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

I went out and got a replacement motherboard, got an ASUS board this time, so maybe it won't die on me.
Will send the old (dead) board back for an RMA, as it's only 14 months into a 36 month warranty. Will use that for a backup machine then, so I can test the map better, avoid stupid errors with packaging the map and such (path / script errors show quickly when you test on another computer, especially if you share map resources with your other maps like I do).
Should be back up and running by the end of the weekend hopefully. Time will tell (and with a little luck the other stuff still works).

 

Here's 2 questions for you. 1. Are you planning a release date for the next repo update? I know you'll release it when it's ready. 2. Will there be any or more speedbumps on the map?

 

More speed bumps, you know what, I should put a lot, due to just how many (figurative) ones there are to getting the repository updated - not just the supporter beta. I will make sure to have a PUBLIC update before this month is out (this will not push back the pre-Chris's Mess update, either, that would still be on schedule).
I'd reckon that once I fix my good computer (no, I still didn't put the new motherboard in yet), it will be 7~8 days until we see a supporter update.
Once that supporter update is out, and I think it's cleaned up enough (I have some old resources to pull out like ECA stuff that'll take me a week or two, and reduce map size by a 100~250mb), and I haven't broken anything, I'll make sure that a public release gets out - even if it's not 100% what I wanted it to be. I'll have another 60 days or so to work on the next public release for December following that.
So yes, there's been lots of speed bumps to getting things released, but I'm clearing them slowly, like a 1990's Japanese show-car.
That said, There will be a straight mile-long road, that has a very gentle hill in it, flanked on both sides by rows town-houses, and it has nothing but speed humps in it every few hundred feet (100 meters), the kind that launch your car (there's one on the opposite side of the highway from the abandoned mall, too; in the current release if you want a preview, and ones by the Worst-buy just up the slope from it next to the park there). The AI will be none-the-wiser and careen over them with blissful ignorance, the perfect kind to cause a wreck of epic proportions.

Let's get rid of speeders by installing speed humps, because FLYING 100% out-of-control cars rolling end-over-end / side-to-side is SO much safer than someone going 10~15mph over the speed limit...
Sure, why not?

Edit: Also, the internet is so bad right now, trying to stream youtube at 144p results in it needing to buffer 1~5 minutes for every 1~5 seconds of video. A person narrating can't even get one whole sentence in. It's sickening. Time to take another company to court - already taking T-Mobile to court so as it is.

 

Finally got the computer build finished. Had a lot of real-life duties and some other things (such as the classic 'okay, what did I do with xyz accessory on the last build, because "NOW I NEED IT" issues), lots of spelunking through ancient cardboard boxes full of disorganized randomly and haphazardly thrown together stuff collectively known as 'junk'. Tried to resist the urge to use a 28 ounce Eswing hammer to "screw in" a few offending stubborn screws. Only took A WEEK to do all that... but it's done right, and I wasn't too rough on it - didn't even need my crowbar / cat's paw this time.
Hope it works! Will fill in more on that later when I post the next status update. Can't genuinely afford to spend any more on PC parts now regardless, and shouldn't even have spent what I did.
If it fails to function, I will replace said parts and for now throw a GPU in this computer so that I can edit with it (integrated GPU is fine for me, outside of BeamNG and modeling use). Can't afford to hold up the release schedule too much longer, I'm very behind right now to the tune of about a week or so.
TO DO prior to release of supporter beta:
Finish townhouse development
Finish out the area near Sprawl Mart
Build a second Sprawl Mart on the other side of town.
(following things are as-soon-as-I-can-get-to-it but not necessarily before the next supporter beta)
Purchase commercial accessories / models for the large public airport.
Forklift mod capability / quality-of-work improvement related to models with interiors, for this mod to function fully here in Los Injurus
Clean out the old ECA assets as they're no longer needed. Will keep a few odds and ends but the buildings are no longer useful to me
Get the public repository version uploaded as that should have been done TWO MONTHS ago...derp
Public version will come after the 2nd supporter beta from the time this was posted, possibly sooner or even later depending on what happens.

