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

I got 16 (or less) FPS in any Jedi: Survivor cutscene with a lightsaber on my AMD Radeon RX570, so i'm used to low framerates.

If I recall, my setup handled this map pretty well before.
--- Post updated ---
RIP FH4.

 

VRAM use is getting you and why you have low FPS. Also, consider the fact that the video card (RX 570) is pretty much the same as a slightly-lower-clocked RX 470, which came out in mid 2016 (!). The 500 series was a refresh of the original Polaris 400 series. Also, if you get strange long stutters and driver restarts with Polaris-based cards, check that core speed isn't going too high for the card's spec (this is mostly for others, this isn't your issue, but listed in-case it ever happens in the future).
I tried a 4gb RX 480 in October 2016, it rattled a bit and I nearly filled it on the first thing I ran (which was Roane County on high texture detail). Since I had gotten it at Best Buy, I took it back within the two week window (at around a week or so), and switched it up with the 8gb model. I was quite thankful I did such as I quickly went past the 4gb limit of the old card and also encroached upon the 8gb limit in the 3+ years time I had it.
That said, grab a used 3060 12gb card and you should be set for a while.
If you want to stay on AMD cards since they work for you, grab a used 6750 12gb or 6800 (xt or not) 16gb for a big speed boost. Also, DDR4 system RAM is super cheap, so if you end up using your RAM to it's limit too often, keep an eye out for sales on it. It can be had very cheaply new because many higher-end lines have been discontinued, and it's being cleared out for newer DDR5 line-ups that have come onto the market in the last few years. You can also get a used set on the cheap, too, that matches your set. Sometimes it's easier to buy new though and just swap out your existing set (if you only have two slots) or add to your existing stuff if you have a four-slot board and only two sticks currently. Still, RAM doesn't increase FPS it just reduces hitching / stutters that happen periodically. Most console ports won't often use much more than 8~10gb of RAM anyways so I wouldn't worry too hard on it, just concentrate on getting a GPU upgrade in the future when it's affordable to you.
If you buy on Ebay, there is usually a good return policy (unless you buy 'as-is' 'for parts / not working'), and there is a top-notch return policy (and often warranty) on Amazon used PC parts (IF and only IF it's fulfilled by Amazon, unless the seller specifies their own warranty period / policy). Some manufacturer's will honor the original factory warranty if it's still within the time limit from date of manufacture - even for the 2nd owner (EVGA comes to mind here, they did!), unless you have the original dated purchase receipt then it is warranted from the date of the 1st-owner purchase receipt (for most manufacturers, though, do read the fine print on their specific web sites for manufacturers in question). Other sites it's buyer-beware. Jayztwocents did a sponsored bit recently on a web site that sells PC parts, you can check it out on Youtube, it was within the last week or so that it aired. I don't recall the name (Maybe it's Jawa?) so you'll have to look it up. They have a good gaurantee evidently but I have not used their service(s).
Beware buying locally on craigslist or facebook marketplace, unless you can see it working first in-person, and never ever ever wire money or pay by means outside of the website's default payment options (as this voids means of refunds and you can and will get scammed this way). Video things when they arrive and you unbox it for your own record in-case they try to send you a brick-in-a-box, a month-old dead rat, or something equally without value.
There's also plenty of newer less-demanding indie titles out there that run well on older hardware.
I wish you the best, and if you don't have the money for upgrades right now, don't feel too bad. Until the next generation of consoles comes out, you should be OK for now. Consider 720p if 1080p doesn't run smooth enough. It might look terrible at first BUT if it runs, it runs! I don't even have better than a 1080p screen over here despite the good GPU, not everyone NEEDS every upgrade.

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Got more stuff done on Los Injurus, trying to get the coastal area done-up enough to make it worth driving to... not quite there yet but progress is still progress. Lots and lots more details, getting much closer to making this area more believable / immersive. You won't only have to drive to it, you can spawn there too (soon as I script it in the start script tomorrow, the editor-created portion is in already though).
I added some spawns to the winding mountain roads, too, so you may find them easier. For the record, Los Injurus only has about ¼ of it's total (final) spawn-in positions enabled / created & currently available. So yes, it'll have more, much much more. This place is huge, remember?

Yes, you've seen some of this before, as these buildings have been in for a few days - but there's been a new detail pass with each day, going somewhat ram-shackle over the area.
Also made this, since I was tired of folks reporting the orange no-texture on carving guides hidden under the map, and also something to slap on temporary jumps where roads suddenly end (for now, they'll be finished in the future, but this specific area needs a lot of time and attention I don't have right yet).

The YES MATERIAL. It was overdue. Maybe after nearly 10 years of "level-editing" for this simulator, the NO MATERIAL / NO TEXTURE gets old.
"This is only a temporary object" "This is NOT A BUG" clearly written upon it, in a nice pleasing green.
Because yes, I had to.
*Also, the 'orange NO texture' that shows through the road/ground a bit when you are in free-cam near the concrete raised-rail viaduct section has been removed. It was a carving guide, who's services I no-longer needed and was nothing but a liability at this point.
*Fixed a translucent texture on the roof part-way up (top of 5th floor) on one of the more detailed (26 ~ 28 floor tall) residential buildings where the building changes shape.
Hopefully the above bug-fix didn't wig-out any of the highway texture variations. Will see tomorrow when I do a game re-load (that's sometimes what it takes for them to show).
*If you have strangely translucent textures (can see light/shadows through it or other textures), in places they shouldn't be on your current version of Los Injurus, please take pictures of them (zoomed out enough so I can see the model, too) and send them in, so I can get them all. Some are due to model texture-swapping bugs I generated accidentally in the dev process, and some are due to incorrect material settings to-do with shadows and translucency. Some of these show up with game version updates not necessarily what version of Los Injurus you may have (public or private beta regardless). Sometimes it's a game engine bug but often it's my screw-ups to blame.
For clarification, just so this is out there; more varying / different / new buildings will likely be added AFTER the next update unless I have some stuff ready-to-go already exported from the modeler that I neglected to import yet (most use textures already in-place, but I don't want to bloat the size right away before the next graphic optimization pass). If I go over 5gb in size, it'll make me either pay for MEGA's hosting, or it'll make you wait and that's not nice (it already takes long enough), and I'm right on that 5gb mark so as-it-is.

