Euro Truck Simulator 2: Slow Ride

Just dragging and dropping.

Yeah I was able to repro easy by uploading your PNG file. Pretty bad regression on our end.

Ok, fixed, I think – here is me uploading a big PNG image because fuck bandwidth and disk storage, I hates it!

Yes, 1.8mb png converted to 411kb jpg just fine.

We need to also remove this annoying (and makes the file larger) progressive rendering.

That’s been a pet peeve of mine for years. People uploading PNG in-game screenshots when JPEGs are indistinguishable and a fraction of the size.

And then those same people uploading JPEGs of solid color / text images when PNGs offer far better image quality with that kind of data while also being a fraction of the size.

Does size really matter?

Anyway, I wish ETS had more sim/RPG/meta stuff to do. Driving is cool, but I like to think strategically too.

It is also a problem because the max image filesize allowed here is 2MB (up from 1MB). That’s reasonable for a JPEG but very restrictive for a PNG because it’s a lossless format and thus generates much larger files.

Anyway, we auto-convert to JPEG when there’s a big filesize savings, or if the image is large in megapixels to begin with. So no thinking should be required, “it just works”.

(minus our little regression, glad I caught that, cheers @Ginger_Yellow)

I’ve never gotten to that point, but isn’t it also a business sim where you can hire drivers and all that?

The “strategic layer” is paper thin in this game. Once you get your first big garage and a few drivers you’ve basically already “won” the game, and don’t have to think about money any more. After that point, the game basically plays itself.

Yeah, it’s my biggest disappointment with the series. They’ve done so little to flesh it out over time,as well. For the longest time, it didn’t even matter which truck you gave your drivers, and it still doesn’t make a particularly noticeable difference. And the system in ATS is functionally identical. It desperately needs some sort of competition model to make the management side more than a money generator/sink, but all their energies on that front seem to be going into World of Trucks

What is World of Trucks supposed to become? Their website just talks about ETS2 and ATS.

Who knows? I honestly don’t know what it’s for. It’s kind of multiplayer, but not really. It’s kind of just a game hub, but it’s a bit more. It’s weird.

Next up is Italy!

Actually, next up is double-length trailers. Unfortunately the beta is crashing on launch for me, so I haven’t had a chance to check them out.

I wish they would add more unique types of roads and intersection in town and on highway. And I don’t mean just the stripes and markings. :(

I picked up both this and ATS after seeing the ATS thread and a few YouTube vids. This is fun as hell. What have I done?

I’m trying to hold off on ATS until I play with this one a bit.

Tragedy!! (an after action report)

queue Bee Gees singing

I picked up my new ride not too far into this game, a shiny silver Volvo FH16 Classic. I was so proud, I’m paving the way toward being a master shipping tycoon, and I have a grand vision of multiple garages and drivers, a ton of cash, and brief stints on the beach in Palma. But for now, I was on my third delivery post-purchase and was already planing in my head just how to spend that delivery money. It wasn’t much but with bonuses it would pay out over 15K upon delivery. I had rested, the truck had gas, I was good to go to haul a load of boric acid from Frankfurt to Brussels. Easy money, here we come.

Sometime during the journey by the time I hit the highways, darkness fell. No problem, I had a run during the evening early on, and although this wasn’t old hat, it wasn’t uncommon. But then, rain hit. I’d never experienced rain. “How in the hell do you turn these wipers on,” I thought. I pressed keys frantically, as I couldn’t remember that being talked about or covered during the brief tutorial, nor what I had seen so far on YouTube videos.

I was driving on what I would describe as a one-lane highway. It was actually two-lanes per side, but the right lane would peel off and back at each exit, as it became both the exit ramp and the entrance ramp. As you approach each, if you’re in the right lane you need to merge left so that you can continue onto the highway.

