ETS2 Special Transport revisited

Last December's add-on release for Euro Truck Simulator 2 - the Special Transport DLC - has been accepted very positively in the fan community. As you may remember, a comparable game expansion is also in the works for American Truck Simulator, but meanwhile, the team behind Special Transport still keeps on tweaking and improving their creation.

We are happy to reveal that along with the upcoming ETS2 1.31 Update, the Special Transport DLC will also be updated with new jobs. There are new routes added to the core map, and several new routes will also be accessible for owners of other map DLCs.

This is not our last take on Special Transport, you can count on further tweaks and improvements down the road!

Territory expansion in upcoming ETS2 Update 1.19

Greetings,

Euro Truck Simulator 2 Update 1.19 is nearing completion. The closed beta is in full swing and hopefully next week we will be able to start the final stage of testing - and offer you access to a public beta.

In this short blog let's just touch one small but nice feature that this update will bring you. We are expanding Going East! content with more of the Hungarian territory, bringing you two new cities: Pécs and Szeged. As you can see on the map, quite a few kilometers of new roads were created to provide good connection to the older section of the map.

Here are a couple of fresh screenshots from the new part of the game world:

Looking Forward

The Release of Going East! add-on for ETS2 was a definite success, we are absolutely happy that our loyal fan base is supporting us in growing the game. Rest assured that we will keep on pushing! More on our ETS2 expansion plans coming to this blog soon.

Meanwhile, work on the first stage of American Truck Simulator project is moving full steam ahead, and the focus of our blog during upcoming months is going to switch to showing you more of this game.

It Is Past Midnight

At least here in Prague, CZ; meaning we are safely in September 20th territory. The day of the simultaneous launch is here for Going East!

www.eurotrucksimulator2.com

We understand that several of our publishing partners have also opted to launch right at midnight, so there are even more options from where to buy the game already.

Have fun!

Server Meltdown Imminent

Going East! official launch is coming in a few hours, but we already see that our serves are not going to keep up. After releasing the 1.5.2 update already in the morning, the traffic is so high that download times can be frustrating. We hope the more mirror options will come online, but this will take time.

There is a way to make life less frustrating for technically advanced players who are ready to pre-cache the game even now, ahead of the release. Of course if you want to actually get the DLC ;-)

The workaround solution proposed is: official torrent links.

Please note that the links below are not intended for you if you are playing the game on Steam; Steam store should also launch the DLC early on September 20th.

First of all, the updates if you feel you need to patch the game Right Now...

Cumulative patch, will work on any previous retail or digital release:
EuroTruckSimulator2_1_5_2_patch.exe.torrent

Patch from the previous 1.4.x version:
EuroTruckSimulator2_1_4_1_to_1_5_2_patch.exe.torrent


And here is the interesting stuff. Please note that you should NOT download and install it unless you intend to purchase Going East! There is no demo mode for the DLC content.

New "Gold" edition of the game, which contains both base game and the DLC:
EuroTruckSimulator2_1_5_2_setup_gold.exe.torrent

Standalone "Going East!" DLC including cumulative patch:
EuroTruckSimulator2_1_5_2_dlc_east_setup_with_patch.exe.torrent

Standalone "Going East"! DLC to use if you already have the game patched to 1.5.2:
EuroTruckSimulator2_1_5_2_dlc_east_setup.exe.torrent

The benefit for you? If you get the game files ahead of release, you can play it a few seconds after finally obtaining the Product Key. The benefit for us? Servers do not get red hot the minute we push the launch button. ;-)

Thank you and have fun!

Video Night!

With the release of Going East! add-on for ETS2 just a couple of days away from us, we hope that you are ready for a bunch of movies. We have a pair of promo trailers for you, the first created by ourselves, the other kindly provided by our UK publishing partner Excalibur Publishing.

Promo videos are of course the necessary evil of PR these days, but if you have been following our progress here on the blog, they will not provide you with too much new information. If you have the patience and time, and if you are really curious to see more from the Going East! game world, you can watch DaSquirrelNuts driving through it while listening to an extensive interview with SCS Software's Pavel Sebor. The topics covered include SCS Software's history, the Going East! add-on, and current and future SCS Software's projects. Warning - this is two full hours of footage!

Gold!

The first expansion of Euro Truck Simulator 2 - "Going East!" - is officially completed (in games industry jargon, it has "gone gold" - it has been approved for production), and in fact our publishing and distribution partners are already manufacturing boxes for retail release of the add-on. It will also be available digitally in the "DLC" form.

The launch is planned for September 20th; we are excited that in two weeks from now finally you will see what our map design team has spent so much hard work creating!

