Road Architect:
The Road Architect is an editor which attempts to provide the user with the tools and descriptive language with which to create procedurally-generated, civil-engineering-grade road networks within the BeamNG environment. Roads represented within this editor are described at the lane level and have been strongly influenced by the open standard ASAM OpenDRIVE. It is possible to create lateral profiles (cross-sectional descriptions of individual roads) which allow some control over road camber and per-lane widths. Roads can be connected to each other at the lane level to create complex junctions and intersections, and a comprehensive suite of editing features allow detailed road editing. Various terrain modification (terraforming) operations allow the map to conform to the road network or vice versa. BeamNG.tech users have some added options, such as importing and exporting from/to the .xodr (OpenDRIVE) format, which allows support for various third-party road network applications.
Note: The Road Architect is a work in progress. Some features may present with error, and future versions may not be fully compatible with older versions.
An Intersection Created With The Road Architect Editor
In order to aid the swift creation of larger road networks or repeated content, the editor supports ‘prefabricated groups’ of roads/linkages which can be saved/loaded. A selection of premade groups are available for the user to quickly put some simple networks together. The image below shows a prefabrication group - a four-way crossroads junctions, which can be selected and placed on the map as a single structure, ready to connect to other roads.
The user can choose between using BeamNG ‘decal roads’ and/or ‘mesh roads’ for each road in a network, and this comes with various display options both in editing and in a ‘finalised’ mode. Various road marking are supported, including road centerlines, road edge lines, lane division lines, and start/end lines. When used carefully, the user can create convincing junctions and linkages.
To compliment the road creation with some detail, static meshes can be used. There are static meshes available for lamp posts, crash barriers, fences, bollards, concrete barriers, and sidewalks/curbs. These present in the editor as special lanes which can be creating/added/removed during profile editing. Some pre-made road profiles contains these lanes automatically.
This documentation intends to provide a complete description of the Road Architect. First, all tool windows are explained with visual descriptions, then all editing modes and functionality are discussed in detail.
A Road Created With The Road Architect Editor
Primary Editor Modes:
There are two primary (main) modes in which the editor operates, and the user can toggle between the two modes as and when required.
Switching Between Edit And Finalize Modes
These modes are found in the Main Tool Window of the editor, and are described as follows:
Edit Mode:
An road edit mode allows the creation and manipulation of roads (both individual and collections of roads - linked or otherwise). In this mode, simple graphical representations of the roads appear on screen, but there is no bulk - ie vehicles will not be able to be driven on them, since they would appear to be invisible. This graphical representation is intended to give the user an idea of what the final roads will look like once they are rendered (and appropriate meshes/decals created for them).
Note: static meshes (lamp posts, bollards, crash barriers etc) are not shown from within Edit Mode.
Finalise Mode:
The finalise mode takes all roads created within the Edit Mode, and builds final rendered roads from them, including any required meshes and decals such as road surfaces, lane markings, road edge lines, etc. Collision meshes are built, and vehicles will be able to drive on the roads (including any meshes such as bridges).
In this mode, the static meshes will also appear (lamp posts, bollard, crash barriers etc). These will not be shown during Edit Mode.
When the editor is in the finalise mode, all editing options are hidden from the user and no editing is possible. The road network may be said to be ‘frozen’ in this mode, but the user can return to the Edit Mode at any time to perform further editing as required.
