WIP Beta released The Tennessee USA Roane County 0.71 Beta Discussion/Suggestion/feedback Thread 19.3.1

I will be sure to check it out!
It's not that it's time-consuming to make dirt road ruts, it's that it's literally impossible as my terrain, to be so big, has data-points (height data-points) every 12 feet or so, apart. A whole dirt path isn't always even 12 feet wide!
However, the data-points are much closer on both default sized (included) maps, and also smaller user-made maps.
BUT... there's always something outside of the normalcy, here. There WILL be dirt paths, miles of them, in the future, but just not right away, because I need to wait for tiled-terrain support, when we get that, I will surely be putting many miles of those dirt paths in.

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On other notes, what a wonder some simple models will do to dress up the BANK (new concrete poles are in, among other things).



That's WAAAAAY better than it was before! WAY better... like 'no-comparison' better.

Because those little things always matter and when everything is added up, it makes a huge difference.
--May be more later


EDIT: A dead end alley is boring. So let's make it not boring in a car crash game.
*adds jump*
*decorates it with inconspicuous hedge row*
...needed to do something with that alley anyways... right?

Sorry for the editor shots lately but it's merely just in-progress shots.
EDIT: Yes, this is definitely a keeper, this jump, and there's a few blocks of running room to the one side.

Now you know why there's a body shop every 4~6 blocks in every town.

 

Can you add a 79 o sore store?

 

Sure, why not! I will gladly add anything that's not any more 'taboo' than what's already in.
Thanks for the submission, we can always use them. Think of how many stores are in 3 decent sized towns (or think, as you drive or are driven, count the amount of different stores you pass in a mile or 5 miles), then you know of exactly why I opened up submissions to things like that

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On other notes, I built a purdy (pretty nice) house, with a new texture, too.



That one took 60~90 minutes to build/finish up just that one home. It's nice though.

Ignore the unfinished storage place to the right of one of the shots, still working on that.

 

do used car dealer ship
name it big bills hell cars(based on old meme) or something

 

So entirely, I've finally given the 'police department' type building (called: Non-descript Government Facility), it's very own parking area, overdone as usual. It includes a jump accessed from the 'Hoon's repair shop', that is basically a nicely curved embankment.
Ensuring good flow is a secret to map development that most all folks overlook. The maps that provide a half-hour, or hours, depending on your play-style of continuous fun, are maps with good flow. Good map flow examples are trying to limit dead-end roads, or putting jumps, scenic views, or other goodies/risks at the end of the road, to keep the fun and adventures going and going.
Why should the fun stop... well, unless you have to get your car off the roof of a condo...

So aside of that goofing around, entirely on to what else I spoke of:

This last picture is looking directly at the small jump I mentioned. These are important since this is a car-wreck simulator.

Ignore the FPS-O-METER it's not accurate when I have it in windowed mode (desktop is 30fps always, don't know why, it just is, even if said windowed program can run @ 999fps). FPS drops when switching to-and-fro the program when taking pics, too, FPS will be similar to Rockwood but isn't as bad as the very middle of downtown Harriman (I have to do something with that, it's a mess).

That stupid parking-lot took HOURS.

 

This map is really, really good! Probably the best map i have ever used in this game. The only problem i have with it is that the navigation/map UI app doesn't work, but that's probably because i only have 8GB of RAM.

 

Don't use the mini-map, it wigs out and I can't be sure of why. Only does this since 0.10.x.xxxx version, something with a game bug.
Please refrain from using the mini-map and in-stead use the in-dash GPS or optional on-dash GPS units available equipped on some models or available in the CTRL+W parts selector. It's a known issue not necessarily with my map but affects anyone with 0.10.x.
Thank-you for your compliments on my open-world concept for Beamng.drive.

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More good news for map progress! The last open section of the main commercial sector is done, connecting it cohesively to the rest of the (older section of) town. Now most things that get done are strictly residential.


So we have a storage place (U-stuff it, doesn't have a sign yet)... A post orifice... An Oldwell Wanker, and an Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A Insurance Agency to finish off main street. I have some other places I have to fit in yet in various parts of town, which I will be doing, surely.
--- Post updated ---
Testing, testing, testing, testing and more testing. It's why not TOO much unexpected stuff comes up in this map.
You wouldn't believe how darn hard it was to get a car onto this walk with the bollards on it. Next to impossible (the bollards I didn't hit).

driving up the stairs, was right-quick and easy, oddly enough you can drive right on up them like nobody's business...
Go figure. Lots of testing tonight, and got another block of detailing done, so most (3/4ths) of Kingston has it's details done, minus the development on the hill, but not touching that until I get more stuff done down on the lower spots.

