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NoLimits: Tutorial Part Two
NoLimits: Tutorial Part Two / By: Devin Olson, Monday, April 19, 2004 -
As you dig deeper ino NoLimits, you will be impressed with the freedom that this coaster designer gives you, with a seemingly-infinite range of options to make your rides realistic down to the details.

We left off last time with a complete-circuit steel looping coaster complete, and now it's time to make our coaster look as realistic as possible. Now that the trackwork is complete, we'll start out with adjusting some of the options to customize our coaster. Your main resource for general settings can be found by heading to 'Coaster' and then choosing 'Settings.'

Once the Coaster Settings window pops up, you will see a listing of all possible coaster types in NoLimits. One of the conveniences in this sim is that once you've constructed a track, you will have the freedom to change it to any coaster type you want. Just build a Hyper Coaster? Feel free to convert it to a wooden coaster with a single click. Here are all of the current forms of coasters at your fingertips in NL:

  • Steel Looping Coaster - Flat-spined Schwarzkopf track with classic 2-abreast lap bar-only trains
  • Corkscrew Coaster - Spined Arrow Dynamics track with classic 2-abreast Arrow trains
  • Inverted Coaster (2-Seat) - Single-spined inverted-default Vekoma track with normal 2-abreast SLC trains
  • Twisted Steel Coaster - Box-spined Bolliger and Mabillard track with sit-down 4-abreast trains
  • Inverted Coaster (4-Seat) - Box-spined inverted-default Bolliger and Mabillard track with modern B&M inverted trains
  • Hyper Coaster - Triangular Intamin AG skeleton track with modern Intamin mega-coaster trains
  • Floorless Twisted Steel Coaster - Box-spined Bolliger and Mabillard track with floorless 4-abreast trains
  • Stand-Up Twisted Steel Coaster - Box-spined Bolliger and Mabillard track with stand-up 4-abreast trains
  • Hyper Coaster (4-Seat) - Box-spined Bolliger and Mabillard track with raised lap bar-only 4-abreast trains
  • Wooden Coaster (Trailored 2-Seat) - Modern wooden coaster with Great Coasters International single-car Millennium Flyer trains
  • Wooden Coaster (Trailored 4-Seat) - Modern wooden coaster with Chance-Morgan-type 2-row trains
  • Wooden Coaster (Classic 4-Seat) - Modern wooden coaster with modern Philadelphia Toboggan Co. 2-row trains
  • Wooden Coaster (Classic 6-Seat) - Modern wooden coaster with old-style Philadelphia Toboggan Co. 3-row trains


By default, your coaster will already be set to the Steel Looping type, but feel free to change it to any other type that you want. Once that's done, head over to the next tab to the right on the window, the 'Trains' settings. Here we can play around with the number of trains and cars to a train, but you might want to keep in mind that the more trains you have, the more blocks, or zones, you will need in your layout. Every time you place a new train-length segment such as a brake or even a lift section, you create a new zone that allows for safe operation of more trains. Also in this window is the option to apply a texture to your cars, and you should already have some textures available. Finally, head to the 'Colors' settings, where you can have some fun making your ride nice and pretty with some paint customization. Keep in mind that 'Gear Color' actually controls the color of the bottom half of your train.

Now onto the actual segment settings. If you want to control options such as dispatch times, your station building (which unfortunately can't be customized much), or transport wheels from the station (which are un-needed if you slope the station track), just click on your brown station track piece and then go up to the top right area of the screen where you see the gray icon with the blue line at the top. Click on this to view the settings for the station section. Also, clicking on the 'Track Settings' button when you're in Station Segment Settings will give you a window with further options that are your options for your typical piece of track, such as individual segment track colors, or the ability to add a tunnel that are options not usually needed for a station.

Clicking OK will save any changes if you want, and you can adjust the settings for any other track segments now if you wish to. If you want to modify the speed of your lift or change the chain lift to a wheel drive system, you'll need to choose the last segment of your lift, which is shown in bright green. Choosing the other lift segment options will give you the option to remove catwalks from those individual sections. Brake segments will contain settings such as the option to have transport wheels, control maximum allowed speeds, or specify whether or not you wish to have the brake act as a block border. If you add a 'Transport' launch section to a coaster, you will have options on those track segments to choose Linear Induction Motors or Friction-wheels, control launch speeds, and rates of acceleration.

Since we've covered all of the basic settings now, let's get into one of the most important parts of the construction of any coaster in NoLimits: the supports. If you aren't much for taking the time and effort to create custom support structures for your rides (although let it be known that they are a major appreciated part of the coaster, if you plan on making your tracks public), there are pre-made supports available.

