Trainz Bluetooth Headset Woes ... Is there a workaround?

[JonMyrlennBailey]

I have an EVEO USB Bluetooth 5.0 dongle and Windows 10 has been configuring my Bluetooth connections. The dongle only has a built-in driver but no proprietary connectivity configuration software tools. There is no EVEO Wizard, utility program, dialog box or EVEO Bluetooth connections management window available. It's a "driver-only" device. No accompanying human-interfacing software tools.

Trainz is not very Windows 10 Bluetooth friendly. I can pair my Bluetooth headphones while Trainz is running but if the Bluetooth headphones connection is lost, Trainz will lose sound altogther until the program is shut down altogether and retarted. Virtually every other PC program (media players, Web browsers, other PC games, etc.) with audio defaults the sound back to the PC speakers whenever the Bluetooth audio device is disconnected. Trainz just remains silent until the game is retarted. This is quite inconvenient. I have to disconnect the VIPEX headphones to recharge them and when I do that the pairing is lost and Trainz sound is lost too.

I was wondering if there is a GOOD 3rd-party software that could reliably configure my Bluetooth connections instead of Windows 10 so there is possibly no audio interference with Trainz? John C told me once before not long ago that Trainz is tightly interwoven with the operating system of the computer. A 3rd-party Bluetooth software might be more isolated from Trainz. I'm looking for a possible Bluetooth standalone program to do the Bluetooth management. I've tried some free ones I've downloaded but none of them actually work. They won't even pair my headset, period. There is an Intel Bluetooth utility but I gather it requres Intel Bluetooth hardware and a bunch of fussing around to make work. Ideally, I would like a free Bluetooth software that's generic, one-size-fits-all or universal in regards to the devices it pairs. One that just flat out works.

Also, does it make any difference as to whether the Bluetooth dongle is plugged into a motherboard USB port, the tower front panel USB port or a remote powered hub USB port in regards to how Bluetooth behaves with Trainz? I have my dongle plugged into my powered hub.

 

[JCitron]

I doubt you'll find anything that works. Trainz isn't the only program with this issue and it's due to how games, such as Trainz utilize direct hardware access in order to maximize the performance of the hardware. In my case, Bohemia Interactive's Arma 3 does the same thing. I'm not using Bluetooth in this setup, but I am using two different sound outputs on my soundcard.

My main sound out port is connected to my Roland LX-17 digital piano to allow Pianotec software to play through the piano instead of through my computer speakers. The second port is connected to my regular cheap computer speakers I use for games, Trainz, and other programs that don't need the hi-fidelity sound. I mean, playing Trainz through a 7 speaker setup with expensive high-end speakers is a bit much, ya think!

What happens is I'll need to make an adjustment in my output port one to the digital piano but forget to switch it back to port two. I'll start up Arma3 and have no sound because the piano, meaning the speakers, is off. I'll go into Windows sound control-panel and switch to my computer speakers only to find I still don't have any sound and the only thing I can do is to restart the game. This is also true if I switch from my cheap headphones to speakers with that program.

Any software that manages the ports will act as a middleman still will suffer from the same issue because programs such as Trainz and Arma 3 will bypass those just as they do the other means.

 

[pcas1986]

Maybe you should raise a bug report. Maybe N3V haven't looked at sound management since Bluetooth headsets became available. My Cowin headset behaves the same with Trainz but Spotify will recognise a broken Bluetooth connection and stop playback.

The Trainz issue doesn't bother me since I often have the sound disabled.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

The only other thing I can do is plug my older Bluetooth transmitter into the front 3.5 mm headset jack of my tower. It has to be unplugged and recharged in a USB port sometimes. Not as elegant as a Bluettoth dongle but will work ina pinch. I can now take my EVEO dongle to my living room PC by the 2014 Samsung SmartTV (no built-in BT) to hear YouTube videos via BT headphones since their is a lot of fan noise there while I cook and wash dishes.

 

[KotangaGirl]

You have fans who watch you cook and wash dishes, - wow!

 

[grazlash]

You have fans who watch you cook and wash dishes, - wow!

My fans who watch me cook dinner (starving family) always disappear when it's time to do the dishes.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

Electric fans for cooling and ventilation.

