Happy Holidays!

Dear #BestCommunityEver,

The most wonderful time of the year is knocking on the door, and most of the SCS team is taking a bit of time off to enjoy beautiful moments with their families and to recharge their batteries. The pace of our social media posts and blog updates will be slowed down a little, but don't worry, because we still have a few more blog posts, screenshots, and social media videos ready to be released for you till the end of this year. And then we’ll return to our usual form in January with a lot more exciting news.

In the meantime, you can keep working on your progress towards achieving all the goals in our new special Christmas Event, which offers some incredible rewards and fun! 

Even though we all would love to see the world around us back in better times, it’s impossible to deny that the global pandemic is still causing problems. We encourage all of you to stay safe and care for everyone around you responsibly. Only with mutual care will all of you be able to find a way to create a good mood in your families, and hopefully, you will spend these upcoming festive days with health and joy.

So, make yourself a cup of hot chocolate, coffee, or tea, put on some warm and cozy clothes, grab some nice holiday sweets, and just lean back and relax while watching some classic movies. Or, grab a steering wheel, a game controller, or your trusty keyboard and mouse, and play the games you love, including American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Additionally, if you missed our Special Christmas live stream, you may want to watch the recording as well. Maybe it will put a smile on your face and put you in the right mood!

We all have different ways in which we enjoy spending our holidays, therefore, no matter which activity you choose, we sincerely hope you will have a wonderful time. 

Merry Christmas!

Heart of Russia - Forests and Logging

The vast woodland territories of Russia account for more than a fifth of the world's forests, which means it holds more forest area than any other country in the world. This is why we would certainly be guilty of "treeson", if we were describing the content you can expect in the upcoming Heart of Russia DLC without mentioning a couple of their most interesting tree species along with some related industry information. 

We have already slightly touched on the topic of Russian birch trees in our blog post dedicated to nature. But why exactly are these trees so famous all over the country? Well, as you may have noticed, quite often we call Russia "mysterious". That’s because its history and folklore are filled with myths and legends. And according to one of those legends, ancient pagan Slavs considered hugging a birch tree as a sign of good luck. Moreover, it seems that birch trees are generally considered to be magical. 

From a more practical point of view, another important tree species you will be able to spot in this map expansion is the pine tree. Their lumber is well known for its texture, warm feel, and how easily it can be shaped. The wood is perfect for construction, components, millwork, and other products.

Due to this industry being so important in the country, there will also be a new prefab related to logging arriving with the DLC. This means that you will be able to deliver and haul for some of the forest harvesting areas and see the beauty of the local nature for your own eyes!

Whether you believe in myths or you are a driver that is focused on delivering cargo, hopefully, we've managed to strike the right note for you. If we did, be sure to add the Heart of Russia DLC to your Steam Wishlist and who knows, maybe once the expansion is released you will pass by a birch tree and it might just bring you some luck.

Christmas Toys of Yesteryear Event 2021

There are some things in life that are timeless, where the memory remains as strong today as the feeling was in the past. Perhaps like the first time you were given your most favourite Christmas toy. If you agree then you may also concur that some toys from bygone days retain a charm and magic that makes them irresistible, even today, to both young and old alike. Moreover, we feel there is something incredibly rewarding when you get the opportunity in life to share such a toy with someone else. It’s a chance to offer something special and personal, something from your past.

So, without further ado, may we present to you our Christmas Toys of Yesteryear event, for Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator! We would like to share with you, our ‘something old & something new’, take on Christmas this year.

For this challenge, we are asking you to deliver Gifts cargo across all trucking territories. We will be awarding Gifts to cities, based on the number of deliveries it gives or receives. The more a city gives or receives, the more Gifts that city gets, to a maximum of 10.

You’ll be able to track the community progress on World of Trucks or directly in the game using the updated External Contracts interface.

We will be rewarding the players each time the community reaches a new tier with a specially hand crafted truck-interior vintage toy, created with fond memory and love, right here by our very own developers at SCS.

