WIP Beta released A new *CITY* map - LOS INJURUS 2023-12-20

Well it depends what life throws at you, and there's some luck involved, too.
If you live near a lot of opportunity for employment in making entertainment, then go for it. If there's nothing near you and you have no means to move, or no means to get to a college that does class in that category, consider another MOS (Main Objective of Study) that's more appropriate to your geographical area.
Also, I edited the previous post, do refresh that. I added A LOT.

The military might be a great option. Sign-on bonuses are big right now and the schooling is free. Trade schools like Vo-Tech can be done during high-school years, and can be a good foot in the door / jump start especially if you can get certified (for example, in automotive, or computers, many Vo-Techs will let you get certified while you get schooling). You can get a higher rank for certain MOS-related field certifications (pay jumps up a bit), if you have them prior to entering the military, plus, military members get preferred placement in civil service jobs.
Just make sure you can take the 2.5 months of pain when you sign up. It's tough but it's worth it, and you'll hit the ground running generally when you get back to civvy life.
It's not for everyone though - but the discipline is great and it gives you much self confidence.

 

Thank you for answering my questions. By the way, what I mean by entertainment is a web show or something like that.

I'm an autistic teenager with anxiety that's just really curious about things and is just trying to figure stuff out. By the way, I don't think I want to be a part of the military. I will just see what happens after I graduate high school.

By the way, I have an on-topic question for you.

Will you make a mobile home dealership for Los Injurus or no?

 

I will get mobile homes and possibly a dealer there, too. Give it some time, as that's not front and center at the moment.

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Had to make (4x) new pieces for tight corners, 3x 90's one with an ADA ramp, and a 75 (or close to that) degree corner with a ramp. Will make more as-needed.
Just so you know I completely tore the heck out of the area near where I was working (where I was doing stuff is in the background). Going to be re-freshing some of the higher elevated area so it's more of a gradual transition to the slightly less inner-city stuff as you hit the suburbs. Also, roads here since they're being re-done will be much, much more detailed and realistic, and not quite as smooth. The gas station (eca model) is newly placed along with the two tan apartment buildings behind it. Will have a park on the right side (where the stray arrow on the right points), and fancier (not yet modeled!) homes will be on the road going off to the left (the grey one) and up the hill. Don't know how far I'll get on the fancy homes before the next beta as work on those will overlap.
That's all for right now, more later/tomorrow/this weekend.

 

Thank you for answering my question =)

 

All the tan roadway parts are what's re-done. You'll see where I'm going with this on the 2nd shot.

The dirt road in the far distance, is where I'm headed next with improving things. Ontop of the nearby bluff above the 5-floor apartment (will have an improved model there in the future, it's a place-holder), will be nicer high-rent apartments - that's where the dark road above the tunnel goes.

I've spent 2~2.5 days or so just improving THIS small area, but it was needed, as I didn't like what was here before. It's blended better now, though. Don't mind the reflections making the tar lines all white, that's a bit over-done at the moment.
That's going to be it for today, though.
--- Post updated ---
Edit: Got the left turns working 100% realistic with the AI now, or darn close. Sweet!

 

Some more stuff in the map got done, see pictures for details.

So anyways, another day, more progress. Still have several more days of work to do before I get the beta out. Will make sure the AI works when it is out.
--That is all for now.

 

it's amazing how much different stuff looks with grass textures on the flat areas instead of the weird utah-esque dirt textures.

 

Yes it does! I have to get some more variation to the plants and grasses and terrain textures. All in due time.
Glad you like it, I've been getting quite a bit of happy feedback on that - and I like the grass, too.
Funny thing about it when you mention 'utah-esque dirt textures'. Sad part is the original So-Cal map this is based on actually pre-dated Utah even being released as a game map. Though I can 110% see the similarity. In time I will have it much more refined.
I have to upgrade my 'green carpet grass' that I use for lawns, too. That needs updated, and then I'll change the planting strip / sidewalk and curb grass color also.
I don't think I'll get the green carpet grass updated until after the beta. Don't want to open a whole 'nother can of worms.

 

100% agree

--- Post updated ---

My inner excitement is pushing itself out and forces me to speak - As lovely as your map is
I would go nuts on a slightly more blue sky.

 

Upgraded some of the textures to have proper normal-mapping (bump mapping)

All those little things...
Maybe more shots later.
--- Post updated ---

Good idea!

