Version number changes in the Documents folder with every game update, which causes broken dependencies in Blender (Data panel with green triangle, jbeam_file_path: ...AppData/Local/BeamNG.drive/0.34). Try changing the version number to the current one or try deleting and reimporting that jbeam file.
A last question: After exporting and editing a jbeam, I save it. But it duplicates nodes randomly. What is the reason for it? Thank you in advance!
Hey devs, Just wanna throw a suggestion out there. Being able to select multiple Jbeams to import at once rather than have to spend 20 minutes importing everything individually. Also perhaps it would be useful to have a simple jbeam editor HUD for creating hinges, latches and editing node properties such as weight, strengths etc. I've been attempting to make a mod for years now with no success due to how unrefined and buggy the experience is and lack of information. --- Post updated --- Alright so I've been working with this editor for days now and just cannot get it to work. I'm making a mod using the covet as a template, all models are finished and now I want to change the jbeam collision mesh to match however when I change them, only a few of them ever export. It's like most of the nodes are locked in place. I've only been able to get a few to successfully move. As this issue isn't documented I've had no choice but to come here for help. Surely someone else has got this bug too? Images showing my changes vs how it appears in game. Notice the front roof nodes have moved but the rest of the roof nodes are in the same location. If anyone can explain how to fix this bug I'd greatly appreciate that. (Also I haven't exported the visual model by mistake, all jbeam file names are correct and I am running latest version of blender and plugin.) (Edit: Tried re-importing the saved jbeam files into blender and verified that the changes have saved. They changes just dont seem to happen in-game though.)
Tried editing each separate jbeam item separately, tried moving them together. For some reason only certain nodes positions actually change in-game. Usually the model will glitch out and explode too. Seems like this tool is a very weak and poorly made. It would probably be easier at this point to just manually change the co-ordinates in notepad++.
Glitching out and exploding is not the tool's fault, same thing would happen if the nodes were moved the same way manually, you are probably just moving them into wrong positions, not accounting for the geometry. I think the issue you are having is with the export rather than just moving the nodes, you have to export each part separately rather than all at once.
Seems like with every Blender update (even with the LTS updates) the tool needs to be reinstalled, otherwise 3D editing does not get represented in the jbeam. (EDIT: Maybe it is not related to updates. It worked an hour ago, now it does not update the jbeam...weird...reinstall fixes it anyway) --- Post updated --- Combining features from both tools together into Blender would be the best possible outcome.
I suppose I will try reinstalling the plugin and seeing if that makes any differences, will keep everyone update when i've tried it. --- Post updated --- Okay so I have reinstalled the latest version of the plugin and blender, tried and no differences made. [To clarify I raised the roof height and nothing else.] I only loaded the body jbeam into blender, nothing else and I raised the roof, exported it and still the game doesn't seem to accept some of the nodes have updated positions. Included are pictures of blender (the jbeam model as it was when exported) vs the model loaded in game. I have checked in the jbeam file to see if the new positions are actually saving and they are. For whatever reason the game just puts the nodes back in the original location but updates a couple such as the middle of the roof and roof pillars. Honestly I'm really starting to feel like making this mod is a waste of my time now. I haven't had this many problems when making mods for any other game before. Just some extra answers to any questions I think people may ask: All files and variables in the mod are unique to this vehicle. There are no cross-links to the covet. Any dependencies are all up to date as well as blender and beamng.drive. I have tries exporting parts together, individually, loading them together and individually, exporting multiple times, moving one node at a time. Changing the node positions in notepad ++ seems to not have an affect either, only certain nodes move while others seem "locked" in place. Well, at this point I don't think it's worth my time anymore to try to get the jbeam to work so if I release the mod it will just have to be a cosmetic mod only.
These nodes are part of the glass, like windshield and the quarter windows, you have to import all of those parts, move by the same amount and export one by one. And yes making mods for this game is a billion times harder than for any other game, and not even for the reasons you think, some people spend literally years on a single mod. This is not due to the tools but just due to all the effort and finetuning required to make something behave as it should. Chances are even if you end up making it work like you want, it still won't be as good as expected.
im trying to add a working shifter to my beamng mod and trying to make new nodes as my rx7_dash thing doesnt have any nodes and it isnt making new nodes for me and i even read the tutorial on it. overall, 1/5 stars for lack of user friendliness, kinda hard to understand tutorial and horrible ability to even make nodes
I think this is an essential tool with great capabilities already (I love working in Blender, experimenting with things is so much easier with this tool, e.g. aligning slidenodes to rails) , well worth the time getting used to it, we have to be really grateful to the devs for allocating hours to this project. It definetely requires a little more attention and features which the previously mentioned Visual studio plugin already has, such as viewport highlighting for selected component (node, beam, torsion bar, etc...).
1/5 stars is too harsh, before this you had to do this manually without any 3d representation so yeah
Entering or exiting "local view" then jumping from one object to another aftwerwards seems to be causing the 3d editing issues. Restarting Blender fixes it even after saving the file in a faulty state.
I'm a professional software developer with over 20 years of experience and have been working with Blender for the past three years, specifically in addon development. I've been exploring the Blender JBeam addon for a few days now (version 0.2.5 on Blender 4.2.0), and I’ve found it to be quite buggy and difficult to use. One wrong move, and the entire mesh disappears, forcing you to start over. The functionality seems extremely limited—I can only perform basic vertex extrusion. There are no options to add simple meshes like an icosphere, and it doesn't seem possible to subdivide JBeam edges, let alone entire JBeam meshes, to create more complex geometry. Are these limitations accurate, or am I missing something? When I checked with ChatGPT, it seemed to confirm my experience with the addon. Is there any chance that a more fully-featured and stable version will be released, or would I be better off creating my own solution? P.S. No offense to the developers—I'm grateful for their efforts in trying to make JBeam editing easier! BTW Great job though with the JBeam VSCode Editor!
The kinds of options you want aren't really useful for working on Jbeam. If you want to add a few more nodes, it's way faster to do it in a text editor. Subdivisions are really rarely needed in practice, usually only when adding slidenodes, which are most often along the X or Y axis anyway so you just copy an existing node and change one coordinate, sure this would be nice for more complex cases but they are so rare, I only encountered a case like that once in my many years of working on Jbeam. For adding primitives, it's faster to just copypaste a working example that exists in vanilla content, for example for an icosphere use the ball prop. Primitives are still really rarely used in practice, they don't represent typical vehicle parts. Among professional Jbeamers almost nobody starts completely from scratch when making new Jbeam, usually we start from copypasting the closest already existing solution from official content and go from there, this tool then helps repositioning the nodes to match the shape where needed while preserving all the geometry. Most of the work is still the easiest to do in a rich text editor while having the debug modes in game to see the changes in real time, it would be kinda useless to tweak node and beam properties in Blender without having an instant reference about how it affects the car in real time. So if you are in need for a different tool for an unusual case, such as specialized props, then you can try making your own program for it.
Thank you very much for your quick response! I’ve finally completed my simple addon, which allows me to take the import JBeam file (from your addon) and convert it into a plain Blender mesh. The nodes, beams, and triangles are represented as vertices, edges, and faces, making them fully editable like a regular mesh. I also wrote an exporter that automatically updates the .jbeam file, replacing edges, beams, and triangles. This lets me instantly see the beam effects in-game in real time. Additionally, refNodes are replaced with assigned vertices in vertex groups named "left," "up," etc.
i have a question - after editing an existing jbeam file (resizing it) it doesnt show jbeam when exporting, how to export it? EDIT: figured it out
