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A New Method for Adding the Crash Test Dummy to Vehicles in BeamNG.drive (2023)

The Universal Dummy/Stuntman Driver, Passengers, Loads mod is a new mod for BeamNG.drive created by Agent_Y and first released in March 2023. This mod is the spiritual successor of the older Drivers, Passengers, Loads mod, which was first made available on the BeamNG Mods repository starting in 2017.

One of the key features of the Universal Dummy Stuntman Driver, Passengers, Loads mod is its compatibility with many of the newer vehicles in the game. This mod has been designed to work with a wide range of vehicles, allowing players to customize their dummies and test them out in a variety of different scenarios.



Another noteworthy feature of the mod is the level of control it gives players over the positioning of the Crash Test Dummy. This means that players can use the Vehicle Tuning menu to position the dummy manually, which allows it to be placed in many modded vehicles, providing additional customization options and flexibility.

The mod includes a range of different dummies, including drivers, passengers, and even the return of The Stig! New options now include "clothing", skin color, and position within the vehicle. The mod also includes a range of different animations and poses, allowing players to create unique and interesting scenarios.

Overall, the Universal Dummy Stuntman Driver, Passengers, Loads mod is a well-crafted mod that adds a new level of realism and customization to the game. It is a worthy successor to the original Drivers, Passengers, Loads mod and provides a range of new options and features for players to explore. If you're a fan of BeamNG.drive and have been looking for a simple way to get drivers into vehicles, this mod is definitely worth checking out!

Download the new Universal Dummy/Stuntman Driver & Passengers:

https://www.beamng.com/resources/universal-dummy-stuntman-driver-passengers-loads-read-description-for-instructions.25824/

Desert Expanse Map Review

The Desert Expanse mod was created by Spencer Johnson, a BeamNG.drive map-making enthusiast who has also set up a Patreon page where he releases paid maps for the game. If you enjoy Desert Expanse and want to support Johnson's work, be sure to check out his Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/spencer_johnson.

Desert Expanse has been in development for some time, and the latest beta version (3.1.0) is now available to try out. The map is designed to be both large and diverse, with a wide range of terrain types to navigate. From rocky canyons to sandy dunes, players will have to master a variety of driving techniques in order to make it across the map.



One of the standout features of Desert Expanse is the attention to detail that has gone into the environment. The map is littered with small details and features that add to the overall immersion of the experience. From cacti and tumbleweeds to abandoned buildings and oil rigs, there's always something new to discover as you drive around the map.

Not to mention, there’s a sprawling and well thought out city right in the middle of the map to explore! Seeing a city in the middle of the desert like this certainly gives off Las Vegas vibes. Drive down the main strip and the surrounding highways and you’ll be immersed in city driving before suddenly coming right back out to more desert to explore!

In addition to the main map, Desert Expanse also includes several off-road courses that offer a more structured driving experience. These courses are designed to test your skills and challenge you to find the fastest and most efficient route to the finish line. Whether you're racing against other players or just trying to beat your own best time, these courses offer plenty of excitement and adrenaline-fueled action.

I’ve already used Desert Expanse in one of my videos, Crash Test Dummy: Road Rage 4. You can see it in action in the first scene of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XchEfS6UCdw. I plan on using it for more videos in the future, so stay tuned for more!

Of course, no mod is perfect, and there are a few minor issues that players may encounter when playing Desert Expanse. The main issue is that the map is quite demanding on your computer's hardware, especially if you're playing on higher graphics settings. This can lead to slower frame rates and longer load times, which can be frustrating for some players.



Overall, however, Desert Expanse is an excellent mod that offers a fresh and exciting take on the world of BeamNG.drive. With its vast, immersive environment and challenging off-road courses, it's a must-play for any fan of the game. So why not download the latest beta version and hit the dusty trails of the desert? You won't be disappointed!

Sadler Gorge: Don’t Judge a Book by it’s Cover (BeamNG Breakable Bridge Mod)

I have to admit that I almost DIDN’T download Sadler Gorge when I first saw it on the BeamNG.drive mods repository. At first glance, it appeared on the surface that it was a somewhat lower quality mod as the textures in the screenshots seemed to indicate that. However, reading the description and looking a little more closely, you’ll find this interesting tidbit:

The mod includes both the map and the ‘vehicle,’ as well as a single quickrace scenario. Please bear in mind that because the map is lightmapped, a time-of-day feature is neither available nor possible, and there might be some extra performance overhead from the lights used to spruce up the shadows.

Vehicle? What vehicle?





