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

A LOT of cleanup happened. A bridge was put back in that was lost near the beginning of the project. I think this will do as I had these pieces already. Didn't have a curved two-way side road bridge, so I used a highway on-ramp piece with some jersey barrier in the center to mask the line/striping difference between the lanes. It will do for now (I will make custom stuff in the future, that area will change drastically), but I just wanted people to be able to drive to the crazy hills further down the road.

Added some detailing on the hillside too (above).
Pretty much all the AI routes are in now that need to be in, will test tomorrow night. Fixed AI on curved bridge I added back.
Cleaned up some left-over pieces and bits all around, including some by the airport, removed most carving guides.
Added over a dozen STOP signs at the airport (the civilian airport, the huge one that is bigger than some maps by itself).
Did more terrain work, making things nicer to look at and more professional / presentable.

TO-DO:
Import and test forklift stuff in the map. It won't be the most rigorous test out there, but I must do what I must do (and what I CAN do).
Finish striping and edging 1~2 miles of road, it's partly done. done but took hours.
Do a heavy AI test & check for the all-too-common (with other maps!) "bush in the road" issues.
Fix any last minute stuffs, and if time allows, finish off and decorate some recently added lots in the map.

I should be able to get most of this or all of this done tomorrow night. If it's not done, I'll finish it up after church on Sunday and then upload immediately (vs overnight) so it gets out as soon as possible. There's almost no reason I shouldn't be able to finish this over the course of this weekend though, so rest assured, it's almost here! I just want it to look good and be fairly bug-free with little or no issues. You folks supporting and following this project thread here don't deserve a buggy mess, after-all.
I wanted to get more signs on the highway, that will likely have to wait until after the beta, it's not worth holding up release over it. This release has been pushed back around a week so as it is (wanted it out last week!), and I'd like to get off this already.
--That is all for right now. It's almost 0-300 hours and I need to sleep at some point.
EDIT: slept 2 hours and woke back up... worked on the map for 8 hours straight again. re-did AI because it was awful on the road I just re-did. Also spent hours detailing the roadway and striping/edging it. Fixed two console texture errors (I hope) without permanently breaking the terrain (I hope)...

 

Fixing some stuff with the collision and presentation of the forklift compatibility right now. Hopefully I will have this fixed up soon (it shouldn't be too much to get it done in the next 24 hours, and be uploading at-least by this time tomorrow if not tonight).
I want it proper, thank-you for patience and understanding & you can roast me all you want, once this up. :x

Also had a bit last night before bed to watch some youtube coverage and get some feedback on the map, which allowed me to spot a few short-comings and bugs. Woohoo for youtube coverage. If you have a youtube channel of any size and wish to cover this map, please let me know, the more subs the better (I haven't made a decent video since Windows XP was king and Windows 7 was brand new, and don't really have much time to get into it as that time is spent mapping).
Coverage of this map when brought to my attention will be automatically added to the resource description near the bottom, when the map is updated / whenever I see coverage or have the time to find it myself. So if you want some publicity on one of the better / larger maps (by rating / most downloads / size), let me know and make some video with the new version when it's out (or the last supporter version).
Thank-you ahead of time. No rush. I must get back to getting these forklift things scaled / colliding correctly (nothing I can't fix it just takes time, more time than desired). No point in having a feature if it's completely broken after-all.

Edit:
Posting a shot of the forklift area interior collision mesh, I divided the racks up heavily so there aren't as many (hungry) little narrow long triangles that will eat anything that bumps it. Hopefully this will do a little better for collision, provided you're going the speed of a fork lift and not the speed of a Pessima or Moonhawk you SHOULD be okay.
This will be the area inside the back of Moist grocery, Line city grocery, and possibly 'Worst Buy' also. They will look mostly the same for the purpose of this release. Collision took a little toying about and experimenting with (and more time than I wanted to spend on it), but I had to stick to my word on putting support in the map.
If anyone should have any issues with release, I will release a 1mb patch for forklift users if anyone does encounter issues here, that users can apply themselves on an as-needed basis.
*note: the pictures below are of the collision mesh, which your vehicle reacts to and collides with, these don't get textures and are invisible in the game. There is a different mesh that is visible to the player that mostly follows this shape and often has a little more detail. Most all open-world games work like this.

