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

Thanks, for 10 surfaces comprised of one draw call (all the doors that color/style have been duped to keep draw calls to 1 for all of them - thank-you 0.14.x batching!), they do look nice. Was thinking of kicking it up to about 20 surfaces to make 3d for the handle and door-closer-mechanism... but I didn't do it because 'is it really necessary?' set in, and it's in a driving game. Time will tell.
The 'pat myself on the back and say I made this', well, if I'm not proud of it when it's done, it doesn't go in the map (or it gets worked on until I am, and then goes in). The textures are an exception (some of them), because they are place-holder textures until I am done with those, otherwise they would have held up verifying the map geometry process, and no one would have gotten to preview it yet (that wouldn't be fun). As-stated before I still need lighting in the building, that and a zone (and a few HVAC ducts) will really complete the immersion inside, and maybe some grunge textures for the floor, too. Thinking of the typical sulfer-infused lighting that's got the amber color to it, as I remember that a lot from parking decks, it could end up white though. The zone will color the bulbs for me so I can test with white light and change it out if necessary.

Buildings like this sadly are an exception rather than the rule (computers still cannot reliably handle every last building have a realistic detailed interior, not in a driving game at the FPS we demand, BeamNG physics non-withstanding from the argument). However, do expect more detailed buildings in the future as I can use bits and pieces of this to expedite creating buildings elsewhere (and because otherwise, it's just a confusing layout of roads with jumps scattered about, see? There is a method to my mapping-madness). Buildings will only be this detailed if they are to be center-pieces for exploration in missions, places you start or finish, or common places like the Burger World or a Subway Station. Things like apartments or homes that you do nothing but blast past, will only be as detailed as basically necessary. If you want to have a huge immersive world, there are still some things that computers require us to cut corners on. Maybe in 5 more years when DX12 / Vulkan has caught on more, we won't have to worry so much about being stuck on the single-threaded draw call logistics of getting geometry rendered on-screen (says one of the last guys on Windows 7 Pro on the block - you can get DX12 on 7 now though, but only if the game is patched explicitly for it). For what it's worth, when Windows 7 is done-for next year, I'll likely replace the machine as it'll be over 5 years old by then, who knows when it eventually will go POOF and let out the magic smoke (don't want that in the middle of my editing sessions). Trying to hold-off until then.

Ryzen 3xxx 7nm (not APU, APU is 12nm 2xxx-based GLOFLO chips!) series is looking good, with 4.5ghz on the lower-end chip turbo clocks, PLUS a 15% boost, PLUS 256-bit FPU's, PLUS double-through-put on FMA numbers, plus better instruction op cache, prefetcher improvements (keeps hitching down by getting next stuff in pipeline ready in cache!). To my best knowledge, best chips should be even better on clock-speed. I could have snagged BRAND NEW Ryzen 1700 CPU in the box retail for 41.99$ but it wouldn't have at-all been an upgrade *sigh*, that hurt the inner-nerd in me to pass that up, but alas, I have a stack of core 2 duo and quad machines that still function (some have brand new parts!) to get rid of yet before I can do *that*.

--That is all.
--- Post updated ---
So entirely, that nondescript building needed a sign.
So normally it's just 'County court-house' or 'City court-house' but, meh, that's just 'meh'. Let's spice it up with the real-sounding county name. It's California-inspired or general south-west looking around here (well it's supposed to be, and it might just be, when it's done!), so we need a Spanish-sounding county name. Let's think, what's a Spanish-sounding county name - ah yes - Nogales County. But we can't use that as that would give us an exact setting and a real place, and that would be too limiting. Let's make up a name... switch some letters around and we'll name it 'Nalgones County'.
So I present to you, the sign for the building...

Kudos if you understand Spanish, haha I said it would be good, didn't I?
Have to do some more detailing today on the building and the lot. Well the lot will get done if anything else.
--Cheers

 

Police Department lot got done tonight. After I had some fun driving around the map for a good hour or more, and I hardly touched half the roads.

So there is parking for police vehicles, walled in, there's a space for detainee drop-offs, with the fence and the razor-wire and all that, as the single-floor part of the building houses a range and a detainee booking/holding area. The taller part of the building is for things mentioned on the sign: courts, Police Dept administrative offices, Tax Assessor (spelling is off, will fix), and 'general fleecing' of the public / tax-payers.
Plenty of parking, some plant-life, and a small walk-way from the garage to street level for those that don't wish to walk through the garden. Should be real enough. Also darkened one of the concrete textures (which is the roof of the lower part of the building, and the floor inside the garage, it was too bright in-game). There is a door onto the roof of the lower part of the building (and a roof-access door on the high part for what it's worth) because the lower part of the building may eventually have a helipad marking on it for the police department helicopter. When/if we ever get helicopters in this game, I will tackle that when the time comes / when there is demand.

