https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019...mulator-taught-me-how-to-fly-an-actual-plane/ Just got done reading a section in the above article, and they explain how the game uses a repository of Bing maps and satellite data along with a 3D rendering algorithm to generate real-world maps to fly through. This seems absolutely feasible with BeamNG, am I way off? I'll extend that to suggest that this may also remove the limitation from multiplayer action as you would basically be driving in the real world and could go wherever you wish and potentially encounter others going wherever they wish as well. Thoughts?
So, the resolution of those maps/textures is probably garbage up close, but I must admit it looks good enough to convince me that they could be detailed enough. The next problem is how do you tell what is a solid object? I'm sure MSFS isn't as concerned with what constitutes a solid building as Beam would be, but it'd ruin the fun pretty fast if all those trees, buildings, and water were only there in theory, and not in collision. Keep in mind, Microsoft would probably not be willing to hand over their hard, proprietary work to the Beam guys. so they would need to figure this out from scratch. Multiplayer would ABSOLUTELY NOT HAPPEN as the limitation is not cartographic (i.e. based on maps) but is due to the graphics pipeline and how much data clients would send and recieve from servers. they would have to track every node and beam. Most people struggle to get 4-5 cars in the game at once, now imagine some dude with a massive ping and a cheated, invincible vehicle ruining your fun.
