Sound bug

[Stigah]

Hello!

I just bought this route, and so far I really like it. Sacramento Northern (which I bought on Steam) is my all time favorite route for Train Simulator. Unfortunately, I've had some sound issues with the steeplecab on the Sacramento Northern line.

I bought Cascadian route earlier today, and I've experienced this bug three times already. Only way to fix it is to quit the game. I can't just quit the scenario. So what happens is the sound of the engine just disappearing. I can hear sounds from the wheels, cars, etc, but not the engine sound. I'm not able to use the horn either. It makes everything so quiet. It's like playing with the sound muted.

It's quite annoying, and it has already happened three times. Is there a fix to this?

Thanks!

[buzz456]

Never heard of this If there is a fix we would need a whole lot more information to investigate the problem. I t sounds like you got a incomplete audio download but that's just a guess.

[mindenjohn]

I’ve had this on occasions. Shutting down TS and restarting didn’t clear it but rebooting the computer did. I think it’s a Win 10 issue not a TS. Easily cured anyway if a nuisance but it doesn’t happen frequently.

[Stigah]

Never heard of this If there is a fix we would need a whole lot more information to investigate the problem. I t sounds like you got a incomplete audio download but that's just a guess.

It only happens with steeplecab on the Sacramento Northern route, and the boxcab on the Cascadian route, both made by G-TraX. I will try to film it next time it happens.

I’ve had this on occasions. Shutting down TS and restarting didn’t clear it but rebooting the computer did. I think it’s a Win 10 issue not a TS. Easily cured anyway if a nuisance but it doesn’t happen frequently.

Thanks for the tips! Rebooted my computer now. Going to test the route again now

[Antwerp]

I've had this happen a few times, restarting the game has always fixed it. This issue can happen on ANY route and ANY locomotive, not just the ones you stated.

Though it hasn't happened since I ran the Sounds Setup for the game.

Try this:

1.) Open your Railworks folder
2.) From here, select and run Setup_Audio.bat
3.) Once launched, you will be faced with command prompt asking to choose the setup for your version of the game (32 or 64bit)
4.) type the corresponding number for your game version, and hit enter.
5.) Once it's complete, see if the issue persists.

Hope this helps!

[Stigah]

I've had this happen a few times, restarting the game has always fixed it. This issue can happen on ANY route and ANY locomotive, not just the ones you stated.

Though it hasn't happened since I ran the Sounds Setup for the game.

Try this:

1.) Open your Railworks folder
2.) From here, select and run Setup_Audio.bat
3.) Once launched, you will be faced with command prompt asking to choose the setup for your version of the game (32 or 64bit)
4.) type the corresponding number for your game version, and hit enter.
5.) Once it's complete, see if the issue persists.

Hope this helps!

Thanks! Unfortunately it didn't work I rebooted my computer and I tried this fix, without any luck, yesterday. I was able to play one full scenario without any issue, but when I started the other scenario I got halfway and it started messing up again. I uploaded a video of it which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIYJkZy7ggU Sorry about the notification sound and noise from the computer in the background. You can hear every sound, except the engine/fan sounds. It's like the engine is turned off. It says "Engine Off" at the top, but it's always been saying that.

[Stigah]

Still having trouble with this route. I've had to restart the game 3 times now during the scenario Cattle Drive Part 3, yesterday. Today I loaded the scenario from Skykomish Passing Siding E, on my way to Skykomish Yard Track 1. I've played for 10 minutes and it happened again. It is getting annoying. Do you have any other tips for solving this problem?

[Antwerp]

Still having trouble with this route. I've had to restart the game 3 times now during the scenario Cattle Drive Part 3, yesterday. Today I loaded the scenario from Skykomish Passing Siding E, on my way to Skykomish Yard Track 1. I've played for 10 minutes and it happened again. It is getting annoying. Do you have any other tips for solving this problem?

Unfortunately, I do not. You could try updating your audio drivers, or verifying the game installation. I forget, did you try and see if the problem exists in the 32bit version (assuming you're running 64bit)?

Your situation seems like it's worse than mine was, as I would only ever get the problem after about an hour of game play, usually when a lot of switching was involved.

None of these are guaranteed to work, but you might try any of these:
1.) Make sure everything with Windows is up to date! This issue might have been previously caused by a Windows update, so being up to date may fix the problem.
2.) Update any audio drivers through Windows. (this can be technical, as you usually have to find the drivers. (see number 5 for a possible fix to begin with)
3.) Make sure your Output sound device hasn't suddenly been changed from Speakers to another device.
4.) IF you use Nvidia graphics cards and Nvidia GeForce Experience, in GFE, look for " Experimental Functions " and look to see if TS is marked for some sort of reason.
5.) IF you use Nvidia graphics cards, try updating the graphics driver. Yes, every now and again they give you an HD audio driver update that could be the problem.

[Stigah]

Still having trouble with this route. I've had to restart the game 3 times now during the scenario Cattle Drive Part 3, yesterday. Today I loaded the scenario from Skykomish Passing Siding E, on my way to Skykomish Yard Track 1. I've played for 10 minutes and it happened again. It is getting annoying. Do you have any other tips for solving this problem?

