WIP Tail of the Dragon / Deal's Gap 1.0.1

And thanks, in reference to the "Dude that looks so damn good!" comment, I'm trying, but it's rather monotonous, so a few hours at each time I do it, while I blast 80s pop/funk/adult contemporary stuffs here so I have something to listen to (I so despise modern music).
Yeah, I am getting old, this is what happens...
I will see if I can get out with one of the cameras and take a picture or two of it. It's an orange car with a black interior, and what may have been a black top (which has now become grey). If you want it, make sure you have a battery with you
Though, it is a manual, so you can pop-start it. A few interior parts from any large-enough junk yard would make her whole again.
I sure hope someone buys it before fall gets here, I'd like to get this 3/4ths of a tooth pulled from my mouth, among other things (don't ask).
They do have some very nice bumper kits for the thing going for like 400$ range for front and back, unless you'd rather have a body shop guy use some fiber-glass repair stuff on that for less than half that price. The bumpers aren't falling off they just have some cracks. I will take some pics, and you can decide. I will have those up by the weekend.
--- Post updated ---
Cut down the view distance from the ECA default to about 1 mile, with gradual atmospheric fog.
This works, this is taken near "The Lookout" looking NE (about the 10-o-clock position).

Improved FPS 50~60% on avg. On absolute max details (sans reflections, they're minimum) my RX 480 is running 45 fps MINIMUM.
If it's too much I will thin the forest out a bit and see where that gets me.
Beamng.drive is running about 3gb of RAM not including the UI after editing a few hours... so it's probably higher than just 'running' the map would get you. However, that aside, the FPS is pretty consistent.

It's a forest, it has trees in it. That's the way it is. It's a state park land, etc. UNTOUCHED WILDERNESS (aside of the road, Giant DAM etc). If your video card can't run trees when this comes out, then I suggest you either 1.) edit THELEVELINFO to reduce the far view plane (and add fog at your discretion to hide it) 2.) delete the forest file, or 3.) go out and buy a used RX 480/ RX 580 video card as the miners will be selling them right now (VEGA just came out, so yeah, they're selling RX series cards used now).
As more VEGA cards get released, there will be more RX 4xx / RX 5xx cards and 1070s showing up used and maybe a year old.

However, I am strongly considering thinning the more distant forests, so no worries!
Those who are worried, as stated, can always lower visible distance in THELEVELINFO as stated above. You rarely see even half a mile in this (exception - the lookout, and the part near the river) so no worries. This has a DRASTIC effect on FPS Works on ALL maps not just mine (and is why my Nevada Interstate & Roane County maps run much better this last go-round, and why So-Cal still runs like Poo - as So-Cal hasn't been updated). It's very rare that the road is even straight enough to see over a quarter-mile.

So yes, it will run, for mostly anyone that can run ECA, you just might have to turn down/off reflections, or knock view distance down (I'll provide an optional file to add to the zip if it's a bugger for folks, know there will be one).
Anyone with an Rx 470, Rx 480, or better, Nvidia 1050 Ti / 1060 anything, 970 or better, will run this quite handily.

I am considering changing the rate at which trees fall-off to bill-boards to help with this!
Trying to get it to where I can send a reviewer or two a copy of this by the end of the week or weekend sometime.
75% of it (The Dragon, not the unimportant somewhat-ignored side-routes) or so is complete enough to run a first beta of as it stands.
--- Post updated ---
Yes, a truck on The Dragon!

It didn't work out as well as I'd hoped! There *were* 12 pianos in there...

 

Bob, that looks amazing! Very accurate, I love it.

Stitch, Oh, I know I'm lucky haha. You'd hate me if I told you how much I brought it home for. It had a blown head gasket and every bit of the suspension was worn out, so it was a worthy project. Saved it from the junk yard and have been enjoying it since! That being said, an LS swapped miata has been a dream of mine for some time haha.

 

Niiiice now you just have to drop my cell reception to freaking nothing for the proper immersion.

