Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game News

Sorry for the long wait for an update! The team is now all back from holidays, but half of it is caught out and knocked out by a flu wave going though.

A fancy design by nacho, vastly preferable to the flu.

In the meantime we have been working on polishing up the new UI look quite a lot, as well as added quite a few good feature, gotten rid of nasty crashes, and in general added quality of life stuff like tooltips and so on. We just posted a new Little Dev Update video showing what we're working on and talking about where development is headed. The most recent one is from today, showing much of what the new UI looks like:

https://youtu.be/75clZqftsDE
In case you missed it, we also posted one about a month ago, talking about all kinds of new features that also will be coming with the next patch:

https://youtu.be/0mPCa5IbAY4
A few fixes to the campaign are needed before we can get the patch to you, but it looks like next week is a reasonable target.

Cheers!

After many weeks of fixing, optimizing, fixing, adding content, and… fixing stuff that broke again, we do have all the changes rolled into the public branch of the game to serve as a new foundation for the next leap forward in features. Below you find a summary changelog of LCV3 Patch 4 and 5. If you want to see all the changes made, just have a look at the two previous news posts!

The 1990 Vic Reffafi by Flash in the new 10s Design Room photoscene

This is a good point to opt out of the openbeta branch for those of you who chose it only because of some specific fixes and crashes. From here we’ll do some more ToDo list clean-up and add more depth to the factory management in the campaign. As always, these changes will come to the openbeta branch first, but may have their (un-)fair share of bugs.

It sure feels good to finally be able to get this massive list of important fixes over to the public branch, especially all the game stability related things, which should be a big improvement for many who had been struggling with seemingly random crashes of the game.

Here is the summary list of the most notable fixes and improvements since the previous public build from March 20th.

• New improved paint system, with simple and advanced mode
  
• Implemented familiarity mode. Visible on item tooltips. Toggle with Alt-key
  
• Added many new car bodies, body variants (including Lord Gaben requests)
  
• Added many new fixtures
  
• Added new themed number plates
  
• Added GPU driver detection to launcher, warning about outdated drivers
  
• Added 10s Design Room photoscene
  
• Added a darker 90's-ish variant on the modern studio photoscene
  
• Added paint sorting by Name or Hue
  
• Softtops & Trays can now be painted
  
• Implemented the effects of production flags (limited / no mass production)
  
• Implemented interest rate dependencies on loan conditions and financial situation
  
• Updated factory information for tooltips and comparison tooltips
  
• Updated general look of sliders
  
• Added button in photoscene to directly open screenshot folder
  
• Reimplemented and improved sandbox car cost estimation
  
• Tweaked gearbox weight scaling (don’t get heavy as fast with more torque)
  
• Rebalanced the cost of R&D, making the lower levels more attainable
  
• Added Debug Menu, open with F9
  
• Much improved photoscene car movement controls

• Fixed issue throughout the game that could cause random crashes
  
• Added code signing for better compatibility with anti-virus software
  
• Fixed a whole load of campaign related bugs (yes, bad ones)
  
• Fixes for many many car bodies and fixtures
  
• Fixed and tweaked many familiarity synergies
  
• Suspension choice no longer allows choosing incompatible designs front vs. rear
  
• Fixed suspension ride height weirdness in campaign cars, causing stat fluctuations
  
• Fixed issue where the car would "forget" its power distribution and become RWD
  
• Fixed various items not having the correct production limiting flags
  
• Fixed grid mode car manager not working for sandbox
  
• Tweaked interior weight scaling with quality
  
• Fixed display issue that could show negative months signing off projects
  
• Fixed Engine Factories not correctly finding their production flags
  
• Fixed demographics not growing depending on their demographic type

• Disabled framerate smoothing with VSync, as that was causing low FPS
  
• Fixed various small and medium sized memory leaks
  
• Optimized calculation performance for campaign play
  
• Optimized updating of UI with ongoing calculations, more responsive
  
• Optimized loading of fixture thumbnails

For anyone who has had stability issues with the public build, this one should alleviate most of your issues. Give it a go and let us know if things are working as intended. :)

Cheers!

Note for RC3: A quick Saturday patch to get rid of the weird issue the RC2 build had with headlight fixtures and the remaining tooltip inconsistencies. This hopefully is our final release candidate for this update. Give it a go and see if there are any bigger issues that need addressing asap. :) Cheers!

