The month of October is internationally recognised as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, better known as Pinktober. Often represented visually by a pink ribbon, the Pinktober campaign helps share critical information and spread awareness about this terrible disease which many are affected by.
Educating yourself and sharing information with those around you is an important part of breast cancer awareness and detection, as it helps to know what signs to look out for. Regular self-checks and visiting your local doctor, while, at the same time, reminding those closest to you to do the same is the main message conveyed during the campaign. Your health should always be the highest priority.
Every year kind-hearted supporters are doing their best to aid in the battle by sending direct donations or spreading awareness. A couple of years ago we decided to commit ourselves to the cause as well in the form of a Pink Ribbon Charity Event which came along with two special DLCs in 2019 - one for American Truck Simulator, and one for Euro Truck Simulator 2. This opened up a possibility for those who wanted to help but weren’t sure where to donate, as, in the end, 100% of the income from these DLCs goes to a charity every year.
If you wish to join a good cause and obtain some new paint jobs for your trucks, now is the perfect opportunity to get these two DLCs or gift them to a friend and contribute to the battle against Breast Cancer. And in case you and your friends already own these DLCs, you can spread awareness by decorating your trucks in these paint jobs and haul with pride while letting others know about this good cause by flooding social media with screenshots of your trucks under #Pinktober2022.
In regards to which charities we are going to donate the final amount to, this year is going to be slightly different. This time we have decided to send the final sum raised from the DLCs to a single local charity - Alliance of Women with Breast Cancer. Pay close attention to our blog at the end of the month, as we will release another blog post wrapping up this year’s Pinktober and announcing the final amount of money donated!
As part of Pinktober, we have also invited representatives from the Alliance of Women with Breast Cancer charity to host a Breast Cancer awareness seminar at our studios in Prague. We are very grateful to be able to offer such an informative session to our ever-increasing number of team members, and we hope to see colleagues old and new take part.
We thank you all for your gracious support in advance, and thank those who have continually supported the Pinktober cause throughout the past year.
American Truck Simulator: 1.46 Open Beta
Today, we are happy to share with you that the 1.46 Open Beta branch for American Truck Simulator is now available to try and test out. If you plan on participating in this Open Beta, we ask that you please help us by reporting any bugs you may encounter in the appropriate section(s) of our official forums.
Your feedback and reports are extremely valuable to our team and we thank you in advance for taking the time to help us out. So, without further ado, let's take a look at what the 1.46 Open Beta has in store.
Company Browser An exciting new feature coming to both American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 in the 1.46 update is the Company Browser. This new in-game browser allows players to search for specific types of companies, cargoes and/or trailer types. This means that if you are waiting for any of the examples mentioned in the previous sentence, you can easily check if such a thing even exists within the game!
So, if you are curious about which cargo you can theoretically haul for example between Calais and Duisburg or even Edinburgh to Istanbul, the company browser will achieve just that!
We are eager for you to take this new feature for a test drive during the Open Beta and to receive your feedback on the Company Browser. Any feedback or comments are welcome about this feature (or any others you are trying during the beta) at our forums. Happy trucking!
Ownable Cisterns - Chemical Trailers Today we are happy to share with you the next addition to our ownable cistern collection which will be available in 1.46, Chemical Trailers!
These tankers are designed to transport a variety of chemicals including acidic, toxic, or corrosive liquid products. These cargo types include Hydrochloric Acid, Sulfuric Acid, Pesticides, Mercuric Chloride and more, so careful driving is highly recommended.
The ATS Cistern will include 3 chassis types (43ft 2 axle, 48ft 3 axle and 53ft, 4 axle) which are single chain. It will also come 2 body types (chrome or paintable) and with a variety of accessories and customizations which include:
Chassis type
Paintjobs (base and DLC)
Markers
Rear bumpers
Mudflaps
and other accessories such as (hoses, tool boxes, extinguishers etc
We are excited to see you hauling these new chemical trailers in your company and how you will customize them!
US-20 We are happy to share that the US-20, located between Idaho and Montana will be arriving as a free update for owners of the DLCs. This highway has been highly requested by you, our #BestCommunityEver, since Montana's release.
