No Limits 2 (NL2)

[Sora]

*Homer Simpson voice* MMMMM, eye candy...and lots of it! one thing I'm really pleased to see is that you can now build multiple coasters in the same park. About time! Also those track switches and transfer tracks are awesome. I love how you can turn on manual block mode to take a train on or off the main circuit or to test the blocks without doing e-stop after e-stop. My laptop is dying; is it greedy if I wait till NL2 comes out and then upgrade my computer accordingly?

[Paul Drabek]

It is not greedy at all. I need to upgrade my laptop with a new HD as all the photos and video have filled my 500gb hard drive and I can go from 4 to 8 gb ram for just $60 which is not bad at all.

[CptBeeble]

There's a new video up on YouTube showing editing features of NL2. Let's give it a thorough screening, shall we?



0:00 - Main screen has "play" and "editor" on it, so the editor and simulator will be together in one app, as promised
0:09 - Tabs at top say Park, Coaster, Track, Elements, Supports, Terrain, Scenery, Advanced
- below that, checkboxes for grid and snap, display button, pull-down showing Speed Comb, and zoom in/out
- Coaster styles shown include 2 new ones: 4D Coaster and Gravity Group Timberliner
- Note the ability to choose how "worn" the coaster appears!
- New buttons on the left side let you rotate or mirror the coaster automatically
- Vertices appear to function differently, as many are below the curves rather than on them
0:10 - SPLIT SCREEN EDITING showing wireframe 2D in one pane and 3D in the other. I think I just peed myself a little.
- Note the 3D pane shows the train in the station even though the track isn't complete. Handy for making proper length stations! Yay!
- The left side menu includes "Add 4D parameter" which is not grayed-out, even though this is a woodie. Hmm....
0:11 - Lift/drop are pulled up and the whole thing scales automatically.
- drop down menu includes "speed comb" and "gForce comb" among other things
0:12 - gForce comb in action. Shows where the problems are without having to do a simulator run
- segment popup window for track banking has a button labeled "no lateral G Forces". Awesome.
0:13 - Split-screen editing with stacked screens rather than side-by-side
0:14 - FOUR-PANE editing, holy crap. This will be SO handy.
0:16 - Ability to move a brake section like a slider. Doesn't stay on just one segment, moves up and down the track.
0:17 - Ability to stretch the length of a particular type of track segment onto other sections
0:18 - 0:21 - Shows the "no lateral G force" button in action.
0:22 - Shows ease of stretching out a curve while keeping it smooth
0:25 - Ability to rotate a whole section of track
0:27 - Ability to rotate a much larger section of track
0:30 - Buttons labeled "De-pump vertices" and "new formula" have my attention. Speed Comb displayed on screen.
0:32 - "Depump Vertices" in action
0:35 - terrain editing. Looks a bit less confusing than before. Nice that you can have the track right there already and form around it.
0:48 - same terrains as before, but supports custom bitmapped images
0:53 - trees look great!
0:55 - wood support generator looks exactly the same
1:06 - Timberliners climb the lift. Everything looks great!
1:11 - Blurry with lens flare. J.J.Abrams approves!
1:18 - I had no idea Timberliners' guide wheels were that exposed
1:35 - Shadows change with time of day. Nice.
1:42 - Must be Holiwood Nights, we're getting a dark ride on Voyage!
1:47 - train coming out of darkness into a light source (what? Another ride?) looks great

[Spencerman]

That. Is. Epic.

[Paul Drabek]

That is just sick! I can't wait to play with NL2!

[Sora]

0:18 - 0:21 - Shows the "no lateral G force" button in action.

Excellent. Now I can build a realistic GCII coaster.

[Sora]

The NL team have released a final teaser showing various coaster types in action. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!



That video is LUSH. In it we see the following:

A 4d coaster coming off the lifthill with the cars tumbling, then off-ride and pov footage as it goes through a barrel roll.

Viper, with another coaster in the background, showing multiple coasters in the same park.

Off-ride footage of a vertical drop coaster as it is held over the drop, then descends and flies through an inversion.

