April 8, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments
I hope you are enjoying this series of cargo flights. As I indicated in the last installment, we’re going to be headed back to Belgium and will return the 738 Freighter back to her home base in Liege, Belgium (EBLG). Liege is primarily a cargo hub for many different cargo airlines including Air China Cargo, Emirates Sky Cargo, Fedex and Qatar Airways Cargo just to name a few. It is the 7th largest cargo airport in Europe and 22nd in the world. While our Boeing 737-800 is branded Fedex, this particular aircraft is leased by ASL Airlines Belgium.
Flight Planning
Our route today will take us pretty much due north from the island of Mallorca into mainland Europe and terminate at the ASL cargo hub in Liege.
Route:
Our Flight
Holding short, runway 24R.
Off we go into the wild blue yonder….
Perhaps some day we can get back here under different circumstances.
Making our turn to join the departure.
All calm at cruise
The countryside of Belgium
Just a tad high, but we’ll correct.
That’s better. Two white, Two Red
Back at base for this bird.
Another successful flight in the books. These flights are certainly helping me keep my mind off of the events taking place in the world and I hope these reports are helping you as well. The next series of flights will be longer haul routes kicking off with a flight to Moscow, then down to Abu Dhabi. Stay tuned.
Credits
Flight Simulator: Prepar3D v4.5 (hotfix 1)
Aircraft: PMDG 737 NGX
Airline: Fedex (FDX)
ATC: VATSIM
Airport Scenery: LEPA Aerosoft, EBLG Orbx
Terrain Scenery: Orbx Global Base, Orbx Vector
Sky/Cloud Textures: REX 5 SkyForce and REX 5 Environment Force
Immersion Effects – Parallel 42 737 Immersion
Weather Generation: ActiveSky (ASP4)
Flight Planning: SimBrief, Navigraph, FlightAware, FlightRadar24
Note: If you are interested in any of the above mentioned add-ons. Visit my P3D Add-ons directory for links.
April 6, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments
As mentioned in my previous installment, this is a continuation flight to ferry the remaining relief cargo which we picked up in Brussels on to the island of Palma De Mallorca (LEPA). At the time of the breakout of the Coronavirus, the resort island was packed with tourists and unfortunately not all were able to get off the island and begin their journey home. The supplies we’re bringing in will help for now and more is planned in the coming days.
Flight Planning
Our flight this afternoon is pretty straightforward. The only difference between our arrival and our departure is weather. But we won’t let become a distraction. We’ll depart runway 30 and make a right hand turn, then head across Spain to Barcelona. Then proceed across the Balearic Sea to our destination. Our total flying time is a short 1 hour, 10 minutes at an altitude of 33,000.
Route:
Let’s Go
We’ve had a bit of weather move into Bilbao today. But it should not be a factor for us. The ground crew is getting a bit wet, but we’re dry on the flight deck.
We’ve got some kind of weird greenish fog moving in as we move out. Perhaps not the best depiction of fog, but I can live with that.
It’s dumping out there.
That’s better!
Making our turn to join the departure and above the clouds.
Smooth flying at cruise.
Beautiful skies as we descend into our destination.
The island of Mallorca just ahead.
On final approach and fully configured.
Runway insight. Landing in just a few minutes.
Touchdown? Almost
We’ve parked at the military section of the airport where our cargo will be unloaded. Once unloaded and refueled, we’ll be on our way back to Belgium and the cargo airport of Liege. This flight will be covered in the next edition.
Once we arrive back in Belgium, we’ll say good-bye to our little 738 freighter and stretch our legs a bit with some longer flights as we continue moving much needed cargo around the world.
Until next time. Please be safe, take care of your family and stay home.
Jerry
Credits
Flight Simulator: Prepar3D v4.5 (hotfix 1)
Aircraft: PMDG 737 NGX
Airline: Fedex (FDX)
ATC: VATSIM
Airport Scenery: LEBB (Bilbao) Orbx, LEPA (Palma De Mallorca) Aerosoft
Terrain Scenery: Orbx Global Base, Orbx Vector
Sky/Cloud Textures: REX 5 SkyForce and REX 5 Environment Force
Immersion Effects – Parallel 42 737 Immersion
Weather Generation: ActiveSky (ASP4)
Flight Planning: SimBrief, Navigraph, FlightAware, FlightRadar24
Note: If you are interested in any of the above mentioned add-ons. Visit my P3D Add-ons directory for links.
