P h o e n i x

You can still retrieve the IP addresses for the servers using the API:
https://stats.truckersmp.com/api/v2
 
For example, this will list the servers including some related information:
https://api.truckersmp.com/v2/servers

Yes, we can use the freecam in almost any way we want
 
What we can't do with it:
Use it continuously for reports (using it to catch a player's name/tag is okay, but using it for the entirely of a report especially if you go away from your own truck isn't okay) Teleport (but it's disabled on TMP anyways)  

Save edited license plates will not cause lag, and it is completely allowed!
The current rules about save editing only specify that the save editing can't cause lag, crashes, and must be appropriate in general.
 
Just don't write anything against the rules on the plate. (E.g. Swears, "Police", etc).
 
Rules of interest:
https://truckersmp.com/rules#3-save-editing §3
https://truckersmp.com/rules#1-service-wide-rules §1.5, §1.6, §1.7
 
In addition - Your plate is completely fine to use, just for a bit of information though there is a limit as to how long the line of code for the plate can be, it might appear one way client-side but a different way for other people.

If the only .mat files that you are seeing are in the font folder, then it is very likely that the extractor has either failed to finish, or simply hasn't yet finished. It will close itself once it's finished, and that may take a while depending on your system. So I recommend you extract the base.scs file again.
 
Also - Make sure you are using the official scs file extractor, normal file extractors like 7-zip or winrar may fail to extract it or not extract everything.
You can get it here: https://modding.scssoft.com/wiki/Documentation/Tools/Game_Archive_Extractor
Just copy the base.scs file to a different folder with the extractor in it, then drag and drop the base.scs file onto the extractor and it will extract the files.
 
Once you find the .mat file you are looking for, you will have to change the width and height of it in the license plate - that will take some time.
 
Also keep in mind, using any of the .mat files outside of material/ui/ will most likely crash the game. It won't break anything and it will not corrupt the save, but I say this to save you time when looking through and trying the files.

The server instability lately is due to the server provider that TruckersMP currently uses.
The provider (OVH) had a fire some weeks back, and are still working on their systems to restore stability for their customers.
 
As of right now, Sim 1 is the most affected server, Sim 2 seems to be performing much more stable so if you continue to have problems on Sim 1 then I recommend using Sim 2 instead.

It is not possible to do jobs with the new vehicles, as that is not their intended purpose.
 
Also, the vehicles will be changed every few weeks, so the next vehicles may not even be freight transport related.

I recommend you look into TruckersMP-cli https://github.com/lhark/truckersmp-cli
 
It requires a fair bit of set up, however it works well in the time that i've used it.
 
However, it does require you have enough space to have a second ETS2/ATS installation, and occasionally some things are just plainly broken.