 

My inner excitement is pushing itself out and forces me to speak - As lovely

Really ? Alriiight !!

Btw those building windows are very pretty

 

Some detail at this intersection and a NEW concrete texture that's reworked from the West Coast highway texture.

I spent a good 2~2.5 hours on fixing up the West Coast highway texture, making the concrete joints straight, and making it tile properly - because it did not.
The on/off ramp AI is fixed on these ramps here to the highway, for what it's worth. I have to re-do some more of them so they don't eat signs near the road.
Just needs a traffic light and some signs!
--- Post updated ---
MOAR texture updates. Big one this time. This needed to be done.

Fixed up a wall that was pesting me a bit, replacing concrete with rocks. I will have to put the water back in, as with 0.18 'my water broke'...

I will create a blend texture later on to blend the rocks to the terrain.

 

oooooOOOOOooooooo! looks good man! time to make more 90s cars on automation to give it that 90s SoCal vibes.

 

It's really obvious that you are making progress to this map. Keep up the great work =D

 

Thanks! Yes this is entirely supposed to have that 90's GTA SAN ANDREAS type atmosphere, without being a direct copy, nor using any of it's assets.
By comparison, quality should be somewhere between GTA SAN ANDREAS and GTA V in texture / map quality. It won't be as perfect or detailed as a team of 100 or so 3d artists could do, but I will do the best I can and run with it. It's just finally getting to where I am addressing the MASSIVE back-log of 'Honey-Do' list things.

Thanks! Means a lot here. It's a lot of work and sometimes I don't even have anything to show for it.

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Transparency with map progress...
I have more work on the newer road textures to-do yet, but beyond that, I am very close to releasing another supporter beta in the next 2~3 days (maybe sooner, might be a day delay, too early to tell). I'd like to have it in folks hands by the 1st or so, 2nd at the very latest.

I have to finish up some roads, tie up a few loose ends, make sure the AI still works (I am right at the limit of 'max AI nodes' currently). This is a non-issue, so don't worry about it, it's 'being handled'.
*SOME HIGHWAY MAY NOT BE BLENDED PERFECTLY WITH THE HIGHWAY TEXTURES, THEY ARE VERY 'WIP' RIGHT NOW, PLEASE IGNORE*
I am working my butt of trying to make GTA V quality (actually higher resolution than that) textures for our driving pleasure, please bear with me.
On/Off ramps will have AI following lane properly in the next version on most (but possibly not all) on/off ramps. I might miss a few. Bad AI should be reported, missing AI entirely should also, unless if the road is there disconnected but not entirely removed, etc, otherwise it should work). There's a few disconnected, unused, or otherwise unsupported with AI miles of road at one of the map edges, these are to-do yet but will be updated after the next major game update. That being said, you can't drive to them, they're blocked off, or missing bridges since 0.18 dropped, or otherwise uninteresting.

I have to finish some of the residential lots I made and connect the AI up without going over the limit. I am simplifying the AI where possible to avoid issues with max nodes.

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After the beta (below also), my Route 1 concept is going in (main objective!), the airport MIGHT get it's longer runway (back burner for now on that), the military base will get commercial assets which is going to cost me 50$ out of pocket.

There's an 80$ post-apocalyptic asset pack I'm going to be purchasing, and another for about 20 bucks that while not nearly as good as the first, will help bolster the asset pack up nicely for the ruined side of town. These will go in the run-down section of town and I will be spawning multiple variations of these buildings to stretch the resources further (you don't get textures, assets, and only use them ONCE).

I have some buildings currently in modeling stage, with lots of work done on them, that will be something reasonably close to what is in-game such as the new Utah and such. The new houses will be nicer to look at and less like something that was in San Andreas, and more like current AA or AAA quality stuff, without more than a few extra (or possibly even less) draw calls.
There will be old-school Chicago-like raised rail in the run-down section, similar to what New York and Boston used to have (I think New York still has it in places).
I need construction site assets, if folks have them handy, or see them in the game somewhere (I have a small trackhoe from the West Coast 'Murica assets already in).
If someone wishes to help fund asset purchases, anything over what my monthly expenses are ~50$ or so, will go towards textures and models.
Models with licenses attached will be purchased for 'Bob Blunderton BeamNG Mods' and will be listed under a 'restricted' directory, and may appear in my other maps as time goes on, too. This won't be (and currently isn't) my only map. Roane County will get more love one day, possibly next month, though I'm not sure if I'll be waiting until the next major game version drops or not. Time I spend updating that map detracts from this map's progress directly, and should be considered not kind to the folks who ever-so-generously support this project and my time spent on it. I've already spent over 500$ in software just for this map project - maybe 600~650$ or so, I haven't tallied it up lately. It's worth it though, for the good of this community and the joy of it.

