Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 88: The End of an Era

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 88: The End of an Era

With the imminent public release of a new update for Automation that makes it compatible with Unreal Engine 4.24, I had to change my approach to the exterior design of every car I made. Previously, I used mods liberally, but with many of them about to be rendered incompatible with the new game engine (except for those that will be remade, and even then it will take time), I have been forced to use as few of them as possible. In some cases, I decided to use none at all. Moreover, some of the cars I made could simply be revised with default fixtures replacing the mods I had originally used.

Two of my most recent CSR entrants: the MAD Corsair 7.0 (left) and GEC GS2 Turbo Coupe (right), both of which were made with less dependence on mod fixtures than most of my previous entries. On both cars, all of the mod-dependent styling components could either be easily replaced or omitted altogether without many problems after the next major game update is publicly released.

The MAD Corsair 7.0 which I had entered in CSR 120 is a good example of this. I deliberately used as many default fixtures as possible, knowing that a new build of Automation would be released, rendering many mods obsolete in the process - but since the Corsair's exterior design used very few mod fixtures, it would still look very much like it does now after the update comes out.

The GEC GS2 Turbo Coupe, on the other hand, is a different story, since its exterior design was more dependent on mods. However, I have decided to accept the fact that some of the styling features made possible by these mods can either be remade using the default fixtures, or omitted altogether. (Note: In the weeks since it was submitted for CSR 121, I revised its exterior design significantly, most noticeably at the rear, where different tail-light clusters were used.)

Another example of a car with a (mostly) mod-free exterior design: the Hampton Vanguard, originally submitted for the second round of Generations II. Again, whatever mods were used in this build could easily be substituted for similar-looking vanilla fixtures if required.

The Hampton Vanguard (which served as my full-size entry in the second round of Generations II) also makes minimal use of mods. The only place they can be found as of now are in the hood ornament, tail-lights and wheel rim; however, each of these styling features can be remade or replaced by using the default fixtures. When it was originally submitted, it also had additional mod fixtures in the form of auxiliary driving lights and the license plate bracket; however, I realized that I could afford to omit the former, and also replace the latter with a similar-looking default fixture.

The DMS Cuneo - an example of a car I (re)made without the use of mods.

Taking the idea further, the DMS Cuneo uses no mods at all in its exterior design. This was actually an explicit requirement for the developers' proposal for user-submitted cars to be shown in the new trailer for Automation. Although it was originally submitted with an exterior design incorporating a few mod fixtures in certain places, I replaced all of those with vanilla (default) fixtures for the sake of the proposal - a task made easier by the car's minimalist aesthetic and the fact that the vanilla fixtures I chose resembled their replacements closely enough to avoid losing the integrity of the original design.

In short, adapting to a (mostly) mod-free exterior design philosophy can be difficult, but not impossible - especially if you have some skill. So keep practicing the art of mod-free car exterior design, and over time, your skills will eventually improve beyond the point of acceptability, ultimately approaching or even reaching mastery.

Update (April 30th 2020): The latest build of Automation (LCV 4.0), based on Unreal Engine 4.24, is still in open beta at the time of writing, but will soon become the new stable release. On current evidence, it will promise vastly superior performance and audio/visual quality, to accompany the extra content and improved campaign functionality the developers have already given us.