With the way things have been lately, I will promise nothing except that you'll have plenty of fun with it when the next beta is in your hands.

 

The computer works now, with proper traffic ability and good FPS. It might even be a few FPS better than it was on the cheap ASRock motherboard. Thanks ASUS, won't make that mistake again, it only takes one time to remind me of why I bought well over a dozen ASUS motherboards for my machines, since 1998 or so back in the K6 / K6-2 (3DNOW!) days.
Without fail, the only boards I shall trust from now on are as follows: Asus, Gigabyte, and Foxconn (if you can still even get the Foxconn boards here, they used to have a lot of down-branded ASUS boards before Asus and Gigabyte merged, somewhere around the ASRock / Pegatron spin-offs). Foxconn was good for a generic white-box PC and fairly reliable, used by a lot of smaller OEMs back in the day, but I haven't seen a board by them in 10 years.
So yeah, only ASUS from now on, ASRock I gave you the chance! Skip the MSI boards too, unless you're buying into one of the 300$ USD or higher offerings by them. They typically have the highest VRM temps and skimp out as ASRock does - though their MSI B450 MAX series boards were pretty good/reliable in general, but the X570 MPG was a real stinker.

Old board (don't buy!) was Asrock X570 Phantom Gaming 4
New board is ASUS X570 'Tuf Gaming'. Would have liked something without 'gaming' on it but no one local had anything reasonable. This one seems pretty good and doesn't leave you wanting for features with two m.2 nvme ports and 8 sata ports. If you can live with a Realtek NIC or have a better one in PCI-E format, then you'll be alright.
The VRM's are almost twice as powerful as the old board, and that's what went out on my ASRock board. I never overclocked - didn't even try, never anything fancy, just read the RAM speed profile and was off to the races, until it blew up anyways. This Asus board and their X570 P-Pro motherboard have the better VRM's of the sub-200$ USD line of motherboards. The P-Pro is just a hair better than this one, having the same VRM set-up as the Crosshair Hero did - a much more expensive board, though with much more in the features/bling department. I don't need bling. I just want it to WORK. I don't need overclocking, I just want it to do whatever it's capable of, without making a ton of noise or heat, or causing a fuss. I want to set it and forget it, so that when I am feeling alright, I can just sit and fire up my applications and make fun maps.

ETA on next supporter beta is about 8~9 days from now (this is posted in the wee hours of Saturday morning USA time). So think Sunday~Tuesday sometime, one week from now.
ETA on public beta is ~3 to 3.5 weeks, if everything goes to plan. It could come sooner or later, but I've got lots of things to finish up/ loose ends to tie to make this more presentable for the masses.

In all this madness my soundcard went belly up. It's sad, I will miss it, but I will get another sometime, after the budget recovers. I have a spare I can put in, or just continue to use the monitor speakers for now (it'll do, it's way better than no sound, and the card issue could just be it not getting along with PCI-express 4.0 on this board, necessitating a BIOS option change or two). That's a creature-feature and not a requirement (I rarely even use the stereo / cd player / tape deck unit in my real car, and the volume knob is shot and it took me TWO YEARS to even notice when I couldn't turn up my NPR 'all things considered' volume). While I'm not broke here, having a PC tech habit can really make a good effort in that direction if not kept on a budget. I'm in no hurry to stick hands inside the tower chassis, either, and I'm sure those who've built PC's before for some time can relate to that feeling.
I just want to edit the map, and edit the map I shall. Will post pictures in the coming days. Don't forget the Sprawl Mart business will be the front-and-center feature (including truck loading docks) in the next beta.

