Roller Coasters and amusement parks

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C-A_99
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Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by C-A_99 » Fri Jul 02, 2010 6:58 am

I don't think most members here know this, but long before I even needed a war game (which would lead to my finding of water warfare back in 2006), one of my biggest hobbies was roller coasters; designing, riding, etc. I spent hours playing the Roller Coaster Tycoon series and working in various 3D simulations and have created quite a few rides in the past. Some of my work can be found at:

http://coastercrazy.com/track_exchange/ ... e=mytracks

http://www.youtube.com/user/coasteragent99


I bring this up since I'm going to Cedar Point for the 6th time in two weeks. Unfortunately, I haven't been to any other parks with big ticket roller coasters.

Now to tie this in with water warfare, any of you who've ridden water rides at amusement parks have no doubt been drenched at least as much as in the average soakfest. Gallons of water get thrown about on flumes' huge drops, and we have places like Hershey park with the Roller Soaker. (The ride is a suspended coaster which has a lever which, when pulled, dumps water out of the car and onto those walking on the midways below.)

Is anyone else here a, well, coaster junkie? Or at least likes to visit local amusement parks regularly to take some 70mph plunges?

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martianshark
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by martianshark » Fri Jul 02, 2010 5:58 pm

I am! :D Unfortunately, all of my awesome creations are on another computer, and I can't get it from that one to this one. :(

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C-A_99
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by C-A_99 » Fri Jul 02, 2010 7:25 pm

You could network the computers together, upload the files somewhere (I use Mediafire; free and supports large files but can't direct-link them.), and/or use a flash drive to carry them over. I've gotten flash drives to work on computers as early as Windows 2000 but for older OS's you may need drivers.

Alternatively, if the old computer is pretty much useless, you can transfer its HDD into a slightly newer computer. You'll need a bit technical know-how (set jumpers on the drives, connect cables accordingly, and you may need to set the boot priority/order to ensure the computer boots from the correct HDD) but I could assist with that. However, I did that for one of my old computers and everything can be transfered over nicely. Unfortunately, some of my other HDD's broke somehow; one was long gone and another broke when I put it in another computer. I'm not sure how it happened but old HDD's tend to be extremely unreliable; they get smeared with errors all over the place if you so much as shut down the system improperly.

I have all RCT's and also NoLimits, Scream Machines, and Hyper Rails. Of course, NoLimits is the only 3D simulator that stays up to date now; SM is dying slowly (though the developer has been working on SM2 for years but hasn't posted any news for roughly the same time period) and HR was dead well over 5 years ago. So of course, like everyone else, I work mostly in NoLimits and I play RCT when I want to build a few whimsical worlds quickly. RCT3 runs much better on my gaming rig than any other system I've had, which will allow for considerably larger parks.
Last edited by C-A_99 on Fri Jul 02, 2010 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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martianshark
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by martianshark » Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:15 pm

I tried that, but it still can't read the snapshot files for some reason. I would just use the computer's built-in snapshot thingy, but I don't know how to use it. It says to push a certain button on the keyboard to take a snapshot, but I don't know what to do next.

Anyway, I installed RCT onto this computer so I can build stuff on here now. I'm also working on a water warfare scenario.

All I have is the first RCT. I also have Sim Theme Park Gold Edition, but it's very limited and doesn't really have any coasters.

Fredcompany
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by Fredcompany » Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:57 pm

if you mean the "print screen" button, then you just press that.
Then go into pretty much any image editing program (or Word or PowerPoint)
Just paste it into there. Basically what you do when you press print screen is you "copy" what's on the screen.
That's the simplest explanation I can think of.
I'm a dude

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martianshark
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by martianshark » Fri Jul 02, 2010 10:26 pm

Thanks. Now I can post them, but I'll have to do it later.

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C-A_99
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by C-A_99 » Fri Jul 02, 2010 11:08 pm

If you're using Vista or 7, you'll want to disable UAC (User Account Control, google to find how) which will prevent such files from showing up. In Vista, UAC has also prevented programs from saving files before, if I recall correctly. You can also set all your programs to run as administrator but that can take a while if you have a lot of programs.

