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

The empty stuff will be filled in to varying degrees or otherwise not be so empty and unfinished looking as I get further along the process of creating the map.
Roane County will already get back-ported models from this project, at a later date.

 

Aside of some finishing touches, consider this road done. It's the one that goes over the dam via the little bridge in the shot here. Also, a road just out of the shot to the left has been smoothed a bit, was a rather bumpy go-around on the last release as I forgot to put the final smoothing on it. I adjusted the hills along the road (pictured) a little bit to enhance the realism, too.
Using the new road graphics and a little bit of 'wearing' added, along with some decidedly faded paint seems to give a nice look to it. When it has some shrubs/trees/a final pass of detailing on it, it should be about up-to-par with what you drive down in rural GTAV areas. Many, many more pictures coming steadily this week.

Car is parked on the beginning of an uneven dirt path that accesses the mountain-side of the lake at the dam.
So thanks so whichever one of you mentioned Transfaraghasin or however you spell/say it. That was quite a novel idea and I share it fully. I'm just glad it wasn't brought up later than it was, as it'd be too late to change roads that are already done if too much more time passed.
So just a mini-post tonight!
Not sure which version of the map this will happen in, but I will be pulling out all the 'old' road textures that were carried over from Nevada Interstate (it'll look similar to the ones you've seen there). I have newer, superior road graphics/textures/overlays/grunge-maps that far surpass those old ones - and now they're just wasting valuable space. This will happen right before, or right after the beta, but it'll take a whole week to switch them all over - for what it's worth.

 

Speaking of which are you going to (not that it needs it) update Nevada interstate any time, I know you got a lot on your plate right now but just curious. If you are then I got a challenge for you... try and make it 20% more fps friendly !

 

This is what is currently being worked on, this is merely roughed in here, and the terrain has some very basic detailing done. So very work-in-progress here!

A rural area that will be dotted with sparse homes on large plots, interspersed by small agricultural operation like tree farms or fields of grape vines.
Again, very WiP, just had to post *something* so y'all know I'm not dead over here.

 

Well, aside of issues in my personal life - some serious with family members (nothing I did wrong, something they did), and the fact I had to have a dog put down yesterday because cancer made her unable to walk anymore (she was 12 years old)... I've been getting some things done. So much for having a lot of time this week, but that's alright, I'll be bundling this up for supporter beta in roughly a week or so.

I've been working on this area for DAYS, and that's not even all of it - the rest isn't quite done up to par yet to show. More updates over the next few days sometime.
No pity required about the dog, it was her time. She was wimpering in pain the majority of this week, so it was time to make 'the final trip', words no pet owner wants to hear. Now she doesn't have to lay in agony anymore though, so it's better that way.
That is all. Hopefully some better news happens sometime soon.

 

Well, I'm glad you're making progress on the map despite your losses. I'm sure losses like that can be very hard on a person. Sorry for your loss, man. I hope you feel better, soon.

 

Thank-you for the kind wishes, and it's appreciated. The dog (sadly) is the least of my worries now. She no longer hurts. I couldn't see the poor thing suffer and barely be able to get up. Shepards always end up with "hip displacia" problems with their hips going out... this one had about another year or 18 months before it would get *bad*, so she lived a good enough life. When she's a little further from our minds, I will see if I can sneak a chihuahua or something itty-bitty in here when no one's looking and not say a word.
Worry not though, while it's been a very trying week - the bright side of it all - glass half full outlook - is that I concentrate on my pain less (until I fall onto the floor due to knees going out or ankle making stabbing burning pain). So there's always a silver lining, no matter how bad, no matter who we lose, there's always a silver lining to it all. I've gone through absolute hell and lived to tell the tale more than once, this too shall pass.
So while it's passing, I got the AI up to speed here, even with some of the road not detailed yet...

There will be sparse houses and some small/local farming stuff like grape vines and so-forth (Italy has some of this, yes I will just port it over, no need to remake the wheel there). I will also be bringing the small stone walls, with a slight re-color / change of texture into the map as I need some stone walls and this should make it much quicker and save me 2 days making all that stuff.

Please excuse the half-finished state of the pictures today, this is what I spent all afternoon until about midnight working on. A good 6~8 hours or so with one food break.
What you see is a new pair of on/off ramps that did not used to exist, though in So-Cal you could get on/off the highway here in all directions. Well now you can again - in almost all directions, and more professionally at that. I spent hours finessing the grade of the land, hill heights, re-did the bridge to be on a slope in-stead of flat (the one next to the orange buildings in the two last shots). I will do my best to add some Jersey Barrier in the middle of this roadway section, as it should be physically divided better than it is, despite the surface road being a 40mph zone.
I still have to finish working the grass in here and getting the pair of ramps on the far side of the interchange (next to the orange buildings) up-to-par, as it's still the old textures yet. I am phasing out the old textures (Lord only knows when) sooner or later - likely when I have a LOT less miles of road to update / change over.
One thing for sure as always. Everything that can be a ramp - and sometimes even more - usually is. So enjoy the cliffs, hills, jumps disguised as rock outcrops or embankments, retention ponds, drainage easements, and so-forth.
I'm never putting this map (work) down until it's done - so no worries. It's surely a long road to completion, but it's going to be one heck of a fun one to drive.

