Something Was On the Horizon - a Four Year Progress Update

It has now been four years since the airing of the official “Something is (still) on the horizon...” (or, “The Past, Present and Future of BeamNG.drive”) blog post, an article which ended up taking the first half of 2016 to complete. While in prologue, I’ll apologize for how long this post is; there’s just too much to talk about.

In case you don’t know already (namely, those of you who have joined much later on since then), the developers put together a whole blog feature presentation which gave you a glimpse at the history of the game, a progress report for the at-the-time upcoming version 0.6.0, and a sneak peek at features the developers had considered trying to add later on. These latter features, at the time, represented ongoing research or were just imaginative ideas. Their inclusion even now is not guaranteed, but after all this time, I decided to look back and see which of those things the developers have managed to tackle and throw into the game. I am proud to say that they have done quite a lot to fulfill genuine promises and even some hopeful maybe-or-maybe-nots.

Below is a transcribed list of “The Present” - which focused on definite projects and progress, mostly for update 0.6.0, but also for later updates - and “The Future” - which mentions more complicated features which might not work for some time - from this lengthy blog post, as well as original or credited contributions of info about each item, spanning all the way up to the updates of 0.19.x (unless tapped in blue). Please feel free to post corrections with which this list can be accurized.

Oh, and a key:

• Released or ready for next release
• Confirmed and in active development
• "Maybe" feature or limited implementation
• Not confirmed or implemented at any capacity

Okay, for real, let's get it on!

“The Present” - what was on the horizon?

Optimizing render on CPU - They do this with pretty much every major update. I estimate that, since the release of update 0.6, the average performance of the game for most users has improved substantially - as much 75% would be my guess, if not more, but the difference in any case is truly astonishing.

Shader optimization - While graphics aren’t a very important part of a physics simulation sandbox, the developers have also been optimizing rendering and PostFX reasonably well, and real rendering advancements such as dynamic reflections and lighting improvements have been gradually pushed into the game to emphasize how real the game wants to look for its players.

Refactoring code for future changes: working towards PBR (updated 27 June 2021) - While the abbreviated “physically-based rendering” was not a confirmed feature at the time and would take some more time to tackle, the real promise in this item - refactoring the render code - was fulfilled with update 0.12, and that paved the way for PBR which was also delivered a few years later.

Finishing the last few vehicles we have promised (updated 25 September 2022) - The Soliad Wendover made it into the game with version 0.22, officially clearing the oldest list of planned vehicles dating all the way back to 2012/2013, before the first public release of BeamNG.drive. The Wendover has evolved substantially since its inception; once a dismal, unmotivated sedan, this new car became a luxurious late-eighties coupé, capturing the technology of the era, including a fully digital dashboard and the initial American aerodynamic design cues. Defying initial expectations ("[it] wishes it was cooler than it actually is"), the car is one of the best to come off the backburner, being astonishingly fun to drive in both stock and customized variants. Here is a complete list of the vehicles from the early years that made it into the game only after the first glimpse of the Horizon:

• ETK I-Series (version 0.6)
• Bruckell LeGran (version 0.8)
• Gavril Bluebuck (version 0.17)
• Soliad Wendover (version 0.22)

Adding more customization parts - They do this with pretty much every update. Tires, hubs, steering wheels, turbochargers, superchargers, hoods, bumpers, kits, spoilers, roll cages, accessories, et cetera. All in all, each and every thing in the game that has wheels and an engine is chock-full of customization options, something which actually was implicitly promised in the game’s first official trailer in 2013.

