Community | ProMods Blog

ProMods Hotfix distribution

Posted on May 4, 2017 | by ScuL | 8 Comments

We are trying a new way of releasing quick, snappy, fixes to common problems that are discovered in the release and that have not been noticed during beta-testing.

Because of the size of our mod it is a very complicated process to release updates quickly, and we also do not want to force people to obtain updates all too frequently.
So we are now trying a new way of fixing these issues with a rapid deployment hotfix system.

The way it works is the following:
Problems that are reported on our forums are repaired within a matter of days, the hotfix gets updated and is then released when a large number of issues are solved. It does not make sense to release updates for 1 or 2 issues, nor does it make sense to release a hotfix every other day. But at least this way we are able to tackle most critical problems rather quickly without forcing users to download 1.5GB of data on a regular basis.

When a critical number of hotfixes is reached, a minor patch will be released for the game, for instance 2.16 to 2.17.
Small glitches like grass on the road or a misplaced sign are not worth hotfixing and they will be updated for future major releases (2.20, and so forth).

We have received a lot of criticism and many insults from users who believe that we should check every nook and cranny of the map before releasing an update.
The reality is that this is not possible because of the size of the map. Even if we had a team of 500 beta-testers there would still be small issues that would not be discovered during our testing phases. Every map mod that currently exists has flaws in places, and even the official SCS DLC’s have issues despite being rigorously tested for months. On a relative scale ProMods has very few issues measuring the size that the map mod stretches.

Then there is also the issue that sometimes problems occur in areas of the map that are unchanged. For instance the “sinkhole” prefab on the E4 motorway near Stockholm was never tested because nothing in this area had changed in the update. What happened was that one of the prefabs got corrupted during conversion from game version 1.26 to 1.27, and it was not noticed because there was no reason to suspect that. A similar thing happened with the snow spray roads in Romania. Issues like the aforementioned can now be resolved in the hotfixes.

Since update 1.27 there are several places on the map where AI cars are disappearing in areas where 5 lane roads have been used. This is caused by a change in the code of the game by SCS and we are currently not able to fix this problem without their help. So you will have to endure seeing cars disappear in these areas unfortunately.

Because the hotfixes are largely untested they are issued on a “use at your own risk” basis. This means that we only recommend our advanced (and most critical) users to use these hotfixes.
For all other users we recommend waiting until the next stable release of ProMods is announced.

It is also important to note, that when you report a bug on the forums you make us aware which hotfix you are using.

When using the hotfix please make it the highest priority, (above all other mods in the mod manager), or it will not work.

You can provide feedback on this new method on our forum.

You can find the latest hotfix updates in this thread on the forum as well.

Concept text from developers – DeusHorzon’s Balkans

Posted on September 27, 2016 | by tkk7406 | 2 Comments

After more than a year’s wait, the developers are sending in answers, which means that you can expect to see more interviews from more developers here, in the ProMods Blog!

So while you’re enjoying the content offered in ProMods 2.1, the team, as always, is working on even more areas so that you always get new content in every major update. This week I, tkk7406, interview one of our developers, DeusHorizon, who is currently working in Serbia, but has been working in Romania and Bulgaria too. Since the last interview with MIRFI, I’ve added a few more questions in order to give you more information from the developer and their work. Now, let us see his responses to our renewed questions!

1. Which countries and which cities have you/are you/will you work on?

I have been… or rather I am currently working on Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia. My first attempt to build a realistic city was declined because it was unsatisfactory quality-wise; it had a feeling of the village or a small town which didn’t feel right for a huge coastal Romanian city. After finishing Constanta, I had no idea where I would be working on next but thankfully, Nico, who is one of the founders, suggested rebuilding Ruse which was a magnificent idea! Many many months later, this city located in the northern areas of Bulgaria was finished and it is and will be my most enjoyable city I have ever made. However, like before, I got stuck with the question “Which city or town should I build?”. That’s when MandelSoft, our lead developer, gave me two options – Bulgaria or Serbia. I chose Serbia as it seemed to me a more attractive option, and I still love building it!

2. Why should we drive in the cities you made in your opinion? What makes them stand out from the other cities in your opinion (scenery, buildings etc.)?

Ruse, Novi Sad and Subotica were built with a different style over most of the existing cities. They are also cities which existed in ex-communist regions which also gives them an even more unique look.

3. What can we expect to see in the cities you’ve built? Is there anything new in them that we’ve never seen in ProMods so far?

