The console (§ key, depends on keyboard layout) tells if a mesh is not loaded, and what mesh names are available in the DAE if something did not load. In this case, the mesh will show up if you add the "node_" to the mesh name in the flexbody section. It's not needed in the name, so you'll probably want to rename the mesh in Max. The mesh shows up after changing the name, it's just hard to find because it's just below ground and tiny (4 cm long maybe). Make sure you have the scale correct in Max, 1 unit = 1 meter, and Reset XForm if you move the object or change its scale or rotation. Use OpenCollada to export DAE from Max. The default exporter has problems, at least last time I tried it. I hope that helps.
well, doing it all by hand is most certainly possible, just look at mythbuster's cadillac, and gabester's vehicles, unless there's some tool that only the dev's and mythbuster have access to that generates a perfect jbeam, they did it all by hand
Hey, first try to update your FBX plugin / exporter via the autodesk website, ifu need a link i can try to find it, that will fix exporting / importing. Also, thanks , why does it work like this? in gabes pickup mesh he has node_ infront of all of his mesh names in his model, but in his jbeam file it only says pickup_frame nothing with node_ and obviously his frame shows up fine I'll scale the model thank you yeah that is true and what I was thinking as well, but why, look at the plugins already available for maya and blender for nodes, if there was something for max that would be cool but i guess i can try to use a user made program here on the forums to design the node and beam layouts. - - - Updated - - - I got the chassis to appear in game and it is scailed correctly, the problem was indeed the scailing Now I'm wondering is it possible to make meshes in the game 2 sided to save polys ? - - - Updated - - - - - - Updated - - - When the chassis spawns it drops to the floor and the jbeams aren't correct yet so it bends a little, so don't mind that if u notice the bends in the roof and other places lol - - - Updated - - - I've put slots on the chassis for front suspension now and I've copied the gavrils front suspension jbeam file and renamed and made changes as needed so far, but haven't deleted any existing nodes... I think the nodes / beams are messing up the position of my controls, in max the control arms are in the proper position on the chassis, but in the game they are off to the driver side and pushed back away from the front of the car.. I have confidence in being able to get all the parts in correct heiarchy as well as getting them to all textured and in game, but i need a little help with the jbeams
I love E30's , had a 87' 325is as a kid. Looking forward to more progress on this, afraid I can't help much with Jbeam though..
Thanks, never getting rid of mine, too much fun. Anyways, made a lot of progress, the node beam editor i found here is REALLY helpful right now, tho I have to first made the nodes / beams with the line tool and then record / copy the positions to the editor to see how it looks and connect the beams, its much better than somehow guessing and typing them in the text editor.. really happy so far I've made the nodes and beams for the front control arms... lets see how it works out... - - - Updated - - - Okay well now , for whatever reason, not sure what made them appear in the correct place but now the control arms are correct mesh wise, but the nodes and beams I made for them, jsut two simple triangles that I am assuming need a TON of help, are behind the vehicle.. so in the editor I obviously somehow had the orientation wrong. The editor worked good but exporting and using the jbeam file it made means i have to manually input the flexbodies and other sections every time i do so, i might just export to a dummy file and copy the node and beam values over to the real suspension jbeam file. I think I might take a break from the suspension though and actually get the chassis figured out first since its badly deforming now and acting like jelly haha (imported from here) - - - Updated - - - It seems like the model is too far up and to the right, but that makes no sense because I used the same cordinates in max to map out the nodes for the control arms, yes I had to reverse the X axis i think to get them to the front of the car, but otherwise they were good, so why is the model off to the right :S (imported from here) - - - Updated - - - Designed a basic box frame jbeam for the chassis floor right now, used beams across and