January 2023 Newsletter and Goals
Happy New Years everyone! I hope you all have had a happy, healthy and safe holiday and are looking forward to hitting the ground running in 2023!
-------------------------------
Once again the month has gotten away from me and my ambitions have outpaced my available free time. I should have known better since December and January are historically times for me to catch up on maintenance things I put off all year like my website, general file organization and photography projects. But overall, I’m happy with the progress I’ve made over the few free days I’ve had this month to work on projects.
Let's recap December quickly then talk about my upcoming plans and ambitions for January and further into 2023.
-------------------------------
P&B
The below list is from my previous newsletter outlining what I hoped to accomplish on the route this month.
✅ = Complete ☑ = In-Progress ❌ - Didn't begin
☑Finish scenery between Mt. Union and Everette (viaduct)
❌Continue scenery from Pleasantville Jct. north to Highland
✅Finish updating scenery along Paint Creek
❌Complete the power plant scene south of Pleasantville (for Ep 51)
❌Complete the school scene in Pleasantville which would essentially complete the branch (also for Ep 51)
Obviously I didn't get as much of this list completed as I was hoping BUT I did begin work on some other areas that aren't on this list.
Over the course of a short amount time I was able to fill in a lot of scenery between the Pleasantville Wye and Mount Union. It's incomplete as of now but I'd wager an additional 2-4 miles of trackside scenery has been added. This includes scenery along the wye itself. I was also able to update and replace all of the billboard trees along the viaduct scene in Everette making it a bit more cohesive with the rest of the route. A lot of this was started during the December Patreon Stream.
I also dabbled around Grafton and along the Paint Creek branch updating and filling gaps in scenes.
N Scale:
✅Finish "short" on pouring my water scene
✅Begin blog write up about the water scene (this will cover things in more detail than the "short.")
✅Write up and release blog post introducing my N Scale layout in more detail
As you can see by this list, I was actually able to complete it! Yay 👏
Beginning in January I'll be introducing a new Patreon tier that'll give early access to my N Scale "Shorts" and blog write ups. My goal here is to produce a video "short" on an N Scale project as an entertaining overview and accompany it with a longer form blog post to outline the project in greater detail. At this point I'm not entirely sure how frequent these shorts and blog posts will be but I already have an increasing list of ideas for what I want to produce.
You can check out the first blog post over on my website. All early access posts and videos will be available here first before being posted publicly on my website and Youtube. This tier will start at $7 for access to the posts. And keeping with the current tier structure, higher tiers will also have access to the N Scale tier. I can always make changes based on your feedback.
Look out for the first post in January 2023!
Other Trainz Projects:
❌Begin work on the NYCH route
This was a long shot right out of the gate but I was hopeful to begin this project as soon as possible.
The NYCH route is going to be another small module like the WK&S or Hudson and Western. I should be able to bang it out in a fairly short amount of time, though I think it's going to require quite a few custom made assets.
If you're not familiar, the New York Cross Harbor is the prototype I'm modelling in N Scale. I've been wanting to also build the route in 1:1 scale and this is how I intend on doing so. I'm hoping to get started on this project in early 2023 but I don't think I necessarily want to create a deadline to adhere to.
☑DB&EV for Trainz 2019
Updating the Dry Brook for Trainz 2019 has been a project that I've been working on for quite a while now. The biggest obstacle I've run into is which version of Trainz 2019 to make it compatible with. I'll be honest when I say that the tier structure of Trainz 2019 and newer releases is incredibly confusing and I'd like this route to work with as many of them as possible. I think it may be the new "packaged" tag that's causing the most issues but that's yet to be confirmed.
Overall my goal for updating the route is simply to update key scenery to proper 3D models instead of the billboard assets used as well as updating any textures to parallax ones. There's actually a working beta from about a year ago available to Executive tier Patrons if you're interested in checking it out for yourself but it does still need some work. It appears that most of the sessions broke with the newer game version and are what's going to require the most work to update.
