Hello, I am going to attempt to make a car and I don't know the best place to start. I've looked at some other forums on making a mod, and I have downloaded Blender, Notepad++ and GIMP. What should I do so I could properly start making my mod?
The below is stuff that I have posted before in other threads, hopefully its useful for you I would strongly advise against using a car as your first jbeam project. Cars are *very* complex. You should start with something much simpler, such as a box. Then work up from there as you learn. If you want a basic introduction to how jbeam physics work, this guide is a decent starting point: https://wiki.beamng.com/JBeam_Physics_Theory For documentation, go here: https://wiki.beamng.com/Vehicle_Creation_Megapage
Start small, I wrote something here, but I have written lot so many places that I think there should be where to start post that has everything in it: https://www.beamng.com/threads/focus-mk2-2004-2008.59298/page-9#post-984611 Also here: https://www.beamng.com/threads/generic-shopping-cart.52762/#post-807754 I'm afraid some pics were not working on this one, but might be useful: https://www.beamng.com/threads/content-creation-and-import.55577/#post-881111 I think that there is need for where to start learning kind of documentation, just haven't got time for that now :-/
This post does not contain answers to the "How to make get into jbeam" question. Its more of a meta post about my opinions on why there isn't really any good answer to provide at the moment. The issue that I have is figuring out a good way to do it. I have done my fair share of trying to write educational wiki articles, as well as trying to organise them in an easy to navigate way (for example I wrote the megapages), and I'm not fully convinced whether it's worth it or not. I actually created the jbeam theory guide that I linked to above with the intent of it being the first in a series of how to learn the basics. IMO, its a pretty good article, but even I can't ignore how incredibly flawed it is, since its kinda difficult to navigate, and looks super intimidating, despite my best efforts to keep it concise. I generally assume that the mega pages get used, but there is no data available for me to see that, so I literally have no idea if they had any impact or not. All I know is that I use them frequently. Data on which pages get the most hits would be incredibly useful, since that would allow for efforts to go to where they are most useful. Currently its kinda like stabbing in the dark with a blunt palette knife. This data would be incredibly useful for making the decisions that I discuss below. As for writing individual articles, I doubt many people view the wiki, and just look at how many articles there are. Even if I wrote the best article to have ever been written, no one will see it for all the other articles. Some of which are more or less obsolete due to how the game has changed over time. Personally, if the wiki was my own, I would probably de-list a lot of the content that is on there, and really try to narrow it down to the higher quality content. Since if someone is looking for a jbeam tutorial, and the first one they see is bad, they will either give up or go elsewhere. I doubt they will go through all 9001 "How to do jbeam" articles to find the good ones. But I really don't want to be that arsehole who deletes a lot of stuff that people put a lot of effort into, even if the content has lost all relevance. Equally, who am I to be sole curator for what is and isn't a good wiki article. Until there is a coherent wiki improvement plan, I think it is doomed to be a mess. I would do that myself, but as stated above I have no authority over that, and don't wish to be a dictator over stuff that isn't my own. Which leaves me wondering how to provide people with what they need to learn. If you: Write a guide/wiki article No one will ever read it If they get stuck, it offers no support For many people words on a screen aren't that effective for learning Create a video People might actually watch it But its a bit of a pain to follow along with due to all the pausing and playing Shows the exact process if done in one take, with no missing steps If they get stuck, it offers no support Person on the video must have some level of camera presence Livestream Offers live support Shows the exact process Answers questions that people actually want answers to VOD is as good as a video once the stream is over However, not a chance in hell that I am putting myself on a live video stream Interactive webpage / Game style tutorial Could be great Huge time input required I did start writing a custom website at one point. Maybe I should get back on that, but its a lot of time to invest into something. But at least that allows me to make something that would be semi-coherent, rather than totally incoherent. All of this is why I have kinda thrown my hands up in the air over it for the time being.
Personally I use the wiki relatively often, I have only really used it to make skins, configs and licence plates although I have read almost every article on vehicle creation in the hopes of making my own vehicle (which I will likely start in November this year after I finish 12th grade). The main issue I find it is very daunting and overwhelming, and there also is a lot of outdated information and a lack of information in areas I have little understanding, modelling in my case. Hopefully it can be improved before I begin creating a vehicle as it is still incredibly useful... Personally, may way for getting help when I get stuck is a Discord server I am apart of with many talented modders. If I can’t get any help there I take my issues to to forum
I was thinking just some links where new one would get basic understanding of where one finds some information where to begin learning, like basic concept of nodes and beams, why mesh is not only thing needed, what is different than other games, very simple and short, but I see you have thought it slightly further
