I am a Heavy Equipment Operator and this game is both good and garbage

[Tharock]

I have been a heavy equipment operator for about 5 years now. I have been on a LOT of gear and know the controls of various machines very well *120M Grader is my baby* from what I have played of the game it is VERY CLEAR that the devs have not once done road work of any kind for a real production situation. Ever hear of a hydrostatic transmission? Means no shifting like in a truck to change gears this goes for fwd and rev and gear change. Spread dumping is a joke, can't do a bed chain off and limit the amount of "Sand" that comes out to make the smooth pouring. The modes of grading on the push blade loader confuse the hecc out of me. I have never seen any kind of machine be able to only move sand. But this is mostly an upside for the game for how bad the controls for the manual mode its a godsend. The crane controls need some real tweaking but that should be an ez fix if not manually done via sdk but I have not done any digging of my own to find it. Bring back the operation modes like "Crane mode" that change everything to be the crane. Idk how but you messed the dumpers up quite badly. I did like how easy the tree feller was and the power cable digger. Those are cool and way harder to do irl then in the game so props to that. Overall I am very conflicted with this game I enjoy making roads and picking a path and just making it without having toooooo many problems. Its just some of the extremely basic things that everyone does for making roads is nonexistent in this game right now.

[AzraelX06]

Have some steam points. I'm a fellow dirt enthusiast XD
I've driven tippers/dump trucks, skid steers, wheel loaders and excavators for the last 10 years and the biggest thing that irked me honestly is the "marching" mode on the K700 loader. Especially because all the other modes lock out high gear.

That is the dumbest ♥♥♥♥ I have ever seen in a game and no machine operator I have ever worked with would travel at speed with an attachment in the air like that, especially on an articulated loader. That's just asking for rollovers as the game shows.

Maybe set the height more reasonable, or add high gear to manual mode?

Definitely add chains on the tipper body for running out consistently.

The change in crane controls is definitely weird too, keep them consistent over all the cranes.

Devs, please fix all of these before release.

[stevedyndiuk]

Yeah I've never seen a wheel loader used as a "grader" or "bulldozer" lol. The two positions of work and march gave me a feeling of "this was lazy". Would real graders and dozers be too much to ask? Also didn't care for the dump truck being able to be filled anywhere in the quarry. How about you let me use an actual wheel loader with a bucket on it to load the truck. The controls for things are so basic like "fisherprice toys". I want something that is at least on par with what equipment in Farming Simulator is like. They let you do everything.

[Grave]

+1 for smooth pouring. The amount of sand that comes out is way too fast to do any meaningful spread.
I can forgive them limiting the automatic grade to Sand, for at leas the demo. Ideally I would like a toggle for ground types to move with automatic grading, and a target grade like a GPS, either for automatic or manual.
Maybe it's different on controller, but again I find the crane controls lacking. In real work I can boom up/line down at the same time, but here they're split between crane modes.

[Merry Jester]

Lowboy driver here...i agree with everything said. I guess it all just feels too arcade-y? For sure a lack of knowledge on how any of this equipment actually works. Im not sure how authentic they wanted to be, but not having a controlled dump bed, and that wheel loader doing grading work is killing me lol

[CMDR Sweeper]

Biggest problem with the crane controls is that they are relative, meaning it will try to move other limbs in trying to be helpful.
IE, you want the crane forward, which means you want the boom to extend, but it may even try to raise or lower the crane at the same time as it may give you a bit more forward position.

Thing is, I want to set that boom as far forward as it can go, and then adjust up and down, I do not want to fight the "ai" / computer at the same time.
This is the problem with the dreaded "Easy crane controls" in Farming Simulator games, and should be avoided or give us an option to disable it.

[MoTo]

Wheel loader being used as a bulldozer is wild to me. I was hoping it would be more realistic and not so basic arcade controls. So far all the vehicles are rust buckets so I hope there is modern machinery.

Just strange TBH

[ostlandr]

Not a pro, but I've run equipment from farm tractors with various attachments to an 18 ton articulated loader. I tried manually smoothing out a road with the "dozer" and it was- less than optimal. IRL if you take too big a bite with a piece of equipment, you get feedback. In this game (as in others like Hydroneer) you try to take a small bite, and as soon as the wheels hit the drop-off you're nose-down in a hole. Back-dragging didn't seem to do much better. Another problem is that the "dirt" isn't really dirt- it's a simulation, and it does not act like dirt.
I got used to the crane controls on the log forwarder. I'm actually thinking of getting a controller just for this game, just to see if that's better than keyboard and mouse.

