Scandinavia DLC Review

Today the information embargo on the Scandinavia DLC ended, hence the huge amount of information that all of a sudden hit the internet.

The coming weeks we will reveal more insights of the DLC by showing certain areas with screenshots and videos.

However our first post about the DLC will be more of an insight of the huge challenge we are facing. We already posted an article about this and now it’s time to go into more detail. We have collected some screenshots and compared them with our own areas. We will also show the world map and discuss what the best strategy will be once we get ProMods converted to the DLC. This conversion can also be influence by YOU, the daily user of ProMods. We will open a new sub forum where you guys can post what you think needs to be changed. We already have alot of ideas but we might forget certain things. This way we will try to make sure that the Scandinavia DLC will be even better with ProMods installed.

So let’s get to the details. First a couple of pictures from the DLC (These pictures are taking on locations that do not exist in ProMods or look completely different.)

This picture is from the new Hardanger bridge in Norway. We did add the Hardanger bay with the old ferries into ProMods but not long ago this bridge was opened. More info about the Hardanger area can be found on WikiPedia.

This picture is from Stockholm. As you can see SCS started to use custom junctions as well. Same as the new sign system (which was designed by SCS anyways).

If you look closely at these two screenshots you will notice a difference in sky and lightning. This has to do with the new skybox system and a complete overhaul of the rendering engine. ETS2 was release almost 3 years ago but still SCS found the time to improve more of the engine. The new engine will come with ETS2 version 1.17.

Small review of the DLC by Nico:

I have now spend some time on the DLC. Didn’t drive much but mainly looked at what SCS designed. When we compare the new DLC with the old one (Going East!) we see a product that has alot more time and detail invested in it. Whereas Going East was just an expansion of typical ETS2 roads, this adds complete new road and sign systems. And I didn’t mention the huge amount of new assets yet. It’s very obvious that SCS has spend alot more recourses in this. I’m still doubting if that is a smart thing to do with a three year old game but it looks like SCS sees great potential in it.

As for the design of the roads I have mixed feelings. I started looking around in Denmark and I was a bit dissapointed. From the three countries this DLC will add, Denmark is underrespresented by far! There is a clear division going on though. Denmark is full of small farm roads and small farms. Also there is no abundance of villages and the scenery doesn’t look bad at all (they finally stopped building huge mountains everywhere and did some real farm fields). My main issue with Denmark are it’s cities. There is a world map below this review and I will leave it up to you what your opinion about it is.

From Denmark there is a bridge towards Sweden: Öresund. Something we, at ProMods, are familiar with as well. Where we had a lack of knowledge and assets, SCS showed what was really possible. The way they represented Öresund is simply amazing. You drive from a Unrealistic Kobenhavn into a spot on world in Sweden. Train tracks, crossings, cities, roads, tollgates etc. They were all build with great precision and carefull attention to details. It’s amazing to drive there!

And it gets better. Sweden offers a great amount of long highways with beautiful sceneries as well as farm roads with flat beaches. Stockholm, the Scania plant, Volvo, Göteborg. They are all looking very nice and build with great detail. going further north reveals even more forest and great highways.

At that point we will hit Svinesund. The Norwegian border. The bridge is, again, made with great precision. Also the tollgates at the border are spot on. And it gets better. Norway is build like it should. Great fjords, huge mountain tunnels and large bridges. Kristiansand, Bergen etc. They are all represented with nice road layouts that match the irl situation pretty much. Again it feels lovely to drive down there.

In generally SCS spend huge amounts of time on the scenery. And when it comes to developers they also spend some time on creating extra very helpfull editor tools. Something that I might get into in the coming months.

The general verdict of this DLC from me is this: Lovely Scenery with great attention to detail. Norway and Sweden look amazing and Denmark too. The only thing that spoils it a bit for me is that Denmark could have been done better. It looks like it was finished quickly so the budget was kept. For the casual player this won’t be to much of an issue but the true truckers from Denmark will possibly be not to happy with it.

So that was a short review on the DLC. The coming weeks I will make some posts about certain areas and showing all the great details SCS payed attention to.

As for now. I will show a couple of more screenshots and compare some of the DLC areas with ours.

First of all the world map of the Going North DLC:

And here is a more zoomed picure of Denmark.

And last but not least, pictures that compare the DLC with our work. Please note that the DLC is already using SCS their new engine and we don’t. Maybe that is why the DLC looks alot better:

First we have the Storebaelt tollgate. The Storebaelt is already alot better in the DLC than ours but there tollgate really shows what changed in ETS2. For example autopass is now finally available. This is also used in Norway and tollgates in Sweden. If you want to compare the Storebaelt with the version in real life I prepared a link here: http://bit.ly/1IFZ8bH

The next picture is from Kristiansand. And area that was build in ProMods more than 2 years ago. It shows how our old mapping is comparing with SCS their new mapping. And the differences… well they are huge! This will definitely be an area that will be replaced by the DLC.

And the last picture show the great addition of proper ports. SCS finally started creating assets for these and this is the result in Gedser. Gedser was also build more than two years ago. A time where we had nothing more than SCS their default assets and some of our own like signs and flags. This is what makes this DLC so epic. SCS has started to spend alot more time on the small details. To create such a new port model will take days, maybe even weeks. But the results are worth it!

So this was a little insight into the DLC. We got alot more to share and show. If you have a forum account you can discus with us further on our fourm in the off topic section.

Nico

My name is Nico, 18 years old from Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. I've been mapping since the end of 2011 and started ProMods back in December 2012. My knowledge reaches from mapping to texturing and modelling. The sky is the limit for me. Right now I'm doing an IT education so, I will be stuck behind a PC for the rest of my life!