diagonal to strengthen it however now the game crashes, what does this mean, what should I bind them to? 28.283905|BEAMNG| flexmesh has no node bindings, ignoring: bmw_lowerarm 28.283944|BEAMNG| flexmesh has no node bindings, ignoring: chassis 28.283986|BEAMNG| INFO| - added 0 flexMeshes 28.284163|BEAMNG| ERR | lua/vehicle/sensors.lua:35: attempt to perform arithmetic on field 'nodeWeight' (a nil value) - - - Updated - - - Okay I overcame that error above, I copied and pasted what the node beam editor gave me into my real jbeam file but it was missing that info needed for weight and group etc so now i only copy the node cordinates and the beam id's and nothing more (imported from here) Now really, i need to know why / figure out how to fix this problem with the mesh not aligning up with the jbeam, i do't want to manually move the mesh in max, that doesn't seem the correct way to do it.. so... wtf? - - - Updated - - - Here is what it looks like in the node editor, the control arm jbeam and the chassis jbeam are correct here, and they are correct in max as well, I laid out points in max to get the base cordinates to use in the editor first.. so I know its in the same place as the model, so wtf why is the model coming up in a different position :S (imported from here)
That's the problem I had with the default DAE exporter, even after updating it. Meshes didn't line up and rotate correctly with the jbeam. Try OpenCollada, it's a simple plugin, just need to choose a different exporter. I haven't used any jbeam editors, so I don't know if they make it easier. Notepad++ combined with Max and the debug modes in game work well enough for me. Usually I'll just see where I need to place nodes in Max, since the coordinates are the same. For some more complex structures, I've made a simple low-poly mesh in Max to visualize the jbeam. It helps to have some kind of logical structure and naming for the nodes. Something like the box structure you have here is good. That way, once you have the beams for one part done, you can just copy and modify them for other parts without redoing all the beams from scratch. Grouping the beams also helps, it's important for deformation.
(imported from here) - - - Updated - - - heres what happened, due to lack of information (again) i realized what "node ref" is for, now that i know it seems like comon sense.. but before,i had no idea. The ref nodes line up the mesh with the beam structure, i saw in the tutorial Nadeox told people to just move it in 3ds max. WRONG. I knew it was a bad idea so i spent the last hour thinking about it and finally decided to mess with it and thats when it hit me. Now they are lined up, my exporter so far works fine for me, the whole time the mesh alignment was messed up due to the ref nodes. I'm learning a lot really fast i hope it continues, I can't wait to make a damn tutorial to END ALL of this bs. at least something good enough for beginners to take front to back and not run into problems due to me leaving out shit. - - - Updated - - - I'm pasting this here for reference later today, but its also good for people who are also in the same boat as me (trying to mod but need some info aka everybody) All you need to do for suspension is replicate the mesh in n/b... 2 beams can simulate the control arms and 1 beam can simulate the tierod. The hub itself should be built basically as a sideways pyramid, with the tip being the outside wheelnode. Then place the corners of the "pyramid" where you want the hingepoints for the suspension to be... So you'll have 1 node above the wheel-axis, 1 node below, 1 forward, and 1 backwards. Dyameter of the "pyramid" should be roughly from the center of the wheel to the edge of the rim(just make sure the suspension arms still hinge around the same axis as they do in the mesh, although the tie-rod mounts on the hub can be moved closer and further from the wheel-axis without too much problems) For some suspensions(probably your rear one) you'll need to redesign your "pyramid"-shape, to have enough nodes for each suspension arm, but you'll get the idea for that pretty quickly. If your wheels end up shaking, it's usually caused by allignment issues, so don't worry too much about that yet Credits to MythBuster
I decided to box model where I want the nodes to be on the car , i left gaps between boxes because I'm hoping IF i am able to import these boxes as OBJ into the node editor that I can just connect the dots , wishful dreaming I know. (imported from here) (imported from here) (imported from here) (imported from here) (imported from here)' - - - Updated - - - looking for help with attaching the control arms / hubs / wheels / springs / axles etc and making them work somewhat. shot in the dark but hey why not. im almost burnt out on this
