Forerunner

Only just realised. This day, 16th April, 6 years ago is the day I got a message from Burner telling me I'd been successful in applying for the role of Forum Moderator, and started in the same day. Where has all that time gone?

 ^ the original joining message!

Still driving this even in singleplayer... even with its old trailers and with how much more customisation we have available now, this is still my favourite truck/trailer combo to drive by far.

I never said anything here when I left the team, not by intent, its just the way things happened. So, I thought I'd put something up here just to give everyone here who follows me an update. Firstly, I am ever so thankful for the kind messages written when I left the team, it meant the world to me.

TruckersMP was a big part of my life for over 5 years, yet it doesn't feel anything close to that long. I can still remember when I first started being active on the forums, posting little save editing mods when that was still a very niche thing. And I remember looking at the "Meet The Team" page, back then relatively small, and thinking to myself "I wish I could do that". I applied for forum moderator and got it first try, being made Forum Moderator on the 16th of April 2016 (in the UK this date is written as 16/04/2016, the first part of that would become a recurring number for me). I thought at first that was as far as I would get in the team - turns out my judgement about that was a little bit off. 

It wasn't until 2018, after a fair few role changes in the meantime, that I became a manager, just over 2 years after first joining. It was at that point I thought to myself, this is going a lot further than I thought. So I was there sat at the same PC as late 2016, now in charge of setting up a new team in TruckersMP; my own team, the Add-On Team. I, having seemingly not learned from last time, thought this was the peak of my time in TruckersMP - wasn't right about that either. I'd go on to be Vice Project Manager, Project Coordinator and Game Developer. Unfortunately other things got in the way each time, but I kept going regardless.

Despite the ups and downs over the years, I do not regret any of it. It was an incredible 5 years. I got to do amazing things, with amazing people and make amazing memories. And I'm proud that I made an impact on the history of TruckersMP and its community - the expansion of save editing, the Add-On Team, working on the first part of Road To Simulation, working on Real Operations. Its not often I drive on TruckersMP anymore, I do sometimes but not much. I drive on Convoy sometimes too - even with all the modding potential the game has, I still drive my save edited Volvo/Mercedes: I've been using it roughly 5 years now, it was given the fleet number 1604 by chance in a VTC, it still carries that number.

For those curious about my overall time in TruckersMP, while I don't know exact dates, here is a rough outline of it:

Moral of the story: there isn't one really. Maybe, don't put yourself down - never think you've reach the highest you can. I would say be careful though what you wish for, as if you want to aspire to those higher roles I would not discourage it - but I would say that its certainly not for everyone, and don't expect to get there over night.

I want to thank everyone here, for just that, being here. Thank you for taking the time to read all that, thank you for being part of the TruckersMP community. Thank you for making my contributions worthwhile. Whether we've driven together a lot or never even passed in game, thank you for being a part of TruckersMP. To those of you who have spent a particularly large amount of time with me in TruckersMP, thank you to you especially. Without everyone else, this incredible time wouldn't have ever happened.

A lot of people have kept asking about the Additional Customisation mod, pretty much ever since I ended support for it. Well, I've made some progress today on bringing the mod back for 1.40.

This truck was my first test of the new version. When I started this customising truck, it was a default Iveco Stralis. There was no save editing or dealership edits used, it was all customised in-game using the new test version of the mod.

I will be testing it over the next few days and hope to release it soon as long as it works without bugs. Already found a few very minor bugs but otherwise it worked fine. ATS will be supported too as well as trailers to a reasonable extent.

As of today, it has been 5 years since I first joined the TruckersMP team as a Forum Moderator. It does not feel like it has been that long. I still remember applying for it, via a Google Form back then, thinking I'd probably never get chosen. Back then the team had only a handful of managers and was only about 50 people overall, with a lot less teams than we have now. It's weird looking back on the last few years, certainly had both ups and downs in that time. I started being active on the forums because of save editing, something that was very much a "new" thing back then - 2018 saw me finally publishing a guide on local only modding, something that had been thought impossible for years.

And then there's the impact on the team as a whole, being the first Team Leader / Manager of the Addon Team, close to 3 years ago now - a team I will always be proud of.

Things have changed a lot since I joined. Road to Simulation, Real Operations, new teams, bigger community, the list goes on. I wouldn't change any of it.

How far things have come, one of my first screenshots on TruckersMP on ATS, which is when I got my start in the community:

And here is a screenshot from one of my latest drives, on ETS2 (taken while waiting for someone to login):

*also got a new PC hence the screenshot quality difference - had it built in 2016, upgraded it myself late-2019/early-2020

Not posted in quite a while, but enjoyed driving this truck at Real Operations once again:

Its the same old truck that I started driving in August 2016 (it was made about a month earlier), its changed a bit since then but its still going. Unfortunately because of moving it between profiles, games, game versions etc I will never know the mileage I have driven it for. It has been used at many events, including the first and latest Real Operations events, Christmas convoy 2016/2017 and many more. Some may recognise it from the login screen when launching TruckersMP as an image with this truck was on there for some time.

Over the next few evenings, and this weekend, I'll be driving this truck again normally - If wanted I'll post here where I'll be starting if anyone wants to join.

