Biggest thing for me is you can open any existing scenario drop down a track linked box in a siding, not enter any text into the speed entry field select the weather type in the scenario marker and bang you've got a different random weather pattern every time you play that scenario, that's game changing.
that does look impressive and I love the random feature. I have been playing around with the signal pack now that is taking some getting used to lol UPDATE: Had a good read of the manual and shouldnt be to much of an issue to change the weather in scenarios i have uploaded to ATS to have V2 working with them (hopefully) will be good fun learning this though.
TBF when AP release new stock and swap it in powerhouse scenarios any updates are free i dont imagine this will be any different
Do you mean waiting to use it for yourself in the sim? As it's quite easy to compare already with the info AP have provided so far.
Manual already shows the difference. It *IS* a game changer, no amount of nay saying is going to change that MY main hope is that the 'broken' skybox issue has been resolved with these chnages to the shaders etc. If the skybox still breaks then we might all have a bone to pick with Mr Armstrong
Which is best: to judge a product that isn't available on its publicity material, or to wait until it's actually released? It may be great, it may not. The community simply doesn't know at present. What would be a game changer for me is getting rid of micro stutters, but this product won't do that.
I’ve read through the manual, and one thing I’m curious about is this: How does the placement of the marker affect signalling?
These track markers AP have started using are actually just glorified signals. Signals can run lua script you see so are useful for running any tasks via script.
Hey folks, just jumping in here with a reminder for everyone to engage respectfully and constructively with each other. This is a really good thread with lots of great information, advice, and clarifications, so please let's keep it that way without bickering.
Indeed. It's certainly making using these weather patterns easier for the end user once one has gotten to grips with the in-depth instructions in the menu
The Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack 2.0 has been released!! https://www.armstrongpowerhouse.com/enhancements/general/sky_weather_enhancement_pack_2.0
Curious for opinions on this, what are we thinking of the price? 24.99 Pounds with 19.99 Pounds for original owners of the Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack. I see comments on the YouTube video already claiming that the pack is a “rip off” and too expensive.
My opinion? Stuff costs money. Stuff costs more money than it did a year ago. Stuff will cost more money next year too probably. Covered? Good. Move on.
All the comments on FB are bemoaning the price. When it comes to something produced solely for luxury / entertainment purposes, I'm fascinated when people think they can ascribe their own expectation of value to someone elses work without knowing important factors such as how long it took, how many copies they expect to sell etc...
I’ve bought it already although my slight gripe over the price is this…as a long-time AP customer I’ve paid £32 for versions 1 and 2 of this pack. On the flipside, a new user is paying £25. I’m not 100% sure how I feel about that. On the positive side, it seems to play nice with my RWEPro settings, which is a bonus. The sun going behind the clouds is a very neat trick, very immersive!
Months of work and dedication for the price of a pizza and a few beers, or half a tank of petrol. Seriously, you want to the guy to work for free? I'm going to buy it right now.
Half a tank of petrol? WTF do you drive, A lawnmower? Half a tank of diesel is ~ £70 for me so maybe a couple of quid cheaper if it was petrol prices.. But yes fully agree with implied sentiment (I also want to cry at the cost of filling up my car) + I bought it within 8 minutes of release that's how upset at the pricing I was lol, even though I can't use it for another 5 days (damn you work, damn you to hell, even though you supplied the money for me to buy it, damn you).
It should be 99p and not a penny more!!! Seriously a premium product that looks to deliver so much, costs to develop. As always, it’s up to the individual customer to decide if it’s for them. It’ll be tomorrow before I get a chance to install it, so l’ll look forward to reading about it.
Straight out of the box, with just default weather patterns, it's a huge improvement. The standard "cloudy" setting is far more random, and the sun is realistically blown out and not a definite round disk when you point the camera at it. I won't have time to play with it properly until tomorrow though... so far... looking good.
Well content costs money, there are lots of new exciting possibilities in v2, so i am not complaining.
Of course. I’ve adapted them slightly for this pack and have yet to see an issue, but I’ve not yet compared it to having RWE disabled entirely. One thing I can’t do without is the glass reflection stuff, even with the AP pack, with that disabled it looks rubbish. I’ll have to figure out how to share it but once I have I’ll pop it here.
This is probably the easiest way to do it. Here are my RWEPro settings; I also use a touch of reshade (settings below) to desaturate the greens and yellows a bit which is a VAST improvement in my opinion.
I think £20 is roughly what it's worth (good thing I own the original then) but I think the actual price is more justified than trains that cost £25 since it improves (seemingly hugely) every route ever made as long as it's set up for it, rather than owning one train that can only be used in a few places.
