The latest World of Trucks event has just ended today. We are happy to see so many people participate!



There were 85,000 people who delivered at least one cargo towards the event's goal. Over 31,000 players went through the pains to deliver the required 10 cargos to 10 different countries - having fun, or so we hope. We feel sorry for 459 players who only managed to deliver 9 cargos before the event's deadline.

It should not take a long time before we issue another World of Trucks call for action. The next event we are planning will be related to our participation in FIA ETRC 2018 season events, and the first race in Misano is just around the corner. So refill your tanks, check your diesel beasts and stay tuned! We are working on some really cool event rewards for you...

Update 1.31 for Euro Truck Simulator 2 shares all the new functionality with the same-generation update of ATS, but there are some differences too, and it took us a few more days of internal testing to get it ready for an Open Beta test.



As we have already mentioned when launching ATS 1.31 Open Beta, trailer cables are one of the new shared visible simulation additions. We also have new mirror rendering code, providing more accurate mirrors view, closer to what a real truck driver can see. In addition, there are two main features that ETS2 gets in this update. First, long-awaited random road events finally made it to Europe! There are dozens of them, from the usual minor crashes to the big accidents like burn out vehicles and the emergency landing of small planes. Plus, a small surprise which we kept under the lid till the cable reveal blog post - 8x4 chassis for Next-Gen Scania R and S!



As for smaller changes, 1.31 brings some of the wish list items like a new filter option for job and cargo search, as well as better precision of trip data for dashboard computer. Also when you reload/restart the game or if the gameplay repositions your vehicle to a new place, and you "spawn" in your truck, the parking brake will be automatically set to ON, so that the vehicle may never start moving on its own unintentionally. Besides those additions and a few more fixes, we also updated license plates for various countries. In relation to that, UK trailers are not a standalone vehicle for license plates anymore.



There are also some changes in the tools and mods category. We're currently in the middle of a massive technology change in how our map designers apply textures, materials, and vegetation to road segments. Of course, this will also apply to the mod creators going forward. Historically, we have used a concept of "stamps" with pre-designed patterns to conserve memory and disk space, but we're abandoning this approach, and letting the map designers just "paint" surface properties with a "brush." This will bring more freedom and flexibility to map design; it should make the work more effective when a map designer is in need of a particular terrain feature. For the time being though, it means that map mods will have to be re-touched and re-saved with the new system, so things will need to settle down until everybody catches up. With the cleanup of map import code, we've also dropped support for very old (pre-4.38 format) maps so mods that are no longer maintained (were last saved as of Feb 2017) cannot be loaded in the current version of the game. We hope that this isn't really an issue for any mods in current use.



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, and kinks. It's completely okay if you want to wait for the final release. But if you're interested in helping us to move there faster, we'll appreciate all of your feedback on our forum and your bug reports in this section.
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 the Euro Truck Simulator 2 → Properties → Betas tab → public_beta → 1.31 public beta. No password required.


MAIN FEATURES:

• Power/air lines between truck and trailer(s)
• Improved mirror rendering (head position-based FOV, properly curved mirrors)
• Random road events
• 8x4 Scania R and S truck chassis
• New routes for Special Transport DLC missions (read more)
• Mighty Griffin DLC aftermarket tuning parts for next-gen Scania S & R (read more)

MINOR CHANGES:

• Job selection screens have new filter and cargo search elements.
• UK trailers are not a standalone vehicle for license plates anymore[/*]
• Parking brake automatically ON after truck spawn (g_park_brake_init)
• Screenshot name format now based on date and time
• Increased precision trip data (dashboard computer display)
• Faster gear shifting for new opticruise transmissions
• Fixed/updated LP in various countries (Belgian, Norway, Polish, Czech)
• Fixed torque converter locking
• Fixed damaged predefined trucks in dealers and quick jobs
• Fixed trailer damage reporting
• Fixed HDR interpolation

TOOLS/ MOD:

• New terrain brushes in the map editor
• Dropped support of the old maps (pre 4.38, due to brushes)
• Mirror_data
• A trailer could be registered as standalone or not
• Variable shift length
• Truck dealer trucks are not on the list anymore, the game reads all units in given directory 
• Steerable wheel independent on wheel model 
• Dropped support for old attributes

Last December's add-on release for Euro Truck Simulator 2 - the Special Transport DLC - has been accepted very positively in the fan community. As you may remember, a comparable game expansion is also in the works for American Truck Simulator, but meanwhile, the team behind Special Transport still keeps on tweaking and improving their creation.