WARNING: The next beta after this weekend's supporter beta may contain road asset updates that could break user's maps created with said road/sidewalk assets, dropping them in to your map to update it (if you make maps and use my road pieces) would possibly break things. I am only posting this warning for budding mappers out there. I will always be very transparent about breaking changes if you use the MRK. I am slowly but surely converting my roads to the much more detailed kind* (see below) like over by the mall, and what I've shown here recently in the last week. They're much more detailed and are up there in quality with what you'd find in AAA games - sometimes even better. If there's one thing I know, it's road engineering.

PLEASE post building screenshots / ideas, as I'll be working on several over the course of the next few weeks. I should be able to get subscriber houses in, too. It's very possible I may finish up the beta tomorrow night (Thursday evening) and post it up on Friday, but don't hold your breath. Sunday at the latest as I said above.

*Screenshot from when I referenced the 'roads I am slowly converting to the newer more detailed type'. Makes a good desktop background!
Screenshot from the most recent 'crazy police chases' video by @CrashBoomPunk (see video, it's good!).

 

If you think those highways were good, I spent a few more hours - that were very well spent.
It's about to get real, guys. This will be in before I ship the beta out - so woohoo!
Just be aware some things might not blend 100% perfectly, but most of the 'newer' looking highways will have this graphic or similar.
It's larger than it shows in the picture, I just took a shot that shows about half of it at (roughly) 30~40% zoom, so the 2k x 4k graphic would fit the screen.

 

Needs a little more work tonight, then I'll be uploading tomorrow night, so I can take some more stuff apart after that without worry.
Edit: Nighttime shot

 

Hi guy. To start, thanks for your great powerfull awesome job & you are A ----> crazy furious best map maker ever <--- ( it's not injurious ). I love your map. For info : i play on Mac (yeah it's true & possible) like I3 2,93 Ghz , 32 Go ram, "tiny" GTX 680 4GB, SSD & W10 never see lag/bug on your map. Long time ago, i've made lot of 3D stuff like house, building, car etc...on e-on Vue 3d, Poser pro & Sketchup softs. i'll be really happy if that deserve to someone one time. Hope i can maybe help you all will be 100 % FREELY of course

 

Thanks! I will add you to the beta list for the next (and possibly following) betas for your contribution(s). I will have a look at them over the weekend.

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Fixing my own mistakes... and poor choices!

So we can see some bugs here, working on this as the lanes are now to DOT specification, it caused an error.
New pieces will be at bottom of post. New pieces have a 'car flipping' wall on the outside edge where the curve is, to make for better crashes. You'll drive right up it and roll. Also to note is the top of the barriers won't eat vehicles anymore as I widened the outside of them (should not cause any issue with exterior clearance).
So I am busy, I also have the broken highway-to-avenue intersections to deal with... ugh... those are below.

Shouldn't take too terribly long to fix. So I will be busy with this all night, and when it's sufficiently fixed up, I will dress up some of the interchanges (if I have time to fix the blending), and fix the AI being stupid on on/off ramps, then beta will be uploaded at 2~4am Central USA time. Should be awake to post links by the time it's done.
Pics at the bottom show the new piece (first shot is: bottom left is LOD, bottom right is visible mesh, top right is collision mesh; 2nd show shows the flip-wall on the grey collision mesh). Draw calls have also been reduced but this won't affect performance much as they're seldom used here.

 

Maya was being bug-tastic, so there's some dark spots on the pieces shown above. They're used very seldomly so just ignore it for now... I'll have another beta when those get fixed and the map is together enough (two weeks?), but I'm NOT holding up the beta this weekend.

THE VEHICLES KEEP IN LANE! Woohoo! I fixed up the ramp that's past this one, too.
I have to do another road texture tonight, and then I'll be checking for any more AI being idiots, then I'll pack up and ship the beta.
The newly textured highways are beautiful though, I promise (aside of a few visual bugs here and there where things don't line up yet) you'll love them.