Hi everyone,

I'm embarking on my journey with my first ground-up mod. I made a couple cars in Automation and I really enjoyed playing the export in BeamNG. Now, I'm getting my sea legs with LFS editor (learning fast!) and work has begun on building the mod.

The PREFECTURE XNS has a similar body to the real life, early 90's Honda/Acura NSX.

The XNS however doesn't mimic the powertrains, instead to come offered in at least variants
(This info is subject to change):

• High-performance 1.5L Inline 4 motorbike engine
  
• 2.5L Inline 6 Motorbike engine
  
• 3.0L Flatplane V8 (two of the 1.5 I4's combined)
  

The XNS is a natural-born handler and is sturdy and vibrant in the corners. The V8 variant packs a hearty punch. All engines rev quite high

Licensing:
-> According to the Car Exporter EULA, which I was able to ONLY locate from within Automation game, states 'any graphical and car data assets that are exported from Automation to BeamNG.drive' [which was the pathway I followed] ... 'are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareALike 4.0 International Licence'.

For a copy of the relevant EULA, here it is:



-> There was a licensing error brought to my attention regarding the engine sounds. This error has been corrected, and these mods will be using LFS assets for its engine sounds.

Attribution:

Camshaft Software created the base model. From there, it was modified by me extensively for the use-case of this project. All other materials utilized were either LFS assets, Automation textures, or original creations by me.
Non-Commercial: This is a non-commercial product, and will not be used for any monetary gain or motivation. The purpose of the project is for educative, and entertainment purposes.
Share-Alike: In accordance with the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license terms, the same exact license must, and does, apply to this product. Any terms of use regarding this product shall be in accordance with the mentioned license, and is provided with NO WARRANTY, OF ANY KIND, as well as no additional restrictions.
For a direct link to this license, please go here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Details:

Model: The work done by me on the model was very significant
-> dozens of hours finding issues and fixing them, and trying to polish up what I could.
-> I made the popup headlights and the cutout for it from full scratch.
-> Exhaust tip model made from full scratch.
-> Added nice pillar textures
-> Door mirrors:
--> Tried to use the Automation mirror but gave up lol. It was just a very messy model. Redid it from scratch, I think I only kept the mirror face from their model.

Textures: mixture of LFS built-ins, original work, and a few Automation textures. The Automation textures used are for the rear light bar, just took a small snip from the game and worked it into a texture. Took the "P" manufacturer logo and using it as the logo for the brand in LFS.

Driveline: Suspension, engine, setup, from scratch.

Sound: Recorded a micro-snippet (to match what works with LFS' audio engine) of the engine in Automation at 5500RPM. Learned a method on how to EQ the audio, and made a good .ENG for it. The sound is reasonable, not perfect, but it has a throaty chonk to it that, trying to recreate a strong VVL system the Automation engine has. Small engine needs to work hard to pull, so it's gonna make some noise.

-Sub-models:
-> Reused some LFS assets such as gear lever and RB4 steering wheel. RB4 steering wheel modded to have leather face texture, and added a prop onto it.
-> Gauge cluster: created from a scratch along with base backing alpha. Modeling went through a few iterations, major cleanup work unit occurred on it. Figured out how to mirror it.
-->> All clocks are on triangles to allow later individual ability to re-map the cluster lights to other images. Meme variants?
-> Rear lightbar: Taken from Automation model. Heavily cleaned up and organized. Light design changed to be cleaner and easier to see, better to look at.
-> Interior: Modeled from full scratch. Started with the dash using a side img of the Automation dash, from there I just let it flow.
--> Reused XRG-Turbo textures in a several places. Reusing common elements such as leathers and carpets.

All work on the mod is being done by me and any mentioned collaborators. I am recording the process and will put together a timelapse video once the mod is ready for public review.

Considering the licensing provided by Camshaft Software, going along with my transformative work (and the work on its own), and no intent to use this for commercial purposes (just doing it for fun), Automation's content is allowed to be Shared and Adapted.[/indent]

Collaborators:

Biomeri - for being very kind and spending time to share their knowledge with me. Thank you so much dude

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This section is a running changelog, additions will be added by edit here:

1/21/24:

- First real day of work. Spent lot of time getting the model out of Automation and learning LFS editor more.
- Created and applied a base texture to the exterior of the model. Also did window textures and did plastic pillar texture for around the doors and windshield
- Body allows changing color
- Frame slightly modified but no real work done yet.

