With this second patch for the Ellisbury Update we are addressing technical problems as well as a wide range of issues affecting gameplay. This should sort out the most noticed issues players have been running into!


Winter weather is no match for this custom SUV by OT motive.

• Fixed large memory leaks from opening and calculating cars, improving performance
  
• Made rear engine layouts available on ladder frame chassis
  
• Tweaked reliability score dependency for demographics, making it weaker
  
• Tweaked progression of balancing mass slider, making slider 100 less viable
  
• Fixed loading screens continuing to load images in the background photo scene
  
• Removed grouping commas from numbers in photoscene slider textboxes
  
• Fixed AI being able to use more than 15 quality with +15 tech pool
  
• Fixed lua error changing bottom end parts, family deselected
  
• Fixed lua error on changing tire diameter
  
• Fixed rear engine AWD not scaling gearboxes, leading to small rear engines not fitting
  
• Fixed issue with excessively narrow tires causing all calculations to break down
  
• Fixed Lua error switching engine orientation
  
• Fixed mod warning popup is complaining about car mods selecting an engine for a new car
  
• Improved image caching so it doesn't spawn a new texture for duplicate materials

• Added 2020 sandbox company techpool and made techpool lerp between the set years
  
• Fixed campaign finish screen having incorrect company score
  
• Changed step size of cash slider in campaign setup to allow for smaller values
  
• Added company valuation breakdown to campaign top bar
  
• Fixed not-yet-bought plots adding to company valuation
  
• Fixed car and engine factory shift sliders not updating engine/car costs
  
• Fixed a lua error setting up new engine factory
  
• Fixed sandbox-only race tires showing up in campaign tech tree as unlocks
  
• Tweaked difficulty multipliers of HQ countries in campaign setup
  
• Added WES button to campaign top bar to show emissions standards
  
• Fixed empty no-tooling factory tooling settings showing when tooling it afterwards
  
• Fixed factory setup stats not correctly populating on summary / signoff screen

• Fixed Car Manager list items to now show WES standard for emissions
  
• Improved quality slider UI clarity for part unlocks happening
  
• Removed header paint slot due to incompatibility with newer, nicer materials and heat system
  
• Fixed being unable to transfer cars between sandbox companies
  
• Removed pin from top-bar, drop-down markets UI
  
• Fixed sandbox tech pool UI locking the car section without a car
  
• Fixed engine selection panel not enabling buttons in sandbox if company has no engines
  
• Replaced trim graph emissions mode UI with detailed stats fuel economy UI
  
• Fixed multi-select trim delete not working in list mode
  
• Added disclaimer for interior design feature, or the lack thereof

• Fixed issue with sound configuration in BeamNG exports
  
• Fixed setup strings file for exporter
  
• Fixed BeamNG glass not exporting transparent anymore
  
• Fixed taillights and brake lights not exporting independent of each other
  
• Fixed remaining issues with carbon fiber exporting with unwanted tints
  
• Improved various tire and suspension related things for exported cars

We'll closely observe if anything else broke, as some pretty heavy underlying changes needed to be made to fix the technical issues. There are a few more items on our list to get done and fixed before moving on to the next big update dev cycle - we'll keep you posted.

Cheers!

In this first little hotfix between the years, we have rooted out some annoyances for you!

• Fixed error starting a campaign on Mac test build
  
• Fixed tyre sidewall advanced trim colour adjustment not applying to the sidewall
  
• Stopped corrupt .PNGs crashing the image importer, and added prompt about image corruption
  
• Fixed detailed stats reliability/costs/ET being converted by the weight conversion

• Fixed issues related to hidden car bodies and wheels
  
• Fixed advanced suspension and engine placement parameter parts having flipped slot names
  
• Changed wheel hub parts to be unique for each trim due to offset issues
  
• (Potentially) Fixed exporter issue with grille meshes issue crashing the export
  
• Made advanced tuning parameters disabled by default, must be enabled by selecting advanced tuning parts under the car body and the engine

Of course, we're not quite as responsive as usual now over the holidays, but will be back early January for some proper fixing up of what needs polish and fixing.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Cheers

A fun little hot hatchback with excellent fuel economy and emissions, by Swift.

It's been a winding and occasionally difficult journey, but we are excited to share the latest update to Automation with you - the Ellisbury Update!

What's new in the Ellisbury Update? Far too many to list here in great detail, but we will show you the highlights of what's new!

