Sat Oct 10, 2015 11:03 am
Rear Engined Car Variants
Noticed this one when trying to build something odd and interesting at the same time. With the newly-added rear engined cars, I noticed that not all variants of those few select cars have an ability to run the rear engine. This created a bit of an annoying problem for me, actually, and hence why I've had to make the choice between treating it as a bug report (which would be in Support) or treating it as a feature that needs to be finished (hence why I'm putting it here, in Suggestions, where it might be completed.)
Essentially, where the problem starts is that it's entirely possible to create something (I used the 1950's style small car) with a rear engine, design a body and car around said rear-engined car, and then decide to make a variant using one of the non-rear-supporting bodies: either the Truck, the 5 door wagon, or the 3 door wagon. The game will let you, as far as I can see, up until the moment you, either accidentally or intentionally, save the incompatible body style as the trim to base new trims on. At that point, it devolves into Lua errors and an unloadable car.
My suggestion is rather simple: Allow these body styles, the ones paired with coupes/sedans that support Rear Longitudinal, to support Rear Longitudinal themselves. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I do believe a few trucks and station wagons came with rear mounted engines. I know Volkswagen had that van that had a rear-mounted engine. They seem to support it okay as long as you don't make it the 'default' trim, but it could cause problems if accidentally stumbled into by someone building cars Volkswagen style, and turn into a bug report.
Yes, I understand, it may cause visual glitches if done to the pickup-truck bodies where the engine sticks through the bed. I'm sure people would be willing to put up with engines glitching through their truck beds instead of un-loadable cars, especially in the wake of a particularly sore spot of saving troubles (which, by the way, I'm glad to see seem to have vanished, though I'm still somewhat following old saving protocol of build first, save at the end.)
Now, I also understand that this isn't exactly a game-breaking bug that needs patching, but I think it'd be a nice thing to have ironed out, just to diversify our semi-limited supply of rear-engined cars by letting us use all of the available variants in the cars shown if you click "Rear Engined" in the design window.
I also understand if I'm just about the only person in the world who wants to make a rear-engined station wagon, and thereby this isn't remotely important as a bug fix, or if it's patched to lock out 'incompatible' variants (and I do put that in quotes because, from the little testing I've done, it does seem to work.) to prevent this from being done.
Up until then, I'll leave a basic protocol to follow in the event someone wishes to create rear-engined vehicle variants that don't technically support rear-engine, despite the main body supporting it.
1: design and build a base trim variant of any rear-engine supporting body using the rear-engine frame.
2: Make a new trim of the vehicle.
3: Select the 'incompatible' variant, then build the trim like any other car. Do NOT under any circumstances save this body as the default trim or you will ruin your car.
4: Enjoy your new rear-engined station wagon or pickup truck.
Notes:
-Don't save your 'incompatible' trim as the Default trim unless you want to break the car save.
-An engine size that works in one of the proper compatible trims may not exactly fit nicely in your 'incompatible' vehicle and may require resizing.
-Visual glitches may occur in certain body styles. If this bothers you, then don't make a rear-engined car out of that particular body style.
-I haven't tested every car with an incompatible variant. There may be cars this doesn't work on, or cars that can't fit an engine. This is just a result of someone messing around trying to do crazy things in a car-design sandbox because I was bored and thought it'd be funny to make a rear-engined station wagon, only to find that there were no rear-engine options for station wagons, even if they were a variant in a compatible body.
Essentially, where the problem starts is that it's entirely possible to create something (I used the 1950's style small car) with a rear engine, design a body and car around said rear-engined car, and then decide to make a variant using one of the non-rear-supporting bodies: either the Truck, the 5 door wagon, or the 3 door wagon. The game will let you, as far as I can see, up until the moment you, either accidentally or intentionally, save the incompatible body style as the trim to base new trims on. At that point, it devolves into Lua errors and an unloadable car.
My suggestion is rather simple: Allow these body styles, the ones paired with coupes/sedans that support Rear Longitudinal, to support Rear Longitudinal themselves. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I do believe a few trucks and station wagons came with rear mounted engines. I know Volkswagen had that van that had a rear-mounted engine. They seem to support it okay as long as you don't make it the 'default' trim, but it could cause problems if accidentally stumbled into by someone building cars Volkswagen style, and turn into a bug report.
Yes, I understand, it may cause visual glitches if done to the pickup-truck bodies where the engine sticks through the bed. I'm sure people would be willing to put up with engines glitching through their truck beds instead of un-loadable cars, especially in the wake of a particularly sore spot of saving troubles (which, by the way, I'm glad to see seem to have vanished, though I'm still somewhat following old saving protocol of build first, save at the end.)
Now, I also understand that this isn't exactly a game-breaking bug that needs patching, but I think it'd be a nice thing to have ironed out, just to diversify our semi-limited supply of rear-engined cars by letting us use all of the available variants in the cars shown if you click "Rear Engined" in the design window.
I also understand if I'm just about the only person in the world who wants to make a rear-engined station wagon, and thereby this isn't remotely important as a bug fix, or if it's patched to lock out 'incompatible' variants (and I do put that in quotes because, from the little testing I've done, it does seem to work.) to prevent this from being done.
Up until then, I'll leave a basic protocol to follow in the event someone wishes to create rear-engined vehicle variants that don't technically support rear-engine, despite the main body supporting it.
1: design and build a base trim variant of any rear-engine supporting body using the rear-engine frame.
2: Make a new trim of the vehicle.
3: Select the 'incompatible' variant, then build the trim like any other car. Do NOT under any circumstances save this body as the default trim or you will ruin your car.
4: Enjoy your new rear-engined station wagon or pickup truck.
Notes:
-Don't save your 'incompatible' trim as the Default trim unless you want to break the car save.
-An engine size that works in one of the proper compatible trims may not exactly fit nicely in your 'incompatible' vehicle and may require resizing.
-Visual glitches may occur in certain body styles. If this bothers you, then don't make a rear-engined car out of that particular body style.
-I haven't tested every car with an incompatible variant. There may be cars this doesn't work on, or cars that can't fit an engine. This is just a result of someone messing around trying to do crazy things in a car-design sandbox because I was bored and thought it'd be funny to make a rear-engined station wagon, only to find that there were no rear-engine options for station wagons, even if they were a variant in a compatible body.
http://www.automationgame.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=9941 Storm Automotive Company Thread.