You have all been very patient, and the wait is finally over: today we’re releasing the new update, which includes some hotly anticipated features, including:
A new vehicle: Autobello Piccolina
The Autobello Piccolina might seem funny and small, but it’s no joke. Taking cues from German and Italian economy cars of the 50s and 60s, we’ve created the perfect match for the new Italy map. It’s lightweight, nimble, and durable, but of course, absolutely terrible in a collision. You might find yourself giggling as it eagerly pivots around switchbacks and narrow cobblestone streets; however, some unnerving lift oversteer will put the fear in you as speeds increase. Powered by an air-cooled engine, there is no radiator to damage, but keep an eye on the temperature gauge, as too much hard work without enough airflow can swing the temperatures into the red. As the base model might be a bit too mild for some, we have included tons of customization parts to make things more exciting. Kit it out as a vintage racer, street machine, or baja buggy!
A new map: Italy
Important graphics and physics optimizations, along with our usual stack of improvements and fixes.
To gain some perspective about the work that has gone into Italy for the past 2 years and 8 months, here’s a comparison with a few of our other existing maps:
That’s an area of 16km², four times as much as our previous largest map. Italy features 120 kilometers of lovingly hand-crafted twisty roads, together with more than 4,300 manually placed traffic signs, and of course the vast amounts of associated road marking, fences, curbs, walls and other roadside features.
This road network links together several rural and urban areas made up of roughly 2,100 buildings. Going further off road, you’ll find Italy includes no less than 140,000 individual plants. And that’s not all, as a few areas have yet to be populated with further detail and polish in future updates.
All of this combined meant that initial versions of Italy were simply too resource intensive. This forced us to postpone the original release date some months ago, so we could optimize our game engine for this kind of complex map.
After all that work, we’ve seen framerates improving up to 240% on Italy, which means it’s now playable on most computers.
These optimizations may partially translate into other maps, depending very heavily on the map and on your hardware. As an example, here’s the improvement at ECA and WCUSA maps, as tested in a particular computer configuration:
Your mileage may vary, but we think most computers should see some improvement, so cross your fingers and check for yourself. Which, by the way, is a good excuse to test drive 700+ kilograms of post-war economy goodness, and discover all of its variants, aftermarket parts, and colorable paint jobs! 😉
The whole BeamNG team wishes you all some happy, relaxing Christmas holidays!
Thanks for the awesome year 2018, on to career mode in 2019! 🙂
If you need to kill time until you reach your computer or the update downloads, you can continue reading the full list of the changes for version 0.15:
Physics
Small optimizations in the physics core (~5%)
Increased sensitivity of duplicated beam warning
Improved dirt and gravel surface friction values (gains more grip with sliding than before)
Tied fire thermals to engine and brake thermals
Clean up of fire subsystem
Fixed random fire ignitions
Fixed removing engine also removing the wheels for some vehicles
Fixed particle slipForce values reported by the physics core
Fixed particle collision depth values
AI
Added scriptAI subsystem. It allows to record a driving path and then having the AI try to drive the same path
Added penalty parameters for above and below cutoff driveability, to map.getPath. They control the path finding algorithm based on the cutoff driveability threshold
Powertrain
Prevent DCTs from shifting up while in frozen mode
Automatic transmission doesn’t provide an engine load anymore in N when frozen
Added bigger freeplay to sequential transmissions
Tuned default upshift prevention settings
Electric servo device now has settable min/max angles
Temporary rev limiter (used for launch control and TCS) now uses the actual rev limiter logic of the engine instead of always a smooth limiter
Turbochargers now work much more reliably at low framerates
Increased display accuracy of torque curve app vs actual performance of turbocharged engines
Fixed clutch slipping too easily when vehicle has a low range gearbox
Fixed reverse airflow causing temperature increase in radiators and oil coolers
Graphics Engine
Render optimizations to improve CPU bound cases
Render optimizations for TSStatic objects
Added support for BC7 texture compression. Should be the prefered format for all textures except normal maps. Results in more detailed textures on-screen.
Fixed decals not rendering correctly over meshes using visible mesh for collision
Fixed some performance meters used in Performace UI
Fixed “look back” behavior of orbit camera
Fixed black screen after physics instabilities
Vehicles
Added new vehicle: Autobello Piccolina
Added ‘Shift Lights’ (Single LED and Multi LED). Added by default to Race and Rally configurations of most vehicles
All new ‘Rally Lights’ meshes and textures, with skinnable covers
Rally Lights: Adjusted brightness and shadows on variants with more than 2 lights. Improved positions to avoid light flares from leaking behind
All new ‘Roofrack’ meshes for the Gavril Roamer. Higher quality models and textures, added a Jerrycan
Hirochi Sunburst: Added ‘Gripall’ skin. Fixed minor issue on the mudflaps uvMap
Hirochi SBR4: Added ‘Apex’ skin
Added new license plates format (European 52x12cm) and pattern generation. Read more here.
