American Truck Simulator - 1.50 Update Experimental Beta

Today, we're rolling out something a little different: the Experimental Beta for American Truck Simulator's upcoming 1.50 update. Why call our upcoming beta experimental? We need to manage expectations right from the start. We are starting the beta cycle this time from a rather early stage. The level of polish and stability is not the same as for our usual Open Betas. We believe in transparency with our community, and we also need to gather a lot of feedback early this time, to understand how well the features perform. That's why we're offering this Experimental Beta as a precursor to the Open Beta, giving you a glimpse of what's to come while acknowledging that it's still very much a work in progress.

Behind the scenes, our team is hard at work juggling internal projects and releases, all scheduled for version 1.50 of our games. Despite our best efforts, certain aspects of the update are still undergoing refinement. However, we recognize the importance of involving our community in the development process, which is why we're making this content available to you in its current state. Your feedback during this phase is invaluable as we really want to deliver the best possible experience.

With the Experimental Beta, we invite our dedicated players to join us in fine-tuning, testing, and providing feedback. Your input will help us identify and address any issues or imperfections before the Open Beta and eventually the full 1.50 version release. It's important to note though, that this beta may cause instability in certain areas. If you prefer a more polished experience, we recommend waiting for the further Open Beta release.

Rest assured, our commitment to delivering high-quality updates remains unwavering. In the days to come, we'll continue to debug and finalize everything that's coming to ATS with the 1.50 update. Your patience and support during this phase are greatly appreciated as we work towards a seamless transition to the next chapter of American Truck Simulator. Now, without further delay, let's take a look at what you can expect from version 1.50.

Renderer Changes - (still based on DirectX 11 API for now)

We're consistently working on improving our rendering system. It's been a key focus lately, though it'll take some time to complete. Until then, you can expect additional content and enhancements in version 1.50, including: 

• A new feature was added - TAA, or Temporal Anti-Aliasing, which sets itself apart from other anti-aliasing techniques, that aim to smooth images to reduce jagged edges or flickering through higher resolution rendering. Instead, TAA harnesses the timeline, particularly previous frames, to calculate color values as if from a higher resolution, providing a smoother result.
• Cascaded shadow changes: Smooth transition when blending between cascades, smoother and better-stabilized shadow edges.
• Soft particles: Particles and light flares smoothly fade out when near geometry, eliminating harsh intersections for a more seamless visual experience.
• Lit/shadowed smoke: Smoke particles with enhanced volume perception and shading from sunlight, providing a more realistic and immersive atmosphere.
• Far shadows: Ever-present shadows from distant large objects like factory halls, skyscrapers, and road overpasses, with the option to toggle them off in the Options menu.
• Optimized light computation: Dynamic lights are evaluated in a single pass, known as clustered lighting, improving performance in night scenes.

User Interface Rework

We are introducing substantial UI updates to enhance player interaction and accommodate more features. The redesign adopts a flatter, minimalistic design with tooltips and layered navigation, ensuring easier accessibility. For most UI screens, the visible changes are just an evolution of the previous look, though functionally, a lot of work was invested into making them work more comfortably with a gamepad or a steering wheel, requiring less time reaching for a keyboard. The biggest change is the Home screen redesign, a new Status Bar sitting atop many various UI screens, the Quick Menu shortcuts, new fonts, icons, and much more. The result should be a clearer look on 2K and 4K resolutions, with all the changes contributing to a more streamlined gaming experience. We plan to have a separate, more detailed blog on this topic in the near future, so stay tuned.

California Rework - Phase 3

The eagerly awaited third phase of the California rework is focused on central California. Six cities in this area have undergone a complete rework: San Francisco, Oakland, Stockton, Santa Cruz, Huron, and Fresno. We have also added two brand-new cities; San Jose and Modesto, which will replace Oakdale in our game.

All roads in the area have received a complete overhaul, including major routes such as CA-1, US-101, I-5, CA-99, US-395, and more. The beautiful Yosemite National Park also underwent significant enhancements as part of this update! You can watch our trailer for this phase of California rework below.