Along with this nostalgic event we also have our annual Christmas Stream featuring Pavel Šebor! We'll be revealing some exclusive content from upcoming projects, speaking about the past year including all that we did for our games, and we'll be hosting a massive giveaway sponsored by HyperX, DAF Trucks, Krone Trailers, Thrustmaster, and also us. This is not a stream to miss, and it will take place tonight, Thursday, Dec 16 from 18:00 CET on our twitch and youtube channels.

Then, on the following day the 17th of December from 18:00 CET, we'll host our own special Christmas Toys of Yesteryear developer stream, with game designer Gavin, where together we will join in on the event by contributing to the community goal, while discussing, among other things, the magic in the toys of yesteryear. You might even see some vintage toys that are owned and cherished by our very own developers.

Toys of Yesteryear Event Rules:

Using External Contracts with a World of Trucks-connected profile in Euro Truck Simulator 2, American Truck Simulator or both, the community is to get as many Gifts as possible awarded to as many cities as possible across all trucking territories. Every city can achieve up to 10 Gifts!

For a city to gain 1 Gift the community must make 1000 deliveries to or from it, using the provided Gifts cargo.

Each tier of 350 Gifts assigned, will unlock a unique community reward for both games.

For a Personal goal, complete at least 15 deliveries of Gifts cargo in either Euro Truck Simulator 2 or American Truck Simulator or both games combined.

Rewards

Personal goal: Your contribution of  15 or more deliveries of Gifts cargo will gain you:

• A special World of Trucks Achievement
• A beautiful array of decorative lighting for truck cabs in each game, at least 1 for each truck brand, as a truck accessory item. 

Community goals: Each tier of 350 Gifts,  assigned to cities, will unlock unique community rewards for both games. There will be 7 tiers in total, so after 2450 Gifts are achieved all community goals will be completed, so let's ride!

One final tip, if you haven't already figured it out and you would like to add just that extra special Christmas touch, then if you have our Christmas Paint Jobs Pack DLCs (ETS2, ATS), you will find that you can perfectly match your truck paint job with the Gifts cargo event trailer paint job that you're about to haul!

Note: In order to qualify for any community reward, you must complete at least your personal goal in Euro Truck Simulator 2, American Truck Simulator, or both. Each reward will be a Steam inventory item for both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator. Once completed, claim your reward in the Events page on your World of Trucks profile.

The event will be concluded on Sunday the 16th of January at 23:59 UTC.

We're looking forward to hearing from you during your nostalgic Christmas journeys and convoys, and we are especially looking forward to seeing more of your photos as you meet your goals and receive your toys of yesteryear, this season of giving! Share your screenshots and videos with us using the hashtag #XmasToysOfYesteryear on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profiles and we will share our favorite ones.

DAF Drive + 2021 DAF XF

Today we are happy to reveal something which we've been working on for quite a while in cooperation with DAF Trucks and NVIDIA. We have joined forces with these big names in the technology, gaming, and automotive industry, and together we've created quite a unique project!

Earlier this year, while we were celebrating the release of the DAF XG and XG+ trucks for Euro Truck Simulator 2 via our blog and stream, we have also shown a cool platform created by DAF - the DAF Virtual Experience. On there, anyone can visit DAF's facility, museum, and much more, in a virtual 3D world served through your web browser.

Back then, in addition to working hard on bringing both the DAF XG and XG+ trucks to Euro Truck Simulator 2, we were also focused on a new ambitious project with DAF Trucks and NVIDIA. Today, we can finally reveal that this project is formally known as DAF Drive. This feature will be implemented and set available in the DAF Virtual Experience platform later today; a tailored demo version of our truck simulator has been created, allowing any visitor of the website to hop into one of the DAF Trucks vehicles and take a virtual drive through a short and scenic route. No login requested, no purchase required, no download needed.

