@Mods/Admins: Please Sticky! Thanks.
Alright, first of all, the basics. As everyone knows, you can create custom environments for any track, and some are also aware of being able to create a nolimits.cfg file (placed in NL's install directory) which is capable of setting the default (sunny day) environment settings, and also sets the defaults for settings that environments don't mess with. (i.e. if you specify fog in nolimits.cfg and the environment doesn't have any fog, the default will be the fog set in the .cfg file.
These files are easy to create. Simply save them in your text editor of choice (notepad or wordpad; make sure its plaintext) and rename the extension to .env or .cfg.
Now down to business. Working with NL environment/configuration commands is quite simple especially if you have worked with other games' consoles or configurations, worked with Windows' command prompt, etc. In NoLimits, you simply enter a command, then specify an argument which is either a number, boolean (true/false) or file path (in file paths, the NL folder defaults as the root directory; specify paths from there, NOT from C:\! For example, path=environments\myEnv\rooster.jpg) Comments can be inserted into a file by starting a line with "#".
Some of you may have noticed that nolimitscoaster.de's How-To page (http://nolimitscoaster.de/index.php?page=howto) got updated with this information. For the most part, everything in there covers most of what you need to know but Ole forgot to (or intentionally omitted) the lines that control the loading screen's text.
I will paste everything here because copying and pasting each line into your .env/.cfg file when you need several at a time is tedious, so just copy and paste from here. Note that all outdated commands have been omitted from this list.
sim.antiroll.texture.path = environments\[project folder]\[texture.jpg/png/tga]
sim.background.texture.path =
sim.background.texture.enabled = (true/false)
sim.background.trees.enabled =
sim.chain.texture.path =
sim.chain.loopsound.path = (.wav file, frequency should be 44100hz, not sure if others work; 16-bit; mono/stereo should both work, but unsure if both channels on stereo are actually plated)
sim.chain.loopsound.db = (volume of sound; number from 0 to 10000)
sim.chainwheel.texture.path =
sim.clouds.visible =
sim.clouds.texture.path = (when specified alone, only first layer visible)
sim.clouds.wind.speedx = (wind speed in X direction, not sure on range)
sim.clouds.wind.speedy =
sim.clouds.layer2.texture.path =
sim.clouds.layer2.wind.speedx =
sim.clouds.layer2.wind.speedy =
sim.flares.visible =
sim.flare1.texture.path =
sim.flare2.texture.path =
sim.flare3.texture.path =
sim.flare4.texture.path =
sim.flare5.texture.path =
sim.flare6.texture.path =
sim.fog.enabled =
sim.fog.red = (number from 0 to 1; i.e. all red/green/blue at 0 is black and all red/green/blue at 1 is white; accurate up to 0.000000)
sim.fog.green =
sim.fog.blue =
sim.fog.density = (0 to 1, accurate up to 0.0000)
sim.ground.visible =
sim.ground.texture.path =
sim.lighting.globalmodulate.red =
sim.lighting.globalmodulate.green =
sim.lighting.globalmodulate.blue =
sim.newplatform.texture.path =
sim.minetrain.crosstie.texture.path =
sim.operatorspanel.texture.path =
sim.ptcbrake.texture.path =
sim.railingfloor.texture.path =
sim.railing.texture.path =
sim.skyboxup.texture.path =
sim.skyboxleft.texture.path =
sim.skyboxright.texture.path =
sim.skyboxfront.texture.path =
sim.skyboxback.texture.path =
sim.skyboxdown.texture.path =
sim.sky.gradient.top.red =
sim.sky.gradient.top.green =
sim.sky.gradient.top.blue =
sim.sky.gradient.horz.red =
sim.sky.gradient.horz.green =
sim.sky.gradient.horz.blue =
(all skybox commands must be placed and point to no textures in order to override the default skybox and use the old fashioned gradient system)
sim.shadows.visible =
sim.stationrafters.enable =
sim.stationrafters.texture.path =
sim.stationfloor.texture.path =
sim.stationrailing.texture.path =
sim.stationside.texture.path =
sim.stationtrack.texture.path =
sim.stationtop.texture.path =
sim.stationtopside.texture.path =
sim.stationwaitgate.texture.path =
sim.stationwaitrailing.texture.path =
sim.sun.texture.path =
sim.sun.visible =
sim.sun.pos.alpha =
sim.sun.pos.beta =
sim.sun.diffuse.red =
sim.sun.diffuse.green =
sim.sun.diffuse.blue =
sim.sun.specular.red =
sim.sun.specular.green =
sim.sun.specular.blue =
sim.sun.ambient.red =
sim.sun.ambient.green =
sim.sun.ambient.blue =
sim.supports.roundfooter.texture.path =
sim.supports.tube1.radius =
sim.supports.tube2.radius =
sim.supports.tube3.radius =
sim.supports.tube4.radius =
sim.supports.tube5.radius =
sim.tree1.texture.path =
sim.tree1.sizex =
sim.tree1.sizey =
sim.tree1.sizez = (not sure what Z does)
(you can go up to sim.tree10... and the numbers correspond to the list that appears in the editor; for example, tree 1 is the pine tree and treee 2 the maple tree)
sim.vertwheel.texture.path =
sim.woody.beams.texture.path =
sim.woody.catwalk.texture.path =
sim.woody.rail.texture.path =
sim.woody.tie.texture.path =
sim.woody.tunnel.side1.texture.path =
sim.woody.tunnel.side1inside.texture.path =
sim.woody.tunnel.entry1.texture.path =
sim.woody.tunnel.entry1inside.texture.path =
G-force color changers (usually used in .cfg's but also works in .env's)
sim.vertg.posyellowlimit = (specify which G-force triggers the change to yellow; usually 4.8)
sim.vertg.posredlimit =
sim.vertg.negyellowlimit =
sim.vertg.negredlimit =
sim.latg.yellowlimit =
sim.latg.redlimit =
sim.accg.posyellowlimit =
sim.accg.posredlimit =
sim.accg.negyellowlimit =
sim.accg.negredlimit =
And lastly, everything you need to butcher the loading screen.
sim.gui.loading.trackfile =
sim.gui.loading.setenv =
sim.gui.loading.createlights =
sim.gui.loading.createscene =
sim.gui.loading.createtrack =
sim.gui.loading.createenv =
sim.gui.loading.createsupp =
sim.gui.loading.createscenery =
sim.gui.loading.sceneobjs =
sim.gui.loading.vehicles =
sim.gui.loading.calcshadows =
sim.gui.loading.startsim =
Have fun with your newfound NL manipulation powers.