We are happy to reveal that along with the upcoming ETS2 1.31 Update, the Special Transport DLC will also be updated with new jobs. There are new routes added to the core map, and several new routes will also be accessible for owners of other map DLCs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwrIDaQPZ6A

This is not our last take on Special Transport, you can count on further tweaks and improvements down the road!

Beyond the Baltic Sea, the new DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2 that we are working on now, will be one of the largest and most complex expansion regions. The area we plan to cover is vast, and it involves parts of five different countries. This is an additional challenge for us with all the various regional differences, like road signs, or the local industries.


Particular focus is also required for country borders. The border crossings between the EU and Russia are a new phenomenon in our games, as there is much stricter regime there than within EU. Customs checks are taking place on both sides of the border line and they may take a long time to spend in a queue, which may turn out to be clashing with our desire for fluid gameplay.

In our effort for maximum realism in the world, we are building new prefabs to represent the unique architecture of these border crossing hubs. It's not just the buildings of crossings themselves, we also want to improve the fidelity with some still-functional as well as no-more-functional installations from the Soviet era which can be found along the roads near the borders.


Let us show you a little gallery of screenshots including examples of the prefabs that our team is building for the various border crossings for Beyond the Baltic Sea...










Beyond the Baltic Sea

Beyond the Baltic Sea, the new DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2 that we are working on now, will be one of the largest and most complex expansion regions. The area we plan to cover is vast, and it involves parts of five different countries. This is an additional challenge for us with all the various regional differences, like road signs, or the local industries.


Particular focus is also required for country borders. The border crossings between the EU and Russia are a new phenomenon in our games, as there is much stricter regime there than within EU. Customs checks are taking place on both sides of the border line and they may take a long time to spend in a queue, which may turn out to be clashing with our desire for fluid gameplay.

In our effort for maximum realism in the world, we are building new prefabs to represent the unique architecture of these border crossing hubs. It's not just the buildings of crossings themselves, we also want to improve the fidelity with some still-functional as well as no-more-functional installations from the Soviet era which can be found along the roads near the borders.


Let us show you a little gallery of screenshots including examples of the prefabs that our team is building for the various border crossings for Beyond the Baltic Sea...










Beyond the Baltic Sea

On this special day, we'd like to unveil one more cool improvement for our games. It's an experimental next-next-gen approach to engineering truck sounds that you would be a fool to overlook. As it is truly groundbreaking and still experimental, we did not see it prudent to put it into the standard games yet, instead, we have made it available via mods for both games. We are really curious to learn what you will think about them! (or those among you daring to install the mods anyway)

We proudly present „REAL TRUCK SOUNDS MOD by April v 1.4“!

All of the sounds were recorded by very passionate individuals with great care to make sure they receive a healthy dose of special human touch. Only a handful vehicles have got the special treatment so far. Depending on your feedback, we may be able to add more by about April 1, 2019. You can find the list of vehicles with the improved sounds in the respective mod descriptions. You can look up the mods on Steam Workshop:

Euro Truck Simulator 2 April 1.4. Update:

• ETS2 Truck Sound Improvement (April 2018)

On this special day, we'd like to unveil one more cool improvement for our games. It's an experimental next-next-gen approach to engineering truck sounds that you would be a fool to overlook. As it is truly groundbreaking and still experimental, we did not see it prudent to put it into the standard games yet, instead, we have made it available via mods for both games. We are really curious to learn what you will think about them! (or those among you daring to install the mods anyway)

We proudly present „REAL TRUCK SOUNDS MOD by April v 1.4“!

