Welded Sounds In Rail Simulator

[jamesc25313]

If you have welded rail sounds like those that come with MLTs trains then you can use them in Rail Simulator. Since I cant redistribute these sounds Ill try and explain how to do so.

First you must convert you welded wav sound to dav and name it R_FX_Rail.dav I think the dev tools package has a dav to wav in the main Rail Simulator folder or you can use this one http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=223&t=78992

Now navigate to C:\Program Files\Rail Simulator\Assets\Kuju\RailSimulatorUS\Audio\RailNe twork\TrackBedRumble
and drop and overwrite the file named R_FX_Rail.dav with your new welded sound and thats it.


To Change Your Sound While Going Over A Bridge:

Then make a file named R_FX_Rail1.dav with your bridge sound which can also be found with MSTS sound folder. Then drop it in the same folder and open up SB_BridgeAudioControl.PROXYBIN and change the line that says R_FX_Rail.dav to R_FX_Rail1.dav and close. Then open SB_BridgeAudioControl.PROXYXML and find the line thats says Kuju\RailSimulatorUS\Audio\RailNetwork\TrackBedRum ble\R_FX_Rail.dav</Filename>
and change it to Kuju\RailSimulatorUS\Audio\RailNetwork\TrackBedRum ble\R_FX_Rail1.dav</Filename>
Then just above that find the line that says
<BaseVolume d:type="sFloat32">16.000000</BaseVolume>

and change it to what you see in this post which is changing the volume to 16.000000 you can set it lower if you like. Thats it now you have a new welded sound and a new sound for crossing bridges I have a video of my results.

http://www.youtube.com/v/wQokn9UQ2mI

[OTTODAD]

You have now a new welded sound and a new sound for crossing bridges I have a video of my results.

Great new sounds, James ! ;)

I presume that the same has to be done in the UK RailSimulator Assets Audio folders too ?

I also noticed that some add-ons having created new folders in the Assets folders also have their Audio folders, making deciding what needs to be modified and changed hard work ! :mad:

Like I said, I shall leave you or others do that if you or them would not mind releasing modified files. ;)

O t t o

[OTTODAD]

Hi James !

Had a go at trying to replace the R_FX_Rail.dav sound with my converted with the DavDecoder.exe Points.wav track joints sound, following your instructions above and could not hear them, only the default RS track joints being audible.

Playing the R_FX_RAIL.dav with the KRS Bin Converter / IrfanViewer can hear my sounds loud and clear !

Used the renamed to R_FX_Rail.dav R_TN_Tingle.dav and still can hear the default track joint sounds only, an AI going past and in the player loco's cab.

Made sure that all Blueprints.pak files have been deleted before running RS to test the changes.

Am I missing something ?

Also trying to use the Start\Programs\Rail Simulator Developer Tools\Tools\Asset Editor so that I can use it's Blueprints Editor am being told that RS is Unable to Initialize Graphics, it's Options having been set to 1024x768, Multi Sample Type 4, Full Screen and the EAX & Software Mixing boxes being ticked.

I have never been able to run RS in Windowed Mode no matter what display combinations I tried with the Radeon X1950XT-Pro 512 Mb PCI-Express card and a ViewSonic 19" TFT monitor.

I think that this is another RS wall am not going to bounce off again ! :mad:

O t t o

[Basherz]

I have never been able to run RS in Windowed Mode no matter what display combinations I tried with the Radeon X1950XT-Pro 512 Mb PCI-Express card and a ViewSonic 19" TFT monitor.

I think that this is another RS wall am not going to bounce off again ! :mad:

O t t o

You must be doing something wrong Otto, as I have always been able to run RS in Windowed Mode with the Radeon X1950XT-Pro 512 Mb PCI-Express card and a Phillips 19" TFT monitor.

[jamesc25313]

Hi OTTO,
I got the sound to work fine in UK Version of RS. I included a video of the new sound in action. Heres what I did.

