Base Map Rebuild (CA, NV, AZ) General Discussion Thread

[Brendan0620]

I was one of those people who wrote off NM needing a Rework and thought it should have gotten a refresh, but now that the I-40 Rework has shown how great New Mexico could be, I'm all on board for a rework in the future for the rest of the state.

OR and WA though? Still Refresh territory on that, it holds up well compared to NV, SoAZ, and NM outside of ABQ and I-40.

Part of me thinks they could be approaching two reworks right now because of OR and WA needing a Refresh (or what have you) before British Columbia arrives, of course not talking about it getting refreshed now as NV and SoAZ need it more than ever now.

[flight50]

NM was ATS's first which was 2017. I actually wouldn't oppose of a ful rework now myself. Albuquerque is sweet. I can't say its the best in the game but its definitely one of the best. The layout is soooo much better and more immersive. That's the thing about SCS now. They are a lot more accurate and pride themselves in that department. But I agree Washington and Oregon just reskin/refresh.

If I got to choose the reworks path, I'm going:
1) US-50 and everything North (phase 1). This includes Carson City, Fallon (new city) and the portion of US-95 that didn't make it the first time. Reno, Winnemucca, Jackpot, Elko. This should also include US-93 Alt fix and rework the Salt Flatts.
2) phase 2 Arizona
3) phase 2/phase 3 New Mexico

In order to refresh WA/OR they need more bandwidth. I'd assume the BC team does it. If not more are needed for the reworks team. Either way, there is only so much that can be done at once by the reworks team. Eventually all the old areas will be more up to date.

If Janek is saying there are 2 reworks, I'd be cool with Phase 1 Nevada and Phase 2 Arizona. NM can come later. Rt 66 is solid. So we can get to Chicago in good quality. Illinois releases this year. We really need I-80 before Southern Arizona imho. I-10 is pretty much to get to Southern Texas and Louisiana. NM can wait. Nevada needs help asap to benefit Illinois. It also pushes people to get states along the path of I-80 to get to Chicago for those that haven't invested in those maps yet.

[Brendan0620]

It would be cool to have NV Phase 1 (with everything Flight said) drop with the Illinois compatibility update, but I'm not predicting that if they've already started production on it not so long ago.

Who knows, maybe NV has already been in production long enough (assuming that one line from the June 2025 Route 66 Rework introduction blog about there being multiple reworks in the pipeline was true) to the point where we might get the full state this year. Just speculating though.

[Kistk3]

Now I'm really curious about the next rework blog, the I-80 and NV is imminent from now on. @flight50 ,I like your idea about the rework on Salt Flats that you mentioned, makes so much more sense, also the US 93 would get more room and the Hole in the Mountain Peak can get some attention, there are small farms close to the 232 road.

About WA/OR reworks, I will mention ID with it, the vegetation is mostly right done, the problems are with the mountains models, quite outdated now, and SCS is much better doing them now. The same goes to NM and UT but this is another story.

[Marcello Julio]

Nevada doesn't seem too complex for a rework, so if development has already started some time ago, I'd say still possible for this year.

[flight50]

^Yeahhh I can agree with this. If the 2025 blog that Brendan mentioned included Nevada June 2025, even with 4-6 people working it from June 2025 to June 2026....they could probably knock out all of Nevada since its less complex. Phase 1 Nevada for sure at the least. RT 66 included a ton more of Arizona than any of us first thought. I remember Patrik mentioning that ATS started with like 7 mappers. That was California, Nevada and Arizona. Even though it was 1:35 scale, those 7 did a lot of work. Mapping is more detailed now but SCS knows the US much better now so the learning curve isn't as steep.

