I know some have been anxiously awaiting the next version of Farming Simulator from sometime shortly after FS2015 was released in the fall of 2014. As a matter of fact, I began seeing postings in the forums asking this very question within only months after the release. Yea, it’s safe to say that Giants Software really has a hit on their hands with this franchise. I would even go as far to say the popularity and success of Farming Simulator very closely rivals that of what Microsoft had with Flight Simulator. Time will only tell if Giants repeats the mistakes Microsoft made. But that is a different story for a different article.
Am I looking forward to the new version? You betcha! Farming Simulator 15 was really my first experience with a simulation style game that WASN’T Flight Sim based. So this will be my first experience with making the transition from an older version to a new version and all the pains that may be part of that process. Like in the example of Flight Sim, when moving from Microsoft FS9 to FSX, nothing really worked initially. It took some time for the add-on community to begin to make the transition and I’m sure the same will apply for Farming Simulator. I wouldn’t necessarily expect many of the FS2015 mods to immediately work in FS2017. I suppose DLC might be a different story. But then again, I’m really not sure. The only FS15 DLC I currently own is the JCB pack. But I find it somewhat interesting that we are perhaps less than 6 months away from the release of FS2017 and Giants is taking pre-order purchases for their Holmer DLC. Will the Holmer DLC purchased in March 2016 be usable in FS2017 when it is released later this fall?
Yes, you’ll most likely find me purchasing FS2017 the day it is available to download via Steam. Yes, you’ll also most likely hear from me via this blog (and perhaps via Twitch) regarding my first opportunity to play FS2017. Of course, we are still several months away from all this. But the good news of course is Farming Simulator 17 is coming….
While I’ve known about “other” farming base simulation games such as Pro Farmer and Farm Expert…and I’ve watched YouTube videos showcasing these games…I didn’t see them as competition for Giants and their Farming Simulator franchise. But competition (real competition) is about to come to the virtual farming world.
In addition to the news from Giants regarding FS2017, we are also learning about a brand new entry into the “all things farming simulation” genre with a new simulation game titled Cattle and Crops. You can visit their website here. They also have a Facebook page here. Cattle and Crops is due to be released sometime this calendar year (2016) and boasts the following (and I must say impressive) list of features:
Simulation – Detailed machinery and realistic harvesting techniques.
Management – Your employees will help you take care of your farm, your animals and your estate.
Vegetation – Plant growth and health depending on multiple ground conditions.
Weather – Advanced weather system influencing your farming strategies.
Brands – Supported by our license partners in the industry.
Multiplayer – Join your friends in conquering the maps.
Modding Support – Enhance the game with your own vehicles and maps.
Made with Passion – By Gamers – For Gamers
You can view a short “pre-alpha” video which was released a few weeks ago below
In closing, like me…I’m sure you have many questions regarding the new release of Farming Simulator 2017 and of course, questions about the new Cattle and Crops simulation game. With FS2017, I think we sort of know what we can expect from them. With Cattle and Crops, well…this truly excites me. While the jury is still out, my opinion is that the folks behind Cattle and Crops have been listening to many Farming Simulator users and have taken many of the requested enhancements which Giants may have been slow to implement (or not wanting to implement at all) and are planning to provide what we all want into the new game. But again, the jury is still out. But I say competition is good…and competition will help bring us forward.
I’ve been doing a lot of auction rebuilds in recent days. I’ve even streamed a few of these on Twitch and have made available the recorded video/audio if you care to watch the play-by-play action. You can view that video at the bottom or go directly to YouTube and watch. I’ll try to make this a normal feature with these rebuilds. But I’ll tell you upfront that the video is not going to be heavily edited. I just don’t have the time.
I’ve lost count on the actual number of cars I’ve purchased at auction, rebuilt and sold. However, this is my first Ford Mustang and it was a lot of fun. As I explain in the video, one of my best friends from high school rebuilt a 1960 something Ford Mustang. I did the same with a 1964 Chevy Step side Pickup. Hopefully the 64’ style Chevy pickup will be made available at some date in the future for CMS2015. That would be an awesome build.