 

Might be a bit off-topic:
I've got the 'B365M PRO-VDH' motherboard by MSI and so far it didn't kill itself. Well, granted, I've got it last christmas and updated my system somewhere in January but I never had any problems with it.
Same goes for my 'Radeon RX570' (which is also made by MSI) graphics card. Yes, it's AMD so the drivers aren't the best (which is the reason I rarely update them and if I do, I always use the latest fix) but so far I can only recommend it. My 'Intel Core i3-9100f' is also running great and it's a nice update to my old i5. You might think 'Why did he downgrade'? I did not. That i3 is better than the i5-2500 I had before, and it only costs 80€ whilst the i5 had a price of about 150€. And keep in mind, the i3 is 16% faster in the benchmark.

 

I know you're not downgrading, since the i3 8350K came out with Coffee Lake (even though it's a Skylake/Kaby Lake i5 essentially), they now are configured like the old i5's were. The 8350k and newer will SLAM the i5 2500 in a lot of things, especially with faster memory if you platform allows it - warning - newest intel desktop chip sets DO NOT allow memory 'overclocking' even if it's reading the XMP profile, unless you buy into the Z-series chip set. This is the 400 series chip set to be specific.
Your RX 570 if it is an 8gb model, will still provide a good time and good FPS for quite some time yet. A 4gb model will certainly show it's age, but medium textures in some more recent games (and this map!) won't look too terribly bad if that's your only draw-back with it. I wouldn't recommend ditching that card just yet - my RX 480 ran great on this map with it's 8gb of VRAM until the drivers had too many issues and kept crashing on me.
Being it's Polaris-based as my card was, if you have any issues with black screens, crashing to desktop, or more hitching than normal, consider lowering the core clock of the card in 25mhz steps until it behaves. This is good for anyone who has a Polaris-based (RX 4xx, RX 5xx series) graphics card.
MSI generally makes nice graphics cards, you shouldn't have any issues here - though be forewarned that ALL the major vendors can release a stinker now and then.
MSI motherboards are normally pretty decent the last half-dozen years or so - however, like with anything, DO check reviews. In the case of their X570 offerings, all but the best were really lack-luster in the VRM department - one even so bad it got the review as the WORST board for x570. Contrasting that is their very good B450 MAX offerings for budget AMD systems such as the Tomahawk MAX, and some half-decent B550 offerings.
Let's just make a long story (not so) short here and say I believed they've learned their lessons with reviewers scalding them on their x570 offerings.

So I wouldn't worry too badly over it, you're likely to be just fine.

---

In other news, as if this map wasn't big enough already, I've gotten around to purchasing some textures that I've wanted since this project began, from a commercial website. Luckily it's not too pricey and shouldn't make a big impact on the budget. This should help keep the buildings from looking too much the same all over.

 

thats amazing. but i have to ask: how is the map going to be set up? i'm curious as to what that big set of circular buildings across from downtown are gonna be and what they're inspired by

 

I can't even load this map, which is a shame because it looks like such a great map. Looks like a lot of hard work went into making this, unfortunately my CPU is not good enough to be able to load it. I will definitely try this map out when I get a better CPU though because this looks amazing from the pictures, reminds me of GTA V actually.

Great job!

 

I don't think your cpu wouldbe the problem. You probably don't have enough ram/vram

 

System memory: You need an 8gb minimum with 6gb FREE system memory, more for AI use (try to have 12~16gb if you want a few vehicles roaming about and don't want to crash out to desktop with a 0xFFFFFFFF error). RAM use goes up like crazy on big maps (especially Roane County) when using lots of AI vehicles.
GPU memory: This is the amount of dedicated memory for your graphics processor. ALL of the buildings and textures MUST fit in VRAM or it will be slow, or crash, or won't finish loading (vram = GPU memory or 'video memory' to be specific). This is not system memory. While an integrated GPU (iGPU for short) *USES* system memory, it uses a dedicated portion of system memory (that's reserved for only that), usually about 512mb (0.5gb) to 2gb in size, depending on how new / how good your iGPU is. Some recent iGPU configurations can run this very well at 1080p on low or medium.
Please DO NOT use higher than medium settings on texture detail *UNLESS* you have a GPU with 8gb of VRAM, such as a GeForce 1070 or better for nvidia, or RX 470 8gb or better on AMD. You *might* be able to squeak by with a 6gb card, but that's not supported officially on 'high' detail on this map for now, though it may work fine, caution loading in lots of vehicles.
Best to try LOW texture detail first, and if it runs fine (although looks like mud), try medium, if it gets too slow or crashes, set the game back to LOW before reloading the map.
MESH details can/should be left on high regardless of texture detail, or things will look HIDEOUS (I haven't adjusted the detail exponents yet on some of the objects).

