Five Hours of Power VIII - RMC the Son of Beast - Winner: H3lix!
Official Rules for 2022:
Finished submissions must be uploaded to a file exchange site of your choice, then you must fill out this form with the required information: https://forms.gle/NFpkCFdU6bjpE4kH6
PLEASE RENAME THE CONTEST FILE WITH YOUR COASTER'S NAME AND YOUR NAME!!!
Late submissions will be disqualified.
The Challenge: RMC the Son of Beast
Park owners were curious to see what Son of Beast would be like if given the full RMC treatment by RMC. Only problem the ride was torn down years ago. Solution: Son of Beast lives on again, rebuilt from scratch to the exact dimensions it once was! Now it's up to you to RMC Son of Beast!
Primary rules:
- Build one RMC style coaster following the general footprint of Son of Beast.
- You may use either the Hybrid or Launched Hybrid style.
- Son Of Beast and a separate outline of the support/track footprint are provided for your reference.
- Do not change, modify, or move the Son of Beast recreation, base outline, or any terrain.
- A separate coaster has been created for you to build with.
- You may use the "hide wireframe" option to hide Son of Beast and/or the base outline.
- Adequate storage for all trains is required.
- Adequate clearance must be maintained at all times.
- Your coaster follow the footprint of Son of Beast and look like it is reusing as much of the original support structure as possible.
- You can use the auto-support generator to build a new support structure.
- You may add as many inversions as you like.
- Coaster must run minimum 3 trains.
- Below ground tunnels are allowed.
- Coaster must be fully contained inside the yellow border area to avoid interfering with other rides/scenery not visible in this park.
Time Rules
- The 5 hour build period begins on June 11, 2022 at 4:00 PM GMT when the contest park is available for download.
- You must build one coaster in the provided contest map.
- You will have until 9:00 PM GMT (5 hours total) to upload your finished park to a file exchange/download/FTP site and fill out the official entry form with the download information, coaster names, your name, and your email address. Allow yourself spare time to upload your coaster and fill out this form.
Support Structure Rules
- Use of the auto-support generator is allowed and encouraged.
- You may opt (but are not required) to create your own steel spine for inversions similar to how Son of Beast used a steel spine for the loop.
- Support structure must look sufficient to handle the speed and direction of the forces throughout the ride.
- Adequate clearance must be maintained throughout the entire ride.
Other Rules:
- NO custom or pre-packaged scripts can be used on your coaster. Just keep it simple.
- Any submission not using the template and/or submissions built prior to the contest will be disqualified.
- You can only use NoLimits 2 and entities packaged with it - no custom 3D scenery, environments, or car textures.
- You may add scenery, however all scenery will be hidden and will not be judged as part of your coaster experience.
- One entry per person. If you upload more than one entry, we will only consider the last one entered.
- Please include your name and coaster name in the file name submission.
Judging criteria:
Realism - Forces, track shaping, coaster operations.
Supports - Support adequacy, clearance, design, density.
Fun - Pacing, creativity, variety, flow.
RMC-ness - How well your ride feels like a ride "RMC" would design: maintains the "heart" of the original ride while becoming a new RMC experience.
Disqualification criteria:
- Any part of track, trains, or structure (in Frozen state) go beyond the yellow border.
- Track or any part of the coaster goes below ground (without a tunnel).
- Collision with any part of the coaster: supports, track, trains, footers, station building/stairs, transfer track frame.
- Train twists or collapses into itself or touches the track during too tight of a twist.
- Coaster trains are not able to return fully to the station.
- Unable to download or open your submitted file.
Questions? Email nolimitscontest@gmail.com
-Ride_Op
May 21 is the best date for me! May 7 and 14 also work.
Saturday, June 11th! Five Hours of Power 8!
-Ride_Op
This year is going to be amazing! I've lined up some extra special guests to help judge the contest and provide feedback during the live (technical difficulty plagued) webcast! I can't say who as that'll be too big of a hint about what the challenge is this year, but these are experts who know what they're talking about.
