What I am going to do is convert this bmw E30 M3 model to BeamNG Drive. The details / disclaimer: This is a model I ripped from Forza 4, as far as I know, its not illegal to do so and if you guys have a problem with it, I won't release it if it ever gets that far. I'm doing this project for practice and learning, I'm pretty intimidated by the Jbeam files and all of that, I have only a rough idea of how it works. What I want to do is get the car stripped down to the chassis, and import it into the game, get the beams and nodes completely correct and only then I want to add more parts to the car ingame.. if this isn't the right way to do it, let me know... What I spent time on so far was stripping and separating and cutting all the parts off the m3, keeping them, but hiding them for now. (imported from here) (imported from here) (imported from here) (imported from here) My plans are to model the engine bay, the areas / gaps around the doors and the under body a bit later, maybe i'll do the engine bay now. I also need to model the suspension. I guess I'll model what i needed to get the chassis running in game. -------------------- I'm using 3ds Max, i have to look up the information on exporting etc, I saw a thread that said something about Maya Export script for jbeams or something, I'm really hoping I can do everything in 3ds max. Wish me luck, and if you want to lend me some help, that would be cool.
great feedback anyway, looks really great, the model looks really accurate, and shape/smooth looks perfect. Love all the extra parts laid out like that, very nice. Obviously the front end frame/chassis work needs finishing, but awesome start!! (with the port over) hope this goes thru, doesn't seem likely tho
I should also explain, I own a bmw e30 , not an M3 So i am a little biased I guess, I do like almost all cars but figured since I don't see many bmws being made people who hate them would probably love to crash the shit out of them haha. here it is its got a bunch of bs S52 swap / z3 rack etc etc but in attempt to not go offtopic u can get more info here if u like e30's (imported from here) I also have an e39 M5, had an e38 740il, e46 325 and also currently have an 85 CRX LOL so some of all of those might eventually make it to the game if this goes smoothly. - - - Updated - - - Thats fine, I won't argue or fight with it other than to say as far as them "not giving permission" its really more like "they wont give u the time of day" they won't care, can't be bothered to care until money is involved . I thought it would be safe after seeing the Lotus 49 thread stay up. it's likely this mod may never to a finished state so lets not take it too serious yet, this is a learning thing right now. That is okay, I hope this thread can stay and I can show my progress here and get some help, because what I really need is feedback and advice / tips / help for this first mod.
You might be able to show us, but they won't let you release it to the world. Truthfully, I'm rather disappointed, it looks nice.
Fair enough, I'm sure we can work it all out later. Also excuse me for the way I type, apparently I'm retarded... i guess too scatter brained and while I'm typing I just skip words
as soon as i said something about it too lol i feel guilty. Anyways, I see the latest version of the realtime car editor is quite good I'm hoping I will be able to use that tool to get the basics on the car done
I decided to use a combination of two models for this project to save time, this model has complete running gear and under body, I have to fix the smoothing on the engine bay but its pretty much ready to go. For now i've stripped it down to the chassis, and before I get picky about the smoothnig and bother to texture the model I want to try to get it in game I'm having a hard time getting it to show up in game, I wanted to see I could use the vehicle editor to do it.. but the 3d editor is VERY wonky, and doesn't seem to update to file changes.. idk... Doing it by hand, is possible for the mesh to show up I guess, but how can anyone realistically type every node by hand with the coordinates... maybe i'm missing something here, I would think a script could be created for max to export with the files needed.
With the export mesh to Jbeam thing, I too would love for it to happen, but think, even with a great code, there will be countless problems with nodes being attached when they shouldn't be.
Hahaha, yeah you should never use a mesh as a jbeam unless its VERY simple. (We're talking like box simple) This likely has 100k+ pollies, meaning as a jbeam about 400k beams, and 400k nodes.
