WIP Beta released A new *CITY* map - LOS INJURUS 2023-12-20

Response:
1.) Yes, reflections do come out rather bright. I need to fix that sort-of thing where I can. I think it has something to-do with sunlight settings in this 'level'. What works fine in DirectX is all good until you switch up the renderer.
Running in Vulkan or DirectX and an 8GB card or less will give you lag; sometimes 10gb cards will, too.
I don't think there's much of any way of getting around the 8GB VRAM issue. There's video of people making 16GB versions of 3070 cards (and a professional / workstation version of it which has that, though your solution seems it is a laptop and likely won't help).
2.) That's not good. It should never fail to load. Please make sure you're loading in on medium and not high texture detail. Look into your log file and see what happened. It's usually up one level from where the mods are stored in the folder structure. I would seriously consider sending me the log, or post it and send to the devs (I will fwd it to the devs).
3.) Yes I will add one or two more, the level can use it. That's not that difficult to add more restaurants.

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So I added back the guide-rail.

Added a stub for a road that's going in soon, too; even added a wash-out area where the road is starting to fall away but hasn't quite yet. This is what an asphalt roadway does BEFORE it collapses from the ground being eroded from underneath it, and can be saved with enough shoring-up/stabilization and a little more asphalt thrown on top to level out any subsidence.
Below I added a lot of detail to the existing asphalt road that was here, so it looks good and compares to the new road length I extended off it. I did NOT use the road architect for any of this. I will do it myself. As nice as the road architect may seem to be, it's NOT worth it. So as it is, the forest brush is double-duplicating things strangely and creating more than one duplicate of some things. Contrast that with the object editor, which can't duplicate anything at all - a definite down-grade compared to editor 1.0.

Gave this terrain a heavy pass of detailing and completely re-did the stream bed here, thus the change in elevation for the stream itself making it not nearly as far down (makes sense considering the plentiful rocky out-crops that there's not as deep of a top-soil layer here). I used a newly devised process for making stream beds which is working well, and one which I will eventually share with the rest of y'all (at some point, when I'm not guilty of having already typed a book or two in here and my fingers aren't nearly catching fire from typing so much).
If you're curious if there's that much of a difference, I spent a good 6~7 hours or more on this, fixing the guide-rail (restoring ¼~½ mile of guide-rail, by hand, one 0.8m piece at a time), improving the road and terrain was most of the time, and also creating the road stub / adding other various little details such as 1~2 dozen more signs (warning of rocks, intersections, speed limit signs, others etc). When I was doing the guide-rail I added a dirt surface pull-off area where you can park and act out the part of a stupid tourist, just like I added to the other road in the few days before.
I've been spending a lot of time on this. Doing my best here despite this thing fighting me.
I will make sure to add another Chicken Munch restaurant before too long. I might add more than one, actually.
I will also say, there's none right near here and that's anything but realistic... as I type this while eating some fried chicken.
Ironic? Yes. True? Also YES!
When else do you think I take time to post things? On meal breaks.
If there's any question of this taking me the time stated, when you've already seen these parts of the terrain, take a look at the current version you're playing in this area and line up the in-game shot with my screenshots for easy comparison. You'll see a not-always-readily-apparent change and it's rather sizable, that also brings presentation up a whole notch.
--That is all!
-The Bob.
Going to be placing all the object-based guide-rail that the road architect made into it's own sim-group (folder) so this can be much more modular and very easily backed up. Thus I won't have to mess with the main object registries / files and can just restore that file alone (or rather, edit it so it has all the objects).
For those who have requests for more restaurants or things like that, feel free to mention your requests, even old ones that seem to have flown under the radar.

 

More progress, another mile of road is done. Another road that was an abandoned stub is now completed, meeting up to the stub I recently added to the other mountain road. You'll see which one I mean below.
The road has some guide-rail and most/all of it's signs.

Lots of detail to the road surface (I added one or two screenshots really close so you can see it, though it's barely discernible, especially when driving fast).
I safe-guarded my guard-rails by isolating them all to one file per road section / area. Now it can't munch on them if I don't permit it to write that file, plus I back it up. I've left it open in my text editor, which'll pick up any changes to the file outside of it's presence, and ask me if I want to sync with what's on disk or stay with what's in RAM / on-screen in the text editor. Naturally, sticking with what's in the editor, and creating a new file with each huge chunk of editing, I can control what the stupid editor tries to do to my guard-rail.
If the power goes out and I lose what's in RAM in my text editor, I still have backups and can pull the missing lines (new line = new object) out of those backups on compare. This way I don't have to mess with the item registry for the entire level (that's more risk than I need to take on, let's keep it to a few separate files). Since folders (sim groups) inside the object editor can hold various items, and sim-groups equate to a folder on disk with an index file in it, I can therefor keep all the guide-rail to a separate easy-to-manage file without affecting the play-ability / immersion of the level. I mean, I wouldn't want to see you guys fall of a cliff and wreck or anything like that, that would be horrid!
Most of the guide-rail is in the object registries but some portion is in the forest brush where the highway Jersey-barriers and pretty much everything else is. If you can't click it in one mode of the editor if you try to edit the level yourself, try the other mode. It's not perfect, but hey as long as it sticks around between re-loads, it works.
The first shot showed a road that's part of an old road on the right. This road is currently now about a half-mile from being completely updated. I will be finishing the other portion this weekend, but you can still drive the whole thing now. This used to wrap around the mountain in a big snake-like fashion. Since you folks love these types of roads, I'm making a ton of them & that is exactly what this section is all about - but it is to be CLEARLY said that you will find roads like this very example all over the mountains in Los Injurus.
This map is by you for you! I'm just the pair of hands putting it all together, with a little moderation on ideas, and a large influence on the vision I have had for this for roughly 30 years to bring it together in one immersive body.
--Stupid Technology!
-The Bob
BONUS TIP: Have you edited your seating position in-car?
Try WASD and PAGE UP / PAGE DOWN, and try using shift or ctrl while using those keys as some may have alternate movements! I believe it's shift PAGE UP / PAGE DOWN that enlarges / shrinks view field to help with peripheral vision.

