Other Map Discussion (Mainly TSM)

[KubaJAM]

To be fair to TSM, it did make a very attractive proposition, after I had first found out how to install mods, it was one of the first things I downloaded. I mean, come on, who wouldn't have done after seeing how much content it had to offer, and the fact that it increased the map by about 2x its own size.

When I first started, I took a job up to Denmark, towards Kolding. I was not impressed immediately after arriving in the new part of the map; I remember not noticing the difference between SCS and TSM to start with. Admittedly, the scenery started to look more 'Danish' on the next road I took, but then I noticed the awful artificial 'made for map' models of trucks and cars. Eww.

Despite this, I progressed with the map, and was actually quite pleased with how it felt. After I eventually got into Africa, I was impressed with Tunisia (towards Libya). However, I then started going towards Egypt. Oh dear. The gradients were horrible; I remember going up every single hill at the same speed no matter what load I was pulling. This got incredibly boring. What's more, it didn't suit the base game at all; driving straight down a hill at 70mph in my beloved MAN TGX without a retarder, I was soon thrusted up the hill. Having cruise control set to 55mph provides a horrible experience, as the engine chucked gears down remarkably quickly, down to 9th and at 3000rpm (Perhaps more, as this is as far as the counter goes). Eventually in about 4th at less than 10mph, I kept thinking to myself 'This truck would pull 7 tons faster than this' (even at 360hp). This, as aforementioned, got extremely boring and made for painful listening experience as my truck strangled itself to death.

This is the end of my endeavors, no? Well, no, actually.

I hadn't yet discovered the worst thing about TSM. On these hills, I kept thinking that the constant over-revving of the engine was leading to damage, but why the hell was my trailer getting damaged? I found out swiftly enough, many times. The AI rams your trailer, and is not satisfied until you gain no profit at all for your journey. I remember pulling to the hard shoulder on motorways to avoid them, whilst thinking how unrealistic that made it. In a game which, after all, was made to be a simulator.

When it comes to gaming, I'm a very patient person. So, I persevered. I assumed the slow hills were past the braking abilities of the AI, that this was the only reason my trailer was damaged. But, a week later, whilst in Croatia, enjoying the relaxing journey between Dubrovnik and Split, (I have been there so it was fun to drive in game) and doing a respectable 55mph (90kph), i got bunted up the backside by some idiot in a Ford Mondeo. They obviously hadn't told the AI to remember there is actual RI (Real Intelligence) on this stretch of road I assumed this was again a glitch, but I got 100% damage by doing so. I was furious, again having to pull over to the hard shoulder, and cancelling my job.

To be honest, I could go on for ages about TSM, in a bad way. But I'll assure you... Don't download it.
P.S. I got hysterical after noticing, coming out of a Greek Port, how bad the scaling of the containers is...

As for Promods; I never really thought about downloading it. However, my end of patience with TSM coincided nicely with DaSquirrelsnuts interviewing Nico on Twitch. After watching the vids on YouTube (My broadband is slow as hell and I was out anyway), I decided to give it a whirl. I cannot emphasise enough how good a decision that was. Wow. Just wow. Imagine how I felt when I heard about the expansion plans.

So, that was a quick insight into TSM and its 'comparison' with Promods. I want to hear what you think of TSM, please, even you, the mappers .

The moral of the story is, when it comes to ETS 2 map mods, remember, quality not quantity. Except, if you are patient, the quantity is also vastly increasing.

[Moh1336]

Before I discovered promods, I did consider using TSM. But after doing some research I was put off by the silly things in the map. Things like the suicide jumpers and the two humping dogs.

While I am no stranger to silly humour (hell I love GTA for it's dark humour) I feel that sort of stuff has no place in ETS2. So I never bothered trying it and it's unlikely I ever will now I use Promods.

[KubaJAM]

Before I discovered promods, I did consider using TSM. But after doing some research I was put off by the silly things in the map. Things like the suicide jumpers and the two humping dogs.

While I am no stranger to silly humour (hell I love GTA for it's dark humour) I feel that sort of stuff has no place in ETS2. So I never bothered trying it and it's unlikely I ever will now I use Promods.

Yeah, I really wouldn't try it, especially after you found Promods. I'm not doing it to get respect from the guys here.... The map is genuinely quite bad in many respects.

I've never seen those glitches tho... Anyone got any screenshots or links?

[MandelSoft]

I once tried out the TSM map. It was still in the pre TSM 2.0 days. I haven't actually driven in the map itself, but I've browsed around with the map editor. And boy, I did see quite a quality difference where the SCS map ends and where the TSM map begins. I was not that much impressed. Heck, Venezia in that mod was just a bunch of bridges and a port. That's it. Not even remotely close to the real thing (and yes, it's way worse than the worst parts in the Promods map, which is still the dull plains in Denmark)...

The addition of Africa before even the majority of Europe was done (like for instance, FREAKIN' SCANDINAVIA) just baffled me. It seems illogical. I came into contact with one of the dutch devs (I think, but I may confuse him for being from another map team), but due to the insufficient modding help from the community, I shelved this game for a while (I still only had the demo version; now I have the full version bought on Steam without the DLC), especially TruckSimulator24.de was very unhelpful.