The overall condition of the car was not quite as bas as shown below. I began stripping the body panels before I remembered I wanted a “before” picture. I just couldn’t be bothered to put all the panels back on the car.
Again, I was mostly lucky in the fact that so many parts were repairable. Big ticket items like the engine block, crankcase, rear end etc. were all repaired to 100%. This helped keep my cost of parts down. But I did splurge on a custom paint job and custom rims ($900 each). The yellow paint color was a suggestion from one of my Twitch viewers. I think it turned out great.
As with all my auction rebuilds, I tear down all parts and restore the car to 100% condition on both parts and body. That is just how I roll….
Last week after having spent approx. 5 hours playing Bus Simulator 16 and 2 frustrating hours trying to setup my Logitech G27, I wrote the following blog article to provide my overall feedback of the game. Since Friday, I have accumulated another 8+ hours which brings me to almost 14 hours of game play in Bus Simulator 16. Despite the challenges, I’ve managed to rank up in the game and currently I’m at level 19 and working on the Heavy Metal Objective. (see image below) Along with reaching Level 19 status and successfully completing the first two tasks, I have €274,801 in the bank, I own five busses (including one SAS Bendy Bus) and employ 5 wonderful drivers. I average approx. €23,000 per week on this current route setup.
Of course, to accomplish the third task I will need to have a total of 4 modern buses (2010 or newer). My bus fleet (at the moment) consists of the following:
2 – SAS A38G 2005 (41 Seats, no auto ramp, no bendy bus, cost new 89,900)
1 – SAS B41R 2008 (34 Seats, no auto ramp, no bendy bus, cost new 109,900)
1 – SAS C58B 2012 (40 Seats, yes auto ramp, no bendy bus, cost new 150,000)
1 – SAS Bendy X79 2014 (62 Seats, yes auto ramp, yes bendy bus, cost new 270,000)
What to do? I am 50% away from accomplishing this third task. The entrepreneurial aspect of the game is something I really enjoy. The way I see it, I have two options:
Option 1 – Sell and Replace
With the on-hand cash I have (274K), I only need to clear €26,000 from the sell of the two SAS A38G 2005 models to then purchase two new C58B (2012 models) at €150,000 each. In theory, this should keep my weekly earnings in the €23,000 range and it wouldn’t take long to build up my cash reserves for whatever the future challenges might require.
Option 2 – Buy and Grow
My gut tells me to always keep the needle pointing towards growth. While option 1 will quickly satisfy the objective and earn me access to the Inner City District, I won’t really have the financial resources to grow into that new route immediately. Plus I really haven’t established myself in the industrial district. I see option two as the conservative approach and allows me to immediately purchase one new C58B (2012), hire a new driver and establish a new route. This action should increase my weekly average above the €23,000 I’m earning now. Then after 1-2 weeks, I should have earned enough to purchase a second C58B (2012), hire another driver and establish yet another route. This would give me a total of seven buses, seven drivers and complete the current objective.
I suppose there is a third option. It would somewhat resemble option two, but it would be purchasing the smaller MAN bus which I believe has a price tag of €300,000 (I’m not near my game PC while I write this). But here’s the deal with this option. Is there truly a valid reason to purchase the MAN over the SAS equivalent? Does the MAN bus offer features/benefits that differ from the SAS in terms of my personal driving experience? In other words, if the drive dynamics are the same (I believe they are)…then I’m really not bothered by staying with the SAS. Being an American, living in America…I have no brand loyalty towards MAN. If Gillig were an option, then perhaps it would be a different story.
So to wrap this up, I believe I will follow the conservative approach to growing the company and at the same time purchase the newer SAS C58B bus models to eventually complete the third task and fully complete this current objective.
