Arkansas - Research Trip

Over the past year, we've been able to send quite a few members from various related teams on research trips to the United States of America. Today's blog focuses on one such team's journey to Arkansas and beyond. The purpose of their travel was to gather references and information, as well as to inspire them in preparation for future projects. However, please keep in mind that the information and media presented here do not confirm what our upcoming DLC will include.

The team consisting of Map Lead David Němec (Davido), Map Asset Specialist Jan Pavlíček (Paulie), Senior Map Designers Vojtěch Plechač and Joanna Cempa and Road Specialist Zuzana Holušová, set off on quite the journey in the US! Travelling over 2,200 miles in 12 days, the team managed to visit quite a few different states, major cities, depots, real-life viewpoints, truck stops, and many other locations too. 

"Within Arkansas, we visited cities such as Jonesboro, Little Rock, Russellville, De Queen or Hot Springs, which is a very beautiful spa town with a rich history and many landmarks. Our goal was primarily to explore the beauty of the Natural State of Arkansas, which we're currently working on." Davido tells us. "The most important parts for us were the references around West Memphis, where I-40 and I-55 merge. There are many interesting locations that we could include in this DLC, such as several truck stops, a weigh station, a welcome center, and the Mississippi River. This place really gave us several insights at once. Unfortunately, geographically, all of this is quite close to the AR/TN border, so we know it won't be easy to get everything in due to our game's scale."

For a few of our team members, it was their first time visiting the US. All of them agreed that they learnt a lot from this trip, especially when it came to the roads, truck stops, towns, and cities. Vojtěch shares his experience a little with us, "There were a lot of things that surprised me, but one of the main things for me was probably the overall vastness of the main metropolises as well as the smaller towns and villages; everything seemed to me to be very spread out over a large area. It's a completely different world compared to Europe." 

"Everything is bigger in America. I learnt that this saying is actually quite true because until now I have only seen pictures." Zuzana shares with us. "Being there and seeing everything with my own eyes was an experience I believe every mapper should have at least once because it is so different from what we see through a lens. Trees, barriers, signs, roads, junctions, truckstops, hills.. everything looked much bigger than I could imagine"  

The team also learnt a lot about the conditions of the roads, especially when it came to smaller road networks that wind through the countryside. "There are holes, they are curvy or bumpy, especially some smaller 1-1 roads." Zuzana and Vojtěch shares with us. "We have seen that there's a lot of curves, bumps, potholes, gradients, etc."

The team also took the time to visit multiple locations and industries to collect more accurate references, such as power plants, where only a minimal amount of material or photos were available online. They also took their journey outside of Arkansas too! "Having already flown such a distance, it would be a shame to stay in only one place and not compare Arkansas with the surrounding states" Davido shares with us, "So, we also visited and collected references from Louisiana, where we were able to visit the amazing Avery Island and the Tabasco Factory, which we had a tour of! It was awesome to see how the production of this popular sauce works, from the cultivation of peppers, through barrel aging, blending, bottling to loading onto trucks and distribution."

In addition to Arkansas and Louisiana, the team was also able to visit Mississippi and Missouri and they even had the opportunity to visit Texas and Oklahoma, two states which we have already released. We believe that these opportunities for our team to visit the States really do help those involved in the development of ATS to bring a more immersive and realistic experience for you, our players! 

We look forward to sharing how these research trips translate to our virtual recreation of the states in the future. Until then, we hope you enjoyed this little insight on the process of creating a new State/region, and how our teams gain experience and knowledge of the states. Don't forget to add Arkansas to your Steam wishlist!

Kansas - Landmarks

From natural wonders to historical monuments, Kansas is home to a variety of landmarks which can be found across the state. Take a scroll with us as we share a preview of some of them that have been recreated for our upcoming Kansas DLC for American Truck Simulator. 

Many of Kansas' landmarks are steeped in history, dating back to the pioneer days and the westward expansion of the United States. Sites and statues tell the story of the brave settlers who crossed the prairies to make a new life in this vast and challenging landscape, and began to shape the towns and cities that still stand there today.

Museums across the state also preserve the history of Kansas, such as the Boot Hill Museum in Dodge City which is located on the original site of Boot Hill Cemetery, which highlights the glory days of the Old West. Another such example is the the Pittsburgh Historical Museum, located in Southeast Kansas, which became a hub for mining coal. Today an old yet impressive Marion 37 Steam Shovel is located outside, which was preserved by the museum and coal company.

Kansas' landmarks also highlight the state's natural beauty. From sweeping vistas to unique geological formations, these natural wonders offer breathtaking views and opportunities for drivers take a break and enjoy some of the local area. Whether it's the unique formation of the Monument Rocks or the rolling landscapes of the prairies, these landmarks showcase the state's stunning scenery.

Overall, the landmarks of Kansas are a testament to the state's diverse history, natural beauty, and vibrant culture. They serve as places of reflection, education, and connection for both residents and visitors, making Kansas a unique and captivating destination in the heart of America.

Are you looking forward to delivering to the Sunflower State? Don't wait on adding it to your Steam Wishlist! Plus, be sure to follow our social media channels (X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) for all the latest news and exclusive content! 

ETS2: 1.48.5 Update Release

With the West Balkans DLC just around the corner, we are releasing the 1.48.5 Update for Euro Truck Simulator 2. We haven’t bumped the game version all the way up by a whole number, as this update is focused on some specific content additions as well as some under the hood maintenance with code-based improvements. 

With the West Balkans DLC on the horizon, we are hard at work behind the scenes, bug-fixing and polishing; making sure everything is in place for a smooth release. This includes tirelessly iterating over multiple databases with the world economy and route access topology, and sometimes implementing related code changes and cleanups.

In addition to under-the-hood data changes, there are still some visible highlights of this update - the inclusion of new map content! Players can look forward to exploring the newly added city of Trieste, along with the updated cities of Ancona and Bari. These changes were previously described on our blog, so for more details, check out the dedicated articles here (Ancona + Bari) and here (Trieste).

As you can tell, the ETS2 1.48.5 Update is an important step in preparing for the West Balkans release, as it brings with it not only bug fixes but also exciting new map content that will allow better connection to the new part of the game’s universe.

However that isn't all, as there are some changes coming in this release that were not originally a part of the 1.48.5 Open Beta, including the fact that American Truck Simulator will also be receiving the 1.48.5 update later in the month too. This is because we are introducing 2 new changes which we believe players will benefit from. These are Faster Loading Times and an FPS Limiter.

Faster Loading Times

After an update, it has historically taken our titles a while to re-cache and update navigation data. Recently we were able to optimise this data and speed up the process considerably. Thanks to this update, the loading process is around 6 times faster! This also includes loading times for the company directory, which is loaded each time you start the game, which is 23 times faster than previous builds. We hope that you enjoy this small quality of life change. 

Frame Rate Limiter

This was a feature that was quite highly requested by our community. This limiter is aimed mostly at those with a more powerful GPU. It was reported that when alt-tabbed outside the sim, GPUs would run at 100% since it was still trying to render the maximum number of frames possible.  Because of this, we have placed a cap of 300 FPS to limit GPU usage, while not limiting most monitors. While this is still a bit experimental, we look forward to hearing your feedback. 

We hope you enjoy the little features and updates that 1.48.5 offers! We'd like to thank all those who participated in the Open Beta and helped us tweak and provided feedback. Your time and reports helped our team make changes that will benefit all players. We look forward to sharing more updates and changes in the future. Until then, keep on Truckin'!