 

Ouch, my eyes, you're swearing them out! Actually, might wanna fix that before the mods do (not that I care that much, but pity you should offend some 10-year old in some dark corner of the internet somewhere, who's afraid of swearing and will run through a wall if he sees one, causing parents to call BEAMNG and send them a bill for said wall... ) ...
You won't offend me (I'm middle-aged, and as a rule, words won't offend me, chasing me with a truck might though), but yeah they (the mods) do get on about that. Family friendly blah blah, site focused on violent car wrecks and now piano smashing, so yeah, whatever.
Unpleasantries out of the way (did I spell that right?)...
On another note, over the past week to 10 days I have been foresting, and can't figure out why my camera stops working.
Here, the keyboard control for moving the forest brush size (which I do by the minute), is ALT + Mouse wheel up/down, unfortunately, while nice in practice, someone thought it would be great to sync this to the camera speed - also works in FREE CAM outside of the editor (where it's useful).
You don't want to know how long it @#$%ing took me (yes, the correct way to list swears), to figure THAT out. Ugh.
Once again, here I am singing 'No one said it would be easy' (Sheryl Crow, for those joining us now, an artist I listened to in the 90s) to myself again. It's slower and a little more 'country' than I usually listen to, but I do listen to country once in a while, not just when a brick falls on my head or something like that. There's some good songs, and if it's too depressing for some, just play the country songs backwards, and the tractor starts working, the in-laws leave, and take the wife with them, the dog comes home, cows are healthy, and all the subject's STD's miraculously disappear. Of course, if you couldn't be bothered, there's "Ween" 's "12 golden country greats" CD that's a hoot, especially (expletive) Up A Rope and Mister Richard Smoker, which I find hysterical.

So back to the map, yeah, another half mile underway (at the very least, I am about another half-mile from the state line, and there's two miles or less left after that... yeah, so anyways, this stupid editor... WHAT DID YOU DO EDITOR!???

All the nodes disappeared!!! Nothing too disaster filled, but, still, annoying glitch-fest!
--- Post updated ---
And finally, one of the most banked corners in the map, gets it's details done up nice

A pull-off (the right side of the road here needs a few trees/under-brush yet)

A view into the gorge between the hills - this is where you can see the distance-fog work very well for immersion.

Said gorge here, it's rather well forested.

Besides way too many trees for it's own good, the map is almost as full of these (S-curves)

Somewhere between 11~11.5 miles or a bit more is done. I'm close to the state line (working southwards, to the north is all done up).
Why not a whole lot of miles? Simple, all those little pesky details, like drainage culverts, etc...


You can barely even SEE the road running along the face of this large hill/mountain thing, whatever it is.

It's helpful with immersion anyways, because you'll most likely crash into it unless you're a masterful driver.

 

Dude.... AWESOME! How far behind Killboy's place are you going to model? I actually unknowingly chased down his NB on the road leading up to the tail. He was so much faster lol.

 

Honestly.. I can't wait to get the chevy caprice wagon supercharged and PPPOOOOWWWAAAAASSSLLLIIDDEEEE it. Or, just ya know.. go on a camping trip. *cough*

 

The water is in! Hooray! (the corner below hasn't been shown yet, yes, it's another one!).
It's the corner just north of the state line, basically the first hairpin.

The CALDERWOOD dam isn't just a non-descript lump of concrete like something out of a (dos) DOOM map in 1994.

From the high side (yes, there's no foresting done here yet).

Have a bit more work to do here to blend the stream banks, and put trees in, but you can see the drop, how far it is.

Happy plummeting!

@STICH666
Here's a shot of what exists in the map south of "The Dragon"
I couldn't fit any more in without really sacrificing map-quality of ground-detail per-square-meter.

This part of the map is the part I have left to do. No water here yet, trees, etc, and 'Tail of The Dragon' stop is in but no custom model (yet). I will use the motel models (for the resort) from Nevada Interstate since they're close enough to what I need (single floor).
I don't have route 28 (east-west route in the SE of the map) put in yet either, or any of those side-routes nearby...yet.
This is the google link for the south-most portion of the map
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4549781,-83.9220901,1329a,35y,357.92h,18.16t/data=!3m1!1e3
Basically, anything south of Stratton branch is 'outside of the map' and I can't really do anything about it until we get tiled terrain support in the beta-stage of this game.
That's the most unfinished portion of the whole map, and where I'll be working over the next few days.
I have lots to do!