International LT S13 & International LoneStar

The International LT will receive revamped interior and exterior options, and the LoneStar will get a refreshed interior. The International LT's exterior sees significant enhancements with new features, customizable options, and adjustments to existing parts, including the addition of the S13 model with its Integrated Powertrain. Additional accessories such as new chassis fairing extenders, bumper and grille options, FlowBelow fairings, blindspot detectors, and a shorter day cab chassis have been introduced. 

The interiors of both trucks have also undergone a complete overhaul with new models, updated textures, customizable interior cabinets, and functioning cabin physics, fulfilling a highly requested feature. Stay tuned for more updates as we plan to have a separate blog on this topic in the future.

Options Tooltips

Placing your mouse over each setting option will now display helpful information, including explanations of what the options do. You will now effortlessly grasp the purpose of every adjustable option in the settings, enabling you to easily fine-tune your experience.

Lane Assistant

After implementing various driver assistance features, developing lane assistance was the next step for us. This system is more complicated because it has to work well with different ways people control their vehicles. Making it work well with steering wheels with force feedback was particularly important, even though it was challenging because of possible problems like control-force feedback loops and other details.

Also, the lane assistant features different modes, each serving distinct purposes, making it more complicated. Now, truck drivers can enjoy simply turning it on along with adaptive cruise control, letting the truck do more of the driving.

Changelog

Map

• California Rework – Phase 3

Vehicles

• International LT S13
• International LoneStar (interior) and LT (exterior & interior) rework
• Lane assistant feature added

UI

• Substantial UI design update (Home screen redesign, persistent Status Bar, Quick Menu, new fonts, icons and more)
• Settings options show information about what they do

Visual

• Improvements in the rendering system
• Temporal Anti-Aliasing feature added
• Cascaded shadow updates
• Soft particles 
• Lit/shadowed smoke 
• Far shadows
• Optimized light computation
• Frame rate limiter added

Sound

• Brake squeaking sounds added

So, do enjoy all these new additions, but please remember: It's only an experimental beta, not an open beta yet or even a stable public version, so you may encounter bugs, instability, or crashes. It's completely okay if you want to wait for the open beta or the final release. But if you're interested in helping us get there faster, we'll appreciate all of your feedback on our forum and your bug reports in the dedicated section.

Please check our modding wiki to get details pertaining to mods for the game.

If you wish to participate in the experimental beta, you can find this version in the public_beta branch on Steam. The way to access it is as follows: Steam client → LIBRARY → right-click on American Truck Simulator  → Properties → Betas tab → public_beta → 1.50. No password is required. Sometimes you may need to restart your Steam client to see the correct branch name there. Also, the 1.50 Experimental Beta is currently unavailable for Mac OS users, but it is expected to be released for the platform in the near future.

So, to our community, thank you for your ongoing dedication and feedback. Together, let's make the Experimental Beta a valuable stepping stone towards Open Beta and an exceptional 1.50 version. Don't forget to stay connected with us and all the latest information through our social media channels, make sure to follow us on X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Happy trucking!

American Truck Simulator Update 1.37 Open Beta is here!

We love to bring you new game updates, especially when they contain some cool features that you have requested for a long time; and we really appreciate all the help our great community provides with testing each new update during the open beta stage. Today, we'd like to invite you to help us finalize the features that are coming to American Truck Simulator along with the next update. Please read below, and if you like living on the edge, get ready to join the 1.37 Update Open Beta.

So what's coming with it, you ask? Let's start with the major thing on the list - a new sound engine! As you probably read in our first tease of this development (if not then you can find it here), this is the first planned phase of bringing new and better sounds to our games. With the 1.37 update, we are radically redefining the way we mix vehicle and environment sounds. We are switching from having two separate sound sets for the interior and exterior of your truck; to a new system which is based on a unified SFX set with various filters and effects applied on it during the final composition.

The end result sounds fantastic to our ears already, and we are just getting started. We are really looking forward to your reaction! You can also expect new sound for most of the AIs (including trains) and experience true Doppler effect as the first fruits from the integration of the FMOD sound library. Please note that any of these new sounds still might be subject to further changes according to the feedback we need to gather first.

