As the title. Details here: https://www.armstrongpowerhouse.com/latest_newsletter I would have preferred a Class 08/09 or Class 24/25 enhancement pack, but I presume they know where the money is.
I agree I'm personally not desperate for a new 66, as you say he knows it will be popular. A Sulzer sound pack would be great as the DTG ones sound awful. I wonder if he won't work on models that old. Might be why we may never get a new DMU or slam door DMU sound pack. I do wish he'd put his old sound packs back into the shop. There are a couple I would love to get.
It's going to be updated textures and new skins from the 8 years since initial release, as stated in the news letter. Hoping that there is a marked difference in the visuals as the rest of the stuff is already available via other sources. Improving functionality to include features is a bit vague but anything more advanced has to be good right?
Not if the price doesn't justify it. Obviously, we don't know what its price will be, or what discount might be offered to existing EP owners, but the existing EP suits my needs, so I'm not inclined to spend much on a V2.0. As others have pointed out above, there are things more deserving of a new EP that I would have paid a decent amount for. Others will have different views.
They did mention a potential update to their ageing Class 90 pack, but who knows whether they actually did any work on that. For the right price a 2.0 upgrade to the EP could be good. What's being said now is the exact same thing that was said when the 66 Sound Pack Pro was going to be replaced, but in the end I don't think anyone is complained that they made the EP.
I don't mind them updating existing packs. If I feel it's worth it I'll purchase the new versions. However there are long withdrawn packs which were never replaced and plenty of stock not yet modelled. How many times are they going to keep updating what are often perfectly good packs!
The previous Class 66 EP required two different Class 66 packs for the variations - this does not. Also it will ad a lot more liveries that are not currently available or from a third party. I'm on the fence as to getting it - it will depend on what features it does or does not have.
Fair enough then new liveries would be welcome. I will likely get it at some point. I don't particularly enjoy the class 66 but that's just my personal gripe as I don't like them.
'Perfectly good' is subject to debate. The AP 66 SP was perfectly good. So was the MTU EP. But when the upgrade is obvious, I think I'd struggle to find people who wished they hadn't bothered with the updated versions. I do agree with you that other things need to be made, not that there are many things left to do in the modern UK scene. The Class 40 needs a re-release, and I'm surprised they haven't got around to doing it.
A new 66 is nice but sort of with theorganist on this one, I would definitely prefer the replacements of sound packs that were ripped off their site quite a while ago instead because then why would you remove them in the first place... The whole sound pack removal debacle still does slightly tick me off if I am going to be perfectly honest.
RailRight did the Class 37 bundled with the West Highland Extension route, and were doing a separate 37 pack (with Vulcan Productions, I think?) that then got taken over by Just Trains when RailRight folded, and then completely disappeared off the face of the Earth...
They are reworking existing EPs instead of creating new EPs. It may be that the 66 will be popular, but it also means removing a pack that already works and does the purpose and putting a higher priced pack in its place that existing owners would still have to buy. I'd rather have a new pack to get sometime. See Class 421-423 and Class 57 for instance. Now, a 66 add-on that uses the existing pack - like a part 2 - would be acceptable. But I still think the focus is wrong right now.
I'd be mostly fine with them withdrawing the sound packs to replace them with EPs if the replacements were released shortly after. We've been waiting for years for EPs for certain trains that used to have sound packs. That said, for the sake of scenario compatibility I agree that AP should still offer withdrawn packs. Even if they don't want to sell them, being able to ask for them and get them sent would be really helpful. It's also quite annoying that extra stock packs for the old sound packs can't be downloaded straight from the website anymore. To get them, you'll either have to guess the download links (which are still up) or use the Wayback Machine.
The point is they are still there, and for obvious reasons, AP would not want them publicly shared as only those with the DLC should ever need to get support for them. Otherwise I'd have a list of links to most of them, live or not, to serve as an archive of reskins that have appeared in his scenarios over the years (I think I have found all of them by now). I found one really old reskin in the Class 37 Sound Pack extra stock that I never saw anywhere else, in fact; it showed up in a scenario somewhere. So they are helpful! Oh, and I agree about scenario compatibility requests. My efforts have resulted in nothing granted. I may still make a reskin chart someday, but I have felt no need to work on this since I can't link to them anyway. It would just be for reference purposes to help find a missing reskin. If I do, I'll try to provide info on those that appeared elsewhere. For instance, the old 455 reskins prior to the EPs coming out I think are from UKTS as well, and I know there was an old 318 in a no longer available scenario from the DRB 317 model.
Honestly same here. Honestly I kinda wish they would've updated the Class 321, and if anything is to go by upadting too, the class 90 and dvt.
Better than the DTG version (not a high bar though) but compared to other AP stock it is a bit dated. That said even modern AP EPs are dated, like the 170 EP with its terrible cab textures.
