After I do the last little bit with my scenario, I wanted to try making a terrain. I already experimented with world machine and got a good output that imported well but ran into problems once I started working on the terrain. The Problems I ran into: Random materials just disappearing upon loading the next day Moutain roads, I can't figure out how to create flat surfaces on a mountain (or pretty much anywhere) that allows for decal roads and looks good Confusing setup of custom terrain textures Generally, what I should start with once the terrain is in beamng To sum it up, what is the best route to go from start to finish when creating a terrain so I (and others) don't run into weird errors. Thanks in advance for the help!
"Random materials just disappearing upon loading the next day" I cant help you on level build, but is important to understand how to solve errors you can found in the process. When you found something is not working or looks broken is always a good idea to check text console for errors. Go to Options -> Gameplay -> Enable advanced functions ONThe key to open the console is diferent on each keyboard layout, but you can go to Controls -> Bindings (mark List advanced bindings too) -> General debug -> Toggle System Console Is important to understand engine can only write files to cache folder in "C:/Users/yourName/Documents/BeamNG.drive/". If you are missing a file check on this folder.
Thanks for the information, next time it happens I will be sure to check the console. It's just odd since sometimes it would happen with textures that worked the day before and were not even touched.
The best way to set up materials is to manually create them first using a text editor. You don't have to create the entire material if you don't feel like it, just the base (mostly just get the name and link to your model's material) but you'll have to brave the material editor The ingame tools aren't very good for creating roads because you need a high degree of precision, I recommend checking out this tutorial http://www.beamng.com/threads/tutorial-adding-heightmap-roads-using-blender.16356/ Alternatively you can use something like L3DT to load up your terrain and then edit the heightmap. For terrain textures it's the same as normal ones, don't create them inside the game but instead using a text editor and then tweak and customize in the game. It's mostly up to you how you want to approach it but in my opinion a good overall workflow is this: Basic idea Sketch lots of basic road networks and layouts to try different designs Load up the sketches onto flat terrains in the game to test drive them (perfectly flat terrain with one material using the sketch as a overlay texture), this is incredibly important as it avoids you spending weeks making a terrain that doesn't drive well (like that DRI map ....) Create the base natural terrain in World Machine Fit your preferred road design to the natural world like you would in reality Create your assets (rocks, trees, ground textures, buildings, signs, etc) Detail your map with assets and tweak things to get the desired look To expand upon the previous plan: Copy an existing map Rename everything to your new name ("basemap.forest" becomes "yourmap.forest", some obscure terrain material becomes yourobscureterrainmaterial etc) I recommend using notepad++ and opening absolutely every text editable file in the entire map folder and doing an automatic replace ... being careful how you word the replace of course) Always hand make your materials, even if you only do it to get started Set your userpath in "startup.ini" (in the main game folder) to your game path ie: C:\programfiles\beamng.drive so your changes affect your map directly and you don't have to deal with the documents folder while editing Don't use assets linked to other levels, ever, if you want it, copy it Use sane texture sizes I hope this helps, good luck and I look forward to what you create
