Euro Truck Simulator 2

[lex]

Has anyone seen this game yet?  It was just released on Steam as a greenlight game and as the title suggests, you drive around Europe as a truck driver.  You start off making delivery runs for other people, but as you earn more money, you can buy your own fleet of trucks, hire drivers and build your own trucking empire.

There's a demo for the game on the official website.  I've been playing it for a while, and it's strangely addicting.

I haven't opened up any of the truck empire stuff yet, but the driving a truck part of the game is pretty good.  Your truck is slow to start and stop, and you can't weave in and out of traffic.  Taking a turn too fast can cause your truck to flip over.  You can jack knife your truck if you reverse too sharply.

The one thing is that the controls are a little unwieldy and a little bit too sensitive.

I do think the price right now (30 euros/40 USD) is a little steep, but there's a demo and it's worth a try.

http://www.eurotrucksimulator2.com/

[EngineNo9]

Giant Bomb did a great 2 hour not-so-quick Quick Look that was full of hilarity.  Probably not the best authentic representation for those who take these sims seriously, I but really enjoyed it. 

[Purge]

Funny, I had just fired off an email to the GT management to find out if we can get a review copy to write up.

[CeeKay]

looks kinda purty.

[lex]

This is a game that needs a steering wheel and multiple monitors to really enjoy.  I'm playing with a controller and have been trying to fine tune the sensitivities to hit the sweet spot.  Looking at your mirrors, steering, accelerating/braking is just not natural with a controller.  If you play with a controller, make sure that it's not set to a wheel type controller.

Driving these trucks is pretty tough.  You have to worry about the trailer that's hooked to your truck and have to take your turns wider. You have to actually obey traffic and can't drive like a maniac in other racing games.  Hitting traffic signs actually damages your truck.  Imagine that.

The one big thing I would like is to have the GPS give more prompts.  I've missed the on and off-ramps for highways too many times.  And I'd like to be able to interact with things in the truck with the mouse.  Like turning the wipers on or signalling turns.

[Roguetad]

It's surprising to see the really good review scores.  I never would have expected a truck driving sim to be good.  It looks like it has a business management element to the game too.  Growing and expanding a trucking business sounds more interesting to me than actually driving the rigs around. 

Are the steering wheels on all the trucks on the right side of the cab?  That would screw me up.

[jztemple2]

I do think the price right now (30 euros/40 USD) is a little steep, but there's a demo and it's worth a try.

http://www.eurotrucksimulator2.com/

Thanks for the link. I'm downloading the demo via Torrent and boy it's fast today.

Steam has it 10% off through this weekend if that's your thing.

I like this quote from the PC Gamer review:

Spending 90 minutes ferrying a tank of propane from Sheffield to Prague could (should?) be tedious. The fact that it isn’t is largely down to good-if-not-quite-OMSI-standard physics, and varied road layouts and scenery. Periods of smooth, almost soporific motorway motoring nestle between passages of edgier wheelwork. One minute you’re cruising along contemplating the sunset over the central reservation, the next you’re on a rain-lashed country road at night, waiting for the right moment to pass a painfully slow pantechnicon. Tiredness can’t kill in ETS2, but it can leave you jack-knifed in a ditch, feeling awful with a substantial repair bill to pay.

[jztemple2]

Oh yeah, baby, I'm trucking....



I like how in your truck radio you can stream internet radio. I like RadioRoks - UA myself

[lex]

I like how in your truck radio you can stream internet radio. I like RadioRoks - UA myself

That's something that I was missing - Trucking music!!!!

I'm not a sim guy, and I didn't expect to enjoy this game.  The demo is only half a gig and is worth trying out.  The demo only limits the available content.

I think part of the reason I like the game is that it reminds me of the show Shipping Wars on A&E.  Transport something from point A to B in time C.

[jztemple2]

OK, I bought the game  .

The hire jobs in the demo are fine, but the real meat of the game is to own your own company. I have one cheap truck and I'm the only driver, but it's a start:



So I'm off to Paris from Frankfurt, pulling a trailer full of wood shavings. Must be good work shavings. And damn it, wouldn't you know, it's raining:



Still, it could be worse. I'm listening to Bon Jovi on EKR Rock Radio - UK through internet streaming. Not bad at all.

[jztemple2]

So the rain finally stopped on the way to Paris. It's sunny and not too much traffic and then....