Finally, I stand behind all the points I made about the things I disliked about Bus Simulator 16 last week. Please take a few minutes to read that post if you haven’t already. HOWEVER, I’m truly impressed at the level of dedication the development team are making in helping to answer questions (many the same ones over and over and over again) and what I believe is their overall commitment to the games success. Yes, I will be disappointed if we don’t see a game update or patch in the coming days to address some issues. For example, I truly believe the SatNav map issue must have been an oversight on the part of the dev and testing team. So I would expect this to be something they take seriously and fix very soon.
In closing, I will continue to play and stream Bus Simulator 16 (along with all my other simulation game interests) and continue to document my progress here. Likewise, I’ll most certainly update my readers on the overall progress made by the dev teams through game updates/patches in the coming weeks. We must accept the fact that some things will take time to fix and implement. As long as Stillalive and Astragon continue to “move the chains”, I will be one of their biggest cheerleaders on the sidelines.
On Friday, I wrote about the World of Trucks (WoT) website and shared some basic background information about the site and provided some details on how you sign up and link EuroTruck Simulator 2 (ETS2) and/or American Truck Simulator (ATS) to your WoT account. This all needs to take place before you can proceed into the Job Market function of World of Trucks.
At the present time, the Job Market function is only available for ETS2. However, I read in the SCS Forums that there are plans to introduce the Job Market function for ATS at a later stage in 2016. So for now, the WoT Job Market is exclusive to ETS2.
When you first click on the Job Market link on the World of Trucks website, you’ll see a drop down menu listing a few dozen European cities. I don’t have a screen shot available to show you, but you’ll only see the drop down menu one time. Select the city you wish to operate your first job from. The city you choose can be the same city where your truck currently resides in ETS2 or it can be any other city. If your truck is not presently in the city you select, your truck will automagically be transported to that location at a later stage.
Once you select the city, you’ll see a listing of job offers available from that city. You can sort this list by several variables including distance, destination, time etc. I usually use either distance or destination. In the example below I’m using distance.
When you find a job that interests you, you click that job (example below is a job transporting chimney systems from Lille, France to Klagenfurt, Austria). A few things to note. The “Time Left” indicates the amount of real world time you will have to complete this job. Meaning, at the time I was browsing for job offers it was approx. 5 AM MST (in real life). The WoT Job Market is based on real world time and not ETS2 in-game time. As you know there is a big difference. Another point of interest is the “Est. Delivery Time”. Again, back to the image below…the Est. Delivery Time showing ~1 H 19 MIN is the approx. amount of time (real world time) it should take me to complete the job. Once you are ready to accept this job, click the “Sign Contract” button.
The next screen displayed will be the “Contract Signed” screen and will just provide you the basic information about the load. Click OK and return to the ETS2 Game application.
Back inside the game, click on “Job Market”. You’ll notice you now have a third option in the “Job Type Selection” screen titled “External Contracts”. Click the External Contracts button.
You’ll now be presented with the screen below showing your delivery job. Once again, take note of the remaining time. In the example below we have 21 hours and 11 minutes to complete this job. This is real world time and not in-game time. Click on “Begin Delivery”. Once you’ve done this, regardless of the location where your truck was last, it will be automagically teleported to the starting point and already connected to the trailer.
All you now need to do is drive….just remember, these external contract jobs work off of real world time. In the screenshot below, we’ve arrived in Klagenfurt and dropped off our trailer.
The deliver was successful (as shown below) and we’re close to earning our level 27 promotion. Want to do another job? Sure……
So we return to the World of Trucks website and click on Job Market. WoT now knows our truck is located in Klagenfurt and provides a listing of all jobs from this location.
Find a job which interests you, and sign the contract. This next job we are taking is a load of Copper Roof Gutters to Kassel Germany. We have 14 hours (real world hours) to complete this job and the estimated time required is one hour. Click Sign Contract.
Now return back to the ETS2 game and click on Job Market and once again select External Contracts. Then click “Begin Delivery”. Assuming your truck was still at the previous drop off location, it will once again be teleported to the next pickup location. So, if you need to discover the current city you are in, or if you need to repair your truck etc. and want to do this driving around with a trailer attached…then you’ll want to do that before you click “Begin Delivery”.