---

RELEASE SCHEDULE UPDATE!
Next supporter release is slated for Wednesday morning/afternoon. If the internet fails to work properly it will be on or about Thursday morning. I've had a little lost time with real-life things getting in the way here, but all is well as for releasing the map mid-week. This is a SUPPORTER beta. Internet is a little temper-mental, but it's not as bad with file transfers as it is with bringing up blank web pages 75% of the time. Reading the news online at The Bob's place really sucks. Thank-you 1$ newspapers.
At the end of the month, I'm going to tie up all loose-ends and put together a public release, which supporters will get immediately upon upload, and then it will be put on the beamng server if all is well for public consumption.
I believe the sign bug is fixed on my end, and the 'new ECA' gas station curbing texture (which is almost not able to be noticed) has a formatting error or a missing file, this will be fixed. While I will have my own gas station models in the future, I don't have them yet, so I need to use these for now - they might as well work. I will be sure to run the beta on 0.20.2.x to be sure I nicked all the bugs (whatever the game version from 3 weeks ago was). If a new game-version drops in the time between now and the next public release, I will be sure to run it on there, too. I doubt a new game version will be an issue, and I'd reckon it'll be December before the next major update hits - unless they do a Turkey-day surprise for us (I know nothing so this is pure speculation at the moment, using past history for future prediction here, hope I'm right).
If anyone has any serious bugs in the main or supporter versions, NOW is the time to get those in so I can jot them down and (remember to) fix them.
--Thank-you, and thank-you all for your patience while the editing machine was belly-up for almost two weeks, which I finished fixing (well mostly*) a week ago.
*Yea, my 200$ sound card decided to die when I put it in this computer, but it's a half-dozen years old at-least, so I'm using really awful TV speakers here (yeap, my Genero TV speakers, it's just a cheap 1080p TV from the cash-and-carry, not even a dedicated PC monitor, not perfect but fits my budget).
When it rains, it pours. Welcome to my life, in which I will never be bored. Sometimes, just sometimes, I envy the people who can get bored.

 

So I managed to get this thread loaded for the first time since my post on Monday, thankfully. My internet has got to change, it's been all I can do not to smash that internet modem we have. Our satellite provider keeps saying it's the computer, I told them that this problem exists on ALL computers in the house and that it's the internet connection that's the issue. They said 'well have you used up all your data', I said NO, this happens regardless. Even if our data cap is used up, they should not be BREAKING the connection constantly, even when over-night data is in effect if daytime is used up, or even during the day. It's supposed to be throttled if we go over it. Throttled does not equal 'can't even download 100kb without the connection breaking'. Throttled and over-limit during the day does not equal not even being able to sign into Steam in the evening hours over-night when there's still 45gb of data remaining. Throttled does not mean streaming video gets stuck and NEVER restarts.
Don't ever, EVER, EVER think about getting Hughes Net. It is de-facto the ABSOLUTE WORST thing I've ever had. Even on a clear night, the internet DOES NOT WORK.
The likelihood of me not having internet for a week to three weeks is high, though not garaunteed at any rate. The billing cycle comes up this weekend and I don't feel like paying another ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS per month, for this absolute waste-of-time internet. That's entirely multiple times TOO MUCH money for someone on a fixed income, not to mention, too much for internet that doesn't work.
DIAL UP INTERNET ON AOL IN 1995~1996 WAS BETTER. AT LEAST IT WAS CONSISTENT EVEN IF IT KICKED YOU OFF EVERY TWO HOURS.
Needless to say when they try to take me to court for the remainder of the contract, which they have breached, by not providing the service as advertised; I have plenty of evidence that the internet does NOT work as it's supposed to. Steam just sits there saying 'NO CONNECTION'. Sorry, in 2020 almost 2021 and I cannot do what I did in 1995 or 1996, and sign in to an internet connection to speak with a friend or two - especially people I work with here or who support this project - it's game-over for my desire to give any more money for Hughes Net. This project isn't stopping. Not in the slightest. I will upload it at the library if I must, at-least I can update the public version if needed.
I just wished I lived in a first-world country with good internet. Too bad living in the United States is no-longer such a thing for the last 20 years.
Rant aside, and speaking of failing infrastructure, I've improved the look of part of the town here that so much reminds me of living in the USA:

