Tag: ETS2

ProMods 2.50 Previews: Hungary and Northern Balkans

Posted on | by Stummer | 3 Comments on ProMods 2.50 Previews: Hungary and Northern Balkans

We hope you’ve been enjoying the ProMods 2.50 video content from our promotion partners. If you’ve not seen any yet, you can find links on our social media pages. But right now, it’s time for another blog preview. This time we’re looking at Hungary, before moving on to the first of a two-part preview of the Balkans.

Hungary

Following new cities and rebuilt roads in the northwest and east of the country in previous versions, 2.50 focuses on western Hungary, including the border with Austria, the city of Szombathely, and the town of Sümeg with its hilltop castle. As well as the view of Sümeg Castle, Hungary developer Eryman highlights the scenery towns of Pápa, Sárvár and Veszprém to look for while driving through the new areas.

In addition, the ring road around the capital city of Budapest, the M0 motorway, has been reskinned.

Northern Balkans

There is so much new and improved content coming to the Balkans in 2.50 that we can’t cover it all in one blog post, so we’ve split it into a northern and southern part.

We’ll start with the brand new Istrian peninsula. Istria lies mostly in Croatia, but also includes Slovenia’s short coastline and a tiny part of Italy. The two largest cities on the peninsula are functional in-game: Pula (Croatia) with its Roman amphitheatre, and Koper (Slovenia), the country’s largest coastal city. They are linked to each other and neighbouring regions by roads featuring beautiful views.

While our expansions into the Balkans began in earnest with version 2.20 (2017), Slovenia was originally added back in 2015 with version 1.90. It may have been top-notch content back then, but five years will leave even the best mapping looking badly dated as techniques, assets and standards progress. Therefore, the entirety of Slovenia has seen some sort of upgrade in 2.50, ranging from reskins/refreshes to complete rebuilds. Prolific Balkans developer SeptianPJ has done a stunning job – you’d be forgiven for thinking that everything in Slovenia was 100% new content. 

Scenes which have been in ProMods for so many years, such as the bridges of Maribor, the border with Austria through the Karawanken tunnel (and its distinctive border buildings), and the bridges and tunnels through the mountains can now be enjoyed at today’s quality standards.

The Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, is one of the regions rebuilt from scratch.

Efforts to improve the Balkans extend beyond Slovenia: the Croatian capital of Zagreb has also been rebuilt, while the Italian city of Trieste has been given a new breath of life thanks to a reskin.

As we said earlier, this is only the northern half of what is coming to the Balkans. Look out for the Southern Balkans preview in a few days. 

In the meantime, our official video trailer for 2.50 was released yesterday (Saturday, 15th August), condensing the highlights of these previews and more into two exciting minutes, and hopefully getting you even more hyped. If you haven’t seen it already, make sure to watch it on our YouTube channel.

ProMods 2.50 Previews: Ukraine and Moldova

Posted on | by Stummer | 16 Comments on ProMods 2.50 Previews: Ukraine and Moldova

Welcome back once again. This week’s preview focuses on one of the most expanded countries in ProMods 2.50, Ukraine, as well as the first taste of brand new content in Moldova.

Ukraine

Ukraine is not only the second largest country in Europe, but also very important for international traffic. Its main roads connect central Europe with Russia, the Caucasus and even central Asia. So, no surprise that sooner or later we had to include this country in the ProMods map. There have been multiple approaches in the past: Ukraine was originally added with version 2.0 (two cities: Uzhhorod and Mukachevo). This work aged noticeably, so both cities got a complete rebuild with version 2.41. Meanwhile, development was started on the city of Kovel, but it was never finished and has become outdated over the last few years as well. But now we finally have a developer working on Ukraine again, PapierSUHD, and so there is lots of new content to add in 2.50. So, what can you expect from Ukraine in this update?

Five new cities have been added, spread over two oblasts (provinces) and linked by over 700 km of new roads. You will be able to see a great variety of landscapes from north to south:

Starting in the very north, you are driving through dense forests surrounding Kovel.

On the way south, passing Lutsk and Lviv, the landscape turns into vast fields.

And following the M-06 from Lviv further south, you reach Stryi and the Carpathians open up to you. These mountains are really a contrast to the rest of Ukraine in terms of landscape.

Of course, there are some small scenery villages as well.

