Updates

Faster online count and a second round of fixes.

The launcher was checked again, this time following each thing you do from start to finish: a singleplayer drive into the pause menu, joining and hosting with BeamMP, mods, settings, updates and the first start.

• The number of players online, in the launcher and on this website, now updates every 10 seconds. A closed launcher drops out after about 30 seconds
• If you restart the launcher while its game is still running, it picks the game up again: the pause menu comes back and you can't start a second game by accident
• “Close after launch” now hides the launcher in the background while you play and closes it when the game ends, so the pause menu and BeamMP keep working
• BeamMP: the loading screen no longer hangs for minutes after joining from the server list, and when a join fails you see BeamMP's reason instead of five retries
• Hosting: the player count goes down again when someone leaves, and a failed start of your own game shows the error instead of waiting
• Mods from the repository no longer overwrite each other while downloading
• VR on game start only switches on once per start, not again after joining a server
• Saving the steering wheel only changes the sliders you moved, and wheels set to more than 1440° keep their angle
• An older update can never replace a newer version, and a failed update can be closed again
• Picking the Bin64 folder or the wrong folder in Setup is caught
• More messages are translated

openNG only while the launcher runs.

• The openNG pause menu and the openNG look of the game's screens now only appear while openNG.drive is running. Close the launcher and BeamNG uses its own menu again, also in a game that is already running
• Fixed: after 1.6.1 the menu could still appear without the launcher, because the loader written by 1.5.2 stayed on disk until the launcher was opened once. The new loader checks for the running launcher itself

Plain BeamNG when you don't use the launcher.

• Since 1.5.2 the openNG pause menu also appeared when BeamNG.drive was started from Steam. Now openNG only shows up in games started with openNG.drive. Start the game any other way and it is untouched BeamNG
• In a game started with the launcher, the menu still comes back after BeamMP joins a server or the game reloads its scripts

Everything checked, lots fixed.

This update doesn't add features. The whole launcher was gone through file by file and the bugs found were fixed.

• Pause menu: two quick clicks no longer lose the first one, the Patreon, PayPal and Discord buttons open their pages again, the weather buttons in the separate pause window work, and the temperature (low, average, high) always stays in order
• The game is no longer left paused when a game screen can't be opened, and the big map closes back to driving reliably
• The loading screen no longer covers the BeamMP server list, and it closes when the game quits
• Your BeamNG settings, the mod list and the launcher settings are now written safely: a damaged file is kept instead of being replaced by empty defaults
• Mods: installing keeps the old version until the new one is in place, broken downloads are cleaned up, and deleting can't reach outside the mods folder
• The self-updater checks the download more strictly and can't install twice at the same time
• Web pages in your browser can no longer send commands to the launcher in the background
• Server hosting: no double start, stopping during a download works, router port forwarding is cleaned up properly
• Folder paths with umlauts or Cyrillic letters work in the folder picker
• About 140 missing English, French and Russian translations added, and small layout fixes for small windows

The pause menu stays.

• Sometimes Esc opened BeamNG's own menu instead of openNG's. That happened when the game reloaded its scripts (BeamMP does this when it joins a server), when it was started from Steam instead of the launcher, or after leaving photo mode, the map or the vehicle configuration in certain ways
• The game now loads the openNG menu by itself every time its scripts start, and the menu notices when you're back on the road even if a game screen didn't report that it closed
• The pause menu also works while the launcher is closed

Drop-down lists work in the game.

• The lists in the pause menu settings (quality levels, anti-aliasing, resolution, VR and others) didn't open, because BeamNG's in-game browser can't show the normal Windows lists. They are now openNG's own lists and open like everywhere else in the launcher
• Choosing an overall quality preset shows the new detail levels straight away

More of BeamNG 0.40 in the pause menu.

