Towards the end of 2022 we published a request on our website with a link to a survey. We did this to better understand your experiences with ProMods and what you would like to see for the future.
On the basis of these survey results we have prepared some changes, and some new experiences for the future. It has taken some time to share these survey results because we prioritised the implementation of the new features before sharing the how and why.
Firstly let’s have a look at the results of the survey;
These figures actually surprised us. We really appreciate that we have so many fans and supporters that have been with us from the beginning, or at least the very early days! Later this year we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary since our first release in 2013 and it will be a very special occasion 🙂
It is unsurprising that ProMods Europe is still by far the most popular mod that we produce although it is very good to see that nearly half of you also play with the TCP. We suppose that the 2.5% who do not play ProMods Europe will exclusively play with ProMods Canada in ATS which has a respectable vote as well.
We’re very happy to see that so many people can’t play the game without it and thankfully the percentage of disappointed users is tiny. This means we’re on the right track 😉
Apologies that the first line is difficult to read due to the busy graph, but Scandinavia and Finland are still the top favourite areas in the mod followed closely by Iceland. They were also some of the first areas we started with. It surprises us that Central Europe has ended up third in this poll.
The number one area where improvements are necessary is the former Going East area according to your inputs. This area would cover Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. We cannot promise that we can change things in this region immediately but there are some projects ongoing. Secondly people seem to never be able to get enough of Scandinavia and Finland which is good because we aren’t done there yet. In third place the UK and Ireland which is understandable as it is the oldest part of the map.
Free download servers
Throughout the years we have had many comments and questions about the free download servers and particularly about the speed. To be completely frank and honest, the free download severs process in excess of 60 TB of data every month and because they were ageing they were not only becoming a hurdle for a smooth and user friendly experience but also a liability from an infrastructure point of view.
Based on this feedback we started exploring alternative solutions for the free download servers and are pleased to say we have retired them as of today.
With the old system, the download speed was capped at 300kB/s and with a maximum of 2 simultaneous files. Using this method the full ProMods download of 9 files would last approximately 58 minutes.
The new system is based on a totally different architecture. You can now download at full speed (as fast as your internet connection allows). But you will have to wait 5 minutes between each download. The total download time to obtain all 9 files is now approximately 45 minutes. We hope you enjoy this improvement.
Paid download and subscriptions
The sentiment about the paid download options is overwhelmingly positive and particularly now we have a new platform alongside the existing Payloadz system, which was restricted to PayPal payments only.
Premium downloads are now also possible through the ProMods store – where people can pay with many alternative payments including Apple Pay, Google Pay, Credit Cards, crypto and various local payment systems such as iDeal.
We gauged interest towards optional subscriptions to ProMods. It is very important to realise that this will *not* replace the current options that are available, they will stay in place.
We have laid some foundations towards ProMods subscription tiers, each with benefits based on the amount paid. More details about these subscriptions will be announced in a separate blog post once everything has been finalised. The subscriptions will be named:
- ProBooster @ $2/month
- ProFan @ $5/month
- ProElite @ $7/month
The highest tier will include unlimited premium downloads from the ProMods Store and many other benefits.
We asked what kind of benefits you would have liked to see and most of these requests will become a reality once the subscriptions are live. We are still considering some of the answers we received.
This question in the survey was an “open answer” and so we received quite a lot of interesting (and maybe also some strange) responses. Many of you were grateful and were happy to pay a subscription to support us even if they didn’t get anything in return! 😀 Other comments were mainly about the free and paid download experience although one member suggested shipping ProMods packages on a hard drive.
Merchandise
The ProMods Store has been running for a few years now and many of you have used it to obtain some nice goodies. We were curious to know what the general interest is in non-digital ProMods products.
Nearly half of the people who responded are interested in merchandise so we will keep it running for as long as there is a demand. We also asked about the pricing and it is in line with what we expected.
Sadly we are unable to make the products much cheaper than they are today as they are all custom made.
Last but not least we asked what else you wanted to see and the most common answers were extra large T-shirt sizes (4XL and larger), phone cases, miniature models (trucks and trailers with ProMods logos), ProMods posters with the map, key chords and different designs on the shirts and hoodies.
We are taking these into consideration and will announce any changes in the future.
Conclusion
We hope you learned just as much as we did going through these responses. We hope that the community appreciates the effectiveness of the new free download system and we hope sincerely that our most loyal fans are getting excited for the ProMods subscriptions that will be available soon 🙂
No more “thermo nuclear” download server messages upon release time, wahoo! 😀
ScuL
I've played SCS games from the very first 18 Wheels of Steel release in the 90's, and founded ProMods together with Nico as I was disappointed with the size of the European map upon release of ETS2. Although I don't do so much mapping apart from placing signs, I'm a specialist in road signs & license plates and run all the administrative operations for ProMods (coding of our websites, development tools, management etc.). I also try to set the goal posts for future expansions of ProMods and keep everybody in the team aligned.
John Richardson says:
I have been using both ATS & ETS for many years now and find them to be truly outstanding. I like the upgrades that you consistently make to so the simulation looks more real to life. The only request that I would like to see is a better political map showing the country names and borders.