April 2, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments
Yes, another of my top lists related to flight simulation. This time, this is my top 5 list of passenger airlines I enjoy simulating their operations. I simply couldn’t narrow my list down to just five and I felt ten was just going to be a stretch. While I do simulate other airlines than those I’m listing here my typical go to airlines are always pretty much the same.
Honorable Mention – VLM
VLM was a small Belgian airline based in Antwerp. It ceased operations on 31 August 2018. Ironically, my wife and I used VLM in real life to fly from London City Airport to Antwerp when we visited her family. The last time we traveled on VLM was our return flight from Antwerp back to London City on 31 August 2018. Yep, that’s right! We were one of the last passengers. VLM operated the Fokker 50 turboprop aircraft and it was always a joy to fly both in the simulator and real life. My favorite VLM route of course is the London City (EGLC) to Antwerp (EBAW) and the return.
#5 – EasyJet
I consider EasyJet (EZY) to be the Southwest Airlines of the UK and Europe. They fly everywhere and they fly from many locations. like Southwest’s all Boeing fleet, EasyJet is an all Airbus fleet consisting of A319’s, A320’s and A321’s. A perfect airline if you have the FSLabs Airbus packages. While I don’t fly the FSLabs Airbus as much as I fly the Boeing 737, I do enjoy the time I spend in the aircraft. One of my favorite EasyJet routes is London Gatwick to Innsbruck, Austria (LOWI).
#4 Alaska Airlines
With the merger with Virgin America, Alaska Airlines (ASA) offers a variety of routes and a variety of aircraft to please just about any flight simulation enthusiast. Once an all Boeing fleet, Alaska Airlines now operates Airbus A319’s, A320, A321 and the fun to fly Bombardier Q400 along with the Embraer 175’s. Alaska Airlines offer short-haul routes of 1-2 hours up to medium haul routes of 4-6 hours. My favorite Alaska Airlines route is Seattle (KSEA) to Ketchikan, Alaska.
#3 Southwest Airlines
I absolutely love the Boeing 737 and it’s my all-time favorite aircraft to fly in the simulator. So simulating Southwest Airlines (SWA) shouldn’t come as a surprise. What I like most about Southwest is their routes. While I do enjoy the hub/spoke route model of airlines like American and British Airways, I also like to be able to fly point-to-point and SWA gives me this freedom while still simulating a real-world schedule. My favorite Southwest Airlines route is Denver (KDEN) to Austin (KAUS).
#2 British Airways
British Airways (BAW) ranks number two for many reasons. First, I’ve been a fan of BA for about as long as I’ve been involved in the flight simulation hobby. I loved flying the Concorde when it was first introduced in Flight Simulator 2000. Second, they are one of the only remaining airlines to still be flying the Queen of the Skies, the beautiful Boeing 747. Today I enjoy flying short to medium haul routes out of London Heathrow, Gatwick and London City. Between BA’s current and retro fleet of aircraft, there are tons of options to simulate. My favorite British Airways route is London Heathrow (EGLL) to Gibraltar (LXGB). For long-haul, of course that would be Denver (KDEN) to London Heathrow (EGLL) in the Boeing 747-400.
#1 American Airlines
In my early career, I spent lots of time flying in and out of Dallas/Ft. Worth on American Airlines (AAL). Back then most flights were either on the MD-80, Fokker 100 and the Boeing 727. After moving to Denver in 1998, I still flew American every chance I could. My first trip to England back in early 2001 was on American Airlines and a Boeing 777-200.
Around 1999-2000 timeframe was when virtual airlines became popular. Of course, with American being my favorite airline I enjoyed flying for several American Airline VA’s. I’ve logged many hundreds of hours flying AA aircraft around the virtual skies.
