Concept text from developers – DeusHorzon’s Balkans

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 Benelux Rebuilding Project: the back yard of the ProMods Team

In ProMods 1.91, you have already seen what ProMods is capable of doing when it comes to landscaping. The ARP (Autobahn Rebuilding Project) is a clear example of how vastly different the map can become given enough time, assets and love (that last aspect is also very important, you know). Each version of ProMods builds upon the knowledge gained in the previous version and with our ever growing skills and team, we are able to excel ourselves in every successive version.

However, because implementing this stuff to our map takes time, not all areas are up to our standards. Scandinavia can use quite an overhaul, since the majority of this has not seen any significant updates since its first implementation in version 1.0. Merging ProMods with the DLC will help a great deal in this (this is the reason why we halted large-scale updates in that area). The UK and the rest of Germany also needs a huge overhaul. While Germany is being worked on in phase 2 of the ARP, we have to wait with the UK, since SCS is planning to do an expansion towards Ireland (of which no further details are known other than that it is definitely going to happen). Austria still needs rebuilding at several locations, as well as northern Italy, the Czech Republic and the SCS parts of France. But that is not the focus of today…

Today we are going to focus on the area that most ProMods mappers (five in total) call home: the Benelux. Benelux is a common abbreviation of “Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg”, and thus it makes sense that this name is used for this project. Although some improvements have been made in this area in the past (the addition of Antwerpen and the E34 and E313, replacing at-grade crossings with interchanges in Rotterdam and Amsterdam) a lot is still misrepresented. The current map still contains, single-lane interchanges, at-grade crossings on motorways, an odd selection of represented motorways, space-consuming or missing river-crossings, and a-typical landscaping. For us, it was time to set things straight in our own home country, just like we did in Northwest Germany.

Below is a map of the Benelux representation in the current version of ProMods:

Map overview of the currently represented cities and roads in the Benelux area ETS2 with ProMods 1.91 installed.
Map overview of the currently represented cities and roads in the Benelux area ETS2 with ProMods 1.91 installed.

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