Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
It has been rather quiet for a month, high time not only for a patch but also for an update on what is currently being worked on. The big changelog you see below is only a part of what we've done as a lot of our focus has been on the campaign, which has been fixed and polished up and quite likely is in a better state than the current 4.1 campaign, but not quite ready to go yet as we're doing some more deeper testing attempting to run into those likely still present nasty bugs ourselves first.
Great custom build by Audi ( ... the discord user on our server, not the brand) :P
In addition to that, some of the core engine designer calculations are getting a revamp / rewrite which will take them to a whole new level. Some of you might have seen or heard that the turbo engines are going through their own separate calculations that track all kinds of temperatures and pressures. The same will apply to all forced induction and naturally aspirated engines with a much more in-depth simulation that gives more realistic results with more nuanced dependencies and interesting compromise. This has been brewing for the last two months and is still a work-in-progress, but close to being possible to show off in a Little Dev Update video soon. I'm really stoked about showing that off and discuss it in detail!
With so much happening in the background, the changes visible to you with this update are the various bug fixes, performance improvements, UI updates, as well as art fixes and other additions. Here is the changelog for LCV4.2.13! Note that you can opt into the alpha testing branch via your Steam Library, right-clicking the game, properties, betas, select the alpha testing branch and let the game update.
General Fixes & Additions
Fixed RTX not working correctly
Fixed framerate in car designer dropping permanently, after raising or lowering the hoist
Fixed 3D fixtures not nudging their mirrored versions when arrow keys are clicked
Fixed AI car generation not setting top speed
Fixed .car importing when their body meshes exist but are not release ready
Fixed VVL profile swap before RPM limit seemingly randomly breaking engine sound and test
Fixed issue where cars without fixtures would rotate in photo scenes if they had rear steering angle
Fixed photoscene tab changing when RTX settings are turned on while a car is selected
Undo stack now only resets on restart, switching cars keeps car's stack in tact
New physically-based glow model for engine headers/turbos
Spread out car body unlock years so they are less clumped up
Imported cars from 4.1 and earlier now correctly import wheel size limits
Now materials can be assigned to intercooler pipe fixtures
Limited photoscene resolution slider to something more workable
UI Fixes
Improved demographic comparison tooltip
Limited the markets selection in Markets Mode to the available regions that can be sold to
Added undo buttons to photoscene camera settings
Non-standard car material slots now show materials when they're overridden
Removed free-roam camera key bindings that conflicted with fixture/prop editing
Fixed UI issue with locking/unlocking a car with multiple trims
Fixed Avg. FPS Counter in graphics settings not working
Fixed tag view not correctly saving tag modifications for cars and engines
Fixed side stats panel demographics not showing blue "problem" indicator strips
Fixed issue with reverting graphics setting change in the settings menu
Fixed car paints without valid materials being considered as "chrome" in the car paint UI
Fixed not being able to cancel comparing stats to another car
Fixed changing stat comparison mode losing comparison data
Fixed cabin/cargo volumes on the model/trims page showing an M instead of a numerical value
Fixed all side stats panel demographics all having red warning strip
Fixed flash rate of fixtures changing in low framerate animatic renders
Fixed "currently installed engine" not being blank when no engine is selected
Fixed pinning of demographics to top of side stats not working on market screen
Fixed wheelbase sliders on car body selection UI to having incorrect number of steps
Fixed tag sorting UI not doing anything when in tag view
Fixed car pricing UI not allowing manual pricing input
Fixed fixtures not unlocking when becoming invalid
Fixed resetting photo scene camera settings also reset level settings
Fixed selecting a second car added to a photoscene causing the props tab to be selected
Fixed some morphs/bones not showing up as UI sliders
Fixed camera settings not loading when loading a photo scene preset
Art Fixes
Fixed issue with flickering headlights
Fixed 2010s engine design room using car designer reflection
Fixed V16 turbo mechanical single intake missing the actual intake
Fixed new car bodies (RB_60s_sports) not being able to fit rear engines properly
Fixed issues with 82_gen_trim
Fixed Rouen 46 bodies having bad wheel diameters
Fixed issues with possible fixture ray-cast misfires that affected Edgy00s car bodies and others
Fixed issues with 70sUSCoupe_Kamback
Fixed issues with fixture stamping on 08_KeiOR_etc
Fixed unbounded bone on 10sHatch01-2drSedan
Fixed bad material slot in 08_jpn_coupe_longnose_xl_cpp
Fixed issue with broken normals on 40sGVP_Bumper fixture family
Fixed 10s_us_SUV (and others) having tearing issues when placing fixtures close to the wheel wells
BeamNG Exporter Changes
Fixed interior fixtures not being unbreakable in exports by default
Fixed carbon fiber issues in exporter
We're keeping you updated as we go along, the new campaign is getting very close, so it is good to have this polishing-patch out of the way first. :)
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
Progress has continued to be good since the last patch, with a significant part of our efforts going towards straightening out the campaign, which is being tested and fixed up internally at the moment. For now we have a decently sized patch for you with all sorts of fixes and improvements.