 

We have one in town next to a car wash. The car wash sign says: "Feeling dirty? Come here instead!"

ha!

 

Maybe you could put an Apple store in it?

 

Okay, I can consider that, it wouldn't be called APPLE, but we can advertise the new INEPTLE i-Sore device, and all the i-Infection accessories to go with it
Great deals on the i-duneedit's, i-dunno's and i-duncare's too!

Bob does not like Apple and it's over-priced phones, has never owned one, and buys cheap <50$ (mostly, <10$ on sale!) phones when they go on sale for 10 bucks at the 99¢ store because 'it's a phone, that's all it needs to be, and Bob doesn't want a beeping, bonging, chirping attention deficit pacification device distracting him every 5 seconds for the entirety of his life everywhere he goes... so he loves to make fun of Apple, AND talk about himself in the third person in an almost-too-creepy sort of way' .

I am one of those people you never see with a cell phone, because it's off or put away or both, and only use it for 'a phone' like when I can't find where the Doctor's Office has moved to, and need to pull over (yes, you betcha) and make a call to find the darn office.

Can't use trademarked names or other IP (Intellectual Property) or companies can send take-down notices to Beamng moderators. I can however make a completely obvious mockery of them around my map because of said inconvenience.

The progress thus-far will be beta'd this week and a new version piped to the servers HOPEFULLY next weekend. I say HOPEFULLY as in, there may always be chance that something comes up. While I try my darnedest to stick to a good schedule like any responsible person, there's always a chance that something could go awry and the never-ending fact that no one wants a broken map.

FPS in Kingston is currently as ROCKWOOD was +/- 15% in the last version. FPS in various areas of the map that have the added grass (so it doesn't look like square grass, like in the towns or Spend-a-Lot), should be a tad better to the tune of 2~3 FPS up to 10%.
The grass was hacked a few days back to billboard quicker (go 2d sprite mode sooner) so that your GPU doesn't have to work as hard to do something few people would notice without flying high over-head anyways. I am working on doing whatever I can to make sure it isn't displayed at all when more than a block away, further helping FPS (I need help in getting it to shut off).
As always, turning off reflections helps lots, as does turning off shadows if you're CPU-limited.
Anyone with a 3-year-old or newer i5 or i7 or Ryzen CPU should do just dandy running this as before (provided it's not a several-year-old laptop with no Nvidia or AMD gpu).

Nothing else besides downtown KINGSTON has been changed, however:
signs were added around the map in many many places, and also:
many many many intersections were tidied up and optimized.
AI paths in said intersections were also straightened out a hair while I was doing this
Sidewalks around the map are now mostly that tan-slightly-aged concrete instead of slate-grey.

 

So, the next update will push out in a little over a week. That means: not only good things that there will be a new update coming, slightly more polished than last time, but this also means something else!

It's the last chance in the next day or two to send in user-submissions for business names or models to be included in the next updated version, anything received after about Tuesday/Wednesday will be waiting until the NEXT update.

Though, that being said, beta-previews have begun so if you positively cannot wait, and must have one, and would like to test things out, give me a shout but you must report other bugs or inconsistencies found otherwise it could make it to release.

Finalization will most likely begin Thursday eve, followed by the half-day-long upload of this 876mb file, so something will pop up slightly before or after Sunday of this weekend (think, Saturday - less likely - or Monday in a week - much more likely).

Private beta version = 0.85
Public resource version = 0.851
Current/last available version = 0.82/0.81 (listed on the forum as 0.72 due to a miscommunication, chose not to bug the Moderators about it).

Recommended RAM, GPU, CPU specs will largely stay the same, though you might want to install 64~128mb of more ram in your PC for this version as it's got obviously more stuff to process (again, the lion's share is in Kingston aside of new signs here and there).

This is THE version/update to have for the directionally challenged folks out there who keep getting lost. Yes, Bob.Blunderton listens to the cries for help eminating out of most all of Roane County map's 144 sq/miles of mostly-nothingness and other portions of the mostly-square-grass-infested terrain.

"That'll never work - Floating point has limitations." "The game isn't made for this." "Who will even be able to run this?" "No one's going to like low-detail terrain." "You'll never ever have time or patience to complete this." ... but it hasn't stopped me yet!

Until this crashes on loading on my 16gb RAM equipped PC, I shall not be stopped from trying. Even at that rate I'd mug 2x4gb sticks out of my AMD FX PC as that has (albeit slightly slower) DDR3 in it, and upgrade to Win7 pro from Win7 home.

