Bored In BeamNG.Drive? Try These 8 Activities

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Are you bored with BeamNG.drive? This title has an almost endless amount of possibilities when it comes to having fun and completing missions. So much so, that you can get a bit lost as to what to do next.

Whether it be trucking with a land train of trailers around a new map, or racing your highly modified hatchback around a dirt oval and getting the nicest photo you’ve ever taken. Here are 8 activities within BeamNG that you can try out and have great fun with.

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Exploring Neglected Maps​

Exploring in freeroam might seem like a bit of an obvious option. But loading into a map that you have barely stepped foot in, loading up your favourite vehicle configuration and taking to the roads without a map can be some of the most immersive fun to be had in BeamNG.drive. From Jungle Rock Island to one of the hundreds of modded maps. Un-aided exploration has unlimited potential for you to enjoy the game as it was intended to be enjoyed.

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Offroading exploration is a great example of pushing the limit even further. Many trails and tracks aren’t shown on a minimap at all. Whether you tackle the trails with an engineered off-roading beast or a small family hatchback with a lift kit. There are endless amounts of hidden secrets to be explored across the BeamNG maps.

One final way to explore a map is to enter free camera mode, Shift + C, and fly around the map. Exploring this way is not as organic, but it makes finding the interesting hidden features you may want to explore further a lot quicker and easier. It also allows you to get your bearings for driving yourself back to that position with your vehicle, creating a set goal for yourself in the process.

Trying Out Scenarios​

Despite being present in BeamNG for a few years now, many players somewhat disregard scenarios. From police chases to stunt jumps, scenarios can offer you hours of fun and drag you away from the somewhat overwhelming freedom of freeroam.

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A large majority of scenarios on offer in the vanilla version of BeamNG are well thought out and challenging. If you’re into offroading and rock crawling, check out the scenarios that were added alongside the Johnson Valley map. If road racing is more your thing, The Italy map has some stunning mountain road races and highspeed highway competitions.

The Gambler 500 scenarios are especially worth a look at. Featuring crazy configurations that you couldn’t even dream of, these scenarios are sure to keep you on your toes. From racing to demolition derbys, these scenarios should be top of your list.

Adding Mods To Your Game​

BeamNG has been praised by the community ever since they added official modding support to not only their website but the in-game repository as well. Mods can bring a breath of fresh air to your game with new vehicles, maps, props or settings.

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Finding the right mods can sometimes be difficult, but don’t let that get in the way. It is certainly worth spending an hour or two scrolling through the pages, choosing what you want to add. All mods on the official page and repository are free. So scroll to your heart’s content and transform your BeamNG experience.

If scrolling endlessly isn’t what you want to do, try searching for relevant update mods. For example, the latest update at the time of writing is the 0.31 update. The new T-Series remaster is the main focus point of the update, meaning that there will be a large increase in mods for the truck. People post mods that they know will get clicks and downloads, so anything new that gets added to the game that has hype around it, you know that there will be extra parts, skin packs and much more added through mods.

Trying Out The Secret Career Mode​

The secret career mode within BeamNG is one of the game’s worst-kept secrets. Six clicks on the greyed-out career mode button will launch an alpha version of the career mode. From car dealerships to police chases and taxi rides. The BeamNG alpha career mode is certainly heading in the right direction.

Feedback and bug reports are what it’s mostly there for, but the content available is surprisingly engaging and extensive. Check out our full breakdown of the career mode if you’re interested in getting started.

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Create Cars Within Automation​

Automation is a separate game, available on Steam, that provides the tools to create your very own vehicles. From accurately recreated block engines to throw into your creations, to wildly outrageous racing trucks and vans. Automation puts no limit on your creativity.

You may be wondering what relevance this has to BeamNG. Well, you can export your creations from Automation, right into BeamNG. Allowing you to test, crash and race your very own cars against the AI or even in some select BeamMP online servers.

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Whilst Automation isn’t without its faults, the collaboration between the two games has created an endless array of downloadable cars that perfectly mimic real-life vehicles. Tesla’s, for example, are highly recreated and to a surprisingly good level of detail. Classic racing cars are also done extensively, allowing for some fantastic racing scenarios and re-creations to be performed.

Experiment With BeamMP​

BeamMP is an additional piece of software that opens up the opportunity for you to experience what driving online is like within BeamNG. The variety of servers available for free on this platform is seriously impressive. From late-night Japanese-inspired drift nights, to ‘getting over it’ inspired crawling courses; it has it all. If multiplayer in BeamNG sounds like something you want to pursue, make sure to check out our detailed look into BeamMP.

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Test Your Parking Skills​

Whilst seemingly mundane, you would be surprised how satisfying parking a large Semi-truck perfectly in between two pillars of shipping containers can be. Alternatively, if trucks aren’t your speed, Setting out a parallel parking situation with normal cars can be just as rewarding. If you lock yourself to the cockpit camera, it can be used for real-life parking practice as well. Just without the consequences of hitting your neighbour’s car.