Don't miss it! June 11th! Be there!
-Ride_Op
Latest update: I've turned this thread into the main landing page for the contest. Please help us share the word!
Also if you plan to live stream your effort, please share the link to your live stream channel.
-Ride_Op
SATURDAY! SATURDAY! SATURDAY!
Who's going to compete to impress a major ride manufacturer and win a prize in Five Hours of Power 8?
Post your stream links below!
-Ride_Op
Can't participate since I'll be at an amusement park today
The irony...
RMC It posted on June 11th, 2022
Can't participate since I'll be at an amusement park today
The irony...
You have no idea the irony.
-Ride_Op
okay idea for in NL2, a clearance envelope visible in the editor.... (or the wooden support generator gets another improvement to complete keep the track clear).... I spend so much time editing my supports that by 2 minutes before deadline I felt like well all the major clearance issues are gone, let's hope for the best that the coaster now only comes with an imaginary storage (insert crying face) well better luck with next year's impossible challenge haha
Also had troubles with the clearance... I really hope that I found all the spots where the generator "failed". Overall it was a fun challenge! I am still not sure how close to the original SoB we were supposed to design our RMC :D
Thanks to the team for providing the 8th 5Hop!
The full collection of all entries have been unpacked, re-named, and placed in a single big zip file. Download them all here.
-Ride_Op
CoasterLantic posted on June 12th, 2022
okay idea for in NL2, a clearance envelope visible in the editor.... (or the wooden support generator gets another improvement to complete keep the track clear).... I spend so much time editing my supports that by 2 minutes before deadline I felt like well all the major clearance issues are gone, let's hope for the best that the coaster now only comes with an imaginary storage (insert crying face) well better luck with next year's impossible challenge haha
You do know that there's an in-game clearance envelope scene object you can add to a train in the editor, right? (shows up on the rear car when you run the sim) Or if you want to quickly check supports, just set your entire layout, or the section in question, to be a tunnel segment. There's a quick clearance envelope.
Womp83 posted on June 15th, 2022
You do know that there's an in-game clearance envelope scene object you can add to a train in the editor, right? (shows up on the rear car when you run the sim) Or if you want to quickly check supports, just set your entire layout, or the section in question, to be a tunnel segment. There's a quick clearance envelope.
but using the default clearance envelope has two major flaws - too slow, and too hard to catch.
for tunnel method, tunnel is always way much bigger than the envelope so it cant make the clearance as tight as we can, which is very important on some situations
Womp83 posted on June 14th, 2022
You do know that there's an in-game clearance envelope scene object you can add to a train in the editor, right? (shows up on the rear car when you run the sim) Or if you want to quickly check supports, just set your entire layout, or the section in question, to be a tunnel segment. There's a quick clearance envelope.
using the in sim clearance took me ages to check the supports, freezing all the supports, then loading, getting the train to the area that needs to be checked and then identifying where the clearance wasn't right yet to then edit that particular support in the editor, took me already ages, but yes I underestimated the time I would need for support work since I had faith in the support generator, so I was under the impression that taking 4 hours for the entire coaster, then testing and placing supports was fine, but oh man was I wrong...
I downloaded the contest entries for fun, and I've got some feedback.
Some of the entries were really good. I felt a handful really embodied what an RMC looks and feels like. Those would be fun to ride and I hope one of them wins.
As for others, I wonder if some of the builders didn't know what Son of Beast's layout actually was. A few were totally wild and only seemed to follow a bit of the layout. Then there was one that was almost exactly like Son of Beast but with three barrel rolls added.
Many took the rose bowl helix in the opposite direction of the actual thing. I wonder if that was designer's choice or not knowing what it really did. One coaster somehow dispatched all three trains with the restraints up.