 

1st one is Line City, 2nd one is Moist Grocery. Worst Buy won't have a receiving room yet for this beta, but it will later on.
These two are functionally the same, just with different 'skins' (e.g. a few textures are changed to store common colors, lights are somewhat rusty in Moist Grocery vs clean ones in Line City).
These should do just fine for giving at-least four or five different destinations for trucks now where you can load/unload things indoors.
Will be testing this when I wake up for a bit & then uploading. I have been up since 0-200 hours (2am) or so. The beta for supporters will go out then once it's uploaded (4~10 hours). The public update will come out a few days to a week later, depending on how bad and how numerous the bugs are.

 

I have one more forklift test in 0.2x to run on the map and then I should be able to start uploading in an hour or so. Maybe I can get this finished uploading before shut-eye for the night. So expect supporter beta out tonight or tomorrow morning sometime. There's not really any more 'work' to be done.
I wouldn't have been as picky, but this is basically the same as what the public version will be, so I must be much more picky.

 

Thanks for all the great work!

 

Thank-you buddy. More problems than desired came up, including a real-life thing where I had to drive my retirement-age mother home from a doctor appointment from a town almost an hour away. That murdered half my Monday. However, that said; I'd do anything for her in a heart-beat, even if it's to my own detriment. She took care of me almost 40 years ago when I was little, so I do anything I am able to do physically to help her when need be provided I don't put myself in the hospital doing so.
Some outpatient procedures do not permit the patient driving themselves home post-op, this was one of those deals.

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The supporter beta is out for Patreon folks, post just now went live. Contributors will get a notification by sometime tomorrow.
Public beta will follow sometime in the next week (I hope!). Some parts of the process of getting this file hosted here, which is almost 8 times the file size limit of the server allowance on this site, are otherwise out of my hands and I cannot change nor promise which day it will go live. I try to treat the developers / staff here with the utmost respect, including not rushing or hounding them in their duties. I just put this note here for transparency purposes, and so that everyone knows I am not in complete control of all the file-hosting process (outside of my Mega backup account).

I want to highly thank everyone also for sticking with me here, sorry about the messy release day schedule this time. I just wanted to make sure it looks good and plays even better. The BeamNG community deserves only the best and I could not have done this 100% alone without everyone's help and graces. So a big thank-you to everyone, and for those not in the (very wonderful) group of Patreon members, know that the PUBLIC version is on it's way and should work just fine with 0.22 (and as far back as v 0.20, if you kept an old version around for better mod support - this is common among the car-crash Youtuber crowd).

Note/Eratta for forklift mod users:
The standard forklift won't reach the high shelves on the product storage racking, you need a hi-lo pallet jack for this duty which most normal-sized or larger grocery stores have.
The standard forklift model in this game (from what I have experienced) is more like the type of forklift found in many small lumber yards, general businesses and common to RDC's (usually with masts going up to 18~20 feet estimation). You need a forklift with a mast that extends up to reach these shelves (maybe this one does and I did not notice you could get forks more than 7' off the ground?).
Shelves may be easy to 'go through' from the side in some spots. This is a game limitation due to narrow surfaces, and I will be continually working on making the collision more reliable and less hungry for vehicle parts if I can do so without detriment to the shelves' ability to hold product. Pallets of product (or even empty ones) should sit on the shelves without issue, but still try not to hit the orange uprights or longitudinal pieces if possible. Doing so could damage product or make it unsaleable. Remember folks, SHRINK comes out of EVERYONE's quarterly/yearly bonus, so stay vigilant.

