The past few weeks I’ve been playing Farming Simulator 17. No, that’s not a typo….I’ve been playing the FS17 version which was released back in the fall of 2016 and is over four years old. While I enjoy FS19, my enjoyment of the older FS17 version has been rekindled by the updated The Western Shore map by the extremely talented BulletBill. If you are interested in playing The Western Shore for FS17, you can download it from my mod hosting site, SimplySafeMods. Here’s the link.
I was first introduced to this map a little over a year ago. BulletBill had allowed me to download and play the early release of this wonderful map. But since that time, the map has been updated to version 2.0.0.2. The latest version of the map is truly a joy to play and in my opinion, has been modded to play more like a farm sim map should. More about this later.
No Right or Wrong Way
I’ve often said there’s no right or wrong way to enjoy farming simulator. One can choose to play big maps with big equipment (or even small equipment) or one can play smaller maps with smaller equipment. Of course, smaller maps will generally require the use of smaller equipment and The Western Shore is certainly that kind of map.
With mods, one can also choose how to handle various tasks on the farm. As an example, if you don’t want to mess with baling hay or straw, there are mods available which will allow you to store these items in bulk. You can also pair these storage silos with feed mixer mods which will pre-mix your cow or pig feed needs for you. Again, there’s no right or wrong way to play.
My Game Play
As previously mentioned, I’ve been playing FS17 and BulletBill’s The Western Shore. The map was designed with multiplayer in mind, however….it can also be enjoyed in a single player/offline setting as well. The map features multiple farms with each individual farm consisting of a single animal type. But nothing is stopping you from playing multiple farms at the same time. That’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m raising sheep at Strumble Lane and running a small dairy at Bramble Lane. Strumble Lane Farm is my main base of operations (where I live) and I am considering the dairy function as a contract.
Seasons?
Oh yes, I’ve been a HUGE fan of the Seasons mod since it first came out and I’m playing a six game day season setting on The Western Shore. For me, six game days per season is the sweet spot. Three is too short and nine is too long. Six is just right and the custom GEO provides a perfect representation of that wonderful British weather.
Contractors or Helpers? Yep
As with many of my maps, I do use helpers as and when needed. I typically stick with two and that’s what I’m doing here on The Western Shore. While Courseplay certainly has a role in my game play, the Follow-Me mod is proving most helpful especially with grass work.
Lot’s of Grass Work
I love grass work. Running both sheep and cows will certainly require lots of hay and silage. This is some of the most satisfying work that can be done within Farming Simulator (my opinion). Like I said, lots of hay and silage are needed to keep my animals in tip-top shape.
Mowing…lots of mowing is required.
Raking and baling using the Follow-Me Mod.
I do use a few other “assist” type mods on the farm. Including a auto-loading bale trailer. But once offloaded, the bales are handled and stacked manually and as neat as possible.
Today we’re stacking hay in the barn at Bramble Lane Farm.
Still more hay to bring in. But need to take some time and feed the cows.
The fall crops will soon be ready to harvest and that will mean more straw will go into storage and I’ll begin to plan out the jobs that will need to be done over the late fall and winter time here on The Western Shore. I’ll check back in down the road and share some more progress I’m making on this wonderful and fun map.
I recently read a few comments on an FS19 Facebook Group. The comments were comparing FS19 with FS17 and basically the original commenter summed up FS19 as “finally being on par with FS17”. Of course, this individual was referring to the fact that in the last several weeks we’ve seen some truly awesome mods get released which have helped to narrow the gap between where we left off with Farming Simulator 17, to what we have now with FS19 and also the long awaited 1.3 patch. But I beg to differ with his opinion…as the delta between FS19 and FS17 is still fairly wide. Wide enough Evil Knievel might think twice before attempting a death defying jump on his trusty John Deere tractor.
Now before I wade off too deeply into this blog posting. Just allow me to state for the record that this is an opinion piece and most importantly, it’s MY opinion. As my blog postings do often appear on a few different forums…the opinions expressed here are my very own. With that out of the way, let’s lace up the boots and go wading into these weeds.
