WIP Beta released The Tennessee USA Roane County 0.71 Beta Discussion/Suggestion/feedback Thread 19.3.1

Deel free to use them if you want me to make more skins for it, I'm free for the rest of the day (maybe walk a with the puppy a few times)

BLIJo

 

Okay, I will most definitely make use of them, though my mission-editor feature is missing. I might need to re-install the game or it's just missing right now due to being a work-in-progress. I will wait until the next game version update to see if it's back, to make missions with. I have the map editor it's just missing the mission editor.

On other news I submitted my resource to the mods section, waiting for the mods to work their magic, if so, when I notice, I will post a link up if you's all don't find it first. This is a big milestone for this map as it's SOOOOO many hours of work. It may very well have topped 1000 hours of my time.
So many 4k res textures, even an 8k one! So many miles, So much terrain... you can smoke an entire cigarette in the time it takes to drive across (even speeding). Yeah, don't smoke :x
Big thanks to all the folks that have stuck with this. It's quite a pleasure to see this through as far as it has come. This will get finished, all in due time, even though it seems to slow down some as of late. The things that required doing lately have been model placement, texture improvements, lots and lots of typing script up. There's one-quarter to one-half million characters of scripting in this map. It all had to come from SOMEWHERE. Lots of typing, the character labels gone from many keys on my keyboard in the process... It was a lot of work, but is it worth it? Most certainly so!
If you can dream, and you can map, and you understand the game, it's limits, and the limits and workings of PC hardware, almost anything is possible. It just takes time, concentration, and a lot of effort.
EDIT: To summarize, yes there will be missions, yes there will be plenty of them with different variety, and yes some will require a beefy PC but not all of the missions will (beyond said RAM requirements of the map).
They won't be until after another game update, though.

 

http://www.beamng.com/threads/tenne...eta-5-real-terrain-8gb-system-ram-reqd.32585/

A W E S O M E

 

1 hour long download time. Already a 10/10.

 

Awesome, I can't thank you enough @synsol. Great game. I think the last of my buddies I talk to on a regular basis who's been on the fence I will grab a copy of this for shortly so he can try it out. He doesn't realize what he's missing. I seriously DID do this map for the sole reason that there had to be SOME WAY to put a big map into this game. The original terrain I made for this was just a test - only a proof of concept - but as I tested out the concept more and tried more things out I realized, "Hey this is totally 100% working! Let's run with this!". Where some folks might feel it's playing 'hot potato' with a live grenade trying to do this - I don't - I just used what I knew about games, limits, etc... and gave people a really good reason to not have "buyer's remorse" over expensive PC HARDWARE purchases. The way I feel, is that: While it may be straining to some computers right now to run this map, as this game gets more complete, and months go by, more and more folks will have a PC that runs this map just fine. What I know now, will really be helpful in making more areas of Tennessee...

Speaking of which, for the locals here, I am doing other areas in the future and already have terrains started for:
Tail of the dragon (in and of itself will be it's own not-so-huge-map)
US Route 40 in: Cookville, Crossville (west of this map), and near OAK RIDGE TN (east of this map) - these will all be maps the size of this one.

non-Tennessee maps include:
The abandoned PA Turnpike (by request)
Some large Russian island not far from the Kamchatka peninsula - though I've sent this terrain out for someone else to map.

Almost all these maps won't be seen for a little while though. As a man of task, I like to finish what I start. I've got several bugs and pages of console errors to weed out (all without breaking anything in the map) on this map so stay tuned. MOAR to come.
Thanks to all the beta-testers, devs, and admins, for without your help and assistance this map would have never come to be.

 

I took my first (cold, aside from driving my default car to where I began from Rockwood) corner to corner sprint along my new favorite route and I've got to say the improvements look and 'feel' phenomenal (at least what I have driven). The added banking on certain troublesome corners let me carry a lot more speed through areas I often felt I had to drop to the speed limit for, though the addition of steel barriers present a certain new challenge in itself. The tuning you did on the grass textures makes it blend a lot better, hiding tiling and the formerly very visible jagged edges to the tall grass in some places, increasing the overall sense of immersion. The added signage, aside from letting me know what to expect, increases the overall sense of speed as they zip past, sometimes barely recognizable.

There is some stuttering near where I begin that seems recurrent, but it doesn't really impact overall driving, as it is mostly along straightaways.

I'll drive around a lot more after school, but I figured I'd check it out before catching the bus.

It should be pretty good alongside my previous video for a comparison.


Keep up the great work! I'll ride some other roads after school today and see what else has changed.

 

Time for me to take a chance at running this great map with the current machine specs I have that hasn't changed since this map grew in requirements and my machine probably is just below or just barely meets the absolute minimum.

My machine specs for recap...

