I HAVE MADE A NEW THREAD FOR THIS PROJECT! ALL UPDATES AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS ON THIS PROJECT WILL NOW BE POSTED HERE so i have been playing beamNG for nearly 2 years now and have been amazed by some of the vehicles people have created and posted on the forums. but one thing that has never made it to the mods page is a NASCAR stock car of any kind. one of the main reasons NASCAR is such a popular series is because of the insane tumbles and multi-car pileups that are such a regular feature of the series. so it seams obvious that if you were going to make a NASCAR mod for any game it would be this one with its extremely powerful physics engine. i had played around with the model files of the game's cars before but this afternoon i decided to actually have a go at final making the car that me and im sure many others have wanted to see in this game for ages. first i tried to modify the grand marshal body to be more like that of a stock car from that period but that proved too challenging particularly around the rear of the car. so i decided to modify the Gavril D series to look like the cars that feature in the NASCAR truck series and im actualy quite happy with how it looks so far. (see attached files) i do have a number of questions though i have never made a mod before. i have read about how Jbeam works using the resources on this site but have not yet put this knowledge into any form of practice. i am also i very amature modeler and the model does have one or two rough edges here and there. things i want to know once completed can this model be used? how difficult is it to mod it into the game? how does aerodynamics work in the game and would i implement it to the car? (eg: so that down force is generated by the splitter and plate spoiler ect...) is i possible to have working roof flaps that react to the air moving over them like in real life? is there anything else i need to know about modding vehicles that the tutorials and guides dont mention? any other tips or things i should know
Hi there, that looks pretty good! To answer your question; 1. I don't see why not, so long as you have made or given proper credit for parts used (for parts used that are not standard BeamNG assets, you will also need permission from respective authors). 2. Generally it's rather challenging, depending on what you are making. In this case, there will probably be a lot of work to do, considering stock cars are vastly different in construction from their factory counterparts. 3. Aerodynamics can be simulated using jbeam. 4. I imagine you could make it work fairly easily using hydros (i.e push a button to open them), though it possibly may require a lua code to get it to work. 5/6. Working with jbeam is a lot of trial and error, and there is no strict method to make a vehicle. A lot of it comes down to being able to understand how jbeam. My advice would be to play around with jbeam as much as you can, start with simple tweaks and work your way up. Extensive knowledge on vehicle construction and how vehicle components work is also highly beneficial.
Thanks for the advice And for encouragment Just one thing about the roof flaps Im real life they deploy when the air normaly pushing them down in reversed. Such as when the car is spinning out. Is it possible it model this using the airflow physics? I was thinking you could attatch them to the roof using hinge nodes without latching them in any way so that when the car ends up going backwards at high speed the air forces them open If that makes sense Although i dont know that much about the air physics to know if that will work
I imagine that would work, just have a small hinged "wing" on an unlatched hinge and it should work like the real thing.
Great Cant wait to get started Just one final thing Would it be better to modify the original D series jbeam files or start from scratch
Depends on your modding skill. If you know what to do, start from scratch. If you're inexperienced, modify the base files.
I'd start from scratch, considering that a Stock Car is built from a tube chassis which is a completely different construction to a regular body on frame D-Series. I'd initially just worry about the tube chassis/running gear, when that's done you can move on to attaching the body panels That would be ideal, but none of the official vehicles use a tube chassis construction. That said, what might work is to take a unibody bodyshell and modify it to suit the deformation and strength properties of a tube chassis.
No worries, let us know if you need any help Here's some things that may come in handy You basically want a chassis like this, which contains all of the engine and running gear, and then you attach the body to it!
Sweet Thanks Im also have a 1/24 diecast model ive taken apart so i can get to the chasis and roll cage Its gona be a great referance although its not a truck Im thinking of buying a truck model to use as a reference since they arent that expensive one thing, just going back to the model, do the body panels need to have thickness because at the moment they dont. if that makes sense
i have finished modeling the roll cage and the main chassis rails trying to match them as closely as possible to the real life counterpart so far i think the model is coming along nicely the wireframe image shows how the body i still need to do the engine, suspension, and interior details, and eventually textures thought that isn't a priority at the moment
Wow! I'm pretty darn excited for this matty, that already looks fantastic, please don't get discouraged and don't be afraid to ask for help. I would love to help you but sadly I have no clue where to start haha
Excellent AFAIK the frames of NASCAR and Craftsman Truck machines are almost identical, just the outer skin is different, though I could be wrong. Buying a model would definitely help! As for the "thickness" it's a good idea ho have it. Take note of how official vehicles look on the inside of the hood and fenders, your stock car should be don the same way
Never thought I would see a D-Series track car (even if it is just the shell). I expected one of the muscle cars as a stock car or the 90's Pessima since the body style is like a Ford Taurus. Looks really great, I'll be following the development of this.
Hey, if you need a good roof flap template, try the SBR4's retractable spoiler. I believe it deploys when there's a certain amount of air pressure and it helps stablises the car at high speeds.
Awesome. no more words needed. Question: Are you planning to do the same with other vehicles? Tubular chassis sunburst would look outrageous!