modding ATS/ETS2 - Map Editor Guide

[poland.ball]

ATS/ETS2 MAP EDITOR GUIDE

 

Welcome to this small handy guide on how to open the map editor. The guide is divided through different section where we make different things. More things getting added soon.

Read through this guide carefully and follow the steps in order to get started with the map editor.

 

This tutorial was made for ATS/ETS2 1.44

 

Table of Content

1 - PREPARATION - Enabling the Map Editor

2 - EDITING - Editing the default map

3 - SAVING - Saving and loading the edited stuff into the game.

4 - TROUBLESHOOTING - Common Problems and issues with the Map Editor

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To all American Truck Simulator users: ATS runs on the same engine which means its the same process, just instead of Euro Truck Simulator 2, all the file paths have to be American Truck Simulator.

 

WARNINGS are marked red.

NOTEs are marked yellow.
TIPs are marked green.

 

 

 

1 - PREPARATION - Enabling the Map Editor 

Spoiler

 

For Modding, I suggest you the tool called Notepad++ https://notepad-plus-plus.org/ . Notepad++ is like a normal notepad editor, but it is way better and easier to use for modding.

 

To unlock the Map Editor, you have to enable the Console and Developer Mode. This can be done that way:

1. OPEN YOUR ETS2 DOCUMENTS FOLDER

Your Documents Folder can be found at C:\Users\<YOURUSERNAME>\Documents\Euro Truck Simulator 2.

 

2. OPEN THE CONFIG.CFG FILE

This can be done with any Notepad++ or the normal Windows Notepad program.

 

3. FIND G_CONSOLE AND G_DEVELOPER

With STRG/CTRL+F you can easily find these two variables. Change them from

uset g_console "0"
uset g_developer "0"

to

uset g_console "1"
uset g_developer "1"

0 means "Disabled" / "False"/ and 1 means "Enabled" / "True".

 

Now, as we have enabled the Developer Tools we have to open up a folder for ETS2 to save your map work.

4. CREATE FOLDER FOR SAVED MAP WORK
We need to create a folder in order for the game to save your work. Simply navigate to your mod folder and create a folder named user_map in it.

 

The game can now save your work successfully and you can load it ingame aswell without having to move files around.

 

5. FIND YOUR ETS2 MAIN DIRECTORY AND CREATE A SHORTCUT OF EUROTRUCKS2.EXE
Your ETS2 Main Directory can be found normally at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Euro Truck Simulator 2, but if you have a custom directory you have to navigate to it.

Create a new folder called "base_map" and inside the folder base_map, create the folder "map". This is where our map will be saved.

Now, go into the folder "bin", "win_x64" and rightclick "eurotrucks2.exe". Hit "Create shortcut".

 

6. DEFINING THE EDITOR IN THE SHORTCUT

When created the shortcut, rightclick the shortcut and enter the properties.

In the properties, add at "Target" "-edit europe". -edit means that the map editor will be loaded, and in our example we will load the default map - europe.

In order to grant ETS2 permissions to save your work, you must give ETS2 administrator rights. Do this by navigating to "Compatibility" and by checking the "Run this program as administrator" box.

WARNING! Starting the Map Editor without Administrator rights will lead into an error when saving due to missing permissions!

 

 

WARNING! When entering the Map Editor, Mods will not work as intended and may let the game crash! To prevent this, add to Target also "-noworkshop" AND empty out (or rename) your mod folder!

 

You have successfully prepared the Map Editor now.

NOTE: All of these steps are essential in order to load the Map Editor and save your work.

 

2 - EDITING - Editing the default map
 

Spoiler

 

In Chapter 1 we already enabled the map editor to load the default map.

Simply double-click the shortcut to run the Map Editor. We have already granted administrator rights to the game before.

 

Basics:

To open the console, press the "^" key which is above the TAB key and under the ESC key.

In there, you can type for example "goto CITYNAME" to teleport to a city. Let's teleport to Erfurt for example. Type "goto erfurt" to teleport to Erfurt.

As you see in the image, we typed goto erfurt and are now at Erfurt.

 

Incase you cannot see any map content, keep pressing "A" to load the various three modes:
1 - Background Map only

2 - Assets only

3 - Background Map and Assets

 

You have two different camera views: Top Camera and Free camera. You can switch the mode with "C".

In Top Camera, you can only move around when holding the right mouse button and moving it around. In Free Camera, you can use WASD to move and QE to go higher or lower.

By pressing the Space Bar while in Free Camera, you can either move free around seeing the map or you can stay at one position and mess around with the map. The same effect applies when holding the right mouse button.

 

TIP: I suggest you to move around a bit and see how the map editor works. You will quickly notice what those different colored squares, triangles and circles mean: They're nodes for various different models.

 

For our tutorial, we will make this small area driveable and add some things to it.

 

First of all, we will remove the barrier by clicking on the Cross, which means delete, and we will remove it so we can drive to our new home.

TIP: The map editor often tends to crash, so remember to save your map - even though this might take long, it will save stress when the map editor crashes and a lot of work is gone.

