Euro Truck Simulator 2 catch-all

Wait-wait-wait-wait. This isn't a joke thread?

Surprisingly, no. No it isn't.

The game is unexpectedly fun, in a relaxing sort of way. While I can't quite bring myself to pay full price for it I'll probably grab the full version in the inevitable Steam sale.

Yeah, kicked back in my chair with xbox controller in hand and TrackIR working. Pretty chill, with just enough "Get the next level" addiction to it. Now that my long distance is maxed out I'm picking up mostly 20 hr + driving jobs, and those are perfect for a single sit down to destress from whatever.

Keithustus wrote:
Gravey wrote:

Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the game?

No, it would encourage strategically locating your garages.

Okay, maybe I misread your post. It sounded like you were saying you pick up a job in Paris that ends in Berlin, then fast travel to Berlin, thereby eliminating all the truck driving from the truck driving game.

Well, if it worked, it would only be applicable when you've got garages in the right places, which is why I was thinking it would be great for strategic gameplay and disappointed that it doesn't, in fact, work.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Well, I gave it a shakedown. Turns out it doesn't support three screens properly after all and the performance was surprisingly poor.

Damn. It.

I bet this works though.

Sounds like it's pretty heavy on the GPUs. GTX580s in SLI will get you medium graphics on a triple-head rig.

Jarpy wrote:

Sounds like it's pretty heavy on the GPUs. GTX580s in SLI will get you medium graphics on a triple-head rig.

Weird, I'm running everything on Ultra with a Geforce 9800 GT, I might get a hiccup every once in a while but otherwise it's been quite smooth sailing here.

Interesting note but I've played enough now that I've slowly been learning how to regain steering when the load behind me decides to try and take over the driving. Still not good enough to reduce damage but decent enough that I was able to coerce my truck into turning right before we would of crashed head-on into another truck.

Question, I have one driver and he can supposably do long distance routes but he's only doing routes that pay out around 1,000 is there a way to get him to do more expensive routes? I kinda need him to start bringing in more cash because the loan installment everyday is 10,000 and I'm sometimes barely getting the correct amount before the installment is taken out.

Wolfen Victrocious wrote:
Jarpy wrote:

Sounds like it's pretty heavy on the GPUs. GTX580s in SLI will get you medium graphics on a triple-head rig.

Weird, I'm running everything on Ultra with a Geforce 9800 GT, I might get a hiccup every once in a while but otherwise it's been quite smooth sailing here.

I'm running a (now) mid-range Radeon 6870 HD and I get decent frame rates. It's not solid 60 FPS, but it's still quite good on Ultra settings, and I even bumped up the mirror draw distance. I wonder if SLI is the problem.

Question, I have one driver and he can supposably do long distance routes but he's only doing routes that pay out around 1,000 is there a way to get him to do more expensive routes? I kinda need him to start bringing in more cash because the loan installment everyday is 10,000 and I'm sometimes barely getting the correct amount before the installment is taken out.

I've had my drivers going for several in-game weeks and they still usually bring in less than 2k per load. I'm making the big money from combination long distance rush high value cargo myself, 70-80k per 2-day haul. I'm level 17, though.

EDIT to add some current screenshots from my game, to give you an idea of my money situation (Click to embiggen):

Overview:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/o5ijL0Ql.jpg)

My skills:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/SqGBLwnl.jpg)

The most valuable hauls currently available to me (best one is nearly $84k):

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/eN4PYQPl.jpg)

My first driver (My 2nd driver is actually doing better than him! Don't tell John that, though, you'll hurt his feelings.):

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Q7bRom9l.jpg)

What is so addictive about this game?

I did a thing. (Even though I'm not as funny as Nerd^3)

And now I'm pricing driving controllers. What is wrong with me?

You've got it bad, man... EURO TRUCK FEVER!

And there's only one cure for EURO TRUCK FEVER...

MORE TRUCKING!

tanstaafl wrote:

What is so addictive about this game?