As a benefit from the new sound mixing approach, we are happy to bring you a new feature that we have already quietly teased here. Did you spot it? At long last, you can open your truck windows! Some may consider it a gimmick, but many of you have been calling us to introduce this feature for years. You can now enjoy the continuum of sound levels between a well-insulated cabin with windows closed and the roaring traffic coming from the outside when you roll the windows all the way down. Give it a try especially when you hit the rush hour on the road or at some big junction.

Back to the most important thing, your help! We are releasing this open beta today with sound modders in mind. The changes are radical from their point of view, as they will need to re-learn a lot of the techniques used. We appreciate our modding communities' passion and dedication and we expect modders to be able to raise the bar again as they become familiar with the new way to implement sounds into the game. 

We are bringing out the open beta early as we are eagerly looking forward to receiving your feedback and constructive criticism to be able to iterate where needed. Because our programmers and SFX guys have already invested a huge amount of time into this feature, we understand there is still a lot of work ahead of us. If you want to read more and help us with this task, please visit the dedicated modding wiki at this link. More info will be added there with the progress.

Another addition you might have spotted in a recent social media teaser is the "walk-around feature." Our game world is generally not designed for exploration on foot, but we figure that fans of trucks may welcome a new closer perspective to view their favorite machines and appreciate how impressive they look. Getting up close may also be of use when you need to tune up your rig and match the color of your rims with the cabin's paint just right. So here we are with a little bonus feature of 1.37, an alternate way to control the camera in the game's service and vehicle browser. We had to redesign the "garage" scene a little to make more space and way for the cameras, hopefully, you will appreciate it. 

Hungry for more? Then get ready for some food tanks! And we mean literally food tanks because, with this update, a new type of trailer comes available to buy and customize. These beauties were highly demanded for some time and so we're glad and proud we can bring them for you, our #BestCommunityEver!

Last but not least, for owners of the Steering Creations Pack DLC, we are about to expand the content of the DLC with an additional bunch of steering wheels. Not all of them are ready yet, but our 3D graphic artists are finishing them and we expect to introduce them in stages during the open beta period.

Let's take a look at the full list of the new features coming with 1.37 Update for American Truck Simulator:

VEHICLES

• Food tank trailer (ownable)
• Paintjobs for bulk feed and hopper trailers (including the content of Classic Stripes Paint Jobs Pack and Halloween Paint Jobs Pack DLCs)

FEATURES

• FMOD implementation with all existing sounds and few improvements
• Openable windows on all trucks
• AI movement and sound behavior improved (featuring FMOD)
• Walking camera in truck or trailer configuration screen (plus new garage scene)

TOBII EYE TRACKING

• Eye-tracking pause key function fixed
• Automatic eye-tracking pause while the game is paused/in UI
• Settings hotkey visibility in UI

MOD

• Ingame sounds completely reimplemented for FMOD
• Engine power range data (instead of boost value)
• Exhaust gas temp gauge animation
• AI data tweak (engine power instead of torque and gearbox, vehicle_mass override for trailers)

For those who didn't watch our special American Truck Simulator 1.37 Update Open Beta live stream on the 26th of February - here comes a way how to watch its recording! Please pardon the technical issues we had during the stream.

So enjoy all the new additions, but please remember: It's only an open beta, not a stable public version - so you may encounter bugs, instability, kinks or crashes. It's completely okay if you want to wait for the final release. But if you're interested in helping us to move there faster, we'll appreciate all of your feedback on our forum and your bug reports in this section.

Please check our modding wiki to get details pertaining to mods for the game.

If you wish to participate in the open beta, you can find this version in the public_beta branch on Steam. The way to access it is as follows: Steam client → LIBRARY → right-click on American Truck Simulator → Properties → Betas tab → public_beta → 1.37 public beta. No password required.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 Update 1.36 Open Beta

As we were all busy with Pink Ribbon event, some of you may not have anticipated the approaching update. It brings some new treats, but the main reason is DirectX change and preparation for the Road to the Black Sea map expansion. Let's go through the list of Euro Truck Simulator 2 Update 1.36 Open Beta together.