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Spent nearly two hours at church cleaning (by myself as often is the case), filled an entire dust-pan with dead bugs from the utility room. It's been years since anyone cleaned in there to any meaningful amount. My goodness. You'd think there had been an ecological disaster in there or something; though contrasting that, the rest of the building is quite tidy for the most part. We do what we must, and that was 110% a must-do. Haven't seen that many bugs since the last Bethesda open-world RPG, it was THAT many!
-That is all!
-The Bob

 

When are you planning on releasing the next update?

 

Most of the games I have run at a good 45+ FPS all the time if its not 60 FPS (Jedi Survivor being the exception) so I am pretty happy with it, but I need to upgrade soonish if i want to play modern games.

I was just saying i'm used to lower framerates and I get an entire article of suggestions lol. The 6750 is a little out of my price range so I was leaning in RX 580 8GB territory. I usually have no issues with Ram and my CPU is MORE than enough for a good chunk of the stuff out there. It's mostly the RX 570 4GB that lets me down.

 

1070 8gb (cheap) or 1080 8gb or 1080 Ti 11gb (pricey) are valid choices. They *DO* make a 16GB (!) RX 480 / RX 580 model, it comes from China and they use ex-mining cards for that (and that's often what you'll get). There's also the 590 8gb model, too - it's just a higher-clocked 580 and that's it (it's the top yield).
Don't write off A-series or pro-series Nvidia or AMD cards. Just make sure they have display outputs (that means they aren't just compute cards, which don't by default work as a GPU nor give an output). Sometimes you can get these CHEAP.
A 1070 or 1080 is around the performance of an RX 480 if not a little faster, so it might be close to your RX 570 also (the 470 and 480 were pretty close, so I'd imagine the 570 / 580 are also close and I know those aren't a big jump over the 470/480 either - maybe 7~10% difference between 400 and 500 series and about a 12~18% difference between x70 and x80 cards on the AMD Polaris models).
The Polaris cards are memory-bandwidth limited, rather severely, so even 16gb doesn't do a whole lot, but it CAN help if you're solely bent on huge 4k texture packs for your existing / older titles. They're 1080p cards, no doubt, unless you have a really old game (10 years or more). So I wouldn't recommend going through hoops just to find a custom 16gb model. Try to avoid scam cards though, those are out there too. You would do well to try and get into a 2070 or 2070 Super, or even a 2060. Even a 1660 6gb is an improvement. Just looking for anything with 8gb, 10gb, or 12gb is a good start. I am sure you'll find plenty after Christmas as people get new cards gifted to them and sell their old ones for cash. So that's a thought, too. There are a LOT of graphics cards out there on the used market, though new ones are a bit thin on inventory so the used market is feeling a little bit of a pinch. When the 5000 series Nvidia cards come out (1st quarter of 2025) there will be a good influx of cards to the used market, as it's been a LONG time since the 4000 series came out. AMD is also readying the 8000 series cards but it could be some months yet until the 8800/8700/8600 models come out - and they're decidedly NOT high-end, choosing to appeal to the masses in-stead of the top 1%.
Set a little money aside every week or two (or month), and keep an eye on the used market on Amazon and Ebay, and if you see a good deal - go for it. If it doesn't show up or doesn't work, get a refund (and send the product back if applicable), and take a spin on the next product that fits the budget.
Or you could send your model in and get more memory put on it, though for an RX 570 4gb it's going to cost twice what an RX 480 8gb / 580 8gb goes for on the used market online.
In-fact, I think I might even have an RX 480 8gb model still hiding in it's box somewhere.
Ya know, that gives me an idea!

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I spent roughly 12 hrs working on this section today. More STUFF! More detail! MOAR LOS INJURUS!

Last shot, possibly the most accurately detailed pot-hole in a modern game / simulation (short of it not being 3D, but there is a bit of a dip in the road there). The ones in GTA V are detailed like these are and 3D but not quite the resolution. No, seriously, I spent 15 minutes on that stupid thing!
2nd last shot (and in the few shots before that) doesn't have plants in it, because I finally got a good matching stone edging texture (since terrain doesn't edge cleanly, but blends gradually between concrete/asphalt and stone/dirt/grass etc). An extra parking-lot is done up in basic detail (the asphalt isn't that detailed YET), so I could try out the stone texturing more - and it looks beautiful and blends 99% in with the stone terrain texturing - also the same stuff I used for the islands in the parking lot in previous shots. This upgrades ALL stone-edging textures already in Los Injurus, so it won't look like pink-ish dirt anymore.
Other shots show the huge new waterfront area and re-done the beach a bit. Lots of lamps and dozens of palm trees added in, too. The main spawn for this section will place you near the 'no parking' yellow-striped area at the waterfront parking lot. There will be a CHICKEN MUNCH and possibly a Burger World not too far from here that I'll add in the coming days, so I can get ready to release this thing by the end of the week (or so I hope!). Might put a Long-Dong Silver's in somewhere, too. Whatever fits. Higher land-value / higher-density areas don't lend themselves well to fast-foot restaurants too much, but I can fit them in somewhere.
6th from last picture above shows the RAISED cross-walk. It won't launch you but could cause loss of control if you go too fast. You're meant to slow down here as it serves a sort-of speed-hump (these are more common in non-US countries, where an in-road crosswalk is raised to sidewalk height, causing normal-minded motorists to slow down a bit). Even if you hit it going 60+ mph you won't catch but a brief second of air-time so not too much worry, but it is 100% realistic.
So entirely, with as much as I've been working on this, putting 12+ hours in today alone, it's long work but good work and doesn't usually make me hurt too badly (unlike many other things!).

