American Truck Simulator News

Texas belongs to one of the frontrunners in many industries in the US and today’s blog post will once again prove just that. Let’s take a look at the local glass plants and wind power sites that you will be able to check out in the upcoming map expansion.



Glassmaking belongs to one of the oldest industries. It has been transforming natural resources - the primary being just ordinary sand, and its main component, silicon dioxide or silica, into beautiful glass creations for many years. We meet these products all around us - the glass you drink from or perhaps the window of your truck.

In order for glass factories to be able to fully function and craft products, they need to bring various stuff, such as raw materials for the production of glass, machine parts, or even racks for the subsequent logistics of flat glass. Finished products must be taken to customers after removal from storage. Automotive glass for cars, glass walls for building houses, or glass bottles for a lemonade stand. It takes an experienced driver to deliver this fragile cargo without any damage at all. Will you accept the challenge?



You’ve been able to spot wind farms in the world of ATS for quite some time. However, due to the convenient position of Texas right next to the ocean, the construction of these sites and the production of wind power is very common. We know many of you are fans of the special cargo types delivered to these areas, and in the upcoming DLC, large cranes are already waiting to move the cargo brought in by you to the top of these tall giants.



Stay tuned for more information in regards to Texas DLC, there are some BIG topics ahead! For now, if you can’t wait for this project to be available, show us your excitement by adding it to your Steam Wishlist. Also, to never miss out on anything important, you can follow our social media profiles (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok), subscribe to our newsletter, or check out our microsite dedicated to this project.

The month of October is internationally recognised as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, better known as Pinktober. Often represented visually by a pink ribbon, the Pinktober campaign helps share critical information and spread awareness about this terrible disease which many are affected by.



Educating yourself and sharing information with those around you is an important part of breast cancer awareness and detection, as it helps to know what signs to look out for. Regular self-checks and visiting your local doctor, while, at the same time, reminding those closest to you to do the same is the main message conveyed during the campaign. Your health should always be the highest priority.

Every year kind-hearted supporters are doing their best to aid in the battle by sending direct donations or spreading awareness. A couple of years ago we decided to commit ourselves to the cause as well in the form of a Pink Ribbon Charity Event which came along with two special DLCs in 2019 - one for American Truck Simulator, and one for Euro Truck Simulator 2. This opened up a possibility for those who wanted to help but weren’t sure where to donate, as, in the end, 100% of the income from these DLCs goes to a charity every year.

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/

If you wish to join a good cause and obtain some new paint jobs for your trucks, now is the perfect opportunity to get these two DLCs or gift them to a friend and contribute to the battle against Breast Cancer. And in case you and your friends already own these DLCs, you can spread awareness by decorating your trucks in these paint jobs and haul with pride while letting others know about this good cause by flooding social media with screenshots of your trucks under #Pinktober2022.

In regards to which charities we are going to donate the final amount to, this year is going to be slightly different. This time we have decided to send the final sum raised from the DLCs to a single local charity - Alliance of Women with Breast Cancer. Pay close attention to our blog at the end of the month, as we will release another blog post wrapping up this year’s Pinktober and announcing the final amount of money donated!



As part of Pinktober, we have also invited representatives from the Alliance of Women with Breast Cancer charity to host a Breast Cancer awareness seminar at our studios in Prague. We are very grateful to be able to offer such an informative session to our ever-increasing number of team members, and we hope to see colleagues old and new take part.

We thank you all for your gracious support in advance, and thank those who have continually supported the Pinktober cause throughout the past year.

Today, we are happy to share with you that the 1.46 Open Beta branch for American Truck Simulator is now available to try and test out. If you plan on participating in this Open Beta, we ask that you please help us by reporting any bugs you may encounter in the appropriate section(s) of our official forums.



Your feedback and reports are extremely valuable to our team and we thank you in advance for taking the time to help us out. So, without further ado, let's take a look at what the 1.46 Open Beta has in store.

Company Browser
An exciting new feature coming to both American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 in the 1.46 update is the Company Browser. This new in-game browser allows players to search for specific types of companies, cargoes and/or trailer types. This means that if you are waiting for any of the examples mentioned in the previous sentence, you can easily check if such a thing even exists within the game!



So, if you are curious about which cargo you can theoretically haul for example between Calais and Duisburg or even Edinburgh to Istanbul, the company browser will achieve just that!



We are eager for you to take this new feature for a test drive during the Open Beta and to receive your feedback on the Company Browser. Any feedback or comments are welcome about this feature (or any others you are trying during the beta) at our forums. Happy trucking!

Ownable Cisterns - Chemical Trailers
Today we are happy to share with you the next addition to our ownable cistern collection which will be available in 1.46, Chemical Trailers!



These tankers are designed to transport a variety of chemicals including acidic, toxic, or corrosive liquid products. These cargo types include Hydrochloric Acid, Sulfuric Acid, Pesticides, Mercuric Chloride and more, so careful driving is highly recommended.



The ATS Cistern will include 3 chassis types (43ft 2 axle, 48ft 3 axle and 53ft, 4 axle) which are single chain. It will also come 2 body types (chrome or paintable) and with a variety of accessories and customizations which include:

• Chassis type
  

• Paintjobs (base and DLC)
  

• Markers
  

• Rear bumpers
  

• Mudflaps
  

• and other accessories such as (hoses, tool boxes, extinguishers etc
  

We are excited to see you hauling these new chemical trailers in your company and how you will customize them!

