Balkans Development

[zmaj_od_istre]

Jesus Christ, I was going through the last few pages, and I saw so many entitled people advising the modding team on what to do and how to do it and asking when it will be done.

It is insulting and embarrassing.

I'll wait and play ATS in the meantime. I advise the others to do the same. Or use Promods without the newest DLC.

It is not the world's end if one cannot play SCS Balkans in Promods yet.

The most important is that the work is done right, whenever it is done.

[jakers038]

It's not entitled if Promods is something most of us here finance each time there's a new update over and over and over again, with each region (middle east, kazakhstan being sold separately).

There is the "free" option where you have to waste an hour of your life being forced to wait for one link to download and some time to pass to be able to download the second link (because god forbid you are allowed to open more links at the same time) and then to repeat the process for a bunch of links, so while it's technically free, you pay for it with an hour of your time, so I suppose most people just pay instead...not to even mention the merch or the donation page, which 99,999% of ETS/ATS mod creators don't have.

Given that and given that Promods is composed of a lot of highly talented and experienced developers, you would have thought that we would at least get just a few tiny connectors between PM and SCS, but instead we get some outdated Classic version that pretty much no one asked for and which took 100 times more development effort than what those tiny connector roads would have taken to make, so instead we have to wait for 6+ months for 1.50 to release.

I'm done with PM, it was nice while it lasted, but this illogical behaviour of Classic being more important than a few temporary crossing connectors that the entire PM fanbase is waiting for for months, wasting an hour of people's time if they don't give a single euro for a link each and every time (instead of only having the paid option, which would be far more sensible), constantly attacking new users that have the audacity to ask for release dates of their favorite mod just because they didn't read the previous 50 pages and see that someone else asked the same thing a few dozen pages before, white knights that will attack anyone who asks for the release dates or who isn't brownnosing the team ....it's just too much.

[bricksathome]

There is the "free" option where you have to waste an hour of your life being forced to wait for one link to download and some time to pass to be able to download the second link (because god forbid you are allowed to open more links at the same time) and then to repeat the process for a bunch of links, so while it's technically free, you pay for it with an hour of your time,

The new free download system is approximately 20 minutes faster than our old system was and it's considerably more reliable. Nothing in the world is free, at the end of the day, someone has to pay for it. We have to pay for the servers that host our free downloads, we do this by using people's donations and the extra money we make from the paid download links (most money from the paid download goes straight to the paid download hosts, the left over money funds the free download). Without the Paid download and people's donations, the free download couldn't financially exist.

not to even mention the merch or the donation page, which 99,999% of ETS/ATS mod creators don't have.

Our merch store prices are set to the lowest possible to cover the manufacturing costs and shopify's fees. We make very little from it. The merch store only exists because some developers wanted a PM shirt and it turned out to be really easy to set up a store that could put our logo onto various items.

Given that and given that Promods is composed of a lot of highly talented and experienced developers, you would have thought that we would at least get just a few tiny connectors between PM and SCS, but instead we get some outdated Classic version that pretty much no one asked for and which took 100 times more development effort than what those tiny connector roads would have taken to make, so instead we have to wait for 6+ months for 1.50 to release.

ProMods Classic Started and finished development before the West Balkans DLC released. It has had literally zero impact on the speed of our West Balkans merge.

Unless you've personally created your own DLC merge in the past and have a good understanding of the map editor and how map merges take place, I'm going to suggest that "a few tiny connectors" is an understatement. The merge has take a while because we're doing it properly. If you're so desperate to play the West Balkans DLC, it's really not hard to temporarily disable ProMods from your game profile.

(instead of only having the paid option, which would be far more sensible

We legally can not do this due to SCS's modding terms. Paid mods are not permitted by SCS and a mod of our size would definitely get noticed.

Hopefully that clears some things up.

[ScuL]

As per Bricks' comment, the ProMods Classic mod was developed since early 2023 and completed approximately around August 2023.
It was a project that was done by 2 members of our team and has had no impact at all on any other development.

DLC merges *CANNOT* be commenced until the actual DLC has been released by SCS.
The main reason for this is that although we have access to beta versions of the DLC, they are always full of errors.
When we use the beta version to build it into ProMods we will then copy those errors into our mod whereas the final product from SCS is stable.

Every DLC that has been released in the past 10 years or so has always been demanding and on average it takes between 3 and 6 months to complete the connections seamlessly.
You can do hack jobs by roughly cutting roads in areas and pasting them back together but it breaks scenery and creates unstable environments that could crash the game.
Our DLC merge is progressing very well and out of all the border crossings there is only one connection that is left to be finalised and will be ready in time for the next version of ProMods.
What you will get in that version is a lot more than just "some tiny road connections".

Additionally, by giving a 6 month delay before ProMods integration this also gives the community some time to "catch up". There are lots of players who do not have the money to instantly buy a new DLC when it is released. When we complete our integration the DLC will become obligatory and so players who haven't had the time to save up and buy it will no longer be able to play ProMods.

[jason109]

The nature of mods are that they will always be one step behind, Balkans merged, next time it will be Switzerland and the next stage of the German rework. Keeping on top of all the SCS updates and adding new content is a huge job. I for one appreciate all the effort by the ProMods team. Keep up the good work.

[brainiac]

but instead we get some outdated Classic version that pretty much no one asked

Many players including me appreciate promods Classic. Watch what you say, it is very hard to be correct to say that no one asked.
Search through forum how many times we asked for old France or other lost parts back.

[pavao983]

Where is the rush, if you play WB with no promods, you will even appreciate promods better. I am so grateful you guys are here and arguments like I have wasted hour of my life or spent a whole worthless 1€ or 3€per year is just wow. Also I have spent over 2,000 hours playing ETS2 should I ask some of that time back, because bla bla bla, just funny. Don't play it, I simply have no respect for such parasites who just complain. Some day I would really like to learn of how to develop maps, it would be a great hobby.

[BobbPenn]

Guys I hope you're keeping the Montenegrian coast in the integrated map, it's really missing in the DLC

[marknemensis]

@Pavao983 i couldn't agree more. If people have money to spend on Dlc's they certainly have money to pay for promods beautiful work! And because i usually don't have much money to buy new dlc's right away, i rather wait until promods is compatible with West Balkans, so i can save up the money for both of the best worlds. So devs, you just focus on detailed work and take the time you need.

[almir07]

Will there be more boarder crossings and roads in Bosnia and is it possible that the city Zenica get more roads?
Thanks for answering.