Processor: AMD A10-6700 APU at 3.7GHz
RAM: 8GB (about 7.1 of it is usable)
Graphics: Geforce GTX750 TI SC with about 2GB of dedicated V-ram.
Hard Drive: 1TB HDD
Opperating system: Windows 10 64bit

In the game itself, my graphics settings goes as followed:
Anti-aliasing is disabled
SSAO, HDR, Light Rays, and DoF are all disabled
Mesh Quality is on Low
Texture Quality is on Normal
Lighting Quality is Low
Shader Quality is Low
Anisotropic Filtering is on x8
Grass Density is medium, and Dynamic reflection is enabled with the texture size bar being at 3 quarters, faces per update being at 1 quarter, detail none, and render distance at 390m

I also have Skype and notepad running in the background which probably will make my performance figures a little worse.

Results in running the map:

Loading time took about 3 minutes and 50 seconds from the moment I double clicked on a spawn point to getting in game with my current default car (A Gavril Grand Marshal).

Frame rate starts off very choppy to load all the assets in as I spin the camera around, but it smooths out to a playable frame rate after that.
Driving around in a single car, frame rate seems to stay at a playable rate with some occasional jumps and skips. Though my frame rate dips down in some places like driving over certain bridges, generally looking towards the center of the map while on one side of it, or going through certain towns. Frame rate is noticeably lower with two cars in the playing field, but still at a playable rate.

So for my conclusion, this map seems to run alright on my machine once it is all loaded in and I have my game settings set the way they are.


I had a chuckle at this sign, now that's funny.


Seems the AI in the blue Sunburst cut in too deep into that flooded road and got hydro locked!

 

Wanna play the map but it makes my computer cry!!!

 

litty !

 

I must be lucky, i can run the game on highest settings, with Cessni's Reshade (makes a slight fps difference), and this map with very few noticeable skips. Built the compute some 2 yrs ago.

Specs:

Gigabyte Z77-D3H
Intel I5 2500K
8gb ram
Amd Radeon HD 7850
1x SSD 500GB
Win 10 64bit

Enjoying this map so much!

 

lil bug report: invisible land on the highway exit about three blocks down from the the WcDonalds spawn. hard to see but the grass and car are floating

 

Yes, I use a grass blending texture near the roads to help make up for the jagged grass edges near the roads that could otherwise be a little 'distracting' from the immersion. It's all part of working with the shortcomings - though they are few, they are there - of a large map in a game not natively designed for maps this large. As I get around to finishing off more areas, they will all have that 'blending' short of maybe a few spots where it's very rocky and the grass doesn't belong. Thanks for the compliments and other input. Expect to be pleased with the upcoming versions as immersion factors are what the following updates will be all about now that the majority of the base of the map is done.

Yes, the edge of earth sign is my personal take on a Portal(tm)-joke (something I figured many sandbox or other players of this game's primary target-demographic would get) and also the result of one or two people saying "You didn't warn me of the (inevitable) world-edge as I zipped along your super-huge map at 300+kmh!!!" ... okay, so you have been warned!
Yes, the AI will sink itself there, I will put a work-around in on the future for that flooded area, as it was added 2 days or so before the last upload date along with that area being banked and the guard rail being added in (texture too).
The textures on high will use 3.5~3.65gb of VIDEO memory (not system memory) at most as per MSI afterburner's measurements, so keep this in mind with high detail textures. It may be less-hitchy with 8gb system ram to use MEDIUM, your-mileage-may-vary ofcourse. You'll have to try it out. REFLECTION RESOLUTION for your car's mirrors will REALLY drag down the FPS. Keep in mind there's also LOTS of things to reflect and LOTS of 4k textures, much more than any other map! I keep my reflection on minimum resolution, as the map detail alone has it set decently high.
Thanks for taking the time to write in. I'll have the AI-sinks-in-the-water-at-that-corner-N-of-Harriman bug fixed in the next release.

Okay, that's an area near the offramp there, I just redid that spot so it hasn't been extensively tested as much as the other areas.
You will find a few spots like that, especially near areas of sharp terrain slope change (flat to hilly, or at the top of hills you may sink in a bit just near the edge), though NONE should affect road driving at all - if they do, that's a bug. I will work these out (or add terrain decorations like rocks, plants etc to mask this or hinder access), and dress them up as I can to hide the majority of it, but a little may remain. You can generally see a terrain collision issue when the grass does not stay at the same level as the ground. This is resultant because of the LARGE map size and the collision on the terrain being HALF of what the terrain visual detail is, due to the game engine. It's one of those huge-map drawbacks just like the grass-detail squareness on the road-edges (which I've managed to work-around)... but it rarely does affect play.
There's also one on the dirt pile near the little strip mall/big-box-store, which is just off the PINE RIDGE RD exit, heading south, there's a new strip mall there south of the light. That dirt pile edge close to the road has some goofy collisions (though you can still slam it at high speed and go completely airborne as intended).
I will work around these or minimize these issues as much as possible over the course of finishing up this map. All in due time my friends.

