Latest Newsletter

Christmas Sale

As has become something of a tradition, we are holding our 'up to 40% off' sale during the Christmas period. Always a good time to fill those gaps in your collection! The sale ends at 23:59 GMT on Wednesday 1st January.

AI Horns

In case you don't keep an eye on our Facebook page or Update Log, many of our packs have been updated to feature 'AI horns'. This allows you with ease to have AI trains sound their horn in scenarios. Please see our Update Log for which packs have been updated and their respective manual for how to use this new feature.

The Workbench

After a short rest following the the release of the HST (MTU) Pack, we have begun work on a new enhancement pack. As aluded to in our last newsletter, it's an old sound pack being brought up to modern enhancement pack standards. What is the loco/unit in question though? The Class 92! A fascinating loco with a chequered history.

Using the old sound pack as a base, we begun with liveries. The old sound pack came with a few liveries but these were of a low standard compared to now and didn't even feature autonumbering...! They were promptly thrown in the bin and completely new versions produced with proper high quality texturing and weathered variants. Most liveries and logo variations that these locos have carried over the years are now covered.

Our attention then turned to functionality. The sound pack was actually already fairly good in that respect with the annunciator screen and temperature simulation. There are many small things that have become standard with our packs that were lacking though, which might not be headline features but are small things which come together to greatly improve the driving experience. Think gradient correction, AI horns, consistent key commands, different cab camera angles, projected light from the headlight which fades in as darkness falls.

Something we are also trialling with this pack is the inclusion of a simplified GSM-R & NRN radio. Without considerable work which simply isn't feasible unless a kind individual donates their time, it's not possible to add new 'click spots' (items you can click in the cab) without the ability to distribute an edited version of the original model, which isn't possible when we are using someone else's model in an enhancement pack. To date, this has precluded us from including GSM-R & NRN radios in many enhancement packs, but we now feel something in this department is better than nothing. As a result, you will be able to register the GSM-R or NRN radio in this pack, but the registration process automatically occurs upon pressing a key command. Instead of typing in the headcode and signal number (GSM-R) or zone number (NRN) on the keypad, this information is now taken from the locomotive's number in the scenario editor.

This as far as we have got so far with more work to be done on functionality/features as well as giving the sounds a good overhaul using new recordings where they are now available to us.

All that remains is to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. The past couple of years have been a period of consolidation for us as we produced more general enhancement packs to ensure Train Simulator Classic was fit for the future in how the environment looks and signals operate. We now think we are in a great place to move forward and really concentrate on moving back to enhancing existing stock. You never know too, maybe even still the odd fully fledged 'rolling stock' release. Thank you as always for your support.

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please do get in touch via the Contact Us form at https://www.armstrongpowerhouse.com/index.php?route=information/contact.