[scrapfish]

I may not be a truck driver, but I've worked with enough truckloads of gravel to know that a smooth pour is a very good thing to have. I tried really hard to do as much by feathering the controls while driving, but it tends to go into automatic mode and just dump the whole load.

Originally posted by CMDR Sweeper:

...it will try to move other limbs in trying to be helpful. IE, you want the crane forward, which means you want the boom to extend, but it may even try to raise or lower the crane at the same time...

...I hadn't put two and two together, but you're right. By messing with multiple components in one motion, it's a lot less predictable or natural to how I deal with hydraulics in real life.

[Sandremo]

I cant for the love me STAND the fact that when you put the front loader to "Marching" it lifts the boom sky high. Nobody drives around anywhere like that. Especially in uneven terrain. That's a one way ticket to get the damn thing on tis side

[Dwldjon]

i have worked at a construction site before and the marching position does irk me a bit, if you did something like that on the site they would probably think you were drinking or something

[DJ Catmom]

Pretty much my points as well. I really like the game, I wanted roadbuilding so much for Snowrunner. Not a huge fan of lack of vehicle customization/wear/fuel, but that's all right.

Cranes though are atrocious. They sap all the fun I am having from doing other stuff. There is so much junk laying around the map and I would love to clean it up and recycle and yet I am forced to do bare minimum required for the mission because every time I use a crane I want to tear my hair out. I get that automating loading is not an easy ask now that cargo is non-standard size, but at least something could be done with the horrid crane controls to make it less grading. Mind you, crane control was NEVER good in the series, ever, so switching to legacy isn't much help either. I am just astounded that the devs managed to make it worse.

[Bobby]

Originally posted by Merry Jester:

Lowboy driver here...i agree with everything said. I guess it all just feels too arcade-y? For sure a lack of knowledge on how any of this equipment actually works. Im not sure how authentic they wanted to be, but not having a controlled dump bed, and that wheel loader doing grading work is killing me lol

It's a GAME. It's not trying to be REAL.
I'm a tree surgeon and tree's don't fall like that in REAL life -a GAME...

[Viper]

Games are about having fun. Adding annoying complexity and control methods to it does not make it more funner. Just harder and more frustrating. Its not about reality. Not to mention people working on a road crew are not having fun. Just hard work.

[hairo]

Originally posted by Tharock:

I have been a heavy equipment operator for about 5 years now. I have been on a LOT of gear and know the controls of various machines very well *120M Grader is my baby* from what I have played of the game it is VERY CLEAR that the devs have not once done road work of any kind for a real production situation. Ever hear of a hydrostatic transmission? Means no shifting like in a truck to change gears this goes for fwd and rev and gear change. Spread dumping is a joke, can't do a bed chain off and limit the amount of "Sand" that comes out to make the smooth pouring. The modes of grading on the push blade loader confuse the hecc out of me. I have never seen any kind of machine be able to only move sand. But this is mostly an upside for the game for how bad the controls for the manual mode its a godsend. The crane controls need some real tweaking but that should be an ez fix if not manually done via sdk but I have not done any digging of my own to find it. Bring back the operation modes like "Crane mode" that change everything to be the crane. Idk how but you messed the dumpers up quite badly. I did like how easy the tree feller was and the power cable digger. Those are cool and way harder to do irl then in the game so props to that. Overall I am very conflicted with this game I enjoy making roads and picking a path and just making it without having toooooo many problems. Its just some of the extremely basic things that everyone does for making roads is nonexistent in this game right now.

Your feedback highlights some real shortcomings in the game effectively. Considering the developers have been working on similar games for about five years, you'd expect them to have expanded their knowledge on these topics, even if they didn't initially have real-world experience.
However, I also have a few points about your critique. Although the game is categorized as a simulation, game development has inherent technical limitations that prevent certain realistic details from being fully implemented. For example, you’re correct that spread dumping should ideally allow adjusting the flow rate of sand from the dump bed. But realistically simulating something like a dozer mixing sand with the underlying material would be extremely challenging for a developer, potentially causing significant performance issues.
As you're probably aware, game worlds are built from polygons—so the "sand" isn't actual sand, and the "mud" isn't mud, they're simply polygons interacting. Developers use clever programming to create illusions that feel realistic, but behind the scenes, it's often simplified to maintain performance. For instance, the sand you pour might simply overwrite and remove the underlying polygons instead of realistically mixing or layering.
In short, developers should focus more on creatively engineering detailed, immersive systems rather than trying to copy every real-world mechanism exactly. Still, your point about the crane operation is valid—the lack of proper crane control modes is indeed a big oversight, suggesting that the developers aren't genuinely advancing, just remaining static.

[rustik_79]

why can’t I use a dump truck, I bought all the DLC but the dump truck is not available, I wasted my money in vain