Image of the same truck from August 2016 (I can't remember which city this image was taken in, anyone happen to have any ideas?):

Real Operations on ATS today, hope everyone is looking forward to it! For anyone still wondering whether to downgrade or not to attend it, I would highly recommend it as these events do not come around often (The last ATS Real Operations was in July 2019)

New guide released: 

 hmm

For those who think that somehow all save editing is gone, and that nothing cool can ever be made:

All of the above are done using the new style of local only modding, for which a guide will be up soon. You can make nearly anything using local only mods, you could make your truck look exactly as it did before the rule change by having the banned parts as local only. Want LEDs under spotlights? Well, just by editing your save (no Blender needed) you can make local only LEDs and then attach them so that it looks no different.

The above trailers are local only, mainly built onto the container carriers - the box trailers can even be used as normal as the bodywork covers any of the standard cargoes. Every time the rules change the same thing is said; it is claimed to be the "end of save editing", but it never is - look back to when the old local only modding was banned, people said it then - yet there was clearly a lot left given that now people are saying it again. Save editing is not gone, its now different yes, but not gone.

To make a VTC or to not make a VTC? 

Additional Customisation is making a return. New mod, new way of it working; take a look:

Where the old version needed over 40 Thousand files to do what it did, this version can do all of that and more - with only 3568 files including DLC compatibility! This is still being worked on and there is no set release date. It will be released as is, and use of it will be at your own risk - you will need to make sure you comply with the rules yourself.

Please leave your thoughts below, any improvement suggestions or similar will be appreciated

A little personal announcement to make

As of now, I have effectively "retired" from the save editing scene. I have been a part of the save editing community since 2016, when it was still relatively little known within the wider TruckersMP community however other than the occasional personal mod I simply don't save edit anymore. Since 2016 I have tried, not always successfully, to make save editing more accessible and better; "Ultimate MP Truck Customisation", "Additional Customisation" and of course local only "/home" mods which I was the original creator of. The save editing community and their support towards me over these nearly 4 years has been amazing.

I am not leaving TruckersMP completely, but I will no longer be actively save editing except the occasional personal mods.

You will still be able to see me driving on TruckersMP with my normal truck, which has stayed with me since August 2016

I don't usually drive "J-Spec" trucks to be honest, but I am liking these two new additions to my fleet,

Liking the new tuning pack, a lot of very nice customisation parts. Already updated and heavily reworked one of my trucks from 2016 with the new parts:

The truck had been sitting in storage for literally the last 3 years, but now it will finally see some use again. Last time I drove this truck was with a double like this as well, though the trailers from that have since been scrapped (removed from the game by SCS, the ETS1 Reefer).

With myself no longer releasing any save editing related mods, there is no reason for my old website to remain. As of today, my old website has been deleted.

Since people did seem interested in the 2 trucks from Real Operations (which are not in use at all on MP now, by anyone), here are some images showing them on their own:

Lead truck (driven):

Push truck (trailer), still with link bar fitted:

The push truck is not drive-able at all and is just a trailer. Both trucks had similar cosmetic upgrades, the main difference being the much larger fuel tanks on the lead truck, which were only cosmetic and did not change the actual fuel capacity.

Parked up after Real Operations V7, a very nice event in my view. Time for these 2 trucks to go into storage, not sure when or if they will be seen on the roads of MP again:

If people want me to, I'll upload some more screenshots showing both trucks in more detail; comment below if you want that.

An unlikely sight - An original ETS2 "Valiant" alongside a next gen Scania

The Valiant and trailer were extracted from earlier builds of ETS2, 1.0.5b and 1.26 respectively.

Today I have stepped down from the role of Vice Project Manager. I have worked tirelessly in this role to make TruckersMP as amazing as possible. I am going to continue as the Add-On Developer (Formerly Add-On Manager) to provide game content for the community. While I am leaving shortly after the recent update having a mixed reception, it is not the reason for me stepping down - And I do so with no shame and with pride for the work I have done to better TruckersMP.

Well, it has been some time since I last posted screenshots of an individual mod instead of just Additional Customisation. So lets change that:

A customised Kenworth W900 - Rear mounted exhausts, modified bullbar, raised air intakes, bonnet mounted horns, treadplate rear fenders.

And the best part,

Local-only modding of accessories is still restricted, no changes have been made to the autokick. The above, is not accessory based.

To clear up any rumors regarding SCS's latest blog post, I am not one of the "warned" modders mentioned and my unofficial mod is still available for download. The main issue highlighted in the SCS blog post is about mods bypassing the DLC, Steam Inventory or World of Trucks requirements - my mod has never done this, in fact the code which creates most of the files for the mod actively "blacklists" files related to any of those things for this very reason.

In short: no, I have not been warned by SCS.

As of last night, all DLC Support packages for Additional Customisation are released.

Main download:

https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=1692043273

Full list:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1692116751

Additional Customisation 1.6.0 Beta for 1.34 is now out!

Changes/Additions:

• Triple trailers
• Company trailers in dealer
  • Singles
  • Doubles
  • B-Doubles
  • Triples
  • B-Triples
  • HCTs

DLC Supports coming soon

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1692043273

Those waiting for the update to Additional Customisation may like to see this:

This is still work-in-progress! There is no guaranteed release date or time.

Thank you to everyone who wished me happy birthday yesterday, it was a good day.