I went to C:\Program Files\Rail Simulator\Assets\Kuju\RailSimulator\Audio\RailNetw ork\TrackBedRumble of course

Opened the PROXYXML files of the following
BR_AudioControl
BridgeAudioControl
BT_BridgeAudioControl
BT_StandardBallastAudioControl
BT_TunnelAudioControl
StandardBallastAudioControl
TunnelAudioControl

And once opened found this line and changed the volume.
<Name d:type="cDeltaString">Rail</Name>
<IsLooped d:type="bool">1</IsLooped>
<Priority d:type="sUInt32">50</Priority>
<BaseVolume d:type="sFloat32">16.000000</BaseVolume>

I did this for each file BESIDES TingleAudioControl

The standard volume setting for StandardBallastAudioControl for example is
<BaseVolume d:type="sFloat32">0.200000</BaseVolume>
which we change the value to 16.000000

The only file I replace is the R_FX_Rail with my new welded sound. This will also ONLY change the track sound and not the bridge sounds.
In my sample video you hear the sound before changing the volume and after.

PLEASE NOTE: That I have a X300 graphics card until Friday and Fraps lags my computer. It lagged so bad that when I made the video it didnt record the other joint sounds normally heard in the cab so all youll hear is the welded sound but when you run the game youll hear all the sound mixed together its just I was recording at 4FPS! I guess I get a little better frames with the US Route.

So, to sum up change the volume in each folder to 16.000000 in each folder except TingleAudioControl and only replace R_FX_Rail with your new sound. I hope this helps.

http://www.youtube.com/v/XCtcBrCdBCI

[OTTODAD]

You must be doing something wrong Otto, as I have always been able to run RS in Windowed Mode with the Radeon X1950XT-Pro 512 Mb PCI-Express card and a Phillips 19" TFT monitor.

Hi Chris !

There is nothing much you can do wrong choosing from the available options and "Test" them.

I am running a 1024x768x32 Desktop in WIN-XP SP-2, which suits my old eyes and MSTS ! ;)

Which RS-Option settings do you use ?

O t t o

[Basherz]

Exactly the same as you Otto, thats why I don't understand why you have problems and I dont. We have, to all intents and purposes, the same machine??

[OTTODAD]

Opened the PROXYXML files of the following
BR_AudioControl
BridgeAudioControl
BT_BridgeAudioControl
BT_StandardBallastAudioControl
BT_TunnelAudioControl
StandardBallastAudioControl
TunnelAudioControl

And once opened found this line and changed the volume.
<Name d:type="cDeltaString">Rail</Name>
<IsLooped d:type="bool">1</IsLooped>
<Priority d:type="sUInt32">50</Priority>
<BaseVolume d:type="sFloat32">16.000000</BaseVolume>

You also changed this line <IsLooped d:type="bool">0 to this <IsLooped d:type="bool">1 !

I am working with the US Audio Assets which have only 4 of these *.PROXYXML files.

I can hear my joint sounds now, but they are repeating too often.

There are 3 <BaseVolume lines in each file. Did you change them all to 16.000000 ?

[jamesc25313]

Hi OTTO,
As described in my above post the is looped section (<IsLooped d:type="bool">1</IsLooped>) is set to "1" which means the sound is looped. I dont have it set <b><IsLooped d:type="bool">1</IsLooped>1</b> I never messed with that section so it was set to "1" before I even messed with it. If it was set to 0 Id only hear the 2 or three second default rail sound once.

Now for your next question not all three volume sections are set to 16.000000 just the third one which is named <b>"Rail"</b> Also, the welded sound Im using is Maple Leaf Tracks welded sound which is 30 seconds long so, if youre loop too fast maybe youre using a file thats only a few seconds?

So, to sum up, I only changed the volume in each PROXYXML file to 16.000000 besides TingleAudioControl thats an outside sound. And the section named
<Name d:type="cDeltaString">Rail</Name> which is the third section is the ONLY section to be set to 16.000000

These are the files to be set to 16.000000

BR_AudioControl
BridgeAudioControl
BT_BridgeAudioControl
BT_StandardBallastAudioControl
BT_TunnelAudioControl
StandardBallastAudioControl
TunnelAudioControl

Heres what the third section should look like in each of the seven named files above when finished:

<kLoud-cSingleSampleSound d:id="26096544">
<Name d:type="cDeltaString">Rail</Name>
<IsLooped d:type="bool">1</IsLooped>
<Priority d:type="sUInt32">50</Priority>
<BaseVolume d:type="sFloat32">16.000000</BaseVolume>
<VolumeVariation d:type="sFloat32">0.000000</VolumeVariation>
<BasePitchShift d:type="sFloat32">1.000000</BasePitchShift>
<PitchShiftVariation d:type="sFloat32">0.000000</PitchShiftVariation>
<AttenuationStartDist d:type="sFloat32">45.000000</AttenuationStartDist>
<NoFutherAttenuationDist d:type="sFloat32">1000000000.000000</NoFutherAttenuationDist>
<InstanceGroup d:type="ref">0</InstanceGroup>
<Sample>
<kLoud-cSampleID>
Hope that helps

[OTTODAD]

Hope that helps

Yes, it does, James !

Back to the drawing board ! ;)

O t t o

[jamesc25313]

I started a scenario with a single engine coupling to a car and I had all my welded sounds working fine. Then once I coupled I noticed my welded sound were lost. I uncoupled to see if the sounds would come back and it didnt. I recoupled and then notice as OTTO did that the coupling sound was gone. The wagon sound worked all the time and had no problems which is good. Now I have a new set of problems and that being why does the loco lose sound after uncoupling or coupling to a consist? Im tired and will work on this tomorrow.

[tomkat41]

Hi James,

I downloaded your weld sounds and had the same problem. I didn't have to uncouple
them sometimes I get the sounds and sometimes I don't. The sounds are nice though.
I'm still going to keep the sounds. I'm sure you'll figure it out. I know you can make
different sounds for different parts of the track. It might be in there somewhere.

[OTTODAD]

I'm sure you'll figure it out. I know you can make different sounds for different parts of the track. It might be in there somewhere.

Yes, that's the numero uno problem with the RS files, figuring out what they do and how. :(

Without having a detailed explanation for how each parameter works, it takes ages of trial and error to find out.

The files used by MSTS are much easier to make sense of and has allowed guys like Bob Boudoin to improve the functioning of rolling stock physics. Sounds and cab views can be modified easily, wheels put on to the rails and pantos adjusted to properly touch the overhead wires, not so much of a problem with most US routes ! ;)

Some of the loco horns sound pathetic, like that of the DB BR294 and that will be my next task trying to replace them with better sounding ones from MSTS and BVE rolling stock.

While I got your attention, Tom, I am still getting this problem of your Partly Cloudy and other weather settings changing to Snow forinstance, mostly when leaving the Scenario editor to change to driving it !

I should have thought that once the weather has been saved then nothing should be able to change it, unless the "Random" function is still lurking in the background somewhere, messing with it ?

Adam could not figure why that happens but perhaps you can ?

Take care, O t t o.

[tomkat41]

Hi Otto,

The same thing happened to me today. This has heppened twice to me once today
and the other time when the european version first came out and before I messed with
the weather. I was making a fictional route and I think I had it on weather1, I made a
Scenario then went to drive the train and instant fog couln't see anything, I went back
into the Scenario Editor and it was on something else then selected Weather1 again
and it was alright. Today when this happened, I tried to duplicate it and I can't, I tried
everything to get it to change to rain and nothing, it stayed at partly cloudy. Can you give me a step by step what you do so I can duplicate it? This only happened twice
to me. Also I'm going to change about six things in the Partly Cloudy bin file and see if
that works for you, I'll attach the zip file a little later today.

[Basherz]

I know I am somewhat interjecting in your conversation, but I think I should point out that if the "scenario properties" are open, or perhaps not "pinned", then if you have a wheelmouse, the very first thing that will change is the weather if you "knock" the wheel.

Luckily for me, I realised this very early on.

(PS: Sorry if this sounds as though I'm teaching you both to suck eggs!! :))

[tomkat41]

Well Chris I'll tell ya.

1. There's no need to use the mouse wheel in the properties.
2. I don't have an itchy mouse wheel finger.
3. I tried what you mentioned and the mouse wheel has no effect in the properties
for the weather. Pinned or not pinned the mouse wheel will not scroll it. If you
select the down arrow for the weather then the mouse wheel will scroll it. Check
it out. So I'm guessing your gonna have to suck your own eggs!! :)

PS: Sorry no offense

[jamesc25313]

I just wanted to remind everyone that the wagon sounds arent having any problems (so far) its the welded and coupling sounds. Ill spend probably all day <b>trying</b> to get this figured out. It does also help to hear what others have experienced. If OTTO hadnt told me he had a problem I would have thought it was just me.

