Welcome to Ukiah, California, a northern California city with a small town charm, an inviting downtown and local industries. As an already existing city in American Truck Simulator, you may have delivered here a few times before, but you're about to see this old city in a new light!
As part of the California Rework project, Ukiah along with several other cities will be receiving an update, bringing new assets, textures, and updates to surrounding road networks. One of the most noticeable changes to Ukiah is the introduction of a new industry!
Ukiah is one of many areas in California known for its vineyards and wine production. Dotted with numerous small vineyards, the Ukiah Valley region has perhaps the deepest grape growing roots in the County. With the rework of Ukiah, players will be able to deliver essential equipment and produce to and from one of the vineyards located in the city.
[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] On your travels in Ukiah, you can discover what makes one of the smallest cities in California a popular destination for locals and visitors alike. Ukiah also has a new neighbour, The settlement of Hopland! Curious explorers might also find a small secret road they can use to create a local shortcut. No matter your reason for visiting, we are sure you will enjoy all that Ukiah will have to offer in this future update.
Want to learn more about our plans for the California rework project, as well as what the future holds for the state and beyond? Read more at our dedicated, read more at our latest California Dreamin' Development Insight blogpost. Like what you see? You can look forward to more of these blog posts highlighting cities being reworked in the California rework project and we can't wait to share more with you!
Christmas Toys of Yesteryear Event Conclusion
Time goes by so fast and our Christmas Toys of Yesteryear event must now, just like the most wonderful time of the year, unfortunately, come to an end. In true holiday fashion, drivers from all across the world have tirelessly participated in delivering gifts in both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator.
With brightly-decorated Christmas gift trailers and festive painted trucks, you set out on December 16th to deliver Christmas cargo and hit milestones with the help of our in-game tracking icons or deliveries tracker at WorldofTrucks.com. We hope the theme of vintage toys and our desire to share the magic with you by offering them as nostalgic gifts have brought out the best possible memories and the sense of the true holiday spirit.
Once again, the collective strength of the #BestCommunityEver has produced incredible final numbers, so let’s take a look at how you all faired throughout the duration of this special event.
Absolutely amazing work truckers! We are truly impressed by your effort. After all, apart from showing individual willpower by earning the special decorative lighting for truck cabs, the power of the #BestCommunityEver has prevailed in a very short time, unlocking all the reward tiers for unique cabin accessories. Thank you all for participating, you can all be proud of yourselves and your fellow truckers!
You have also flooded our social media with hundreds and hundreds of posts using the hashtag #XmasToysOfYesteryear. It was great seeing truckers from every corner of the world take part in the event and share their experience with us. We are grateful for you letting us know about your progress via screenshots, videos, or simply by writing a couple of kind sentences!
We also appreciate you taking the time and visiting our special Live Stream dedicated to this event. We have enjoyed hanging out with you all and seeing your excitement in the live chat over at Twitch and Youtube, and we hope our game designer Gavin will grace us with his presence once again with something unique and new sometime in the future!
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To every driver who took to the roads and delivered gifts in this event, once again, thank you! It brings a lot of joy to our team to know how much you enjoy these events, and we will do our best to always make them feel unique and memorable. But until the next one is ready for you, we’ll see you on the road!
Texas - Cities & Settlements #1
Here comes the first blog post in 2022! And we think it's a good idea to start with something big. Something Texas-sized even! You know, everything is bigger in Texas. At least that’s what they say. And while the term itself probably originates from the state’s enormous geographical area, Texas used to have six of the fifteen fastest-growing cities in America up until the year 2015. Perhaps, thanks to this, there are bigger populated areas filled to the brim as well. Let’s take a look at some of the Cities and Settlements that will be featured in the upcoming Texas DLC and find out!
San Angelo
The local residents of San Angelo have a lot to be proud of. From rich flora to numerous historically important structures and facilities, this city certainly offers a fresh feeling when you are on a long journey driving through the vast and complex system of roads in Texas. Additionally, the city thrives economically as well, constantly being ranked as one of the best "smaller" towns for business.