I have not a clue, but damn it all if I didn't pick this up over the weekend and do some of the longer routes for the hell of it. I even tried my hand at backing into the loading dock. Took a few times, but I got it

Anyone have a phantom crash? I was driving a tanker from Southampton to Swansea (I've been concentrating on ADR skills, not distance, since I prefer to play for short periods instead of driving for an hour) when it suddenly gave me a fine for a crash. No other feedback, no indication that I had hit anything (jolting or anything) and no other vehicles visible. Just suddenly 5% damage on the trailer.

And I still can't back up to save my life. I blame using a controller instead of a proper wheel.

plavonica wrote:

Any good ideas on where I can get a (cheap!) one that will fit the plug on the base? It needs to be 24v .75a according to the Logitech website. I just have no idea how to get the correct plug size information.

Here you go.

(Let me check my parts bin.)

tanstaafl wrote:

Anyone have a phantom crash? I was driving a tanker from Southampton to Swansea (I've been concentrating on ADR skills, not distance, since I prefer to play for short periods instead of driving for an hour) when it suddenly gave me a fine for a crash. No other feedback, no indication that I had hit anything (jolting or anything) and no other vehicles visible. Just suddenly 5% damage on the trailer.

That sounds weird. That has never happened to me. Every time I've gotten a crash fine, it's because I was stupid and crashed into someone.

And I still can't back up to save my life. I blame using a controller instead of a proper wheel.

Nope, sorry, that excuse won't fly. I'm using a controller too. It only took me 20 hours, but I can back up perfectly now!

tanstaafl wrote:

Anyone have a phantom crash? I was driving a tanker from Southampton to Swansea (I've been concentrating on ADR skills, not distance, since I prefer to play for short periods instead of driving for an hour) when it suddenly gave me a fine for a crash. No other feedback, no indication that I had hit anything (jolting or anything) and no other vehicles visible. Just suddenly 5% damage on the trailer.

And I still can't back up to save my life. I blame using a controller instead of a proper wheel.

No but I've had plenty of moments where my head actually lulls forward in real life and I'm suddenly jolted back to life when I hear my truck hit the guard rail.

Also I've been trying to decided if the ADR skills are any good? I've mostly been leveling up my distance and high profile cargo. My trips might take me a bit longer to complete but their fun to do when listening to podcasts. Plus when there are no podcasts to be found I just turn on National Radio from Cardiff, where I based my home company.

tanstaafl wrote:

What is so addictive about this game?

I did a thing. (Even though I'm not as funny as Nerd^3)

youtube

And now I'm pricing driving controllers. What is wrong with me?

Really entertaining with quite a few moments where I swore up and down you were going to flip your truck. I did a load of sand and a load of coal and decided I'm never doing a delivery with those type of trailers again. They seem to sway too much and sometimes have a mind of their own.

Wolfen Victrocious wrote:

Also I've been trying to decided if the ADR skills are any good? I've mostly been leveling up my distance and high profile cargo. My trips might take me a bit longer to complete but their fun to do when listening to podcasts. Plus when there are no podcasts to be found I just turn on National Radio from Cardiff, where I based my home company.

Rush-job ADR loads are among the most valuable in my job lists. Higher value than even high value cargo.

"ADR" has been nagging at me for a long time, especially with as much training in "Hazmat" in the US as I have gotten. What the hell is ADR? I've kept asking myself. Turns out it's an abbreviation of a French expression.

Hm, I want to replace the thumb stick on my G13. If I see a wheel at the thrift store, which I know there is, I'll probably end up playing this.

Druidpeak wrote:

Yeah, kicked back in my chair with xbox controller in hand and TrackIR working. Pretty chill, with just enough "Get the next level" addiction to it.

So how are you finding using the 360 pad with this game?

Looking at the Giant Bomb Quick Look made it seem like there were a bazillion keyboard commands. Any trouble using the keyboard and 360 pad in tandem?

More general question:

I have a new semi-gaming laptop on the way and will be hooking up a 360 pad for the first time. Since I’ve already got a couple laying around, I’ll just get the wireless dongle for my PC. Here’s what I’m wondering…If my laptop and 360 console are in the same room (which they will most likely be most of the time), what happens when I turn on the controller? Will it fire up my 360 and assign itself to that signal, or will it be recognized by both the laptop and the 360?