Not that you require proof, but I thought I would show you a before and after screen shot to illustrate how the time works with WoT Job Market. In the screenshot below, we have pulled into a rest area. We’ve parked and shut off our engine. Our in-game time is Thursday 11:03 and we have 13 hours and 41 minutes to complete this job.
We have now completed our rest. The time is now Thursday, 20:03. We’ve rested for our required 9 hours and we still have 13 hours and 40 minutes to complete this job.
We made it to our destination and completed another “Excellent” delivery and earned our level 27 promotion. This marks the 6th WoT Contact job we’ve successfully completed.
So, what happens if we decide to perform jobs from the ETS2 Freight Market? So in our example above, we completed our delivery to Kassel, Germany. Let’s say we opt to just use the ETS2 Freight Market and we select a job to Antwerp, Belgium. We complete that delivery and we go look at the WoT website. It will still show our location as Kassel, Germany. If you want to perform another job from WoT, you can either pickup an ETS2 delivery back to Kassel or just allow WoT to teleport you.
A few questions you might be asking yourself….
Why use the WoT Job Market? I think as it stands today, this is a valid question. As you can tell I also don’t exclusively use the WoT Job Market. While the extra step in logging into the WoT website to select a job is minimal effort and I’m personally not that bothered with it making me start in the last city I visited. I really would rather drive from previous drop point to new pickup point versus being teleported to that location. But I think the WoT Job Market has some wonderful potential down the road and I suppose having access to it now and using it as frequently (or infrequently) is really up to you.
Are the WoT Job Market offers similar to ETS2 Freight Market? I haven’t done a side-by-side comparison on each and every delivery. But I have spot checked a few and found the price per mile to be similar. If you are just starting out and every Euro counts, then you may have some concerns. But as I presently have over a million Euro in the bank…I’m more about the overall experience than I am on making sure I can pay my bills.
What do I see for the future of the WoT Job Market? Of course, I am in no way affiliated with SCS Software and I am not in communication with them. Any knowledge I have is completely public knowledge that I’ve obtained from public sources. But I think the potential for the WoT Job Market is HUGE!
Basically, if you are familiar with the concept of a virtual airline in the flight simulation hobby, then the WoT website and specifically the WoT Job Market can be just this. Yes there are VTC’s or Virtual Truck Companies. But without direct integration into the ETS2 or ATS games, (in my opinion) there is just too much manual work required. I don’t want to have to visit a website and fill out a manual job completion form to track my deliveries. This would be like the virtual airlines of 15+ years ago with their manual PIREP process.
Because WoT is owned and managed by SCS software, they have the integration into both the ETS2 and ATS game platforms. So further enhancement will only make this a better experience. As I mentioned in part 1, some of these future enhancements may allow for setting up VTC’s within the WoT environment. So that would be cool….
But here’s an idea I came up with in the shower this morning. Yes, I do some of my best brainstorming and thinking in the shower. But let’s say you start out in Europe with ETS2. You pick a job from Bucharest, Romania to Los Angeles, California. The job is a shipping container. You select that job through the WoT Job Market and you drive that container from Bucharest to Southampton. It’s delivered at the port of Southampton. Through the magic of web databases, the shipping container is virtually moved via container ship from Southampton to New York (or Miami or wherever). Then you start up ATS, pickup the container and drive it to its destination. This concept could be done via single player or even handled by multiple individuals as part of a VTC. Sound fun? I think so too…
In closing, while I’ll admit that the WoT Job Market may not be appealing in the current stage, I do encourage you to use it (even just occasionally). We need to use it so we can show there is an interest. To quote that famous line from Field of Dreams, “If you build it, He (WE) will come”.
