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American Truck Simulator News

California Rework - Truckee & Agricultural Inspection

Nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Northern California, you'll find the charming town of Truckee, a large town which attracts visitors from all over the world, thanks to its abundance in natural beauty and ski resorts.



As an already existing city in American Truck Simulator, you may have travelled here a few times before. However, with the California rework project in full swing, our team have been working hard on bringing true to life assets, textures and layouts to its surrounding road networks and industries.



Truckee is a town that proudly retains its historic charm with its well preserved old western style architecture, which serves as a backdrop to the surrounding snow capped mountains. In the historic downtown area, you will find a variety of shops, art galleries, restaurants and more. As you can imagine for most drivers, it is a nice change of scenery when coming from the hustle and bustle of the west coast!


With the rework of Truckee, you'll find many new industries to support the local economy; including a sawmill and local market, you'll find no shortage of jobs when you are in town. The local road network and surrounding highways have also been reworked, with a realistic junction layout which better represents its real life counterpart.



Locals who are knowledgeable about the area already know about the Donner pass, which offers winding roads, beautiful scenic vistas and plenty of natural beauty. Whilst this road is usually off-limits to truckers, it is one road you do not want to miss out on exploring!



Drivers leaving Truckee or arriving from Nevada will be subject to a stop at an Agricultural Inspection Station. Whilst these stations have been included since the first California rework phase, Truckee features a unique looking stop. Even though these stops are mandatory, we recommend taking a moment to appreciate the size and style of this station.


We can't wait for you to check out Truckee for yourself and take advantage of its 4 roundabouts to admire the details over and over again. We look forward to sharing more developments updates to the road networks and more in upcoming blog posts!

Texas - Truck Stops

Time and time again we somehow manage to reach the unavoidable conclusion of everything indeed being bigger in Texas. Today, this famous saying will be applied on Truck Stops featured in the upcoming Texas DLC for American Truck Simulator!



It probably goes without saying that the local truck stops in Texas will be much bigger than the ones in any other state. However, in addition to that, the number of available gas stations and rest stops will be much higher as well. While driving through some of the previously released map expansions you can usually find one truck stop near every city. But now, in Texas, we are aiming to have a much higher rate of truck stops - near almost every city and junction that you will drive through so you will be able to take a break from your journey!



An important thing to note is also the fact that quantity does not mean less quality. Numerous of these truck stops will have a landmark main building and you will also have the unique opportunity to check out the biggest gas station in the world, which is located near San Antonio.



We hope you have enjoyed a "tiny" (needs more quotes) peek into what these important trucking facilities hold in store for you in the new Texas DLC. Please mind that everything you have seen is still very much a work-in-progress, but if it still managed to get you excited, make sure to add the expansion to your Steam Wishlist, and eventually you can be one of the first players to explore all these locations in full glory.



And finally, we are glad to let you know we have created a microsite dedicated to Texas map expansion. This site will serve as a hub consisting of all the critical information about the content of the DLC, and it will be a place where all the images and videos we produce will be able to be easily found by all the fans of this new addition to ATS. We hope it will be a perfect way through which the players who don’t follow us anywhere else will not miss out on any important information.

We also plan to include some exclusive content on the microsite, such as notes from the development, concept arts, and more! Therefore all of you who are extremely hyped about the Texas DLC should definitely add the website to their bookmarks and check it out from time to time.

You can find the microsite HERE.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1465750/American_Truck_Simulator__Texas/

1.44 - New ATS Special Transport Routes

From oversized cargo to challenging routes, the Special Transport DLC offers players a unique trucking experience; and today we are happy to share that 8 new routes will be arriving to the roads American Truck Simulator in the 1.44 update.



Much like our previous addition of new Special Transport routes to Euro Truck Simulator 2, our team wanted to bring new additional content for our drivers in ATS too! These new routes will be found across the states of Arizona/Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, New Mexico, Idaho and Colorado.



So where exactly do these new routes head to and from? You can find these new contracts between:

  • Lewiston to Sandpoint
  • Burlington to Lamar
  • Salina to Cedar City
  • Omak to Yakima
  • Dalles to Salem
  • Santa Fe to Socorro
  • Cheyenne to Rock Springs
  • Winnemucca to Carson City

Think you got what it takes? Keep in mind that these unique missions will be without a doubt a real challenge. Therefore, until the 1.44 update is here, we recommend keeping your skills fresh by taking some current Special Transport contracts, so you can be ready for anything once these challenging additions arrive.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/962750/American_Truck_Simulator__Special_Transport/

American Truck Simulator's missing city means better roads

American Truck Simulator is getting a new California, and as the developers have previously explained, that means an end to San Rafael. There'll be a new city in its place once the next piece of the California rework goes live, which is ultimately going to lead to a more realistic, better-playing road network in the area. Today, the devs have provided a look at that new road layout.


"A major focus of this part of the rework is going back to areas where roads may have not been geographically correct or represent the current standards that we are now able to achieve," the devs say in today's blog. "With more tools to create more complex and realistic road networks based on real-life references, we can bring more true-to-life assets to the road. This includes new junctions, crossroads, bridges, agriculture stations, rest areas, and more. Between major economy cities, drivers will now also come across settlements, which will become a common sight for players."


In more specific terms, all the junctions have been rebuilt, the US-37 to Napa Valley crossroad has been rebuilt, there's a new area around Carquinez Bridge, the I-80 and I-580 merge is more realistic, and the Richmond Bridge landmark has gotten a rework.


Read the rest of the story...


RELATED LINKS:

American Truck Simulator devs provide 18 screenshots of upcoming industrial buildings

Everything's bigger in American Truck Simulator's Texas, including the cities

California loses a city, but gains much more in its American Truck Simulator revamp

California Rework - Road Network #1

As previously mentioned in our California Dreamin' development insight blog, road networks are a large focus in the California rework. Most of the roads are are being rebuilt from the ground up. Today's blog will give you a first look into the work being undertaken by the California Rework team on roads, highways, junctions and to come in the next phase of the project.



A major focus of this part of the rework is going back to areas where roads may have not been geographically correct or represent the current standards which we are now able to achieve. With more tools to create more complex and realistic road networks based on real life references; we can bring more true to life assets to the road. This includes new junctions, crossroads, bridges, agriculture stations, rest areas and more. Between major economy cities, drivers will now also come across settlements, which will become a common sight for players.



One particular area which our community may take interest to, is the changes to the surrounding road network in the San Pablo Bay Area. With the removal of San Rafael in this rework phase, our team have made some major changes to the road layout, junctions and location of highways in this area. These changes are also being made in preparation for the new city which will replace San Rafael in a future rework phase. Here are just a handful of the changes made:

  • All junctions reconstructed from the ground up
  • US-37 Crossroad lead to Napa Valley rebuilt
  • A completely new Carquinez Bridge area
  • Correct merging of I-80 & I-580 based on real life references
  • Richmond Bridge Landmark reworked
  • and more!




As you can see, the team have been hard at work! We are sure you will enjoy the updates that will be coming to California in the future. We look forward to sharing more developments updates to the road networks and more in upcoming blog posts!