Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Wyoming: Jackson

Located in the northwest corner of the U.S State of Wyoming, you'll find the town of Jackson, the gateway to the Grand Teton National Park. 

Framed by four elk-antler arches, the Town Square is the picturesque centerpiece of Jackson. It serves as a meeting place for shopping, dining or just somewhere to relax. Attracting more than 3 million visitors a year, Jackson boasts one of the best skiing locations in the state and is home to three ski resorts. 


Characterized by 19th-century log cabins and Western-style architecture, travelers visiting Jackson in our upcoming Wyoming DLC for American Truck Simulator, will surely enjoy all that the town and its surrounding areas have to offer.   


But not every visitor to Jackson is visiting for leisure. The town features a good variety of industries that support the local economy. From farms to local businesses, truckers will find no shortage of jobs delivering to and from this scenic area. 


Already making plans to visit Wyoming in American Truck Simulator? Then make sure to add Wyoming to your Steam Wishlist! It really helps supports us in the development and release of our upcoming content. We thank you for your support. 

Monday, March 29, 2021

Renault Trucks: Evolution Time

In the past few days the internet, and especially the automotive side, has received some very interesting and cool news bringing together Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Renault Trucks. Those with sharp eyes and attentive ears probably already heard and read about what the CEO of Renault Trucks, Bruno Blin, has announced at a very special press conference.

Today we can also confirm that this is not just a dream, but it's really happening. The latest, and as of now still officially unrevealed Renault Trucks T and T-High facelifted models, will arrive in the Euro Truck Simulator 2 universe on the 6th of April, 2021 in a free update. 

This is going to be the very first time in the automotive industry that a new truck model is revealed exclusively through a videogame before any real-life event. We are honoured and proud that thanks to our excellent relationship with Renault Trucks and their recognition of the importance of our #BestCommunityEver, this amazing milestone will actually be achieved!

But before we put this evolution into ETS2, let's first play a small game with you, shall we? You may have noticed that ETS2 has just received a very small update on Steam; what was in it? Well, hop into your current Renault Trucks vehicle, drive to the closest major Renault Trucks dealership and find out! The new T-High is parked there! 

Yes, it's currently hidden under a red cover, but that will change very soon. Let's show our friends over at Renault Trucks how excited we all are. Just take a screenshot of the new vehicle under the red cover and post it on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook with the hashtag #RenaultTrucksEvolutionIsComing. Plus don't forget to tag both SCS' (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) and Renault Trucks' (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) profiles so we won't miss it. Later on, we will randomly pick 5 lucky winners who'll receive a special gift selected from the Renault Trucks merchandise range!

Friday, March 26, 2021

Iberia: Reaching the Finish Line

The Iberian hype train is reaching its maximum speed and we are not sure if its engine can continue building pressure. Yet, we still are going to work it a little bit harder with today's blog post.

We are in very close touch these days with the teams working on the final tasks for Iberia DLC, and with each passing day, we are getting increasingly confident statements from their side. Some time back, we dared to announce that this upcoming, and by far the biggest map expansion to-date for Euro Truck Simulator 2, will be released in April 2021. 

If everything goes at the same pace and in the same positive direction, we think we'll be ready to announce the exact release date next week. And it might even be sooner than you think. Plus we also think that the first waves of early-access Iberia keys for our most loyal and trusted influencers may depart our mailboxes next week as well! Be sure to keep an eye on your inbox, if you're a creator or gaming media representative, as you might receive an invitation soon. 

With the actual release of the Iberia DLC, we are also preparing a few special things for you. First, you can look forward to (and we hope that you'll accompany us for) the special Iberia release live stream full of developer Q&A, some cool behind-the-scenes info of this map expansion, and also featuring Pavel Sebor who will hit the release button at the end of the stream with us! 

For those who'll be in the mood to cruise in Iberia, we will have a treat! But no more spoilers on that now!

Through the development of Iberia, we asked you many times to add this DLC to your Steam wishlist. You might not see this as an important thing, but it really helps us a lot with the development of any of our bigger projects. So far more than 580 000 Steam users have added Iberia to their wishlist! That's amazing! Thank you for your support!

Now we think it's a good time to reward you for that. Post an image of your Steam wishlist with the Iberia expansion in it under the #ReadyForIberia hashtag on Twitter or Instagram, and tag us in. In the following days, we'll randomly pick 5 lucky winners who'll receive a free Iberia Steam key 3 hours before its release!

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Euro Truck Simulator 2: 1.40 Release

Hot on the heels of yesterday's ATS update, we are excited to announce the highly-anticipated arrival of update 1.40 for Euro Truck Simulator 2 as well!