US-20
We are happy to share that the US-20, located between Idaho and Montana will be arriving as a free update for owners of the DLCs. This highway has been highly requested by you, our #BestCommunityEver, since Montana's release.



This important connection allows drivers to drive between Idaho Falls, ID, and the settlement of West Yellowstone in Montana. West Yellowstone is also home to a tourist center, located just outside the west gate to the Yellowstone Natl. Park. This also gives players traveling from Idaho state an option to travel to the Yellowstone National Park as well as connect with US-191 which is a popular trucking route in the area.



We hope you enjoy exploring this new road along with the beautiful views that come along with it. And who knows, maybe you will find a new achievement over there as well.

Custom City Intros
Recently, we introduced a new experimental feature in ETS2 and ATS - the custom city introductions. Thanks to the positive feedback that we have seen from the community, we are glad to let you know that we will further expand this feature in the upcoming 1.46 update!



These special cutscenes appear when a player selects a starting city when creating a new profile and, as you may know, they are currently available only for the cities of Austria and the city of Hanover in Euro Truck Simulator 2. In the 1.46 update, however, this feature can now be found in the world of American Truck Simulator also!

New players will have the opportunity to watch one of these awesome cutscenes when selecting their first city that has a garage in Colorado and Wyoming map expansions.



So, what do you think? Should we keep working on the custom city introductions? If so, let us know!

Idaho Viewpoints Redesign
We went back and updated the viewpoints of Idaho DLC to better reflect our current standard of their length, pace and camera movement. They are now generally more polished and on par in terms of quality with their more modern siblings from newer map expansions.



Driveshaft Torque

We are always doing our best to make the trucking experience within our games as realistic as possible, and that is exactly the reason why this new addition, which can be turned on in the settings, is arriving into the world of ATS. This feature simulates the spinning of the chassis during acceleration, which results in a slight lift of the front left wheel. This effect is more visible on American trucks due to them being longer.



Changelog

Map

• US-20 road between Idaho and Montana
  

• Idaho Viewpoints Redesign
  

Vehicles

• Ownable Cisterns - Chemical Trailers
  

• Cascadia and Western Star 57X got custom infotainment implementation
  

• Infotainment/GPS screens on all trucks have switched off state separated from map zoom
  

• Cellphones and navigational devices got a custom implementation
  

Gameplay

• Company Browser
  

• Custom City Intros
  

• Driveshaft Torque
  

• New Parking Achievement
  

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, or crashes. It's completely okay if you want to wait for the final release. But if you're interested in helping us to get there faster, we'll appreciate all of your feedback on our forum and your bug reports in this section.

Please check our modding wiki to get details pertaining to mods for the game.

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 American Truck Simulator → Properties → Betas tab → public_beta → 1.46. No password required. Sometimes you have to restart your Steam client to see the correct branch name there.

Texas has a rich history when it comes to the oil and chemical industry. From the first noted discovery of oil in 1894 to having more than one-fourth of the nation's 100 largest oil fields, Texas has become a major player in the industry. In our upcoming Texas DLC for American Truck Simulator, players can deliver to and from oil and chemical industries found across the state.



Texas is by far the largest oil-producing state in the United States, producing a total of 1.7 billion barrels in 2021. With all this production, the sector alone employs hundreds of thousands of people including truck drivers who play an important role in exporting goods and transporting equipment.

The oil industry will feature prominently in the Texas DLC, and will include several industry depots including oil services, oil wells and oil storage. Much like everything else in Texas, you can expect some of the depots to be pretty large too!



With the large abundance of oil wells, comes a similarly massive number of chemical and refinery plants. These industrial processing plants are where the oil is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, bitumen, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, petroleum naphtha, and more!

From Corpus Christi to Longview, players will be able to find these depots located across Texas to export oil across the United States and beyond.



As we continue to develop and refine Texas, be sure to follow our social to keep up to date with the latest DLC news, updates and more. Until then, keep on truckin'!

When working on an upcoming DLC, we are always trying to provide the most accurate interpretation of the local road network, and as much as it would’ve been interesting to only have straight roads in the real world, the intersections and bridges are a necessity that every trucker needs to take into consideration. Let’s take a look at some of these road areas that you will be able to drive through in the Texas map expansion for ATS.



As you may have noticed, we have recently decided to hold back a bit on using the saying that Everything is bigger in Texas, but in this case, we feel like it is simply unavoidable. The thing is, the intersections in Texas are quite often so large that they are reminiscent of the layout and size of whole cities. And it’s not just quality, but the quantity that stands out as well, since there will be approximately 90 intersections for you to explore.



Most of these areas in the DLC will be very carefully designed and put together piece by piece in order to represent their real-life counterparts as best as possible. You can probably imagine the work that went into creating the intersection in Austin which has 5 levels...



In regards to the bridges, you can look forward to driving through most of the well-known ones, for example, the Margaret McDermott Bridge in Dallas or the Waco Brazos River Bridges. And even though it is still under construction, you will also be able to take a look at the new Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi which is officially going to become the tallest bridge in Texas upon opening in a few years.



We hope the swirls and the heights featured in the screenshots did not make you dizzy. If instead, you enjoyed this peek at the upcoming new content, add the Texas DLC to your Steam Wishlist. Also, to never miss out on anything important, you can follow our social media profiles, subscribe to our newsletter, or check out our microsite dedicated to this project.