Major BeamNG.drive Update V0.28 Released

The first big batch of improvements and changes for 2023 have arrived with the sizeable BeamNG.drive update v0.28 released to download.

At 1.61GB, 18 new missions are included, with the ability to enable automatic recording for your attemps, along with a stats tracking system arriving as a prototype, so you can see how long you’ve spent with a particularly vehicle or map. And both the backend missions code and the Overview Map have been cleaned up and polished.

And rather than adding lots of new content, the focus has been on revamping and improving existing cars, most notably the ETK 800-Series and ETK K-Series with a new V8 engine and twin turbo options, bodystyles, aftermarket parts, skins, and more. And most vehicles now have openable doors and panels.

There’s also a fix for the unintended brief clutch input previously required to change gears, so you will now have more realistic shifting. But while it will feel slower, the actual timing should be the same, or possibly faster, due to other improvements and changes.

And there’s also some renovation for the Automation Test Track, improvements to support for Logitech Trueforce hardware, new game audio, and lots of backend optimisation to improve the BeamNG.drive platform and performance.

BeamNG.drive Update V0.28 Release Notes:

Vehicles

• REVAMPED VEHICLE: ETK 800-Series and ETK K-Series:
  • ETK common
    • Added new ETK V8 Engine with naturally aspirated and twin turbo options
    • Updated existing ETK inline 4 and inline 6 engines and many more drivetrain related parameters
    • Added ttSport specific carbon ceramic brakes
    • Added new gauge options
    • Added new shared ttSport seats
    • Added ETK “Rennspecht” T20 Wheels
    • Added ETK ttf5 Wheels
  • ETK 800-Series
    • Added sedan bodystyle
    • Added new widebody ttSport models
    • Added “Rennspecht” parts
    • Added new engine options
    • Added new skins
    • Updated and improved quality on several meshes and materials
    • Updated all configurations
  • ETK K-Series
    • Added new widebody ttSport models
    • Added new “Turbo Rabbit” widebody kit
    • Added “Rennspecht” parts
    • Added new engine options
    • Added new skins
    • Added modern race steering wheel
    • Updated and improved quality on several meshes and materials
    • Updated all configurations

Autobello Piccolina

• Added openable panels
• Added interior collisions

Autobello Stambecco

• Fixed engine not breaking when torn from vehicle

Bruckell Bastion

• Added openable panels
• Added interior collisions
• Added animated automatic shifter and missing sequential shifter

Bruckell LeGran

• Added openable panels
• Added interior collisions
• Fixed dashboard warning lights setup, the panel above the gauge cluster is now used instead of generic lights
• Fixed some license plate positions
• Fixed missing european rear license plates

Bruckell Moonhawk

• Added openable panels
• Added new engines: 309cui V8 and 448cui V8, with new meshes

Added power bulge hood

Levels

• REVAMPED MAP: Automation Test Track
  • Added new materials and updated the old ones to PBR
  • Improved track surface materials
  • Updated and improved buildings
  • Updated bridges, dams, and tunnels
  • Updated/improved terrain and added some new terrain materials
  • Updated/improved brackground
  • Updated groundcover, added new grass materials
  • Updated all forest vegetation, added new poplar trees
  • Updated asphalt and dirt roads, added new road edge materials
  • Beautification pass on all the natural environment of the map

East Coast, USA

• Fixed several floating issues, mesh errors, and removed broken assets
• Fixed spiky terrain
• Fixed “Pessima Introduction” scenario missing decalroad

Garage

• Added spotlight and standing light to garage props

Gridmap

• Fixed several errors

Hirochi Raceway

• Fixed racetrack mesh issues

Johnson Valley

• Added numerous new trails

• Fixed several decalroads

Gameplay

• Added Stats tracking system
  • Supports tracking how long you’ve played on a given map or driven a vehicle
  • Supports tracking rollovers and J-turns

• Enabled mod vehicles to be spawned in garage mode
• Fixed ‘A rocky start’ campaign camera getting stuck looking at the player instead of looking at the falling vehicle

