Welcome to the first of the ProMods 2.50 Previews, where over the next several weeks we’ll be taking a closer look at some of the content coming in 2.50. There is a lot to look forward to, so let’s get started with this week’s preview: Spain.
ProMods 2.50 will contain the new city of Ciudad Real, with plenty of beautiful scenery on the way. In particular, the Embalse (Reservoir) de Contreras has been accurately recreated and features a challenging road to reach a cement plant.
The new content was made by developer realdeal350, but he’s been taking a break from working in Spain ahead of the Iberia DLC, recently focussing on ProMods: Canada instead. We understand that the community is eager to know what we will do once the Iberia DLC comes out. Seeing as the majority of ProMods Spain is still of high quality at today’s standards, any decisions regarding the merge of the DLC with ProMods content will need to be made after the DLC has been released so that we can compare directly.
For now though, enjoy the screenshots and we’ll see you for the next preview.
Less than one and a half years ago we were celebrating reaching 40,000 likes on our Facebook page, and we challenged the community to reach 50,000 likes as quickly as possible. Well, considering the huge numbers involved, it didn’t take long to reach this even more impressive milestone. We’re always happy to see our community continue to grow after all these years, so thank you to every one of you for your ongoing support. To celebrate this achievement we thought we could share some more overall progress to see what you can look forward to in the next major updates. The team is working hard on both our ETS2 project as well as Canada for ATS.
Ironically, just as we were getting ready to publish this post, we discovered a problem on Facebook. Facebook has decided that our website goes against ‘Community Standards’, and therefore blocks all content containing links to our domain, promods.net. All the posts on our Facebook page linking to our website, including the blog, have been deleted, and Facebook will not allow anyone to make a comment or send a message (to anyone) containing a link to our domain. While we still have access to our page, at least for now, this restricts our ability to use Facebook as a communication and promotion tool. As part of the Facebook suite of products, Instagram seems to suffer from the same problem.
Fortunately we do have alternatives: Twitter, YouTube and our public Discord server. If you don’t already, make sure to follow us on these platforms, and spread the word that everyone who is interested in getting updates from us should follow us somewhere other than Facebook. As well as posting trailers, previews and occasionally livestreams, we’re already using the community section of our YouTube channel for updates and will continue to do so, while our Discord server is the perfect place to get more involved in the community and is already over 10,000 members strong. Hopefully we’ll get the issue with Facebook and Instagram resolved soon, but in the meantime let’s see whether we can quickly reach some more nice milestones on these other platforms!
Compatibility for ETS2 1.37: ProMods 2.46
Two weeks ago, we released ProMods 2.46, along with a corresponding version of the Middle-East Add-On Pack. These are compatibility updates for ETS2 version 1.37. In terms of the map itself, the only changes are to merge in the rework of four French cities by SCS. However, under the hood there have been some bigger changes.
Some time ago, SCS changed the projection used for the background/UI map. As of 2.46, we are using the SCS map as a base, extended to the regions added by ProMods. Since our early days of pioneering groundwork, cities and roads were placed on best effort, because no guidelines were available at the time. Since SCS introduced the new background map, they didn’t always line up with the SCS map, requiring tweaks to the map in several areas. The biggest offset was in the Middle East as this is furthest from the centre of the map projection. Platypus, developer of the Middle-East Add-On, had to move the content to its correct position in chunks, before reconnecting them. This change means that mods which change the background map (to satellite imagery or a paper map look, for example) and were compatible with ProMods will need to be updated. To assist with this, the new background map files are available here.
Of course, the biggest change in ETS2 1.37 is the implementation of the FMOD sound engine. ProMods adds quite a few new sounds and they had to be converted into the new formats. This proved to be quite difficult, showing that changes under the hood are just as capable of causing problems as more obvious map expansion. This is why it can take some time for us to release a compatibility update even when the ETS2 update is seemingly irrelevant to map mods. That being said, the long open beta period of ETS2 1.37 meant we were able to release our updates around two weeks after the finalisation of the game update, despite the complications from FMOD and the new background map.
Our other official add-ons have been updated too. The Trailer & Company Pack (TCP) version 1.25 includes skins for more trailer models including the Krone and SCS box trailers, whilst the Cabin Accessories Pack (CAP) version 1.11 is a pure compatibility update.