Well that is just about all the time I have for today’s update. I think I’ll head down to my basement office and do a little trucking now. But make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed to get all the latest blog postings sent direct to your favorite RSS Reader. Or just bookmark the website and return often. You can also follow me on Twitter. I have also started streaming some of my gaming activities on Twitch. Drop by if you see I’m streaming.
I must be 100% honest. While watching many of the Twitch streamers on Wednesday, 2 March 2016 (the release day) I had almost convinced myself to give this game a pass. At least for now. My reasoning for this was due to the fact that I just didn’t feel the game was 100% ready for prime time. But today I noticed they have pushed a patch out to address some of the performance issues many experienced on day 1 and while I don’t know with any degree of certainty know if all the issues regarding performance have been fully resolved, the action of the developer to listen to the customers and perform some optimization has convinced me to give the game a try.
A little fine print before I get started with my review. First, I’m an independent and non-professional blogger. Meaning, I am not earning any revenue (subscriptions, donations etc.) from my blogging or streaming activities. Second, I purchased Bus Simulator 16 via the Steam store and paid the same amount of money that any one else would pay. So my feedback is that of an unbiased customer who has no obligation to anyone other than those who read my blog or view my Twitch Live Streams. Having said all that, allow me to provide you my review.
After having spent a few hours playing Bus Simulator 16, I must say that I still believe this game needs more work. Actually, a lot of work! But first, let me get back to my game play. I purchased, downloaded and install Bus Simulator 16 on Thursday, 3 March. To date, I’ve invested a total of 5 hours (per Steam), but another 2 hours mucking about trying to get my Logitech G27 wheel and pedals to work. As I had mentioned in my post yesterday about this game, I had watched several live streamers on Tuesday (release day) who I know were using Logitech G27 wheels and pedals, and they made no mention of any issue. As a matter of fact, I even remember one well known streamer applaud the game developers for making it so easy. So you can imagine my surprise when after I installed the game, launched it and began to work through the process of configuring my G27 that I ran in to roadblock after roadblock. Basically the game would fully recognize the wheel and all buttons. But it simply would not recognize the pedals.
To make sure something hadn’t happened with my G27, I fired up American Truck Simulator and all worked fine. I then launched Farming Simulator 2015 and yep…all worked fine. For the heck of it, I even launched Euro Truck Simulator 2 (fully knowing what would happen) and yep…I wasn’t disappointed. It worked! Then back to Bus Simulator 16 and no worky. Grrrrr
It seems as if all user support is being handled via the Steam Discussion section. So I did some searching and found I was not alone. Many others had been pulling their hair out as well in trying to get the pedals working. Some of the info provided was as follows:
The need to have both the newest version of the Logitech gaming software installed and the older 5.10.x version. Now keep in mind that those of us using the G27 need the older 5.10.x version as the newer 8.x version is not for the G27 hardware and will not recognize it. But somehow, Bus Simulator 16 needs a .dll from the new version to assist with Force Feedback issues. Ok…so I installed the new version and tested. Still no worky.
Finally, further down in the discussion threads I found that with the G27 (perhaps other controllers as well) that having the option for “Combined Pedals” enabled in the Logitech Gaming Software will cause Bus Simulator 16 to not detect the G27 pedals. However, as those of us who have the G27’s know…games like ATS, ETS2 and Farming Simulator 15 need this option checked or they don’t work. From what I have read in the forums, more games require this option versus those that don’t. So I guess it is a bit of a head scratcher as to why they setup Bus Sim in this fashion.
OK…now with that resolved, let’s play Bus Simulator 16. As I mentioned earlier, I have 5 hours of game play. I feel this is substantial enough to provide a “First View” and as the game is still new…I want others to have the opportunity to read this review as soon as possible. I will post follow up articles as I continue to accumulate more time in the game and of course as (hopefully) patches are released to resolve some of the problems plaguing the overall game play. To my knowledge, one patch has already been pushed out to address various performance and functional issues. All time spent playing the game has been with that patch installed.
