We’re excited to share that the 1.61 Open Beta for American Truck Simulator is now available for players to try out. If you decide to join the beta, we’d really appreciate it if you report any bugs or issues you encounter in the appropriate section of our official forums.
Your feedback plays a huge role in helping us improve the game, and we truly value the time and effort you put into testing these new features and changes. We'd also like to thank everyone who participated in the 1.61 Experimental Beta, especially those who shared their thoughts on the Multi-Function Display (MFD) and the In-Game Menu. These additions will be introduced in a future update, giving us more time to refine and polish these features and ensure they deliver the best possible experience when they are ready.
Now, let’s dive into what you can expect in the 1.61 Open Beta update:
Proximity Exploration
In the 1.61 update, we are introducing a new feature designed to assist players with exploring the world map and discovering more along their journey. Introducing Proximity Exploration, a new quality-of-life feature that makes map discovery a little more intuitive, while still keeping the enjoyment of exploring the world for yourself.
When enabled, Proximity Exploration automatically reveals a small area around your vehicle as you travel. This means you will no longer need to drive over every tiny section of road to mark it as explored, which should be especially useful for those of you chasing that elusive 100% map discovery! It can also help reveal nearby accessible roads and areas around locations such as rest stops, toll gates, border crossings, gas stations, and other places where multiple road segments may sit closely together.
And don't worry, secret roads will still have secrets to uncover! Proximity Exploration can reveal the first segment of a secret road when you get close enough, giving you a small hint that there might be somewhere new to explore. From there, however, the rest is up to you, as the remaining route will only be discovered by actually driving along it.
Whether you use Proximity Exploration to help hunt down those final percentages or simply make exploring the map a little smoother, the choice is yours!
Improved Material System
The Improved Material System significantly improves the lighting and visual quality of vehicle interiors in selected trucks. Its main focus is to enhance how interior materials react to light, which results in a more readable, detailed, and visually pleasing cabin environment.
One of the most significant changes was a redesign of the materials used in vehicle interiors. As a result, it makes differences between materials such as leather, fabric, plastic, and metal far more apparent, even in low-light conditions. The new solution uses multiple variants of dynamic cubemaps, allowing all materials to reflect their surroundings more naturally and respond to ambient light in a more realistic way.
The entire system was designed from the start with the interiors of trucks in both games in mind, so the base games and their existing fleets will gradually benefit from these improvements as well. In this update, we're excited to bring the Improved Material System to the International LT and International LoneStar.
With future updates, we will gradually add this technology for other trucks across both games. You can read more about this feature here.
Map Changes for Road Trip
With the upcoming Road Trip project, our map and asset teams have also been preparing the world of American Truck Simulator for a new way to explore the roads. While many of these changes are happening behind the scenes, they help lay the groundwork for future features and ensure the map is ready for the journey ahead.
We have implemented inactive Tourist Boards across several states, including California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and the upcoming South Dakota DLC. These Tourist Boards will remain unavailable until the Road Trip project is released, but they are already in place and ready for the future. Alongside these additions, we have also applied various small visual improvements and polish updates to selected areas across the map.
As part of these preparations, we have also added a number of new gas stations across the map. These locations will not only serve truck drivers but will also become available for cars when the Road Trip project releases, giving players more places to stop and refuel during their travels.
These changes are just a small part of the preparation work being done behind the scenes, helping us make sure the American Truck Simulator world is ready for new adventures on the road.
New Cargoes
We are also introducing new cargo options and improving the visuals of some existing ones. Players can now transport new types of freight, including Seed Containers, Trailers, and Truss, adding more variety to their hauling jobs across America.
Alongside these additions, we also updated existing Rails cargo with a brand-new model and improved textures. These changes help bring more detail and visual quality to the cargo you see on the road, making each delivery feel even more realistic.
Known OpenGL Rendering Issue
We are currently aware of a rendering issue affecting games running with OpenGL. OpenGL is the primary rendering API on Linux and macOS, while on Windows it is available as an alternative rendering option.If you are playing on Linux or macOS, or have OpenGL selected on Windows, you may encounter visual glitches or other rendering issues. Our team is actively working on a fix, and we will share further updates as soon as we have more information.
Changelog:
Map
Proximity Exploration
Map Changes for Road Trip
Vehicles
New Cargoes
Visual
Improved Material System: International LT & International LoneStar
Enjoy all the new additions, but please remember: It's only an open beta, not a stable public version, so you may encounter bugs, instability, or crashes. It's completely okay if you want to wait for the final release. But if you're interested in helping us to get there faster, we'd appreciate all of your feedback on our forum and your bug reports in the dedicated section.
Please check our modding wiki to get details pertaining to mods for the game. If you wish to participate in this Open Beta, you can find this version in the Experimental Beta branch on Steam. The way to access it is as follows: Steam client → LIBRARY → right-click on American Truck Simulator → Properties → Betas tab → Beta Participation drop-down menu → public_beta. No password is required. Sometimes you will have to restart your Steam client to see the correct branch name there.