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

It's looking like either tomorrow or Thursday will be the day this is released, I am not sure if I can stay up late enough tonight to catch the free-data time from 200 to 800 hours tonight. If I can I will upload it, if not I will upload it tomorrow night. I would wake up at 600 hours bright and early to upload it in the last two hours but it almost always takes 3~4 hours to do it. Stupid satellite internet. This would take over 24 hours on DSL though.
So far so good and it's coming along nicely.
Got most of the striping done
Cleaned up the misc objects that I had left over
MADE SURE I DIDN'T ACCIDENTALLY MANGLE THE SUBWAY AGAIN (almost did!) as it runs directly under where I'm working here. Sorry.
Fixed some more AI routes
Fixed the stupid bug on the warehouse, don't think it was my fault, I think something just got botched in the cache from the first time I put it in (when it did have a bug). Or something got mixed up during copies & backups etc.
Unstable machine has been slowing down a little bit. My PSU is on it's last legs. It will be fixed tonight or tomorrow, not sure. 12v is 11.5v, 5v is 4.8v - don't know how this thing continues on, but it's still soldiering on and on, albeit with some instability. Undervolting DC things isn't good for it (you can still undervolt your GPU core, GPU memory, system memory or CPU to no ill effect aside of possible temporary instability, it just needs the voltage specified).
Had to spend too much on a new part for this, don't want to even get into it right now (The Bob is not happy to have to spend money). That's the second part I've blown up in two years, not counting the crash-tastic AMD GPU (which I think still works, just the drivers on Windows 10 were absolutely atrocious on Polaris cards, taking GPU core speed too high & making all but the best silicon-lottery winners of them act like they're defective).
Of-course, I've had machines that have lasted YEARS before, but when you are constantly running it to the hill with task after task and making a workstation out of it, you need workstation parts. The stuff on the shelf of your local electronics retailer isn't always workstation-grade parts that are made to plow through tasks 24/7. While running BeamNG Drive all day isn't going to damage your machine if it's made properly and has good parts, if you run that and modeling software, graphics software, audio software, terrain editing software/World Machine etc CONSTANTLY on it, and you're always doing a number of things and even when you're away it's under light load, then game after-hours, SOMETHING has to give eventually as not all parts are made to go 24/7.

So yes, limping along. You'll have the update in the next day or two, for supporters. Contributors will get it later that day or the next day. Message me if I promised you something and didn't get it to you.
I'm up to the gills in tasks at the moment, this map included, but it's functioning just fine.

Errata that will be in the next beta:
Small 1-foot by 3-foot section of the one warehouse has a no-texture under the man-door / personnel door - that's alright it's barely even going to be noticed. I didn't script that texture in yet.
Warehouse lot, some roads, etc in the new areas might be uneven in spots. Use care when taking them for the first time - or not - have a blast.
Not all the curbing / road striping / road textures are done in the new areas yet, it's very very unfinished and a bit more unfinished than I would have preferred it to even be.

Things to be watching out for that I really DO NOT want in the map:
Sections where your car gets munched, eaten, stuck and so-forth when it's not supposed to be
No-textures, and other similar texture issues, possibly odd coloration in reflections etc.
Model collision on the warehouse not lining up with visible model - I think this is fixed but if you could drive around it and see if it's correct on your end I'd appreciate it a lot, and so would the folks that don't smack head-long into an invisible wall that the beta testers should have found.
THIS IS THE LAST BETA VERSION OF THIS MAP THAT WILL WORK WITH GAME VERSIONS BELOW 0.23 (current Steam version) !!!
CURRENTLY THIS MAP SUPPORTS 0.20 AND HIGHER OFFICIALLY. AFTER THIS NEXT RELEASE I AM MOVING MY EDITING VERSION TO 0.23 TO USE THE NEW TEXTURES, IMPROVE FPS, USE SMART TRAFFIC LIGHTS AND OTHER NEW FEATURES OF THE GAME.

Doing the absolute best I can here. Trying my best to keep the magic smoke in, on my "BeamNG'ed half to death" computer.


EDIT: GOOD NEWS! I am uploading it within the hour. I managed to stay up, non-stop cramming work on the map and managed to get done all that I desired to do for the evening.
The supporter/contributor beta will go out tomorrow barring any internet issues.

 

Your amazing dude! Just you are amazing!