This is the current status of the Apartment complex I've been adding near Sprawl-Mart:

The townhouse development with the speed humps isn't finished yet, but it's off to a significant start. Have fun flying over the 4 speed humps in a row that's there so far though. There's a nice LONG stretch of straight (mostly smooth) roadway leading up to them, so enjoy going end-over-end, which is relatively easy to do with anything that gets up to decent speed.
I would have needed more time to finish the town-houses and apartment complex, but that just didn't fit in with my schedule (between real-life things and this PC being down for the majority of two weeks, yeah, that didn't bode too well for progress). It's not worth holding up release. I have a few more weeks to get things in order by the end of the month (about two weeks), to where I want to update the main branch here on the public server following a second short private beta to see that all is well.
--Will be starting the upload in about 2~3 hours, expect a message later with the supporter beta if you're one of the lucky/kind folks that supports this project or has contributed to it in some way. Failing my internet working, it will be uploaded the following evening.

 

i'm curious as to what that big set of circular buildings across from downtown are gonna be and what they're inspired by

 

I can't say I've been following the progress on this map much as of recent, but things look like they're coming together pretty well. Looking forward to the next release so I can drive in a more immersive environment than it already has.

 

Yeah I will be pushing for a Public release in about 2 to 3 weeks or just over that (I'd like it uploaded initially for supporters in three weeks, no later, at most).
Thanks and glad you like it. Don't feel bad about not following progress constantly. It certainly won't be done overnight, but I will continue to work on it, even if I blow the computer up in the process (again!). Good thing I'm pretty sharp on computer hardware, as I've been into it for the last 25 years or so since the '486' was mainstream DOS gaming king and only a lucky few just got 'Pentium' PC's.
I can't give a firmer date, as there's a bunch of stuff I'd like to get finished up first, and some random 'I have no clue why that doesn't work now in 0.20.x' bugs with some of the graphics (turn arrows on pavement for example).

Right now, my back is just about paralyzing me, after riding on the lawn mower yesterday and just about cleaning the whole [expletive] house this week.

 

Thank god I got 32gb of ram so my computer can run it like a champ. Amazing map. Also about the whole motherboard situation, don't let it be like "ASRock makes bad stuff and I won't buy it again". Motherboard failure is very rare and usually doesn't happen. Although, I do have some brand bias for ASUS so buy their stuff lol. ASUS makes some dang good stuff.

 

ASRock isn't junk, it just didn't like the combination of a 3950x + poor Tennessee power grid reliability making the power flash a few times a month (I saved for a year for the 3950x, glad that survived, it's a real time-saver for testing AI routing in the map).