The last few shots are work I did last night, after I got home from cleaning up stuff at church so the repair-man could do his thing. Part of the fun of being a trustee, but work I didn't mind doing one bit (cleaning that needed to be done for a long time anyway).
3rd shot immediately above shows the road winding up the terrain to where it hits the repeated S-bends, also shown in the over-view shot which is the final shot. The final shot (while the roads don't show up from this far away) you can see the outline of the S-curves that wind up and down an area which will be a redwood forest interspersed by grassy bits with less trees. It won't have a whole lot of detail between now and the next release, but it has every chevron sign it needs in the corners, and the roads themselves have pretty much all the detailing they need. You won't see endlessly repeating textures in THIS update (not on the new stuff anyways).
For those that want to know, I need 4~5 more solid days of work and then I can upload this for supporters. There WILL be a release publicly of this version following shortly thereafter, if it is at all possible (and it should be, the last public release in September/October was cancelled due to staff workload & server load being too great as they had just gotten the server mod submissions online again).
I have to add two or three (or four) fast food restaurants.
I have to test the AI heavily in this new area (I haven't tested AI in many weeks, since before I was working on the mountain roads). This will take some hours including time to diagnose and fix 1 thing for every 10 things I put in / updated (on average).
I have to fix the park bench texture that does not function (shared resource conflict since 0.33?).
I have to take time to fix the 3-lane AI route for one or two miles of interstate updated in September, since it's still not working right in 0.33 (in both directions, it'll take 1~2 hours).
I have to double-check that the office buildings aren't still broken with odd texture bugs (and that when I fixed them this time, I had to correct another bug I was mid-way through introducing - oops! Double check and triple check your work, folks. No matter how much I do this, I still mess up (mostly due to my brain's 'working memory' being toast due to PTSD). Liken this memory to the space in RAM your computer uses for running the game. It'd be a pain if the game forgot all the buildings or scripts that make things work. Derp. It sucks but I work through it best I can. Don't have a choice here.
I would like to fix the normal-mapping (missing faces) and missing LOD's on the KVNT building. It down-right disappears when you get too far away and has a few holes in the back of the building.
I have to build in a few more lots and finish what lots I've started in the new section (this is going to take the lion's share of the time), so that it's more properly populated and immersive.
So, hopefully by the 15th or so I can get this update online. That should give me enough time to give folks a day or three to test, and then submit it for public consumption (this takes 2+ days due to the size of the project / download and gives staff time to fix anything that comes up on their end from the resource optimization process, if I don't do that here).
I hope clarification this helps. Hope everyone isn't getting poisoned from a Christmas music overdose. I think I'm allergic to that stuff. If I hear ONE more [censored] jingle bell... AhhhHHHH!
Evidently being deaf could have it's benefits, especially in November-December! Never thought I'd so look forward to it. I used to work retail when I was much younger, they started playing Christmas music in October, 10 weeks before Christmas. The same 5 songs by several different artists (20 total songs maybe) on repeat ENDLESSLY. It will make anyone hate it after a while, and should be considered torture or war crime punishable by life in federal prison with the cheek busters with no chance of parole.
I DO love Jesus, but what retail does this time of year is a crime against humanity & morality in general.
--That is all!
-The Bob.
P.S. There's many Reddit threads about that very topic, and quite the many people who feel the way I do. At least my sanity won't die alone.
For fun you can replace the lyrics' word 'Christmas' with 'spending' and 'Merry Christmas' OR 'Happy Holiday' with 'Ear Drum Torture', and replace 'Jingle Bells' with 'Purgatory' and sing it all loudly in the store. Or make every word of the song be Christmas, and occasionally insert the word TREE. It does create a genuinely fun time with those around you and there's no legit way to get kicked out of the store over it. Tell them you have Musical Tourrets Syndrome (sic?).
They tried the whole Christmas in July thing at our town's Walmart in 2018 or 2019 and I read them the riot act over it big-time. They haven't done it since, but they still do it at the Walmart 30 minutes from here. I called it a downright affront to all who are religious (Christianity anyways) and asked them if it was a bit warm out for Christmas, not that my singing stuff is that much better on that subject. Gotta make the best of it somehow, but I'm not putting up with it TWICE in one year, OH NO. Nope. Nada. Not doing it. Greedy [censored] retail corporations' [expletive deleted]. [lots of dolphin sounds, honking, and the like, amidst incoherent angry rambling etc]
(Legal: The Bob is not responsible if you annoy an HOA overlord or your boss with this somehow, and catch a lot of heck for it. Come to think of it, BeamNG isn't responsible for it either, so don't blame them. Fight the power of retail greed at your own risk, but do enjoy doing so and it's for a good cause - everyone's sanity).

 

Dual GPU setup anyone?

 

Do you have any concept art (no matter how rough) of what the general layout of the map will look like, when completed? I am curious about where certain things you have said you would add but not yet started on, like farms, ranches, and areas of forested wilderness in the mountains, are going to go.

On that note, and I don't mean to sound unappreciative when I say this, I think that one of the best things you could do to elevate this map even further beyond its already high level of quality is to pay more attention to the history of the region and how it developed. In my opinion, what has been built so far looks unrealistically homogenous in its modernity even by the standards of California, and to some extent gives the impression of driving around a series of new, planned commercial and residential developments for a city whose downtown you can't reach - although extensively redeveloped in real life, every West Coast city has a district with narrower and/or curvier streets that was clearly planned out over 100 years ago and still contains many buildings from that era. The main city of Los Injurus would be greatly enhanced by such a district (maybe with a historic town square inspired by the one in LA), and you should also consider building one or more villages out in the sticks that are similar to the one in Nevada Interstate, being comprised of older buildings and clearly having a distinct identity rather than surburban development sprawled out from LI, even if most people living there today commute to the city. You could even add a full-fledged Wild West village like the one in High Desert Plains with the explanation that it is either an abandoned gold/silver rush ghost town or a replica built as part of a historical park.

On an unrelated note, whilst the BeamNG dev team are still superstars compared to most others, one real sore point I have is them putting the cart way before the horse when it comes to the World Editor. Native support for cross-map asset copying, unused asset cleaning and mod packing (automatically copying AI roads, time trials and such from the version folder to the mod file where it can be distributed) should have arrived ages ago, long before any road architect or enhanced forest tools. Even with the third-party tool now being available to do the first two tasks (the last still has to be done by hand), there's still a significant hurdle that aspiring mapmakers have to clear to set up a usable map template before even beginning to learn the editor itself, and that, I'm sure, has put off many potential content creators who would turn out to have a knack for the actual editing.

 

You do not know how badly I am waiting for this update to come out.