 

Seems to be an issue with the file, I will re-upload this and have this ratified sometime later in the day. It's likely due to my internet connection here since I don't have a hard-wired connection here in this 3rd world USA.

Beamng Drive does not support ZIP file sizes over 4gb.

Please proceed to your user folder and extract the map there so it looks like beamng.drive/levels/TSH if you wish to run the map currently. I am trying to get the file size down a bit, but in the mean-time, that will make it work.

I just found this out. I don't believe the file is invalid, but the game engine does not know what to do with zips over 4gb. Will see what I can do.

 

Unpacking the mod can also get around this incase you don't want mods in your documents folders for whatever reason, i'm not sure if that also has an upper limit but i've had files up to the 10gb work perfectly fine in unpacked in the past (current highest i have is 6gb and that works without issue so this map should be fine even in the latest versions). I believe you can also unpack from ingame so that should be more convenient for most people too

 

I've managed to get it down to 3.97gb, which makes it register that there's a map there, unfortunately, I am still having issues.
I think I might have something that works, though.
Fear not folks, all hope is not lost. There will be a way - I just have to swear at the tower some more and hope it gets scared.

To run the map as-is, which for-now is the best way to make it run 100%, is to unpack the map zip file. You can do this either in the mod manager, or if you're inclined with working with files, please unzip the mod in your beamng drive user folder (it's under appdata folder, such as C:\Users\%user%\AppData\Local\BeamNG.drive\0.23, then there should be a levels/tsh folder and more which comes out of the zip file).
Basically, drag and drop the levels folder and contents from the Bob_city_map_alpha_patreon_preview into the beamng.drive/0.23 folder and you should be good. It might take a few moments to unpack, and it might take up to five minutes (on modest hardware) to load. It does work however.
I am sorry for the inconvenience, but this is what rules the roost so-to-speak when you work with Early Access software/game engines and alpha/beta maps. Especially true when you absolutely blast past the game's intended limits quite readily as I often do, necessitating future change to the game code (this has happened almost a half-dozen times at-least).

Hopefully, I can get the size down a bit here. It would be nice. I need to reduce the different amounts of textures which I don't use so much of, and I will be stream-lining some things, removing duplicates, reducing the size of that huuuuuuge tunnel object so it doesn't lag the heck out of the folks with high detail textures on 8gb cards.
Also, I could distribute the map with cache files only, but I believe that could break much more easily in future game versions.

Do know I'm in chit-chat with the staff here that's developing the game (I have filed a trouble ticket directly), to keep your experience tops to the best of both my and their ability. However, with the weekend upon us, do know also that it could take a bit of time and I am not 100% sure I can get them to hot-fix the game before the next major version update.
That said, unpacking the map solves this issue and won't hamper your enjoyment of the map (and it actually might load a little faster as it saves a step).
Fun fun fun, but I'd rather be mapping

 

So since my map zip is too THICC for the game to handle, I am currently size-reducing some things where possible. Bigger isn't always better in some regards. Those who had serious lag near the tunnel will probably appreciate it not being so 'slow'. Probably can get the narrow lane issues fixed a bit but don't expect miracles. I am just increasing the width of the road portions, pushing one sidewalk back a bit on each travel direction to make room. We don't need a sidewalk on both sides of the tunnel. The super-duper detailed guide-rails will be removed as they are A LOT of the 'weight' of the model - at-least half of it. The 3d bolts on everything besides the fans will be removed also, until we have better video cards. I am saving the original scene setups so they can be restored in the future, in a couple of years when we're mostly on the next generation or two of hardware and have 16gb of VRAM or more for most of the demographic that runs this map.

I don't want the map to look like one of those first-gen 3d games where everything was super simple because we didn't have good hardware, I want it to look like it's a 2021 game to the best of my ability, to have the immersion of a city or county / state etc. However, I want it to also be able to work for most people. I am sure the developers can fix the bug on short notice, but it's a good time to do some optimization of many of the models - which will lower - not raise the cpu-driven draw calls to the GPU (more different UV's / "texture surfaces" without being 'joined' or sewn makes for much more work on the CPU). I will not split models up to a means where it would raise draw calls, but I will also be going back and optimizing some of the original house models by the default spawn. So they might look a little different (different textures, I skin textures via the text editor creating a few different models for each house just like they do in real life with building many houses from one shared plan), however in a game engine like this without dynamic streaming on-the-fly yet, I can't make each and every house completely unique, or we'd only have a shoe-box panorama consisting of a single neighborhood on an 8gb~12gb GPU.