Totally the interior of The Bob's beater ... best test vehicle + drives great with a keyboard or SNES controller.
When I decide to build another machine, maybe I'll get a wheel and take the remains of the old computer and make it into a simulation machine... but I'd want to go whole-hog and get a half-cab of a car to mount it in, seats, shifter / console, dashboard and all that.
EDIT:
Fixed a texture last minute, was really bothering me every time I drove past.

Yes this is one of those new many-layer (5 or 6!) materials (it's so late I can't remember what it's called, but it was asked for that I update the textures) but it's only a 1k texture. Not quite AAA quality but it looks way better and is no longer all washed-out / universally reflective.
ALSO, I submitted a bug report because the editor tool would crash (behind the scenes) when trying to duplicate an object / any object that I tried to shift+drag on to duplicate (guiderail in this case). Maybe it'll get fixed.

 

I tried it on high, but it loaded (laggily) on high in the previous update and runs fine on high without Vulkan both then and now. I will try it on medium in about a months' time; unfortunately I am doing a month of penance in November for telling lies and have sworn off video games during that period.

 

Thank you for the feedback will, do that. I also have another question? Do you think you can widen the highway that goes through downtown Los Injurus to six lanes?

 

Ah man, that stinks! Well, best to repent before it's too late I suppose. While The Lord does forgive, parents are apparently less forgiving. Still, let's not test to see just how much will be forgiven at the last minute after we pass on from this mortal plane.
I try to be honest, mostly because that's how I've been programmed from day 1, but also I was punished badly for my siblings lying and scapegoating me, when I was little. That plus I can't remember a single thing I talked about the day before, or more often now than before, anything I even said earlier that day. So if I lied, the story would theoretically in practice change daily, and well obviously that's bad. Save the lying for the vindictive narcissists to do (and get in trouble for).
Think of it this way: If you just tell the truth, then folks around you will respect you for being you, for the things you've done, and even for things you haven't (such as bad things). You will gain real friends who like YOU for YOU, and not fake ones who think you're someone else. Sure at one point I lied when I was a teenager, but I regretted it later and changed my ways. If you lie, however, when you need to tell someone something later that's important, they may question it's validity and that could/would probably be a bad thing if they didn't believe you when you need them to do so the most - especially if you accidentally sat too close to a heater and your rump was now smoldering. Besides the room now smelling like SPEND A LOT had a discount on rump roast in the back aisle the previous weekend, the pain would be quite the lesson-teacher, surely.
Getting to the root of the problem, or, "What causes this (what causes someone to want to lie)?".
When you get older, and it does take some folks well into adult hood to understand this portion, you will humble out (usually) and be proud of you for the things you have done, not for those you haven't, thus gaining self confidence. This alone will help you stay honest, but until that point, and until you get more achievements (the real life kind not the Xbox/PS/Steam kind) under your belt, try to be straight up with folks. There's a lot of folks out there who can see right through the falsehoods and who mentally will permanently mark you down for this. You can nip a lot of issues in the bud by rooting out the problem, shortcoming, or other cause by figuring out what is making you desire to, or think you desire to lie. Whether it's shame, general lack of confidence, the desire to fit in (this can be a big one especially for teenagers), or some other reason; find the true cause of it and address that every bit as much as the lies themselves. This should help you leaps and bounds to overcome this and anything else you may not like about your personality / mentality / or your place in regards to other social-interactions in life.
That said, believe in yourself, and use it as a growing pain and lesson in life, and you will better yourself with it. We ALL went through that phase (except a lucky few of us), just as I did myself decades ago (gosh I feel OLD), hopefully nearly just as many of us learned from the experience. Those two groups of folks who didn't participate are either of very good morals, or they are folks who are probably working as car salesmen or Attorneys at Law / Lawyers currently (or they are U.S. POLITICIANS!!!). I had hoped this would be encouraging but maybe I should have left that last sentence out. However this wouldn't be The Bob's writing if I had left that witty bit of banter out, now would it? Surely that's some bit of honesty in there.
I believe in you, it's good you are bettering yourself in this wicked world. Maybe some folks would even look down on me saying this stuff because it's 'not cool' or whatever may be the term now, but those same folks would probably be quite likely to agree that there's enough meanies in this world today and we don't need more.
It's okay to be boring, to not have a ton of things you've done that you can brag about. I definitely can say that there's a lot of women out there who would love to come home every day to that same boring person who's right where they expect to find you, with nothing crazy having gone down in their absence. Boring is good, especially when taken into consideration can translate into adult speak as "Nothing terrible happened today".
There's nothing to be shamed over about making yourself a better person. You'll need to be a really good person if you want a really good long-term partner one day, to land a really good job via word-of-mouth or get that tough-to-earn promotion, and have the best chance at living the life you dream to live.

