Seriously though, with how good the Delta 88 and the Regency were, I can't imagine how amazing the wagon and the Caprice will be. I also like the idea of introducing the mod with a comic. Going to wait patiently for the release.
Some damaged caprices screenshots : I'm currently working on the new Beams limiters that avoid panels stretching. This is what i was waiting for a long time, it's awesome. I always had the fear that my front fenders got stuck in a fence and extend to look like a rope, it was awfull. But the way they are made, very weak, contributes to the good aspect of the front end deformation. Also the very weak rusty car can currently extend to infinite with the nodegrabber. This new limiters will prevent this to happen. So now this is an issue from the past, thanks 1000 times to the devs Before : after : If you pull it more, you remove the fender, despite it is strongly attached to the innerfenders. So i'm more than happy. My improvments on the front end deformation keep unchanged. So now we can detail all the front end of the car without stretching anything, doors got also the upgrade :
Will the Caprice be skinnable? If so, I can get you some skins (law enforcement/taxi) due to it's popular role in those fields. Also, amazing job on the comic!
Now that the caprice is not a secret anymore, this is the story and in depth explanations behind it. Why a Chevy caprice in an Oldsmobile mod ? Well the reason it finally took this way of developpment, began with the interest of a GTA community member for my Oldsmobile cars. While i was beginning to model vaguely a wagon, a nice guy send me PM to know if i would like the olds to be converted in GTA V mods. I answered yes sure, but my issue was that my mod was maybe 70% oldsmobile and 30% Moonhawk, with the complete drivtrain and wheels borrowed to the car. So it will be an issue to fix, and i wasn't sure to make that amount of work. No way to give the 3D files like that of course. The guy didn't lost his enthousiasm and contacted a well know GTA modder, Carface80, who did plenty of mods and of course .... The Chevy Caprice. First he did refused because too much mods to achieve, then finally he gave his contact to me, thinking "why not doing a porting and test the GTA V tuning abilities in the same time ? (So this explanation begins with a good news : The Olds will be adaptated to GTA V. This is something that is really freaking me out) In the same time i noticed that the Custom Cruiser Wagon, by looking more closely to photos, was finally just a Caprice Wagon with an Olds front end. It had absolutly nothing in common with the Sedan, even the front fenders are specific and have to make the joint between caprice doors and oldsmobile Hood. So with Carface80 we spoke a lot on skype, he sent me his 3D files of all the Caprice, and then i started to think about a plan. First i wanted to just adapt the Caprice Wagon to my needs, but very quick, as you may guess, the idea to get the Caprice as well was too strong. Caprice and Delta 88 are very close cousins (they share the exact same B-body frame and drivetrain) , the Caprice is also an iconic movie car, with police variants. In some times the game will get a multiplayer mode for sure so having nice fullsize sedan to play is a big appeal, for video makers and so on... And so in last november, this was planned : - redo all the geometry of drivetrain to get rid of borrowed parts from the Moonhawk, so that the GTA V version will be possible, and improve the visual aspect of the BeamNG mod in the same time. I mean making it look more accurate. - put engines, drivetrain, and a lot of think in a common Folder, so that Caprice, Delta 88 will be different mods, but will share components. - adapt Caprice sedan and wagon bodies, to get a working and common Wagon Body, and all the Caprice variants in the same time. So from one evening idea that can work roughly in a few hours, you can't imagine how much work this needed to me. Carface80 models are so beautifull and so well made it's a pleasure to handle them. But despite that in reality, these cars are build on the same platform, in the virtual world what we have as a start is two mods, done by two different people. The caprice body didn't fit at all, and a lot of time was involved into modifications, gentle and carefull selected scales, and lots of adjustments. Also a GTA mod is not a BeamNG mod, parts are simplified underneath, so i had to fill the holes because of our game needs. Okay, so after this long explanation, here some detailled screenshots to illustrate the result of what was done : - Cars are sharing the same floor, frame and drivetrain, despite the Caprice is 10 centimenters shorter at front end : drivetrain mesh are all new, i used an other Carface mod as mesh database, and adapted it to fit the jbeam. It's not exactly accurate to the real cars, but it's good looking, and makes GTA V adaptation possible. The Uvmap was completly redone to fit my textures use. Floor is also a new mesh and texture, here is a before (your current version of the mod) and after : Same engine bay, innefenders are adaptated to fit the Caprice fenders : The 454 big block Chevy engine is courtesy from Mythbuster, from the fleetwood Bounder mod, with textures and mesh adaptations by me. So you can guess this engine, delivering 300 hp, is available as tuning part for both Oldsmobile and Chevy cars. As well as all Oldsmobile engine can be put on the Caprice. This engine was really the missing part of the chain, so powerfull and also less spinning than the 550 hp custom one. A pleasure to drive ! In the process, it's not only the Caprice that needed an adaptation. The Olds needed too, because having my olds interior and dashboard to work in the Caprice Wagon, wasn't a simple thing. And no hackjob allowed here. So dashboard had changes (so fun to do when all is properly uvmapped) and as i thought Carface80 Caprice firewall was more accurate, i took it and adaptated on both cars, re-textured, and so on ... Same goes with the wagons, because of course, there is a Caprice Wagon as well i triend to respect rear end details, like the Olds rear bumper that differs from the Caprice one and is assorted to the front olds bumper. Those are none woody version, both variant are availlable in dark woody or clear woody, and chrome stripping differs if wood is there or not, and also if the oldsmobile has cornering light or not on front fenders. Work was to model and adapt inner doors and apply the oldsmobile texture on them : Also interior textures were improved, normal maps added, several colors like on the olds, gauges redone, added all the little alert lamps and had to find the proper documenation to make them, and so on ... (this is an older screenshot, woodgrain is different now) Well, this is a lot of writing, but can be interesting i hope to understand how long things can be when a mode becomes so big. The folder tree is now insane, i hope to be able to update it in 6 monthes if i leave alone. Or it will mute alone in something else, who knows. Anyway, this gave me the feeling of having my own brand of cars and to manage all of them to work together. EDIT for Fera : Of course all the new body variants are skinnable
that is amazing, and the only thing keeping this frankincar from becoming a roadkill creation is that lack of zip ties Cant wait for a release, I need to make wagoncakes!
Say, I remember there being some teasers of Off-road variants a while back, planned as future content. With all the shifting priorities that came along with what was essentially a complete overhaul of the mod, are these still in the planning stages?
I forgot the wheels ! To have the cars in GTA V i needed custom wheels and tires . So here they are in whitewall, blackwall, General motors 15inches steel wheels in used, new, body colored variants.
looks roadkill worthy to me! here is your roadkill sticker of approval! that's awesome, will it be a customization preset when you spawn the vehicle?
Well, this is not exactly '70 . This is 77 to 90 B-body and C-body platforms. So what is possible is to adapt Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, of the same era. pre 77 cars were way more huge ! And as you may have noticed, i'm not exactly going to do all those cars, i took the opportunity to make a beautifull model fit the mod, but i won't do that all my life. A Cadillac Deville will be good though, but no good models available and i won't model one. What is interesting now is the common parts allowing to do other cars easier. What do you mean exactly ? This preset will be in the mod, but other than that, i don't get it
You have done some brilliant work on this, Carface80 too, he has some stunning models. Great attention to detail, look forward to seeing more progress on this
wasnt you that had a brown diesel oldsmobile like the one in the pic? Awesome! Now i can play with sargentfido's mods in my gta too