Hello,

On my old PC (1), when found for the very first time, all the trucks on the map are barely touching ground (some of them don't even touch it).
They only "land" on the ground with their full weight, when you get close to them, or when you drive them for the first time.

This behavior ("landing" on the ground) is particularly noticable when you uncloack a watch point, find a hidden truck on the map, and get in it by clicking on it on the map. In this situation, you can clearly see the truck "land" on the ground.

Once all the trucks have been found, they always keep the exact proper position, even when you quit the game and restart it a few hours later. It's only the very first time you find them or get in them.

So it would be nice if the exact position of the trucks (in the mud or on uneven ground) was computed the very first time the map is loaded (2).
I would definitely trade an additional few second of map loading, if trucks were properly positions on the map at the begining !

While this is not a major issue, I think it would not be too difficult to implement. But maybe I'm wrong ?

I don't know if I'm very clear. Let me know !
Thank you !

(1) tell me if it's a problem only seen on low end PCs such as mine !
(2) maybe the exact position could be computed when the map is generated for the last time in the map editor ?

I think this is a "problem" of "physical bubble" around your truck.
Game compute physics just in some distance from your truck. Therefore under some circumstances, you may see objects "freeze" in the air - when they simply leave that bubble.
And because of trucks are not perfectly landed from mapmaker, when you get close to them enough, physics start working and they land.
We may discuss, if diameter of that bubble might be bigger, but change as a "full physics computation for entire map" is unlikely...

Thank you for your reply.

Yes I can imagine the physical bubble as you said.

What I was thinking was that the exact position of all the trucks would be computed during the loading of the map.
For example, while the map is loading (the black screen at the beginning), the driver gets in all the trucks so that the position is computed, before the game really start. The player wouldn't see a thing because of the black screen, but the proper positions of all truck would be computed. As I said, once they have been computed, the positions are saved properly in the game, even if you close the map and get back at it later.

I don't know if I'm very clear on that...

Again, that is really not a big issue and there are other priorities. I just thought that it wouldn't be to difficult to modify. But maybe I'm wrong!

Yes, your suggestion may work, question is if it worth it.
One of things I personally love on this game is how fast it start.
If I just continue with previous session, within a minute I can drive. Compare this to a Kingdome Come, where with my PC I have to wait several minutes for a main menu.
So yes, it is technically possible (probably) to "land" all trucks on a map and THEN start game for a player, but it slows down a start time and additional values seems to be small (to me)
But its just personal opinion

This is the kind of thread I love to see. Interesting question asked and answered. I walk away having learned something.

I have actually noticed a few times, even in game after unlocking vehicles, when switching trucks or trailers and moving away and coming back to them, a little re-jiggle of position or 'settling' of suspension (especially if the object is loaded, eg fuel or log truck) and this would explain it. Never bothered me though. I think it must have been in either Assassins Creed or Skyrim where once, on entering an area, all the NPCs just popped into being and 'descended from the heavens', landed, and carried on as if nothing happened. Had to laugh.

Still I can see that you will always have to compromise for the sake of performance, especially as I guess the calculation requirement would increase exponentially as you widen the 'bubble' even slightly.

Thanks for the lesson

It's not really an issue, but in some cases either random or poorly placed trucks getting minor damage, which is slightly annoying. In some other cases, trucks spawn lower than intented and damage is reaching medium two-digit numbers.

On the other hand, I'd like to do recalculating and moving around trucks at starting points, where everyone is spawning and "telefraging" each other. Or force "ghost" on everyone until everyone spawned (then game handle interleaving trucks as usual) and/or "active" truck move away at certain distance ("physics bubble" range is too far)