Edit, everything pretty much besides the road that's already in it (the main route) is yet to-do south of the state line, sans about a quarter-mile or so of road on the Tennessee side I have to make look better (foresting it). Somewhere around 1.5~1.6 miles of the main route foresting TO-DO, etc.

 

Now I've 100% finished up what to-do before release on the Tennessee side of this (majority 85% or so of road is in TN USA).
Now officially on the North Carolina side of it, yay. Tail of the Dragon stop is @ the bottom of the picture.

Last picture on yesterdays (well the previous to this) post would also show what is remaining below the screenshot.
I am leaving the state-line boundaries on there, they won't be covered or removed. I like it like that.
Looks like I'll have to get something uploaded before I turn in for some shut-eye tomorrow, so that ya'all can see this on the car-wreck channel next week. There will be an exclusive early-review of this out also, by a certain Youtuber, I'll fill you in on the details tomorrow after I speak at him a bit.
I don't feel I'll need too many more days to work on this. I wanted to have this out by mid month (OKAY I ADMIT IT, I've *drumroll* missed another release date!!!), that didn't happen, life gets in the way. This is how it is. We're not filthy ritch people with those self-mowing lawns ya'know. Definitely got my "Vitamin A & B" today...
Vitamin A = Arachnids / cobwebs in the face,
Vitamin B = BUG IN MY EAR ARGH @#$%^!!!!!
Then there's looking at the glass half-full...
At-least I didn't crash into the house this time. Or a pole. Or mow the garden. Again.
It can always be worse. Mapping is better, I run much less chance of messing THAT up.

This (below) is standing on the North-Carolina side of the border (right at it) looking North-East/East into the Tennessee Side.

Walking into the Tennessee side a bit, forward of where the picture above is taken, you turn left and see this:

After that is a hard right about 90 degrees and eventually making it's way to the beautiful hairpin with the stream in yesterday's shot.

I've still got a few hours left in me. I have to get this stuff done up so that the car-crash comp guys can get their grubby mitts on it
Might try scripting in the motel models later tonight if I get daring. They have to be in before this gets uploaded.

If too many folks cry about the performance (I seem to be holding minimum 60fps here on max with low-detail reflections), I will create a lower-tree-count version (or modify the trees, to lessen detail sooner), or do something to make the performance better (like more fog), however, that will be optional, of course, for those folks who want the nice pretty views - because it surely will be beautiful.
It's my most beautiful creation to date, and I'm making darn sure of it. I just want to make sure it's done enough that it won't break the immersion when you're driving down and quality is sub-par (I will make sure quality is good through-out).

I will have more updates later.

 

Going to add a little progress.
Getting to forest this stuff. Put in a half-mile stub of Route 28 to add to complete-ness and so I can forest here.

Far side of the road is Killboy's "Tail of the Dragon" business - Bottom is Route 28 ending at Tapoco Road (The Dragon).
Close side is the THE DRAGON gas station and motorcycle parking/ motel / resort.
I have more trees to add in yet here obviously. Parking lot took way too long but it's done well, and the stream is in.

1st beta won't have custom models, yet. I will get something figured out for 2nd beta when I have more time to finesse this.

A bit further along here at Deal's Gap Motorcycle Restort.

and walking further into that shot, in the parking lot looking at the main route


I've mostly finished foresting the main route now.

 

Added a few custom textures. Put the starting points where they're supposed to go, hope they're not upside-down, heh.
Just have to fix my guide-rail texture and give it an hour-long test, then it gets backed up online for testers, reviewers, private beta, if anything isn't 110% broken it should be good for release in the next 48~72 hours or such.


You get a choice to start at:
North End,
Calderwood Road Lookout
Calderwood Dam (unfinished, discouraged)
Deal's Gap resort/Killboy's
South end (about a mile south of the resort).
Everything but the DAM area is unfinished.
There's lots of trees in this map, though, so if you have a PC barely able to meet the requirements, this is a real virgin forest, so you might not have a lot of luck, but if you have a half-decent video card from the last 3 years you should be okay...
Radeon R9 anything, Radeon RX anything, Nvidia Geforce 780, 960, 970, 980, 1050 or better should run this just fine.
Turn off reflections if it's too slow.

