NoLimits 2 Roller Coaster Simulation news & patch notes

Happy Holidays!

New update released with a new major feature: Easy to use path system for creating walkways. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/6631937/61e1d924f4a0ab1f2ed2e35bdd87915584e55962.jpg

New Path System

It works similar to a paint program. Simply draw straigths and perfect curves. Create more complex paths by simply painting multiple straights or curve elements on top of each other. Paths will automatically be placed on top of terrain and will then stay there fixed. Select from 10 different surface materials. Select from 4 different curb styles that will be added automatically to path edges. This update contains many more small improvements and features, here is brief list of what else is new...

Materials

• Track and supports are rendered now using true PBR materials.
• Both steel roller coasters and wooden roller coaster materials were changed.
• Specular highlights should be more realistic, especially on steel supports and track.

Dynamic Environment

• New Rayleigh scattering effect.
• Makes distant objects to appear slightly more blueish and brighter. Most noticeable on the far horizon.

Editor

• Coaster Properties can now be opened and changed even for frozen coasters.
• Added 'Choose From Selection' button. Can be used to quickly choose a scene object from a currently selected instance.
• Added Support Free Node Panel. Can be used to precisly set the free node's position.
• Added keyboard short cuts for switching views (similiar to how it works in Blender)
• Added 'Flatten Terrain' option. Can be used to make a region of terrain to an average height easily. Each terrain layer now has individual texture scaling (Repeats) values. Now it should be much easier to create individual layers, because tweaking the scaling will never affect other layers.

4D Coaster Style

• Added 4D Range Offset angle option to Coaster Properties panel. This can be used to shift the range of available 4D rotation angles.
• Added 4D Angle on transfers option to Coaster Properties panel. This can be used to change the angle on tracks where it is not possible to add 4D parameter points.
• Added rail support connector '4D Special Horizontal' which is found on typical 4D coasters.

Shadows

• Improved smoothened shadows with less jaggy artefacts.
• Fixed a problem with shadows looking weird or dissappearing on some VR headsets.

Steam Deck and Game Controllers

• Improved Steam Deck support
• Using Steam Input now instead of XInput (Steam version only).
• Default Steam Deck controller layout for Steam Input added.
• Entering text in text boxes (such as the search field on the help window) will now open the Steam Deck virtual touch display keyboard.
• Improved Steam Deck detection which will make NL2 start in fullscreen mode, when started for the first time.
• Added a few Steam Deck and Linux related optimizations which should increase FPS slighly.
• The real buttons of the used controller type should now be displayed on the Controller Mapping panel, instead of showing a general XBox controller layout.

More...

For a more detailed list of what else is new, see in-game 'Main Menu -> Info -> What's new'...

Maintenance Update 2.6.5.4 with many improvements released... This update addresses many track hardware (brakes and transport devices) related issues. The device placement code was completely overhauled to make it less likely that brakes and transports intersect with cross ties or segment borders. All coaster styles were examined and placement rules were fine tuned for each. Some track styles with specific support rail connectors will now not intersect with cross ties any more. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/6631937/57ea9e7d61d9a7054822db76c7ef5317f7bd631d.jpg Furthermore, most older friction tire objects got updated by higher quality models or received higher detail. Some track styles also received better magnetic brake models. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/6631937/a5652b2425fceaaa1c39d24b91b48c4a16dbe503.jpg The editor got improved with a couple of usefull new features and fixes. First of all, there is now an 'Add on Plane' option for scenery objects, which will automatically rotate and place new objects based on the detected plane under the mouse cursor. It is very usefull for adding objects attached to walls or stacking objects on the floor. The snap settings now have moved from the preferences to the main window, for faster access. Lift sections have received new options. Lifts now do not have to be a block. They can also now be a simple anti-rollback section without any drive devices. There were many other smaller new additions, like a couple of new foliage objects with an experimental new LOD system. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/6631937/814a1fef22769a51694d5eff84a788ce35d7210a.jpg Trees were created using 'Tree It'. For a more detailed list of what else was included in this update, see the in-game changelog (main menu -> Info -> What's new).

