American Truck Simulator: 1.41 Release

With lots of testing, feedback, fixing, and fine-tuning, we are excited to announce the highly anticipated arrival of update 1.41 for American Truck Simulator.

We'd like to thank all those who took part in the 1.41 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 find in the 1.41 update for ATS?  Let's take a closer look!

Convoy Multiplayer

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. There is currently support for synchronized AI traffic, time and weather, and the ability to take the same job as other players.

Convoy allows you to create and host an online session with up to 8 players. We plan to eventually raise the player limit in the future, however, we are keeping it small at this time due to its work-in-progress nature. Session hosts will automatically be made admins of these sessions, allowing them to ultimately control what kind of environment they want to have online, as well as having the ability to kick any trouble-makers from the session. 

You can also see, filter, browse and eventually join any of the available sessions that have already been created by your friends or other truckers.

So what options and features will players be able to use and experience in Convoy? 

• Any player can host and create their own private sessions for up to 8 people
• Ability to haul the same contracts/jobs together from the same company and to the same destination
• Synchronized AI traffic
• Synchronized time and weather
• Synchronized paint jobs, truck accessories, cabin accessories, cargoes, and more
• Ability to communicate with other drivers via CB radio broadcast (X key), quick replies (Q key), or text chat (Y key)

We know how many players are eager to try out this new feature; however, there are some things you will need to know before joining your friends on the road!

Notable issues / not yet implemented:

• Mods in Convoy mode are not supported in the initial release.
• AI vehicles might disappear when a player disconnects.
• Lifting bridges are not synchronized. They will be stationary for the initial release of Convoy.
• Steam invites work only through the Steam overlay.
• CB radio broadcast (hotkey "X") interferes with the text input line.

Worried about your profile progress? In case of trouble-makers or other circumstances out of your control, players will have the option to revert their savefile to one made previously before joining the session. From friends to VTC's, we are excited to see how you will enjoy Convoy and we look forward to hearing your constructive feedback on this new online feature.

California Reskin

During our special Christmas 2020 live stream, we announced that we would be revisiting California in American Truck Simulator to give our starting state a reskin! Today, we bring the first iteration of this reskin, carrying a major road layout rework, agriculture stations, and more!

One of the most noticeable changes drivers will experience when arriving in California are the new agriculture border control stations! All drivers hauling goods into the state will have to undergo special checks from the control station where vehicles are inspected for commodities that may be infested with invasive species, and for the correct documentation. In-game, we will mimic these scenarios with a new feature, which will work very similarly to the current weigh stations. Upon your arrival at the border, depending on what you are hauling, drivers will be notified to pull over for an inspection at one of the control stations before they are given the green light to enter the state. 

Our world design tools have been considerably improved during the years since ATS was released as well, and we plan to take advantage of the new power. For example, our map designers can now pay attention to details like the proper roll of the road surface in a curve. We are also trying to make sure we get our research right when it comes to unique road signage elements, proper road markings, or the use of cat's eyes. We hope to achieve a completely new look and feel when driving across the State. Read more here.

Photo Mode: Time & Weather options

We know how much our players love to take photos in-game and spend a lot of time creating that perfect shot, and for many, this also includes finding the right lighting conditions and weather. So to help create that perfect trucking memory, we have implemented a new feature that may save you quite a bit of time when it comes to using console commands! 

Introducing the new Time and Weather options! Players will now be able to choose the conditions of their liking, to create the perfect trucking snap just by simply adjusting a new slider to change the time, or clicking on two buttons to control the lighting/weather, all of which will appear in the updated in-game photo studio. We can't wait to see how drivers will use this new feature in the future and we look forward to seeing your snaps! 

Changelog:

Gameplay:

• Convoy Multiplayer 
• Time and weather adjustments in photo mode
• Quick Travel

Map 

• California Reskin part 1 including 7 Agricultural Stations and a road layout rework 

UI

• New icons in the map legend

#CruisingIberia Event Conclusion

Since April, drivers across the world have been taking part in the #CruisingIberia World of Trucks event. This special event was to celebrate the release of the Iberia DLC in Euro Truck Simulator 2, where drivers had the opportunity to earn rewards by completing personal and community goals whilst discovering cities across this giant Peninsula.