We'd like to thank all those who took part in the 1.40 Open Beta, made bug reports, and provided general feedback on this new version. We hope you can now begin to fully enjoy the various new features which are included within this update. So, what can you expect to find in the 1.40 update for ETS2?

Let us give you a quick recap of the most significant changes.

New Visual Lighting System

One of the biggest changes you'll notice when you first hop into your truck cab is the implementation of our new visual lighting system.

To prepare for this new lighting system, our teams had to make a lot of changes not only to our graphic renderer, its code, and other functionalities, but also to existing in-game world objects; including a majority of the in-game assets, textures, and materials to better work with the new physical model of the new lighting system. Want to get an in-depth look into what we had to revisit to make this major graphical change happen? Read more about it here.

We are very excited for you to be able to experience and immerse yourself in driving in the new light. The result is the culmination of a ton of hours by our programmers and visual effect artists and many other teams involved in the creation process of this new system. And even after this tremendous amount of work already spent in this area we are still not completely done. You can expect further changes and improvements to be done in the future. So while the open beta is done, we are still open and more than happy to get your feedback and opinions about this new graphics upgrade for our games.

Revisiting Germany

1.40 also brings the final phase of our Revisiting Germany project which a small team of mappers has been working on.

For those who are new to our game, the Revisiting Germany project consists of a small dedicated map team, who has been working hard to update one of the oldest map sections of the base game with a more realistic and up-to-date look.

The biggest change that comes with this update is a complete reskin and rework of all the highways and roads in this part of our in-game world, which was not retouched in previous updates.

Additionally, the areas around Dortmund, Köln, Dusseldorf, and Duisburg have not only benefitted from a complete road network redesign but a few new intersections and roads as well! The southern part of the Bundesautobahn 7 is now available in this update.

Vive La France ! New Cities

With the upcoming release of the Iberia expansion for Euro Truck Simulator 2, we know that many drivers will be excited to progressively make their way down Europe to cross into the peninsula for the first time. With France being mainland Europe's gateway to Spain and Portugal, our team has developed 2 new French locations which are a part of a free update to the Vive La France ! DLC coming with 1.40. 

The first of these is the city of Bayonne, located in the southwest of France; it is the capital of the French Basque Country and an important connection for drivers heading to Spain as it is located close to the border.

The second location is the smaller commune of Lacq, which is located in the Arrondissement of Pau. While this small village is going to be just a scenic drive-through for most, Lacq is home to the largest refinery in France. 

Both of these areas plus two new connecting junctions in Toulouse and Bordeaux come as a free update to the Vive La France ! DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2, which we originally announced would arrive with the release of Iberia. However, with them being ready now, we thought it would be a nice surprise to include them early in this update. 

Super Stripes Paint Jobs Pack Update

Our latest ETS2 DLC is also about to get an update - two of the amazing designs in the Super Stripes Paint Jobs Pack have been expanded and are now applicable on owned trailers! And believe it or not, there was a small social media experiment behind the choice of the two paint jobs that were picked for this upgrade.


Back in November 2020, we wrote several short and seemingly insignificant posts on our Euro Truck Simulator 2 and SCS Software Facebook pages, where we called upon our community to cast votes on which DLC designs you liked the most. Today we are happy to share with you that the two most popular designs are getting an upgrade so that everyone can match these designs on both trucks and trailers! 

Your engagement and activity on our social media channels really do matter! We can't wait to see all the beautiful matching combinations on your vehicles. This may be a good opportunity for some VTCs to redesign their virtual corporate identity!

Changelog

Visual

  • New Visual Lighting System

Map

  • Germany Reskin 
  • New French Cities (Vive La France ! DLC)

Vehicle

  • Two new paint jobs (from the Super Stripes Paint Jobs Pack) for owned trailers

UI
  • Full-text city/company search in the job selection screen
  • Improved vehicle adjustment menu (F4)

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

American Truck Simulator: 1.40 Release

With lots of testing, feedback, fixing, and fine-tuning, we are excited to announce the highly anticipated arrival of update 1.40 for American Truck Simulator!

We'd like to thank all those who took part in the 1.40 Open Beta, made bug reports, and provided general feedback on this new version. We hope you can now begin to fully enjoy the various new features which are included within this update. So, what can you expect to find in the 1.40 update for ATS?

Lets us give you a quick recap of the most significant changes.

New Visual Lighting System

One of the biggest changes you'll notice when you first hop into your truck cab is the implementation of our new visual lighting system.