Vanilla Comparisons
I believe if you strip away all the mods from Farming Simulator 17 and also do the same with FS19, and conduct side-by-side comparisons in their vanilla or default states, Farming Simulator 17 would out shine Farming Simulator 19. While FS19 touted many enhanced features including horses, a dog and John Deere…to quote Shania Twain…”That Don’t Impress Me Much”. The horses are meh, the dog doesn’t really do anything (why can’t he ride in the back of my truck?) and I’ve had as much John Deere equipment I’ve ever could have wanted since my first intro to Farming Simulator with 15. Of course, I know those who play on consoles haven’t had that.
The one thing which (again…my opinion) narrows the divide between vanilla FS17 and FS19 is Cotton. While we’ve had modded cotton before, GIANTS have done it right (for the most part) and given us cotton and some equipment to work with it. Hopefully they will continue and give us even more.
The Patch
Many (even including myself) had hopes the 1.3 patch for FS19 was going to solve all the problems with the game and half of the problems in the world. While “the patch” did resolve an issue I had been having with my Logitech G27 controller and I suppose a few other issues, I still believe a vanilla FS19 is still lagging behind that of its predecessor. One of the many factors that drive this position is what my ears tell me. The sounds in FS19 just don’t seem to be on par with that of FS17. I’ve heard the reasons for this are due to a change up with the individuals who were part of GIANTS with FS17 were no longer there when FS19 was being developed. As I don’t have time right now to do a side-by-side comparison, I did find another YouTube whose ears are telling him the same thing mine are and here’s a video he made.
Light at the end of the Tunnel
Farming Simulator 19 was an absolute lemon for me for the first few months after release. As more mods were released including quality maps, Courseplay, Guidance Steering (GPS) and just a few weeks ago FollowMe showed up…it’s becoming once again apparent that it’s our wonderful modding community that will end up saving the day. I suspect by mid-summer (hopefully not any later) we’ll see the Seasons Mod show up which is expected to bring even more goodness to Farming Simulator than we had in FS17.
I’m really not sure why GIANTS (and they are not the only one) relies on the modding community to keep their franchise games propped up. As I’ve said before, if it wasn’t for the modding community…Farming Simulator would have already been uninstalled from my PC. While I’m not optimistic GIANTS will do anything about the sound issues I pointed out earlier, I can (and will) look past that once Seasons comes out.
The Microsoft Phenomenon
Perhaps all this can be likened to what I’m going to call the Microsoft Phenomenon. If we look back a decade or two, the various Operating Systems Microsoft have developed could resemble a rollercoaster with highs and lows along the route. Windows XP once service pack 3 dropped was a fairly rock solid OS, then along came Vista. As we made the turn and proceeded up the next hill along came Windows 7, but then we took another drop and fell with Windows 8. While Windows 10 is causing a few gray hairs in my professional life…we seem to be on the uphill once again.
So perhaps this is happening with GIANTS. Who knows…and I could go on and on and on…but GIANTS really needs to hit it out of the park with Farming Simulator 21 (if there will be such a thing). Farming Simulator is such a fantastic simulation game and truly has so much potential and I believe there’s no one better to drive this franchise forward than GIANTS. So….just do it already!
Ladies, Gentlemen and Children of all ages…your dear old GrizzlyBearSims has managed to claw his way back to YouTube! The last time I recorded, edited and published a video the calendar still showed us in Spring and here we are three months later, I managed to at the very least get a video recorded, edited and uploaded while the calendar still shows Summer. I’m back and most importantly, I’m really glad to be back.
I started the GBS YouTube channel for one primary reason and that was to entertain and help others. I’ll admit that I often became somewhat sidetracked from my initial focus and allowed YouTube to somewhat take over my life. Before I realized this was happening, I was knee deep in a heavy work travel schedule and just had to put some distance between myself and the YouTube content creation work. But life has calmed down, we’re back from our Europe vacation and my batteries are mostly recharged.
Making Changes
As I discuss in the video which will release today, I’m returning to YouTube but a few things are going to change with how I operate. As previously mentioned, I already have a career and I’m not looking for a second one. So I’m going to return back to my roots of recording and producing content as a way of having fun and helping others. I’m throwing away the schedule concept as I’ve tried and failed multiple times to stick to a release schedule. Videos will be release when they are available. This might mean some weeks you may see one, two or perhaps even more and some weeks there may be none.