---

For about as long as Automation has been publicly available, the emissions calculations have been incredibly basic - one could even say "not representing reality"- that changes with the Ellisbury Update. For the first time, Automation now simulates vehicle emissions in a way that closely resembles the real world, with carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides - the chief pollutants from automobile exhaust - being calculated in a realistic fashion, and tested using real-world test cycles.


An engine in need of quite a bit of emissions optimisation, with the graphs showing where the test cycles hit in terms of throttle percentage and engine speed.

This mechanic translates into Campaign Mode in a fun and challenging way, where players will now see a financial compliance bonus/penalty on each car they sell; make a car that exceeds the standards and you will get a cash bonus on every sale, miss emissions standards and you have to pay a compliance cost on every car you sell...choose wisely, because that one special outlier of a car that you're counting on to boost your prestige might just sink your company financially!


The new emissions and fuel economy page from Detailed Stats shows you everything you need to know about your car's fuel economy and emissions results! This engine isn't going to be legal to sell for long, or at all in some regions...

These new mechanics also extend into the completely new fuel economy calculations, which are also now based on real-world test cycles and will much more accurately reflect the values that real cars could and should achieve.



The heavily revised engine bottom end component selections; notice the engine power density limit, and the new upboring capability!

We have added more nuance in the component choices you make while designing your engines. All components have torque limits, and contribute to the overall power density limit of your engine. What is power density, you ask? Power density basically exactly what it sounds like - how much power your engine is producing in comparison to its overall size. A small, heavily-turbocharged inline-4 making 400 horsepower is going to have a very high power density, especially in comparison with a lazy, low-revving pushrod V8 making 400 horsepower! What's more, your choice of crankshaft, connecting rod and piston will have a dramatic effect on your engine's ability to rev to high RPMs; a weak crankshaft combined with heavy pistons and rods is not necessarily a good combination anymore!

We've also changed how engine variant bore and stroke is handled; to give your hard-working engine families even more flexibility, we've increased the ability to reduce bore and stroke on your engine variants - with the attendant bonuses and penalties one would expect, but we now also allow you to up bore your engine past the limit set by your engine family, but at a cost!



Lots of information on display in our new engine dyno simulation.

With all of these new mechanics and interactions, we found that our old engine dyno simulation just wasn't adequate in conveying the right information to the player, in the right way. So, we've completely re-designed the simulation from the ground up! In the previous simulation, your engine ran at maximum load - full throttle - at all RPMs. While this does provide meaningful information about performance, it's actually quite rare for a car to be in that condition, and virtually the entirety of a fuel economy and emissions test cycle is done part-throttle across a wide range of RPM. With the new simulation, you can now see exactly where your engine is performing properly - or where it's causing you to fail emissions tests.



Many more choices and new interactions on the Transmission tab; this gives the player unprecedented control over their drivetrains now!

One of the largest changes we've made for the Ellisbury Update, is a complete re-think of how drivetrains work in Automation, especially in the context of transmission behaviour, and how all-wheel drive works. Due to popular requests - and in no small part because of all the changes we made in LCV4.2 to the engine simulation - we have been able to add continuously variable transmissions, or CVTs, to Automation. We've also brought back sequential transmissions, though this time, properly, instead of the mis-named automated manual transmissions we had before! We've also implemented full player control over gear ratios, either by speed or by ratio, so that you can now completely customise your transmission to your desires. Beware though, transmissions now have many limitations in place - ratios that are too spread apart incur a reliability penalty, as does your choice of transmission type! CVTs have huge advantages in terms of their mechanical properties, but they do not handle high engine torque levels well at all!


The new traction tests will show exactly where your car is losing grip, and under what conditions. This one does reasonably well off-road!

All-wheel drive and differentials have had a complete re-work as well, to go along with the completely new grip calculations (more on that later). We now have all-wheel drive options that cover a much wider swath of the frankly staggering number of variations of AWD systems that exist, and a better, more accurate simulation of the effect that differentials have on all drivetrain setups. You can also now visualise how your car performs in various grip conditions, and on different surfaces, in our new traction/grip screen!


We have, for the first time, no-joke slick tires in Automation...in several variations no less!

In previous versions of Automation, we had limited tire choices available, and that forced us to make some compromises in terms of how the various tires behaved and how they all related to one another. Moreover, we also felt that cross-ply tires were not really simulated in an adequate fashion, and there was no real need to stick with them any longer than it took to research radial tires in Campaign Mode. All of this has changed, plus we've also added - for the first time - a selection of racing tires to Automation, in both radial and cross-ply forms. These all export to BeamNG as well, so you can now finally make that race car of your dreams!