Continuing to improve existing vehicles (updated 25 September 2022) - The vehicles themselves get their own fixes and improvements as well. One of the more notable (and consequently controversial) improvements was altering the models of vehicles from earlier versions slightly, because it was realized in retrospect that they weren’t entirely accurate in the literal shape they were in. Some of the even older vehicles were also given a hefty “remastering” in recent updates, providing geometry and collision improvements on top of new parts and configurations. Here is a complete list of those vehicles, with perceived principal updates (if multiple) in bold:

• Gavril Grand Marshal (dates to version 0.3; remastered version 0.17.1)
• Gavril D-Series (dates to version 0.3; remastered version 0.18, 0.19, 0.20, 0.21)
• Gavril Roamer (dates to version 0.3.8.1; remastered version 0.18, 0.19, 0.20, 0.21)
• Gavril H-Series (dates to version 0.3; remastered version 0.18, 0.19, 0.20, 0.21, 0.24)
• Bruckell LeGran (dates to version 0.8; remastered version 0.22)
• Ibishu Pigeon (dates to version 0.4; remastered version 0.23)
• 1996 Ibishu Pessima (dates to version 0.4.1.1; remastered version 0.24)
  
• Civetta Bolide (dates to version 0.3; remastered version 0.24.1)
  
• Ibishu Covet (dates to version 0.3; remastered version 0.26)

And just to pique interest, here are the top five potential contenders for remasters in the future:

• Bruckell Moonhawk (dates to version 0.3.0.4; "tweaked" version 0.16)
• Hirochi Sunburst (dates to version 0.3.7.4; "tweaked" version 0.16)
• Gavril T-Series (dates to version 0.3.7.8)
• Ibishu 200BX (dates to version 0.3.8.1)
• ETK K-Series (dates to version 0.5.6, ahead of e.g. Hirochi SBR4 as a result of this teaser.)

Working on the new Italy map - Being the game’s largest playable area by wide margins, development of this road-carved European masterpiece took well over two years. The aforementioned optimizations to the game’s engine have finally allowed the level to make its debut in update 0.15 in late 2018, albeit with scattered incomplete areas. The map has continued to receive minor improvements and important fixes in subsequent updates.

In depth engine thermal simulation with advanced damage modelling - Thermal simulation was a feature that debuted in update 0.5.3, so it was already in the game well before the official blog post was presented. The condition of the engine block, cylinder walls, rods and pistons, as well as the temperatures and volumes of oil and coolant, are just parts of the robust simulation feature. Since then, various other parts of the car such as clutches and brake pads have also received dynamic thermal properties which play a role in how well a vehicle’s parts will function.

Accurate supercharger simulation - In 2015, the Bruckell Moonhawk was - according to official logs - the first vehicle with an impostor supercharger. Legitimate superchargers were put in place for update 0.6 to replace the temporary ones, with the desired realistic functionality. Later, superchargers emitted noise from the engine as well, among other improvements.

Drivetrain and transmission optimizations - Update 0.8 was the first with a new modular powertrain system, one which improved or replaced older engines, transmissions, driveshafts, differentials and such, as well as added support for multiple engines and for electric motors. (Of course, it would be a while before the first official vehicle with electric motors, the Hirochi eSBR, is released.) The system itself has since seen further optimizations in later updates.

Suspension simulation improvement - Vehicle suspension is something which has been looked at variously and improved in certain ways for specific vehicles. New types of suspension setups have also become possible with node and beam feature advancements. Slidenodes permitted the creation of MacPherson struts, while pneumatics, added in update 0.12, enabled the creation of air-adjustable suspension. Vehicles continue to receive suspension geometry changes or new customization parts to achieve a more realistic simulation.

Add couplers that are able to glue nodes (from the same or other vehicles) together - Couplers to attach trailers to hitches or to fifth-wheels were added on-schedule for update 0.6. Previous hitch attachments were separated into their own “vehicles”, while tractor-trailer cargo was brand-new. It was a feature which has seen some stability updates in subsequent versions, and a new extension added in update 0.10 allows you to conjoin any two nodes with each other even without proper coupling devices, officially marking this as feature-complete.