Missions

• Added 19 new Missions across multiple maps:
  • Automation Test Track: Mixed Rally Stage, Factory Fetcher, BeamNG Sports Race, Forest Fumble, Trail Glacier, Hill Top Test Course
  • East Coast USA: Log Launch, Fearless, Tackle Time, Classic Escape
  • Hirochi Raceway: Derby Race
  • Johnson Valley: Crankshaft Pass, Pit Robber, Shortcourse A, B, & C, Highway Drag Strip
  • Italy: Pasta Master, No Way Out

Game Engine

• Refactored the vehicle placement code. Should work a little better now in off-road terrain
• Added a warning when selecting Windowed mode, informing those who have enabled G-Sync for windowed applications that they may experience severely decreased framerates
• Fixed an issue with Render Views not being able to debug draw: drawBox, drawSquarePrism, drawSphere, and drawCylinder now
• Debugdrawer now only renders in main view by default and not in Render Views anymore
• Mod Support:
  • Added a new tool at the bottom-right in Repository > Mods Manager tab, “List possibly broken mods”. This feature will do its best to find activated mods that conflict with the game or with other mods. It is not perfect but can provide useful hints:
    • For normal players: this tool could help you narrow down which enabled mod can create issues after game updates, or when installed at the same time as other mods
    • For modders: this tool could help you notice which files from your mod are conflicting with the base game files, or with files from other currently-enabled mods. The more files overwritten by your mod, the easier it can create issues after the game updates, or after the other conflicting mod gets updated

UI

• Improved Overview Map mode:
  • The player icon is now an arrow that shows the vehicle direction
  • Adjusted POI merge radius to make selecting easier
  • Pressing the map button again now skips the transition animation
  • Increased the visible distance to fix artifacts in some maps
  • Fixed an issue where the transition sound ended too abruptly
  • Fixed an issue where the black level border could be seen for one frame at the start of the camera transition
  • Adjusted camera speed and controls with the controller
• Added fading audio for the Fade Screen process
• Improved Police Info app
• Improved Fade Screen module by adding a phase that is displayed while a mission is loading; supports a title, subtitle, text, tips, and image
• Revamp of Parts Manager icons, more visually consistent tree layout, proper indentation, highlight when hovering mouse over parts that can be expanded, added a bit of transparency to the rest of the vehicle when hovering over a part, uninstalled parts are now listed with a light grey tint to help locate them faster

Performance Graph:

• Added several new tracked sections of CPU use to the shift+ctrl+F Performance Graph menu, moved some from “Update” section to CPU
• Tweaked several section names
• Tweaked the hover-over tooltip of Performance Graph menu: it’ll now keep the sections in a fixed order, and a time bar will appear on the left to help better gauge the impact of each of them. This helps keep the text readable, as it’s not jumping up and down anymore

• Fixed Audio cost being tracked as part of 2 different sections
• Minor fix to the heuristics behind the bottleneck detector
• Fixed JSON export ‘PostRender’ time being the ‘Render’ time instead

Powertrain

• Added ability to have a hydraulic pump connected all the time
• Fixed electric hydraulics controller not turning off the electric motor after use
• Improved turbo spooling behavior when in revlimiter (fixed or temporary)
• Fixed incorrect rpmspin calculation for rotating props
• Improved turbo wastegate PID control
• Fixed an issue where bump-starting wasn’t possible after briefly engaging the starter motor without actually starting the engine

Vehicle Systems Controller

• Fixed wheelslip based shift prevention sometimes ignoring a wheel
• Improved topspeed limiter PID control
• Increased default clutch speed for manual transmissions in arcade mode or when using the clutch assistant
• Fixed loss of clutch control during shifting
• ABS, ESC, TCS, parking brake lights now turn off when the ignition is fully off
• Fixed five different common bugs with older (EV) mods that prevented them from working as designed
• Implemented ability to create multi-latch systems such as racing hoods
• Reduced wasted idle frames during manual shifts, increasing shift speeds slightly
• Added ability to turn on brakelights during one-pedal-driving when decelerating