This wasn't supposed to be a sermon. This wasn't supposed to be grandiose. This isn't supposed to be something most folks even expected really. However, this is something I went through myself, and have witnessed others go through in life. So maybe if this helps even at-least ONE person, the typing was totally worth it, even if I spent 20 or even 60 minutes punching this all in to my noisy keyboard that sort-of usually works.
Bonus: You don't have to be religious at all to look up and read something like this, and better yourself from it. I'm not even some grand high-and-mighty person let alone some greater power. I'm walking the same path as you, with two legs just like you, just a bit further along - and not as far down that path as you may think.
Be proud of you for you.
It's okay to not have a huge achievement roster when you're not 30~50 years old yet - and maybe even if you are (and then you might be the lucky one really). If you truly feel you need more things to talk about with adults around you, or even to brag about to friends; maybe it's time to learn some trades (such as car engine repair, car bodywork repair, home renovation and construction skills, computer repair, or maybe yard maintenance skills where you can turn a bush into the silhouette of a Fi-Fi poodle taking a big whiz on the local HOA Karen). These days with social media 'influencers' (hint: most are fake or just attention-seeking) it can be tough to be proud to just be YOU for the things YOU have done, but just as much as we're not all cut out for greatness, we don't all require greatness from others. Quite the contrast, actually, most of us just want some good company from good people.
It's okay if your boring, because that also means you're not causing anyone any issues at the moment! Remember, even as a young adult, and your soon-to-be-wife fiance comes home from work and asks how was your day, responding with "Oh same old same old at the office" is much better than "I tried to fix the roof and it's now in our bedroom, having caved in just after I fixed it" or even worse "I upgraded the riding mower - but now it intermittently belches flames and it set the dog on fire a few times" as your poor lightly-toasted pooch attempts to lick it's wounds covered by many bandages. Yes, Boring can be a good thing, a very good thing. Learn to love boring, it's part of becoming an adult.
What did I do when I was a kid and bored? Took apart broken stuff of mine or that friends gave me (I always took their broken stuff with permission so I could see how things worked). As I got older, and I took apart more things, and read more books, and gained more experience around older folks watching them fix things, I learned to fix a lot more things. I mean, if it's busted, what's the harm beyond a little mess? (legal: keep away from those lithium ion batteries though, puncturing or shorting one out could have fiery consequences and the gassing-off they do when they're about to / are already burning is also just as lethal! throw it in a pot or pan and run outside or cover it with a baking sheet / cookie sheet / metal pot/pan and call the fire department).

So seriously, love yourself for who you are, even if it doesn't seem like much. You'll gain more experience points as you get older and naturally have more to brag about.
I do wish you the best in your endeavors however, and we'll all still be here when you're on to the next step.
Enough of the Dr. Bob show, and back to the regularly scheduled moaning about the level editor / road architect interspersed with progress updates.

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I don't think I can widen that one four-lane to six lanes without tearing a lot of stuff out, but there are plenty of other routes that are wider. That said not all the highway is in yet, but that only means there's another mile or three of highway that might be thrown in, but that's about it. Think: cut-and-cover highways like many major cities who build over highways, have hidden underground. Basically I don't want to tear out what's already been put in (I have enough re-doing to do lately, actually, to be quite honest).

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HAH! I BEAT THIS LEVEL EDITOR ROAD ARCHITECT GAME! I WIN! I FOUND HOW TO MAKE MORE GUIDE-RAIL AND USE ROAD ARCHITECT WITHOUT IT EATING HALF OF WHAT I ALREADY BUILT OR SCRAMBLING EVERYTHING! WOOHOO!

This is entirely a post where I solely print that what I made the other day is STILL there.
I know, it should be better than this. Though I did get it all tested out and it drives GREAT and is a lot of fun with a car that breaks loose easily.
Now I can get on with the gettin' on and make some more stuff this week!
--This is good!
-The Bob

 

First chance to work on Los Injurus in a few days. Got some hours plugged in here tonight (half a dozen, or so). Doing my best with a migraine, though it feels like the Cat 3 storm in the gulf is weakening and will weaken more. It was really a pounder 24 hours ago though and it was already a day or two with one at that point.
Finished the road I was working on all the way down to where it will let out on another road (that 4/5-lane road will also be re-done quite a bit at the end where the roads meet).
All signs, decals, banking, terrain contouring etc is done here and all that needs to be done is some side roads added here (those can be done later when things are further along).
In the first shot, you can see on the far-left of the shot where I am speaking of that is going to get re-done, right where THIS road I've been working on lets out / ends. Also, the second shot shows that 4/5-lane road at the bottom - I've already re-done the other sections (paved with concrete, near the highway) of that road so this is the older section.

Also, finished off putting the grass on the terrain so it's more uniform, and dressed up the rock outcrops a bit so it's not so boring and is a little more believable.
All AI is in. Set the fade-outs on all the roads I've put in (or replaced / upgraded) over the last few weeks so they don't disappear right away when you zoom out.
--That is all for right now!
-The Bob.

