[Tutorial] Viewing Your Mesh on an Existing Vehicle's Jbeam

RobloxFan2 · Mar 18, 2020

EcoNadder77 said: ↑
In this tutorial, I will walk you through the process of putting a 3D model of a vehicle you created onto the jbeam of an existing vehicle in BeamNG.

The tools I will be using include: Notepad for a text editor, and Blender for the 3D modeling program.
I will be attaching my unfinished model of a 2014 Tesla Model-S onto the jbeam of the ETK K-Series.

Important! This will not result in a completed mod. This is only to help you view your model in game. I strongly recommend creating a backup of your model before following this tutorial! You will be making some changes to the model that you may not want to keep.

Note: Some of the official vehicles' drivetrain components (engine, transmission, suspension, and wheels) are stored in a separate location. If you put your mesh on one of these vehicles, the drivetrain components will not be replaced by your own.

Step 1 | Picking a vehicle

First things first, you need to pick a vehicle to act as a host for your model.
Try to pick an official vehicle that's as similar (in size and shape) as possible to your model.

I will be using the ETK K-Series as my host vehicle.

Step 2 | Cloning the vehicle

Now that you've chosen a vehicle to host your mesh, you need to clone it to avoid overwriting its original files.

Navigate to the BeamNG mods folder on your computer located here:
MyDocuments\BeamNG.drive\mods

Create a new folder within the mods folder and name it: "unpacked".
View attachment 281749

Create a new folder inside the "unpacked" folder. Give the folder a name that's relevant to your model. I will call mine "model_s".

Note: From this point on, every time I refer to "your_model_name" or "model_s", I'm referring to the name of this folder.

Inside the "model_s" folder, create a new folder named "vehicles". Finally, create a new folder within the "vehicles" folder named: "your_model_name". The resulting file structure should look like this:
Documents\BeamNG.drive\mods\unpacked\your_model_name\vehicles\your_model_name
View attachment 281805

Next you need copy the files of your host vehicle into the folder you just created.

Open your BeamNG.drive application folder (it's wherever you installed BeamNG). Inside the application folder, open the folder named: "content", then "vehicles". This folder contains the zip files of every official vehicle in the game.

Find the zip file of the host vehicle you chose.
The folder for the ETK K-Series I'm using is named: "etkc.zip".
View attachment 281771

Open the host vehicle folder > vehicles > host vehicle name. You should now see all of the vehicle's files.
Copy all the files within this folder into the last "your_model_name" folder you created.

Note: From this point on, I will only refer to the files within the "your_model_name" folder. Do not modify any of the files inside the BeamNG application folder.

Find the main jbeam file among the files you just copied. Its name will exactly match the name of the host vehicle's folder it came from.
Since the ETK K-Series folder was named "etkc.zip", I need to look for the jbeam file named "etkc.jbeam".
View attachment 281783

Open this jbeam file in a text editor. (I am using Notepad)
At the top of the jbeam file, find this line of text:

Code:

"name":"name_of_host_vehicle",

Replace "name_of_host_vehicle" with "your_model_name".
Save and close the file.

To test if the vehicle cloned correctly, start BeamNG and open the vehicle selector.
You should see a duplicate of your host vehicle. Your clone is the one without the BeamNG logo next to its name.
View attachment 281796

Step 3 | Preparing your mesh

Lets set up your mesh.
Open Blender and create a new project. Delete the default cube, and go to File>Import>Collada (.dae)
Navigate to the last "your_model_name" folder you created for your clone vehicle. You should see a file named: "name_of_host_vehicle.DAE". The file for the ETK K-Series is called "etkc.DAE".
View attachment 281803 View attachment 281809

Import the .dae file, and you should see the 3d model of your host vehicle.
View attachment 281813

Click on each part of the model and take note of its name.
example:
- The left door is named: "etkc_door_L"
- The hood is named: "etkc_hood"

Switch over to your 3D model and rename each part to exactly match the name of its corresponding part on the host model.
example:
- I will name my Tesla's front bumper "etkc_bumper_F", and the left taillight "etkc_taillightglass_L".

In order to view your model in game, you need to assign a material to your mesh. For now, you will assign a very simple material to each part of your model.

Select a part of your model and open the materials tab on the right. Create a new material.