So with a small reworks team doing preliminary work (until RT 66 was completed) (if this is what they are doing), I'm willing to bet that the entire reworks team could indeed knock out all of Nevada this year. Now Patrik did mention that IL is probably a few month out on the stream he was on recently. So Nevada as a whole is 50/50 by time Illinois releases. I-80 only has a much much higher chance. Either way, I sure hope I-80 can make the Illinois compatibility update. Otherwise I'm holding firm to not purchasing maps til then. Funny how some people wanna throw me under the bus in other threads on this forum for something that doesn't effect them though. My decision is how I choose to deal with things. I never told anyone else to do the same. My words is obviously to get attention for the entire community for SCS to get players wants met. If me making such statements to bring attention to the devs is an issue, well I'm sorry for everything that I've helped pushed in the past 6+ years that the community gets to play with everyday, smh. Closed mouths don't get feed. I pick my battles for sure though. Not everything is possible but ones I think the community can when, sure I'm running my mouth all day long.

[rbsanford]

Nevada may not have any big cities outside of Las Vegas and Reno, but it does have some tricky terrain that'll require skilled and consistent mountain crafting with plenty of summits along the highways. I'm sure it'll still be challenging, with the 50 and 6 essentially being roller coasters, tons of mountains that'll have to be high quality, some big mines, etc.

The top priority for reworks teams right now should be the Base Map; I hope that second reworks team is in northern Nevada, while the PR66 one is in southern Arizona. New Mexico could use some refreshment (especially along the 64, in some of the cities, and an addition of US 180 with Silver City), but that should be priority 2. Washington is still aces, IMO; the only thing it really needs is a more fleshed out fruit industry (ideally, California should have also had an expanded produce industry). Outside of the Base Map, I think Oregon is the weakest state, since it has some very outdated scenery in places and some missed opportunities in the way of highways, but that should still be priority 2.

Northern Nevada coming with Illinois would be perfect, and it sounds feasible now that we know there are two reworks teams (and almost likely with the nod on the stream), but since we haven't had any blogs about it, I'm not going to get my hopes up.

[flight50]

I definitely can't stress quality mountains enough. Nevada..Southern Arizona...New Mexico. Those are imposing mountains for sure. We need SCS's A game. The rounded mountains don't fit the West. The Western US mountains are hard edged. We've seen some great mountain models in the game but the most important thing is be consistent for the region being mapped. The base map should definitely be priority 1. That is why NM RT66 was disappointing in the beginning. It got priority over Nevada. What's done is done. RT66 is an awesome rework but I've always taken the base map as priority 1 first. SCS didn't agree but I sure hope they are on that path now that RT66 has released.

2026 could be another fun year map wise for ATS. Hopefully the reworks is one of the stars of the year. We already know Illinois will rock and South Dakota will be sweet. If Nevada is addressed this year, we'll have updated paths that are feasible in all available states.

[ASUSTechSupport]

I made some updates to my Phase 2 Arizona map based off what was actually done by SCS in the Route 66 rework. I added Casa Grande as a marked city due to the Lucid plant and the various other industries along Thornton Rd, I-8 should be pretty desolate in AZ so I think Casa Grande could reasonably fit as a marked city. I also added Ajo and the associated section of AZ-85, I like Ajo as a marked city, there is a pretty big mine in town that we could haul to. It's unfortunate but I don't think Prescott is possible anymore due to space limitations and the removal of Ash Fork. In it's place I think there is a opportunity to add Sedona and Cottonwood as shown. AZ-179 and AZ 89A are beautiful drives, it could be good to include with PRT. I also added Silver City and a north south connection in Western NM, feel like these would be beneficial to have.


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[Neoba]

OR and WA though? Still Refresh territory on that, it holds up well compared to NV, SoAZ, and NM outside of ABQ and I-40.

Washington is definitely in good enough shape to not need a rework (some cities would definitely benefit from minor adjustments and modern assets though.).

Oregon is really rough in some areas, but the only areas I'd say require reworks there are US-101 outside the cities (having the 101 entirely up to modern SCS standards would be great for PRT. It's really rough even by the Oregon DLC's standards) and Bend (recently had its road network significantly altered).