The story behind multiplayer mod

[RootKiller]

The story behind the project...

 

Concept of the scoreboard.

 
Project started pretty simple - I was 16 years old guy who wanted to create multiplayer mod for a game with huge potential. Before ETS2 release I was looking at the ETS 1 and GTS binaries to investigate how to implement multiplayer however without any sensible results. I've created ETS2MP project 1 or 2 days after release of ETS2 - started it not from codding (sounds crazy isn't it?) but from creating fanpage on Facebook - it allowed me to gather huge community - the likes were increasing every day by a numbers from 10 to 100. First part of development was not fruitful enough as there were many unknowns I faced. (In the spare time there were few developers joining and leaving team - no one had enough knowledge and time to spend on creating mod). In August 2013 mwl4 joined the forces of development team and we have pushed the core code a little bit forward - mwl4 and his knowledge of prism3d engine build was definitely something that was needed for the project to success - I was never touching mods and the general data structure in prism3d so my knowledge was limited to that what i found in binaries (I used to create mods for R*-games (GTA:SA etc) not SCS one). After sometime we decided to use movers to spawn the trucks instead of trying to use normal vehicles - mwl4 created a map with placed few white scanias (2-3 - I don't really remember) and we decided to synchronize them somehow. The problem was that it was not really good solution and we had to build the trucks model-by-model also the scene structure in prism3d did not allowed us to simply update the position and update the placements used by fustrum culling so the trucks were disappearing when they were too far from spawn point. In the meantime we decided to use the same technique and try it in German Truck Simulator (video) - it worked however trucks in mirrors had exactly the same problem as the trucks in normal viewport in ETS2 - it was just experiment and we didn't thought about releasing it to public. Then I decided to start implementing spawning of the vehicle the same way as local truck is spawned - after few weeks of work without any result we decided to ask for a little tips someone from SCS - the person we wrote to was not a CEO but the programmer - Komat - after some messages we finally managed to spawn trucks. (Unfortunately I don't have any access to old forum [if it still exists] - there was nice post showing the colorful trucks that were spawned next to my truck). After that we had trucks spawned so we decided to finally write the networking part - chat, synchronization and many others.

Few videos later - people asked us - what about the cargo - where are trailers? So I decided to finally implement spawning of trailers. It was not hard as the code of spawning trailers and trucks is nearly the same (some things are different however I'm not going to write it here in detail). A little screenshots from spawning trailers (3rd January 2014):
 

 

However between spawning of the trailers and implementing the network code for them we decided to drive some more fancy trucks instead of grey DAF XFs so we synchronized accessories of the trucks. (29th January 2014)
 

 

 

It was a great milestone in the project. We were able to finally use our own truck configurations of the trucks. Such a great thing.

You can notice that there are no shadows for the network trucks on the screenshots (in fact it looks like bad photoshop) - so next step was implementing the shadows for the trucks. (12th February 2014)
 

 

 

And just after that we have synchronized trailers: (22nd February 2014)
 

 

 

After that we were working on improvements and crash fixes with the closed group of testers. On 25 April we have announced that Open Alpha starts on 1st May. However we decided to publish the mod few hours before 1st of May (I think it was something like 20:00 - 30 April) - the mod was totally unplayable - and it was mostly my mistake as the code to look for the proper streaming zone in server was using huge loop instead of using some smart math - after fixing it the mod was getting more fixes and we finally managed relativly stable version to focus on making next update.

After many months of working on the mod in January 2015 I decided to drop the High school. In that time I started talking with SCS Software CEO - Pavel Sebor about eventuall employment in SCS - in March 2015 i went to Prague for the interview - it was successfull so I decided I will leave the project as it was something that definitely will not work (working at SCS and making fan multiplayer mod) on April 7th I started working at SCS and I'm here until now. Who knows what future will bring to me.. .

I would like to thank:

 

• mwl4 - for his dedication to the project, knowledge and a lot of work,
• Komat - for very important advices and tips while creating the mod,
• pcpl2 - for his help and many non-sleppy nights with manually running unstable servers again,
• I<3VODKA - for many cool conversations, great project management, playing Knights and Merchants and Town Of Salem together,
• JM - for his bugfixes to my poor PHP code,
• kat_pw - for his unbelievably great map project + bugfixes for my poor PHP code,
• Eliximus - for helping me with many things,
• Yntro - for support,
• StuartD - for community management and testing,
• Stefag40 - for testing,
• Manuel - for a great community management and his meeting point project,
• Burner - for helping with many things,
• Biggi
• Darreugne

The rest of the team. Guys - you are amazing!

The rest of this story is you :-).

Best regards,
Eryk "RootKiller" Dwornicki
Former Project Leader and Programmer

[Guest]

(Unfortunately I don't have any access to old forum [if it still exists] - there was nice post showing the colorful trucks that were spawned next to my truck). After that we had trucks spawned so we decided to finally write the networking part - chat, synchronization and many others

It still exists, just not set up to be accessible, I'll fix that for ya Edit: done

Edited December 3, 2015 by Tuxy Fluffyclaws

[Zyder]

Nice Interesting to hear how it all came about. I would also like to thanks all the MP Staff that work so hard to produce us with an amazing game to play on, with a great community

[LeNy]

I remember beginnings, especially attempts to create ets1-mp

[stilldre1976]

Thanks enjoyed reading the history of this mod

[HeyI'mAmethyst]

Absolutely amazing story. Very inspiring. A way better story read than what we have to read in English classes!

[Mari']

Good story but

 

now I want to know the history of bananaman please 

http://prntscr.com/99tk15

[London Truckers.FM]

Awesome <3 

[Zirox]

Very interesting read has to be said, nice to get a insight on how the project started!

[Inthernet]

Awesome story!

 

I do miss the "Legit Dictator" era as it drove drivers of lower calibre into boredom and to new pastures.  Thanks for starting this project!

[MashedPotaton8r]

Great story for one of the best mods ever created IMO.

[deco13]

It 's always interesting to hear the story of a mod. I would like to have the same knowledge.

[_J-M]

You're very welcome and I really enjoyed working on that project too.

[[VIVΛ HH] KЯΛVΛTIΞ]

Good story but

 

now I want to know the history of bananaman please 

http://prntscr.com/99tk15

 

BEST NAME EVER 

 

anyway this is a great history thing

 

and i remember the old red tab menu thing 

[darreugne]

So much things done since this time, great great works team

[Flashylights]

Great

[konfig0]

Nice to know how it all started and became a thing we're all apart of! Nice work!

[Csinc005]

I Remember Watching Eliximus On Twitch Before The MP Mod Became Public

[Clashin_Jon]

Glad I play this mod for the awesome community and leadership

[Puncake]

Nice story

 

Hope you have a great time at SCS

[Zulnex]

Wonderful story. Many thanks for sharing.

[aaaMArtin]

This is a great story! Thanks for sharing! It will surely bring some insight for new members, to make them see that this mod did not come by itself! I predict good things for this mod in the future, and I wish you all the best at SCS, RootKiller. I'm sure you're a vital asset

[StuartD]

Oh history <3.

 

now I want to know the history of bananaman please 

http://prntscr.com/99tk15

 

 

 

Bananaman was someone who unfortunately had a hate for me due to him being removed from my VTC before he became an admin.

[Clashin_Jon]

#BringBackStuartD

[KurdiStaN]

Such a big change since the first update of ETS2MP,

 

The improvements are very amazing and cool, such a big step since first day

 

You guys made the right thing to actually try to make a mod, and you succeed.

 

Its amazing how you guys started with nothing and now you guys have made it to a very big trucking multiplayer game/community.

 

GREAT WORK!