Edit: Don't know if I listed it the other day but there was some concrete glitching through the side of the runway / grass next to the airport terminals. I reduced - but did not entirely yet fix - the glitching. It's not gameplay breaking but it is immersion breaking. It doesn't do it nearly as much and one of these days I have to touch up the models to fix it a bit better. Not sure the time-line on that.
I also fixed a bad bump on the airport taxi-way that heads to the main airport building. Oops.

 

Sorry for your loss, the death of a pet can be very impacting on a person. That will happen for me in the somewhat near future. Also any progress on the subway?

 

Hey, the buildings are all above the terrain. What should i do to fix this without editing the map in the world editor?

 

Can you do something about the underscores in the map selector?
thanks

 

You have a version conflict, meaning:
You may have old version's cache still within the game files. Please clear map cache by manually removing the following directory - documents\beamng.drive\cache.(current version)\levels\TSH (delete the whole folder of TSH, the map's code name, replace "current version" with whatever version of the game you're trying to run). Or press CLEAR CACHE on the startup menu for BeamNG.
You may have an old version of the map files around somewhere, this can happen to really mess things up. Please manually check your map folder and keep only the newer file. This map is the largest mod for BeamNG by quite a bit, so it should be easy to find and normally looks like "Bob_CITY_MAP_ALPHA_PATREON_PREVIEW" or something like that. Keep only the newest version.
You will have a duplicate set of files if you edited the older version of the map, and then upgraded to the latest repository or supporter beta releases. Please remove the following folder documents\beamng.drive\levels\TSH.

The entire map was raised some 800 meters as it used to be 'below sea level', and ended up causing pilots flying out of the map to hit an invisible collision at height of 0. This was fixed before the last public release, somewhere around February of this year. Several users requested this change.

Please take a picture of what you are talking about. This can be done through Steam and pressing F12, or pressing ALT+O in game.

---

Update: The next map release will be a supporter beta going out at the beginning of next week. I am reluctant to give an exact date or time, due to my satellite internet and the nature of what I'm doing.

 

I tried doing the first thing, but the problem still isn't fixed.
Edit: i unsubscribed from the other two maps of yours that i'm subscribed to in case those are the problem, and i will clear the cache in the startup thingy
Edit 2:Nope, still having issues

 

There's still remnants of an older version in there somewhere.
See that there's not a folder labeled "TSH" anywhere, in the folder structure of documents/beamng.drive as that'll mess things up surely, exactly like what you have.
If you find a folder of that, and delete it (keeping only the one in your current .zip file of the map!), THEN clear cache, you should no longer have the issue.
It's due to the fact you have an old version somewhere that was prior to the map being raised up 800 meters.
The forest data objects are reading at the correct height but the map 'f1 object editor' data is all still coming in at roughly 800 meters lower (where it used to be).
Try removing the bob_city_map_alpha_patreon_preview (or anything called bob_city_map) from your /mods/ folder and put it on the desktop temporarily.
Then try to run the game and see if you get some version of the map. If it loads up 'mostly normally' and you do successfully load in, then there's still an old version somewhere.
There's only one map (this one) that starts with the name 'bob_city_map'.
If you have any version of SO_CAL_INTERSTATE, it will also cause an issue like this and get all weird.

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More roads have been carved and finished and ready to drive on now (most of this stuff in the center of the screen, the darker asphalt, is new stuff).

Finally got all the S-turns detailed decently, still needs more 'map furniture' added in. Lots of buildings need to be added too, to make it look lived-in. No shortage of cliffs to fall off here though.
--More pictures tomorrow as I come up on the deadline.

 

Hey, bob. Good job on this map. Like I said, I do apologize for the billboard women thing. I know you don't want to do it and it's probably against the law in your area. On another note, I have a question for you. Are you going to add curve signs to the mountain roads on this map?

 

I don't hold grudges, so needn't interpret my firm answers on topics such as that as me being sore... it takes a lot to get to this old dog. I'm far from a hot-head so no worries.
Curve chevrons / arrows will be added, as will signage with recommended speed, as-needed. I don't have an ETA on when more formal stuff like that will be in, but I will likely do the highway number placards at the same time. I have the materials in so I may stick some stuff in sooner such as the recommended speed signs. I have to make custom curve chevrons or modify the existing 'Utah' sourced model to not have such murderous collision on it, so that's why a lot more of the road curves aren't signed. No one likes eating signs and getting stuck, but they should knock you off course a bit.

