February 24, 2016 / admin / 0 Comments
No, it’s not April Fools and No, I’ve not lost my mind. It is now possible to drive from the west coast of the USA (California) all the way to the east coast in American Truck Simulator with the help of a new map mod released last week. You may remember, last week I introduced you to a mod developer named Mantrid and his Speed Limit Fixes (and more) mod. Among other things, this mod corrects two really big issues (my opinion) with the default ATS map. It adds a traffic light intersection at highways 6/95 in Tonopah and removes the traffic lights on I-80 in Reno.
Well, Mantrid also created a coast-to-coast map mod which allows ATS truckers the ability to drive from the west coast all the way to the east coast of the USA. You can download this map mod directly from the SCS Software forums. Now before I proceed, allow me to get some finer points out of the way. First, this map mod is a Work In Progress (WIP). Mantrid’s initial interest in creating the coast-to-coast map was simply to be able to drive from one side of the USA to the other. So as the map stands today, it is pretty basic. So basic that he only included a handful of cities along the way with just one primary highway route. The cities along the route are Phoenix, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. The highway route is basically I-40 all the way to OKC, then I-44 up to St. Louis, then I-70 to Pittsburgh, then I-76 etc. See map images below.
Again, I say this map mod is a work in progress. The other point I want to make, is much of the terrain areas don’t necessarily match up with the real world. Yes, you’ll probably notice palm trees in New York City. There are also a few mileage signs which appear to be in the wrong locations. An example is just out of Boston I saw a mileage sign for Bakersfield or Fresno. Anyway…just remember, this map mod is a WIP.
This blog post will be both a Trucker’s Logbook and Mod Review all rolled into one. If you are interested in downloading this new Coast-to-Coast map mod, visit the SCS Forums via this direct link. Also, as this is a WIP, make sure you check that thread for updates to the map. Oh…before I forget. You don’t need a massive amount of Long Distance skills to pickup jobs with the coast-to-coast expansion. All you need is one skill of Long Distance and the jobs should appear.
It’s just after 9:30 AM on Wednesday, and we are looking at picking up a job hauling for Walmart from LA to Pittsburgh. The load is 27,500 pounds of clothing. The expected delivery time is Sunday between the hours of 6:03 PM and 7:33 PM. The pay out isn’t the best in the world at only $22.44 per mile. The trip distance is 2,501 miles and our GPS is telling us that is a little over 65 hours of driving. A perfect delivery should earn us just over $56K. Let’s do it!
For this coast-to-coast run, we will be driving our Kenworth W900. I purchased it last week for one of my new drivers and at the time of purchase I tricked it out nicely. In the image below, we have just picked up our trailer and have 2,501 miles to go. We have approx. 300 gallons of diesel, plenty of coffee and snacks and a bladder the size of a camel.
While the amount of cities are few on this massive map expansion, the fuel and rest stops are plentiful. At least they are when you have the luxury of 300 gallon diesel capacity. I was able to drive from LA to Albuquerque on the first day. Unfortunately, the only state line sign I noticed was crossing into New Mexico (see below).
After a hot shower and wonderful New Mexico Truck Stop breakfast, we are ready to hit the road once again.
The weather on our second day of driving (Thursday), remained mostly cloudy but no rain.
Another full day of driving, we pull into another truck stop along the way. This one is somewhere between OKC and St. Louis.
Our third day (Friday) finds us hammering down I-70 as the sun rises in the distance. We are well ahead of schedule and should complete our delivery on Saturday morning.
We spend our third night in another truck stop along I-70 just near Columbus. This will set us up to make the delivery with over 24 hours to spare.
What’s this? A California Ambulance all the way out here in Pennsylvania?
Our on-time delivery of clothing items from California to Pittsburgh is appreciated
This job bumps us up to level 25.
I applied my new skill point to the “Fragile Cargo” category. The next earn point will go in “Just In Time Delivery” to level it out.
But of course, LA to Pittsburgh is not USA Coast-to-Coast. So while in Pittsburgh, we found a job hauling Lay’s Potato Chips to Boston.
Another on-time delivery from GrizzlyBear Trucking.