---

The new test track looks and behaves a lot better than before. You can even see a little representation of your car now, too!

The old test track simulation will be retired in this update cycle, but at the moment we are in an in-between spot: new test track visuals, some improved calculations, but without the planned new underlying systems that will move the test track simulation to a new level. We've gone to high-resolution background images for the test track (for both custom tracks and the Automation test track), and we've added a lot of background features in the simulation that we will be taking full advantage of in later updates; this is a work-in-progress item, with more functionality and features to roll out later on, including a standalone track editor for you to smoothly create your own tracks!


The new Ellisbury Tri-Oval, for those who haven't seen it yet!

As part of the track simulation revamp, we've added the completely-new Ellisbury Tri-Oval race track. Available in oval and several challenging road course layouts, the Ellisbury Tri-Oval is one of the crown jewels of motor racing in the Automation world. We are working on several more tracks located within the Automation world; more on those in updates to come!

---

How the techpool progresses based on region in Automation. This will add some significant advantages - or disadvantages - depending on which region you've chosen!

Up until now, your AI competitors in Campaign Mode did not make use of their techpool at all. This meant that as you worked your way through a Campaign game, your competitors would become easier and easier to compete against, as you could liberally apply quality to all of the parts you've been researching through the game. Now though, your competitors can properly utilise their available techpool, which will make for a much more challenging middle to end game, doubly so if you turn up the difficulty settings!

Additionally, every country in the Automation world now has its own default techpool progression, which helps further differentiate each country from one another, and poses unique challenges in any playthrough. Some countries start off far behind the others and catch up, while others start in a dominant position and then slide backward as the rest of the world catches up.


The Sankey chart sheds a lot of light into what's going on in the car sales simulation.

In this version, we have opened up the "black box" of the Automation sales model for all to see in Campaign Mode. With the new Sankey chart, you can see exactly what your competitors are selling and how many, in whichever country and market demographic you choose, right down to each competing car's stats. After all, real-world car companies don't operate in an information vacuum, so why should you?

---

A funky early 90s supercar concept, by D Point.

All of the changes we've made to engines, drivetrains and tires in Automation have necessitated a major rework of how BeamNG exported cars are handled. In LCV4.2, there was a slight bug where Automation exports had approximately 25 percent more grip than they should have had otherwise, which, while fun under some circumstances, meant that exported cars were not well-balanced at all with native BeamNG cars at all. With everything that went on under the hood of the Ellisbury Update, this was the perfect time to not only correct this bug, but also address several complaints we had about how Automation cars behaved in BeamNG. Tire grip has been extensively reworked after several thousand kilometres of driving and writing about exported cars and their behaviour, and now we feel confident that exported cars drive better than ever, from both an objective and subjective point of view.

We've also added in all kinds of provisions for handling custom textures and materials better in exports, and added the groundwork for a number of other functions that we will be working on in subsequent updates.

---

So with all of these huge changes, those of you who have been with us for a while might be feeling a little bit apprehensive about a new version of Automation, as in the past, this often meant that all of your cars and mods were no longer going to work.

This is no longer the case.

All of your Sandbox Mode cars from LCV4.2 - the previous public version - will migrate more or less seamlessly into the Ellisbury Update, and all mods compatible with LCV4.2 are fully compatible with the Ellisbury Update. There might be some re-work needed for engines and drivetrains, what with the amount of changes we've made there, but everything else should be basically unchanged from LCV4.2.

As always, any Campaign Mode saves will NOT be compatible with the new version.



A slick and modern luxury sedan, courtesy of Arteos.

As with any major release, there will be bugs to fix and patches to release, so there will be a period where that's what we are concentrating on. If you experience any issues with the Ellisbury Update, please let us know in the Steam forums, on our official Discord server or on the Automation subreddit. We will be working hard on fixing any bugs that you encounter, and we will keep you updated with our progress. After we're comfortable with where the Ellisbury Update is in terms of stability, we move on to the Al-Rilma Update. And for those who have been following the news, that means one word, that the entire community has been waiting for since 2011...



Superchargers. Get hyped, because that's only the start of what's planned. Be sure to follow us on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and now on Threads for up-to-date news and community happenings!

Cover and banner car build by mat1476

With this patch we do have another release candidate version for you. Planning to release the big one very soon!

