• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

American Truck Simulator |OT| Freedom gives me a Semi with a Heavy Load

I have to say the dedication of the devs in regards to fan feedback is nothing short of incredible. I can't believe they're going to rescale the entire map, let alone all the intersections and everything.

Amazing.

They are mostly extending areas between cities and adding better intersections, which will fix almost every complaint with the game. Cities themselves were pretty well made already, and fortunately they won't have to spend time redoing those. That being said, this is still a pretty huge undertaking and unprecedented for any dev I know of.

For reference, here is what they are adding:
new_ats_rescale.jpg
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
The UK's roughly the size of California right? That would give a reference to compare to in terms of ATS to ETS2.

They are mostly extending areas between cities and adding better intersections, which will fix almost every complaint with the game. Cities themselves were pretty well made already, and fortunately they won't have to spend time redoing those. That being said, this is still a pretty huge undertaking and unprecedented for any dev I know of.

Widening the areas in-between also means more room for modders to drop smaller cities and towns!
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Yeah, reading the blog they say "The new scale is equivalent to that of Euro Truck Simulator 2, so the flow of time in both games will be the same."

THANK GOD!!!! The smaller scale of ATS is my biggest complaint about the game. I still don't know why they changed it in the first place when the scale of ETS2 was spot on perfect, that never did make sense to me. I actually have fatigue turned off right now in ATS because it seemed like I needed to sleep every 10 minutes due to the smaller scale. This is most excellent news.

I wonder when we will be getting more trucks though....
 

Makikou

Member
THANK GOD!!!! The smaller scale of ATS is my biggest complaint about the game. I still don't know why they changed it in the first place when the scale of ETS2 was spot on perfect, that never did make sense to me. I actually have fatigue turned off right now in ATS because it seemed like I needed to sleep every 10 minutes due to the smaller scale. This is most excellent news.

I wonder when we will be getting more trucks though....

Read the blogpost and you'll know.

They only had 8-10 people making ATS at the beginning but sales have been so good they look forward to having 2 map teams for ATS.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Read the blogpost and you'll know.

Yeah I just read it while I ate my lunch.

Gotta hand it to SCS, this is impressive dedication. I mean SCS has always been industry leading in their support with ETS2, it's probably the main reason why I bought ATS on day one with no hesitation. Hell I'd put SCS up there with the likes of Blizzard and Valve honestly. But this decision is one hell of a choice. They admit they made a mistake and they are taking the time to fix it now rather than live with it for the long haul. And it's not like it was a game breaking bug or anything that made ATS unplayable, most devs would never even bother to admit that they made a mistake like this, let alone actually take the time to fix it for free.

Mucho respect. Damn. I think I'll buy a paint job or two today just to thank them...
 

DD

Member
Yeah I just read it while I ate my lunch.

Gotta hand it to SCS, this is impressive dedication. I mean SCS has always been industry leading in their support with ETS2, it's probably the main reason why I bought ATS on day one with no hesitation. Hell I'd put SCS up there with the likes of Blizzard and Valve honestly. But this decision is one hell of a choice. They admit they made a mistake and they are taking the time to fix it now rather than live with it for the long haul. And it's not like it was a game breaking bug or anything that made ATS unplayable, most devs would never even bother to admit that they made a mistake like this, let alone actually take the time to fix it for free.

Mucho respect. Damn. I think I'll buy a paint job or two today just to thank them...

Yep, SCS is truly amazing.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Wait a second...

WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?

Yep I noticed that too. Looks like New Mexico will be the next state DLC! SCS often puts little Easter Eggs about future content in their media stuff, like the Volvo rig we'll be getting eventually that made an appearance in that one video of theirs.
 

Moltenix

Member
Holy shit, didn't see this coming (as least not yet).

My biggest issue with this game compared to ETS2 was how fast time went by relative to how far you were actually driving.

I hope that "Retouching the existing system of roads and intersections" means we'll see some of those sweet new interchanges introduced in Arizona added to the previous 2 states. California doesn't feel right without it's giant complex interchanges!
 
I hope that "Retouching the existing system of roads and intersections" means we'll see some of those sweet new interchanges introduced in Arizona added to the previous 2 states. California doesn't feel right without it's giant complex interchanges!

