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

Well, technically BeamNG has something other than T3D, as BeamNG branched off from T3D years ago, today's T3D is quite different from game engine that BeamNG uses, but still some things are compatible and usable too.

New things like PBR for example are not something that are in BeamNG while those are in new T3D, then again I have seen PBR in rF2 and I'm not sure if there is so much to it than hype let's you think, it does not look that special, but under the hood it might be nicer.

I'm not sure how compatible Terrain Master would be then, depends how much customization BeamNG game engine has compared to 'vanilla' T3D I guess and I'm totally loss at licensing schemes, is something under MIT usable for BeamNG?

It is very interesting though and backporting some new stuff from T3D might be faster than developing it from scratch, even BeamNG is doing their own engine at this point, but licensing is always something which can complicate things.

I would love to have tiled terrain, but I think it was not on any near term lists or even bit further term lists if I remember correctly?

 

just wanted to say im excited to get this map back into my game (brand new install of windows etc) so once I do I am expecting it to run like butter with my new 1070...isn't that the GPU you use Bob?

 

I have a rather comparable RX 480 8gb with about 1300mhz core-clock on this card. You should get comparable if not slightly better FPS than I do - which as of 0.15.x is 60fps or better in ALL areas of the map, without any exception that I could find. It's closer to 80~110fps through the much less developed areas, and 65~90fps in the city sections depending on which way you're facing. So I am sure you can have a number of cars and or props bouncing about and not have any obvious lag. The city is designed with performance in mind. I would sooner sacrifice a bit of eye-candy to have it run on lesser configurations then have a super-fancy looking thing when looks do nothing to increase the function or fun-factor. It WILL STILL LOOK NICE however, as nice as I can make it with reasonable performance. I'd sooner go back and add in a little extra detail as-needed (with additional models or variations) then have to re-do things *again*. Have had enough of that for now.

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Would like to get some more buildings done before the week is out, and I have some 'donated buildings' I am going to try and get added in over the next few days - thanks to the kind folks on there.

Buying some 4k fancy textures this week, so hopefully, no more MUD textures! Was going to go 8k, but to be honest, at 90MB per texture (minimum), that's a little steep where many folks are still using 2~4GB cards, including the AMD FX 6300 test system I have beside me (not this one!) which only has an Radeon HD 7850 2GB (Asus Direct CU II model), with 8gb of system memory. Plus, 8k costs twice as much, and the quality would be wasted without better lighting/shadow effects and without a more dynamic map. I can do so much more with detail textures now (the grain of the surface is usually done like this, only visible up close within a few feet of the texture at 1080p), since I have a little wiggle-room with draw calls post-game-update.
Purchasing textures comes with a little bit of a preamble here: I don't believe the license on these purchased textures for my map will be free-beer, I am just buying rights to use and re-distribute these textures with my map(s), I will have to look into seeing if they will able to be legitimately used by other mod authors (if this is possible at reasonable cost, not enough to derail this project, it will be made so). To my best knowledge, I am just buying the rights to use these for my maps. If such limitation is the case, I will make sure that if my Modular Road Kits use any, that I have suitable quality 'free' replacements that other folks may use if they wish to build a city using said Modular Road Kit. Seeing as I've designed most of my own textures, where I haven't yet sourced them from BeamNG.drive itself, this isn't a large stumbling block in and of itself and certainly not an issue hosting the map here at this time. I will do what I can to keep things simple and straight-forward here, and keep the commercial assets with differential licenses to their own folder, this protects not only Myself, but BeamNG and everyone else, too from the rigors or unpleasantries of DMCA.

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In other news, I've gotten things straightened out after some absolutely disgusting RAID 5 performance reports on my PC, and decided to use a RAID 10 array for my project storage. In addition to that, I will have things backed up to an additional 'off-line' (unplugged) HDD weekly and my usual online MEGA solutions, so hopefully data loss shouldn't be an issue. NO hardware to this date has been purchased with Patreon funding. I've been saving every penny of said funding, so I can buy everyone the right to cruise past beautiful textures, through glamorous commercial facilities like shopping malls, and get immersed with not just fancy sights but sounds, too. When I purchase enough textures or assets, I will reimburse with said monies - until then, this project comes out of pocket. It's just that much more incentive to me to keep the ball rolling. Good thing Bob likes Cereal, PB&J and Hot Dogs.
I still haven't ghosted the system over, I've given that a few days, so I don't choke this thing (no matter how much it deserves it).