In any non-3D view in NoLimits, you can start placing supports on your track. If you need to use the pre-made supports, you'll see them in the middle area of the top of your screen. They are the six buttons directly to the left of the cursor icon: 'A-shaped support,' 'small inverted support,' '90 deg. banking support,' 'Inverted support,' 'complex support structure,' and 'single support.' Some of these, such as the single support column, will likely come in handy even if you plan on doing mostly custom supports. If you just want to use pre-made supports, then feel free to go along your track placing the needed supports.

But if you want to get into custom support work, the three buttons at the very left of the bottom row of icons will be your friends from now on: the 'Fundament,' 'Free Node,' and 'Normal Track Node.' Basically, you will place these wherever needed and connect support beams to them. You will always need to use a Normal Track Node for any support, as it is the point where the support will connect to the track. So click on that icon to get started and then click on the point of the track where you want the support to connect. The overhead view of your track can be the best view for placing support nodes, but once they're in place, going to the 3D view can be the easiest way to connect the nodes with the support pieces.

After the first track node is placed, you can click on the Fundament button, which will place footers in the ground for you. One simple type of custom support is to place two fundaments on either side of your track node. Next, choose which type of support section will connect the track to the footers. There are various-sized tubes available, and even other beams, but the 'Medium' and 'Large' sizes will usually be about standard size for any low-stress area of the layout. Once you've picked which one you'll be using here, overhead or 3D view will make it easy for you to click on a node or fundament and drag the support piece out to connect it to another.

If you head over to the lift section of your coaster, you'll have a nice spot to experiment with building different custom supports. A nice and fun type to try out is the Bolliger and Mabillard-like slanted support structure where you will place several track nodes, but only two fundaments in the center, spaced out far enough on each side of the track. Just drag and connect each of the track nodes to each of the footers, and then you have a quick and good-looking type of lift support in place, and another benefit of this type is that it leaves most of the space under your given section of track open.

To make the supports realistic, try connecting the vertical tubes with horizontal pieces to form true A-fame supports. To do this, go to a side view that has your supports in clear view. Click on one of the footers already in place, and that will set the editor to automatically place any new nodes in the same general area, and not 200 feet behind or in front of where you want them. Now choose the center 'Free Node' which will place new nodes anywhere you need them. Place the new free node where it appears that it will be directly on the support you have in place. Chances are, it won't actually be connected to the support, so go to the overhead view and move it in a straight line so that it's directly on top of the support. Going to the 3D view can be helpful to ensure that the node is placed directly around the support column.

Next, choose the node you just placed and go to overhead view, and place a new free node at the same location on the other side of the track. If your footers are equally spaced, the node will be more or less where it needs to be with little adjusting. Now that both of your free nodes are in place, head back to 3D view and connect them with a new support pole, which could be the same size as the others, or smaller. That completes your A-frame support.

The other type of support structure we'll cover in this tutorial is the most complex type: the support tower. If you want your first one to be quick and painless, make sure that you start it off at a point in your lift not too far above the ground. The first thing to do is place two track nodes fairly close together, say about three crossties apart. In the top view, select a node and then click to add a free node to either side which should be half the length of the space between your two new track nodes. Select the other one of the two track nodes and do the same. This will form a box around that small section of the track. Now, choose one of the small support piece options, possibly a 'small steel beam' or 'thin tube,' and connect your nodes together to form that pretty little box. Now you have a good opportunity to verify that the nodes line up, and if not, make any adjustments.

Your next step to the completion of the support tower will be to place fundament nodes below each corner node you already have for your footers that the tower will connect to when you finish. Now select one of your lower nodes and place a new fundament node below both of the upper ones. Going back to a side view of the section of track you chose to create the tower below, you will need to do a little estimating work to figure out where to place each of your levels for the tower so that they each form something like a box, and so that they each occupy an equal amount of vertical space. To mark where each of those levels will be, select one of the free nodes and then add one about every three grid dots down, or whatever you figure will evenly divide up the space best.

That step complete, go back to overhead view and select another one of the free nodes, then back in side view add a new free node for each of your levels. Repeat this with the remaining two corner nodes from top view. Once you have that completed, all that's left is the fun part - connecting the dots! In 3D view, use the type of beam or tube you chose to connect the nodes. You will need to connect them vertically, horizontally, and also diagonally to form an X on the side of each cube you create, and for your X's, you can use a different support section type that may be slightly smaller than the vertical and horizontal pieces. When you reach the bottom and connect the last level of free nodes to your footers, you're finished, and can zoom back and admire your hard work!

Hope that you found the tutorial helpful on your quest through learning all of the areas of NoLimits, and if you want to get into the even more advanced NL work on the road to a complete, realistic coaster track, stay tuned for the third part of the tutorial series for Terraforming and more!