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

Looks awesome, also, P-enta is a really good modeler so you... ( you know where this is going, right?

 

Watch @P_enta say something to the effect of "Y'all know I can't model everything in BeamNG, right?"

 

Buildings and assets of the sort are stupid easy to model

 

What I'm hearing is that you can do everything...

 

Not everything.....

 

Thanks for the kind words.
Things needed? Well, if it's something you don't see in the map, it can be used.
Map furniture is what it's called... Basically, I have to get A LOT of things together. Even if you don't texture / UV the model, "If it belongs in a city or even the country-side I can use it."
UV's are nice-to-have but not required, as it's a pain in the butt and often the LEAST fun part of modeling.
Airport decorations, maybe an internal area to the terminal, or anything that goes in that.
Subway stations, signs, decorations and so-forth.
Buildings - pretty much anything realistic (or close enough) can be used.
Park objects - any kind of park.
Stationary 'parked' vehicles that can appear randomly throughout the map. These would be much simplified, lack interiors, wouldn't be driving anywhere, only parked. They don't need engines modeled, would have opaque (dark) glass, and should be as few draw calls as possible (that means, try to link UV's of the same texture together as much as possible).

Now, of-course; the mandatory fine-print stuffs and legalese "I reserve the right to change things and at which point will essentially take ownership of the model, but you can always say 'keep this or that about the object the same if possible', and I will try to keep that in mind. Just wanted to get that fine print out of the way so that if someone donates a model and then changes their mind, it won't cause more work or importantly, wasted work on my or the modeler's part."
If someone (anyone) wishes to model a very complex model, it's a good idea to check with me first if it's absolutely needed, as I wouldn't want someone to waste their time - though the above things I mentioned are super-useful.

So pretty much anything you see in a city can be used. It can be absolutely anything, as not only is this the city of Los Injurus, but in Nalgones County (the rural area), even more diverse objects can be used. Just don't take something from another game and send it here, or this would possibly get DMCA'd until it was removed - which causes legal trouble for the hosting/staff, too.

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My new housing development has come a long way in 2~3 days.

This is an HOA-style housing project, with large 1 and 2 story homes, in a Spanish architecture style but fairly modern. This 'newer' development abuts an older 1950's ~ 1960's era development when ranch homes were all the rage. In the last shot above, there's two separate tunnels you can drive right through near the bottom right of the last shot.
No trees or bushes (or other misc bits) are in this development yet, but there will be some soon as I need them in to gauge FPS accurately, and therefor what and how much to build around it.
Visible in the last shot above just up from the tunnels is a mysterious or just plain ugly white square outline in the grass on a corner lot. A public (small) park will go here for the citizens.
In the shots below, a new CHICKEN MUNCH restaurant has been built and finished up (except for bushes/trees like the development).



Last shot below for perspective of the new interchange and the surrounding area with new buildings and roads.

That development has sure taken it's sweet time to get built up, but I must say, rather than boring it's quite fun / engaging to do. If you have half the fun playing it that I do building it, you're going to be in good spirits/shape.
Again; keep those requests coming, I'm not out of sticky-notes quite yet.
I can't make missions or code a story (yet), but I can make engaging immersive game environments for someone else to do so. So if you know how to do these things, feel free. I will work with folks and be cautious about updating/changing mission areas if I know of them.
Even if no one does make missions / story / campaign, or it never amounts to more than just hauling pianos with a time limit (not that I'd mind), I will eventually learn how. It's sometimes nice to have that extra bit of stuff to-do with the game.
Why aren't there any piano hauling missions in the game / made with mods anyways?
--Cheers

 

Okay so just to update, I have been working on the map periodically, so things are still progressing as-usual.
As I was working on my lawn Saturday (yes, I FINALLY got around to mowing it, got the mower running and oil-changed up and all that jazz), and finishing up around the home...
I swept the clippings off my deck and as I was nearing the last stroke of the broom, a stroke of bad luck hit, and my back was out for the count. Just like in October when I had that 'I can't walk issue'.
Well it happened again, and I collapsed where I was, slowly, melting like a pile of human Jell-O.

