We got a mid-week patch for you here as we're continuing to dig through our big list of reported and known issues. There are quite a few issues that keep getting mentioned that we are looking into for the end of the week, like the exhaust systems falling off for exported cars and such.

With more and more issues being sorted out, we're getting to the point where we're not just putting out fires but can start polishing and adding much needed data to the UI, as well as making it play and flow better.

Here is the changelog for today's patch!

• Added support for importing cars from previous version of Automation
  
• Added exporting cars from the campaign, available only from trim designer (so far)
  
• Implemented tight engine fitting penalties: adds ET, PU, and Service Costs
  
• More tweaks and fixes to engine bays and engine size calculations
  
• Added the ability to enter a car project from the model and trims in the production calendar
  
• Factories now rebate 80% instead of 100% of value when upgraded to higher size class
  
• Realigned fixtures by making "back" button the same size as fixture thumbnails

• Fixed sales algorithm slowly reducing sales to a single trim over time
  
• Fixed not being able to select engine factories when they are paused
  
• Fixed engines not pausing production correctly when produced in multiple factories
  
• Fixed not being able to save a loaded campaign game manually
  
• Fixed black / not loading photo scenes
  
• Fixed cloning-deleting a trim/variant slot leaving phantom engineering project
  
• Fixed driveshaft spawning issue for Longditudinal AWD mid engine
  
• Fixed company reputation and prestige being the same for all regions
  
• Fixed debug text being shown instead of full descriptions on engine project factory screen
  
• Fixed factory location UI appearing to have previous factory plot size pre-selected
  
• Fixed not being able to add variants or trims back to factories once removed
  
• Fixed the costs not updating when changing factory sub-size class
  
• Fixed factory plot costs % showning wrong in the country info panel

• Fixed issues with coupling tow hitch in BeamNG sometimes smashing car and trailer

Most likely there will be another ptach coming this week (Friday).
Sorry for the delay with the Q&A that was announced, I haven't gotten around to producing it yet apart from the rewriting of the FAQ recently.

Please continue to report the various issues you find. Thank you!
Cheers!

Sorry for the long wait for this patch, some of these rabbit holes turned out to be deeper than anticipated! With this patch we're fixing the biggest reoccurring issues that have been pointed out and should make the campaign as well as sandbox more playable in this open beta. Have a read of the full changelog here:

• Added support for UTF-8 unicode in car naming
  
• Improved factory selection flow, removing unnecessary UI layer
  
• Improved launcher, showing number of mods and how many have been processed
  
• Improved engine size / fit UI
  
• Updated mod package to 4.12.2

• Fixed cloning of engines not being possible in sandbox
  
• Fixed campaign time bug that caused markets to show zero results
  
• Fixed car import not working for new version cars (2018 cars don't import yet)
  
• Fixed issue where car wouldn't calculate with certain engine warnings
  
• Fixed wheelspin warning not taking into account traction control
  
• Fixed validating of variants and trims during facelifting
  
• Fixed tutorial video continuing to play once closed
  
• Fixed icons and tooltips in hub finances
  
• Fixed issue with cars having a strange lighting issue on one side

• Added oil cooler and higher possible turbo temperature to BeamNG exports
  
• Fixed exporter issue with twin side exhausts
  
• Fixed issues with turn signals and other lights in BeamNG exports

On a side note, we also updated the FAQ after a long time, so it should better cover the various most-requested things and most-brought-up discussion topics. Have a read here.

The list of things to do still is very long and continuous patching and improving will continue until the LCV3 is deemed fully playable (we still consider it "somewhat playable" by experienced players).

More fixes and polish coming next week! Thanks for all your reports on a whole lot of issues. :)
Cheers!

• Fixed issue with campaign not saving
  
• Fixed issue with sandbox UI throwing you back to model selection after engine
  
• Fixed weight distirubtion issues
  
• Corrupt data issue on launch now notes required manual fix (delete old plugins)

On a first run it might look like all your cars are gone from sandbox, that is not the case, just a one-time quirk of the database being updated. After going back out to the main menu and in again, or restarting Automation, it should be back to normal.

