2 Cylinder Generic Sound Set 

Version: 1.1

Released: Sept 2002

Based on the original SCOTSMAN MSTS .wav files by MS/Kuju
 
 
 
 

Thank you for downloading these files.

IMPORTANT : 

To Print This Document Out Set Your Left & Right Printer Margins to 5mm and Your Top And Bottom ones to 10mm

 
Authors:- High speed .wav's - Murray Curtis(http://members.ozemail.com.au/~captmoo/)
  - Distributed with his kind permission.
Time Warped lower speed and other edited Kuju/ MS .wav's and all .sms files - Stuart Williamson.
All Rights Reserved.    Copyright @ 2002 Stuart Williamson

Included Files 

- 2cSndSetV1-1.exe and readme.html

This self installer includes:-

- 30 mono .wav files and 120 .sms files

Only mono sound files are provided. When used with specially adapted .sms files they are used in the stereo environments (ie cab and passenger views) too. This is done to simplify the creation of the files, reduce the upload/download file sizes, and because the value of artificially 'stereoised' mono originals is not consider (in my opinion) to be worth it. Also, they play back at the correct speed, but lower pitch, sounding more muffled which is more appropriate for inside the cab.

They are for your personal use only, and may not be sold or distributed in any way.

GENERAL

The original steam loco sounds leave a lot to be desired. The sounds do not time correctly to the rotation of the wheel, the volume level remains constant as all speeds and regulator settings, sounds seem to be at different pitches, not all have a correct or constant cylinder rhythm, sounds for high speed running do not exist, and wheel slip causes no sound effect.

These sounds and configurations seek to overcome these deficiencies. However, it appears (in the absence of any documentation from MS/Kuju) that the sms system used in MSTS is not adequate for really authentic sound reproduction of steam locomotives. Thus compromises have had to be made. Some effects do not seem possible, and some changes result in unwanted side effects.

But the overall result is an improvement.

Two series of different sms files are provided. These are for use by player (driveable) locos and traffic/AI (non-driveable) locos.

DESCRIPTION

These files provide the following features for 2 cylinder locomotives:-

Driveable Locos: 
 
- Sound changes timed to suit wheel rotation. (This is a function of the number of animation frames). 
- Configurations to play the whole sound set at different pitches, giving a greater variety in sounds. 
- Volume linked to regulator setting, enabling coasting to low beat sound and silence. 
- Rail joint sound effect for the loco wheels. 
- The sound of approaching and nearby trains in the cab view. 
- The sound of approaching and nearby trains in alternative passenger views (ie "head in cab", "head out cab" and "guards van platform" views). 

Non-driveable Locos:
 
- Speed related changing of sounds for both AI and Helper locos. 
- Configurations which play the whole sound set at different pitches, giving a greater variety in sounds. 
- Random sounding of AI whistle on moving away from stationary. 
- Random wheelslip sound on moving away from stationary. 
- Random brake squeal on drawing to a halt.
- Sounds are enabled to be heard in CabView and PassengerView, as well as the default ExternalView

INSTALLATION

(Before installing these sounds, I suggest you make a copy of all the files in the \TRAINS\TRAINSET directory - failure to do this may result in a lengthy re-installation process.)

Simply run the self installer file 2cSndSetV1-1.exe

This will create (or use) two folders in the Trainset folder; common.sound/2cyl_generic and common.sound/uk_shared

WARNING: It is not recommended that you delete these files once installed and in use.

USAGE

To use these sounds you need to select an appropriate sound configuration for use by your loco, then edit the loco's .eng file to correctly specify it.

To choose a configuration you need to understand the file name notation used.

Driveable Loco .sms files:-

These .sms files have the following standard format, for example:

 
2c-100a-eng01.sms
where:-
2c
 -  Designates a 2 cylinder sound set. 
100
 -  Designates the pitch shift factor, either 60, 80, 100, 120 or 140.
100 is the basic pitch sound. 60 and 80 give deeper pitch sounds. 120 and 140 give higher pitch sounds.
a
 - Designates the animation factor. Currently four options are currently catered for, a, b, c & d. See below.
Try a first as it should work for most locos. Use b where the sounds seem to be twice as fast as required.
eng
 -  Designates the usage within the loco's .eng file. Options are eng, engpas, cab or cabpas. Correct combinations of these files are needed. See below.
01
 - Simple designating number, only 01 is used so far.