22-Jan-24
- Removed leftover mesh (using >1000 triangles) inside the car on the floor and a shelf in the back. Cleaned the whole inside area for the interior later.
- Spent a good amount of time doing granular edits to the model, going around it and trying to remove any triangles that are unneeded or causing issues.
- The portion of the model with the rear lightbar was stuck behind the rear panel it was mounted on.
-> The lightbar was a nasty model.
-> Went through this a lot and removed so many triangles.
-> The lightbar was recessed behind the mesh of the rear of the car. Manually extruded the lightbar back a bit.
-> Created textures from Automation for rear light bar. Came out really nice I think!
- Made rear lightbar it's own subobject. Cleaned this submodel up lots, there were so many unnecessary triangles.
- I cut over ~2500 triangles from the model today. It's looking much tidier now, this is important prep work for the interior and sub objects to be added.

Media from today, see here

24-Jan through 26-Jan
- Extensive work underway on modeling.
-> In general, meticulous cleanup on the model has occurred.
-> Main exterior components finished.
--> Created model for pop up headlight.
--> Created mesh cutouts for pop up headlights.
--> Added mesh cutouts for air entry.
--> Modeled and placed side lights for front and blinker object.
--> Animated Prefecture "P" logo on the rear lightbar to illuminate when ignition on

Work is beginning on the interior and starting from scratch.

Aiming for basic model based on a blueprint I'm using taken from a side image of the dash seen from Automation. More intricate details can be added iteratively later on.

The modeling on the exterior was a lot of time but it shows it was worth it. The model looks quite even to me and many bad triangles have been removed creating a nice and smooth looking model.

Media found here


26-Jan thru 28-Jan
- Work is in progress to establish the interior. For now, reusing LFS assets for seats and steering wheel.
- Dash modeled from scratch in LFS editor.
- A starter dash clocks texture and map is in place. Some edits to do and need to fix mirroring when side switches.
-> Clock textures mapped to individual triangles on the dash.

Media: https://www.lfs.net/forum/post/2076705#post2076705

31-Jan thru 03-Feb
- Large push of work every day in this stretch.
-> Model is DONE enough for now. Following initial release, a work unit will be to significantly cut a large number of triangles out. The model can be greatly simplified for the use-case of LFS.
-> Added in some extra touches like an airbag decal, Prefecture logo on steering wheel.
-> Modified RB4 steering wheel (slightly), changed face texture over to leather, and added Prefecture logo on it.
-> 3rd (omg it really is) redo on the dash.
-> Took FZ5 rim and made some changes, moved to thinner spokes more reminiscent of what the Automation rim looks like.
-> Chased down so many more remaining bad or double triangles. Holy crap this model had so many.
-> Polished the interior up a bit. Need to add some remaining detail items such as vents and a stereo headunit, both can be made as basic models. Might leave this for after initial release.
-> Discovered purpose of the Groups tab Smile -- fixed groups to be logical, they were rather out of whack.
-> I pulled the XFG default engine sound into Audacity, studied it, and got to learning how to make a good sounding custom engine sound. I think I have a formula figured out, I want to keep practicing it and can perhaps write a Wiki post on how to do it. It's not that bad, making sure you match a set length, set some EQ in the right areas, and make it not too loud.
--> Anyway, with all that, I recorded a snip of the engine from Audacity, trial-and-errored my way into learning what to do with it, and the Prefecture now has a unique WAV and a nicely tuned .ENG.
-> Engine and driveline is in place and default setup feels good.

Last thing to do I think is do a basic model wrapper around the steering wheel.
This completes the model for now.

Following that, it's time to copy and paste it all, and make the V8 and V8-T models. Minimal changes to the model other than a couple decal additions, should be simple. Will make custom sounds for these in the same manner.
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It's been a dream to get this over into LFS finally, and now that I think I'm over much of the learning curve with the editor, I am very excited to dig in here and bring you one heck of a fun mod

Media:

22-Jan-24



- Removed leftover mesh (using >1000 triangles) inside the car on the floor and a shelf in the back. Cleaned the whole inside area for the interior later.
- Spent a good amount of time doing granular edits to the model, going around it and trying to remove any triangles that are unneeded or causing issues.
- The portion of the model with the rear lightbar was stuck behind the rear panel it was mounted on.
-> The lightbar was a nasty model.
-> Went through this a lot and removed so many triangles.
-> The lightbar was recessed behind the mesh of the rear of the car. Manually extruded the lightbar back a bit.
-> Created textures from Automation for rear light bar. Came out really nice I think!
- Made rear lightbar it's own subobject. Cleaned this submodel up lots, there were so many unnecessary triangles.
- I cut over ~2500 triangles from the model today. It's looking much tidier now, this is important prep work for the interior and sub objects to be added.

