Is the AP Track Enhancement Pack good?

[Briancatchflights]

I am thinking of purchasing this but before i do, i would like to hear from some of you whether it is good or not.

[TWG-Hish]

yes id recommend it even with some clipping issues

[Bradillo]

I highly recommend it,certainly improves the track detail on many routes.

[Stringbean]

As much as I like a lot of their products I'm not sure about this one. I don't own it but I did just take a look at their website and viewed the photos. It just lookes like different shades of colour in the textures. For example, the 'Before' and 'After' picture of a shot looking towards Battersea really didn't grab me at all. Just different shading.

If I was to be persuaded and go for it then I would probably wait for their next sale because this really does look like one of those packs that really isnt a game changer in my opinion.

[ixvst01]

I have it and it’s not just different colored textures. The track is 3D and is the exact track the vR uses on Konstanz to Vilingen route. It really makes the routes feel more modern especially older routes like the Great Western Mainline and WCML Over Shap

[Stringbean]

Well I'm trying to be positive and not be negative on the AP pack so apart from looking at thier screenshots on their website I also watched this video and honestly, my TS19 with all graphic sliders high looks the same as what shown in the video. I have the AP sound Enchancement pack to give the realistic rail sounds but this pack in terms of track visuals doesn't convince me very much at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKbJYZ1-6hk&t=418s

[JetWash]

It’s literally a game changer. I couldn’t recommend it enough!

[Ubris]

Giving a negative review of a product you've never tried is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Please delete your comments and uninstall the simulator.

[Stringbean]

Originally posted by Ubris:

Giving a negative review of a product you've never tried is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Please delete your comments and uninstall the simulator.

Who are you referring to and where is this negative review you speak of??

[TWG-Hish]

Originally posted by stringbean6:

If I was to be persuaded and go for it then I would probably wait for their next sale because this really does look like one of those packs that really isnt a game changer in my opinion.

its like £4.99 how skint are you ?

[Broomwagon]

I'm an AP fanboy, but now a little nervous of getting this after getting the lighting effects enhancement. On my rig it made all the distant hills and mountains light 'sky' blue, so made it look like there was this weird bit of sky between the clouds and the ground, and there was a great deal of mustard yellow - I had to uninstall and reinstall quite a number of routes.

[[TFA]Wolf]

Originally posted by broomwagon:

I'm an AP fanboy, but now a little nervous of getting this after getting the lighting effects enhancement. On my rig it made all the distant hills and mountains light 'sky' blue, so made it look like there was this weird bit of sky between the clouds and the ground, and there was a great deal of mustard yellow - I had to uninstall and reinstall quite a number of routes.

Did you run it with the 3d Clouds (dynamic Clouds) or without? As the AP Lighting effects enhancement pack is only for the old lighting type not for the new one.

As for the Track Pack I run it in conjunction with some vegetation replacers and especially for old routes it's a game changer, because some of the old trackwork looks really dated.
It also gets rid of the insanely loud track roar on certain routes.


The only negative I could say is that on the WCML-N and Shap they don't have the Pink Gravel anymore, which is a bit of a local speciality due to a certain quarry delivering it.

I haven't shot much in recent days, well, atleast for public dissemination that is, but here are a few improvements
WCML-N (AP Track pack installed+Track and vegetation replacer for the SECML, shared assets so WCML-N is affected.):
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1546974745
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1546974803

Liverpool Manchester (AP Track Pack+ Trainworks.eu Route upgrade....vegetation is updgraded.):
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1546974703

[Broomwagon]

Looks good in your pictures Wolf - you're making a persuasive argument for it.

I tried the lighting effect pack with a number of different weather effects - had the same issue with them all - the distant hills were a 'sky' blue....

[JetWash]

Buy it. You won’t regret it.

As for the lighting pack, as Wolf says, it doesn’t work with 3D weather. It does say that somewhere on their website.

[[TFA]Wolf]

Originally posted by broomwagon:

Looks good in your pictures Wolf - you're making a persuasive argument for it.

I tried the lighting effect pack with a number of different weather effects - had the same issue with them all - the distant hills were a 'sky' blue....

Thanks that was the idea, however as I pointed out I'm also using vegetation replacers, most of them are freeware based, though some also use the Konstanz-Villingen vegetation.

The Upgrades on the UK tracks, based on czech freeware vegetation and the freeware DB Tracks, also 3D tracks.
http://trainworks.eu/forum/viewforum.php?f=179

Germany
http://trainworks.eu/forum/viewforum.php?f=168

For me it's a Toss-up between the DB tracks and the Konstanz-villingen Tracks, however AP matches their track variants better to the the route and has more variations of track than a simple track replacer.

What I like about both is that they have more ballast underneath, so you don't have those weird gaps that you had on some old routes, where the track seemed to hover mid air at some points.

The one for the SECML is one made by Johnny Best, I don't know if and where it is availlable though....had some issues with it's own track replacer, based on the Konstanz-Villingen track as well. Namely it messed with the tunnel tracks, giving you a see through tunnel.
Which is why I split it into Vegetation and tracks.......and then installed the AP Track pack over it, once with the tracks off and once with them on, as sadly this pack doesn't cover the SECML yet.
Which is one of the routes most profiting from it.

What I'd wish for now, is for the old steam era routes like the S&D getting updated with track like that, and for someone to match the old Road and Rail Sound Enhancement Pack (R&RSEP) track sounds (with accurate track length sounds) and the track roar fix of the AP Track Pack.
As with EFX on the Track roar could get annoying on some old routes.....deafening is the right word......part of the old R&RSEP did fix that, but I think that got broke with one of the yearly updates.

[Broomwagon]

Originally posted by Wolf:

What I like about both is that they have more ballast underneath, so you don't have those weird gaps that you had on some old routes, where the track seemed to hover mid air at some points.

Yes, I've noticeed that a lot, it doesn't look good.

I'll get it - though I'll play some of the routes before I do so I can get a good comparison.