Tail of The Dragon / Deal's Gap 1.0.1

This was done by request, so if it was you - here you go (I honestly forget, but my Brother-in-Law to-be requested it, too).
That aside, it's fun! Surprisingly so in fact, as being mostly a highway guy, I was shocked how much it sucks you in even when I was just testing. I possibly would have released this a week to 10 days sooner if I didn't end up testing it for a half-hour to an hour every time I meant to give it a 5~10 minute test.
Thanks for the kind words & You can be sure this will stay 'maintained' for a good year or two at-least!!! I enjoy this one myself - so eventually I may put the side-road in too that's missing and a few paths.

--Cheers and have a good Chris's Mess!

You're very welcome. It was fun to make and a pleasure to test - I often found myself spending 30~45 minutes or more testing when I only needed to spend 5 or 10 minutes. So I knew people would like it, I just did not know it would be this much of a hit with folks (and this was done as a request fulfillment).

--Thanks for writing in!

Thanks for letting me know, the AI worked just dandy before, I guess now they cut corners more. That stinks. I will have to re-draw the whole route (just for AI, the road won't change).
Can't remove a few trees unless they're closer than about 3~4' to the road, because that's how the road is and how it looks in real life (it's not far from here, an hour and a half or two hours if you get stuck behind a Buick Oldington on the way there).

Thanks buddy, this was by request and the real life counterpart is one of the best driving roads in the USA. A must drive for anyone who loves driving. Now maybe so many people won't die on the real thing - one would hope.

There's a new entry into this category as of late - Mount Glorious by B25Mitch (If I remember correctly), it's much shorter than this but still every bit as well made (if not better!). So go check it out if you like this, it's more of the same good stuff.

--Cheers!

You shall get your wish when tiled terrain support comes to Beamng (it's planned, and I've pested the developers about it, in a positive way).
It's a tad bumpy, but only in a few spots, but hey, for free, in a video game, it's not too bad! Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks buddy. This was by request, and also something I knew so many people would absolutely love so much. It was in a way, my 'thank-you' map to the developers, and all the people who stuck with me through my map projects, and the rest of the Beamng.drive community.
Keep an eye out for my Roane County update, if you've got a top-of-the-line PC (or even last year's model!), do check it out when it's available.
--Thanks for writing in!

Updates will only be to add a trail or two and finish the side roads (and add any trimming I may have missed on the main route, or fix bugs if any are discovered, of course).
Glad you enjoyed it. It's great to take a leisurely cruise... or haul a truck full of pianos through. Or race with the sports car... but the pianos can be more of a challenge. Never will make it with a full length commercial trailer though - you have been warned!
Though if someone does manage, I want a video of it.

--Cheers!

Turn REFLECTION DETAIL/settings down or off to help if you have GPU issues. If you have a slower cpu, turn off shadows.
This can help considerably. If it still doesn't, consider changing your detail settings if you wish to enjoy the map. If you have it on medium, consider 'low' detail. If I remove the trees, from a national/state park route through the woods, it's a bunch of nothingness then.
You're driving through virgin forest... I don't know how else to say it, there's a (view distance is much less) patch in the forums though for this map, click the discussion tab or read in detail the post for this map on it's resource page, and there should be a link to it. IIRC it may be on page 3 of the discussion forum, not entirely sure at this moment.

If nothing else, It's time to buy a gpu.

A Nvidia 1050ti 4gb is a great card that doesn't consume a ton of power and is generally in the 150~200$ range or close to it. There's also a plethora of used cards on the market. This isn't the fastest map in the world, however, there are a lot of trees, I can't really help that. You can't take the trees out of the forest and stuff have a forest :x
Not one to throw out business names or links, but here's an idea.
Superbiiz (.com I think) has a great deal going (They did 10 days ago anyways), and you can always look the model up on www.pricewatch.com and compare gpu costs. You might just find something you like cheap, on that site (it's a referral site, it's been around for about 18~20 years though).
I saved someone 80~100$ on a video card about 10 days ago so do have a look-see. Even Amazon has things cheap sometimes, but careful with Newegg, they've been pricey as of late (I don't Newegg if I can help it).
A 1050ti 4gb will power though most all games at nearly max settings at 1080p/60fps within reason. Some more or less, but this one, yes, all my maps run good on a 1050/1060 series card. Don't spend more than 200$ on a GPU right now. Always buy what's best price-to-performance, and you can look that up on PASSMARK's site, it will cost you the least while lasting the longest in brute-force terms.
--Good luck!

You're very welcome.
Don't feel bad, I'm a keyboard driver here... it's difficult if not impossible with cars like the Bolide. It's not difficult at all with an 88 Pessima AWS (throw a stage 1 turbo on it if it doesn't have one already), the four wheel steering and modest power output provides plenty of power to take you through the corners. Being a somewhat careful driver will easily get you through in one piece, especially if you've been playing the game for 2~2.5 years like I have... with just a keyboard.
Always a good reason to keep an eye out for a wheel on discount.
--Cheers! and thanks for the review.

Thanks, I've not got 100% of the pull-off's perfect yet, and it doesn't have it's signs, or side-roads, but the main route is accurate per google maps and USGS height-map NED data. I got it as close as I could reasonably within time-constraints. There will always be trade-offs when it's a one-person team, but it's still quite a bit of fun if you can't do the real thing or don't wish to die or get gravely injured trying.
I live less than 2 hours (or about that) from this, so it should be pretty decently close!
--Cheers!

Yes it does take a while, I can attest to that. I don't create itty-bitty maps and this one is the smallest by far, but it did demand higher per-square foot detail than the others. While there isn't nearly as much content as my other maps, I tried to put more detail into this, and as such, it came out pretty decent. Just don't try to get a commercial truck with a trailer full of pianos down it, or you'll see why they're banned :)
--Cheers & Thanks for writing in!

Eventually the rest of the map will be done, but I really only intended the main route to be done. The other roads are only plotted and 'base-formed' into the terrain, it doesn't have the final smoothing and decoration that the main route does, as the main route is the only attraction here for most.
I have Roane County work I am putting in 10 hours a day on, that map will be updated and bugs fixed in a few more weeks.
I also have a city map I have to get some more models for (also why I am working on Roane County as I am creating models for it, to be re-used in the city map).
Glad you still got some good clean fun on what is here, though!
--Cheers!

It's only been out for three weeks, today. Lots of folks requested this, and lots more are finding this game due to the reviews of this (see youtube commentary), while viewing video from the real route (they get linked to this). So, I am glad people can find some entertainment in it, after working hundreds of hours on it. It was quite fun to test as I was building it (I do *LOTS* of testing) so I didn't think it would flop when it hit the MODS section. Just don't try to take a commercial truck/lorry down the route loaded to the gill with PIANOS. It does have AI functionality if you wish for a chase or race and it will mind it's lane if you tell it to.
Use multiple AI vehicles (as your processor allows) setting them to SPAN and to be "in lane" (i think this was 'split road' before), and you can have traffic. An i7 4790k @ 4.4ghz all-cores will do 11 vehicles including your own before dipping below 30fps, so do add traffic, it makes for quite a thrill in this game if your PC allows for it (Watch system memory use when doing so, and try not to use INS rewind function with 6~8+ vehicles as it could crash the game out). AI will keep to the main route only, by design.
--Thanks for the review (or just compliment!).

Awesome, glad you had a good time on it and lived to tell "The Tail" (sic). This was done by request, though I never really realized how many people would like it this much. Thanks for the good words.