Someone should make a manual dock plate. If you don't know what these are, they fit between a truck body decking and the building floor, and come in many shapes/sizes both manual (human placed) and automatic sometimes with trailer locking feature. Building codes in some areas now require mechanized/automatic dock plates equipped with a trailer locking feature to prevent personnel injury at RDC's. Some insurance policies also require these, though the automatic dock plates with locking are less common / less required at end-points (a store) with few docks (by both insurance AND building codes).

To best facilitate safely unloading a truck's trailer or cargo body, chuck the wheels, then make sure to set the parking brake on the truck (and use the dock plate + trailer lock feature if available) prior to loading or unloading, or the trailer could drop off or damage it's landing gear, or could roll away from the building creating a gap between the two and causing a severe safety hazard. In places without locking mechanisms at the dock to hold onto the trailer, make sure the truck driver knows if workers will be unloading the truck or not, otherwise someone could go for more of a ride than they bargained for.

Source: previously OSHA forklift certified up to 2011, also previously held a few different positions at multiple chains of grocery stores when I was younger and needed the income.
RDC = receiving / distribution center. Penske is one of these not just for truck rental, they handle things like appliances and related products and ship several different makes of appliances out to various stores such as Sears, K-mart, Home Depot / Lowes and so-forth (some places have gone bankrupt). Some brands of appliances were Kenmore / G-E / Whirlpool, possibly Samsung, and more.
RDC's are planned for Los Injurus in the future, though I'm not 100% sure when.
More loading docks with interiors are planned for Los Injurus, expect plenty of these in all shapes and sizes. The larger ones will have racks for product in various shapes and sizes, both inside and out.

Construction warning signs have been added to some roadways that are unfinished or not yet freshened up to Los Injurus standards within the map. While they're not everywhere yet, it gives you an idea of where to look for features in future versions (road-wise, these won't necessarily tell you where buildings will go, they just let you know to expect changes / improvements ahead). I can't be more specific on dates with these signs as due to the nature of a map beta for a pre-release alpha/beta stage game, and new mods that come out like the forklift mod or traffic app when it premiered, it can be very difficult to stick to release dates (real-life issues such as health, appointments, or code-red house repairs/maintenance coming up can all throw a wrench in the digital gears here quite readily).
Thank-you to all for your fine contributions be it monetarily or through assets or mods enhancing the beamng experience, and for those who exercise patience with my inability to always meet the possibly-too-optimistic deadlines I often give myself.
Graphical progress updates will go silent until just after this release hits public servers (though I won't be loafing 24/7). I will be on bug-squashing standby though so DO report any major show stoppers or screw-ups, so I can get those fixed right away.
Lastly, remember that Los Injurus City for BeamNG Drive would not be possible without YOU!
--Cheers!

 

Great explanation of dock plates. I'm actually a forklift instructor. One of the anecdotes I discuss in my classes is about a less-than-ideal loading dock configuration...

Ideally, a loading area should slope toward the building, so gravity helps keep the truck in place. If the loading area is flat, properly-configured dock plates and locks, along with the other precautions you mentioned, control the hazards of the task.

The loading area outside the paper warehouse in this case sloped slightly away from the building. Luckily, the forklift operator and driver who normally worked in this area were very experienced, and had worked together for over ten years. They had developed a system: The forklift operator would load four rolls of paper (3800 lb, very consistent weight), then stop just inside the dock and honk his horn. The truck driver would start his engine, release his air brakes, and back up six inches. Four more rolls, honk honk, back up six inches, until the truck was full.

It wasn't ideal, but at some point, those two had worked out just how far the truck shifted, and determined that four rolls gave them the best balance of productivity and safety. As the company safety guy, I watched them go through this a few times, noted how consistent the truck's movement was, and was satisfied with their solution. But I did write a formal request for a dock lock, which, to their disbelief, but considerable relief, was approved. Apparently they had been asking for it for years, but hadn't convinced management that the $10,000 cost was worth it. Let's hear it for good persuasive writing skills!

