Dynamic Brake

BreadedAlmond

New member
The dynamic brake does not work properly. You do not/can not use throttle to affect how much retarding force is generated. The dynamic brake itself does all of that. Is there any way to change that in the game? Do I need to report it as a bug?

Is there any way for me to get in contact with the developers. I am a real life Locomotive Engineer and would love to help make this game more accurate.
 
If you want realism, your in the wrong game my friend. I won't name the others due to respect, but yeah.. Trainz is bout as far from any realism. Even in Cab Mode, its still DCC like controls just bit more relaxed.

If you crave that realism and the itch is real from the day job you may want to Google a few.
 
I am certainly not a locomotive engineer, but based on things I have read such as this:

"While the train is coasting, the engineer, using an eight-notch controller similar to the throttle, energizes the traction-motor fields, causing the motors to act as generators."

from this 2006 Trains article:

http://trn.trains.com/railroads/abcs-of-railroading/2006/05/dynamic-braking

I had always assumed that dynamic brakes used the throttle to control the amount of braking, the same way it does in Trainz locomotives. If you have time, I would love to hear about what it is really like.
 
Have to say I'm somewhat confused and bemused by the OP's original statement.
Went back to revisit dynamic braking in a session I built on the great Mojave Sub platform created by JR.
Eased a massive crude oil tank train down from Tehachapi to Wallong East using cab mode and dynamic braking.
After getting the consist rolling at the top of the incline, I set the throttle to neutral and then engaged the dynamic brake system using the 'C' key.
To keep the heavy train in check under the 25 MPH speed limit and with a 2.2% gradient meant that I slowly applied 10% increments (up to a maximum of 50%) using the 'W' key.
If the speed started to fall below 23 MPH where the gradient fell below 2% again I eased back to notch 4 for a few seconds and then reapplied more dynamic braking to maintain a steady descent speed.
Throttle changes do indeed adjust the regenerated braking force, as indicated by the brake pressure values shown on the left-hand side of the advanced control HUD, and evidenced by the subsequent slowing, or speeding up, of the consist.
 
actually I found dynamic braking ( when available ) quite realistic. Remember the engine rev's go up to notch four and only for cooling the traction motors.
Dynamic brake fans cool the dynamic brake grids that disperse the energy from the traction motors that have become traction generators. That is where the nice noise comes from. Nothing like hearing six or seven diesles or electric units in full cry with a full load downhill in full dynamic braking at around 28 kmh.
 
Dynamic brake fans cool the dynamic brake grids that disperse the energy from the traction motors that have become traction generators. That is where the nice noise comes from.
Too bad after some 18 years we still don't and never will have a way to get that nice noise implemented
 
I am certainly not a locomotive engineer, but based on things I have read such as this:

"While the train is coasting, the engineer, using an eight-notch controller similar to the throttle, energizes the traction-motor fields, causing the motors to act as generators."

from this 2006 Trains article:

http://trn.trains.com/railroads/abcs-of-railroading/2006/05/dynamic-braking

I had always assumed that dynamic brakes used the throttle to control the amount of braking, the same way it does in Trainz locomotives. If you have time, I would love to hear about what it is really like.



The dynamic brake is separate from the throttle completely. It uses the traction motors to slow the train by applying a retarding force and negative energy. When you switch from throttle to dynamic brakes you wait 10 seconds to let any extra energy produced die out and when you switch to set-up you hear a nice thunk noise from the relay. Then from there it is all in the dynamic brake handle to control how much retarding force is actually created. The throttle only controls momentum forward and is not touched when using dynamic brakes. Actually from all the locomotives I have ran when in throttle or dynamic brakes the opposite handle is locked from movement. Now the dynamic brake affect in this game is correct on how much it applies but you don't use the throttle to determine that.
 
The dynamic brake is separate from the throttle completely. It uses the traction motors to slow the train by applying a retarding force and negative energy. When you switch from throttle to dynamic brakes you wait 10 seconds to let any extra energy produced die out and when you switch to set-up you hear a nice thunk noise from the relay. Then from there it is all in the dynamic brake handle to control how much retarding force is actually created. The throttle only controls momentum forward and is not touched when using dynamic brakes. Actually from all the locomotives I have ran when in throttle or dynamic brakes the opposite handle is locked from movement. Now the dynamic brake affect in this game is correct on how much it applies but you don't use the throttle to determine that.

