Mr Murphy

Looks like You didn't understand my point at all - I was talking about how different diesel locomotive sounds (engines, converters, motors, compressons ...) are in a) cab, b) outside (standing by the locomotive) c) directly in the engine room. In reality those three are completely different. But nothing like that in SimRail's BR 285. Go to outer view nr. 2 and stand as close as possible to drivers window. Now move to cabview (view nr 1) and start to swap between those two views and find differences. Cabin of the modern locomotive is usually heavily isolated from the engine room by at least 2 walls which filter out higher frequencies and distort sounds. For better understanding I'm adding video with expert TRAXX locomotive model (BR 145) created by German developer for Train Sim World. I haven't played this sim for a long time but those German guys are doing fantastic job on they expert series locos and soundwork is carefully done. Listen those sounds and feel the diffenece. It starts from around the min. 2 where driver opens cabin door and exits the loco. Sound change immediately when door is opened - developers have recorded separate sounds for cabview and outer view. Later in this video driver is entering to engine room. Sound changes again when engine rooms door opens. Now You can hear the third different soundset - recorded specially for engine room. When returning to cab You can hear changes in sound again - everything will be much softer, higher frequencies cutted off. That's what I meant - different sound environment for cab and outer view. In SimRail's BR 285 in-cab sounds are just missing. Another problem with SimRail - opening cabin doors or windows doesn't affect sound at all. Try to move from the cab to engine room and watch when sound starts to change. That happens when approaching to the engine room door!!! Sound should change when You open the door, not before. And so on ... Lets say honestly - Your BR 285 (E186 as well) needs lot more work on sounds. I'm absolutely disappointed. For example sounds for 36W Impuls and CD 163 are very well done and I enjoy them. Please ... entire sound system needs updates. Distance fading is wrong as hell. Horns are not load enough. Plus many more problems.

I recommend to swap between view 1 (cabview) and view 2 (outside, very close to the cabin) and listen carefully what's the difference. That's not the case only with BR 285 - electric TRAXX (E186) has similar problems.

Traxx E186 sounds ... hmm ... it's latest time to start to fix cab sounds.

I can confirm now that BR 285 engine sounds in cab are completely wrong. Maybe they didn't have enough time to record everything. Maybe they didn't obtain access to locomotive to record everything. I don't know but in current state it's not something that would be called finished product. It's lacking in cab diesel engine sounds. Sound engineer has used outer sounds for replacement. In-cab and outer sounds are two completely different things. Ecpecially in case of diesel traction. So ... waiting for the SimKol-s reaction.

Thrash ... hehh. Vern, I remember well the discussion where Richard Armstrong from Armstrong Powerhouse (creator of many sound expansion packs) explained what can be heard in the cab of Class 37 (famous for it's "thrash") and what You can never hear. The first what he said - when they had recording sessions this so called "thrash" was audible only outside or when You opened the cab window. In cab (windows closed) he didn't hear any "thrash" at all (or absolutely minimal). And afterwards, when listening recordings at his home studio, he was really surprised how well Class 37's cab was isolated so engine sounded completely different from what he was first expecting. In SimRail's BR 285 the difference between outer and in-cab engine sound feels not realistic. In-cab sound should be much softer, low frequencies dominating. Question is not only in sound level (volume) but more in different sound character. That's the point. And the more I'm listening different BR 285 cab videos the more I understand what's wrong in SimRail's version. Plus horn is not loud enough (just very old and known issue in almost all train sims) ... Been honest I was absolutely sure the biggest sound problems will arrive with first diesel engines. And they arrived.

I think the biggest problem with this add-on is soundset. It's not good at all. Lets start from the cabin and in case of diesel locomotives many things are different compared to electric ones. Inner engine sounds (in cab sound) are usually completely different so You can't use outer engine soundfiles with just some filtering effects. This doesn't work. Special in-cab sounds have to be recorded. The same about engine room sounds (if it is modelled). They are way different. That makes diesel locomotives soundsets harder to work with from the beginning. Different sound recordings for inner and outer view (plus engine room, passenger saloon and so on). Modern locomotive cabins are pretty well isolated, that's why engine sound has completely different character in different views and You can't simulate it using just outer engines waveform. Simple as that. Another big problem with SimRail - completely wrong sound fading effect. Some sounds should be heard from the very long distance - for example horn more than 3 km:-s (even sometimes 5+), rail joints over km., higher pitched engine sounds from 800 m. and so on. I think SimRails soundguys tried to experiment a bit with Pendolino and expanded sound range but still that's not enough. And work was unfinished. So I really hope sounds for the BR 285 will be reworked and improved. Electric TRAXX sounset was also not the best, maybe even most weak for this game. Around ten years ago I tried to improve many train sounds for Train Simulator Classic (DTG). For example - when Stadler/Vossloh Class 68 (modern diesel) in ScotRail livery came out I found the sounset been surprisingly well recorded by DTG ... but lot of mess was made with those recorded sounds. And I started to build up my own soundset from the ground zero. There were different engine sounds recorded - separate in cab and outside versions ... but for some unknown reasons (probably the lack of time) inner sound files were ignored and only outer ones used with filtering ... which didn't work at all. I added all in-cab sounds, worked on balances, edited some soundforms and the locomotive started to sound like real machine, different in outer and inner view. Watch this video. In the beginning and end You can find good examples how different in-cab and outer sounds can be ... and how to achive right sound fading:

IMO CD 163's sound is very realistic. I've watched different videos and nothing wrong with it. Those old thyristors were very noicy and cabins not well isolated. But I like this loco model, well done. Top notch physics, functional train length button (unfortunately key command missing for that), nice cruise controller (tempomat). Exactly like You I don't understand this endless negativity around new DLC-s. Yes, we haven't seen serious core updates for core software for long time now and secondary mainline (Sosnowiec-Tunel) needs lot more work to do (some important signalboxes still missing) but still - SimRail is currently the only train simulator I'm playing. And I'm enjoying it very much.

Why northbound services numbered 715xx were removed? 175xx (southbound ones) are nicely there and playable. For that reason the route from Zgiers to Lowicz Glowny feels somehow empty now.

Do not forget there are situations when player can't use voice chat - for example at home when there are other family members around and You just don't want to disturb them. Or You're missing headset for different reasons (it's broken or any other reason). Then text chat just replaces voice communication. Thanks to god developers provided different options to communicate.

There are problematic services, lot of them. For example Pendolino ones from Katowice to Warszawa (Gdansk). 7 min. driving time (or was it even 6) from Katowice to Sosnowiec is impossible. I have been always late. And true - most of players and AI doesn't care about neutral sections. Even achivement system doesn't care. Some neutral sections are incorrectly marked (they lack start or end sign). Also I doubt not all of them are in right place. For example it's absurdic if placed in front of signals (where train often stops and has to accelerate again - how to accelerate without power?). IC trains are mostly late because of wrong (slower than driving characteristics require) locomotives used. That's because 160 km/h capable IC locos/EMU-s are still missing. The same about many commuter services where EN57/EN71 with top speed limited to 110 km/h can't do the job. But new EMU is coming soon.

And this bug is still there - "Driving through the station without stopping". Train nr. 7329 is approaching from Myszkow. The first place where I can switch AI off (and start to act as driver myself) is Myszkow Mrzyglod ... not before ... and I'm getting -1000 points again ....!!! That's an really old bug and there are many other services that are affected. Please do something with it! All this achivement system is very poor and needs lot of improvements.

I really like those improvements in cab sway / suspension. Driving feels much more realistic now. But seems like we also got to know where track laying has not been perfect or is far of perfect. Without suspension those places were hard to notice. Conclusion: in some curves track superelevation parameters need checking and correction. Suspension suddenly turns too bumpy and seems this is caused by track, not by train/loco suspension parameters. And there's an old problem with some rail joints, switches and junctions where train/loco jumps (sometimes heavily). For example in Dundowka station. I hope there'll be solution to fix this.

1) I think the vigilance system reset button doesn't respond fast enough. I got 3 times emergency brakes activated during last scenario play due to this issue. It's highly recommended to improve reaction time of this button. 2) I got almost all important key bindings (traction) working (nice there are new ones added) ... but only one is missing - Train Length Button (this white one). It really should exist. The loco is just incredibly well modelled. Bravo!

Again ... and again! It's really the latest time to fix this old bug. I just ran service 7327, which, when started, was approaching to Zawiercie. And instead of Zawiercie HUD is showing Myszkow as next stop. What follows is that I'm getting -1000 points for "not stopping in the station". Why is this bug still there two years after official release of the SimRail simulator? Don't undertsand. Nobody reported? I don't believe. There are too many services affected by this bug. Please, do something to fix it.

