Trainz is not realistic.
- Thread starter ukko_pekka
- Start date
In 2020:
- news is not real
- movies are not real (all cgi)
- tweets come from fake accounts and are not real
- advertising is not real (bogo: Buy One Get One is now Buy One Get One half price off)
- email is not real (You've been selected..)
- meat is not real ("Impossible Whopper" = 0% beef)
- dog’s don’t know that Beggin Strips are not bacon
- photographs are not real (doctored with software)
- singing is not real (auto-tune devices)
- crowd noise on televised sporting events is not real
- network speeds are not real - (ATT 5g ad: "AT&T may temporarily slow data speeds if the network is busy.")
Is anything real any more?
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I don't know...
I've been enjoying my totally unrealistic Trainz lately a lot. I spent the past few days for many, many, many hours fiddling with my latest mega-merger creation as I added in baseboards, and blended landscapes, connected tracks and went for a ride.
I've been enjoying my totally unrealistic Trainz lately a lot. I spent the past few days for many, many, many hours fiddling with my latest mega-merger creation as I added in baseboards, and blended landscapes, connected tracks and went for a ride.
Attachments
Yup and pianos aren't real anymore either.
I have a Roland LX-17 that's connected to my PC running Moddartt's Pianoteq software. Using that software, my Roland becomes a Steinway D, a Bösendorfer from 1830, an 1849 Erard, a wicked expensve Steingraeber 273 and a bunch more pianos. In reality, these all cost at least what my house does and then some.
Modartt - Pianoteq 7
You can always create a "track-sound" with the wav files and add it to the bogies of the electric locomotive... or also put to zero the line "is-ramping" on the config to 0.
http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php/KIND_Enginesound
I am not a musician but I love playing with synths and etc. Back in the day (70's and 80's) I built music synth modules just to learn about VCO's, VCA's, filters, etc. etc. Today, just for fun, on my iPad I have a Mellotron (my favorite instrument) and a Korg M1 synth - oh, and a Theremin too.
EverTrainz
Electric Blue
Granted, guitars haven’t been ‘real’ in sound in the sense since the 60s. It’s amazing how far the digital replica industry has come for creating old classic sounds. I’ve always wanted one of the analog 8-voice Moogs but they are quite expensive. I’ve found much cheaper digital VST alternatives that can replicate the sound but still don’t get that analog “crunch” in lack of a better way to explain it.
True.. Likewise, You can record a Mellotron and make a digital version - but it's just not the same as the real tapes and all their "unique-ness."
hiawathamr
DLC developer for Trainz
There is one thing I can think of that is real, and that is people can be real pains to deal with sometimes :hehe:
Cheers
EverTrainz
Electric Blue
It will take a lot of money and a lot of time but it would be fully on N3V to commission these handful of high standard (bar-raising) routes. If they jump the gun and have mediocre freeware routes, then that’s the quality of route that future creators might be inclined to reach with their own (payware or freeware) projects. I know Skyhook Games does routes on contract but then again I don’t know if it would be worth it. N3V would still need to add features that differentiate it from the current Trainz, advanced physics and advanced sound would be nice but it might need to take it further in terms of interaction. A full startup and coupling/hose connecting process would be around the levels of immersion to compete.
So what happens to TSW2 when they try to get their advanced Simugraph to warp into steam traction? It will be quite fudged and I don’t see TSW2 drawing a massive crowd from TS1. A lot? Yes, but it will be fairly divided among those who want to keep their old content (and want to continue creating content), and those who want to run an immersive simulator. So either stick with TS1’s aging old engine that is slowly falling behind in visuals, or move on to TSW2 where the only content you get is DTG’s in-house products including the “fat face” Class 52 among other misproportioned locos
. Competition is always a good thing regardless.
I'm actually finding myself running TSW2 more and more when it's time for train driving. The Western isn't too bad once in the nice cab and the sounds are pretty good. The main attraction as I said earlier is feeling you're part of a wider world with timetable mode and being able to step off one train and board another, even just travel as a passenger if you want. Steam will be a challenge for them, but then it also took Auran/N3V years to get that aspect right in Trainz. It wasn't until the S&C and the Railsim UK guys got on the scene that driving a steam loco got to be enjoyable. I think Simugraph has come on a bit since TSW(1) and the physics generally feel much better.
Yup. The digital world has come a long way since the early days. Pianoteq uses mathematical modeling after sampling the instruments instead using strict digital sampling at various volume levels. This also for nearly infinite adjustment of various parameters so that a soundboard can be shaped, strings lengthened, and various other microphone settings can be made. The problem I have is it's still digital. and analog and acoustic is the way to go. I also have a Roland C-30 digital harpsichord. It's not the same as my real Italian virginal which I'm restoring, and the forte piano is not the same as the real ones I played that date back to the 1790s. My clavichord, in need of a rebuild, is something that can never be modeled well due to the harmonics and depth of the sound that can't be matched.
