ATS 1.38 Open Beta

A beta version of update 1.38 is available for American Truck Simulator. The full release of this update is still a few weeks away, but you can already try the beta version. The city of Las Vegas was the first to be revamped, but that will be covered in another article.

In addition to Las Vegas, the city of El Centro was redesigned. The update is quite large and significant. Additionally, a new highway, US-191, has been added. This highway is located in Arizona. Changes were made to the location of the nearby US-491 airplane. There were also some other road-related changes, but they are less significant.

Among the major changes is the updated SSAO effect. This effect creates shadows in places where various objects connect with each other. This results in a realistic shadow effect and realistic lighting. In short – the SSAO effect creates shadows where they should be but were not before. This effect greatly influences the game’s appearance. The look of paint, chrome, and other materials is significantly improved. The SSAO effect can be adjusted in the settings if performance drops because of it. If the graphics processor is quite weak, it is recommended to disable this effect completely. The difference can be seen in the screenshots.

Equally important – the developers have added an RGB Color Picker feature. Players have requested this feature for a long time, and now it can be fully enjoyed in the game. Thanks to this feature, you can paint your truck using HSV, RGB, and HEX codes. You can save and try out various color combinations. This feature will definitely be useful for people who love customizing their vehicles.

List of changes

Map:
- Complete overhaul of Las Vegas. Road reconstruction, changes to vegetation (trees, grass, and more).
- Fully implemented US-191 highway.
- Added a new road called UT-56. Additionally, the US-93 road near Panaca has been implemented (but not fully).
- Added a new truck stop Ca-111.
- A brand new company called Plaster And Sons has been added in Logan.
- Almost all gas stations have been redesigned.
- Other road-related changes have been made. Various bugs have been fixed.

Vehicles:
- Added a new ambulance for Las Vegas.
- Added a new fire truck for Las Vegas.
- Improvements to the automatic transmission of all vehicles.

Sound:
- Updated FMOD.
- Fixed the retarder sound when the engine is off.

Miscellaneous:
- Added SSAO feature. The operation of this feature was described in detail above.
- Changes made to the Route Adviser feature.
- New presets for Tobii Eye Tracking.
- RGB color scheme for vehicle repainting.