A beautifully detailed WIP project by Sean Black.
Pieces of the various campaign fixes and additions are making it into the sandbox too, with the new market screen taking shape and now having correct calculations for car sales (yes, in sandbox). We expect the campaign to be part of one of the next larger patches!
The WIP version of the new turbo tuning graph overview, making switching graphs unnecessary.
But now to the important things... here is the changelog!
LCV4.2.12 General Fixes & Additions
Added a turbo graph mode to engine aspiration panel showing all turbo graphs at once
Tweaks and fixes to turbo presets, now taking into account twin-scroll / VGT selection
Added individual wheel height offset controls to photo scene
Fixed sandbox market screen not showing the cars' performance in different demographics
Fixed not being able to change car pricing in sandbox market screen
Fixed UI issue with photoscene level widget making photoscenes hard to select
Fixed rear steering not being saved in photoscene presets
Fixed engine manager's "Remove All Unused" function leaving ghost engines in list mode
Fixed a crash happening when loading Desert Gas Station photoscene
Fixed turbo presets not applying turbo quality settings
Fixed cloning text fixtures not copying text
Fixed 'fixture highlighting' toggle in fixture menu not persisting when selecting fixtures on a car
LCV4.2.12 Art Fixes
Recombined patch-fixtures by setting them to the same family again
Fixed various interior fixtures having missing materials, particularly dashboards
Fixed materials rendering incorrectly on low shader detail
Fixed number plates not displaying properly in fixture list
Fixed BodyEditor_10sSedanSmall_Wagon cutting both sides of the body with unmirrored fixtures
Fixed 10sSupercar02 having very low tire width limits
Fixed broken thumbnail on one wheel arch fixture
LCV4.2.12 BeamNG Exporter Changes
Fixed engine sound missing from BeamNG exports (previously fixed)
Fixed most cases of vehicle instability caused by the new aero model
Added wheel hub swaps for vanilla BeamNG wheels
Added individual gear tuning to the BeamNG tuning menu
Moved "calculateOptimalLoadShiftPoints" from the engine to the transmission
Added wheel offset slider to the BeamNG tuning menu
We'll keeping you updated with where we are with the various features in the pipeline. Cheers!
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
Things continue to progress nicely, as this big patch is showing. Also we've made big steps towards bringing back campaign mode, which should be in one of the next updates.. still plenty of fixes required before then.
In this update we have a big mixed bag of everything for you, gameplay additions, loads of fixes, and many improvements to the BeamNG Exporter.
The Athena R by slashdotretro3.
Here is the chunky LCV4.2.11 changelog!
Gameplay Changes
Added turbo presets (needs a finished engine before they can be applied)
Taught the AI (in car generation) how to build turbo engines
Added valve float dependence on boost for FI engines
Tweaked cam & springs sliders' effects on valvetrain friction
Extended effective range for springs slider, allowing for lower and higher values
Implemented springs and cam profile sliders effect on loudness
Implemented springs and cam profile slider effect on reliability
Implemented springs effect on operational smoothness
Limited availability of twin-scroll turbos to certain configurations
Fixed sportiness calcs using old body drag values instead of the new dynamic ones
Art Fixes
Fixed MFI on V engines is missing meshes
Fixed rod sticking out of turbo internals, and wobbly compressor wheel
Fixed rear wheel solid disks missing rotors
Fixed timing belts and chains
Fixed default steel wheels looking wack in 80's photo scene
Fixed some grill materials that warped badly
Fixed RTX Ambient Occlusion not handling indented fixtures correctly with some settings
Fixed twinscrolls not glowing as bright as the rest of the exhaust assembly
Removed 60sSedan03 because it sucked and there are plenty of other period options
Fixed turbo race headers missing on Inline 5 engines
UI & Tech
Fixed fixture favourites not rendering correctly in fixture UI
Improved fixture paint UI performance
Added fixture material name system. More fixtures will be named later.