 

Just so you know (and maybe it'll make you feel a bit better), all (or most) of the above is planned to be included. There's older road textures to make them look less new scattered about (such as the highways outside the city), and older buildings such as the mall, abandoned residential towers, the abandoned Packard plant semi-replica, and some abandoned housing projects that are already in Los Injurus - but that whole area near all the abandoned stuff is going to be an older, largely derelict / depressed area. Up to the point where I'm exceeding resource limitations (be it size on disk / download, Video memory size, DirectX or Vulkan rendering limits, system memory and/or AI route complexity limits), I try to include detail into the environment including older stuff. A large part of the lack of aging is just me not getting around to gussying up the textures to look more aged yet, and some of them do need it.
So do know I hold absolutely no hard feelings - this is all stuff I am thankful to hear - and a great take from another perspective. Yes, old boom-towns will be in the final version, too (especially if I score a sweet deal on an asset pack for it, I don't want to just take other's work and then ask for donations for it unless I PAID for it).
Hearing what others think is a large part of the whole point of Beta/Alpha versions, outside of bug reporting. So worry not - I'm not upset (I have thick skin anyways). Provided you're not chasing me with loud Christmas music while having some Roadrunner-feet equipped (where they spin in a swirl/blur), I don't think I'll be upset anytime soon. SOMEONE MAKE IT STOP! ARGH!

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Me too, this is long overdue. Then I can do something else and have a bit of a break, provided this doesn't all go to heck in a handbag during the release time.
Luckily, ALL BUT TWO of my tasks this week are entirely optional (aside of releasing an update to supporters, which gets fast-tracked to the public-facing servers if it's all good).
This project is getting a release update OR MY NAME ISN'T MUD! Or Chopped Liver.

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I turned on an oldies-country station yesterday in the car, as it's one of the first stations the auto-seek button found (that button still works, the volume knob largely does not as it corroded from disuse). I got about three-quarters of a mile down the road and CHESTNUTS ROASTING ON AN OPEN FAAAAAR came out. I screamed like I had sat upon my thumb-tack collection and promptly pressed the NEXT STATION button. After enduring accidental seasonal torture from other stations and only finding commercials on even more different stations, I said "..and this is why I just listen to W-O.F.F. in here!" W-OFF is just a creative name for turning it OFF. It always plays precisely what you want to hear. Nothing. Nothing but the reminder that my car's exhaust system could probably use a few hundred dollars of work (it's a little loud, but that also lets me regulate the speed even while music is playing since I can hear the engine). Some high-schoolers used to pay good money to get that 'ricer' sound out of their 4 cyl Honda and Toyota cars, mine's had it built-in since I got it. This is because the flange on the forward-facing side of the muffler broke off the (intermediate pipe) exhaust due to rust. The only thing fixing that is going to do is probably earn me a speeding ticket or two, so I haven't been in a hurry.

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Plenty of work has been getting done and a new area is being formed on the hillside above the little tourist-trap beach area I've been building. It'll make more sense as to why it's here when I get it done up enough to show pictures of it. It still looks a wee-bit hideous currently. Expect pictures tonight or tomorrow - as I've been already working on it for TWO days now. This wasn't listed in the to-do's but it was part of the current workflow, so I wanted to get it done first.
FOUR MORE DAYS PLUS TESTING!
--That is all
-The Bob
Announcer voice: "You're listening to W - O F F, ALL NOTHING, FOR NOTHING, ALL THE TIME!"

 

This is good to hear, but what I'd be more interested in is for Los Injurus to have a still-thriving district with more historic buildings that stands out as the original downtown, like the Pershing Square area in LA or Union Square in SF; is anything of this nature planned? In real life, developers spearheading the wave of skyscraper construction in the mid-20th-century, and especially the 21st century (which the current downtown of LI would have been part of) only replaced the most valuable late 1800s-early 1900s-era buildings (the ones that are now preserved as part of historic downtowns) in particularly space-constrained cities; elsewhere, like in most of the USA, their choice of lot site tended to strike a balance between a central location and the presence of a smaller, less important building there that would be cheaper to buy up and replace.

Edit: And one other thing the map doesn't currently have is challenging off-road trails. Although there are backcountry dirt roads, the most challenging thing about them is a few steep gradients that can still be tackled by any low-clearance car with AWD. Do you plan to add any trails with large rocks or other significant obstacles that will actually require a jeep?

 

I know the death-knell of progress and what it means for the beautiful historic down-town areas. I personally shed a tear when the old Hess's Main (formerly Hess Brothers Department Store) met the wrecking ball around 2000 or so, after being vacant for some years since Hess's Department Store was sold-out around 1994 or so (They became a much-less-loved but sort-of-OK Bon-Ton department store chain, in the NJ/PA area). All for the all-mighty dollar! The quest powered by greed never ceases.
There will be a more vibrant down-town area, along with nearby dilapidated stuff a few blocks over. It'll be there, no worries. It'll be a city, a true city. Not a pre-planned one like Reston VA or a town between Philadelphia PA and Quakertown (not far from Souderton PA), who's name eludes me for now. It'll have everything a city and the county it is contained within has to offer. I just haven't had time to build it yet. Yes, it'll have off-road challenges, too - but not nearly as much as off-road focused levels as I don't get into that too much.

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Above, was working on the residential area like the one on the hillside above Laguna Beach, CA. So-far so-good. Should be one of the more detailed spots, though it won't be complete when the update goes out. This is a work-in-progress after-all. I need more variety of homes, though, and a lot more ones that look like they belong in CA. Will get them in soon enough, but again, unfortunately not before the next update.
Below, added some other stuff as well. This is fully connected in ALL directions except one (which I'll get to also after the update, finishing that last one, I have to build more city to make this happen though). Added another CHICKEN MUNCH, BURGER WORLD, WEEDY'S, and a RE-UP MART store (has the partial interior). So for whomever asked for the Chicken Munch chain to have more locations, it's got one more now. Hooray. Sadly, I couldn't name Chicken Munch what I was originally going to name it, a word that shares the reference to Chicken and a male reproductive body part was originally going to be used, starts with C and is four letters. That didn't pass the censor, sadly.
Needless to say, there's lots of stuff added, and a new section of raised rail, but that adds a bit of a question. Where's that raised rail going? Well it dead-ends shortly into the one tunnel and a half-mile into the other end, but it'll get connected to the rest of the system well after the next update. I needed to add it now though because otherwise it'll get too built up in the tourist area and I won't have room to add it in (and it's too shallow for a below-ground traditional subway, sitting mostly on sand which precludes easy cut-and-cover work if the sea-level / water table didn't preclude it outright). Also, below and above, that curbing took FOR EVER. Sheesh. I wish procedural curbing would stay after a reload, but it currently does not.

