Sep 4, 2013

Euro Truck Simulator 2 heads east for its first DLC expansion

Euro Truck Simulator 2

News of a Euro Truck Simulator 2 expansion shipped out a few weeks ago. It took a while to get here, though: arriving on the back of a lorry pocked with dents, it's many fines and tickets flapping about the windscreen. Having played the game, I sympathise. Now that it's here we can delve into info about the game's first DLC, Going East, which adds a number of Eastern European cities to the game.

That means one thing: tanks!

Not playable tanks, of course. Fun fact: tanks are not trucks.

The DLC promises thirteen additional cities, spanning Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. It's a big increase to the available land mass, even if it would be nice to see some other parts of the game, such as available cargo types, get a boost too.

SCS do suggest that more DLC is planned for the future. "Once this is all done," they write, "the DLC team will be facing the big question - what next? Another territory expansion?" The smiley face afterwards would suggest that yes, that is a safe bet.

The developers previously announced that they're planning to patch Oculus Rift support into the game. Personally, I'm hoping for Razer Hydra support too. Then we'd really get to live a true simulation of the truck driving lifestyle:

Accurate road-rage modelling? Well, I can dream.

Going East will be released on 20th September. If you're not sure why I've dedicated hundreds of words and a silly photoshop to a game about driving on motorways, you should really check out our review.

Aug 30, 2013

Greenlight Anniversary Sale offers deals on 50 greenlit games

Euro Truck Simulator 2

Steam is a distribution platform that thinks "because it's a Tuesday" is a good reason to cheapen up some games. As such, it's only to be expected that bigger milestones are an excuse for even bigger sales. Reasons like "because it's a Friday," or "because Greenlight is a year old". It's the latter that's cause for some series discounts, with an Anniversary event that flays up to 75% off some titles that have made it through the digital pageant.

Fifty Greenlight titles have been discounted, including great games like Euro Truck Simulator 2, Papers Please, Receiver, Rogue Legacy, Kentucky Route Zero, Surgeon Simulator 2013, and Euro Truck Simulator 2.

Did I mention that you could get Euro Truck Simulator 2 for 66% off? I did? Okay then.

Since its introduction, Greenlight has sparked controversy and criticism, but it's hard not to look at the list and - however grudgingly - admit that it's done some good. There are some genuinely great, and often interesting games being approved, and it's heartening to see them find a home inside Steam. Yes, there's also Dragon's Lair, but I guess there's no accounting for taste.

There are definitely flaws to the system, too, most notably that it isn't very transparent. Other factors are seemingly as important as votes, and the approval process can often appear arbitrary. Even Gabe Newell has spoken critically about the process, although an alternative has yet to surface. Still, with the recent bulk approval of 100 games, it seems the bottleneck is starting to be resolved.

To reminisce on its one year anniversary, has Greenlight had much impact on your Steam purchases?

Jul 24, 2013

Euro Truck Simulator 2 receives a truckload of fixes

Euro Truck Simulator 2

The day has finally come my fellow truckers-in-training. After working for months to keep our left turns from wreaking havoc during the morning commute, we’ve finally received a massive update to Euro Truck Simulator 2 that sharpens some of the game’s rougher edges.

Most of the update’s fixes aren’t anything out of the ordinary. You have your optimization of memory pool usage, the game now pauses when you activate the Steam overlay and the animations of some mobility-disabled pedestrians have been fixed.

The update also corrects some things you wouldn’t normally see in a simulation of our world, such as rain pouring through bridges, an incorrect version of the border separating France and Belgium, and a marked lack of tollbooths.

My favorite part of the update, however, is the ability to deactivate the game’s speed limiter in the options menu. I don’t know if this means we can get some European trucks traveling at supersonic speeds, but it would it would certainly be a boon for the shipping industry. Just watch out for those roundabouts. I hear turns can get quite tricky after you’ve broken the sound barrier.