Again, I'm not setting a deadline for this project and hope to simply chip away at it as time allows. Updates will be available to Executive tier Patrons once they're ready and I'll continue to update any progress here as well.
-------------------------------
Now let's talk about January's Patreon Benefits:
Project Manager Patrons will enjoy a new collection of junk and debris assets to trash up industrial scenes with. My original plan was to import some more suburban houses but the asset collection I purchased was far more complicated than I anticipated and would have required hours of work per structure. So those will have to wait.
Instead I've ported a decent collection of broken down cardboard boxes, news papers, a pallet, a tarp and a traffic barrel. These are all looking pretty good and will most definitely be used extensively along my builds. Unfortunately, these assets use PBR textures so while they will technically work in TANE their appearance isn't as good as they will be in Trainz 2019 and newer.
This pack will be available January 2nd, 2023.
-------------------------------
Dispatcher tier patrons will enjoy our monthly live stream on January 11th. Usually I do the stream the first Wednesday of the month but I think I'm going to need a few days in the new year to get myself back on schedule.
-------------------------------
Executive tier patrons will certainly enjoy the updates available to the P&B.
P&B Changelog:
Continued expanding the housing development on the north side of Highland
Completed scenery around Pleasantville Wye
Added some farmland across from the MOW area at the Wye
Added a significant amount of scenery between Pleasantville Jct. and Everette
Replaced all billboard trees at Everette
Continued to scenic area between Everette and Mt. Union
Continued to dabble with scenery around Grafton
Additional updates to the Phase 1 section thanks to 44Willys
This P&B update will be available January 2nd, 2023.
-------------------------------
Of course there's also the Weekly Wednesday Discord Hangouts available to anyone in the Station Agent tier and higher. Make sure your discord account is connected to Patreon to receive the benefit role.
-------------------------------
Alright now let's talk about my plans for January and 2023
Firstly, I have another collection of junk and debris assets I'll be porting for the February asset release. Between Turbosquid and CGTrader, there seems to be no shortage of these things and they're among some of my favorite assets to use in the game.
As far as the P&B goes, I'd like to get to work on episode 51 and complete the Pleasantville Secondary in its entirety. This includes completing some scenes around town and more importantly, the power plant at the end of the branch. This will pretty much take priority for January, anything additional will be a bonus. But of course I'd like to continue closing the scenery in along the mainline as much as possible. I'm also planning to add a passenger station in Grafton, but that will probably come in episode 52.
January 28th & 29th I'll be at the Springfield train show at the Big E in Springfield Mass. I'll be wearing my AM hoodie so keep an eye out! I'll also have some t-shirts with me to give away while I'm there.
Those are my January plans for the most part. As I said, January tends to be a good time for me to catch up on general PC maintenance and website updates so I'll be focused on that. There are a few more TBS assets I need to add to my website as well as some CPS assets from Audie. Additionally, all Patreon assets from 2022 will be added to my website for public download. Keep an eye on the discord announcements section to see when they're available.
Continuing through 2023 my plans are to actually complete the P&B. For really real this time I swear. This is really going to be my top priority. The NYCH route will be another project to look forward to but again, I'm not putting that on a timeline other than starting it in early 2023.
I have tons of ideas for N Scale projects that I'm more than excited to talk about. These will include "shorts" videos on a variety of projects as well as the more detailed blog posts to accompany them. Depending on the interest level, I may expand the blog posts to include longer form videos. But that's more of a longer term goal of mine.
Ideally I'd really love to get back to posting videos more regularly and live streaming more frequently. As the P&B nears completion I'd like to begin a monthly operating session live stream. Again, this has been a longer term goal of mine that I've been mulling over for years but it's now looking more like a real possibility. Once the project is closer to completion I'll have a better idea of when these streams will take place and what the format will be.
-------------------------------
That pretty much sums it all up. I fully expect my ambitions will outpace my ability to keep up with them in 2023 but I guess that's what keeps me going 😄
Thank you guys all again for an amazing 2022. Here's to an awesome 2023 🥂!