While I discovered a garage in Boston for purchase, I decided against buying it at this time. I’m not 100% sure how owning a garage on this un-finished map will work. I’m sure there will be upgrades to the map, so for now I’m just going to pickup a load of seeds and head all the way back to LA. This job pays over 100K. See you back in LA.
Until next time…
Happy Trucking!!!
J
February 19, 2016 / admin / 1 Comment
I realize this post comes slightly off schedule as I usually post mod reviews on Thursday. But this Mod Review – Speed Limit Fixes (and More) is so awesome and so new, that I wanted to get this out ASAP.
There may be many reasons to download, install and use this mod. But if you only do it for two reasons, I think your entire ATS game play will be better and certainly more true to life. The first reason can be seen in the image below. Do you recognize this intersection? I’ll give you a hint. It’s in Tonopah, NV and if you’ve traveled through here…you may have said a few choice words in frustration. Keep reading…
What is the Featured Mod and what does it do?
OK, the mod is titled Speed Limit Fixes. It was developed by Mantrid. As the title suggests, the mod offers a temporary fix for some of the random speed limit changes on the default ATS map. This mod also adds a few traffic lights in some of the smaller towns to help with the flow of traffic. Mantrid is also cleaning up (removing) those redundant stop signs at many traffic light intersections.
But….But…..BUT…here’s the “Jewel in the Crown” of this mod. This mod adds a traffic light at the poorly designed intersection of highways 6 and 95 in Tonopah (see image above). You may remember I wrote a blog post hoping SCS Software would read it. In this blog post I described just how painful of an intersection it was to deal with. I tweeted this blog post to the @SCSSoftware twitter account, but didn’t receive a response. While I still believe this is an issue SCS Software should address with the default map, I suppose…for now all is OK.
The second reason to use this mod is it removes the stupid stop light on Interstate 80 in Reno. As I approach my 50th year on the face of this earth, I’ve driven thousands of miles on the US Interstate Highway System. I’ve never, ever encountered a stop light in the middle of any of the interstates I’ve traveled up and down. This mod fixes this issue.
How can I get this mod?
Mantrid’s authorized version of this mod (and the one he is updating frequently) is available via a link in the SCS Forums. He released an updated version early this morning and the mod is still a work in progress. So download it, install it and use it. But keep an eye on that forum thread for future and frequent updates.
How do I install this mod?
Please see my blog post “How to Install Mods in American Truck Simulator” for complete instructions.
Final thoughts. I would really like to tip my hat to Mantrid and all the fabulous and talented mod creators for spending time away from game play to help make OUR game play more enjoyable. Games like ATS, ETS2 and even Farming Sim 2015 are super fun in their generic vanilla form. But when you begin to add mods (and especially a mod like this) to the mix….the game play becomes extraordinary.
As always, thank you for reading. Please subscribe to the blog RSS feed and/or bookmark my site and return often. Also, follow me on Twitter where I only tweet about my simulation gaming adventures.
Until next time…
Happy Trucking!!!
J
February 18, 2016 / admin / 0 Comments
Would you like to see more “real world” branding in the American Truck Simulator game? Of course there is a valid reason why SCS couldn’t include real world gas stations in the ATS game. It all comes down to licensing and brand issues. However, mod developers can most certainly release mods which re-brand these gas stations and this one offers you stations branded as Chevron, Gulf, Texaco and BP.
What is the Featured Mod and what does it do?
This mod is the Real Gas Stations v1.0 mod for American Truck Simulator. It simply re-brands the in-game generic gas stations with real world American gas station brands of Chevron, Gulf, Texaco and BP.
How can I get this mod?
The Real Gas Stations v1.0 mod for American Truck Simulator is available here.
How do I install this mod?
Please see my blog post “How to Install Mods in American Truck Simulator” for complete instructions.
Until next time…
Happy Trucking!!!