So yea, since Saturday night I've pretty much been useless, though I did make it to church yesterday, along with the one-dozen other people who are the always-there folks (when we get two dozen folks it's considered modestly busy), two others of which have the same sciatic nerve issues and lower back problems. I will have to go to the Chiropractor tomorrow, as I tried to help my sister some yesterday by fixing her fence and gate with the last of my ability. Shouldn't have even done that (though I did well-succeed in what I was aiming to do which is what matters), as it made things worse. I could not get out of bed for a few hours today and now I'm currently stuck in the computer chair. Derp. Well, if there's one place I'd rather get stuck, it's right here, in-front of the BeamNG Drive editing tools. I just wish I could have gotten my new desk built 1st. There is no pain quite like this pain.
That said, I do not want pity, not an ounce of it. No, just know that I am here and will still be able to progress on the map, it just might not be as much as I'd like or want.
Other people will have to learn that I am physically disabled for a reason, and not to be everyone's free handy-man so that slowly I can recover.
They can break my back but they can never break me/my spirit/conscience etc.
That said maybe I will be considerably better by this time tomorrow. Hopefully!

The road coming in from the right just past the lake is to remain unfinished, and has a large pile of construction-related freshly moved dirt, which you can hit 100~150mph or more in most vehicles before you hit, sending you FLYING. Again, it's to remain unfinished as to give the map character, life, and realism.

--That is all right now.

 

Oh my god! I hope your OK, I wish you the best of luck!

 

Looks really good. Also, just curious. In map furniture. I know there's already a US flag, but can you feature it on a pole in map furniture? If you can't. That's fine.

 

There's already a flag on a pole in the map in at-least one spot. I have some pictures here:

There may be another somewhere, but don't ask me to remember that much. There's a LOT of stuff in this map, to be honest. There will be more. I do not know if this game has cloth physics for flags that aren't manually spawned props/vehicles - I do not think it does. It can have animated DAE (collada) objects (which is what these meshes all are, and is the format used here, these just aren't animated). Trees are also animated differently. Surely we could rig a flag to sway or blow around like a tree, but I just don't think they're wasting time on that right now (and I have no clue about trees short of loading them up and sticking them in the map where they look good).
You have to manually place the flag on the pole, because the pole itself is part of the traffic light set (and there-in requires only a negligible / no hit to FPS or CPU-load via draw calls to render).

Yes, thanks, but it royally sucks to be honest. Even if I cough, it hurts SO bad. Anything requiring hip movement / rotation / lifting or use of my upper legs, is completely out. Hurts like you wouldn't believe, and I don't have any fancy pain pills as I'd rather forego any addiction chances. Sitting down is very painful, getting up though is 100x worse and takes a LONG time to straighten out. Thank goodness I just bought like 5~6 weeks worth of cereal and snacks and misc meals here about 2 days before my back went out. Good timing on that because it'll be at-least another week to 10 days before I am good enough to survive going to Sprawl Mart.

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From the old strip mall model, I've made an updated one with slightly different wall textures and a slightly more detailed facade. It's not much better admittedly, but it's different enough that it won't look like the exact same strip mall everywhere you go. I will do a few others in time.
See attached picture for an idea of what it looks like (it's not that much different).

 

Oh, okay. Btw, is there any way you can put the flag on the pole exactly like that in F11 editor? I tried it and I can't get it to work. Also, thanks for answering me so far.

 

Hey bob. I got a suggestion for a new building. In Chicago the have the old main post office building. It is a massive building, at least two blocks long. The building is art deco styled so it would fit near the plant area by the projects. One of the interesting bits about it is a freeway runs through the middle of the building. That's cool in its own right, however what if there was an entrance to a loading dock and parking garage in the area where the road runs through. More art deco is always good in my opinion.

https://i.imgur.com/Sv6pa76.jpg

 

Not to sound demanding, but is it possible to add like a mechanic's garage or worksop? Sorry if i sound rude

 

These are planned, there will be quite a few, so no worries. It's no bother, it's all part of making a city.

That's HUGE, but certainly can be done - and probably should be done, too.
I like Art-Deco architecture from back in the day - with a dab or two of Brutalist in there for good measure. Certainly a great candidate - great suggestion! I saved a copy of the full-size picture so I can get the layout done right. That's actually pretty cool that an expressway runs right through the building - not unheard of for transportation networks to run through buildings - it's happened a few dozen times in society with ever-changing / ever-increasing needs for transportation/logistics.
There will definitely be some stuff in the city like you mentioned, parking garages / loading docks access available under the city 'surface' on sub-surface roads / double-level roadways. I don't know 100% how that will be implemented, but it will be at some place / some point.
No promises other than that building is awesome and it gives me some ideas.