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The map is 95% back to where it was prior to the data loss in week 4 of December, less the sandy beaches under the long bridge. I should have some new city shots in in the near future.
Currently building: Some apartment high-rises (10 or more floors). I will do both high-rises and medium-rise (4~12 floors) buildings in a manner which I can quickly re-skin through a text editor as I prepare or purchase more textures. This way it keeps development hauling you-know-what and will provide optimal variation with the least amount of time modeling. This helps me do the work of 2 or more people while retaining most of the sanity of one person.
Also I am prepping some textures for an airport and the military base. Those should be quite fun to build & I will be using REAL AIR STRIP specifications to build them, markings and all. Extra attention will be paid so that pilots and drivers both have an enjoyable time in the air, even in vehicles that don't have wings.

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Does anyone have information on ANIMATED COLLADA specifications for BeamNG? This game world is far too stale and life-less. It needs some LIFE. I have 0 information on this and it would look good for some rotating or otherwise animated signs, and maybe some moving escalators or elevators visible in glass commercial buildings (even though it wouldn't move the car using the model itself, I can do movement I believe with localized zones in the object editor that apply force to the vehicle from my best knowledge).

@Brother_Dave I would love to have tiled terrain. While we technically can use tiled terrain now, the vehicle will not collide or otherwise interact with more than one terrain. The best one can do with the current tech in this engine right now is an infinite ground plane like PURE GRID (map) has, plus the terrain, or using Collada object DAE files to extend a skybox or driveable space around the existing terrain.

I want to again thank Patreon folks for sticking out with the project here. Don't forget to tell your friends, and do GET IN TOUCH over private message if you have questions, concerns, or have just recently signed up and have not yet received your first copy of the map to test. I am doing my best to get an updated version out by month's end.
-That is all for now!

EDIT: For what it's worth I did send an email out about licensing questions on purchased textures for use in my mods to the license holders, to see what the specifics are if others in the BeamNG community can use them or not when they're purchased for use in the map.

 

Just a teaser pic of some sources for what I am beginning modeling.
A derelict and a non-abandoned version are coming to the map. They will otherwise be quite similar. Already made the windows for the non-abandoned version. The non-abandoned version will have much more to it, and be a larger complex.
Yes, this the first of many abandoned housing projects (but not the first or even 2nd abandoned building/complex) going in the map. There will be many still-populated complexes also. It's not going to be all shiny new pretty things and 5-star restaurants, you know.
This is real, because this is America, I'm not about to sugar coat this one bit. I have to live here too (though not in a project at the moment!), so I'm going for reality.
Look for some in-editor or in-game shots in the following days.

 

Just a bit of progress on the non-dilapidated version, it's 15 floors and not too run-down. This is a bit early on and it's missing it's entrance and it's grounds yet, and the roof elevator 'shack' / maintenance door yet. It'll get them in shortly.
The dilapidated version will come shortly after this one's done, that one's going near the abandoned mall.

 

Will there be any lakes planned for Los Injurus?

 

Yes, large one in center of map. It's huge.

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The rooftop is done. Had a few days off as wasn't feeling well (physical health issues, not 'sick' as in a cold), rough patch lately.
Have to do ground-level details and main entry-way & lot yet. That's a full day or two yet.
Next beta by Feb 2nd I'm hoping, for Patreon members. Both derelict and non-derelict versions of these 'Brewster-Douglas' style towers will be in the map. The derelict version will more closely resemble the teaser pics I put in last week.
Can't wait to drop some pianos off this, it will be the tallest building yet @ 16 floors or so high (not including roof utility shed) but there will be MUCH, MUCH taller ones in the future.
Hopefully after this next batch of weather clears, maybe I'll feel a little bit better and get more done! 3~4 day migraine is NOT fun folks, thankfully they don't normally last THAT long.
The building, hopefully will stay under 12~15 draw calls entirely (which is really good considering a tiny house is about 6~15 or so). Building is currently 136 poly-surfaces, a decent video card could easily draw 1000 of them on screen and not slow down below 60fps. Good for the goals of making a vibrant city, even if some spots are deliberately derelict.
Entirely going to make sure there's plenty - and I mean plenty - of jump opportunities on the derelict lot, with mountains of rubble, etc.