Small patch with a couple of bug fixes and MK1101 cross tie improvements

A new add-on is available which extends the base game with an additional coaster style: The Vekoma MK1101. It is a modern and popular coaster style with a sleek design. Vekoma Rides Manufacturing B.V. granted us an official license to use the product and company names and design for this add-on. This add-on consists of a new train and track, recreating the real MK1101 coaster type produced by Vekoma Rides Manufacturing B.V. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/6631937/3e29a78501fa0e58fd8b543f698e93a65215e132.jpg Features of the add-on:

• High detailed train with launch/chain lift option. The train's bottom side magnets will be automatically adjusted.
• High detailed track hardware (friction tire, LSM module, static magnetic brake).
• Normal and thick spine option.
• Two new parks demonstrating both the LSM launch and the chain lift version.
• Special horizontal rotating track switch
• Automatically generated track covers protecting the friction tires from the chain dog in the chain lift version

Next to selecting between launch and chain lift version, the train offers other new options:

• Optional handrails on front of car
• Optional vests on restraints
• Customizable nylon wheel colors
• Zero car cover can be removed (for scripted custom theming)
• Other car covers can be removed (for scripted custom theming)

The add-on is available on Steam only. If you are a customer of the stand-alone version of NL2 purchased from our website, you are encouraged to switch to the Steam version. For a free Steam key, send an email to us (email address can be found ingame when clicking on Info) using the same email address you used to purchase the game from our website. Provide your stand-alone User ID and Key in case you do not have access to your old email address anymore.

Small patch which fixes are few bugs with the MK1101

This is a smaller maintenence update. Here is the change log:

• Preparation for the upcoming Vekoma MK1101* Coaster Style DLC
• Button watch in VR mode
• Support pipes, flanges, and footers can now be colored as 'unpainted metal'
• Improved nut and bolt objects on track and supports
• Added invert mouse option
• A couple of other smaller fixes and improvements (see 'Main menu -> Info -> What's new' for details)

I am aware that there weren't any updates for a longer time. A couple of changes were required to be made, related to the distribution and future planning, meanwhile. A new coaster style DLC was planned to come out for a long long time. Unfortunately there were some delays, some reasons for the delays were technical and some personal. I am finally very excited to announce that the DLC is coming out very soon, and this update lays down the foundation for it. * Vekoma MK1101 is a product of Verkoma Rides Manufacturing B.V. A license is granted to use the company and product name.

The new 2.6.4.0 update contains some cool new features. Fully automatic generated 3D control panels finally found their way into NoLimits 2. They are completely interactive, and can be controlled using mouse and even VR motion controllers. You can press the buttons with your index finger in VR, it is a lot of fun. Flashing lights, sounds and vibration give feedback. Even without VR, they are lot of fun using the mouse. There are two modes, either use the centered dot and left click on the buttons, or right click to show the mouse cursor and directly point on the desired button. This cursor system is also scriptable and allows for easy interaction with custom scenery, too. The control panels will be automatically generated when the standard station building is used. For custom stations, it is possible to generate the control panel at a custom location (simply add an empty control panel desk object to the location where you want the control panel to be generated). Button and lights objects are included for further customization and new scripting APIs make it also possible to implement a custom control panel more easily. Here are the main new features listed...

• Automatic generated 3D Control Panels with user interaction (mouse and VR controllers)
• Scriptable Cursor System (for mouse and VR controller interaction)
• User Texture option for scene Objects
• Billboard Scene Object Set demonstrating the new User Texture option.
• Local Transform option in Editor
• Many more fixes and improvements...

See in-game change log (Main menu -> info -> What's new) for more details. Have fun!

• Fixes a few problems including a crash when running on Linux with Wine/Proton.
• Fixes a few other crashes.
• Small VR changes.

See in-game changelog for more details (Main menu -> Info -> What's New...)

Small patch which fixes bugs introduced by previous update

Small update released with the following highlights,..

• Mac: Native Apple Silicon CPU support.
• New Dark Theme user interface option.
• New slim loading screen (can be configured to stay at the bottom for each park).
• VR: Loading Screen is now lag-free in VR mode.
• VR: Experimental OpenXR API support.