While I no longer fly for a virtual airline, American Airlines is my most frequently flown airline in the sim. I tend to fly the Boeing 737-800 the most, but also enjoy flying routes on the 787 and 777. My favorite American route is Denver (KDEN) to Dallas/Ft. Worth (KDFW). My second favorite route is Miami (KMIA) to Sint Maarten (TNCM). The approach into and departure out of this awesome airport never gets old.
In Summary
There you go! These are my top 5 (plus an honorable mention) of my favorite passenger airlines to simulate. While this is certainly not an exclusive list of the only airlines I enjoy flying in the sim, these are my most frequent. But regardless of which airlines make up your top list, I hope you enjoy the time you spend in the simulator as much as I do.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!
Jerry
March 30, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments
Just a few days ago, SCS Software announced that the US State of Colorado would be the next DLC to release for American Truck Simulator. From their announcement on 26 March, SCS Software has been working on the Colorado DLC at full-capacity in parallel with the Idaho DLC. The release date is unknown, but the announcement mentioned “a few months after the release of Idaho, towards the end of the year.” This is great news! If SCS has done their homework, then I-70 should be an absolute joy to drive from Utah through Colorado and over the high mountain passes. Not to mention the beautiful Glenwood Canyon.
What will be next? Will we see SCS head north from Colorado to drop in Wyoming, then Montana? Or will they head east from New Mexico and bring us the Lone Star State of Texas? Only SCS knows the answer to this.
Until next time…
Happy Trucking!
Jerry
March 30, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments
While my first installment brought us to Europe, I’m going to spend some time flying and jumping around to a few different payware airports which I haven’t visited in a while. Much like flight #1, these may not be actual routes served by the carriers I’m going to simulate. But these are flights my imagination wants to fly.
Flight Planning
Our second flight will another cargo flight. We’re picking up where we left off (at Brussels) and headed down to Bilbao Spain (LEBB). Bilbao is a payware airport I purchased a few years ago. For this flight we will be in a branded Fedex Boeing 737-800 which has been converted from passenger service to cargo service. The aircraft is being operated by ASL Airlines Belgium (formerly TNT Airways). ASL operates a fleet of 30 aircraft including a number of freighter conversions of the B737 variant. Typically ASL operates from their main cargo hub at Liege, Belgium (EBLG) and we’ll probably visit this airport soon.
The flight from Brussels to Bilbao is a cargo relief flight to transport many of the supplies we ferried over from Miami to the citizens in NE Spain. Our flight time is 1 hour, 35 minutes and we’re loading on 17,500 lbs of fuel. Once we arrive in Bilbao about 50% of the cargo will be dropped off and our flight will continue to our next destination.
Route:
Let’s Go to Spain
Unlike our flight from Miami which required a crew of three, our shorter flight today only requires two. My First Officer and I are boarding the aircraft while the ground crew and cargo handlers ready our aircraft for flight.
Pushing back from our stand and starting engines.
Position and Hold, Runway 01. Note: I’m aware the correct terminology is now “Line up and Wait”, however, when I began blogging about my flight simulation adventures well over 10 years ago, the terminology at that time was “Position and Hold” and that is what I called my first blog site. This was before I rebranded to GrizzlyBearSims. The old blog site still lives in the cloud (should you want to visit).
Gear up!
Making our right hand turn to join the departure out of Brussels.
Quick flight compared to the cross the pond flight from a few days ago. The northern coast of Spain just off the port side.
I really enjoyed the approach into Bilbao. Lots of beautiful scenery.
Just about to make our final turn.
Rolling out, the airport is just ahead.
Yep, there’s Bilbao just ahead.
Cleared to land.
Touchdown!
After a quick taxi, we were positioned in an area of the airport where local cargo services could assist with removing the cargo.
This was another fun and uneventful flight. We had perfect weather the entire trip and reached Bilbao on schedule. The PMDG Boeing 737 is still my all time favorite payware aircraft to fly. It’s just a really well done model and it can go just about anywhere. Plus as it is one of the most popular aircraft in the world, there is a wide variety of real world carriers one can simulate flying for.
Until next time, I hope you continue to remain safe and please STAY HOME! Thank you!
Happy Flying!
