Seven (yes SEVEN) months ago I put this version into the N3V DLC approval stream. Waited, waited, waited, ... . Asked for an update -- no reply. Asked again, and again, ... . Last week in desperation I emailed Tony Hillian. Three days ago I received an email from Paul Olsen that the Oldphartz had been marked "failed" because I needed to re-submit the package in the new N3V evaluation process. This creates a dilemma for me.
My reading of the new process is that I submit the layout, the N3V "system" builds it into a package suitable for release, I download the package and test it, and then if I deem it satisfactory it goes into the Beta Testing phase. Now to quote from the N3V documentation:
"Once 10 or more beta testers claim your package the status of your Project will change to Beta Testing. During the beta testing phase if all beta testers complete their testing before the beta testing period is finished then the beta testing round will be marked complete."
It's the "claim" bit that causes me concern. Presumably there is a continuous flow of content entering the Beta Testing. Now say, for example, there are 40 beta testers. Perhaps only eight of these may have any interest in model railroads. And of those eight perhaps four might be interested only in UK model railroads. In this hypothetical case there will never be ten testers to claim The Oldphartz, the layout will linger in the process for eternity, by which time both you and I will be even older oldphartz.
Hi Phil
Part of the reason for the change to the new DLC system is to avoid the massive delays that the old manual system entailed, especially if our team were busy (Which they generally are).
For the new system, this is still coming together at the moment. Some of the information provided is still a bit of a work in progress, as is the system itself (although it's pretty good so far), or is based on how the system will work when fully adopted.
For the beta testing specifically, as we are still bringing people onboard with the new system, testing will in part be done by our own QA team to speed things up a little until we have a large pool of beta testers involved. So the '10 testers' minimum isn't currently active (but the information is there for when it becomes active, so it can't be forgotten when this happens!). The hope is that when we have a larger pool of testers, that few if any DLC packs will be 'missed'. And if we find that DLC packs aren't going into beta testing quickly enough, we will look at changing the requirements to go into beta as needed
Believe me, we want to streamline the DLC packaging and release system as much as possible, as that will definitely benefit everyone!
Unfortunately this change does require the DLC packs to be submitted in the new tzarc format, which will require TRS19 SP2 when released (or the TRS19 Platinum Edition, or the last 2 TrainzPlus releases). We're hoping to be able to announce more regarding TRS19 SP2 soon, but I can't currently say exactly when.
These changes have been in the pipeline for quite some time, but unfortunately with a small team it can mean that some things take longer than we would sometimes prefer to. This has included processing of DLC packs, and is why we want to streamline it as much as possible.
Regards