Tired? I don't fell... oh wait, my character is yawning in the cab. And I heard that driving after I past my allowed driving time gets me a fine. So I get some rest, but now it's dark:


And to make it more irritating, there are toll booths!:


Still, I struggle on, although at one point I get caught by a speed camera and get fined more than 500 Euros . I guess that's what this sign was telling me:


Finally I'm approaching Paris. I guess it would be a lot prettier if it wasn't the middle of the night:


Sheesh, finally I arrive at my destination. And no, I don't feel like trying to park my own trailer, thank you, I'll just hit "Enter" and skip the bonus.


And my rewards screen. Twelve thousand Euros isn't too bad, but don't forget my speeding ticket.


And now for some well earned sleep.

[lex]

OK, I bought the game  .

The hire jobs in the demo are fine, but the real meat of the game is to own your own company. I have one cheap truck and I'm the only driver, but it's a start:

I was just going to post that I got a bank loan and bought a truck of my own!!!  I like how you can set the steering wheel to be on the right or left hand side and do little things like adjust the mirrors.

Having your own truck opens up the game a little bit.  Before, when you drive for other companies, you are magically transported into their trucks with the goods loaded.  With your own truck, you pick the cargo, drive there, hook it up to your truck and drive to the destination.

and there are mods for the game

http://ets2-mods.com/

[Crawley]

So it shows the time from Frankfurt to Paris drive was 18hrs. I'm assuming that isn't real time. About how long did that trip take in real time? And can you save the game during your trip?

This game looks both appealing and boring to me at the same time. I'm curious about it.

[jztemple2]

So it shows the time from Frankfurt to Paris drive was 18hrs. I'm assuming that isn't real time. About how long did that trip take in real time? And can you save the game during your trip?

This game looks both appealing and boring to me at the same time. I'm curious about it.

The trip time included eight hours for a rest stop. Actually game driving time was about ten, which I completed in about an hour, including real world breaks. The actual time compression in the game seems to be about twenty game minutes to one real world minute. As shown in the screenies, night is fully simulated and it really is dark out there.

You can indeed save your game at any time. I just did a little test. If you save while driving you reload to the same spot on the map, with the same mission and cargo. The only difference seems to be that when you reload you are stopped and the engine is off, which is probably a good thing. The game autosaves when you quit and reloads that autosave, although you can always choose to then go and load a different save. And you can save and continue in the game at any time.

I'm feeling the same way regarding the "appealing and boring". Yup, at times it can be monotonous, but there are challenges in handling a rig that big. Right now I'm moving an oversized and overweight piece of earth moving equipment and it's really tricky going around corner and up hills. Having the in-game internet radio is a great help. The EKR Rock Radio from the UK really appeals to me. You can add additional internet streaming radios if you wish.

lex, thanks for the link to the mods! The game seems very mod friendly. I'm going to try a coach, err bus, for fun.

[lex]

So it shows the time from Frankfurt to Paris drive was 18hrs. I'm assuming that isn't real time. About how long did that trip take in real time? And can you save the game during your trip?

This game looks both appealing and boring to me at the same time. I'm curious about it.

Yeah, the game doesn't seem that exciting, but there are a lot of things to do besides the driving. 
You gain experience and level up, you can customize your trucks however you like, and manage your business.  And I think as your business grows, you can let your other drivers do the actual deliveries

Trying to drive normally in a truck can actually be tricky at times.

If you want to a try driving on the left side of the road, accept a job that brings you into the UK.

[Rumpy]

How is this different compared to their 18 Wheels of Steel series? I assume it's pretty similar, the main difference being the wide expanse in places to drive, but I also assume they've made improvements in other areas. The one I'm most familiar with is the one where you have access to the US and Canada. It seems like they've given this more of an RPG feel in that you level up.

[jztemple2]

Been putting in some more time on ETS2 and also checked out the SCS forum for mods. I've found a very good one, Trucksim-Map 1.5 for ETS2. As they say in their introduction:

In this map, 20 new cities were incorporated with the companies that are located in Hungary, Austria, northern Italy and North Africa. The focus has been on expanding the map with new countries and cities and in the final stage is to include all European countries.

The North Africa terrain is pretty nice. Per their recommendation I created a new profile and checked it out:

Leaving Tunis:


Turning off to Hebira. Check out those mountains!


Look at the route in the GPS. Lots of winding turns up into the mountains:


Part way there:


And entering Hebira:


Here's the expanded map. The North African part doesn't show up too well but looks fine when you zoom in:


Since this mod requires starting a new profile I probably won't use it for a while, but I wanted to let folks know who might now be too far into the game and would like to try out this mod.