--That is all.

 

"HEY THAT'S NOT NEW! GRRRR WHAT ARE YOU DOING BOB!?" "GRRRR LOUD WORDS IN BIG LETTERS, I ARE ANGERY!"
No, really, it's not new, but I'm going back and optimizing these. The residential buildings need to be optimized, and some given better textures, too, now that I have some to give them (I won't have to go back and optimize much else aside of a some road objects but only as-needed). Not only did I not know as much about about UV's but they were done 'just good enough' to put out for a concept. Now that the concept is full speed ahead, I have to fix them, not to mention, make some more variations (more different shaped houses, some with more or less floors, additions, and so-forth, not just 'palette swap' like NES/SNES/Genesis days). We don't need all the neighborhoods looking THE SAME, not for a community-funded project mod. Also, I will make it so if you go flying during a crash, you don't get stuck on the edge of the roof (I found out how with some experimentation). Many UV's on these smaller houses that COULD or SHOULD be connected / sewn, are NOT.
So entirely, expect a little (not that it is required, but always nice) FPS improvement, especially on machines with marginal CPU's.
Stupid errors like edges looking dark for no reason will be fixed (U-V edge / surface facing issues), too, while I am at it.
So expect better quality the next time around (and some better textures on a few of them!).
Folks who submitted houses may have their houses built during this time. I will also be making two-floor strip malls and some other buildings, such as more varied town-houses.
So if you see pictures of the same things, you might have to look closely for the improvements, but they will be there.
The next update of this map WILL REQUIRE YOU TO CLEAR CACHE, as with any model-improvements, to see the improvements (and feel them FPS-wise). Otherwise the game just thinks it's the same model and won't generate new ones. I will provide instructions on what directory to knock out on your HDD/SSD to do this, though, without deleting the rest of cache when the time comes.

So do know I am busy. I'd much rather build some new houses but I have to fix the old ones 1st.
--That is all for right now.

Yes, it took 2~3 hours to straighten out that stupid brick box of a house.
OLD <<------>> NEW (pictures below)

Like proper linked textures, things rounded off when they shouldn't be, porch texture is more detailed, front door has a frame that's 3d now, and the draw calls are 1/3rd to 1/4th for the full detailed, and 1/4th for the remainder of the detail levels. Made the LOD's not come in as fast now (instead of billboard at 100 pixels, 3d at 200>350>500>700 full detail, it's now billboard at 75 pixels, 3d at 150>300>450>600 full detail). It's not much difference, but it'll be a little less noticeable when it comes in, basically, it won't pop into full detail as late. I could probably stand to lose one of those detail levels and it wouldn't be missed. The front steps will also stick around to the 2nd last 3d-detail level. Over-all it's just better made now regardless. Now to put some other textures on these (there will be more variations of them than last time).
There's now six variations in-stead of 3 of these buildings. They're all complete. Onto the next set of houses...

 

Looks amazing!

 

Thanks - I really have to update the pictures on the original post, it is way out of date, but it still gives folks an idea of what's to come.

---

In other news, spent the day taking care of a victim of sexual assault, making sure she got everything she needed. A few trips to the Justice Center / Sheriff's department later, The hospital and such, and she has what she needs. So I've been kind of busy last night and today, but things should get back to normal later tonight/tomorrow (as I've had some much needed rest now). Sorry for the quiet spell - that's not usually like me - just trying to be an upstanding member of the community. Now back to fixing up buildings and creating a few variations along the way.
Thanks to the local Sheriff's dept, for being there in a time of need and having a lot of info for resources we can contact or make use of.

--Will keep folks posted!

 

Are there any scenarios on this map?

 

Not yet, I haven't gotten that far with it honestly. I am waiting until it's a bit more fleshed out (both my map and this game) to make a few scenarios for it.
There will be quite a few when it's further along though, so if you have any ideas for things you'd like to see, let me know.

---

Just so everyone knows, those terrible LOD's on the Bi-level houses are fixed. I'm busy making the variations on them right now, but know you won't have to see any more ugly LOD's that are super-noticeable on those. In-stead of dropping so many poly-surfaces, I'm just dropping a few draw-calls (3~4) on the 2nd LOD vs dropping poly-surfaces as those houses weren't terribly detailed in the 1st place. All the details have been reduced in the amount of draw calls by 1/3rd to 2/3rds. So the city will run marginally better on borderline systems next time around.
They LOD's were AWFUL, you folks voiced your opinion, The Bob listens!


