Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game News

[p]After another few days worth of fixing and polishing, we have been able to address many of the larger issues players have encountered in the open beta version of the game and its campaign. As such, you find a pretty comprehensive changelog down below![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Al Rilma Open Beta Patch 3 Changelog[/h2][p][/p][h3]General Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Added campaign regulations page drop down to sandbox[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue with text fixture rendering in some situations[/p]
• [p]Fixed tire stats to now update when entering the wheels tab[/p]
• [p]Fixed forced induction prestige bonus listed as Fuel Injected in detailed stats[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue with acceleration graph data[/p]
• [p]Fixed car designer glowing bright white with raytracing turned on[/p]
• [p]Fixed negative techpool with major positive quality not adding appropriate costs[/p]
• [p]Fixed techpool for body unlocks not being displayed correctly[/p]
• [p]Fixed lua error resulting from a deleted engine in a completed car[/p]
• [p]Fixed sandbox car/engine search query being applied to campaign[/p]
• [p]Fixed relative cost widget calculation being one step behind[/p]
• [p]Fixed roof set to Glass instead of Body for car body 05-EU[/p]
• [p]Fixed typo in 2D fixture offset value textbox[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Campaign Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Tweaked strength of score multiplier progression for demographic market focus[/p]
• [p]Changed emissions credits to be applied right now on month instead of next year[/p]
• [p]Removed legacy difficulty multipliers for plot and factory size[/p]
• [p]Updated factory "Item Selection" bottom UI and info text[/p]
• [p]Updated campaign setup info display to show new relevant settings[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where engineering time became sky high for no apparent reason[/p]
• [p]Fixed engineering time calculation issues changing to different trim bodies[/p]
• [p]Fixed facelifts that are not yet signed off affecting sales[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where factories would not hire extra required staff[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where preorders would change upon facelift creation[/p]
• [p]Fixed electronics lab HQ addon not adding to driver assist tech correctly[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where revenue & expenses displays wrong in some months[/p]
• [p]Fixed emissions credits missing from finances pie chart[/p]
• [p]Fixed logic around deleting the last trim / variant in a facelift[/p]
• [p]Fixed a lua error where a car's base price would be Null in a car project[/p]
• [p]Fixed sorting issue with transactions list for details and amount[/p]
• [p]Fixed HQ addon tooltips to now display unlock year[/p]
• [p]Fixed a lua error occurring when refinancing a factory[/p]
• [p]Fixed negative factory retooling costs showing refresh cost warning[/p]
• [p]Fixed scaling down your factory resulting in a negative loan[/p]
• [p]Fixed base and current tech title tooltip in R&D screen being old[/p]

[p][/p][h3]BeamNG Exporter[/h3]

• [p]Improved automatic clutch to avoid synchro damage[/p]
• [p]Fixed engine inertia increasing with boost[/p]

[p][/p][p]More fixes and changes are already in the pipeline, but we think it is a priority to get these fixes out to you before the weekend first.[/p][p]As always, please let us know what issues you are running into and we'll try to address them asap![/p][p]Cheers[/p]

[p]Overall, yesterday's release of the new campaign version went pretty well! However, there were a few issues that we were able to address quickly with this hotfix to send you off into the weekend playing more![/p][p][/p][h3]Al Rilma Open Beta Patch 2 Changelog[/h3]

• [p]Added Company HQ level title tooltip[/p]
• [p]Fixed deleting a factory config causing no production[/p]
• [p]Fixed pipes intersecting on inline engine with centrifugal supercharger and no intercooler[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where facelifting a model increased current car in production costs[/p]
• [p]Fixed campaign engine selection tab not flashing buttons when clicking next without engine[/p]
• [p]Fixed tooltip on clone variant slot button in campaign mentioning trims instead of variants[/p]
• [p]Fixed missing tyre grip line in acceleration graph[/p]
• [p]Fixed missing graph lines in drag graph[/p]
• [p]Fixed car stats prop not working in photo mode[/p]
• [p]Fixed intercooler not disappearing when no intercooler on centrifugal supercharger[/p][p][/p]

