Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

[timken]

I've been trying to get this to work for some time, and haven't seen anything on the forum that got me there (might have missed it though). Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with the sound sms for the caboose! Although both the external and passenger views need to be active in it too, the thing that gets the sounds in the caboose or cupola, is related to the engine you are using. Only engines with the engine sms file passenger view active can be heard. On a short train (15 cars or so), you can even hear the whistle, chugging and bell from the front of the train. You also hear any helper coupled on. Makes the ride much better!

To get engine and helper sound in caboose cupola

Engine sound .sms file sample of what to change.

From this,

Activation (
ExternalCam ()
Distance (1000)
)
Deactivation (
CabCam ()
PassengerCam ()
Distance (1000)

Change to:


Activation (
ExternalCam ()
PassengerCam ()
Distance (1000)
)
Deactivation (
CabCam ()

Distance (1000)

Change your files and kick back in the cupola for a much better ride!

Steve

[timken]

RE: Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

If you do the same thing, only in the main sound file, or your route files, sound file ( some are in one, some in the other), you can also hear crossing bells and any other sound with an sms file. I've now got ocean sounds and seagull sounds added, so I can hear them from the caboose. This should work fine with and car that has a "5" view. It is especially nice going by the crossing, hearing the engines whistle, then the doppler shift of the crossing bells as they go by!

Steve

[jkcooney]

RE: Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

My Route (homegrown) sound file has many files in it. How do I identify which ones to edit?

[jkcooney]

RE: Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

Steve...........Does this apply to AI trains also? I have several Alco PAs that I can't hear passing by. Is their passenger file inactive???

[timken]

RE: Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

Open your sound folder in your route, on the taskbar menu choose view, details. Now sort them by type. The sms files will be in alphabetical order, which helps.

Which ones? That's a tough one! The crossing is the first one, assuming you have crossings with signals and bells. Have you put any sound source in? To hear these things, water, farm sounds, etc. you'll need to do them. Look at the sms files, and they will point to a wav or series of wav files. Double click on a wav, and media player will play it, so you know what it is, as many of the names aren't obvious.

Hope this gets you started!

Steve

[timken]

RE: Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

Sorry, don't know the answer to that one yet! I think there is a generic sms for steam, electric, and one for diesel, but not sure.

Wait a minute, just looked in the main sound folder. Same files, so should work. They are called genericsteameng, etc.

Steve

[jkcooney]

RE: Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

Found the files, will give it a try! So far no success with crossing bells although I did edit them inthe main sound file. Is the distance significant ... I notice its 100 at crossing (meters I assum) vs. 1000 for locomotives?
Joe C.

[timken]

RE: Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

I assume it is meters, and I may increase it to 150. You only hear them for a short distance as you pass, while in 5 view. Another thing, they aren't very loud, so maybe the thing to do is open the wav file and increase it's volume. Really shouldn't hear them for very far, but somewhat louder.

Steve

[jkcooney]

RE: Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

Wav file for the crossing bells....how high can we go with those values w/o distortion?

[timken]

RE: Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

I bumped mine up 3db and it is better.

Steve

[McCloud_River_John]

RE: Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

Steve can you shed some light on this? Maybe a simple step by step to get me started?

[timken]

RE: Hear the Helper engine in the caboose cupola

What do you want to do first? Hear other trains in the caboose, or the objects like crossing bells? We'll work from there!

I was pretty dense about this at first, and didn't get it when explained to me either. It took working with sms files quite a bit before it suddently dawned on me how to do it.

Steve