If all is well, it should be on the repository this week mid-week or maybe a day later.

--Thanks for sticking with this project.

Oh, and my forest putter-inner in the editor bit the dust. Nice bug Beamng... Oh well thank goodness the main road's done (99% of it anyways). It's good enough!
--- Post updated ---
All zipped, no errors, runs great. Zip is about 309mb, so for those wanting it, It'll be getting uploaded shortly.
If performance is too poor for those that get their lucky hands upon the beta, give a shout - you know who to swear at.
Interestingly, I don't think this game likes my sound card (read a line about mid-screen)...


Yes, lovely, 'Sound Bastard' ...

Well I mean at least the game makes sound, so 'eh, I'll write it off as 'whatever'.

--I will be uploading!
--Cheers!

 

Uploaded to the repository? Can't wait!

 

HYPE TRAIN CHOO CHOO MOTHERF*CKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

All zipped, no errors, runs great. Zip is about 309mb, so for those wanting it, It'll be getting uploaded shortly.
If performance is too poor for those that get their lucky hands upon the beta, give a shout - you know who to swear at.
Interestingly, I don't think this game likes my sound card (read a line about mid-sc

It should pop up on the repo within about 48 hours, give or take a day.
So expect something mid-week on it. I've already got back word that it works just dandy, so all is well here.

Only release notes are as following:
Dam is not done yet, and looks rather... plain - and the water near it won't always render correctly/causes lag when in it, though this has no effect from being on the roadway nearby where it displays fine and does not cause lag. So unless you're a boat, there shouldn't be an issue. It wasn't worth holding up the map over. Large, long & wide rivers/lakes cause mega lag when interacted with.
Guiderail texture I am not 100% happy with but it's used in 1 spot for < 100 meters, so not worried here, it does it's job just fine & I can worry about this at my discretion. It's better than what it was before it 'looked ugly', where it was a glitched mess in-stead
The editor has since eaten my forest brush (on the day of finalization, at that) and there's no indication of why, however, the forest that is in the map, is still in there, it just refuses to let me place anymore and now I must re-script the ENTIRE thing (OK, now to fetch a copy of ECA so I don't have to...). This only affects those wishing to base a map off of mine, DON'T DO IT. Map still works 100% though and has it's trees.

So now my mod / development threads are going to have a GIF sign or a counter or something that shows something like:

---

This facility has gone 2 Days Since Last Editor Accident ...​

---

on them, as it's a pretty accurate representation of the hair-pulling (or just hair-falling-out) moments when using it.

Yeah, that. So anyways, aside of the editor fighting me, it went well, and so I should have something up by mid-week.
I will be testing it more here, AI testing went pretty well provided cars don't catch up and RAM one another, they don't usually wreck.
It's most likely (aside of them catching up to one another and crashing) safer than it's real-life counter-part.
Expect to see it on CrashBoomPunk's channel on youtube this week maybe tomorrow or (most likely!) Wednesday.
Now to enjoy this solar eclipse thing, as I live smack-dab in the middle of where the band goes across Tennessee, USA.
--Cheers

P.S. Every time I rush things to put something out on the repository, either of the following happens:
*The game updates and mangles/neuters my map, which has happened at almost every update in the past *YEAR*...
*I rush and put out something shoddy and I really, really, really want to get the map to you but I hate shoddy work about 100x more. We have enough rush-job maps in the modding community not solely limited to the game. It will be as top-shelf and functional as I am able to put out, with no exception.
--- Post updated ---
Anyone who wants the beta link who's been a regular here, send me a message, i'll put it up on a message when I take breaks from smashing pianos...
It will be on the repo Wednesday (give or take a day!).

 

Beautiful work. I so look forwards to losing many hours driving up and down the tail.

 

Well, thus far, all good. Aside of the screwy water by the dam, which let's just say is getting ignored for now, I will put up a full-detail version of this, which should run on any recent/decent 100$ and up video card or better, and any system with 8gb of ram or better.
For those wondering about the reviews, Davidinark on youtube has one, he I told could put up one sooner - that was this mystery youtuber that I got tied up yesterday and couldn't mention.