Will finish up whatever I can tomorrow night. Saturday is AI testing day. Will spill into Sunday if I need it, but once Sunday completes, it's time to upload with the only thing holding it back is if there is a massive screw-up. I've put another back-up in place just now so not too much worries there (at-least I won't lose too much time).
TO-DO LIST:
Fix bench texture STUPID. DO NOT FORGET.
Fix 2 miles (each way!) of highway AI that doesn't work right due to game-engine bug using '3 lane' AI routes.
Fix any AI screw-ups and missing spots here and there in the new areas, surely there are some as it's been almost a month since I tested it and A LOT of stuff was added or redone. Don't expect the AI to be perfect in an early access city in an early access game, but it SHOULD look like it works most of the time.
Script in at-least four or five new spawn points. Hopefully they all get screenshots to give you an idea of where they are.
Double-check height of truck bays for loading/unloading. This is because the white zone is for loading and unloading only. There is no stopping in the red zone. Wait, what? I need sleep.
Get CAT out of Christmas Bush. Pick Christmas Bush back up and make it up-right. I didn't chuck it in there this time, I swear. Luckily six-foot fake trees (thus, it's a bush) don't weigh anything, and weighs even less without cats inhabiting it.
Buy artificial axe. That's how I'm supposed to take down the artificial Christmas Bush in January, right? You cannot use a REAL axe on it.
Marvel at how said Christmas bush looks even remotely good considering all the duct-tape holding it together, post-CAT-caused injury. At-least it doesn't play music. Don't you dare even think about it - I know what you're thinking, don't.
Pay internet bill (don't forget stupid Bob) or The Bob is not going to be uploading anything. This is note-to-self, as it's due not too long from now.
ESCAPE house and general vicinity of computer.
Take over the world. Hey at-least I'm trying, and SOMEONE has got to do it. It's not like it's YOUR world or anything.
I think that's roughly it.
I really hope there is nothing else.
THEY BETTER NOT UPDATE THE GAME IN THE NEXT TWO DAYS, (I don't think they will) BECAUSE THAT BREAKS MORE STUFF!
Buy a newer CPU for this thing, because waiting 10~12 seconds for a screenshot to register is ANNOYING as all get-out when you upload two dozen or so of them. I have to re-load the web browser daily any-more or it gets pokey and really can be annoying to wait for it on every. thing. you. try. to. do.
Let me know if anything else on YOUR end is stupidly broken or really annoying the heck out of you, so I can possibly fix it up prior to this update, because that is what is SUPPOSED to happen.
There better NOT be anything else. I don't want to be chained to this thing for too much longer, even if it is freezing out and the crowded stores are full of ear-torture and marked-up merchandise. The store is out of tail-light fluid, canned bread, and powdered water AGAIN WHY!? WHY!? YOU HAD ONE JOB!
Hopefully by the time I get to releasing the update, I'll have a little bit of reprieve before it's spring and I REALLY have to get to fixing the riding lawn-mower - because yes it's still broken. Since August / September it's been broken and I never did finish fixing it. I fixed one thing wrong with it and something else went out, and I threw the ratchet at it and damned it to a life of garage purgatory until it becomes more cooperative, or until the powers-that-be send AI-powered lawn-mowers in droves after me, to eat me.
Any bug-reports received after tomorrow evening will be past the deadline for submission, (Friday evening, Central time, around midnight probably) thus these fixes won't make it into the next release! So get those bug-reports on the latest public or private beta versions in before 22~24 hours from the time this is posted.
Return to our regularly-scheduled polishing of under-appreciated cat-launcher.
--That is all. Or so should I hope. Boredom would be nice for a change.
-The Bob.
Maybe then I'll figure out the mystery of who was kitching in my kitchen yesterday. Please don't tell me that isn't a thing. I don't believe you. Why would they call it that?
You live in the livingroom, you certainly don't dare die in there. You dine in the dining room. You bed down in the bedroom, and bath (or shower) in the bathroom. You garage things in the garage. You shed junk and clutter by putting it in the shed like most stupid 'Muricans. You hall in the hallway. Why the heck don't we kitch in the kitchen!? Oh life is so un-fair. Or I can just suffice with pressing on random walls repeatedly while also repeatedly going MMMph as if one's going to open, revealing a hidden room of game-changing goodies within. Is it as much fun as naming yourself "NPC" at a bowling alley, so that it displays on the overhead monitor for everyone to see including your niece's high-school bowling team? Probably not. It is however more fun than being at said bowling alley, and having to retrieve your OWN bowling ball from the rafters / above the hole in the ceiling.
I really gotta knock-off the back-to-back 12+ hour days of level-editing trying to get this update out. I think my mind has, (cue Snagglepuss voice) "exit stage left, long ago evennnnnn".
Hope someone will be entertained by this random bit of crazy. Supporter update will be out Sunday sometime, might be late, might be early. No clue, but that's what I'm aiming for. Public update should hit next week (mid to late week) unless I've mangled it again / something goes wrong on the staff's end.

 

Bros progress reports are full on news articles. Can't wait for this stuff!

 

Excellent; now that I know how to make time trials, at some point I am definitely going to make the "Chickenball Run" a real thing and share it as a mod. On that note, is there any chance that you could give the multi-storey carpark closest to the spawn (I can post a picture so you know which one I mean later) a distinct name by putting a sign on the entrance, maybe one inspired by the real-life Red Ball Garage? That's where the rally is going to start.

Also, Los Injurus now has more sensible transit planning than the real-life USA! Can you IMAGINE the uproar if the rich fat cats with beachfront properties were told that there would be not only an elevated rail line blocking their view, but that they'd now have to mingle with the common rabble in their seaside paradise as a result?

 

That's part of the fun I had in building that light-rail line there, knowing how people would be throwing a fit and I'd have every COA (Condo Owner's Association) president beating my door down or sending goons after me if it was reality. It'll have elevated rail stations every 4~8 blocks (half mile to mile or so), I just haven't ported it in yet and sadly won't prior to the update.

