Great for them to do but with the public not knowing what screenshots are entered I reckon it will be a waste of time. For all we know the winner could have been picked BEFORE it was even announced. I never really like these competitions where you don’t know who has entered what. It should be down to the public to choose which makes it fair.
Yeah, heaven forbid that a company do something to promote their products! How dare they!! I mean, they are FORCING people to buy things they don't want... they may as well be putting a gun to your heads. What a bunch of heartless, mercenary (beeeeeep)'s I'm not sure how that makes a difference. How would knowing what others have entered help you? No one knows what the judge(s) are going to vote for, no matter how many other's you see before you enter yours. All we know are the judging criteria, which is all you really need to know in a competition like this. It's pretty much the same as a photographic competition. You are given a brief, and you go and shoot something that fulfils that brief... then someone comes along to decide of you have or not. Why would they do that? It doesn't even benefit them, as the best screenshot, that best shows their product may not have been received yet. Why would that be more fair? All that prompts is people posting on social media asking people to vote for them - the winners of such competitions are often those that have just been more successful in procuring votes, and the votes are based not on merit, but how many 'friends' you have. The screenshots in here (both threads) are not chosen by the public either. They are chosen by one person... ONE. I'm not sure what the difference is. I'm fairly certain the voting won't be by one person anyway. Nowhere does it say that is the case. They've already told you what the judging criteria are, so you know what they are looking for. Of course it's a requirement. It's a competition to see who can make the best use of that product. Does that mean some people will buy this to enter? (shrug) Maybe. I doubt it though. It may give someone who was thinking about it, or had it sat in their basket but wasn't sure a bit of a push, but I doubt anyone who wasn't going to buy it will do so specifically to enter this competition. Will you be buying it just to enter? No? Well... there you go then, why do you assume anyone else would? No one is being forced to do anything they don't want to do. ...and you can always be relied upon to spread negativity in a thread about anything to do with AP. I mean... a sales push!... what evil depravity will they stoop to next? AP can't so much as fart without people criticising them. I've never known such negativity towards a company. I don't get it. They are promoting their product. And? Do you people sit there throwing things at your televisions every time an advert comes on, because you're outraged that companies are promoting their products? Do you get angry when companies run those competitions where you get a chance to win something (check inside pack to see if you've won)? Walkers do that all the time. Do you get angry, and accuse them of making you buy crisps? I don't get it. If you own the sky and weather pack 2.0, you have a chance to win literally every product they make, both now and in the future. I would have thought that was a great thing, but no... looks like the people who don't own it are angry about that. What is it... is it FOMO? Is that it? You want all the AP goodness, but don't want to pay for it, and think you should have the same chance of winning as everyone else?... that it's not fair, is that it? Look.. it's designed to persuade those who are sat on the fence about it to make a purchase. Yes, the competition to best show their product will be decided upon by those who make the product. Apparently that's not just cricket, is it? No... it should be decided by the public... you should be able to see what everyone else is entering... and you should be able to enter whether you bought anything or not. LOL
. Not at 24.99 vs 11.99 I'd like to know why weather pack 2 is more than double the price of weather pack 1?
Many reasons. 1000's of hours of work on blue prints and scripts, god knows how much work on the new shaders and skybox, then add in a Cost of Living crisis where, dare I say the owner of a business has to charge a price that would see them at the very least break even for time and costs invested let alone make a profit..
. Poor Richard, he must of suffered a huge loss with him only charging 11.99 for WEP1 (yeah, right) I'm sure weather pack 1 had many thousands of hours work on it also. Most people have not had a wage increases in years > Cost of Living crisis.
It would depend if those people who bought Weather Pack 1 are happy and do they want to spend another £24.99?
Could it be possibly be because it's a better product? Let's say perhaps, nearly doubly as good? Not exactly rocket science.
Even if it is twice as good do the people who purchased the first version get a discount on the second? Purchase one AP Class 37 pack and get a discount on the second - is this the same?
At the time of it's release there was considerable criticism on FB of both its price and the relatively small discount to WEP1 owners. I certainly won't be buying it at £24.99 and will wait until it's fully discounted, but even then I might not buy, as I'm not convinced it gives sufficient value to me over the WEP1 I've already got. I'm getting increasingly disenchanted with AP. I don't like parts of their update practices and the value for money of their latest products. I get almost as much pleasure from DTG's Class 50 as I do from AP's and there's a huge difference in price.
When was the WEP 1 released? I personally don't know the exact date but I have been using it for at least 3 years. In that time my Energy Bill has more than doubled, I would imagine the running costs of the AP website servers have also increased by a similar amount. Add that to the development time and effort in producing this vastly superior product and I would say even at £24.99 that is a very fair price. Why does everyone always like to have a pop at Richard and the cost of his products? RSSLO sell 1 Loco (OBB 2016 Hercules) with no scenarios for €24.99 but nobody seems to complain or start forum discussions on their pricing policy.
In many countries companies are legally obligated to provide an alternate means of entry for such promotions.