From the blogpost it seems like this is exactly what they are doing.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
I hope that "Retouching the existing system of roads and intersections" means we'll see some of those sweet new interchanges introduced in Arizona added to the previous 2 states. California doesn't feel right without it's giant complex interchanges!

Yeah, the interchanges in Arizona are awesome and a lot of fun to drive on! Hopefully they really spruce California and Nevada up with some similar stuff.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
I hope that "Retouching the existing system of roads and intersections" means we'll see some of those sweet new interchanges introduced in Arizona added to the previous 2 states. California doesn't feel right without it's giant complex interchanges!

The blog post shows that they'll be overhauling those.

Before the rescale:

5A6759H.jpg
61TqixU.jpg


After the rescale:

ADlat9D.jpg
C35zu8p.jpg
 

Arcticfox

Member
I love that they are making this change as the scale was my main problem with the game. I had to turn off the fatigue simulation as it required going to sleep too often.

Now if they would fix the signs the game would be nearly perfect. That new Bakersfield exit shows it perfectly. While the sign might be true to real life, in their representation only one lane is exiting so there should only be one arrow. If I was trying to drive just using the signs that would make me think I could exit directly from the second lane from the right instead of needing to go into the right lane. It's just a nitpick of mine that has been in all their games.
 
I never played one of the truck simulator games and bought American Truck Simulator in the Steam sale, but didn't know that almost everything is mapped to keyboard buttons and can't be accessed via d-pad menu.

I neither have keyboard nor mouse where my wheel is!
Can someone give advice what functions are necessary and what aren't import, because I only have these buttons on my wheel and that's it, for everything else, I'd have to get out of my chair:
(edit: actually, this is my wheel, but I can't use images from ftp with {IMG} and the buttons are the same)
For the gears I have a TH8A 8-gear H-pattern shifter, so I guess I need a toggle button to access 14 gears (there are trucks with more than that, right?!?).

Biggest problem I had from 20 minutes of playing was "look right" at a T-crossing without traffic lights. Is there no option to hold a button to look out of the right window and look back automatically when you release it??

I have the feeling my 13 buttons +d-pad are not going to cut it and I will need to get at the very least a USB-extension to use a controller as a "button box + free look stick" alternative (then I probably have to check if its buttons are controller 1,2 or 3 when I connect my wheel and controller, so the game doesn't mix them?)

I'm really confused and not sure what to do.
 
I have the feeling my 13 buttons +d-pad are not going to cut it and I will need to get at the very least a USB-extension to use a controller as a "button box + free look stick" alternative (then I probably have to check if its buttons are controller 1,2 or 3 when I connect my wheel and controller, so the game doesn't mix them?)

I'm really confused and not sure what to do.

The game supports multiple separate controllers, so I think you will have no issue mixing.

As for general button assignment, here is a list of what I have. I mark everything that is a nice to have, but not essential with a star * :
Left blinker
Right blinker
*Hazard lights
Cruise control
*Engine Brake toggle
*Engine brake increase
*Engine brake decrease
High beams
Enter
Menu
Hand brake
Start/stop engine
Trailer connect/disconnect
Center view (I use mouse for orientation)
*Reset trip
*Navigation next page
*Dashboard next page
Light modes
Windshield wipers (might be less important in ATS than ETS)
Gear shift toggle 1
Gear shift toggle 2

I set engine brake as non-essential because you have limited buttons. Normally you'd want to use this, but you can compensate by using automatic engine brake.

It is also possible to have the view automatically reset, but you need to do some advanced input config in the controls.sii file under your profile. I'll see if I can dig up how to do it, since I have only read about how it's done.
 

Aaron D.

Member
Super-excited about the Scale update coming to ATS!

Timing is really good as well.

I picked up ETS2 Scandinavia DLC during the current Steam sale and dove back in after a LONG hiatus. Damn, I forgot just how golden these games are. Seems like a LOT of work went into ETS2 since I last played it. Game looks phenomenal. I was also reminded of how ace it is roaming the European countryside listening to regional live radio streams. There's a Jazz station in Oslo, Norway that is outta sight. I was digging the music rotations but also the top-of-the-hour news breaks. They were spoken in Norwegian of course but I kept hearing Brexit debated with all the key players names dropping into the conversation. Fascinating stuff.