[lex]

How is this different compared to their 18 Wheels of Steel series? I assume it's pretty similar, the main difference being the wide expanse in places to drive, but I also assume they've made improvements in other areas. The one I'm most familiar with is the one where you have access to the US and Canada. It seems like they've given this more of an RPG feel in that you level up.

Yeah, both games are by the same company so I'm assuming they are similar games.  I didn't play the 18 wheels of steel ones, so I don't know.  The RPG aspect is that your character gains XP for making trips and level up.  The amount of XP depends on if you were on time, if you damaged your rig and if you manually backed the trailer to the loading dock.  When you level up, you can upgrade things like what type of cargo you can haul (dangerous goods, etc), fuel efficiency and stuff like that.

The demo ended for me today, I think you can make like 5-6 deliveries before the demo stops.  It is a good game, I'll put it on my wishlist and buy it when it goes on sale.

[jztemple2]

How is this different compared to their 18 Wheels of Steel series? I assume it's pretty similar, the main difference being the wide expanse in places to drive, but I also assume they've made improvements in other areas. The one I'm most familiar with is the one where you have access to the US and Canada. It seems like they've given this more of an RPG feel in that you level up.

Yeah, both games are by the same company so I'm assuming they are similar games. 

I downloaded the 18 Wheels of Steel American Long Haul demo and tried it for comparison. It seems that there is a lot more depth in ETS2 than WoS in the business aspects. I was reading over in the SCS forum and there are folks with 40 drivers and rigs and multiple garages all over Europe. At some point you might just stop driving and just manage your business, although I don't know how much fun that would be.

I did some more driving today and am at level 7. I really need more horsepower in my rig. I did get roof lights so I can at least see at night.

[Rumpy]

Yeah, from what I'm hearing, it sounds like they've made changes to the business side of things to make it more realistic and varied. Nice. I'll have to consider it. The one I have, you can have fleets, but it's much more simplified as there's nothing from stopping you if you've got the money to hire them, and it's more of a means for more money. I like that there's an element of progression now.

At one point, I got tired of the way you get tired in this game, more in the way it's implemented, and I had disabled that via one of the setting files.

[lex]

I got tired of the way you get tired in this game, more in the way it's implemented, and I had disabled that via one of the setting files.

I think there's an option in the game to disable fatigue now...

[jztemple2]

Check out this thread over on the SCS forum, where folks are posting their truck customizing pics. I didn't even know you could do this!

[lex]

Check out this thread over on the SCS forum, where folks are posting their truck customizing pics. I didn't even know you could do this!

I'm surprised no one has their truck painted with the three wolf moon picture...

I love the night shots that show off the headlights.

[Purge]

Dude needs a bigger monitor.

[CeeKay]

damn, I've always wanted to try a truck sim since watching Ice Road Truckers....

[jztemple2]

New patch coming out soon for ETS2:

A New ETS2 Patch Almost Here
In a few days we should be ready to finally update Euro Truck Simulator 2 again. We are working on improving many parts of the game, we are definitely not just in maintenance mode. The development effort is substantial; we are committed to evolving the game for a long time. But things take time to get them done right, more than we would like for sure. Several extensive features which will not make it into this patch are already under development. Please have patience with us!

What to expect now?

First and foremost, the 1.3.x patch is bringing two more official truck brands into the game. Of course moders are doing fabulous job in this area already, but this is major news for us. We are proud to have official support from 6 of 7 biggest European truck brands. Down the line, this is going to have very important influence on the quality of our games, as well us perception of our games by the public and truck industry insiders alike. Far from all ETS2 players use mods, so having the real brands in the game "out of the box" is a welcome feature for the many thousands of players just using the standard game.

Second major development is addition of Product Key verification step to the activation process. It is no secret that in the recent weeks, a "key gen" has appeared which can fool the built-in Product Key check in many cases. On release, the game had no true "DRM" protection, it never contacted any database of valid keys to see if the Product Key is really issued and in good standing. All that the game did was check if the Key conformed to a complex mathematical formula. This protection step though was reverse-engineered, a key gen unleashed, and since then piracy is through the roof. It's not just casual piracy, it seems that several shady companies have made a business out of selling these fake product keys on the cheap, scamming customers by claims that these keys are valid. We had to do something about it, it was urgent as this was badly hurting both our pocket and our reputation. So instead of bringing you a new patch quickly, we had to concentrate on closing this hole and spend over a month of programmers' time implementing an extra Product Key verification step to the game. As of the new patch, everybody will be asked to re-enter their Product Key again, and this time the check will be more thorough, actually comparing the key with a database of valid keys. Any keys which are not genuine or are coming from stolen credit card purchases will be refused. We expect quite a storm of complaints as people will find out that the key they were using until now just fine was in fact invalid, but we simply must take this step to protect our business. Steam version of Euro Truck Simulator 2 can be activated by using genuine Product Keys issued for any other edition of the game, and seeing the activity on Steam it is already a clear indication of what to expect with so many people trying to use fake keys to register the game there.

