The available level design tools provided with BeamNG.drive, coupled with traditional cartographic map tools and terrain heightmap software TerreSculptor2.0, can be effectively used to create massive, realistic terrains with nice playable areas, without the need to hand-sculpt the terrain to get the desired results, which can be time-consuming, and usually - lets face it - not very realistic. Generally, a map-maker is restricted to just a few options: hand-sculpting a flat terrain block created in the World Editor's Terrain Editor; using procedural generation (L3DT, Terragen, World Machine, etc.) to get a pseudo-realistic heightmap which can then be manipulated by hand in the Terrain Editor; or use real-world Digital Elevation Models or LIDAR data from the USGS as-is, with no changes or, again, hand-sculpted. Of course, importing geographic data, as you may be aware, is nothing new. Content creators have been bringing in real-world location data all along. But now, I can share with you a new workflow to manipulate, transform, merge and modify that geospatial data into something more suited to traditional level design we as gamers are familiar with. The key bridging step is the free and easy to use program called TerreSculptor2.0. I can tell you from experience, trying to manipulate real-world grayscale height data by hand in an image editor (like Photoshop or Paint.net) is neigh impossible to get to look right. And doing so in-editor, with a big map, can be daunting, and to me at least it still looks unrealistic. Now we can have both. Real-world locations with things like: merged height data from two different locations, or a flattened spot for a player area. Or both. The designs are limited only by your imagination (well, kind of. There are restrictions.) You can then spend your valuable time sculpting the fine details you need for your playable areas in the World Editor's Terrain Editor. I've got years of amateur cartography under my belt, with the knowledge of where to find the proper tools (open source GIS applications and Geospatial Libraries), and how to use them. These tools are fussy, powerful, command-line utilities that read, warp, and crop - with a single console command - the massive digital height elevation models used in map-making, and can spit out the proper sized 16-bit grayscale .png heightmap used in BNG's T3D engine, ready for manipulation with TerreSculptor. For example, using this technique, one can locate an actual, real-world location suitable for the designer's vision, crop the 10812 x 10812 pixel DEM down to 4096 x 4096, and modify it with TerreSculptor in a way that maximizes the playability and minimizes the restrictions of the geography. Like: it's too flat on one side, or there is a mountain in the way of the perfect jump. Whatever the restraint that nature placed in that location, we can now flatten, raise, delete or transform that area into a more suitable game environment. And the new playable area doesn't have to be just a flat spot. You can use height data from another location, merged into that spot flawlessly. Try that with cut and paste in Photoshop and you'll get a seam that is almost un-blendable. Ugly and unplayable. As more new users come on board creating their particular flavor of content for BeamNG.drive, they can sometimes be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things that need to be learned and remembered to craft the map in the first place, with the geography of the location being created usually relegated to a terrain generator of some sort. This leads to a map design where the generated terrain determines the layout and feel of the level. If realistic scenery is the goal (which it sometimes isn't), then the focus needs to be on traditional cartographic tools and techniques, used not for paper maps and conveying information, but for the game design realm. Here is an example image of my current proof-of-concept. This 4096 x 4096 heightmap has been colored by me so you can see the details better. For the game, this image would be grayscale. The real-world location is Tanks Peak, CO. Please see Google Maps and turn on the 'globe view' option on the lower right, zoom out, (use ctrl+click to rotate the map) and see if you can spot all the modifications I have made: If this sounds interesting, I can spend a moment to write up a Tutorial on how it is done. I warn you though, this is 300-level course advanced content. Knowledge of Command-line Interface is essential for the geospatial manipulation.