Fixed 3D transform widget showing only 0 for rotation / position in photo scene on props or cars
Fixed fixture material previews being borked
Photo manager now changes tabs when switching between cars / props with tab or mouse
Fixed updating of engine thumbnail images
Fixed 'fixture highlighting' toggle in fixture menu not persisting selecting fixtures on a car
Fixed fixtures not selecting if they only contain a skeletal mesh
Fixed mirrored fixtures not hiding when chosen to be hidden in photoscenes and the designers
Engine manager now remembers sorting to fix ordering
Fixed memory issues with Active Mod viewer causing crashes
Fixed drag is not being shown correctly / calculated for car body stats
Fixed fixtures always ticking, even if you're in the main menu
Fixed turbo graphs not being removed from graph switcher when an NA engine is selected
Fixed fixture paints becoming disconnected to the slot they're tied to
BeamNG Exporter Improvements
Introduced new fully-revamped aerodynamics model [WIP]
Added various new tuning menu sliders: - Front and rear brake power multipliers - Ride height offset - Camber (double wishbone, multilink, pushrod suspension only) - Afterfire modifier - Particulates modifier - Front and rear suspension offsets - Front and rear wing angle - Max steering angle multiplier
Cars with Launch Control now export with a Two-Step controller
Added basic suspension spring compression sound
Engine sound now comes from the exhaust
Transmissions now get generated names
Fixed wheel hubs breaking too easily
Renamed wheel hub nodes to match the BeamNG convention
Fixed chrome and potentially other materials exporting with max dirtiness/scratching
Modding
Added the ability to add custom paint materials to fixture material lists
Added duplicate-UID check to rim preview generation
No change of plans, development is going in the right way to a more fleshed-out and playable 4.2 version that soon will see the campaign mode be re-added. Plenty more things to do... let us know of any issues you encounter.
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
We've continued to hunt down various bigger issues that were plaguing the opt-in alpha and have been able to fix over 30% of remaining crashes with this patch. Due to larger rewrites that were necessary, 4.2.9 has seen a little bit of a delay, but that comes with other content being added in too!
Tuners now will have to do without magic twin-scroll powers... by Mikonp7 & Smons
General Fixes & Improvements
Implemented a completely new undo / redo stack system which has much better performance
Implemented an Active Mods overview in the main menu of the game
Added front and rear wheelbase offsets to move axles via advanced trim settings
Improved performance of fixture saving to lua, especially on high-fixture cars
Improved loading logic for bodies / fixtures to not get stuck when Steam doesn't report back
Changed AWD power split default settings to be more usable out of the box
Rebalanced engine family head vs. top end tab option costs ET, PU, M$
Fixed top end tab quality being for free when VVT None was selected
Fixed seat body filters allowing over-scroll with mouse wheel
Fixed an occasional crash coming from turbos producing NaN data
Fixed a hard crash related to market calcs when dragging family capacity sliders for a bit
Fixed reverting a held car after changing the body resulting in a scrunched car body
Fixed mirrored text fixtures not exporting to BeamNG
Turbo Fixes
Fixed turbo failure states not working correctly
Fixed twin-scroll turbo performance typo giving it magic powers
Fixed issue in calculations handling massively mismatched flow vs. turbo flow
Fixed smart boost functionality producing weird, non-optimal results in early spool
Added fuel system (pressure) and headers (temperature and pressure) curves to graphs
Minor adjustments to turbo tooltip texts
Content & Art
New 1993 unlock car bodies
New 1988 unlock car bodies
Many, many new rims, former JohnDoe1974 mod
Touch-up/remake of the Mako car bodies
Deleted name labels from most recent headlight and indicator additions
Added intercooler and intercooler pipe connector fixtures
Fixed issues with Boxer configuration intakes
Fixed non muffled V and Boxer engines not connect their exhaust pipes in single exhaust config
Fixed some adapters not getting painted if they are not part of engine head
Fixed fixture stamping issues on 65_XMB_Hatch
Modding
Fixed generating car thumbnails generates red rims
Fixed not being able to create rim preview files
Another big changelog for this update, and yet so much more to work on. We're continuing to to fix things up and add the remaining features until the 4.2 version arrives at a beta stage. Campaign is back up and running in our internal builds, so quite a bit of progress is being made behind the scenes too!
