How many states are there now?

[Wobb the Great and Terrible!!!!!]

As title asks, how many states are there right now? I haven't really played much in ages but I have seen a good load of new map expansions adding more and more states into the game world. So I was just wondering how far along they are now is all?
I count about 12 or 13, from what is listed on the store page and also including California and Nevada, which if I remember right were the 2 states the game launched with, with Arizona thrown in as like a bonus as soon as it was ready.
I was just thinking is all, that at this rate we will likely all die of old age before they have finished all the map with every state from the good ol' US-of-A
I'm pushing 50 now, so I am betting I won't live long enough to be able to drive my Peterbilt from Frisco to the Big Apple.

[Dark & Realistic™ Nessie]

Originally posted by Wobb the Great and Terrible!!!!!:

I count about 12 or 13, from what is listed on the store page and also including California and Nevada, which if I remember right were the 2 states the game launched with, with Arizona thrown in as like a bonus as soon as it was ready.
(...)
I'm pushing 50 now, so I am betting I won't live long enough to be able to drive my Peterbilt from Frisco to the Big Apple.

Problem is that you counting that, no matter the size of each state, every single one, from Texas to Delaware, will be delivered 1 at a time every 6 months.

Originally posted by Estes:

The most frustrating aspect for this game/series to me is that, after the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator with the 1 to 1 scale of the entire world...

I love when people use FS as a good example of a 1:1 world scale. Have you placed your plane close to ground level anywhere far from the airports to see the "level of detail" on roads?

[Lodau]

Originally posted by Estes:

The most frustrating aspect for this game/series to me is that, after the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator with the 1 to 1 scale of the entire world... There really isn't an excuse anymore. We could technically have the WHOLE MAP in less than a day via satellite technology. But I suppose milking it state by state pays more, or whatever it is. On top of being a heavily neutered, massively scaled down, imagined version of reality where you can drive an 18 wheeler across multiple states in less than an hour.

It would be nice to have a one to one scale driving simulator someday.

Take a drive in The Crew 2 and see why thats a bad idea. Yea, it's the size of the US, but damn is it a bad representation compared to ATS. Hell MSFS looks decent from high up, but close up is a different story.

Having the whole map ready in a day? lol.

[Sandhill]

Originally posted by Lori37:

no need to be snarky.... jerk

No need to be sensitive when you ask a question that has been asked and answered a thousand times and someone gives you the correct answer that has been given a thousand times

[Wolfgang]

Originally posted by Lori37:

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

As the name says: TBA.
In other words: When it is finished.
Or if you want it exact: On some day in some month. Mark it in your Calendar!

no need to be snarky.... jerk

We know as much (or little) about the release date as you do. If you were expecting a date then you would have seen it already on the Store page for the DLC. You got the correct answer and I am not going to say random dates.

[Duke Leto]

1:1 for the areas that ats/ets2 cover would not be fun. Also ats/ets2 maps are "hand crafted", they do not really map to real life other than particular names/sites/viewpoints - hence the time it takes make each DLC.

SCS is also getting better at providing small challenges and unique driving as they produce DLC - you just have to compare the current/redone content to some early content like great britain in ets2.

Generally, I do not like DLC spam games (in fact I generally avoid paradox games for this reason), but I tend to give ats/ets2 some leeway here that I don't give to other games for 3 reasons: 1) they keep their DLC fairly low priced and 2) they seem to put a fair amount of effort into creating that DLC and 3) they do not "break" the game with DLC making it "required."

SCS also seems to be upgrading their old areas (including DLC) for free -- they don't just pump an new DLC while dumping everything else, they tend to thread a "fair" path in asking for us to purchase new DLC.

[meatballs_21]

Complete agree @Duke Leto. The maps look amazing nowadays and have a real sense of place. Funny you mention the original rendition of the UK in ETS2: it was better than the previous games like UK Truck Sim or the original Euro Truck, but was still so poor that it put me off getting ETS2.

SCS did the rescale, free. They redid Las Vegas and are redoing California, free. All the trucks are free. All the engine updates are free. To begrudge them cost or pace of state DLC releases is just pathetic IMHO. They’re among the straightest shooting, most open developers around.