The demo itself relies on the amazing streaming technology utilized by NVIDIA GeForce NOW platform, and we believe that collectively we have all created a unique and important cooperation showcase between the automotive and gaming industries. We believe that this pioneering effort could be a promising kick-off of a feature that will show other brands and automotive companies that there is a way to offer an exclusive experience to their customers from the comfort of their own homes/workplaces, whether it is checking out a 1:1 scale virtual model of their vehicles, their interiors, functionality, or taking it to a virtual test drive. Such a low-friction web-based application might contribute a lot in helping potential customers decide which vehicle they might be interested in, and which one will be perfect for their business or for themselves.

We at SCS Software are proud that our Euro Truck Simulator 2 game was recognized as a strong partner for such a project and that we are now able to let you, our fans, know about the part we are playing in this exciting project. However, what kind of a celebration would it be without something cool for the players of the game as well, right?

Therefore we are happy to announce that today we are also adding the amazing 2021 DAF XF truck for all of you to enjoy in ETS2 for free on Steam, whether you're playing on your computer or streaming with NVIDIA GeForce NOW through Google Chrome!

Here’s everything you can expect from this new truck addition:

• Kerb View Window through which the driver can clearly see potential cyclists, motorbikes, or other vehicles positioned next to the truck

• 2021 DAF XF cab option

• New door handle option (half painted)

• 6x2 FTN and FTS chassis are available for all cabin sizes (XF, XG, XG+). The FTN chassis is unique as it is the first chassis with a steered trailing axle in the game!

• An additional shorter FT (4x2) chassis is available for the XF

Moreover, we will also showcase the new truck on our live stream on Twitch and Youtube today at 6PM CET. We will be joined by a special guest from DAF Trucks, and together we will walk through the DAF Drive app, jump into the 2021 DAF XF to take on our very first job with it, and much more!

We hope you're curious to check out the DAF Drive demo along with the new 2021 DAF XF in ETS2. To celebrate this release with us, spread the cool news, and test your luck, we are hosting a special social media sharing campaign in which you can eventually win some nice and exclusive rewards!

To participate, all you need to do is to visit the DAF Drive app (Google Chrome required), do a test drive in one of the new DAF XF, XG, or XG+ vehicles, and share a screen capture from it over Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook under the hashtag of #RideDAF along with tagging our, DAF Trucks' (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook), and NVIDIA GeForce NOW's (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) official profiles. Later, we will pick a few of those posts that will steal our hearts and reward them with a very exclusive prize! We can't wait to see all the posts!

Krone Trailers DLC Update

Today, we are happy to surprise you with the announcement that we've just released a small update for the KRONE Trailer Pack DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2. 

Manufacturing practical and robust safety features for drivers and their trailers has always been a top priority for KRONE, and today we will be bringing one of their newest production additions to our game. 

In March, Krone started equipping their trailers with a newly designed rear underrun guard, which significantly increases the safety of drivers on the road. This new bumper is designed to protect the driver of vehicles traveling behind the trailer if there was to be sudden braking that could lead to a potential vehicle collision. The introduction of the new rear underrun guard was requested specifically by the European Union and is mandatory for all commercial vehicle manufacturers in Europe as of September 1st, 2021. 

We are happy to cooperate with KRONE to bring this very new and realistic option to their trailers in ETS2, as well as keep our content as close to reality as possible. However, that is not all. 

We also used this opportunity to revisit the KRONE Trailer Pack DLC to bring an additional accessory for your cab. You will now have the option to display a toy figure of Harald Schäfer, the face of KRONE TV on YouTube and other social media channels, and a recent special guest on our live stream for the 25th Anniversary of the Cool Liner trailer! 

We hope you enjoy this small but realistic addition and update to the KRONE Trailer Pack DLC. Be sure to share with us and Krone Trailers your first journey with the new safety bumper under the hashtag #KroneSafeTrailers on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook! 