Thanks very much for that explanation, makes perfect sense. I've often wondered why we use the throttle lever in Trainz when the DB Lever has 8 notches on it.
 
Why can't you implement that noise?
Some engines we released on Jointedrail a while ago had custom engine sounds scripted that allowed for startup & shutdown audio, as well as implemented dynamic brake noises. However due to how the game handles the doppler effect pitch shifting, it would lead to clipping between audio loops. It has to be fixed on N3V's end.
 
Try the HP Trainz GP38-2 and SD-40's (NARM has plenty of repaints of these models).

Both are scripted to lock the Dynamic Brake while the Throttle is above idle. You need to position the Throttle to idle then engage Dynamic Brake, then use the Throttle to activate the Dynamic Brake.

Realism with locomotives really depends on how much effort the content creator wants to put into coding. It's not a plug'n'play system. Saying the platform isn't realistic is just naive.
 
The dynamic brake is separate from the throttle completely. It uses the traction motors to slow the train by applying a retarding force and negative energy. When you switch from throttle to dynamic brakes you wait 10 seconds to let any extra energy produced die out and when you switch to set-up you hear a nice thunk noise from the relay. Then from there it is all in the dynamic brake handle to control how much retarding force is actually created. The throttle only controls momentum forward and is not touched when using dynamic brakes. Actually from all the locomotives I have ran when in throttle or dynamic brakes the opposite handle is locked from movement. Now the dynamic brake affect in this game is correct on how much it applies but you don't use the throttle to determine that.

In terms of the controls within the cab, this is entirely dependent on the locomotive being modeled.

Currently the Trainz 'default' controls are designed to represent the earlier EMD locomotives that used a combination of a 'selector' lever and the 'throttle' lever to operate the dynamic brakes. That said, in this area, my primary knowledge is Australian trains, which used this arrangement up till (from memory) the mid 70s on new locos, changing to the separate dynamic brake lever with locos introduced after the early-mid 70s.

That said, it is quite possible to use a custom script to make the dynamic brake lever operate as such, and to interlock it with the throttle. As to if a creator wishes to make this step, well that is up to them. Unfortunately the built-in SD40-2 does use the dynamic brake lever incorrectly; we may look into this in future but I cannot say when that may be.

It would be nice to implement this as a default control set (As well as the many other types of controls available in diesel and electric locomotives), however with the massive wishlist for Trainz to work through, including bug fixes/etec, we do need to choose features/additions/changes carefully.

This is also ignoring the fact that many locomotives have a combined power/brake lever, which effectively takes you back to the earlier method (using the one lever for both; just the direction from idle acts as your 'selector' rather than a separate lever). This again can be modeled in Trainz (via script from memory).

Regards
 
Apologies for bumping a thread that hasn't been active in a year but I thought that I'd share this as a work around for getting working dynamic brake sounds.

Besides the RBMN locomotives that are on Jointed Rail's website, I don't believe there are any locomotives made for Trainz that have dynamic brake sounds. However, if you use the JR RBMN locomotives as a template, you can CREATE an enginesound that has dynamic brake sounds included, along with startup and shutdown sounds. I'll try to describe it as understandable as possilbe since a video tutorial explaining this better on how to do this is much needed.


1. First, if you want to get the engine sounds to work in the first place, you have to make sure the locomotive in which you want these features to work has the JR_loco script. Basically this technique will only work for a good majority of Jointed Rail locomotives (except for those that have the FX_loco script, there IS a difference between the two), so unless if you're good at converting assets with that specific script and preventing the asset from becoming faulty (it's more than just copy and pasting), you should only do this on Jointed Rail locomotives that already have the script saved inside.
You'll also have to edit the asset's config file under the extensions tag. Beneath the extensions tag is another tag, locosystems-45324. Below that, add these tags:
locosystems-45324 (Only add this tag if it is not written into the config file under the tag extensions)
{
custom_sounds 1
}
}
It should look something like this.
My-Trainz-Screenshot-Image.jpg



