Thrustmaster® T248 Giveaway!

We are excited to partner up with Thrustmaster to join the launch of their all-new T248 steering wheel! Being invited as a launch partner is a confirmation of the high status of our truck sim games in the driving simulation genre. In practice, this means that our programmers have had a chance to get their hands on pre-production units before they hit the market, to make sure that our games will support the wheel's new features at launch.

For active members of our #BestCommunityEver, this partnership brings a chance to benefit, too. As a part of a cross-promotion plan, we are to receive a bunch of shiny new steering wheels to give away!

As we are talking cross-promotion, both companies are trying to help each other's products gain more visibility. While Thrustmaster is going to showcase American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 to their audience, we agreed to try to create a little buzz on our social media too.

Starting today, anyone who logs in to their World of Trucks account will automatically receive a free gift - the Thrustmaster T248 Mini Wheel cabin accessory item. 

Decorate your truck cabin with it and take an interior screenshot at a location in #ETS2 or #ATS you like. Then just share your images on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook under the #T248 hashtag along with tagging our and Thrustmaster social media profiles!

• Twitter: @TMThrustmaster
• Facebook: @ThrustmasterOfficial
• Instagram: @TMThrustmaster
• Twitch: @TMThrustmaster
• Youtube: @Thrustmasterofficial

Later in September, we'll randomly pick 5 lucky winners who'll get one of these new steering wheels when they're publicly available!

We are proud to be joining forces with Thrustmaster to help them bring this new wheel to the market, and that our games have been recognized as launch titles among other notable driving games.

You watch a recording of the stream we broadcasted on our Twitch & YouTube channels, in which we hosted a special Wyoming & Thrustmaster T248 Live Gameplay Stream.

And if you're a fan of Thrustmaster, then you might also want to keep an eye on our communication channels. We are already planning more fun and more content for our #BestCommunityEver together with Thrustmaster coming later this year!

Visit to Feldbinder

We know our #BestCommunityEver loves to see sneak-peeks behind the scenes and we have something very special for you today. A small team of our vehicle artists went to Germany recently and visited Feldbinder Spezialfahrzeugwerk GmbH to check out their amazing vehicles at two of their facilities at Winsen and Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Let’s take a look at the information our team has managed to gather and the overall experience of this interesting visit!

Our contacts at Feldbinder were so kind that they invited us to their facilities and provided our team with an all-inclusive package of premium care and hospitality. The idea behind this invitation was actually conceived by one of Feldbinder's employees, Leon (in the image below), who is a passionate ETS2 player with over 1500 hours of game time. Not only did our team get the opportunity to meet this passionate fan in person, they were also fortunate enough to meet technical managers at the facilities, who provided us with plenty of information about their trailer configurations.

The topic of configurations brings us to the simple but important mission our team was entrusted with. Apart from simply shaking hands, making contacts and strengthening our relationship right from the start, the goal was also to gather reference data and scans for some of their vehicles which we would like to bring for our players to ETS2 via 3D reconstruction using photogrammetry (as shown in the image below).

Please keep in mind that this is only the start of an extremely interesting and promising cooperation, and we cannot provide any more information on what the future will bring for ETS2. We will, however, do our best to keep you updated as our teams continue in the process of modelling these vehicles.

We are truly grateful to Feldbinder for this opportunity and their efforts to make our team feel at home during the visit, from which we have gathered over 10,000 reference photos totalling over 275GB. Make sure to check them out on their Facebook page and give them some love! 

Wyoming Release Announcement

With the final touches being made to the Wyoming DLC, we are excited to announce a release date for this exciting new addition to American Truck Simulator.

Wyoming will be released on September 7, 2021

And if that announcement date hasn't gotten you excited enough, then we are sure that this video trailer showcasing the natural beauty and prominent industries of Wyoming will! 

That is not all, however, as prior to Wyoming's release, we will be hosting a very special release live stream on Tuesday, September 7th, starting at around 16:00 CEST. This stream will feature a variety of special guests involved in the creation of this DLC along with the possibility of a few extra surprises too. You can watch along live on the day over at our official Twitch channel or YouTube channel, so don't miss out! 

We also plan to bring a special #CruisingWyoming World of Trucks in-game event with the release of this map expansion. A blog with more information on how you can take part and how you can earn in-game rewards will come out the day before the release! 

Excited? We are! If you haven't already, make sure to add Wyoming for American Truck Simulator to your Steam Wishlist! We thank you for your support and we look forward to welcoming you across the state border very soon. 

Construction Equipment Transport?

Hey, psst! Something cool seems to be under development by the SCS vehicle team. We have glimpsed some real heavy machinery being valiantly pulled at locations in both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator. Could this be a new DLC in the works? Take a look at these pictures and let us know what you think!

For now, we are unable to confirm nor deny any suggestions regarding the precise date when this "thing" will be ready. Keep your eyes on our social media - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram - and you’ll be instantly informed once something new comes up.