The patch change-log has some 20 lines covering fixes and improvements not listed above, but we'll post this detailed list closer to release of the patch. For now, let us show you some of the visible changes and additions to the ETS2 truck fleet.

[Crawley]

Found out that GameTap had this so played it a bit the other day. Yeah this is a pretty fun game. Although tense when you have to make turns, merge, or switch lanes quickly. The starting missions must be a bit more forgiving in damage. There were a few instances in turns where my trailer had hit a light pole or got stuck on a guard rail where it was just scraping as I wiggled free - but I didn't seem to get dinged for it. And in one instance I'm pretty sure I backed in to another car and they didn't seem to mind at all. So not sure as you level up the game becomes less forgiving for those circumstances.

How do you take screencaps from the game? The scenery is pretty nice and would like to record some of my "adventures". Right now I'm just driving around Italy which looks pretty good.

[jztemple2]

How do you take screencaps from the game? The scenery is pretty nice and would like to record some of my "adventures". Right now I'm just driving around Italy which looks pretty good.

According to the manual it's F10, but since I have Steam I just use their F12 capture, so I haven't tested the F10 route.

[Arclight]

Normally I wouldn't even sniff at a game like this...But I'm glad I was interested by all the good press around the game. I steamed it yesterday and while playing I'm trying to get the right set up on my logitech pc controller. So many things to use on it. It looks to me like the game can be as deep  or as shallow as you want it.

I spent a lot of time in Europe and was borne and lived the first 10 of life in England. I'm certainly gonna keep my eyes open for any familiar land marks.
It also will probably fill the " I need a calm, relaxing game to play" niche.

The streaming radio is great.

[jztemple2]

The latest patch (version 1.3) has been released. Not sure if this has been released to Steam yet as I'm not home right now; maybe someone can check on that. The pertinent details are below. Be sure to pay attention to the mention of backing up your Profiles!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Euro Truck Simulator 2 - update 1.3
At last, we are releasing a new update to ETS2! Lots of fixes and improvements, and a new patch application which should hopefully make the updating procedure a lot smoother.

It may be a good idea for you to back-up your player profile (look for it in Documents > Euro Truck Simulator 2), especially if you are using mods which may have compatibility problems with this update. This way you would have a fall-back option to temporarily revert to a previous version in case of problems.

Steam edition of the game will be updated later today, please have patience with us, this patch is applicable to all retail as well as digital editions of the game except for the Steam build.

Find the update here.

What's new in this update:

    official licenses from Iveco and Volvo
    ability to change the company name, logo or preferred brand
    retarder (automatic or manual)
    per-profile mod selection (can be overridden using -force_mods command line parameter)
    support local currencies of each country in the game
    gearbox accessory selection
    new online radio stations (now up to 190 stations)
    physics takes into account different weights for trailers and cargos
    Renault Premium upgrades
    Renault Magnum side-skirts are now an optional upgrade
    hired driver log
    hired drivers more likely to find suitable cargo on the way back
    re-hired driver issue fixed
    ferry fee is not charged to player for quick jobs
    UK distances in GPS fixed
    fixed memory leak when playing mp3 files using radio
    improved handling of corrupted save files
    improved resiliency to some types of corruptions caused by mod removal
    fixed cabin blur during rain
    over 200 map changes and fixes
    several German roads thoroughly tweaked and prettyfied
    bump causing damage on German A3 fixed
    powerline columns in the middle of the road removed
    gas station in Bremen
    AI curves fixing on some prefabs
    increased vertex buffer sizes to improve game stability with more detailed vehicle models
    Product Key verification step added, only genuine keys in good standing accepted as of version 1.3+

Any new bugs to report? Please report them on forum.scssoft.com.

[lex]

The game is 10 bucks cheaper over at greenmangaming ($29) versus steam ($39), and is activated on steam.  I can't pick up any new games right now, but it's worth keeping an eye on, especially since GMG has 20-30% off vouchers from time to time.

[jztemple2]

Here's another one of those interesting mods.