Input & Force Feedback

• Added optional Logitech Trueforce effects. Only works if your Logitech wheel supports it and you are running the Windows version of the game. If your system does not support Trueforce, the game will automatically fall back to the traditional force feedback system. Further tweaks and options are planned for future updates

Added search tags to camera left/right bindings, so people typing “look left” or “view left” can still find the relevant controls Fixed steering lock degrees not being selectable with newly created ‘Steering’ bindings. Previously you need to first create and save the binding, then open it again. Now it’ll show directly when first assigning it

• Fixed force feedback options not being displayed when editing ‘Steering’ binding from Options > Controls > Bindings tab. Previously they were shown only when editing the binding from Options > Controls > Force Feedback tab
• Added or improved default configurations for the following hardware:
  • Fanatec Podium Wheel Base DD1
  • Fanatec Podium Wheel Base DD2
  • Fanatec GT DD Pro
  • Fanatec CSL DD
  • Fanatec CSL Elite Wheel Base
  • Fanatec CSL Elite Wheel Base 1.1
  • Fanatec CSL Elite Wheel Base+ PlayStation 4
  • Fanatec ClubSport Wheel Base
  • Fanatec ClubSport Wheel Base V2
  • Fanatec ClubSport Wheel Base V2.5
  • Moza R9 Base with CS V2 steering wheel
  • Moza CRP Pedals
  • Moza HBP Handbrake
  • Moza HGP Shifter
  • Moza Universal HUB with pedals or shifter
  • Sim-Plicity SW20 Steering Wheel in “Game mode”
  • PXN V12 steering wheel
  • PXN V10 steering and parking brake bindings
• Added a new binding shift+ctrl+W to help vehicle modders, this will directly open the Parts Selector > Debug tab menu
• Added a warning if the force feedback Update Type is set to ‘Full’. There’s a misconception that ‘Full’ is better than ‘Fast’, but ‘Full’ is only a last-resort fall back for a handful of steering wheels (such as outdated/buggy steering wheel firmware versions, etc), and can impact the game framerate
• Reorganized the force feedback options section
• Minor tweaks and rephrasing of Options > Controls > Force Feedback “Tips” section
• Fixed incomplete grey-out of force feedback UI widgets when force feedback is disabled
• Fixed some tooltips not showing up in the force feedback options section
• Fixed inconsistent visuals of binding icons shown in ‘Bindings’ versus ‘Force Feedback’ UI tabs
• Fixed a small memory leak in the force feedback subsystem
• There’s been a minor, partial revamp of the core input system. This has no effect on you (the final user), but makes bugfixing and future improvements a bit easier

AI & Traffic

• Implemented ray tracing based environment awareness for three way turns https://player.vimeo.com/video/813973206?badge=0&autopause=0&playsinline=true&color=#f60&dnt=1
• Improved traffic AI response to emergency vehicle lights and sirens
• Implemented several various optimizations in traffic code
• Increased tire friction on Simplified Traffic vehicles

Cameras

• Added option for Driver camera to look where the vehicle is going, such as while drifting

• Fixed an issue where the “look back” mode could become stuck
• Fixed an issue where the shadows in the driver camera could look blurry when driving fast
• Increased granularity of the “Follow vehicle direction” slider of Orbit Camera

Audio

• Improved interior sounds (shorter and cleaner assets, EQ and volume adjustments, volume re-balancing)
• Added additional interior sounds for greater variety
• Added latches sound support for all vehicles (except Gavril T-Series)
• Added distant chase tone to unmuffled i4 and i5 exhausts
• Added bell sound for entering petrol stations
• Re-normalized all engine/exhaust samples and normalized event volume curves to compensate
• Added cabin filter coefficient support for all vehicles. Please note, this is not dynamic in real time, however, if you change vehicle parts which affect the filter – the coefficient will update
• Internal glass impacts (such as windscreens, door windows, etc.) are now not filtered by the cabin EQ. External glass impacts (such as headlights, rooflights, etc.) now use new events extglassbreaksoundx (where x is a value of 1 to 10 based on size of glass) and are filtered by the cabin EQ
• Changed default volumes for gear shift sounds from 1 to 0.5 and rebalanced in FMOD to give headroom for volume increases where required
• Fixed playback of loose files