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Linking back to the scenario idea earlier on, parking challenges are often some of the most demanding. They require you to park a range of vehicles within a specific time limit, often forcing you to drive and park like you’re in the middle of a Fast and Furious film.

One final way to make parking even more challenging is to set up other vehicles that are parked badly. Your challenge could be to get your car in without damaging their cars or yours. It may look dull on paper, but after twenty minutes have gone by and you are still trying to swing your Gavril truck into the space, it won’t seem so dull anymore.

Get Creative With The Photo Mode​

Automotive photography within games was popularised by the likes of the Forza Horizon series. However, BeamNG does have a surprisingly detailed photo mode that, if paired with the right game knowledge, can be used to create some awesome photos.

All of the photos in this article were taken with the BeamNG photo mode. Each one took around five minutes to set up and take. The photo mode is beginner-friendly and there aren’t a million settings to get lost in when taking your photos.

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From racing to rock crawling, the photo mode is applicable and usable by freezing your simulation using the ‘J’ key. You can adjust the field of view as well as aspects like the time of day. The need for external editing software is negated by this great inbuilt feature, but if you did want to experiment further, the images can be saved as PNG files as well as JPG.

Let us know which activities from this list you enjoy the most, or which ones you love to do in BeamNG.drive, over on X @overtake_gg or down in the comments below!
About author
Connor Minniss
Website Content Editor & Motorsport Photographer aiming to bring you the best of the best within the world of sim racing.

Comments

Premium
Bored with BeamNG....NEVER:D...such a lot you can do;)

Great info again 'connor'

The 'REPLY' footage is also another fantastic way to get that exact Photo composition by watching the Reply slowly then 'pausing' at the right moment of destruction, then entering 'Photo Mode'

You can then enter 'Photo Mode' once paused in the Reply Footage and use the cameras to move around the scene.

Below is a scene that was set up purposely to experiment with the 'Reply' and 'Photo Mode' combined.

Set up the Cars first, exploded them so they were on fire in the Petrol Station, started driving the Truck down the street to get up some speed to crash into the Cars and Petrol Station...hit 'Record' before impact.

The resulting screenshots below from paused and repositioned cameras within the 'Reply Footage' while in photo mode...with some extra 'Magic' from the 'World Editor';) to add some extra fire glow onto surrounding cars and ground plan.

0 BeamNG Multiple VEHICLE Gas Station FIRE EXPLOSION copy.jpg


World Editor screenshot adding extra fire glow lights for added effect:geek:
0b BeamNG Multiple VEHICLE Gas Station FIRE EXPLOSION World Editor copy.jpg


Using the camera to fly around the scene to see other cars in the gas Staion Explosion scene.
1 BeamNG Multiple VEHICLE Gas Station FIRE EXPLOSION copy.jpg
3 BeamNG Multiple VEHICLE Gas Station FIRE EXPLOSION copy.jpg
2 BeamNG Multiple VEHICLE Gas Station FIRE EXPLOSION copy.jpg


....hours of fun:inlove:
 
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Bored with BeamNG....NEVER:D...such a lot you can do;)

Great info again 'connor'

The 'REPLY' footage is also another fantastic way to get that exact Photo composition by watching the Reply slowly then 'pausing' at the right moment of destruction, then entering 'Photo Mode'

You can then enter 'Photo Mode' once paused in the Reply Footage and use the cameras to move around the scene.

Below is a scene that was set up purposely to experiment with the 'Reply' and 'Photo Mode' combined.

Set up the Cars first, exploded them so they were on fire in the Petrol Station, started driving the Truck down the street to get up some speed to crash into the Cars and Petrol Station...hit 'Record' before impact.

The resulting screenshots below from paused and repositioned cameras within the 'Reply Footage' while in photo mode...with some extra 'Magic' from the 'World Editor';) to add some extra fire glow onto surrounding cars and ground plan.

View attachment 714450

World Editor screenshot adding extra fire glow lights for added effect:geek:
View attachment 714451

Using the camera to fly around the scene to see other cars in the gas Staion Explosion scene.
View attachment 714452View attachment 714453View attachment 714454

....hours of fun:inlove:
That's so cool to see! I will have to experiment more with those settings in the future :)
 
Premium
So, somehow you guys managed to get bored of the Beam.NG? Even the possibility of my rig running the game is exciting to me :cry:
Well, only one person that replied above is bored :roflmao:.

Sad to hear of your rig having troubles running BeamNG:(
 
I don't recall being bored with this title. At all. Not that frequent I visit this sim (ok for my 3 family steam accounts in all I count 200hours of which I think +150h are mine), but when I do, I feel fulfilled with quality sim time when exiting again, alternative sim time, that is.
So little time these years, that even a journey round the menus can be a great adventure here :D
 
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