An Arrow suspended coaster, showing the swinging cars in action. A nice touch is that the cars in the video swing a bit after the brakes are applied, just like the real thing.

Footage of a B&M flyer shwoing the lifting up action in the station followed by a bit of off-ride footage.

This is going to be SICK!

[CptBeeble]

The 4D, Arrow, and Flying coasters are all at Magic Mountain. That coaster in the background of the Arrow footage is X2.
The Dive Coaster appears to be a custom job, incorporating a Rip Ride Rockit style "loop" with an extra twist on the down side (schweeeet!).
I thought the Suspended was SFMM's Ninja, but that wood coaster saddled up next to it threw me off. It might be custom as well.

While I'm stoked about building a 4D, it's kinda interesting to me that the footage that made me drool (and possibly even wet myself a little, I'll have to check, lol) was the Suspended coaster. Holy crap, that's a genre that I think was really, REALLY underdeveloped. After the failure of KI's Bat, it seems that Arrow erred on the side of caution with every creation after that. Big Bad Wolf was awesome, of course, but if you took it out of its setting, the ride was fairly bland up until the ending. SFMM's Ninja has a better layout, but I still think that kind of ride could be so much more than it was. Now we can see for ourselves.

I wonder if we all built badass suspended coasters (with the pro version of NL2) and made videos and sent those to parks... if they might want S&S to build a suspended coaster in the future? Maybe CP can replace Draggin' Iron with a good ride!

[Sora]

While I'm stoked about building a 4D, it's kinda interesting to me that the footage that made me drool (and possibly even wet myself a little, I'll have to check, lol) was the Suspended coaster. Holy crap, that's a genre that I think was really, REALLY underdeveloped.

YES, exactly. It was that and the dive coaster that made me drool. I agree about the suspended coaster being underdeveloped - I've only ridden one (Flight Deck at KI) but my goodness, it was quite a ride. What most impressed me about Flight Deck was that you think the swinging of the cars would negate the forces on the turns, but it doesn't work like that. They're actually quite intense, and the whole ride feels entirely out of control. The suspended coaster may persuade me to tackle terraforming. I'll definitely be getting the pro version.

[CptBeeble]

If you like Flight Deck, you need to sell everything you own, mortgage your grandmother or something, and get to Toronto.
YES, their "Vortex" is the same layout, but it was designed for that park's terrain - where KI's version seems to sorta work against the terrain. The ride is solidly in my top 20 steelies and stayed in the top 10 until I hit about the 500 mark. I got off the ride dazed, breathless, surprised, and LMAO. I remember saying something to the effect of "dafuq did I just do?"

[Paul Drabek]

If you like Flight Deck, you need to sell everything you own, mortgage your grandmother or something, and get to Toronto.
YES, their "Vortex" is the same layout, but it was designed for that park's terrain - where KI's version seems to sorta work against the terrain. The ride is solidly in my top 20 steelies and stayed in the top 10 until I hit about the 500 mark. I got off the ride dazed, breathless, surprised, and LMAO. I remember saying something to the effect of "dafuq did I just do?"

I totally agree Vortex in Canada is just amazing. Way better than that KI one.

[CptBeeble]

So in preparation for NL2, I've ordered a bright, shiny new seriously badass iMac. I got the improved graphics card and doubled the RAM just to make sure. I'll partition off a secure corner of the HD, install Windoze on it, and get NL2 and maybe Theme Park Studio.
Once the Mac version drops, I'll probably never visit that Windoze area again, unless Theme Park Studio turns out to be any good.

YAY for 18 month no-interest financing!

[CptBeeble]

Release date announced: Jan 10, 2014

Of course, that's the day that starts my vacation. I'll have to wait another week.

[Paul Drabek]

I guess that I plan on doubling my ram from 4 to 8 GB in a few weeks will be a good thing.

[CptBeeble]

What I ordered:
3.5GHz Intel quad-core i7
16G DDR3 SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB graphics card

Seriously, if that won't run NL2, they're gonna have a hard time selling it.