Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
The current openbeta version LCV4.1.11 seems to be in pretty good shape by now. All the cool new features added in the first release to openbeta, and in the 11 patches since November 12th, definitely outweigh the quirks left in this current version.
Holiday wishes from the Automation-Beam Championships (and Nev)
The recent smaller patches also saw some significant improvements to the BeamNG Exporter, making exported cars drive more naturally and better than ever before, with major improvements to car stability at speed, too. That should be plenty of reason alone to get this one merged with the default branch at this point.
Our plans are pretty straightforward and remain as previously mentioned: after a short holiday we’ll be back early January and work on a few more patches to polish up and fix issues in LCV4.1. After that, once again, we will jump into a longer development cycle for the next major milestone update, which will be the LCV4.2. This milestone will bring the turbo revamp and a massive round of improvements to the engine and car designer game mechanics and their balancing.
The early-January patches will come to the openbeta branch first, so if you want to stay updated early, then just remain in the openbeta branch, otherwise this will be a good time to switch over and opt out of the beta. Do so by right-clicking your game in the Steam Library, Properties, Betas, and select the branch you want to change to.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! (come on 2021, at least try ;) Cheers!
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
Another patch, some more BeamNG Exporter love in this one! Looking pretty good so far for being a release candidate, let us know what issues you find.
LCV4.1.11 BeamNG Exporter Changes
More tire tweaks, more forgiving at the limit, slightly less stiff, bit more grip coefficient tweaking to match automation.
Better suspension toe (more front toe in on all cars, previously had 0 front toe also a little more rear toe in on RWD, more Rear Toe Out on FWD, AWD's adjust toe with torque split. Should give much more stable and drivable handling, and livelier FWD handling. Still adjustable in setup screen, but will be an offset toe range from before.
Automatic default tire pressure adjustment. Will set tire pressure between approximately 24 - 45 psi depending on how heavily loaded your tires are compared to their size. Should make heavy cars with skinny tires and light cars with wide tires more drivable. Pressures can still be adjusted in setup as usual.
Louder turbo sounds (now actually audible!)
Exhaust smoke much less if you have a low emissions car (with a cat), and higher if you don't. Still scales with AFR too.
Exported headlights now more transparent, taillights less transparent.
If things are working out with this patch we should be able to merge tomorrow and disappear for a little while until early January.
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
While yesterday's update included lots of good fixes, it also exploded some parts of the game and your cars. ːsteamsaltyː This should fix it and add plenty more good changes!
This is a release candidate version for the merger with the public default branch of the game, which we'd like to do before (or on...) Christmas.
LCV4.1.10 Fixes & Improvements
Major overhaul of tire stats in BeamNG, tires are now more realistic, more forgiving in slides, respond more correctly to weight transfer and slip angle. Also change more with profile, taller profile tires should be a fair bit more imprecise and squishy now. All cars should drive better with more feel. Note: Cross Plys currently aren't as different to Radials as they should be - this will get attention in future.
Added measuring checker texture to basic primitive fixtures
Removed D3D10 button from launcher, as UE4.24 doesn't support it anymore
Updated transparent bulbs and faceted reflectors on headlights / indicators / taillights
Note: due to fixes / changes, lots of materials slots changed their order and numbering
Fixed exporter not being able to load cars
Fixed cars merging and destroying each other in the designer after photoscene / exporter visit
Fixed trim descriptions being overwritten and reset on trim saves.
Fixed global paints loading as black plastic and causing materials to be overwritten
Fixed angle of rotation snap setting option not being there anymore
Fixed Utility Budget and Offroad Budget target demographic breaking the forecaster
Fixed trim body not being selected properly in campaign play after selection for model body
Fixed weird spawning multiple-car-bodies inside the same car issue
Fixed mirrored fixture exporting both sides when centered on body
Fixed profit / loss not being displayed on a per model basis
Fixed 2D fixtures not saving undo steps when using gizmos scale / rotate / translate / clone
Thanks to the BeamNG team for helping us with getting the new tire parameters sorted for this update!
The plans are to get the merger with the default branch sorted very soon, then to have holidays, to come back in early January with some more fixes and polish for LCV4.1. Once done, we're moving onto the next large dev cycle which will be LCV4.2!
