We'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated, provided their feedback, and made bug reports during the Open Beta period. Your valuable input helped us make tweaks, changes and squash some bugs we may have missed the first time around. We hope you can now begin to fully enjoy the fruits of your work.
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HDR Skyboxes, Moon and New Weather Effects
First and foremost, after many requests, we've added the Moon (back) to our night sky! It's a subtle but remarkable touch that adds an extra layer of realism and wonder to your virtual trucking adventures. Curiously, it's worth mentioning that what might appear as a simple addition – the Moon – has posed some significant challenges for some time. Integrating the Moon into the night sky has required casting, rendering and calculating lunar light, proper phases, managing reflections in water bodies, dealing with wet roads, and addressing mirror effects, among other things.
In addition to that, we've also reimagined the night sky, introducing dynamic stars that gently twinkle, enhancing the overall authenticity of the night-time experience.
We are also happy to share that skyboxes will now be High Dynamic Range (HDR), which means that there will be richer, more vibrant colors in the skies and our weather visual effects have also received an upgrade. Thunderstorms now include visible lightning, offering a more immersive experience. And make sure to keep an eye on the night sky in certain regions, you might be pleasantly surprised with what you will notice.
To sum it all up, we’ve also prepared a special video for you showcasing all of these changes. It’s definitely worth checking it out along with the dedicated blog post we published previously!
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Used Truck Dealers
We're also happy to introduce another highly requested feature. Used Trucks will be now available immediately in the main menu taking you to a selection of trucks that are more budget-friendly compared to brand new vehicles. However, these used trucks come with some mileage and wear, which is indicated by their star rating and a separate window that provides a detailed breakdown of the damage to various parts.
One of the most significant changes coming along with this feature is the enhanced damage and repair system. In the past, our approach was very simplistic - individual parts would accumulate damage, represented as a percentage, and you could repair them, resetting the percentage to zero. However, with the 1.49 update, parts will accumulate three types of damage
- Damage: This type of damage can be fixed by standard repairs, just as before.
- Parts Wear: When components accumulate significant wear and tear, you'll want to replace them.
- Permanent Wear: The permanent wear represents systemic aging and wear across the whole vehicle. It can only be nullified by Total Restoration of the entire vehicle. This is a more expensive procedure, but it's the only way to bring your truck and trailer back to pristine condition.
With the improved damage system comes enhanced control over vehicle maintenance. You can now make informed choices about which parts to repair or replace based on your judgment. Alternatively, you have the option to seek professional advice for the best repair strategy for your truck or trailer.
Happy (used) trucking!
Keybind Modifiers
Another highly requested feature coming with 1.49 is the introduction of Keybind Modifiers! When previously creating a new bind in the menu, you could only assign a single key for an action. With the 1.49 update, you will now have the option to use a combination of the key and modifiers to bind an action. For example, you can now assign Shift + L to turn your lights if you so wish!
This opens up a whole new world of key bind combinations for you to use, allowing for more binding options, but that's not all! You will also now have the options to bind short press and long press key. Holding the key down will be recognised as a long press, and pressing a button as normal will be seen as a short press.
Keyboards aren't the only peripheral taking advantage of this change. Controllers will also be able use this new feature!
Automatic Headlights
Another new feature which we are happy to introduce to this update is the option of Automatic Headlights. It is a relatively straightforward feature, that turns on your headlights when the ambient light around the truck falls bellow a certain threshold. If the option is toggled, your light switch position for parking lights is replaced by automatic lights, so you can still turn your lights off or force your headlights on with the other switch positions. We have also introduced the addition of Automatic High Beams. This feature will temporally disable your high beams when there is a vehicle in front of you (both in your lane or oncoming) and turns them back on when the vehicle is far enough away. These automatic high beams are enabled if you flip the high beam switch and either your automatic headlights are turned on or you turned your headlights on manually (in case of automatic headlights option toggled off, high beams only work when headlights are manually enabled). We hope you enjoy this simple, yet useful feature for when you are travelling on the road!Changelog
Visual- HDR Skyboxes, Moon and New Weather Effects
- Automatic Headlights
- Used Truck Dealers
- Keybind Modifiers
