…The game just crashes! 😉
SCS have finally delivered the New Mexico expansion. One of the joys of SCS Truck Sim’s is the updates. These wonderful events bring great new gameplay and scenic improvements (mostly). But, if you’re using mods to improve your immersion or provide additional gameplay like a truck that isn’t in the main game then be prepared for trouble when the new version update drops 🙂
Updates installed I fired up the game in my main profile – the one with official SCS trucks. The game crashes almost as soon as I start the truck. First step – check the game logs. Looks like something to do with colours and some vehicles. I remove all mods relating to vehicles – that’s Jazzycats ai mods and all the special trailers and my non-standard trucks. Try again…
Game still crashes 😦 Turn my attention to the less obvious candidates. Real Companies, Real Gas Stations. I umm and ahh about the realistic traffic mod and a couple of others but decide to try again. Success…
Game loads and runs ok including the mods that give Nightshade her distinctive colors and the Cummins N14 CELECT engine. In fact there are several other mods that are working ok. So we start driving from Elko – the game relocated me and Nightshade there as a result of the upgrade. This was billed as a new map expansion but to achieve it the SCS team also looked at improving the existing states. Some things have definitely changed and I don’t think SCS actually told us everything about the changes. Coming south from Elko I passed a disused motel that I don’t think was there before and I certainly hit some grades that were steeper than I recall – clearly some more wide spread changes have been undertaken!
Diving off in a brief tantrum… One other mod that isn’t working but isn’t causing the game to crash is the ‘No_Bloom’ mod. This takes out the horrible splashes of haze around any bright light source. The sooner that is fixed or SCS finally realise how annoying that bloom is, the better! It’s ghastly and is one of the reasons why this post is lacking a lot of screenshots. The author of the mod knows of the problem and is working to fix it and as it’s a Steam Workshop mod it should auto update very soon 🙂
I picked up my first new section of road just past Barstow. However, I was already seeing the ‘Random Events’ in the shape of potholes and re-tarmac’d sections of road from early in the journey. And there was a stationary ambulance on the opposite carriageway. The traffic in general seemed a bit more realistic but I am still running DP’s realistic traffic mod so I’m watching this area closely to see how it pans out. On this first run all Jazzycat’s mods were removed, which also has a bearing.
On the run down to El Centro after leaving I10 I met a pick-up on the wrong side of the road – that’s a first and probably an import from Poland in ETS2 😉 (I had the same on the return trip too!) In the small town along the same road we hit an ‘AI in a Tis-Was’ situation and I had to close the game and start it up again to resolve the issue – not a first for this location and clearly an intermittent ongoing bug!
From El Centro I picked up a load to Flagstaff – probably aiming to seek sanctuary from the mayhem by hiding in one of my garages 😉 By this time I’d downloaded some ai traffic updates from Jazzycat and I tried out the Buses one to see if it causes issues. The run proceeded smoothly and we saw some buses which means that the updated Jazzycat mods are working fine. We also got to meet one of the new random events in the shape of overnight road works. The first I knew was a bright yellow light flashing. I slowed and then picked my way into the open lane as we passed the team working on creating more potholes in the road 😉 I should have taken a screenshot but I was just enjoying what I was seeing – I’d normally be running through here in cruise and yawning – the new random events really rock!
I feed in some more of the Jazzycat mods including the cargo ones that haven’t been updated along with Cyrus’ Kenworth K100 that has been updated and we set off to Santa Fe – our first New Mexico destination. No issues encountered with mods. I did find that the AI seems more realistic in the variation of the traffic. It’s good to be watching the action up ahead and being able to adjust speed around realistic traffic flows. That’s one of the skills in game that I enjoy – perhaps not one that the ‘race and crash’ merchants take note of though 😉
The run up to Santa Fe went pretty well but the delivery drop off was fun – driving around between heaps of gravel in the dark can be a bit disorientating! But we found our way round to the drop-off point and took advantage of the adjacent rest area 🙂 A ‘fun’ day of fault finding and driving!
Now back in France… something for another post perhaps 😉
Images from Finchley 