Say Goodbye to Stuttering in ETS2/ATS? A Deep Dive into the New 'Async Loading' (Key Feature of Update 1.55) - Zzz Trucker

Fellow truckers enjoying Euro Truck Simulator 2 (ETS2) or American Truck Simulator (ATS), have you ever experienced that frustrating moment when your screen suddenly freezes or stutters while driving? This 'stuttering' phenomenon, especially when entering new areas or complex cities, has been a major immersion breaker.

Say Goodbye to Stuttering in ETS2/ATS? A Deep Dive into the New 'Async Loading'

But finally! The game developer, SCS Software, has decided to tackle this persistent issue head-on. They are introducing a new technology called Asynchronous Loading (Async Loading), which is also a core change in the recently released ETS2 1.55 Experimental Beta.

Today, let's dive deep and easily explain what this Async Loading is all about and what changes it will bring for us players.

1. Why Did In-Game 'Freezes' Happen? - Limitations of the Old Loading Method

Open-world games like ETS2 and ATS have vast map data and countless assets (trucks, buildings, trees, etc.). It's impossible to load all of this into memory (RAM) at the start of the game. Therefore, games use a 'Data Streaming' method, reading only the necessary data around the player's location from the disk (SSD/HDD) into memory in real time.

The problem lay in the traditional Synchronous Loading method. In this approach, while the game was reading data from the disk, other game processes (rendering the screen, calculating physics, etc.) often had to pause and wait for the loading to complete. This 'waiting time' was what we perceived as 'stuttering' or freezes.

2. The Secret to Smoothness! - What is Asynchronous Loading (Async Loading)?

The Asynchronous Loading being introduced by SCS is a technology designed to solve this problem.

• What does 'Asynchronous' mean? It means "not happening at the same time." In essence, it allows multiple tasks to proceed independently without waiting for each other.
• Core Principle: It separates the data loading task from the main game processing flow (main thread) and handles it as a separate background task (background thread).
• How it Works: The game's main process continues to render the screen and calculate physics without stopping. Simultaneously, the necessary data is diligently loaded from the disk in the background. Once loading is complete, the main process takes the prepared data from the background and seamlessly integrates it into the game world.

As a result, the time the main process stops due to data loading is dramatically reduced, significantly mitigating stuttering and providing a much smoother and more pleasant driving experience. The SCS blog itself highlights 'mitigation of stuttering' and a 'smoother experience overall' as the key benefits of this technology.

3. Why Now? Why is SCS Implementing Async Loading?

As SCS continues to expand the game world and add new features, they likely recognized the need to improve the game's fundamental performance and stability. Async Loading is not just about reducing stuttering; it's an important step in laying the technical groundwork for accommodating more complex and rich content in the future.

This is also why they are currently testing this Async Loading system intensively through the Experimental Beta for ETS2 version 1.55. Because it's a major change affecting deep parts of the game engine, they need the community's help to identify and fix unforeseen issues (like temporary frame drops, unusual loading sequences) that might occur across various user hardware configurations.

(Note: How to Join the Experimental Beta) In your Steam Library > Right-click on Euro Truck Simulator 2 > Properties > Betas tab > Beta Participation dropdown menu > Select experimental_beta (No password required). Warning: SCS strongly recommends creating a brand-new profile specifically for the Beta testing, warning about potential risks to existing profiles.

4. So, What's in It for Us? (And What to Watch Out For)

• Expected Benefits: The biggest expectation is undoubtedly improved perceived performance. Especially when entering cities or driving through complex areas, reduced stuttering should allow for much smoother driving.
• Things to Note (During Beta): As it's still in development and testing, you might experience unstable frame rates or unexpected bugs during the Experimental Beta phase. These issues are expected to be resolved before the official release, so keep this possibility in mind if you participate in the beta.

5. Data Streaming vs. Async Loading: What's the Difference?

Simply put:

• Data Streaming: The concept or strategy of loading only necessary data in real-time (What data is loaded, and why?).
• Async Loading: A specific technical method for implementing data streaming, ensuring the loading process doesn't interrupt the main game flow (How is it loaded smoothly?).

In other words, Async Loading is a way to make Data Streaming smoother and more efficient.

In Conclusion

SCS Software's introduction of Async Loading is a significant step towards resolving the persistent stuttering issue in ETS2 and ATS, promising us a more comfortable and immersive trucking experience. Although currently in the experimental beta stage, once this technology stabilizes and is applied to the official release, it will likely be a major change welcomed by many users.

Let's look forward to seeing how much smoother ETS2 and ATS become, and participating in the Experimental Beta to provide feedback is also a great way to contribute to the game's development.