A word of warning first - avoid this Beta if you are planning on completing any more deliveries for the Pink Ribbon Event - it's not supported on 1.36 and you WON'T be able to go back to any older version of the game with a profile modified by the 1.36 version of the game. There are core changes, including a different save version, so back up the profiles that you want to keep (do a manual back up just to be sure) using on 1.35 or older versions.

A big focus of the update is on DirectX 11 (11.1 to be exact). We've decided to drop support for DirectX 9 for the sake of faster and easier development. So from Update 1.36 onwards, our games won't be compatible with systems running on DirectX 9.

However, 1.36 isn't only about system changes as there are some nice treats too. The first piece of major news is the recently announced island of Corsica, which comes as a free addition to the Vive la France! map expansion. It can be reached by ferry from either Marseille in France or Sassari on Sardinia.

The second major addition is the addition of detours to the game. This feature is both loved and hated by players of American Truck Simulator, probably for its unpredictability. Any moment now, your time reserve may disappear by encountering a sign about a road closure, or a cop waving you off the highway. This uncertainty is what we want in our games, as so far, it has proven to be utterly predictable. We want you to have to improvise occasionally (some stress to spice up things, right?), just as real drivers have to. But the main goal is for you to have fun, so for those who dislike this function, there's a slider to increase/ decrease the frequency of detours (with the option to turn it off completely).

And to fulfil more wishes, 1.36 brings you the option to see your drivers, trucks and trailers on the manager map (and this map only). Besides that, you will have avoidance pins at your disposal too, allowing you to set places you don't want to go through on your GPS.

On top of the above, there's a number of smaller additions like some new AI vehicles, Anti-Aliasing improvements, Chinese and other non-Latin character input (known as IME) and some MOD support changes.

We hope you'll enjoy all these new additions, but please remember: It's only an open beta, not a stable public version - so you may encounter bugs, instability, kinks or crashes. It's completely okay if you want to wait for the final release. But if you're interested in helping us to get there faster, we'll appreciate all your feedback on our forum and your bug reports there.

During open betas, we are operating a dedicated alternate site for World of Trucks, which is used to safely test all new features. Please visit World of Trucks Open Beta web for more information. Also, check our modding wiki to get details pertaining to mods for the game.

If you wish to participate in the open beta, you can find this version in the public_beta branch on Steam. The way to access it is as follows: Steam client → LIBRARY → right-click on Euro Truck Simulator 2 → Properties → Betas tab → public_beta → 1.36 public beta. No password is required.

Don't switch if you plan on completing any more Pink Ribbon deliveries as there is no going back!

OPEN BETA DOESN'T SUPPORT THE PINK RIBBON EVENT!

Changelog:

MAP

• Corsica (Vive la France! DLC)

FEATURES

• Detours
• Avoidance navigation pins
• New AI vehicles
• Drivers / Trucks / Trailer visible on manager maps
• DX11 full support (DX9 removed)
• Chinese and other non-Latin character input (IME)
• Anti-aliasing improvements (SMAA, el. wires item)

MOD

• Sun profile changes (HDR)
• LP changes for AI (data-driven types, background texture data)
• Dash display UI elements (digital gauges, fuel consumption bar)
• Map editor history (undo/redo)
• Continuous selection of nodes

American Truck Simulator Update 1.36 Open Beta

As we didn't talk much about this update, except on yesterday's stream (you couldn't resist, could you Pavel?), we presume it's a little bit of a mystery to most of you - so let's go through the list before you try out the Open Beta for American Truck Simulator's 1.36 Update!

A word of warning first - avoid this Beta if you are planning on completing any more deliveries in Pink Ribbon Event - it's not supported on 1.36 and you WON'T be able to go back to any older version of the game with a profile modified by the 1.36 version of the game. There are core changes, including a different save version - so back up the profiles that you want to keep (do a manual back up just to be sure) using on 1.35 or older versions.

A big focus of the update is on DirectX 11 (11.1 to be exact). We've decided to drop support for DirectX 9 for the sake of faster and easier development. So from Update 1.36 onwards, our games won't be compatible with systems running on DirectX 9.