 

Now as we removed the barriers, I want to add some cars. For that, I open the Content browser, Shortcut F2 and go to the Type "Model". At the bottom, I search for "car".

 

 

TIP: Models having "lod" or "far" in their name are low poly models that are usually used for places where the player hasn't access to. Rather use high-poly models for areas you are going to be able to drive to.

 

Let's say I want to place the "car parked a80". I will double click it and then I have in the Map Editor the vehicle. I can move it around, and I can place it down by simply left clicking. To close the Model window, simply press "ESC".

With "M" I can move my model by the axis and with "R" I can rotate my model. When pressing "P" you enter the properties mode, and when you click on the blue Node you can change the model or change the look of the model. My car model has the ability to change the colors, so I changed it to black.

 

 

I suggest you to mess around a bit with the other things, Buildings, Roads and Signs. They have the similar abilities - Try out some things, change the Terrain size and mess around a bit to get started. Obviously, you're not going to be a pro mapper but as more as you map and mess around your skills will increase.

 

 

3 - SAVING - Saving and loading the edited stuff into the game.

 

Spoiler

 

Since 1.40, we have the user_map folder that allows us to already test our made stuff ingame.
Thanks SCS!

 

 

4 - TROUBLESHOOTING - Common Problems and issues with the Map Editor

 

Spoiler

 

PROBLEM: MY SAVED WORK DOESNT LOAD UP / DOESNT EXIST IN BASE/MAP. WHAT DID I DO WRONG?
SOLUTION: You most likely didn't load up the Map Editor with Admin permissions. Without Admin permissions, ETS2 cannot save the files properly.

 

PROBLEM: MY MAP EDITOR CRASHES DURING LOADING.
SOLUTION: You most likely have mods insde your mods folder or you are using Workshop mods. Simply rename your "mod" folder to anything else except "mod" so the game cannot find the mods anymore and can't load it. Add to the "Target" (Chapter 1) "-noworkshop" besides "-edit europe" too.

 

PROBLEM: MY SHORTCUT DOESNT START THE MAP EDITOR
SOLUTION: When defining the command line for the Map Editor, make sure to have a space between the Target and "-edit europe". It will look like this:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Euro Truck Simulator 2\bin\win_x64\eurotrucks2.exe" -noworkshop -edit europe

 

PROBLEM: WHEN IN EDIT MODE, MY MODELS DO NOT APPEAR ON THE GROUND
SOLUTION: You have to enable the Ground Mode, at the top bar you can find four magnes. Make sure the magnet with the -, + and ~ are enabled. Do NOT enable the 3rd magnet, the Grid Mode.

 

PROBLEM: I HAVE WEIRD GREEN LINES APPEARING AROUND MODELS
SOLUTION: You are probably in the Collision Box View. You can turn it off with ALT+C.

 

PROBLEM: ETS2 SHOWS ME DURING SAVING THAT IT WAS UNABLE TO SAVE THE MAP
SOLUTION: This is a common issue with 1.43! You have to create a folder named user_map in your ETS2/ATS documents path.

PROBLEM: ITS SUPER DARK AND I CANT SEE ANYTHING
SOLUTION: The game's time is set to night. You can fix this by opening the weather editor (F9 Key, or the sun icon) and moving the white horizontal line to the middle of the graph.

 

Update 23/05/2022
- Added 1.44 support

Update 04/04/2022
- Added 1.43 support
- Rework of Chapter 1
- Added more troubleshooting solutions

Update 19/08/2020
- Added two new troubleshooting problems.
- Updated the post to the new 1.38 system.

- Made the guide more universal for both games (Part 1/2)

Update 08/01/2020
- Added warning for possible 1.40 changes.
 

[tfmpillow]

Really useful guide for those interested in map editing.

 

Accepted.

[Swat0905]

Hello!
I have a trouble: MY SAVED WORK DOESNT LOAD UP.
This is my problem but, i did everything that was listed in the post.

In the config.cgf I wrote the "0" to "1".

In the EST 2 main dictionary i created a base folder and inside it i created the map folder too.

I made a shortcut and i wrote "-edit europe".

I started the editor with admin permission. When the is editor is loaded i made a peace of road and safe the map.

After it i made a new folder "map" and inside it i copied the folder of europe and the europe.mbd.
I moved the map folder to the ETS 2 mod folder and start again the shortcut with admin permission.

The editor is loaded but i don't see the peace of route i did.

 

[poland.ball]

@Swat0905

You should first make a folder, lets just call that folder "mymap". In that folder you put in your map folder. So it would look like this:

Documents/Euro Truck Simulator 2/mod/mymap/map
Its the same with mods!
Mods are stored in a .scs file, and inside that scs file is the map, models etc. We can do the same just by putting our files in a folder instead of a .scs archive.
In my case, i have "mymap" called "e115-polandball", where I store my map.

 

[poland.ball]

Important Note for Map Modding in ETS2/ATS 1.38+

Quote

Create a new folder called "base" and inside the folder base, create the folder "map". This is where our map will be saved.