Also, some on/off ramps were added here, where there were just 'stubs'.
I think I will make a custom model set for the surface street here below the bridge - that will work best. Let me know what you'd like to see around here (there will be big box stores here on the main route that intersects the highway). This main corridor will be zoned all retail - so if you're into parking lot accidents, or just have a whole lot of them, this will be your gig right here.

--That is all for tonight. More tomorrow.

P.S. NEW RYZEN 3xxx CPU LEAK - take with grain / bucket of salt - looks promising for an upgrade to this 4.5+ year old machine. Fingers crossed!

https://nguyencongpc.vn/cpu-amd-ryzen-9-3850x-4-3-ghz/
https://nguyencongpc.vn/cpu-bo-vi-xu-ly/cpu-amd/ (this link shows a list)

*drools*
This is the longest I had the same computer ever, so I wouldn't mind an update here. Just motherboard/CPU/RAM would be updated, though. I would sooner update this than be out of commission for a few weeks (if it breaks) while I wait for parts to repair it.
Remember, that doesn't come out of Patreon funds, though, that comes out of my personal money that I've been setting aside for a long time (read: AMD stock). Looks like June or July will have lots of nice goodies for us tech-savvy folks. BIG *FPU* improvements come along with reduced latency on RAM access for Ryzen 3xxx (APU Ryzen 3xxx is a carry-over from Ryzen 2xxx, so skip those!). To those with existing Ryzen systems, provided your motherboard manufacturer is still supporting your motherboard, you should be able to upgrade to Ryzen 3xxx after a simple BIOS update. Please consult your motherboard documentation for the exact steps, process, and so-forth, if available.

 

Wondered why the highway was closed off in one spot for pretty much this entire beta?
Because I demolished it finally, after finally getting around to that part, and built a better one in it's place.

If you look closely on the right top side of the shot, you can see the old alignment. A pair of old 1950's Eisenhower-spec on/off ramp stubs will be here. There was originally no exit here before, so this will entirely be an addition when the ramp are done (tomorrow/today?). Obviously, this goes without saying, this section is barely even half done, it'll take another day or two easily.

Again, entirely no-where close to finished, but progress is progress none-the-less. You can actually see the old alignment on the central left and right edges of the shot. There used to be a bridge here, along with pillars (the pillars got murdered in 0.8 or 0.9 game update, not sure). Obviously, that HUGE LONG BRIDGE with the dark asphalt & 3 lanes each side was removed. The road is much, much lower now where the little bridge is.
The highway between here and the shot below will largely get re-aligned quite a bit, to better fit into the city.

(nothing 'new' in this shot mostly, except the highway sticking out of the top right, though ignore the floating highway in the sky...) The lower left is where the highway has been barricaded since the betas of Los Injurus have gone out, for a majority of the beta period. It might just get done by mid-month. The whole area (except for the built city roads/streets/tunnels) will get MASSIVELY overhauled - all the 'black colored' highway is getting massively changed. There will be some more city on the far side of the mountains, and a civilian airport (where there is water now, there is a *LOT* of wasted land under that water, a few square miles of it in-fact). A large industrial area will be out there on the water, too - even a port!
So entirely, HUGE changes coming to Los Injurus for next beta or two.

 

Am I the only one who's performance was MURDERED by the 0.16.x update? I am getting roughly half the FPS I was before and a ton of micro-stutter on a machine with no history of lag issues whatsoever (use this for audio production / sequencing / recording, so I DO know my latency, which is some of the best you can hope for).
Will continue editing using 0.15.x backup as of Monday if this isn't resolved. Let me know folks if you have issues or if FPS is better for you.
Also, 0.16.x conflicts with Maya being open, another no-go for me.
Again, will continue to use 0.15.x for editing until the game no longer has the lag or conflict with Maya issues.

 

Haven't noticed any change with fps really with any maps, steady 60fps pretty much all the time with anything except 8x8 truck.

One thing I'm not certain is if computer becomes GPU limited, would GPU driven UI then have some issues for game's framerate or would it just cause issue with UI only.

What kind of conflict 0.16 is having with Maya? What it does or does not?

There has been issues with some other software causing lag, someone had RGB light control software for example which caused lag, not quite sure how such works, but maybe there is something similar in that and with Maya?

 

This computer predates most of that RGB controller stuff, it doesn't even have that... on anything pretty sure (I sure as heck haven't installed anything like that).
Open Maya and BeamNG will go for about 9~10 frame or so, then hitch for a solid second (no movement no frames), repeat, so it's stop-go-stop-go-stop-go. Only 0.16.x does this, 0.15.x does not.
LOTS of Microstutter in 0.16 even without Maya open. Going to skip updating my game and stay with 0.15.x for a bit so I can continue editing my maps.