All of the sounds were recorded by very passionate individuals with great care to make sure they receive a healthy dose of special human touch. Only a handful vehicles have got the special treatment so far. Depending on your feedback, we may be able to add more by about April 1, 2019. You can find the list of vehicles with the improved sounds in the respective mod descriptions. You can look up the mods on Steam Workshop:

Euro Truck Simulator 2 April 1.4. Update:

• ETS2 Truck Sound Improvement (April 2018)

There is so much that we'd like to add to our games eventually! The input and feedback from you, the truck sim fan community, is a tremendous source of inspiration for us.

For the upcoming 1.31 update, a new feature that has spent quite a few years on the wish list is finally almost ready to be released - trailer cables!
Let us give you a quick preview in motion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKpODQGj7ds
As you can see in the video, our developers were able to implement physically simulated trailer cables to both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator. And believe us - it was far from easy. These „trivial“ things tend to be much more demanding than they appear, both for programmers when it comes to coming up with fast and robust code, as well as for the vehicle design team to revisit all the existing tractors and trailers and adjust them to the new feature.

We think that you may also like to see this preview image:


Trailer cable support will come for every combination of any truck and trailers, including double and triple trailers where applicable. We will provide three simulation options:

• Simulated cables visibly connecting your truck to all the trailers.
• Simulated cables visibly connecting your truck to the first trailer only.
• Cable simulation turned off completely.

There is so much that we'd like to add to our games eventually! The input and feedback from you, the truck sim fan community, is a tremendous source of inspiration for us.

For the upcoming 1.31 update, a new feature that has spent quite a few years on the wish list is finally almost ready to be released - trailer cables!
Let us give you a quick preview in motion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKpODQGj7ds
As you can see in the video, our developers were able to implement physically simulated trailer cables to both Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator. And believe us - it was far from easy. These „trivial“ things tend to be much more demanding than they appear, both for programmers when it comes to coming up with fast and robust code, as well as for the vehicle design team to revisit all the existing tractors and trailers and adjust them to the new feature.

We think that you may also like to see this preview image:


Trailer cable support will come for every combination of any truck and trailers, including double and triple trailers where applicable. We will provide three simulation options:

• Simulated cables visibly connecting your truck to all the trailers.
• Simulated cables visibly connecting your truck to the first trailer only.
• Cable simulation turned off completely.

Let us invite you to join a new World of Trucks event. This time, we are looking north!


We have received a lot of rather positive feedback during the previous World of Trucks events. It is clear that a lot of players enjoy having a new challenge and a goal to fulfil, and the little rewards may also play a role. ;)

Our ambition is to arrange the events more frequently in the future, even though honestly we seem to struggle a bit to balance the production, testing, and release pipeline to process all the various projects and game updates running in parallel. It may bite us too this time - with the new event now starting, we may end up overlapping it with the planned open beta of update 1.31 for both games.

We hope that spending the time performing the event deliveries feels good on its own, but for some of you, having a little context backstory can improve the enjoyment even further, so here we are...

As you know, our ETS map design team is currently working hard on the upcoming Beyond the Baltic Sea world expansion. You can imagine how much material of all types would be needed if this was all happening in the real world. There are so many kilometers of roads to build, so many buildings, intersections, industries and landmarks, so much landscaping! Maybe we can all help shorten the world-building process by transporting any supplies that we can up north? We'll need to build a new ferry on Sweden's Baltic coast to facilitate the transport of goods over to Finland!

Now straight to the rules of this event:

• You need to own DLC Scandinavia to be able to participate.
• You need to be connected to World of Trucks service for the online jobs to register!
• To earn the reward for this event, your goal is to complete a delivery of any cargo to or from Sweden with at least 10 different other countries in the rest of Europe. You can review your recent deliveries in the LogBook if you are logged in to World of Truck.
• The event will last for one month.

If you'll pass this requirement, you will get the reward, which includes:

• 'Viking Warrior' - dashboard statue
• 'Northern Lights' - main menu background
• 3 random country pennants

As you probably remember from the previous events, we are taking advantage of Steam's Inventory infrastructure to "drop" the rewards to you. As a consequence, the individual items can be traded or even sold through Steam. Just remember that if you get rid of a particular Inventory item, you will no longer be able to see it in the game's Upgrade Shop and equip your truck with it.