In today's patch we have a lot of under the hood fixes and optimizations for you, along with a new improved car paint system. Also we have optimized campaign calculations and database handling. It should play a lot smoother and make the game more stable as a whole.

MGR99's design for the Merano Dalius

The plan for this update is to have it in openbeta for a few days and then put it onto the public branch. There are so many fixes and improvements since the last public build, we want to get it out to you as soon as possible. Have a look at the changelog below and give this version, available on the openbeta branch, a go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbqRr5589rQ

• Fixed remaining tooltip issues
  
• Fixed headlight fixtures not appearing correctly

• Fixed hold / reverting function which deleted the car choices
  
• Fixed tooltips and comparison tooltips
  
• Fixed Photoscene presets not loading the car position and settings correctly
  
• Removed faulty price column in sandbox car manager, correct car price on testing page

• Fixed issue where the car would "forget" its power distribution and become RWD
  
• Fixed suspension preset / ride height resetting wheel material / color
  
• Fixed steering angle resetting car rotation in photoscene
  
• Fixed competitor cars reading out zero reliability in competitor comparison UI
  
• Fixed car rotating after moving it in the photoscene while it has non-zero steering angle
  
• Fixed freshly designed cars reverting names back to default names in home screen
  
• Fixed all slider plus buttons having a bad hitbox
  

• Fixed body quality slider not working correctly
  
• Fixed (potentially) paint system where non-paint materials change on their own
  
• Fixed materials like carbon not properly being exported to BeamNG

• Fixed issue with some car parts not recoloring correctly
  
• Fixed various items not having the correct production limiting flags
  
• Fixed issue with car affordibility ratings in sandbox

• Fixed missing 60s sports coupe bodies
  
• Fixed rims being matte black by default
  
• Fixed default colors / materials not showing correctly in UI
  
• Fixed 10sSedanLarge_Wagon being 4 instead of 5 door
  
• Fixed dyno to engine driveshaft connection
  
• Fixed issue with UK style number plates
  
• Fixed passenger volume not being displayed correctly in stats

• Added paint sorting by Name or Hue
  
• Fixed global paints not live previewing on car
  
• Fixed previous tab button not disappearing from UI on body selection
  
• Fixed pinned market for car in campaign not updating correctly
  
• Fixed grid mode car manager not working for sandbox
  
• Fixed engine bay fill factor not showing correctly in engine family tab
  
• Fixed campaign issue that allows to sign off without an estimated trim price
  
• Fixed display issue that could show negative months signing off projects
  
• Fixed issue with displaying the export path for BeamNG exports
  
• Fixed Engine Factories not correctly finding their production flags
  
• Fixed mass project sign off showing negative shifts for multiple car projects
  
• Fixed issue with HRL badge not showing up
  
• Fixed problem alloy and steel material
  
• Fixed leather and cloth material exporting white to BeamNG
  
• Fixed EU CD05MR0 plate sticking out too far
  
• Fixed and updated numerous numberplate textures

• Added 10s Design Room Photoscene
  
• Fixed crashes related to fixtures in general and fixtures / body loading
  
• Fixed red bumper glitch, rear bumpers didn't recolor correctly
  
• Fixed quality slider buttons not working properly
  
• Fixed fuel economy test page in detailed stats
  
• Fixed the numbers for reputation and prestige showing the same value
  
• Fixed issue with selecting the gearbox / drivetrain
  
• Fixed weight being rounded too much on car summary page
  
• Changed low flake paint setting to have no flake, i.e. none
  
• Added double clicking a paint swatch to apply it to the current slot
  
• Added main slot controls to 2nd paint tab to allow for quicker navigation
  
• Added function to click the paint above the edit slot button on the paint UI
  
• Added GPU driver detection to launcher, warning about outdated drivers
  

• New improved paint system, with simple and advanced mode

• Added new themed numberplates
  
• Fixed car body bounds issues for several cars
  
• Fixed various specific car body issues
  
• Fixed pickup bodies not having paintable beds, more still to fix
  
• Updated general look of sliders
  
• Added button in photoscene to directly open screenshot folder

• Disabled framerate smoothing, as that was causing low FPS
  
• Fixed various small and medium sized memory leaks
  
• Various SQLite optimizations and data compacting for campaign
  
• Optimized month tick calculation performance for campaign play
  