[p]Of course there is more to come next week as we continue to polish and fix up the game.[/p][p]Cheers[/p]

[p]It's been a long time coming - much longer than we had anticipated it would be - but we've finally reached a major milestone in the Al Rilma Update development timeline; the updated Campaign Mode is ready for its public debut! [/p][p][/p][p]An opulent and luxurious sedan, courtesy of sol.[/p][p][/p][p]With this, we are now confident enough to say that the Al Rilma Update is now a beta version - being more or less feature-complete for this update, and not missing key components as an alpha version would imply.[/p][p][/p][p]For those of you who have been waiting for the Al Rilma Update Campaign mode, we thank you very much for your patience, and we hope you enjoy the frankly enormous changes to Campaign Mode! Since it's been quite a while, and many of you will be switching over, here's a quick review of how you can opt-in to the Al Rilma Open Beta version:[/p]

1. [p]Right-click on Automation in your Steam library, and go to Properties. [/p]
2. [p]Go to the Betas tab. [/p]
3. [p]From the Beta Participation drop-down, choose openbeta - Al-Rilma Update Open Beta [/p]

[p]Allow Automation to update automatically, then launch the game! [/p][p][/p][p]As always, this is a beta test - you will likely encounter bugs, some unfinished features and the occasional lack of polish in this version; please comment and leave your feedback on what you find so we can make Automation better for everyone! [/p][p][/p][h3]Compatibility Notes [/h3][p][/p][p]All Sandbox cars from the current public build will continue to work just fine, though their engines will need a bit of re-engineering with the new fuel selection tab in the Engine Designer, and new cylinder head types chosen from the new options. All publicly-listed mod content on the Steam Workshop that is compatible with the current public build will continue to work seamlessly in the Al-Rilma Update. Due to the number of new body families/variants in the Al Rilma Update, we strongly recommend you subscribe to the Legacy Car Bodies mod, as this is where we put all of the old, retired and otherwise broken bodies we remove from Automation; this will at least preserve your existing builds that are on these bodies! [/p][p][/p][p]For Campaign players, note that Ellisbury Update campaign saves will not be compatible with the new version, so finish your existing Campaign games before switching over![/p][p][/p][p]Showcasing some of our updated engine visual art![/p][p][/p][h3][/h3][p][/p][p]Putting in the laps, with AIV's mid-engine sports car.[/p][p][/p][h3]Campaign Mode[/h3]

• [p]Added Headquarters Level - You can now grow your company's headquarters to increase various capacities in terms juggling more engineering projects, R&D, marketing, and handling logistics. All for a monthly cost and upgrade cost, and with the downside of becoming less nimble. [/p]
• [p]Added Headquarters AddOns - HQ Addons give your company various benefits like baseline R&D, quicker engineering, or reduced material costs. All for a cost: build cost, running cost, and taking up precious logistics points.[/p]
• [p]Added Company Logistics - Your company has a certain capacity to handle the logistics of running factories. Factories and HQ addons use logistics points to run. The more factories and addons you have, the less supply chain efficiency you get. Upgrading your HQ gives you more logistics points to use.[/p]
• [p]Implemented the ability to sell factories from the factory manager[/p]
• [p]Improved functionality and layout of the campaign top bar[/p]
• [p]Improved main hub UI with more direct access to important information[/p]
• [p]New car project UI flow to make it more straightforward and intuitive[/p]
• [p]Added tutorial texts throughout the new car project flow[/p]
• [p]Improved display of tech levels and tech data on R&D screen[/p]
• [p]Added new car body unlock design "tech" which is driven by the design studio HQ AddOn[/p]
• [p]Added a financial transactions list panel to finances tab[/p]
• [p]Expanded and improved regulations overview panel[/p]
• [p]Removed R&D lab costs, now part of the HQ costs[/p]
• [p]Changed default alignment of engineering projects to always start right away[/p]
• [p]Removed minimum shifts sliders from factories, now always minimum 0.5[/p]
• [p]Increased effective factory sizes in terms of efficiency making multiple trims[/p]
• [p]Improved logic for engine production alignment with car production[/p]
• [p]New and improved campaign settings in advanced campaign setup[/p]
• [p]Improved difficulty score multiplier scaling with starting year[/p]
• [p]Improved and rebalanced market volatility options for campaign setup[/p]
• [p]Tweaked economic class designation of various demographics[/p]
• [p]Doubled the effective strength of marketing on awareness[/p]
• [p]Significantly increased competitor awareness for their company size[/p]
• [p]Fixed negative techpool campaign settings not working for engines[/p]
• [p]Fixed outsourcing factories to not have higher pricing with more variants[/p]
• [p]Fixed tech not unlocking on the right month when facelifting[/p]
• [p]Updated and improved campaign welcome texts[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Gameplay Changes[/h3]