But alas, we're going way off topic here!
I am not a musician but I love playing with synths and etc. Back in the day (70's and 80's) I built music synth modules just to learn about VCO's, VCA's, filters, etc. etc. Today, just for fun, on my iPad I have a Mellotron (my favorite instrument) and a Korg M1 synth - oh, and a Theremin too.
Those are cool instruments even synth'd. My physics teacher had a real Theremin and used to demonstrate it to his classes. I built filters like that in my electronics classes, however, we didn't use vacuum tubes and used ICs such as op-amps, lots of capacitors, and transistors.
(bringing back memories!)
There is one thing I can think of that is real, and that is people can be real pains to deal with sometimes :hehe:
Cheers
Ah! that is if you can get a 'real' person on the other end of the phone for example when calling about your internet dropping out or the overbilling on your tele account!
EverTrainz
Electric Blue
It would be interesting if there’s some way to do such sort of audio manipulation for our locomotive engine sounds. I’d say diesel locomotive sounds are some of the most complex sounds a video game might have to tackle. No constant maintenance at a single power level like a jet, but not constantly changing (and thus a more “constant” engine note) as an automobile, where manipulating the pitch is enough. For trains we have to accommodate the intense sounds of notching up (whistling, whining, that amazing high-frequency clagging sound) , which are far more interesting than hearing sustained RPMs, or RPMs constantly changing every second to the point it’s mundane.
Perhaps a sort of “diesel sound simulator” where we can insert a few stock audio clips that make up the prime mover sounds: one for the “exhaust” raspiness, one for the piston head sliding, one for the main shaft rotation, and another for the vibrations of the prime mover on the locomotive frame itself from sheer power (rumbly bass).
Then add in the “extra packages” such as the turbo, supercharger, or a silencer. These could be achieved with equalization mostly. A massive stack of effects and volume/pitch manipulation can give us appropriate sounds for each RPM range.
Then we could export these to Trainz, or any sim really.
I want to toy with a concept like this in another program like unity or FMOD but I don’t currently own either, and don’t have much for trial-and-error as well. Again though, off topic
I sometimes wonder why, with all the audio technology currently available, we cannot produce our own realistic loco/train sounds without resorting to sound grabs.
I want to toy with a concept like this in another program like unity or FMOD but I don’t currently own either, and don’t have much for trial-and-error as well. Again though, off topic
Not necessarily off topic.
You would need a sample of the sound its self as a core just as the people at Modartt use real instrument sounds as their base. With that, the various sounds are modeled and mapped digitally. That's it in a nutshell, and for this you need the tools and software to do it. Once you have the core sound, you can then manipulate various parameters to generate other variables for what you want such as additional reverb, enhanced vibrations at specific frequencies and so on.
This is quite complex but the results will be rewarding. We will then need the capabilities within the program, however, to give us the sounds we expect once they've been created, and this is the area that definitely needs work.
EverTrainz
Electric Blue
That's something I always wonder. TS has the ability to set up such that the pitch of the engine changes with the RPM, but that's not all that realistic either.
I only have a DAW at present - much, much less ideal for things like this. I wonder if there exists such a program that's made for designing sounds for video games based on factors that are constantly manipulated. Rather than Fmod which is a video game sound engine for in-game usage rather than development.
"Manipulate various parameters" - that's exactly what I was thinking, particularly for motive power that didn't have a set number of notches, i.e. the RPM could be continuously varied. A basic idea would be that the farther the power level/RPM is jumped from one to another, the louder the "notching up" sounds that fade in and out after the set RPM is achieved.
This might be of interest. But it's an automobile engine sim and not a diesel locomotive. We don't really get the sweet sounds of "notching up" - no great-sounding unburnt fuel being propelled into the atmosphere, no turbo whistle, no brief speed increases before settling, etc.. But the concept seems to be there for car sounds.
http://www.sound-design-lab.com/english_page.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyFxXZ2xsrU&feature=emb_title
At least with older diesel engines, the only thing that changed in sound drastically among RPM levels and between notches, was the sound of the combustion and piston strokes, between idle and full power it could go from a soft "whisp" sound to a loud "pop" or mini-explosion-like sound for each cylinder. The sound of the rumble of the prime mover against the bodyframe goes from almost unnoticeable, to a loud bass-heavy sound. The others components of the enginesound seem to be variable simply with pitch.
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