Waco
The city of Waco will undoubtedly charm you with its energetic atmosphere, which always guarantees an interesting visit in the heartland of Texas. The area is full of history, economic opportunity, and a rich variety of cultural experiences. The city became an important commercial center during the late nineteenth century, which managed to attract a number of educational institutions and businesses, that have helped form Waco into what it is today.
Galveston
Quite uniquely, Galveston is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island. Due to this exceptional location, the city became internationally important for immigration and trade in the mid-19th century. Thereafter, during the 1920s and 1930s, Galveston re-emerged as a major tourist destination, which it still is to this very day - with the additional focus on history and historical buildings.
Amarillo
Situated in the grasslands and surrounded by dense prairie, Amarillo is well known for its urbanization, agricultural farming, and construction. This city was named after the yellow sub-soil and the yellow blooms on the area’s Yucca plants. You may be wondering, what does the yellow color have anything to do with it then? It’s because the word amarillo means yellow in Spanish.
Apart from discovering the beautiful cities mentioned above, you will also be able to pass through some of the settlements shown in the following screenshots. While we could spend hours upon hours talking about them and their rich history and economy, we’ll give you the opportunity to show off your exploration skills and let us know which towns are featured in the pictures. Tell us in the comments!
Time flies and the 2021 is slowly coming to an end!
There are certainly some positives from our point of view that we can focus on when looking back on 2021, especially the work on new map expansions, new vehicles and parts, new game features, and general improvements for our games in new updates. Hopefully, we have succeeded in our goal to remain productive and, thanks to that, raising the bar yet again on the gaming experience in American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2.
Let’s take a look in the rearview mirror and explore the content and features we have released throughout 2021!
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Due to the worldwide pandemic, this year was not as great as we were hoping for, but we believe that science and everyone cooperating together towards better days is the answer for the right direction next year. Once again, we’d like to stress the importance of staying optimistic and keeping your health in mind. Stay safe and act towards others with care. Sometimes there are those around us who require support, which can be as simple as hearing some encouraging words.
Moreover, there were quite a fair amount of teases and hints in our special Christmas live stream. Our teams are already working hard on several new and exciting projects, and we are looking forward to bringing you more specific information in the future.
And of course, there’s you, our #BestCommunityEver! You’ve all been tirelessly supporting us throughout the whole year and we greatly appreciate that. You all deserve a big THANK YOU.
Happy New Year 2022!
California Dreamin' #3 - Development Insight
Today, we are pleased to give you a behind the scenes look and insight into the continuing work of this project, the team behind the rebuild and what we are planning for the future of revamps in American Truck Simulator.
In July, we released version 1.41 of American Truck Simulator which included Phase 1 of the anticipated 'California rework', which brought a major revamp to the road network, new agriculture stations, and more. Since then, the team behind the rework has been hard at work with Phase 2 of this project. We spoke with the map lead of the California Revamp project to learn more about the current status of the ongoing project and what changes and challenges have come with this project.
The Team
A majority of the team behind the California Revamp consisted of new junior map designers, who are getting to grips with a new environment and workspace. We keep adjusting our time plans for different DLCs and due to several changes during this year, we had to give a helping hand to other projects, such as Montana and Texas, and move a large chunk of the map designers from the California team elsewhere, to keep up with our plans for the next year(s).
Because of this, the size of the California Revamp team fluctuated quite often. At one point during the year, the team had 12 people working hard on various areas, 10 of whom were new map designers. Currently, there is only a handful of map designers working on Phase 2, but we are confident that the team will be able to keep on track with the revamp, especially as more new members will join the team in January.
Phase 2 of the California Rebuild
So what is in store for Phase 2 of this project? The next portion of this project focuses on 5 cities and their surrounding areas. These cities are Eureka, Ukiah, Sacramento, Redding, and Truckee which will see a complete rebuild!
