Farming Simulator 2008

Farmer Simulator 2008
Also known as: Farmer Simulator 2008 (UK), Landwirtschafts Simulator 2008 (DE), Farming Simulator Classic (PL) Developer: GIANTS Software Publisher: Astragon Platform: Windows Released in EU: April 14, 2008 This game has a hidden developer message. This game has unused objects. This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

Despite being graphically out of touch and quite an obscure game, only releasing in Germany, Poland, and UK, Farming Simulator 2008 is the first game in the Farming Simulator series that opened the way for later titles.

To do: Regional differences (German, Polish) Revisional differences (Original, Classic/SpielSpass) Prerelease and Bugs subpage

Debug Tools

Development console

A debugging tool exists within the game and can be activated by going to Appdata\Roaming\FarmingSimulator2008\game.xml and under <development> set <controls> to true. Now, when in game, the game offers access to a variety of debugging tools:

• ~ - Toggles the console.
• F2 - Toggles a framerate counter.
• F4 - Toggles a wireframe view of every rendered 3D model.
• F5 - Scrolls through views of collision frames, lights and hitboxes.
• F7 - Toggles debugging stats about the active save game.
• F9 - Tries connecting to local Visual Remote Debugger at port 5425. Fails.
• F10 - Tries connecting to local Remote Debugger at port 61407. Fails.

Developer Commands

# ambient and # globalClipDistance commands activated in the console

Upon opening the console, starting a line and pressing Tab ↹, The player can scroll through a selection of debugging commands. The commands are executed by pressing ↵ Return.

Unused Bergmann HTW trailer

The wagon loaded in place of tipper_01

The trailer's odd collision shape, resulting in the said abnormal behavior

In the trailers folder there is a completely unused Bergmann HTW silage wagon. Loading it into the game does not work as the .xml file is seemingly supposed to be used with an older version of GIANTS Engine, evidenced by the file using <trailer> brackets instead of <vehicle> ones.

Fixing the bracket issue allows the trailer to be loaded, however the trailer is pretty much unusable due to an absurd collision shape, hence the trailer flinging and swaying around when attached to a tractor. Other than that, the wheel movement is broken, but the trailer works for it's intended use, which is transporting grain. Good luck doing that though...

The trailer is featured in multiple prerelease captures, in which it seemed to work properly. The trailer was likely never updated to work on the final version of GIANTS Engine either because of the Bergmann licensing, or due to the lower model quality compared to the other vehicles.

The wagon's appearance in a prerelease screenshot

(Source: Boleklolo, Benzinly)

"Respect Copyright Laws" text in Tipper_02 texture

The tipper2.dds file contains a small rectangle with the text "Respektuj Prawo Autorskie", which translates to "Respect Copyright Laws". Oddly, despite GIANTS Software being located in Switzerland, the text is written in Polish, and what makes this even weirder is that this text is also present in the original German release, not just the Polish one.

The tipper's texture.

(Source: Boleklolo)