Sound Question for all the sound experts:

[blvdbill]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-25-02 AT 06:25PM (EST)[p]I was playing around with a wag file to get a passenger view on a flat car, that part works great, and you can hear the sounds of the wagon with no problem (genfreightwag3.sms). My question is, is it possible to add a line in the genfreightwag3.sms or the 50ft_flat_cbq.wag to so I can hear the horn and/or outside noises? And if so, which sms file would I add, and to which wag file.



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Blvdbill

[scefhwil]

Try the following:-

1. Delete the Sound () statement from the Inside () set of lines.
2. Look for the Sound () line in the main part of the .wag file, it's usually towards the end. Note it's name, I'll call it xwag.sms.
3. Find this file in the global sounds folder. Copy it and rename it xwagpas.sms.
4. Open it for editing (unicode stuff applies).
5. Look at the Activation and Deactivation sections under each of the ScalibilityGroups. They should look something like this.

Activation (
ExternalCam ()
Distance (55)
)
Deactivation (
PassengerCam ()
CabCam ()
Distance (55)
)

6. Move the PassengerCam () statements from the Deactivation section into the Activation sections, and change the 55 distances to 550, so it looks something like this.

Activation (
ExternalCam ()
PassengerCam ()
Distance (550)
)
Deactivation (
CabCam ()
Distance (550)
)

7. Save and exit.
8. Now edit the main Sound () statement to refer to this xwagpas.sms.

Drive and see..........

[blvdbill]

Thanks for the info, I'll give it a try!

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[b]Blvdbill

[scefhwil]

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating"

Having just tried out my own advice I find it doesn't solve this particular problem! It is the correct basic procedure for getting the CabView sounds into a PassengerView in a loco's cab, but doesn't seem to work for gettng the ExternalView sounds into a PassengerView on a wagon. Apologies.

So I've looked at it afresh using my test route. I'm still checking this fully out but so far the solution is actually rather simple, even obvious in hindsight, but with implications that are much more significant.

- If you want to hear the sound of an object in a particular type of view then activate the sound for that view type in the objects .sms file.

So for ambient sounds, say a crossing siren, find the .sms file for it (for crossings they are in the routes sound folder). The original config will have only ExternalCam () in the Activation sections. Now move the PassengerCam () statement from the Deactivation section to the Activation section. Do this for all the external objects you want to hear in the PassengerView. (You can do likewise with CabCam () if you want, but read on).

For rolling stock you need to make the same edit but only in the ScalibilityGroup 0 section. You need to change the .sms file refered to in the main Sound () statement within the Wagon () section for each item of stock you want to hear.

The effect is good. Sirens and passing trains now audible in the PassengerView! But... I have started to get lockups and crashes that were not occurring before. Indeed until now I cannot recall the sim ever just locking up and giving the 'Send' message simply whilst the player servise was cruising along without any event occuring. Is making these changes creating more work for the sound processing to do than it wants to handle? I had made alot of edits to .sms files though, and may not have removed some of the unsucessful changes. I ran out of time at this point, but intend to try again starting from a clean install of default files. I'll post further results.

For now heed this warning please. Do the edits I have outlined above at your own risk.

Stuart

[blvdbill]

Hey Stuart, Thanks for the advance yesterday, I gave it a try and like you, found out it didn’t work. Apologies accepted. But hey it’s no problem, that’s what we here for, to learn the new secrets of MSTS together. So I reloaded the original file and thought about your statement in the first post about moving the PassengerCam () statements from the Deactivation section into the Activation sections. So I tried it with may engine’s sms file (in my case F7Aeng.sms) and it worked great. This morning I saw your post and you mention about the crossing.sms, honestly I never thought about that one. So I made a quick edit to that sms and sure enough it works great. So far I haven’t got any lockups and crashes (fingers crossed :-) ). So Stuart Thanks again for all your help, and if you find any other discoveries on this matter please post them.



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Blvdbill

[WaltN]

I'd like to reactivate this thread soliciting any experience in the almost two years since it was started.

I am close to facing establishing cab and passenger sounds for an engine/car I have developed. The image below shows a passenger view out the back of the car during an inclined plane ascent.

http://home.stny.rr.com/wniehoff/sb/images/pisascentpass.jpg

Clearly, the car is open. The "cab" in the front (other end of the car) is also open. (Actually, the rear brake wheel shown in the image is identical to the brake wheel in the front of the car, and THAT is the cab.)

What I would like is to make the cab and passenger sounds identical, both to include track (regional) sounds, but no engine sounds, and ambient sounds from sound sources. Getting the ambient sounds seems to be the only mysterious part.

That, of course, is the original topic of this thread. Again, if anyone can add any experience gained since the two-year-ago posts, I'd appreciate hearing of it.

Walt

[rockislandfan]

Open that routes folder and look for the ttype DAT file. Open with wordpad and look to see what sms file it uses for outside sounds and which one it uses for inside. For example Marias Pass uses usatrack0in.sms for inside sounds and usatrack0ex.sms for outside sounds. Once you know what sms files it uses then open the main train simulator sound folder for all routes and find the sms files you saw listed in the ttypeDAT file. Open the these sms files with wordpad. You will need to activate the passenger view in the sms file that is used for outside sounds and then deactivate the passenger view in the sms file used for inside sounds. Then you should hear all outside sounds with the passenger view. You probably could do this with the cab view too but I never tried it. If you do this it will effect all routes using these same sms files. Let me know if this helps.

[WaltN]

Read and understood. Incidentally, I found that the SMS files referenced by the ttype.dat file can be "localized" in the route's SOUND folder.

This is going to take some playing around, though, and it may not be possible to find a compromise suitable for my situation. The route did run both open and enclosed cars, so I may be betwixt and between.

Thanks.

Walt

[rockislandfan]

The sound changes I mentioned will give you outside train sounds such as the track clicking and locomotive horn and bell and outside engine sounds but you will still not here other outside stuff like crossing bells and birds and vehicle traffic. I tried and could not do it. One thing did work. I used the locomotive head out view but used values that put the view back inside the cab and that worked. I only heard only outside sounds. I heard the outside engine sounds and even the crossing bells as I went over crossings yet my position was in the middle of the cab of an SD40. If you haven't done this yet I would give it a try, see how you like it. Its quite easy to do.
Ron

[WaltN]

I agree with the merits of your suggestion to set the outside view equal to the driver in-cab position. I used that technique to get the base in-cab view for my cab-view image. I'm laboring over cab-view controls right now, and, if I'm not satisfied with the results, I may just go with your suggestion and kill two birds with one stone (in-cab view and sound).

As long as I have your attention, let me ask you to straighten me out on a basic question: I'm a bit confused about the xxxcab.sms file versus the xxxeng.sms file. I gather that the cab sms file is engine-related sounds for in the cab. Right? Then what is the eng sms file? Out of cab engine sounds?

Thanks again.

Walt

[rockislandfan]

Yes you answered your own question. The cab.sms file pertains to inside cab sounds,the eng.sms is for outside sounds. I know a lot of these sounds are similiar but I think it has to do with how the sounds are managed. The cab.sms sounds are stereo and remain constant while the eng.sms sounds are mono and will change with distance plus you have the doppler effect as the train passes by. I think for these reasons KUJU found it best to seperate the inside and outside sounds. One good thing about that is you can use different sounds in the cab which can be prototype anyway. I worked for a real railroad years ago and most cab sounds are somewhat different than the outside. The outside sounds much better.
Ron