With today’s bigger update to the ongoing Lite Campaign V3 (LCV3) beta we are reintroducing Sandbox mode as well as the BeamNG Exporter - upgraded with new features:

New BeamNG Exporter Features / Fixes in B190118:

• Tow hitches (misc fixture in automation)
  
• Driveshafts and updated suspension models
  
• Engine thermals
  
• Exhaust piping and particles
  
• Fixed grille texture sizing issue

Note that these have not been thoroughly tested, as is the case with most other new-ish features in this LCV3 version. Polishing up the LCV3 in the coming weeks, we will also address some of the long standing problems and inconsistencies with the exporter and improve it where we can.



Today’s beta milestone update is now available on the much more subscribed “openbeta” branch of the game. If you are subscribed to that or the “lcv3_test” branch, you will get this update automatically. Else you can opt into it via your Steam Library: R-Click the game, Properties, Betas, select the “openbeta” branch.

Note that the LCV3 is NOT considered properly playable by anyone but experienced Automation campaign players that have watched the campaign tutorial video. It is now way less broken than it was when first launching before Christmas though. A lot of UI required to put everything into context is still missing. That will slowly change over the coming weeks of development during which we will add a lot much needed detail.

This version comes with an updated launcher that much better handles mods and won’t break for those of you who have old UE4.17.2 mods installed. You can now directly manage your mods from the launcher window, including not loading specific ones on launch or unsubscribing, but also visiting a mod’s workshop page directly.



Existing mods will have to be updated to the new engine version Automation is running, UE4.21.1, using the new modding tools we made available with this update. Modders will be pleased to hear that there now is an official example photo-scene mod available in the workshop, i.e. you can now make your own photo scenes! The modding wiki does have some basic information for you to get going with that.

We have removed the Kee Engine version from this build of the game, it is still available via the default branch of Automation and once the beta of the LCV3 concludes - merging with the default branch - the Kee Engine version will be available through a specific opt-in standalone branch only giving you the Kee Engine version. That way you can still access it but don’t have to have a significantly bigger download and install with the normal UE4 version which at that point will have more or less the same (and more) campaign features.



With today’s patch we’re fixing a wide variety of issues, including factory related issues you were running into during the opt-in beta. Again this should make the campaign more solid, but there are of course many more issues that need to be resolved. Your reports and sharing of savegames and game logs has been very helpful in hunting down bugs so far. Thank you!

Here are today’s patch notes for the changes since B190109.

B190118 Changes & Additions

• Added Indonesian to language selection
  
• Added new photo scene
  
• Updated to latest translation versions from Crowdin
  
• Tweaked and fixed many engine bays, making them more realistic
  
• Made engine placement in engine bay more realistic in dependency on drive type
  
• Factory summary now shows model / family names, dates, and current state info
  
• Factories now have basic, automatically generated names
  
• Factory default in campaign setup now is M plot, S factory for both car and engine
  
• Locked QA and worker wage sliders for now until build quality is implemented
  
• Hidden all UI on engine sign-off page as it does not show any actual data yet
  
• Changed graphics settings Resolution Scale to be the actual scale percentage

B190118 Fixes & Polish

• Fixed issue with engine factories not being released after canceling project
  
• Fixed some issues connected to deleting an engine facelift
  
• Fixed an issue where factories were selectable despite already having a future state
  
• Fixed the hub factory manager UI not having a top bar with icons and tooltips
  
• Fixed several issues with car building AI and its car body selection, updated competitors
  
• Fixed issue where the campaign would not properly reset starting a new one
  
• Fixed issue with base car cost calculations in forecaster
  
• Fixed issues with front transverse engine placement in many cars
  
• Fixed test track map not changing when setting it to the airfield track
  
• Fixed issue with wheelspin warning and added tiers for the warning
  
• Fixed tire service cost multiplier display value and updated suspension tuning UI
  
• Fixed many cargo boxes and passenger volumes of car bodies
  
• Fixed issue with data display not adhering to what significant figures they ought to show
  
• Fixed various sections of the UI, like the calendar and the R&D panel
  
• Fixed weight stat not showing correctly in final summary tab of the car designer
  
• Fixed wheelbase not displaying on summary screen of car designer.
  