To save your work now, you have to rename the base folder created in the ETS2/ATS installation path to base_map. Otherwise you won't be able to save your work!

I will update the guide as soon as the 1.38 came to official release.

[Red'Sire]

Useful guide thanks @poland.ball  

[Guest saadzinho]

This guide is perfect friend, congratulations on the work!  

[conradpol123]

Hey, I have an issue with the map editor. I already edited the map before and I am trying to edit it again but whenever I open up my shortcut and the editor loads up completely, it gives me error messages all the time about "Duplicity detected". When I get rid of the mymap folder from my mods folder, it does give me one error message, the editor loads up for a few seconds but then crashes. Could you help me out?

[poland.ball]

On 7/23/2020 at 6:18 PM, conradpol123 said:

Hey, I have an issue with the map editor. I already edited the map before and I am trying to edit it again but whenever I open up my shortcut and the editor loads up completely, it gives me error messages all the time about "Duplicity detected". When I get rid of the mymap folder from my mods folder, it does give me one error message, the editor loads up for a few seconds but then crashes. Could you help me out?

Hello.

 

I'd like you to send your editor.log here so I can help you further. Alternatively, you can contact me on Discord: polandball#9937 or on my 1:15 Discord Server which you can find on this page.

 

Best regards

[CT-0399]

Is this just me or does anyone's else computer freezes as soon as I load a preset for a road? I am making standalone maps using the 1.38 game version.

[[VNS] Điệp Phạm]

Hello!
I have a trouble: MY SAVED WORK DOESNT LOAD UP.
This is my problem but, i did everything that was listed in the post.

In the config.cgf I wrote the "0" to "1".

In the EST 2 main dictionary i created a base folder and inside it i created the map folder too.

I made a shortcut and i wrote "-edit europe".

I started the editor with admin permission, 

then the editor disappears on its own. help me . thanks.

[poland.ball]

7 hours ago, [VNS] Điệp Phạm said:

Hello!
I have a trouble: MY SAVED WORK DOESNT LOAD UP.
This is my problem but, i did everything that was listed in the post.

In the config.cgf I wrote the "0" to "1".

In the EST 2 main dictionary i created a base folder and inside it i created the map folder too.

I made a shortcut and i wrote "-edit europe".

I started the editor with admin permission, 

then the editor disappears on its own. help me . thanks.

1) rename base to base_map if you use 1.38
2) Make sure no other mods are in your mod folder
3) add -noworkshop to the start options as mentioned here
 

On 2/18/2020 at 2:25 PM, poland.ball said:

WARNING! When entering the Map Editor, Mods will not work as intended and may let the game crash! To prevent this, add to Target also "-noworkshop" AND empty out (or rename) your mod folder!

 

[conradpol123]

Sorry to be a bother again but I need help with one thing. 

 

I did all the steps to get it working. Once, it did work (I only added an extra sleeping area in Promods Vienna) and my modifications did appear. Now, for any future map editing that I do, the modifications that I did don't appear at all. The mod does appear in the mod manager and it can be activated, but my work doesn't show up anymore.

 

Can you help me out?

[poland.ball]

Make sure your mod with the modifications is above ProMods Map files.

[Unnamed User]

Very useful guide. Thanks you.

[BoomSmackTV]

what would be the name for the ATS SCS map? (where the ETS2 version is Europe)

[MaxiZockt13]

Thank you for this guide ^^

[Lordminator]

Hi, @poland.ball there is a solution to this?   

[poland.ball]

Hello @Lordminator
Try one of these fixes:
- Run with Administrator rights

- (If you use 1.38): Rename base to base_map in your ETS2 Installation folder

- (If you use 1.37): Make sure base is created and map inside the base folder in your ETS2 Installation folder

 

[Tony PS]

Thank you.I'm very interested in it.

[Lordminator]

Thanks to help, but unfortunately still the same error code.

@poland.ball

[poland.ball]

If you have discord I'd appreciate if you could send me a friend request (polandball#9937) so we can talk better about this issue and fix it. @Lordminator

[Alpinakolopa]

 

Hood day

This article is really good and helped me a lot.

However, I would like to ask if I can use preferbs for DLC that I don't own?

 

Dobrý den
Tento článek je opravdu dobrý a moc mi pomohl.

Avšak rád bych se otal, zda můžu použít preferbs určené pro DLC, které nevlastním?

[FrankenBeeGaming]

Thank you for the guide. My question is in regards to shifter a map over. Is there a ways to shift the map sectors over?

 

If not, I know I can cut and paste but cant seem to zoom out to see more than 6 sectors in the editor. Is there a way to zoom out farther to make this option viable? 

 

Thank you for any help!

[poland.ball]

Hello @FrankenBeeGaming, you cannot shift the map sectors over. They are pre-placed and the only thing you can do is change the height of the background map if you would like to hide the sectors, but this could make working harder.

You also cannot sadly zoom out further.