Before anyone suggests I'm complaining about anything, I will say that the images I have seen look phenomenal. My only real complaint, if any, is the discount should have been slightly larger. I got the original pack for 6.99 on sale because I tend to focus on official scenarios so far, so decided it was finally time to get it then, months ago (and only got around to installing it the other day, my video yesterday includes it LOL). Therefore, if you assume 19.99 plus 6.99, it costs 26.98 with the discount factored in - or slightly more than a new customer would pay. That said, I have to consider that maybe that's acceptable. After all, scenarios not remade from using v1 of the pack - and there are hundreds - will need to have that weather setup swapped in. So we have automatic compatibility possible with both weather packs. It might have cost more if they worked in the backwards compatibility that I and others wanted. It would still be a tough call, but I am considering it. Not a day one purchase, mind, but I'm considering it. It might be more a case of that I currently play scenarios, but I don't currently make them; as a result, I'm not in an immediate hurry. Once there is a good library of scenarios out there - or when I decide it's time to start making scenarios - it may be worth picking up. And of course, there will be sales in a year dropping the price by 8 pounds anyway. By then, the holdouts will have a lot of scenarios available with it that they may queue over the year for the day they get the weather. I think they tend to delete really negative comments. I can't comment on their moderation practices, but I do agree with you that everyone expects something like this for free. The question comes to be what a proper value for this pack would be. Some would say 50 pounds. Some would say 5 pounds. (And of course, some would say "Why are we paying for this?") That's on each individual user to decide. That is indeed the way to look at this. Once installed, it applies to EVERYTHING. And the reason I'm hesitating on not getting it is very specifically because I do Youtube videos, so it would make them certainly look better, for sure. I'm not sure the RWE2 level of pricing is the right price, but there is the other benefit that I get out of it in my content, so that must be considered by me and anyone else doing videos or live streams. Is it worth 20 pounds (we'll disregard currency conversion for now) to have the higher quality visuals with little impact on performance on virtually everything? It might be.
Regarding the hundreds of ‘legacy’ scenarios that would need to be edited to incorporate the EP2, is this something that could at all be automated, or even a route batch at a time? Or I suppose placing the marker box on track not used by the player train isn’t really something you could leave to a script?
Does it allow per route application? I've not liked the way the previous weather was an all or nothing installation. This is a problem if you're someone like me who likes taking part in the DTG screen shot competition. I see current Facebook sentiment is almost universally hostile to the pricing, especially the meagre discount for existing owners. Everyone will put their own value on it, but with all the other calls on my disposable income I think it will be a while before I feel comfortable buying it, so it can wait for a sale.
If the script can automatically place it at a pre-defined point - i.e. the end point of the track - then a conversion utility might be able to do it.
Like your good self how could you not? What was that advert? " If Carlsberg made Train Sim Weather & Signal Expansion Packs ...." [EDIT] Just put half a tank of Diesel in my E320 Merc £70 so this pack must be a bargain LOL.
No. It will be applied to all supported routes. There's a list in the manual I linked to further up the thread.
tbh I can see why people are up in arms. V1 owners paid for V1 at £12. To get v2 costs then £20 so total cost 32. Yet a new person can get v2 for 24,99 it’s a bit greedy. If ap deducted the price of v1 fully for those owners I think that wouldn’t have got them all the critical comments. But like everything in life it costs money.
At over $1.80 a litre in Vancouver, B.C., that's $18 for 10 litres, $63+ CAD for a half tank if you can hold 70. Gas is cheaper in my area (maybe $50 for that same half tank), that's just a more expensive part of Canada. Just living in Vancouver costs more for groceries and such. But enough about gas. If the pack for existing owners drops to $15 after this fracas, I might consider it immediately. It's still a little high for my liking. And this is someone who usually buys on sale and keeps stuff for later. Of course, the concerns about the screenshot competitions and having submissions voided are a real possibility, so it also helps to keep backups of the original weather files and then go get that screenshot. It's really only the core files that change as the route's time of day files are able to be utilized to change things like sunrise and sunset, mainly (and are easily removed where an AP file is involved).
oh no, the "authority's" are going to shut AP down for selling a weather pack for a train sim. can't make this up can you.
I'm away from my TSC PC at the moment. When was V1 released? Whilst people buying only V2 seem to be getting a better deal they haven't previously had the benefit of using V1. So the question to those who have previously installed V1 is, was the usage and enjoyment that V1 has given you worth the difference of £7?
I'm LOVING these mist and haze settings with fair/high cloud. It just adds another dimension to the sim. It really is a game changer IMO. You can have what looks like an early morning summer mist now, and have it totally variable and random.
I used to live in Vancouver... well... Richmond... but close enough. Just on the corner of No.4 Road and Steveston Highway.
I have certainly had my 2 years of enjoyment out of V1 which has basically cost me £7. As an alternative I could have spent the same amount on a pint & a half of real ale in my local which is £7.50 and lasts about 20mins. I am just looking forward to the endless days / weeks / years of further enjoyment I am going to have with V2. There is always going to be the core of moaners that will quibble about the price of any new release. My answers to them are simply If you don't like the price - don't buy it. Develop your own equal quality product and see how long it takes (+ learning Skills required) divide the hours spent in the above by minimum hourly wage and see what price you might need to sell it at to make a minimal profit. Quit moaning and thank the likes of AP/OTS/ATS/DPS/SSS/DT/MJW/......... etc. etc. (apologies to those I have not mentioned) for making this age old train sim what it is. 3rd party developers should be applauded for all they do not criticised for asking for a fair return.
Quick drives: Weathers that uses fog as background at night, are brighter than at day time. This was supposed to be fixed. This is supposed to be 3am
I'm fairly certain that must be something to do with quick drive, as there are plenty of shots on the AP facebook page with night time fog looking amazing. I don't think dynamic weather patters work in quick drive.
Only one good joke response to this... Yup, that's the kind of advice I give. I'm trying to still wrap my mind around the 20 pound price for existing v1 owners. I can respect people saying that it's not enough of a discount, and to a point agree with them. That said, I gave the price comparison for a sale situation in my earlier post, so but for a pound 98 it's relatively close in that circumstance. I feel bad for purchasers at full price in the last three months; they have a right to feel they got ripped off somewhat. A launch discount, though? That might work wonders.
I do not have dynamic clouds turned on. But if that is the case, then the TimeOfDay should simply point to a patterns that does not destroy night time quick driving. It is an issue they were aware of in v1, and as far as i read it, was supposed to be fixed in v2.