---

The Bob just noticed 0.34 game update dropped. Man, Why, WHY, WHY!? This never fails. It's EVERY time I go to release this thing. I still haven't downloaded it, so I'll do that tomorrow and do what I can to 'make it run' and make sure it isn't inherently busted in some crazy way. I'll make the best out of it - but I'm not delaying this barring absolute computerized insanity happening (without the player's input)... what the player does after the level loads in fine is on them though.
Don't worry too terribly. I'll figure it out.
I'm just happy I bashed down my old bowling score (despite the AMF pin-spotter ball-hoarding on my 5th or 6th frame and needing maintenance to rescue it, "help I've been castrated by the pin-spotter! Can you help get me both my [bowling] balls back?" gave the old man quite the chuckle. A stray pin got stuck in the ball-return door, leaving me ball-less, but the swell feller rescued them on short order) and I didn't even get Christmas music poisoning too badly. My old record was a 149, I smacked that clear out of town with a 174 using 5 strikes and 2 spares - and as an added bonus all my fingers still work as good as they do normally. The pin-spotters for the record are AMF 72-80's, a respected model and one of AMF's best. Requires more power than the local alley's old 1958~1986 Brunswick A-2's, but it's a little smarter like not touching the pins if you decide to only bowl in the gutter.
What was redeeming though, was seeing the place at 80~85% capacity or better, when they played normal music interspersed by occasional Christmas songs a few times an hour (every 4th to 6th song was a Christmas one, which I'm fine with). When they switched it over to all non-stop Christmas torture music, it wasn't but 20 minutes later that THE WHOLE PLACE WAS EMPTY. I was one of 3 lanes being used, thus it was less than 10% used. There was no league, there was no huge party group. They left because that rubbish is being SPAMMED EVERYWHERE and most people get sick of it fast, especially retail / food svc workers etc that already had to listen to it for hours. I only stayed because it wasn't costing anything (besides my sanity) at that point. Oh but did I put on the act. Singing all the wrong words. THE MUSIC INSIDE IS FRIGHTFUL, ITS MUCH LESS THAN DELIGHTFUL (Etc) Covering my ears and making a face like someone just backed a train over my child's new puppy.
Oh they can LET IT SNOW, yeah, ONLY if the music is transmitted to the center via a satellite (snow = no reception heh heh). Otherwise, no thanks. It's already snowed twice this year (if not three times). I worked retail 15~25 years ago in a few different times of my life. I'd rather have my fingernails peeled off with a spoon, pee the on electric grass again, or make love to an already-angered late-season wasp-nest, than hear that stuff.
I wonder how much progress I could have (on Los Injurus) if I didn't waste so much time writing these witty/wacky posts out. Oh well, hope it entertains more folks than it offends. Just know that if you would rather hear someone drag a cat across a chalk board (SCREEEEECH!) than Christmas music, you are not alone. We shall at-least suffer together and co-miserate.
Well there is ONE time I'd voluntarily put on Christmas songs. If I replaced all the instruments with flatulence using the midi system on here ... or just very very angry cat sounds might suffice. When I did that with Doom music in 1998 on my brand-new Awe64 sound card, it was one well-earned sore gut after laughing hard for many many minutes with a friend of mine upon replacing the distortion / overdrive guitars (which are leads in Doom midi music) with flatulence. 90's internet was fun, if slow, but did give access to lots of free sound bites. It's a part of the PC Master Race that no one ever dares speak of, but that we all secretly snicker about... stupid things like what I've just explained. I was in high school at the time, and what I did after school hours was still much safer and a better alternative to what some of my friends were doing with illicit substances mangling their brains up. Onto a better note.
Let's see how long it takes to notice that I decorated the Christmas bush in the house with some toilet paper cores - wish I had more but I cleaned the heck outta the bathroom recently. Muahahahaha! *laughs like Ultros about to drop the 5 ton weight on the Opera at the Opera House in Final Fantasy 3 / VI*.
Each day I'm going to stick something random in that Christmas bush. Let's see how much they love their 12 days of Christmas random decorations when I'm done. Cats do not count toward the daily item and are considered a bonus item/prop/decoration - for me - not the Christmas bush.
Then maybe I can go back to figuring out how to take over the world. I just hope if I ever succeed, that I don't have to dust and vacuum all of it.

---

Yes they are like news articles. I wish our local paper and news sites were this verbose and detailed. In-fact I think that last post I made has more pictures than the entire newspaper did in it's last issue (ads non-withstanding). Billy-Joe or Cleatus could jump a riding lawn tractor over 3 single-wide trailer homes and crash into a crowded day care center and they only thing they'd show is the daycare burning down, an angry mother tightly hugging a fireball that she claims is her baby, and that the local furniture store (who's owner is on the city council) is having a sale like they do every day. "Hey look, half of a couch is selling for 50% off, today only!" (I hope no one is offended by my rather terse commentary, but I was making a point. If no ones reads this mess, it's probably for the better. You're definitely not getting these 5 minutes of life back, ever.)
Just that I'm not paying for the paper THESE screenshots are printed upon. Thank goodness!
You will however, get a Los Injurus update (for supporters) in a few days time. Upon successful (or mostly so) verification that the update is largely functional and doesn't beat me in trying to take over the world (stupid AI!), I'll forward it to these servers for public consumption.

---

--That is all for the moment.
-The Bob
P.S. The bold is stuck, again. STUPID TECHNOLOGY!
Guess we have to stay tuned with THE BOB to see what goes wrong on the NEXT EXCITING EPISODE!

 

OK! It's 0-100 hours and I have church in the morning.
Done building stuff. Got a dozen or so more houses built where I'd been building them before.
Named spawn points something sane, need to script them in. In process of doing pictures but stupid thing crashed out / froze up on me (didn't lose but 5 mins of work maybe).
Double-checked my AI implementation, but I DID NOT TEST THIS YET. I just merely double and triple-checked the new stuff and added in a bunch of missing ones and fixed the half-implemented ones (settings were set but it was not 'enabled' for AI using the req'd numeric value).
STUFF IN RED NOT SUPPORTED IN THIS RELEASE:
Traffic lights for AI,
Parked AI,
and FUELING via a button-press at service stations
NOT SUPPORTED IN THIS VERSION / NOT YET IMPLEMENTED. (this is no different than your current version)
However there is now documentation for at-least most of this, these will be one of the first things I start messing with post-release. Plus there are tools to facilitate easier implementation of at-least traffic lights, hooray. That's why I've waited. I knew someone would do it some time soon.
I mess up enough stuff I don't need to try doing unknown things without documentation via a text editor with a brain that has nearly no ability to hold working data sets (PTSD).