• Fixed acceleration / traction graph scaling issue disappearing acceleration line
  
• Fixed power steering warning showing up twice
  
• Fixed traction tests lua error and not populating the offroad stats
  
• Fixed finishing an engine half populating demographics side panel
  
• Fixed gearbox warning showing up on incomplete cars
  
• Fixed factory staff requirements not updating in parts of the factory UI
  
• Fixed quality slider tooltips with partially broken/empty formatting
  
• Fixed gearbox torque limit number not converting to lb/ft
  
• Fixed engine factories always hiring 3 shifts worth of staff, now the minimum is 0.5 shifts
  
• Fixed convertible options not accumulating any familiarity
  
• Fixed lua error changing forecaster target years
  
• Added expenses pie chart segment for over-staffing costs on factories
  
• Tweaked desirability datafield coloring in main campaign hub to look less tragic
  
• Fixed loading a trim in a new facelift not triggering a recalc
  
• Changed gearbox ratio range reliability penalty to kick in at 1.0 inteaad of 0.9
  
• Increased PU and ET costs of double wishbone and pushrod suspension

• Fixed cars not appearing on the car selection page
  
• Fixed 2WD drivemode not having a unique UI color
  
• Tweaked subframe weight
  
• Added minimum throttle limits to traction control
  
• Fixed Issue where some cars would not appear in Vehicle Selector
  
• Fixed Issue where Beam would pick up new mod zips to quickly and think the zip is corrupt

Let us know if you run into any new or old issues that ought to be fixed.
Cheers!

Another quick patch to iron out some more of the issues that were caught during testing. This update can be seen as the first release candidate build. We are seemingly done with all larger fixes or changes (or so we hope) and are readying up for releasing this big milestone update for good.

• Fixed sandbox techpool settings being locked
  
• Fixed incorrect visual tire widths, tires more correct to real world sizes
  
• Fixed forecaster showing NaNs when projections show zero sales
  
• Fixed gearbox reliability warning system thresholds, separated range from torque
  
• Fixed stats sometimes show all zero in project overview in campaign
  
• Fixed some cars, AI and yours, not showing stats in the sankey chart
  
• Fixed comparing cars not always fetching stats of other car
  
• Fixed not being able to clone the clone of a cloned trim
  
• Fixed brake fades not being directly derived from front & rears values
  
• Fixed brake fade being considered twice for drivability
  
• Fixed braking at max load always showing as -5.4%
  
• Fixed engine cooling warning being misleading
  
• Updated company tech profiles for more variation between companies
  
• Further improvements of exporter tire model (since patch 5)

Depending on how it goes there will be more rapid-succession release candidates coming at the start of the week addressing issues that were found and adding some more polish.

Cheers!

Another little big patch that is further polishing up the open beta version. Getting close now to the main release!

• Cornering steering behavior analysis now switched sportiness and drivability points
  
• Fixed active wings doubling downforce instead of drag when in brake mode
  
• Increased effect of brake quality on brake fade
  
• Implemented gearbox torque strength factor for longitudinal vs. transverse
  
• Tweaked drivability, sportiness, and offroad grip test stats
  
• Fixed current downforce not factoring into rolling over check
  
• Reworked of drivability and sportiness cornering evaluation, switched D & S targets
  
• Tweaked strength of terminal oversteer drivability penalty
  
• Changed Offroad power-to-weight progression
  
• Tweaked balance of Offroad base stats
  
• Tweaked Offroad grip test divider
  
• Tweaked Utility base value strength
  
• Tweaked Drivability base value strength
  
• Tweaked Safety positive quality impact / progression

• Fixed missing country techpool data in markets tab UI
  
• Fixed 4-way graph mode on dyno not updating flow and stress bench
  
• Fixed issue with brake warnings appearing when they shouldn't
  
• Fixed sales data breakdown not pulling car data anymore
  
• Improved sandbox company management UI to better show techpool
  
• Tire profile is now rounded normally instead of always being rounded up
  
• Fixed doubled up reliability note in demographic tooltip

• Added news item to appear with a list of trims that don't pass emissions
  
• Car engineering screen shows wrong background color for reliability
  
• Fixed issue with desirability calcs in connection with region unlocks
  
• Fixed engineering panel in campaign showing driver assists as 0 ET
  
• Further improvements to AI car generation
  
• Increased AI company demographics markups
  
• Fixed AI being able to select invalid trim bodies for the current engine setup
  
• Changed naming convention of AI cars to make it easier to identify them

• Fixed carbon fiber material exporting with a broken diffuse texture
  
• Fixed rotated exhaust tips colliders being backwards on one side in beam
  
• Fixed single exhaust cars are making 2 smoke streams in beam
  
• Fixed exhaust tips needing ExhaustExit socket to direct smoke/fire in the correct direction
  
• Fixed incorrect placement of brake calipers
  
• Separated brake discs from rim meshes
  
• Fixed crash on mesh duplication
  
• Improved JBeam formatting
  
• Further overhaul of tyre parameter exports for better driving feel

Let us know of any issues you run into! We'll address those asap.
Cheers!