 

Trucks tried pulling away almost daily at our RDC, you almost NEED those dock locks to be able to keep employees safe and getting work done. If one person gets hurt it could cost a lot more than a dock lock / automatic dock plate, or it could cost a life. Basically, I'd have explained to management, 'would YOU want to be on a lift in an unsecured vehicle trailer?'. Or have them watch a video of what could happen without one - they're all over youtube and other similar video sites.

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The public update is pending. This thread will receive a notice when it is approved.
I've decided not to wait as long this time around to put up the public version, since it's been 6 months since the public version was updated. This could take a day, or it could take a week. I do not rush the developers/staff here as they do magical things with this simulator and enable this project to exist. Considering most people would charge me to host this, I'd say that's a fair shake to be very patient and grateful with the staff.
Later today contributors of various mods and to things in this map (Even if they're not yet used) will get a private beta download link, if it is not on the public servers by that time.
Thank-you all for donations, patience, models and textures and even opinions if that's all you are able to give. This is a community supported city map project (not a for-profit one!), and is made for almost anyone and everyone to have a good time. You also give a physically disabled individual some purpose and use in life when otherwise I'd have not been much use to anyone other than myself. Being of non-selfish nature, I like to bring other folks recreation and a good time. So I hope this map proves that to you and much, much more.
Comments/complaints/suggestions are continually welcomed; so don't hesitate to speak up if you should feel the need to share something here.

 

Can't wait for the public version. I really appreciate the fact that you go into detail on the progress of your work, and show all of us how parts of your work come together.

 

Yay for the update! I hadn't realized it had been that long. Even recently, I've been discovering features I thought were new... but I just hadn't seen them yet! This map is kinda big.

As for the dock issue, that employer was always tough to convince with a human argument. It always came down to dollars. Once, with a severe storm approaching, I told one of the senior managers I was pulling the crew off the roof, where they were fixing a bulk elevator. His response was "Then who will do the work?"

This wasn't just a weather watch. This wasn't just a severe thunderstorm warning. This was "A funnel cloud has touched down and is headed your way."

My repsonse to that "manager": I walked past him, up the stairs to the roof, where the engineering manager had joined the crew. We stared at the approaching storm for about two minutes before I asked, "We going down?"

We went down.

Luckily, this was a typical Edmonton tornado, an F-1 or 2, so the building was sufficient shelter, and as it turned out, the tornado didn't touch down again. And we didn't catch heat from the boss. After the work was so briefly interrupted, he just didn't seem to care.

I was not at all upset when I was head-hunted away from that job.

 

Thank-you, it's much appreciated. I do my best to be transparent and otherwise very open about the hows, whats, and whys of things I do in the world creation process. While it's not as easy as mapping for Doom (for Dos, the old one), it's still quite fun and fulfilling to do. Hopefully for those that can use the MRK kit to build a small city of their own, will know some of the in's and out's and procedures of making game worlds and not be totally lost / overwhelmed.
Making something like this isn't a spare time project - it'd never get anywhere at that rate. To make a map of this size, it must be your primary mission objective in life if you don't have a whole team of people working on it. So to supplement, I create slightly simpler buildings (which helps CPU load and resultant FPS too), and purchase assets when it would otherwise eat a lot of time making them myself. Sometimes they aren't great quality; but often there's some really fine craftsmanship on some of these 5~25$ models that would take days or weeks for me to do myself. The time saved directly carries over to the project progress and also allows a wider variety of buildings, scenes, etc, VS it being 'just me'. Also, some purchased assets I cannot match (like some of the concrete textures) on my own so it gives a better level of quality on the finished product (where it's finished anyway!).

---

I am updating some of the mall concrete textures, and also purging a lot of the 'old ECA' assets from the map. So much will be different in the little concept area by the 'vehicle skate park' thing. Hopefully after purging the unnecessary ECA assets out, maybe I can save a little space on the map size - hopefully it's not outdone by what I will be adding in. Don't worry, the vehicle skate park isn't going anywhere, I still launch cars off it now and then even after several years of it being there (there will be more added in the future but not right away).

