Fancy some Scandinavian shots?

How about today we just show you some fresh screenshots taken from the upcoming DLC Scandinavia, around the Linköping city:

Mercedes-Benz New Actros work in progress

The readers of our blog have long suspected that another vehicle we surely must be building is the 2012 New Actros truck tractor. It has taken us a lot of time and effort to obtain the necessary license; to finally complete the "Big Seven" European truck manufacturers licenses.

At long last, we are happy to show you that we are doing some solid work on the truck! In fact we are now working hard to speed up production of the 3D model, with one senior 3D designer assigned to the task of creation of the exterior of the vehicle, while another 3D guru is working on the dashboard and interior.

Check out some Work in Progress screenshots of this majestic truck:

Getting ready for ETS2 1.13 Update

Euro Truck Simulator 2 version 1.13 is entering finalization for release - and this time it is all about Achievements!

As you may have noticed from our blog posts jumping from topic to topic between different projects and sub-projects, the team at SCS Software is actually a swarm of quite a number of micro-teams developing various new features to grow the truck simulator ecosystem. Some things take longer to develop, with some we may even be notoriously slow, but we believe that our approach is right to achieve our ultimate goals eventually, and we hope that you are having fun being along for the ride. Achievements is one little step among many for us to help us in testing the necessary improvements in our infrastructure towards game data persistence.

So, achievements. Actually, at this stage we are preparing two different sets of achievements for you:

1. Steam Achievements
2. World of Trucks Achievements

Steam achievements were much requested by our Steam player community. Thankfully, the native integrated Steam achievement system made it reasonably simple to implement, certainly compared to us having to roll our own superstructure on top of in-game achievement tracking.

On the other hand, the initial set of World of Trucks achievements is a turning point in setting up the the back-end codebase for extensive future updates. WoTr updates are sure promising to be interesting and we'll talk about them in the future...

We understand that at this stage of the life cycle, with many players having sunk tens or even hundreds of hours into the game, some achievements might be, shall we say - not timely. You might even think that you have tried everything the game has in store for you...

So with that in mind and with help of Steam community, we have compiled a list of ETS2 achievements with a very seasoned player in mind. You can think of some of the more difficult ones as little quests or challenges for you to undertake in the game. Still there are achievements that are very easy, we still have new players coming aboard having just bought the game, and we want them to get some satisfaction quickly. Experienced player can take them for granted already.

It was not our goal to make anyone suffer pursuing our achievements, as it sometimes the case with games; forcing players to grind. Almost all our achievements are within the reach of average player given enough dedication.

Let's have a peek at the current ETS2 Steam achievements in more detail:

Total Achievement Count: 28

• Easy - 8 - pretty much everyone would achieve those and so quickly notice the achievement feature, that's how easy it is ;)
• Medium - 8 - not all achievements get unlocked quickly, but none of those should be a problem for any user
• Hard - 11 - certain degree of patience and dedication is required to track and complete those. However the truckers are patient people and we have all confidence in them.
• Extreme - 1 - thats for the most hardcore, never to give up types that drive through the world of Euro Truck Simulator 2

Exploration

• Discover more than 60% of the map - I am a GPS Medium
• Discover 100% of the map - Pathfinder Extreme
• Use the train to cross the channel - Choo-Choo Easy
• Utilize a boat - Sardine Easy
• Discover all recruitment agencies - Head hunter Hard
• Use all ports in the game (counts sea and train ports) - Successfully docked Hard

Trucks

• Buy a truck online - From the comfort of your home Easy
• Design and apply to your truck a custom multi-color metallic paint - My precious Easy
• Drive at least 999 km with each truck brand featured in the game. Only your owned trucks are counted. (MAN, DAF, Majestic, Renault, Iveco, Scania, Volvo) - Test drive limited Medium 