Realistic Physics Mod v1.7 Update for ETS2 v1.3

I have tried this in the newly patched version of ETS2 and it really does seem to make the truck feel more "real". The mod is available on two versions, one version removes the 90 kph limiter (woo-hoo!) 

Note that when you try to download the mod file, in Firefox (at least) it appears as a weird page full of text. You just do a "Save Page as..." and use .scs as the extension, then drop in your mods folder as usual.

By the way, the new 1.3 update to ETS2 allows you to select individual mods in each profile you have.

[Kagath]

Can you customize your character? Need more mullet/serial killer looks.

[jztemple2]

Can you customize your character? Need more mullet/serial killer looks.

Nope, you can only pick from eight or twelve portraits. Darn.

[jztemple2]

You know, sometimes traffic can be a pain. I was turning my rig onto an entrance ramp when some bum jumped in front of me. I slightly tapped him.




Being a good guy, I decided to help him by pushing him down the ramp. It didn't go like I hoped.



I rocked in reverse and forward but that just made things worse.



I finally had to get towed and repaired  .

[CeeKay]

finally got around to playing the demo, and liked it enough I bought it off of GMG using a 25% off code.  playing the vanilla game right now and getting used to the feel of the game (with mouse and keyboard, doubt I'm going to get a wheel any time soon). 

random thoughts:

been slowly making my way across Germany, into the Netherlands and hoping to get over to Great Britain soon.  haven't seen any night driving or bad weather yet over the course of about 6 hauls.  I did pay a visit to Kiel, but didn't see my Silent Hunter 5 captain there

found a cool station using the radio's built in search button.  it's called Munich Rock Deluxe (or Munich Deluxe Rock, can't remember) and it' been a fairly decent selection so far.

I've only wrecked the truck twice, once when I wasn't paying attention and hit the guard rail head on and another time when I didn't pay attention to the fact they recommended taking this one curve at 40 KM/H.  the whole traffic ticket thing seems kind of odd-  sometimes I can run a red light no problem while other times I'll get dinged.  haven't seen any speeding tickets yet.

love the environment.  at one point I actually stopped the truck in the middle of the highway to watch some farm equipment work in a field.

can't precision park the rig worth shite.

[Kagath]

  This whole thread cracks me up. Doesn't seem like something that would entice people. Reminds me of the train simulators.

[jztemple2]

finally got around to playing the demo, and liked it enough I bought it off of GMG using a 25% off code.  playing the vanilla game right now and getting used to the feel of the game (with mouse and keyboard, doubt I'm going to get a wheel any time soon). 

I'm using the X360 controller, works pretty good.

random thoughts:

been slowly making my way across Germany, into the Netherlands and hoping to get over to Great Britain soon.  haven't seen any night driving or bad weather yet over the course of about 6 hauls.  I did pay a visit to Kiel, but didn't see my Silent Hunter 5 captain there

Bad weather will happen, but there is a slider to adjust how often it happens. Night driving occurs, well, every night

found a cool station using the radio's built in search button.  it's called Munich Rock Deluxe (or Munich Deluxe Rock, can't remember) and it' been a fairly decent selection so far.

There's a search button? Damn, thanks for posting that

I've only wrecked the truck twice, once when I wasn't paying attention and hit the guard rail head on and another time when I didn't pay attention to the fact they recommended taking this one curve at 40 KM/H.  the whole traffic ticket thing seems kind of odd-  sometimes I can run a red light no problem while other times I'll get dinged.  haven't seen any speeding tickets yet.

Apparently there are speed cameras and red light cameras. The speed checkers are on overhead arms, you'll get used to seeing them. Thank goodness there are no cops, I'm running a mod that turns off the speed limiter and you can really haul butt

love the environment.  at one point I actually stopped the truck in the middle of the highway to watch some farm equipment work in a field.

There's a lot of neat things on the sides of the roads, it's why I prefer to drive during the day.

can't precision park the rig worth shite.

Me either

[CeeKay]

found a cool station using the radio's built in search button.  it's called Munich Rock Deluxe (or Munich Deluxe Rock, can't remember) and it' been a fairly decent selection so far.

There's a search button? Damn, thanks for posting that

I guess I should have said 'Update from Internet' button (), so you have probably already seen it  :



[edit] LOL, as I fire up the game and start leaving the depot the Foo Fighters 'There Goes My Hero' starts playing.

[CeeKay]

finally saw my first thunderstorm in England.  wasn't prepared for the truck to start handling all funky, limped into the end depot just as my engine decided to cut off.