J
May 15, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments
As you progress with your farming adventures, you are most likely to accumulate more and more tractors, combines, trucks etc. (basically drivable vehicles). Moving yourself from vehicle to vehicle can of course be done by exiting one vehicle and walking over and entering the next. Or you can take the faster approach by using either the Tab key on your keyboard or whatever button/switch you have mapped on your favorite joystick/controller. Tabbing from one vehicle to another vehicle is both quick and efficient when you just have a small handful of drivable vehicles. But as I previously stated, as you continue to grow your farming empire so goes the need of growing your fleet. This of course is a good problem to have…
As I’ve been farming on the Ringwoods Map (version 1.71) the past several weeks, I’ve reached a point where my available cash on hand is quite substantial and I can afford just about any piece of equipment I desire. I’ll share my secret (not really a secret) to getting rich in a future blog article. Ringwoods is a good map to really earn a lot of dough quickly if you desire. Anyway, I own a number of tractors, combines, trucks and using the tab method of moving from vehicle to vehicle was causing me to spend way more time cycling through vehicles than I cared to spend. But is there a better way?
Absolutely….
Yes my farming friends, there is a mod for that! It’s called Vehicle Group Switcher (VeGS). You can download VeGS from the FS-UK site. At the time of this writing, the VeGS Mod is at version 2.0.6. VeGS installs like any other mod. Just download and place the zipped file directly into your Mods folder. Complete instructions are available on the VeGS mod page on the FS-UK site.
In a nutshell, once you download the VeGS mod and install it into your mods folder, the next time you startup Farming Simulator 2015 go to any vehicle and click Left Ctrl E. If your airplane starts you are in the wrong sim 
DOH!!!!! Anyway, Ctrl E places VeGS into edit mode. From this edit mode you are able to move each vehicle into one of 10 available (and customizable) groups. As you can see from the image below, I’ve customized my group names (when in edit mode, press and hold Ctrl and the group number until you see a text box where you can type the custom name you desire to use) by Small Tractors, Medium Tractors, Large Tractors, Combines, Telehandler/Wheel Loaders, Trucks and a final group called Forestry. Once you have your fleet organized the way you like it, click Left Ctrl E to leave edit mode. I would recommend you do a quick save in FS2015 as this will write the changes to your saved game folder.
After you have your fleet setup, you can easily switch from vehicle to vehicle by clicking left Ctrl and the group number to cycle through those items. The left Ctrl button will bring up this HUD (example from the above image) To make things easier for me, I printed the image above and have it nearby my controls. Eventually I’ll remember the groupings…but until then it serves as a handy cheat-sheet.
Again, make sure you read all the instructions on the mod page and enjoy. While I’ve accumulated many wonderful mods that I simply could not live without, I’ve got to say that VeGS is in the top 5 (perhaps even the top 3) most relied upon mods I have in my mods folder. Check it out for yourself and enjoy!
Until next time…
Happy Farming!!!
JT
May 11, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments
Things have been busy down on the farm. In an earlier post, I mentioned having some small challenges I was dealing. These challenges were with regards to the overall stability of the Farming Simulator 2015 application. I couldn’t understand why the crashes were occuring. The PC I run FS 2015 on is fully capable and it was just rebuilt a few weeks ago. To be very honest, I’m not really sure what the root cause was. I just know that I did manage to resolve it and the sim has been 100% stable for some 20+ hours of game play. In short, I reinstalled Farming Simulator 2015 and removed all installed Mods. I also began game play on a brand new map (or new map to me). I’m currently farming on Ringwoods 1.7.1 and am very happy with both the layout of the map and the stability and performance of the game play. Ringwoods is essentially the default Westbridge Hills map, but much improved and redesigned. There is so much to do on this map that from time to time I feel overwhelmed. As the name implies, there is a lot of logging opportunities on this map. Perhaps one day I’ll give logging an honest try, but for now I’m just not that impressed with how it all works. Perhaps this is a subject for another blog post. Now on to the topic of the day…
I learned about the Courseplay mod some time ago. I had watched a few YouTube videos and read much commentary about the mod in various forums setup to support the community. While I didn’t immediately dismiss the mod, I wasn’t really sure I would use it. After all, I enjoy performing many of the tasks required in Farming Simulator 2015 myself, but I also realize that running a large farm (or certainly hoping it becomes large) can’t be done with just one person. So I installed the Courseplay (CP) mod and began experimenting.