• [p]Tweaked bonus drivability factor from electric variable power steering[/p]
• [p]Improved how affordability is affected by car running costs[/p]
• [p]Tweaked comfort base values for suspension types to make it less design dependent[/p]
• [p]Fixed fuel availability penalty calculations for lower octane fuels[/p]
• [p]Changed how low-stat penalties work in desirability calculations, now use market stat averages[/p]
• [p]Added various stat dependencies to both wheels and driver assists quality sliders[/p]
• [p]Increased springs material costs, ET, and PU to balance their new quality progression[/p]
• [p]Tweaked (lowered) strength of body type effect on practicality[/p]
• [p]Increased safety gain with positive chassis quality[/p]
• [p]Increased chassis quality and suspension quality effect on comfort stat[/p]
• [p]Increased effect of qualities (chassis, suspension, brakes, driver assists) on sportiness[/p]
• [p]Implement New Demographic "Offroad Sport", got rid of "Delivery"[/p]
• [p]Added aero quality, undertray, and active aero dependency to comfort stat[/p]
• [p]Implemented body type bonuses and penalties for various stats[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Engine Art & Car Bodies[/h3][p][/p][p]The new grm_caravel_75 body family![/p]

• [p]Added new bodies grm_caravel_75[/p]
• [p]Added two families of van/truck bodies, unlock in '66 and '86[/p]
• [p]Added new carburetor visual models[/p]
• [p]Added 9 new tail light families[/p]
• [p]A massive amount of fixes and improvements to exhaust headers[/p]
• [p]Fixed piping issues with compound turbo pipes intersecting with the engine[/p]
• [p]Fixed various issues with 72_eu family of bodies[/p]
• [p]Fixed submerged text on intake manifold twin V 60deg[/p]
• [p]Fixed numerous car bodies with missing camera bounds[/p]
• [p]Fixed weird piping on twincharged V16[/p]
• [p]Fixed various belt configurations, avoid running through themselves[/p]
• [p]Fixed intake not despawning selecting variable intake and twin charger[/p]
• [p]Tweaked lighting to reduce bloom on white objects in various design rooms[/p]
• [p]Fixed V12 twincharged setup issues with intersecting pipes[/p]

[p][/p][h3]General Fixes & Improvements[/h3]