ALSO: The 9800x3D is everything it's cracked up to be, but at 450~500$ USD it's not cheap. It absolutely WIPES THE FLOOR even with the 14900KS without any patches / failures / updates. It really is something awesome if you want even more than a 7800x3D can provide. However, if you can't afford that and live near a Micro-Center, you can score a 7600x3D (6-core 12-thread) for 300$ that's nearly as good as the 7800x3D except with 2 less cores (you may be able to find it at Computerbase DE also, but that's rumored). For AM4 owners, the 5700x3D for 200$ USD new and even used 5600x3D / 5800x3D options beckon, even a 120~180$ USD 5700x is still there. Skip the 5700G and 5700-non-x as they are the less-powerful / less-cache equipped models like the laptops and OEM machines the come with G-chips use.
AMD's x3D line of processors is great for all types of things from Factorio to even things like draw-call restricted games such as Cities SlideShow Skylines or MS Flight-Sim 2020, or even Fallout 4... or my very own Roane County and Los Injurus! It's not a night/day difference with physics, but it should be useful for handling HUGE pile-ups when there's lots and lots of physics processing all at once VS when vehicles are only just navigating the roadways.
The difference with the now-released 9800x3D and also the up-and-coming (hint) 9000-series 12-core and 16-core x3D models that will release in the very near future, compared to all older x3D models from the 7000 and 5000 series (and again any others) is that the 9000 series put's the 3D V-cache on the BOTTOM of the core stack and not on-top, leaving the cores on-top to easily put their heat generated into the CPU's IHS (integrated heat spreader, or the metal lid on-top of an AMD or Intel desktop CPU). This way, you can give the cores more power, they can disperse it more readily and also get warmer / use more power without negatively affecting the V-cache SRAM layer below (VS having a heat-blanket affect of having the v-cache SRAM layer on-top between the cores and the IHS).
Also, Paul's Hardware and some other sources have CONFIRMED now that the 9900x3D 12-core and 9950x3D 16-core chips that will come out in a few months (January-March release window), have TWO v-cache enabled core-complexes versus only one. This means both the core complexes will have access to v-cache and benefit from it, in-stead of a hybrid design. Also, since there's less/nearly no penalty in core boost maximums compared to the older x3D models due to the updates with v-cache layer placement, you have the best of both worlds. We really are moving into the future, and this is great considering the absolutely lack-luster 'Zen 5%' release and intel's absolute lack of progress and clear regressions in performance, never-mind the over-juiced-from-the-factory intel 13th/14th generation desktop chips (trying to beat AMD in benchmarks) blowing up over the last 2 years - only to be acknowledged immediately following intel's investor meeting this summer. So, something to look forward to. Maybe AMD will finally figure out how to convince us hold-outs to part with our cash and upgrade. Good thing too, as it can't come soon enough considering this thing is starting to just act weird, things such as dropping the monitor audio out and randomly shutting my open-source Metroid-maker clone game off (meh, it's over 5 years old, it's done it's duty) or it's most recent spat of randomly uninstalling drivers (but not updating them!) even though I tell it not to (wtf?). It's that or Windows is just... lunched!
EDIT: Just for clarity, the intel Ultra 9 285k (their best) doesn't even stand a chance against the 9800x3D or the 7800x3D. Get an AMD chip, not an intel chip, plus the intel options are more expensive and no one's sure that the current 'ultra' series motherboard socket will get another generation of chips due to the next series (for that socket) cancellation by intel. Don't waste your time except on a super-budget price 12th gen chip maybe.

Quote of the day: If life closes one door... Open it again! It's a door - that's how they work!

 

Understandable. I just suggested as the shoulder did look wide enough for another lane. ( Honestly I really asked since i just wanted an extra to go around the traffic that i spawned in the game so i would get slowed down when driving lmao)

But I digress anyways, You've again out done yourself with your progress on this map. What else do you plan to add to this map before you submit it to the repoitsory?

 

I'm just trying to do the best I can, and keep plugging away at it. Thankfully, due to my brain not really having a 'current' memory nor ability to sense time passing due to that (thanks PTSD), I could perpetually work on this for the rest of my life and not get sick of it, or at-least until I finish this thing (which I entirely plan to do, unless I die first).
So yeah, thanks! If you've got an expensive or rather new CPU then you can probably reward yourself with a nice 40~50fps (or better) realistic TRAFFIC JAM or just very heavy traffic when the AI and my method of implementing AI pathing get along. When you use more AI than the roads have room to place cars, they end up making 3 lanes out of 2 etc (I've reported that). You can always try and squeeze between vehicles (Did that about 20 years ago once, didn't do it again, but didn't crash when I did), or just drive down the shoulder.
Before next release:
Update and fix AI screw-ups some of which I made last time I tried to update/fix it. Derp Derp and Derp again! One of these times it will start working right.
Add another Chicken Munch or two, because I said I would.
Fix on/off ramp texture assignment or something like that one one of the on/off ramps because it was still messed up (I have to check if I fixed it, I can't remember, know I fixed ONE).
Some other stuff, might give another quality-pass due to grass in the road, which I fixed a bunch of tonight for hours.

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Added a little more detail to the area around one of the 'shore side' town spawn areas, and a ton of signs here. Not a whole lot to say other than that.
At-least the migraine I had for days is in it's dying stages. This took a lot longer than it should have, but so did my detailing on Los Injurus tonight...
--That is all
-The Bob

 

Upon further testing, I discovered that every large, demanding map now either fails to load or loads and immediately freezes in Vulkan. I searched the forum for answers and discovered that Vulkan sometimes incorrectly defaults to integrated graphics instead of a dedicated GPU; after upgrading my graphics drivers, setting both Windows Settings and the NVIDIA control panel to run BeamNG in dedicated mode, and double-confirming via the Performance tab in Options that it was on the 3070, the problems continue. Back in 0.32 it was only Los Injurus and American Road that ran worse on Vulkan than DX, and even then only with dynamic reflections on; Fairhaven and Hong Kong both worked great, but now they are unplayable. I've heard that NVIDIA's latest drivers are buggy on another forum thread; the ones I had previously before updating today were from about May 2023 and were no better.

 

