American Truck Simulator News

As one of the more diverse states in terms of geography and topography, the US region of Colorado is known for its national parks and modern cities. The state is especially famous for its Rocky Mountains, however, much of the eastern part of the region is dominated by a unique grassland that extends across the American continent.



From Northern Canada to Southern Texas, the Great Plains is an area that stretches more than eighteen hundred miles from north to south and more than five hundred miles from east to west. Today, much of this expansive prairie is used for agriculture that produces dozens of food and fiber products.


Wheat, barley, canola, corn, cotton, sorghum, and soybeans are just a few types of crops and produce planted and grown by farmers in the Great Plains; but that's not all! This large expanse of land is also perfect for grazing livestock, the majority of them being pigs and cattle.



In Colorado, nearly half of the states 66 million acres are dedicated just to farms and ranches, which makes it one of its largest industries. Drivers in our upcoming DLC will be sure to play a key role in contributing to this important economy and exporting the states produce across the states. From hay bales to farming equipment, truckers will be the backbone of making sure this important and large industry in Colorado keeps on moo-vin'!


If you think that Colorado for American Truck Simulator will be plain amazing, then be sure to add it your Steam Wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1209471/American_Truck_Simulator__Colorado/

Five days ago, we released the latest expansion for American Truck Simulator, the state of Idaho.
With its release, we also introduced a very special World of Trucks event for our community, the #CruisingIdaho event.



We wanted to set the community goal to a number which wouldn't put too much pressure on our players while hoping it would last for at least a week or two, but you, our #BestCommunityEver have smashed right through it and have left us speechless once again!

Your amazing support kicked the Idaho DLC to the first position in Global Top Sellers on Steam to steal a few minutes of fame from other big titles (sorry Death Stranding, but not sorry). Thank you so much for your support!



But that was not enough for you, because immediately thousands of you joined the #CruisingIdaho event and the community goal of 30,000,000 miles was completed on Sunday morning, which left us all astonished!



But please do not worry for a second! Because with the community goal finished, it doesn't mean that we are going to end the event anytime soon! We do not want to bring any pressure or make you feel like you have to hurry and rush through this new DLC to complete the personal goal to earn the rewards. You all can slow down your trucks a bit, open windows, let the fresh Idaho air come to your truck's cabin, and enjoy the view a bit.

 The event will conclude on the 16th of August, 2020, 23:59 UTC!

Meanwhile, while you're filling up your tanks or taking a rest at some of the new Idaho rest stops, you can watch some of the community videos created in this latest map expansion! As usual, these below are just a very few of those videos and stream recordings that caught our eyes recently, and if you want to find more, or your favorite streamer or content maker, be sure to check the full list of videos that can be found here.

Jeff Favignano

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Clumsy

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Squirrel

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Fox On The Box

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TGM

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Hubyfan (German Language)

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SiSL

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TheNorthernAlex

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Acepilot2k7

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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.