To the forest! Rottne DLC + Launch-Trailer out now

[Ben49]

Thank you Eric21

But this changelog dates from January 2021.
Off this morning I had a 200mb update on PS4 and in my modes, when I select the modes before launching the map, the Alpine DLC is in 1.2.1.0

Let’s wait and see what Giants says

[Ravenblade86]

On topic about the actual dlc. I've only had a quick play with the new Rottne machines and apart from the control schemes which will take a little bit to get used to (just used to the alternative crane controls which a lot of mods use instead of Giants default) but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the forwarder, in particular, is one of the best if not the best I've used from either Giants or any modders (not counting ones which opt to break the game physics to make things work). The grapple seems very secure, the logs aren't moving about all over the place, it can lift multiple logs without much difficulty and the entire machine seems pretty stable.

Will need to play around with them a lot more, about my initial impressions are very good. The models look very good as you would expect from Giants, but with it not being a larger forestry expansion I really wasn't expecting to see to much difference to how the vehicles operate compared to what we have in the base game, but to Giants credits they do seem to have done some work to improve the log handling on these Rottne machines that has paid off.

[JamP]

On topic about the actual dlc. I've only had a quick play with the new Rottne machines and apart from the control schemes which will take a little bit to get used to (just used to the alternative crane controls which a lot of mods use instead of Giants default) but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the forwarder, in particular, is one of the best if not the best I've used from either Giants or any modders (not counting ones which opt to break the game physics to make things work). The grapple seems very secure, the logs aren't moving about all over the place, it can lift multiple logs without much difficulty and the entire machine seems pretty stable.

Will need to play around with them a lot more, about my initial impressions are very good. The models look very good as you would expect from Giants, but with it not being a larger forestry expansion I really wasn't expecting to see to much difference to how the vehicles operate compared to what we have in the base game, but to Giants credits they do seem to have done some work to improve the log handling on these Rottne machines that has paid off.

Do you play on PC or console?

[Ravenblade86]

Do you play on PC or console?

On PC, only got a little more time into it this evening (not nearly as much as I wanted) but I'd say Giants default controls are the only things which are a bit of a negative but they are still workable.

[JamP]

Do you play on PC or console?

On PC, only got a little more time into it this evening (not nearly as much as I wanted) but I'd say Giants default controls are the only things which are a bit of a negative but they are still workable.

I went to check your information on the improvement. I play on xbox, so I was hopeless. But you were right about everything. I'm impressed with the claw, it no longer crosses the trunks and picks them up firmly.

I had to disable the option also of the simple controls. Thanks for the tip. I wouldn't have tested it if it wasn't for you.

Edit: I just didn't like the forwarder's cabin camera very much, but from what I've been seeing it is true to reality. Try to get used to it.

[DEERE317]

I wonder if we’ll ever hear back from the “it’s just a reskin” crowd... seems everyone who has actually used it likes it over the basegame machines.

[JamP]

I'm really impressed with the forwarder. I thought we'd never have this improvement on the console.

As for the other forestry machine, I haven't tested much because the controls aren't the ones I'm used to playing, so I don't even try because it confuses my elderly brain.

[JamP]

I wonder if we’ll ever hear back from the “it’s just a reskin” crowd... seems everyone who has actually used it likes it over the basegame machines.

This is caused by the Giants themselves in not communicating with their main audience. If they had published along with the announcement that improvements would be inserted, I bet the reaction of the audience would be different.

But what did they do? What they always do... They publish a puzzle, then an image, then reveal the brand and at the end the release date. Anyway, I think that's it. Notice that to this day they have not mentioned anywhere the improvements applied.

[DEERE317]

I wonder if we’ll ever hear back from the “it’s just a reskin” crowd... seems everyone who has actually used it likes it over the basegame machines.

This is caused by the Giants themselves in not communicating with their main audience. If they had published along with the announcement that improvements would be inserted, I bet the reaction of the audience would be different.