In just over a week, you smashed the community goal of 250,000,000km! Wow! We couldn't believe how fast the goal was met; it just goes to show the amazing power of our #BestCommunityEver. Whilst the community goal was completed, there were still many truckers who did not have the time to complete their personal goal to deliver cargo to or from 20 cities in Iberia. So we decided to extend the event, just to make sure everyone got a chance to gain their rewards.

However, with new events on the horizon, #CruisingIberia must, unfortunately, come to end, but let us take a moment to take a look at some of the stats that you achieved whilst exploring our newest addition to ETS2! 

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

Iberia wasn't the only place where our community made themselves known! You also took to our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages with the hashtag #CruisingIberia and shared photos and videos of your journeys across Iberia. We absolutely loved seeing all of your reactions to the many unique locations, landmarks, and industries this part of the world has to offer. 

We cannot wait to get trucking again with you soon in a future World of Trucks event, which may be arriving sooner than you think.

Convoy on the Horizon, Get Ready to Join!

An interesting couple of weeks full of testing is behind us and we have been making great improvements largely thanks to your feedback, our #BestCommunityEver. The time to switch gears and drive forward into the future is almost here and we believe now is the right time for another teaser! 

In case you have missed our coverage of experimental and open betas and want to learn more about our upcoming Convoy gameplay mode, you can read more about it in the 1.41 Update Open Beta blog articles (ETS2, ATS). Apart from celebrating your fellow truckers on International Friendship Day, which is this month (how convenient, right?), you will also have a chance to join them on the road, taking the same job and delivering cargo together, navigating through synchronized traffic, braving the weather along the route and much more!

But before all this will come with the 1.41 release, let us put you in the right mood with this video:

The full release of the 1.41 update is coming soon, hopefully in a matter of days. So now is the best time to let your friends know what’s happening so everyone is ready for its arrival. We hope to see you doing some deliveries on the roads of ETS2 and ATS together!

Interesting News from Idaho

We have received some interesting images today, in which you can see that a CCTV camera located at an unspecified place, that seems to be a farm, has captured a really cool-looking trailer and truck. The search for further information is still ongoing, so for now all we can do is wait for more details to be released. 

Until more concrete news emerges, keep an eye out on our social media profiles for any possible updates. Everyone is rooting for additional hints and we’ll let you know as soon as they arrive!

Renault Trucks Evolution Design Contest Winner Reveal

In April, we teamed up with Renault Trucks and Thrustmaster to introduce the new Renault Trucks T Evolution truck through Euro Truck Simulator 2. With it, we also launched the #RenaultTrucksEvolution Design Contest to give you the exciting opportunity to create a paint job design for the newly-released vehicle. In this competition, for the first time in the history of the synergy between virtual truckers and the real automotive industry, the ultimate winner would see their design featured in-game and on a REAL truck! 

During the contest, we received hundreds of unique design entries from around the world. To everyone who entered, we cannot thank you enough, we loved seeing all your original and creative liveries! However, the team over at Renault Trucks had to make the tough decision to choose just 5 finalists to progress to the final round.

And this is where we left the decision in your hands, our #BestCommunityEver! We asked you to vote for your favorite design, which would ultimately appear in Euro Truck Simulator 2 as a paint job and on an actual Renault Trucks T High! 

5 Finalists for the #RenaultTrucksEvolution Design Contest have been chosen & they need YOUR help! 🎨

Vote for your favorite design & it could feature in-game in ETS2 & on a REAL @RenaultTrucksCo Truck! 🚛

Vote here: https://t.co/SogN9iWsGL

More info: https://t.co/0HRy7SMPzZ pic.twitter.com/p5rBcbwy6b

— SCS Software (@SCSsoftware) April 30, 2021

Well, today we are incredibly excited to reveal the final winning design which you voted for! Please welcome the Diamond Evolution!

A HUGE congratulations to Bolat Enes who is our Ultimate Renault Trucks Evolution Winner! Your design has been chosen by the community to be featured in-game on a virtual Renault Truck T Evolution as well as on a real production truck which the team at Renault Trucks have sent us some amazing photos of!