Progress on 2.50
It has now been more than a year since the last ‘major’ ProMods update (2.40) and we’ve been talking about 2.50 being in the works since last year. What’s going on? Well, the largest delay has been caused by merging the Road to the Black Sea DLC. As we’ve explained before, it is surrounded by ProMods work in many directions so required more than 10 connections to be made. Each of these includes a border crossing which, in true ProMods style, we wanted to represent as realistically as possible, requiring more research and mapping time. Therefore, the merging process took up the time of numerous developers.
At the same time, the more our map grows, the more areas we have to maintain. Our oldest work does not stand up well next to new mapping from both us and SCS – this is why DLC merges have tended to favour SCS content over the old ProMods work. A strong example of this is Moldova, which looked so outdated compared to SCS’ latest standards in Romania that we have no choice but to rebuild it from the ground up. So, increasing amounts of time need to be spent upgrading/rebuilding our existing content to keep the whole mod at an acceptable standard.
The coronavirus pandemic has had mixed effects. On the one hand, many team members have more time off work, university or school, while in-person hobbies are cancelled. But, as many of you have no doubt experienced yourselves, suddenly gaining a lot of free time in these circumstances does not automatically lead to increased productivity. Motivation for hobby projects may be inconsistent. For those working or studying from home, continuing to sit in front of the computer after the end of the working day may be less appetising. So, as in all aspects of life, every team member’s response to the situation is different.
Finally, some of our developers have to split their time between working on our ETS2 and ATS packs. It is important to note that a relatively small number of developers are involved in the ATS Canada project, but this does mean that we are spread a little more thinly. Fortunately, an increasing number of the developers in question have completed their contribution to the ETS2 project for 2.50, so can focus almost exclusively on Canada. Progress has ramped up in the last couple of months, and you can look forward to some more previews here soon.
We are doing our best to take these complications in our stride, and are shifting to focus on wrapping up as many projects as possible into releasable sections. But as always, there is no release date, not even internally. Any number of things could cause further delay, not least the graphics updates expected in future game versions.
ProMods 2.45 brings in the “Road to the Black Sea” DLC content and has been in development for quite a while now, so we did not want to withhold release any longer. We have decided to release version 2.45 for ETS 2 build 1.36 as that is the current and official version. Since SCS will bring a completely new sound system to the upcoming build 1.37, it may take some time until we can release a compatible version of our map.
The Balkan Merge
The main purpose of this release is the Road to the Black Sea DLC merge. This new DLC has been integrated, and is therefore now mandatory to use our mod.
In order to successfully connect the new areas, more than 10 new borders have been created, between the areas by SCS and our work in Ukraine, Serbia, North Macedonia and Greece. Alongside the new border routes, we have also added a few new cities in the Balkan region including the new country of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Northern Rescale
Another major technical adjustment that has finally been integrated is the northern rescale. Changes in the map projection by SCS a few game versions ago had particularly large effects at high latitudes, leaving cities in the far north (i.e. Russia, Finland and Norway) displaced to the south. This meant that the cities had to be moved northwards and several roads had to be extended.
At the same time, some of the roads received refurbishment or rebuilding with newer textures, vegetation and road signs to enhance the quality of these areas. We can now finally show the results of our efforts.
New Content in the Middle East
In addition to ProMods 2.45, we have prepared a new version of the Middle East Add-on for you to enjoy, which contains major improvements in the previously included countries, whilst also expanding to 3 new countries and over 20 new towns that are spread out throughout the Middle East region for you to freely explore.
The expansion of both existing and brand-new countries will enhance the authenticity and atmosphere of this region by providing players with a range of climates, scenery and an individual feeling in each area – from scorching and desolate Iraqi and Jordanian deserts over hundreds of kilometres of highways with no settlement in sight, to lush farms and the Mediterranean climates of northern Israel and Syria.
General improvements in the previously released areas include increased quality and aesthetics of the towns, such as the removal of old rocks and other assets, as well as correcting regional road markings. In addition to that, we have also prepared some very unique police vehicles, which were selected to provide an authentic look for the region.
Lastly, the land connection from Lebanon to Israel is now available by travelling via Jordan and Syria, decreasing the need for the ferry service via Cyprus and preventing any inconvenience for players who have to travel to/from Lebanon.
Other Changes and Improvements
Last but not least, we have tweaked several areas around the map and added a new city in Czechia. We have also fixed several (major) bugs including the invisible walls in Rotterdam and Milano. Rest assured that much more new content across the map will come in ProMods 2.50!