Jobs

• Take an urgent delivery for a minimum of 550 km and complete it with less than 30 minutes remaining - Just in time! Medium
• Complete a delivery that was greater than 2,000 km - Long hauler Medium
• Perform jobs for at least 15 different companies in the game - Reliable contractor Hard
• Complete a job worth over €130,000 and minimum 2,200 km without using a ferry - Profit hunter Medium 
• Complete deliveries with all trailer types (Machinery, ADR cargo, Container, Refrigerated, Liquid cargo, Fragile cargo, Construction, Bulk cargo) - Experience beats all! Medium
• Complete a perfect delivery (no damage, no fines, in-time) for a job that is at least 1000 km. - Job is only worth it if it's done well! Medium
• Complete 5 jobs in a row - in-time, without taking any damage and without using autoparking - Careerist Hard
• Use automatic parking - Friends are always here to help you Easy
• Take and complete jobs with at least 30 different cargoes - All is possible - Hard
• Gain 20,000 XP for several consecutive jobs with the total distance below 10,000 km - Minimaxer Hard 

Company Progression

• Use quick travel to return to your headquarters - Honey, I'm home Easy
• Own a garage in every city in your headquarter country - National company Medium 
• Own a garage in every city - Property magnate Hard 
• Achieve 100% of productivity for at least 5 large garages at the same time - Working with the elite Hard 
• Reach an average daily profit of €450,000 - Bath of success Hard
• Achieve at least 75% of the average garage productivity across all of your garages. Must own at least 10 large garages. - Performance optimizer Hard
• Have at least 10 female and 10 male employees of maximum level in your company - Aspects of professionalism Hard 

Misc

• Use a rest stop - Zzzzz Easy
• Use a filling station - Gas, no petrol! Easy

In the future we might add more interesting achievements, of course also shaped for a seasoned user or related to some particular expansion with fresh content. So if you wish to contribute an idea, we'd be glad to hear it in comments.

According to our internal plans, we are aiming at the early September time-frame for release. Stay tuned!

The New DAF XF Euro 6 tease images

Greetings!

One of the trucks that you have been so anxiously anticipating is finally getting close to completion... Rest assured we are pushing hard to make sure you'll get it as soon as possible.

Trucks happen to be the most notoriously difficult type of 3D model to build and implement for our games than any other of our assets. We are always thinking about ways to speed up their delivery to you, but there was not a single case where it would take us less than half a year to implement a new truck. How can we speed this up? We are now looking into more advanced 3D scanning technologies to acquire high-detail reference data. We are also discussing internally if we should not try shipping an initial release of a truck with limited amount of cabins, chassis and upgrade variations. Would it make sense for you?

Anyway that won't be the case with The New DAF XF Euro 6 - it is coming with traditional palette of cabin, chassis selection, and other upgrade options.

Even if trucks are eating considerable amount of company human and financial resources, we still resist the temptation to ask for money for the upcoming Euro Truck Simulator 2 standard truck models and will continue bringing them to you free of charge in future updates of the game. We feel that it's fair to ask for support from time to time with additional optional elements for the game, but the core experience is improved for everybody.

Thanks for  your patience. Currently the new DAF is about ready for final testing iterations, we are targeting its release for the second half of September.

ETS2 1.12 Update retail edition is available now

Euro Truck Simulator 2 v1.12 retail edition is finally ready and uploaded to mirror servers.

Please strongly consider use of mirrors and torrents instead of direct download, for faster speed and to avoid overloading of our own lines.

Follow to the ETS2 update page for download links.

Just released: ETS2 ver 1.12 and a New High Power Cargo Pack DLC!

We are happy to announce the release of a new update for Euro Truck Simulator 2 - version 1.12. At the same time, High Power Cargo Pack DLC is released on Steam.

As has become the habit, the Steam version is updated first in the very final stages of test/release cycle to make sure no hot-fixes are needed for the 1.12 update before producing the retail update in a day or so.

Today we are making available a new type of game expansion - High Power Cargo Pack DLC is adding a bunch of additional optional cargoes into the game. It will only be available for the Steam edition of the game.

While people who are comfortable with using mods have a variety of cargoes to pick from beyond the standard set, customers sticking to official releases have been repeatedly requesting that we add more content to the game. This release marks another small step in expanding the ETS2 universe; in the future we'd like to look into additional truck tuning options, both inside the cabin and outside of the vehicle, but we also plan to revisit trailers and cargoes again. A new official license from a trailer manufacturer is on the horizon, it may inspire us to pursue this type of evolution of Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Here is a short promo trailer for Euro Truck Simulator 2 - High Power Cargo Pack:

Meanwhile across the ocean

The work on American Truck Simulator is not shrouded in total secrecy, and we felt it's high time that we show you a bit more of what we are working on:

(Please note that any brands appearing in the images are only illustrative and are not guaranteed to find their way into future SCS Software projects until and unless we manage to obtain an official licence.)