 

[Forester1]

LOL! Great one Ann! But it isn't just Trainz, as JCitron mentions, it's BlueTooth, and it's the direct hardware access. I have an LG monitor that has its own direct headphone jack, and it sounds great, but Windows has a habit of dropping it out of the sound settings, and when that happens I lose sound and have to go into devices and remind windows it is still there. If I start Trainz in that situation, I will not get any sound in Trainz at all until I close completely out (including content manager and the launch window), and come back in again after resetting the sound. So yes, Trainz does not recognize it like say, Microsoft Flight Simulator or the system sounds will, but I still have the unanswered question of why Windows drops it in the first place. I haven't gotten any answers trying to ask LG or Google it, so it is what it is. Unfortunately the jack on the front of my computer no longer works so it is not an option.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

A front panel audio jack on a PC tower should be easy to replace. Check the jack connector on the motherboard first. I've built both of my desktop CPU's so I know.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

Trainz has never really had EXCELLENT audio to justify a super fancy audio setup. I mean hearing a cow MOO! or a mountain lion YOWL 5 miles away not to mention muddy-sounding crossing bells and muddy-sounding diesel locos if too many are hooked up together? The stormy weather environment has lightning flashes and horrible thunder claps every second or two and the rain drops are so loud, enginesounds are drowned out. Realistically, a thunder clap should be heard no more frequently than every one to two minutes.

 

[grazlash]

Hearing a cow mooing louder than the engine sound is the fault of the cow's creator not Trainz, the cow lacks a realistic sound radius.

 

[RHKluckhohn]

Hearing a cow mooing louder than the engine sound is the fault of the cow's creator not Trainz, the cow lacks a realistic sound radius.

What is the sound radius of an actual cow? And does it vary with breed? Probably with cow mass, you'd expect.

:B~)

 

[JCitron]

Hearing a cow mooing louder than the engine sound is the fault of the cow's creator not Trainz, the cow lacks a realistic sound radius.

There are settings that can be put into the config.txt to set the radius as well as to indicate whether it's an ambient sound or a sound-producing object. I fixed a bunch of them locally ages ago because I had a child coughing so loud he or she could be heard for miles as well as hound dogs that could be heard over a mountain along with a bunch of other obnoxiously loud sounds.

 

[ColPrice2002]

John, congratulations on avoiding the humour of "cow moo radius" etc!

JonMyrlennBailey
Trainz has never had real quality hi-fi stereo sound - it would be difficult because a lot of sound files are recorded to different degrees of fidelity - is creator specific.
However, I do use my good quality 2:1 speaker system - for other purposes, so although it's overkill for Trainz, it's good for me...

Colin

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

There are settings that can be put into the config.txt to set the radius as well as to indicate whether it's an ambient sound or a sound-producing object. I fixed a bunch of them locally ages ago because I had a child coughing so loud he or she could be heard for miles as well as hound dogs that could be heard over a mountain along with a bunch of other obnoxiously loud sounds.

Hound dogs and foxes on my layout, sounds like an idea. I had to fiddle with the fire engine sirens in config a lot. I have a fire station in town with a fire engine that actually drives in and out of it to go fight a small brush fire using smokey fire content. The sirens made me batty after a while. I toned down the screaming cougar too. Think of the Lincoln Mercury sign of the cat. RRRRRAAAAGGGHHHRRRR! I also have howling wolves in the forest. Then cowboys driving a herd on horseback. A YIPPIE-KIE-YEH sound there. I'm always thinking the rural American West when Trainz-building. I would not know how to make a New England woodland theme. I gather JCitron is from New England. Out west, everything is Texas-size, wide open country. Big mountains. Big canyons. Big woods. Big deserts. Wild rivers. Trains can really open up and cruise at speed through deserts, big valleys and plains. Slow-going thru the Rockies though having taken Amtrak from California to Denver and back.

 

[JCitron]

John, congratulations on avoiding the humour of "cow moo radius" etc!

JonMyrlennBailey
Trainz has never had real quality hi-fi stereo sound - it would be difficult because a lot of sound files are recorded to different degrees of fidelity - is creator specific.
However, I do use my good quality 2:1 speaker system - for other purposes, so although it's overkill for Trainz, it's good for me...

Colin

It's an art that took a lot of practice over the years. I have uncles...

 

[Forester1]

There are a couple of routes that have a sternwheeler paddle boat that plays Dixie or somesuch, and it is just as loud no matter where you are on the route. I ended up putting a silent sound file in that asset after it about drove me batty.