As of now, this design (slightly adjusted by the Renault Trucks' team of designers) is now available as part of a free update for all owners of Euro Truck Simulator 2 on Steam, so make sure you take a moment to check it out for yourselves. We think it looks great! Renault Trucks' team also managed to do a very nice interview with Bolat Enes about his design and other topics. Make sure to watch it in the video below.

Those who tuned into our live stream today were with us when the winning design was revealed on the real truck by our friends from Renault Trucks, accompanied by Nemiro and mr.cenda in Lyon! What a special and amazing moment, right? We hope you enjoyed the stream! If you've missed this special live broadcast, don't fret because you can re-watch it below!

We'd like to once again thank the team over at Renault Trucks for making this contest a reality! It really has been been an amazing ride and it wouldn't have been possible without them. Please make sure to follow their social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and share with them your Renault trucking adventures in ETS2! 

For all of us in SCS Software, the automotive industry, and for the #BestCommunityEver, this project has been a huge and very important milestone; and a first of its kind as well! We hope that we will be able to bring more cool cooperations and projects like this in the future.

Wyoming - Cities along I-80

You may have noticed a certain pattern evolving when we are talking about the upcoming Wyoming expansion. Every once in a while there is a mention of the Interstate 80 (or simply I-80) and there is a proper reason for that. Today we will describe to you the importance of this transcontinental freeway and show you which cities you will be able to visit on your journey along this historic road.

I-80 is the second-longest Interstate highway in the United States and it runs from downtown San Francisco all the way to the New York City Metropolitan Area. Not only that, the I-80 has existed since 1956, and its route resembles the historic Lincoln Highway, which was the first road across the United States. More importantly, what makes Wyoming so significant in the I-80’s 2,899.59 mi (4,666.44 km) distance journey, is the fact that the road reaches its maximum elevation of 8,640 feet (2,630 m) above sea level at Sherman Summit.

Since we are already in the area of the Laramie Mountains, we might as well mention one of the cities that you will be able to visit in the new map expansion. Laramie is situated on the high plains in southeastern Wyoming and its population makes it the third-largest city in the state. The rich history is apparent at every corner and the feeling of a growing local culture is inescapable.

Moving a bit to the west, the city of Rawlins has definitely progressed from being just a place for a short drink for General John A. Rawlins, who proclaimed the local water as the most refreshing drink he ever had. After this, the area was named Rawlins Springs and the name was eventually shortened to what we are calling it today.

Speaking of springs, apart from historical importance, Rock Springs is the most industrialized county in Wyoming, with over half of the workforce being employed by industry, mining, power generation and related services. The city’s rich cultural heritage is underlined mainly by the architecture of the City Hall, which you will be able to see as well.

And finally, Evanston is the last city we’re going to mention today. This town was founded during the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1868 and back then, a saloon/restaurant was built in a tent near what is now Front Street. The area was an important trading location for over a hundred years, with massive growth arriving during an oil boom in the 1980s. 

Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten the capital city of Wyoming - Cheyenne. It will be a part of a special future blog instead! For now, we hope we have done the importance of I-80 and its Wyoming cities justice. Whether you fancy the beautiful architecture or the general feel of rich history, make sure to add Wyoming DLC to your Steam Wishlist and stay in touch with the latest news. 

Renault Trucks Evolution Range Reveal Event Invitation

Hello there! If you are closely following our social media profiles, you may have already noticed us sharing Renault Trucks' announcement regarding the new Evolution model range reveal event that is taking place on July 8th. We are very excited to let you know that our colleagues Nemiro and mr.cenda will be personally present at the event in Lyon, France, and that they'll do their best to join our special live stream from there and bring some exclusive footage, info, giveaway and content to our #BestCommunityEver! 

So be sure to tune in to our broadcast when it goes live on Twitch, Steam, and YouTube on the 8th of July from 18:30 CEST! Aside from covering the show and the reveal event, you can also look forward to a studio session with Alex, Raven, and Pavel Sebor. Plus - if everything goes according to a plan, we'll release the winning design for ETS2 together at the end of our stream!

We hope you are as thrilled as we are for this extraordinary evening and that you are prepared to have a good time not only with us but with your fellow community members as well! Keep a close eye on our or Renault Trucks' social media channels, or watch the countdown HERE. You can also register for the event on the same page if you want.