Shamrock Valley
I’m making my return to YouTube playing the new Shamrock Valley map. I like it, it reminds me of Thornton Farm and Coldborough Park Farm I suppose. I’m also playing this series without the Seasons Mod. I made the decision to omit the Seasons Mod from my game play this time around in an effort to prevent me from getting bored with the map too soon. We’ll see how it goes.
Join Me
I hope you’ll join me on this new adventure. I have some stories to catch you all up on my activities over the past three months and might even try to role play from time to time as well. But no promises. Let’s just do some farming on a beautiful map and enjoy the journey.
Please head over to the GrizzlyBearSims YouTube Channel, please click Subscribe if you are not a subscriber and enjoy the first video after my long summer hiatus. Also, please take a few minutes and visit the channels of my partners in crime Eustace Pharmer and DuckZorly Gaming. Finally, if you are a Discord user, check out the Simulation Gaming Society Discord where you’ll find lots of great conversation about Farming Simulator 17 and much more.
So I return to work on Monday morning (10 July) after having spent 10 wonderful, relaxing days on vacation. Over half of this time off was spent near Estes Park, Colorado and the beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park. This was a much needed, highly anticipated and just honestly what any doctor could have ordered break for both my wife and I. The last few months have been tough on both of us and I honestly think we began counting the days down to this get-away back in the early spring timeframe.
Between meetings on Monday morning, I decided to catch up on a few of my fellow YouTube friends and the videos they released while I was on vacation. My friend Farmer Klein was the first name that popped up in my list of video recommendations and I noticed the video title was “Old Guy Farmers Single Player Challenge”. Challenge??? What’s this about seemed to be thoughts that entered in my mind. Obviously I know who Old Guy Farmer is…that’s Mr. Jerry Ott who created the wonderful Mountain Valley Farm map which I’m currently running a “Let’s Play” series on. If interested, you can follow my progress on my Mountain Valley Farm series on YouTube.
Anyway…back to this challenge. I watched with excitement as Farmer Klein started game day 1, episode 1 of the special Goldcrest Valley Edit map which Jerry Ott had designed specific for the challenge. As more minutes passed, I began thinking…I want to do this. I want to play this map and I want to participate in the challenge. I quickly read through the rules/guidelines of the challenge….”Must Use Seasons Mod” Ok…that’s good as I just simply can’t play (nor am I interested in playing FS17 without the Seasons Mod. “Game mode must be set on Hard”. OK..that is also OK as I’m playing on MVF set to Hard mode. “Game play time must be set to x15 speed and can only skip time from 9pm to 6am” That’s also just fine. “Game play must be streamed on YouTube or Twitch” This is also great because I’ve really been wanting to stream my FS17 game play more. Etc. etc. I’ll let you read the rules/guidelines at your own discretion.
While I did say several months ago I had no interest in playing another GCV edit map, on Monday afternoon I downloaded the GCV edit challenge map and fired up OBS and kicked off episode one (of 72 total episodes) of this challenge series. Yes…you did read that correct. This series will consist of 72 episodes as each episode will be precisely one game day (6 AM ish to 9 PM ish). 72 days is what 3 Seasons Mod years, set to 6 game days per season calculates to. Yes, this is a major undertaking…but I have until 1 November. There’s a lot of time between now and 1 November! Right? Right????
I’ll admit, my game play during episode 1 certainly was not my finest hour. I must have appeared as if I was a nube to Farming Simulator 17 or perhaps even a nube to simulation based gaming altogether. I really do have over 500 hours of game play recorded in FS17 (and over 700 in FS15) and I’ve been using the Seasons mod since early January.
The truth is, I completely underestimated the stress in knowing that from the moment you enter the game, time is ticking away at a fairly fast pace (game play set to x15). An entire game day (6 AM to 9 PM) passes by at near light speed in just over an hour. As most of my viewers know, I farm at a fairly relaxed pace and I may spend a few minutes painstakingly comparing tractor specs before making a decision (or no decision at all). In this challenge, TIME is definitely of the essence.