--I want to thank everyone for their bug reports, and taking the time to write in, make videos, take pics, etc. It all helps for the cause of greater good (and making an awesome map isn't possible without it).
As a bonus, I do want to make those that aren't aware of it, know a little secret jump exists behind the big-box store I mentioned just above. Here's how to get to it. Take the US40 highway (the main east-to-west highway) until you get to PINE RIDGE RD exit. Get off this exit and head SOUTH (well southeast), you'll go like a block or more and get to a light where the road mostly ends (aside of a short stub <100 ft long), make a RIGHT. At one of the next two lights make a right into the strip mall/big box store parking area. Poke around near the back of the parking lot behind the white strip mall, and you'll see a non-descript dirt path leading up on the hillside. It's not very long and pretty uneven, but it's got a jump @ the bottom (it only goes up to the hillcrest and loops around onto itself). If you take this jump correctly, you can land right atop the big-box store, where there's another jump to leave the rooftop (if your car isn't dead already).
Do enjoy, it's rather fun to try and make it. I've made it with the Resto-mod Oldsmobile Regency and a Rally Pessima, but you can use other cars. It's sure fun to try and fail a few times. I am going to put more stuff like this in the game, hidden jumps, jumping across rooftops, etc, as that is why we enjoyed so much in games like SAN ANDREAS when it first hit PC 11~12 years ago if you remember back then. There will be MUCH more stuff like this when this map is further along!
--Cheers!

*note, if some of you noticed some odd forum activity on this thread, it was me removing old links, patches, etc as they're no longer needed since v5 is out and officially hosted. No need for undue alarm, just usually maintenance.

 

Since the newest update of the map the ui is very slow in the vehicle selector everywhere else its fine

 

The thumbnail is stuck at Beta 2 for me.

Edit: I made a levels folder and now it works fine.

 

I sometimes have that, that's due to a large amount of vehicle mods being installed. If I remove my vehicle mods it goes away. When you have a lot of vehicle mods, your car selector may act slow once in a while, but other times fine - why? It's a pre-release game with a LARGE map running on it. So if anything's going to slow it down, it would be lots and lots of mods + a large map. When you open the car selector, sometimes giving it a moment to collect itself will do just fine. Usually for me if I was to wait 5~8 seconds it's fine for me. It's not anything with the map other than the sheer mass of resources the game is to juggle when dealing with it AND all the vehicle mods. There may be an older mod somewhere that's slowing things down, too.
More people have noticed this issue outside of my map, too. As in, if they don't have it or weren't running it (I've seen it in the steam discussions in the last 2~3 months quite a few times actually).

Old version sitting around somewhere, dig through your mods folder for anything with USA, ROANE COUNTY or TN or TENNESSEE in it. It'd be a pretty large file, around 450~620mb. I get this once in a while when I am doing backups, testing, and the such (sometimes I forget and leave my backups laying about where they shouldn't be - copies of them anyways). Though, that said, two versions can co-exist, say version two or three, and five, if one is in mods/levels and one is in /levels extracted (as one who works on the map has done, though you don't need to). Multiple versions sure would increase the risk of problems though. Just poke around, you should find something!

 

I keep meaning to dedicate some time to exploring more of the map, but I just love tearing along the road I know best.

 

Awesome, would love to see you run US40 (the main east-to-west highway), down and back. It's pretty awesome to cruise. It's modeled to about a 90~95% accuracy of the real, actual highway through Tennessee.

 

Definitely a wild ride - thanks for the recommendation and directions from Rockwood . After doing these two runs, I tried it on the CSB - Sport Bike and had a blast. Unfortunately, Steam Overlay had crashed, so I jerry-rigged my own slow-mo in the first clip and left it at full speed in the second.



I'll be practicing US Route 40 more often ^_^

High speed versions (3x) of my two CSB rides, full-length versions on my channel:

Music coming soon to this one -

 

Okay, well this week when I go through and do my updates on the post, I will add two of these four on there. Thanks!
I will make sure you're credited in the posted credits on the resource page for the map. You're already on list on the map sign in-game, though.

---

Well, on other news, I took a week off of editing this map for the most part, to get user feedback. Well the verdict is out on this map:

People love a large-but-detailed map with lots of unique areas each with their own charm. There will definitely be more maps like this.
It's a shame it makes my 1st two maps look really half-arsed but hey that's progress.
I will make sure to finish this one up decently enough. There's still ABOUT a dozen (or two) more miles of road, plus some more trails, to finish up.
Lots of houses/signs/forest to finish up... and some more road texture work as the recently added highway texture lacks detail.
So expect a post next week with some progress, or this weekend, something. My back has been REALLY bad lately so I've been stuck in this chair a LOT.

--Until then -- Cheers!

P.S. Feel free to post ideas for missions etc, and folks feedback, areas where you think improvement should be focused on (chances are it will anyways, but...) you get the point. MOST Missions will be run-able by ALL pc's big or small, but there will be a few relegated to higher-end 'rigs' with many cars involved in a road race or circut track.