American Truck Simulator has a map problem that’s becoming harder to ignore. In this video, I break down why ATS maps and upcoming DLCs might struggle.
Based on a study and acknowledged by SCS Software we will break down why expanding the game further east even now with states like Louisiana will be tricky.
Read the full study: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tWH-wWoqaT9p_zb9OAHBPInVCvoF_jLmrQYiZRgN27o/edit?usp=drive_link
British Columbia doesn’t just mark the expansion of ATS outside USA towards Canada, it also provides a buffer for the SCS Software team to figure out a solution.
American Truck Simulator is being build on a 1:20 scale, let’s find out why this will not work for the east coast.
In this video you’ll see:
• Why ATS maps feel disconnected
• The scaling problem that affects every state
• How SCS Software builds new map DLCs
• Why the East Coast creates new challenges
• What ATS needs to change to stay competitive
• A cinematic look at ATS’s future map direction
Mods Used:
Graphic Mod: SnowyMoon Lighting Improvements V2
Map Mod: ProMods Canada
Do you also play ETS2? Check out our latest discussion about the game’s state and future:
Are These People Wrong About ETS2 & ATS? – https://youtu.be/HKY9jAuogGw
Checking out the latest update 1.57 & the upcoming Nordic Horizons DLC & Louisiana DLC –
Music by Epidemic Sounds.
Join the Truckers Hub Discord!
https://discord.gg/2RBzrtFNB7
Chapters:
0:00 The Map Problem
1:08 American Truck Simulator Scale Study
1:50 The “Mistake” (Size of America)
2:45 SCS acknowledgement
3:13 The Upcoming East Coast DLCs Struggle
4:47 Why in ETS2 Works
6:00 Map Density Comparison
6:22 The Border Problem
8:15 ATS Canada Expansion – Why British Columbia was announced as a DLC
9:36 The Solution – What could SCS Software do to fix it?
#americantrucksimulator #ats #ats2025 #atsmods #atsgameplay #dlc #update #scssoftware #trucksim
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When the game was created, they didn’t know how well it would do so they started with west coast
I would much rather a "rework" of the existing maps to scale them up to a larger scale then see them pull some kind of trickery to change the scale for certain states.
What they have already of the places I've been they've already scaled things down so hard that it really is in an uncanny position, if they're playing their cards right with the "northern" expansion they can spend time "patching" the rest of the map to scale it up slowly over time so by the time they start releasing the problematic states they have a decent scale to work with.
I disagree that the scale issue doesn't apply to ets2,. The German/Suisse/Austrian reworks were all a bit dissapointing, really beautiful, but so many big towns and even cities missing (where is Lausanne, Essen, Muenster, Karlsruhe, St Poelten, Bonn, Freibourg, Lausanne, Lugano, Bregenz, etc) and Germany particularly has poor detail on minor roads/smaller settlements, especially the black forest and Bavaria.
On the other hand Spain, Nordic Horizons and the Balkans worked great, no missing cities, towns or highways, with stunning scenery, and the gameplay is much stronger in these locations because of it.
We will see with the rework of the UK whether they struggle with scale issues, as there are so many highly populated cities in the west of England, (Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Stoke, Nottingham, Sheffield) that a lot of detail will be missing if they rescale the UK to match the rest of Europe.
Holy shit get to the fucking point. I hate this clickbait crap so much.
I think that they should make like a mandatory “inspection station” on state lines into states that will change you into a “different map” that is a scale more built for the size they need. Could land pretty seamless if done right.
I have been a near max level for years at this point, adding these maps isnt helping me achieve anything in the game. I have so many employees and garages its almost pointless to manage it at this point.
Just add a truck scale you have to use and hide the map scale change in there. Drive off the map in to a very small map with just truck scale in it and whne you drive out its on to a new map.
How about we break some scale rule we dont need a perfect 1:120 scale i think many people could agree on that
That explains why Louisiana feel so small and missing a lot of detail
Since they're doing Canada to buy time they should do Alaska
They would have to take there time and make the states bigger that's the only way I can think of
I've never played ATS but stumbled upon this interesting video and watched it.
So maybe it's a stupid question but why couldn't they just "silently" change the scale on the east coast to the mentioned 1 to 15 or 1 to 10? If they add more east coast DLCs they can just add them to the existing ones of 1 to 20? I imagine it as a road or highway leading to New Jersey and New York with the new scale and bigger east coast cities. Or am I missing something?
Im just waiting for michigan 😊
we were getting SO close to my home state 😭😭 i’m more than willing to give them the time they need if it means they figure everything out however.
Sounds like they'll have to break the scale. Oof. Rather have good maps than small ones
Acting like ETS 2 didn’t crush and ignore Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
slowly make the terrain bigger onwords to the east, good idea but now we need to make vehicles adaptivly get bigger the further east you drive somehow, and I dont think such thing exists in gaming
A hard and challenging thing they could do is transfer and whole map to 1/10th scale. but it will take a teams:
1. One to comtinue with updates on the current game
2. One to change the existing map and upscale it to 1/10th
Just pointing out that even the South east has become much more cramped with time, North Carolina & Florida especially…
the only solution you didn't talk about is rescaling the map unevenly.
the map to date is on a scale of 1:20 right?
so what if SCS left the cities and towns built so far at a scale of 1:20, but rescaled only the length of roads to be 1:15 or 1:12?
that would allow them to keep consistent scaling for the size of cities even on the east coast, without taking too much effort on their end to rework and rescale entire highly detailed cities.
that way SCS would solve their scaling issue on the east, players won't be upset that the cities on the east are too close to each other or too tiny or that they feel smaller then cities in the west.
and overall that seems to me like its the best solution to this problem with the least amount of rework that SCS would have to do.
after all, this is a Trucking game and real truckers spend most of their time on the road and not actually in cities, so making the driving distance longer but keep the cities at 1:20 scaling would actually be the best solution that's most realistic and is overall a win-win for SCS and the players
Cape Cod is gonna be wild
ATS quietly confirmed the '51st state' thing is real. Western provinces soon to become American states 😂
Yeah crazy that you would think American truck simulator meant only the states, its north America and they could even eventually go into south America
this is why i was disappointed with the Louisiana DLC by the time time they got to SE portion of the state everything was an afterthought
ats2 is jus way too flat
Luckaly its a digital piece and you can make the map wedge shaped whilst noone will notice
This is so fascinating. I wonder if they slowly balloon the states in size as you go east. On the Map, all the highways/cities are just smaller fonts to compensate and make the scale seem correct.
"Showing quality" but they still use the same entrance/exit size for warehouses and work sites from ETS that doesn't factor for the lethargic turning rates of American trucks, and as a real Class 8 operator, it's bugged me for years.
I would just change the scale with states east of the Mississippi River
Have they considered "inflating" the whole map to say 1/15 scale before introducing the east coast?
They need to rescale it plain and simple! Should have just done a 1 to 1! 😂😅😅 Used Google maps…and nasa data…
Who else would like to have a map that is like 1/5 to make it even closer to reality?
Colorado also has this issue that the east coast would.