Nvidia drivers are every bit as bad as anything said about the AMD graphics drivers. In-fact, even AMD's graphics control panel has out-done Nvidia's for two years or so now (or longer), with Nvidia up to very recently (last week or a week or two ago?) still using the old Windows 95~2000 era control panel and needing you to log in to use Gefudge Now software. Now you won't have to log-in and most of the control panel features are transferred over to the new Nvidia control thing, unless you want to redeem 'free' game codes on the Nvidia service.
Maybe you'd be better served with a Radeon 6800/6800xt/6900xt/ or the 7700/7800 series. Try and get something with 16gb of VRAM, 12gb isn't going to help much as you may still end up being super-slow. Turn graphics detail to medium/low on your existing card, then restart and see if it'll load the levels you want that you could not load before. It's a shame Nvidia gimped the 3070 so badly, but they're basically a paper-weight like my 2070 was when you go past the 8gb limit - which is now super-duper easy to do.
However, weigh the cost of getting a newly used or brand-new GPU against the cost of sending it to one of those youtube fixer guys who upgrades GPU VRAM amounts (from 8gb to 16gb in your case) and see if it's worth the cost to ship and pay for the upgrade to be done. If it's 150~250$ to do so including shipping, it could be worth the time it takes (5~10 business days depending on how far you are away). If not in the USA, you can find places locally that do circuit-board / board-level repair and upgrades.
ALL VIDEO CHANNEL LINKS SAFE FOR WORK AS OF POSTING - The Bob
https://www.youtube.com/@northwestrepair
https://www.youtube.com/@NorthridgeFix
One of them might be able to handle a VRAM upgrade for you, especially if you're in the western half of USA as they're close to the west coast.
For the record, this PC does not have integrated graphics on the CPU nor motherboard. You can disable your integrated GPU on a desktop, but should never do so on a laptop or all-in-one machine (the kind where the PC lives inside the monitor housing and some tiny-PC custom units) or it WILL likely cease to function / eat up battery time if it's a portable. This is just a piece-meal custom-built (by me) full tower build from July 2019, and is getting a bit old (but is still getting the job done) as-such the CPU being a Ryzen 3950x does not come with an integrated GPU. While old and this rattles a bit periodically, needs a really thorough cleaning (still worried I will break something taking it apart) on some bits due to some negative pressure issues (solved last year) sucking dust in the mesh PCI-E slot covers which aren't filtered, and my web browser gets SUPER pokey after a few days being left open when it decides it needs 20gb of RAM to itself, but it does get the job done (on it's own schedule when it comes to the web browsing). Still does great work on traffic tests and zip file management though - God bless air-cooled 16-core desktop processors.
If you can understand middle-eastern accent + English language (not everyone is readily able), you might be able to see how this is done with an 8gb GPU.

So YES, YES it is possible to upgrade your GPU VRAM, it however is not easy and must be done by someone who is talented at board-level repair / modification.
Again this is not for everyone, in-fact it's not for 99% of us. I have been messing with computer hardware close to 30 years and I won't even touch something like that and I even have the tools to do it. I don't ever think my hands will be steady enough either, so don't look for me making a video tutorial on it.
A 2080 Ti is also able to be upgraded from 11gb to 22gb and it does help. Another example, an RX 480 8gb card, giving an RX 480 a total of 16gb of RAM does not really help it, as it's already memory-bus constrained from the get-go and thus doesn't really have the bandwidth / power to use all the new VRAM. So a little research helps. However, if you've got a mid-tier card to enthusiast level card that's aging poorly in regards to VRAM, contact one of the board level repair guys I mentioned previously and see what it costs. Compare this price to a new GPU or used GPU with 16gb and see if it's worth the risk / reward, in your brain. Only you can make that decision.
Also, if you buy on Ebay, you are usually covered pretty well as a buyer (not so much as a seller) against DOA merchandise unless listed as 'for parts / not working'. On Amazon, you can often get a 3~6 month warranty on used parts backed directly by Amazon, plus a little sticker thanking you for 'giving this functional product a second chance at life' to make you feel good. Newegg may be worth looking into, but make sure that if buying there or off Amazon, to get something fulfilled by newegg or amazon for best experience.
There are other avenues out there, but I doubt the warranties or store guarantees will be as good or keep you covered as long and as well.
Always be careful, scammers are everywhere! There are guides to buying used parts if you feel you need them, some even on youtube itself.

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UPDATE PROGRESS:
Got some stuff done tonight, finished re-aligning the road by the end of the one I just made, the same one I spoke about the last time I posted here on progress. It's done enough to allow smooth transition from the mountain route I just did onto a new 5-lane roadway that connects to the highway and will connected to some smaller beach-front areas here. I did-away with the bridge to nowhere in no time at all, as that wasn't serving any purpose right now and hasn't for the years it's been there (short of being a 50% off toll bridge joke, because it was only half built the toll is half-off). Also installed a dual-box-culvert that can be driven through if you see fit, but is otherwise uneventful and just more scenery/detail.
Installed traffic light poles / masts as this will get one when I figure out what I'm doing with the 'smart traffic lights' feature that gets AI to pay mind to them. The AI pathing however IS already done and in-place to use the roads here, and all turns are provided to it in the manner you'd expect real traffic to drive. I left stop-signs / yield-signs on the side-road for now (the main road does not have to stop currently) until the traffic light is functional (it won't be for a while). As usual, road detail otherwise has it's t's crossed and i's dotted, if missing a little edging in spots and maybe needing a few variation textures here or there. Added back a total of two edge textures to match more asphalt variations (shows pavement edges where patches are or paving jobs end) so these will come in handy later on (and already have). I don't like just letting textures end as it doesn't look realistic.

