Clinchfield - Sounds

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by OldVern, Apr 9, 2021.

  1. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Enjoying Clinchfield but would like to offer constructive feedback re the sounds.

    Firstly once again we have a route with very flat acoustics - no reverb in the tunnels or steep sided cuttings and no rumble over the bridges. This is a historical route running heavy and noisy freight trains. Where is the track noise, rail joints (unlikely to be much welded rail in that era), banging and clanking of the wagons and flange squeal on the sharp curves. Where is the industrial clatter at the many loading points, should be loads of ambient sounds.

    I’ve only driven the F7 so far and while it is very good, I’m sure a 567 GM should have a bit of a rasp from the exhaust in the higher notches. The horn is disappointing, very little build up to the attack section, or fall off after releasing.

    Whether some of this is due to the core game engine (Bakerloo in the tunnels also has issues) or route specific, it really needs addressing.
     
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  2. erg73

    erg73 Well-Known Member

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    I agree. On this route you can see how much DTG has evolved since their first TSW routes visually, Clinchfield it's a sight to behold. However, it is notorious the lack of evolution they have had acoustically.
    Where are the characteristic sounds like the squeaking of the tracks?
    Minutes 27:50 and 37:35 of this video for example.


    I guess they will be quite similar on all rail routes, so it shouldn't be necessary to go record on the other side of the world, just implement what you already have and make it possible to sound like a real freight train on the curves.
     
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  3. zawal.belili

    zawal.belili Guest

    The sd40 has a sound bug on the horn.
    At one point you can't hear it anymore and it is cut off for the duration of the trip ...
    For the rest of the sounds, yes it is very very flat, it lacks life.
     
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  4. breblimator

    breblimator Guest

    I really hope that the upcoming big core update will improve a few things in TSW, including the sound quality.
     
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  5. zappatime

    zappatime Well-Known Member

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    Couldn’t agree more about the sounds, totally lacking in realism in cuttings and tunnels especially, just no reflections going on at all, surely the unreal engine has these capabilities built in?
     
  6. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    MSTS had this built in, in 2001!
     
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  7. Monder

    Monder Well-Known Member

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    The F7 horn to me sounds pretty good, especially inside it does feel like something angry is on the roof, but I completely agree the build-up and fading are too short. I guess there might have been some problems if you stopped it, while it was still building up, therefore they shortened the window... but that's still a problem, that should get solved. US horns have a massive airflow and that doesn't just snap from zero to hero in blink of an eye.
     
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  8. londonmidland

    londonmidland Well-Known Member

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    Unreal Engine has A LOT of capabilities and can look and sound great if utilised correctly. Sadly DTG barely scratch the surface in regards to sound and graphical potential.
     
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  9. raretrack

    raretrack Well-Known Member

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    To me, the F7 front horn and rear horn sound exactly the same, from both inside and outside the cab. Even if they are the same horn type, shouldn't they sound different because they aren't in the same place?
     
  10. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Part of the problem here is that in game it's controlled by a simple on-off button or key, whereas in real life the engineer had gradual control over how quickly he opened the air valve. (on modern locos like an ES44, all he gets is a push button and the horn comes on with an ugly blatt.)
     
  11. Dinosbacsi

    Dinosbacsi Well-Known Member

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    Such a shame, but I suppose it would be difficult to simulate that with proper sounds. Might be possible with good sound samples from different opened states and good mixing to get a gradual change though, but definitely not easy.

    For starters I think it would be enough and satisfactory if they could make horns sounds loud and powerful like they actually are. Like the CalTrain horns. Those sound amazing, wish all horns in the game were that quality.
     
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  12. solicitr

    solicitr Well-Known Member

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    Oh, the increase/decrease could be engineered digitally, that's a piece of cake. The problem is game controls: that the spacebar or whatever the controller equivalent is is binary, on or off, you don't get intermediate states as with the triggers.
     
  13. Callum B.

    Callum B. Well-Known Member

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    The N key could quite easily be used as a horn feather, similar to how it is used for the second tone on European trains and as a feather in TS1. I suspect that the reason they don't implement a feather is because, judging by the general quality of American locomotive sounds, they don't have the appropriate feathered horn sounds in their library.

    Cheers
     
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  14. mattdsoares

    mattdsoares Well-Known Member

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    Like a teenage student driver trying to take their road test in a racecar.
     
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  15. Oli R C

    Oli R C Member

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    Driving the SD40 this evening, and I noticed for the first time some reverb in the tunnels. It's not very dramatic, but it's definitely there. I was full throttle the first time I noticed it. Paying attention in successive tunnels, but with lower throttle, it's less noticeable, but still there.

    Certainly not making excuses for the sound though. I'm really disappointed in it. Horrible phasing when increasing and decreasing throttle on the SD40. And so far in every timetable run I've made, just as I throttle up and start moving after waiting for the brakes to release, I lose engine sounds to varying degrees. Sometimes completely, this evening's session seemed like I could no longer hear the leading loco, but could still hear the trailing units. Very bad. I did a scenario last night (again SD40), and engine sounds was better behaved (it didn't cut out), so it's only affecting timetable for me so far.

    Then as already mentioned, we have broken horns again. And nobody likes a broken horn. :(
     
  16. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    My experience earlier was the opposite, running downhill with the manifest passed through several tunnels no discernable change in the acoustic. I even sounded the horn approaching and entering the tunnel and it was exactly the same - no reverb. That was with the F7 so I'll try the SD40's next, see how it sounds.
     
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  17. Oli R C

    Oli R C Member

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    I seem to be the opposite to everyone, as I'm yet to drive the F7. :D
    I didn't think to try the horn in, or going into, the tunnels. Will be interesting to hear your findings. Like I say, a little more noticeable at full throttle, but it's very subtle even then.
     
  18. Mertcan

    Mertcan Member

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    SD40-2 has no jointed track sound. The sound on TSW 1 was not on TSW 2. The sound gives a sense of realism in such historical routes. I hope this problem gets fixed soon. We want to hear the bogie sound(jointed track) of the SD40-2.
     
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  19. space_ace96

    space_ace96 Active Member

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    There is really no excuse for such low sound quality, especially in unreal. There is no reason a train horn should be audible from only less than like 300 feet. Those things have range of over a mile. The F7 horn from inside isn't bad, but outside it does not sound good. The years old horn from the SD40 isn't good either. There's no reverb or sound of the horn building airflow and losing it before and after. Look at EmergeNYC, another Unreal game with only two developers, particularly the most recent update. I'll see if I can find video when I get home today. train horn on Rescue 2 is godly. with reverb, echo, and sounding like someone is actually pulling a cord for it. The sirens also allow manual wind up and down with just key presses. Hold q, it winds up, let go of q and it winds itself back down. You don't have to do a simple on/off just because you are on a keyboard. The dev in charge of lights and sounds records it all himself too. There's just no excuse really.
     
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  20. w2sjw

    w2sjw Active Member

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