Something incredible has appeared on YouTube today. RestaCar is at it again. Simply put, wow!

Going East! Almost there!

Today we are giving our publishing partners so called "Release Candidates" of the upcoming ETS2 add-on. We have been in testing period for quite some time, and after yet another final round of verifications on this build, we are hoping to sign off the game expansion as "gone gold" early next week, so that we hit the intended simultaneous release date of September 20th.

Once this is all done, the DLC team will be facing the big question - what next? Another territory expansion? What do you think? ;-)

For those still hesitating if they should actually buy the game, there is probably the last good opportunity to grab Euro Truck Simulator 2 on the cheap before the Going East! add-on is released. This weekend, Steam is celebrating the first anniversary of launching their "Greenlight" system, and ETS2 is among the featured games, with quite nice discount. Check out the Euro Truck Simulator 2 Steam page here.

More and more images and movies from Going East! will be appearing in the weeks ahead of the release. Of course we do not want to leave you without any images already for the weekend.

Back from GamesCom 2013

With over 300,000 attendees, GamesCom is the biggest game expo in the world. During our 2-day stay at the event, we spent a total of 90 minutes in the public area of the event. The reason?

This is a shot of the "Boulevard" mega-corridor connecting the halls. It's not even a weekend day when more people are free to come, and it's not the peak time of the day. Many of these visitors came to see just their favorite game, and after waiting 3-5 hours in a line, they may be lucky to get a 5 minute glimpse of it.

None of our games was to be seen in the public halls, as our visit centered on business negotiations with our existing and prospective publishing and distribution partners, and exploring business opportunities. Thousands of games industry executives, mixed with official press people, have halls 4 and 5 set aside for negotiations and meetings, secluded from the public halls.

So far, only business visitors passing by the stand of rondomedia, our German publisher, could see the video below. Created in a rush in under a day, the movie was only supposed to run in the background of a distributor's private booth in the business area at GamesCom. We have not intended originally for it to be exposed to public scrutiny, we thought that the movie was too unpolished, but eventually we changed our mind after some people commented on this movie quite positively. What do you think?

Hosted Blog Post - Impressions from the DLC

The following is a direct transcript of text written by a long-term fan and supporter of our games, currently helping us with beta testing of the Going East! add-on for ETS2:

SCS Software decided to invite only a few chosen people to start playing and testing their upcoming project – DLC for ETS2. I have a big pleasure to be among them. It is so important for me, because most of added terrain in the DLC is terrain of Poland – the country when I live.

If you are not from Poland, you must know that Polish roads are really specific. Most of main roads are tight, narrow and going through hundreds of towns and cities. What is more, the condition of them is rather bad. On the other hand, many of them are now under renovation or reconstruction.

The producers of DLC had such a difficult job to do. They had to show Polish road network as much worse than in the Western Europe, but on the other hand as one which is under intensive reconstruction. What is more, Polish fanbase had big expectations connected with Going East DLC. We all know that is impossible to build every bigger city (Poland has 16 voivodeships, 11 of them would be included in game, as cities with landmarks and cargos), add hundreds of towns, thousands of kilometeres of ratty roads.

I think that SCS had done such a good job. Much better than me and most of Polish fans were expecting. Many people were thinking that SCS would make roads in Poland as boring, straight, wide motorways, without any climate. They were mistaken. Admittedly, they haven't included furrows in Polish roads, but they made them as they should look: tight, narrow, and full of roadcrosses. You can do deliveries in only 11 of 16 capitals of voivodeships, but on the other hand you are allowed to go through few smaller cities and towns. The map is also full of landmarks and beautiful places. I was shocked when I saw the characteristic railway bridge near Lublin – city where I come from. I don't want to leak everything about map, so I will just add, that you must explore Masurian Lakeland.

Don't be surprised when comfortable, wide motorway suddenly ends, and you will be forced to leave it and continue your journey going through switchback road.

The map is now under the beta tests. As one of testers, I must tell that it has less bugs than I expected. I hope that we will not find too many bugs and it would be released by local publishers as expected – in September 2013. The map is little bit unequal. It has its better and worse parts. I hope that we, as beta testers, will help SCS to equalize and polish it.

Piotrek

Going East!

After a long development time, finally the first Euro Truck Simulator 2 add-on is undergoing final beta testing. Some online stores have already revealed the final name of the upcoming add-on, but this is the first time we are officially announcing it here - the first DLC's name will be:

Euro Truck Simulator 2 - Going East!

We think that the new part of Europe built for this add-on looks even better then anything we have created before. You can take a look at a few countryside places from Poland, on routes between Lublin, Łódź, Warszawa and Ostrava. We'll be taking a lot more screenshots during testing now to keep you entertained.