• Fixed the "in engineering" status color in the calendar falsely switching to "in production"
  
• Fixed missing textures in leaf rear suspension
  
• Fixed some formatting of body variant tooltip
  
• Fixed slider for cash on campaign setup screen having wrong number of steps
  
• Fixed distributors on boxers being weirdly offset
  
• Fixed Power to Weight ratio in bottom panel on test track now telling you what it is
  
• Fixed some tyre treads pointing in the wrong direction on one side
  
• Fixed shading issue with normals on car body morphing
  
• Fixed mid engined cars not using their correct cargo box, had zero cargo space

View a full-size version of the development timeline here.

All that being said, in the coming weeks there will be 1-2 patches per week until the LCV3 is where it needs to be for a full public release. The currently missing Challenges will also come back in the near future.

Cheers!

This is the first patch of the new year as we're back in office and polishing up the Lite Campaign V3. Some pretty big fixes in today's update. As a reminder of what the timeline is for this big update with the LCV3, have a look at this:


View a full-size version of the development timeline here.

First we are focusing on fixing game breaking issues and bugs, as well as adding important parts of UI to make the campaign more playable. From there we'll continue to fix bugs and polish it up, adding a LOT of much needed UI feedback to the player, as well as straight up missing UI and UI functionality.

• Updated game engine to UE4.21.1, might fix some stability issues
  
  
• Fixed engine facelifts stopping cars from being produced
  
• Fixed issue with states not being reset between different campaigns
  
• Fixed issue where you'd go bankrupt in a new game right after going bankrupt before
  
• Fixed various issues with and formatting of the R&D calendar tech categories
  
• Fixed the paint to reset to default red when clicking a drivetrain option
  
• Fixed engine families getting broken after deleting a facelift
  
• Fixes to familiarity, wasn't working properly for many items/ categories
  
• Fixed more gear ratios having positive effect on reliability
  
• Fixed and added stats to R&D panel, research costs, lab costs, average tech
  
• Fixed slider control on manual engine testing
  
• Fixed issue with campaign setup screen sliders and difficulty multiplier
  
  
• Made engine facelifting a lot more robust, with more feedback about what is going on
  
• Added "cars per month" stat to engineering tab trim items
  
• Made trim & engine grid items single-click to enter
  
• Moved the Marketing & Dealerships button next to the market overview in hub
  
• Made it impossible to take out any loans when at credit rating F
  
• Added more accurate warnings for underpowered cars
  
• YES, IT NOW SAYS COUNTRIES, NOT COUNTIRES!!1 :P

There will be another one or two patches before January 18th which is our target date for bringing back an updated sandbox and exporter to this version of the game. Please continue to post issues you find and we'll address them as best we can along the way.

Cheers!

Holiday plans for the team changed a bit and thus instead of making a second patch come on January 4th, we were busy the last few days to get a good few fixes implemented. That means we won’t be around the first week of January though instead. :) Many of you who tried out the LC V3 will be happy about this changelog.

• Added engineering familiarity, added familiarity stats to engineering overview tab
  
• Fixed campaign breaking in 1989 (was caused by a broken competitor car)
  
• Fixed engine factories never finish building when built from company hub
  
• Fixed turbos not working at all, not adding power
  
• Fixed broken general region size progression
  
• Fixed major bug in demographics sizes and their progression
  
• Fixed plot costs dependence on region and current economic strength
  
• Fixed engineering times of interior and safety options being way too high
  
• Fixed production unit counts of traction assists
  
• Increased difference between drive type engineering times FWD/RWD/AWD
  
• Rebalanced power-to-weight dependency in drivability and sportiness

Happy New Year!

• Fixed "Corrupt Data" startup issue
  
• Fixed issue where engine didn't calculate at all
  
• Activated manual save function (disk icon in top right)
  
• Hooked up tutorial video on campaign startup notice

Unless some crazy issue pops up, this will be it with patches until January 4th as noted in the timeline below. Cheers!

