ProMods

Hi everyone, just a question of opinion for everyone that's interested in the upcoming American Truck Simulator. To do a ProMods-quality map mod for it, do you think it would be easier or harder than it is for ETS2?

Please note that I am NOT asking or expecting the ProMods team to do it. I want them to continue their good work in Europe, since there's so much still to do! But I'm sure another team, possibly even one based in North America, could do an excellent job of it.

Anyway I think that doing a ProMods-quality map for ATS would actually be easier than it is for ETS2 And here's why:
- Signage is relatively standardised, thanks to the MUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices). This makes the signs much simpler virtually everywhere in the United States. And assuming the game expands into Canada too, the Canadian signs are very similar.
- Sign colours are all the same... basically the navigational signs are all green and do not have different colours depending on whether it's a motorway, A-road, etc.
- Only a limited number of fonts are in use... FHWA E(M) for most of the signs, with some states and provinces using Clearview. Often FHWA D for route markers, and FHWA F for the speed limit numbers. All of these are easy to find online in the public domain, and in fact come all together in one pack.
- Interstate and US Highway markers are standardised. State and provincial route markers differ, but it's really easy to find them.
- The scale of the map appears to be smaller, allowing more ground to be covered quickly.
- In most areas, the distance between cities tends to be much longer than in Europe, so there would be less overlap between places... and less likely that important cities would be left out.
- Street View is available almost everywhere.

Some of the challenges:
- Number plates: 62 different designs would be needed if all of the United States was included (except Hawaii), and all of Canada (except Nunavut). If the game crossed into Mexico, even more.
- State and provincial route markers vary from state to state and province to province. (However they are easy to find.)
- Exit number placement on freeway signs also varies from state to state and province to province, however it remains much more standardised than in Europe.
- Traffic light designs and mountings vary considerably from state to state and province to province. Some mount traffic lights vertically and some horizontally... and sometimes a mix of both in the same state (ex. Texas has a mix of both). Or sometimes the colour of the signal unit varies... for example, in the Canadian province of Alberta, the lights are mounted horizontally, and the signal units are yellow in Calgary but black in Edmonton. All this could be a problem if you have to use one particular design for each province or state.

So yeah, just wondering what the rest of you think... do you think yourself that ATS would be easier or harder than ETS2 to make in ProMods quality?

Superdavecan wrote:Some of the challenges:
- Number plates: 62 different designs would be needed if all of the United States was included (except Hawaii), and all of Canada (except Nunavut). If the game crossed into Mexico, even more.

Then surely, each state will be written into the game as a separate territory, making it easy to set things like number plates to a specific location, much the same as ProMods have done with their own countries in ETS2.

It would look awesome to drive in ATS once it's released, and I think SCS has put everything into this game to make it looks great and playable.

But my honest opinion is that ATS is harder to do than ETS2 since Northern America is much bigger region than Europe.

mbman212 wrote:It would look awesome to drive in ATS once it's released, and I think SCS has put everything into this game to make it looks great and playable.

But my honest opinion is that ATS is harder to do than ETS2 since Northern America is much bigger region than Europe.

Usually, size is not the most time-consuming thing when mapping. I mean, it's easier to build a flat dull desert with some cacti and farm in the background, or dense forest, than to build densely inhabited parts of world such as Germany or France (look at the amount of detail Kutchek gives to his work). P

I know your meaning but I wanted to highlight some relatively big cities like San Francisco.

Well ATS has a number of technical differences compared to ETS2 that don't make editing it favourable at the moment;
- ATS has no license plate system, all vehicles currently run on California 1980's style plates


- ATS actually uses "arcade" style destinations. In the bigger urban areas you see exists to "Business" and "Retail"... very fake and unrealistic

- ATS does not have highway / road markers apart from the interstate shields shown on the overhead panels

For the above there is certainly room for improvement..

Agree with you there ScuL... but let's not forget that ATS is currently only an alpha build, at least according to the video SCS published on their blog. It's not even ready for release, let alone modding.

Now ignore the current state of ATS, and assume that when ATS eventually gets released, the things you mentioned do feature in the game (ie. route markers, the correct plates, and SCS-quality signage), therefore raising it to minimum release standards. Do you then think it would be easier or more difficult?

Exits for "Business" and "Retail" are definitely unrealistic, and in a future ProMods-quality (not actually ProMods) map mod, those need to go! In fact, I like how the North American exits in urban areas don't just show the name of the area, like in Europe... but rather they show the name of the road that you're accessing. In fact, that's one of the things I really like about North American driving and navigation in general... it tends to be much easier to see the names of the roads.

ScuL wrote: - ATS actually uses "arcade" style destinations. In the bigger urban areas you see exists to "Business" and "Retail"... very fake and unrealistic

I approve the above reply.