Long Story Short….so yes…GrizzlyBearSims took the challenge and I’ll do my level best to not only survive the challenge, but also complete it and also try equally hard to win it. While the rules are clearly defined, I’ve made the decision to follow my own guideline of “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right” way of doing things. Meaning even though time is quickly speeding by, I won’t take shortcuts…I’m not going to drive through my crops etc. I’m plowing fields, applying fertilizer, cultivating, seeding and then fertilizing again. Regardless of the outcome, FUN is the absolute number one priority for each episode.
While I don’t believe it’s too late for others to take part in this challenge, if you are interested in participating…please visit this website for complete rules and information. But don’t wait too long as while on paper there are many days between now and 1 November…trust me, before you know it…summer will be over and just remember, time is of the essence.
For my wonderful friends/viewers of the GrizzlyBearSims YouTube Channel, Are you interested in winning your very own copy of the Giants Farming Simulator 17 Platinum Expansion Pack DLC? I’m gifting a copy to three lucky winners of this expansion pack (via Steam) at the end of the challenge. All you need to do to enter, is watch my livestreams (either live or via YouTube recorded playback) and listen for me to provide the daily code word. Each episode will have a unique code word which I’ll verbally announce during the game play. Once you hear the code word, just follow the information I’ve outlined to enter. You can view these contest guidelines and how to submit the code word on the GrizzlyBearSims Discord Channel. You can enter up to 72 times, pending you watch (and listen) for the code word. Obviously, the more episodes you watch, the better odds you’ll have at winning. I’ll do the drawing and notify the winners on Sunday, 6 November.
Is Cattle and Crops a Scam? Now before I get too deep in this blog article, let me just say for the record that I DO NOT believe Cattle and Crops is a scam. However, as I frequently discuss Cattle and Crops (CnC) in my YouTube “Let’s Play” series and on my YouTube, Twitch and Hitbox Livestreams (not to mention I’ve blogged about CnC many times on my blog site) the question does come up from time to time. Just a few days ago during one of my YouTube Livestreams a viewer asked my opinion of this very subject. So I thought it might be time to discuss this concern here on my blog. But before we dive into the question if it’s a scam, allow me to provide a little more insight.
2017 – The Year of Farming
Just a few months ago I wrote about how I felt the year 2017 would go down as the year of farming. If we count the final few months of 2016, along with the discussions for future agricultural based simulation games with planned release dates in 2017…one could easily say that 2017 would be “The Year of Farming”. As we were all prepping for the end of 2016, Professional Farmer 2017 came crashing into the scene just ahead of the release of Giants Farming Simulator 17. For the record, I did take a long hard look at Professional Farmer 2017, but decided to keep my money in my pocket. I’m glad I did! Even after many patches and updates, I still think this title has a very long way to go to be considered. Another title (which really isn’t worth mentioning) is Farm Expert. Like Professional Farmer 2017, I also gave this one a pass.
If you’ve been watching my YouTube channel, you know I’m very pleased with Giants Farming Simulator 17. I have over 430 hours in the game (compared to 743 hours for FS15). I realize I may not be setting any records with the amount of hours I’ve recorded in FS17, but these are all actual game play hours. Meaning I’ve spent over 430 hours sitting at my gaming PC playing FS17. Anyway….
In addition to the very promising release of Cattle and Crops (which I’ll discuss in a moment), another title which impressed me and I became excited about is Pure Farming 2017. The team behind Pure Farming 2017 launched a website and a Facebook page. Unfortunately, while I’m not saying this is a dead project…there really hasn’t been any new news on this title in some time. I guess time will tell just what these guys are up to. I suppose it really doesn’t matter as they haven’t approached the community for any money as of yet.
While my predictions of 2017 going down as the year of farming may not be looking as promising as it was in the Fall 2016 time frame, I suppose only time will tell. Now, let me get back on subject.
Enter Cattle and Crops
It was early 2016 (February/March timeframe) when I first learned about Cattle and Crops. The first blog entry I found where I mentioned CnC was dated 8 March 2016. They released a “pre-alpha” video which really impressed me. Ok…the video had a cat in it and that pleased me. But the more I read about this game and their plans for it, the more and more impressed I became. As the year progressed, the CnC Dev team released more information and more videos. Sometime in the early Fall timeframe we learned CnC would be funded via a Kickstarter campaign. I’ve supported many endeavors via Kickstarter in the past, but this would be the first time I would actually support software development. I signed up immediately…it was a no-brainer. At the time of the Kickstarter campaign the plan was to provide the financial backers with an early release product sometime in March 2017 with more expanded features afterwards, leading up to the full release sometime in late 2017. I think everyone will agree, the Kickstarter campaign has been tremendously successful. Based on the information published on the CnC website, they have a total of 10,071 Supporters who have contributed 460,726 Euro.
