Beamng has been popular for several years amassing millions of views even to this day on youtube. We all know what’s the main reason behind it and why the majority of customers have bought it. Damage. The damage aspect of beamng is just fantastic and is miles ahead of anything else and will be for years to come. It is the strong point of beamng. So don’t you think some more attention should be paid here? Don’t get me wrong the developers are doing an astounding job with the game and yes I know beamng is primarily a ‘vehicle simulator’ so attention has to be and should be paid to all aspects of vehicle dynamics. But I feel damage has been sort of ignored for some time now. Yes, damage is already pretty good and that’s an understatement, but I feel further improvements can be made. Stuff like materials breaking and tearing, scratches, dents, windshield glass stretching improvement (glass shouldn’t stretch!), more parts breakage (wipers, rear lights etc should be removable), fire and dirt marks, better smoke simulation etc, I can go on and on. I know most of these things might not yet be possible but I just want something new to be added to damage. These were all just ideas off the top of my head. Surely there is something that can be added to freshen up damage again. I fear saying this as I might come across as a lunatic but despite being ultra dynamic, the damage seems to have gone stale to me. It feels as if you’ve already seen all damage states of cars even though they are limitless. I know damage works like that in real life as well i.e. most wrecks look kinda the same, but there is way more that can be added to beamng’s damage. I just want to know if there is going to be something added to the damage in the future. I know I might come across as a hater or a lunatic asking for too much but I assure you, the devs are so talented and this game is just fantastic. I want this to be a vehicle simulator and all driving aspects to be added but I feel certain attention should also be paid to damage which has made this game what it is today. Sorry for the wall of text and I know most of these suggestions have already been made and the devs are always looking to improve the damage but I feel some update is overdue even if it is as small as wipers being simulated although scratches will be grand and make a car look actually damaged. Again this is not a hate post so please don’t crucify me. More suggestions to update damage are welcome so feel free to add them down under. Thanks.
To be honest I'm not sure there is much more they can do to drastically improve it whilst also keeping the game playable on mainstream hardware. Don't forget the damage realism on nearly all the vehicles has improved with each update for some time now. The most unrealistic thing about the current damage model as I see it, is trunk/boot lids popping off after a rear impact - I have never seen that happen in real life. Also doors and hoods/bonnets do not usually open by themselves especially on modern vehicles (although it can happen). Emergency services tend to have the opposite problem of being unable to open the doors after a serious accident. What I have noticed with the lights is the bulbs always break when the lenses break. Perhaps the bulbs could still sometimes work after a minor impact? For me though getting the AI up to scratch is way more important at the current time than adding body scratches or windscreen wipers breaking off. Although functional wipers would be a nice addition at some point.
You both are right. Because of the car body's being so soft, the damage isn't very realistic say for instance on the BIIHS Crash Test Hall Map. I think it would be cool if they made like a stiffness slider or something P.S. I'm not saying the physics are, bad, because they are great and that is why we got drawn to this game. Just a suggestion devs I understand it would take a lot of work but this would be a really nice feature in my opinion.
It really doesn't work that way... To make the physics stiffer you'd often have to increase the physics tick rate from 2000hz to something higher. They've said in the past that with 8000-10 000hz diamond density could be simulated in real time. However that only reiterates the point that mainstream hardware can currently run the game very well after years of it requireing a beastly computer. Now a $200 processor can get you a lot in this game. Heck now a PS5 could theoretically run a game like this.
The thread has been sorta derailed or misunderstood. I was suggesting adding more to the existing damage rather than changing it. The base damage is good (for now). I want to see more vfx to make the crashing spectacular i.e, better sparks, smoke, dirt, glass, plastic that behaves a bit more physically by reacting to the environment. I want to see scratches, dirt, tears, dents etc to make the wrecks look actually damaged. I want to see more removable parts like wipers, rear lights etc. You get the gist.
These are all things that have been requested in the past. The devs can only work on so many things at one time. Thing like this aren't a priority right now. their main priority is creating more vehicles, remastering old maps, improving game performance, improving physics, and increasing overall graphical fidelity.
