hidden JBEAM variables (and an improved wheel and tire system)

Hello dear devs.

I have posted about this suggestion before but thought I'd post again in case it has been forgotten about. As well as elaborating on some of the benefits and usecases for this system. For example a way to improve the overall wheel and tire system of the game.

BeamNG have variables which are amazing. They can be used in many different areas. Anything from controlling node positions in order to stiff up a swaybar to controlling the boost pressure. A variable is acompanied with a slider in the tuning menu which makes for great adjustability of everything.

What I propose however is a simplified way to define a Jbeam variable. A variable which does not have a min, max and default value. It will only hold a static value and be hidden from the tuning menu. This is useful because you can then assign a unique variable to a part.

These variables can then be used to not only change node positions and precompressions, but also to alter engine parameters, turbo parameters, gearbox parameters, wheel parameters.

For example. You could make a modular gearbox made up of slots instead of tuning sliders where you have the ability to swap out the gearset to pre-defined options stored in a variety of parts. Or if you want to make it even more detailed you could make each individual gear pair interchangeable in the same way.

You could also alter things like boost pressure using wastegate spring parts instead of the tuning slider.

You could make a modular turbo with any number of interchangeable parts like impeller wheel, compressor housing etc. Only your imagination sets the limit.

How to use this to improve the wheel system.
The universal wheel system is great, but there are still some drawbacks.
One drawback is that some tire dimensions come in a variety of offsets. (ET values). An example of this is the 15x8 which comes in 3 versions each with a unique tire slot. I believe these are called 15x8, 15x8alt and 15x8altb. This means that in order to make a 15x8 tire, you have to duplicate the part 3 times to acommodate all 15x8 wheels.

With a hidden variable you could give each individual rim its own ET value. The wheel would always fit nicely on the hub of the car without gaps or mesh intersections. Regardless if the wheel is flat or concave. And you wouldn't have to create a unique tire slot to accommodate a unique ET offset or settle with an existing offset.

In practice it would be very similar to how it looks right now but with some differences.
- The rim mesh would be centered in the X axis.
- The tire mesh would be centered on the X axis.
- The wheel offset variable would be replaced with a hidden variable within the rim part to match where the hub mating surface is on the model. (The measured ET offset)
- The flexbody offset of the wheel would always be 0.
- The flexbody offset of the tire would always be 0.
- There would only be one tire slot for each wheel dimension.

An added bonus is that tire jbeams could also be done much more efficiently. Instead of duplicating the whole pressureWheel for every tire dimension, the pressureWheel itself could be held in a coreslotted sub part of the tire with its width and radius parameters controlled by hidden variables in the parent part.

I hope you find the suggestion useful. Best regards.

 

That's a really cool suggestion, i hope a dev see that.

 

Yea. As I said it has been suggested before but in my mind it wouldn't be very hard to implement, and would benefit modding alot.
I already use the hack version of this by making variables with the min, max and default set to the same values.
It does however create useless tuning sliders and console errors. And is generally quite messy in the Jbeam.

But it have saved me thousands of lines of text in my tire mod project.

 

This would be great to be honest. Would save people from a bit of headache adding tires or modifying them.

 

This is definitely needed

 

it feels too good to be true lol, almost like the answer was staring up dead in the face

well im 100% for this, it seems way more streamlined and comprehensive. would be an absolute joy to see implemented officially in some form.

 

Maybe that 32 bit code was holding it back ?

 

Well, the regular variable system is functional.
This would probably be a variant of the regular variable system only that it doesn't create a tuning menu slider, and doesnt have a min and max value.