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
This update serves as a release candidate for the merger of the openbeta with the public default branch of the game, something we would like to get done before the holidays! A whole bunch of important fixes in this one. Check out the patch notes below.
LCV4.1.9 Fixes & Improvements
Fixed fixture light settings not saving correctly (properly now?!)
Fixed accessibility widget not working and added hold-down functionality to it
Further tweaked distribution of sales to go to better-matching demographics
Fixed sales data showing total preorders rather than new orders
Fixed issues with competitor car creating AI choices for seating and gearboxes
Fixed inconsistent step size in mass sign off loan repayment slider
Fixed everything supposedly having a -100% convertible penalty (didn't affect calculations)
Fixed the marker awareness not being initialized correctly on the first campaign month
Fixed dealership settings in campaign setup, now work as base level lower limit
Fixed error on sign-off and month tick after first facelift of car project in campaign
Fixed various Lua errors being spammed in the background in the engine designer
Fixed bug where factories wouldn't produce more despite having lots of preorders
Fixed market volatility setting in not being hooked up correctly
Fixed the fixture gizmo hide state resetting when selecting another fixture
Small performance optimizations for cars and fixtures
Added 0% margin warning to car projects
Fixed BeamNG Exporter issue with auto-locker diffs
Fixed exported cars not having some kind of assist (TC) causing BeamNG errors
We have some more fixes in the pipeline that will be coming with tomorrow's patch. Cheers!
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
A big update to the openbeta of the LCV4.1 that brings all kinds of good fixes and improvements, including some love for the BeamNG Exporter that will make driving a lot better! There are some additional changes coming for that very soon too, but thanks to these changes and the recent revamp of the tires in BeamNG, driving Automation cars is better than ever.
With lots of effort, it is possible to make crazy interiors! (crafted by doofus)
We also have some big fixes for campaign issues, finally fixing the unintuitive sales distribution. Have a look at the full changelog below!
Note: The first version of 4.1.8 had an issue with the BeamNG Exporter that now has been fixed. Make sure to get the game updating to get the hotfix.
LCV4.1.8 Car Designer Changes
Added description field for trims in final testing page
Added emoji support for descriptions (for everything but engine family / variant)
Moved the Design Room level selection to the options menu
Adjusted positions of the fixture UI buttons for better usability
Paint UI now automatically shows advanced or simple UI depending on paint settings
Fixed fixture light setting changes not saving
Fixed drag-cloning a fixture moving the original slightly in some instances
Fixed camera to focus on car when creating a new car model or changing model body
Fixed displaying invalid body slots in fixture paint selection
Fixed photo manager level unloading when exiting from the pause menu
Fixed fixture paints resetting when spawning the same body twice in photo scenes
Fixed extra intakes spawning until an exhaust is selected
Fixed advanced paint sliders only displaying 1 decimal value and not accepting inputs
Fixed (potentially) cause of car body filters losing text / icons / logic
Fixed changing model body not updating the mesh / chassis settings until picking trim body
Fixed clicking rotate on the gizmo on the mirrored fixture side flipping the fixture
Fixed gizmo resetting to scale when clicking off and back to a fixture
LCV4.1.8 BeamNG Exporter Improvements
Numerous tweaks to beamng export parameters for fixture materials
Added horns to exported cars
Now using the new ESC/TC system created by DiamondBack
Gear diffs are now 1-way for FWD, 2-way for RWD, and 1- and 1.5-way for AWD
Improved torque / locking settings on LSDs
Added auto locker, and torque-vectoring diffs (electric in Automation)
Fixed that some LSDs in AWD cars create magical extra power
Fixed some beams not being created symetrically
Fixed grille alpha issues with car exports
Fixed cloth material not exporting correctly
LCV4.1.8 Campaign Changes
Fully revamped company prestige and reputation calculations
Added factory automation level stat to engineering page list of factories
Fixed bug with distribution of sales, not taking into account penalties (body, seats, etc.)
Fixed some factories being locked to not updating their minor tooling when at 0
Fixed viewing yearly financials within the news sections not pausing the game
Fixed campaign setup competition slider jumping weirdly on first click
Once again, many more fixes and improvements are on our ToDo list. Thank you all for posting about the issues you are finding, that is very helpful in making the process of polishing this version up quicker (especially when steps to recreate the issue are provided ;).