This important connection allows drivers to drive between Idaho Falls, ID, and the settlement of West Yellowstone in Montana. West Yellowstone is also home to a tourist center, located just outside the west gate to the Yellowstone Natl. Park. This also gives players traveling from Idaho state an option to travel to the Yellowstone National Park as well as connect with US-191 which is a popular trucking route in the area.
We hope you enjoy exploring this new road along with the beautiful views that come along with it. And who knows, maybe you will find a new achievement over there as well.
Custom City Intros Recently, we introduced a new experimental feature in ETS2 and ATS - the custom city introductions. Thanks to the positive feedback that we have seen from the community, we are glad to let you know that we will further expand this feature in the upcoming 1.46 update!
These special cutscenes appear when a player selects a starting city when creating a new profile and, as you may know, they are currently available only for the cities of Austria and the city of Hanover in Euro Truck Simulator 2. In the 1.46 update, however, this feature can now be found in the world of American Truck Simulator also!
New players will have the opportunity to watch one of these awesome cutscenes when selecting their first city that has a garage in Colorado and Wyoming map expansions.
So, what do you think? Should we keep working on the custom city introductions? If so, let us know!
Idaho Viewpoints Redesign We went back and updated the viewpoints of Idaho DLC to better reflect our current standard of their length, pace and camera movement. They are now generally more polished and on par in terms of quality with their more modern siblings from newer map expansions.
Driveshaft Torque
We are always doing our best to make the trucking experience within our games as realistic as possible, and that is exactly the reason why this new addition, which can be turned on in the settings, is arriving into the world of ATS. This feature simulates the spinning of the chassis during acceleration, which results in a slight lift of the front left wheel. This effect is more visible on American trucks due to them being longer.
Changelog
Map
US-20 road between Idaho and Montana
Idaho Viewpoints Redesign
Vehicles
Ownable Cisterns - Chemical Trailers
Cascadia and Western Star 57X got custom infotainment implementation
Infotainment/GPS screens on all trucks have switched off state separated from map zoom
Cellphones and navigational devices got a custom implementation
Gameplay
Company Browser
Custom City Intros
Driveshaft Torque
New Parking Achievement
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, 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 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 → 1.46. No password required. Sometimes you have to restart your Steam client to see the correct branch name there.
Texas - Oil Fields and Chemical Plants
Texas has a rich history when it comes to the oil and chemical industry. From the first noted discovery of oil in 1894 to having more than one-fourth of the nation's 100 largest oil fields, Texas has become a major player in the industry. In our upcoming Texas DLC for American Truck Simulator, players can deliver to and from oil and chemical industries found across the state.
Texas is by far the largest oil-producing state in the United States, producing a total of 1.7 billion barrels in 2021. With all this production, the sector alone employs hundreds of thousands of people including truck drivers who play an important role in exporting goods and transporting equipment.
The oil industry will feature prominently in the Texas DLC, and will include several industry depots including oil services, oil wells and oil storage. Much like everything else in Texas, you can expect some of the depots to be pretty large too!
With the large abundance of oil wells, comes a similarly massive number of chemical and refinery plants. These industrial processing plants are where the oil is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, bitumen, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, petroleum naphtha, and more!
From Corpus Christi to Longview, players will be able to find these depots located across Texas to export oil across the United States and beyond.
As we continue to develop and refine Texas, be sure to follow our social to keep up to date with the latest DLC news, updates and more. Until then, keep on truckin'!
Texas - Intersections & Bridges
When working on an upcoming DLC, we are always trying to provide the most accurate interpretation of the local road network, and as much as it would’ve been interesting to only have straight roads in the real world, the intersections and bridges are a necessity that every trucker needs to take into consideration. Let’s take a look at some of these road areas that you will be able to drive through in the Texas map expansion for ATS.
As you may have noticed, we have recently decided to hold back a bit on using the saying that Everything is bigger in Texas, but in this case, we feel like it is simply unavoidable. The thing is, the intersections in Texas are quite often so large that they are reminiscent of the layout and size of whole cities. And it’s not just quality, but the quantity that stands out as well, since there will be approximately 90 intersections for you to explore.
