Southern Pacific Cab Forward -Coming Tonight on Steam

[Machinist]

I noticed the Big boy has the same 'problem' with compressor sound sounding all of the time, which is unrealistic as the compressors are governed by a pressure valve and should switch off once the main reservoir is up to pressure. Something RSC probably haven't implemented (yet).

I'm working with the Big Boy and didn't noticed that (or I'm not thinking in the same device of you), al least not in expert (plus no automatic fireman) mode. What exactly do you mean by compressor? couldn't find in the Steam Locomotive Glossary the entry "compressor". Is the small ejector (can be set on/off, and also its related sound on/off), called by RSC smallcompressor (controlname blueprint)?

There is a blueprint tag in engine.bin for "CompressorState" which supposedely would activate the compressor (what is the "compressor", after all?) and its sound (on/off). But there is no parameter in the input mapper for "CompressorState", this might explain why it doesn't work. What should be the "compressor" device you are refering? Maybe I can make its sounds work...

Cheers,
Doc.

[BNSF650]

How about a video in the game?

[Shayfan1]

The compressor's being refered to is on this locomotive mounted on the smoke box door. It as most mainline big steamers has double cross compound air compressor's for the (air brakes). It sounds great once you get up to speed you don't notice it as much.

[BNSF650]

RSC and G-trax never can get them right.

[Machinist]

Replacement whistle will be coming tonight. Also, the horn can be used with the 'Q' key, for those who didn't know

Especifically in the Cab Forward engine? By default "Q" is assigned to Reset AWS Alerter, of course it's not the case of this engine...

[XDriver]

I don't have the engine yet but I'm sure I would just edit the compressor sound to a low volume.
I actually have all my Big boy sounds modded and the compressor sound was the first to go. I made a looped compressor sound that only kicks in every two minutes and pounds twice then shuts off. The water injector was too much also and now I have it set to a low sounding hiss.
When I get the Cab Forward I'll mess with it I'm sure.

[Bananarama]

Just an observation...

Normally, RSC is quick to update their launch window with their latest offering through Steam. This time, however, there's no mention of the Cab Forward.

[BNSFdude]

Would've been nice had they told us beta guys about the air horn. I never saw nor heard about it til now. I told them my opinion on the locomotive, but I'll post it here. Its great, but the sounds lack personality. When I paced the 261, there was rod clank and chatter, track booming under neath her great weight, steam releasing, hissing, dynamo scream, and everything.

[OldProf]

How did all of you manage to buy the Cab Forward? Every time I click the "continue" button on the purchase screen, this message pops up: "There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance." I've tried buying in both Internet Explorer and Firefox. The purchase details are exactly the same that I've used successfully in the past. I sent a message to Steam Support and received the usual boilerplate response, but nothing substantial yet. Has anyone else on the forum had this experience trying to buy this specific DLC?

Please note that I am not blaming this on RCS, nor am I inviting an invective explosion against Steam ... I'm just asking for some information.

[34072]

Ill have to try the Air Horn later :)

Must say, for a Brit, this isnt my usual kind of traction. But the SP "AC" Cab Forwards certainly intrigue me. I think it's the relative simplicity of turning the locomotive around 180 degrees. Maybe the fuel oil side of things isn't that simple!

I thought that I could hear G-Trax sounds on the "Chuffs". They can certainly be improved upon, especially as they sound way too "Tinny"!

As for the Compressors/Exhausters, I love the little popping sounds. Though on the famous video of 4274, they sound alot better!

Continue, my good people.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

I noticed the Big boy has the same 'problem' with compressor sound sounding all of the time, which is unrealistic as the compressors are governed by a pressure valve and should switch off once the main reservoir is up to pressure. Something RSC probably haven't implemented (yet).

I'm working with the Big Boy and didn't noticed that (or I'm not thinking in the same device of you), al least not in expert (plus no automatic fireman) mode. What exactly do you mean by compressor? couldn't find in the Steam Locomotive Glossary the entry "compressor". Is the small ejector (can be set on/off, and also its related sound on/off), called by RSC smallcompressor (controlname blueprint)?

There is a blueprint tag in engine.bin for "CompressorState" which supposedely would activate the compressor (what is the "compressor", after all?) and its sound (on/off). But there is no parameter in the input mapper for "CompressorState", this might explain why it doesn't work. What should be the "compressor" device you are refering? Maybe I can make its sounds work...

Cheers,
Doc.

I think the compressor/air pump sounds are incorporated in the main engine and/or cab sound loops, both in the Cab Forward and Big Boy/Challenger.
RSC probably 'guesstimated' the sounds as no Cab Forwards are preserved in working order.

