Greetings, drivers!
As the landscapes transition to the mesmerizing autumn hues and a gentle breeze signals the approaching winter, it's time for transformation and renewal. Embracing the spirit of change that this season embodies, we're excited to unveil a heart-warming selection of new features and improvements. So let's dive in!
NEW VEHICLE: Hirochi Aurata
First on the list is the new addition to our vehicle lineup: the Hirochi Aurata.
This two-seater ‘Side by Side’ UTV was built for entry-level racing and recreation. It features a 3-cylinder engine with factory and aftermarket turbocharged variants, a continuously variable transmission, with selectable Four-Wheel-Drive and low-range box (also available with RWD conversion), and two new vehicle-specific wheel styles in two sizes, with tires to match. This model also comes with a full range of factory and custom configs, including off-road and track-ready specifications, a long travel suspension, and two different rollcage styles. Take this baby out for a spin, you won’t regret it!
NEW TRAILERS
Next up, we are adding two new trailers - the Tilt Deck Trailer and the Enclosed Cargo Trailer.
Introducing the Tilt Deck: outfitted with a hydraulic-activated deck, this trailer offers versatility with three length variations, several suspension configurations, and a choice of two tongue options. Designed for the demanding tasks, this heavy-duty trailer is tailored for robust tow vehicles in our lineup. It boasts a deck-over hydraulic tilt structure coupled with a load-balancing leaf spring suspension, making it perfect for transporting a variety of loads – from hay bales to off-road vehicles.
Meet the Enclosed Cargo Trailer: it comes with a secure fold-down ramp and an additional side door for easy access, offering peace of mind while on the road. Choose from a range of pre-configured loads and enjoy the customization flexibility with support for paint designs.
EXPANSION: West Coast, USA
But wait, there’s more! The West Coast, USA level is getting expanded with the addition of several new areas that will pave the way for a broader range of gameplay experiences.
Welcome to Spearleaf Island, accessible through an entirely new road network, boasting unique locations to explore and missions to tackle. The Refinery will serve as the starting point for a variety of missions, including police chases and different types of deliveries, to name a few. The Steel Factory, especially its underground area, is an intricately built environment ideal for racing aficionados.
The map also includes a new dealership, a dock area, and a movie studio lot, as well as an update to the fuel stations.
New Missions
We’ve added a number of new missions to the the available selection, including the Downtown Rush and Superhighway Sweep on West Coast USA, Mudslide Gladiator on Jungle Rock Island, and Small Island Sprint and Downhill Sweep on Small Island.
Additionally, all Time Trials that were previously only available from the Main Menu are now available as missions, and have been improved.
We’ve also added some new recovery options to missions. Many mission types will now allow you to flip your vehicle upright or recover back onto the road, without needing to restart the mission completely.
Gear Shifting Rework
We’ve heavily revamped how manual transmissions function under ‘Realistic Mode’. The main change which will be visible from the player's end in this first iteration, is that we are now taking into account how long the driver holds down the gear shift buttons. Previously, the gear shift buttons triggered a ‘user wants to shift’ event, but in the new version, we are measuring how long the buttons are held down, and use that information to determine how quickly the user wants to shift gears.
We have several reasons for this: First off, it allows for a much broader range of realistic manual transmissions. It also lays the groundwork for future improvements, and the new method is easier to capture into muscle memory. The change will also make it easier for us to simulate normal city driving as opposed to racing, and will bring an additional layer of realism to a wider range of vehicles - for example, it is not realistic to be able to shift a truck as quickly as a race car, and the new system will eventually reflect that. This has not been tuned on the individual level yet, but that’s what this change is preparing for.
The practical outcome of all this is that a brief press will now lead to a quick gear shift, while holding the buttons down longer will lead to a more relaxed shift. Attempting to shift faster than the transmission supports will lead to audible gear grinding noises and damage to the synchronizers. The same will apply to H-Shift vehicles - these don’t have classical buttons, but the time you need to physically move the lever is also measured and used.
NEW EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE: Virtual Reality
VR fans - rejoice: version 0.30 includes an early experimental version of VR support!
Any VR headset that supports the OpenXR standard (that is to say, almost any VR headset) should be compatible with BeamNG. The current version of VR support includes the following: The ability to toggle VR on or off at any point, the ability to choose snap-turn or smooth-turn in-cockpit camera as well as walking mode, and interactive 3D cockpit switches, door handles etc. (experimental- requires a VR controller). A customizable option will allow your hands to reach faraway objects more easily.
The VR feature will also include stereoscopic and position-aware mirror reflections, directional 3D audio, instant 180º direction change in walking mode when using lookback, support for both regular HMDs and non-HMDs, as long as the hardware supports the OpenXR standard. To use Windows Mixed Reality headsets, you will need to set SteamVR as your default OpenXR runtime to bypass the missing Vulkan support in WMR drivers. Check the patch notes for more details!
As you might suspect - VR places considerable demands on your computer's resources. Anticipate substantial hardware requirements and consider scaling back on the graphics detail, amount of traffic, and other settings to ensure a smoother experience.
Please note that this is still very much work-in-progress, should you encounter any issues or if you have feedback or questions, we welcome you in this forum thread.
NEW: Blender JBeam Editor
In addition to all of the above, we are also bringing you a Blender JBeam Editor! This new feature will allow modders to create JBeam parts from scratch, import existing parts, move, rename, add, and delete nodes, as well as export your changes directly to a JBeam file, with many more features planned.
Documentation for the plugin is already available here, and you can share your feedback in the dedicated forum thread.
Improvements and Fixes
Gas Stations and Electric Charging Stations now work across all levels! These facilities will now only fill your vehicle’s tank with the types of fuel available at the facility, and we’ve also improved the marker look and interaction logic.
This is just a sampler of all the adjustments included in this update - we’ve also made tweaks to the Autobello Piccolina, Civetta Scintilla, the ETK-I series, the Gavril Bluebuck, Bruckell Moonhawk, Ibushu Pigeon, Soliad Lansdale, among many others.
In the props lineup, we’ve done some tweaking on the Gate and Suspension Bridge props, added several new road sign variants, and reworked square hay bales to allow stacking.
And last, but not least, we’re sure you’ve noticed that we have done a bit of housekeeping when it comes to the version numbers. To future-proof our versioning and reduce possible confusion, this version will be known as Version 0.30.0, and all future updates will follow the same naming scheme. Please note that these are incremental number increases, not decimals.
Of course, that’s not even close to being all we’re bringing you in our latest update - the full list includes improvements to Input and Force Feedback, Lua fixes and features, tweaking and optimization of the UI, game engine, and much much more. Check out the patch notes for more details!