• Optimized loading times of car bodies
  
• Optimized fixture placing to reduce freezing for complex fixtures
  
• Optimized updating of UI with ongoing calculations, more responsive
  
• Optimized loading of fixture thumbnails
  
• Optimized demographics to use one tooltip widget instead of 60

• Fixed deleting a planned facelift causing corruption to parent model
  
• Fixed default car materials not importing correctly in new paint system
  
• Fixed issue throughout the game that could cause random crashes
  
• Fixed issue with company reputation dropping fast in campaign
  
• "Fixed" issue with engine sounds, upped min engine idle to 600 RPM
  
• Fixed signing off factory throwing you out to wrong UI tab
  
• Fixed issue with deleting a planned facelift or trim upsetting the calendar
  
• Fixed interaction between familiarity and engineering setup sliders
  
• Fixed issue with cross-configuration familiarity gain for engines
  
• Fixed forecaster buttons not having a selected state
  
• Fixed demographics not growing depending on their demographic type
  
• Fixed Body Quality Slider causing UI to reload
  
• Fixed a situational crash on exiting the game
  
• Changed game build version numbering system
  
• Photoscene sublevel option now only appears with 1+ options
  
• Added tooltip to display reason a factory is unavailable for selection

• Fixed issue in modding tools, Example Decal mod was missing
  

Let us know about any issues you discover in the bug posting thread here in the forums! :)
Cheers!

In the fourth big patch for the LCV3 update we have all sorts of changes for you. The big ones for campaign play are the familiarity view mode which colors selections according to how familiar your company is at producing them. That will show how different parts are interconnected, giving you some expertise even at engineering components you never engineered before.

For the car builders / designers among you, this update features a new paint / materials system that now allows you to have pained special materials like chrome (yes, you can make golden chrome cars now, until you get punched by someone), and colored carbon fiber. Also the update brings some awesome new car bodies (including special request by Lord Gaben), and more fixtures to go along with them.

Please note that as was stated in the most recent Little Dev Update, your campaign game saves will no longer be compatible with this new version. We release it to the openbeta branch first, so that you can switch over to the default branch and finish off your campaign in the coming days before this update is merged with the default version.

The 'Di Inferi Prototipo Dieci', by Miurena.

• Reimplemented and improved sandbox car cost estimation
  
• Tweaked gearbox weight scaling (lighter at higher engine torque)
  
• Fixed issue with body quality slider causing freeze crashes
  
• Fixed photo mode only showing car first time you load it up
  
• Fixed turbo journal bearings not being selectable
  
• Fixed crash happening when closing Automation
  

• Added Debug Menu, open with F9
  
• Added option to debug menu to show/hide fixture names on tooltip.
  
• Fixed semi-spaceframe factory addon requirements
  
• Fixed / re-added missing photomode button to car designer
  
• Fixed tooltip for fuel availability, now 75% or below shows in red
  
• Fixed head quality not affecting octane requirements
  
• Tweaked block and head material familiarity synergy groups
  
• Fixed Boxer 6 broken familiarity synergy groups
  
• Fixed issues with some familiarity tooltips
  
• Fixed familiarity colouring for 30+% familiarity
  
• Compounded tire type and tire compound for familiarity
  

• Added 90sLuxurySedans
  
• Added missing Kammback version of 70sUSCoupe
  
• Added fixture button for tow hitch, re-added missing tow hitch
  
• Fixed missing RWD gearbox textures
  
• Fixed issue with UI timeline acting weirdly and blocking some UI selections
  
• Fixed some issues with familiarity not accumulating for the correct items
  
• Fixed / improved familiarity synergies
  
• Fixed color swatch ordering to be sorted by name
  
• Tweaked interior weight scaling with quality
  
• Fixed plastic material being white in BeamNG exports
  
• Removed broken, accidentially released 70sSupercar until its done
  
• Changed 00sVan to unlock in 85
  
• Fixed Van tag on 70sPanelVan
  
• Improved Fixture Stamping UVs on 80s Vans and 2010s Coupe
  
• Improved morphing behavior of wheelarches
  
• Photoscene car movement controls now suck less
  
• Fixed teleport to car functionality in photoscene
  
• Improved lighting on car thumbnails
  

• Added code signing for better compatibility with anti-virus software
  
• Implemented familiarity mode. Visible on item tooltips & toggle by pressing Alt-key. The colors still don't quite work in the listboxes, will be fixed tomorrow!
  