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - [CAMSO] Caswal
Killrob is having a nice long weekend away with his family, so I (Caswal) have been given the keys
In this little hotfix we address a few issues that popped up with 4.1.5 or were still present in it. Another avenue of potentially nuking your creations was closed and the material issues seen with mods should now be fixed. Here is the changelog:
LCV4.1.7 Hotfix Changes
Fixed issue where 'Lost Sales' due to too small of a dealerships, accumulated month to month rather than resetting. Causing massive sales, pre-orders and bizarre behaviour in the campaign.
Added Increasing the Trim Price will now cause you to lose pre-orders, in a non-linear fashion. Fixed engines not clearing their meshes when creating a new engine from the engine selection UI in the car designer.
Improved family UI disable/enable logic.
Added a more obvious Cancel button to engine selection UI in car designer
Added percentage of desire for car body type on demographic tooltips
Fixed advanced colour picker value slider working incorrectly.
Fixed Mod fixtures have invisible parts, and disappear when changing materials
Fixed Layering doesn't seem to work properly with mod fixtures
Fixed Company Prestige and Reputation not being loaded by the Market Calculation
Removed engine flywheel till it is implemented properly.
Fixed Headlight functionality (hopefully)
As always, many more issues on our list and much more to come in terms of improvements too! Cheers
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
In this little hotfix we address a few issues that popped up with 4.1.5 or were still present in it. Another avenue of potentially nuking your creations was closed and the material issues seen with mods should now be fixed. Here is the changelog:
LCV4.1.6 Hotfix Changes
Fixed issues with materials not displaying correctly, especially with mods
Fixed exiting campaign causing various lua errors
Fixed engine aesthetic controls not working in campaign
Fixed specific issue with cars exploding when going from photo scene back to the designer
Fixed wrinkle height paint slider being inversed
Added tooltip to company prestige and reputation in hub
Added photo mode button to the Car Museum
Again, many more issues on our list and much more to come in terms of improvements too! Cheers
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
With this new openbeta patch, we have some big under the hood improvements and fixes. One of the most commonly pointed out bugs, where cars spawned inside each other, was fixed.
LCV4.1.5 Fixes & Improvements
Big backend change: threaded SQLite transactions, and non-blocking market calculations
New faster system for exchanging data from Lua to UI
Added new glass material to fixture material lists that shares car window transparency
Fixed car bodies not despawning correctly in the car designer
Fixed campaign end screen not showing car data
Fixed project selections for factories not displaying buttons to select facelifts
Fixed sandbox car and engine managers not correctly disabling buttons after deletion
Fixed steering not resetting when leaving the photoscene
Fixed SteamAPI initialization, BeamNG exports not having Steam Nickname applied
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
In this patch we have more important fixes to the fixture system and UI for you, along with one of the major last missing bits of the campaign changes for 4.1. The latter is changing the calculations around factory refreshes and factory build / retool times, both becoming shorter.
Please Note: Lighting is broken in the 80s design room, colors are messed up. For now, use a different design room until it is fixed.
Tweaked fixture gizmo functionality and visuals, still WIP
Fixed fixture gizmo sizing issues
Lots of visual adjustments to taillights, still WIP, but much improved
Likely fixed nasty issue where cars in same photoscene swapped fixtures
Fixed same car not being possible to spawn twice in a photoscene (really now)
Fixed not being able to place fixtures after spawning another car in a photo scene
Fixed wings / spoilers placement on the sides of cars
Improved lighting in photoscenes
Full revamp of factory costs, build times, and refresh mechanics
Fixed issue where engine facelifts cause car factory production to half or reduce significantly
Fixed ordering flipping on campaign calendar when in "Show All" Mode
Fixed calendar current time (red vertical line) being covered by other calendar elements
Fixed locking of fixtures not working
Fixed 80s body being at the bottom of body selection
Fixed exporter issue turning transparency = 0 windows white
Fixed the compression slider updating the whole engine, causing jitter
Fixed engines not picking a default valve cover when built
Many more things to tweak and fix in the coming days and weeks. Cheers!