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

Thank you for updating this. It is one of my favorite maps. Might even be my favorite.

 

No problem, thank-you and also and you're very welcome!
This is a labor of love and a years-long undertaking. I'm not sure what will be done first - this map or the game itself. There is absolutely no chance of me abandoning this unless I die or go to prison for the rest of my life - neither of which I plan on doing anytime soon.
This map is "maybe 40~50% done" if I should hazard a guess, and that's if the scope doesn't expand further than it already has. It's not beyond my ability to make this a reality, short of writing a fancy story / scripting etc (other folks can kindly do so or be bribed in some way to do so later).
Now, there's still a lot of 2016/2017 stuff that's got to be updated to current modern expectations or standards, but that said it's going to be a fun ride. Of course the new stuff and fixed-up stuff that appears in betas should include both expected (planned) changes and unexpected changes (unplanned, or me going off on a tangent doing something else for whatever reason and just deciding to juggle the time-line a bit if only to keep monotony at bay).
I try to be totally honest and straight-up with things, completely transparent etc. I am one of the few mappers who wouldn't be upset if you said 'this map sucks!' UNLESS the person didn't say why (hence leaving me clueless to validate as to why it's bad, and how I could go about fixing it).
So do enjoy, and always be on the lookout for little out of the way places / changes which might not always top the 'new features' list.
While I don't turn a profit doing this; it is pretty much 'my job' due to being physically disabled and not able to do a whole lot else in my days. I do look forward to mapping almost every day, and it's no source of pain since the income it generates seems to be enough to cover bases of getting software, models, textures, and other assets to keep the project moving forward acceptably. So it's my goal and purpose for the foreseeable future, and it is one I fully enjoy.
--Cheers & Thanks!

 

I've been busy modeling, since this week seemed to be the pain week to end all pain weeks. Ugh. Thank goodness for blood pressure meds to keep the heart beating! No pity needed, but do know I've been modeling a few things for the next release.

Sometime this weekend, you'll see this place suddenly decide to exist in the map.
Maybe I'll do over the front a little better so it doesn't look so much like the strip malls (it's actually supposed to, to look like the same architect & developer built it... just not quite that much).
Since I can't call it Bennigan's due to trademark, I'll call it Shenanigans! Don't ask me how to spell that word, I have no clue. Will have to look it up (maybe I got it right on the second try?).
Some palette swaps... I mean texture-replacements later, I'll spawn two different 'looks' for this building with some little bits added or subtracted here or there to keep time-cost on modeling down (it will be far from the only semi-formal dining experience though).
Completely / mostly different buildings housing restaurants will be modeled in the near future, so this won't be the only one. Otherwise I risk making the map look like the background of a Hanna-Barberra cartoon during a chase-scene, where the background scrolls 3 screens and (sometimes very obviously) repeats endlessly.
Other restaurants that will be featured:
Shoe-in's (Shoneys), How do people eat this? The last jail I was in had better food AND was cheaper!
The Tea Pit (an old run-down diner from 20 years ago called The Tea Pot),
Pecker's (Perkins, will have to clear this with the resident censors)
Fiendly's (Friendly's)
Snob Heaven's (Bob Evans, might be 'Snob Heathens' if religious reference is taboo)
Olive Dungeon (Olive Garden, Will name this Sufferin' Succotash if I can get away with it)
Lethargic (Sonic)
Sausage Fest (in-stead of Arby's, might be in already, have to double-check, forget)
Red Clam (Red Lobster, likely might be taboo / censored)
Caseoda Mondays (Ruby Tuesday's / TGI Fridays)
I will likely think of another one or two places to parody and insult.
--That's all folks (until tomorrow / the next day when I post more).

 

Words... (ignore the texture fighting/glitching, that's due to being able to see all the detail levels at once as they occupy the same space. The game engine only displays one detail level at once, depending on distance)

 

I'm going to go ahead and update the supporter beta within the next 8~10 days.
Now, while I won't need ALL that time technically, but something ALWAYS comes up - that's just the way it is around here sadly. So it might be out a few days before that, just let's not hold breath. Think by the beginning / middle of the next week, one week from now.
Things that will be put in over the next week:
Integration of fork-lift compatibility in all big-box stores.
More highway signs in the newly re-done areas, and on some side-roads.
A new restaurant or two will be added in, including Shenanigan's Tavern & Grill.
Finalized AI in new areas (fix a few bugs / please report them if the AI gets stuck, it sometimes has trouble going from two to four lanes).

I may pull the ECA assets from the map, not sure if I will get to that before or after the beta. This will lower the amount of MB size of the map a bit, as I'm too close to the 8gb mark on video ram use. Wanted to do this for a while, keeps getting pushed back, derp.