High Power Cargo Pack DLC

Greetings!

In our previous post we have revealed three out of four upcoming features of 1.12 Euro Truck Simulator update. The feature we haven't covered yet is related to The New Type of DLC we would like to introduce today.

Simultaneously with the 1.12 update, we will release High Power Cargo Pack DLC, which will expand the cargo range in the game by 7 custom cargoes. Here they are:

HELICOPTER

DRILLER

AIR CONDITIONERS

YACHT

TRACTOR

GAS PIPELINE PARTS

TRACKS

In addition to the new cargoes, DLC will include an extra bonus - special Heavy Duty customizable paint job, some variations of which you see here on the screenshots. We felt that such a paint job fits rather nicely to transportation of such types of cargo.

Lastly, the fourth 1.12 Update feature will allow you to filter and search your next cargo more easily. We have implemented cargo filtering by the following groups: Machinery, ADR, Containers, Refrigerated, Liquid, Fragile, Construction, and Bulk Cargo.

So now you shouldn't have a problem to find your desired type of load, including new cargoes from High Power Cargo Pack, among the hundreds job offers the game usually has available at any moment.

High Power Cargo Pack DLC is based on new code hooks implemented in the 1.12 Update, so if you want to use it, make sure to allow the Steam client to update the game to the latest version. This DLC is yet one more that will only be available for the Steam edition of the game - as we tried to explain previously, we don't have the infrastructure in place to allow for purchasing and maintaining of micro-DLCs.

Get ready for Euro Truck Simulator 1.12 Update

Not much time has passed since we released ETS2 1.11 game update, yet already we are in the final testing stages of 1.12 update. We are fortunate that there are no road-blocks in the game code now delaying release, so we can try a shorter release cycle now, and avoid sitting on the features for the sake of a larger batch. The new version may contain less changes compared to its predecessor than what the feature-packed 1.11 has brought, but there is some good stuff coming, and coming soon.

ETS2 version 1.12 will bring you four new features, plus it will prepare the game binaries for "A New Type of the DLC" - not paint-jobs this time! We plan to release this DLC simultaneously with the update.

Let's list 3 of those features now:

Truck browser

Browse, build, visualize and preview any unlocked truck in the game. Also it is possible to apply and preview paint jobs for any truck. If you are a MOD maker, this is a super useful feature for fast browsing of your creations without leaving the desktop, rather than having to drive to the nearest truck shop of a given truck brand.

Trailer Browser

Browse all trailers, their types and sub-types featured in the game. Yet again if you happen you have a MOD trailer in the game, you can check it out right away in the Trailer browser without having to wait for it to spawn randomly in the game.

Photo Mode Enhancements

We are still astonished with the gorgeous shots you guys upload to World of Trucks. New Photo mode features are:

• Ability to change the Color Balance of your image
• Change Saturation
• Change the Roll the camera, if you desire extra creativity in your composition

And at last - "The New Type of the DLC". We will be revealing it in our almost-regular Friday blog post. So see you back here in two days!

Flip Paints Designs Competition Results

Finally we are ready to announce the winners of Flip Paints Designs Competition. Thank you for your patience with the long wait. Even if summer is considered to be a dead period for game releases, at SCS Software game development continues at full thrust, as you may have noticed based on our recent blog posts and releases.

We have received a lot of awesome submissions for the competition. It was too difficult to choose just 10 best of the best. So we are going to raise the winners count to 15 people!

And of course all participants who managed to get included in Editor's Pick will receive a related World of Trucks achievement (coming soon). We plan to make more competitions in the future, so more of you will have the opportunity to gain this "hardy".

The winners will receive their Steam key for Collector's Edition of Euro Truck Simulator 2 to the mail registered with their World of Trucks account.

And the winners are:
DONJARO, ACE, RIDER, FINROW, SHAMMACK, JIKES, MARISRITINS, BRAVOOSKAR, DIMAN_VINOKUROV, ASUSKA, NJK311, DXD, VORNSKYR, FALCON2K10, STEN1467.

Here are the winner's images! Congratulations!