You got pictures, because while I typed this, it un-froze (guess it does that sometimes, it's happened before but didn't stay stuck THIS long, has been open 5 days tho).
TODO:
TEST AI. This could take an hour or two. Doubtful it will take more but who knows.
TEST on 0.34 for bugs introduced by that game update. I haven't even downloaded it yet but I'll set it tonight.
Fix park bench texture if it's simple enough. I think my texture is conflicting a shared-resource texture. I expect more of these in the 0.34 update.
Reduce file-size if it's over 5gb zipped, but it shouldn't be much over. If needed I'll remove some outmoded textures. I will have to do this anyway. Could take 1~2 hours.
IF THERE IS TIME I will double-check dock heights for the truck loading bays on some stores.
So I have 2~5 hours of work depending on the work-flow and how things go, which I can easily do tomorrow before 9pm.
I will still be uploading this tomorrow (Sunday, the 15th). Expect a supporter release tomorrow in the evening / overnight some time.
Sorry it couldn't be sooner, but after SIXTEEN YEARS, the computer I built my retired mother in 12/2008 has officially kicked the bucket and I had to hook a new one up for her.
I still have to mess with it some tomorrow but meh, I think she deserved the new one I gave her. She needed a new one more than I did, and it's been sitting there for nearly a year until we actually hooked it up. I still separately have that old intel quad-core Haswell-based PC from ten years ago if this thing goes out (the PC I made Roane County & Nevada on), to use until I get around to fixing this one should the need arise. That said, copying files off her old one at 1~10mb/s was really painful when there was nearly 15gb of data. OUCH. And it liked to randomly STOP, and sometimes crash and kick you off Windows (it'd just go back to the login screen. It's not pirated, that's store-bought full license Windows) too. Since we have 5 cats and two dogs, I told her (upon us seeing the condition of the old PC) to get out the needle and nylon thread and that we're making a fur coat. I just told her to let me know if she finds any computer parts left in that hairball that the mouse, monitor, and keyboard were plugged into. No surprise is was loud but it was a surprise that it worked at all anymore. IT IS BAD. IT IS HORROR STORY / REDDIT POST LEVELS OF BAD. I will try and get a picture of it. Interesting all that fur didn't muffle the cranky fans gasping for air though. I believe it was last cleaned when the pandemic hit and we were 'stuck in the house'. She really needs this for the stuff she does for the church.
So yes, that took some hours away, but I still may have ended up going into tomorrow with work-time on this project regardless.

Needless to say, it's off to the races here after another 2~5 hours of estimated work-load. I will back it up AGAIN prior to checking for 0.34 compatibility.
--That is all!
-The Bob

P.S. Doing the best I can here. I just want it to be presentable. Did add a basic gas station too, there wasn't one for 4~5+ miles worth of driving in any direction.
Again, after this release / when it later hits public servers to some degree of success, I will start implementing the new functions like 'smart traffic lights', 'parked vehicles spawning in', 'scripted illumination for night driving' E.G. street lighting, and 'fueling stations' that have been implemented in the last year or two in the game engine. There are some other new functions to-do eventually, but this is a start. Just know it's planned and it's NEXT.
Gotta get this out the door first, though. We YOU need an update!
Youtubers! Do some reviews when this comes out, this needs some publicity. Alternatively maybe someone could do some piano hauling missions with trucks full of 10+ pianos. Doesn't have to be hauling them off a cliff.

 

Scripted in the spawn points, did the graphics for them. Now takes a full page!
Edited the other graphics that still said 2023 on them, oops. How time flies. Removed the NEW catch-phrase from the last update's spawn points since (derp) they're no longer new.
0.34 is here and downloaded. Yay for interwebs that DOESN'T SUCK. Now to the testing!

TO-DO:
Test for stuff (mostly graphics) that broke only in 0.34 update.
Test AI
Fix bench texture (maybe, honestly I don't really care about it, if but for completeness...).
Make sure it's under 5gb Zipped. Sure wish we supported 7z as that's superior compression. THAT SAID, I will run the optimization tool on this tonight and see how much stuff it breaks. Will back-up prior to doing so (as I'll need to put that stuff back in anyway over here, just won't do so until I am sure this isn't broken from the process and that the public gets a working copy of Los Injurus).
Maybe with a little luck things won't be so broken.
Doing my best to get this running tonight.

When the supporter and public versions release (either), feel free to start making missions, youtube reviews (even for supporter version as there's no NDA here on Los Injurus), or anything else you wish to make. I do not mind one bit.
If you have a HUGE youtube channel (6-figure subscriber count), you can get free access to supporter versions provided you'll link the Patreon page and resource thread for the latest public version. Of-course you can still support the project if you wish.
--That's it for now, will update later with more progress.
-The Bob
This contains some fixes if you're talented enough to self-serve in this manner:
CRASH TO DESKTOP on first load! Oh noes!
Subwaytunnel_mouth instances are all set to scale:0
This is evidently bad, and not correct, is less than 0.0001 minimum req'd by the game, thus is divides by zero and that = desktop simulation AND crash to desktop simulation.
Set scale:1 on all 26 'subwaytunnel_mouth' instances in the forest file folder (Los_Injurus/forest/subwaytunnel_mouth.json). If it crashes for you and a page or two up on the beamng log it says 'subwaytunnel_mouth below the minimum scale of 0.0001, this fixes it.
Preventative maintenance: Setting the min / max scale(s) to 1 in the forest brush for subwaytunnel_mouth will prevent this in the future. Does not crash 0.33 but crashes 0.34 to desktop.
Unhandled exception due to scale:0 on a forest brush and the suggested work-around reported to staff.
Line_yellowblack texture is broken / missing / glitched.
Alpha clip is on again GRRRR
F11 to enter the world editor.
Find the MATERIAL EDITOR if the window does not open automatically, or find it in the menus
Find texture/material line_yellowblack (exactly this, not m_line_yellowblack that's a shared default resource).
Find in options below for 'ADVANCED ALL LAYERS' the ALPHA CLIP checkbox
Uncheck this alpha clip checkbox.
Scroll back up and hit the disk icon for save materials.
ALL TEXTURES WORKING ON 0.34 except for park-bench texture that was broken already.
THIS IS GOOD NEWS!
Haven't tested all the new spawn points but the ones I did are working.
-So far so good on 0.34.
AI testing is next.