DO know some things will change soon. The map however will be better because of it, and that's a promise.

If anyone needs help running the supporter beta and can't get it going, give me a shout. Just know it might take a bit before I see your message. Being a supporter of the map entitles you to a little tech support / help getting it going from me, whenever I have a moment.
Thanks for @silvermanblu for bringing the issue with the file & crashing the mod manager script to my attention.

 

I am already considering this, but good none-the-less to mention it.
There's no two-ways about it, the map is going to be huge - and I can't make the whole map with just a dozen textures, plus there's going to be at-least 2000~2500 models once it's all said and done. I have a personal vendetta out for small maps with mud textures - if I wanted it to look like Doom or Quake, that's fine but I want this to be of current-gen texture quality, even if the models refrain from being overly complicated bearing on simplistic for the sake of FPS. This leaves much head-room for the infrastructure that I wish to place in the map.
However, that said, I will be simplifying the fancy tunnel (not so much the detailed entrance area!) and that should help the 'lag on high detail with a 6gb or 8gb GPU' issue near the large airport. I *SHOULD* be able to knock about 2/3rds off those models (half of which at a minimum will be removing middling detail levels, which may cause slightly more pop-in but honestly they're optimized enough I can display the full detail from a half mile to a mile away and not bear any issue on the frame rate).

Going into the map from the get-go I knew I was going to be fighting engine limitations left and right, requiring code updates to continue development. That said, I have no issue with this and would rather be this way with a cutting edge game engine, than be something last-gen and have no chance of besting limits on a dead game engine with no one to fix it.
I have a whole lot I can do with existing models, so I will happily keep going in the same direction, even if it means some compromises must be made. I will not stop producing models, nor stop producing better textures, nor even ever stop mapping. I will keep going because this is what I enjoy, this is what I set out to do, and this is what I shall continue to do until it's finished and nothing less.
--That is all for now.

 

@bob.blunderton Amazing work! I leave and come back, and from what I can tell, you've been working on this literally the entire time I've been gone, aside from occasionally stopping for hour long breaks for things such as food, cursing at the tower, or sleep Thank you again!

 

I do it because I enjoy it. I only swear at the tower because in 2008 or 2009 I kicked it bare foot and broke my big toe on my Antec 1200 case and it only put a tiny little dimple into the case side. So yeah I've learned not to slap it around etc. Live and learn.

But yes, I would feel lost without this project, it is my daily driver so to speak, it is what I do when I am finished with tasks in real-life, when I am physically able. I am not only making this map for the community, but I am making it for ME also - because I enjoy crashing about and speeding around in it.

I see you're a contributor to the 2007~2011 Camry. I have an 03 Corolla, maybe y'all can make one of those one day (not a demand, just a suggestion). No rush either, just would be cool to have my daily driver in the game. The newer Pessima kind of looks like a 2001~2002 model a bit though so I guess it wouldn't be too much of a change. Aside of sticky dashboard issues in stated Camry and a few other models from 06~2010 or so, Toyotas are great and not only do they last, when something DOES break it's generally very mechanic-friendly to work on. That's why even though it's a bit small and the ride is a little harsher than my last car, I've kept it this long (going on 6 years now). It wants for nothing and just does what It's supposed to and doesn't make a fuss. I don't need to arrive in style and attract attention with a flashy car with huge car payments (don't do loans here) - I just want to get there and back in one piece. I used to be a Ford man, but I've definitely seen greener pasture on the Toyotas. Non-interference engines for life!

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The map is currently being converted to the new format. Please be patient as this may take a few days to a week and strange oddities may occur. Everything is backed up, so that if the brown stuff hits the spinny-thing, I can restore and be back as good as new.
The map is also going to be slimmed down, and old ECA assets and buildings will be pulled. A few very-old lots present in the first beta of the map over by the stunt park might be empty for a few weeks as there's a few old ECA asset buildings over there. I will have new models in soon enough, and I wasn't generally impressed with the old ECA assets anyways (the new ones are worlds better though, staff has come a long way).
Remember, along with slimming the map down, there's a TON of models which I am currently in the process of refining and integrating. Most 3D artists buy their models and plop them right in the game and wonder why no one gets over 30~45fps even with a great machine setup - not this man, I go over those UV's like a hawk and eek out every last bogus draw call that I can find for only THE BEST performance per city block. It may take me two or three days or occasionally (like with the fancy aged tunnel) could take TEN DAYS, but the work is 65535% worth it...provided I don't bust the game engine too much.