One of the first tasks I setup was having Courseplay handle the movement of Silage down at the BGA. A very helpful YouTube video got me started in setting up the default wheel loader to handle almost two full silos of silage I just created. Being able to use Courseplay to automate this task will allow me to do other things on the farm, while the hired help assists in earning a lot of money in the sell of the silage at the BGA. The task of setting up Courseplay to empty the silo is a little more advanced than some of the other CP tasks, once you get it setup not much will go wrong. Meaning there isn’t as many challenges to over come with traffic and collisions you may experience with other tasks. Just with this first CP setup, my competent worker generated almost two million dollars by moving/selling silage. Cha-ching…brand new equipment. I like…I like!
The next task I setup for Courseplay was hauling grain from my farms silo to the various sale points on the map. Setting up CP to handle this task was super simple and it works really well. All you need to do is drive from your storage silo to the sell point allowing CP to record the course. Then you save it and activate it to allow your hired worker to help generate even more revenue for your small farm.
To be honest, I figured this would be the extent of my CP setup (at least for now). But I then watch a few YT videos on using CP to automate the emptying of the combine and transporting that material back to the farms silo. Again, to be honest…this was not an easy process. It’s not difficult to do, just a bit of a pain (you know where) with dealing with traffic, collisions with trees and all the bloody fences on the Ringwoods map. Now what I’ve found through a lot of trial and error (mostly error) is CP appears to work a little better (especially with all the fences in Ringwoods) when you setup the combine course starting in the Northeast corner, heading South with two headlands in a counter clock wise rotation. Again, for me this seems to limit the number of collisions my hired help seem to make when running into fence posts, trees and most importantly…each other.
While it’s not perfect, I also know that Courseplay itself is also not perfect. Of course, I’m not a developer and it’s easy for us to play “armchair quarterback” in these situations. But what I find a bit mindboggling is CP does a pretty darn good job controlling the combine. But CP tends to struggle in controlling the other vehicles working in conjunction with the combine on any given field. Now I’ll also admit that I’m not sure how Courseplay works. But I would assume in combine mode, the combine would be (or should be) the master vehicle and it would (or should) control all the other vehicles. It calls for the other tractor/trailer vehicles to approach for offload AND as it is master, it knows where it is in relation to the map and also knows where the other vehicles are. When an approaching tractor/trailer comes too close to the combine, then CP should make sure the tractor/trailer navigates clear of the combine. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Many times the tractor hauling the tipper gets too close to the combine and both get stuck in traffic. Again, the combine obviously knows where it is on the map and the combine knows where it is going to go next. All other CP controlled vehicles should yield to the combine.
With regards to the fences and trees…..well I don’t think I can fault Courseplay. CP knows the field dimensions and setting up the combine to perform two headland cuts does provide plenty of buffer zone for both the combine (especially with the 41’ header) to perform its maneuvers and for the most part allows the supporting vehicles (tractor pulling tipper) to maneuver. I’ve found when I create the route the tractor/tipper follows from the field to silo, that if I make the start/stop points as close to the field as possible, it leaves plenty of room for the tractor/tipper to maneuver without a collision to a fence or tree. At least in theory….
In closing, perhaps some of the issues Courseplay has with tractor/tipper collisions with the combine is due to the poor drive physics in FS2015. Fortunately within CP you can adjust speeds. Based on info I’ve seen in various YT videos I’ve set my field speed to be 20 mph and may even bump it down to 18 or even 15 to see if that helps. I’ll let you know.
If you are looking to automate more of the tasks on your farm, then the Courseplay mod will certainly help. The current stable version of Courseplay is 4.01 and is available from theCourseplay website. If Courseplay helps you (and it will), then please consider making a donation/contribution to the developers of this wonderful mod. You can donate via their website.
That is all for today. I need to tend to the cows, sheep and chickens now. Plus the wheat on field 17 won’t harvest itself. At least not without me getting the process started with Courseplay.
Until next time…
Happy Farming!!!
Jerry