You can run that loco on any European route A weather pack is just that - it might make the background look better but you still have to spend money on stock. The price of the RSSLO 2016 is high but then so are recent DTG releases
Yes, but you would also have to purchase said routes at extra cost (if you don't own them) if you want to use it. Totally agree, as you say RSSLO, DTG, JT .............. AP etc. can all be expensive, this is not a particularly cheap hobby. I just get a bit fed up with only AP being singled out for a constant bashing every time they release a product. If anyone thinks a product from any company is not value for money or overpriced then simply don't buy it. I really don't see the point in constant moaning and complaining on forum threads.
If this is true then AP products absolutely aren't for you so it's no surprise the higher prices make no sense to you. To others though, the high quality liveries/visuals/audio/physics that set the AP 50 apart from the DTG 50 do matter. We all have different things we look for after all.
I find AP Products good with some better than others and I buy them if they are better than the alternative. Cl 37, 50, 87, 90, 319, 411/12, HSTs. Some are not worth the expense to me if I won't be using them.
(big off) I think it just filters back from the other things we have discussed, plus indeed their tricks. Some people get triggered. Ideally just ignore such comments. Venting needs no feedback (besides a /hug), trolling or being smartie should get none. One thing I'd add here, is that their work kind of incentivizes laziness of original devs - you can buy the basic version on Steam but then you can fork out another sum to have proper sounds, graphics, physics, what have you. Which might even be intentional... (conspirationists rejoice) I'm personally not fussed about it, of course the closed competition can get funny as you never know who won and why and against whom, but anyway. That said it would be lovely to see the entrants, for inspiration and all. Like in the threads on these forums, minus the fact that you need to register to see beyond thumbnails. I think if AP offered their products using trustworthy channels (Steam), a lot people would be happier to pick them up. Not just the enhancements, but liveries and all the other stuff. That said, like I keep parroting, TSC shouldn't need AP skies as a separate product.
I personally quite like the concept of if I have a limited budget I can buy a basic DTG product for a fair price. If I have a larger budget I have the option of buying the AP upgrade and turning an OK product into an "Oh WOW" product. e.g. the basic Class 37 bundled with Settle - Carlisle or West Highland Routes Compared with the AP Class 37 Pack 1 + 2 They are just leagues apart in quality and functionality. If all DTG produced DLC was produced to the same quality as AP we would be looking at somewhere around double the price currently charged and only seeing possibly 1 or 2 new releases per year if we were lucky as the time it takes to script and build from scratch a top quality Loco is immense. Just ask dunkrez how many hours he spent creating the new amazing MPV Unit. Breaking it down I bet he would have been on less than minimum wage for the time spent creating that. and it is on sale for just £21.99 if you are not an ATS Subscriber. I have in my library both the entire AP catalogue and the GST MPV V2 and do not regret a single penny. Quality costs, and by golly if you can afford it, it is worth it.
Look. I was making a comment that it looks like a sales push. You are choosing to apply a connotation to it. There was not one negative ion implied in my post. You applied your own opinion of my meaning to it. Please stop being critical of others. I am not complaining at all. Thank you.
No one considers this, and even if they do, for some reason, they don't see it as their problem, and expect others to somehow absorb that cost. Computers require power.... running a company requires power. My gaming rig draws around 700 watts when working hard... that's fairly typical for a gaming PC. That's just one machine. Travel is expensive as well. I dunno.... people just want stuff for free, and moan about the cost. Small companies that try to absorb the costs themselves will probably fold, and AP is a small business. Even giant companies are finding it hard to absorb these overheads, but people expect a small company to absorb a gigantic increase in energy prices for some reason. Clueless... utterly clueless. It's also just a more complex product that required more time to make. I'll be honest, I was expecting £19.99 like everyone else, and maybe if this was released 2 years ago, it may have been. I'd love to know how many nay sayers would also think nothing of spending £20 or so in a pub, with nothing more to show for it the next morning except urine.
If I spend £20 in a pub I have several hours of enjoyable company and end with a happy mellow feeling. If I spend £20 on AP products I sit alone in a room, get disappointed with the value of what I've got and feel guilty that I didn't spend the money on my family! I don't buy the idea that because energy costs have doubled in price the cost of everything else must double. For most businesses energy is an important cost, but it's a minor part of the overall selling price. IT products and services have not doubled in price between the release of WEP 1 and WEP 2. TSC products from other vendors have not doubled in price. Those from DTG haven't gone up at all for standard products. Whether £24.99 is a good price for WEP2 is a matter of opinion, not fact. I think it's too expensive, so I'm out. Judging by FB, so do many others. It does make me wonder if the screenshot competition is just a general marketing trial that would have happened anyway, or if price resistance is now being met and AP are concerned.
Maybe you don't run a small business where power and travel are a large part of your costs then. Large companies can just put the squeeze on their suppliers instead.. like supermarkets do. Small businesses cannot do that.
Honestly, the MPV update has brought in maybe 2 or 3 extra sales so far. Compare that with 9 months of ~40 hours per week and usually around 12 hours ploughed in over the weekends on top of the original dev time. I tried to give everyone something that is as near to fully functioning as damn it, literally. There's been no fanfare from any of the usual guys, although I am very grateful to my supporters for their kind words of gratitude. The project has taken around 2 years back to back, and I tried my best to keep the passed on cost of the project to an absolute minimum - for instance, the pro sounds, well, I had to cost them into the price. So, yeah, I imagine AP enjoy a thousand times the success that I do, and they charge what they need to for their stuff. Money makes the world go round. I should add - I can't even afford to treat myself to the latest AP weather pack.