Jerry
Credits
Flight Simulator: Prepar3D v4.5 (hotfix 1)
Aircraft: PMDG 737 NGX
Airline: Fedex (FDX)
ATC: VATSIM
Airport Scenery: EBBR (Brussels) Justsim, LEBB (Bilbao) Orbx
Terrain Scenery: Orbx Global Base, Orbx Vector
Sky/Cloud Textures: REX 5 SkyForce and REX 5 Environment Force
Immersion Effects – Parallel 42 737 Immersion
Weather Generation: ActiveSky (ASP4)
Flight Planning: SimBrief, Navigraph, FlightAware, FlightRadar24
Note: If you are interested in any of the above mentioned add-ons. Visit my P3D Add-ons directory for links.
March 28, 2020 / admin / 2 Comments
As I mentioned in my update post from yesterday, I have been spending some of my free time flying. It helps me destress and gives my mind something to focus on. The title “COVID-19 Relief Flight Series” has dual meaning. First, yes…in my imagination I’m flying some form of relief supplies from point A to point B. But secondarily, these flights are providing me a bit of relief from the stresses of everything that is going on in the real world. I hope you enjoy this series.
Flight Details
The first flight in this series (and I have no idea just how long this series will be) is a relief supply flight from Miami, Florida to Brussels, Belgium. Why Miami? That just happens to be the last location I flew to. Why Belgium? Well…why not? By the way, I realize Fedex doesn’t routinely fly between Miami and Brussels.
For our flight today, Fedex is transporting some much needed relief supplies from Miami, Florida to Brussels, Belgium. We’re flying in the beautiful Boeing 777 Freighter and we’re heavy! Very heavy today. Our ZFW (zero fuel weight) is just below the limit at a whopping 550,000 lbs. and with our planned route, including weather along the way, we took on 171,000 lbs of fuel for the 9 hour flight.
Our route takes us up the east coast of the US/Canada. We begin our North Atlantic crossing at St. John’s Newfoundland and fly eastbound to Shannon, Ireland then across England and finally enter Belgium airspace.
Route:
Brussels Bound
Again, for you hard core virtual pilots who might read this and blow a gasket because Fedex doesn’t routinely fly between Miami and Brussels, just relax or close your browser. Nothing in our world right now is routine. Either way, today…this Fedex Boeing 777 Freighter is virtually flying today between Miami (KMIA) and Brussels (EBBR).
Our B77F is being loaded with all sorts of relief cargo which is needed throughout Europe. Our departure time is 19:35 and we’re on schedule.
An extremely low ceiling makes the airport directly behind almost unrecognizable. The condensation and immersion effects compliments of Parallel 42 777 Immersion.
Love the immersion of the condensation.
As the sun sets in the distance, we turn to join our northeast route along the east coast of the US.
Here comes the sun. With less than two hours to go, the sun is beginning to rise.
Making great time as we’re down to our last hour of flight and just leaving Ireland behind us. It’s all business here on the flight deck as we begin to plan our descent and arrival into Brussels.
The west coast of Wales.
Beginning our descent as we’re crossing the North Sea and headed towards the Netherlands.
Making our turn over Antwerp. The airfield just in view over the wing is EBAW (Antwerp International Airport). I’ve flown into this airport many times in real life.
On final approach into Brussels. Nice green fields.
Cleared to land runway 25R.
Slowing this heavy girl down.
Time to unload the cargo.
This was a fun flight. For those that may not be in the know. The main PC based flight simulators (Prepar3D and X-Plane) are both based on a real world scale. Unlike American Truck Simulator or Euro Truck Simulator 2, where the distance and time is compressed, flying a flight in flight sim will take just as long as a real world flight would take. Everything from the aircraft performance, weather, fuel burn…everything is “As Real As It Gets”.
If you’re looking for a true “simulator”, look no further than either Prepar3D or X-Plane to give you the absolutely best simulation experience you can get on a PC. Remember, this is not a game…this is a simulator!
Thank you for reading!
Until next time…
Happy Flying!!!