Spoiler

When that board comes back, I will stick my 3700x on it, and use it as a secondary development machine, in-case I blow this one up again - or sell it and keep the old 4790k machine here as a secondary development machine. That said, I doubt this motherboard will have any issues lasting a number of years, this Asus X570 Tuf-Gaming Wifi-Plus model seems very well built. It's not the best board I've ever owned (and I've had ASUS boards since the K6 / K6-2 days in the late 90's, back when sometimes they even came with VIA or SiS chipsets), but it's certainly long-and-far better than some of the cheaper ones I've seen them put out - or even the best-if-forgotten nForce intel boards they had in the core 2 duo days.
So I won't write off ASROCK entirely, I'm sure their better boards would do just fine, but I will say the ASUS manual is a million times better than ASRock's, and I do reference it now and then. The ASRock board's Sata HOT PLUG feature never worked once, and I could find an option ANYWHERE in BIOS to turn it on, it's entirely non-existent (even though the manual and product documentation / advertisements say it supports it). Back in 2008 when I built an AMD AM2/AM2+ system for my mother, who needed it for internet, recipes, and email, it's still working. I believe it's some 760G or whatever chip set was out at the time (it was when Geforce 8000 series was fairly new yet), and it doesn't even have all non-solid capacitors. It's been running a dual-core AMD chip with a stock cooler for some 12 years now, the only thing that was updated is the 2gb RAM was doubled to 4gb with parts out of the 'junk' box, and I bought an SSD and a copy of Windows 8.1 for it about 6~7 years back... still runs and boots in 4~5 seconds with Windows 10. There's still drivers for everything, too (can't say the same for all core 2 duo boards and intel/realtek with not supporting drivers for sound or other parts of the board).
So is ASRock bad? No. I just won't be buying them for my main computer unless it's a 300$ ~ 400$ Taichi motherboard or something like that. All board makers that make products for that segment, for the most part, make good boards. Mine died because it was a cheap board, running a rather high-end CPU, on a poor power grid (A Seasonic power supply can only help so much). I don't use a UPS (do use a surge protector) because back in 2006 I had a battery backup (UPS) explode into a cloud of black smoke and then fire at my feet. If I was not there when it happened, or I was not at my wit, it would have burned down my first house. While the Taichi motherboard is great, it's WAY more than I need here. I just want one that works and is sufficient and STAYS WORKING.
I've never had an ASUS board with any issues (that wasn't via or SiS related) except with the nForce 590i board I owned. I believe it was a P5N-590-sli deluxe or something, was very expensive for 2006, had a lot of teething issues and what-not, and was just generally miserable to use.

Also, 32GB of RAM should be more than plenty to run any and all games, even with the web browser open. You don't often need over 16gb of RAM, but there's been quite a number of times I've seen games go easily over 10gb of RAM use - and for making maps and models simultaneously, 32GB has almost been necessary for my work flow for the last 2.x years now. Honestly, the money spent on the upgrade from 16gb to 32gb is normally better spent on the video card, or buying a better CPU - but if you already have those things and wish to reduce hitching (or notice your machine slowing down after a while), it might be time to give it a boost. Another point to cross is, buying 32gb right off the bat for a new machine will save you the pain of matching the existing memory kit later if you wanted to go from existing 16gb ( to any amount more).