I was originally going to release the update this week, but things shouldn't be rushed as that ALWAYS ends up bad in some way and I wish not to tarnish this map that way.
You folks deserve nothing less than the best most awesome thing I can make, that caters to everyone as a group and everyone individually and keeps players engaged for a long time with tons of exploration and activities such as jumps or traffic crashes or even exploration for the sake of just driving etc.

For those who graduated or are graduating from school, be it a senior in high school or a middle schooler, congratulations folks -- school is important, don't be a drop-out if you can help it unless your life-long dream-job is a janitor or burger flipper (nothing wrong with working unskilled labor when you have to, have no choice, or do it while going to school or while you're young; but I believe I'd be with the majority of folks when saying most folks don't dream of doing that for our entire lives).
Sorry if some of that sounds like a public service announcement, but credit were credit's due, Congrats, you earned it!

 

I'm definitely gonna try to get a GED. That's for sure. Btw, not that I wanna encourage anyone to drop out of school, but did any of you know that lead singer of Green Day dropped of school when he turned 18 and has a net worth of $75 million? Not a janitor or a burger flipper, but yes. I totally get bob's point.
EDIT: Also, I know that Billie is an exception to all the unsuccessful high school dropouts.

 

...and that's why many people don't like Green Day music But really, many musicians drop out of school early for music, and some do well. The others though... probably wish they'd stayed in school (I know a few ).
--- Post updated ---
Back on topic, what still needs to be done before public release?

 

And the lead singer of greenday is 1 in 7.6 billion.

 

Yes, and I will not encourage people to drop out. I wanna finish high school too.

 

@Slugfest I remember watching the music video of Greenday's Long View song where they beat the heck out of the flanel couch or something like that, on MTV (back when MTV and VH1 had music video on it). The song was brand new at the time, I think I was maybe 10 or so. I liked that song, even more-so by the time I became 14~16 years old.
Later they came out with Boulevard of Broken Dreams, that was a good one too. Green Day as a whole is long and far from my favorite band, but they have put out some good ones as far as charted songs go.
I wish I could go back to the 80's and 90's when I was young and music was still worth listening to, and radio stations didn't suck. Now it's all auto-tune trash, with little to no talent, and you can't even sing to most all of it. If you need auto-tune to hold a note, you're not a singer, get the heck off the stage.
I do agree folks should stay in school if at all possible. It's so easy to get into a career early in life VS later, especially if you develop health conditions.

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The first Shenanigan's and Shoe-in's buildings are in, though not quite ready for demo yet.

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In-stead, I'm going to mention how to easily line up the terrain with curbing if you're using the MRK kit to make a map. If folks have read the 'something about roads...' thread I took part in YEARS ago (it still stands), and how I explained in detail along with others, how to carve terrain for roadways using mesh-roads as a guide for the surface, it can be monotonous to get the back-side of the curbing's (kerb) terrain lined up.
It's not that bad though.
Grab a square brush tool in the landscape / terrain editing tools, flip smoothness to 1 or 0 (however low it goes), use the GRABBER tool (1st one in the old editor), and pull the back of the curbing's terrain up to just below the sidewalk or curbing's back half. This can go quite quickly (with a larger sized brush IF you have the room to) after you've carved a straight road into the ground, and will still speed things up a little around corners (sometimes a rounded brush is better, you be the judge).
I attached a picture at the bottom of the thread here, of where I was adding curbing, to somewhat demonstrate what I was doing with the terrain vs curbing. This way you don't have an unrealistic rear-facing curb facing away from the roadway vs towards it.
Smoothness = 100 makes a dome, but smoothness = 1 or 0 makes a flat square section of raised or lowered land with the node grabber tool. Don't forget to increase smoothness again when using the smooth terrain tools later to finish your carving work.
If your hands jump a lot like mine do, or otherwise shake, use lower 'pressure' to help alleviate the errors it may cause (10~20% works quite well, 3% when fine-tuning roads is awesome).

 

The Shoe-ins lot is done. Just needs business signs by the road and a dumpster out back.

2nd shot is from the on-ramp behind the property. Parking lots are graded realistically and not flat. I try to avoid boring flat parking-lots and roads, even most of GTA V's roads are flat and that seems kind of boring if you ask me, they missed the boat on that one. Not only are GTA V's roads mostly 'flat' as far as cross-slope goes (the thing that makes you fly when you hit intersections going fast, and also lets storm water drain to the sides), GTA V also does not have banked turns (which you won't notice until you look for it). That said, vehicle handling in that game has always been very arcade like and not very realistic for the most part - not compared to BeamNG. BeamNG Drive is on a whole new level of it's own where few sims even come close.
The Shenanigan's lot is mostly done, but will still need another solid hour of work.
--That is all for right now.

