I wasn’t sure where to put this so I just decided here. I wanted know if there were any good ways to create good rollercoaster in roblox? I’ve tried using plugins but most of the time they don’t work the way I intend them to. I want to replicate a rollercoaster/dark ride hybrid kind of coaster. I just can’t get the car and track to be smooth enough to feel like one.
I created a small coaster around a year ago and the problems I ran into were that 1, it wasn’t smooth, and 2, on the drop it kept stopping and glitching out.
So I was wondering if there was any sort of way I could create a roller coaster in roblox that would work well.
The most source material I say would be Theme Park Tycoon 2. Maybe join some random servers and take some screenshot of some pre-made rollercoasters. DM me on Discord (Lv100DominusUltimus#4144) to see some of the rollercoasters I build on that game.
I personally do not know how to make a rollercoaster, the developers of Theme Park Tycoon 2 have done some really amazing work. Building is just one park, then you have to script it and animate how you want it to run.
Rollercoasters are indeed very hard to build, and to anyone without considerable experience, the curves and bends can be a nightmare to rig up. I believe your best bet would be to take screenshots of prebuilt coasters, like Dominus said, and keep trying with plugins. You can also find and unpack pre-built rollercoasters on the marketplace, and see how they work, using that as a reference.
As a former coaster builder (I built them in 2012 - 2013), it takes skill and patience. In those years, CSG and plugins did not exist, so a lot of stuff was laid by hand.
What I used to use to build coasters:
What we used back then were called 'Auto-Smooth’s, which were basically tools (literally, HopperBins) that you would get from a giver that resembled a piano, a definite nod to EricThePianoGuy. Generally the Auto-Smooth was exclusive to coaster group builders only and I can assure that they still are, so finding one readily available in the library is unlikely. The tool in question would convert a named part with an arrow facing towards the front of said part into a single track segment.
All of my coasters were physics-based.
What you should use to build coasters:
Archimedes Two is a good plugin to make curvature and hills, but it does not support instant and easy banking and superelevation like the Auto-Smooth tools from '12 and '13. You may need to manually bank with the rotate and axis tool which can indeed, be a nightmare and requires lots of patience and dedication.
What you should use to run your coasters:
In real-life, coasters use gravity and friction to operate. In Roblox, it’s a different story nowadays. Many premium coasters use CFrame to move, since the Roblox physics engine isn’t as reliable when it comes to fluent motion of the coaster train. Relying on physics to move your coaster train would only extend your work as it takes trial and error to ensure it makes it over a hill or safely navigates an inversion. A lot of times when I built coasters, I had them running too fast and then they’d clip through the track.
Using CFrame also allows you to make your coaster train run more realistically. Physics-based coaster trains run the course at unrealistic speeds (due to using no friction) and before you know it, the ride is over. I’ve visited some games in the past that use CFrame and the movement is so precise, it’s like real-life.
Summary:
Construction:
You can try using Archimedes Two, but at the cost of manual creation of banked turns and inversions.
Some Auto-Smooths may be available if you look in the right places or contact a tier coaster builder. Note that this method is somewhat inefficient and may actually be broken due to Roblox updates on HopperBins.
Manual placement of every track section… basically how 2008 and 2009 coasters were built on Roblox.
Physics:
Requires extra work due to trial and error.
Risks rebuilding inversions, hills, or even the entire coaster.
Unreliable in today’s standards.
Unless you add SetNetworkOwnership to a seat on the coaster train, desync will occur and possibly break the ride.
Trolls can derail the coaster train with ease by spamming jumping or standing on the track.
CFrame:
More realistic and fluent motion.
Almost troll-free if set up properly.
Allows unrealistic coaster layouts (such as having a track end with the coaster running off, only to rerail itself on the next section).
Not easy to set up and requires coding skills.
You should contact some famed coaster builders. Whether they’re still active, I’m not sure. I’d love to help build it with you, but I’ve since lost skill in building coasters so I’m no longer up for the job.