That's some good progress you got there! You certainly can convert that box model into nodes, there's a program called NodeBeamEditor located here, which can import an .OBJ model and convert it to nodes. You will however have to make the beams yourself, but it's not that hard if you know what you're doing As for the suspension, you may have to wait a bit, because the E30 has McPherson struts, which require slide nodes, which are not yet supported in BeamNG. I'm not too sure about the situation, so you may be able to do the suspension to some extent. I encourage you to keep going with this project, the E30 is a really legendary car, and is a great addition to any game. As for the model issue, you can always exchange Forza's model for a scratch made one later on, which would be perfectly legal to release. If ever I get around to making an E30 model at some point, I'd be happy to let you use it for this
Thanks ! I might model a 325is E30 like one i have in the picture in the first few pictures at some point. Anyways I couldn't import the OBJ of those boxes directly to node editor, it kept making them flat nodes BUT i was able to install blender, use the node export script and i got my nodes / beams exported and then imported them to node editor for further beaming what im going to do though is re-model the whole box model so more stuff is connected and easier to put beams on, it was too busy in the editor when it didn't have to be (imported from here) - - - Updated - - - also do you know how to "pan" the view in the node editor? - - - Updated - - - Okay so heres where im at I'm very happy and very relieved that I have a way to box model my nodes and some of the beams in place, heres what I did. Modeled in Max, exported to OBJ and imported the OBJ to Blender, had to rotate 180deg and then export via the excellent and awesome blender jbeam export script here on the forums.. saved my life. Take the jbeam file exported by this script, which is just a list of the nodes and the beams... copy the nodes and the beams into the bmw's main jbeam file and then after setting the right names for the ref nodes above in the file, Optional: to connect nodes with beams I import the jbeam into Node Editor, another awesome program available in the forums here.... connect the nodes with beams and export to beamNG jbeam file, then again the same process, copy the nodes and beam cords out of that temp file and into the bmw's original main jbeam. go in game and see this For the 1 or two people who actually follow this thread , you're thinking.. OMG that is a horrible beam structure... I know but this was just a test, I realized its too cluttered and difficult to use the node editors interface to properly build beams between all the nodes when they all show at once... So first I'll build the chassis jbeam in structures, and then import all the sctructures at once to node editor and connect them all together for one solid structure. Really excited about this, very happy. Drowsysam may be able to help with the suspension jbeams, i really hope so.
For the 1 or two people who actually follow this thread , you're thinking.. OMG that is a horrible beam structure... I know but this was just a test, I realized its too cluttered and difficult to use the node editors interface to properly build beams between all the nodes when they all show at once... For sure man, I built this before I looked at the pickups nodes, this next structure im doing will not be like that, promise ! - - - Updated - - - I would like to know if there was a way to connect edges to vertices the same way u can can connect nodes with beams in the editor program. If I could completely build my jbeam structure in max, and then export to blender then to jbeam and be done with it, that would be awesome. The most tedious process right now is connecting the nodes with beams because of its under developed interface. hmmm - - - Updated - - - if this works then this is much easier than making the beams in the node editor... pray for me here - - - Updated - - - sweet !!! That entire structure was made in 3ds max only with minimal effort ! Crashing my game though, don't know why but i'll figure it out
I didn't think this would go anywhere. You're a good modeller, hopefully you don't abandon the project over the beam side of things. I'm impressed, good luck.