There's a reason ASUS (followed by Gigabyte, who owns 51% of AsusTek Inc as of about 2009~2010 or so) has a strangle-hold and near dominance in the enthusiast market, save for a few boards like the MSI B450 Tomahawk Max. They make good stuff, and they're nearly impossible to blow up if you are not deliberately trying to blow it up. I could have easily RMA'ed my board (and would likely be getting it back by now), but I honestly think I will just sell it along with the other processor and the boxed cooler to recoup some of the money I've had to pour into the PC over the last two years, trying to keep ahead of my needs in development.
Whenever I've owned an ASUS or Gigabyte boards, the machine has lasted a VERY long time - and I mean that. Gigabyte's BIOS was never as good as ASUS but this may be different now with UEFI.
Whenever I've owned ECS, Biostar (the cheap plain-green OEM-ones, not gaming line), Jet-Way, PC-Chips (now we're going back!), etc, I've had issues with premature failure for various reasons, or issues like hearing the coil whine of the system every time I move the mouse when using the onboard sound.
I've had reliable boards from MSI in the past, but I would always do due diligence and check out the VRM's vs what processor I want in my system before purchasing. Where their Tomahawk MAX b450 ticks all the right boxes and is very well made for it's price point - offering even more features than the competition while being 3000-series ready - the MSI X570 MPG board is a complete turd with not only poor VRM (The ASRock I had wasn't much any better, but had better heatsinks), but with absolutely horrendous VRM cooling ensuring 100C operation whenever the system is stressed.
FoxConn and DFI deserve honorable mentions for being rock solid and relatively inexpensive, provided you didn't get one affected by the great capacitor plague around 2000 or just before/after. In-fact I had a FoxConn board that was just a down-branded ASUS socket 775 board, with an e5200 (Pentium Dual Core on the 45nm WOLFDALE process, 2.66ghz if I remember right) on it and a cheap little Zalman Orb cooler. I ran that thing clean up to 4ghz 24/7 daily-driver stable, maxed it to 4.2ghz or so max stable for bench-marking only. NO Review sites could manage to get a stable overclock with that buggy BIOS (because it was merely a downbranded ASUS), but I had it dialed in perfect after a night or two of toying with it. Never should have sold it.
PEGATRON brand boards are generally to be avoided outside of HTPC or internet-surfing machines. This company was spun off from ASUS to make boards for many popular OEM's including HP-Compaq and a few other brands (especially no-name system builders). These are every bit as despicable as typical cheap OEM boards and don't offer any of the level of features or reliability that a typical high-end vendor's motherboard would almost always come with. They're fine for web surfing or casual 2d gaming, but I wouldn't want to push one hard in a hot or harsh environment.
TYAN and SuperMicro are not mentioned as they're to be expected to be rock-solid always, and they stand behind their products to the fullest extent. SuperMicro is great - but non-existent for AM4 socket. I hollered at them a few times via email, but still have heard nothing. I would have loved a classic-green PCB motherboard with a Super Micro logo on it for this system, but alas that was only possible had I bought intel or went Ryzen Threadripper / EPYC server/workstation route(s). Only way to get classic green boards is currently the Asus CSM line (corporate stable model for continued availability for several years after purchase, for business/industrial sector).

No, really, I've had a lot of different boards, but ASUS is always the best. It entirely depends on the use-case though, as I've seen the cheap ASUS boards go out after 6~7+ years or around there if not kept on a good surge protector, sometimes sooner. Even the cheap gaming boards are over-kill and will last a long time if only used in an email / internet surfing machine... so yes, use-case matters.
Do I regret buying the ASRock board? No, not at all. In-fact, I wanted to see just how cheap I could go before I'd start blowing them up again - as I don't overclock at all and don't need to on a development machine, plus you don't need to overclock Ryzen as it does it by itself. Live and learn. If I throw that board in a machine and let my 11 year old niece play minecraft all week on it, it'd probably last years and years. I ran it to death, the power grid was the icing on the cake. With a better board you get better VRMs (Voltage Regulation Modules), which supplies power to the processor - using a larger processor will stress cheaper VRM's while an ASUS 300$ board won't even notice. Going too cheap puts too much stress on the VRM's causing them to get hot, and the hotter they are, the more inefficient they are and hence have to work harder. Eventually this snowballs and you have a board with smoke coming out, one that just shuts off, or one that does not turn on or pass POST. Mine thankfully didn't get to that, it just didn't boot up anymore.

That said, the new Ryzen 5000 series is coming out November 5th and looks to be the one that cleanly smacks intel into submission, delivering strong value *AND* best gaming performance.
No, really, I mean that. If you're on a reasonable budget, I encourage you to place pre-orders when and where possible as these are going to FLY off shelves. If the budget is still tight, get an R5 3600, as you can't beat that for the price it's going for (and Micro Center has 9th Gen intel processors marked for deep discount, right now, act fast).