Ability to set default license plate for every new vehicle `settings/cloud/forceLicencePlate.txt`
Tuned sunburst CVT to use lower RPMs
Tuned ETK 800 Series and ETK K-Series weight distribution, awd parts add more weight
Fixed beacon lights not shutting off when broken
Improved Lightbar/beacon siren sounds: now come from vehicle’s horn location rather than the lightbar itself
Strengthened suspension subframes for most vehicles
Increase burnside radiator effectiveness
Fixed ETK K-Series default front track width
Fixed many cars getting small amounts of damage just from aggressive driving
Increased small standard tires treadCoef to match larger sizes (increases off road grip)
Some changes to some configurations’ colors
Refreshed thumbnails
Added information about current vehicle in htmlTexture (`VehicleInfo`)
Levels
Added new level: Italy
Automation Test Track road surface overhaul: now using a 3D mesh for greater smoothness and for improved control over details where needed. Should improve Force-Feedback feeling.
Fixed drag strip christmas tree on West Coast USA
Fixed minor water issue on Gridmap’s groundmodels area
Fixed minor issues on East Coast USA
Added new preview images for Cliff, Gridmap, and Utah
Scenarios and Time Trials
New scenarios: ‘Autobello Piccolina Showcase’ and ‘Pizza Delivery’
New Time Trials for Italy: Crest Road, Highway, Mini Village Loop, Asphalt Hillclimb 1 & 2, Island Tour, Mixed Circuit, Mountain Village Circuit, Cliff Road, Gravel Hillclimb 1 & 2, Mixed Hillclimb and Through the Centre
Bus Routes
Added bus lines for Italy: 101 Norte, 101 Norte reverse, 142 Lucera-Norte, 142 Norte-Lucera, 145 Norte-Villapace, 145 Norte-Villapace reverse, 701 Conca azzura-Fastello, 707 Fastello-Conca azzura
Added ability to use other buses in ‘Bus Route’ mode
Fixed using two times the same waypoint for different stops in navhelp
Fixed spawning the bus in the last bus stop trigger
Track Builder
Added procedural obstacles: Cube, Bump, Cylinder, Ring, Cone and Ramp.
Sounds
Changes to loading type for all assets, should improve overall performance
Added cobblestone groundmodel sounds
Added 2 new siren sounds
Added support for multiple engine sound source
New suspension sounds for cars
New cannon roll and fire sounds
Tweaks to cabin EQ and mix
User Interface
Added propulsion, fuel, transmission, braking distance, and drivetrain to vehicle performance data
Optimized navimap sending to a vehicle to only happen when the map has changed
Updated tooltips
Updated some outdated levels’ thumbnails
Fixed Italian language not always being properly recognized and used
Fixed navimap road construction for the case of multiple overlapping road segments intesercting with another one
Replay
Fixed rare bug where vehicle colors and skins would momentarily switch around between identic cars
Input
Enabled force feedback by default for the Logitech Momo Racing Force Feedback steering wheel
Fixed sped up response when switching back and forth between keyboard and gamepad steering
Fixed force feedback persisting when a vehicle is deleted
Controller
Node collision event is now exposed to controllers
Added shiftlight controller with highly configurable settings
Support for electric propulsion WIP
Fixed a few corner cases where a manual transmission in arcade mode would get stuck in a higher gear at stillstand for a while
Refactored how Sports mode works across all relevant transmissions
Improved DCT control logic
Launcher
Displays an error message if can’t clean cache (if using userpath==rootpath)
Added progress dialog for clean cache, fixed backup folder created using 12h time format
Added trackEditor and new editor to clean cache whitelist
Misc
New and more reliable Performance Graphs
Removed some unused files
Updated vehicle tests to include new data points such as “Propulsion”, “Fuel Type”, “Induction” and automated detection of transmission and drivetrain type
While BeamNG has made some amazing progress, they are nowhere near as sophisticated nor as optimized as GTAV engine. Which is to be expected considering GTA V cost about 240 million USD to build.
WOW i cannot believe the Italy map is here, i’ve watched it’s updates over the years and i’m so excited! i’m surprised the game can also run on my duel core integrated GPU 4gb laptop (when out and about so i never have to stop playing) so many optimisations too, i’m a kid with a candy cane!
Incredible work devs! I’ve been working on a 16km² map for the past couple of days. “No big deal really.” Except when you want it to look GOOD. So making a simple tunnel and intersection so far has taken a good 16 hours and it can still look better! I just wish I was able to import other models, textures, sounds, etc.. instead of having to edit massive files and rename 850 entries. Can’t wait to get this up and running (DSL internet, thanks for the extra info to read while waiting haha it helped)
New map wont load.
Every old map is now slow to load.
Italy map loads on main menu in background.
Impossible to play anything now again.
Please stop releasing updates that make the whole game stop working or impossible to play because every update recently, this has been the case.
You do realize that you aren’t helping anybody else by not providing any details? You are the only one having issues so its probably on your end. (For example UnderPowered PC, Out of date graphics driver, etc.)
Please, I’m begging you, fix the stupid glitchy black lines we AMD users experience on this game. It occurs on maps like East Coast USA. Don’t know why it happens, but it happens. Please fix it, it’s annoying and I can’t play it until it’s fixed (I mean, I can, but I don’t want to, because it’d get really annoying).