Add AI chase and racing (round a lap) modes - The current artificial intelligence system dates all the way back to update 0.3.7.8, so it’s a veteran feature of BeamNG.drive. Starting out as just a primitive self-driving vehicle controller, the AI has since advanced immensely through key feature implementation and astute fine-tuning. A simple AI chase mode using the new system was added in update 0.5.6, not long before the official blog, while race-around-a-track mode was brought in with update 0.6. Through general AI updates, both modes have improved substantially ever since.

Continue optimizing physics core - Because its engine performs calculations 2000 times every second, the physics core, the heart and soul of this game, needs to operate smoothly to ensure the most accurate simulation. While adding new features to accurize and improve the physics core to contest new feats, the developers have also taken great care to polish the many lines of code, and the physics core has probably been optimized by as much as 45% over the past four years. Pretty impressive if I say so myself.

We got an audio specialist now who is doing research on how we can improve our game sounds - This one is a bit of a doozy. Our audio engineers have done an impressive job at transitioning the audio platform and creating new samples to replace the generic sounds from earlier versions of the game. While audio did get a little bit of attention in the months prior to this blog post, starting with a new engine rev for the Ibishu Covet in update 0.4.2, it was in later updates that we eventually got every slice of the cake the audio engineers have been preparing for us:

Models for different surfaces - Surface and groundmodel audio was first added in update 0.10 as part of the “Audio System Groundwork” package, with the sound of surface friction between the rubber tires and flat pavement. Since then, a wide variety of rolling, bumping, skidding and scraping sounds against several surface types has been implemented.

Model for engine sounds created with Max/MSP - Most vehicles received improved engine sounds in update 0.10 as well, although many of those samples have since been replaced as the engineering progressed, resulting in a bundle of satisfactory starter, combustion, transmission, exhaust muffling and afterfire audio samples for all the vehicles.

Various car interior sounds: handbrake, indicator, gear shift, horn, light, hazard light - Delivered as well, with many of these sounds appearing as part of update 0.11 or 0.12.

Destruction sounds: model for car being on fire, tire bursting - Another jackpot for audiophiles and fender benders alike. Tire bursting and fire ignition were added in update 0.11, and new collision sounds came about with update 0.13.

First attempts to create realistic, interactive tire squeals - Also achieved as part of the initial ASG that was delivered in update 0.10.

Sounds for blow-off-valves, turbos and superchargers - Said and done as well in updates 0.11 and 0.13, respectively.

Focus will now be on the implementation side and making the assets created so far work in game, then improving the assets and sound system - It all turned out wonderfully and essentially transferred the game to a whole new level of realism.

Campaign mode - This little game treat is essentially comprised of long-form scenarios with several objectives spread among multiple levels. The first campaign featurettes, Senseless Destruction and Driver Training, were added in update 0.7. Currently, adding more campaigns is not high on the to-do list as we await the far more anticipated Career mode.

Gamified user interface (i.e. Garage) - The Garage, where you can customize the preset vehicle of your choice, was added in update 0.6, and has since been vastly updated. Even so, the user interface as a whole has been one of the more frustrating pieces of the game for the developers, and certain modules such as the vehicle configuration menu have been redesigned several times since the software’s initial launch. Work is being done to replace most of the old interface with one that is smooth and efficient behind the scenes, as well as fitting for the game that BeamNG.drive is becoming.

So, there you have it. Every feature or addition that was promised sincerely has come through or is almost to the point, and I think I speak for all of us when I say, “Thank you, developers of BeamNG, for staying true to your word, and for facing the odds, and for continuing your mission to create the most advanced vehicle simulation game the world has never seen.” Maybe sugar-coating that more than I should, but it’s really quite amazing to see how far this game has come in four years. The question now is: what’s in store for the next four years?

“The Future” - what was beyond this horizon?

Replay system: rewind/replay - Surprisingly, a replay system module actually managed to make it to version 0.6, although it wasn’t a particularly stable feature upon launch. Some of the most apparent issues were fixed within a week, while others took a bit longer to resolve. The feature is now highly developed, and can be used with the revised Camera Path Tool to craft stunning motion pictures of your very own creation.