Unfortunately, I do not. You could try updating your audio drivers, or verifying the game installation. I forget, did you try and see if the problem exists in the 32bit version (assuming you're running 64bit)?

Your situation seems like it's worse than mine was, as I would only ever get the problem after about an hour of game play, usually when a lot of switching was involved.

None of these are guaranteed to work, but you might try any of these:
1.) Make sure everything with Windows is up to date! This issue might have been previously caused by a Windows update, so being up to date may fix the problem.
2.) Update any audio drivers through Windows. (this can be technical, as you usually have to find the drivers. (see number 5 for a possible fix to begin with)
3.) Make sure your Output sound device hasn't suddenly been changed from Speakers to another device.
4.) IF you use Nvidia graphics cards and Nvidia GeForce Experience, in GFE, look for " Experimental Functions " and look to see if TS is marked for some sort of reason.
5.) IF you use Nvidia graphics cards, try updating the graphics driver. Yes, every now and again they give you an HD audio driver update that could be the problem.

Thank you for all your help! It means alot.

I tried doing all that. Downloaded some new drivers. Nvidia GeForce Experience wasn't even installed, so I did that. I even updated the graphics driver.

I started the scenario Heavy Electric Part 1 and I actually thought I had got rid of the problem. I played for quite some time. I minimised the game while doing something else. I wanted to complete the scenario before going to bed, so I opened up the game again and played for around 10 minutes. Then it happened again.

I am convinced it has something to do with the route, and not my computer. I've only had problem with this route and the Sacramento Northern, both made by G-TraX. No other DLC. I will now try to run TS in 32 bit version, and hope that might fix the problem. If not, I have no clue what to do

[Stigah]

I got some information about this issue!

GTrax use something called instance groups. I have no idea what that means or do, but it's causing this problem. The only way to fix it is to restart the game, since the sound channels ramain stuck even when quitting to the main menu.

I heard GTrax used this on the Bessemer and Lake Erie route, but was removed after it literally destroyed audio within about a minute of starting any scenario, I was told.

I don't think there's any fix for this problem, except restarting the game.

[buzz456]

There has to be more to this story. I have spent extensive time running that route and never have had that issue. If you don't mind my asking where did you learn that this was the problem.

[plethaus]

Try this, There is a fork of the OpenAL sound libraries (Train Simulator uses OpenAL for audio stuff like positional audio) available here: https://www.openal-soft.org/

Scroll down and download the "openal-soft-1.20.1-bin.zip" file. Extract it and you'll find a folder named "bin". Inside that is a Win64 and Win32 folder with a "soft_oal.dll" file in both folder (one is compiled for 64bit applications, one is for 32bit.) Rename soft_oal.dll in \bin\Win64 to OpenAL64.dll and rename the one in \bin\Win32 to OpenAL32.dll. Then place both files in your Steam\steamapps\common\RailWorks folder. If you did everything right it will ask you to overwrite 2 files, because by default Train Sim includes two older versions of the DLLs in its root folder. Then try 'er out and see what happens. It fixed a couple issues I had with dropping audio.

[Stigah]

There has to be more to this story. I have spent extensive time running that route and never have had that issue. If you don't mind my asking where did you learn that this was the problem.

There might be more to the story, yes. I learned it from users at the Dovetail Discord server.

Try this, There is a fork of the OpenAL sound libraries (Train Simulator uses OpenAL for audio stuff like positional audio) available here: https://www.openal-soft.org/

Scroll down and download the "openal-soft-1.20.1-bin.zip" file. Extract it and you'll find a folder named "bin". Inside that is a Win64 and Win32 folder with a "soft_oal.dll" file in both folder (one is compiled for 64bit applications, one is for 32bit.) Rename soft_oal.dll in \bin\Win64 to OpenAL64.dll and rename the one in \bin\Win32 to OpenAL32.dll. Then place both files in your Steam\steamapps\common\RailWorks folder. If you did everything right it will ask you to overwrite 2 files, because by default Train Sim includes two older versions of the DLLs in its root folder. Then try 'er out and see what happens. It fixed a couple issues I had with dropping audio.

Thank you! I will try it tomorrow!

[GreatNortherner]

Hi all,

Just a quick note that Rick and I are working on a bugfix for this. We'll delete the InstanceGroups from the audio blueprints and then publish a patch.

@Buzz: Whether or not the bug occurs might also depend on other factors, maybe available RAM, 32bit or 64bit game mode, or other factors? At any rate, I have encountered it quite frequently on the Springfield Line myself (where the latest patch reportedly fixed it), but only once on the Cascadian and that wasn't with the electrics.

@plethaus: Thanks for the link and hint about the OpenAL libraries!

[Stigah]

Hi all,

Just a quick note that Rick and I are working on a bugfix for this. We'll delete the InstanceGroups from the audio blueprints and then publish a patch.

@Buzz: Whether or not the bug occurs might also depend on other factors, maybe available RAM, 32bit or 64bit game mode, or other factors? At any rate, I have encountered it quite frequently on the Springfield Line myself (where the latest patch reportedly fixed it), but only once on the Cascadian and that wasn't with the electrics.

@plethaus: Thanks for the link and hint about the OpenAL libraries!

That's great! Looking forward to it!