Seasons in ATS?

[Optional Features]

Seasons would be nice. A proper dynamic system where we see the seasons merge into each other and the appropriate areas get the appropriate effects. But that way is the harder way.

A less natural way would be to have it like in Forza Horizon 4. Have the seasons last a set few days. Since the days in game are short, a year in game can still last 365 days. The seasons wouldn't transition over each other over time, but would rather hard swap into the next with a fade out or screen swipe at the set time. If on a job or resting then it waits until that is finished before changing. But that's still a bit of work.

One other way would be to have set seasons as options before play....so you swap them out at will as and when you feel.

Or just scrap seasons, ignore spring and autumn and keep the summer map as a generic warm time and add permanent snow into commonly snowy areas, like the previous games did.

I'd like to see seasons, even if winter is just frosty and no snow at all. I can see why it would never happen, I know SCS want it to or did or what have you but I won't go mad if it never happens.

This is an ideal way to do it, and basically would use the same principle employed by grimes' series of mods.

The only challenge is some areas would need to not be winter visually (like southern cali).

I would love to see some areas like mountain passes just covered in snow all "season", but an occasional day with clear roads and snow on the sides would be nice as well.

Grimes has all of these done already:

No snow, muted colors
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Full snow
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Clear roads with snow on the side
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Regardless of how they do it, something is better than nothing. And right now, we have nothing.

[nater6540]

What about adding heaters to trucks, that if not turned on will cause you to fatigue faster due to the cold during the winter, and in the case of bunk heaters for keeping the sleeper warm on trucks equipped with sleepers, would slowly drain fuel from your fuel tanks since bunk heaters in real life are usually diesel-fired? There should also be a defroster that uses electricity from the truck’s batteries to defrost your windows, mirrors, and windshield to prevent ice buildup and help with visibility. Just starting the truck should be made more difficult if it’s too cold outside since diesels are very temperamental and usually don’t want to start up in cold climates, which can be prevented by an optional block heater accessory that can be added to your truck. Just a few suggestions to make driving around in colder climates a bit more challenging.

[Optional Features]

What about adding heaters to trucks, that if not turned on will cause you to fatigue faster due to the cold during the winter, and in the case of bunk heaters for keeping the sleeper warm on trucks equipped with sleepers, would slowly drain fuel from your fuel tanks since bunk heaters in real life are usually diesel-fired? There should also be a defroster that uses electricity from the truck’s batteries to defrost your windows, mirrors, and windshield to prevent ice buildup and help with visibility. Just starting the truck should be made more difficult if it’s too cold outside since diesels are very temperamental and usually don’t want to start up in cold climates, which can be prevented by an optional block heater accessory that can be added to your truck. Just a few suggestions to make driving around in colder climates a bit more challenging.

All of that would be nice, but is way too much to expect. We can't even access the sleeper of a sleeper truck without mods. Getting bunk heaters and A/C systems is not on the SCS agenda. Maybe a cool weather skin, though.

[rookie31st]

Do we have any indication that seasons are even a remote possibility?

[Optional Features]

Do we have any indication that seasons are even a remote possibility?

I think Pavel talked about it once, but from what I hear, he wanted it to be some kind of event or mode or something. And I think he said it would require them to make four versions of every asset (which they will not do in any likelihood).

It doesn't seem to be a priority, that's for sure.

[flight50]

He said one option is to do seasons as an event/quest. But that was 2018. That's pretty much doing what mods do. Its static and works but Pavel's thinking is dynamic seasons. I don't think SCS needs 4 versions of each asset to make it happen. Try triple or quadruple that. In order to be dynamic, the transitions has to fade and be smooth. You can't do that with just4 seasons. The change would be to abrupt. You smooth out seasons by doing a multiple of 4 and I don't think double works well either. We'd need 12, 16 or even 20 micro seasons to get dynamic seasons.

[Optional Features]

I'd prefer just to have a transition slide. Switch seasons with a loading screen, and when the map returns, the appearance has changed. Simple is always better, and faster to implement!

[plykkegaard]

Dynamic implementation which follows world seasons would be almost impossible to implement
Just have a number of seasons as you eg have summer, autumn, winter and spring mods
The dynamic range could be the climate zones to make a difference

[rookie31st]

Creating multiple assets for seasons isn't viable. Modern game engines do this through the material parameters and/or shaders, modifying color based on some variables (time of year and weather in this case).

[Optional Features]

Creating multiple assets for seasons isn't viable. Modern game engines do this through the material parameters and/or shaders, modifying color based on some variables (time of year and weather in this case).

Yes, farming sim does this. We have trees that change color in fall, lose their leaves completely by winter, then become green again in spring.