Completely Re-written first post. All new modifications below: CREDIT DUE: *Gabester : Base Jbeam Files, and previous assistance (months ago) *THIS thread for inspiration, and some simple and helpful tips from the forum members in that thread. *SleepyPickup and HIS-THREAD for help with adding/modifying Jbeam files. My "go to" guide when I get lost. *GAME DEVS who make this place awesome, and the ability to do such work. I WILL UPLOAD, need to figure out how to package this mod, and also I want to make sure the mod is complete and working. Still, I would appreciate any feedback. I re-wrote all of this today. I scrapped the whole entire project, went home, cried, ate some ice cream, and then thought long and hard, and started to work on the jbeam files again. And now I know a TON more than I did before. It's actually quite fun, and easy, to understand (at least suspension, engine, steering jbeams etc) and so I present to you my work on the Covet. I love this little car, and it deserves bigger guts and 4WD so it can finally compete! I messed around a lot today with the hatch files. I hate how the suspension limits you when you lift the rear, and the Toe Out is crazy noticeable. I managed to lift the car up really high, to its height limit, and theTOE is not an issue. There are a lot of values that need to be modified for the suspension to work properly. It is high up, and the rear wheels are straight. Not sure if this is old news, but I searched and searched and decided to just tackle all the values my self. I think it paid off. - - - Updated - - - Heres 2 screengrabs of what I have so far. There is a tiny bit of positive camber, that's the next thing I am working on. And this is (for now) only FWD because I want to get the suspension geometry correct: She goes over moderate rocks/ruts/sharp crests very well. I hope to loosen the back up a bit, it needs more "travel", and it's very springy and stiff, but it is VERY robust. I was thrashing it around Bajarama, and while taking the (rather huge) jumps and abusing the poor Covet, the suspension and Drivetrain (almost) never failed. Mind you, I also made extensive improvements to: ~Drivetrain Strength ~Suspension Strength ~Door Latches/Hinges ~Hood/Hatch Latches/Hinges ~Hub Strength ~Fender Attachment Strength (real fenders are pretty secure unless they get torn off) ~Front/Rear Fascia Attachment Strength (so the rear panel doesn't loosen and swing wildly around, it behaves a bit better now, as well as the front fascia.) ~Torque Curve ~Shift Points ~Differential Settings ~Parts Selection Edit 2 (July 2) Heres a shot of the Lifted Covet going over 140mph (I used the 4 speed "Real Automatic" for ease of use for keyboard.) It was stable, save for some slight wandering, but that must be because of the positive rear camber (and the nature of the game). Im adding 4WD and lower end torque, and testing it on DRI with the rock trails etc. Edit 3 (July 2) Added a small amount of "Toe In" to the rear wheels. This increases stability across the board, however it still wanders above 80 mph, but again, due to a small amount of positive camber and just the nature of the game. For a car that is lifted almost a foot, it handles pretty well. I also replaced the Race rims with the stock steelies, for a bit less grip, because it had a tendency to roll over at speed. Now it doesn't roll over AS MUCH because of the "economy" tire. (Race tires have noticeably more grip). It tracks in a straight line with FWD easily. However, once you add the rear diff, it's really just meant for Off-Road use only. Since the rear gets a lot of power, it really starts to slide out a lot...Of course, steering wheel users can adjust a lot easier. I happen to use a keyboard 99% of the time, so I find it somewhat difficult to control over 50MPH. However, you CAN select the rear diff option, so the car can always be set to FWD no problem. (I am tinkering and trying to figure out how to adjust the torque distribution between Front and Rear Diffs with no luck...any ideas?) Edit 4 (July 3) Screengrab of just how durable this little bugger is...Also: I have been working for a couple hours now on selectable parts that are separate from the original parts. So, you can select the "Offroad Engine Tuning", "Offroad Steering", "Offroad Front/Rear Coilovers", "Offroad 4 speed auto/Offroad 6 speed manual" and "Rear LSD Differential". I have all the code ready to plug into the new, fresh Covet install (one last update and final testing). Durability: Edit 5 (July 6) I finally figured out how to get the rear wheels/suspension essentially inline, (no camber, or toe). Obviously, the camber and toe are somewhat dynamic, so there will be some changes during the suspension's travel, but altogether, the car tracks straight ahead, (there is a bit of right-hand wander now, not sure why, but working on that)...otherwise, it is much more forgiving after these changes, as well as the spring rate and shock damping values are nice and soft, but damped, so it's not so bouncy. The rear end it a bit "floppy", ie. under acceleration from a stand-still, the rear wheels (especially in slow-mo, you can see it) and there is a bit of bump steer. After all of my tinkering, I don't know if that is something that can be truly fixed by messing with the jbeam, or if it just needs a true SRA, etc. For now, let's just focus on the stock car Here is 2 pictures, one shows the "flex" and the other shows the straight and aligned tires in the rear. Finally resolved the Toe/Camber issue. Flex: Rear Alignment: EDIT 6 (July 6) BETA has been removed for now...further work needed. Future updates on hold until Multiple DAE support, and my Newb Blender Skills improve (yes, modeled 4WD system and suspension, including transfer case and leaf spring/SRA)
Re: Covet 4WD Lifted DELETED for now. Refreshed this thread, and it is much better now. Still working.