Animation Factors:-

To get the correct timing between the sounds heard and wheel rotation seen has been found to be dependant of the number of animation frames used by the loco model designer. To cater for the possible variations four animation factors have been used.

 
a
 -  This set should be tried first and should work for most add-in loco's.
b
 -  This set will give sounds at half the speed of set a. Most of Terry Thornton's loco's need this set.
c
 - This set gives sounds at a timing slower than a, but faster than b.
d
 - This set gives sounds at a timing slower than b.

 

File Usage:-

It is necessary to use pairs of corresponding configurations in order for the correct effect in the simulation to be achieved. Selection of the correct combination of files depends on the way you use your ingame views, and should be done as follows.

 
- eng & cab
Use these files when you wish to maintain the original MSTS use of Key5 (passenger) view for the inside of your coaches, etc.

For example if the 100a configuration is wanted then in your locos .eng file:-

in the Wagon () section use

Sound ( "..\\..\\common.sound\\2cyl_generic\\2c-100a-eng01.sms" )

in the Engine () section use

Sound ( "..\\..\\common.sound\\2cyl_generic\\2c-100a-cab01.sms" )

note: there should be no Inside () section used in the .eng file

 
- eng & cabpas
Use these files when the Key5 view is to be used to provide a 'Head in cab' view. The sounds that are heard in the Key1 view will still be audible in the Key5 view. For example if the 100a configuration is wanted then in your locos .eng file:-

in the Wagon () section use

Sound ( "..\\..\\common.sound\\2cyl_generic\\2c-100a-eng01.sms" )

in the Inside () section delete the Sound () statement completely

in the Engine () section use

Sound ( "..\\..\\common.sound\\2cyl_generic\\2c-100a-cabpas01.sms" )

 
- engpas & cab
Use this when the Key5 view is used to provide a 'Head out cab' view. The sounds that are heard in the external views will be audible in the Key5 view also. In your locos .eng file:-

in the Wagon () section use

Sound ( "..\\..\\common.sound\\2cyl_generic\\2c-100a-engpas01.sms" )

in the Inside () section delete the Sound () statement completely

in the Engine () section use

Sound ( "..\\..\\common.sound\\2cyl_generic\\2c-100a-cab01.sms" )

 

Non-driveable Loco .sms files:-

These .sms files have the following standard format, for example:

#AI-2cyl-46-100-01.sms


 
where:-
#AI
 -  Designates a non-driveable engine sound set. 
2cyl
 -  Designates a 2 cylinder sound set. 
46
 - Designates the wheel diameter the .sms is timed for. ie 46 = 4ft 6ins, 60 = 6ft 0ins, etc. This variation is required in order to synchronise the sounds with the wheel rotation animation.
I have covered 4ft 0ins (40) to 7ft 6ins (76) in 6ins increments. Choose the nearest!
100
 -  Designates the pitch shift factor, either 60, 80, 100, 120 or 140.
100 is the basic pitch sound. 60 and 80 give deeper pitch sounds. 120 and 140 give higher pitch sounds.
01
 - Simple designating number, only 01 is used so far.

These files are specifically written for use by non-driveable versions of the engines. (See later sections for more information). It uses the same more detailed sound arrangement as used by the driveable engines, but uses only Speed triggers in order that sound variations occur. Both Scalability Groups 1 and 0 are defined as AI engines use SG0 and Helper engines use SG1.

In the Wagon () section of your non-driveable loco's .eng file use, for example:-

Sound ( "..\\..\\common.sound\\2cyl_generic\\#AI-2cyl-46-100-01.sms" )

 

 

Tender .sms file:-

UK-tender01.sms

This is a slightly modified copy of the default scotsman tender .sms file, renamed, defined for both Scalibility Groups 1 and 2 (ie for AI and Helper use) and enabled for all tree view types.

Use the following in the tenders .wag file.