So yes, totally, here you go for a review. For those that participated in the closed private beta, I am going to go ahead and release it so if you have a friend that likes it, they can get a copy from here tomorrow on the repository.
Anyone else with video please throw that online tomorrow mid-morning (US eastern/central time). I just wanted to make sure I wasn't having videos of 1000's of bugs and stuff that doesn't work etc so I only had to tell one person HEY WAIT, so I basically embargoed videos on it until then. This way I don't have 1000's of people messaging me trying to say HEY WHERE IS IT. This way my job description is not DAMAGE CONTROL specialist... we'll save that for the corrupt informants, thanks!
I will be uploading to the repository tonight (it's about 5p here now), they should see it by morning time hopefully.

--Cheers and many thanks to those that stuck with this!
EDIT: On a side note, CrashBoomPunk also got a copy for his monday shoots of Realistic Crashes and Spike-strip crashes, which you can see on his channel (the Spike strip crash series is up). That makes it two people. Thanks to those sticking up for me on the embargoed info's though - which I did for my own sanity. @NewoFox , if you have stuff you want to put up already, you can also. When the new repository is online (hopefully tomorrow, it's submitted, but the dev's gotta sleep sometime), you'll all be able to snag a copy. It is the same as the preview beta - if you already snatched a copy off my private mega backup (which is not to be listed, btw), you already have it.
Again, no, I am not a hardware manufacturer or anything special, I just wish not to be a damage control specialist for if and when something eventually does go south. Tennessee is far enough south for me.

 

*scene where Robin Williams (Mork and Mindy) sits on the neighborhood model, accidentally*
"Oh! There goes the neighborhood!"
OK! Nothing like a trip to see the mods (well, upload my file for review), for a bit of humbling!

If there's a bug, glitch, unintended operation, or other way to screw something up, leave it to me to find it - even if no one has ever seen such a thing before. This is my fourth map creation, and each time I try to make one, something else in the game goes to heck (self moderated).

"My water broke" problem is fixed. Personal Aging or pregnancy-related issues aside; You will not lose your water anymore when getting too close to the river.
I had never had experience with this bug before and it was only dumb luck that fixed it, still lags a tad on slower systems though when interacted with.

"Dependency issue" is fixed with the invisible AI guides I use to give them space to turn around and to make turns easier without cutting corners (and without having to touch my already-perfected decal roads). How did I not fix this, I remember fixing it, must've neglected to his that save button. It's tough when you're bouncing back and forth between programs all the time.

So I am re-uploading it. Using the old version is fine, this is only a 1.01 version vs the other version that was 1.00 (it lacked a version actually).

It should be on the repository tomorrow, hopefully, if I didn't mess anything else up royally.

---

Other, non-required rambings, and other humorous readings below:
Maybe I wouldn't have so many bugs in my map, if I didn't open the fan-filter cover on my PC case and remove it every time a bug was pestering me flying about in here. Yes, my computer serves as a great bug-catcher. Thank-you ASUS for your water-proof and hence bug-guts-proof coating on expensive circut boards for all the times when I use my CAD machine as a 10$ dust-buster/ bug-vacuum.

OMNOMNOMNOM!

Sorry for the delay. There's a bit of jet-lag between the mods and myself, so to speak, they're in Germany (I think), and I am in mid-USA (Good 'Ol Tennessee, I love it here, if only for it's beautiful scenery and lax gun restrictions alone).
Got a giant dead branch hanging off your oak tree almost 20 feet in the air and don't want to mow under it when a gust of wind can take it down??? "Don't mess up your back with a saw on a long skinny pole, son! This is TENNESSEE, get out the rifle and shoot it down, just don't stand under it when you do & try not to take out the rest of the tree or any of the low-flying military helicopters!"

--I should get my own blog/website...