We've been busy completing and polishing up the Ellisbury Update for its merger with the public branch. With this massive patch (102 changelog entries!) we have revised and fixed many of the important new systems.


A very wedgey supercar from days gone by, courtesy of Juice

Here are some of the patch highlights:

• Much improved AI competitors
  
• Added sandbox-only racing tire choices
  
• Reworked traction / diff tests
  
• Improved gearbox torque limits, its messaging, and gearing setup
  
• Lots of tweaks to emissions and added exhaust reactor converter
  
• Rebalanced many stat dependencies with better progressions
  
• Full rework of tires for BeamNG exports

And for those of you curious what else there is, here you go!

• Car AI competitors now use as much quality as they have tech pool
  
• Implemented a lot of changes to car AI lookup table
  
• Implemented car generation AI for the new gearing setup
  
• Improved AI to now deal with reliability penalties of gearing setups

• Fixed 08_jpn_mpv and coupe exporting their lowering bounds boxes to beam
  
• Fixed UV tearing which was related to bounds box issues
  
• Fixed Sunflower bodies (11_jp_ute_3door_M_cpp) all being 3 row, 3/3/3
  
• Fixed opaque grills exporting as transparent
  
• Fixed all families of jpn_fatale bodies missing cameras for Beam export
  
• Possibly fixed 10s_CoupeSmall exporting bounds boxes to Beam
  
• Created LODs for 2-, 4-barrel carb, and alternator models to improve performance in Beam
  
• Fixed 4 barrel carb intakes sitting too low

A funky, modern crossover in a series of wild colours, courtesy of Westono.

• Fixed CVTs calculations asking for way too much power in test cycles
  
• Fixed drive type weights always thinking it was AWD
  
• Fixed RWD grip calcs not working correctly
  
• Fixed that gearboxes were not accounting for their power transmission loss
  
• Fixed advance gearing allowing ratios set to zero which broke car calculation
  
• Fixed Lua error changing gearboxes back and forth
  
• Fixed rear brake pads costing 1/100th of what they should
  
• Fixed issue where cars don't respect RPM limit on test track
  
• Fixed launch procedure for cars on test track
  
• Fixed issue where a car doesn't want to upshift even though there should be sufficient power
  
• Fixed turbine sizes not being clamped on load, making some cars/engines to not calculate
  
• Fixed an instance where engine testing would crash from an infinite loop
  
• Fixed issue with factory refresh costs being weird (negative or nonsensical)

• Added sandbox-only racing tire choices
  
• Improved year-dependent tire grip multiplier progression
  
• Tweaked range of allowed profiles for crossply tires
  
• Tweaked various tire type and compound stats
  
• Reworked traction / diff tests to make them more stable and fit for purpose
  
• Improved traction calculations
  
• CVTs now scale torque limit with their ratio range
  
• Implemented CVT efficiency dependency on speed ratio range
  
• Changed progression of gearing spread slider
  
• Changed progression of top gear ratio with its slider
  
• Reworked drivability / sportiness factor calculations for gearing
  
• Implemented gearbox weight scaling depending on torque limit used
  
• Updated gearbox torque limit progression and values
  
• Tweaked CVT scaling torque limit
  
• Rebalanced differentials and hooked up more stat dependencies
  
• Implemented boost dependence in prestige to stop fake turbos giving prestige
  
• Implemented utility grip factor dependence
  
• Remove grip reserves stat from drivability calcs and detailed stats UI
  
• Tweaked prestige progression for top speed, power, and forced induction
  
• Tweaked drive height dependence in drivability and sportiness
  
• Rebalanced stats for springs, dampers, and swaybars
  
• Tweaked the sportiness car agility stat, punishing larger cars less
  
• Improved offroad tire base stat score calculation
  
• Catalytic converters have new reliability multiplier
  
• Increased effect of tire profile on comfort
  
• Added new +3 front seat row option and tweaked seating stats
  
• Fixed issue with single VVT not having correct effect on emissions
  
• Tweaked carburetor AFR precision (slight nerf) affecting emissions
  
• Tweaked balance of catalytic converters
  
• Added exhaust reactor converter
  
• Added dependency for HC emissions with boost
  
• Added emission dependencies for compression and engine load
  
• Added emission dependency for engine block / head design year and quality
  
• Fixed a bug where dynamic logos on engine parts would disappear if the camera collided with them

A total revamp of how gearboxes and their torque limits affect reliability, and thus the desirability of your cars. This gearbox works well!


