ATS Mod Sort/Load Order

While much of the content I publish in written form is to help others, I also write content for my blog site to serve as a reminder or simply an electronic organizer to myself in the event I need to perform a particular game uninstall/reinstall or even a full PC rebuild.  The topic for today will once again serve both purposes.  Today we’re going to discuss the sorting/loading order for mods in American Truck Simulator.  In theory this should also apply for Euro Truck Simulator 2 as well.  However, there are a few different requirements/recommendations due to ProMods.  I most likely will cover ETS2 in a separate blog post sometime in the near future.

I absolutely love mods, after all they make the games we already love even better.  I suppose you could call it an addiction, but I certainly don’t plan on stopping. At least not anytime soon.   Before I get into the meat of this discussion, allow me the opportunity to plug my mod spreadsheet.  I keep a fairly extensive listing of all the mods I’m actively using for game titles such as Farming Simulator 17, American Truck Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator 2 and even Flight Simulation (P3D).  While my YouTube channel focuses mainly on my FS17 game play, I do occasionally record my game play on other titles and publish those videos on YouTube.  Essentially it’s important to me, that if you take the time to watch one of my videos and you see a mod, or  you hear me discussing a mod…that you can easily locate where you can download that same mod.  It’s one of the reasons why I limit using private mods or mods that aren’t generally available to the public in my game play to only a select few.  Typically these will be FS17 maps I’ve been allowed early access to use, but release to the general public is imminent.    If you are interested in viewing my mod spreadsheet, just visit my blog site and click the link for Add-on and Mods Directory.  This will open a Google Docs Spreadsheet.  Just look to the bottom and select the tab for the game which interests you and you’ll find a list of all the mods I am using along with links where they can be downloaded.   Also, if you have a spare 5 minutes….please read a blog posting I wrote last year titled “Reputable Mod Sites for Farming Simulator Mods”.  In this article I discuss a few issues our gaming hobby faces and perhaps what we can all do to try to prevent it.

Order Matters

With all that out of the way, the number of mods I’m running in American Truck Simulator (ATS) is beginning to rival that of Farming Simulator 17.  However, the games themselves treat mods a little differently.  Unlike FS17 where we don’t need to worry about any specific order, with American Truck Simulator (and Euro Truck Simulator 2) sometimes the order in which we have our mods sorted does matter.  Having all of our ducks….err I mean mods in a row can mean the difference between a fun experience with mods versus a nightmare experience vowing to never download/install mods never again.

Differing Opinions

Just like many things in life, if you search long enough you’ll find many different theories regarding the sort/load order for mods in ATS and ETS2.  I’m simply going to share with you the order and method I use.  This same methodology should also work for you, but you are certainly welcome to do your own research and devise your own plan.

Order….Order in the Court

In a nutshell, here’s the sorting order I use.  I’ll spend some time below explaining what each of these categories mean and some mod examples, but I’ve been using this process for sorting my mods and it provides a nearly trouble free experience.  From top to bottom, this is how I sort/order my mods in ATS and ETS2.

Environment Mods, Sound Mods, Real Company Logo Mods, Map Mods, AI Vehicle Mods, Wheel/Tire Mods, Trailer Mods, Truck Tuning Mods and finally Truck mods.

Everything Explained

• Environment Mods – These would include mods such as the No Boundaries or Immersive Symbols mods.  These are the types of mods that change some of the default SCS game behaviors.  The “No Boundaries” mod simply removes the barrier icons for roads which SCS haven’t developed yet.  In other words, the roads you can’t drive down.  The Immersive Symbols mod removes the load/unload icons and replaces these with cones or man-hole covers.  Very cool…very immersive!
• Sound Mods – The Sound Fixes Pack is a good example of a sound type mod.  These would go here.
• Real Company Logo Mods – If you are like me, you understand why SCS used company names like Wallbert (Walmart), 42 Print (Vista Print) etc.  but you also want maximum immersion when playing and you really would rather see the real company names.  Mods like this fall into this category.
• Map Mods – Any modded maps for ATS would fall into this category.  But wait!!  It may not be as simple as that.  In order for some maps to work with other maps (Coast to Coast for example) you may need to sort the maps in a specific order to avoid any unnecessary frustration.  At the present time, the most common add-on maps for ATS should be sorted in this order Project Going North, CanaDream, Tonopah Reworked, US Expansion (formerly US 50/CA 99 Map), Rick’s Interstate 10, Coast to Coast, Mexico Extremo HBS Resources Model Package, Mexico Extremo, Viva Mexico.
• AI Vehicle Mods – These are mods which enhance the default vehicles we see driving around the ATS map.  Mods which fall into this category might be the AI Traffic Pack by Jazzycat or any of his other wonderful AI traffic packs including Bus, Truck and Classic Cars traffic packs.
• Wheel/Tire Mods – Any mod that changes the tires/wheels will need to be sorted in this order.
• Trailer Mods – Mods which add different types of trailers to the game would be sorted in this order.  Examples might include SISL’s Trailer Pack, Real Company Box and Tanker Trailer packs.
• Truck Tuning Mods – Engine mods, light tuning etc. would fall here.
• Trucks – Ahhhh, my favorite category.  This is where I place my awesome Pete 389 by Viper2 and my Volvo VNL670 by Aradeth.

Well…there you have it.  If you use a different sorting order and that works for you, then I see no reason to change it.  However, if you are experiencing issues…then perhaps compare this order with what you are using and make small adjustments then test.  It could very well come down to a little trial and error to get it just right.

I hope this helps you.  If you are interested in supporting the GrizzlyBearSims blog site and YouTube channel, please consider becoming a Patron.  Full details available at https://www.patreon.com/GrizzlyBearSims  Thank you!

Until next time…

Happy Trucking!!!

JT