Why I don’t believe Cattle and Crops is a scam?
Understand, I absolutely do not have any first hand information to validate my opinions one way or the other. Like many of you, I’m just simply an investor in the Cattle and Crops Crowdfunding campaign and (again, just like you) I anxiously await the early release and/or any news from the CnC Dev team. Based on all that I have seen, read about and my own gut feeling….I truly believe this is a genuine software product (not vaporware) which is being actively developed with the intentions it will be released.
I believe much of the concern has to do with the delayed release of early access and the somewhat lack of communication from the CnC Dev Team. I’ll address communications in a moment, but in the real world I work as an IT Manager for a large US based software company. While my direct job isn’t in software development, I’m obviously aware of the various lifecycles a software product will go through from the time of its initial concept design to being 100% ready and rolled out to customers. The old saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” can often be an understatement when talking about software development. As hard as any development team may try to avoid, delays happen and it’s generally in everyone’s best interest to press the brake pedal, versus rolling full-steam ahead. In addition, early release products and any associated dates of release should always be viewed with flexibility. While I agree any published finished product dates should accompany a more solid commitment regarding the date, early access is just that….it’s an early access product.
In addition to what I’ve already stated, I also believe based on some of the individuals involved with the project who have experience with Courseplay, DriveControl, GearBox mod and Modhoster that we would have learned by now if this was destined to only be vaporware. Moving along…
Communication, Communication, Communication
Early on, I was extremely impressed with the level of communication the Cattle and Crops team released. While we’ll never know for sure, but I think it was the CnC communications efforts which drove Giants to do a much better job in communicating and building the media hype ahead of the release of Farming Simulator 17. But unfortunately, I’m of the opinion that Cattle and Crops have really hurt their cause with their lack of communication in recent weeks.
As I’ve already stated, software development is not a perfect thing. Delays can and will happen. I fully support CnC’s decision to delay the early access release originally scheduled for March. Especially after watching how Farm Expert and Professional Farmer 17 were received. While I agree it wouldn’t be wise to communicate a new target date as often more delays occur and the last thing you want is to have to constantly communicate more delayed releases. But at the same time, going almost completely dark isn’t helping their cause.
Now some will argue that it may take too much time to create game play videos and that CnC is better off keeping their nose to the grind stone and not wasting time communicating. But honestly, I really don’t need a weekly YouTube video to keep me engaged in their progress. A simple blog posting, Facebook posting or even Tweet on Twitter each week would be all that is needed to keep their audience in the loop. To make us feel as if we’re still part of the process.
If the original early access release date was end of March (remember what I said earlier about flexibility), we are now one full month beyond that. Most folks who may have helped to fund CnC may not be as familiar with how the software development process and early access releases work. Again, a little more frequent communication from the CnC Dev Team is most certainly encouraged.
Now having said all the above, the CnC Dev team did release an inspiring video showcasing how they have resolved leaky barn roofs. The timing of this video update couldn’t have come at a better time for me. After watching this video and feeling impressed about what they have achieved, I sat down to record an episode on my Lone Star FS17 Let’s Play. Before I could get all my work done it began to rain. As I parked my tractor in the barn I happened to notice that it was raining just as hard inside the barn as it was outside. See…it’s these little things that have me feeling so excited about the release of Cattle and Crops. Immersion and realism is very important to me in a simulation based game.
Cattle and Crops a Game Changer
In closing, please allow me to remind you that I have no inside information. I’m not associated with the CnC Dev Team outside of my financial investment as a crowdfund investor. That’s It! But I really, really believe we’re going to be surprised (in a good way) with what we’ll see both in the early access version and the full blown release version. I stand by what I’ve said many, many times that I would much better wait for the product they intend us to have than to receive something that is half baked and riddled with problems.