Yeah definitely understand, but as you see in the video for the editor when making nodes for the ramp, it looks like it could be possible to do it that way for a car too which is what I was hoping. What we do with SLRR is model the car, the high poly mesh yuo see, then box model the "phys_" mesh which is VERY low poly, that provides the info needed for collision and deformation, I know its less complicated than this system so its probably not possible. - - - Updated - - - So I'm just battling with the jbeam file right, zero understanding of json which probably isn't good. The tutorial I'm following is just not very good, but its better than nothing at all. The wiki has a lot of good information but it seems only useful if you already have an idea of rigs of rods. The flow of the information in wiki and tutorials is just not very good. My goal was to understand this and make a good proper video tutorial Code: {"bmwe30": { "information":{ "authors":"Singh", "name":"BMW E30 M3", }, "refNodes":[ ["ref:", "back:", "left:", "up:"] ["0", "1", "2", "3"] ], "nodes": [ ["id", "posX", "posY", "posZ"], {"nodeWeight":70}, {"group":"MyCar"}, {"frictionCoef":0.7}, {"nodeMaterial":"|NM_METAL"}, {"collision":true} {"selfCollision":false} ["1a", 1, 1, 0], ["1b", 0, 1, 0], ["1c", 1, 0, 0], ["1d", 0, 0, 0], ["1e", 1, 1, 1], ["1f", 0, 1, 1], ["2a", 1, 0, 1], ["2b", 0, 0, 1], ], "beams": [ ["id1:", "id2:"], {"beamSpring":500000,"beamDamp":800}, {"beamDeform":75000,"beamStrength":"FLT_MAX"}, // bottom ["1a","1b"], ["1c","1d"], ["1a","1c"], ["1b","1d"], // top ["1e","2a"], ["1f","2b"], ["1e","2b"], ["1f","2a"], // support ["1a","1e"], ["1b","1f"], ["1c","2a"], ["1d","2b"], // diagonals ["1a","1d"], ["1b","1c"], ["1e","1f"], ["2a","2b"], ["1f","1a"], ["1b","1e"], ["1e","1c"], ["2a","1a"], ["2b","1b"], ["1f","1d"], ["1d","2a"], ["1c","2b"], ], "flexbodies": [ ["mesh", "[group]:"], ["bmwe30_chassis", ["MyCar"]] ], } } I think i've followed the code and tutorial exactly and read all of the posts in that thread, still im getting a missing slotype for part "bmwe30" not sure why or how. - - - Updated - - - Well after comparing with another working cars file i realized in the tutorial he never mentioned or used any SLOT TYPE so that obviously explains that issue. I've moved that over to my file but still getting this NIL (null) error Code: 30.709137| *** done intializing vehicle (T3D side) *** 30.712545|BEAMNG| INFO| creating new object in slot 0 ... 30.712911|BEAMNG| WARN| Lua tried to read env variable: LUA_PATH 30.712958|BEAMNG| WARN| Lua tried to read env variable: LUA_CPATH 30.726920|BEAMNG| INFO| loading vehicle directory:vehicles/bmwe30/ 30.727062|BEAMNG| INFO| * loading jbeam files: 30.727721|BEAMNG| INFO| * vehicles/bmwe30//bmwe30.jbeam with 1 parts 30.727765|BEAMNG| INFO| * assembling main vehicle: bmwe30 30.727945|BEAMNG| INFO| * found 0 slot(s): 30.727989|BEAMNG| INFO| - Preparing vehicle: main 30.728054|BEAMNG| INFO| - 1 flexbodies 30.728402|BEAMNG| INFO| - 24 beams 30.728454|BEAMNG| INFO| - 0 slots 30.728518|BEAMNG| INFO| - 1 refNodes 30.728700|BEAMNG| INFO| - 8 nodes 30.728750|BEAMNG| INFO| - Vehicle Preparation done. 30.728933|BEAMNG| INFO| link not found: from refNodes/1 to nodes/0 30.729033|BEAMNG| INFO| - Vehicle numbering done. 30.729104|BEAMNG| INFO| - post processing ... 30.729149|BEAMNG| INFO| - processed 0 of wheels(s) 30.729190|BEAMNG| INFO| - processed 0 of monoHubWheels(s) 30.729229|BEAMNG| INFO| - processed 0 of hubWheelsTSV(s) 30.729268|BEAMNG| INFO| - processed 0 of hubWheelsTSI(s) 30.729307|BEAMNG| INFO| - processed 0 of hubWheels(s) 30.729554|BEAMNG| INFO| - scaled 0 entries 30.729598|BEAMNG| INFO| - post processing done. 30.729634|BEAMNG| INFO| - Optimizing ... 30.729749|BEAMNG| INFO| - Optimization done. 30.729803|BEAMNG| INFO| ** pushing vehicle to physics: main 30.729864|BEAMNG| INFO| - added 8 nodes 30.729942|BEAMNG| INFO| - added 24 beams 30.729985|BEAMNG| INFO| - added 0 wheels, 0 of them are propulsed 30.730027|BEAMNG| INFO| creating new flexbody in slot 0 ... 30.740794|BEAMNG| INFO| - added 1 flexMeshes 30.740867|BEAMNG| ERR | got exception: lua/vehicle/beamng.lua:2555: attempt to index a nil value 30.741268|BEAMNG| ERR | lua/vehicle/sensors.lua:60: attempt to index a nil value 37.319423|*** ENDING MISSION - - - Updated - - - Well after comparing with another working cars file i realized in the tutorial he never mentioned or used any SLOT TYPE so that obviously explains that issue. I've moved that over to my file but still getting this NIL (null) error Code: 30.709137| *** done intializing vehicle (T3D side) *** 30.712545|BEAMNG| INFO| creating new object in slot 0 ... 