James

[OTTODAD]

Can you give me a step by step what you do so I can duplicate it? This only happened twice to me.

It seems to happen at random and not just when switching between driving and editing a scenario.

I shall try to record what exactly I did the next time it happens !

O t t o

[jamesc25313]

Hi,
I fired RS p and wouldnt you know the coupling sounds worked from outside and as I was outside the train another AI train passed and I heard the welded sound which sounded great. The main problem hear is I dont know if the sound problem is on my end or with the game itself. The original rail sound I replaced with my welded sound was so faint you wouldnt miss it if it didnt work. Then as I was shaking my head I noticed my welded sound reappear! It seems if you start out with a consist going from point A to point B youll be fine and never lose the welded sound but if you have to uncouple a cut of cars you may lose you welded sound and possibly the coupling sound because it chooses when to work.

I dont know if the coupling sound did this before but I cant get the coupling sound to quit working with my new coupling sound in order to test it. So, that means once Ill finally put it to rest it will act up again! :\ Time to work on some bogie sounds :)

[jamesc25313]

Ive been working on the wagon sounds to make them more random and not all the frieght cars sounds almost the same. Ive came a long way and once again I have a video :) demonstrating the new sounds that I think youll like. Im working on getting some flange sounds in there and I should be all set. Once again, not perfect but compare them to my previous video and youll hear the difference and they reall sound better than the default~!

http://www.youtube.com/v/iJxtFvUEkAg

[tomkat41]

Hi James,

The file you have in F/L for use of MLT's sounds, are we suppose to save this
as 44khz? I looked at the properties and it is set to 11khz (default). I went ahead
and converted it to 44khz and it sounds better. I may add a little more volume to
it to make it a little louder. The wagon sounds your working on now, is this going
to replace the other wagon sounds? The flange sounds would be really good. I tried
to make the flange noise come in at a curve at about 10mph but no luck right now
you can hear them at about 35mph and higher.

[jamesc25313]

Hi James,

The file you have in F/L for use of MLT's sounds, are we suppose to save this
as 44khz? I looked at the properties and it is set to 11khz (default). I went ahead
and converted it to 44khz and it sounds better. I may add a little more volume to
it to make it a little louder. The wagon sounds your working on now, is this going
to replace the other wagon sounds? The flange sounds would be really good. I tried
to make the flange noise come in at a curve at about 10mph but no luck right now
you can hear them at about 35mph and higher.

Ive only added one new sound so far and it wont replace the existing sounds. I wanted to add more sounds and not take away. So, there will be a WG_Rumble_5 also in the "bogie" folder there is 10 bogie sounds and I added 10 more but Im working on those at the moment. I didnt want anything to stick out but wanted it all to blend. Also, I changed the "Likelihood" each file will be played and changed a few volume settings. If you noticed in the first release, each car sounded the same pretty much and Im trying to make a little variety. 3Ds Max got me attention last night so I didnt get to work on the files much longer. I will try and get the flange noise to come in art a lower speed. If youre playing around with this yourself you may try setting the "Likelihood" the sound will play a little lower and see what happens.

One more thing I set the sounds to 11khz because it makes the file size smaller but I think you can set the welded sounds to 44 but as for the "wagon hits" and "wagon squeaks" setting these higher than 22khz crashed the game when I tried it.

[tomkat41]

Hi James,

What kind of sound would the bogie make? I notice they have mute in the filename.
I'm not going to mess with the wagon sqeaks. I was going to ask you about the
likelihood never messed with it.

[jamesc25313]

Hi James,

What kind of sound would the bogie make? I notice they have mute in the filename.
I'm not going to mess with the wagon sqeaks. I was going to ask you about the
likelihood never messed with it.