Important! Make sure the name of the material is "Material". This is the default material name. For the purposes of this tutorial, don't change the name to anything else. This may cause the model not to show up properly.
Note: You can also name the material "Glass". This will give the object a transparent glass-like texture.
View attachment 281817 View attachment 281837

Assign this material to every component of your model.

Next you need to apply the location, rotation, and scale of each part in the model. This ensures that every component appears in the correct location in BeamNG.

Tap the "A" key to select all of the parts of your model. At the bottom of the screen select:
Object > Apply > Location
Object > Apply > Rotation & Scale
View attachment 281838

Step 4 | Attaching your model to the clone vehicle

Your model is ready. Now you need to export it as a .dae file.
Make sure all the parts of your mesh are still selected. At the top of the screen select:
File > Export > Collada (.dae)
View attachment 281840

Select "Apply Modifiers" and "Selection Only" at the bottom left of the screen. At the top of the screen, change the name of your export to exactly match the name of the .DAE file you imported from the host vehicle.
I will be exporting my model with the name: "etkc.dae".
View attachment 281831

Export it to a location that you can remember.
I'm saving mine in a folder on my Desktop named tutorial.

Take the .dae file you just created, and put it into the files of the clone vehicle's "your_model_name" folder replacing the "host_vehicle_name.dae" file already there. You should receive a prompt asking if you want to replace the existing file.

Note: Some of the .dae files of the official vehicles have a .DAE (uppercase) extension. The .dae file you created with Blender will have a .dae (lowercase) extension. If this is the case, you will not receive a "do you want to replace" prompt. You will need to manually find and remove the .DAE (uppercase) file.

Step 5 | Done!

Now restart BeamNG, and spawn your clone from the vehicle selector. If everything worked, you should see your model!
View attachment 281842 View attachment 281843 View attachment 281844

Now I know that my model is a little too big. I will need to shrink it slightly.

Please let me know if any part of this tutorial was unclear.
Thanks for reading my tutorial, and I hope you find it useful!
Good Luck!
Click to expand...
Hrm... I tried it and all I got was the original etk k. I have no idea what is going on..

P_enta · Mar 25, 2020

THIS IS AMAZING! THANK YOU SO MUCH DDD

Frav · Apr 11, 2020

P_enta said: ↑

THIS IS AMAZING! THANK YOU SO MUCH DDD
Click to expand...

You do know that this is meshslapping right? I thought you weren’t going to do it this way...

P_enta · Apr 11, 2020

Frav said: ↑

You do know that this is meshslapping right? I thought you weren’t going to do it this way...
Click to expand...

I do know it’s meshlapping, but I also do have side projects that are lower effort and I’m fine with meshlapping those lower quality projects that I have.

sbeedbeeter · Jul 28, 2020

I know this is low quality modding, but how do I add textures to my mod?

mellowbug · Feb 14, 2021

What if i for example only want to use a engine model and be able to see it in an vanilla car as swappable part? I exported a automation car and edited the dae with blender so i had only the engine left. It has materials assigned to it .. like material 1 .. 2 ... 3 and so on. However the engine in game is there .. it does run and all .. but i cant see it. I also can swap some parts i added into the engines jbeam file. What could cause that? Nodes ive bin told .. some said missing flexbodie .. others said texture .. at the end i still dont know / understand whats actually the issue. This is my first attempt at doing a port/mod so my knowledge is slim. Could u share youre thoughts with me? on whats probably the issue since it looks like you know what you're doing. And i could use some help with this.

Edit. I just noticed you're the one who responded on my thread

zyxx · Sep 18, 2021

i replaced the dae with the vn wag i used in assetto corsa and when i open the dae i replaced the model with in blender nothing spawns pottentialy why nothing in game but why is nothing showing?

will111111111 · Dec 12, 2021

How do you add textures to the cars

Deleted member 521321 · Jun 23, 2023

HUGE BUMP WARNING: and what are some even more steps for the tutorial like, texturing and etc?

sebik6662 · Dec 31, 2023

how yl13 , YandexSkoda and netnuka makes paid mods POV

android kev · Jan 4, 2024

hello im new pls help me i only see a door

Steve Rooftile · Mar 26, 2024

what did i do wrong help

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