To prepare for this new lighting system, our teams had to make a lot of changes not only to our graphic renderer, its code, and other functionalities, but also to existing in-game world objects; including a majority of the in-game assets, textures, and materials to better work with the new physical model of the new light system. If you've missed our special and in-depth article on this topic, you can make yourself a big cup of tea/coffee and read it here.

We are very excited for you to be able to experience and immerse yourself in driving in the new light. The result is the culmination of a ton of hours by our programmers and visual effect artists and many other teams involved in the creation process of this new system. And even after this tremendous amount of work already spent in this area we are still not completely done. You can expect further changes and improvements to be done in the future. So while the open beta is done, we are still open and more than happy to get your feedback and opinions about this new graphics upgrade for our games.

Extended Chassis Update

Our vehicle team has worked hard to bring you a range of long and short chassis types, allowing you to customize your truck for the job at hand. This update will feature 4x2, 8x4, and 8x6 chassis types which are used for a range of different trailers. 

4x2s, also known as single-axle trucks, are frequently used for local distribution deliveries by supermarkets and by logistic companies for hauling doubles. 8x4 and 8x6 chassis are the big guns of the heavy-haul industry and can handle just about any load you decide to take on. All of these new options bring more variety to you - the driver! We hope you enjoy this awesome addition to 1.40!

Here's a full list of all the new extended chassis options now available in 1.40:

  • Freightliner Cascadia: Day cab 4x2
  • Mack Anthem: Day cab 4x2
  • International LoneStar: Day cab & Sleepers 8x4
  • Peterbilt 389: Day cab & Sleepers 8x4 & 8x6
  • Volvo VNL: Day cab 4x2, Day cab & Sleepers 8x4
  • Peterbilt 579: Day cab 4x2
  • Kenworth W900: Day cab & Sleepers 8x4 & 8x6
  • Kenworth T680: Day cab 4x2
  • Western Star 49X: Day cab & Sleepers 8x4 & 8x6

Western Star 49X Update


The Western Star 49X has received 2 additional sleeper cabin options and a grand total of 36 chassis variants, comprising of different lengths and fuel tank options on 6x2, 6x4, 8x4, and 8x6 axle configurations. Also as a surprise bonus, this includes 5 lengths for both the Set-Back and Set-Forward axle configurations! So whether you are on a job long or small, you will have the option to customize your 49X perfectly for the task at hand. 


However, that isn't all! The Western Star 49X now also has an array of new parts to customize your truck including new bumpers, quarter fenders, mud flaps, hood mirrors, sun visors, grille guards, and different interior colors. We will also be bringing 3 new gearboxes in this update, the DT12-V (in direct-drive and overdrive configurations) and the DT12-VX. We hope this pleases drivers who prefer a more realistic option for their gearbox. 



New Mexico & Oregon DLC Viewpoints

Back in October last year, American Truck Simulator saw the arrival of viewpoints to the states of Washington, Colorado, and Utah after their popular debut in Idaho! Today we are happy to share with you that 1.40 sees the introduction of new viewpoints to the states of New Mexico & Oregon. 



For newer players of our titles, Viewpoints are certain spots found across the map, where drivers can activate a special in-game cutscene with a short showcase of a near location or place of interest. These can be found displayed as a grey question mark on your GPS, so be sure to stop and discover them on your journeys. 



You also have the option to skip the viewpoint or replay it if you wish to watch it again. From populated cities to historic monuments, each viewpoint highlights a point of interest or industry, so make sure to discover them all!  

Changelog:

Visual:
  • New visual lighting system
Map: 
  • An overall update to road signage
  • New service signs added to CO, ID, UT, and WA
  • New fast food brands introduced to several other locations outside of CO
  • New viewpoints in New Mexico & Oregon DLC's

Vehicles: 
  • New 4x2, 8x4, and 8x6 chassis
  • Western Star 49X update including sleeper variants, set-back configurations, and new customizations 
UI
  • Full-text city/company search in the job selection screen
  • Improved vehicle adjustment menu (F4)

Friday, March 19, 2021

Wyoming: Truck Stops

Truck stops provide fuel, food, and a place to rest not only for truckers but for other visitors too. Found along the highways of America, stopping at some of these large plazas with multiple amenities have become the new normal for drivers, with famous chains becoming more well-known among frequent travelers. 

In Wyoming, officially nicknamed the Equality State, you and your wheeled partner will come across many stops, large and small, which cover chains of different brands. Make sure to visit them all. You never know what you may find on your next fuel stop!

Taking a rest stop? Why not take a moment to add Wyoming for American Truck Simulator to your Steam wishlist while your tanks are being filled? It really helps to support us with releases of our future content. Thanks!