Things I like
Language Support – I truly applaud Stillalive Studios for making this game multi-language. While the game developers are German and the game play takes place in a fictional city in Germany, they have done a great job in supporting other languages.
Entrepreneurial Simulation – It’s possible Bus Simulator 16 is more of a simulation of running a bus company than it really is about driving a bus. But of course, you get to do that too. The game play requires you to purchase additional busses, hire drivers and establish efficient routes. As you play along the city rewards you by granting you access to additional parts of the city.
Mod Support – I believe without this important piece, this game would quickly die. These types of games take on a completely different life when the mod community starts working their magic. By allowing mod support from day one, it will allow for a lot of game customization that the developers just won’t have the time or ability to perform. Once the mods start rolling in, I believe the level of excitement for the game will also increase and that will be a win-win for all parties.
Modern Feeling – Unlike OMSI 2 which depicts bus service in Spandau in 1986 and 1994, Bus Simulator 16 has a more modern appearance.
Learning as you play along – Taking the tutorial which is offered at the start of the game is both comical and informational. Plus in order to unlock certain things in the game, the process makes you paint a bus, apply decals etc. Just play the tutorial and you’ll laugh and learn all at the same time.
Performance – I can’t attest to what the in-game performance was like before the patch was released. But I can tell you that my gaming system (with my new 980Ti) doesn’t even work up a sweat with this game. While I think there is room for improvement, it hasn’t performed in such a way that I couldn’t play and enjoy the game.
Things I dislike
GPS Map Rotation – This is HUGE. While your bus is equipped with a GPS SatNav device (a tablet on the dash). The arrow which indicates the position of the bus does not function correctly. The map doesn’t auto-rotate and it can be a bit confusing as to which direction you should turn. While it can be worked out with a little patience…with everything else you need to look out for when driving (AI Cars, AI People) etc. This simply just needs to be fixed by a patch.
Steering Wheel Support – As I shared before, better support for our wheels and pedals is not only appreciated, it needs to be a requirement. With all other driving games that I know of requiring “Combined Pedals” to be enabled in the Logitech gaming software, just patch this game to also require that and we’ll all be happy. Also, why should I be required to install a set of drivers for a version of a Logitech product that I don’t own?
No TrackIR Support and poor camera support – I was somewhat late in using TrackIR for most of my simulation games. I’ve only had my TrackIR unit for about 18 months. But in that time I’ve grown to use it in Flight Sim and ETS2/ATS. Yes there are times I don’t use it, but I very much like the fact that the functionality is there. But there is no TrackIR support in Bus Simulator 16. Surprisingly, some of the comments from the developers tend to lead me to believe it will not be high on their priority list. This is unfortunate because the in-game camera view system is also very disappointing.
No other AI busses – I’ve spent 5 hours driving around my little virtual city and I’m the only bus on the road. I see cars, I see the occasional police car and those bloody ambulances….but no other busses. I just looked outside my office window and within 2-3 minutes I saw three city busses drive by.
In-Bus Events (passengers standing in the way of the door) – OK…this is really getting old. Occasionally, as driver you’ll need to go to the back of the bus because a passenger is standing (just standing) in the doorway entrance. I wouldn’t mind if this type of event occurred once in every 3-4 hours of game play. But experiencing it more frequently is more of a pain in my opinion.
Multiplayer doesn’t mean what we think it should mean – The game features what is called multiplayer functionality. You can invite your friends to drive your established bus routes which will help you grow your business at a faster rate. But you won’t see your friends driving around in other busses. So multiplayer isn’t really what we think it is or what we’ve come to know it to be. When I think multiplayer, I think flying an airplane on VATSIM or the MP servers for ETS2 and ATS, or even the multiplayer functionality of Farming Simulator where you can invite friends into the game to help you farm your land. That is Cool….this….not so much!
