JRI has a lot of potential, but the limited realestate will be a problem. There's only so much room to make the island populated, or at least look like it once was. JRI, Port, and Industrial probably all will be nightmares for backwards compatibility too. Combine that with the fact that the map team has always been incredibly quiet compared to the vehicle team... The radio silence doesn't surprise me, though I wish we knew their plans for after these remasters are finished. Nothing major, the only thing we know is it's getting it's own version of the D-Series platform's suspension. Between the Cherrier, Charro, D-Series, Roamer, and the new off road truck all being worked on right now I doubt they have anyone to spare to work on the van in time for this update. She's another one of the vehicles that has a ton of untapped potential, so it's best that they take their time with it once their hands aren't so full.
JRI looks like an abandoned island used by the Japanese in WW2 and was completely forgotten after they left. It has bunkers and a fort (for artillery maybe) and even an airport. And the port maybe was used to collect or send supplies. And the observatory maybe was used for watching enemy planes? Also, maybe they were military buildings but they were destroyed by bombs. JRI's lore is bizzare.
Further to what Manfred already touched on, here's a link to that info on the H-series, straight from a dev: https://www.beamng.com/threads/gavril-h15-vanster.241/page-9#post-1131923 As for JRI's history, I don't think that there's anything official. What me and @DriftinCovet1987 came up with for Green Ghost of Selva Rocosa was that it once belonged to the Spanish during the Hispanic Monarchy , who constructed the fort and gave the island its modern name of Selva Rocosa (Rocky Jungle in Spanish). It was seized by the Japanese early on in the Second World War, who constructed the pillboxes, and fell into the hands of Allied forces later on. What I can tell you from looking at the structure of the buildings (as they are in-game currently, they are subject to change with the rework) is that at least some are likely post-war. While the runway itself is constructed of metal mats as was common during the war, the airport control tower is of brick construction instead of the usual exposed steel skeleton. The observatory (of the same brick construction) is of the type designed solely for astronomy, and while it could perhaps be used to spot ships if need be, it's terribly exposed. In the port, the type of container cranes used in the port weren't even developed until 1959, and the shipping containers themselves are of a relatively modern (post-1975), corrugated-steel construction instead of the old style with riveted panels.
Done something better than first time I'll wait the release and see if I like the rear of the car from a 3D view and not only with photos.
The update will be at exactly 4:20 PM on April 20, and will feature marijuana leaf skins for all vehicles. Source: Ab Rectum research institute.
I beg to differ. The last two maps released, west cost and Italy had in depth build threads. We were walked through just about every step of the process and got detailed looks at what was going on in those maps development. We've never had anything like that for vehicles, except maybe for the dev blog on the vivace development. We've always gotten plenty of teasers from the map team on the revamps ahead of time as well.
No we had only two teasers so far and plus we had vehicle dev blogs way in back in 2013-2015 and do i need to explain that small island USA is not going anytime soon that would fuck up everything
honestly metallic paint would be awesome, it obviously possible and has been in the files for some time but now it does seem closer
For two maps. That isn't a trend. We had no idea a Utah remaster was even on the table until shortly before that update. Little to no word on what's going on with the other maps. I don't think we knew about the ETK map until release day. We have no idea what their plans are after these remasters, I don't think we've ever gotten a roadmap outside of those two maps. Compare that to the vehicle team, where we've always known more or less what the roadmap is and see a lot of interaction with the community from multiple members. When was the last time we even saw anyone from the map team even make a post on the forums? I'm not saying it's overall a good or bad thing; it's just a different approach. And a bit weird compared to the very active vehicle team, sound guys, and fairly active everyone else. I would like a rough roadmap though... Will the ETK center ever become a full map? Will more maps get underground feaures? Will we ever see another Italy sized map or a normal sized map or more tracks like Hirochi and Automation? Is the team currently split between new content and remasters? At least we know more about maps than we do the UI...