I do not agree, Yes there's a lot of room for improvements. In-cab sounds IMO are pretty acceptable and they support train physics. Some cab sounds are even very good - for example EN 76, ET 22 and EN 57/71. Even Pendolino has pretty okay cab sounds. The problem often is there's not enough variety. For example Armstrong Powerhouse soundsets for Train Simulator provided sometimes up to 20 or even more sound variations to choose from randomly. It really made difference. Especially bad is TRAXX motor sound on certain speeds. It has memorable segments and those start to repeat and repeat until You hate this loco model. Randomly switchable soundsets is a great option which unfortunately is not implemented in SimRail. Another funtamental problem is missing the realistic distance fading effect. The distance when You start to hear approaching train is currently very short. And sounds cut off too early when train passed. I understand developers tried to optimise the game in every aspect but ... now it's the latest time to fix this. All locos and trains are missing outer bogie rolling sounds. Come on! I understand - recordind and editing locomotives/trainsets outer rolling sound is not the easiest job on earth but to leave them completely without is not acceptable at all. In real life there are some sounds which can be heard from kilometers away - horn, coolers, motors, rail joints ... Formulas exist how to calculate fading curve for certain train sounds. I edited lot of soundsets for Train Simulator (Classic) and know how to do it. Sad we don't have any modding options for SimRail. Especially outer sounds need lot more work. In reality - rail joint sounds depend heavily on train speed. Pitch and volume curves have to be edited for that purpose. The lack of wind sound when opening driver windows. New intermodal cargo wagons are too silent compared to other wagons. Rail joint sounds for Dragon locomotives are extremely bad, seems those are not rail joint sounds at all or lack proper editing. TRAXX rail joint sounds are very good for comparison. Rain sounds for all new signalboxes on Grodzisk-Lodz route are wrong ones. Right ones exist but were not choosen for unknown reasons. Please replace them. Those are just some of my thoughts on SimRail sounds. Fixes are coming very slowly.

Thank You very much.

Can't set path for trains in Skierniewice signalbox from signal skF2 to skA21 (from Skierniewice to Žyrardow on track 2) . That means traffic towards Žyrardow is completely blocked. I'm always getting message - "Order rejected". No any success. Also substitute signalling is impossible. I remember the same happened when setting path from grM1 to grP1 (from Groszisk to Korytow on mainline track 1) in Grodzisk before the latest update. Now it is working perfectly.

Nice.

I was nicely surprised when 'time' of the EN2 server was changed to -12 hours. Before that EN2 was usually almost empty and acted like backup server to EN1. But now it's gone completely. Why? There's another server called EU2 (for drivers only) which seems exactly as pointless as EN2 before removing the EN2. It is always empty and I don't undertsand the point why EN2 was removed. Maybe it's just temporarily down but anyway ... currently it is not accessable.

Thank You SR team for the hard work You have done. The sim gets better and better. I like those new signalboxes and we clearly see the progress. What I worry about is the sound system. Trains and locos in-cab sounds are mostly pretty good and I fully understand why developers concentrated more on inner sounds than anything else. Usually we are spending most of the time in cabins. But when playing as signalman You can notice how bad and unrealistic are outer train sounds. First and most important - distance fading as it is now doesn't work at all. Train is approaching and suddenly You start to hear it ... just maybe one hundred meters away. That's highly unrealistic and immersion killer. When Train Simulator (now called Classic) was released it had exactly the same problem. When UK based Armstrong Powerhouse started to sell their first PRO soundsets the entire principle of sound creation/editing was changed. Most important improvement was unlocking distance limits (originally set up tp 300 m.) and setting completely new main volume level (around 30% higher) to make room for louder sounds (like horns). For that reason dynamic range was widened siginificantly. Developers of the TSC failed because they didn't take into consideration entire dynamic range - the horn sound is always the loadest one and it dictates the peak point. This is where You set the full 100% volume level. All other sounds depend on that level. But they started from engine sounds and in the end of basic development circle found that ... horn can't be set loud enough because ... engine sound already dictated the max. level. In SimRail the volume peak level is pretty okay but realistic distance fading is missing. There are formulas how sound diffuses in reality. Yes I know in SR some important sounds are completely missing - like outer bogie rolling ones. Try to go out of the loco (EP07 for example) and start to walk away ... the sound fades unrealistically fast and loco sounds more like a toy not like a heavy machine should sound. The problem is that sound improvements to SR are coming very slowly, we haven't seen much yet. I hope Your sound guys are aware of problems. Another annoying issue is with rail joint sounds. They are extremely basic and don't take into count differences in speed. Sometimes the pitch is too high or too low and it doesn't vary when speed changes. In reality rail joints make different sounds on different speeds (can be set using pitch and volume modifier curve). I understand why bogie rolling sounds are missing - they are most hard to get recorded. Engines/motors/transformers and other engine sounds have to be eliminated when recording rolling locomotive or ... another way is to filter rolling sounds out. No one railway company allows You to switch off power systems on working loco (for security reasons) when running on top speed. Maybe only exception when running on special test tracks. So basically the only way is to keep sound recorder as close to the bogies as possible and filter rolling sounds out using sound editing software. Few more annoying sounds - rain in signalboxes. Very annoying, try to get better one and more suitable for inner environment. Walking sounds are weird too (when going walking out of signalbox), recommend to find more realistic ones. Overall I like SimRail very much, enjoy those new signalboxes, signalling and driving. This will be nr. 1 railway sim in the world soon. Greetings from Estonia.