Advertising and Art Work – The advertising banners and art work included in the game is some pretty weak sauce. Makes the game feel like it is geared towards children. I completely understand issues with licensing and copyright infringement. But the advertising banners provided in the game look nothing like advertising banners. The developers could have spent more effort and come up with some nice looking banners, using fictional company names instead of what they provided. Of course, the modding community is already working hard to provide real life company banners and better art work. Thank you!
Human AI looked better in Second Life when it debuted in 2003. I did play Second Life for about 5 minutes back in 2003 or 2004 when it first came out. The human AI in Bus Simulator 16 is pretty bad…but it is better than OMSI 2.
Is it really a Simulator? I have a very narrow definition of what makes a game become worthy of the term simulator. While many of the elements are there…so many just are not (at this point in time).
Price – Perhaps with everything I’ve pointed out, the price is a bit high. Especially if you compare it to say American Truck Simulator at $19.99 versus Bus Simulator 16 regular price of $24.99 (currently on sale at $22.49). While I realize there are some differences between what ATS offers and what Bus Simulator 16 offers, ATS is far more aligned with the definition of a simulation based game than Bus Sim 16 (at this time).
GPS/SatNav really needs work.
Not sure what we are advertising on our bus roof, but they are bringing in $2000 per week.
This idiot was just standing in the door way. When I asked him to move, he tells me he didn’t realize he was in the way.
My final thoughts. I’ve been blogging about simulation games and my personal activities and game play in these simulation based games for over 5 years. I truly hope that in this span of time I’ve provided more help, direction, tips and general insight into these games through this blog than to use this blog as a mechanism to complain and be negative. I realize I’ve pointed out a lot of areas that I feel fall short of a game being called a simulator. I’m not picking on this game or singling it out. I truly hope that in time (sooner rather than later) I can return to the subject of Bus Simulator 16 and be able, without any hesitation say…this is truly a simulator. But right now, this games falls really short of using the word simulator in the title.
Going forward, other than to hopefully report on some good news regarding patches to Bus Simulator 16 and to showcase cool mods, I’m really not sure how much content I’ll be able to provide. As it currently stands, the game really doesn’t lend itself to provide detailed adventure type stories the way I do with the Trucker’s Logbook for ATS/ETS2 etc. But we’ll see.
Well…that really is all I can come up with for now. I’ll hammer away at Bus Simulator 16 more over the weekend and try to grow my bus empire.
Until next time…
When you step on the bus, please have the exact change and take a seat.
World of Trucks – Part One If you’ve been playing Euro Truck Simulator (ETS2) for any period of time, you may already know about the World of Trucks (WoT) website. However, perhaps you are brand new to the trucking sims by way of the newly released American Truck Simulator (ATS) and either just simply don’t know about WoT or want to know more. This blog post will be part one of two postings I will write regarding the World of Trucks website. Today I’ll introduce you to the website, the basic features, how to interface with ETS2 and/or ATS. During part two, I discuss the Job Market function.
I started playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 in the early summer of 2015 and joined World of Trucks very soon after. While the website has been in “alpha” mode for as long as I’ve been using it, the features and functionality have evolved nicely in the almost 8+ months I’ve known about it. The World of Trucks website is operated by SCS Software (the developers of ETS2 and ATS) and was launched in October 2013. I suppose in website standards, having a system remain in alpha for over two years may be viewed as a negative. But considering WoT is free to join and in many ways helps to bring our community together, not to mention the fact they are adding many new features, I think it shows a lot of promise.
Anyway, as I previously stated…World of Trucks is a companion website for both Euro Truck Simulator 2 (ETS2) and the brand new American Truck Simulator (ATS). With exception to the Job Market function (which I’ll cover in part 2), ETS2 and ATS function the same with WoT. Joining the WoT website is both free and super easy. If you purchased ETS2 or ATS via Steam, you can just use your Steam account information to join the WoT website.
Once you have joined the website, you need to link the ETS2 and/or ATS game to WoT. From inside the games main screen, look for the World of Trucks button. Just click that button and your ETS2 or ATS will be linked to WoT. It’s really that easy.