Wyoming: Cheyenne - Magic City of the Plains

As promised in our previous blog regarding cities along I-80, today we’ll present to you the amazing capital of Wyoming - Cheyenne. The so-called Magic City of the Plains is located in the southeastern corner of the state and it sprawls over a high prairie that descends westward to the Laramie Mountains. While the name itself may evoke images of cowboys, trains, and wide-open natural spaces, today’s city is much more than that!

The city was founded in the year of 1867 and its history is strongly intertwined with the local railroad system and the area called Crow Creek. Residents named the town Cheyenne for the Cheyenne Native American people, even though some of you may have speculated that it’s somehow connected to a character from the movie Once Upon a Time in the West. Due to its extremely quick growth, which was possible mainly because of the railroad, the city eventually earned the nickname Magic City of the Plains. It is therefore hardly a surprise that today it’s the most populous city of Wyoming.

The local residents are well aware and proud of their history. One of the main historical landmarks, which will make an appearance in the map expansion as well, is the city’s railroad depot (American Lines depot in our game). This depot used to be the railroad’s largest station and also a beautiful example of a classical architectural style. But it’s not only the main building that you will be able to see in the game - the entire complex with the nearby railway roundhouse and a machine shop will also be present. There's a viewpoint close by too!

Furthermore, apart from passing by the frequently visited Cheyenne Depot Plaza which surroundings will feature a couple of the famous "big boots", the importance and historical meaning of this magical city can be seen at every turn and in many of the structures.

If you are feeling as if you’ve been put under a spell and you can’t wait to drive through the amazing capital city of the upcoming Wyoming DLC, point your wands (wait, what?) at the Steam Wishlist button and stay in touch with the latest news.

If you’d like to see more from Wyoming, check out the recording from our yesterday’s live stream here

Also, we are extremely delighted to see our community express the hype and excitement for driving on the roads of Wyoming, and don’t worry, we see your hunger to receive some information about the release date. However, we still need to tighten up the last couple of screws and put the icing on the cake, so that in the end everything will be perfect. For now, all that we can say with certainty is that Wyoming DLC will not come out this August, but very shortly after. A more specific release date will be revealed with a special video trailer very soon!

Convoy FAQ

In our latest 1.41 update for Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator, we introduced Convoy! Convoy is a new multiplayer game mode where players can set up and host their own private sessions (password optional) to drive with their friends or other fellow truckers. With synchronized AI traffic, time and weather, and the ability to take the same job as other players, lots of you have been enjoying trucking together. 

However, we know that many of you still have questions about Convoy, which is why we are bringing this blog post with answers to the most frequently asked questions across our social media channels.

Will the maximum players limit be increased?

Eventually, yes. Convoy currently allows you to create and host an online session with up to 8 players. We expect to be able to raise the player limit in the future, however, we are keeping it small at this time due to its work-in-progress nature. There are important performance optimizations as well as better moderation tools under development that we would like to have in place first before increasing the limit.

Will there be MOD support in Convoy?

Eventually, yes. We are looking into supporting third-party modifications in Convoy multiplayer sessions. While it's not technically so difficult to connect players with an identical set of mods, there are many potential problems to handle when it comes to coming up with a safe and robust way to synchronize sessions of players joining in with different mods, and then back again when they wish to revert to the previous state to continue playing with their regular player profile.

How do I add someone to my friends that I enjoyed driving with?

You can add someone you played with recently on Convoy via the Steam client or overlay. Just click on the view tab (or view players in the Steam overlay), then on players. This will bring up a list of players you recently played with and a link to their profiles.

Another alternative way of adding them would be to ask for their Steam friend code, which allows you to add them with ease! Simply open your friends list and click on the 'Add Friend' located on the right-hand side of the top bar. This will take you to you a page that will show your unique Friend code and a space to enter another person's code, which will send them a friend request! 

I can't see my friend's hosted session.

Make sure you are friends on Steam and that you both have the latest version of the game updated and that you are all set to online on your Steams friend list.

A possible reason you may not see a friend's hosted session is that you can only see sessions that are hosted in the same region as you. This means you may not be able to see a friend's hosted session if they live very far away from you. To join a distant friend's session, you may need to change your Steam download region to match theirs, which will allow you to view hosted sessions in that region. To do this, follow this handy guide!

If you know your friend's sessions name, you can search globally for the session by using the search bar found above the session list. This should bring up your friend's session no matter their region. Make sure to search for the session name exactly as it is written, including any symbols, numbers, punctuation, and abbreviations.

Additionally, you may not be able to see full sessions.

Dedicated servers, can we host them?

There is no option to host a dedicated server yet, however it is something we are looking into providing potentially in the future.

What about map DLCs, do all players need to own the same ones?! 

No! Players do not need to own any DLC in order to join the Convoy multiplayer mode. However, just remember that you will not be able to see or drive in DLC map areas if you do not own them yourself.

Can I turn off the nametags of other players?

Yes! You can use the default hotkey of 'Z' to enable and disable nametags in Convoy! If you wish to change this hotkey, you can do so in the options found in your main menu. It even works when using the photo studio to take a group photo together! 