This gearbox, however, does not...

• Added engineering time & material cost breakdowns to detailed stats panel
  
• Increased allowed setting range of first gear speeds to higher speeds
  
• Fixed item list tooltips using model year instead of relevant year to part
  
• Rename "Light Truck Monocoque" to "Partial Monocoque"
  
• Fixed an issue with engine size widget behavior
  
• Fixed fixture button issue with flip-to-opposite-side being inconsistent
  
• Fixed sandbox company manager being available in campaign UI
  
• Fixed sandbox car / engine manger not remembering the selected company
  
• Fixed side panel display of material costs being broken for $100k+ costs
  
• Fixed inconsistency in detailed stats emissions panel display of WES standard introduction
  
• Fixed inconsistent coloring in emissions UI
  
• Fixed errors in the display of tire grip in the tire tooltip
  
• Fixed End key taking players to start menu when used in a text box
  
• Fixed fuel efficiency not being unit converted on car summary screen
  
• Fixed double clicking "All Fixture" or "Fixture" materials not backing out to fixture display
  
• Fixed unit conversion issue in gearing setup with inputs not being interpreted correctly
  
• Added gearbox torque limit info in power torque graph and in gearing graph
  
• Improved y-scale for power vs. traction graph for high grip cars
  
• Fixed cornering graph cutting off data as the car rolls over without warning
  
• Added display of 0-100 time in power vs traction graph
  
• Fixed power density limitation icon moving off the top of the power torque graph
  
• Created red warning for if the car rolls over during tests, cutting the cornering graph short
  
• Improved layout of graphs and their selection buttons
  
• Fixed issue with emissions graphs not getting data
  
• Added weight distribution over time to the power vs. traction graph
  
• Fixed engine project sign-off screen not correctly updating after adjusting engineering sliders
  
• Fixed retooling a car factory's minor tooling not saving defaults correctly when facelifting a car

With the tire rework and over a decade of being asked for them, we've finally added slick tires to Automation!

• Massive rework of tires, wheels, and hubs for exported cars for greatly improved driving feel
  
• Fixed using both fixture cameras resulting in 1 not working
  
• Implemented On-Demand AWD sensitivity progression by year and quality
  
• Added lockup in off-road drive mode for modern On-Demand AWD
  
• Fixed bounding box issues with tiny meshes
  
• Fixed issues with invisible car bodies
  
• Added scaling to experimental props
  
• Fixed torque curve extrapolation runaway when engine doesn't hit peak torque before limiter
  
• Moved advanced car tuning sliders to separate parts
  
• Fixed a crash caused by the engine sound thread when the export fails
  
• Tweaked lowShiftDownRPM
  
• Made the wheel hub stiffness slider affect beamDamp
  
• Tweaked FFB strengths for different steering and tyre setups
  
• Added a max FFB weight for power steering
  
• Added dependencies to tyre grip and front wheel load to FFB
  
• Fixed multiple bugs causing inconsistent weight and stiffness of wheels, tyres and suspension
  
• Adjusted default tyre pressures (mostly higher, lower for off road, higher still for utility)
  
• Lots of performance improvements from level of detail adjustments
  
• Note: Drag tires are still WIP and currently replaced with race soft on export!

In the coming days we will address any issues that pop up with quick patches, gearing up for the main release of this big update so that we can move on to the next big update cycle before the end of the year.

Cheers!

Header image credit: ChilPollins1982 (Reddit)

A small patch with quick fixes for some brokenness in the previous version! We have plenty more on our ToDo list, but think it is best to get this out before the weekend.

• Fixed country tech pool jumping between levels instead of interpolating
  
• Fixed advanced gearing UI only using km/h as input
  
• Fixed campaign not opening player-selected design rooms
  
• Fixed advance gearing final drive not causing gear speeds to update
  
• Fixed wrong country tech progressions, mixed up countries
  
• Fixed turbo pressure graph being empty in turbo grid
  
• Fixed engine reducing stroke making engine shift position instead of getting smaller
  
• Fixed effective tech year not initializing correctly
  
• Fixed twin exhausts spawning one of the mufflers the wrong way
  
• Fixed issue with a material that shouldn't exist but is exporting
  
• Added gearbox ratio range reliability penalty to warnings

That is all for now, patch 5 won't be long!
Cheers!

