Balkans Development

[BarrGDA]

@Morawatz copied?! how do you mean?!

I was wrong about that. SCS did a lot worse than expected. There are positive things, like nicely detailed cities and landmarks. On the other side, biggest looser in this dlc is the largest country of the region - Serbia. Only four cities, ridiculously small road network and above all - SCS choped off a southern region of Serbia.
For a long time now, SCS prioritize money over players. And it's fine, they're free to choose their priorities, but it's disapointing for me and others who were supporting them since the era of 18 Wheels of Steal.

You have to remember that Southern Serbia is very rural, hence maybe wasn't a priority. Four cities in Serbia to me is still a lot, considering the density of the roads.
Like I said, ProMods can work on Southern Serbia. I'd love to hear more on whether the cities already added are realistic or not - to me, there's a lot of detail in Belgrade. I haven't been to Nis yet, that's the only Serbian city I haven't been able to find a delivery to!

@BarrGDA The things they got right are really well made. However there are a lot of issues at least for me since i am from Serbia and know a lot of the roads that i feel should be in the game. Subotica is missing for no apparent reason, road from Serbian border to Sarajevo has nothing while irl it passes through Visegrad which should have been added at least as a scenery city. Road from Kragujevac to Cacak is too short and then it goes from the roundabout directly into the canyon while in fact you have to go through the city to get there. Montenegrin coast is missing and with it you can have a coastal road all the way from Slovenia to Albania that would be fun to drive.

This is a personal nitpick of mine since i am from Kragujevac but i feel they left the most interesting part of the city out of the game. As it is now you go from one industrial zone to the other. They should have added at least 10-15 more seconds of driving to transition from west side of the city to the east since right now at least to me it looks completely off. To give a compliment to SCS both enterances to the city are spot on.

I think there is space for Subotica to be added. Another argument is that too much cities can cause a broken economy, like it was the case with Poland Rebuilding. I am glad I started this discussion. I think SCS have got a lot of things right this time.

I think the question everyone should ask themselves - do you enjoy driving the parts you drive? ... and not whether the part you want, or the city you want in game is replicated 1:1

[Shiva]

For a 1:19 - 1:20 scale WB, I do think it looks good. On the areas I have seen.
Not driven the coastline from Dubrovnik and north yet. + some places still not visited.

[brainiac]

I have complains too, but maybe some of them are irrelevant because of space. I talk only about places I was in real life and didn't check whole DLC.
Road Beograd - Čačak is too flat, no tunnels. Yes, irl flat part is longer, but that is not how it should be done, e.g. Glednwood canyon is great example.
Road Serbia - Sarajevo crosses Drina, as already mentioned, but no river at all.
No canyon of Morača, as alternative route to new motorway, in real life used a lot by trucks.
New motorway is really short.
No Demir kapija/gate landmark. Generally, if there wouldn't be driveway split, you wouldn't be able to recognize it is in North Macedonia. Hopefully mod will adapt soon.
No Novi Pazar and road to Rožaje, which IS on map!
Of course, no Montenegro coast.
And so on...

And something positive:
One big plus for Belgrade.

[BarrGDA]

I think the poorest area is Trieste and Koper so far. They carry out their purpose of serving as port towns, but there are no dedicated models, prefabs etc. Both are a little bland.

Old Trieste is something ProMods could bring back, as the only one of the few areas that do need bringing back/rebuilding.

[Arvidsson-Källqvist]

Not to mention the lack of either the Gorizia or the Fernetti border crossing. Basically no direct border going from the A1 (SLO) to the A4 (I), you have to take a seriously dumb detour almost all the way down to Koper than back up through Trieste to go from Slovenia to Italy.

I get that space there is very tight, but still, Promods managed to include at least the H4/A34 through Gorizia, even if that meant "cheating" and basically building Trieste in the sea. While I generally like what I've seen from this dlc I think at least the Trieste/Koper/Istria area from PM should stay instead this new one as that version is just simply better IMO.

[Presidenis23]

I bet everyone commenting here has already tried the new DLC. The West Balkan DLC has its flaws, but it's basically a good upgrade. I wouldn't expect a perfect mod from ProMods in the first round. The team still have time to develop the Balkan region, but I also want to play the West Balkan DLC. It would be a very good solution if I could not play with two profiles, but drive with one character in the West Balkans and other ProMods regions like Great Steppe, Middle East and the rest of Europe. So I would recommend the developers to "cut" the map at Graz, Szeged, Timisoara and Sofia, integrate the West Balkan DLC, because now all players who bought the new package are either playing with two profiles, or are having a dilemma about whether West Balkan or ProMods. I know that this will put Greece out of the game for a few months, but this will give us one more reason to update the next ProMods version. And WB has done too well for me not to play it for the next 3-6 months. But overall, it would be a win-win situation for both ProMods and players if PM and WB were playable at the same time and soon. Could it be solved?

[BarrGDA]

^^There's already a response to this, it won't be implemented as it requires work to be added anyway. Connections with the DLC and more.

[Presidenis23]

I understand it's a lot of work. I think it's better to release a "low cost" West Balkan version from ProMods than to waste time adding missing cities or improving routes. The development of the map takes time, but we will be happy with the improved version later

[bmwGTR]

Hi,

it has been said already multiple times:
You can not simply "cut" the map, put West Balkan DLC in and finished - you need to make a connection at each border crossing between West Balkan DLC and ProMods.
In addition, not all roads between West Balkan DLC and ProMods are exactly on the same postion - so you need to create the road complety new in Promods to reach the West Balkan DLC border crossing.

Best regards,
bmwGTR

[bricksathome]

I think it's better to release a "low cost" West Balkan version from ProMods than to waste time adding missing cities or improving routes.

The first version of ProMods that includes the West Balkan DLC merge will be the 'low cost' version that you suggest. But even that will take a while to do. As bmwGTR explained, you can't simply cut out the ProMods map and insert the West Balkans DLC because the edges of the two maps are very different.

If you wish to have the merge done sooner, feel free to launch the map editor and do it yourself