How to make the mud more realistic (PC version)

Some good news. I recently found ways to make the mud better (more realistic) and I decided to share them here if anyone is interested and doesn't already know about this. And I'm talking about both visual and physical properties.

To remove those oversized ugly mud chunks from tires:
In the game's installation folder, remove env_mud_particle from MeshCache.zip.

To make mud stickier and more realistic:
In the game's installation folder, extract the file media.xml from Media.zip and change the value as follows, then put it back into the zip file:

<Mud>
	<Substance
		FullPushDepth="0.9"
		LinResistance="1.8"
		PushResistance="36.0"
		SubstanceFriction="0.3"
	/>
</Mud>

In _templates\trucks.xml, use these values. This mainly increases pavement traction to reduce the excessive wheel spin that MR has on pavement, while not allowing vehicles to climb ridiculous slopes.

<WheelFriction>
	<Offroad BodyFriction="1.5" SubstanceFriction="1.2" />
	<Default BodyFriction="1.5" SubstanceFriction="0.75" />
	<Highway BodyFriction="1.5" SubstanceFriction="0.5" />
</WheelFriction>

Keep in mind mods typically have their own wheel friction values that will override these, and they are often too high. I recommend to remove them and go with the template values instead. See one of the stock wheel xmls (in classes\wheels in media.zip) for an example of what it should look like.

last edited by Unster

Thanks for sharing. I'll try it out. Tough I find Mud in ST better right now. It looks smoother and behaves better. Only think I still dislike is the texture. Also, I'd love to see a new kind of surface where the base is hard but is covered with a soft thin layer of slippery mud. I't would cause your wheel to spin a lot but won't get you buried and if you suddenly brake, wheels will slip for a few inches.

@deathcoreboy1 Don't we already have this kind of mud? Yesterday I was replaying the Grizzly Creek and some of the dirt roads have that kind of shallow mud. It also made me realize that my F150 is still overpowered as I was spinning wheels like crazy even without pressing the throttle (in manual mode). That's always been a problem with MR and it may have got even worse with my lowered friction settings. But lowering the torque I believe is the answer. Those AW scout vehicles are crazily overpowered, while the D-538 is very underpowered. Luckily we can change those values.

I also agree the new ST mud looks better. I mentioned that in the MR vs. ST thread. The darker texture is good I think, though it looks like rich, organic soil rather than common mud, but I suppose mud could look like that in some places (with rich soil). The main behavior difference between ST and MR mud is that ST mud is softer and makes vehicles sink more, even when the tires aren't spinning. Unfortunately this and other properties are not adjustable in an xml file as far as I know. I wish I could adjust other friction settings besides mud, especially pavement which is much too slippery in MR (it's OK in ST).

@unster I've seen people adjusting some "*.lua" files with a text editor which have extended code you can play with.

@deathcoreboy1 Thanks, I haven't seen those in this game but I know BeamNG uses them for scripting things like AI & scenarios. I highly doubt any physics stuff will be in those files.

Edit: I had a look and the scripts are for things like particles and sounds. Nothing about traction.

last edited by Unster

Hey guys...just copy the mud and water lines u find in media.xml from st to.mr...so u have nearly same behavior.... mud chunks...ok...they are bad...but idea is great to have them...problem is...they are without any textures...and low resolution... use reshade or freestyle to make mud textures in Mr more colorful and darker...so its playable then

@ewgenij84 I found ST needing the same lower mud friction value to have the same desired behavior, though with the softer mud it's less of an issue. Water already looks great in MR. I'd say the water wrapping around tires actually looks better in MR than ST. Color of mud in MR is OK, it's the more chunky nature of it that doesn't look that great compared to ST.

As far as tire mud chunks go, I tried importing the mesh from ST into MR but the chunks didn't show, but that's OK. The new ones in ST are pretty small anyway, hardly noticeable. Tires definitely look better without the oversized mud chunks if you ask me, especially on the K-700 where they clip through the fenders.