Yeah for sure, I kind of felt stupid making the thread so quickly before I got anything done, but i'm glad i was able to overcome as much as I did already. Also I haven't really modeled anything yet, the bmw model is not mine, its from a game called C.A.R.S. i guess, apparently they did a good job of modeling most parts of the car, very impressive. I will be modeling extra wheels tires and parts for the car, i know someone with S54 and S62 bmw engines already modeled im sure they would let me use later. It won't be released here because I technically don't have permission for the model, so sorry for that. But I'm going to do my best to finish the project because I really like these cars so I would love to have one in this game, and the better I do on this one then the better I'll do on my own model after this. Right now though im feeling a little overwhelmed... just gotta take it slow and one thing at a time i guess, i don't know enough about these beams as I would like, and I see the marshall does have a lot of nodes, but the way they are ... ugh killin me to understand why. - - - Updated - - - what i shown above doesn't work, because I can't weld those vertices all together in the corners, they are like 10 vertices each. so never mind, was a great idea but oh well. Okay now, heres what it looks like in max, when I import this to blender and then to the node editor im going to make a bunch of beams. I thought this out as i was modeling it, so if you think it looks crazy or wrong, just give me the benefit of the doubt, im trynig to the find the easiest / efficient / n00b friendly way to do this, i think i got something (imported from here) (imported from here) (imported from here) - - - Updated - - - starting to develop a workflow this is how it looked imported (imported from here) now its finished (imported from here) importing the a pillars and dash and rear deck pieces now to connect the chassis and then going for the roof doing engine bay seperate and connecting it to chassis when all done. This is mostly all because its hard to navigate and deal with the node editors view, i cannot find a way to pan and properly zoom and it doesn't seem possible to have 4 views open at once. - - - Updated - - - My idea is going well , importing piece by piece and tying it all together (imported from here) (imported from here) (imported from here) (imported from here) Taking a lot of screenshots because I'll be using these in my upcoming tutorial "jbeaming for n00bs" but I can't be a n00b to do that so I'll have to keep pushing with this and hopefully learn more - - - Updated - - - Really feeling good right now. (imported from here) The only issue I see , but im sure it can be fixed, is when the car hits the ground after spawning it gets completely annihilated , I guess beam strength etc and the fact the whole structure isn't done/covering the car yet. - - - Updated - - - lol... i hope this is just a beam strength issue
Thanks for noticing haha Jbeams are done for now, they need some tuning and probably some more beams to make it stronger but the chassis doesn't flip out like it did in the video above anymore. (imported from here) sending the files to drowsy sam now hopefully he can help with running gear
You're still not using your nodes right mate. Especially the rear has some pretty big issues. What you did on the roof is almost correct, although I would move the roofl8, roofl9, roofr10, roofr11 nodes back a bit so they line up with the c-pillar, then move the roofl4, roofl5, roofr6 roofr7 nodes backwards too so they line up with the middle of the b-pillar. The rear and floor however have some huge issues. Making those objs for your objects simply isn't gonna work unless you think it out REALLY well. Right now, the nodes on the rear panel don't line up with the mesh at all... The top ones(nr7, nr1, nl1, nl5) are too low, the middle ones(nr14, nr6, nr2, nl10, nl4, nl8) are too low. Those middle ones should line up roughly with the metal bar, and the edge where the bumper attaches. The top should line up with where the trunklid attaches, and you need another node on the corners(above nr7 and nl5) and one in front of those 2... You need to move the nl16(and the one on the other side) up to clear the wheelarch, and nl9, nl17, mr27(and its equivalent on the other side), nr23, nr15 all up a bit to line up with the bodyline of the car. Then, looking at the other pics in the editor: You shouldn't have the double nodes for the b-pillar below the window line(above the windowline it's fine), and you shouldn't devide the b-pillar into 3 segments in height, because 2 is enough(3 will give you trouble stabilizing the whole thing). In other words: mr15 and mr16 should be 1 node, and mr24 and mr29(?? can't see it very well) should be 1 node too. But you don't need mr25 and mr27 at all(but you do need mr17 and the one below it!). Again, same thing on the other side of the car, of course, but I can't see the node names for those... Your c-pillar should be devided into 2 segments in height, rather than just 1 straight piece So add a node between roofr15 and mr33, and then one between mr31 and roofr11(after you moved that whole row back), and again, same on other side(so between roofl13 and ml32 and between roofl8 and ml28). Also, all the top nodes in the floor of the car, apart from the front 4, should be moved down about 10 cm, so they line up with the bottom of the doors. Hope that helps... Your node density is good(apart from the roof pillars, they're far enough apart, and close enough together). Just needed to follow the outline, shape and structure of the car a bit better(if you follow what I wrote above, that should pretty much fix the whole thing), you should pretty much always have nodes on corners of big parts in the mesh(like the bits on the rear, like I said).
As it's stated in this thread, this is just for practice, not intended for release. It's perfectly acceptable to convert a model that is not yours, the problem comes in where you publicly distribute the mod, or try to pass the work off as your own. Singh336 clearly stated that this is Turn 10's (Forza) model, and it is for private use only, therefore no problem. OT: That N/B is looking rather lovely. Remember not to use nodes excessively, as it makes the object wobbly/flexible, and less nodes usually means better FPS (for people like me with average PC's). I'll look forward to more progress