 

This is the best early Christmas present ever.

 

UPLOADING NOW. 4.78GB! SUPPORTER RELEASE IMMINENT WITHIN THE HOUR!

---

Glad to hear it. Working hard over here. Doing my best.
Going to get this shipped out tonight or my name isn't chopped liver.

---

Got more terrain materials working. Last 5 layers don't work so don't use those (these have been broken forever, and aren't implemented or are over the 32-layer limit, you won't notice this though as they're not used anywhere).
FIXED LOTS OF BROKEN AI! Used the nav-mesh driveability visibility layer to do this.
A few screw-ups in the new spots but actually it's quite few.
Fixed some stupid intersections (AI) especially over by the 11-foot-8 bridge / can-opener bridge(s) and abandoned mall.
Not everything is perfect. Sometimes AI roads join stupidly. I'm going through and slowly fixing this, but I'll get more on that when I do traffic lights.
I mapped the bench-textures. There were two, one was missing the graphic and map-to, other was missing altogether (but this might have been broken a year or more). If it doesn't fix it, well, then I've done what I could this time around (they're seldom used) and will have to get it next time.
Spawn points seem to be good (didn't try them all but tried 3 of 5 new ones thus far.
Currently testing AI, seems fine. 16-core CPU is great for simulating a traffic jam. Why anyone would WANT to do that is beyond me, but it sure works great for testing highways - side-roads not so much! AI DRIVES SLOW in some of the new rural routes so maybe spawn sparing amounts - not 15~20 of them like my dumb[censored] did!
Never-the-less, going to finish testing AI and will get to the make-sure-it's-less-than-5GB part of things now. Otherwise it'll make you wait on MEGA for supporter downloads (and that's bad), and the staff will shove porcupines down my pants when they get the server bill (for everyone downloading Los Injurus).

I wish there was Someone here to gift me a keyboard. This thing is losing it's mind and not registering when I hit buttons sometimes. I thought I was losing it or my hands weren't working when they should (they DO sometimes do that), but I heard the click (it's a clickey keyboard) so I know I pushed that [censored] thing enough to register (why I got it). The mouse is starting to do it too now, though. I thought hey maybe it's the game - nope it's done it some other times like the web browser or in File Manager / Program Manager (explorer) in the OS. I think I'll put up with it until I get a new machine, we'll see if that one works better. This didn't always do it, so maybe it's just getting old me-thinks. It is nearly 5½ years old (bought parts in July 2019, but I upgraded the CPU and then ended up replacing the motherboard in fall 2020, cause 16-core CPU's evidently eat cheap Asrock motherboards at stock settings). Video board is about 2 years old, got it when it was less than a year old, so that's a keeper for sure. Still thinking of upgrading the motherboard/cpu/ram setup one day soon, as it's starting to get a little pokey on a few things (as stuff gets updated, uses newer instruction sets that I don't always have, which is usually after the instruction sets have been out 3 years for market-saturation reasons).
It's alright though, no one has to send me a keyboard, I will buy one after the holiday season is over and things get cheap (though, there may be tariffs, I don't mind those).

Added the redwood forest into the switchback area. Hope it doesn't axe anyone's framerate too much.
-That is all for now.
-The Bob
Expect to get a message from the Patreon if you're a supporter within the next 12 hours or so. I think it puts them out instantly but who knows, trying not to fall asleep on myself here but I think I can manage.
STILL AWAKE, UPLOADING NOW. 4.78GB! SUPPORTER RELEASE IMMINENT WITHIN THE HOUR!
Hopefully nothing is too terribly busted in it, so I can eventually forward this to the public servers. Would be nice for a change.
--- Post updated ---
It may be 0-100 hours on Monday, but the upload is complete and posted, ready for supporters to grab and try out. Maybe we won't have to keep the fire extinguishers handy this time... ehhh maybe leave it nearby if it already is.
So yeah, check your emails, you should have a link if you are a supporter.
If you'd like to support this project and try out this update before most others, you can do so here:
PROJECT LINK CLICK HERE
Signing up for the Patreon gives you immediate access to any and all posts, not just my gratitude, and of-course access to pre-release early access Los Injurus in all it's steaming glory!
One thing is for sure, it is WONDERFUL to be able to have the time to work on this now that the cold season is here. I have about 3x more free time now at-least, if not more (on the good days, though there's still some days where my time gets munched and munched to no end leaving me scrambling and just hoping I don't pass up one of my own legs or something).
Thank-you to all those who support this project. I truly mean it.
Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate, and to those who're religious, God Bless.
...and yes, I sing Christmas songs in church quite proudly (you'd never know I can't stand it in stores), and for the third week in a row, did the first half/third of the Advent reading. I don't mind. I just told the lay-lady to ball up some paper and chuck some over at me if I don't get up soon enough - but she hasn't had to (the forgetfulness!) - YET. Glad we can't afford ACME anvils.
That's okay though, there's always next week.
Hooray, now that means I can sleep tonight. I hope I remember how.
Enjoy the update to those who support this.
DO KNOW THAT OCCASIONALLY I GRAB A PORTION OF THE PROJECT FUNDS (when they aren't needed on the project right-away) AND BUY FOOD FOR THE LOCAL FOOD BANK / SHELTER, OR DO THINGS FOR THE CHURCH (which does things for the local schools). I'm just being transparent, and I don't want anyone local going hungry, freezing to death, and it also helps the kids at one of the local schools get school supplies and winter coats. It helps make the world go round.
So yes, thanks, thank a million. Your donations help me get Los Injurus going via assets/textures/models/software packages & upgrades, and help me help others.
--Cheers!
-The Bob
P.S. Let me know what if anything is broken especially serious stuff (except the stupid park bench, the textures SHOULD be fixed but it's not priority).
IF NOT THAT MUCH OR NOTHING SERIOUS IS BROKEN, I can fwd this to public release by the end of the week.

 

First off, thanks for all of the hard work as always.

As to this:

Keep doing good.

 

you gotta love MEGA
you used almot all of your transfer volume give us money or wait 5+ hours
my download is at 4,63 gb out of 4,78gb

not your fault BOB i just hate that site with a passion