Jerry
Credits
Flight Simulator: Prepar3D v4.5 (hotfix 1)
Aircraft: PMDG 777
Airline: Fedex (FDX)
ATC: VATSIM
Airport Scenery: KMIA LatinVFR, EBBR Justsim
Terrain Scenery: Orbx Global Base, Orbx Vector, Orbx openLC North America
Sky/Cloud Textures: REX 5 SkyForce and REX 5 Environment Force
Immersion Effects – Parallel 42 777 Immersion
Weather Generation: ActiveSky (ASP4)
Flight Planning: SimBrief, Navigraph, FlightAware, FlightRadar24
Note: If you are interested in any of the above mentioned add-ons. Visit my P3D Add-ons directory for links.
March 26, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments
Hello Friends,
I haven’t been active on social media much the past few weeks. Since Monday, 16 March I’ve been working from home and being in the IT field, I feel as if I’m just as busy in this remote configuration as I’ve been at any time based in an office. Still managing the same projects, much of the same work and even some new challenges as a company of over 100K employees all fight for available bandwidth across a VPN network. The good news is everything seems to be holding together well and we’re all just trying to make the very best of the situation.
Health
My wife and I, (along with all my family members around the world) are all healthy. In early March and well before the grocery store shortages began, my wife and I began shopping for essentials as we suspected things would get bad here in the US. We didn’t hoard, but we added to our pantry some essentials and even some non-essentials such as snacks. After all, if we’re going to be confined to our house for any length of time….might as well enjoy it with some Twinkies, Oreos and bean dip. No, this doesn’t get consumed together. LOL
Parents Role Reversed
I’m really not sure at what point in life the role of parent/son gets reversed. After my mom passed away last year, I’ve had a few opportunities where I needed to apply a little more persuasion with my dad than I’ve ever done before. My dad will turn 77 this fall and for the most part he’s doing well coping after my mom’s passing. But I had to be a bit forceful a few weeks ago about insisting that he go to the grocery store and purchase a little extra food than normal and also that he limits his visits. He gets it and I rest easier being 1,000 miles away from him that he’ll be OK through this.
Coping Mechanisms
We all have different coping mechanisms when it comes to how we deal with the stresses of life. My wife and I both lost our moms last year. She and I were very eager to celebrate the new year and say goodbye to what we thought was a crappy year (2019) and hello to what we thought would be a very good year (2020). Needless to say, the jury is still out on just how this is all going to unfold and what things are going to look like on the other side. But as I said, we all have different coping mechanisms….
While I’m busy with work, I’m still stuck at home. I’ve been spending a bit of time doing some virtual flying. It had been a few months since I had seriously spent any time with Prepar3D (P3D) and I’m enjoying flying long-haul flights where I can start the flight up before my work begins and either land during my lunch time or after my day ends.
This week all I’m flying are cargo runs as I still can’t believe we have as many real-world passenger flights flying all over the world and furthering the spread of COVID-19. But I digress. As I said, the flights I’m flying are cargo runs with Fedex. I’ve done some flights to and from Memphis, but now embarking on some imaginative flights to help shuttle medical supplies, food and perhaps even some toilet paper to some far away places.
Final Thoughts
I’m no expert. But we all need to do our part to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Stay Home! Wash your hands! And while we all need to stay informed, limit your exposure to the 24 hours news cycle to just a few minutes each day (perhaps a few times a day).
I may storyboard some of my flying adventures and post them here to my blog. Who knows….
Until next time….
Please stay safe! Remember, the life you save…might just be someone else.
Jerry
February 26, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments
Hello friends. I hope you are well. It’s been just over one month since I announced my pause from YouTube. Yes, I’m still calling it a pause for now and I haven’t really done anything with the “rebranding” I spoke about a month ago. At least with YouTube in mind.
The SimplySafeMods project is going very well. Via the SimplySafeMods website, I’m hosting over 40 Farming Simulator 17 and 19 mods from a small handful of mod developers. The site continues to perform well and while I don’t typically toot my own horn, I’ll just say that I believe it’s the easiest mod download site to use (perhaps outside of GIANTS Modhub). No need to register, no advertisements, no need to click multiple download links to get what you want and best of all, fast download speeds. But enough about all that….
Sim Gamer
A few weeks ago my good buddy Eustace Pharmer (aka Atomic 67 G) had been discussing some gaming titles he enjoys and I decided to give Astroneer a try. Thankfully, Steam offers a full, no-questions asked refund (within limits) because I realized within about 30 minutes that this game wasn’t for me.