 

i like my roads bumpy
i've been watching this mod's progress for quite some time and i can't wait for the public free version to be updated
i'd be definitely donating to the patreon but i don't have a paypal nor a way to send money online

 

It's all good, I can't "throw stones" as far it goes for folks unable or otherwise lacking a means to contribute monetarily as I had tough times myself. Just let me know if things bug out or let me know what you like or do not like in the map, or anything that could be improved in some way. Even random ideas of what to put in the map is cool. I still have to make some of the supporter houses for the map, so there's an idea too (you can send in pictures of your house provided you edit out your address if you want it in the map, via private message on here).

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Things are progressing nicely for this area as I add more road details, a few signs, a 2nd Shenanigan's location at a high point in the roadway, (etc).
The signs for Shenanigan's and for Shoe-in's are illuminated and hence will be visible at night.
--That is all for right now.

 

Finally started working on this MESS of an interchange. This thing was TERRIBLE, and I mean it, even by 2016 standards (or at-least the way it's been left for the better part of two years or more). So, DO expect this interchange to be done before the beta gets out.
It will take a good solid two days of work to get this *nice* looking, maybe a little longer to iron out some more of the bumps which are sure to crop up here and there as I work on it. When it's done it should seamlessly blend the highway and the surface road below it, into one homogonous work of infrastructure [art?].

This is only after a half-day of work has been put into it. It's driveable but it's not nice to look at, the AI isn't done, nor are the ends blended at half or more of the ramps. For those who don't remember, this is the OTHER end of the road that I've been working on, that's pictured in the previous post - this is where it lets out in the city on the inner-loop expressway. So this all will come together and you'll be able to travel the road from end to end, completely updated, with nice smooth banked turns and lots of new scenery.
The choke-point where the off ramp ends suddenly at the bridge over the flood control canal has been eliminated as the ramps now become the 3rd lane (per side) of each bridge run. This is not only safer, but much more logical from an engineering standpoint, especially considering that section heads IN TO the city center. This area will be a down-town area with a LOT of sky-scrapers and other tall buildings all over, 5~8 floors and higher.
New buildings will start coming into shape and appear in the map AFTER the next beta round and after the resulting public update.
--That's all for right now, just wanted to not leave folks in the dark.
Beta update is still on schedule tentatively around the end of the week for supporters, the public beta will follow several days there-after IF no serious issues occur during testing.

 

Update, using in-editor shots so I don't lose my place.

So first of all, yes I use the old editor, from version 0.20 actually, but it still works just fine to run the maps in (current game version) when I test - I just use this for a stable familiar editing environment as I don't care for editor 2.0 at all in it's current state (can't use it!).
The interchange is 75% or more complete, needs AI pathing fixed up a bit, but most of it is there and working.
I re-did some stuff nearby, like a block of roadway (dark stuff in 1st shot), and I fixed the dark pavement on the terrain from fading out to grey too quick (not decal roads, just the terrain dark pavement texture). The subway tunnel is extended another 200 feet or so, so that it does not interfere with the road I am building. I also covered a section of flood control canal nearby for another road crossing (not shown).
This new park includes EV charging stations (two pairs), a few benches, and a nice little planter tree with plenty of parking.
This part of the map was mostly concept stuff and testing, so expect it to change A LOT over the next few betas that come out in the coming months.
I should have this current beta wrapped up in less than 3 days, hopefully. So long as it works fine it'll be a few days before the public version is updated after the supporter beta goes out, so that all bugs are squashed and it works as intended the first time.
Do know that I am trying to do my best and cram as much 'awesome stuff' into the map along with keeping the immersion as best is possible with my ability. I am using the extra few days here to tidy up and make this ready for public consumption. Only my best quality and workmanship will do, and if you think it can be improved in some way or otherwise falls short, DO let me know. I have NO problem what-so-ever with constructive criticism and in-fact it's that which makes the map better (or at-least, it can if a valid issue is pointed out).
--That is all!
Edit: I've been working on this over 8 hours today, sheesh. I am cramming and cramming so I can get this out ASAP.