Please keep posting your helpful reports of various issues you encounter. :) Cheers!
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
We think we got to the bottom of the big remaining issue of fixture merging and fixture nuking! In this patch that should be sorted, along with a few other nice additions and fixes.
Improvements & Additions
Cleaned up, remade, improved, or otherwise fixed, all custom paints
Implemented header and fuel system flow dependencies into the turbo calculations
Implemented separated turbo and header temperature resistances
Added header melting failure state
Added calculation (turbos) for how fuel evaporation cools of the intake charge
Tweaked VGT turbo range to be shifted a bit towards higher flows
Fixed fuel selections not updating engine results when changed
Fixed AKI fuel view showing tuned fuel octane to be -5 by default
Fixed catalytic converters being able to run with leaded fuel
Fixed held engine not showing previous engine config in power & torque graphs
Fixed fender morphs on all 08_us_ body style variants
Fixed 70sCoupe02Convertible being hidden inside it's model and multiple issues with it
We've started working on bringing back the campaign for the advent of the open beta version, but there still are many other little and big things to get done as well.
We'll continue a steady flow of patches until that no longer is the case. :) Cheers!
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
A small patch with fixes, including the materials issue, and some goodies, including the race tubular header art for turbos.
LCV4.2.7 General Fixes & Improvements
Added art for turbo race tubular manifolds [WIP]
Added options to custom paints for relative and global texture scaling
Remade the V60 MPFI / DI manifolds
DRLs now have a toggle button and brightness slider in light controls UI
Fixed issues with material / paint selection menus
Fixed highlights on top of shiny objects in photoscenes with the overcast time of day
Fixed photo scene having excessive bloom by default
Fixed balance shaft setting being sticky on changing of engine configurations
Fixed the model year not updating the stored engine year which resulted in weird engine years
Fixed scaling fixtures along the car axis resulting in a snap to center
Fixed car light sliders defaulting to 0, they initialize with a value of 50
We are still hunting for the car fixture merging bug, that is currently highest on our list of priorities. We're aiming for another patch towards the end of the week!
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
Lots of important fixes, tweaks, and some new features are coming at you in this latest update to the opt-in alpha of the game.
If you want to check it out and have not opted in yet, you can do so by right-clicking the game in your Steam Library, choosing Properties, Betas, and select the openbeta - 4.2 alpha testing branch.
Making the underlying NA torque curve visible is surprisingly useful. Also... twin-scroll!
General Fixes
Game engine got updated to its second patch version, UE4.27.2
Decreased game launcher height so it fits on smaller resolution screens
Fixed possible way to fixture nuke two cars simultaneously with undo and cause "jello cars"
Turned off the export cars button from the pause menu as it is a suspected source of car nukings
Fixed fixture state that can result in destroying fixture positions on body morphs
Fixed fixture conforming to the car while it is being dragged around costing lots of performance
Fixed fixture text not respecting the 3D mode non-conforming
Fixtures no longer cut out seams that they are placed over
Fixed cases of extreme bloom when using minimal bloom settings
Fixed not being able to turn off motion blur in settings
Fixed engine family quality slider not updating engine stats if the engine is in a car
Fixed every engine supposedly needing Magnesium Works
Optimized competitor lookup performance
Added some logging to help debug a start up crash
Big performance increase for high-fixture-count cars
Gameplay
Fully fleshed out stats for the various intake options
Tweaked intake flow limits and made compact intake more viable
Tweaked cam progression tfor more usable range, cam 0 is now = 15, 100 still is = 120
Reduced quality effects on baseline NA torque to make more realistic Nm/L figures
Fixed entertainment weights being way too high
Tweaked all fuel system prices
Added a dashed "base NA equivalent" line to the power torque graph for turbocharged engines
Tweaked flow reductions of all muffler types and catalytic converters
Fixed loudness inconsistency in intake options
Turbos
Added twin-scroll turbos
Added race tubular turbo headers option (graphics not in yet, but next patch!)