What bugs me more in MR is the slippery pavement. It's pretty hard to stay on the road on those AW maps when going fast in a scout vehicle (the road literally throws your vehicle sideways), and that's a shame since MR is going more toward pavement driving. ST's pavement feels more stable, at least from testing in Proving Ground.

last edited by Unster

BTW guys, I found some of the DLC vehicles (Ridge and AW to be specific) to have hard-coded friction values for their wheels. I decided to remove all those hard-coded values so that the one in media.xml takes full effect. The changes are subtle and hard to tell for sure, but if you ever felt like the B-6A or Western Star were too slippery on mud then that's something worth looking into. With the WS I also changed the wheels to have offroad friction, since the tread on those tires looks somewhat offroady.

last edited by Unster

@unster I feel like the water in ST is weird now. They made it transparent everywhere. No more muddy water, This is wrong IMO. The rest of the effect looks good tho. The refraction effect on ST is better IMO.

@deathcoreboy1 Really? I don't feel that way at all. I'd say ST still has more muddy water than MR. I do like the added transparency and variety in water. I didn't like how in the old ST water always seemed to be brown and opaque.

@unster Thing is that IRL, there is no way that this water over that ammount of mud, is clear so you can see through it. If it is on a river or maybe over hard soil, then its OK, but over mud, the water should be muddy. Specially if it is on na surface that trucks go over. That's not to say that it looks bad. Actually, it looks better that the current one in MR since they upscaled the tiles and added some refraction affect.

last edited by deathcoreboy1

@deathcoreboy1 I had a closer look at the water in both games last night and it pretty much behaves the same way. Both games have clear water over mud in some places that gets dirty or stirred up only briefly when a truck drives through, then it's back to clear. Whether water is clear or muddy (but still has transparency) depends on the map maker I think. Compare MR's Deluge to ST's Flood map. ST's water is brown on that map, which I think gives it a better flood effect.

last edited by Unster

@Unster Yes! it's up to map design. I worked for a bit with the editor myself a long time ago. You can choose whatever color you want for the water you're putting in the map. I'm just saying that before beta, water was dirty in a lot of places and now I see transparent water everywhere. I'll post some screenshots when I get home so you can see what I mean.

@deathcoreboy1 I think I know what you mean. I personally like the transparency in the muddy water. It's still mostly opaque, but not like it used to be where it looked more like brown paint.

@Unster It's supposed to look like brown paint 😃 this is how it looks IRL.

Capture.JPG
Capture2.JPG

@deathcoreboy1 Yeah, I'd be fine with mud puddles being brown, but what I meant is that in the old ST all water looked like that, even ponds & rivers. The added transparency makes those look better IMO.

BTW, 1.8 for substance friction is exactly what the Skidder's wheels are set to, so it's not some crazy value that I came up with, though I didn't know about it before I came up with that value. It looks like the Skidder was set up correctly by my standard.

@deathcoreboy1 and others, I made a good discovery if you're interested in modifying pavement friction. In Media.zip, in the _templates folder, there's a file called trucks.xml. There you'll see friction values for both mud and pavement (mud is substance, pavement is body) for all the tire types. I upped the body friction significantly and pavement friction is a lot better! Even the small scout vehicles seem to stay on the road better. Here are the values I'm using right now:

<WheelFriction>
	<Offroad BodyFriction="1.8" SubstanceFriction="1.2" />
	<Default BodyFriction="2.0" SubstanceFriction="0.8" />
	<Highway BodyFriction="2.1" SubstanceFriction="0.5" />
</WheelFriction>

These are the originals:

<WheelFriction>
	<Offroad BodyFriction="1.0" SubstanceFriction="1.2" />
	<Default BodyFriction="1.25" SubstanceFriction="0.75" />
	<Highway BodyFriction="1.5" SubstanceFriction="0.5" />
</WheelFriction>

I feel the original offroad tire pavement friction is much too low, resulting in excessive wheel spin.

Now keep in mind mods generally have their own friction settings as do some of the stock vehicles. I like to remove those and go with one of the template values, so the settings apply to all vehicles.

last edited by Unster

@Unster Nice!!! I was playing a map yesterday called "Unreachable City" (Wich is totally awesome btw) and I was driving the blue stock UAZ. Hell, that thing doesn't stop spinning wheels on paved roads! And I was like c'mon you little piece of s**t hahaha. Seriously tho, the asphalt friction is sooo bad for scout vehicles that it totally brakes the immersion for me.

Now, I'm too lazy to go and adjust each and every vehicle friction values, including mods (I use several btw) but if you say that adjusting these values, it will affect the overall friction on top of the ones defined by the vehicles, then I'll take the shoot.

Now, my question is:
Do these values affect the friction + vehicles specific values "or" these values get overrode if vehicles have specific values?

Thanks so much for your research @Unster !!! Looking forward to your reply and further discoveries 😃