Jul 23, 2013

Euro Truck Simulator 2 Updated

Euro Truck Simulator 2 - Valve

VEHICLES
*All new truck Iveco Stralis Hi-Way with tuning upgrades
*Volvo: Fixed position of lights on the front grill, animations fixes, dashboard fixes, added oil indicator
*DAF: fixed speed gauge display in UK trucks, fixed exhaust
*Majestic: Fixed disappearing of the doorsteps
*Renault: Fixed blinkers
*Man: Fixed material issues
*Fixed wrong lod on flat bed trailer
*Overweight trailer: Fixed position of wheel and mudguards
*Cistern trailer: Fixed position of wheel and mudguards
*Log trailer: Added front white lights
*Fix shadow casters for some upgrades
*AI cars: the lamps are visible from greater distance at night
*Fixed shader issues with auxilary lights for all trucks

SIMULATION
*Reworked force feedback feature
*Engine torque simulation improvements. Idle throttle and clutch changes.
*Many new physical properties added to the simulation model. All dashboard gauges are simulation based now
*There is config variable in console "g_pedal_clutch_range", that can tweak clutch pedal active area length. Range is 0.1 to 1.0 (default value is 1.0)
*Fuel consumption during engine idle fixed

GAMEPLAY
*Redesigned Job Market's job listing to be able scroll through all jobs
*The speed limiter can be now disabled in Options screen.
*Added Advisor warning messages related to retarder, parking brake and air pressure warnings are not shown when gear is set to neutral.
*Added new optional control scheme where steering, accelerator and brakes can all be controlled by mouse
*Ferry route length displayed in the job selection.
*Loan installments are properly rounded up and displayed, improved timing of loan payments
*Upgrade shop does not automatically discard everything with change of cabin/chassis. Only non-compatible accessories are removed
*There is config variable in console "g_income_factor", that can lower job income of you and your drivers for more challenge. Range is 0.0 to 1.0 (default value is 1.0)
*World map can be closed by same key that opens it (default key M)

MAP
*Fixed navigation lines on UK variant roundabout
*Hundreds map fixes, tweaking and prettyfications
*A2 highway completed (as in real life 2 lane highway) including tollgates
*New road leading south from Szczecin in Poland
*Fix - added some no-weather areas placed under some bridges to avoid rain appearing there
*Wrongly set border between France and Belgium fixed
*Grass, terrains and rocks intersecting walls of some tunnels fixed
*Tons of other minor map fixes

MODELS
*Prefabs tweaking (improved AI flow somewhat, major AI rewrite is coming later)
*Less steep quarry prefab to lessen weaker engine trucks having problems when going uphill
*New small tollgates in Poland on A2 road
*Fixed animations of various pedestrians

CODE
*Asynchronous loading smoothes speed of resource loading resources, reducing overall lag and "spikes" for more even framerate
*Added SDK for telemetry output, pilot testing with kind help of www.fanaleds.de
*It is possible to skip the intro animation using a -nointro parameter
*Fixed garage name in player truck relocation UI
*Rain probability in both corner values ensures infinite weather duration
*Weather can change after time fast forward
*The save slot selection is shown after profile selection if there was problem with automatic load
*There is config variable in console "s_rumble_enabled", that can enable/disable sound of rumble stripes on the roads
*Increased range of non-linerity slider in controller option screen
*Fix potential crash related to recent Nvidia Optimus drivers changes
*Added more job-start autosaves
*Improved robustness to mod removals
*Improved behavior of input wizard
*Improved efficiency of memory pool usage
*Renamed game.log and game.crash files to game.log.txt and game.crash.txt
*Improved behavior of non-widescreen resolutions while driving
*Experimental support for triple-monitors. Controlled by r_multimon_mode cvar (0-disabled, 1-wide fov with ui on central monitor, 2 - three separate views). In the three-view mode it is possible to compensate for bezels using r_multimon_border_fov_* cvars
*The game will reset jobs whenever it detects certain changes in data
*Added Georgian language to the game

SOUND
*Money sound played only on important events
*Air brake sound fixed

STEAM
*Game will pause when Steam overlay appears
*Steam notifications are positioned on the opposite side of the screen than Route Advisor

MODDING
*New sector based map format which supports simultaneous modifications by more than one user and local extensions as long they operate in separate sectors.
*Many definition lists (e.g. types of AI trucks) can be now simultaneously extended by more than one mod.
*As result of multiple changes it is now possible to have more than one reverse speed in modded trucks.