Finally, I only have a need for ONE agricultural based simulation game in my library. The main reason I got involved in the Kickstarter for CnC is I do firmly believe that Cattle and Crops will change the way we experience agricultural based simulation games. While I think FS17 is an awesome product, I’m disappointed in the similarities with FS15. Giants most likely (or should be) is in the process of really upping their game. If history repeats itself (and I see no reason why it wouldn’t) we can expect to see Farming Simulator 19 in October 2018. I’m more than certain Giants has been watching and we should assume that one (or more) of the 10,071 supporters of CnC are folks at Giants looking to get their hands on the game. While I don’t like to make dire predictions, but when Cattle and Crops reveals it is everything we hoped it would be AND if Giants releases a product which is just a slightly enhanced version of FS17 but they call it FS19, then that my friends might just spell the end for Giants. At least it will in my book…
I’m curious what you think. Please leave your comments below.
I truly love helping my fellow farm sim enthusiasts, it’s really the main reason why I launched my GrizzlyBearSims blog site and the GrizzlyBearSims YouTube Channel. I have been blogging about my simulation based gaming efforts since 2007 and both through this blog site and my YouTube channel, I’ve met some truly incredible people that I happily call friends. Many of my friends have launched their own media outlets to showcase their game play and also use their platforms in turn helping others as well. One such friend, Farmer Klein has successfully launched his YouTube channel and is quickly gaining in subscribers and popularity. I’m really pleased to have the opportunity to feature one of his most recent tutorials on my blog site.
Unfortunately, not all maps are created equal in terms of the written language. Some of the truly great maps may feature a language other than English and perhaps we see the German language most frequently. Having a wife who is fluent in several European languages has worked to my advantage many times. However, I believe she has grown bored with me calling her over to my PC to translate words I don’t recognize and I’ve often wondered how difficult it would be to change the language to English. But I must admit, I’ve never really looked into how one goes about doing this and I really don’t have the time (or the desire) to do much with Giants Editor. Well…..as Farmer Klein demonstrates in the video below…the process of changing the written, displayed language doesn’t require a degree in rocket science. All that is needed is the desire, the time and the ability to use Google Translate (or have a multi-lingual wife who doesn’t mind helping).
If this interests you, (no you can’t borrow my wife) please watch the video below by my friend Farmer Klein. After you watch the video, please show your appreciation of his hard work by subscribing to his channel and liking the video. I’d like to give a really big Grizzly Bear “Thank You” to Farmer Klein for taking the time to showcase the steps required to change the language of a map. Now if I can just figure out how to stop the trees and fence posts from jumping out in front of my tractor, I’ll be all set. Mr. Farmer Klein….got a video tutorial for that? LOL
For those who follow my GrizzlyBearSims YouTube Channel, you already know that I’m a fan of large maps, with large fields. In FS15, I loved maps like Graceland, Oklahoma and States. These maps allowed me to experience operating the largest equipment mods, operating multiple pieces of equipment working in the same field and just really satisfied my need of “GO BIG or GO HOME” farming. In FS17, I’ve gently eased my toes into the waters of larger maps/larger fields with Pine Cove Farm and now my brand new series on Lone Star. More about this in a minute…
Back to FS15, during my private play on the Oklahoma map I did download, install and try out the Big Bud tractor mod. I honestly wasn’t impressed with it and returned to using my trusty John Deere tractors. So when I learned about the upcoming Big Bud DLC for FS17, I did go ahead and pre-order, but as I’ve mentioned several times on my YouTube Channel…I really only was interested in the equipment and not the Big Bud tractors.
However, I recently discovered a real-life farming YouTube channel based in the Big Sky Country of Montana called Welker Farms Inc. Welker Farms Inc. is based in North Central Montana and has been in operation since 1912. Now I found their channel by way of my interest in aerial drone photography as they have just recently purchased the DJI Mavic Pro drone (same model as mine) and began watching their videos. So in addition to showcasing their farming operations (which is very cool) they also have several videos featuring their fleet of….you guessed it….several Big Bud tractors.
I must say….the more I watch their channel, the more I see the Big Bud tractor in use on their farm, the more excited I am about the Big Bud DLC release and even using the Big Bud tractor on my GrizzlyBearSims YouTube channel. So yea….I’m sort of having a change of heart with regards to my opinion of the Big Bud tractor.
