Euro Truck Simulator 2 News

With lots of testing, feedback, fixing and fine-tuning, we are excited to announce the arrival of update the 1.39 for Euro Truck Simulator 2!



We'd like to thank all those who took part in the 1.39 open beta and made bug reports and provided general feedback on this new version. We hope you can now begin to fully enjoy the various new features which are included within this update. So, what can you expect to find in the 1.39 update for ETS2?

Lets us give you a quick recap of the most significant changes.

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LAUNCHPAD UPDATE

One of the first things you may notice when you launch Euro Truck Simulator 2 with the 1.39 Open Beta is a redesign of the current launchpad. The main reason why we are introducing this change is to pave the way for a future addition, which will introduce new features to our games that are accessed through the launchpad.



Until then, however, you can see that the design has changed quite significantly. The profile selected at the top now affects all other options and managers found on the launchpad. This applies not only to the Mod Manager but especially to the new addition which we have placed here, Game Options. 

This allows you to change your game settings without even having to load the game. So if you're just looking to tweak your game before streaming on Twitch or adjusting a few options before heading into your truck, it can all be done from the launchpad screen. 

LOW-BED & LOW-LOADER TRAILERS

As we previously announced in a recent blog, new Lowbed & Low-Loader Trailers will be arriving at Euro Truck Simulator 2. These trailers have been reworked from the ground up, offering drivers the option to purchase them and use them in an array of different jobs

including High Power Cargo Pack, and the Heavy Cargo DLC's.



Low-bed and low-loader trailers now come in two main versions - short and extended, plus they now have customizable chassis which can affect their suitability for heavy cargoes. You will now also be able to adjust and tune them up with multiple new options like colors, rear bumpers, and banners, markers, lights, ramps, side protectors, multiple versions of side/toolboxes, beacons, strobes, mud-flaps, and more! Every single one of these new options had to be adjusted properly for each of these new trailers, to be sure that they fit perfectly!



This major update affects not only the base game of ETS2, but also a lot of other DLCs such as the Heavy Cargo Pack, High Power Cargo Pack, Schwarzmüller DLC, and Special Transport.



CITY OF CALAIS RESKIN

Introducing the port of Calais, the fourth-largest port in France and the busiest for passenger traffic. Its industry accounts for more than a third of economic activity in the local area. As many of you may know, Calais is one of our base game cities which was released with Euro Truck Simulator 2. 



As such, a dedicated part of our map team has taken time to give the city and port a major reskin, giving it a fresh and up-to-date look for 1.39. The biggest change you will notice is how the port is now represented in-game. In reality, Calais port is huge and so our map team has worked hard to best reflect that reality within the confines of our map scale. This newly recreated port will feature new assets including gates, terminals, ramps for ferries, and fences.



Other changes include updates to the port entrance and surrounding city areas which have been redesigned to correspond more correctly to reality now. You can read more in detail about this free update to Calais in this blogpost. 

GENERAL BUG FIXES/SOUND CHANGES

1.39 also features various bug fixes, improvements, and an update to sounds. This includes, but is not limited to, improved interior cab sound mixing and other changes in preparation for new and upcoming content.

One of the changes you can find is the addition of the Turbo sound slider in the game's Options screen. When we introduced a separate channel for turbo sound some years back, it was hailed as a crucial enhancement to the simulation. We did our best to tune it properly based on actual in-cabin recordings. Indeed, many players commented very positively on it. However, over the years we have also been receiving feedback that the whistling sound may be too difficult to bear for some players. The new slider continues the trend of giving you more control over your simulation experience. We hope you enjoy this new addition plus a few other sound tweaks which come with it.

While a majority of the changes in 1.39 are not seen visually in this version, we look forward to bringing you more content and changes in the near future. 

CHANGELOG

MAP

• City of Calais re-skin

UI

• Launchpad redesigned

VEHICLES

• Lowbed and low-loader trailers (ownable)
• Schwarzmuller low-loader (ownable) for the Schwarzmuller DLC
• DAF XF 2017 Facelift added to AI vehicles
• MAN TGX Euro 6 added to AI vehicles (with 6x2/4 variants as well)

FEATURES

• Sound updates and improvements (turbo slider, sound positioning, cabin spatial mixing, sound distribution to accessories)
• Trailer browser & lister shows all valid cargo variants
• Experimental transmission input shaft emulation and clutch brake support (g_clutch_brake)

The month of October is coming to an end and so is our #Pinktober campaign. We thought this might be a good opportunity to thank our #BestCommunityEver for your amazing support. We also wanted to remind you about the importance of the core message of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and that the lessons don't just end because the month is over.



