American Truck Simulator News

The day has come and so has Idaho! Preparations for a release party are in top gear! We are also preparing for a special release stream with special guests. So when exactly is Idaho releasing?

[h3]Idaho for American Truck Simulator will be released at
09:00 PDT / 12:00 EST / 17:00 BST / 18:00 CEST /
 00:00 ₊₁ SGT / 02:00 ₊₁ AEST[/h3]

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So what exactly does Idaho have to offer? This new expansion features:

• Over 3,300 miles of new roads to discover and explore
• 11 new cities - drive through downtown Boise, Coeur d'Alene set on a gorgeous lake or Idaho Falls with a lovely touristic center
• A brand new viewpoint feature that gives you a new perspective of the world
• Expanded fan-favorite industries such as farming, timber harvesting or wood processing
• Visit the famous Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve
• Over 40 recognizable spots from the Historical Highway Marker program
• State-specific geographical landmarks such as canyons, valleys or basalt rock formations
• Many familiar truck stops and rest areas that truckers will know from the real world
• Finely-tuned road layouts and true-to-life signage
• Idaho-specific achievements to unlock

And that shouldn't be the only reason to explore the State for yourself! As an added bonus we will also have a World of Trucks event for all new visitors to Idaho with unique rewards to be earned as you visit each city and deliver jobs. Learn more about the rules in our yesterday blog post and take part in #CruisingIdaho at WorldofTrucks.com. We'd love to see your photos across our Social Media channels using the hashtag!

We expect to have this event available to players for an extended period of time, probably way beyond the point of reaching the 30 million miles community goal. We don't want to motivate you to rush through the DLC in a hurry to make sure you manage to obtain the personal achievement. We simply want to reward early adopters of the DLC for spending quality time with the new content.



We will also be hosting a special Idaho release live-stream across Steam & Twitch starting at 15:00 CEST. Don't miss out on this broadcast as we talk with members of the map and research teams involved in the creation of Idaho and a special guest appearance from Pavel Šebor CEO of SCS Software! We will be answering questions from the community, talking in-depth about the DLC and of course, releasing Idaho LIVE on stream!

With the release of Idaho, we will also be making a new special Steam discount bundle available. Introducing the Pacific Northwest bundle which includes the American Truck Simulator base game as well as Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Forest Machinery DLCs, and the Classic Stripes Paint Jobs Pack. The way Steam bundles work, it's both a perfect bundle for any new drivers who are keen to make a start in their new truckin' career, as well as a way for the loyal fans to obtain the new DLC at a nice discount if you already own the previous DLCs.



We hope you enjoy exploring what Idaho has to offer, we will see you on the roads!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1209470/American_Truck_Simulator__Idaho/

With the release of the Idaho DLC just around the corner, we want to invite you, our #BestCommunityEver, to join us in Cruising Idaho - our latest World Of Trucks event!



We know drivers from around the world are excited to visit Idaho, and we are just as eager for you to get across the border for yourselves. That is why we are happy to announce this new event which will reward drivers who visit the Gem State and contribute to Idaho's local economy and industries.

The most important thing is to be #CruisingIdaho and clocking up the job miles. We promise it will be worth it, with beauty to behold and a rich history to experience. You can even use your own trailer in the external market!



The community goal is simple. Achieve 30,000,000 miles (48,280,320 km) while delivering cargoes to or from any city in Idaho. Technical supplies, farming produce, mining, and transportation equipment, household and building materials, supermarket goods, automotive fleets, and parts. In fact, you can deliver anything at all!

During your travels don't forget to stop at some of Idaho's many viewing platforms, each offering unique cinematic cutscenes, highlighting the attractions of that area. There's so much to see that we can't list it all, but here are some we can easily recommend.

• Take in the magnificent mountain vista of Galena summit.
• Cruise over the historic Perrine memorial bridge with its majestic views, including the Shosone Falls.
• Experience the volcanic Craters of the Moon National Monument.
• Take a snapshot at the famous 45th parallel north, halfway between the Equator and North Pole.
• See if you can spot Sharlie, the famous serpent, in McCalls' Payette Lake.
• Navigate through the craggy and imposing Grand View Canyon.
• Pull over to read some of the many Historical Markers that preserve the history of the early pioneers and Native Americans of Idaho.