Well, as it turns out, it’s not a “vehicle” in the traditional sense but rather a fully JBeam’d bridge in the middle of the map! This means that the bridge is completely destructible and will crumble under the load of multiple or heavy vehicles. In addition, because the bridge is treated as a “vehicle”, it can be reset at any time. This makes it great for doing load testing! Below is my first video that I created using the map and bridge.

 

The fact that some of the textures in the map are “lower” quality is made up for by the bridge which is clearly the intended focus of the map. The map provides the perfect showcase for the destructible bridge as it crosses over a very deep canyon/gorge causing instant carnage for any cars that fall from it!




For anyone who downloads this mod, you will also have the bridge automatically added to your vehicle inventory under the name “truss_bridge”. This means that it can be added to any map within the game using the Vehicle Selector (Ctrl+E) and can be placed anywhere within the map using the World Editor (F11). This is great for creating your own bridges to experiment with, including adding multiple destructible bridges in a row to create a longer span. In the video below, I did exactly that by creating my own bridge over the highway in the West Coast, USA map.

 

I highly recommend downloading the Sadler Gorge mod as it not only gives you access to the Sadler Gorge map to experiment with the destructible bridge, but it gives you the flexibility to place the bridge in any map as well! This mod is a must-have for any BeamNG.drive player who enjoys testing the physics and creating some truly spectacular crash scenarios!

BeamNG.drive is 33% off at the Steam Store

If you’ve been holding off on purchasing your copy of BeamNG.drive, now’s your chance! For the first time (that I can remember) BeamNG.drive is 33% off on the Steam Store. The Steam Summer Sale starts today, June 22nd and runs through July 5th, 2017. So act quickly if you want to get your hands on BeamNG.drive at the discounted price!

 

For those of you who might be trying out BeamNG.drive for the first time, check out the BeamNG-FUN YouTube channel to see what’s possible in the game!




Activating Slow Motion in BeamNG.drive

I often get asked in the comments of my videos “how can I slow down time?” or “how do I use slow motion?” in BeamNG.drive. So I wanted to make this blog post to talk about the various ways of activating slow motion in-game.

The slow-motion feature is built in to BeamNG.drive and does not require any mods to use it. By default, you can use the ‘Alt’ + ‘Left Arrow’ key combination to slow down time and ‘Alt’ + ‘Right Arrow’ key combination to speed it up. Each time you press these keys, time will slow down (or speed up) by intervals of 2x, 4x, 16x, or 100x slower/faster than realtime.

This is great if you’re looking to gradually slow down time as you approach a collision or if you’re looking to speed up time after a collision. However, what if you’d like to quickly jump to 8x slow motion rather than having to scroll through the 2x and 4x by pressing ‘Alt’ + ‘Left Arrow’ a few times? Furthermore, what if you’re at a specific slow motion setting and you’d like to quickly jump back to real time? Thankfully, BeamNG.drive allows you to map keys for these specific actions.




This means that rather than having to continously scroll through the slow motion speeds, we can set the controller mapping to jump specifically to what we need. To set this up, you will need to press the ‘Esc’ key to open the menu options and select the ‘Controls’ option (it’s the one that looks like a D-pad). Next, in order to access the slow-mo controller mappings, make sure you check the ‘List advanced bindings too’ checkbox at the top.

Once you have access to the advanced bindings, you’ll notice that there’s now a section called ‘Slow Motion’ available (you may need to scroll in order to see it). Expand this menu and you will now see the various slow motion options.

You’ll notice the default ‘Alt’ + ‘Left’ and ‘Alt’ + ‘Right’ bindings that we spoke about previously for ‘Slower motion’ and ‘Faster motion’ but here you’ll also find the options for ‘Real Time’ and ‘Slow Motion’. These are the options that we want to bind in order to give us the ability to jump directly to real time and 8x slow motion. You can press the ‘+’ button beside these bindings to setup which key or controller button you want to use. In my case, I use the PS4 DualShock 4 controller so I set ‘Slow Motion’ to the L1 button and ‘Real Time’ to the R1 button. This allows me to easily activate (and disable) slow motion while I’m playing the game.




Play BeamNG.drive for Free!

Although BeamNG.drive is a paid game, there is a free tech demo available for those of you looking to just try it out. If you’re looking for the full version of the game, which includes multiple vehicles, various maps, and the ability to install mods, check out my blog post on how to purchase BeamNG.drive.

If you’re just interested in the free tech demo, you’ll find a link buried on BeamNG.com in the middle of the webpage between the Steam and Humble Bundle purchase links. The link it titled “Download the free tech demo” or you can simply click here to download the tech demo directly.





While you only get one vehicle to play around with, the Ibishu Covet, the tech demo will allow you to explore the gridmap containing a number of objects and jumps. This will give you a feel for the game and allow you to experience the realistic physics and crashes in BeamNG.drive. Hopefully once you experience the game, you’ll want to support the developers and upgrade to the full version. Again, you can find my guide on purchasing the full version here.