Read the full changelog in-game (Main menu -> Info -> What's new).

Yet another update with some more bug fixes..

• 360 degree video export fixed.
• Brake placement for short sections fixed.
• Pressing Q key in external ride views fixed.
• Fixed a wierd problem when keyframing animation and scripted animation gets both used at the same time for a scene object.

• Small patch, that fixes a couple of bugs that sneaked into 2.6.2.0.
• VR Vignette is disabled by default now.
• Improved framerates on Mac, especially on Apple M1* graphics.
• Mac binary is now notarized.

* Native Apple Silicon support is coming soon, it is not included in this update yet.

Highlights are...

• Improved VR mode
• Added support for VR controllers
• Added VR comfort options and teleportation mode
• Improved wooden support generator for non-hybrid wooden coasters
• Added Hide/Unhide option for hiding Scene Objects in Editor
• Lots of smaller bug fixes and improvements
• More scripting options
• ...

For a detailed change-list, click in game on Info -> What's New

The long-awaited hybrid coaster update has finally arrived. We released the new 2.6 update on January 10th, the day of the 6th anniversary of NoLimits 2. It is free for all customers of NoLimits 2 Roller Coaster Simulation. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/6631937/328a997eec69ab6e38ca7632cc2fcd7caace53ee.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/6631937/a44a44e0c05ebdc121ab3db4ae45e34952a89892.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/6631937/14860d0af19545afd507fa41c740d039ceb91751.jpg The new hybrid coaster comes in two variations. One normal version and one LSM launch version with headrests. There is now a total of 43 different coaster styles included in the software. The new wooden support generator was completely rewritten to fit the new hybrid styles. It gives great results for inline twist inversions out-of-the-box, and only in rare cases manual adjustments are required. There are more new features and optimizations included. Here is a shortened list of the update change log:

• New coaster style: Hybrid Coaster (standard)
• New coaster style: Hybrid Coaster (launched)
• Two new parks demonstrating the new coaster styles
• Completely rewritten Wooden Support Generator
• Automatic supporting of inline twist inversions
• Automatic wide supporting for heavily banked tracks
• Special patterns for new hybrid coasters
• Normal patterns for standard wooden coasters
• Generates bolts and nuts
• Rectangular steel beams can be without paint
• New MSAA anti-aliasing option
• Improved Shadows
• Improved loading times of parks

For the full change-log, inside the software, from the main menu, click on Info -> What's new.

We uploaded a new update with a couple of small improvements and optimizations. Click ingame on Info -> What's New for a detailed list of changes. Here is a shortened list including the most import changes

• Improved Linux/SteamOS/Wine compatibility
• Improved automatic occlusion system resulting in higher framerates in some parks
• Several optimizations in Mac port resulting in higher scripting performance
• New flat ride Wave Swinger
• Progress bar when taking poster screenshots (pro version only)

We are still working on a larger free update that will contain a new coaster style called the Hybrid Coaster. It will definitely come out, but we may take some more time. We are trying to finish it before Christmas 2019.

We just released 2.5.7 with plenty of new features and improvements https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/6631937/25c2918e4e045f28c6b533e9f40cfa3436256f3e.jpg Here is the list of the most important news. The full list of changes can be seen inside the program (Main menu -> Info -> What's new).

• New flat ride Ranger
• New flat ride Sky Hawk
• Script Parameters
• Video file playback on materials
• Various demo objects that demonstrate the new script parameters:
  • Area Music
  • Onboard Music
  • Video Screen
  • Fire Effect
• 360° Equirectangular Video Export option with Professional License*
• New bottom accented spine type on Twisted Coaster styles
• Manual focus distance option for field of view effect
• Improved fog effect with dynamic sky

Both new flat rides are recreations of classic fun fair rides. They are highly detailed with realistic sound effects. Also, they can be operated manually. Check out the Doppel Looping park where both rides were installed. The new Script Parameter feature is a fundamental new option that will improve the usabilty of new scripted objects in the future a lot. They will allow the user to customize settings of the objects through the scene object instance panel, which can then be processed by scripts attached to the object. There are a lot of possibilities. * The Professional License upgrade can be purchased on our website nolimitscoaster.com

