Sorry if I am raising a dead horse on a stick or whatever the phrase is, but I am wondering if I get the AP Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack 2.0, do I have to apply this weather to every scenario in the game for it to apply? I know I have to copy the Time of Day files to routes that are not supported, but I can't find anything about just the existing scenarios in TSC, the ones that come with routes etc.. Will the weather and skybox in those scenarios also be upgraded? Will it bug out? Or will it not make any difference at all?
Yes to first question. Any scenario not so treated will continue to work with whatever weather it is configured for. John
It makes huge improvements to the sky / clouds / lighting without having to change weather patterns on a scenario, every now and then Ill get one that has a bit of a glitch and I need to change the weather but not often. I would recommend getting it for that reason alone
I went through the manual, but it just didn't really answer my questions. Thanks for the responses, I am definitely thinking of getting it once funds allow.
The AP Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack 2.0 will replace the weather for the scenarios all routes listed on it’s product page here: https://www.armstrongpowerhouse.com/sky_weather_enhancement_pack_2.0 This includes any scenario available for these routes. I’ve never had the weather for said routes glitch out in scenarios. Very rarely do I see graphical errors in the skybox, and when I do they’re not all that noticeable and most of the time aren’t even visible from cab view. Like you said for routes that aren’t supported on the list there you have to copy over TOD files, but keep in mind you will often be doing that for countries on entirely different continents so you would be copying over UK-based TOD files that won’t be accurate to the day and night cycle of different countries. If you care about that sort of thing, former user on the forums Spikee (formerly torfmeister) wrote up a guide on how you can edit the AP TOD files you’ve copied over to be accurate to different regions of the world. The guide can be found here: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/guide-a-p-sky-weather-e-p-for-different-regions.79299/ As the guide suggests, I kept a separate folder to keep my unique “US” and “AUS” AP TOD files to just copy over into other routes accordingly. You however find more glitches in scenarios doing this, as some, specifically US routes, have scripted weather events such as lightning and thunder. You will hear the thunder but may have abnormally clear skies, or will see lightning strikes that don’t go away until you pass them. If I remember correctly this only affected Pacific Surfliner LA - San Diego and Sherman Hill scenarios using this functionality and there is only a very small handful of them anyway. Another thing when it comes to TOD file copying, some routes have more “nuance” than others. Some you may need to set up the folder yourself if it’s not already there as with modern routes usually it’s all compressed into the .ap file but I assume you already know that, but sometimes routes use TOD file names different to AP’s TOD file names. For example Sherman Hill has its seasonal files named something like “Sherman_Summer”, “Sherman_Winter”, etc and in that case the AP TOD files need to be renamed accordingly for it to work. It’s good to double check in the .ap file using programs like 7zip on modern routes to make sure their TOD names aren’t different to the default you would expect it to be. Other things I’ve encountered is for older routes you may also come across an additional “Default” TOD file alongside the seasonal files, if I remember correctly for the most part I never had to mess with it but using an xml editor of some kind (I use TS Tools for TSC) you can make sure it’s pointing to the right directories for the TOD files you want to be using. The biggest mess I’ve had to deal with when it comes to TOD file swapping was Cajon Pass, for whatever reason both the route template and TOD files in it’s unique route folder under RSC do not appear to correlate with the route. The weather the route was using was actually in the RailSimulatorUS folder under Kuju but even when they were changed, no luck. Turns out the “Sanbarst.bin” template in RailSimulatorUS was pointing to the right directory, but it was case sensitive or something like that and I had to edit it with TS Tools to correct it. Then it worked. That’s what I dealt with for a while, until I came across On Track Simulation’s “AP Sky Accurate Time of Day” program released on Train Sim Community and I’ve used it ever since. Because all you need to do is select whatever scenario you’re about to play and it will edit the TOD files for said scenario to be 100% region accurate to the exact coordinates the route is set in. You can reset it back after if you wish as well. It’s still good for UK routes as well, since AP S&WEP 2.0 is only based around London and the north of England, Scotland, etc would have different sun / moon positioning, day / night cycle times, etc to that of London. Definitely a fantastic program I would highly recommend, no longer have to worry about a bunch of file swapping from time to time! It can be found here: https://www.trainsimcommunity.com/m...ement-packs/i5894-ap-sky-accurate-time-of-day The only downside though is that this doesn’t work for Quick Drive, so if you want to have a spin on routes in Quick Drive you still need to swap the TOD files in the route folder. if you end up liking AP S&WEP 2.0 enough then later down the line I recommend picking up the AP Cloud Enhancement Pack for it as well. S&WEP 2.0 already transforms the game as is but CEP takes it even further despite the extra cost which makes it not everyone’s cup of tea but it’s been well worth it as far as I’m concerned. Just depends on the value you personally see in the improvement of graphical fidelity and immersion in TSC to bring it into the modern era of Train Simming.
Thanks for all the information. I will definitely check out the Accurate Time of Day program as well.