Overall, this was a great contest. I loved the idea of remaking Son of Beast with RMC. That was fun. Great work, folks. We've got a talented bunch of NL2 designers.
raptoralex posted on July 1st, 2022
Many took the rose bowl helix in the opposite direction of the actual thing. I wonder if that was designer's choice or not knowing what it really did. One coaster somehow dispatched all three trains with the restraints up.
I just wanted to clarify something about this. It really doesn't matter what the previous layout was, only that the new layout uses the structure as much as possible. So going the opposite direction of the previous coaster on a certain section really doesn't matter much. By the way I didn't actually go the opposite direction on the rose bowl, but I'd assume it's just people trying to be creative.
raptoralex posted on July 1st, 2022
Many took the rose bowl helix in the opposite direction of the actual thing. I wonder if that was designer's choice or not knowing what it really did.
Iron Gwazi is a thing.
It uses the original structure in so many different and interesting ways; should definitely look into it.
Check out ElToroRyan's video on YT covering the ride in depth.
Here are the score sheets for 5HOP8. Score Totals has the summary and final tally of all coasters. Each score sheet along the bottom contains individual ratings from each judge and their comments.
-Ride_Op
Ride_Op posted on July 30th, 2022
Here are the score sheets for 5HOP8. Score Totals has the summary and final tally of all coasters. Each score sheet along the bottom contains individual ratings from each judge and their comments.
-Ride_Op
Great to know that! Can you just explain in detail how the score is counted and individual coasters are rated?
For this contest, 6 reviewers rated each coaster in 4 categories on a 0-10 scale. All 6 scores for each category were averaged together, and then added up. Highest score won. Categories were Realism, or how realistic, smooth, and well designed the track is; Supports, or how well built the supports were for the coaster; Fun, how interesting, fun, and well paced the ride is; and RMC-ness, or how similar this is to how RMC would design a ride. The contest was to take the former Son of Beast and RMC it, and we were fortunate to have RMC as guest judges.
-Ride_Op
Live Rules Broadcast Link: https://youtu.be/ozam24deWGs
Contest Map Download Link: https://drive.google.com/u/0/uc?id=1_3TqGiFhXz7b8b_mu8zYljp6PTUnwFHH&export=download
Live Results Broadcast Link: https://youtu.be/diRiPc5l_Ws
Results: Official 5HOP8 Score Sheet
It's that time for our annual stress out known as Five Hours of Power! We're thrilled to bring lots of new surprises this year, not the least of which will be guest judges from the coaster industry who are also graciously supplying prizes! We're also partnering with the American Coaster Enthusiasts to promote the contest as part of National Roller Coaster Month in June.
What is Five Hours of Power?
The contest is simple: Competitors will have just 5 hours to create a coaster from scratch, support it, test it, and upload it for judging. The competition runs at the same time for everyone around the world: Saturday, June 11th, 11 am - 4 pm Eastern Time (17:00-22:00 Central European Time). As if that wasn't hard enough, each year has featured a unique challenge like building within a restricted area, meeting capacity requirements, building off the side of an existing structure, building around existing rides, and more. To keep the playing field level, the challenge is revealed just 30 minutes ahead of the contest start, ensuring no one can plan ahead.
Sounds fun/torturous! How do I sign up?
All you need is a copy of NoLimits 2, a few energy bars/energy drinks, and the focus to power through and complete your ride in a limited time. No sign ups needed in advance. We will share out the live stream YouTube link that will reveal the rules soon. The contest template will be provided for download at the start of the competition, and included in the template's description is a link to the upload form. The coaster must be submitted prior to the end of the contest to count.
What is the special challenge this year?
We're keeping it a secret, but it is related to the coaster industry folks we have guest judging. In general the rules have stated that you can't touch water, can't touch scenery, can't go underground, and can't hit anything. Wooden and shuttle coasters were usually not allowed as they would be much easier to build/support, and the coaster had to function properly to get scored. Previous unique challenges:
I have more questions...
Post them below or email us at nolimitscontest@gmail.com and I'll get back to you.
Stay tuned for updates on this fun competition!
-Ride_Op