We recently brought out v2.5.6 which is a minor update with some internal changes and optimizations. Users with high resolution displays (Retina/4k) who prefer running the program in Window mode, may try out the new Window Half Resolution option, which is available when a display with a high resolution is detected. Setup -> Display: Display Mode: Window Resolution: Half Window Resolution This special window mode makes the program render at half resolution which can tremendiously improve framerates, especially on laptops (e.g. MacBooks with Retina displays). Full change log of update can be seen inside the program (Info -> What's new).

We are proud to have released a new update for NoLimits 2 with cool new features and all new Mac compatibility. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/6631937/d0112b0d21687f66436ceaca32216fb82771da60.jpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-lZ6gJTDjI Here is a list of the most important changes

Mac version is now available

NL2 now fully supports the Mac. Please make sure to check the requirements before purchasing. We recommend a fast graphics card such as a discrete Radeon or GeForce solution, especially when running high resolutions on Retina displays.

New Tilt Track Element

• Easy to use, just like a transfer track
• Timing and tilt angles can be customized
• Works for all coaster styles

New Scenery Objects

• New set of gray rocks and stones
• New set of brown rocks and stones
• New wind power plants
• New high performance forest objects for backgrounds
• New high performance pine tree

New Parks

• Tilt Coaster Park demonstrating the new tilt element
• Rock-it Man Park demonstrating the new scenery objects
• Both new parks are fully optimized for VR

Many internal optimizations

• Better utilization of CPU cores for higher framerates
• Special optimizations for Ryzen CPUs
• Lower latency frame times for better VR experiences
• Higher scripting performance

The NL Dev Team

We are proud to announce that we just uploaded a new update with version 2.5.2.0.... http://downloads.nolimitscoaster.com/steampictures/2520updatenews.jpg

Improved Xbox controller support

The full play mode and main menu can be fully controlled using an Xbox controller now. This is expecially important for VR, which is much easier to use now in combination with the improved VR user interface.

More Highlights

• Improved VR user interface experience
• New exit view allows proper exiting of rides in walk mode
• All included flat rides were fixed to make use of new exit view
• Added customizable Favorites category to all file selection panels
• Scale fixes to some coaster styles for better realism, especially in VR

The NL Dev Team

We are proud to announce that we just uploaded a new update with version 2.5.2.0.... http://downloads.nolimitscoaster.com/steampictures/2520updatenews.jpg

Improved Xbox controller support

The full play mode and main menu can be fully controlled using an Xbox controller now. This is expecially important for VR, which is much easier to use now in combination with the improved VR user interface.

More Highlights

• Improved VR user interface experience
• New exit view allows proper exiting of rides in walk mode
• All included flat rides were fixed to make use of new exit view
• Added customizable Favorites category to all file selection panels
• Scale fixes to some coaster styles for better realism, especially in VR

The NL Dev Team

Most important news in 2.5.1.0:

• New borderless window mode
• More optimizations for multi-core CPUs (around 4% higher framerates)
• Faster loading of DAE files
• Improved block system scripting
• Various bug fixes and improvements

Most important news in 2.5.1.0:

• New borderless window mode
• More optimizations for multi-core CPUs (around 4% higher framerates)
• Faster loading of DAE files
• Improved block system scripting
• Various bug fixes and improvements

We are proud to have released the new major update for NoLimits 2 with lots of new features. http://downloads.nolimitscoaster.com/steampictures/2500updatenews.jpg Here is a list of the most important changes

New Deferred Shading Renderer

This new renderer allows much higher framerates when having lots of light sources and is optimized for medium to high end graphics cards. Here are some of the key features of the new engine:

Improved Light Source Rendering

• Engine scales much better with high number of light sources
• Scales much better with high end graphics cards by reducing driver load (less draw calls)
• Even light sources that are very far away will be rendered
• Improved computation using linear color space for more realistic visuals