This map is monstrous - that I know - but it's a heck of a lot less than GTA V's 100+ GB or whatever it's up to now, and will never get that big. I'd be shocked if this compressed file got over 5gb. My current version here shows 8.3gb on the nose, when unpacked (this version is just slightly different than the release version, as I've been scripting more materials in while on bug patrol).
So, while it's huge, I'd reckon it beats downloading a 300~450mb game map with one or two roads that you get bored of after an hour and rarely play again. Not to mention many maps don't have room to get vehicles up to top speed in a realistic environment. I've always been the type to find a happy medium between space to roam and fine detail. Nevada Interstate (while fun) was a bit small for taste, Roane County was absolutely way too big (and lacking fine detail on the roads/terrain), this one ended up 'just right' as far as my own opinion is concerned. Unless your very experienced, or wish to make your terrain entirely out of mesh objects (tiled meshes), please don't try to make a map bigger than this one as you lose too much detail and precision. If you still want to make a map, please see the tutorials on youtube to familiarize yourself with the tools and process before undertaking this. Also, feel free to raid a few sets from my art/shapes/MRK directory where all the infrastructure objects are stored. These objects tile and fit together like legos to make a city. It is a lot of fun to build your own city, and beats playing Cities Skylines hands down in my opinion, which is why I've made this map for everyone. If anyone gets stumped adding in textures or models, do let me know here so I can step you through it when I have the time (private message works too provided I see it in time).
At-least for the huge size it is, this map should provide plenty of replay value to a wide range of players.

So I will be tearing out ECA assets to make space to add in sky-scrapers, inner-city buildings, more warehouses (we need some, we might even get an interior in one of the new ones!), and so-forth. Expect to see new stuff as I am now working on the models and textures that will be in the near future's progress screen shots.
Sorry for the blabbing, hopefully the new version for general public consumption comes online today/tomorrow. I'll know when it lands as the notifications in the top right will go from 10~20 to 100+ overnight - so if I don't respond right away that is why.
Some folks might see their houses added in soon. If your house that you requested gets added in feel free to message me back if there's any corrections needed etc, or if you otherwise aren't satisfied with it.
--That is all.
--- Post updated ---

If I was at work and a severe thunderstorm with possibility of a tornado was coming, I would take shelter automatically and try to warn others on my way. If there was a tornado already or I heard it approaching without much warning to heed, I'd frantically alert folks and RUN to shelter like the wind (even if it hurts me for months to move like that, or has the possibility to injure me in some way). There wouldn't usually be time to 'ask' about it. Always can get another job, can't get another carcass as easily though.
But all in all, I agree; bosses should care more about workers, but they usually only care about the bottom line hence why they're the boss. Being a boss does not mean or require that you're a good person, unfortunately.

 

I actually chuckled out loud when I read that. Your "blabbing" is what keeps me coming back to this forum. I'm a detail-oriented creator myself, so I can relate to your thought process, from the details to the overall map strategy. After I've moved and settled into my new job, I'll probably go back to my Aleutian island map and make something of it.

That's the reason I was so frustrated that I have to leave my current job. I have buy-in for health & safety from management, supervisors, and workers. If I need something to make a job safer, I get it. I'm never pressured to cut corners or fudge the numbers. I really hate to leave.

But from everything I've seen so far, the job I'm walking into seems to have a similar culture. I'm crossing my fingers, and I'm sure I'll have more to say about it later.

 

Well good, I try to be transparent; and I was born with a good head on my shoulders so I like to share info when I have it. Conversation and being social is why we're the dominant species of the planet, or so we think anyways.
I wish you the best at your new job. Don't take no for an answer and stand your ground, at-least up until you're getting fired over it, don't take it quite that far. I have more respect for people that try and try again and don't back down, then people that just 'believe and obey' without knowing why.