Each October, many charities around the world organize events, fundraisers, meetings, and speeches to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month. With the cooperation and support from hundreds of thousands of companies and individuals worldwide, it has become an important tradition. Often also referred to as "Pinktober" it is usually represented by the Pink Ribbon. It has become a symbol of hope and a reminder to promote and share important health information.

To promote this awareness campaign, we took upon ourselves to emphasize how important regular doctor visits and self-examinations are. You will probably remember our last year's extensive Pink Ribbon Charity event, in which we too threw a few punches at breast cancer along with the ETS2 and ATS community. At the start of the event, we introduced two very special DLCs, one for each of our games, in which we promised to give 100% of the money received to multiple charities focusing on this topic. And we are in this for the long haul.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1068290/Euro_Truck_Simulator_2__Pink_Ribbon_Charity_Pack/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1162160/American_Truck_Simulator__Pink_Ribbon_Charity_Pack/

During the event and through the sales of these two DLCs, together we raised more than 40,000 USD dollars last October, which we later equally divided and donated to three chosen charities. We promised to continue to donate the money raised to charity from these packs every October, even long after our first initial event last year.



And here we are! If follow our social media or have watched our most recent live-streams, you may already know the news which we are about to share as we continued to raise awareness of #Pinktober during this past month on our Twitch and Steam live broadcasts.



Between the period of October 2019 and October 2020, thanks to the support continuously coming from our #BestCommunityEver, we've been able to raise another 50,000 USD, which we plan to donate in the upcoming days once again. This amazing pile of support and love will be divided into 4 equal amounts of 12,500 USD and given to 4 charities who are in the front line of fighting breast cancer. Three of the 4 are the same as last year, with the addition of a new charity based in the United Kingdom.

Alliance of Women with Breast Cancer (Czech) Brustkrebs Deutschland e.V. (Germany) Breast Cancer Now (UK) Breast Cancer Research Foundation (USA)

Thanks to you, we are able to send much-needed support to these wonderful charities to help people across the world. With the difficult times at hand, we feel the support may be needed now more than ever. Thank you, everyone, who has continued to support the good cause through the purchase of our special charity packs, participated in live-streams, and community fundraisers!

When creating new areas in an upcoming DLC, landmark models play an important role in adding to the authenticity and immersion of a driver's experience. For many, these points of interest are important locations, especially when you want to confirm your location. Today, we are happy to share with you a gallery of iconic landmarks from our upcoming Iberia DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2. 



Landmarks can be found in all shapes and sizes, from medieval castles to statues of historical figures, and Iberia is full of them! Heading to the south-east of Spain, you may come across the Alcazaba of Almería, one of the largest castles in the country constructed in 955AD. Standing high on a hill, this fortress serves as an important monument to the city. 



Aqueducts and viaducts are landmarks that one might not consider interesting, but some of these bridges have been standing for hundreds of years and continue to serve as an important landmark for travellers. 



While it is not easy to decide on a list of landmarks to include in our upcoming DLC (from the hundreds or thousands that exist across the peninsula of Iberia in reality), we hope you will be able to recognize and admire the ones chosen and recreated in detail by our talented art team.



These are just some of the areas of Iberia that feature prominent landmarks, do you recognize any of them? If you do, let us know where you think they might be located in the comments. Oh, and don't forget to take a moment to add Iberia for Euro Truck Simulator 2 to your Steam Wishlist, which really helps supports us and our upcoming releases. Thanks for your support!  


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1209460/Euro_Truck_Simulator_2__Iberia/

Today is a very special day not only for the Czech Republic, our home country, but also for our friends in Slovakia. On this very day 102 years ago (October 28th 1918), Czechoslovakia declared independence. Many things have changed since that time - most importantly, in 1993, former Czechoslovakia split into 2 separate countries: The Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. But the year 1918 still remains the most significant milestone in the recent history of both countries to this date.