30.712911|BEAMNG| WARN| Lua tried to read env variable: LUA_PATH 30.712958|BEAMNG| WARN| Lua tried to read env variable: LUA_CPATH 30.726920|BEAMNG| INFO| loading vehicle directory:vehicles/bmwe30/ 30.727062|BEAMNG| INFO| * loading jbeam files: 30.727721|BEAMNG| INFO| * vehicles/bmwe30//bmwe30.jbeam with 1 parts 30.727765|BEAMNG| INFO| * assembling main vehicle: bmwe30 30.727945|BEAMNG| INFO| * found 0 slot(s): 30.727989|BEAMNG| INFO| - Preparing vehicle: main 30.728054|BEAMNG| INFO| - 1 flexbodies 30.728402|BEAMNG| INFO| - 24 beams 30.728454|BEAMNG| INFO| - 0 slots 30.728518|BEAMNG| INFO| - 1 refNodes 30.728700|BEAMNG| INFO| - 8 nodes 30.728750|BEAMNG| INFO| - Vehicle Preparation done. 30.728933|BEAMNG| INFO| link not found: from refNodes/1 to nodes/0 30.729033|BEAMNG| INFO| - Vehicle numbering done. 30.729104|BEAMNG| INFO| - post processing ... 30.729149|BEAMNG| INFO| - processed 0 of wheels(s) 30.729190|BEAMNG| INFO| - processed 0 of monoHubWheels(s) 30.729229|BEAMNG| INFO| - processed 0 of hubWheelsTSV(s) 30.729268|BEAMNG| INFO| - processed 0 of hubWheelsTSI(s) 30.729307|BEAMNG| INFO| - processed 0 of hubWheels(s) 30.729554|BEAMNG| INFO| - scaled 0 entries 30.729598|BEAMNG| INFO| - post processing done. 30.729634|BEAMNG| INFO| - Optimizing ... 30.729749|BEAMNG| INFO| - Optimization done. 30.729803|BEAMNG| INFO| ** pushing vehicle to physics: main 30.729864|BEAMNG| INFO| - added 8 nodes 30.729942|BEAMNG| INFO| - added 24 beams 30.729985|BEAMNG| INFO| - added 0 wheels, 0 of them are propulsed 30.730027|BEAMNG| INFO| creating new flexbody in slot 0 ... 30.740794|BEAMNG| INFO| - added 1 flexMeshes 30.740867|BEAMNG| ERR | got exception: lua/vehicle/beamng.lua:2555: attempt to index a nil value 30.741268|BEAMNG| ERR | lua/vehicle/sensors.lua:60: attempt to index a nil value 37.319423|*** ENDING MISSION - - - Updated - - - Well, made a little progresss at least the game didnt crash this time. Can't see the model though, but at least I'm getting somewhere... - - - Updated - - - I'm still battling these jbeam files.. if someone is willing to take a look at the vehicle folder (contains only one jbeam and one dae file) and the max file (3ds max 2009) for me that would help move things a long. Until then i'm going to keep reading and keep experimenting but I hope i dont wear myself out. I seriously can't wait to figure this shit out, I'm going to make it my mission to simplify this shit - - - Updated - - - I was able to import the pickup.dae into max, it was crashing before because even though I had max 2009 sp1, and it supported .dae import / export natively... somehow the FBX plugin had to be updated... ridiculous. Anyways I see how gabe laid all the parts out like the wheels which surprised me, I thought they would be centered on the scene, its nice to see they don't have to be... I also see he named all of his parts starting with "node_" instead of "pickup_frame" he named the frame "node_pickup_frame" in the .jbeam i see the reference to the model/mesh as "pickup_frame" without the "node_" in front of it, so I tried the same thing with my car but no luck to get the mesh to show in game.
You see that part configuration menu you open with Ctrl+W ? Well if so you noticed that parts are organized in a hierarchy. For a suspension you can choose which wheels to use etc... This means that the selected suspension part must have a "slot" for wheels. Hence the suspension "slots" section must contain a slot named like the one you will use as a "slotType" in the wheels part. So that you can mach them. If your wheels part has a "slotType" named "front_wheels" and your suspension part has defined a slot named "front_wheels" then in the Ctrl+W window you'll be able to select the front wheels under the suspension part. "pickup_suspension_F.jbeam" defines the part "pickup_IFS". That part defines the slots that it will allow to be used. Among them you can find "["pickup_wheel_F","pickup_wheel_F","Gavril D-Series Front Wheels"]". This means any part with a "slotType" named "pickup_wheel_F" can be selected to be used as a child of "pickup_IFS". Indeed "pickup_wheels_F.jbeam" defines part "pikcup_wheel_F" which has a "slotType" named "pickup_wheel_F". Also note that the parts that are not meant to be a child and thus should be the root must have a "slotType" named "main". That's why in "pickup.jbeam" on part "pickup" the "slotType" is "main".
Hey Greg, thanks for your post, I've realized this later on after I posted and I included the code for the slot types. I have this {"bmwe30": { "information":{ "authors":"Singh", "name":"BMW E30 M3", } "slotType" : "main", "slots": [ ["type", "default", "description"] ], It was easy to understand the slots after I found out they even existed, i followed the tutorial by neodox (sp?) and he never mentioned slotypes and that REALLY threw me off. I have NO slots right now because I deleted them all, i have NO crtl W yet because of this i believe... but thats okay what I want to do is get the damn chassis mesh to show up in game, it is NOT. If anyone can take a look at the files and find something wrong let me know. My only goal right now is to keep it simple and just get the chassis MESH to show in game, that is all, then I will take it step by step from there. Attached is current vehicle folder and max file (max 2009)