24-Jan through 26-Jan
- Extensive work underway on modeling.
-> In general, meticulous cleanup on the model has occurred.
-> Main exterior components finished.
--> Created model for pop up headlight.
--> Created mesh cutouts for pop up headlights.
--> Added mesh cutouts for air entry.
--> Modeled and placed side lights for front and blinker object.
--> Animated Prefecture "P" logo on the rear lightbar to illuminate when ignition on

Work is beginning on the interior and starting from scratch.

Aiming for basic model based on a blueprint I'm using taken from a side image of the dash seen from Automation. More intricate details can be added iteratively later on.

The modeling on the exterior was a lot of time but it shows it was worth it. The model looks quite even to me and many bad triangles have been removed creating a nice and smooth looking model.

26-Jan thru 28-Jan
- Work is in progress to establish the interior. For now, reusing LFS assets for seats and steering wheel.
- Dash modeled from scratch in LFS editor.
- A starter dash clocks texture and map is in place. Some edits to do and need to fix mirroring when side switches.
-> Clock textures mapped to individual triangles on the dash.

31-Jan thru 03-Feb
- Large push of work every day in this stretch.
-> Model is DONE enough for now. Following initial release, a work unit will be to significantly cut a large number of triangles out. The model can be greatly simplified for the use-case of LFS.
-> Added in some extra touches like an airbag decal, Prefecture logo on steering wheel.
-> Modified RB4 steering wheel (slightly), changed face texture over to leather, and added Prefecture logo on it.
-> 3rd (omg it really is) redo on the dash.
-> Took FZ5 rim and made some changes, moved to thinner spokes more reminiscent of what the Automation rim looks like.
-> Chased down so many more remaining bad or double triangles. Holy crap this model had so many.
-> Polished the interior up a bit. Need to add some remaining detail items such as vents and a stereo headunit, both can be made as basic models. Might leave this for after initial release.
-> Discovered purpose of the Groups tab -- fixed groups to be logical, they were rather out of whack.
-> I pulled the XFG default engine sound into Audacity, studied it, and got to learning how to make a good sounding custom engine sound. I think I have a formula figured out, I want to keep practicing it and can perhaps write a Wiki post on how to do it. It's not that bad, making sure you match a set length, set some EQ in the right areas, and make it not too loud.
--> Anyway, with all that, I recorded a snip of the engine from Audacity, trial-and-errored my way into learning what to do with it, and the Prefecture now has a unique WAV and a nicely tuned .ENG.
-> Engine and driveline is in place and default setup feels good.

Last thing to do I think is do a basic model wrapper around the steering wheel.
This completes the model for now.

Following that, it's time to copy and paste it all, and make the V8 and V8-T models. Minimal changes to the model other than a couple decal additions, should be simple. Will make custom sounds for these in the same manner.

Aiming to UPLOAD initial versions for review by end of Sunday

Adding this here since I have no other way to link to it on my review page. I am unable to locate this EULA externally online, I had to pull this from Automation.

Hi! On a technical side I did not find any issues, great job (popup lights are great). However, I noticed some other flaws with version 11:
- driver's hands animation: they follow a much smaller path radius than the wheel radius itself, making them intersect the wheel all the way.
- engine sound is clipping at high revs (see Shift+A in-game)

Quote from MandulAA :

Hi! On a technical side I did not find any issues, great job (popup lights are great). However, I noticed some other flaws with version 11:
- driver's hands animation: they follow a much smaller path radius than the wheel radius itself, making them intersect the wheel all the way.
- engine sound is clipping at high revs (see Shift+A in-game)

Hi! Thanks for your feedback. I will plan to take a look at the driver hand animation. I will also check on the engine sound, that I would be able to fix very soon. I did make sure to check on my side before posting it and I didn't notice it was clipping, but I will check it again and adjust if necessary

Sorry for the confusion, I mixed up the XNS and the GT Turbo versions. The XNS version has no audio clipping issue.
- XNS: only issue with the hands animation
- GT-Turbo: has both audio and animation issues

Nice work on the mod. It's nice (and fun!) to drive and looks great.

Along with the issue MandulAA mentioned I also noticed the side mirrors need work on matching them with the shape of the bodywork.