New Graphics Effects

• Custom implementation of Screen-space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) greatly improving visuals
• Bloom effect
• Sun shafts effect
• High Dynamic Range lighting with adaptive iris effect (works great together with bloom effect)
• New underwater caustics effect

Smarter Engine

• New automatic occlusion detection system (manual occluders are rarely needed anymore)
• Improved light shafts with higher quality and performance (allows much cooler light effects, such as lasers)
• SMAA anti-aliasing (Copyright (C) 2011 by Jorge Jimenez, Jose I. Echevarria, Tiago Sousa, Belen Masia, Fernando Navarro and Diego Gutierrez.) for best trade-off between performance and quality

New Park Objects

• New park lamp set (over 20 new scene objects)
• New fence set (over 13 new fence types, each coming with multiple variations)
• New bench set (over 15 new scene objects)
• New trash can set (5 new scene objects)
• High Definition foliage set (10 new scene objects)

Improved Sound Effects

• Various coaster styles have received brake sound updates
• Moveable magnetic brakes sound added
• Gate sound added

The NL Dev Team

We are proud to have released the new major update for NoLimits 2 with lots of new features. http://downloads.nolimitscoaster.com/steampictures/2500updatenews.jpg Here is a list of the most important changes

New Deferred Shading Renderer

This new renderer allows much higher framerates when having lots of light sources and is optimized for medium to high end graphics cards. Here are some of the key features of the new engine:

Improved Light Source Rendering

• Engine scales much better with high number of light sources
• Scales much better with high end graphics cards by reducing driver load (less draw calls)
• Even light sources that are very far away will be rendered
• Improved computation using linear color space for more realistic visuals

New Graphics Effects

• Custom implementation of Screen-space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) greatly improving visuals
• Bloom effect
• Sun shafts effect
• High Dynamic Range lighting with adaptive iris effect (works great together with bloom effect)
• New underwater caustics effect

Smarter Engine

• New automatic occlusion detection system (manual occluders are rarely needed anymore)
• Improved light shafts with higher quality and performance (allows much cooler light effects, such as lasers)
• SMAA anti-aliasing (Copyright (C) 2011 by Jorge Jimenez, Jose I. Echevarria, Tiago Sousa, Belen Masia, Fernando Navarro and Diego Gutierrez.) for best trade-off between performance and quality

New Park Objects

• New park lamp set (over 20 new scene objects)
• New fence set (over 13 new fence types, each coming with multiple variations)
• New bench set (over 15 new scene objects)
• New trash can set (5 new scene objects)
• High Definition foliage set (10 new scene objects)

Improved Sound Effects

• Various coaster styles have received brake sound updates
• Moveable magnetic brakes sound added
• Gate sound added

The NL Dev Team

This update includes improvements to the user interface for better VR display. Experimental OpenVR support was added, too.

• The main menu will now be displayed in 3D space in VR mode.
• Pressing R will recenter the VR view inside main menu and play mode.
• Experimental OpenVR support was added, too. We do not own any HTC Vive, so we cannot test properly. We will fix issues as soon as we get feedback from our users.
• The application will automatically detect and use when an Oculus devce is attached using Runtime 1.3. When that is not the case, it will try to detect a device using the OpenVR API.
• VR controllers are not supported, yet. Mouse and keyboard are still required for interaction.

This update includes improvements to the user interface for better VR display. Experimental OpenVR support was added, too.

• The main menu will now be displayed in 3D space in VR mode.
• Pressing R will recenter the VR view inside main menu and play mode.
• Experimental OpenVR support was added, too. We do not own any HTC Vive, so we cannot test properly. We will fix issues as soon as we get feedback from our users.
• The application will automatically detect and use when an Oculus devce is attached using Runtime 1.3. When that is not the case, it will try to detect a device using the OpenVR API.
• VR controllers are not supported, yet. Mouse and keyboard are still required for interaction.

We just released a new beta with experimental Rift 1.3 support for CV1 and DK2. Opt into the beta branch of NL2 inside Steam to try it out.

We just released a new beta with experimental Rift 1.3 support for CV1 and DK2. Opt into the beta branch of NL2 inside Steam to try it out.