I don't really follow a specific order once the road itself is in. Some days I feel like building roads, some days I feel like spending hours mindlessly detailing the terrain (even if no one notices!), some days I put down homes and furnish lots, other times I add jumps into areas if they're not added in during the initial road/terrain-carving process... other times I mindlessly drive around the areas I'm working for an hour or two to study how well it plays/flows. This is very important, the map must have good flow, but not too much that it becomes boring without an obstacle to traverse like waterways you must use a bridge (or jump) to cross or mountains that must be crossed in some manner, if not driven around. I put a LOT of time into researching and refining map-flow, while simultaneously fitting it to many different driving styles/tastes. That's what sets my work apart, or I believe it does any-who. You should challenge the player and make them think, plan, and so-forth, just as in real-life - otherwise you will lose their attention or focus - or otherwise sacrifice a lot of potential immersion. I've been planning building something like this for 25+ years, I just finally figured out how to do it over the last few years.
GTA San Andreas had one of the best flowing game environments I've seen in any open world game - there's a reason why it was so popular, even to those who long since played the story out and just wanted to drive around and 'cause mayhem' or just plain go for a drive. So while this will have a more modern look to it, it will still play/flow like good old open game worlds. GTAV also had good flow to the map environment despite being 'one big main lump of land', there were still barriers such as mountain ranges, large lakes (much like this one), and rivers to be forcing the player to find ways around.
It's so much more than just thinking 'okay, here's the land, i want to put a road here, here, and here'. Connecting too many things too directly can actually take away from the player's enjoyment and task.
That said, I'm making no promises (even though it hasn't been asked) that there will be a tank to find/steal anytime soon... still working on that.
*fires up GTA* "Where's the TANK!???" "What do you mean they put all these bunnies and who knows what else in the game and they don't even give you a tank to start out with?"

So long story short, I don't set myself a specific schedule to follow, in a specific order. I just do whatever I end up doing when I open up the editor (beyond required order of things), as that's when I do my best work.

 

Well, that's cool. I'm glad you're not a hot-head. Btw, your Roane County map is awesome and thanks for answering my question, man.

 

Bob, did you saw that map?: https://www.beamng.com/resources/generic-city.13025/ What are you thinking about it? I think you should collaborate with author and try get some assets from there.

 

I was originally planning on updating that map, but as I looked at the assets, I realized it needed a complete overhaul. It would not have ended up well and I'd have been better off remaking the entire thing from scratch VS updating it. Most of those assets are Sketchup assets, which don't get along well with this game, and are very processor-intensive to render. It's a pretty fun map though, I will say that much. I believe part of the map was never finished because the author hit the 2048 and later the 4096 object limit after it was raised. That limit is gone now, though - partly because 'Roane County' happened. Thankfully the developers/staff work with the community here, it made the game much much more awesome in the end.
So this "Los Injurus" happened & I repurposed So-Cal Interstate for the city as it already had most of the road network in already, giving a good solid starting point.
Generic City was one of the first real 'city' environments there were before West Coast came out. There was the Australian city map too at one point, though not nearly as large as either.

I still say that if the author of Generic city, wants to use my infrastructure pieces I've made (it's the modular MRK kit), to re-build his city, he certainly may do so (and I encourage this, any mapper wanting to use my road kit to make something most certainly may do so, but one should be cautious as it is rather large in how much disk space it uses).
One of the main points of this map was to make it more accessible for almost any novice mapper to make a city with the pieces.

 

So I've been detailing things tonight. It's all about the details... like this road entrance, and the rest of the strip mine - which now has full AI pathing but only 60% likelihood of spawn-in traffic. The spawn-in rate will be 10~20% when it's done with after I test the AI some (I will leave it higher for the beta, but it will be lower in subsequent betas and later public releases).

I will be releasing this (supporter) beta Wednesday morning central-USA time. That is when I plan to upload this. I had some real-life matters that had to be taken care of before mapping got done, so I got less done in the last two days than I had planned. I try to be upfront and honest about these things but the house was really getting dirty and I couldn't take it anymore - but it's much cleaner now. My yard's still got to get done (it will take the greater part of a whole afternoon to do, and it can't wait due to incoming weather), so of-course I'd like to get some more mapping done too. By Wednesday this should be in ship-shape to upload, and still leave me enough time to test it out so it's not a broken mess.
I will be purchasing mining site and construction props from commercial asset packs, if I can't find enough of them in the base game assets (likely not, there's some though).
--That is all for now. I will be adding buildings and finishing detailing things in the coming two days I have remaining. Whatever doesn't get done by Wednesday, will wait until the next beta to do and will not further hold up release.

 

It's so lovely to see Los Injurus grow into more and more detail ! I truly love your work, Bob !