The Diesel physics/animation model has a separate compressor/air pump sound loop that comes on when the compressor is running, at least on the SD40 and ES44 models, but for a very short time only. I presume the air pumps of steam locomotives need to run for a considerable time to bring the main reservoir/train line up to pressure after a brake application.
Perhaps some of the UK steamers have a separate air pump sound loop? I don't own that many of them to know for certain. Most UK locos were equiped with vacuum brakes and use an ejector instead of a compressor.
It might even be possible that the steam locomotive simulation 'engine' inside GameManager.dll doesn't allow for compressor/air pump regulation?

We must look into the sound setup proxibin and try to decode the sound loop files and hear what is contained in these.

For an oil fired engine I think one needs to hear the low rumbling roar of the burners inside the firebox when 'stoking' the engine to make it realistic in the first place.

I doubt it is possible to capture Hi-Fi sounds off the few remaining film clips with real Cab Forwards in operation for inclusion in the game. But who knows what some of our tech wizzards are capable off? A better whistle and horn shouldn't be too difficult I suppose.

[SteelRoad]

Would've been nice had they told us beta guys about the air horn. I never saw nor heard about it til now. I told them my opinion on the locomotive, but I'll post it here. Its great, but the sounds lack personality. When I paced the 261, there was rod clank and chatter, track booming under neath her great weight, steam releasing, hissing, dynamo scream, and everything.

I was coming here to post the EXACT same thing...when at 0% throttle, the only thing I hear is steam hissing and that annoying-blow my brains-out compressor pew pew pewing away....where's the rod clanking around, the sound of a 300t locomotive running on the tracks, there's a LOT of moving parts on there that I'm just not hearing.

Also, I'm not a huge steam locomotive driver (aside from the Big Boy and this Cab Forward)....is there anything to do about downgrade slopes and brakes? I noticed there is no lapping, so its either on or off....and the locomotive brake only seems to want to go from 0% to 10% to 100% with no inbetween settings

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Take a look inside the Audio folder inside the CabForwardPack01 folder. In the Railvehicles/Steam/CabForward folder you'll find the 4 subfolders which contain the sound samples and loops.

As far as I can see there is no separate compressor loop in the Cab audio folder, but there is a 35 KB SPCF_Aircompr.dav inside the Engine audio folder.
How is this sample/loop used and what can be done with it to have it tied to the main reservoir pressure?

First hurdle: how can one decode/listen to .dav files? What program can open and edit these?

Sound setup is generally quite complicated with some files aliased to cab controls while other are triggered by actions or are randomized by the simulation engine.

I opened the EngineAudioControl.proxybin and see that the compressor sounds are linked to AirComprExh controller, which is in confirmation with the visual synchronisation of the compressor exhaust sound to the small puffs of steam that come out of the compressors on the smokebox door. I doubt Worthingon cross compound air pumps make the sound RSC has given them but since I have no audio reference I don't know myself. I expect Worthingtons to have a distinctive rhythm or beat to them, slightly asynchronous/asymmetric, the sound RSC has captured seems to come off a single cylinder air pump. Listen to the Big Boy's air pump 'clunk-ding clunk-dang' beat for comparison.

There is a whole air compressors section in the loco01_scripts.lua which 'plays wheeze sound and emits exhaust puffs when air pressure falls (due to brake usage), or after a specified timeout (due to "leakage")' which emits the puffs and uses the above mentioned AirComprExh pseudo-controller to make the 'wheeze' sound.
The script does make use of the enumeration of the controller values of MainReservoirPressurePSI minus AirBrakePipePressurePSI, which are linked to the cab gauges and governed by the simulation engine. So a certain pressure difference greater tahn 5 PSI switches the air pumps on and back off.

Perusing this loco01_script.lua reveals there is an exterior throttle animation and a roof hatch that can be opened, besides the windows. Also the Cab Forward is capable of throwing snow and ice chunks around, but only on player i.e. driven trains. Still no popping safety valves, no burners roaring, no boiler singing, no clanking rods or crew members hollering signal indications across the cab.

[34072]

Ive also noticed something else...

The driving wheels move, but the front bogie wheele and trailing wheels do not.

Poor Job.

[ArcticCatZRT]

I remember saying a while back that this thing was going to be a flop. Well it was. So far, the audio is complete crap (well, w/o my mods, that will be released soon enough). The scenarios are just awful (why would an engineer go into full reg and rev if he was slipping down a grade). The "Last Run" is junk, It puts you into emergency and says "Try Again!" if you don't sound your whistle for rail fans, which I WAS doing every time.

Not to be rude, but if you thought the train was going to be a flop in the first place(even stated you dislike G-Trax products), why did you purchase it?

I am pretty content with the train myself. The only complains I have so far are some visual glitches with the locomotive.