To commemorate this special day, Tomáš "Timmy" Duda, a producer here at SCS Software, came up with an idea that would bring together game developers from across Czechia and Slovakia - to feature their games in a special Steam event. It all started recently when Timmy noticed and was inspired by a similarly-styled Swiss Developer Sale on Steam. Says Timmy, "I liked the idea of a national sale showcase a lot, it felt like something which would make an impact for the Czech and Slovak game industry... I wanted to highlight not only the best-known games, but also indie games because they need the most support; indies always have to try hard to be visible and have their games discovered." 

As a representative of SCS Software, Timmy went ahead to share the idea with the Czech Game Developers Association. "I suggested doing this sale together, as it's something I love doing, and several other developers we probed got back to us supporting the notion". It gained so much positive attention that Pavel Barák, The Chairman of the Czech GDA, went on to contact the Slovak Game Developers Association to ask if they would like to join in for such an occasion. In the next 3 days, the GDA received an overwhelming response from 50 different developers registering their interest in this idea. 

Still, this was only a start, we had to get Steam/Valve aboard with the idea. It took a while, but we have been fortunate to do so thanks to the united voice of the biggest Czech game developer studios. Many weeks have passed as we were trying to arrange the sale. Finally, with the confirmation in-hand and a looming deadline, this final element was required - artwork for the Steam sale page.

Enter Anna Voříšková, a talented artist here at SCS Software. "I fell in love with the idea right away," she said. "I thought it was amazing and I had to be a part of this project!" Immediately, Anna started sketching up ideas for the artwork that would eventually be featured in front of the massive Steam userbase. She goes on to explain her ideas behind the final featured design... "I knew I wanted to make something cute, playful, and eye-catching, but at the same time, I wanted it to have a homely, familiar feeling to it. I figured placing different video game characters and objects on a gamer's desk and have them interact with each other would be the right idea! And since I like to use unnatural colours in my work, I decided to go for a palette full of bright pinks and purples, inspired by the LED lights that often frame gaming setups".



The final artwork features vibrant colours, objects, and characters from a whole host of games from both countries, as featured in the Steam sale event. "It's been a huge honour for me to have had the opportunity to represent both the Czech & Slovak game industries in my artwork." Anna says "I'm really proud of what we've managed to create together, considering how tiny our team was, and how little time we had. I had a lot of fun creating graphics for the event, it's been a truly unique experience and I really hope I get to be a part of something similar again in the future!"

Thanks to the hard work of Timmy and Anna, today you can find over 160 games on sale from 72 developers. We encourage you to explore and check out the wide array of games available, created by studios large and small, as well as individual developers. We are proud to see that our small region in Central Europe has produced so many fantastic games played by people all over the planet.

The sale only runs until November 2nd, so make sure to check out all the amazing games and the original featured artwork on Steam's Czech & Slovak Games Week page HERE.



As a historical footnote, you may find this recent article at Ars Technica of interest. It's a well-researched piece exploring the ancient history of Communist-era illicit text-based games produced by kids in Czechoslovakia as a way to protest against the oppression of the regime - pioneers and to a large extent forgotten heroes at the dawn of what is now the Czech and Slovak games industry.

Last year on this date we released a blog post celebrating the 7th anniversary of Euro Truck Simulator 2. It feels like it hasn't been that long since we wrote that article, and yet here we are with another year passed, milestones reached, tons of content created and another anniversary to celebrate. While the world experiences a difficult time, we know that many of you use Euro Truck Simulator 2 as an escape from reality to relax.

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On the 18th of October 2012, Euro Truck Simulator 2 was released to the world. Since then, it truly has been an amazing ride from the very first km in our in-game world, and we definitely could have not wished for a better community.

Even though the world is currently going through a challenging period, we wanted to take a few minutes of our time to say thank you to our #BestCommunityEver for all the wonderful support, for being our motivation and for helping us make our games even better as time goes on. 

And because we are in a celebration mood, we thought it would be nice and appropriate to "reward" you with a slice of the birthday cake. Hence we decided to show you something yet unrevealed, still in a pre-alpha stage, but already cool and promising. A few screenshots from the next map expansion for Euro Truck Simulator 2, which is already in the making and planned to be the next release after Iberia!



How do you like them? Do you have an idea on the location of these shots? For now, we can't share any more info with you as we have switched our focus back to Iberia, but know that we will bring you more info about this project in the future!

Happy 8th Anniversary!