#CruisingWyoming Event Conclusion

Since September, drivers across the world have been celebrating the release of the Wyoming DLC for American Truck Simulator by taking part in the #CruisingWyoming World of Trucks event. It was a unique opportunity to earn special rewards by completing personal and community goals whilst discovering the cities and countryside of The Equality State.

In a very short time, you have successfully completed the community goal of 80,000,000 miles (128,747,520 km). We were in awe at how the #BestCommunityEver managed to come together and smash such a difficult objective. And even though this goal was completed, there were still many truckers left who did not have time to complete their personal goal. Therefore we decided to extend the event to make sure everyone got a chance to get their rewards.

However, time flies and the #CruisingWyoming event must, unfortunately, come to an end. The final statistics are very impressive, just take a look at some of the numbers that you achieved whilst exploring our newest addition to ATS!

Good job, truckers! We are grateful for all your hard work and effort. It really does bring a lot of joy to our team to see how much you enjoy participating in these events. We hope the hanging Jade Bison Ornament and Wyoming Bison-themed truck paint job will be valued additions to your collections.

Wyoming itself wasn’t the only place where the members of the #BestCommunityEver have made themselves known. You also made sure to tag our social media accounts using the hashtag #CruisingWyoming, when sharing your journey through screenshots or videos. We absolutely loved seeing your reactions to the beautiful nature and cities that this state has to offer.

In addition to that, we would once again like to thank you for visiting our live stream dedicated to this event with a special guest - game designer Gavin. It was a lot of fun and you taking part in the chat and hanging out with us made the experience much better!

With one chapter closing, another one is about to knock on the door. Apart from not being too far away from the start of another exciting event, we still hope to be able to come up with one more surprise for ETS2 players this year, so keep an eye out for our blog and social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook).

We will also go live on our Twitch and Youtube with our annual and special live stream, in which we will most likely host numerous cool giveaways, alongside some news regarding the upcoming content and planned projects. Follow us to be informed about more details related to this when we reveal them!

American Truck Simulator 1.43 Update Release

It has only been a short time since we last released an update for our truck simulator titles, however, we are happy to share with you that the 1.43 update is now ready to be fully released for American Truck Simulator. 

We'd like to thank everyone who participated, provided their feedback, and made bug reports during the Open Beta of 1.43. Your valuable input helped us make tweaks, changes and smash some bugs we may have missed the first time around. We hope you can now begin to fully enjoy the various new features which are included within this update, including some new ones that may not have made it during the beta!

So, without further ado, let's take a look at what 1.43 has in store!

2022 Freightliner Cascadia

In this update, you will be able to find new parts and customization options in-game which will allow you to upgrade your current Freightliner® Cascadia to the current production version of the Cascadia at your nearest Freightliner dealership or repair shop. 

The 2022 Freightliner® Cascadia will feature new interior options, as well as exterior changes that further improve fuel economy. Let's go into more details on what changes you can find in this update for the Cascadia! 

The Cascadia will come with a new interior, the most noticeable change being a brand new digital dashboard. This modern and state-of-the-art dashboard allows the driver to view important information easily and clearly with just the click of a button on the new steering wheels. 

The updated exterior includes a new lower and even more streamlined front bumper, updated drive wheel fairings, and new aero deflectors on the A-pillar for improved aerodynamics. We look forward to seeing you on the roads of American Truck Simulator with the 2022 Freightliner® Cascadia.

Ownable Dumpers

We are happy to announce that Dumper Trailers are now ownable and fully customizable! These trailers are used for transporting bulk materials such as coal, soil, gravel, stone, sand and much more.

In American Truck Simulator, Dumper Trailers will have 3 customizable body types. These are End Dumpers, Side Dumpers, and Livefloor Dumpers. Each of them is available in different lengths, and in two or three-axle configurations. Side dumpers are available as a b-double, turnpike, or single trailers; bottom dumpers can be used in double, rocky mountain double, turnpike double, and single configurations, and all other body types come with just a single trailer configuration. 