Most of these areas in the DLC will be very carefully designed and put together piece by piece in order to represent their real-life counterparts as best as possible. You can probably imagine the work that went into creating the intersection in Austin which has 5 levels...
In regards to the bridges, you can look forward to driving through most of the well-known ones, for example, the Margaret McDermott Bridge in Dallas or the Waco Brazos River Bridges. And even though it is still under construction, you will also be able to take a look at the new Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi which is officially going to become the tallest bridge in Texas upon opening in a few years.
We hope the swirls and the heights featured in the screenshots did not make you dizzy. If instead, you enjoyed this peek at the upcoming new content, add the Texas DLC to your Steam Wishlist. Also, to never miss out on anything important, you can follow our social media profiles, subscribe to our newsletter, or check out our microsite dedicated to this project.
1.46 Update: Colorado & Wyoming & Iberia Custom City Intros
Recently, we introduced a new experimental feature for ETS2 and ATS - custom city introductions. Thanks to the positive feedback that we have seen from the community, we are glad to let you know that we will further expand this feature in the upcoming 1.46 update!
These special cutscenes appear when a player selects a starting city when creating a new profile and, as you may know, they are currently available only for cities in Austria and the city of Hanover in Euro Truck Simulator 2. In the 1.46 update, however, we will add this feature to the Iberia DLC as well!
And not only that, this feature is also evolving across the ocean in the ATS world. Therefore, once the update lands in the game, in addition to Montana, new players will also have the opportunity to watch one of these awesome cutscenes when selecting their first city that has a garage in the Colorado and Wyoming map expansions.
Also, just a heads up, the screenshots used in this blog serve only as illustrative examples. If you’d like to see more, check out the posts about this topic on our social media - Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. But you can always wait until the 1.46 update is released to try the new custom city intros on your own!
1.46 - Montana New Content
About two months ago, while talking about the Yellowstone National Park update in Montana DLC, we teased you with the possibility of having this entire area fully recreated within American Truck Simulator. In the 1.46 update, a small addition will achieve just that.
We are excited to let you know that we will be adding the US-20 leading to West Yellowstone! This means that everything will technically come "full circle", since you will be able to enter the area of the park from all of the surrounding states - Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.
Furthermore, to celebrate the completion of Yellowstone, we have also added a new viewpoint in Montana DLC, which will showcase a bit of the park and the West Yellowstone village itself.
As you can see, the 1.46 blog posts are now in full swing for both ATS and ETS2, so make sure to leave us a follow on our social media (Twitter,Instagram, Facebook, TikTok) to stay in touch with all the latest news and updates!
Western Star® 57X Update
In August, we revealed that the Western Star® 57X would be arriving on the virtual roads of American Truck Simulator along side its real world premiere. Since then, we have been overwhelmed with positive comments, pictures and comments from your first journey with the 57X.
Today, an update was released for American Truck Simulator which contains some fixes, adjustments and new content for the 57X! All these changes were based on discussions with our friends over at Western Star and from feedback from you, our #BestCommunityEver.
Along with some general bug fixes, the 57X update will also feature:
A new roof fairing option (Aero II)
An option for non-heated headlights
A new side fairing option (Aero II)
Optional twin vertical exhaust stacks
An option to add the Christmas Light Accessory.
We hope that you continue to enjoy every journey with the brand new Western Star® 57X on the roads of ATS. We look forward to seeing even more screenshots & videos from you on our social media pages, so continue to share them with us! Until next time, keep on truckin'.
Western Star® is a trademark of Daimler Trucks North America LLC and is used under license to SCS Software s.r.o.
Texas - Cities and Settlements #2
You might remember the blog article from a while ago that was the first part of the cities and settlements coming in the Texas DLC for American Truck Simulator. Today, we are back with even more areas that are now ready to be presented to you. Saddle up and join us for another ride across the Lone Star State.
Laredo
Located at the border with Mexico, Laredo serves as the main hub for transport between the two states. Apart from being one of the oldest crossing points in this area, it is also the nation’s largest inland port of entry. This is why the city will feature a large industrial zone in our game, along with a rail station and the possibility to drive directly through the center.