 

Getting closer to release here. Putting the final improvements on the stock room (the forklift compatibility is necessitating these additions to the map). ALL stock rooms in the map WILL BE ALMOST IDENTICAL for this release. Sorry, but corners had to be cut to get forklift compatibility into the map before this beta. I will personalize them later on a per-store basis. This helps cut-down on boo-boos and makes sure the release gets out in a more-timely manner, as not everyone uses these anyways.
I should have time Thursday to do a lot, but Friday is a wash-out (let's just say medical leave at this point; having multiple physical disabilities sucks), so this could push into Saturday if I don't get enough done by then. These appointments came up in the last week, and I did not have the choice to re-schedule for later to not impact project beta release (this stuff needs to be done).
Either Saturday morning or Sunday morning I'll be uploading the supporter beta. So it'll come out just after that point (it takes 5 hours to upload on a clear night, sometimes a little less or more depending on network / ISP congestion).

TO-DO:
AI paths on and around interchange. AI paths for about a mile of four-lane road up to said interchange.
Stripe a mile of four-lane road decently (it's almost a mile and a half if it matters). Striping roads = putting lane lines down
Blend interchange ramps at the highway ends, this is only half done yet.
Finish off block of city I was building (yes!) near interchange surface road with parking-area around tall buildings.
Heavy AI test (20~25 vehicles, makes it very hot in here! it can get close to 90F in here after 2~3 hours) prior to release.
Dev stuff clean-up (mesh roads for carving get removed, extra unused curbs laying near roads get deleted and so-forth).
Forklift mod compatibility testing. This will take half a day if there's any bugs to fix etc, until I iron it out. I will only be using a 4kb graphic to make the orange paint for the racks that you set stuff on with the forklift mod, so that shouldn't bloat the VRAM requirements any more. Trying to be stingy about the graphics I add in now, as I'm pushing over the 8gb limit if I'm not careful (it still does it sometimes, use medium textures if your 8gb card cuts FPS in half all of a sudden to fix that, no need to adjust mesh detail).
2~3 more nights/days of work, max. Shouldn't be any major show-stoppers.

*modeling screenshots show, this is not in-game but is in the modeling software. The ceiling detail isn't going to render properly as it's transparent, but will be just fine in the game. Please resist the urge to get your crowbar out and climb through the vents... I know it's tough but please refrain.

 

Finished up the stock room. I will have two detail levels that will show this room. The top-most detail level is the highest one and will be used whenever you are inside or right next to the building. The next level of detail will show when you're mid-way through a neighboring (equal sized) lot and will be a plain 6-sided cube just showing the inside walls (no doors or fancy stuff). I believe I've managed to make this room in roughly a dozen draw calls, or less. I was really stingy about using draw calls due to the fact that once you hit 4000 or so, most machines will barely push 60fps once the vehicle is in view (which is 800 or more draw calls in and of itself, vehicles do vary with buses and trucks being more and little cars being less sometimes).
So the whole building with the stock room might use at most 30 draw calls - that's a highball number too, it might be as low as 20~25. That means I could have 130 unique variations of this building displaying at or near full detail - all different (otherwise like buildings batch-render on like levels of detail / LOD's), and only then would I be hitting the draw call limits.
However, not to rest on one's laurels for long; shadows, normal-mapping (it's like bump mapping), specular, SSAO (soft shadows) and Depth-of-field, reflective things, these all eat a draw call each time they effect a surface, so you're essentially a little below half, bringing you out to around maybe 40~50 unique variations of said building all displaying at once, plus a vehicle or maybe two, to hit the max. That's still pretty good. Plus, most all curbing needs only one or two draw calls and generally if it uses more than one, it only does so at close range, so we still have some breathing room and the ability to afford hidden places such as subways or building interiors if I make sure to be smart while UV'ing things (texturing).
I made sure to do the most with what I have available here such as: Trusses are 3-dimensional, as are the doors, while the racks are a simple flat-shaded orange texture (because honestly, that is fine for right now) with 'open rack' shelving.
I created 3 variations of light textures; standard, alternate (has one of those fancy textured Lexam panels to diffuse light better), and a rusted variation for use in tunnels and such. Textures include both the light surface and fixture body all in one.
Word of caution: While you can't directly drive a vehicle in here unless you spawn it in this room, it would be possible to get stuck in the rack shelving ONLY if you hit it at speeds higher than a typical forklift could go. I can't really help this issue, without cutting into the rack space quite a bit to make collision surfaces wide enough. This is a game-engine limitation, and I will work with this as best as I can. In spaces such as large warehouses where it might be possible to get a car in, I will make the rack posts wider to facilitate better collision. The width of collision triangles needed to stop a vehicle increases with the amount of speed you go (movement between ticks, ticks = 2000hz or 2000 times-a-second). So it will be no issue with a typical fork-lift either way.
Edit: Included a shot of where I added some city near the interchange.