How to Purchase BeamNG.drive

When it comes to purchasing BeamNG.drive, you have a couple of options. If you have a Steam account and you buy your games through Steam, the easiest option available to you is to simply purchase the game from the Steam store. Simply add the game to your Steam cart and follow the checkout procedure. One of the advantages to purchasing the game through steam is that it will allow you to add it to your Steam library of games for organizational purposes. Furthermore, any future updates to the game will be downloaded and installed automatically for you!

If you do not have a Steam account (and don’t want to create one), you can always purchase the game through the Humble Bundle directly from the BeamNG website. To do so, navigate to BeamNG.com and scroll to the bottom of the page where you’ll see the option to purchase.




The great thing about this option is it gives you the ability to purchase either with a credit card or using your PayPal account. Additionally, clicking the ‘More options’ link will even let you pay with Amazon or Bitcoin!

Upon purchase of the game, you will be able to download and install the game either by downloading it directly from the Humble Bundle or by redeeming a key in Steam. Unlike the Steam option, however, the Humble Bundle version of the game will not download and install updates for you automatically. Any time an update becomes available, you will need to go back to Humble Bundle and re-download the game to receive the latest update.

If you’re just interested in trying out BeamNG.drive, you can always check out the FREE tech demo which I’ll be talking about in my next blog post! Stay tuned!

Crash Test Dummy Driver in BeamNG.drive

UPDATE 5/19/2018: In addition to the below, the user synsol has created a mod that allows you to place both the crash test dummy and The Stig in almost all of the stock vehicles and even some mods. You can download the mod here: https://www.beamng.com/resources/driver-passengers-and-loads.2906/

UPDATE 7/11/2017: You can now add not one but TWO Stigs in the Maluch 126p so I’ve added this vehicle to the blog post below 🙂

One of the things I get asked the most on my Crash Test Dummy videos is how to put a crash test dummy in the driver’s seat of a vehicle. And for good reason! How awesome would it be to see how a crash test dummy would react in a variety of crash scenarios? When it comes to whether this can be done, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is, it can actually be done! The bad? It can’t be done for every vehicle.

If you’re not aware, there is a Crash Test Dummy mod available which provides you with a replica crash test dummy that can be placed around the map. However, if you try to position the dummy in a vehicle, you’ll find that it’s near impossible to do so. The only real way to get a dummy in the driver’s seat is to find a vehicle mod that supports adding the dummy as a vehicle configuration item. This is the reason that it can’t be done for any vehicle since the creator of the mod has to include it with their mod. So which vehicle mods include the crash test dummy as a driver? See the list below.




1. Codename: Oldsfullsize

This vehicle is based off the famous Oldsmobile of the 1980’s and includes a number of default vehicles that have the crash test dummy in the driver’s seat. That being said, any of the vehicles included with this mod can have the crash test dummy (or alternatively, The Stig) placed in the driver’s seat. You can do so by opening the Vehicle Configuration menu and selecting a driver.

DOWNLOAD: Visit the Codename: Oldsfullsize mod page to download the mod!
IMPORTANT: This will only include a single base model of the vehicle. In order to get the entire pack of cars, you must download the add-on pack as well.

 

2. Blue Bird Bus (Type-C) Front Engine

UPDATE 7/17/2017: Sadly it seems that this mod is no longer available due to copyright issues. Hopefully the creator will update it soon to allow it to be re-uploaded. In the meantime, I will leave it on this list with the link to the original mod page in case it comes back.

The Blue Bird Bus is modeled after a typical American school bus and by default includes The Stig dummy in the driver’s seat! Unlike the Codename: Oldsfullsize mod mentioned above, The Stig comes default with the vehicle so all you need to do is download the mod! There’s no need to add The Stig dummy as a Vehicle Configuration item as he will be there already.

DOWNLOAD: Visit the Blue Bird Bus (Type-C) Front Engine mod page to download the mod!




3. Charmand 1104 B

The Charmand 1104 B is based off of the 1988 – 1996 Renault Clio and comes with a few default models that include The Stig in the vehicle’s driver’s seat. I find this vehicle to be similar to the Ibishu Covet which can be a fun vehicle to destroy. So just imagine a vehicle similar to the Covet that also allows you to put a crash test dummy in the driver’s seat!

DOWNLOAD: Visit the Charmand 1104 B mod page to download the mod!