So in all seriousness, this is likely about 6 hours of solid work without me getting up (ouch, my knees are hurting bad today, so that's not all bad!).
Getting quite close to putting out a Patreon Supporter Beta release, but also keep in mind the PUBLIC version will be updated before the Christmas holiday for-sure (if I have any say in it). I have to get in touch with the staff and see if they're still back-logged on getting updates posted on the servers (as I need their help posting, being this is 8~10x the server size limits). Updates being impossible (due to server security or update issues) in August and then staff being back-logged with updates in September cancelled that planned release window for a PUBLIC release but I'll keep my December one. It might even happen earlier than that, but I may hold no promises as I never know what I'm doing until the day before the day in question. Still, I'm trying to finish off more than I start or tear up, so that this thing can be enjoyed by many more folks out there, since there are many many miles of new roads and existing roads updated to see and experience (and to go crashing off cliffs from, I'm looking at you Mr. Coyote).
Since it hasn't been said in a while, to enjoy Los Injurus to any real degree, you will need AT LEAST a 12GB GPU to enjoy it on HIGH detail textures, and when it's closer to finished and/or I add in the next batch of assets, it'll likely need a full 16GB. I hope not to go over 16GB, however, this is a game-engine and environment that's not even completed yet, so DO expect it's not going to run on the same 8GB GPU's we had come out nearly TEN YEARS AGO. I do what I can, but I have a penchant for not wanting this to have MUD textures, this is not Quake or Doom. It's supposed to be realistic, immersive, etc, even if it lacks a lot of AAA-game detail levels otherwise - but the road network and it's infrastructure engineering is pretty legit for the most part.
Also, for those wondering, 8GB GPU's should work fine with MEDIUM texture detail settings in this, it cuts the x/y resolution in-half and thus should use about 5~7GB max with traffic, leaving a bit left for your OS or web browser. Model detail levels should be maxed, as Los Injurus was designed before that setting was really a thing, and things get ugly real fast (or don't render altogether) if you lower this. Maybe some day I'll address this, but for now, leave it to whatever it's set to, or raise it if possible to keep both FPS and immersion levels civil. Textures are not the only thing that take up GPU VRAM space, models and shaders take up space also - and for games that use DLSS or Ray Tracing, those will take up their own 'work area' space in VRAM in addition to the rest of the stuff (though BeamNG without special Re-shade add-ons does not use Ray Tracing CURRENTLY, it may or may not happen in the future, though to be clear I have no clue or hints on this topic BUT I'd really love me some RT headlights at night).
--That is all for right now, my previously-mangled pinky finger (got messed up 3 years ago in a fight) is going numb again, which means I gotta stop typing very soon.
-The Bob
Fact: Did you know that most turns in GTAV are not banked? The ones in Los Injurus are, including ALL of the re-done updated roads, and many of the older ones have some banking though not all. They will all be in due time except some low-speed (25~30mph) city routes that are in-stead cross-sloped with curbing. In-fact I don't even know if any of the intersections in GTAV will throw you if you speed through due to cross-slope (cross-slope or 'cant' means the middle is raised for aiding water drainage), though I knew of a few in GTA IV/EFLC that would do so a little bit. Hopefully the next GTA will address this next fall (or whenever it comes out), but if it doesn't, Los Injurus is here on BeamNG Drive ready and super-willing to launch you head over heels should you get careless or just slap-happy with the accelerator.

 

I appreciate your advice, but I definitely think the problems I am currently having are due to the game engine and not your map; despite only having 8 gigs of VRAM I have no trouble running it on High texture detail in DirectX, but not in Vulkan which is supposed to be faster. The fact that the poor performance of Vulkan is new to this version of the game also points to it being a bug.

 

I'll point this out to the devs. That shouldn't be the case, and I think it's very possibly the streaming engine trying to handle 8gb and this level. In DX the video drivers are handling it, they may indeed be less robust in Vulkan or otherwise are conflicting with the game render-engine routines, which would explain why it's 'fine' in DX11. Early access can suck sometimes, but it's normally the other side of the glass, thankfully.

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The last shot, I don't think you'll find more realism when it comes to road textures, and it's all in beautiful 2k/4k or higher texture resolution to embrace tomorrow's technology readily as it comes.
There's some mile+ of road here, two stubs that don't really go anywhere yet, and 1/8th mile of another road that meets this one is done up nice. There's also a longer tunnel that's been added here near the run-off lake. I haven't done detailing on the terrain yet much aside of some mountain texture where-needed.
I am sick as a dog with lower respiratory infection, so I'm doing what I can in the last few days of me working on this before I gotta ship out the next closed beta. Maybe I can see to it this gets put online on the public servers later. My brain feels like it's BOILING. Only benedryl and advil cold & spineless / maybe some I.B.Hurtin's help.
Did finally fix my car. Hurt my back pretty bad but got it done otherwise I wasn't going to be able to get to church, and I wasn't having any of that when it was 1~2 hours of work needed. Gained new respect for mechanics as when I needed all the strength in my right arm I felt the tendons / ligaments start to pull off the bone (MY GOODNESS IS THAT PAINFUL! I WANTED TO DROP AND CURL UP IN A BALL). Next time I'll get out the air powered hammer-drill / socket combo when I need to break something loose, or at-least soak it first. Sure is a lot nicer driving a Corolla than a 10-years-newer Chevy Truck (especially when I gotta park the thing, or when inches matter as a left-turning car blocks the only path forward). You couldn't pay me enough to drive a land mammoth American vehicle daily. They're sure comfy and give you plenty of room but it's just not for me, who values the comparably nimble handling and go-anywhere peppy driving of the over-rated econo-box - and it'll stay that way unless hauling 8' sheets of drywall or plywood is a daily deal. This comes from someone who used to love driving a Crown Vic / Caprice/Fleetwood/Roadmaster / Sable/Taurus, Lincoln Town Car or just about any big Lux-o-SUV etc. Though that said, the Vic and Town Car are really something else for their settled highway manners and cushy ride (especially the Town Car and also Mercury Grand Marquis as unlike the Crown Vic they have bump-soaking tin frames, more flexible than the Vic's much more rigid steel frame made for handling). Yes I miss the big old full-sized large cars great for hauling the family to lands far away beyond the horizon, when taking to the highway for vacation; but unfortunately once you get to your destination, you might not be able to park that big monstrosity anywhere. Yes, parking spaces are shrinking in the last 30 years - better hope they have angled parking.
--That is all!
-The Bob
EDIT: Broke out the trip computer and decided to check the mileage on what's been either re-done completely, or added anew. 7.65 miles. Today's work was 2.35 miles and is included in the total. I believe a mile or two of the stuff I put in last week or two ago is new (or hasn't been in Los Injurus since 2018~2019). This only counts the roads in this general area, up the mountain-side above the abandoned mall. While there's a few less than perfect rough spots as far as smoothing goes, the texturing is 100% the best I can manage.

 

Getting much closer to getting this road finished. Still extremely sick. It's not getting better and it's been a week.