Want to customize your Dumper Trailers? You will be able to add and modify some of the accessories on them including, markers, rear bumpers, front and rear mudflaps, front and rear fenders, and paint jobs.

We can't wait to see you hauling these new Dumper Trailers in your company and how you will customize them! Be sure to share with us your photos of your newly owned trailers on our Social Media channels. (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

New Loading Screen Images

This update will also display new images to the loading screens alongside our Editor Picks from the user gallery at WorldofTrucks.com. These new shots will showcase scenic locations from across American Truck Simulator featuring the new visual lighting system.

However, that is not all! These new loading screen images will also come with a short description on where the photo was taken in-game and from which DLC (if applicable). 

We look forward to showcasing many beautiful landmarks and sceneries from across the states with these new images.

Interior Cabin Sound Update

In this update, we have also implemented a new sound effect that simulates sound attenuation from surrounding environment noises, as well as the sound of the truck engine and wheels. Since each truck has different sound insulation, our sound team has simulated this with the use of sound equalization and reverb effects. 

Put simply, interior truck cab sounds have been updated to better simulate how the engine, tyre, and other exterior sounds are dampened when driving from a first-person view.

This is just the first iteration of this update, as in the future we plan to bring more accurate attenuation simulation by the size of the truck cab. This update has been applied to all trucks in both American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2. 

New SDF Fonts

Another new feature coming along with 1.43 is the use of SDF (Signed Distance Fields) fonts in-game. So how exactly does this affect the game? This font technique allows texts and fonts to be displayed perfectly in any resolution, scale, or distance. 

Instead of fonts being displayed like a picture, which can become distorted when on a smaller resolution or zoomed in on from a far distance, SDF fonts can be adjusted to any size and remain perfectly clear and sharp for the user. 

In the first iteration of this update, we are bringing this new font technique to Convoy name tags, the GPS, License Plates, Truck dashboard displays, and in the UI. At first glance, it might not appear that much has changed and in most cases, the difference will be quite subtle, however, when looking at the more prominent or larger text (such as the UI or Convoy name tags) the difference is crystal clear!

World Map Legend Filters

Are you looking for somewhere specific to visit? Maybe a city that you haven't discovered or the nearest fuel station? Introducing our World Map Legend Filters! You can now easily filter out specific icons on our world map. 

Simply choose which icons you would like to filter on our world map and you'll be shown just them. Now navigating to unexplored areas, rest stops and dealerships is easier than ever! We hope you enjoy this small yet useful feature.

Improved Controller Support

We are happy to share with you that 1.43 will include a major update for the support of controllers in the American Truck Simulator. The main aim of this update is to allow gamepad users to navigate the UI, without having the need to have input from a secondary device such as a keyboard. However, as you can imagine, this was quite a large challenge for our teams to undertake with the number of different controls and keys which are utilized in-game. While this update is just the first iteration, let's walk through some of the changes you can experience.

Some of the more notable changes include being able to use the D-pad of your controller to move or select any part of the on-screen UI, alongside using the already implemented 'virtual mouse' to navigate. Combing these two features ultimately enhances the user experience for controller users. Each individual screen has also been revisited and streamlined for gamepad users. A lot of work has gone into each area so it feels great and intuitive on a controller. 

We plan to continually make changes and implement new features according to user feedback and more. We still have quite some work ahead of us, including revamping the driving in such a way that you can do everything from your controller. Plus the UI will receive more polish and additions too. You can help us report back your user experience with the improved controller support at our forums. We greatly appreciate your help in ironing out any bugs or problems during this time.

This update for controllers is extensive, however, we are confident that this will bring a more seamless experience for those who use them as their main controller. This also paves the way for future platforms which utilize similar controls.

Changelog:

Map:

• General Bugfixes

Vehicles: 

• Ownable Dump Trailers
• 2022 Freightliner Cascadia

UI:

• New Loading Screen Images
• World Map Legend Filters

Other:

• Improved Controller Support
• Implemented Sound Attenuation
• MSDF Font Implementation