I have no idea why mute is in the file name. The likelihood is fairly straight forward it just defines the likelihood a file will be played so for example a file that has a likelihood of 0.5000000 will be more likeli :) to get played than a file with the likelihood of 0.2000000 thats really what has gave the cars more random sound. They seems to have pretty much have them all set to 0.5000000 and therefore more cars sound the same most of the time but by changing the likelihood it will randomize the sounds better. Of course the sounds I like hearing most get the highest likelihood but you want the general sound to be more common because as of now Ive been unable to figure out if I can have a certain sound play at low speeds and a certain sound played at high speeds but it just seems as the train moves faster the sounds pitch and speed increases but Im not to sure I havent payed much attention to that :} Ive just been trying to get the sounds at low to moderate speeds sounding right. Hope that helps.

[tomkat41]

Hi James,

Yes it does thanks. For certain sound to play, I think you can I didn't get a good look
at the proxyxml file. When I redid the SD40 engine sounds I had to adust the speed
curves the pitches for the different engine sound files and it didn't matter how slow
or how fast the train would go. When I redid my horns I didn't mess with any of the
pitches or curves I just left them alone. YOu could have a look at the engines bin
files and see how that was done. You could copy a new section in the file with a new
ID number and another sound and give it your own filename for that sound and use
certain pitches speed curves etc.

[jamesc25313]

I actually was playing around with that idea with the flange sound. I drug out the sound to fade out instead of an abrupt stop. I noticed sometimes before I was finished going around the curve the flange sound would stop to I messed with the flange speed and now the sound fades out as you wind out the curve instead of stopping abruptly. The change is minimal but it was something to play with :)

[jamesc25313]

This is a video of what Ive been playing around with. RS plays about 10 different bogie sounds and I cut it down to two and set the distance between the joints to 60 ft This video is of the audio and the video itself was just added in. When I tried to record them together the sounds were faded so I had to record the sound by itself and add it to a video. Let me know what you think. As for the outside sound youll hear the same thing but when going past a train it sounds like popcorn with all the poping.

http://www.youtube.com/v/wCl9SlNR-GY

[jamesc25313]

Ok. here are the sounds from outside. Keep in mind the video doesnt match the audio because when I try to record video with fraps I lose most sounds Im trying to record. Let me know what you think. Like I said in the above post the space between joints is 60 feet. This particular train is moving at 40 - 50 mph

http://www.youtube.com/v/xW7bzpc_LR4

[jamesc25313]

Although inside the cab at low speeds sounds good at speeds above 40 the sounds are constant and very annoying but from outside sound good. I have the option to setting the sounds to just outside and I also found I had the wagon sounds themselves cut to half. Im working on adding more sounds in at the moment. Default, the game only plays four different random sounds for the wagons Im trying to at least get ten to fourteen. I will leave the jointed rail stuff alone for now until I can get a better sense of what everyone is looking for because the sounds from the cajon I see on youtube I hardly hear any clicks ect. So, ill work on getting a few more random wagon sounds in for now and maybe get them uploaded later on my filefront and see what you guys think.

[jamesc25313]

The flange sounds would be really good. I tried
to make the flange noise come in at a curve at about 10mph but no luck right now
you can hear them at about 35mph and higher.

Ive uploaded the new sounds. It took me most of the night to get it and then I noticed I named one file wrong wouldnt you know. Anyway, Ive added ten new sounds and lowered the flange speed. The wagon sounds I posted on here last night arent included, that was more of a test to see how theyd sound. Any of this can be changed so feedback is always welcome. I also have my typical video to so check that out before downloading.

New Wagon Sounds:

http://files.filefront.com/Wagszip/;10358481;/fileinfo.html

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/v/nSQI8IftMB8

[tomkat41]

Hi James,

Excellent, those sounds are as real as it gets. Was the flange noise making the
sound at low speed(mph)? Is this going to be uploaded to the F/L?

[OTTODAD]

Hi James !

The passing train rumble and flange squeal in switches sound good, but can hear no track joint sounds from the passing train nor inside the cab.

Should the Blueprints.pak files be deleted after installing the sounds, I do as a matter of fact every time I change something in RS ?

O t t o

[jamesc25313]

Hi James !

The passing train rumble and flange squeal in switches sound good, but can hear no track joint sounds from the passing train nor inside the cab.

Should the Blueprints.pak files be deleted after installing the sounds, I do as a matter of fact every time I change something in RS ?

