New Light and Weather System Coming

Holiday time is a quiet period in our office as members of our team are spending time with their families. But we know that our fans always crave for fresh information about our projects. So here we are, with a bunch of great-looking panoramas from Scandinavia!

As you may have already noticed in some earlier screenshots we have published, there are considerable changes coming to the game environment. Several in-game graphic rendering elements have been altered or improved to achieve a richer color palette, as presented on the images in this blog post.

The most noticeable changes to the systems are improvements to HDR tone-mapping calculations and sun shafts. Each weather condition now has its own specific lighting preset, allowing us to provide different scene illumination and reflectivity depending on the current state of game environment. 

Sun shafts (sometimes dubbed "God rays") will be using a new calculation algorithm which creates softer and more lifelike effects - driving during sunset or sunrise will provide you with vistas you have not yet seen in ETS2. In order to improve the looks of scenes, we've also decided to alter our fog/haze calculation system.

As the shaders and rendering code are changing, we also need to adjust quite a lot of game assets. Shaders and textures of many objects such as buildings or roads have to be updated in order to correct their specular and diffuse lighting properties to match the new system.

We are half-way through all this work, quite a lot of it is still ahead of us. We aim to release the improvements mentioned in this post alongside Scandinavia DLC. However, the visual changes will be very noticeable everywhere, it will not be just the new parts of the ETS2 world to benefit from the new graphical features. So even if you don't rush to buy Scandinavia right away when it's released, you will get the visual changes as a part of a free game update available for all Euro Truck Simulator 2 owners.

Weigh Stations: New feature in American Truck Simulator

We are always delighted when we can share the features that we work on with our community, and today we would like to give you a quick look at one of the core game functionalities in American Truck Simulator: Weigh Stations.

Drivers cruising across American highways might occasionally be  required to visit a weight alongside of the road to verify if their load complies with regulations. These weight terminals are concentrated along the highways and can be easily accessed by drivers at any time. Please note that Weigh Stations will be exclusive to American Truck Simulator and will not appear in Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Due to overwhelming community response and upcoming Holiday Season our team has decided to extend SCS Polar Express Holiday event past Christmas Eve and into the New Year - everyone who finishes their assigned delivery will receive the exclusive Raven Truck Design DLC!

Happy Holidays, 

Team at SCS Software

Euro Truck Simulator 2 now available as a beta on Mac

We are happy to announce that Euro Truck Simulator 2 is finally about to appear officially on Apple Mac OS X platform. But we are starting carefully - with a beta.

Please bear in mind that the current Mac build is still considered a beta and may contain bugs or other issues. If you already own the game license on Steam, and at the same time happen to be a Mac user bold enough to try a beta, we would be very happy to hear back from you on your experience with this testing release. But keep your patience in check if you consider buying the game just based on the existence of a beta - things happen, and we don't want to disappoint you guys if the beta process takes longer than we now hope.

The MacOS version of the game is not "just a port" - it is intended to be a first class citizen along with the Windows and Linux versions, based on the same living codebase. Therefore we should be able to always update all the different operating system versions in parallel and keep the feature sets in sync.

Adding Mac compatibility to our ever-changing game code was not an easy task, it has taken more effort and time than we anticipated. But choosing this approach was worth it. This preview version is in no way different from the official 1.15 version of ETS2, so people participating in the beta can already sign up to World of Trucks and take part in our SCS Polar Express special!

Leave your comments, thoughts and bug reports in our MAC beta forum please. Follow this step-by-step guide to obtain access to the beta on your computer.

Happy Trucking!

The DLC that just keeps on giving

Latest Euro Truck Simulator 2 update ver. 1.15  dubbed "Holiday Update" brought numerous fixes and improvements to the core part of our title, but it also contained a number of smaller improvements for existing DLCs in order to keep their content compatible with new features and code base of the game. Maintaining everything up to date is one of the behind the scenes tasks that our team is undertaking to ensure that ETS2 performs just as you expect it!

At this moment retail version of 1.15 Holiday Update is available as well.