 

4. Maluch 126p

The Maluch 126p is based off of the popular Polish Fiat 126p. Although this car mod has been around for some time now, it was recently updated to support The Stig driver. And then, just a day later, it was updated again to support two Stig drivers! After the first update, I made a video showcasing the hilariousness of having The Stig in such a small car and seeing how he reacts to crashes:

This vehicle was already one of my favourites and now that it has the ability to add The Stig, it’s easily in my Top 10 favourite mods! Check out the download link below to try it out for yourself!

DOWNLOAD: Visit the Maluch mod page to download the mod!




BeamNG.drive and the Steam Workshop

If you’re new to BeamNG.drive and purchased the game from Steam, you might be wondering where you can download mods from. Most games purchased through Steam also give you access to the game’s Steam Workshop where you can download community-created mods. BeamNG.drive, however, does not have a Steam Workshop for mods. That doesn’t mean mods aren’t available for the game, they’re just not available in the Steam Workshop. Instead, the game’s creators have created a mods page on their website for anyone to download mods. So if you haven’t checked it out already, head on over to the BeamNG.com Mods page.




If you need help installing the mods, their Wiki will explain the installation process, or you can check out the below video that I created outlining the process for downloading and installing mods.

If you’re wondering why the developers do it this way, instead of having a Steam Workshop, the reasons are outlined below as described by a BeamNG support employee:

Steam Workshop doesn’t allow for:

  • Moderation
  • Helping Modders
  • Checks

Not to mention Humble Bundle users (that choose to not use Steam) cannot use Steam Workshop!

We have our own system here: http://www.beamng.com/resources/
It is built with similar ideas, but it can have more and more features.

It does allow for:

  • Moderation
  • Helping Modders
  • Checks
  • Automatic Mod Installation
  • Manual Mod Installation

And more to come..

So as you can see, it actually makes a lot of sense having a separate mods page as it wouldn’t be fair to those who didn’t purchase the game from Steam and it allows for additional features!

Are we Finally Getting Close to Seeing Trains in BeamNG.drive?

One of the things I’ve been dying to see in BeamNG.drive is a fully functional train. As many of you know, the mod scene in BeamNG.drive is outstanding with so many amazing new creations being uploaded all the time. We’ve even seen things somewhat outside of the box appear, such as the Deathmyself bomb for the H-Series. This is why, to my surprise, there hasn’t been a true working train mod in BeamNG.drive.

There was chris_lucas’ Planet Class locomotive which quickly became outdated with the 0.8 update. This mod provided a very small steam locomotive which required the user to toggle the fireman, pumps, and cylindercocks before firing up the engine. Although the mod is now outdated, it did provide an early glimpse into the future of trains in BeamNG.drive

Recently I also played through the most recent version of Occam’s Razer’s Crash Junctions campaign. This campaign was designed to be similar to the classic Burnout games where the player tries to crash their vehicle and cause as much damage as possible. Points are scored based on the amount (money-wise) of damage caused to the other vehicles. In one of the later levels, the author included a street car running on street-level tracks that the player had to crash into to start a pileup. When I did a bit of research into how Occam Razer was able to get the streetcar running on the tracks, I found a response to one of the reviewers where he stated: “On the surface and above, like any other vehicle. Below the surface, however, there’s a rectangular cage with four wheels on each corner, and each of those located on either end of the vehicle, just below the regular wheels. The underground wheels push off of the walls of a subterranean tunnel, to keep it all in line”.




Although as part of the mod download the streetcar is included for you to play in free roam, it can be a little finicky to drive and difficult to place on the tracks. However, like the Planet Class locomotive above, it gives us another glimpse into what the future of trains in BeamNG.drive might look like. With it being a three-car setup as well, it also can be great for leaving in a stationary state and crashing other vehicles into it, as seen in my School Bus Crashes 5 video.

Lastly, and most recently, chris_lucas has once again provided us with another train mod. This time, it’s the 50’s New York Subway train. After playing around with this mod for a while, I’m finding it to be much easier to place on the tracks and simple to drive. Although it takes a few tries sometimes to get it lined up perfectly on the tracks, once it’s on and in position, you’ll be flying around the map in no time! In the below video, you can see the fun I was having crashing it into various vehicles that got “stuck” on the tracks.

Now that I’ve had a chance to see (and try) a few of the different train mods available, I’m very optimistic for the future of trains in BeamNG.drive! I think we’ll continue to see improvements to the train mods that are being released and hopefully one day we’ll finally have a full implementation of an easy-to-use train system in BeamNG.drive. For now, you can check out some of the current train mods available as discussed in this post below:




Planet Class Locomotive (Outdated): https://www.beamng.com/resources/planet-class-locomotive.1396/
Crash Junctions (includes street car): https://www.beamng.com/resources/crash-junctions.1558/
1950’s New York Subway Train: http://chris-lucas.rf.gd/