But to make Ukraine look like Ukraine it’s not only important to represent the landscape and road network correctly, but also to fill it with accurate details. Let’s start with the UI map. Ukraine has switched from blue road number backgrounds to red some time ago, so we updated all road overlays on the map. The navigation signs have received special attention to detail. There is no generic system, so they all had to be created individually. Even if you drive with a navigation system, it is still worth taking a look at the signs. While there are not as many of them as signs, they are also important for the feeling of being in Ukraine: unique city monuments. Maybe you will discover some of them on your next trip? Finally, we hope you’ll notice that the new cities have received 100% real and custom companies. Each loading and unloading point is different from the others. At some of them you even have to have your documents checked before entering.

PapierSUHD doesn’t like to give too much away, so he selected his favourite spots for the screenshots in this post while leaving much, much more for you to discover. Are you ready to experience Ukraine in ProMods?

Moldova

Moldova was also originally added back in ProMods 2.0, along with Romania. However, the difference in age and quality between old Moldova and the new Romania from SCS’ Road to the Black Sea DLC was so great that we felt it couldn’t be included in that state. Therefore, Moldova was removed in 2.45 and our lead developer MandelSoft has been working hard at making the country from scratch.

The first stage of this was completed in time for inclusion in ProMods 2.50: the city of Balti and the connection to Romania are making a return.

That’s all for this preview. We hope you’re getting excited for ProMods 2.50, and as always, thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time.

ProMods 2.50 Previews: Baltics

Posted on | by Stummer | 4 Comments on ProMods 2.50 Previews: Baltics

Welcome to this week’s preview, which focuses on the Baltics. ProMods 2.50 sees the return of more pre-Baltic DLC areas that have been upgraded or even completely rebuilt, as well as changes to reflect road upgrades only recently carried out in the real world.

Estonia

Returning to Estonia is the island of Saaremaa and the connections to the existing road network on the mainland. Our Estonian developer martinusK is working hard to rebuild old ProMods areas in Estonia to today’s standards, so that they integrate well with the Baltic DLC content. He has this to say about the area:

“Estonia’s always stood firm by its naval heritage and what better example of it than the Western Estonian archipelago. Saaremaa, once home to our very own Vikings (Oeselians), has always had a distinct, although still strongly Estonian identity. Its people are tough and as history has shown, quite rebellious, surely being hardened by the Kaali meteorite strike in 1500BC. Saaremaa will have a total of six scenery or functional ports, and several companies are also navally oriented. The island will also have some of the smallest roads in Estonia, surrounded by typical thick pine forests – not that the Saaremaa-native reigning World Rally Champion would’ve been slowed down by that.
Personally: although I’ve lived my whole life on the mainland, Saaremaa will always be a special place for me. After all, I even get funny looks by my mates for speaking the dialect!”

Lithuania

Now on to Lithuania, where developer Horizon has been busy. Panevėžys, locally known as the capital of Aukštaitija, has recently upgraded the A17 highway, which acts as an international freight and travel corridor through the Baltic States as part of the E67 route between Prague and Helsinki. A majority of the work by SCS has been replaced to provide a more true-to-life rendition of the highway in the world of ETS2. As in the real world, configurations of 2+1 lanes were added (commonly seen in Sweden), as well as turbo roundabouts, of which there are only a few examples in the ProMods map. Lastly, the addition of three new companies to the city will enhance the game economy.

Also making a return is the Curonian Spit. Horizon provides the following details:

“The Curonian Spit: Lithuania’s most attractive tourist hotspot due to its nature, beaches and UNESCO World Heritage Site of fascinating sand-dunes that stretch across the thin landmass. In the world of ETS2, you will be able to drive across from the city of Klaipėda to traverse this piece of land and the coastal village of Juodkrantė.”

“The comeback of the Curonian spit will feature a mix of refurbished and brand-new sections built under new standards, in addition to completely changed ferry locations from past versions. On both sides of the ferry crossing, I have replicated the port as closely as possible to the real-world, for e.g. the current renovations, in addition to changing part of the city and its layout to get sophisticated results.”

Kaliningrad Oblast

Of course, the Curonian Spit is shared between Lithuania and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast. Vladzz-G has upgraded the connection from the border to Kaliningrad, via the town of Zelenogradsk, with assets from the Baltic DLC, restoring another area that was originally released in ProMods 2.10.

As always, thanks for reading and sharing this preview. There is still plenty more to come, so keep your eyes peeled for the next one!