This update not only brings updates and fixes for the existing content, but time we included new content: Road Roller for High Power Cargo Pack DLC as a "thank-you" to our loyal fans who support continued development of ETS2 by purchasing extra DLC packages. We believe there's always more room for boosting value of our paid and free content, including exclusive Raven Pack DLC.

Raven Pack DLC is a special reward for participating and completing objectives in the SCS Polar Express - our special holiday event. We are extremely thrilled at the user turnout we have seen so far: over ten thousand World of Truck users have already received a free key for Raven Pack DLC! (to put this number into perspective: total distance driven helping Santa is over 50 trips to the Moon and back!)

SCS POLAR EXPRESS HOLIDAY EVENT

ANNOUNCING HOLIDAY SPECIAL EVENT: SCS POLAR EXPRESS

We've just received a cryptic letter with some very disturbing news: Santa Claus might not be able to deliver all gifts in time on his own! We were told that Father Christmas is looking for logistic professionals who want to help out with Santa's substantial delivery backlog.

Here's more details for elves truckers who want to help out to make sure that all gifts are delivered in time: The task at hand is delivering a unique kind of cargo over the distance equal to that of SCS Software office and the North Pole. Note that this distance can be covered across multiple deliveries. Progress of the deliveries can be tracked from your World of Trucks profile. 

You may ask - where do these cool truck & trailer combos come from? The Christmas Gifts trailers have just appeared today in the game for all players after 1.15 update, so anyone can deliver them. As for the truck paintjobs, they are a part of Christmas Paintjobs DLC. Thousands of people have received this DLC from us for free during a recent World of Trucks campaign. It is available for purchase on Steam now.

Santa always makes sure that everyone gets the gifts they deserve, and indeed, there is something special waiting for everyone who contributes his or her due to the effort to transport all the gift packages in our Polar Express 2014 Event. Succeed and you will be rewarded with a special Raven Truck Design DLC. This original tuning set cannot be purchased, the only way to obtain is to earn a Steam key for it during this limited-time event.

This update also marks a public release of features added in the previous beta, below you can find a changelog listing highlights of this update:

• New Exclusive interior for DAF Euro 6 
• New sounds for Scania 6 cylinder engines 
• New sounds for Iveco Highway and Iveco Stralis 
• Support for different dashboard computer back-light colors 
• Showroom updates: 
• New interface for showrooms 
• New showroom interior 
• New look for small truck dealers
• Significantly faster autosaving 
• Gameplay improvements 
• Interior camera motion feature - camera can now simulate movements of the player's body and motion of the truck seat 
• Smart cruise control - retarder will now be used automatically 
• Trailer brake 
• Support for second reverse gear for custom H-Shifter layouts
• Support for Holiday Special content

This update also brings some changes to our engine and structure of the game files, which may affect modifications. If you are involved in creating modifications, visit this page for more information about latest changes.

Celebrating Holidays in America

With public beta test in full swing, the release of Euro Truck Simulator 2 ver. 1.15 "Holiday Update" is getting really close. But we have heard your voices that American Truck Simulator is getting very little attention on the blog lately, indeed our recent posts were heavily concentrated on ETS2 content.

So we have at least a few screenshots for you today, taken from the latest build of American Truck Simulator. There might not be much news to share right now, the design team is hard at work on the map and the vehicles, while we are still striving to obtain the truck licenses that we need. Rest assured that everyone on our ATS team is working hard to bring the American highways and more to your computers as soon as possible.

Now Available: Beta for Holiday update - 1.15

The Holiday Update for Euro Truck Simulator 2 is now ready to enter beta testing on Steam. Detailed information on how to join the beta or register your copy on Steam can be found at the bottom of this post.

This update brings a several audio improvements mentioned in our previous blog posts as well as a couple of gameplay changes. Goal of this beta test is to spend a few days polishing the changes to ensure that our holiday update goes out smoothly.