Online leaderboards/multiplayer - Currently, Steam achievements and the resource repository are the only developed online utilizations for BeamNG.drive. Online multiplayer, while being one of the game’s most highly requested features, has long been avoided in this Early Access stage of development, probably because many client computers not suitable for gaming might not be able to handle the 2000 cycles of physics calculations per second if too many cars are present. Plus, that significant amount of data would need to be sent and received over the established connection, which would especially bottleneck players that have insufficient internet service. It’s a complicated feature that might not appear for quite a while. Leaderboards are a more likely alternative, although that currently isn’t a priority feature, so the chances of it arriving so soon are next to naught as well.

Vulkan renderer (updated 25 September 2022) - It's officially here. The Vulkan rendering API has potentially better optimization, but the biggest benefit is that BeamNG.drive can now (as of version 0.25) be played on Linux operating systems thanks to the cross-platform operability of the renderer. It's still a work in progress but the results so far are very promising. At the moment, there are no plans to permanently replace the existing Direct3D renderer, which is being retained for the sake of compatibility, as some drivers may not support a minimum specification to run the game well on Vulkan.

Physical Based Rendering [PBR] for a more realistic representation of lighting (updated 30 June 2021) - It has been confirmed that physically-based rendering has been implemented with the release of update 0.23. The results that have been teased thus far are phenomenal, ages ahead of the old Torque3D rendering techniques that have been in use with few optimizations for over eight years. It is a work in progress - some assets are still yet to be transferred to the new format.

New Material definition, simple to understand and more optimized for render - I’m not so sure about this one, whether it was moving the material format to JSON or something else. Until someone confirms this one, it’ll be considered undeveloped.

Deferred Shading - Dynamic deferred decal support was added in 0.8.0 but I don’t think that’s the same thing.

New Terrain renderer for improve visuals and more optimized for render - I didn’t see anything in the logs about a new renderer explicitly, although there have been several terrain-related optimizations after the big blog post, and the improved lighting in the 0.18.0 update has also contributed to improving the terrain’s visual quality.

New post effects for improved visuals and performance (updated 25 September 2022) - One new post-effect was introduced with update 0.26: motion blur, which not only may improve a player's perception of speed as objects especially perpendicular to your velocity appear to fuzzily streak past, but will also slash encoded video file sizes as the reduced details can be compressed far more efficiently frame-by-frame.

Expanding into more diverse vehicle types - This is something which has not been overlooked. New and exciting vehicles have been added since update 0.6.0, including an ambulance, an Italian economy car, an electric car, and even a commercial bus! This is all on top of numerous customization options to create even more diverse vehicle configurations, such as offroad crawlers and lowriders with hydraulic suspension. Who knows what else they might surprise us with in the future?

Vastly expanded library of customization parts - As stated more than once before, the number count of exchangeable vehicle hardware and modifications has skyrocketed in the past four years.

Designing and building more cars! (updated 25 September 2022) - They always do that, don’t they? Here are some of the vehicles that have been designed and released ever since the dawn of the Horizon:

• Ibishu Hopper (version 0.9)
• Wentward DT40L (version 0.12)
  
• Autobello Piccolina (version 0.15)
  
• Cherrier FCV (version 0.19)
  
• Ibishu Wigeon (version 0.23)
• Bruckell Bastion (version 0.24.1)
  
• Civetta Scintilla (version 0.25)

See the "Present" list for cars that were designed before the Horizon, but released afterward. For the purposes of this tally, the Hirochi eSBR (version 0.16) does not count as a new vehicle because it is derivative of the Hirochi SBR4.

Releasing the Italy map - Accomplished in the 0.15 update as I have said previously.

New thread scheduler that packs objects together into one thread - A thread scheduling subsystem included with the 0.13 update has alleviated certain limitations of the physics engine and continues to receive occasional improvements.

New dynamic collision engine that also supports edge collisions - Collision physics have been improved drastically after the 0.6.0 update, although whether or not a new collision engine has been created hasn’t been specifically stated.