Is there a speed limit in Convoy mode?

Convoy sessions have the option of setting a speed limit ON for the entire session by default. However, hosts have the option of turning this off, if they so wish to. In that case, the speed limiter will follow your local settings. Just remember that World of Trucks contracts enforce the speed limit on all jobs, regardless of the option set by the host.

Do I have to download the Convoy update if I am not planning on playing it?

Convoy is a game feature available since version 1.41, it is not a separate update line. Of course, it's totally up to you whether you use the feature or not.

There may be valid reasons for players to stay with an older version of the game, perhaps temporarily until a mod important to them catches up, and for this reason, we are providing branches of important previous updates of our games on Steam. By default, Steam updates the games automatically, so you may consider opting out of these automatic updates if this is a concern. However, please note that all further updates to both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator will contain the Convoy multiplayer feature. This means that if you do not plan on updating, you will not get any further updates, content, and fixes and that version 1.40 will be your final stop. 

If you want to use and play on the Convoy multiplayer mode, you MUST be on the latest version of the game (1.41 or higher).

I am constantly having FPS problems in Convoy mode only.

The Convoy multiplayer mode is more demanding than single-player because it renders a higher number of player trucks. Because of this, it is normal to experience a lower frames per second (FPS). However, if your FPS numbers are suspiciously low, reach out to our support email at support@scssoft.com with a detailed description of your problem.

Our programmers are pursuing several lines of optimizations to improve performance overall and also in multiplayer-specific context, but it may take several more game updates until these code improvements are ready.

Does the session have to end if the hosting player leaves?

Yes, as soon as the host of the session leaves, the server will be closed and this will disconnect all players from the server. If this happens unexpectedly, do not panic, as you will be greeted with options to proceed with the progress you've made in the session, or to revert it if you so wish to (for reasons such as the loss of in-game currency, damage, or other progress reasons). 

Note that if you accept the progress, you will remain wherever you were when the session ended, effectively finding yourself back in singleplayer mode. From there, you can once again create a new session and continue with either the same or a different group of people if you wish to do so.

How can I unban someone who I banned in the Convoy session?

If you wish to unban players, you need to go into your "profiles" folder in the respective ATS/ETS2 folders in documents, select the exact profile where the ban happened and find a text file called "banlist". Open the file with a text editor and remove the line with the banned user. You will have to restart the Convoy session afterward.

Is Convoy a form of peer-to-peer gaming?

While the Convoy sessions are hosted by the players themselves, one player always works as a server and therefore acts as a junction for other players. Everyone else communicates with this particular server in the end. More specifically it is the usual client-server communication layout with all clients having authority over specific objects.

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We hope this answers the majority of the most frequently asked questions by our community about Convoy! We love seeing you drive and deliver together and we hope to see more of your photos & video content shared with us on our social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). Happy Trucking! 

Idaho Spuds Conclusion

It’s been almost a month since we announced the Idaho Spuds World of Trucks event. This unique event was a celebration of the 1st anniversary since our Idaho DLC release, where drivers had the opportunity to earn rewards by completing personal and community goals while having the chance to also drive the famous Big Idaho Potato truck and trailer - used to advertise Idaho potatoes throughout the United States.

Although the set goals were challenging, our #BestCommunityEver managed to not only meet their personal goals but nailed the community goal of 200,000 deliveries in no time at all! Fun fact, if every delivery was one potato, we would end up having over five million french fries. That’s a lot of fries! 

Unfortunately, after so much driving, the event must come to end; so start the final drum roll and let us take a look at some of the more precise stats that you achieved whilst you were #HaulingSpuds. 

Incredible work truckers! We cannot thank you enough for your support. It really does bring a lot of joy to our team to see how much you enjoy participating in these events. We hope you will ride with pride with your newly acquired Idaho-themed accessories which you have earned.

The reach of our community extends far beyond the borders of Idaho. You were also busy posting about your adventures with the hashtag #HaulingSpuds to our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages, while also creating amazing content on Youtube and Twitch. We absolutely enjoyed seeing your reactions to the "stylish" trailer and using it on your journeys.

We are grateful for your excitement and effort to take part in this event and hopefully, we’ll see you on the road with another World of Trucks event soon!

Guess where we are? Heart of Russia Edition!

Today we are happy to share with you some more screenshots from Heart of Russia, our upcoming DLC expansion for Euro Truck Simulator 2. We know our community are pretty good when it comes to guessing locations from our images, so we are going to let you do just that!

Think you know where these shots were taken from? Let us know in the blog comments or any of our official social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and you could win a free Steam key for Heart of Russia when it releases! Sounds good? Winners with the correct answers will be randomly chosen and contacted, so keep an eye out on your inboxes or notifications!

Please keep in mind, however, everything you see here is still very much in a 'work in progress' state and may not represent the final product at the time of release. Also, if you like what you see, be sure to add Heart of Russia to your Steam Wishlist! It really helps to support us with releases of our future content.