I was actually just wondering why no one has done this as I accidentally spawned a Covet while testing a map... Gonna have to give it a try!
Thanks guys. I ran into some small issues, which I consider progress...I figured out what more of the values do, so I am able to "loosen" the rear end, (and front end) so it's a little more soft and forgiving. Much better now on the suspension testing in grid map, etc. Has to do with the beamdamp and limitdamp and all that stuff. Plugging away at it. Def want to keep working on it before I even release "beta" but I think once it's pretty good and driveable, then Ill just release the final version. Stay tuned!
Alright i found a few problems. 1. it doesn't drive, like at all. 2. It is invisible (imported from here) 3. All its stats are frozen (imported from here) 4. It just doesn't look any different from the regular while looking at the beems.
WtF well that's a problem Let me look into the ZIP, because I downloaded the one I uploaded and when I opened it, it is all the parts of the car in the file, not just the few jbeam files I zipped...is there a good or bad way to upload a zip? I had problems previously as well with this. Ill look into it tho - - - Updated - - - Try it now, I replaced the .zip with the CORRECT ONE. I accidentally selected the original one I made that was full of errors...I dunno if you need to update your game to refresh the covet, and If you need me too, Ill upload my whole hatch folder. Again, its all stock with my bits added in, so it doesn't mess with anything.
So I love the mod but maybe you could make the wheel base wider and the reer wheel lean way forward? What I mean is the part of the wheel closet to the front door is leaning way in and the back of the wheel is bent way out.?
take a screen shot if you will...I think u mean to say there is toe-out or toe-in? In my testing, the wheel was straight up and down, and back to front...was completely aligned. Take a screenshot so I can see what you mean. In other news, I am getting bold and diving deeper into jbeam, and now I am fiddling with the location of the wheels, since I understand the wheels in the front AND the rear are essentially too far inwards...giving the car a topsy-turvy character (Is this what you mean?) I got the jbeam correctly lined up for the most part, still need to adjust some suspension components, but next step is to dust off my Blender and re-align the wheels...Is it as easy as replacing the wheel coordinates? I am very noob when it comes to Blender...anyone have any tips before I ruin my Covet file? lol Thanks for the feedback so far!
I love the suspension it is dialed in or at least feels like it! (Is it as easy as replacing the wheel coordinates?) I have no idea? If you mess up the file just update the game it will reset it
hmm, mines not doing that...I had adjusted the rear multilink jbeam file a bit to counter balance the effect of lifting the suspension. Mine is straight...let me download my own mod and see what it does on a fresh install. EDIT: I just updated (fresh Covet install) and installed my ZIP on this thread, and everything lines up right upon spawning, but I do agree that the wheel gets knocked out of alignment somewhat easily.....not sure if ou are experiencing it after driving and hitting some stuff or whatever, but that seems to be the outcome so far...I am still working on it (hence beta release) so I will keep working on it and adjusting things as needed. Thanks for the feedback!!
Just downloaded it and it is still doing the samething. It is when I hit the gas no matter when. Hit or no hit it still does it. it isnt a big deal but I like to know that if it was my mod that it was perfect.
I see what you mean, I am still working on the mod, the lower control arms/toe control are a little wobbly. Im working on fixing that, most likely in the hub/control arm section. - - - Updated - - - Also, keep in mind, this is more for slow offroad crawling, maybe moderate speed jumping (like bajarama or similar tracks, DRI is fun on the small uphill rocky areas etc) The toe in should only really affect driveability above 50-60 mph. But I am determined to make this perfect. I also am braving the blender universe and seeing if I can (first) make the original suspension and an offroad suspension as separate, and also see if I can import the SRA from the GM or D15 and scale it down. Im very newb at Blender, so if anyone can give me any tips, I'd appreciate it...Also, how do you fix the smoothing groups? As soon as I import a model into blender, the groups are all busted, and didn't know if there was a tool or modifier that you can just apply to fix it. Probably more detailed than that im sure lol stay tuned!
I'm slowly trying to get the suspension now as a completely separate part. Meaning, when I had adjusted the suspension jbeam, when you select the off-road parts, all was great...however, when you try and select any of the original suspension parts, the rear wheels were bent inwards...I need to basically re-write the whole jbeam for the suspension (as I don't want to replace anything that came stock, I want my parts to be their own in the selection menu). In regards to modeling, I am not very good at blender, but I am figuring out how to open the DAE and at least isolate the parts I need to change, etc. I also think I may just use the SRA from the D-15, as a similar car (the Geo Tracker) was a small little hatchy-thing that had 4WD and had a SRA. So that is the route I may be taking. I will OF COURSE credit the original authors, ie. Gabester. This is not dead. I may be asking for help relatively soon though. IE, scaling the mesh for the SRA for use in the covet, and all the suspension mounting points need modeling.... Actually now I am thinking that this may just need to be it's own car in game, since I will ultimately modifying the mesh. I dunno I have a lot of work to do lol stay tuned.
Next update adds multiple dae support, so depending on the exact setup it may well be possible that way