Now some really question why even use World of Trucks. Many compare and even liken it to Facebook, but for trucks. While this comparison may have been somewhat accurate, things have changed with regards to the job market function and all that is planned for WoT in the future. Some of the future plans for WoT is to allow the users (us) to create virtual trucking companies (VTC’s) and even shared multiplayer experience. Today, both VTC’s and Multiplayer functionality exist, but they are 3rd party applications and not official to SCS Software. But of course, these are future plans and there really is no ETA on when we might begin to see this functionality.
So for now, if you are interested in World of Trucks, go sign up, then link your ETS2 and/or ATS games to the site and customize your profile.
Has anyone been watching the Twitch Live Streams or YouTube videos regarding the newly released Bus Simulator 16? What are your thoughts? What are your opinions? I had been thinking about adding OMSI 2 for several months. With Aerosoft behind the development of the game I felt like it would be a good purchase. However, it was released in late 2013 and from watching videos and reading reviews, the graphics are rather lacking, the overall game performance is mediocre and I keep hearing how difficult it is to setup. Finally the price. OMSI 2 sells for $34.99 in the Steam Store and various add-on DLC starts at $9.99 with some commanding up to $34.99 for what appears to be an unfinished map.
Yesterday, Wednesday 2 March a brand new Bus Simulator was released via the Steam Store simply called Bus Simulator 16. At the current moment, Bus Simulator 16 is on sale at 10% off (ends 9 March) and will cost you $22.49 USD (Reg. price $24.99). You can also visit the external website for Bus Simulator 16 here. The game is available for both PC and Mac.
As I stated, I watched several excellent Twitch Streamers on Wednesday who played the game for several hours. Most had very positive feedback for the game but pretty much everyone agrees that it does need some work. The great news about the game is it does offer mod support. While I’m sure the game developers will address the important issues with the game, mod support will also help make this a very successful game.
Take about 5 minutes of your time and watch TheNorthernAlex provide an “Everything You Need To Know” overview of Bus Simulator 16. This is a brand new feature on his channel and he is kicking it off with Bus Simulator 16.
Finally, you may also want to read the player reviews on the Bus Simulator 16 Steam Store Page. But I would encourage you to read these with an open mind. I’m certainly not attempting to convince you to purchase (or not purchase) this game…I’m simply saying that many of the negative reviews were posted with little actual playing time.
Will I purchase this game? Yes…I am planning to purchase Bus Simulator 16 today (Thursday). I may even live stream my experience from the very beginning. So please check out my Twitch channel and go ahead and follow me so you’ll receive the notification when I go live.
Looking to get a little better weather in American Truck Simulator? This mod may be what you are looking for.
What is the Featured Mod and what does it do?
This mod is the Default Weather Update. It produces brighter sunrise and sunset and a much darker night. It updates the color and reduces the yellow tint.
How can I get this mod?
The Default Weather Update mod for American Truck Simulator is available here.
Earlier this week SCS Software shared these four images from the much anticipated Arizona DLC package from their Twitter account. I don’t know about you, but these images are truly amazing and only making me want Arizona NOW! I really only see two problems.
P.S. I really hope they have modeled Winslow, Arizona on their map. I’m looking forward to hearing “Take It Easy” while driving through Winslow, Arizona
This was a little cartoon tweeted from the SCS Twitter account earlier this week. Yes…this very much describes ATS as well as ETS2, FS2015, CMS2015 etc. etc. etc.
I also don’t understand why I can’t stop playing either…
I know some have been anxiously awaiting the next version of Farming Simulator from sometime shortly after FS2015 was released in the fall of 2014. As a matter of fact, I began seeing postings in the forums asking this very question within only months after the release. Yea, it’s safe to say that Giants Software really has a hit on their hands with this franchise. I would even go as far to say the popularity and success of Farming Simulator very closely rivals that of what Microsoft had with Flight Simulator. Time will only tell if Giants repeats the mistakes Microsoft made. But that is a different story for a different article.
