American Truck Simulator

American Truck Simulator

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Satellite Image Map for ATS
   
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Type: UI
File Size
Posted
Updated
9.392 MB
16 Nov, 2017 @ 5:43pm
8 Sep, 2024 @ 2:58pm
2 Change Notes ( view )

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Satellite Image Map for ATS

Description
This mod is a set of textures that cause the game to display a satellite terrain map with borders instead of the blank map with borders.

I spent a couple hours warping and tweaking a map image on top of the default, to get all the borders throughout the United States lining up as closely as possible. Less care was taken for areas outside the United States (and the map image used had no borders outside the U.S.), but they're nevertheless pretty good, so even using map mods should be enjoyable with this except in cases where the map mod makers have required a differently oriented map image. (Apparently this is the case with Mexico and Canada mods out there. Users have made custom mapdata files to get them to work with these images, which are aligned identically to the game's default map that already covers all of North America, so there's no real reason the map mod makers should require their own map orientations, but for some reason they do.)

To see the accuracy of the border alignments, look at this animation showing the default ATS map alternating with this mod's map: http://www.keeper1st.com/ats/atsmapanim.gif -- notice that this is not simply a case of slapping the game's border lines on a topographic map and hoping for the best, but having a map with borders already applied and lining them up precisely, e.g. see how the U.S.-Canada border on the northern edge of Minnesota is more detailed than the game's map. The bend in the border between California and Nevada is not aligned because SCS's map had it too far south to begin with, probably because of the issue mentioned below. These images put it topographically in the correct position.

There are a few issues because the in-game map is not entirely realistic. For example, when you zoom in you'll notice some roads in southern California appear to go into the Pacific Ocean, and the loop around Lake Tahoe by Carson City appears to be nowhere near Lake Tahoe. These situations are probably why SCS never included topographical maps themselves -- that and the fact that city placements often are far from realistic, e.g. Santa Cruz.

In order to keep the drawing of routes, city points and state names easily visible in the Freight Market view, the zoomed-out image was made more transparent. This means that, in the World Map view, the terrain appears darker (actually more transparent) when zoomed out all the way, then brightens when you zoom in.
129 Comments
Isaiah53six 21 Jul @ 10:34pm 
A must have....and still working great after all these years
Keeper1st  [author] 19 Jul @ 5:01pm 
As long as SCS has not changed the map graphic files, it should line up for the entire country. Even back when they only had three states in the game, the map for the whole country was in there, and this was lined up to match those files.
Haginen Otsolen 16 Jul @ 7:40pm 
will it work for all states including Iowa?
Keeper1st  [author] 24 May @ 12:17pm 
If they don't change the sizing values of the base map, it will. If they do, it won't match up.
PANIAGUAOFFICIAL_17 15 May @ 3:18am 
Does it works with map mods, like Mexico ?
Camo Nichols 28 Feb @ 4:05pm 
works great for me on version 1.53 no issues
RTM LOZANO MEXICO 5 Jan @ 11:24am 
como se pone porque me aparece disparejo
Keeper1st  [author] 29 Dec, 2024 @ 9:24am 
Yes, the original map was really bad, whereas this uses a real topographical map. However, the game's masking is still applied, cutting the shorelines into the same straight edges the default map shows.
Ocean Echo 29 Dec, 2024 @ 7:28am 
Very inaccurate shore line. Looks bad, like scissors cut.
Keeper1st  [author] 28 Dec, 2024 @ 10:42am 
Promods undoubtedly changes the map alignment.