People can expect to see realistic scenery and find many custom-made gas stations, companies and services which enhance the unique feeling from each city while at the same time provide realism.

4. Was it difficult to build these cities? Were there any challenges along the way?

Yes, most of the challenges mainly occurred in Ruse because of hilly terrain. It wasn’t my strongest point at all because I wasn’t experienced in creating mountainous terrain landscaping skills, but problem was solved quickly. It’s always these challenges that enhance my skills more and more as time goes on.

5. Did you enjoy building these cities?

By building such good-looking and unique cities, I found they gave me a unique experience in the map editor too! I really loved building Ruse and still love to build industrial part of cities such as Subotica and Novi Sad.

6. Which is your favourite road/city/spot in these countries? Which place would you recommend us to go to?

All of cities deserve a visit. The northern areas of Serbia have many open plains with enjoyable scenery in the cities and countryside. I would suggest people to explore all of N. Serbian cities and roads to experience a unique Balkan feeling.

On behalf of the ProMods Social Media Team, we’d like to thank DeusHorizon for his time and let him continue with the exciting project of developing Serbia. The images between the questions and answers were all taken from him in Novi Sad.

The Poland Rebuilding Team

Posted on January 17, 2016 | by RadolSzczecin | 6 Comments

A joint project, building on a new reality

Dear ProMods users,

As you may have noticed while you were driving on ProMods 2.0, a large portion of Poland has been reconstructed. ProMods 2.0 marks a great milestone, since this is the first version where one of the most popular map addons, the Poland Rebuilding project, is fully integrated in the main ProMods map. Unlike what most people outside the Polish Euro Truck Simulator 2 community think, this map project is not a one-man project, but has a whole team behind it. Today we want you to give you an impression what happens behind the scenes, who is in the development team, the project’s history, current work and future plans.

First and foremost, we would like to highlight the excellent cooperation with other ProMods team members over the years, even in the time before the integration of the map. Both maps are meant to work complementary with each other, and their combined use was popular among the community. The full integration of both projects was only logical, and it was already planned to happen at some point.

The Poland Rebuilding project – Initially named as Map of Home Rebuilding project – is one of the few Polish projects that survived the constant patching of Euro Truck Simulator 2 by SCS in the past 3 years. These patches often come with game engine or modding changes, which can cause compatibility issues with mods, which in turn causes frustration to the mod developers in order to keep their mods compatible with the latest version of Euro Truck Simulator 2.

It all started with the Europe Rebuilding project by satan19990, to whom I would like to thank for starting this great adventure. It was at that time, I took my first steps in the editor, getting to know the tools and getting myself familiar with the rules of the game. At the same time I met another user called _PMA (I still remember this nickname quite well). It was hard working on the map, and despite all the major game changes and compatiblity issues, the Europe Rebuilding map still remained active. But this was not without struggles when updating the map to the new specifications. Due to all the problems, I even got near the point to shut down the project for a few times. Thankfully, I could still count on my friend _PMA to help me out and thanks to him I’ve learned a lot. At this point it was time for me to take over the leadership over this project under the name of ‘Poland Rebuilding’.

I would like to introduce you to our Map Makers, the people who are the working force behind the map: Czaja, Desirae, GrakuPL and MirM (the tester). They are passionately putting all their effort in recreating familiar Polish sites you can see from behind the window of your truck. It is currently the best team with which I had the pleasure to work with. And let’s not forget about all the other people that helped us to a lesser extent, like modelers for example.

Our current work focuses on the Northern and Central part of Poland. With a complete overhaul of i.e. the Gdynia/Gdańsk area, some parts will be a pinnacle within the Poland Rebuilding project and ProMods in its whole. We want to appease all our fans, eagerly waiting for new cities and areas. We work from throughout Poland one area at the time. We are planning to completely rebuild Poland entirely to our own liking, and whatever the map scale allows us to do. We did encounter a delay, due to work on the full integration of this Project into ProMods 2.0, which not only improves compatibility between the two, but also allows an even more comprehensive co-operation. We hope that this integration statisfied many players and other ProMods users who may not have tried Poland Rebuilding up to this point.

I would like to thank my team and the ProMods Team for all the help and may this co-operation be beneficial for us all. I wish many kilometers of fun trucking to all the players.

RadolSzczecin
Lead Developer of the Poland Rebuilding section of ProMods