BLW and BLW/ZT Locomotive Sound Issues?

[rfranzosa]

Hi All,

A user of our sets reported that the BLW and BLW/ZT EMD units have sound issues in OR. I have not had a chance to do much testing in OR, but I was wondering if anyone here has had sound issues with any of our sets (Alco or EMD)?

Thanks

Rick

[tbundy1982]

Rick, I may find it hard to describe what I have found with at least the EMD sounds. Aside from the horn looping, which is pretty well understood at this point, it seems that the EMD sounds do not work EXACTLY the same as in MSTS.

My best shot at describing this: In certain throttle settings, maybe only on run 8, the sounds seem to get locked into a cycle of playing a rev up and then steady, rev up and then steady, etc... I haven't noticed this in awhile though, but when I first tried OR at v0.7 I recall noting this. Unfortunately, I don't spend time cataloging these errors like other folks here because I'm pretty lenient on OR as a beta at this time. If I have some time today, I'll run a few of your sets to see what I can find.

Tyler

[rfranzosa]

Rick, I may find it hard to describe what I have found with at least the EMD sounds. Aside from the horn looping, which is pretty well understood at this point, it seems that the EMD sounds do not work EXACTLY the same as in MSTS.

My best shot at describing this: In certain throttle settings, maybe only on run 8, the sounds seem to get locked into a cycle of playing a rev up and then steady, rev up and then steady, etc... I haven't noticed this in awhile though, but when I first tried OR at v0.7 I recall noting this. Unfortunately, I don't spend time cataloging these errors like other folks here because I'm pretty lenient on OR as a beta at this time. If I have some time today, I'll run a few of your sets to see what I can find.

Tyler

Tyler, thanks a lot, I appreciate the help.

Rick

[Komachi]

Rick, that's the -exact- problem I have with the EMD's in OR.

[rfranzosa]

Rick, that's the -exact- problem I have with the EMD's in OR.

Thanks. I have forwarded this on to one of the OR developers over at Elvas Tower.

Rick

[tbundy1982]

Hey Rick, I figured out how to repeat this problem on my installation.

I first tried the BLW SAL GP7 default consist on the SAL route. I stayed in the cab or using the headout view and nothing too out of the ordinary. All of the sounds have some issues in OR because OR does not recognize the loop points yet, so if I notch up the throttle OR has to play out to the end of the current sound file before it will rev up. That is an OR issue that we all hope they can resolve in future releases.

I then tried the same thing with the BLW B&O E8, with a similar response, though it seemed like the response to the throttle was much quicker.

My last test was with the BLW/ZT PRR F3 default consist on the L&HR route. As I pumped air in Warwick, things seemed to be the same, so I went back to the cabin to inspect the modeling work on the N5C. The brakes made a full release and I put the F3's in notch 1 while still at the caboose. When the train didn't move, I returned to the cabview to see what was up, only to find that the sounds were doing the rev up, steady, rev up, steady, etc. I notched down to idle, causing this rev up, then steady sound to finish out at which point the sounds returned to idle. I notched back to 1, while in the cab, and things worked fine: rev up, steady, steady, etc. Notch 2 and 3 worked fine as well as long as I was in the cab. Going back to the caboose, I gave it another notch, went back to the cab, and got the same problem as before: rev up, steady, rev up, steady, etc. After doing the same test all the way to 8, I concluded that, at least on my installation, if you notch the EMD's up when not near the engines, the cab sound will rev up, steady, rev up, steady, etc.

That is the extent of my tests thus far. I suppose I should repeat the test with the SAL GP7 and B&O E8 to confirm this, but I assumed that the soundset for all of these locomotives are the same, with different horn and bell sounds. Correct me if I'm wrong and I'll test more of the fleet.

On a side note, the biggest issue I have with all of the BLW and BLW/ZT EMD's is the exhaust in OR. I think the exhaust port values in the .eng file are too large, causing your power to have "steam engine" exhaust. While I have seen some 567's with bad injectors or other prime mover problems really throw out the gunk in several different colors, your locomotives take it to the max. The downside of these exaggerated exhaust values in OR is that it will drag the frame rates down to nearly nothing, either causing terrible stuttering or ending the simulation entirely. I recommend taking a look at any of your EMD's in OR to see what I mean. The ALCO's, on the other hand, have nothing more than a wisp of exhaust, much more like an EMD should be....

Tyler