 Changelist

• New Exclusive interior for DAF Euro 6
• New sounds for Scania 6 cylinder engines 
• New sounds for Iveco Highway and Iveco Stralis
• Support for different dashboard computer black-light colors
• Showroom updates:
• New interface for showrooms
• New showroom interior
• New look for small truck dealers 
• Significantly faster autosaving
• Gameplay improvements
• Interior camera motion feature - camera can now simulate movements of the player's body and motion of the truck seat 
• Smart cruise control - retarder will now be used automatically
• Trailer brake
• Support for second reverse gear for custom H-Shifter layouts
• Support for Holiday Special content

For a majority of our players, it is of course wiser to stick with the official builds of the game that are properly tested before the release. But if you want to take a sneak peek at what's coming and help us in testing the update before release, your help is appreciated. In order to access beta, you must first activate your game on Steam - refer to our guide for a simple step-by-step procedure.
When you have your game activated on Steam, navigate to your Library and right click on the Euro Truck Simulator 2 then select properties from the menu. When properties window opens, select "BETAS" tab and from the drop down menu select "public_beta". After properties window is closed Steam will automatically start downloading the latest version of the update.

Christmas Paintjobs DLC coming

Tomorrow is the last day for a chance to receive a Steam key for our special holiday Christmas Paint Jobs DLC pack for free!

You may ask yourself "How can I receive this special pack?" - it's all very simple!

All you need to do is to earn at least one achievement on your World of Trucks profile before end of the day on December 3rd (CET).

If you already have one or more achievements, you're all set. During the past two days, almost fifteen thousand people felt it was worth their time to grab an achievement... So if you don't have any yet, it's time to hurry to now!

Get just one of them and a new Paint Job DLC pack will be yours!

This Christmas special paint job pack is just the beginning of cool things to come: we have prepared even more holiday themed content for Euro Truck Simulator 2, so stay tuned for more information soon!

Please note that only achievements on your World of Trucks profile count, as Steam Community achievements do not qualify in this event. The codes for Christmas Paint Job DLC will not be immediately available at the midnight deadline, you will be notified of the free key in your World of Trucks profile on Thursday morning.

Volvo Trucks plant near Göteborg

We have a couple of new screenshots from Scandinavia DLC, continuing where our last blog post left off: new special places based on real industry locations. This time around we would like to share a preview of Swedish Volvo Trucks factory in Tuve, Gothenburg.

When designing the area we relied on photos kindly provided to us by Volvo Trucks to ensure accuracy and good presentation.

Drivers in Scandinavia DLC will have the unique opportunity of becoming a vital chain of truck industry logistics by delivering new vehicles directly from manufacturing plants to showrooms and dealerships where they are sold!

 

Unloading cargo - Scania Factory in DLC Scandinavia

As the release of DLC Scandinavia is getting closer, we decided to give you another sneak peek at a new location included in the update. Today we would like to show off one of the new delivery areas: Scania truck plant in Södertälje, just south of Stockholm. This location and its surroundings have been carefully re-created in cooperation with Scania, allowing us to give you a feeling as if you were coming to the factory yourself.

Check out the picture below for comparison with actual factory entrance.

We also had one of the community's favorite video creators – Squirrel; known by many as creator and host of Sunday Night Trucking show – visiting us in our office today. As you can see, a formal hat and t-shirt exchange had to be made! Paul is a really cool guy, he recorded quite a lot of footage in our office and got a lot of honest answers to his questions. We are looking forward to seeing a video report from his trip to Prague!

That special time of the year!

Christmas is coming, it will be here before we know it. Our little in-house paintjob production shop is almost ready with a new seasonal truck livery DLC.

We really appreciate that our players are still ready to support ongoing development of the game by purchasing extra optional content from time to time. But for this special opportunity, we felt that we should give our fans a chance to obtain the new paintjob set for free. As a gift. Well almost, you still have to do a bit to earn it, but it should not be that hard. ;)

Here is the deal: Any registered user on World of Trucks is eligible, so long as you have been awarded at least one World of Trucks achievement - any achievement - by next Wednesday, December 3, 2014. There are already thousands of people on World of Trucks as of now who are already sure to obtain their free key, and we hope that by next week, more players will log in back to the site to work on their first achievement (just check your Profile screen on the site). Any achievement on the World of Trucks website counts - but beware, the game also supports a separate set of Steam achievements which are unrelated and do not count for this event! Anybody who will satisfy the condition above will receive his or her unique key to unlock the Christmas Paint Jobs Pack DLC on Steam on Thursday of next week.