I had wanted beam ng for many yeat but never got it, I recieved it a few weeks ago as a gift and am very happy with the game it was exactly what I expected and more from the vids I watched, thankyou for the new update the map size is incredible and cant wait to get in and tear that little car around ITALY
To the above posters:
On every new version the game will have to re-do cache and shaders. It’ll take a few extra seconds, or an extra minute if you have a HDD. You shouldn’t be running modern games of an HDD in the age of cheap SSD’s.
Generating shaders and model cache is only done the 1st time a map loads or if you’ve added new models to the map between run times (if you make maps and models).
Glitches with AMD drivers, I have them too, but they are less on newer drivers. Try the newest beta driver.
It has to do with the terrain auto-generated grass dissolving method not working on the AMD driver.
Folks that have issues loading the game or getting things to run should delete their old mods 1st, clear cache, and try again. You might be surprised. No warranty on mods, folks!
Pretty nice! I have been watching the development since ljfhutch made that thread for it 2 years ago!
Never give up on this… Imagine this engine used in Grand Theft Auto?
While BeamNG has made some amazing progress, they are nowhere near as sophisticated nor as optimized as GTAV engine. Which is to be expected considering GTA V cost about 240 million USD to build.
Thank you devs, have a nice christmas
finally it’s delivered!
WOW i cannot believe the Italy map is here, i’ve watched it’s updates over the years and i’m so excited! i’m surprised the game can also run on my duel core integrated GPU 4gb laptop (when out and about so i never have to stop playing) so many optimisations too, i’m a kid with a candy cane!
Another amazing update! thank you for all of your hard work devs!
Very nice BeamNG dev team, keep up the good work 😀
WOOHooo!! New update! I’m at school so I can not wait to get home and play with the new map and all!
Thank you Devs of this amazing game you have my support forever!!
P.S. Reddit sent me.
I lost my email account.
I bought the game on a Brazilian site
A gift for my birthday 😀
Christmas present for me. Hope you enjoy it!
This is gonna be the best Christmas EVER. I mean, a new map AND a new car? The devs have really spoiled us this time. 🙂
ScriptAI looks super cool!
I can’t wait to play this update once Steam has installed it 🙂
Has the Automation vehicle turbo power output issue been solved? I wasn’t too sure if this was in the Powertrain updates section
Incredible work devs! I’ve been working on a 16km² map for the past couple of days. “No big deal really.” Except when you want it to look GOOD. So making a simple tunnel and intersection so far has taken a good 16 hours and it can still look better! I just wish I was able to import other models, textures, sounds, etc.. instead of having to edit massive files and rename 850 entries. Can’t wait to get this up and running (DSL internet, thanks for the extra info to read while waiting haha it helped)
New map wont load.
Every old map is now slow to load.
Italy map loads on main menu in background.
Impossible to play anything now again.
Please stop releasing updates that make the whole game stop working or impossible to play because every update recently, this has been the case.
You do realize that you aren’t helping anybody else by not providing any details? You are the only one having issues so its probably on your end. (For example UnderPowered PC, Out of date graphics driver, etc.)
Keep up the good work
Merry Christmas
Please, I’m begging you, fix the stupid glitchy black lines we AMD users experience on this game. It occurs on maps like East Coast USA. Don’t know why it happens, but it happens. Please fix it, it’s annoying and I can’t play it until it’s fixed (I mean, I can, but I don’t want to, because it’d get really annoying).
I had wanted beam ng for many yeat but never got it, I recieved it a few weeks ago as a gift and am very happy with the game it was exactly what I expected and more from the vids I watched, thankyou for the new update the map size is incredible and cant wait to get in and tear that little car around ITALY
To the above posters:
On every new version the game will have to re-do cache and shaders. It’ll take a few extra seconds, or an extra minute if you have a HDD. You shouldn’t be running modern games of an HDD in the age of cheap SSD’s.
Generating shaders and model cache is only done the 1st time a map loads or if you’ve added new models to the map between run times (if you make maps and models).
Glitches with AMD drivers, I have them too, but they are less on newer drivers. Try the newest beta driver.
It has to do with the terrain auto-generated grass dissolving method not working on the AMD driver.
Folks that have issues loading the game or getting things to run should delete their old mods 1st, clear cache, and try again. You might be surprised. No warranty on mods, folks!
I like this car it is good for my style of driving
det er gott
Fantastic update! Thank you devs for all your hard work!
this is brilliant but can we have more collision particles in crashes ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nGX44oRiTE
Well done! This is another amazing update! I love playing the new map and car.
AI Path recording = awesome thanks, some epic car chase scenes are able to be made now !!
Can we use this to create permanent AI paths on new track builds ?? I have had little success trying to get the AI paths working properly previously ?
the sound of the boxer engine was just perfect, you guys are amazing.
Amazing work Beam.NG! Can’t wait to try this update out!
i like this game
beamng the best game ever
Any future in having the telemetry used with simexperience and simvibe?
AutoBello Picolina