Omug's Close-up: NoLimits Roller Coaster Simulation

© B Y ..S T E V E ..W E L S H
Oregon MacPioneers User Group (Omug)

Feel like vomiting? Combing your hair back into place? Checking to see if your car keys are still in your pocket? But you're just sitting dizzy facing your Mac screen in your chair at home?

Excellent. You've just experienced NoLimits Roller Coaster Simulation software for the Mac. And it doesn't get more realistic than this (for now) unless you go to Disney World or Busch Gardens and climb inside a real amusement park thrill ride.

No one could rightfully review this superbly designed simulator if they had never experienced a real roller coaster, and since I have the vomit-stained t-shirt to prove it (well, OK, it's washed, IT'S WASHED!), I feel as qualified as a 12-year-old with a fistful of cotton candy during summer vacation to compare the two. The delightful benefits of simulator software -- well produced ones, that is -- are as inviting and satisfying as they are plentiful:

You are placed in an artificial environment that removes some real-world barriers, such as, in the realm of roller coasters, no age or height limit to hop on board; the weather (no rain or humidity to dampen your fun); bug-free rides (who likes to scream while hurtling down a track and then, as if fired from a rapid-fire slingshot, swallow a 8 mosquitoes or June bugs?); are you a full-bodied giant or skinnier than a Nano iPod? ... no worries, no weight requirements to ride here; and an absence of instant shirt- or head-puree dressings (from the other folks riding next or behind you). And of course, the big one:

After you buy this software, all the rides are free!

But simulator software isn't worth your time unless it delivers in some critical areas. It has to aspire to touching as many of your senses as possible, even trick your mind or equalibrium into feeling some or all of the sensations that you would on a roller coaster. Visually (the No. 1 sense factor for computers) and audibly, NoLimits does a superb job. Screen shots and my descriptions here won't do it justice, so you will have to go to NoLimits website <www.nolimitscoaster.com> and download the free DEMO. But let me take you for a quick ride, er, tour here:

So many parks, so many rides, and so little time

After installing, NoLimits Roller Coaster Simulation (version 1.55 tested by us) launches by taking you to a screen where you can immediately change settings or pick a track to ride. You will want to take your time -- maybe after your first few rides -- and get to know the many keyboard commands for getting around and accessing some "hidden" features. But for your first time, I highly recommend just picking a Track and sitting back (or leaning forward with your arms up in the air) to soak in the thrill of this simulator.

You may notice some familiar names when scouting the various Tracks included. This is because many are exact replica tracks of real park roller coasters around the country. I can vouch for the authenticity of a handful of these Tracks, ones I rode at the real amusement or theme parks from which they mirror. Taking a ride on The Wolf or The Loch Ness brought back instant memories -- on the latter, the first time my wife and I rode this bright yellow-structured pretzel, she (her eyes clamped shut) nearly crushed my hand squeezing it so hard on the first death-defying drop! Riding the Loch Ness on the NoLimits simulator took me back to that wonderful vacation years ago (and made my hand throb again). You should be equally pleased with the time-warp and reminiscing when you take a virtual ride on a Track you have experienced in real life.

Soaking in your first ride

After you select the Track you want and click "Ride..." you will instantly appear in the Loading Zone or Station House and find yourself seated in the front car -- oh, joy! Now there is a another benefit of the simulator -- you just skipped the 20-40 minute wait in line that you typically face on a busy summer vacation day at one of the real parks. Before you get to soak in the scenery, the pressurized "lock you into your seat" harness comes down across you, and your roller coaster begins to slowly pull out of the Station House to begin your journey of (more reality) roughly 3-5 minutes.

Harness down and get ready for your first ride.

Visually, you will appreciate the fine detail of the roller coaster structure, the carts, sky color and depth of your ride. Your view is literally as it would be in that front seat. And depending upon how "motion savvy" your equilibrium is, you will begin to feel the movement of that first turn and twist. So, here you go ...

Like any well-designed roller coaster ride, most track designs will give you a slow build up of what is to come. In the majority of parks around the country (although there is a recent trend away from this in the newer structures), you will almost immediately come to a very steep climb. In a beautiful touch, NoLimits lets you "turn your head" from side to side just by moving the mouse, so that you can enjoy the landscape as you gradually "click, click, click, click" your way to the apex. You can feel your stomach starting to knot up. And then ..
.
AAAUUUUGGGGHHHH!

Enjoy the beautiful view before your first scream.

Let it out! But don't close your eyes, or you will miss out on what NoLimits brings to the table, folks. The sound effects are authentic, too, and you will hear that rapidly-growing-louder "wwwwwhooooooosh!" as your roller coaster drops at an insane angle and speed, then hear the strain of the carts against the track as you go into a few loops and twists (some, of course, upside down). Make sure you are sitting in a chair with arm rests, because you may just want to put a death grip on them. Keyboard options can change your angle of view, switch seats, look behind, or even become a "fly on the wall" and view the whole ride from afar (with the ability to zoom in).

This Park is open 24/7

Another simulator benefit? Forget the seasonal open or closed park times. If you want a roller coaster ride at 4 a.m. to compliment your cup of caffeine, go for it. Kids have cleared the dinner table without being asked? Reward them with a trip on their own roller coaster ride, right in your living room or den (or where ever you have stationed your Mac). Oh, and crank up those speakers -- unless you live in an apartment complex or a nursing home, or are trying to sneak in some rides while you study in a library. Actually, not to be unneighborly Mr. Rogers, but if you had to be reciprocal to a very noisy neighbor who just won't respect your need for quiet, well ... (I'll let YOU fill in the blanks, so I can keep my conscious clean). However, this does remind me of a favorite scene of mine from a Woody Allen movie: In a flashback, Woody recalls his childhood, growing up in an apartment which was located below a bowling alley. His family yelled and argued so much at dinner it was the BOWLERS who complained of noise! I think he liked this irony, because Allen repeated the humor in another movie where a family was living below the roller coaster tracks at Coney Island.