 

Interchange is 90% done, most of the AI paths are in. Just needs a little cleanup and some median work on the far end to blend it into the four-lane route that goes over the mountain. I've used a superior method of leveling the ends of the exit ramps and blending them to the highway, so it should be better than other interchanges that have come before it. I also updated a lot of the nearby terrain and also cleaned up the edges of the canal in this small area.

TO-DO:
Median work at the interchange (not much), and one or two ramps left to blend into the highway
Stripe and route AI paths over a mile of roadway (hour or two, maybe more)
Finish end of the new Shoe-in's lot and decorate with trees/plants etc. (hour)
Finish office towers lot with parking stalls and some plants. (hour or two)
Get forklift support bits into the map (they're pretty much ready, aside of a little collision mesh work, all textures are already in) and make sure they're placed correctly (read: update models and it should be good to go already as this just adds interior to existing models).
Full AI test and forklift usability test (this will take many hours, it's a big map).

Two days of work, max. I will keep everyone posted if anything else comes up.
--That is all.

 

You know the modder knows what he's doing when he comes up with a way to do things that he himself describes as "a superior method". Keep up the great work!

 

Thank-you buddy! I appreciate you making note of my continuous effort to innovate new ways and things, and to refine my existing practices in mapping to better serve a very-deserving community of awesome people. It's my way of giving back to a community that has given oh-so-much.
What other game would let you line up 20+ pianos in downtown Rockwood Tennessee (Roane County map) until your (old quad core) CPU starts to sweat, and hook up a combine harvester, and proceed to mulch/harvest/kibble a bunch of pianos into tiny pieces complete with all the expected 'musical' sounds? I laughed SO hard I had a sore gut most of the evening and into the next day, and went through several tissues from all the tears. I genuinely never laughed so hard at a computer game in my entire life, and I've played many good games with fun/funny moments. So entirely, if I work on any game, it should be this one.

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This over-view shot shows the interchange I've been working on at the bottom (keep in mind at this distance, to keep FPS up and consistent as much as possible, most buildings are two dimensional like old Dos Doom sprites, and many objects disappear such as the modular highway pieces, showing terrain underneath). It also shows how I've updated many nearby parts of the terrain (a few square miles), re-worked it more natural and more like California with it's rolling hills turning into mountains. At the top-center of the shot is where I built stuff over the last month or so, and the dam is halfway there around the middle of the shot.
The lighter portion of the road closer to the bottom (The one that meets the highway at the interchange) is fairly devoid of detail and (for a mile or so) isn't very eventful. It's more just getting put in so players can use it at good speed and not have to go the long way around, because driving somewhere in this map can easily put a dozen miles or more on the vehicle just trying to get where you're going legitimately.

I will say however that the route I just updated is quite a thrill to drive at good speed and there's only about 2 to 4 corners that will trip you up if you're not careful or if you're going a good bit over 80~100mph, otherwise most of it is good high speed drifting material with long sweeping nicely banked bends and not too many bumps. If you love to drift, this update will have some new roadway just for you.
The new interchange ramps aren't perfectly smooth as much as some others, so do use caution. Most of these ramps didn't get re-graded as the old ones were pretty decent, they just looked terrible. I will iron out some of these imperfections (or put obvious patches there to 'warn' players) at a later date as I work in this area building the city.

Speaking of city, I have over 100 unique buildings of all shapes and sizes, new and old; that I have to get put into this map, but that'll be after the beta updates go out as there's enough stuff to do already.
Gotta end this now as I hear a thunderstorm rolling in (it's been doing this literally all week, thankfully without tornadoes locally).
There's so much in store to come for Los Injurus, and I just can't wait to show everyone in the near future. I just hope folks enjoy playing it as much as I enjoy making it (which I do, even tedious parts).
--That's all right now. Thanks for everyone's continued support AND patience.
Los Injurus city map project is a result of community funding to help cover software and asset costs. Los Injurus needs YOU to help make it great! Do join the Patreon if you'd like monthly supporter updates, faster response to new game update issues/bugs, or if you'd just love to help a disabled guy make an awesome city map for your favorite game here. The Patreon link is in my signature and on the 1st page top post on this forum thread.

Edit: All ramps are blended now at the newly revamped interchange. It's fully signed except for yield signs (not really needed as all ramps technically have their own lane), all the edging is done, and most of the AI paths (all but two) are done with a few needing minor connection-point adjustment on the surface road.
This only leaves the rest of the stuff I mentioned previously on my to-do list yet to do. Day and a half of work left (I will be continuing this shortly and may throw another addition on this post later).