 

Damn, this map is looking amazing.

 

After a Saturday filled with EXCRUCIATING joint and back pain, a productive Sunday morning shows some more progress on the non-dilapidated version of Brewster-Douglas (Frank Douglas Tower), it will be TOWERS when it's done, plural. There will be four taller towers, and about 8~12 shorter but longer variants.
Why a housing project, with so much pain and misery (of it's most recent occupants) again? This is America, this is reality, there's nothing gained from hiding that fact. It's all the more realism to pack into the map, also.
Not too satisfied with the door texture, will find something better in due time. The ones from ECA were worse, however. Doors and windows are overlays, and the front/back doors (and windows around them) will batch since the overlays for the backdoor & attached windows are identical (deliberately) even though aren't attached to any of the other window overlays (yes I use overlays, this will expedite creating variations of the building both the same size and not). I do drag on modeling buildings, it seems to take forever, but if I do it that way, I do my best work, work that only has to be done ONCE (aside of minor bug-fixes or touch-ups), and work I can re-use quickly and easily in other forms, textured differently or not. See pictures at the bottom of the post for more info.

Will take the time to peruse GTA IV for some examples of what to model, test out it's map flow a little more, though not as good as SA, it's still got decent map flow. If Rockstar has done one thing right ever since and including GTA SA (or any of the 3D series), it's make a map with good flow. You can't have everything connected all the time as it will also lose the opportunity to make the map feel larger in the same space, it's also not very practical/realistic for everything to always be connected, and not to mention VERY boring, as it does not challenge the player to find a way there. Regardless of where 'there' is, it will still be an adventure, full of plenty of distractions to both content and entice the sense. That's immersion. It's also fun to try to get from point A to B (a little challenge gives the player a goal, which is not impossible), and getting past that challenge/ eventually finding the way there, makes the player satisfied and keeps them interested, and looking for new goals. That's a lot of what made Roane County TN a good canidate for a map in this game and a lot of reason I chose it. It's also to that end the reason for the sky-high-highway in parts of this map (admittedly it is NOT very practical), not just because of the view you get, but it's also creating artificial separation in the map though use of the vertical drop to get to any other roads (also good in a car accident simulation).
Conversely, too much separation and it can take the player too long, they may give up, cheat past or not enjoy it, and hence that breaks FLOW of the map. So where you have rivers, you have bridges. Where you have cliffs, you'll have the snaking road that we all love for drifting (or just plain botching it and falling down), to allow access up and down (not fun during timed missions though!). Where you have a large lake, you'll sometimes have a very long ornate 'focal-point' bridge going across it (tabling this decision currently for the lake in the center of the map, the highway that ends at it is possibly one that may connect, or just end in an unfinished construction project). The bridge would be beautiful suspension type, but, I stop there as that may create too much flow and make the map more boring, or make it feel artificially smaller. It's something to consider, and I can always provide other means to cross it like boat docks (and boats, which someone else would have to volunteer to make as currently BeamNG has none that I am aware of).
So, to make a long story (post!) short here, there's a lot of things not set in stone, but one thing is for sure, and that's me doing my best to make an awesome map. I will be doing the lot for the building in short order and you folks will be able to see progress on that in the coming days. I will try and make the lot in a somewhat modular manner so I can mix & match pieces later for extended usability later on down the road.

Pictures attached: Front and back entrances of the new building. Ignore buildings in the background, they were only for a sense of scale.
EDIT: Stairs are done front and back (only added two draw calls, the back stairs are identical and will batch when the front ones are done for no performance impact). All brick is linked, all concrete is linked.
Building should still be under or about 20 draw calls I believe. This is good, that's what it needs to be!
The derelict building will have boarded up windows and doors and the usual graffiti etc, but otherwise identical in footprint / design. Graffiti might be a few extra draw calls but otherwise shouldn't be much different.
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Thanks! The good comments from all are very encouraging - such a nice community here.
No matter where you live in the USA, there might just be a building to invoke the brain's memory of passing such a building in prior travels - or at-least that's what I am trying to do. Though, that being said, these buildings are tiny compared to what I will have in store for later on down the line.