This is absolutely no reflection towards anyone who enjoys Astroneer (or any game like it) and likewise, this is no reflection on me. We like what we like. We all have gaming styles which we enjoy and like many of you, my time is limited…so I tend to play what truly interests me. This little Astroneer experiment caused me to take a short pause and look at some of the games I already own, but haven’t played recently.
When I built my current gaming machine (GBS Beast Mark V) in May 2018, I took the time to install Prepar3d, Farming Simulator, American and Euro Truck Simulator and a few others. Two titles which didn’t make it back on the SSD was Train Simulator and Train Sim World. I’ve now corrected this.
I Love Trains
Who doesn’t, right? When I was a child, I had a Lionel train layout and about 18 years ago the bug bit me again and I built a fairly large platform layout in my basement. The platform I built (about waist high) was “U” shaped and consisted of two 6 x 12 platforms and one 6 x 8 foot sections. I could run multiple trains, perform switching operations and I’ll admit….I was starting to get out of control with my ideas. Keep in mind this was an “O” Gauge layout.
When I came to my senses (or should I say when my wife helped me come to my senses) and instructed me to turn the basement area into an office and bedroom, I made the move from a physical train layout to a virtual one with the help of Microsoft Train Simulator. Of course, MSTS went bye-bye years ago. I replaced it with Dovetail Games Train Simulator (can’t remember which version I started with)
The Chicken or the Egg
I’m not sure and it doesn’t matter for what we’re discussing here. Obviously Dovetail Games Train Simulator came along well before they introduced Train Sim World. Initially I was under the impression that Train Sim World (TSW) would eventually replace their Train Simulator offering, much like Dovetail’s Flight Sim World was going to replace….er, well nevermind.
Anyway…as we firmly set here in the year 2020…both of Dovetail’s train simulation products are tagged as 2020 versions. My recent gaming memories of both of these products when I had them last installed was Train Sim World was buggy as heck and regular Train Simulator was stable (or at least more stable).
I’ve been enjoying both of them actually. As I’ve owned TS longer than TSW, I have more DLC and I’ve been going back through some of those. But I’ve gotta hand it to Dovetail Games…TSW 2020 is far, far more superior than what it was when I first played it. So I suppose like wine and cheese, good things come to those who wait.
What Next?
I have a few draft articles in the works regarding my rekindled experiences in both TS and TSW. I’ll discuss my opinions of these two rail simulation platforms in future postings. But for now, I have some coal I need to haul in TSW.
Until next time…
Happy Simming!
Jerry
January 24, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments
First, THANK YOU! Thank you for taking the time to read this posting. Perhaps you’ve come here from my brief YouTube announcement, from a posting in Discord or you just simply stumbled onto my blog site. Whatever the reason….I truly appreciate you taking the time from your busy day to read this important message.
Getting to the Point!
I realize I have a tendency of using 10,000 words when perhaps less than 100 will do the job. So with that, I’m switching gears and making plans with regards to my gaming social media life. For the time being, I’m stepping back from the creation of “Let’s Play” videos from my GrizzlyBearSims YouTube channel. I believe this news has truly been a long time coming.
For the past year, I’ve struggled with the creative motivation needed to keep my channel current. I’ve taken lengthy breaks in an effort to recharge my batteries, but once I restart I once again hit the brick wall called burnout. Unfortunately, with my heavy work schedule and other life commitments, the stop/start would only continue to stop…then start.
Don’t Touch That Dial!
Please Don’t Unfriend/Unfollow Me Just Yet! I’m going to make some changes to both my Discord channel and eventually my YouTube channel. These changes will be a rebranding effort to support SimplySafeMods.com. What? You haven’t heard about SimplySafeMods?
SimplySafeMods
If you’ve been around my YouTube, Discord and this blog site for very long, you know my thoughts on some mod sites. I wrote an article a few years ago where I identified a few “reputable mod sites for Farming Simulator Mods”. Unfortunately for all of us, several of the sites I listed as “reputable” are no longer around. This includes PC-SG, FS-UK and Mod Central. I created SimplySafeMods.com in an effort to offer a safe, reliable, fast and absolutely free alternative to the scam mod sites such as uploaded.net.