• "Customise vehicle" replaces the old tuning button. It opens BeamNG's vehicle configuration straight on the tab you pick: parts, tuning, paint & design, occupants or options. Saving a config and adjusting the mirrors are one click away too
• Weather & time has the new temperature from 0.40: set the average, the daily low and the daily high, and see the curve over the day with the current time marked
• Split screen: set up local multiplayer with gamepads or wheels from the pause menu, and end it from there too
• New Screen tab in the pause menu settings: display mode, resolution, refresh rate and monitor (applied with one click), plus brightness, HDR and frame rate limits
• New VR tab: switch VR on or off, centre the view, and set the resolution in the headset, comfort options, controllers and how menus show up in VR
• Launcher settings: the new 0.40 graphics options (light sources, decals, extra detail when zooming, motion blur on your own car, distant shadows, HDR interface brightness) and a VR card with "switch VR on when the game starts"
• The radial menu (E) has a new look: black, no glow and no orange, with clean white highlights

The pause menu is back in 0.40.

• When BeamNG.drive starts for the first time after an update, 0.40 now tidies up its user folder and moves away every file it doesn't know. That took the openNG pause menu with it, so Esc opened the game's own menu. The launcher now keeps its files in a place the game leaves alone, and puts the menu back if the game moves it anyway
• The rain sound and the loading screen survive game updates the same way

Ready for BeamNG.drive 0.40.

• BeamNG 0.40 has DLSS, FSR 3, FSR 4 and XeSS built in. The launcher now uses those directly, with resolution scaling (Quality, Balanced, Performance …) and sharpness. ReShade isn't needed for DLSS any more
• Options your graphics card can't run are greyed out, for example DLSS without an NVIDIA RTX card
• New in the in-game pause menu: anti-aliasing, resolution scaling, sharpness, reflections, mirrors and screen space reflections under Settings, Graphics
• Fixed for 0.40: the game version shows up again, reflections and mirrors use the new quality levels (the old switches did nothing in 0.40), and performance mode knows the new settings

Who's online, and are you up to date?

• The top right corner of the launcher shows how many players are using openNG.drive right now
• Next to it you see whether your version is current. If it isn't, one click installs the update

Credits.

• The Credits page in the launcher is finally filled in: who made it, a Steam profile link, and thanks to BeamNG, the BeamMP team and CareerMP
• Quick links to the website, this Updates page, GitHub, Discord and PayPal from the Credits page

Small fixes and a counter for this website.

• Opt-out switch for the "driving right now" counter on the website (Settings, Launcher)
• A few labels in the Singleplayer summary were still German in the English launcher
• Launchers from 1.3.1 on update to this version by themselves

English by default, and a new home for downloads.

• The launcher now starts in English. German, French and Russian are still under Settings, Launcher
• The radial menu (E) got a much bolder look in your accent colour, with a glowing ring
• Multiplayer loading steps on the loading screen are translated too
• Downloads are now a zip with the launcher, the BeamMP installer and a README
• The website moved to openng-drive.github.io. Launchers older than 1.3.1 can't find updates any more, so please download this version once by hand

The in-game update.

• New loading screen while the map loads, with your map, car, time and weather
• Environment page in the pause menu: AI traffic, police and parked cars
• Radial menu entry, PayPal and Discord buttons in the pause menu
• More settings in the game: controls, force feedback, input devices, camera, audio and graphics
• Presets in the car picker are bigger and easier to tell apart
• Mod vehicles finally show their pictures in the game
• BeamNG's photo mode, replay, tuning and HUD layout screens use the openNG look

The menu moves into the game.

• The Esc menu now lives inside BeamNG's own interface, so it's smooth and the mouse works normally
• New actions: repair, map, photo mode, replay, HUD apps, tuning and "spawn new"
• English, French and Russian for the whole launcher
• Performance mode can also tune the game's own graphics settings
• The launcher comes back when you close the game
• Data folder renamed to openNG-data
• First version of this website

Weather, updates and a lot of fixes.

• Weather editor with clouds, fog, wind, rain and snow, plus rain sound
• FSR and DLSS through ReShade, and the first performance mode
• Built-in updater, short tour, profiles and credits
• Settings are stored next to the exe
• Fixes for joining BeamMP servers, fog that didn't reset, and the game not starting from long folder paths

Where it started.

• First launcher with a sidebar, minimap, career, mods, settings and controls
• Hosting BeamMP servers for friends, a mod browser and the first in-game menu
• Renamed to openNG.drive with its own logo
• Preview pictures for maps and every car variant
• Automatic guest login for BeamMP