ProMods 2.60 Previews: Moldova & Ukraine

Welcome to another ProMods 2.60 Preview! Here you will see the newest development from Ukraine and Moldova. In the 2.60 update these two countries will receive their first connection, which is an important transportation corridor both in-game and in the real world.

First, we’ll talk about Ukraine. In the following update you will discover two new cities with the H-10 road extended by almost 200 kms. Our main developer in Ukraine, PapierSUHD, worked hard on the Western Ukrainian cities of Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi. Both of them are old and unique cities with their own long stories. They also play an important role in terms of industry and transportation.

Between these two cities, there is also one small scenery city: Sniatyn, which you may have seen before in development screenshots. As you’re driving on the H-10 road, you’ll visit its city centre with beautiful 17th century architecture.

After visiting Chernivtsi, following the H-10 eastwards you’ll finally reach Moldova and its westernmost point – the village of Criva. Our relatively new developer, -GRace-, tried to make Moldova as realistic as possible. You’ll be driving through villages and towns and feel Moldova’s uniqueness in this case. This special mix of Balquanese and Soviet colorite creates astonishing impressions in Moldova.

Now let’s move south. Here you can visit the village of Giurgiuleşti, where Moldova’s only port with a connection to the Black Sea is located. That is why this small inconspicuous village at the southernmost point of Moldova is actually very important for logistics.

Following the M3 road, you’ll visit Gagauzia and see the beauty of southern Moldova. You will also visit multiple villages and towns like Vulcaneşti, Comrat, Cimişlia, and more! All of these places you also may have seen on development screenshots.

Thank you for reading this ProMods 2.60 preview. Soon you will be able to see everything mentioned above for yourself!

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.

Compatibility Updates for ETS2 1.35 Released

Less than a month ago SCS released the new Euro Truck Simulator 2 1.35 update. Considering our final testing phase takes 2~3 weeks we have managed to push this large update out in record breaking time.

It wasn’t easy to get ProMods 2.4 converted for this new version; taking a lot of time and practically all our resources. Not only did we have to update many models to be able to support DirectX 11, and some of our road elements to support the new voice navigation feature… We also had to merge in the new parts of the SCS Germany rework and since some of these areas were already rebuilt in ProMods, we had to merge various bits and pieces from our work into the work from the SCS developers.

However, we think that we have struck a good balance between SCS and ProMods mapping. For example, Nuremberg is still present as a ProMods city, with the highway system upgraded to the standard from the SCS team. And not only did we do merging work, but we also upgraded many assets along the way, such as in Ukraine. This is only the start of what is to come in this area.

There were many bugs arising from the newly implemented feature of voice navigation, so we fixed our prefabs so that the player is given the correct instructions. Unfortunately, there are a small number of issues which we were unable to resolve – at least for now. So the same rule applies for voice navigation as in real life: “Don’t trust the satnav blindly!”

With this conversion and merge behind us, we can now fully focus our resources on creating ProMods 2.5, and, of course, on our other project, ProMods Canada.

The support for DirectX 11 in Euro Truck Simulator 2 also made compatibility updates of our add-ons Trailer & Company Pack and Cabin Accessories Pack necessary. Both updates are available for download now.