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Got the new store buildings in. The business names get slapped on the facade above the entrances to the businesses. This build is comprised of two different models; each a pair of stores - with there being two of the shorter model and one of the taller model. They go together much like the road pieces, and can be tiled up to make all sorts of arrangements. Not shown is a set of four 'shorter' height stores (like what's shown here just 2x as long).
These models have all been draw-call reduced about as much as possible sans maybe 1 or 2 faces, for best FPS as possible. A building like shown above generally requires <15 draw calls - it's everything around the buildings that takes up so much. That said, I keep most of the detail reserved for roadways, as that's hopefully where you'll spend most of your time - hopefully. It is a driving / crashing simulator after-all.
Is the roof boring? / Shouldn't there be air handlers / HVAC units up there, and more?
Sure, it's boring because all rooftop objects except elevator houses and other integrated building things (part of the physical structure of the building) will all be in a kit (which I've already purchased) and added in manually. That way all the city's air handlers / HVAC units will all be render in one (or a few) passes, and not needlessly hit rendering on every single building separately. This is purely an FPS hack, a design decision and nothing more. They'll get added in eventually. I will be going through supporter submissions, purchased assets, and the like very soon in the development. Aside of the store variations and a bridge unit I haven't designed much new structure lately, and I'm fairly well wanting to.
We really need some diners / sit-down semi-formal / formal restaurants - if someone wants to model some and can get it done in the next 10 days, it can get in before the next beta cut-off (hopefully). I can do these if needed, no big deal. I really have to model a Shoe-In's* (Shoney's), "boiled prison food for the general public". Their food is awful. Actually I had better food in the county jails on more than one occasion (yeah I'm not perfect, but no felonies here). Mess hall chow even on the battle front is leaps and bounds better than a Shoney's. I'd rather go hungry (and have, VS eating there!). Blech. TV dinners are like a saving angel's grace compared to that.
So yeah, the Shoe-In's logo is in the sign pages of Roane County and I believe this map under art/shapes/signs or something like that. In one of the signsXX.dds files, if anyone is interested.
Just keep me posted if anyone's willing to do it to any stage of completion. I don't know how much longer I can sit here and edit, it's over 80F, 20:00 hours in here, and my back is too sore to pull up the sashes for some fresh air...ugh. I still haven't gone to the Chiro because I can't even get to the car, let alone get anywhere with it.
EDIT: This map progress brought to you by Bob Marley & The Wailers - Legend (CD), still is awesome... an absolute must-have CD, even when you're sober and live in a 'prohibition' state.
--Cheers!

 

I must ask (apologies if this has been answered before); Will there be any long, smooth, lone interstate like roads ? Most of the roads that aren't in the area around the city are most mountainous and/or very curvy, i understand that'll you'll be completely renovating most of it but i was wondering if you were you planning on squeezing something like that somewhere ?

On Another note i have suggestion for a building somewhere out on one of the highways: Chuck's Cafe ! Form the 1971 Film "Duel". I think it's unique stone appearance and it's contrasting to the land white colour would look splendid in some lone plain in the middle of nowhere

 

I'm pretty sure there will be more than a few long sweeping roads - there should be a post about it a few pages back.

 

This map is amazing! Thank you for making this! I could spend hours just cruising around this amazing map.

 

Got a couple of ideas for restaurants. One is Denny's, rename it to Kenny's and call it America's worse diner. Another one is IHOP, instead of "international house of pancakes" maybe call it IHOD, international house of disappointment. Almost everything they serve is horrid for you.

 

We have box culverts now! "A what? Those are even a thing? What are those?"

That, rather boring looking thing, in all of it's 5 draw calls of glory (that's right, 1/1000th of the budget right there, and more than one is no more of a hit to FPS unless it's a different model).
Those go under roads, can be even used as bridges, can carry water, people like your friends, people who you don't like and are no longer living in said water, vehicles (if large enough, this is a rather wide 5-lane road on it's sitting in right now for scale), or any combinations of the above!
To be honest, these have been needed for quite a little while, and I'll likely make some retaining walls and a concrete apron (it's the floor that pitches up to it and is usually in-front of the culvert between the two angled retaining walls) to go with it, and possibly railings too - though from a design perspective I'd rather use Jersey Barriers (they're already made, well used = not a hit to FPS at a whopping 1 draw call, and too many things means more VRAM use and mod size). No worries, it's 1/8th of 1MB for that model and it re-uses the tunnel textures for reasons which should be completely obvious.