But what did they do? What they always do... They publish a puzzle, then an image, then reveal the brand and at the end the release date. Anyway, I think that's it. Notice that to this day they have not mentioned anywhere the improvements applied.

I imagine it is slightly hard to convincingly advertise that you improved on something that is highly subjective to the end user.

[JamP]

I wonder if we’ll ever hear back from the “it’s just a reskin” crowd... seems everyone who has actually used it likes it over the basegame machines.

This is caused by the Giants themselves in not communicating with their main audience. If they had published along with the announcement that improvements would be inserted, I bet the reaction of the audience would be different.

But what did they do? What they always do... They publish a puzzle, then an image, then reveal the brand and at the end the release date. Anyway, I think that's it. Notice that to this day they have not mentioned anywhere the improvements applied.

I imagine it is slightly hard to convincingly advertise that you improved on something that is highly subjective to the end user.

Or the enhancement in question could overshadow the brand.

[norfolk farmer]

If it is better than the basegame machines is says more to me about the quality of those.

[Ravenblade86]

I went to check your information on the improvement. I play on xbox, so I was hopeless. But you were right about everything. I'm impressed with the claw, it no longer crosses the trunks and picks them up firmly.

I had to disable the option also of the simple controls. Thanks for the tip. I wouldn't have tested it if it wasn't for you.

Edit: I just didn't like the forwarder's cabin camera very much, but from what I've been seeing it is true to reality. Try to get used to it.

Glad to hear you liked it as well, it's always going to be a bit of a personal opinion on how one person thinks something works compared to someone else, but I think it would be hard to deny that Giants have done a much better job with this dlc.

I've not tried using the in cab camera with forwarder yet while loading it, but yeah that view is very realistic, I think the issue with the in cab view in most of the forwarders is just down to the fact you can't move around to adjust your view like you could in real life. I'd suggest trying out the crane mounted camera view while loading, I normally opt for that but even on mods it's placement is sometimes better than others (The Logset mods from Inf have much better crane cameras that say the Elephant King from NMC imo for example).

If it is better than the basegame machines is says more to me about the quality of those.

Oh, it definitely shows how bad the basegame machines are for sure, but I don't think anyone would argue that those are pretty terrible. I have to assume that the forestry equipment just didn't get the attention they needed in the rush to get the game released. Just wondering now if any off the changes they have made for this dlc will have changed the basegame equipment as well, I doubt it but I might have to do try them out later

[FarmBoss]

I wonder if we’ll ever hear back from the “it’s just a reskin” crowd... seems everyone who has actually used it likes it over the basegame machines.

If Giants proved the "crowd" wrong, then kudos to them. Maybe the voice of the "crowd" played a small part in convincing them to improve the functionality of the new equipment. We ALL want the game to be the best it can be.
I personally prefer to hear how much people like a DLC, rather than hear them reporting issues it has caused. I'm more likely to buy it now.

[Ravenblade86]

Another interesting little surprise that I didn't expect the dlc to do (though the real machines definitely should be able to do) but if you are playing on pc you will find some off the modded forestry maps have extra-large trees, though I'm not sure if any of them are on ModHub? Normally you need a specially modded harvester to actually be able to cut them, I think the Ponsse Bear from NMC is the only wheeled forestry harvester on the ModHub that can do it, well it turns out the Rottne H21D is also capable of cutting at least some of them (I just cut about half a dozen or so on Eledan v2), it gave me the message that they were to big a few times but a tiny adjustment off the header and it worked and even with an extended crane it still remained pretty stable. The F20D forwarder is also capable of picking up 5m logs from those trees which again a lot of modded forwarders can't do, or if they can the weight of the log makes them want to tip over.

Still need to get a chance to sit down and get some proper game time with them, but that's another feature that I really didn't expect from the dlc since those oversized trees aren't something Giants have added to game themselves.

[FarmBoss]

^ Are you saying that some of Giants machines work as they should while others do not?