But that's not all - this is only a start of something bigger. As a part of December update of ETS2 to version 1.15, we are now preparing a special Christmas event that should bring seasonal cargo for a bit of extra fun, and a chance for yet another exclusive freebie to earn. Stay tuned!

DLC Scandinavia signs in progress

Today we would like to show you a glimpse on an element of ETS2: Scandinavia assets that we are currently finalizing. Populating the game world with signs that look real and make sense is a task requiring hundreds of man-hours of careful work. We dedicate a lot of attention to this feature of the game, after all there are players who challenge themselves to journey the world without the use of built-in Route Advisor GPS unit, and we had better make sure it is possible.

For DLC Scandinavia, we want the raise the quality bar with signs as well. Check out a compilation of a subset of new navigation signs:

Click to see full resolution

Dashboards at night

Just today we have finished programming one more neat feature - support for different color dashboard button back-light. Until now we were limited just to white back-light, but in reality way more color variety is used by truck manufacturers.

The screenshot below shows that immediately we have started improving the just-released Euro 6 DAF, for the next Euro Truck Simulator 2 update we would like to improve as much of our truck fleet for night driving as possible.

We have a plea for the real truckers among you. Finding good reference is very hard for us. We have taken tons of photos and videos of interiors while we test-drive the trucks, but we had seldom done so in the dark. If you have access to a truck featured in our game, would you be so kind to send us a photograph of the interior, with engine and lights on, taken in the evening? To give us a clear idea of the night-lit dashboard, you would have to take it without use of flash, so that the elements of the dashboard can be recognizable.

We have created a special section for this research on our message board, if you want to contribute to our know-how, please follow this URL: http://forum.scssoft.com/viewforum.php?f=152. Thank you!

Euro Truck Simulator 2 Update for retail edition

We have finally finished "cooking" the retail edition of the Euro 6 DAF game update - version 1.14.2. 

You can download the update as usual on the update page: http://eurotrucksimulator2.com/update.php.

We had to do a re-spin of the Steam 1.14.x release to fix some minor bugs discovered after the initial release to the masses, taking us to ".2" suffix, which took us an extra day. And now we are struggling with our infrastructure as one of our download servers is down and cannot seem to stand back up. So we expect the "local download link" to be even slower than usual, please use torrents or mirrors to download the update quickly!

Euro Truck Simulator 2 - 1.14 DAF Update is live!

Today's release marks the end of another fruitful beta testing period – during the testing phase, the community has yet again helped us pinpoint and resolve important issues prior to public release of the update.

We would like to thank all of the beta participants for helping us shape the final version of the update, your constant support allows us to create the definitive truck simulation experience.

Check out some fresh images of the new DAF XF Euro 6 truck below. OK, to make the best impression, we have cheated a bit when making those pictures. The vehicle is featured in new areas of the virtual world of ETS2 to be released as part of Scandinavia DLC, already under new 'light and skies' – a new approach to day/night cycle that we are developing now. A little hint of what to expect in future updates! :)

 

Here is the short version of what this update is bringing to you (expanded version):

Data

• New truck: DAF XF Euro 6
• Added three new 6-wheeled chassis for (almost) all trucks
• Substantial data fixes in most chassis

Code

• Liftable axles
• Speed limit shown on dashboard GPS
• Truck browser shows all upgrades and their level requirements
• Increased damage for overturned vehicles
• Higher penalties for damaged cargo (both xp and money)
• Camera rotation based on steering and blinkers
• Traffic improvement

Steam and online services

• Steam Rich Presence: job information in "View Game Info" in the Steam friends list
• Screenshot images contain additional metadata (game state, vehicle, camera)
• Upload your World of Trucks profile truck from the in-game Screenshot Manager

Modding

• New cargo definition structure
• Per-sector weather climate profiles
• Goto console command now accepts city names or their fragments (eg "goto aber" teleports camera to Aberdeen)