"OOPS! I broke 'Precious' again!" --The Bob moaning to the developers, in obvious distress, having hit another bug.​

--Cheers!

 

I didn't get a chance to download the August update yet - it says the file has been removed. Are you going to send out a new message for Patreon supporters when the new updated August file is ready to download?

 

Yes, I will restore the old version. I was originally going to send out a new one; but since extracting it works, I think I'll keep that one up online until further notice since I could not slim it down enough to 'work' 100% of the time for 100% of the people without extracting / unpacking it.

Check the Patreon page now and it should have a working link in it. Let me know if there's still any issue, sorry about that (I figured most have gotten it by now).
For folks who downloaded the map last week, this is still the same thing, so please do not spend hours re-downloading it.
Please see instructions above for help unpacking / unzipping the map properly. If there's still any questions, y'all know who to scream at.
This was actually a VERY recent fix - as in just fixed - with the last hot-fix.
So for the sake of making sure this isn't a corrupt file, and/or folks having the last version, I will re-upload again.
That said, for folks having issues, you'll be able to download again in a few hours, otherwise please use the current version unpacked/unzipped to alleviate any issue you may have.

 

My part came today. The power supply is a model that will provide over 2x the power the system needs. I spent an extra 100$ of my own money on it so that I could get a higher spec / longer warranty / better built model that might stand a chance to this 3rd-world-country power grid we have. It's not quite as bad as Brazil with the brown-outs (or was that Spain?), but it goes out a lot and the surges are murder on AC-DC equipment.
It's got 12 years of warranty - and I have a spare one here too (which was an RMA return from the last time this happened in 2019 / two years ago), so hopefully I won't need another one until a major shift in PC power supplies happens many years from now (currently, next-gen motherboards coming out in late 2021 to mid 2022 are *NOT* adopting the 12VO standard, including intel chipset motherboard for the next-gen stuff due in the fall).
While my 620 watt unit was enough, it's not holding up the voltages as it should, and causing instability even though I have *NOTHING* overclocked (outside of loading the XMP / DOCP profile for proper low-latency CL-15 3000mhz RAM speed). The CPU doesn't even go over 142watt for it's turbo when it's heavily loaded, so my wonder is where's the other 480 watts of the 620 going? The 2070 Super is stock (EVGA Gaming Black - no RGB or LED's in anything here except a 3cm strip on the motherboard), that shouldn't take over 200~230watt tops. I guess I just pulled the short straw again from BeamNG'ing the computer to death.
I sure make these parts earn their keep.
I want to thank each and every one of you for staying with this project this long and supporting it. It helps me especially in times like this when I need it most (on a fixed income), to not 'break the bank' when parts wear out or become defective without warning. The Patreon fund isn't for needless upgrades nor is it for 'I wants', it's mostly for software, assets, and to keep the project and machine moving through the occasional hardware failure. Heck, I don't even buy the latest 3D games and the only thing I have that even uses Ray Tracing is my graphics software, modeling software, and Quake II RTX. I don't have time to get into fancy games unless it's this one (though I do fancy a few old-school style time killers now and then to keep me sane). I just want to keep the machine running so I can keep mapping, modeling, making graphics, and bringing fun to your copy of BeamNG Drive.

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TWO FREE / OPEN SOURCE GAME LINKS BELOW!
I am posting here, should be safe-for-work fan-remake / amalgamation of the NES TMNT library - yes - Teenage Mutant Ninja Toitles. It looks pretty awesome though I will admit I haven't had time to check it out. Past this link you'll find a link to the download of 168MB. Consider this tip and link an extra thank-you for those that follow along the thread, and I really mean it.
A heart-warming blast from the past - TMNT Rescue Palooza: https://www.merso-x.com/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-rescue
This is a FREE game, it should not come with spyware, it should not cost you anything. It's a fan-made game. DO enjoy.

Here's another one, this one is like the old TANK WARS but in 3D and should run on almost anything even a computer from 2007:
http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/
Link should be safe-for-work

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I should have some new models finished soon after I test traffic for a few hours in game. Doing that will doubly make sure this thing isn't going to blow up in my face and make me look like the cartoon Coyote who's shape adorns the walls of Roane County / burn the tower / burn entire building down when my back is turned (it's super-insured, but re-downloading all my data will take days and days maybe even 10 days, and guess who'd have to fix the building too).
I was previously unable to test traffic without risking crashes or data loss, so I just pushed that off until this week.

