The importance of heartlining

[Jake1]

Whilst to many this may seem like a very minor issue. To myself and any roller coaster enthusiast not being able to heart line a coaster properly really is quite a frustrating thing. The devs talk about how they want the coasters to be realistic. Before i begin I probably need to give a brief insight to what I mean by a heart line.

Since the 90s every coaster that has been built has its track and elements banked in such a way that instead of following the center of the rail, the track banks around the heart line of the rider. This often results in a smoother and better roller coasters. You just have to look at Arrow Dynamics early efforts and compare them with your modern day Intamin or B&M to get an idea of how much of a difference it makes.

I understand the devs have tried to give us this option by including the banking offset feature, however it does not work. Its a constant battle with the editor to try smooth my coaster and to try keep a heart line at the same time.

How can this be solved? move the spline on the coaster editor! Simply make it so that when we edit coasters the track banks it self around the spline instead of on the spline like it currently does. I only bring this point up because we constantly hear from devs that they try to make the coasters as realistic as possible yet we lack what is a basic feature on every coaster these days.

 

[Inge Jones]

the track banks around the heart line of the rider.

Sorry, still clueless. Can you explain "heart line"? The only time I have heard this term before is in palmistry where the palm of the hand has a heart line.

 

[Jake1]

Sorry, still clueless. Can you explain "heart line"? The only time I have heard this term before is in palmistry where the palm of the hand has a heart line.

I probably should have linked this image in the first place

Hopefully that explains a little bit more clearly [big grin]

 

[JuicyJam]

I think you can do that with Banking Offset [happy]

 

[coasterlover]

yes you can, but the smooth tool removes it and the issue is the coaster editor is such that you need to use the smoothing tool.

 

[JuicyJam]

yes you can, but the smooth tool removes it and the issue is the coaster editor is such that you need to use the smoothing tool.

Yeah, but you can still smooth it to a certain extent before it ruins it! Especially with RMCs

 

[Inge Jones]

No it doesn;t explain anything except to someone who already has a clue what you mean. What do the circles represent? What do the dark and blue lines with large dots represent? What causes the angle in the circle to reverse direction just cos the dark and light blue shapes are further apart?

 

[Jake1]

No it doesn;t explain anything except to someone who already has a clue what you mean. What do the circles represent? What do the dark and blue lines with large dots represent? What causes the angle in the circle to reverse direction just cos the dark and light blue shapes are further apart?

ah sorry excuse my ignorance. I'm just so use to participating in roller coaster specific forums that I just sort of assume people will know what I'm talking about [tongue] The blue dots and line represents a track and the circle is the axis its banked on.

 

[Inge Jones]

Hehe I was still no wiser until I googled it and read the explanation in words. I guess I am just not very good with diagrams Still no idea why they decided to call it heartline tho...

 

[Coasterfan312]

Firstly, this image shows it a bit better:

Imagine the person is in the seat of a rollercoaster, and the flat line is the track.

In the left image, the person rotates around the track, creating a very uncomfortable and potentially painful situation as they're thrown sideways on rolls and transitions.

In the right image, the track revolves around the person, letting them comfortably go through almost any element without any excessive lateral (sideways) g-forces.

Here's another image that might also help you understand:

Either way, I completely agree with Jake. Heartlining is very important when it comes to making realistic coasters, and proper use of the smooth tool almost completely removes it. The smooth tool should remember the banking offset of the track pieces and try to keep it.

 

[Inge Jones]

Oh I see I always thought the idea of these rides was to make you feel as if you were going to be killed or something. When I start to make coasters in this game I am going to make it my personal challenge to see how many people I can make throw up when they get off In the "other game" I made a coaster so badly that one peep actually fell out on the way!!! It wasn't even in test mode - she basically just disappeared from her seat.

 

[BeckysFootSlave]

+1 because I would like to make a heartline if coming down from KingDa Ka [wink]

 

[Helena]

There are ready-made pieces, but of course proper freeform heartlining would be nice to have too!

 

[Kerrash]

I was literally just talking to someone about this. I agree with the above, the offset needs to remain when smoothing.

 

[danijami23]

It's funny, I know squat about rollercoasters and heartlining, but even without any knowledge I was sat there thinking 'Gawsh, if only there was a way to bank the coaster round your chest as a focal point, instead of just bending the track'. Needed feature I think.

 

[Coasterfan312]

^ Lol. Well, technically it is a feature (banking offset), it's just that the smooth tool screws it up.

 

[Nemmie]

I completely agree with this. The heartlining is the key for a great, realistic, modern coaster.

Using the banking offset, you can get great looking rides but then as soon as you try to smooth the track, (as you need to do), the smoothing tool completely destroys the heartline. I really don't understand this and I really hope the devs find a solution.

The hearline feature and the smooth feature should work with each other, not against. We've basically got 2 tools in one toolbox (the coaster editor) that are constantly squabbling like a couple of bratty kids in the back of a car. It makes no sense.

I really like how NoLimits 2 does it. You have your spline (which is the same way Planet Coaster does it) and the track that sits below it if it's heartlined. And then when you smooth the track, it's just the path of the spline that gets smoothed and not the track. That way, the track, complete with it's heartline follows the newly smoothed spline perfectly, resulting in a perfectly smooth, heaartlined track. It looks like a simple, elegant solution that I hope we get something like in this game.

 

[Took]

I think it would be nice to add another heatmap for the heartline. Then it would be easier to correct problemativ track pieces. I stopped building a coaster, because it was impossible to make a smooth heartline into half loop element. Using the premade elements caused an unsmooth connection between the elements.