While 1.36 isn't exactly "packed" with the new content, - it mainly serves to push the DirectX change and as a "compatibility patch" for the upcoming map DLC - we couldn't help but cram in some new toys too :) These include a Grain hopper trailer and a Bulk feed trailer - both ownable, and a Frac-tank trailer too - which can't be purchased as it's basically the same thing as a road barrier (you take it from place A to place B, no reason to own it).

And to have some "new" ground for driving these, we've revamped two cities in the base game - Flagstaff in Arizona and Santa Cruz in California, which also gets an improvement in posted speed limits. Oregon and New Mexico benefit too from the latter, in addition to other general sign improvements.

There are also quite a few other interesting features! Starting from this update, you will be able to see your drivers, trucks and trailers on the manager map (a perennial item on the wish-list fulfilled, and it's not even Christmas yet!). We're also adding Chinese (and other non-Latin) character input, otherwise known as IME, which should make life easier for a part of our community.

Last but not least, we've improved Anti-aliasing and added avoidance navigational pins, the latter of which will allow you to set places you want to avoid on your GPS route.

We hope you'll enjoy all these new additions, but please remember: It's only an open beta, not a stable public version - so you may encounter bugs, instability, kinks or crashes. It's completely okay if you want to wait for the final release. But if you're interested in helping us to get there faster, we'll appreciate all your feedback on our forum and your bug reports there.

During open betas, we are operating a dedicated alternate site for World of Trucks, which is used to safely test all new features. Please visit World of Trucks Open Beta web for more information. Also, check our modding wiki to get details pertaining to mods for the game.

If you wish to participate in the open beta, you can find this version in the public_beta branch on Steam. The way to access it is as follows: Steam client → LIBRARY → right-click on American Truck Simulator → Properties → Betas tab → public_beta → 1.36 public beta. No password is required.

Don't switch if you plan on completing any more Pink Ribbon deliveries as there is no going back!

OPEN BETA DOESN'T SUPPORT PINK RIBBON EVENT!

Changelog:

MAP

• Santa Cruz (CA) revamp
• Flagstaff (AZ) revamp
• California speed limit improvements
• Oregon and New Mexico speed limit and general sign improvements

VEHICLES

• Grain hopper trailer (ownable)
• Bulk feed trailer (ownable)
• Frac-tank trailer

FEATURES

• Avoid pins for GPS navigation
• New AI vehicles + all police paint jobs corrected
• Drivers / Trucks / Trailer visible on manager map
• DirectX 11 full support (DirectX 9 removed)
• Chinese and other non-Latin character input (IME)
• Anti-aliasing improvements (SMAA, electric-wires)
• New loading screens

MOD

• Sun profile changes (HDR)
• License plate changes for AI (data-driven types, background texture data)
• Dashboard display UI elements (digital gauges, fuel consumption bar)
• Map editor history (undo/redo)
• Continuous selection of nodes

Euro Truck Simulator 2 Update 1.35 Open Beta

With the number of blog posts featuring news from the upcoming update, you could see how big it's probably going to be. And now you can experience it for yourself - in the 1.35 Open Beta!

There's hardly a single part of our game that hasn't received a new addition or feature in this update, so let's go through them, starting with map developments.

Sardinia is one of two big map additions that 1.35 brings. Most of those who helped us by entering the Experimental Beta were thrilled with how much our map designers were able to squeeze into such a small island. Sardinia is, however, the second biggest island of the Mediterranean, so there's enough room for impressive landscapes and coastal roads.

Another huge region that has received a massive overhaul comes as part of our Germany refresh. There are over 2,000 in-game kilometres of new and reconstructed roads, two completely new highways, updated service stations, new landmarks and much more - see our dedicated article!

Furthermore, we have added two more roads in France (one in the base game and one in the Vive La France map expansion), an improved sign system in Scandinavia and a number of Special Transport jobs all over the map, including regions within Beyond the Baltic Sea!