• Implemented the effects of production flags (limited / no mass production)
  
• Implemented interest rate dependencies on loan conditions and financial situation
  
• Reworked the paint system
  
• Softtops & Trays can now be painted
  
• Added fixture non & transparent window material as an option
  
• Added a darker 90's-ish variant on the modern studio photoscene
  
• Added a 00s Small Hatch body
  
• Added a range of 00s/10s sport coupes (special request by Gabe Newell)
  
• Added wings/lights/vents/grilles to suit the sport coupes
  
• Replaced some of the gearboxes with better looking ones (transverse front)
  

• Reworked all morph positions on 10sSedan02Large family to fix melting issues.
  
• Reduced 70sUSCoupe_Small rear chassis length by 20cm to avoid clipping
  
• Reduced 70sUSCoupe rear chassis length by 10cm to avoid clipping
  
• Reduced 70sLuxury_Cor family's rear chassis by 15cm to avoid clipping
  
• Removed side trim from 00sPonySmall
  
• Increased 90sSUV maximum wheel diameter
  
• Fixed weird paint lighting issues on the sides of cars
  
• Fixed 2.7m wheelbase McLaren-esque body weight issues
  
• Fixed 10sSedan02Med4dr having no passenger box
  
• Fixed missing second seat row in 60sSUV
  
• Fixed 1995 Coupe body has an issue with its coupe variant, front bumper
  
• Fixed 60sSedan05 family front bumper being split down the middle
  
• Fixed 60sVan from melting when selecting a different variant
  
• Fixed wonky morph on rear right wheel arch for 70sCoupe02
  
• Fixed rear morphs on 80sLMP
  
• Fixed missing bits of body at the front bumper of 00SedanCompact-Coupe
  
• Fixed pinched morph on 60sSedan02, fixed whole family bumper painting
  
• Fixed 60sSUV from exploding when you try and morph it, added second seat row
  
• Fixed 10scoupelarge from chassis clipping in the rear
  
• Fixed 90smidcoupe off-centred wheel and added nose morph
  
• Fixed 10Roadster_Large-FB fixture tearing on front of bonnet / windshield
  
• Fixed 1945 people mover body being "melty"
  
• Fixed 70sCoupeLarge02_Sedan_ being a coupe, instead of a... Sedan
  

• Added nicer country selection to markets tab of trim & hub
  
• Added keyboard controls: Space or P to pause, x or + for faster, z or - for slower
  
• Added tooltip to time controls to tell you about these keys
  
• Suspension choice no longer allows choosing incompatible designs front vs. rear
  
• Improved appearance of trim stats on details & test-track sub panels
  
• Redid how the paint thumbnails are generated, for better readability
  
• Improved fixture thumbnails through better lighting
  
• Sharpened up horizontal & vertical sliders for better contrast
  
• Added Max and Min awareness to dealership screen, disabled unfinished items
  
• Added better tooltips to engineering pages of car and engine projects
  
• Added tooltips to engine / car project items on 3rd tab
  
• When selecting existing engine, changed the button text to "Select Variant"
  
• Fixed wrong icon for number of engines produced by factory
  
• Improved the engine designer's default camera position
  

• Fixed the economy randomizing itself every time you load your save
  
• Fixed car import errors for some database versions, implemented better handling of that
  
• Fixed issue where specific materials couldn't be used on a body more than once
  
• Fixed suspension ride height weidness in campaign cars, causing stat fluctuations
  
• Fixed bonnets turning grey when hidden instead of disappearing
  
• Fixed rare loading issue with some mods that stopped other tasks from completing
  
• Fixed issue with the test tracking braking test and tires bursting due to downforce
  
• Fixed modifying a new engine family through a trim slot not updating its family
  