We just released the first, somewhat playable version of the Lite Campaign V3 (LC V3). Most features planned for the LC V3 have been implemented, but despite working on it flat out for the last few months, there is still a lot left to do before we consider it done and good enough for a full public release of this update. To put it into perspective, at the point of writing this there are 238 yet unsolved items on the ToDo list for just the LC V3. The new version contains only the first beta version of the LC V3 and neither the sandbox mode, nor the exporter - both are coming back to this new UE4.21.0 based version of the game along with fixes and improvements in mid January.

Little Dev Update about today’s release:
https://youtu.be/RSulwrrFWg4
A first rough version of the LC V3, including engineering, factories, marketing, selling your cars, etc.

• Facelifting existing car trims and engine variants
  
• Reusing old engines, sharing engines between different models
  
• More car bodies, body fixes, and new variants
  
• Many more rear- and mid-engine compatible bodies
  
• More fixtures of various types
  
• Modelled factories & add-ons
  
• Improved game mechanics and realism in car and engine designers
  
• Various car and engine designer bugfixes
  
• Improved and fixed UI, and UI feedback

The engine switch from Unreal Engine 4.17.2 to 4.21.0 was necessary due to the so-called “garbage collection bug” that was plaguing a lot of our players with seemingly random crashes. While we cannot confirm the issue is gone as we never were able to properly recreate the issue on any of our machines in the office, we can say that the part of the code the crashes stemmed from no longer even exists after a major rewrite by Epic. So here is hoping for the best! Among other benefits of the new engine version, a big one for us is that the build time for the game is down from 90 to 20 minutes, making “let’s just try that real quick” tests more feasible.

The engine switch means that mods won’t be working in this opt-in version until they have been updated by their creators to be based on UE4.21., we’ll add the updated mod tools once we launch the normal open beta phase in mid January.

Due to how rough and unpolished it still is, we give you access to this version not via the main branch of the game but via opting into the lcv3_test branch via the Properties - Betas selection (right-click the game in your Steam Library). We do not recommend to the average player to try this version yet because of how difficult it is to navigate with so much of the much needed UI feedback still missing. If, on the other hand, you are a curious and hardened Automation player with a good grasp of the game mechanics, give it a go and see if you can figure it out with our little video tutorial. Having played the LC V2 in the old game engine certainly will prove helpful as well.



Note: The first opt-in beta version of the LC V3 has not been properly tested nor balanced. There will be plenty of bugs and most likely it will play strangely due to issues with the overall balance and issues with the AI generated competitor cars.

Here is a tutorial video on how to try out (and play) the LC V3 in its current state. Note: currently the link to the video in game doesn't work yet.
https://youtu.be/xUbrFhQFcVU


View a full-size version of the development timeline here.

Release is on December 21st. The goal is to have a rough but “playable-if-you-know-how-to” version with rudimentary UI implementation and all kinds of rough edges. If necessary, we are going to get a patch out on the December 22nd to address any major game breaking issues that pop up.

We’ll be out of office over the Christmas holidays until January 2nd. On January 4th we’ll get the first patch out for this big update based on your feedback and our highest priority ToDo list items. After that you can expect one big patch each week as we are adding or polishing up UI, fixing bugs, as well as balance the campaign. On January 18th we are going to add back in the Sandbox and the new BeamNG Exporter version with some new features and fixes.



We’ll continue updating that version with 1-2 patches each week until it is ready to be put onto the main branch in its proper release version in Mid February. Thereafter we’ll patch it as necessary and start working on implementing the LC V4 features in a new (shorter) development cycle. The LC V4 will come with (among other things) the new proper sales model and engineers / staff.

We are delighted to have reached a point in the development of the campaign where the fundamentals are in and smaller features, polish, and fixes can be added rather quickly. We too prefer more frequent updates to the game, but unfortunately that was just not possible in the past few months due to the game-breaking nature of the new features and the game engine switch.

From here the campaign will take shape at a good pace and we are much looking forward to finishing LC V3, getting to V4, V5 and then the grand campaign, the forced induction revamp with superchargers and non-80s turbo tech, and ultimately epic multiplayer company battles.

This was quite the year for Automation. Especially the BeamNG exporter update proved very successful and has given us the additional financial backing to see this all the way to the end as planned and promised. Big thanks to the awesome BeamNG devs too, of course, they have been great to work with!