The patreon links are re-validated now, with a new file that is just under 4gb in size. Please use the latest & greatest Steam release of the game to run it, and you shouldn't have to extract or unpack it anymore. Please scream in my general direction if any issue should persist or even let me know if it's working now so that I know I can re-merge the project & continue onward.
Contributors will get their links when I wake up (just recovered from a blood sugar crash), Patreon supporters should check their email for a link immediately.
Thanks!

 

I downloaded the update and everything looks great BUT.... I am still having that issue with the traffic lights. If it helps, I am on 0.23 and I cleared my cache first. But still no colors on the lights. Just grey and black. If you want I can grab a screenshot.

 

That's not your fault, that's a byproduct of lower texture resolutions (texture detail slider) taking a very narrow graphic and down-sampling it. The only way to fix this without changing the graphic itself is to raise texture detail, which could reduce fps or cause hitching.
The developers fixed this by increasing the resolution of the in-game traffic lights (where these are from, I chose not to re-invent the wheel here for time constraints).
I will post a fix for this (instructions on how to do it), within the next few days sometime.
Thank-you for letting me know this is still an issue.

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I am currently doing system updates (Windows has not updated in two years for example), updating drivers, and my productivity applications.
So if it's quiet for a short bit, this is why.
The computer was repaired by replacing the power supply.
If you buy Seasonic units, or units that are based on this platform that do not have the plugs changed, which are completely modular, you only have to replace the box itself and not the cables. Keep in mind more expensive models may have different gauge wire or in-line capacitors to further refine the DC power.
That said, it's a nicer unit than I had initially planned on buying, but entirely worth it as it'll hold up to the rough power better just because of the rating of everything inside of it.
Expect to see some new stuff over the weekend. Thank-you for your understand and patience.
The new update seems to have fixed whatever issues plagued last week's release, thank-you for touching base with me on that.
EDIT:
Just a heads up, mostly for folks who have or may have in the future use pieces of this map.
The map folder structure will change massively over the next few versions. To help homogenize resources, and make things easier to manage for me and not be so confusing. It's such a massive map and the folders can have over 1000 things in them each. Having many things in one folder will help out a bunch.
The MRK kit objects will stay in their folder, and all supporting textures for these will be moved to it at a later date to make things easier to re-use in other maps without having to open the models up to check texture references.

 

Obligatory 'It's not dead!' post:

Just a head's up, doing this did take a few hours, even if it does not seem like much. That said, putting time and effort into a sunken highway is definitely a worthy cause here as that was something sorely missing here. Missing no longer!

 

Since the last city generator I purchased one month ago had a license that was too restricted, I refunded that one and am on to the second city generator. Thankfully this one was about half the price of the last one. I also bought a subway station, which was about the only decent one that was on that site - but it too was cheap.
These are the previews as-purchased, not from inside the game but from the store page. It should look a little better with better textures (which I have) and one very liberal (un)healthy coating of grunge. This will replace the existing underground subway station, however, it might require a little bit of retro-fitting. I do not plan on using the textures provided with it as they're too clean and not to the quality that I already have.

I wasn't kidding about building a city. I wasn't joking about finishing it, either. I fully well do plan on making it totally awesome & jam so much content in that it literally breaks the game time and again. So entirely, I hope this map mod is heading in the direction most everyone wants it to.

 

I agree. The images look like a model that the city government would display when planning the station... which I guess is exactly your role and what you're doing!

The thing about real cities is that they're never finished. Residents are born, get older, move out, and move in, and the character of the city changes. My guess is that eventually you'll get to a point where you're satisfied with the result and move on to your next project (return to Roane maybe?), but you'll never abandon Los Injurus, returning to tweak the highways, add new resources you discover, and maintain its place as the coolest map in the game... until your next project is 'finished,' that is.

 

I'm just waiting to log in one say and see "WIP Beta Released - USA (previously 'A new *CITY* map - LOS INJURUS')"

 

When we reach the next leap in storage/RAM capacity (DNA? Quantum? Positronic brain?), and the game engine gets a thousand times more powerful, Bob will still manage to break it.

...by installing a tunnel from Los Injurus to Yew Nork, probably.