Most all the detailing is in, all the AI is in also. I must have Covid, in-fact, my body would have started kicking this cold/flu by now. It's likely Covid because I know some of the folks at church had it and it took months for them to get over it (they were older) and the day after church is when I got sick. While I did get innoculated against it years ago, I don't believe it's effective against the current strains. Shame I don't have some fuzzy bread to jump-start that dusty old immune system of mine (that's what penecillin is made from, bread mold). To be fair, EVERYONE around me has SOMETHING. I literally was the last person to get sick, so it was bound to happen sooner or later.
To be transparent: Yes I might spend a little bit of the project money on the doctor if I don't start to get better soon, being on a fixed income sucks sometimes, but I wanted to be clear about that.
--That is all!
-The Bob

 

The Covid shot You got is only effective about 3-4 month, You need repeated shots about 4 month apart.
Hope You get well soon, I like this map and hope to see it finishes sometime soon.... ish.

 

Ah okay, I know they wear off after a bit of time. Well about 11 days into being sick (started getting it over a weekend about 12 days ago, but didn't truly set in until Monday a week ago), I'm starting to get past this. Maybe Tuesday-Wednesday I started feeling a little better... but not so much today. Still, I'm going out and trying to live life nonetheless. Thanks for the kind wishes!
I put about 20 hours into this thing in the last ~48 hours or so. Tuesday was a wake-to-sleep work day on this with 13~14 hours spent on it. Don't know how my back survived, but it did.

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This area isn't complete yet, but this is what happens when you spend an entire day (just about) detailing road graphics onto a few blocks worth of roads. There will be a tourist-trap type area here with beaches and some mid-rise and low-rise structures and (besides the beach) nowhere near enough on-street parking - because that's how it always is in beach areas.

What does 25~30 hours of work look like? Almost like 40 hours of work, but with quite a bit unfinished yet.
So yeah, a few graphics sitting kinda randomly out of place, work-in-progress stuffs, etc. Don't mind that, but look at what IS done, and the fact that this loop of road is now completed (driveable) without gaps. Need to add a few chevron signs and do a bit more detailing around the mesa on the long consistent corner (it's perfectly consistent on that corner, the whole way). IF YOU LOVE DRIFTING, THIS IS IT! It's not very wide though, so you have to be good at it. This will be lined with a redwood forest here where the road loops back and forth in it's beautiful, perfectly snake-like fashion as it gains ground at up-to 10% grade (no more than that, only 6~10% grade here unless my math was off somehow, I plug in most my grade height manually with number entry method VS moving nodes with the mouse, especially with highways).
Still sick. Blech. Oh well, maybe it'll be the last one for a while. It usually is, but if it isn't, guess I'm stuck in the house at the computer working on this. It's not all bad to that end. Better than going out because that costs money and I don't like spending my money.
Will see what kind of PC hardware or 3D models (for this project) go on sale this weekend.
--That is all
-The Bob
EDIT: Uploaded a preview of a below-grade highway entrance, screen-cap taken from within the modeling software. This will get used later. Don't know if it will get in before the next update, but it's getting there slowly. Very slowly. I went to snap the screenshot and my brain took about 2~3 full minutes to figure out how to move the camera around. I hate my brain when it does this, and it does this often.
I'm supposed to know this, by instinct. I haven't worked in this 3D modeler in a few days, I think* since Sunday, and here my brain can't remember even how to move things around in a program I learned 6.5 years ago. *brain waving white flag picture*

*Think... think he says... yeah DEFINITELY no warranty on that part. I tried. Who cares about the success/fail rate lately, we're not even going to give that more than a glancing blow, but I tried dang-it. Ugh.

 

Where would that image of that below grade highway entrance be placed in los injurus?

 

That cracked me up more than I care to admit.

 

Great pictures. Btw, on my YouTube channel. I've been making videos of Los Injurus.

 

That's going to go over here as seen in the (expandable) screen shot below:

The 6 lanes of bridge will have some going to surface streets for city traffic, and the rest go to an underground expressway much like something you'd see in Chicago's 'Lower Wacker' or in below-grade freeways such as Boston's Big Dig. It'll be underground for quite a bit of run - maybe a mile or so - and pop out over by the school that's further down along this side of the lake (the school is just past the giant round 'middle finger' towers by a block or two, those towers are the 'Government Motors' towers but don't have a visible name just yet). Also, the underground highway will junction with the other highway that dead-ends in a wall of dirt just after crossing the flood control canal (concrete river thing), all of this underground with possibly some above-ground interfacing for added complexity.
Yes, it's very complicated, but now y'all know why this portion was somewhat ignored thus far and didn't get the same treatment and detail / build-up that other portions got. It'll get it one day soon, but it'll definitely be AFTER the next update the sunken highway / underground portions go in as that's quite a colossal undertaking - both in the real world and virtually.

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Thanks, I will check again for Los Injurus videos again soon. I do check periodically to see how people interact with the environment, and is one of the best feedback tools available to a developer of a game engine, game environment, or anything like that. It's pretty much watching someone else play and thus you can see any stumbling blocks in the way, poor map-flow, can't-get-there-from-here type issues, confusion / ambiguity / etc, and other parts that need more refinement and the like. That's why I always try to encourage people to make the videos if they have the means and the time (but I also equally don't want people to go through specific trouble to do these for me, only do them if they enjoy doing so or would do it anyway for themselves / others).

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Well glad you found that entertaining. I didn't want to leave stats up as it's far from complete and they'd be pretty useless at this point since there's much work to be done here yet. I figured I'd just put something stupid in, since why not make it funny when/if I can? Just those little hidden things for those who look beyond the surface.
So entirely, glad you enjoyed it, time well spent (it wasn't much, I swear).

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Fixed some bugs on the office building with oddly translucent textures that didn't look right, the naming for the textures were off in the model and I don't know how it even displayed some of it's textures (well, sort-of know how; the devs have code in that handles poorly texture-swapped models, including some stuff I had messed up on). So it should be fixed, hopefully nothing changes texture when it wasn't supposed to (but at-least the texture will be solid and look proper).