So while I did buy a launch-day copy of ATS, I'll sit on it for now until the 1:20 scale patch drops and in the mean time reacquaint myself with ETS2.

Win/Win!
 
Has there been any indication yet how they might handle DLC of different states?

Like you get the base game and you have Cali, Arizona and Nevada. Then you decide you don't care about most of the western states and wait for them to release your home state of Michigan and buy that.

Do you drive to the edge of Michigan and teleport to Nevada? Minus expenses for simulated amount of gas and time taken?
 
It is also possible to have the view automatically reset, but you need to do some advanced input config in the controls.sii file under your profile. I'll see if I can dig up how to do it, since I have only read about how it's done.

Thanks a lot!
This game should support modfier-buttons for every function like "hold button1 and then press button 11 to do xyz" or even better: Have the option to do everything from a menu that you can use with a d-pad.

That you even marked "next page" for dash and nav as non-essential is insane, this game s like a flight sim.

I'll try dig up the controls.sii lines needed to auto-reset view myself, thanks again! (If I can't find it, I'll get back to you)
 
That you even marked "next page" for dash and nav as non-essential is insane, this game s like a flight sim.

The pages apart from 1 contains mostly static info that you can memorize at the start of a job. 1st page just has the sleep indicator as an essential thing. Fuel, speed, navigation and speed limit are all listed on your dash if you have an in cabin GPS and time to destination isn't essential unless you waste a lot of time.

That being said, it's nice to have that stuff when you are new to the game, but I usually drive without any gui when I play in VR since it is really distracting to keep onscreen then.

Your biggest challenge is going to be the lack of mouse though. Navigating the menu and map really can't be done without a mouse or something emulating a mouse.

Has there been any indication yet how they might handle DLC of different states?

Like you get the base game and you have Cali, Arizona and Nevada. Then you decide you don't care about most of the western states and wait for them to release your home state of Michigan and buy that.

Do you drive to the edge of Michigan and teleport to Nevada? Minus expenses for simulated amount of gas and time taken?

They have said that they don't really know how to handle that. It might a while until it is a problem though, since they are doing rebuild, then New Mexico and Oregon next.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
It is also possible to have the view automatically reset, but you need to do some advanced input config in the controls.sii file under your profile. I'll see if I can dig up how to do it, since I have only read about how it's done.

There's an option you can toggle that automatically turns the view when you turn the wheel. When I'm not running on the Rift, I enable that and it's more than enough. I have another control on my wheel binded to reset my view to the cockpit facing forward (I have it bound to my d-pad down) in case I need to return to center faster, as well as manual controls to turn the camera view left and right to d-pad left and right. I have d-pad up bound to cycle through cameras.

There's also a toggle to auto-turn the view when you use your turn signals, but I haven't had the need to use that one.

Also, if you don't mind spending some money, you can save 3 buttons for the Range and Splitter shifter toggles as well as the engine brake by getting one of those truck shifter mods you can attach to your wheel's stick shifter:

https://csio.tech/product/skrs-pre-order
 
There's an option you can toggle that automatically turns the view when you turn the wheel. When I'm not running on the Rift, I enable that and it's more than enough.[...]
There's also a toggle to auto-turn the view when you use your turn signals, but I haven't had the need to use that one.
That's the 2 things I tried when I first fired up the game and didn't like either.
I have another control on my wheel binded to reset my view to the cockpit facing forward (I have it bound to my d-pad down) in case I need to return to center faster, as well as manual controls to turn the camera view left and right to d-pad left and right.
The very first thing I tried was turn camera to left and right, but it didn't auto center when I release the button and just wasn't fast enough. Just a few minutes ago I found out about "interior look left/right", which doesn't auto center but directly switches... it's fast, but I still need an extra button to center the view. But I guess that's fine, I'll live. The only other view I have is "camera top->down" for the advanced parking.