• St. Petersburg to St. Petersburg (Beyond the Baltic Sea)
• Pori to Helsinki (Beyond the Baltic Sea)
• Toulouse to Montpellier (Viva la France!)
• Verona to Parma (Italia)
• Odense to Hirtshals (Scandinavia)
• Krakow to Banska Bystrica (Going East!)
• Plymouth to Dover (base game)

Trailers alone would be sufficient content to make a standalone update, but they are also coming to 1.35. The Krone extendable Box Liner, Schwarzmüller trailers (reefer, curtain and log variants), Container and Logging trailers are now ready to become a part of your fleet! You'll also see Schwarzmüller trailers on AI trucks.

As in American Truck Simulator, new features include trailer adjustments (extendable trailers, sliding tandems), new wiper settings and the option to copy truck/trailer configurations. And to please "Long Vehicle" sign lovers, double trailers are now permitted in the Netherlands and Germany!

Other new general features include the ability to use your own trailers for external contracts (World of Trucks jobs), and the experimental support for DX11. Keep in mind, that while there are discussions about the performance benefits of DX11, it remains an experimental feature. The ambition is currently simply to reach feature/visual parity with DirectX 9 and OpenGL renderers before we can move on with new visual features. It is still a work in progress; so while we are grateful for your feedback, use it only at your own risk.

Other smaller improvements include some of your suggestions on our forum's community wishlist. There's a considerable number of new drivers that you can hire for your company, a localised dual-language map display and the option to buy garages online, without the need to have the city discovered.

Last but not least, there's now a reworked cabin suspension, official support for Razer Chroma and the Tobii Eye Tracker 4C, input improvements and an option for emergency refuelling. Thanks to all this, the UI had to change significantly; but according to the feedback from Experimental Beta, you shouldn't have any problems to orient yourselves quickly again.

So enjoy all the new additions, but please remember: It's only an open beta, not a stable public version - so you may encounter bugs, instability, kinks or crashes. It's completely okay if you want to wait for the final release. But if you're interested in helping us to get there faster, we'll appreciate all your feedback on our forum and your bug reports in this section.

During open betas, we are operating a dedicated alternate site for World of Trucks, which is used to safely test all new features. Please visit World of Trucks Open Beta web for more information. Also, check our modding wiki to get details pertaining to mods for the game.

If you wish to participate in the open beta, you can find this version in the public_beta branch on Steam. The way to access it is as follows: Steam client → LIBRARY → right click on Euro Truck Simulator 2 → Properties → Betas tab → public_beta → 1.35 public beta. No password is required.

Changelog:

MAP

• Germany improvements, part 2 (base game)
• New French roads: A10-A6 (Viva La France DLC) and A6-N44 (base game)
• Sardinia island (Italia DLC)
• Scandinavian signage improvements (Scandinavia DLC)
• New special transport routes (various DLCs)

VEHICLES

• Ownable container trailers
• Regular owned-trailer accessory browser
• Trailer run-time adjustment (extendable trailers, sliding tandems)
• Truck/trailer configurations can be copied across a fleet
• Wiper setting improvements
• Ownable logging trailers
• Double trailers in Germany and Netherlands
• Krone extendable Box Liner for 40ft or 2x20ft containers (Krone DLC)
• Ownable Schwarzmüller reefer, curtain and log trailers including AI variants (Schwarzmüller DLC)

FEATURES

• Owned trailers usable in External contracts (WoTR)
• Online garage purchase
• Emergency refuelling service
• Input improvements (Steam controller support, Tobii eye tracker support, controller hot-swapping support, better force-feedback on Linux)
• Razer Chroma support (RGB)
• New options: truck stability, suspension stiffness, dual-localisation names on the map
• Lots of new drivers to hire
• Cabin suspension reworked
• Experimental DX11 support (config only, r_device "dx11")

MOD

• Modded trucks support (in-game function)
• Center-of-gravity moved from trailer defs to trailer chassis defs (for easier modding)
• New wiper delay+speed format
• Removed default sound for trailer legs (now empty by default)
• Cargo models randomized (e.g. container)
• Timezone areas (introduced in 1.34)
• Transmission mode names
• Curve item (map item)
• Mover/walker redesign
• Traffic improvements
• Dynamic Level-of-Detail for models