Things are starting to look more like a city here, with mostly residential buildings here. Sadly it's hardly finished at all and while the roads are there, there isn't much of any lot detailing for the buildings yet. I am trying to get this a little better rounded off here detail-wise, and then I can add a spawn-point (or two!) and release this update.
You'll find that these roads likely have a lot more detail than many others, however I feel it is proper to cram lots of detail in as this is a driving / crash simulator first and foremost. Still haven't forgotten the main (primary) mission objective, of-course, no matter how forgetful I might be.
Environmental requirements inside a driving / car-crash simulator =
*Very detailed and realistic road network infrastructure and realistic planning to ensure accuracy and legitimacy (no six-lane highways to service a turnip farm that employs a dozen people, for example).
*Good AI handling / support for proper driving simulation and eventually smart traffic lights (when I have time and find the documentation for it! It will be supported 'soon' though.)
*Lots and lots of opportunity to get airborne and make those really awesome crashes, or just fly off cliffs / huge drop-offs everywhere to fulfill that inner Wile E. Coyote in all of us. There's a reason there's cliffs everywhere and that's why I picked this source terrain off the USGS website.
*Lots of hidden stuff for when the driving and crashing is not what you want and you just want to explore, because it's 2024 and almost 2025 and so there SHOULD BE something worth exploring for.
*Support for more than just land vehicles like cars/trucks, such as aircraft or watercraft or even trains / subway cars should the end-user desire more. Why limit people artificially? You don't have to limit anything today, or shouldn't have to anyway beyond hardware limitations of today's tech! If you want trains planes and automobiles all in one steaming (or burning) heap, then let it be / make it so!

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I should have good time to work on this, this week. I am slowly recovering from being sick, but it's sure taking it's time, this was a nasty nasty sickness whatever it was. It's been 2+ weeks now.
My neck was locked up something solid yesterday and goodness was it painful if I moved my head much of any direction without a lot of thought or without holding it up manually. Screamed pretty loud a few times, wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy - that pain is the real deal when your neck muscles spasm and lock up and crank 9999% involuntarily.
A few nasty crunches yesterday and last night coming from my neck / upper back region have resulted in the pain being less-so over time, thankfully. It will work itself out if I don't aggravate it too much hopefully. Otherwise, it's Chiropractor time, where my back makes sounds like someone stepped on the kid's hamster (KRUNCH!) every single time I get moved / manipulated.

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Posting this as folks should know!
FORZA HORIZON 4 IS BEING DE-LISTED FROM ALL DIGITAL STORES ON DECEMBER 15TH 2024 (That's 12 days from today!). IF YOU BUY IT TONIGHT (or in the next 12~14 hours) you'll be able to GET IT ON SALE FOR 80% OFF. If you do not purchase before the 15th, you will never be able to purchase it in the foreseeable future as it's being de-listed due to licensing agreements with car manufacturers expiring (and it's no longer financially advisable for the company to renew them). If you buy it now, you can get it for between 10~20$ USD or whatever currency prices equate to in your country (Steam pricing is variable, and region specific quite often, but while region-specific pricing is encouranged by Valve, it is not MANDATED and is at-will of the publisher).
I only listed this as I wouldn't want any fellow driving / racing / sim fans to miss out, if you've been putting it off thus far. This does not affect availability of Forza Horizon 5, only 4 and it's DLC (don't forget to add the free DLC cars to your account after purchase! there are a few).
Seriously, don't miss out if you enjoy these games.
After the de-listing of the game, everyone who owns the game will continue to have access to it and it will NOT be removed from your Steam account. Physical copies for Playstation (and XBox if it's out for that) will continue to work just fine, (as will multiplayer for some time while the servers are still up). So yeah, you won't lose access to it like was done with The Crew a few months back (which sparked much controversy and law-makers attention!) which was a real shame if I may add.
Do tell your friends, too.
--That is all!
-The Bob.

 

Only ONE HOUR left on grabbing Forza Horizon 4 via Steam for 80% off!

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A CLARIFICATION on previous reporting on AMD 9900x3D (12-core) and AMD 9950x3D (16-core) to be released in January 2025. These CPU's contain 3D V-CACHE on *ONE* of two chiplets, not two of two like previous reported, just the same as do the 7900x3D / 7950x3D chips do. I didn't want to mislead anyone with previous rumor that they were equipped with TWO v-cache dies, which was incorrect (I made sure to confirm with multiple news outlets then, and also now again, but it's not foolproof). So if you were waiting on those dual-v-cache chips, looks like you'll have to wait for a Threadripper 9000x3D series chip for that.
I might just go with a 7000 series chip or 9800x3D and call it a day, depending on what is available when I go to build a new machine. That's at-least a few months to a year/two away though, but there's no denying the Ryzen 3000 series is starting to chug a bit on internet browsing (though in gaming it's alright, reportedly Stalker 2 does lay waste to the Ryzen 3000 series but not so much the 5000 series yet). So maybe put off that Stalker 2 purchase unless you don't mind 35~45 fps in some spots (this is due to draw calls from 3D scanned objects, photogrammetry as it's called, it does crank draw calls but the photo-realism is nice eye-candy, it doesn't get better looking than this). That game will also bring a 3090 to it's knees on 4k though, so beware - but 1080p / 1440p resolutions are much easier to put out and thus would be fine on 'medium' or 'high' (not ultra) on more mainstream to enthusiast hardware.
Remember, 3D V-cache enabled Ryzen processors can give you the most detailed scenes at the highest FPS, shaming anything and everything intel has ever produced and even AMD's own non-X3D processors.

Another block's worth of curbing is completed. Will have to do the actual lot detailing next once the side roads are detailed enough. Just posting so you know there's progress. Ah yes, Progress! The opposite of CONgress. Handy little bit that info is, isn't it?
--That is all!
-The Bob
Yes, I know, that pun is absolutely positively terrible.