2. The naming of the .wav files differs from the standard way of making enginesounds. The default way is to name them idle (X).wav, up (X) - (Y).wav, down (Y) - (X).wav ((X) representing a number, and (Y) representing a number greater than (X)). However, for the advanced engine sounds, you need to set the names as n(X).wav (idle sound files), up(X)-(Y).wav (throttle up sound files), and dn(Y)-(X).wav (throttle down sound files). All of the engine sound files should be named like this:
Idling Sounds:
n0.wav
n1.wav
n2.wav
n3.wav
n4.wav
n5.wav
n6.wav
n7.wav
n8.wav
Throttle up:
up0-1.wav
up1-2.wav
up2-3.wav
up3-4.wav
up4-5.wav
up5-6.wav
up6-7.wav
up7-8.wav
Throttle down:
dn1-0.wav
dn2-1.wav
dn3-2.wav
dn4-3.wav
dn5-4.wav
dn6-5.wav
dn7-6.wav
dn8-7.wav
For the dynamic brake files, there should be three .wav files that need to be named dbrake.wav (dynamic brake sound), dbstart.wav (dynamic brake start sound), and dbend.wav (dynamic brake ending sound). The dynamic brake .wav files also need to be at least 10 seconds long for them to play in sequence (in the case of the RBMN locomotive enginesound files, the dynamic brake .wav files are too short which is why when activating the dynamic brakes on these assets, the dynamic brake sound stops for a brief period of time, then plays again, and stops again, and so on).
For the startup and shutdown sounds, they need to be named startup.wav and shutdown.wav (the default way of naming them is start.wav and stop.wav). Simple as that.
There is also a load sound effect that you can add that plays everytime you throttle up/down the enginesound. Although you really don't need it, the naming for this sound is load1.wav.
Another thing to note is that unlike the regular enginesound file configuration, the advanced enginesound file configuration uses 9 idle sounds instead of 8 (n0.wav - n8.wav), and 8 throttle up/down sounds instead of 7 (up0-1.wav to up 7-8.wav, dn1-0.wav to dn 8-7.wav), so if you plan on converting an already made enginesound into the advanced configuration, rename the idle 8.wav sound to n7.wav, create a copy that same file 3 times then rename the 3 copies to up7-8.wav, n8.wav, and dn8-7.wav.
The files should look something like this in the asset's editing folder.
My-Trainz-Screenshot-Image.jpg



3. The last thing that you need to do is go into the advanced enginesound's config file, and add the tags:
extensions
{
notch-durations
notch-up-durations
notch-down-durations
startup-duration
shutdown-duration
}
As the names imply, these tags are for the lengths of each individual sound file. Unlike the default enginesound configuration where you don't have to put any tags in which you have to enter the length of the .wav files and the sounds would play anyways, for the advanced configuration you NEED to have these tags in the config file for the .wav files to play. If you want to accurately measure the length of the .wav files I recommend a program called audacity. Just open up the program, place the .wav file onto Audacity's timeline, move the audio position to the very end of the file, and enter in the length of the clip into the tag that it goes in. The length of the n(X).wav files go to notch-durations, up(X)-(Y).wav lengths go to notch-up-durations, dn(Y)-(X).wav lengths go to notch-down-durations, startup.wav length goes to startup-duration, and shutdown.wav length goes to shutdown-duration. You don't a length tag for the dbrake.wav, dbstart.wav, dbend.wav, and load1.wav files.
The tags should look something like this.
My-Trainz-Screenshot-Image.jpg



And with that, just right click on the asset in content manager (both the enginesound, and the locomotive that you have modified to play the enginesound), hit submit edits, and it should play. The only drawbacks of these enginesounds however is sometimes, there are small clips in the audio files due to how N3V handles the doppler transition sound effects, as well as the fact that the enginesounds play double the sound files for some reason (I assume this has to do with preventing the audio clippings but your guess is as good as mine). Other than that, if you want accurate enough sounds on your locomotive, I'd suggest taking this post into consideration. I'm aware that it's a bump and it's long and drawn out, but it's really the only sort of tutorial when it comes to giving locomotives in Trainz proper dynamic brake sounds. I might end up making a video on how to do this so I might come back to this post and edit the link in. Otherwise, hope this helps out alot. It's very well needed.
 
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