Sound ( "..\\..\\common.sound\\uk_shared\\UK-tender01.sms")

WHY USE NON-DRIVEABLE LOCO'S?

Soon after the release of MSTS it became apparent that the non-driveable default engines could be made driveable by inserting a CabView () statement into the .eng file. Thus it quickly became normal practice for add-on loco's to be configured only as driveable engines regardless of whether they where being used for player or traffic services, or as helper engines, no perceived differences being noted.

Recently, through the pursuit of better sounds in MSTS and issues related to incorrect sounds from AI and Helper engines, it has become apparent that MSTS is written to treat driveable and non-driveable engines differently. It has been established that unless a simplistic Speed related sound configuration is used AI and Helper engines do not change sounds as they move. Also non-driveable AI and Helper engines use less system resources thus resulting in a slight fps improvement over driveable loco used as AI and Helper engines. Finally, the very fast wheel rotation of AI loco's can be corrected.

Thus for the sake of an improved MSTS environment all engines should be configured as both a driveable and non-driveable version, each version using an appropriately configured .sms file.

CORRECTING AI LOCO WHEEL ROTATION SPEED

There is a bug in the animation of AI loco's that results in the wheel rotation being far to fast. However if the Engine () section WheelRadius () statement is muliplied by 6.284 (ie 2 x PI) to give the wheel perimeter then the animation for AI loco's will be correct. Please note though, this bug does not occur with Helper loco's. So a choice has to be made whether to make this change depending on the most likely use of your non-driveable loco. 

HOW TO CREATE NON-DRIVEABLE LOCO'S

This Tutorial details my standardised approach to implementing this.

My chosen notation for designating non-drivable engines is a # symbol. It is my personal preference and is not a strict requirement. However, it does enable a very simple approach to be adopted and ensures the clear identification of the non-driveable engines from the driveable ones in MSTS's various list of engines, and also ensures the sim does not confuse the two versions of the same engine sharing the same .s file.

For example I will use the "myloco.eng" and will be using "#AI-2cyl-60-120-01.sms"

The following steps can be applied to any steam, diesel or electric engine. This may seem a bit complex at first, but once your in the swing of it it is quite straight forward and quick to do.

1 - Create a copy of "myloco.eng" and name it "#myloco.eng". ie add a # to the beginning of the filename. This is the only additional file in the engine's folder that needs to be created. It will re-use the same .s (and therefore .ace) files as the driveable engine.

2 - Open "#myloco.eng" for editing (in a unicode editor).

3 - Starting at the top of the file, in the Wagon () section, move down to the Wagon ( myloco line. Insert a # at the beginning of the filename to give you Wagon ( #myloco

4 - Move down and delete completely any Inside () statement in the Wagon () section. ie as used for an extra cab view.

5 - Move down and overwrite the Sound () statement in the Wagon () section with the following

Sound ( "..\\..\\common.sound\\2cyl_generic\\#AI-2cyl-60-120-01.sms" )

6 - Move down into the Engine () section. In the Engine ( myloco line. Insert a # at the beginning of the filename to give you Engine ( #myloco

7 - Move down a few lines to the Wagon ( myloco ) line. Insert a # at the beginning of the filename to give you Wagon ( #myloco )

8 - Move down to find the CabView () statement and delete it completely. Also completely delete the HeadOut () statement.

9 - Move down to find the Engine () section Sound () statement and delete it completely,

10 - Move down towards the end of the file and find the Name ( My Locos Name ) statement. Insert a # at the beginning of the description to give you Name ( # My Locos Name )

11 - Save and exit.

That is it.

The engine "# My Locos Name" will now be available in the consist editor for selection into new consists. I also use the # symbol at the beginning of any consist file name (ie #testfreight.con) and description in order to further indicate the presence of a non-drivable consist. When saving a non-drivable consist in the Activity Editor a warning message will be displayed. Simply OK/yes click it.

 

Version History

1.01Original Upload

1.1    Further sms variations added and all sms's now 'Conbuilder friendly'

If you have any problems with these files please post your queries on the UKTrainsim Sound Forum.
 

 

Stuart Williamson
scefhwil@barrysworld.com