Patch 3 took a whole lot longer than anticipated, mostly due to larger underlying structural problems found and resolved in the process of fixing seemingly minor problems.

For example, competitor car generation having some issues with data handling, which led to large sections of the car designer game code being translated from Lua to C++. That is something we wanted to do anyway, but certainly not right now!

As you can see in the big patch changelog below, in the last month we were able to get a lot done though, despite a lot of work being hidden under the hood.


A brilliant modern supercar, by iIvanSmith.

• Converted a big chunk of car designer calculations from Lua to C++
  
• Fixed various issues with competitor car generation
  
• Fixed lua error when swapping fuel to nitromethane
  
• Fixed lua error when importing pre-4.2 cars and improved prompt to show body name & UID
  
• Fixed hard lock while using 4 grid mode and rapidly changing turbo settings
  
• Fixed Lua error with convertible options in campaign
  
• Fixed a performance issue with global colors
  
• Fixed AI using emissions tuning when it doesn't use a cat
  
• Fixed timing belts stop spinning when changing block material
  
• Fixed semi-slick tire textures being backwards
  
• Added lower-res map layers to the test tracks to use when fully zoomed out

• Implemented gearing range reliability penalty and opened up allowed gearing range
  
• Improved torque converter, CVT, and general shifting logic and test cycle behavior
  
• Fixed inconsistencies in acceleration calculations and clutch logic
  
• Applied all changes to shift logic and acceleration test improvements to test track calculations
  
• Added in engine family stroke length effect on engine fitting
  
• Added efficiency vs. cruise speed graph
  
• Added traction tests sheet as a selectable graph
  
• Fixed issues with downforce and lift calculations
  
• Hooked up toe effect to tire wear / tire service costs
  
• Implemented CVT hard torque limit (size-independent) and fixed limits not scaling correctly
  
• Fixed reliability of CVTs being unexpectedly high
  
• Fixed 4x4 / manual locker not having expected effects
  
• Fixed issue in calculation of interior space vs seat rows used for coupes
  
• Implemented drivability & sportiness gearing dependency (WIP)
  
• Updated gearbox "grades" for drivability, sportiness, comfort, reliability, and engineering

The new power-traction graphs, which breaks down your car's performance on different surfaces, and with different traction levels at each wheel.

• Changed behavior of country tech pool to be a true offset you don't pay for
  
• Fixed yearly autosaves in campaign zeroing various market data, including preorders
  
• Fixed leaded fuel cars selling to other countries despite their leaded fuel ban
  
• Fixed taking a loan for standalone factories starting payback immediately
  
• Fixed market tab not updating when open and time is ticking in campaign

• Fixed removing cat not resetting emissions optimization back to zero before locking it
  
• Added piston / block icon at power density line depending on which item limits it
  
• Added all-fixture scale controls to advance trim settings to resize of fully 3D fixture cars
  
• Fixed some fixture slots not accepting light type changes
  
• Fixed missing units in power / torque graph
  
• Finished implementation of new detailed stats UI for Test Cycles & Emissions
  
• Fixed previous decade safety button not working until a safety package is selected
  
• Fixed inconsistencies in the display of fuel availability
  
• Fixed mod wheels with incorrectly set up wheel families not displaying in wheel selection
  
• Added car trim engine sound controls to engine testing UI
  
• Added "open custom images folder" button to HDRI level widget
  
• Added tooltip for steering and traction aids PU values
  
• Fixed issues with drag graph formatting and labeling
  
• Fixed gear selector for emissions UI not updating on gear change
  
• Fixed gearbox warnings appearing before a gearbox is selected
  
• Added various missing icons

The new detailed stats page, for emissions and test cycles.

