Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game News

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!

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.

[h3]LCV4.1.11 BeamNG Exporter Changes[/h3]

• 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.

Cheers!

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.

[h3]LCV4.1.10 Fixes & Improvements[/h3]

• 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!

Cheers

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.

[h3]LCV4.1.9 Fixes & Improvements[/h3]

• 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!

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.

[h3]LCV4.1.8 Car Designer Changes[/h3]

• 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 basic paint UI not correctly showing selected colour / flake / shine
  
• 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

[h3]LCV4.1.8 BeamNG Exporter Improvements[/h3]

• 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

[h3]LCV4.1.8 Campaign Changes[/h3]

• 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 ;).

Cheers!