Like this, but with one less lane on the left:
image

So here I am, the rain pouring down, on a late night run, and I’m in the right lane because fuck being far left with inches between your truck and the stupid guard rail with an extremely short distance to the road. BUT, I see the exit right upon me. I have to merge ASAP, or I’m going to start barreling down an exit ramp at highway speeds. So I did that asshole manuver of a last minute cut back to the left lane, only I realized too late, “you aren’t in a car, Skipper, this shit won’t work.” And so I hit that exit abutment, and my trailer hopped and skipped across it, while my cab careened like it was dancing disco to the loud sounds of metal vs concrete. Strangely, the trailer at last hopped towards the left lane, and suddenly I was moving in the right direction, and nearly back on the highway. Whew, crisis averted.

But a quick check told me that wasn’t the case:

My truck was telling me, “GET TO A MECHANIC.” Ouch. That’s going to take a dent out of my delivery fee. But I was nearly there. No problem. Until … I went past my exit. The game seems to pause and take forever to recalculate your GPS, as though it ponders just how bad of a driver you are, and that nobody playing this game ever actually misses an exit. The exits themselves are spaced out seemingly so far from each other sometimes that I wonder if anyone actually lives in Europe. But I know they must, because of all the cars that patiently pass me in this game, as I creep along trying to avoid yet another speeding ticket.

Though I had not seen an exit for a while passed my missed connection, I spotted a small open part of the highway between two gas/rest stops during the stretch I was on. I slowed my rig and proceeded to merge over to the left lane and begin a wide turn to try to get my trailer through that small point in the highway. I was about halfway through when I saw the car approaching rapidly in the left lane I was currently departing. I had about half my trailer through the connecting point. Now, the A.I. in this game can be wonky, but for the most part it will usually slow down and allow other vehicles time to pass through, when you’re following standard road driving rules. I was not. The A.I. car proceeded to slam into my trailer at full speed. This had the effect of moving my trailer around while also knocking me slightly, so that I was finally able to slip completely though, only to be hit in the back by a car in the right lane of the other side of the highway, since my cab had quickly drifted fully across the highway and was blocking both lanes on that side.

I had made a huge tactical error:

Ouch again. Well, at least I still had some payment coming my way to offset the costs. The engine in my truck was so borked at this point it kept stopping every 2-3 minutes, forcing me to restart it to continue. I just needed the damned trailer off me at this point so I could get to a repair station.

Finally I pulled into Brussels and thankfully the drop off for the cargo was just into the city. I limped into the place and picked the quick drop off, I wasn’t in any mood to park a trailer at this point. Sure that I was going to be okay with just some truck damage, I clicked through to drop off the trailer. I did not expect the result:

Yikes, tragedy indeed.

Lessons learned:

  • Trucks do not handle like cars
  • Trucks should not attempt to turn around in the middle of a highway
  • The windshield wiper key is P on the keyboard
  • Truck and trailer damage is EXPENSIVE
  • Don’t damage your payload, they WILL take it out of your hide
  • You never count your money, while you’re sitting in the drivers seat

One time I was counting in my head (possibly money) ran a red light and almost got into an IRL accident.

@Skipper yeah this “game” is actually very educational. Having been spoiled by caRPG since forever roaming around with super easy to handle supercars, and having no truck license myself, it is refreshing to drive a… thing that can only start, stop and turn very sloooooowly. And backing the truck up with a long trailer into a docking bay properly is as challenging for the first time as it is for the third or fifth time.

Just wait till you try a double length trailer.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m playing with the keyboard and it is stressful. It feels like there is a large dead gap on the top of the steering wheel, so I’m slightly over-correcting each time I steer slightly left or right. It makes going in a straight line a pain of a task. But I do love the feel of slowing down an auto sim in this way. It makes it about the scenery and transport, not the quick race or sprint. It feels fun and with the exception of above, relaxing, in a way.

Ginger, I’m not sure I could handle a double trailer. I guess you get used to the turns though? For backing up, I rely on the overhead view a lot. But the finesse is in just how much to cut before you slightly straighten out, then correct with the opposite direction. I can’t imagine adding a second trailer and how much that compounds the parking.

Also for what it’s worth, Squirrel is the man to watch on YouTube. His trucking school series helped a ton.

I have nearly gotten into an accident due to dropping a french fry. It was from McDonald’s, of course.Imagine had that played out. “Your honor, as I reached for the fry, I took my eyes off the road. I needed my precious. I needed it.”

Dear God, why?