• Significantly increased importance of reliability stat, proportional to demographic desires
  
• Tweaked R&D branch cost multipliers
  
• Tweaked costs of undertrays
  
• Tweaked costs and PU of interiors and entertainment
  
• Tweaked costs of steering options
  
• Tweaked costs of traction aids
  
• Tweaked costs and PU of springs

• 78_TaS_Comp_SWB changed to Truck
  
• 78Comp/78Plus - Wagon changed to 5 door, Con and Coupe changed to coupe, cargo and ZMPV_Cargo changed to van
  
• 80s_OR_LWB Wagon changed to SUV
  
• Kei_Truck/LWB_Truck/MWB_Truck: removed convertible tag
  
• JD1974_E3 vans adjusted to 3 doors
  
• BodyEditor_70sFamilyvan and BodyEditor_70sPanelvan changed to 5 door
  
• CS_Moore: All vans bulk edited to ensure 3 doors
  
• 65_XMB_Wagon_2Dr_Alt adjusted to 3 doors
  
• BodyEditor_60sCoupe Targas given hardtop flag
  
• All eras of GPV 2 doors are now flagged as 3 door, and 4 doors are flagged as 5 doors
  
• BodyEditor_60sSedan02 wagon variant adjusted to 5 doors
  
• JD1974_60s_112A van and MPV adjusted to 3 doors
  
• 60s_Mid_LM longer wheelbase van adjusted to 3 doors

• Fixed exported cars sometimes having huge bounding boxes with certain fixtures
  
• Implemented new sectional body JBeam generation among other minor body generation changes
  
• Tweaked gearbox shifting logic
  
• Added "Expand Body Bounds" parameter, controlling if unbreakable fixtures resize bounding box
  
• Increased tire sliding friction
  
• Lowered taillight flare intensity
  
• Added an upper limit to engine braking torque of 60 Nm
  
• Added a lower limit for speed limiters of 10 km/h
  
• Fixed CVTs displaying a gear count in the name
  
• Updated light triggers
  
• Adjusted force feedback effects of various power steering choices
  
• Reworked the Zip-Pack mode to modify the archive instead of entirely overwriting it
  
• Added experimental prop support
  
• Various optimizations

Retro-futurism at its finest, by Skyline.




We are currently working on a series of new test tracks for Automation, and we want your feedback on the art style! Simply go to the Google Form by clicking on this link, and vote for the three finalists in the survey; it will only take a minute!

With all that out of the way, we've come a lot closer to a public, main-branch release of the Ellisbury Update. Of course there are more issues to address and likely even a few new ones introduced. We will continue to improve the update within the open beta until we believe it to be ready for general adoption.

Cheers!

Banner image credit: Oochya (Automation Discord)

Just one more fix... this took a lot longer than we wanted as more and more things were deemed important to be included in this second patch. But here it is, and rather chunky once again!

Here is the full changelog for Patch 2!

• Fixed engine graphs missing before car is finished
  
• Fixed lua errors changing to boxer configurations
  
• Fixed crash to desktop reverting a held engine in engine dyno
  
• Fixed power density thresholds being half of what they should be
  
• Fixed (potentially) car export of legacy car fails with lua error
  
• Fixed competitor companies failing to use their latest line-up facelifts
  
• Fixed Fuel Economy calculation seems to give wrong value
  
• Fixed manual locker diffs being OP for drivability grip tests
  
• Fixed a crash related to fuel economy calculations
  
• Fixed dyno testing tab not updating the power torque graph scale
  
• Fixed engine start/stop controls color for colorblind mode
  
• Fixed 2-way cat efficiency always being zero in the dyno UI
  
• Fixed issue with wheel size and MacPherson availability on 76_eu body variants
  
• Fixed leaf spring suspension models not displaying in car designer
  
• Fixed thumbnails of doorcars showing backface

• Implemented [WIP] new emissions UI for detailed stats page
  
• Implemented [WIP] gearing range limits for gearboxes (affected by quality)
  
• Implement throttle response, TC, and ESC dependencies in drivability grip tests
  
• Added tech pool cost estimation to sandbox and company manager tech pool UI
  
• Tweaked factory addon times for earlier part unlocks
  
• Update grip test choices for Drivability, Sportiness, and Offroad diff tests
  
• Optimized cornering sim for car calcs and track calcs

• Mirrors, license plates, antennas, lights, interior pieces, and tow bars now don't contribute car body bounding box expansion anymore
  
• Fixed default transmission missing in configuration files
  
• Fixed CVTs having too small of adjustment ranges, causing wrong ratios being used
  
• Disabled AWD and Differential DSE controllers
  
• Lowered wheel stiffness
  
• Lowered body stiffness
  
• Fixed broken AMT and DCT transmission modes
  
• Nerfed on-demand AWD
  
• Implemented new Advanced AWD
  
• Changed names of differentials to match Automation ones
  
• Optimized mesh cleanup
  
• Interior sound muffling now depends on interior choice, quality and weight optimization
  
• Added internal recalculation of mesh bounding boxes

We're working on the next patch already and there is plenty more fixes and improvements to come.
Cheers!