[Lori37]

Originally posted by Sandhill:

Originally posted by Lori37:

no need to be snarky.... jerk

No need to be sensitive when you ask a question that has been asked and answered a thousand times and someone gives you the correct answer that has been given a thousand times

ever had the idea of someone who does not visit this forum very much? Yeah, that's me.... so I couldn't have read the answer "a thousand times"... so no need for that person to be snarky with me....

[Sandhill]

Originally posted by Lori37:

ever had the idea of someone who does not visit this forum very much? Yeah, that's me.... so I couldn't have read the answer "a thousand times"... so no need for that person to be snarky with me....

But that was literally a cut and paste response as such questions get asked so frequently that it is more convenient to just have the correct answer, "When its ready", a mouse click away. I think no snark intended, you got your answer, simple question, simple and quick answer, done.

[Estes]

Can't quote everything easily since its been a few days since I've checked the forum. But someone mentioned The Crew 2 being the whole of the United States and wow I never knew that, I've never played any of those games but if I had known that I probably would have. I checked just now considering buying it now but the same as before I don't/never liked the sound of how arcadey it sounds, on top of it being 'Ubisoft'... -_-

And again about have I ever looked at the ground textures on MSFS other than airports and yes, absolutely lmao and ITS STILL WORTH EVERY SQUARE INCH, because it's literally REAL LIFE. Simulation. Mile to mile of every corner of the entire world. Including REAL TIME WEATHER. Yes, it's not mapped at a level of google STREET VIEW, but even considering that it hardly matters when it at LEAST references what IS THERE in real life. Even if you're in parts of the map that it randomly generates models of buildings in replacement of the photorealistic scenery from the satellites. It is FAR SUPERIOR than this made up imaginary reference scenery of American Truck Simulator, in my opinion. The only thing MSFS fails upon that American Truck Simlator doesn't, is having a built in economy and career mode. For MSFS you basically have to use 3rd party software such as OnAir, Life as a Pilot, etc. Which is a shame, BUT...
Even considering that, since I just booted up MSFS again to see what's changed since I last played, I have to wait for a 130GB update lmao, SO... That being said, No. I don't agree, and never will , with this massively scaled down in EVERY aspect, where the a minute in game = an hour, seconds = minutes. "You're getting tired" , oh damn, might wanna pull over , which should take about 5 minutes, but 5 minutes? That's like FIVE HOURS GAME TIME lmao. NONE OF IT makes sense to me, and it's hardly worth putting up with for very long.

And looking at my time of 700 hours in MSFS in comparison to ATS game time of not even 80 hours.. Yeah nah, I'm not going to convince myself that I'm missing out on this massively scaled down excuse for a simulator. My opinion, of course.

xD

[Dark & Realistic™ Nessie]

The problem of FS is that the quality isn't even Street View, but the automatically generated models from Google Earth. It doesn't generate the correct direction of vehicles on roads either. Low density residential areas only look a little better because they use manually modeled houses replacing the automaitcally modeled ones.

For those who complain about "how outdated UK is", what would they say if it was updated as the following?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6ETsI1TI94

Mind you, I think the quality of world for FS is enough for a game you'll stay miles from ground and at high speed most of the time. I wouldn't be paying attention to each vehicle or house on the ground. But on ground level, like the Truck Sims, it's unacceptable.

[Estes]

Originally posted by stchamber11:

I use MSFS and ATS only. In MSFS, once up in the air, almost always I multiply sim rate as sitting for a 3 hour flight in the air does not make sense to me. The same if ATS was 1:1, not very fun. It is great the way it is!

Forgot to touch with this, yes I'll agree it's tedious. Maybe not altogether by the pants fun the whole time, obviously... But, this is exactly why we no longer can have 'nice things'. Instant gratification. It's what killed World of Warcraft and everything that has come out since. This condition that everything needs to come instantaneously or we're done and walking away. Basically exempting the reason for playing in the first place.

The goal oriented gameplay, albeit tedious at times was why WoW blew up back in November of 2004. You had to TAKE THE JOURNEY, TO GET THERE. You're not going to be handed epic mounts at level 1 with 1 copper, sorry. Now? Lmfaooo, Yeah... So much content flying at your face you can't even keep up with it. It's all in fast foward.

[Estes]

Originally posted by FelipeVinhao:

The problem of FS is that the quality isn't even Street View, but the automatically generated models from Google Earth. It doesn't generate the correct direction of vehicles on roads either. Low density residential areas only look a little better because they use manually modeled houses replacing the automaitcally modeled ones.

