Black Halo (Uploaded!)

I cannot get over that vertical loop. Its a great idea. The closest thing i have seen to that loop is that of "Breathe" by CrazyCoasterGuy at Coastersims.com but his was not the same.

I can't wait to see this coasters progress and i hope that you get around to posting that R4 woodie of yours if you do well.

well it looks like you've gotten alot done, lol. It looks really good, I'm eager to see what itll look like once its finished entirely.

I've got most of the testing replies back now, and I am currently making the appropriate changes. Nothing major, just a few tweaks here and there.

As I'm going on to supports soon, I need to work out the dimensions for a tunnel to use to test the clearances. I worked out that the dive machine cars are going to be about 4m wide (Based on the editor width of the 4 seat wide floorless trains). The current minimum clearance distance I'm using is about 0.9m from the very edge of the trains. Is that enough, or do you think I could get away with any less?

[hyyyper]

do you have tia's tunneler? if you have it use the standard NL tunnel, but put a piece of the tunneler at the top and bottom with the same lenght of the original tunnel:

That's sorta what I did, only a little more precise. The whole tunnel was made in the tunneller, and I got it much more accurate that a simple circular tunnel. It's designed specifically to fit the dive machine cars. I might post a picture of it to show you what I mean.

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There. I edited it to show how wide the Dive machine cars would be. Think that's enough clearance?

[hyyyper]

can you overlay it with a standard tunnel?

Originally posted by EElover2

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww man

EElover2 - After everyone explaining it so clearly, it took you until THEN to realize that he wasn't going to send it to you, no matter what you said or how good a tester you would be? And I don't get why testing every single ride is so important to you...

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Anywho, these are my comments on select [most] screenshots.

http://www.nolimitsdevcenter.net/i16132 - I can't figure this out. Either the thing with the railings is the holding break, or where the train is, is where the holding brake is. If it's the railings, it should be just a tiny bit steeper. If it's where the train is, that's a bit too steep.

http://www.nolimitsdevcenter.net/i16135 - That looks cool, as long as the Gs aren't too high, since the trains are pretty wide...

http://www.nolimitsdevcenter.net/i16136 - That. is. what. Sheikra. needed. O.M.G. Good job.

http://www.nolimitsdevcenter.net/i16454 - Same issue as the first drop.

http://www.nolimitsdevcenter.net/i16455 - That is TIGHT!

http://www.nolimitsdevcenter.net/i16459 - That's awesome how big the first drop's tunnel is compared to all the others. It must need it though, with 100 degree drop of that size. Cool.

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That tunnel looks pretty good to me. Are you sure the dive machine cars aren't wider?

It's actually a holding chain, like Sheikra, not a traditional brake. The train goes a bit further down than the railings before it releases, down to about 50 degrees I think. There also isn't a holding brake on the second drop, it just enters it at 2kph.

The maximum G forces are 4.7, sustained for a second or two in some of the underground dives. Both the helixes pull around 4g's, because they're sustained for much longer.

Quick 3ds update now. Since NL 1.6 isn't out yet, I had to make do with my own 3ds brakes, wheels and magbrakes. These actually turned out better than I expected.
http://www.nolimitsdevcenter.net/i16709
http://www.nolimitsdevcenter.net/i16712
I've also made a start on the supports, and you can see a couple of them in the background of those screenshots. That means my usual track connectors to go with them.
http://www.nolimitsdevcenter.net/i16713
I'll work on more of the supports tomorrow, and will probably have some more screens of them later that day. For now though, any comments?

Wow, looks awsome. I just love those brakes!

Those brakes look VERY realistic, its a shame they don't work. Have you used really small brake segments so that the default NL brakes haven't shown up? Or am I just being stupid?

i think you should use some of the 3ds ideas i gave you

Originally posted by alton_

Those brakes look VERY realistic, its a shame they don't work. Have you used really small brake segments so that the default NL brakes haven't shown up? Or am I just being stupid?

That's mostly what I did. The problem comes when I need transport wheels on the brakes, since they always show up however short the segment is. I still haven't found a way around that.

And CK, I might use some of those ideas, like the glass walls and lights in the tunnels. I haven't finilised the theme yet, so I don't know what everything will look like.

Supports have been completed up to the dive loop, along with 7 new screenshots of them. http://www.nolimitsdevcenter.net/i16748
I'm planning on adding 3ds flanges and footers later on. Comments? [:)]

wow those look luscious. Cant wait to download. the flanges sound like they'll take awhile. Same with the footers. But I'm sure itll look really god when its done.

Like I said, eager to download this one.

I think that you almost have too many supports, if you take a look at some areas of Oblivion and Sheikra their supports can sometimes appear a little thin on the ground. However because of the nature of the coaster and the fact that this coaster has more to it than the standard Dive Machine i think that most of the supports are necessary.

You could spread the ones on the plateau at the top of the lift out sightly more and possibly change the supports on the main drop to make it appear to hang slightly better.

I dunno i could be wrong, you know better than me, that's just my 2 cents.

Originally posted by textitan

they'll take awhile. Same with the footers. But I'm sure itll look really god when its done.

Not really, the flanges took a couple of hours to do. With the right technique hey're actually really easy.

And Alton, I don't think it's over supported. What might be the problem is that I'm putting the same amount of supports on a 45m coaster as a 60m one. I would use slightly thinner beams, but they just look so scrawny on NL.

yea yea Sheikra what would be NL X-L beams before the lift so I think its ok

Lookin' very nice Wing. Sorry I couldn't get a response to you sooner, but I got your mail the day after I started no internet for a week. So it's been in there behind 1,000 spam mails. lol
All I can really say is the trackwork is nearly flawless. Nothing is perfect, but this is damn close to it. I'll start thinking about theme ideas and maybe throw a few out for ya, I'll do that as soon as I get a minute alone to think. lol
Cheers.

It's been a while since I last updated this, and part of the reason was me being on holiday last week. So I haven't got quite as much done in the way of 3ds as I hoped, but still enough worth showing.

First of all, new 3ds catwalks designed to fit the Dive Machine trains. And a custom skybox, which is a bit more interesting than the default NL one. Also some general footers and falnges but nothing too special. And finally a cool sun flare effect. You can't really see it very well in that screenshot, but it looks much better in the sim. When you look at it and move the camera, it spirals around giving a really good effect.

Hopefully I'll be able to finish this project for the release of NL1.6. I just need to find some inspiration for the theming, I can't come up with a good enough idea yet.

Well to be honest with you you are almost automatically creating a theme for it without realising. The colours and the catwalks make a futuristic edge to the ride. Well that's just what i think, it could be something i thought up in my crazy head lol. I definitely think it should be some sci-fi theme to it though. In my opinion.

I am definitely liking what has been done so far though. What is the maximum lateral G on this ride?

All the lats are within +-1g, so there would be nothing too excessive with the wider trains.

And I will definitely do some sort of futuristic theme, I know that much now. Possibly combining some Nemesis-like features, like rocky some steep rocky cliffs and trenches, like around the final loop.

Having been nearly 2 months since I last updated this, Black Halo is finally nearing completion.

Theme has been finalised to a Nuclear Reactor test site, for the experimental Black Halo Reactor Core. Most of the major 3ds work has been finished now, all that's left is a load of scenery tweaking. Expect release to be either this Sunday or next.

Enjoy. [;)]

http://www.nolimitsdevcenter.net/i20879

Thats looking SOOOOO cool! I love the onride photo shop and the 3ds look awesome! Really cant wait for it. Im really excited!