Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game News

In this little hotfix we address a few issues that popped up with 4.1.5 or were still present in it. Another avenue of potentially nuking your creations was closed and the material issues seen with mods should now be fixed. Here is the changelog:

[h2]LCV4.1.6 Hotfix Changes[/h2]

• Fixed issues with materials not displaying correctly, especially with mods
  
• Fixed exiting campaign causing various lua errors
  
• Fixed engine aesthetic controls not working in campaign
  
• Fixed specific issue with cars exploding when going from photo scene back to the designer
  
• Fixed wrinkle height paint slider being inversed
  
• Added tooltip to company prestige and reputation in hub
  
• Added photo mode button to the Car Museum

Again, many more issues on our list and much more to come in terms of improvements too!
Cheers

With this new openbeta patch, we have some big under the hood improvements and fixes. One of the most commonly pointed out bugs, where cars spawned inside each other, was fixed.

LCV4.1.5 Fixes & Improvements

• Big backend change: threaded SQLite transactions, and non-blocking market calculations
  
• New faster system for exchanging data from Lua to UI
  
• Added new glass material to fixture material lists that shares car window transparency
  
• Fixed car bodies not despawning correctly in the car designer
  
• Fixed campaign end screen not showing car data
  
• Fixed project selections for factories not displaying buttons to select facelifts
  
• Fixed sandbox car and engine managers not correctly disabling buttons after deletion
  
• Fixed steering not resetting when leaving the photoscene
  
• Fixed SteamAPI initialization, BeamNG exports not having Steam Nickname applied
  
• Fixed startup loading screen errant references, faster initial load of loading screen
  
• Fixed the red outline around 2D rocker cover text
  
• Fixed dashboard fixtures getting breakable tag in BeamNG
  
• Fixed engine covers for a 5-valve V12 reading 50 valve instead of 60
  
• Early Access prompt will only show once per game version now
  
• Fixed gizmo not showing up on placement of first fixture
  
• Fixed stock months indicator in campaign hub calendar
  
• Fixed tooltip for trim numbers on calendar, displays preorder change and total
  
• Fixed out-of-range sensitivity values for sliders on fixture UI
  
• Fixed (potentially) bodies not highlighting sometimes when mousing over body paint slots
  
• Fixed (hopefully) a few common game crash reasons

Many more fixes and improvements to come to LCV4.1!
Cheers

Big fixes to the lighting and another big overhaul of usability is coming in this update, along with several important fixes. Here is the changelog:

[h2]LCV4.1.4 Fixes & Improvements[/h2]

• Big fixes and improvements to design room and photoscene lighting
  
• Many more fixes to light functionality
  
• Various improvements to the fixture gizmo
  
• Added some rollcage parts and exhaust pipes to 3d fixtures
  
• Implemented optional angle snapping for fixture rotation
  
• Made clicking nothing when a fixture is selected cause deselection
  
• Slowed down gizmo scale/move/rotate speeds a bunch
  
• Fixed "Mod Loading Warning" falsely showing on startup
  
• Fixed not being able to spawn the same car more than once (3rd time's the charm!)
  
• Fixed various materials showing incorrectly
  
• Fixed the gizmo not having different colors in blind mode
  
• Implemented optimized data handling backend, partly used in campaign hub

Still plenty on our list, but we do hope the rather broken feeling 4.1.3 is well behind us with 4.1.4.
Cheers!

In this patch we have more important fixes to the fixture system and UI for you, along with one of the major last missing bits of the campaign changes for 4.1. The latter is changing the calculations around factory refreshes and factory build / retool times, both becoming shorter.

Please Note: Lighting is broken in the 80s design room, colors are messed up. For now, use a different design room until it is fixed.

• Tweaked fixture gizmo functionality and visuals, still WIP
  
• Fixed fixture gizmo sizing issues
  
• Lots of visual adjustments to taillights, still WIP, but much improved
  
• Likely fixed nasty issue where cars in same photoscene swapped fixtures
  
• Fixed same car not being possible to spawn twice in a photoscene (really now)
  
• Fixed not being able to place fixtures after spawning another car in a photo scene
  
• Fixed wings / spoilers placement on the sides of cars
  
• Improved lighting in photoscenes
  
• Full revamp of factory costs, build times, and refresh mechanics
  
• Fixed issue where engine facelifts cause car factory production to half or reduce significantly
  
• Fixed ordering flipping on campaign calendar when in "Show All" Mode
  
• Fixed calendar current time (red vertical line) being covered by other calendar elements
  
• Fixed locking of fixtures not working
  
• Fixed 80s body being at the bottom of body selection
  
• Fixed exporter issue turning transparency = 0 windows white
  
• Fixed the compression slider updating the whole engine, causing jitter
  
• Fixed engines not picking a default valve cover when built

Many more things to tweak and fix in the coming days and weeks.
Cheers!

The second patch to the openbeta provides a lot of fixes and improvements to the new visual design aspect in Automation. The much criticized fixture manipulation UI has been changed, but is a work in progress and the next patch will sort out more of its issues. It now has small confirm (green), mode switch (yellow), and delete (red) buttons next to it. The default mode is the scale mode, which means that both movement and scaling is accessible here. Rotation will be added to that soon as well, which is still quite janky to use as is.

Here is the full list of changes for LCV4.1.2.

[h3]Fixtures & Design[/h3]

• WIP rework of the fixture gizmo (UI), combining more functionality
  
• Added confirm, delete, and mode buttons to fixture controls
  
• Added transparent material option selectable for cars or fixtures
  
• Added Pillar Trim & Window Trim as selectable fixture paint slots
  
• Relit Train Station scene for improved performance and smaller install size
  
• Relit Old Streets scene to fix dark shadows and added time/weather presets
  
• Fixtures now retain the original material assigned to their slots even if not in use
  
• Switching between fixtures within the same fixture family now maintains materials
  
• Fixed fixture car paint slots not loading correctly
  
• Fixed fixture undo stack being broken
  
• Fixed old mods with depreciated Convertible body type not showing in car body UI
  
• Fixed glass materials missing from fixture material list
  
• Fixed photoscenes not loading with languages other than English
  
• Fixed the same car not being possible to spawn twice in a photoscene
  
• Fixed cars not having visual materials before a panel material is selected
  
• Fixed issue with chassis stick out bonnets on some mod bodies
  
• Fixed carb intakes that could not be painted
  
• Fixed fixture select - hide - deselecting making fixture visible again
  
• Fixed hitting tab showing old car manipulation arrows in photo scene

[h3]Campaign And Sandbox[/h3]

• Fixed bug where signing off a new facelift into engineering would tank sales
  
• Fixed issue where only the latest facelift could change pricing
  
• Fixed cylinder head material all looking the same
  
• Fixed Corrosion Res. Steel panels being in sandbox, replaced with Partial CF
  
• Added description text for Partial Carbon Fiber panels
  
• Fixed Partial CF factory requirements
  
• Fixed body type penalties not displaying / working correctly in sandbox

[h3]BeamNG Exporter[/h3]

• Fixed exhaust material not exporting to beam
  
• Fixed cars being exported to BeamNG with the wrong engine
  
• Fixed missing chassis in BeamNG exports (changed to black, WIP)

There are still plenty more things on our list to fix and add, but we appreciate all the bug reports and feedback!

Cheers