That's okay. Their products obviously aren't for you then. Why you couldn't assess that value before purchasing though is odd as AP do give a lot of information/screenshots/videos beforehand. Agreed. I doubt this is a major contributor in any pricing. Some developers have said products can cost many thousands to produce so a slight uptick in energy costs is going to be barely noticeable in that budget. We must be looking in different places as the number of screenshots I've seen using it are numerous. In fact, it's far more common to see screenshots with it than without. Related to above, I see no evidence that take-up has been poor for this pack. It just seems like a bit of fun for those who have purchased the pack with the chance of a rather lucractive prize...!
I personally don't give a hoot how much AP charges for this pack, when it produces results like this. I very rarely used to load up the West Highland line as I found the long single line running a tad boring. Not any more, when you can jump out of the cab and view scenery like this. [EDIT] Correct image now displayed, my apologies for any confusion.
Are you implying DTG skies are better than AP skies? I obviously mean that the game should be improved with these things. Old skies aren't actually terrible, just some parts of it and certainly could use a higher resolution, especially with people gradually moving towards 4K. And whatever else that makes AP fans feel pain when looking at it. Unless the skies (cloud formations) in the UK are completely different from continental Europe. I'm used to big rolling stuff. (Edit: pic above is 0% realistic in my country. Nice composition, though, legit honest liked in the other thread! The thread clouds, however, look nice.) I mean, just look at WoW, for example. With every expansion, they don't just lump some content at the end, but they also update a couple things here and there. Most of us buy the yearly editions, so. Same with ETS2 / ATS, they keep remodeling old DLC, and updating graphics. And thus, over the years, it gets better, not only the newest DLC but all of it. It gradually adds up.
We just need TS update its own skies with a global HQ weather system and valid for all routes (3D weather already is but needs tuning) - not just routes along the 52th degree northern latitude which AP addresses (very well indeed )
You sure this has AP sky applied? That's how it looks with the original sky by Thomson (which is quite complex also, it even uses different skydomes for each season, and has many cloud bitmaps supplied. I like it so much that I didn't replace it - very colourful sunsets) Default sky: Midsummer's night - nice starry sky
I agree. That's not AP sky in either image. The pack doesn't apply to that route as default, you have to manually install it. However, I think the pack is damn fantastic and worth every penny…night and day better than WP1. I've barely scratched the surface of what can be done with it. ps No nicking these and entering them into the competition!
Ha. So it was either a trick against me to say the original was bad, or a trick against self praising anything that has the AP label. Let's just say it was the first I'm happy to take the fall
Would be the fact they spent twice as long working on the second than the first. Plus rising costs of living. I think a doubling in price adds up.
That doesn't look right. Try re-running the installMe.bat file in your assets folder. [edit]. Just realised that the pack is not supported by that route. It needs to be manually installed. I had to manually install it, then it was fine.
OOOps!!! Looks like prize doughnut of the year award is coming my way. Does help when you upload the correct image. I had taken before and after shots to compare and under the stress of "We are going out for dinner will you hurry up!!!!" syndrome, fired up the wrong image. To top it all, I had just posted the 'before AP' shots from the same scenario in the Unofficial Screenie comp. and realised I hadn't applied the new AP pack. That's what you get for rushing, not paying attention to detail, ..... ooh and being nagged by SWMBO. LOL I have since updated my post accordingly. Thanks to you all for flagging it up, my sincere apologies for the confusion.
Hmmm... not sure what the issue is or where the anger comes from. Companies use tactics to promote their products all the time, and one lucky winner gets the full lot off AP - a known improver of stock and routes for TSC (and TSW a little bit). AP - along with a handful of others - have made significant contributions to propping up this simulator for years now. The Wherries, the 37, the weather, the EPs... I've enjoyed most of them. I want AP to continue improving it, so will buy their products as and when one grabs my fancy Not bothered about gimmicks, albeit all of our financial circumstances are all different. Just decide for yourselves if you want to save up or spend the money elsewhere. It isn't the cheapest hobby, I'm afraid.
I think it says existing catalogue for free, but someone thought future too? (I have every AP product available currently with the sole exception of SWEP2….)
It does include all future releases as long as AP are trading. Taken from the official AP Facebook page:- "Now you are all hopefully becoming familiar with using our Sky & Weather Enhancement Pack 2.0, we are holding a competition with a very special prize of a lifetime* supply of Armstrong Powerhouse products! The lucky winner will have free access to all packs currently on sale on our website at www.armstrongpowerhouse.com, as well as any packs we release in the future."
"The lucky winner will have free access to all packs currently on sale on our website at www.armstrongpowerhouse.com, as well as any packs we release in the future."
Embarrassment.com springs to mind, I have been guilty of some stuff up's in my life but this has to rate up with the best. Isn't it great to be human. LOL