--That is all.
--Thanks to the users who submitted things like yield signs, business names, and models/textures!

Suggestions or beta-testers welcome. Please send your hardware specs (processor, GPU, memory amount, OS version) along with a request for the 'November Roane County Update 0.85' to receive a try-before-you-fry (due to bugs) snapshot of the map.
Youtube guys may automatically receive an unsolicited offer from me as usually is the case to get advertising out there.

 

These were sitting on my hard drive collecting dust. Maybe you have a use for them...

Spoiler

 

Okay surely I can use these.

For those getting the new beta (not next week's release), or who've already gotten it. I was hitting 30fps in spots in the town and I was like, OK, there's got to be something I can do.

*removes all shadow map-wide from 3d grass* *fires up map and immediately gains 20% FPS in slower spots, improving anywhere in the map with added 3d grass* Coming from someone who's anything but cpu-limited, this is AWESOME, as shadows are done on the CPU here. This is very very good. So for folks with old version or for the new beta preview (before it gets on Beamng servers, the Beamng version coming next week will have this patch), apply this patch to the southernhighway/art/shapes/groundcover directory and at the cost of grass shadow disappearing you will gain possibly 20% (more or less per system) on FPS.

Between this and the GRASS fix I did making it billboard faster, the slow spot near SPEND_A_LOT when heading east on the US 40 highway, just before you hit the overpass, is now 45~44FPS not 30 FPS (or lower).
Improved the 30fps areas to 36~37fps here with this (and possibly the editing of grass, also).


Again, extract these three files into the \levels\SouthernHighway\art\shapes\groundcover directory, over-writing 3 files in there.
Works with any version of the map.
This applies to any version of the map other then the one I put on the Beamng.drive servers for next week's update (that will have it in).

 

P.s. Pan could be the one you cook with or the bread.

 

made in ms paint cause im cheap

 

Because it needs a pool, and you aren't supposed to start sentences with 'because'... and I did.


So now it has one. If you find a certain but hidden jump, you'll probably land in it with anything faster than a naturally aspirated D15.

Inspired by last month or two ago's car accident video I saw on Youtube.

Lots of other unimportant optimization and detailing/bugfixing etc. and generally getting things cleaned up and running better, and detailing finished for the lower part of Kingston. The development on the hilltop might not get much attention, depends on how much time I have.


Works grandly!

 

im sad, this won't run on my computer XD

 

Start doing things for friends or friend's parents, etc, earn money. Tell them you want to make money. If an adult, find some temp work at a temp agency and suffer for a week or two, upgrade computer, enjoy all the latest that games have to offer.

The updated version should run 10~25% better especially for folks on the fence with CPU or GPU requirements, in any of the 'finished off and detailed' areas. Rural area performance should be roughly the same as it has always been, with little change.

If your PC has 8gb of RAM, and intel integrated video, go into bios (be careful here), and assign as much memory as you can to your iGPU (this is sometimes called memory reserved for video, or video ram partition etc, others can chime in here and let me know if I am wrong, as I don't use integrated, though my cpu was manufactured with it). Generally 512mb~1024mb (1gb) will get you an easy ability to run this on LOWEST settings, even with an older CPU and no dedicated GPU.
The 8gb of RAM requirement is generally a given with all games released this year, 3d ones anyways. This Beamng.drive game isn't even into beta stages yet, so keep that in consideration. While I feel for you, get some cash from doing yard work (rake leaves for neighbors), or something of the sort such as:

Cleaning the whole house is one thing... or...
Mow the carpet
Prune the dog
Paint the lawn
Walk the bushes
Take parts off your mom's car and fence them in the alley to shady characters for cheap (if you take parts off the back, she might not notice as quickly!)... OKAY don't do that, she might really hate you!

So when it snows, go to neighbors and say 'hey, I wanna earn money to upgrade my computer, can I shovel your walkways/driveways (or both), for money?'.
In the 80s and early 90s as a kid I frequently did laborous tasks to make cash. Then I always money to go buy a hotdog and a drink for a buck with my friends, as the only computers we had back then were monochrome and my family didn't get a (albeit USED) PC until 1994 (BUT IT COULD RUN DOOM - YEAH!!!).

 

This is looking more awesome by each post, no doubt about that!

A little update about my intentions to help out. Got my 3d software installed so now I can start modeling stuff but time is the issue so itll take some time to model stuff. Trying to freshen up my knowledge with modeling a trailer home, we'll see how that goes. Ill post progress as I go.

 

lol i am trying to earn money for a really nice gmaing laptop