And yea, why do I need two toggler buttons for range shifting? It's nice as an option, but had I made this game, the defaults would be 3 dedicated buttons for 3 ranges or 1 button to toggle between range 1,2,3 with an indicator to show which range is selected.

The job I played just a few minutes ago was the first that I didn't struggle terribly with, so you guys already helped me.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
That's the 2 things I tried when I first fired up the game and didn't like either.

You can adjust the speed of the steering wheel auto-turn, so you may want to experiment with that first as you may find something more acceptable with some tweaking.

And yea, why do I need two toggler buttons for range shifting? It's nice as an option, but had I made this game, the defaults would be 3 dedicated buttons for 3 ranges or 1 button to toggle between range 1,2,3 with an indicator to show which range is selected.

It's to simulate how trucks handle the gear shifting (though it's still slightly off for the lowest gear for an 18=gear setup).

This video explains how range selectors and splitters work in trucks (jump to 2 min 8 sec):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYNVcfwRSJU#t=2m08s
 

dragn

Member
you could just buy the old ps3 cam for 5$ and use facetracknoir. needs some tweaking and isnt perfect but works fine
 
It's to simulate how trucks handle the gear shifting (though it's still slightly off for the lowest gear for an 18=gear setup).

This video explains how range selectors and splitters work in trucks (jump to 2 min 8 sec):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYNVcfwRSJU#t=2m08s
I understand the video, but that's not what the "range" shifting option simulates. There is no "split", just 3 ranges and I need 2 buttons for 3 ranges (edit: instead of just one as 3-position toggler). Maybe I should switch to range+split shifting. Then the 2 buttons at least make sense in the way that they simulates the Eaton Fuller gearboxes. Might need some getting used to, but I can see it being fun.

you could just buy the old ps3 cam for 5$ and use facetracknoir. needs some tweaking and isnt perfect but works fine
For every USB device I want to add, I need another 5 meter USB extension that I then have to remove again when I'm done playing and overall I don't think highly of track-IR or Kinect "look-into-corner". That stuff is not for me.
 

Tainted

Member
So tempted to pick up ATS during these steam sales, especially with this news of the rescale....I am so knee deep in ETS2 at the moment though as I picked up the Going East and Scandinavia DLCs on the cheap
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
I understand the video, but that's not what the "range" shifting option simulates. There is no "split", just 3 ranges and I need 2 buttons for 3 ranges (edit: instead of just one as 3-position toggler). Maybe I should switch to range+split shifting. Then the 2 buttons at least make sense in the way that they simulates the Eaton Fuller gearboxes. Might need some getting used to, but I can see it being fun.

Oh, I thought you were referring to the range+split shift mode. That was the only one I ever really did before my old H-shifter broke. Have to use Real Automatic for now with my sequential shifter until I save up for a new H-shifter.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Wow. Looking like some good improvements. Adding more paths, etc is always nice. Overall I'd say it's looking more realistic.

Yeah it's looking fantastic. I'm still excited that they are doing this at all, makes me want to buy every one of their DLC's, lol!



I already own most of them anyway...
 
The 1.4 beta for ATS is now live on Steam.

You can find the beta in the public_beta branch on Steam. (Steam client → LIBRARY → right click on American Truck Simulator → Properties → Betas tab → public_beta - 1.4 public beta).

  • Custom steering wheel position - You'll be allowed to modify both the height and the angle of the steering wheel so you can create your perfect driving position.
  • Trailer selection - We have recently changed how trailer data are organized under the hood in the game engine. More flexibility will come handy; one trailer 3D model can have multiple looks - different "paints" - textures - for example to represent different companies), and there may actually be multiple trailers compatible with the same cargo type. As we are adding new companies, trailers, and cargoes to the game (and so are modders), the old system was no longer sufficient.
  • Cruise control is not disabled by the throttle anymore.
  • Interior camera zoom - please set the key/button for zoom in Options → Key and buttons → Camera controls → Zoom interior camera.
  • Option to set preferred job length generation in options.
  • Option to set split shifting input.
  • More unit display options (volume, consumption).
 
I'm really looking forward to the rescale. I'm also pretty much staying away from the game until it happens. Good to hear that they are not unreasonably far away. Maybe we even get to play the open beta this month.
 
Top Bottom