Printscreen is a tedious method of saving screenshots and one you definitely don't want to use when taking a large number of screenshots at a time, or when playing a game. Don't paste the printscreen into Word or PowerPoint because none of them will be able to save the image properly as far as I know.

Titan
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by Titan » Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:31 pm

I too am a coaster-freak, I've been every park owned by Walt Disney in addition to these more die hard coaster/thrill ride parks...

Six Flags Great America Gurnee, Illinois, USA
Six Flags Magic Mountain Valencia, California, USA
Cedar Point Sandusky, Ohio, USA
Kings Island Kings Mills, Ohio, USA
SeaWorld San Antonio San Antonio, Texas, USA
Six Flags Fiesta Texas San Antonio, Texas, USA
Six Flags Over Texas Arlington, Texas, USA
Busch Gardens Williamsburg Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
Kings Dominion Doswell, Virginia, USA
Busch Gardens Africa Tampa, Florida, USA
SeaWorld Orlando Orlando, Florida, USA
Universal Studios Florida Orlando, Florida, USA
Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Orlando, Florida, USA

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C-A_99
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by C-A_99 » Fri Jul 09, 2010 5:21 pm

Nice, I've been stuck to Cedar Point my whole life but can't complain too much about that. Still there's a ton of great rides out there I'd like to get to sometime, such as Superman Ride of Steel at SF New England. (Which people say is a much better ride than Millennium Force, and I don't doubt that one bit considering how MF is just speed, height, and not much else; it's not a very intense ride.) I also want to ride the new Intimidator 305 at King's Dominion, but they put some trim brakes on the first drop to lower maintenance costs on the trains, which also almost completely destroys the experience, causing the cars to crawl on the hills afterwards. Intimidator 305 was designed to be a very intense ride, I would conjecture from the success of Maverick. It seems they didn't foresee some of the implications of that before adding the trim brakes.

The Maverick itself had some intensity taken down too. One of the zero-g-rolls was removed before the ride was open and was replaced with a normal banking transition. The zero-g-roll was very intense and employees who rode it after initial testing said it was uncomfortable, and the g-forces exerted would also contribute to wear and tear on the coaster trains.

One breed of coasters that Cedar Point lacks is good wooden coasters. Mean Streak is nothing but roughness (though I heard they removed some trim brakes a year or two ago so it should be a better ride now with more airtime), and Blue Streak is fun but there's nothing else around. I wouldn't count Gemini as a wooden coaster due to how smooth it is, though it certainly is a great ride.

Titan
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by Titan » Fri Jul 09, 2010 7:29 pm

wow I can't believe I forgot the biggest ride Kingda Ka, it was amazing
Six Flags Great Adventure Jackson, New Jersey, USA

I'm also a huge fan of any B&M hypercoaster the seat design on them is fantastic, nothing over the shoulders because they just go up and down and high banked turns but all of the ones I've been on are awesome, Nitro, Raging Bull, Apollo's Charriot

diamondback is an example of this style seat in ohio, Ohio was my first trip dedicated to coasters, it's been like 15 years since I was there last, I should make the trip and check out all the new stuff

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C-A_99
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by C-A_99 » Fri Jul 09, 2010 7:34 pm

I got to say I don't care too much for Kingda Ka. It's only slightly taller than Top Thrill Dragster with an extra hill, at the exchange of having OTSR's instead of the lap bars on TTD.

Cedar Point's B&M collection is quite limited, but I'd say that Raptor and Mantis capture some of the best work of B&M's design style.

Titan
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by Titan » Fri Jul 09, 2010 7:54 pm

I have not been on TTD, you are probably correct about the harnesses, lap bar would deffinately be a cooler experience

I have never met a B&M I didn't like, they are all super smooth and even the smaller ones are very well planned and executed to thrill even someone as spoiled as myself

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C-A_99
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Re: Roller Coasters and amusement parks

Post by C-A_99 » Fri Jul 09, 2010 11:39 pm

The way B&M crafts their inversions together is pretty nice and they can build quite some fun rides using various elements even if they're not insanely intense like some of the rides Intamin has been building lately. Intamin's newer designing style is a very nice change from their old "Tallest and Fastest coaster in the world!" approach to designing. With parks and manufacturers no longer fixated on height and speed, manufacturers and parks can invest in what matters; quality track design and intense rides.

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