Welcome to the penultimate preview of ProMods 2.50. We’ve brought together new content and rebuilds from multiple parts of the Nordics and far northwest Russia, which we’ll cover from south to north.
Åland
One of the many additions in ProMods 2.50 is the completed archipelago of Åland, located in the Baltic Sea halfway between Finland and Sweden. Leo2612 details the history of its development:
Before we focus on the new content, let’s take a look back at the development of this area. Initially, the development was started all the way back in mid-2016 by HixoPL, who laid out the roads, and over the months finished most of the centre of Mariehamn (the capital) and Geta. Shortly before version 2.20 was released, Leo2612 closed a few remaining gaps in Mariehamn, so the first part of Åland could be released.
With the release of the Beyond the Baltic Sea DLC by SCS in December 2018, new Finnish assets arrived to the game, so Mariehamn had to be upgraded to match the high standard. A few months later, Leo2612 started to finish the island by closing the remaining gaps and upgrading the rest of the island with the new assets, so it could ultimately get released as a whole in the way HixoPL had planned. After nearly another year, some areas in Mariehamn that had started to show their age were rebuilt. Furthermore, the new part of the city was further detailed which finally made the area ready for release.
In the new, extended version of Åland, you will be able to visit two new villages, Godby and Geta, of which the latter is still mostly HixoPL’s work. Don’t miss the delivery point north of Geta with a beautiful lake view.
In the capital of Mariehamn, you will be able to discover new landmarks, including the parliament of Åland, as well as some of the many parks the city has to offer, which have been recreated as closely as possible.
Leo2612 and HixoPL hope you truly enjoy this new area!
Luleå
Next, we move to northern Sweden where Ostpuff has built the city of Luleå. Situated on the Bothnian Bay coast, Luleå is bypassed by the north-south E4 route which was completed between Stockholm and the Finnish border at Haparanda/Tornio in ProMods 2.30. The city itself, however, has only now been completed.
Muonio and Karesuando
Continuing northwards into northern Finland and the far north of Sweden, Vladzz-G has added a substantial new area. There are two functional towns in-game:
Muonio, near the Swedish border but contained within Finland;
And Karesuando, the northernmost locality in Sweden, which together with the Finnish village of Karesuvanto straddles the border defined by the Muonio River. While both villages are represented in-game, only Karesuando is functional, with a company and mechanic, while Karesuvanto has a fuel station and rest area. Karesuando church—itself Sweden’s northernmost—is a pretty sight as you cross the river from Finland.
The settlements are connected to the existing road network north of Kittilä, and pass through typically Finnish scenery, dominated by forests and lakes, but interspersed by clearings and small villages.
Russia
Finally, we come to the northernmost changes in ProMods 2.50 (yes, including Iceland). Horizon has built the new bypass of Nikel, in the far northwest of Russia. The bypass has been completed in the real world as part of improvements to the E105 route. Horizon provides the following details:
“As the rescale of the north commenced, I was hooked on refurbishing or replacing outdated parts of northern Russia, such as this, the P21 (romanised: R21) highway that bypasses the old route and the city of Nikel.
I have enjoyed recreating the new section of the highway as realistically as possible, such as using videos, photos, satellite images and other information, like the recently adopted rule that allows the road to have yellow lane markings, similar to Finland and Norway. As much as I had fun developing, the lack of updated streetview from Google or Yandex might have resulted in a less realistic area, as I had to use rare photos, videos and satellite imagery to develop just the road layout and scenery, whilst also using Google Maps’ 3D view to understand the topography of and around the road.”
Lastly, as the area is heavily militarised and protected, the new section of the road will contain a checkpoint that also exists in the real world, to act as a miniature border crossing for players to stop and experience driving on the Russian highways.
We hope you are looking forward to these various northern expansions and improvements. We’ll be back with the final preview in just a few days, where we’ll look at the surprising addition of Georgia and updates to the Middle-East add-on, as well as looking back at all of the previous previews.