How do you guys deal with associating it with the hardware you want to use it for at that time?

A gamepad should be fine for driving missions because you only use a few buttons during them; this isn't DCS A-10C. You'll need a mouse for the navigating the interface for other things, though, like using the driver manager, applying skills at level-up, choosing jobs.

Yeah, I've got my settings set for automatic transmission so mostly all I do is accelerate, decelerate and steer, which is my left joystick. I've got right joystick set to look around and a couple of things I use like lights and windshield wipers on the buttons. (The game will ding you if you drive in the rain with your lights off but could care less if you never signal lane changes or turns.) Add a couple of display toggles and the horn and you're set.

If you want one of your controller buttons to mimic the Esc key and bring up the main menu screen, you can't do that with the game's key bindings. You can, however, hax0r your ini file.

Edit controls.sii from your profile directory (My Documents/Euro Truck Simulator 2/profiles/############/controls.sii) using any text editor. For example, to have the controller START button mimic the Esc key, change the following lines to read as shown:

config_lines[56]: "mix back `keyboard.esc?0 | joy.b8?0`" config_lines[57]: "mix skip `keyboard.esc?0 | joy.b8?0`" ... config_lines[143]: "mix menu `keyboard.esc?0 | joy.b8?0`"

Did you build your FreeTrack Plav? If not, I had great success using an old, 3LED bicycle taillight. It gave me a battery holder, mounting clip, and efficient constant-current drivers for the LEDs in a neat little package. Just add IR LEDs and some sticks to mount them on (I used bamboo skewers).

I spent some time with the demo getting my controls, especially steering, fine tuned. I found that my steering was annoying me and ran the controller setup wizard. I found i preferred the default left stick steering sensitivity.

I found simple automatic provided the least frustration with the controller, although i tried sequential manual with the bumpers first and that wasn't all bad. I would love a wheel with a 6 speed and clutch though.

With head tracking I've been running without the popup mirrors, and have been enjoying it. Left hand drive in the UK requires a bit more care, but definitely doable. I swear the passenger mirror shrinks when i try to use it while backing a trailer.

Druidpeak wrote:

With head tracking I've been running without the popup mirrors, and have been enjoying it. Left hand drive in the UK requires a bit more care, but definitely doable. I swear the passenger mirror shrinks when i try to use it while backing a trailer. :D

Challenge mode for TrackIR cheaters! You're not supposed to be able to look around easily, it's supposed to be a tunnel vision neck brace truck driving simulator.

plavonica wrote:

Burned out one of the led's on accident so now I have to go back to radioshack today

Sounds like a classic electronics project! I hope it stays fun, even in the face of adversity. A nice new tip will definitely help you make a clean joint without cooking anything, and if you have flux, it is your friend.

Good luck!

Vega wrote:

Should be arriving by friday so this weekend will be some exciting drunken trucking!

Wheel arrived and I'm all setup!

IMAGE(http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o310/VegaGWJ/IMG_2171sm_zps54dfbe4c.jpg)

I had to stick the dashboard hula girl on the wheel for that authentic trucker feel. On the screen is my new pride and joy Volvo.

And now all this TrackIR talk is getting me thinking about that...

plavonica wrote:

Edit: Oh and is there a way to get around the 55mph governor on the trucks?

Download the mod nospeedlimit2.scs (version 1.3.1)

If that link doesn't work, just google for nospeedlimit2, you'll get several places to download it.

Copy the mod into your Documents/Euro Truck Simulator 2/mod directory. When you start the game, EDIT your profile and enable the mod. This mod changes a big common definitions file, and a lot of mods that change that file are incompatible with each other. Just be aware of that if you have other mods and something stops working.

Be warned, once you have flown down the autobahn at 130 kph, it is hard to go back.

plavonica wrote:

The freetrack forums also suggest filing down the rounded ends of the LEDs but I am not so sure about that yet.

It works really well. It's completely worth it in my opinion. If you look at the LEDs up close, you can see how much material is between the top of the plastic dome and the actual diode. It's safe to remove a good chunk.

I understand not wanting to blow $2.50 though. Radio Shack is utterly extortionate! You can get 20 IR LEDs for a dollar on eBay.