 

Hmm, issue would need to be isolated to something specific to be able to find out what is the actual reason issue to happen.

Someone had UI lag issues that did go away by using vsync, which could indicate that when hitting hardware limits, weird stuff can happen, but haven't been able to replicate such issues.

In your case it could be AMD GPU driver in combination of something else or just simply Maya alone triggering something, more than one software running that uses 3D graphics could also trigger something that makes laggy thing to happen, but haven't found any that would make such effect to happen in my system, at least not yet.

 

It's not Maya, it's doing it with the software completely closed. It's really random how much it does it, if it does it a lot, if it does it a little, if it does it not at all to start and slowly gets to 1-second long hitches.
It's random. It's affecting this map and Nevada Interstate. It did not affect (Deal's Gap) The Dragon, it did not affect Roane County. I don't know the source of it, but at this point I am going to drop support for 0.16.x and just continue using 0.15.x for the near future, due to unresolved performance issues. I don't mean to sound snooty, but the performance is an unmitigated disaster on my end.
I hope updating the video driver helps, but I don't hold much hope here.
Throwing in the towel on 0.16.x and reverting 0.15.x, THANK HEAVENS FOR BACKUPS!!!
I mean, at-least they improved the sounds, so you have something to listen to every other second while the game is stopped. They should have just included music with the slide-show in-stead - but that's my opinion and only that.
Turning off GPU GUI acceleration in game settings INI file did not do anything.

Just a clarification, Map progress on Los Injurus is unaffected, and only pushed back one evening.
*shrugs* beyond that I haven't a care and will pass up 0.16.x because realistically I don't wish to make everyone wait for a fix to see progress, and to be readily honest, just trying to fix this any more makes me want to *really* punch the computer. I don't need more broken bones (the computer always wins that one - been there, done that). DON'T punch / kick / hit 80lbs computer towers...

 

Latest AMD driver should contain fix for grass issues at least, well that is rumor currently.

So I did test with old version and I'm seeing 120-150fps in densely built area, have started game few times and attempted to see if there is sudden slowdowns, but haven't found way to make fps drop so far, what I'm curious is if performance app can show anything when slowdown hits for you?

 

OK so I am back on 0.15 after I exhausted all options trying to fix the performance train-wreck that was 0.16.x. If it wasn't a slide-show entirely, performance was dropping to 35FPS~45FPS in spots of the city where it was more than double that (or at-least 70FPS) everywhere before. So, hopefully this shouldn't cause any issues. Sorry for the lack of progress but if I would have known what a disaster that was going to be I wouldn't have wasted any more time on it. If anyone else has lag issues in the city on AMD hardware, I am sorry there is nothing I can do about it, you will have to pressure the developers about it. I don't know what they did this time around but it's actually worse in FPS now than it was before they did all the performance improvements in 0.14~0.15 - again - if it runs at all.

This mod will be developed on 0.15.x along with all my other mods until further notice. Again, this shouldn't cause any problems, but until I get better video hardware, this is the way it has to be. I am not planning on upgrading the video board in this computer for at-least another year or two.

 

Development has resumed using 0.15.x. You should still be able to run my map in 0.16, but there may be a texture bug or two I didn't catch while testing it (I still have it here, I just won't edit the map unless I'm using 0.15.x because 0.16 has poor performance, strange lag, and often is unplayable in it's current state).

Yes, there will be on/off ramps down there. The old tunnel with a curve in it was obliterated to put in this highway far above it. However, that being said, there will still be a tunnel down there somewhere, and it should be slightly better made. You can just barely see the 50-floor skyscrapers in the distance (that's where the city is). Totally ignore the floating highway in the distance though, 'Oops'. That'll be there for a bit but removed before the beta. That's just my 'max slope' 'control piece' so that I don't make slope / grades steeper than 7~8%. There's a few patches in this section of road for realism/variety (and to help smooth joints that didn't get perfect - win win I say), as it gives you warning that something could unsettle the car when going at very high speeds. I promise all will enjoy this section of highway, and that there will be more highways with more lanes width-wise later on in the map development. This section also has built-in reflectors in a majority of it, and accounts for 1.55 miles of re-shaped and vastly less-boring highway. It's no-where near done yet, mind you.
The grey-colored 5-lane road in the distance on the right/center top of the shot, will run along side the mountain, hugging the cliff-face and possibly going in and out of a tunnel one or more times, as it goes down to the airport / seaport area with the industrial development down there. It should be just as interesting to drive as it is for car-crash enthusiasts.
--That is all for right now.