I think the TSM also does some things wrong with mapping, maybe accidentally using UK prefabs instead of continental Europe prefabs, causing random collisions, and of course, the vehicle behaviour. I've also heard that they really like to use their high-poly models, which is not good for performance either. But then again, after I shelved the game, I started over again, clean, and I discovered ProMods. The rest is history

Best,
Maarten

[KubaJAM]

Heck, Venezia in that mod was just a bunch of bridges and a port. That's it. Not even remotely close to the real thing (and yes, it's way worse than the worst parts in the Promods map, which is still the dull plains in Denmark)...

Omg, yes, I forgot about Venice. I drove in wondering where the hell in Italy there was a 30km long bridge leading to... Well, a couple of depots. No boats, no canals, it was like arriving on some small Scottish island. As for Denmark, the plains are dull irl... But Promods makes them not dull in some way. Maybe it's because the rest of the map is so awesome that you know it can't be a boring drive

I think the TSM also does some things wrong with mapping, maybe accidentally using UK prefabs instead of continental Europe prefabs, causing random collisions, and of course, the vehicle behaviour. I've also heard that they really like to use their high-poly models, which is not good for performance either.

LOL really??? This makes it even more laughable... Since when were the models high-poly?? The stationary vehicles clearly came from a game made in the 90s, while the trees in Tunisia all looked exactly the same as each other. The buildings were also very similar to default SCS, which looks weird in Africa.


As for your point about Scandinavia, exactly. Africa was a decent idea, but they really should be thinking about Europe first. Hell, I'd be thinking about mapping Macedonia and Armenia before Africa, seeing as this is EURO Truck Simulator. Maybe they thought it meant the currency

[adrian007]

Like most people here I too have succumbed to the Dark Side I'm still using it just staying away from North Africa for the aforementioned reasons driving through Italy wasn't too bad .
All I'm using TSM Maps for is getting experience , not trying to be a suck up but the Promods Map in injunction with the DLC ( have recently downloaded Poland Rebuilding haven't tried it but most people rave about it ) provides a pretty good map.
Regards
Adrian

[Lennin Star]

It depends on the area, i mean most parts of Libya,Tunisia,Morocco and Algeria are great but they are mostly copied from the GTS version or ETS2 cities.

btw Promods Africa would be the best!

[Izargon]

I'm going to share one observation about the newest tsm version here, then I will share some of my work arounds for that map.

As likely some know, tsm 4.5 came out yesterday or day before with most of France in the map. Going back and viewing the livestream that Dasquirrelsnuts did a while back, and his newest video on youtube. Promods now covers northwest france. The strange thing is that almost precisely where the promod map for France cuts off, the Tsm map takes over and goes south.

Distances.. I love the distance driving in tsm, despite the many difficulties with it. The hidden challenge in TSM is route planning more than any other map. As it has been pointed out time again about the road grades being excessively steep, theres also a way to minimize those rear-endings that happen.

Its not always possible to do so, but I drive on the shoulder at times going uphill. Here that happens in the states a fair amount, so it's not unrealistic. Another thing I do is go by the more power principle. a modded engine of 900+hp with 4000+nm torque does pretty well at keeping one's speed up enough so those rear ends don't happen.

I will say that on avg, I've had more rear endings with hauling the abnormal modded loads than otherwise, and I don't necessarily think that these rear ends happen on just tsm either; in fact they might be faults in the game ai itself when dealing with longer heavier trailers, but I havent done enough on the main game lately to be sure of that.

I'm not necessarily a TSM fan boy, but there are good points to that map as there are to several other maps out there. As an aside, I will mention the Russia map with its unique road situations and enviroment variations.

I will say that Promod does the best work as far as hiding the map edge goes. Very thorough in that regard.

[Scaniadriver]

hey
at my beginning for trucking it was not bad in gts the whole way in ets 2 at the starting...

but when their map went bigger and bigger the mistakes would even get more.i had no trip without three or four or more gamecrashes - not of the extra mods - from the map.and so i look for other maps until i found this site- and now i am happy with the promods package.you dont need to drive 6000 miles for one trip to have a good map.the scenery from tsm - i think every town looks nearly like another.the scenery from promods is great and much better as from the tsm guys...no crashes (only from crap truck mods)
no more else to say

[steven.mosley.jr]

A lot of people sure do seem to bash TSM awfully hard, and I still can't figure out why. I think both projects are pretty amazing. Denmark is just gorgeous in this mod, and the sheer amount of roads added in TSM is pretty cool, too. Far as a quality standpoint, I'm not sure what to say because I don't know how to pull up the same location on each map and check them out side by side, but from my observations I've never really seen anything on TSM that is all that bad. Of my 40 hours, about 90% of that is on various different versions of TSM. It was the only map mod I used up until a few days ago, when I discovered this mod.

Can someone give me some insights on the differences between this mod and TSM, because I honestly don't see it when I'm playing the game.