Added much more cam dependence into turbo spool point
Revised intake & header resonance effects to be more realistic
Revised spool behavior based on turbo size
Tweaked compressor map progression to not require as much quality for modern turbos
Tweaked turbo AR ratio progression with Tune slider
Design, Art, Content
Added a ruler fixture for all your measuring needs
Fixed engine bay sizes on 11_Eu_Super families which were too small
Fixed body material issues with 10scoupe02large and 10scoup02_large_convH
Fixed 10sCoupe02 Series and 00s_Van_Lowroof that got corrupted for 4.2.4
Fixed custom paints having incorrect sizes when applied to scaled fixtures
Fixed very poor performance of Desert Gas Station photoscene
Fixed extreme light strength in reflections in Modern Studio by default
Fixed a bunch of weird / inconsistent seat row limitations for various car bodies
Fixed cloth paint material scaling incorrectly with different objects
Modding
Updated SteamWrosk SDK to 1.52 and addressed a startup crash
Fixed numberplate material missing from SDK tools
Added Steam workshop / exporter categories for rocker covers, props, and custom paints
Loads of issues and features to work on still before a beta, but things are coming together nicely and the alpha is becoming more playable... and hopefully enjoyable... with every patch.
Thank you to everyone helping out by reporting issues! Cheers
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game - Killrob
The first few days back in the office after the break have been productive and we got a pretty chunky update ready for you to try out. Most of the crashes should be sorted out and a lot of improvements have been made to the turbo calculations and mechanics.
With how things are going at the moment it looks like we're going to be able to shift focus towards implementing the remaining LCV4.2 features starting next week, as this version becomes more and more playable.
Damage to the turbo is now granular and not just on/off.
Turbo Fixes & Improvements
Revised turbo spooling characteristics, giving more realistic spool curves
Implemented granular surge and mechanical stress models to turbos instead of being on/off
Added cumulative surge and mechanical stress info into compressor map
Turbo headers now affect temperature resistance and wastegate flow before boost creep
Turbo quality now affects temperature resistance of turbos
Fixed numeric stability issues in the turbo calculations
Fixed a calculation issue with having an intercooler that is too small for the required flow
Fixed calculation bug with having no intercooler
General Fixes
Fixed the biggest sources of reported crashes with several fixes
Fixed crash caused by texture fixtures
Fixed game crashing when changing trims too quickly
Potentially fixed instance of "fixture nuking" in connection with changing photoscenes
Fixed cloning a trim not making a trim slot in some instances, causing cars to be broken
Fixed inconsistency with landing position in model selection when reentering the page
Fixed instance of infinite loading icon in the car designer
Fixed changes to settings not applying and resetting to default values
Fixed graphs flickering their data while scrubbing with the mouse
Huge performance improvements to car & engine managers & car body selection UI
Added missing material cost dependency for all quality sliders
Fixed issues with family quality not affecting ET, PU, and M$
Fixed car parts that need a factory addon pointing to engine factory magnesium works
Fixed mid transverse unlocking in 1920 instead of 1962
Fixed ignition timing not updating calculations
Fixed issue with VVL unlocking based on family year instead of variant year
Fixed tire profile calculation inconsistencies
Fixed engine fill factor not showing
Art & Design Changes
Added brake caliper rotation to advanced trim aesthetics
Added wheel size matching buttons to wheel sections of advanced trim aesthetics
Added option for 1- or 2-wide spawned-fixture list, with optional fixture indexing
Added lock fixture hotkey
Fixed poor performance of 10s design room
Fixed DCOE race heads inconsistently spawning with airbox pieces
Fixed v60 MPFI/DI race throttle per cylinder missing trumpets
Fixed some incorrect airboxes loading when changing from turbo back to non turbo configs
Fixed paintable engine meshes to correctly support anisotropic materials
Fixed fixture glass materials appearing faceted when put on rounded surfaces
Fixed fixture glass materials not working nicely with ray-tracing
Fixed z-fighting and overlapping geometry on Rim 100U
Fixed dirt/wear values for car materials defaulting too high
Fixed exhaust lod material issues that caused header plates to flash between colors
Fixed double intakes spawning on 60 degree blocks with turbos and TpC
Fixed roof not being paintable on Stylish_SUV_09_ELWB_V5 body
Fixed fixture thumbnails sometimes having other fixtures in reflections
Modding Fixes
Fixed rim mods not appearing in game
Fixed SDK fixture thumbnail generator throwing warnings while simulating
Moved mod tools files that shouldn't be directly editable into a sub-folder
Added fixture preview file naming convention settings to the SDK thumbnail generator
Added an option to skip duplicate GUID checking in the modding SDK
Thank you all for reporting the issues you're finding! In case you wonder how to do that, either use our Steam Forum thread here, or our discord server.