Wichita Falls
As slightly hinted by the name, Wichita Falls is famous for the "restored falls". Over 100 years ago there was a natural waterfall in the Wichita River’s course, which was eventually destroyed by a flood, and the city has made the decision to recreate this wonder by creating an artificial waterfall. And one more fact, the highway spans directly above the city, which is kind of cool, right?
Dalhart
Ranking among the smaller cities of Texas, you can find Dalhart in the northern area. Despite the long series of droughts in the 1930s, the city became an agribusiness center for Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico in 1990. While the local economy of today might no longer have such a massive reach, it is still centered primarily around agriculture.
Longview
Longview is located practically within a forest, so it comes as no surprise that this city is the hub of East Texas outdoor recreation and leisure travel. But truckers have no time for that! What you can expect instead is the industry that is surrounded by a forest - especially the local warehouse area.
Odessa
While the previous city is surrounded by trees, Odessa is surrounded by oil wells, so it makes sense that the industry of this particular area is dedicated mainly to oil processing. After all, the local population and economy grew rapidly during the so-called oil blooms in the past century. Additionally, there are a fair amount of warehouses as well.
Other major cities you can look forward to exploring while driving across Texas include Fort Stockton, Van Horn, Abilene, and Corpus Christi. Every one of these additions will feature a specific layout and well-developed industry.
In the first chapter we have also shown you several settlements, and this time we have another bunch for you. Can you guess which ones are shown on the screenshots? Hint: there’s five of them on the following screenshots.
[table][tr][td][/td] [td][/td][/tr][/table][table][tr][td][/td] [td][/td][/tr][/table][table][tr][td][/td] [td][/td][/tr][/table][table][tr][td][/td] [td][/td][/tr][/table][table][tr][td][/td][/tr][/table] We still have some bigger cities up our sleeves and we can’t wait to present them to you in the future. If you like what you’ve seen so far, add Texas DLC to your Steam Wishlist to show us how excited you are to get your hands on this map expansion. Also, to never miss out on anything important, you can follow our social media profiles (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok), subscribe to our newsletter, or check out our microsite dedicated to this project.
Being rich in size and resources, Texas is constantly expanding its roads and cities. This means that construction work plays a prominent role all over the state and it is something we have to properly interpret in American Truck Simulator and the upcoming Texas DLC.
The construction work in Texas is actually so frequent that we had to update numerous landmarks several times during the production due to their real-life counterparts getting a fresh look. The same goes for the road network since the US-285 has only recently been changed because it was considered to be one of the most dangerous roads in the state. Unfortunately, there were also situations in which some buildings, such as a stadium or a bank, got added to the map but their real references were eventually torn down.
These are the reasons why you will quite often see or pass by construction sites while driving across the Lone Star State. Ranging from road and railway works to other generic constructions, such as wooden houses or wind tower assembly, you will always have a feeling that you are located in an economically strong and ever-expanding state. And while they say that Rome wasn’t built in a day, the construction process in Texas is sometimes so fast that even we have problems keeping up with the latest changes in our scale.
Time to put on your hard hat (just a joke, not necessary!) and add the Texas DLC to your Steam Wishlist to show us how excited you are to get your hands on this map expansion. Also, to never miss out on anything important, you can follow our social media profiles (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok), subscribe to our newsletter, or check out our microsite dedicated to this project.
Recently, we were honoured to have the opportunity to visit Volvo Trucks North America at one of their facilities located in the state of Virginia. The main reason behind this visit was to strengthen our partner relationship and meet with representatives of the company; however, this was not all we got up to!
We also had the opportunity to capture important reference data for our Vehicles department's next project for American Truck Simulator, an updated version of Volvo Trucks' legendary VNL. Whilst we know many of you will be excited to hear this news (we're too!) please keep in mind that this project is still in the very early stages of development. We don't have any work-in-progress shots to show you yet, but we will do our very best to work as quickly and closely as possible with the Volvo Trucks team to bring it to life in ATS.
We look forward to sharing with you more development news for American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 in the near future. Keep on truckin' our #BestCommunityEver!