P.S. On other notes I am thinking of uploading all my 'classic racing game remixes' songs from games like Top gear 1, 2, 3000, Lotus (series), Mario Kart, done on my synthesizer I made here, if I can ever figure out to make it toggle-able in-game like a radio. Could be fun, if you like "Sega Genesis music on steroids"...
It's the same synthesizer I forward the dos-game's midi-out from DosBox games to, it's like that really-expensive awesome-sounding midi card we always wanted in the 90s but could never afford. It may just see the light-of-day if I ever make arcade-looking maps in the style of 'outrun' or 'topgear / lotus' series. There could be a LOT of fun in that.

 

Glad I finished the map up enough to release, was having some fun with 20 pianos when... a weird noise eminated from the computer (which is 18 inches from my ear or so, maybe 2 feet), and question marks eminated from my head.
Anyone need some 2nd hand pianos?
Rule of thumb.
Don't buy XFX graphics cards. Buy ASUS brand cards, or Gigabyte brand cards. They're the best!!!
No XFX. The fan's about to fall off this one and I just got it in November 2016, specifically the Rx 480 with the hot-swappable fans on it.
I expected better than 9 months out of it. My ASUS brand card went about 3 years 5 months and nary a single issue with it - ever.
The first one of these I took back (bought at best buy) because it made noise a plenty and was 86~92C, and all cards that hit 90c blew up soon after a year - or less. This one isn't going to be sticking around long evidently, though it never goes above 80c, until now, now it's sitting at 84c and the fan makes weird ticking noises when it's starting and stopping. There's barely ANY dust in it, it's not within an inch or two of anything, guess they owe me some replacement fans for this. At-least they're replaceable. I have 2¢ worth of attitude to just stick my Asus Radeon 7850 2gb's cooler on it if I knew the bolt-up was the same (but I don't know, I haven't had time to look).
I have a feeling the bearings are bad because only one does it and it's got more wobble (it's lit up, white LED on clear plastic), then the other one that doesn't act up. When it goes full speed, it's got a grinding/rattling noise to it.
Shame on me for replacing that perfectly working 7850 and stuffing it away in a box, sad and unloved after it served so many years tirelessly without missing a beat, with all the effort and nothing to show for it but a home in a dusty box.

I should be caned. Not as much as XFX, though. "What utter RUBBISH!!!", as Clarkson would say!

Edit: Cranked fans to max with a program (which does run all the time, but this was tested to see if the fan still worked), was fine until I took my head away, then CLINK CLINK CLINK and one fan stops or spins like a few rpm for a few seconds, then about 10~15 seconds later it goes back to warp drive.
From some quick reading either it's bearings, or fan controller's shot.

 

We're live. Sorry it took a day longer, I had to fix the goofy water and the texture dependency - but it's fixed.
If you had an issue with the beta, you won't now.

Only thing is water may be a little slow (cpu / physics lag), the stuff that's at the top of the dam @ Calderwood Dam anyways.

You may go here (link below) for the resource or see buttons at the top of the page. Only 300mb of download this time, hooray!
https://www.beamng.com/resources/tail-of-the-dragon-deals-gap.2702/

Do enjoy, and if you folks had the beta and enjoyed it, don't forget to come back and rate!

Thanks to all the guinea pigs... I mean testers, that helped!!!

 

Here's a run I did from Calderwood lookout, the replay got a bit jittery at times, not sure why that is. This map is a blast to slide around on.

I didn't make it all the way back to the resort, but there's still 5 and a half minutes of drifting lol. It may be a little loud too, so sorry in advance for that.


Fantastic work @bob.blunderton !

 

If you know enough to go into the map editor (f11 key), press f1 to make sure you're in object editor mode, you might already be.
On the right side of the editor is a scene tree. in the little search box (or under level objects), is a thing called THELEVELINFO.
Search for it and find it. I think the value, in meters, for the FARVIEWPLANE (furthest rendered distance!) is like 1650. Change it down to 600-900 or such. If you do this, is has to compute less of a radius of trees around the player. There's just soo many trees, it is a real forest, no holds-barred, no wall-of-trees-fake-wall BS here
Save your work and exit the editor with F11. This should help anyone who has an issue with a slow map.
I will have a better edited main mission file up tonight right here on this forum, so check back later if the editor is daunting for you, it isn't a friendly place for everyone.