Physically based particles (may be also used for aerodynamics) - Particles have received some true physical properties such as being affected by wind and gravity, although they’re still mostly just eye candy at the moment.

Tire Thermal Simulation (updated 27 June 2021) - In the longer view, once we finish stabilizing and cleaning up the latest work, expect things to warm up a bit

Improved simulation of transmissions and differentials - Accomplished as part of the Powertrain overhaul package released with version 0.8.0 and onward.

And last, but certainly far from least…

Career Mode (updated 25 September 2022) - The driving force of what will turn BeamNG.drive into a proper vehicle simulation game. Planning has been spread out over these many years, and it’s a confirmed feature addition. The only question is when will it be released. A first-look preview of the Career Mode seems to have snuck its way into update 0.26; one of the official identifying factors is a new Chase mission type which currently (as of update 0.26) is only accessible in Career Mode. However, because it is just a hidden preview and was not mentioned specifically in the changelog, it will remain considered unreleased technically. But it looks like we can safely say this time that it's definitely coming soon!

So, predictably, not everything listed there made it to the game just yet, but you’ve got to admit, they did a lot to make some of those things happen, and they weren’t even confirmed features four years ago. Whatever is left to accomplish there will become possible as development progresses, when the game and its developers are on their way to see new horizons.

 

Ya know, I saw this a week ago when you posted it, and I was super impressed at the amount of work that you put into it. This must have taken forever to not only type, but to research all the items on the list.

I didn't have much to say at the time, so I assumed that someone else would post on here and give this the recognition it deserves... but I guess no one ended up doing that... probably just a bunch of people who got through the first paragraph and TLDRed it. So I am making this post partaly as praise for you doing a great job, but also to bump this back to the top of the table so others can see it.

On top of that, I would like to extend my appreciation to the Dev's for continually pushing boundaries and continuing to create a cutting edge game YEARS later. The work that we end up seeing in the final product pales in comparison to the work that you all put in behind the scenes to make everything tick, and for that I am grateful.

Great job all!

 

The video game industry as a whole could learn something from this attitude. Results so far have been amazing with BeamNG. I honestly never thought I'd see such a small team do something so big.

 

Just made an update to the list. It's a bit late for an anniversary, but that just means there's a bit more to revise. The following entries, tapped in blue in the thread init, have been updated, either based on the latest updates or teasers, or just to rectify my optimistic anticipation (which seems to happen quite often):

• Finishing the last few vehicles we have promised (actually done now)
• Physical Based Rendering [PBR] for a more realistic representation of lighting (implemented, pending 0.23 release)
• Refactoring code for future changes: working towards PBR (ties in with the above, which I overlooked until one day later)
• Tire Thermal Simulation (based on implied speculation)
• Career Mode (just to rectify my optimistic anticipation)
• Vulkan renderer (retroactive contribution by @fufsgfen)

That officially makes one of the green items actually worth being green, one orange item into a green item, and two red items into orange items.

 

For Linux version that might be coming, they could use DXVK instead of doing Vulkan render themselves, but there is strong indication of Linux version coming though as it was announced in BeamNG.tech's website for this summer's update.

It is interesting to see what is to come, it is impressive trip they have done and certainly trip is not done yet, but for them to be able to create such technologically advanced product, it is amazing.

We can compare this to 100 million WW2 shooter game, that nobody wants to play, certainly BeamNG way works much better

 

Thanks for the info, I went ahead and pointed this out in the above post.

 

This is the place:
https://documentation.beamng.com/beamng_tech/

That is under topic of this summer's update on that documentation.

Technically I believe there is two ways for BeamNG to support linux, DXVK or Vulkan, OpenGL of course would be too, but it would not fit well with DX version of the game and they probably don't want to do two pipelines, so DXVK might be easiest route and perhaps most logical.

Or they have something to surprise us, once again

 

Alright. Thanks again for the clarification.