There are 11 cities in the Idaho DLC and we want you to see them all. So, we're giving a special reward for completing your personal goal which will require job deliveries to or from all of them.



Both the personal and community rewards are a reflection of Idaho's unique natural history and beauty, and we really think you will like them. But more on that in the rules, so please be sure to read them.

Idaho, Esto Perpetua (It is forever), is our latest addition to American Truck Simulator. Let's see her sites, breathe the air, and take in the grandness of this incredible and varied state.

Rules:

Using External Contracts or External Market, with a World of Trucks-connected profile in American Truck Simulator, the community goal is to achieve 30,000,000 miles (48,280,320 km) while delivering cargoes to or from any city in Idaho.

The cities are:

Sandpoint, Coeur d'Alene, Lewiston, Grangeville, Salmon, Boise, Ketchum, Idaho Falls, Nampa, Twin Falls, Pocatello.

When a player completes delivery to or from all 11 Idaho cities, it will complete their personal goal.

All jobs for the event need to be 100 miles each (161 km) or more.

To verify if you comply with the rules, you can review your recent deliveries in the World of Trucks' LogBook.

Rewards:

Personal goal: Individual player contributions of deliveries, either to or from all 11 Idaho cities will gain that player a personal World of Trucks Achievement and a beautiful Appaloosa themed ATS truck paint job Steam inventory item.



Community goal: When the community goal of clocking up 30,000,000 miles (48,280,320 km) during deliveries to/from any of the 11 cities in Idaho is met, and if the player has also achieved their personal goal then they will receive a hanging Peregrine Gem ornament Steam inventory item.



We look forward to seeing drivers new and old exploring Idaho for the first time, and we would love to see photos from your first journeys across the state border! Share your screenshots and videos with us using the hashtag #CruisingIdaho on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profiles and we will share our favorite ones (we may even feature some of them in an upcoming blog post!).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1209470/American_Truck_Simulator__Idaho/

With Idaho's release just around the corner and with lots of testing, feedback, fixing and fine-tuning, we are excited to announce the arrival of update the 1.38 for American Truck Simulator!



We'd like to thank all those who took part in your bug reports, opinions, and general feedback. 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 1.38 update ATS? Lets us give you a quick recap of the most significant changes.

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First off, the city of Las Vegas has received a major revamp, which includes new road networks, updates to existing interstate junctions, more detailed scenery, and the inclusion of newer vegetation, terrain textures, and much more!

You can find a more in-depth blog post on the subject which showcases many of the changes found in and around the city. But the best way to see it all is to see the city for yourself! So be sure to make that trip to Nevada and let us know what you think through our social media channels.


Las Vegas isn't the only part of the American Truck Simulator world to receive an update in 1.38, one of the more noticeable changes are to Truckstops. One of the first changes you will notice at Truckstops in ATS is that fuel stations now have lanes with appropriate width for trucks to pull up and refuel in. We have also implemented (where possible) guidance lines to help drivers line up their trucks to avoid damaging their vehicles upon entry and exit. Plus there is a completely new truck stop placed on the US-111 road now!



We are also excited to introduce the inclusion of a computer graphics technique for efficiently approximating ambient occlusion effects in real-time. Screen Space Ambient Occlusion, better known in its shorter form SSAO, creates shadows in the areas where objects connect, to give it a more natural and believable look in terms of lighting and shadows.

Less powerful GPUs may struggle to keep up at full quality, and with 400% or similarly high scaling selected, even mid-range machines would feel the impact on fps. If you are not happy with framerate after this update, please open the advanced graphics options in the game and try to find the right combination of scaling and SSAO quality for you. With a weaker GPU, it may be advisable to switch off SSAO completely.



This new feature can be better explained by one of our senior programmers, be sure to read a more in-depth post about the topic at our Under the Hood blog post here 


We are also excited to introduce a long-requested update to the RGB Color Picker which drivers use to paint their trucks when purchasing or tuning their truck. You now have the option to input specific color inputs (HSV, RGB, and HEX).

We know that many drivers like to match their truck colors the same across their whole fleet, so we hope this feature is useful to you.



There is much more packed into this update! If you would like a more in-depth read of other features included in this update, take a read of our previous blogpost for the 1.38 Open Beta.