Yes…the Big Bud tractor is still an ugly beast. But sometimes an ugly beast is exactly what is needed to get the job done.
Honestly speaking, I believe much of the dislike I’ve experienced and shared of the Big Bud tractor is based on my experience with it in FS15. I’m more than certain Giants will release a truly awesome version with their DLC pack. Just a few days ago Giants released this blog update and how they sent some of their team here to the USA to “meticulously measure the exact details of the Big Bud 747” and “record the authentic engine sounds” for an “authentic as possible” in-game experience. Knowing this information, I’m really beginning to change my opinion of this tractor.
As I mentioned a few minutes ago, I’m in the very early stages of my brand new Lone Star YouTube series. I’ve already set the stage in the story line that our local equipment supplier has asked me to become a reference customer for the Big Bud tractor as they have one coming in very soon. So sometime after the release of the Big Bud DLC, I will feature it on the channel in this fashion. If my overall expectations are positive of the tractor itself, then you can expect to see it featured more on new maps suitable for the large equipment.
Well this just about wraps up all I wanted to mention in this blog post. My apologies for not posting new articles on a regular basis. I’ve somewhat been using my YouTube channel as a VLOG outlet and not spending as much effort in writing content here. I’ll certainly try to do a better job at multi-tasking in the future.
Farming Simulator 17 – GBS Tutorials – Plowing with Courseplay
In this video, I provide instruction on how to plow with Courseplay.
Please note: At the time of this recording, Courseplay for FS17 is in beta (work in progress). As clearly stated in this video, neither the Courseplay development team or myself (GrizzlyBearSims) will be responsible for any possible damage caused to your FS17 game by using a beta mod. While Courseplay is extremely stable, the use of ANY MOD can cause damage to your game saves. Use Courseplay at your own risk!
I hope you enjoy watching my videos. If you do, please hit that “Like” button! Also, if you are new to the channel, please SUBSCRIBE. It really does help!
Please visit my blog site https://grizzlybearsims.com You’ll find my complete mod list and various articles and reviews on many of the simulation based games I enjoy playing.
Back in the days of FS15, we had a wonderful Handbrake mod which provided handbrake or parking brake functionality on all vehicles. I had actually forgotten about this wonderful mod until recently. I was harvesting beets on Lawfolds and had an almost full tipper of beets parked (with tractor) on a slight incline. Upon emptying the beet harvester, the tractor and tipper (filled with almost 31,000 liters of beets) began sliding down the hillside. At that instance I remembered that wonderful mod and realized I must find it for FS17.
Fate is a funny thing really. The very next day I happened to see a new video from Disco who shared how to modify the Handbrake Mod for FS17 to add sounds. Could I do this? Could I perform the edits and make it work like he did? Yep…I certainly could and what a joy it is to now have a little added security in knowing I won’t need to go chasing after my tractors any longer.
If I can do it, so can you. But you’ll need to watch Disco’s video and follow along for yourself as it would be right to share the edited mod. In addition, you must also respect the work of the original modder and only use these edits for your own personal use. Information on how to location Disco’s video is contained in the notes section of the video below. Enjoy and don’t forget to set that handbrake!
Farming Simulator 17 – GBS Tutorials – Setting up an Equipment Transfer Course
After having my arm twisted by my dear friend Eustace Pharmer, I’m going to do a full “how to” series on Courseplay for FS17. Each video will contain just the information you need to configure Courseplay for the given task. Over the next few weeks I’ll create these “no-nonsense” tutorial videos which I hope will help you in your virtual farming operations.
In this video, I provide instruction on how to setup an equipment transfer course to move equipment from point A to point B. In the video, I discuss moving newly purchased equipment from the store to the main farm. But you can also easily setup transfer course from the main farm to a field and back.
Please note: At the time of this recording, Courseplay for FS17 is in beta (work in progress). As clearly stated in this video, neither the Courseplay development team or myself (GrizzlyBearSims) will be responsible for any possible damage caused to your FS17 game by using a beta mod. While Courseplay is extremely stable, the use of ANY MOD can cause damage to your game saves. Use Courseplay at your own risk!
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Please visit my blog site https://grizzlybearsims.com You’ll find my complete mod list and various articles and reviews on many of the simulation based games I enjoy playing.