At SimplySafeMods.com we work directly with the original mod author so you can be absolutely sure the mod you download is genuine. In addition, SimplySafeMods is 100% ad-free and offer fast download speeds.
At the present time, SimplySafeMods is hosting both Farming Simulator 17 and Farming Simulator 19 mods. Please take a few minutes and visit the site and browse our selection of mods. You might be surprised at just what you’ll find available with some truly awesome new mods coming very soon.
Rebranding Plan
The first thing you’ll notice change is with Discord. The GrizzlyBearSims Discord channel will be rebranded to become SimplySafeMods. I want a method for both mod developers and the users of their mods to have a way to communicate with each other in an effort to provide reasonable support. Discord is a much better solution than a clunky forum.
Finally, I will eventually rebrand my YouTube presence to also reflect SimplySafeMods. I believe YouTube can be used to help promote SimplySafeMods as well as be a platform to host mod reviews etc.
This is not goodbye
I have zero regrets about the time I’ve spent making YouTube content. I’ve met some really incredible individuals who have become dear friends to me. This is just about shifting gears and focusing on a new project. I will continue to be around Discord and will continue to watch all the great content from those of you producing it.
Before you go, please do me a favor. First, visit and join my Discord channel and say hello. Second, visit and bookmark SimplySafeMods.com. Browse the FS17/FS19 mods and see if anything interests you. Then stay tuned to both Discord and SimplySafeMods for new mod releases.
As always, thank you for your friendship.
Jerry
November 12, 2019 / admin / 0 Comments
SCS Software recently released the Utah DLC for American Truck Simulator. The price for this DLC is $11.99 USD. As you can see from the image below, the west portion of the lower 48 is beginning to fill in. Albeit fairly slow.
Slow and Steady Wins the Race?
Well….in some cases this might be true. However, for those of us who purchased ATS on release (2 February 2016) the pace at which new states have been added could be compared to pouring molasses on a cold winters day.
To better put things into perspective, allow me to draw your attention to the map below. As mentioned, ATS was released on 2 February 2016. On release day, ATS included the two states of California and Nevada (Green). As Arizona wasn’t ready on release, ATS released this as a free DLC on 6 June 2016 (Yellow). It was then another 17 months before we saw the release of the New Mexico DLC (Red) on 9 November 2017. The main reason for the delay of New Mexico was due to the decision SCS made to rescale the map. I believe the map rescale was necessary and taking the necessary time to complete it was also the correct decision.
However, it was another 13 months between the release of New Mexico and the release of Oregon on 4 October 2018 (purple).
2019 was the first year where SCS released two states in the same year. With Washington dropping on 11 June 2019 and Utah 7 November 2019. Could we see a third state release before the end of the year? I won’t be holding my breath.
What’s Next and When?
Guessing the “what’s next” is certainly easier than the “when”. It’s safe to say the next state to be released will either be Idaho or Colorado. If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on Idaho. This would tie in to I-90 in Washington and I-84 in Oregon which connects to I-15 headed to Utah. In other words, it would allow better routes out of Washington/Oregon in eastern Nevada, Utah and Arizona/New Mexico.
If Idaho is next, I would then believe we will see Colorado then Wyoming come next. While I have no idea all that goes into the creation of these DLC maps, I would assume the states of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana could each be less work (due to the sparseness of each) especially when compared to California.
Coast-To-Coast
While my opinion matters little to SCS, I would hope we could continually see 3-4 new states released each year. However, if you can’t simply wait to drive from one coast to the other, you really should check out the awesome Coast-To-Coast map. I’ve been a fan of the C2C map since it was first created. The C2C project officially kicked off soon after the initial release of ATS and has evolved into a very nice mod map.
The Coast-to-Coast map began as a personal project of the main developer (Mantrid) and then grew into the large endeavor it currently is. I don’t always have the C2C mod active, but when I update it after not driving it for a few months I’m always pleasantly surprised at the level of progress made. While there are other mod maps for ATS, C2C is and always has been my absolute favorite.
Until next time…
Happy Trucking!
Jerry