MAP

• Las Vegas city revamped (I-515/I-11 interstate bypass + the whole city switched to the template road system)
  
• US-191 road implemented
  
• UT-56 road implemented + reskin of a little stretch of US-93 around Panaca settlement
  
• CA-111 - new truckstop added
  
• El Centro revamped
  
• New company in Logan, UT (Plaster & Sons)
  
• Reworked all truck stop gas pumps to be more realistic. More realistic dimensions and the logic of how they work
  
• NM Shiprock redesigned + piece of US-491
  
• Various map fixes
  

VEHICLES

• Automatic transmission improved (shifting points, adaptive modes)
  
• Las Vegas: New ambulance and fire trucks
  
• Fixed steering deadzone
  

FEATURES

• Visual improvement - procedural ambient occlusion generation (SSAO)
  
• Route Advisor redesigned
  
• Navigation ETA to the next waypoint in route advisor and in world map
  
• Tobii eye-tracking presets
  
• RGB color picker redesigned
  
• Added RGB, HSV and HEX inputs
  
• User defined color presets
  

SOUND

• Update to FMOD 2.01.01
  
• Fixed the retarder sound when the engine is off
  
• AI - exclusion of gear-shifts for trains and electric vehicles
  

To enjoy the 1.38 update, make sure to OPT OUT of beta branches and your game will be automatically updated on Steam.

Some mods, however, may have not caught up yet - this update may effectively break them. So remember that you can always stay on 1.37 or an even older branch. The way to access and select them is: Steam client → LIBRARY → right-click on American Truck Simulator → Properties → Betas tab → select the version you want.

With the final touches being made to the Idaho DLC, we are excited to announce a release date for this spudtacular addition to American Truck Simulator.

Idaho will be released on the 16th of July 2020! We are excited to be able to let drivers explore Idaho for themselves very soon. We hope this short video trailer will keep you content until next week.

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If that wasn't enough to get you excited, we also have a gallery of some of the best screenshots from Idaho that have been featured in our previous blog posts along with a few new exclusive photos too. Let us know which one is your favorite in the comments!



With Idaho just around the corner, we wanted to also bring something that drivers in American Truck Simulator can take part in. So you all can expect a very nice World of Trucks in-game event coming live with the release of this map expansion! But more info about that later next week!

We can't for wait for you to visit Idaho! If you haven't already, make sure to add Idaho to your Steam wishlist! We thank you for your support and we look forward to welcoming you across the state border very soon. 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1209470/American_Truck_Simulator__Idaho/

Ever wanted to take a moment to look at a historical landmark or a scenic view while on the job, but felt that the pressure of delivering the cargo on time, or the concern for safety on the road, just do not make it possible?

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Our artists and map designers put a lot of effort into making our game world as beautiful as they can, but often, a location that they may have spent months of time creating will be driven through in a matter of seconds without the player having a chance to admire it. There have always been many players keen to explore the world to the fullest, searching for cool places to see, but until now, the game did not offer any tool or incentive for sightseeing.

With the release of the new Idaho DLC, we are experimenting with a new feature that will allow you to take a while to relax and enjoy a nice view of natural or artificial landmarks, or perhaps settlements or industries that are of interest in the given region.

In the area of Idaho DLC, drivers will be able to find several such places and activate a special in-game "cutscene" with a short showcase of a nearby place of interest. The locations include sites of economical and historical importance, such as the capital city of Boise. The spots are identified by a new film-camera 3D green icon visible in the world, which also appears on your GPS route advisor as a purple star.


At the moment, we still consider the new feature an experiment. If the reception is positive, we are thinking of expanding it further, not just to more cool locations across the whole game world, but also to make it more feature-rich, and a more integrated gameplay element. We are thinking of expanding it with descriptions and more detailed facts on why the place is interesting and important, providing a light education element. We may also consider creating a log of visited places, giving the player a chance to re-play the cut scenes of visited places as a reminder of their travels. If you have any additional ideas on how to get more fun out of the feature for players, we'd like to hear them!


We hope you will enjoy this brand new addition arriving in Idaho for American Truck Simulator. If you are excited to visit this new state, make sure you have added it to your Steam Wishlist. If you have done so already, thank you! This really supports us and our upcoming releases.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1209470/American_Truck_Simulator__Idaho/