• Fixed sequencing issue in project managers
  
• Fixed some chassis part options still referring to "Tameness" as a stat
  
• Removed broken title tooltips from car/engine project tabs
  
• Fixed future factory size name not showing correctly in factory overview
  

• Fixed and tweaked many familiarity synergies
  
• Rebalanced the cost of R&D, making the lower levels more attainable
  
• Rebalanced how the brake fade calculations factor in 'disc size', now not linear
  

• Fixed issue with bonnets disappearing for exported cars in BeamNG
  
• Fixed carbon fibre being weirdly bright and shiny in BeamNG
  
• Fixed issue with specific cars hovering above the ground in BeamNG
  

Next up are the addition of the factory and tooling hitpoint systems that make your factories wear down over time. That will factor into not only retooling time and cost, but also your cars' production quality and with that your company prestige, reputation, and in future production batch recall rates. Alongside a lot of fixes and further polish, obviously.

Cheers!

This week's big patch comes with a mixed bag of fixes and additional content. As you can see the changelist is slowly shifting towards more polishing rather than straight up fixes - which of course is a good thing. That doesn't mean we're out of issues to tackle of course... let me check... there are "just" ~150 items left on our ToDo list for this update. With most things not even being on there.

The new photoscene! Car by LS-Vehicles.

Plenty more impovements and fixes coming your way! Anyway, here is the changelog:

• Added Canyon photoscene
  
• Added several of 80s vans
  
• Added 2.6m wheelbase version of 2010s coupe
  
• Added 70sBL20-35_4dr and 70sBL20-35_5dr car bodies
  
• Added a few 60s sports car fixtures, and modern round headlights.
  
• Added sunroof/window option to fixture UI
  
• Unified car & fixture paint thumbnail generation
  
• Fixed chassis poking out in rear with 00sSupercarLarge
  
• Fixed 10ssedan02small body family chassis issues
  
• Fixed fixtures cutting holes slightly offset on 10sSUVHuge_02 family
  
• Tweaked reflections and ambient occlusion in the car design room
  
• Removed a factory that was not supposed to be in the isle of skye photoscene
  
• Fixed missing texture for front Solid Axle Coil suspension
  
• Fixed the 1955 pickup and 40s Jeep Ute being labeled as a "SUV"
  
• Fixed the 10sSedanSmall having the wrong body
  
• Fixed incorrect (very high) weight for 90SUV_5dr
  
• Fixed too short engine bay of 10s_Full_Cor
  

• Tweaked how wide V engines to be a bit narrower in the bay
  
• Changed trim/variant/family/model grid items to use textbox as title
  
• Added tooltips to fixture paints with icons (trim, bumper etc)
  
• Improved graph in hub, more useful scale and axis
  
• Added tooltips to car project & engine project factory items and panel
  
• Added tooltips to plot selection buttons
  
• Improved plot control UI, disabling if they're not usable
  
• Added difficulty score multiplier info to campaign end screen
  
• Photo manager now actually takes 1080P and 2160P photos as stated
  
• Trims overview now picks best scoring demographic by default after cloning
  
• Reduced font size on hub graphs
  
• Added tooltips to summary items on 2nd panel of factory
  

• Fixed scenarios list being empty, all tutorials and scenarios are back
  
• Fixed issue which prevented upgrading to a huge factory
  
• Fixed Market & Economy graph being inverted
  
• Fixed glued aluminium monocoque chassis requiring steel presses
  
• Fixed not reaching 100 km/h being seen as amazing in demographic taste
  
• Fixed engine facelift not automatically switching to the new engine for other cars
  
• Fixed issue with bumper color becoming indicator texture
  
• Fixed all paints reloading when a car paint or fixture paint is selected
  
• Fixed graphs with overriden axis labels and values showing data labels incorrectly
  
• Fixed engine renaming on 5th panel of car project
  
• Fixed last two timeline sections having same tooltip name
  
• Fixed factory UI not showing need for galvanization plant
  
• Fixed behavior of the BeamNG Export button in the car manager
  
• Fixed new Campaign presets not showing correct score (due to tech)
  
• Fixed Engine/Car Hold/Revert controls incorrectly reloading UI
  
• Fixed driver assists engineering/production units tooltips not updating correctly
  
• Fixed chassis material tooltip sometimes being tricky to open
  
• Fixed environmental resistance being the same for all chassis materials
  

The patch is now live on the opt-in openbeta branch of the game and we're looking forward to more of your feedback.

Cheers!