Cities Skylines ll
25/11/2023
I have played Cities Skylines ll now for a few hours and the graphics are a big problem for many game users. You have probably seen my computer on the Home page or System Setup page and will see straight away it’s not a cheap computer. It’s an expensive high-end computer and Cities Skylines ll performed badly in the high graphics settings. I could not believe what was happening to the game. The textures started going crazy like snow was on the vehicles and the trees had square leaves. I thought what is going on it’s not a flight simulator that requires a lot of graphics memory. I had a 325 population and not much on the map and it was like what is going on? So I had a look at the graphics setting and experimented with different settings on the advanced mode and it did nothing only made things worse. In the end, I set the graphics to medium and that solved the problem. Then it started again. I rebooted my computer and started the game and that helped. I think Paradox should have spent more time tweaking the game for performance. It’s also missing a few functions like undo on the land editing feature so when you make a mistake you cannot undo it and that can be a pain in the neck. It is missing the main editing feature but they will arrive later this or next month. There is no Workshop because they have abandoned that and will use their platform which will be much better. The game itself is enjoyable and challenging if you do not have unlimited money or unlock all milestones switched on. It’s best to have those on if you are a beginner or experimenting and learning all the functions of the game then when you feel happy enough you can start a new map with them switched off. Would I recommend the game to anyone? I will say yes with caution because if you have a very low-end computer you might have a lot of problems with the graphics. I will give the game three stars for now and in a few months I will update this review.
Euro Truck Simulator 2
31/01/2024
I have been using Euro Truck Simulator 2 since 2015 and never had a problem with it. It is an excellent game and can be very relaxing. I use the Fanatec equipment and you can see that on my System Setup page. I use a few mods as well as ProModes. When the game updates ProMods becomes unusable and you have to wait for the developers to update their maps. You have to pay for the downloads and costs less than £1.50. You can download it with adverts but that will be slower. You’re paying for the developers to run their servers and it is not cheap if they are using a hosting service or their servers. I like the Iceland zone on the map. I have tried TruckersMP and find that full of trolls who spoil it for you when you do a convoy. You now have the multiplayer option built in so you can set up your self-hosted server. You can if you know how to run it on your home server. I have tried that and it is really good because you do not have to worry about switching your computer off and it’s always online for anyone to use.
American Truck Simulator
2/02/2024
I have been using the American Truck Simulator since the day it was released in February 2016. It was early days for it and the map was good and you have to give the developers a lot of respect for the amount of hours and work they put into it. I remember the problems dropping the trailer off at the depots. It was not very much room to manoeuvre. Then as time went on with all the new releases and updates it got better and today with all the DLC it’s an excellent game. The HGV Trucks are different to what we are used to in the United Kingdom. The American Trucks have their engines at the front of the cabin and the rules for the truck driver in America are slightly different with the road speeds. On some of their highways and Freeways, they travel at speeds of 70 MPH. The reason is they have long open roads that go on for over 145 miles at a time and are so stored you can see the road up to the horizon. In the United Kingdom and Europe, rules apply like European rules. The limits on HGV driving hours in the UK are the same as the main EU rules on driving hours are that you must not drive more than 9 hours in a day – this can be extended to 10 hours twice a week. 56 hours in a week. 90 hours in any 2 consecutive weeks. They have to have Tachographs by law that record everything they do from speed, breaks and sleep time.
In the case of an analogue tachograph, the recording medium is a wax-coated paper disc, which is pre-printed with a 24-hour scale. Analogue tachograph recordings are made by a stylus cutting into a wax-coated analogue chart. Up to three styluses mark the speed, distance travelled, and the driver’s activity. The digital version of the analogue tachograph system. The digital system records information on a range of vehicle and driver activities. Data is stored in the vehicle unit memory and on driver cards. The data is analysed regularly by analysis companies and any driver found breaching any rules can result in receiving a big fine of over £1500 or more. In the U.K. HGV Class 1 and 2 trucks have governors and restrict them to 56 MPH. It has been known for drivers with older HGV trucks to remove a fuse that disabled the governor and allowed the driver to exceed speed limits of over 70 MPH or more. It is extremely dangerous because if an HGV hits another vehicle at over 56 MPH it is the weight times the speed that increased the G-force of an HGV. That is 44 tonnes x 56. Imagine a 2464-ton HGV hitting a car from behind. You would not stand a chance of surviving. In the game when you crash you only hear the bump and if you hit another vehicle you get a fine. You also get a fine for speeding as well. It’s the same for the Euro Truck Simulator 2 game. SCS will not implement crash simulations showing the truck being damaged with the party falling off because it would mean more graphics rendering. You can watch the two videos below on Youtube to see what happens to HGV Trucks during cash tests. There is a video for European and American tracks being tested at different speeds.
Cities: Skylines II Update Patch Notes 1.1.0f1 Mar 25
25/03/2024
I thought I would try out Cities: Skylines II now that the game has had a big update to see if the game is any better. I have the Beach Properties as part of the update and the new Mod Installer and Map Editor. They are both still in the beta stage and need a lot of work done because there are a lot of icons missing in the editor and you can only see the text so it can be hard to tell what items you are adding to the map. The water is still a problem and needs to be better because it is so confusing to use. You cannot create a waterfall like you could with Cities: Skylines 1. I am hoping this will be added in future updates by Paradox as well as the restore and undo buttons when editing the map or adding water. Because you cannot undo anything and it is a pain. The performance is still an issue.
My high-end computer costs me £5400 and runs flight simulators very well on the highest settings, but not if I do a live stream using Open Broadcast Software (OBS) because the processor and graphics card will have to process more data. You can see my computer on the system setup page. The game still needs a lot of work doing to it by Paradox developers to improve the graphics and get the frame rates higher to around 60 FPS or more. After the big update, I still cannot recommend the game and can only give it one star. Two stars would be pushing it. I will do another review when the next big update is released and see if there are any improvements.