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Public update will come out Monday, likely Monday in EU time so for the Americas, it might be in the early morning here.
I cannot promise as to when, remember, I am at the moderators/staff mercy here and I don't like to excessively pester/push them around (especially if I wish to remain in good standing, which I try to).

Enjoy your weekend either way folks!

 

This weekend could turn out very good for me: a new truck to drive in person (new to me, 2003 Ford Ranger) and a great new map to drive in BeamNG!

 

Ranger is a good truck, if you're lucky you've got one with a non-interference engine too. Those are the best types of engines. I believe those years a 3.0 vulkan (old but good) and a 2.3* four-cylinder were available. I had a few 90's fords with the Vulkan and even a 2003 with one, and it is a good engine, much better than the Essex 3.8 that popped head gaskets all the time.
The nice thing about the rangers is, I believe it still shared the explorer platform and some mazda platform in those years. In 2002 (I believe) the explorer moved to a newer platform (for ride comfort mostly), but the 2-door explorer remained on the shared platform for another two or three model years. The shared platform allows you to get more parts during junkyard visits, should the truck not be feeling so well. I would never own a vehicle myself that I couldn't easily and cheaply get parts for - new or used, nor a vehicle that was difficult to work on.
The Corolla I have now is super easy to do maintenance on, probably one of the easiest / well thought-out ones I've ever owned.
*Note: I am not familiar with the 2.3 four cylinder engine, but from a mechanic I've heard they're pretty good too.
That said yes the map should land Monday, Tuesday at the latest; but the moderators mentioned it'd likely be Monday.

 

Yeah, the engine options are a 2.3L I4, 3.0L V6, or 4.0L V6. The 3.0L is the most reliable, and thankfully, the Ranger I'm looking at has one of those. The only problem I have is that the guy thinks it's worth more than it is, but I'll get though it. Cash and KBB are a man's best friend in this situation. ;D It is pretty cheap and easy to maintain, and I'm looking forward to a car I can touch, rather than stare at electronics and go "...okay..." at.

 

The ramp up to the dock is a bit too steep.

 

Okay, I will go over these tomorrow and re-upload it so that this is fixed.
Please let me know over the next 24 hours so that I can fix any other problems you may find. Thank-you for reporting a bug BEFORE public release, it's appreciated as there's not much I can do after.
--- Post updated and then re-updated because of a stupid forum bug ---
In the mean-time, I've been working on graphics that will go in the map. Lots of concrete, a proper cinder block wall, and even a manhole cover.
Normally, this is boring, but sometimes you can take some liberties as an artist and have a little fun with it.
Below is a snap-shot of part of the manhole cover (very low quality for small file size on the forum, the in-game one is much better and higher resolution).
Makes me wonder if anyone read the label on the round manhole covers throughout the map. It's easy to just speed past.

 

So now that the sun is up, and normal people are awake (in this country; no offense to others in different time zones / countries), I took liberty to look over some things.
There's no dock bumpers. Looking over my documentation, examples - which include a few snap shots of real docks *with dock bumpers*, it's easy to see why you had a problem now. How careless of me, shouldn't be an issue after tomorrow's version as I have all day to work on this (luckily).
Looks like I blundered that one for sure. That's why my name is Blunderton, but I'll try not to earn it on the next release.
Oh, and yes it's definitely to steep in some spots. Just a wee bit.

 

I've almost finished the UV's on this model. It shares no textures with anything else in the map. I will make a nicer, newer version possibly later on.
Expect to see many other size variations and some other color variations later on. I will try to make them different enough as I go along.
This was a purchased model (though I only paid 7.50$ for it, pretty reasonable), it still required 4~5 hours of UV work on it minimum. Not everyone is familiar with 3d rendering and why you need to stitch UV's together constantly wherever possible. This building features the same dock bumpers you'll see later on on other models. This warehouse won't be in the upcoming public version, but the dock-bumpers will be. I will likely add the dock bumpers in and use them as an object by themselves VS changing the two store models to include them.