'll be posting a photo update as soon as it is ready.


UPDATE!!!!!

"Cyclone" is officially un-cancelled. I don't really know why I cancelled it in the first place, because it is a really nice little coaster. I ran the track through another round of smoothing, so the trackwork is now completely finished. All that remains before this coaster is posted are a few beefy custom supports for a realistic GCI look. Photos coming sooner than Lava Blast, so stay tuned.

It's great to be back. It looks like this two weeks of being away from coasters to find myself a bit was exactly what I needed. CJD is back to stay!

Stay tuned for photo updates coming soon, and progress updates as work nears completion.

Send me it this sounds freekin cool!
email/ k.c.till@earthlink.net

^Sorry to say this, but test riding was over months ago.

UPDATE:

Well, folks, this is it. I'm officially closing up shop and calling the days of my complicated uber-big NL desigs over.

I regret to inform everyone that I am no longer an engineering student as of next monday, and have lost any and all interest in spending hundreds of hours designing virtual coasters. I have abdicated my position as a moderator, and there will be no more projects from me.

Here is what will become of the coasters I never finished:

LAVA BLAST: Is over. I won't be making the 3ds volcano, and I won't be doing the terrain. What I will be doing is retaining the original trackwork from the first testing phase, putting my final set of signature Intamin tower supports on it, and uploading it as such. No idea when this will happen... probably in the summer when I want to take some time off from writing my novel.

THE ROCKLER 2: Cancelled. Too much work, nowhere near enough interest to do it.

CYCLONE: I still plan to finish it. This one is too close to being done for me to dump completely. I plan on making this my last official completed design.


That's it. I won't be doing any more building once the forementioned tracks have been posted.

What I will be doing:
I don't know yet. I'm taking career choice surveys to try and figure out where I want to go next. In the meantime while I'm changing my college major, I'll be writing my book "The Second World".

Anyway, I'm sorry it had to end like this, but finally admiting it is a big burden being lifted from me. Understand, I'll still be hanging around here. Even if I'm not designing anymore, I'm still a coaster enthusiast. So this is it, and I want to thank everyone who helped me improve and gave me constructive criticism over the four years that I have been posting coasters here.