 

More highway goodness and a completely overhauled interchange (well it's almost complete structurally, other side exit/entrance isn't done yet but marked out, still needs more furnishings though).

See the black piece of dead-end highway on the bottom left (2nd shot), that's the old alignment, this is where the highway sides used to come back together again. The new (small) bridge on the right of the 2nd shot will have a surface-road going up through it, and there will be exit/entrance ramps marked out where there's two orphaned pieces of exit ramp sitting there.

Last shot, road goes under there, as there will be some buildings on the high-side of the highway.
Worked my hide off tonight (and went to town and got the lawn done today, and even the wash too), and now for some reward, my left ankle is completely TRASHED (arthritis fun, feels like I knocked out the cartaledge again, tore it out the socket 18 years ago, coming back to haunt). Sheesh. So I guess I'll be mapping tomorrow.
Plus I have a terrain I have to make for someone, tomorrow. I was supposed to make it 2 days ago but this BeamNG 0.16 foul ball messed up my schedule royally. Don't get me wrong, I love what the developers do, and this game is awesome, but I actually have to edit my map from 0.15 (which I am doing), to have any ability to work or even play it. This only affects a handful of RADEON graphics users on 0.16.x *IT DOES NOT AFFECT NVIDIA USERS* ... If people have issues with RADEON graphics and POOR PERFORMANCE on this map or Nevada Interstate (which is also going slow, not as badly, but weird stop-go lag persists), PLEASE send your system configuration and log files (of loading my maps or anything that makes it do the stop-go thing) to @Nadeox1
It would be best to remove all but map mods when you do this. Any map that causes the weird stop-go stuttering or otherwise exhibits very poor performance (compared to 0.15.x ) will do, however.
@StrangeTamer I will get your terrain to you tomorrow. I am just finally caught up to where I wanted to be and it's after 3am, after spending the majority of two whole nights trying to fix 0.16.x which is helplessly broken beyond my ability to fix it. Thankfully my map is *NOT* broken at all, it's just ... this ... [lots of bad words] game hates me right now ... sheesh.

I will say it lastly, again, THANK GOODNESS FOR BACKUPS, or I'd be down for the count (no map progress was lost, but two days were a write-off). Still on track with the beta around the 20th sometime.
--Cheers!

 

Once again, i appreciate whar you're doing and you can take as long as you need!

 

Now I can show what I've been working on since I've last made a post here. This took DAYS to make but is entirely worth it again. It's not even close to finished, no where near it. I still have to make yet another 3-y type interchange (which it won't technically be a 3y, it'll be completely custom, but 3y is the closest to it, I have to look up what it's technically nick-named). Starting from where I left off...

Turns are all banked, and it's missing some on-off ramps right now, far from looking anywhere complete, but the main stretch of highway is built. The ramps will go where lanes suddenly begin or end (with no indication of why), in the screenshots. The long two lane overpass with the two sets of pillars under it, will have a pair of dual-lane ramps underneath of it to each side of the main highway that come off / join up with the main highway where it goes from 6 to 8 lanes (but this road won't likely get on/off ramps itself, it used to have one single ramp to each side). The old on/off ramp for that overpass got moved to the interchange in the 1st screenshot, which used to only have 2 ramps also, so there's no real loss here. Most all this area was where the highway diverged and separated, I re-joined the alignments as I'll need more room to build the city. Modular road kit highway pieces make up 95% or more of the new highway that was built, only a small section in the last shot uses decal roads for the multi-lane diverge / convergence area. I will do something to make the delineation (lines!) more visible here / lane marking clearer later on in development.
It's going to be a joy to drive, though you will totally go off the outside of the turns / hit the median barrier if you go too much over the speed limit, it's still a drifting paradise either way and the road-grade should be pretty close to the maximum allowed per US DOT standards.
Just wanted to post this so you folks knew I was busy pouring hours into the map & improving it, bringing it up to at-least the standard you'd expect in 2019 (or so I hope). I've spend most of my editing time this week working on this highway, but I sure will be happy to see this segment complete in a few days / a week - as there's so much more to come.
The total of re-done highway is roughly 3.2 miles thus far this week, that have been vastly improved.
I should have plenty of time in the house at the PC with all the rain due over the next 72 hours. Monsoon season is here, evidently...
--Cheers!

 

That looks great as always, keep it up!

Oh and also send some of that rain here to flush all this pollen out from our air!
--- Post updated ---

Oh geez Bob, you surely know how to keep your customers happy, thanks a lot!


BTW, grass is no color of lime, it's green!