• [p]Fixed 'calling static mesh on static mesh component but mobility is static' error on play[/p]
• [p]Fixed sandbox new car/engine prompt ignoring selected company[/p]
• [p]Added fixture depth for 2D fixtures[/p]
• [p]Fixed a memory leak and resulting crash[/p]
• [p]Fixed engine orientation changes not resulting in exhaust headers changing meshes[/p]
• [p]Fixed being able to access car if engine doesn't fit after adjusting stroke / bore[/p]
• [p]Fixed gearbox location not updating after changing engine size[/p]
• [p]Fixed thumbnail generation for small cars with more appropriate FoV choice[/p]
• [p]Fixed fixtures teleporting when opening car from main menu to photoscene[/p]
• [p]Fixed engine designer not resetting properly after leaving[/p]
• [p]Fixed AWD Viscous, OnDemand, Helical all have same engineering time & weights[/p]
• [p]Fixed Advanced Boost twincharging supercharger not working correctly[/p]
• [p]Fixed superchargers not having production units or material costs[/p]
• [p]Added a keybind option for part familiarity mode hotkey[/p]
• [p]Fixed quality comparison tooltip sometimes choosing the wrong engine family[/p]
• [p]Fixed non-mirrored extra wheel fixtures showing mirrored on initial load of car[/p]
• [p]Added standard parameters to car clay paint, like car paint[/p]
• [p]Fixed error caused by missing HQ data to in sandbox code[/p]
• [p]Fixed issues with track sim acceleration calculations[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue with start / finish line and sector time line offsets on Narnilla track[/p]
• [p]Fixed test track simulation speed not going below 1 properly[/p]

[p][/p][h3]UI Improvements[/h3]

• [p]Made all engineering times in tooltips and calculations consider familiarity[/p]
• [p]Added display in demographics tooltip for body type penalties[/p]
• [p]Added running costs breakdown to detailed stats[/p]
• [p]Added rename prompt for cloning engines / cars[/p]
• [p]Fixed wrong icons being used for demographic special stats[/p]
• [p]Fixed R&D UI to be able to better handle negative techpool[/p]
• [p]Improved clarity of car and engine manager UI[/p]
• [p]Combined chassis type and chassis material into one section for clarity[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Car & Engine AI[/h3]

• [p]Much improved, higher desirability competitor cars[/p]
• [p]Improved AI to pick better engine configurations and capacities[/p]
• [p]Improved car generation AI's optimization of car handling algorithm[/p]
• [p]Fixed car generation AI not applying tech pool to engine variants[/p]
• [p]Fixed brake pad choice not working right in AI car generation[/p]

[p][/p][h3]BeamNG Exporter[/h3]

• [p]Fixed distant fixtures causing wide chassis in Beam[/p]
• [p]Fixed softbody export having no proper collision between cars[/p]
• [p]Improved how the weight distribution slider impacts beam exports[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p]Some more engine glamour shots![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]As with any major development milestone, our task over the coming weeks will be to collate all of your bug reports and issues, and work through them to make Campaign Mode play as well as possible. There are also still some areas elsewhere in the Al Rilma Update that are still very much work-in-progress, so we will continue to work on those too as we make our way to the inevitable public release of the Al Rilma Update.[/p][p][/p][p]As always, we look forward to all of your feedback on this new update, please comment and leave your feedback for us here, or in any of our community hubs below.

Cheers, and enjoy![/p][p][/p][p]Onward and upward, with chiefzach2018 and Ivan's hillclimb special![/p][p][/p][p]DiscordOfficial ForumsRedditYouTubeInstagramBlueskyTikTok[/p][p][/p][p](Post header image courtesy of NOSshot)[/p][p][/p]

[p]Hello everyone!

We've been hard at work on getting Campaign Mode for the Al Rilma Update ready for its debut! With all the work we've put into it so far, we figured it was a good time to add in some more features to Campaign Mode. There's a lot to go through here, so we decided it was time for a new Little Dev Update.

Enjoy![/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]As always, we'd love to hear your comments and feedback, and answer any questions you might have![/p]