For those who complain about "how outdated UK is", what would they say if it was updated as the following?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6ETsI1TI94

Mind you, I think the quality of world for FS is enough for a game you'll stay miles from ground and at high speed most of the time. I wouldn't be paying attention to each vehicle or house on the ground. But on ground level, like the Truck Sims, it's unacceptable.

And see that's basically what I was saying in my first comment of this thread. Yes, it's not as visually appealing at ground level in MSFS, because obviously, it really doesn't need it when you're flying 300mph+ high above. All I was saying is it could obviously be worked upon eventually to be 'acceptable'. Even from the video you posted it looks amazing to me still lol. And it's a FLIGHT SIMULATOR. Acceptable for a Flight simulator that's not even trying to appeal to drivers of the road. So you can just take it from there.

[Dark & Realistic™ Nessie]

In theory, if a 1:1 map was in the plans, the devs could make some data mining when collecting data, like "what this building is", "how many lanes this road has" and "what direction it goes", "this road has sidewalks" and so on, and then substitute with handcrafted buildings and roads (like the residential areas are made on that video) in order to not have automatically generated models. It wouldn't be a copy-paste version of world, but at least it'd respect what it is.

But driving on a 1:1 scale world only works if... you're actually driving, not if you're playing a game. Someone complained on the release topic that one's 4000 km long delivery was canceled (as normal) after update because one couldn't finish it in one day. In currently scale, these 4000 km are only 200 km physically, which in a constant speed we could finish in 3 (real) hours. Imagine driving the real 4000 km, including rest stops. It's risky people wouldn't finish job anymore.

Personal preference, but game worlds shouldn't be bigger than a 1:20 scale.

[Estes]

Originally posted by FelipeVinhao:

In theory, if a 1:1 map was in the plans, the devs could make some data mining when collecting data, like "what this building is", "how many lanes this road has" and "what direction it goes", "this road has sidewalks" and so on, and then substitute with handcrafted buildings and roads (like the residential areas are made on that video) in order to not have automatically generated models. It wouldn't be a copy-paste version of world, but at least it'd respect what it is.

But driving on a 1:1 scale world only works if... you're actually driving, not if you're playing a game. Someone complained on the release topic that one's 4000 km long delivery was canceled (as normal) after update because one couldn't finish it in one day. In currently scale, these 4000 km are only 200 km physically, which in a constant speed we could finish in 3 (real) hours. Imagine driving the real 4000 km, including rest stops. It's risky people wouldn't finish job anymore.

Personal preference, but game worlds shouldn't be bigger than a 1:20 scale.

Yeah and I'll agree, it's probably not for this specific project that is American Truck Simulator. As the guidelines are obviously set in place and not going to change. But personally, I would LOVE to drive the real 4000km lmao. Yeah, it's probably not going to happen for a few days, weeks, whatever(obviously saving would have to be allowed), but it sort of goes back to how I mentioned and used the analogy of World of Warcraft, that I sort of pin the blame on at a universal level of essentially lobotomizing gaming as a whole as it is today. The original game was basically what you described, the 4000km, where only 1% of the player base is EVER going to achieve that. Creating and making it a separate category within the game itself.

So that 4000km drive, there might only be 10 players in the world to achieve that level of a drive at 1 to 1 scale, possibly lolz.. BUT, it's also a display of dedication. On top of basically adding many layers to the game at the same time. As obviously the game wouldn't require 4000km drives just to play the damn game. It would obviously have plenty of short 100mile-300 mile trips where you wanted, I dunno. But the possibilities are endless and that's what MSFS proved.

As soon as it came out I almost instantly had visions that someday we're going to see this virtual world operating at a world scale, meaning from planes to trains to boats to cars to garbage trucks, all operating separately with their own economies etc. As it simply proved that you definitely and certainly can use our world as a layout, even at a reference level , to build virtual worlds at massive, usable scale. All that's probably decades away, if we get there(climate change xD) , But my point is... I believe it is more than doable and achievable.

[Estes]

Actually all that being said, No save points for the 4000km. Like literally you have to be required to pull over on an off ramp, truck stop and park your truck etc. have to leave the game on 24/7 as we go to work, sleep, etc. Now THAT'S a simulator lmao.(Kind of joking) xD