Bad news, The fiber internet service won't be available until later this year or next year (likely next year) as the fiber they're currently running won't be hooked into the mains for almost a year. That stinks. I am still getting rid of this rotten Satellite internet shortly though, as it's bad enough to drive even well-mannered seasoned individuals like your grand parents to drink. So even if we went back to DSL, it's a bit slower, has no satellite delay, is more reliable, and has no data cap (so I can upload whenever, it will take a bit of time longer though).
Got my back fixed today. So it hurt less for a few hours, but now it's still almost as bad now and I cannot straighten up fully. I can walk though - just slowly - and the absolutely dreadful stabbing pain I was getting by misalignment front-to-back on my spine is gone. There's still a ton of pain, but I can take this pain, and it's only going down my legs half as bad now. I can't sit properly though, I have to either lean way back or not sit at all. I can deal with this though - it's just going to slow me down a bit in the real world. This is no fault of the chiropractor, it's the best they can do with my terrible shape my spine is in; and most medical providers who see my x-rays wonder how I even walk in the first place.
--That is all for right now. Will get to comments and questions tomorrow evening.

 

Recently added culverts here have been updated; added another also.

Last picture is of a road with a rather imperfect / worn out top layer that will happily bounce your vehicle around a bit. There's a nice jump at the end if you can keep control of the vehicle, which admittedly & intentionally is not difficult. I've also added drainage into the retention pond recently (concrete off-shoot from the road), and some little bit of dirt 'short-cut' is visible here for immersion, even if it's just a retention pond. This road is now tapered like the ones by the abandoned mall on the other end of the map to add realism / immersion.
The other pictures above are of the new box-culverts as it said above, and I also lowered the water levels in the small streams that do have water (only about half of the stream beds will have any water in them), so that it doesn't drown every single vehicle instantly. After-all, there's tons and tons of little streams near side-roads, which until they get to a decent river, will NOT drown an errant vehicle enough to stall / hydro-lock the engine. You'll be seeing a lot of these box-culverts in the map and I will be transitioning some (but in no way all) underground culverts into these. There will also be some which interface directly with flood control canals in the future (though, on some of the smaller and narrower flood control canals I designed two years ago, there's a section with vehicle access which can be used to interface with this).
The height of most box culverts (which are mostly placed at 9:10 scale), is exactly 12'4" ~ 12'6" or so - or somewhere just beyond four meters. That means it fits all domestic cars and trucks, but won't fit the larger box-upfit T-series or the full tractor-trailer (articulated lorry) trucks.
Trying to fit the larger box-upfit T-series into said tunnel will cause an identical scene to recent 11-foot-8+8 bridge incidents.
An 11-foot-8 (and also 11-foot-8+8 version) bridge(s) are planned for the map.
2nd and 3rd final shots shows the stream* which was extended to where this stream meets the ocean, again, most of this will not drown a car unless you're nose first in the water after sliding into it. This way you can still drive through the otherwise inaccessible tunnels, because 'why not?'.
*Forking water-ways (actual forking, not a disguised cuss word) are now supported in the last two main versions of BeamNG Drive map editor 2.0. You must use map editor 2.0 to use this feature, editor 1.0 will not handle it from my knowledge. Forking water-ways will NOT be present in this map UNTIL I switch over to a (hopefully more stable) editor version in the future. I am still editing from editor 1.0 in Game Version 0.20 due to stability reasons and some functions of the 1.0 editor are broken in newer versions. I can get A LOT more done, have less crashes, and not have to worry so much about 'strange bugs' corrupting map data or causing other users to have an experience playing the map which differs from my own due to strange unexplained things occurring. However, for folks who have older mods that haven't been updated in the last game versions or two (and have kept a separate or not-updated game copy like I have on my old PC), I will state again that my map works identically with 0.20, 0.21, and 0.22 game versions.

Edit: Added a version of the bi-directional chevron with a wider spread - this is useful so you can use it on tighter turns without needing a separate sign for each direction - this means less time for the CPU computing the scene, and also allows the sign to face you better when coming around tighter turns.
This bi-directional chevron sign matches the ones that come with BeamNG stock maps, but since those lacked any bi-directional chevrons (no clue why not?) I had to make them.
They function well at night as-intended, too.