 

PROGRESS!!! Hooray!
Despite absolute debilitating issues yesterday, and some lingering pain today, I've managed to do something with that tower - the non-derelict version, anyways.
Introducing, the Frank Douglas Towers:


I hope the screens meet everyone's expectations. I sure had fun making this one tonight.

--That is all!

 

I like. Also, the 6th shot reminds me of L.A.

 

Thanks! It should, as that is because I've intentionally given it some of those vibes. The part with the abandoned mall will look more like the rust-belt, this area will be a lot like LA, and there will be some other parts that will have their own similarities to other towns. A little bit of everything should satisfy most folks.

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...and who needs a Pessima Hatchback?, one of a kind! This won't last long (especially with all the jumps in this map...)! It runs and drives just fine!

 

Another building is being modeled... coming soon!
Just a little snippet of things to come (only a partial section of the building's facade is done yet).

 

looks like an elementary or middle school building

 

That elevated highway gives me some Generic City map vibes, classic. Love it

 

Just a snipped of what I've done today. It's about the only thing I've done. It's at-least half done, more like two-thirds of the way.
What looks like two separate buildings there in the angled shot (because they are) will be one long continuous building. They're both slightly different sizes. 95% of the UV's are already linked (those are texture faces, this keeps draw calls A.K.A. CPU-load down to a minimum), and much of the texturing is already done. It's a large building that will go next to the snake-like on-ramp across from the CHICKEN Munch restaurant (on the lot with the rounded on-ramp overpass going above it). That's also why there was what looks like the beginnings of a park there, too, with a large newly-paved lot nearby (that lot is next to the highway itself, down a block, which is for this lot's staff parking requirements). Yes, it's entirely a school, and it's entirely meant to look like the typical American school building built in the 1950's~1960's suburban population boom. As it's current location is deep within the suburbs, it's unlikely it will be able to be driven through - though that could be fun - just the nature of it would mean another 100+ draw calls easily, and it's much much too early to budget that heavily for this type of thing in a map this large. There will be other buildings you will have interior access to, in varying degrees, so no worries.
@SHOme1289 you win You were spot on. You did NOT win by default being the only guesser, but you won that one.

@98corolla you have one too? I got an 03 Corolla as my daily driver, 158K on mine. Amazon has Haynes Repair Manuals CHEAP (this is in response to a received like). Love the car, but my bad back hates it - wish mine was a stick. Probably will have car for 10 years yet - but beware of dry-rotted suspension parts if you haven't been under yours in a while.

 

oh cool yay i feel special haha (i need to feel special, since I lost my freaking car key this morning ughhh)

 

Check if they've fallen to the floor of the car, or you've left them in the ignition 1st. I always keep TWO sets (separate from my house keys, yes!) with me just in-case I lock the keys in the car (I would have done that last month if I hadn't), also, if I leave the vehicle run, and someone hops in it, they can't get into my house. Corrupt informants have already stolen my last car, not getting this one as easy (not when the keys were in). So yes, keep your keys separate. I started doing that years back when GM (even though I had a Sable, a Mercury Ford Motor Co. product at the time) had the big ignition recall issue where bumping it could shut off the car, heavy key chains can do it. If you have your house keys separate, and you lock your keys in, you can Uber, Lyft, call a cab Co. or get a friend to take you home to get another set (Amazing things friends do for 20~40$ Always pay your friends, even if it's an I.O.U. until payday!!!). If you warm up your car in a cold climate often needing keys, this also helps make sure no-one can get in your home if they get the keys.
Check pants pockets from yesterday, coat pockets, if you have pets make sure the cat didn't bat it onto the floor behind something, too. No ones perfect, but it helps to always put them in the same place. Get a bin on your dresser or in the closet, or you can hang your keys up on a key-holder on the inside of your closet (where a house-burglar couldn't see them readily!). Hanging keys in plain view is REALLY stupid. I'll be 40 years old in 3 years. You don't want to know all the odd places I've left or temporarily lost my keys.
Off-topic some-what, does SHOme mean 'Taurus SHO' by any chance? My ex and I had one, I LOVED that car, had a 1993 with a chip/tune and a racing performance clutch & cold air intake. 5 speed manual black with tan leather. Great car! Had to take ex's kid to the doctor in Philly back when I lived in PA (about two hours from Philly) and I got on the freeway and wasn't even off the ramp when someone in the car said "GEEZ YOUR DOING 90!" ... I responded with a resounding OOPS, my bad. Gosh I miss that car.