If we keep going with increasing the funding for this project, I might be able to 'raffle off' some computer hardware here at a later date. If you've already donated to this project or are otherwise currently signed up (or contributed things to it), I want to extend my thanks and sheer gratitude. It's sometimes one of the few things that keeps me going even when all the odds are against me.
So extremely, extremely long drawn out post aside, I hope some of this helped someone somewhere.
I'm still mostly confined to the chair, I think my back is getting just a little better, but looks like I might be away in the hospital for a few days* recuperating if this doesn't 'fix itself' in the next night or two.
Worry not for me, I'll manage, I've survived much worse, just never was in as much pain as this right now - this is worse than 10 tooth infections combined and then some.
*I've already planned about 4 or 5 days of 'non-productive time' into the release schedule, so this shouldn't hold up next release unless I'm in the hospital longer than that. Will keep folks posted if at all possible.

Government Motors!
Not 100% sure what is going to be where on the unfinished side of the lake, but there will be A LOT more city there to say the least and I have a few general (see what I did there) ideas planned.
The part of the city which is blank just past the abandoned mall along the shore of the lake will be a run-down area, typical of rust-belt Americana. Lots of sky-scrapers will be present over by the round towers (that look like a giant middle finger, which I didn't realize what I did until I stuck the 5 buildings next to each other and noticed that while testing - OOPS - left it in just as a gag, but that should be there in the final version if changed very little). I am still up in the air how all the roads will connect up over by the round towers 'Government Motors' buildings, there's a lot of things that depend on how many different buildings I add in and the order in which I add them. This lack-of-complete-planning (while still retaining some planning for the viability of the project!) helps add a random nature, which breaks up things that would otherwise get boring such as miles of identical-grid-arranged streets, or a raised highway suddenly diving under a surface road like on the road with the police department on it, or the sprawl-mart getting put where it went (that really was the best option, but it was originally supposed to be across the highway from the townhouses I just added. So sometimes I don't even know how it all will work out in the end, even if I've already started something. That kind of random nature keeps things both challenging and fun, and makes a better product in the end.
I'm pretty picky - If I enjoy something - I know a bunch of people out there are likely to enjoy it just as much if not more. But I just hope that if some folks don't feel fulfilled after playing this map, within the confines of what is possible with the game engine and my ability, that they'd not only tell me so but tell me why so I can make it that much better for next time.
Keep the suggestions coming!
--Cheers!

 

Here's the next beautiful building I'm modeling for the map. This beauty goes over by the mall specifically next to the abandoned Packard plant across the road from the abandoned mall.
I've only started it an hour or two ago, but it's going to be a large prominent building, almost as tall as the other abandoned Douglass towers (plus-shaped tall & boarded up towers in red brick next to mall), but much longer than those. More abandoned stuff to hide jumps around!
Have a housing project past or present you'd like to go there? Great! Suggest it and it might make it in.
Ones to go in are Cabrini Green (various buildings from near there) and other various ones from Chicago and Detroit, Priut-Igoe (will be next likely) from St. Louis, and a number of low-rise multifamily row houses also.
All of the ones listed in the following article (should be safe for work), will make it in the map, in some shape or form (sometimes modified to fit after it's built).
https://blackthen.com/the-7-most-infamous-public-housing-projects-in-u-s/

 

may i suggest the New York Life in Wichita, Kansas?



it's a fairly large apartment building located in downtown

 

I think that will do just dandy! Great suggestion bud! Though not sure it will make it in for the next update. That will go in near the big round towers that are lonesome on the far side of the lake.

P.S. I am in absolute agony right now - no pity requested, but I think my modeling time for tonight is done-for, more updates tomorrow as I get the building done (shouldn't take more than a few hours, it's a pretty plain building). Time to go to the doctor / hospital if it doesn't magically get better by tomorrow (I moved the VERY heavy computer tower back onto the desk after swapping out the sound board, and pushed something closer to being the right way in my back, and could model for about 2 hours, just not get out of the chair). I don't want to miss any more deadlines for the rest of the year, can't afford to hold off modeling progress much.