Thank you all for your continued support and for coming along on this long journey.
Merry Christmas!

We're getting close to a fully playable Lite Campaign V3 and plan on giving you a sneak peek by releasing a first version as an opt-in open beta before Christmas. That version will have all the main features planned for the LC V3, but not the polish that we would want from a proper release version. Also, to not mess with your saves and limit the scope of potential issues, that opt-in version will only have the LC V3 - no sandbox or exporter (YET!).


The currently unpolished hub screen for the LC V3.

There will also be a bunch of new gameplay mechanics coming with the new version. Have a look at our latest Little Dev Update for more information and some examples:

https://youtu.be/cmt06slw-x8
Our target date for the first rough release of the LC V3 is the 21. December 2018. We'll keep you in the loop with dev updates as this date approaches.

If you missed some of the previous Little Dev Updates talking about various features in the LC V3, have a look here:

https://youtu.be/zmFilFM4MV0
https://youtu.be/0sPhVACUYwQ
https://youtu.be/Cf7_VAFUuqA
Cheers!

While we are busy working on implementing the campaign mode into the UE4 version of Automation, we release this content update in order to help bridge the long gap between the last public release and the upcoming big update with the Lite Campaign V3 (LC V3). This is easy enough for us to do because art / content, like cars and fixtures, pretty much are separate from the programming part of developing the game.

Our new trailer for the car & engine designer.
https://youtu.be/0Qt1HFr7gns
Our artists have been working away on getting more cars done for the LC V3 and focused mostly on filling car-type gaps throughout the year range. That means there are a lot new utility vehicles especially, but also plenty of new “more standard” cars of various sizes. 75 cars in total are added with this update, and more are to come with the LC V3 as currently 5 people are working on getting more cars done for the game. A big thanks to the awesome modders who provided their fixtures and car bodies to be implemented as vanilla content in the game!

Due to how difficult it is to implement technical fixes into the content only update, we only have three small fixes for issues, but they are good ones! Of course there are heaps of fixes to car bodies and their morphs in this update.

Some of the cars that have been added don’t have all their morphs yet, but should be functional and usable in general. So if you discover cars that seem to allow very few changes, most likely that will change.

B180925 & B180926 Fixes

• Fixed many car body issues you pointed out since B180922
  
• Fixed several issues with fixtures
  
• Fixed issue with thumbnails not loading correctly
  
• Fixed issue with mid-engine longitudinal engine bay space
  
• Fixed weight problems of several car bodies

B180922 Fixes

• Fixed tons of car bodies and their morphs
  
• Fixed general early era brake performance
  
• Fixed issue where game errors for top speeds over 500 km/h
  
• Fixed exporter issue with ceramic brakes

B180922 Content

• 75 new car bodies and variants spread across all eras
  
• Tons of new headlights and taillights
  
• Some new wings, grilles, rims, mirrors, misc fixtures, and exhausts

Enjoy!

We're slowly but steadily putting together the Lite Campaign V3, and in today's LDU we're showing you two of the many improvements coming to the lite campaign compared to the LC V2: automatic production and sales management that you can tune, which means far less boring micro management, and the new engineering system that will be a lot more realistic than the previous one.

https://youtu.be/eaedFRcJXBU
The small content update we have mentioned previously will make its way into Automation at the end of next week!

https://youtu.be/jx6sR6ysEKk
We'll keep you in the loop of what's going on in development in the coming weeks as the campaign gets closer to release. Next week we will likely be able to show you some in game footage of new campaign mechanics.

Cheers!

Currently we're working hard on the implementation of the Lite Campaign V3. At this time it is still in a very rough state but some of the important foundation is there and works.

It took a while to get it into a state that works outside of the office because we're also updating the game engine from 4.17.2 to 4.20.1, but here is a look at some of the in game functionality of the new features, instead of just talking about UI drafts:

https://youtu.be/7fMrm7_V8GE
There will be a general content update patch in the coming weeks (in 2-3 weeks) to help bridge the gap to the Lite Campaign V3. A lot of new cars and fixtures will make it to the game for (and before) the LCV3 update.

From here the Little Dev Updates will be possible on a more regular basis again.
Cheers!