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On another bit of off-topic, MY Windows 95 capable CD-ROM disc of SLINGO came today! Woohoo, gonna be having some fun with that one later - but only when my school building is completed in a few hours. So I must get that done 1st. Most of the buildings (80%) are already done (yes, buildings, the sections are separate, will be merged shortly for this model, but most schools will have the same theme going aside of a few odd-balls, can re-use these to speed creation of other facilities). I should hopefully have this done today.

THEN I get to start on the airbase island installation. That should be fun! Complete with aircraft hangars and an air-strip, it will just be labeled a 'Joint Military Base' for now. I want to get the air-strip and a few of the buildings / sea-wall around the base done before I ship this out, because I will need feedback on that. Beta should be out at some point in the first week of February.

FEBRUARY'S game plan:
I will then take a week or two to get my other maps up-to-speed, likely two weeks, because ALL THREE other maps of mine either are completely broken, or have glitches resulting from the engine updates with the game.
Roane County TN USA broke on 0.14.x due to the changes in graphic formats with transparency. Also the road in Kingston (Kentucky St exit on the highway) is a flicker-fest of death.
Roane County will get a bunch of bridges updated to the new versions available in this map here. They're easier to display and also more detailed, though it shouldn't impact FPS noticeably but will help make the map feel much much higher quality.
Nevada Interstate and Tail of The Dragon are COMPLETELY BROKEN and do NOT run unless you delete the levels/MAPNAME/art/buildings/MOTEL folder, clear cache (delete the shaders folder in cache!), then the maps will run. The motels will be replaced with one custom-made for Tail of The Dragon (that'll take 2 days at most, I hope), and will be shared with Nevada Interstate. Maybe I can make the 'Tree of Shame' while I am at it (I will just make a skin of parts I can place over an existing tree, they're complicated with the wind-sway and all that jazz).
So worst-case it's going to be third week of February before I get back to this once the beta for this has been put out in the 1st week of February. Any delays encountered along the way, will result in deadlines being pushed back a bit, I have put off fixing these maps long enough. Hopefully the game doesn't update in March and break everything again :x That's happened more than I care to share.
Will speak with the developers on that subject before I get onto the other maps next month.
There will also be a number of doctor visits (and lots of doctor bills, ugh) next month, so maybe I'll be doing a lot better and suffering a lot less by this time next month. I can't take this back pain anymore, I can't even drive all the way to town / get through the grocery store many days I am in so much pain and have no mobility mostly due to my back. More time to be stuck at the PC to make models I suppose - but it's GOT to get looked at, there's little quality to life these days with the suffering.

I want to thank all the folks supporting this map on Patreon and yet-again apologize for the slow progress, but it's just picking up again and it should be fairly clear sailing for a while, and the current buildings being added to the beta should be of great quality especially compared with the simpler stuff from before.

--Cheers!

 

LUCKILY, my boyfriend found the lone key under the table in the living room. so thank god for that lol (still sucks cuz I gotta take uber home for like 30 bucks because of traffic).

Yes, my name refers to the SHO, I used to have an emerald green loaded 94 MTX with a turbonetics turbo and tune, some other bolt ons. That car was super fun, I wound up selling it for more than I bought it for back about 9 years ago.

 

Just got the front of the cafeteria and most of the rest of it finished up, though I'd share. This is the lower entrance here, showing part of the cafeteria building (with some windows integrated into the raised roof area to let lots of natural light in and make the space feel larger than it really is). Hopefully this all clears the raised ramp (it should) as I shouldn't be moving it at this point. Will re-shape the building as-needed if so.
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Get some copies of that made, even if it's a chip-key, it'll still get you into the door if you lock your keys in without the key having the chip in it, you just won't be able to drive with the spare (if it's a chip-key), the fuel pump will shut off (on some models, along with lots of horn sounds and lights). Good thing y'all found that, not fun! Dealers can cut chip-keys but it costs about what your Uber did.
Thank goodness for Uber, 30 bucks or not. It's much quicker than calling a cab especially if you're in the suburbs and not down-town. Will have to make a taxi place in my map, actually.