[p]With today's patch we have another bunch of fixes that helps us bridge the gap to campaign being done. Lots of fixes and polish all-round, but compared to how much has been done on campaign in the meantime, this seems small in comparison! We are taking several big steps with the campaign that we didn't originally intend to put in the Al Rilma update, but deem it worth adding now to avoid the confusion that comes with half-finished systems interacting. More on our progress in the coming week![/p][p]But for now, here is the chunky changelog of Patch 8:[/p][p][/p][h3]General Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a crash in the test track sim[/p]
• [p]Fixed engines with high idle speeds being untestable on the dyno[/p]
• [p]Fixed a lua error cloning an engine in a sandbox car[/p]
• [p]Fixed lua errors when regenerating an incomplete manually created car[/p]
• [p]Fixed loading of additional cars into photo mode not working[/p]
• [p]Fixed MPV demographic choice showing as Pony Budget in Steam rich presence[/p]
• [p]Fixed incorrect spawning of turbocharger components and downpipes in certain configurations[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• [p]Added Dalluha Salt Flats top-speed test track (Note: the track sim doesn't get the correct speed / acceleration values yet, making cars under-perform, we're investigating!)[/p]
• [p]Improved simulation of CVVL, significantly improving fuel economy[/p]
• [p]Implemented forced induction weight calculations[/p]
• [p]Fixed emission optimization slider bug where the range was 0 to 9 instead of 0 to 100[/p]

[p][/p][h3]UI Improvements & Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Added leaded fuel ban year to show in regulations UI[/p]
• [p]Added keybind for "Duplicate Fixture In Place"[/p]
• [p]Made fuel availability desirability penalty display consistent with other penalties[/p]
• [p]Made small improvements to the photoscene props UI[/p]
• [p]Changed settings button to be a pause menu button in challenges[/p]
• [p]Fixed creating an engine in a car not using the car's target demographic / region as default[/p]
• [p]Fixed twincharging having its avd. boost controls hooked up the wrong way around[/p]
• [p]Fixed car and engine name fields not being prefilled[/p]
• [p]Fixed not being able to see engine graphs fitting an existing engine in a new car[/p]
• [p]Fixed comparison stats between trims not updating until a recalculation happens[/p]
• [p]Fixed morphing not updating tire width UI[/p]
• [p]Fixed previous setup's comparison lines dissapearing for front/rear wing angle sliders[/p]
• [p]Fixed tooltip for power units selection in the settings menu[/p]
• [p]Fixed emissions graph mode in car design not showing region year unlock data[/p]
• [p]Fixed "Locked Fixture" not changing its icon correctly[/p]
• [p]Fixed detailed stats title header always saying "Drivability" for all stats[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p]Introducing the Kompact 1996 body family - six wheelbases, forty-two variants and lots of morphs![/p][p][/p][h3]Content[/h3]

• [p]Added new grm_Kompact 1996 unlock car bodies[/p]
• [p]Fixed driveshaft clipping through chassis tunnel in various situations[/p]
• [p]Fixed issues with DCOE centrifugal supercharger configuration intake manifold[/p]
• [p]Fixed turbos not being correctly rotated in various configurations[/p]
• [p]Fixed V and boxer engines spawning twin DCOE mount when using single DCOE[/p]
• [p]Fixed cast mid single turbo issues with non-turbo exhaust connecting pipe[/p]
• [p]Fixes to clipping issues on boxer engines with compound turbos[/p]
• [p]Fixed too large downpipe on 1 of 4 turbos of a quad turbo setup[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Multiplayer[/h3]

• [p]Fixed kicking a player from the lobby not working correctly[/p]
• [p]Added steam rich presence string for being in a multiplayer lobby/game[/p]
• [p]Added ability to join a multiplayer game via the friends list[/p]
• [p]Fixed issues with UI flow when finishing a multiplayer game[/p]

[p][/p][h3]BeamNG Exporter Fixes & Improvements[/h3]

• [p]Improved automatic clutch to avoid synchro damage[/p]
• [p]Exported cars now select a maximum of 20 breakable fixtures (largest are prioritized)[/p]
• [p]Fixed cars exporting 10 to 15 % overweight[/p]
• [p]Retuned engine inertia[/p]
• [p]Improved strength of live axle rear[/p]
• [p]Retuned export damping (slow vs fast, bump vs rebound)[/p]

[p][/p][p]As always, we welcome all discussion of fixes, features, and bugs... especially new ones you find![/p][p]Cheers! [/p]