Does dizziness feel better at dusk? You be the judge.

NoLimits gives you a healthy collection of Tracks (I counted 25) to begin with "right out of the box." After you try them all, you will surely have your favorites. But if you think you will wear out your enthusiasm for this sim after you've ridden every one, think again. You have control over the time of day you take a ride at any of these parks. Which means you can select a sun-lit, bright yellow-ish sky at noon, an orange and purple-ish dusk horizon, a hazy October-like fog, or a crisp, cool-air, star-filled night sky to bring a variety of flavors to your thrill experience. And believe me, the time of day or the specifics of weather do make a difference.

Climb aboard the Geek Train

For the control frea..., er, users, or the high-tech geeks, or the "how many ways can I customize or tweak my software?" folks, you should enjoy exploring the settings screens. For effect or just to monitor how this sim performs on your system model, you can toggle on or off a thin "menu bar" status at the top of your screen while you ride. It displays FPS (frames per second, your video quality/smoothness, which can vary due to several processor intense factors), SPD (speed of your coaster), Vert. & Horiz. (vertical and horizontal coordinates, kinda' like having a GPS system while you ride), and ACC (?). In the Graphics and Advanced screens you can manipulate settings such as Shadow, Dithering, Texture filter, Reflection, or full screen mode (or smaller), among other options. How authentic is the sound? Get this: many of the rides (like on wooden tracks) were recorded from actual rides. Nice.

Switching views is easy. Take a backwards look
at the Station House, it may your last.

Installation is an easy ride

You can start vomiting, er, uh, riding in your roller coaster in a matter of minutes, as long as it takes you to download the DEMO from the website. Like what you see, hear and feel? Just register and pay online if you want and you will be emailed an unlock code and, voila!, you have the full version ready to roar on your Mac. What I like is that upon the first launch the software checks your Mac system configuration/model (is it a G3, G4 or G5? How much RAM? Mhz of your processor?) and gives you default settings that should best perform with your Mac's capabilities (including the power of your graphics/video card, which makes a big difference in video quality levels).

I recommend you save your original, compressed version of the software, along with the unlock code, for safe keeping, in case you change hard drives or have to re-install down the road.

Performance

I tested NoLimits Roller Coaster Simulation on a what most gamers would consider a low-end system (ha, but *I* don't): a 700 mhz, iMac G4 15-inch flat-panel with 768mb of RAM. It performed, I'm happy to report, very well -- smooth and snappy, in the default 640 x 480 full screen resolution, in 16-bit texture depth, typically giving me a 24-30 frames-per-second on even complex Tracks. I can only imagine that the realism and impact increases exponentially with each higher-powered/configured Mac system you use, and that's what you want. But we prefer to get our feet wet on low- or entry-level Macs because we feel this gives us a better "real world" test of the software's design/programming/capabilities. That, and we don't have a dual-processor G5 (yet). We tested this sotware on 5200 and 7200 rpm hard drives. We had no crashes or freezes, or problems of any kind with this version.

Add an extra layer of creepiness and suspense
by choosing to ride in a dense fog.

NoLimits Roller Coaster Simulation is published by Mad-Data <www.mad-data.com>. Thumbs up (and our lunch) on the quality Ole Lange and the whole production team put into this simulator.

Recommendation and Summary

I've run across a few other roller coaster simulators out there, but none that have crossed my path has impressed me from the first ride as well as this one. Aside from performance and impact, we highly recommend this software for other important reasons:

1) It's entertaining software for the whole family and all ages (a refreshing alternative to the bloody, violent, crude or profane-language laced action or shooter games out there -- not that all of those types are, but there are a lot out there) -- this alone makes it worth every penny, we think; 2) It's priced right at $29.95; 3) It's easy to purchase and set up; and 4) Takes up only (roughly) 55 mb on your hard drive.

Downsides? Just a few, and these are minor or just a matter of taste. The landscapes off in the horizons are good, but seem scarce in detail at time, more like a moderate 3D software effort. It would be cool to add another layer of realism by basing the landscape backgrounds on actual photographs of the real rides. I realize that to do this would jack up the processor intensity, and maybe knock a few lower-end Macs out of the picture based on performance/graphics requirement minimums, but, hmmm, maybe create an "Ultimate" version for the "I got a dual-processor G5" gamers? Still, this is a minor cut, given the excellent overall performance and feel of this sim.

No purple haze here, just a purple and orange sunset
while 2 roller coasters follow every twist and loop on this track.

The creators could have inserted people into the sim, but that's asking for a whole new performance ball game here (facial expressions, screaming, flying chunks of... well, you get the picture). That would certainly give the potential for humor, wouldn't you say?

The only suggestion I have for Mad-Data/NoLimits to improve this sim is to sell a variable-speed fan as an accessory to hook up to your Mac, so you can point it at your face and feel the wind blast through your hair as you enjoy each ride. Oh, and maybe a doggie barf bag, too?

All your other senses, and expectations, are covered.

END OF REVIEW
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From the manufacturer:

Your graphics card is the most important component for using NoLimits. If your frame rates are too slow, consider a better graphics card instead of a faster processor. If your processor is over 500 MHz, upgrading it will only make a big difference if you upgrade your graphics card too. If you have framerates around 1 fps, this means that your graphics card is simply incompatible or not equipped with enough video memory.