Render

• Started the process of revamping the material’s shader generator, aiming to simplify and streamline future development. More improvements will be implemented in future updates
• Improved the precision and stability when rendering objects at large distances from the map’s origin coordinates
• Reduced GPU memory used by terrain materials
• Fixed visual artifacts in the terrain materials

Bananabench

IMPORTANT

Due to improved physics detail in the Gavril D-Series vehicle (used in bananabench), the bananabench scores will be lower by about 10% compared to previous versions of the game.

World Editor

• Added an SFX Previewer which lists all available sound events that exist and allows you to play them

• Fixed crashes when loading another level from within the editor
• Made Zones selectable by clicking zone fences
• Added search by persistent ID for scene tree
• Added jump to the selected item when clearing search filter in scene tree
• Added undo/redo functions for Sites Editor
• Improved Terrain Painter Performance
• Fixed hitTest being called every frame in Sites Editor
• Fixed Forest Editor Copy Error when no ForestItem is selected
• Fixed Inspector ID & PID Copy Issue
• Fixed Terrain Tools Grab Brush
• Fixed Material Editor throwing error while viewing a common material
• Fixed Terrain Height Change Undo Does Not Update Decal Roads
• Fixed SpawnSphereMarker Invisible Issue
• Fixed minor bugs in Race/Path Editor and Traffic Signals Editor
• Improved AI Path/Plan Tests editor, by creating a feature that tests multiple AI vehicles
• Changed to only save JSON prefabs. There is backward compatibility support for old Torque script prefab files. The editor will still unpack and pack Torque script prefabs
• Added utility functions to convert CS prefabs to JSON prefabs

Flowgraph Editor

• Added node Static Object Touch to test for vehicle static geometry collisions
• Improved various audio and traffic nodes

Vehicle Editor

• Added a hotkey to enter Vehicle Editor directly with shift+f11
• Editor is now split into two modes: “Static” and “Live” Editor (these editors are toggled using the play/stop button)
• Improved Static Editor Render Views camera controls
• Render Views in Static Editor do not allow for raycasting to be able to pick objects in the 3D scene
• Added axis gizmos to Static Editor Render Views
• Added a “favoriting” mesh feature in flexmesh debug app

Jbeam Debug

• Added torsionbar debug modes

• Coltri debug mode transparency added
• Added node debug text mode which allows you to render custom text at specific nodes ( ctrl+K and ctrl+shift+K to cycle)
• Mesh transparency system revamped to allow transparency syncing between Parts Manager UI, changing mesh transparency with ctrl++ / ctrl+- and JBeam Debug UI transparency buttons
• Added ability to only show JBeams of a specific JBeam part with “Part Selected” combobox
• Parts manager UI highlight state bug fixed
• Cleanup of JBeam Debug UI

Lua

• Refactor of the Free camera:
  • getCamera can’t be used to set camera position or rotation anymore (use core_camera.setPosRot instead)
  • many other camera related functions will be deprecated but will suggest the correct function in a console warning
• More rigid input value checks for advancedCouplerControl
• Improved error logging for advancedCouplerControl
• Created new core module Extended Triggers; this module can load “triggers.json” from a level, and can show or hide objects when triggers are entered or exited in the map
• Exposed BeamNGVehicle::getNodeAbsPosition(nodeID) to Lua to get the world position of a node
• Fixed onVehicleSpawned/onVehicleSwitched events being called too early when some vehicle data have not been fully initialized yet

You can find BeamNG.drive for the PC via Steam, or through Humble Bundle. Keep up with all our latest BeamNG.drive news and coverage, here. Or check out our full BeamNG.drive car list for all the officially released vehicles for the game.