How do I make a mod?

Hello, I’ve played this game for over 4 years now and I was wondering how someone like myself would make a mod, such as a map. Here are my questions:
1. Does it require any external applications that I would need to download or is the mod made in BeamNG itself? If so, would those applications cost money?
2. Does it require coding knowledge? How much coding knowledge?
Also, any general tips would be nice. I’ve always loved the modding aspect of this game, and it might be cool to make some of my own mods. Thanks for listening

 

Yes for both map and car, for making/editing a car you will need Blender and something else for a map

Spoiler: Blender

https://store.steampowered.com/app/365670/Blender/

 

I'm not too interested in making a car, what would I need to make a map?
Also 400th post nice

 

https://wiki.beamng.com/Map_Creation_Megapage hopefully this helps

 

Map making isn't really that documented at the moment since we switched to the world editor 2.0, but I'm pretty sure you'll be able to find some information on youtube or the BeamNG wiki.

Software-wise you'll need BeamNG.drive (obviously), Blender (free, used to model custom assets), and probably an image editor too for textures. You'll also need any text editor but Nodepad++ is generally good enough, it's free and has plenty of features. There are other (paid) softwares but for a beginner like you this should already be enough.

As far as I know it doesn't require that much coding experience since you're mainly working with json files that are used for map info and stuff like that, but I know some maps have LUA code that allow you to do things like create teleporters, change the time of day with a trigger, and other things like that.

 

The best if you would use blender (modelling), paint net (texturing), notepad++ (athough the windows notepad is also good and i use the notepad).

 

Thanks for the advice everybody, I can't try any of this stuff now because I'm at school but when I get home I'll mess around with it and post anymore questions I have.

 

Hey, quick question: how old are you?

 

school age

 

oop

 

school age could be anywhere between like 6-18 or something

 

Well there you go I'm 6-18

 

--- Post updated ---
huh?

 

Umm ok then

 

So I was trying to learn how to use the world editor and I think I pressed f7 and then it got rid of the file selector thing to the side. I load into East Coast, I there are huge black patches everywhere. Does anyone know what I did and how to fix it?

 

Looks like you deleted parts of the map

 

So should I reinstall or is there a way I can fix it
I’m sorry if these seem like stupid or obvious questions but I know absolutely nothing about this kinda stuff