All 5 cities and their surrounding road networks have been rebuilt from the ground up, along with local landmarks and architecture. We have also been focusing on creating new scenic routes and local industries too, such as the Napa Valley; which as you may know, is famous for its wineries and vineyards. New rest areas and truck stops have also been implemented, but that isn't all! You will also find new assets, vegetation, and textures too, giving the area a completely new look and feel.
Another major change that will come with Phase 2 of this project is that we will be saying goodbye to the city of San Rafael. Due to the map scale, we had to make the hard decision to remove the city from the in-game economy. To make up for this, we will be introducing a brand new city, which will be larger and of much greater importance in California's road network in Phase 3 of our ongoing project! Any guesses which one it might be?
So, you may be wondering, why did we choose to start again completely from scratch for this phase? When we first began work on Phase 2, we quickly realized that revamping and making some minor changes to the area would not be enough. When we first built California, our teams followed a different set of rules and paradigm(s) and did not have the experience we have now when it comes to building urban areas and larger cities in American Truck Simulator.
Over the last few years, we have learned a lot, and we have greatly improved on city-building and more too, which is evident in some of our most recent and upcoming DLCs. So, we decided it would be better to rebuild this area completely, which is why it's been taking longer than expected. Our knowledge of California and experience with the tools we use to create these built-up areas have also greatly increased since our humble beginnings.
Our plan is to bring California up to the current DLC standard, as it is usually the player's first location when starting with American Truck Simulator. We believe that revisiting these areas will be beneficial for both us, the developers, and you - our players, which is why we are happy to continue to revamp California along with plans to continue the rework of other US states in the future.
Future Plans
So what are our future plans for the California Revamp project? Which cities do we plan to focus on next after Phase 2? Before we let you know what is in-store, we'd like to put out a little disclaimer...
Please keep in mind that everything we are about to mention here may be subject to change. Although this is our current plan at the time of writing, this roadmap may change in the future depending on a number of development factors.
With that said, here is just a little peek into our roadmap for the California Revamp project in American Truck Simulator. Our plan is to continue working on rebuilding a number of cities and our next focus will be around the San Francisco bay area. This location alone is a challenge to our abilities and will see massive changes compared to the original version.
However, depending on the team size, we hope to add even more content to Phrase 3 and beyond! We have a lot of projects which were started by our new map designers but were not finished before they left to a new team. We hope that in the future we will have the capacity to give them all some additional love, time, and focus so that they will be completed and ready for release.
As for our long-term plan, we will keep improving and rebuilding parts of the road network all around the State of California. Being the third-largest U.S state after Texas, it will take quite a while to finish California due to its road density, the number of cities, and its size, but we hope the end result will be worth the wait! Looking even further into the future, we plan on revisiting several states and we may even bring something extra special (which is so secret, they wouldn't even tell me what it was!).
We hope this update on our California Rebuild project was insightful and serves also as a nice gift just before Christmas! The team behind it all is incredibly proud, passionate, and very much excited for the future, and we hope you are too! We can't wait to show you more, as we plan to bring more blogs in the future focusing on several parts of Phase 2 of the rebuild.
Until then, however, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
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!
[previewyoutube="PgiBPhQNw2o;full"] 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!
Steam Input configuration fix
As part of the 1.43 update, we introduced new level of support for the controller in the game UI. Unfortunately, due to our mistake, the Steam Input configuration files were not properly updated and required manual update from our players. The fix for this just rolled out, but it will reset Steam Input configurations for those of you who already did it manually and made some custom changes for the configuration since the 1.43 update. This fix doesn't require any game update but we advise restarting the Steam client to automatically get the configuration change from Steam's servers. We are sorry for the inconvenience!
Now, go enjoy the Christmas event! ːwinter2019happyyulː
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:
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.
#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!
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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!
[previewyoutube="mDJxCNOehMY;full"] So, without further ado, let's take a look at what 1.43 has in store!
2022 Freightliner Cascadia
[previewyoutube="ZtgXUwJrG_U;full"] 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.