O t t o

Hi,
Actually I turned the joint sounds off inside the cab last night while playing around with the joint sounds. I changed them to outside only so the sounds should be heard from the outside if youve installed them already. If you backed up your original insta;;ayion you should be able to overwrite the "junctions" file in the railnetwork folder and the sounds will appear in the cab again or just install to your desktop and erase the junctions folder from my file and install manually.

I also turned the default volume of the joint sounds down but the sound volume can be changed in the "bogies" folder and open BG_Modern and find this line
<Name d:type="cDeltaString">Joint Muted 2</Name>
<IsLooped d:type="bool">0</IsLooped>
<Priority d:type="sUInt32">50</Priority>
<BaseVolume d:type="sFloat32">0.300000</BaseVolume>

as you see I have my base volume set to 0.300000 the default is 0.500000 as I said in an earlier post I left the default distance between the joints alone and as you see actually turned the default sound down because in the long run it actually annoyed me than enhanced anything. I was going for a baseline sound that most would like instead of a certain sound that few would like or Id have to make variations which would take more time.

Also the blueprints wont have to be deleted.

[jamesc25313]

Is this going to be uploaded to the F/L?

I will upload this to the file library today if it doesnt melt someones computer first.

Was the flange noise making the
sound at low speed(mph)?

Im not sure I get what youre asking. :( Ive seen it at 1omph at switches but thats only where Ive seen the lower speed flange sound anywhere else on the route outside of yards ect youre mostly going over 35 anyway.

[tomkat41]

Im not sure I get what youre asking. :( Ive seen it at 1omph at switches but thats only where Ive seen the lower speed flange sound anywhere else on the route outside of yards ect youre mostly going over 35 anyway.

You just answered the question. I thought the train was away from the yard when I
saw it. I'll watch it again.

[tomkat41]

Ok, I watched again and it was in the yard. How fast did you have the train going
in the yard?

[jamesc25313]

You just answered the question. I thought the train was away from the yard when I
saw it. I'll watch it again.

I cant remember but if lets say the lead engine is going over the switch then it will sound or whatever car is going over atthe moment so, if you seen the lead engine past the switch then probably I was focused on a car closer to the switch further back.

[jamesc25313]

Ive uploaded the new wagon sounds to TS.com and have excluded the junction mute sound as previously brought to my attention by OTTO. If you want want the junction sounds then download the wagon sounds from filefront but otherwise download from the file library. Ive also included my refrigerated car sound also so look for that if you havent downloaded already.

[tomkat41]

Hi James,

The flange noises are great and that is exactly what I was looking for and they
work on the mainline at different speeds. I need to know where the file is so I
can turn the base volume down a little. Can you point me to the right file for the
flange noises?

[jamesc25313]

Hi James,

The flange noises are great and that is exactly what I was looking for and they
work on the mainline at different speeds. I need to know where the file is so I
can turn the base volume down a little. Can you point me to the right file for the
flange noises?

Hi I did turn it down a little but it some instances it sounds fine and some its way too loud at a low speed. Anyway, the file is located in C:\Program Files\Rail Simulator\Assets\Kuju\RailSimulatorUS\Audio\RailNe twork\Bogies its called BG_Modern.PROXYXML and its the first section and of course youre looking for the base volume
<Name d:type="cDeltaString">Flange</Name>
<IsLooped d:type="bool">1</IsLooped>
<Priority d:type="sUInt32">50</Priority>
<BaseVolume d:type="sFloat32">0.800000</BaseVolume>

There you go. Hope that helps.

[tomkat41]

Hi I did turn it down a little but it some instances it sounds fine and some its way too loud at a low speed. Anyway, the file is located in C:\Program Files\Rail Simulator\Assets\Kuju\RailSimulatorUS\Audio\RailNe twork\Bogies its called BG_Modern.PROXYXML and its the first section and of course youre looking for the base volume
<Name d:type="cDeltaString">Flange</Name>
<IsLooped d:type="bool">1</IsLooped>
<Priority d:type="sUInt32">50</Priority>
<BaseVolume d:type="sFloat32">0.800000</BaseVolume>

There you go. Hope that helps.

Thanks I'll give it a try. I does seem like at tighter curves it gets louder.

[jamesc25313]

Thanks I'll give it a try. I does seem like at tighter curves it gets louder.

Yeah, overall I think its better but in some instances it does seem a little too much. Maybe Ill play with it more sometime.