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Suggested improvements for sound handling and momentum integration for RailPro.
Archive:
Originally posted by William Brillinger on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Sep 28, 2015
Here is an outline of the improvements I would like to see in the sound handling and momentum integration for RailPro.
I invite your comments and perhaps if we agree on this vision or some variation, we can collectively request Ring to adopt it.
I think the ballistics feature would go a very long way toward realistic audio performance on Railpro. The rest of the options listed are intended to support this feature for tweaking loco actions on the fly.
For reference, my goal is to be able to re-create the effects seen in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=3&v=cIpHWUFu-Go
Allow for heavy momentum settings
- Allow for Accel and Decel times of up to 120 seconds
Allow setting of throttle percentage where notch 8 is reached
- Let users set the percentage of power above which the sound is always notch 8.
- ie: this is the average full power setting on the layout.
Intelligent Throttle Response (Ballistics)
Ballistics as described on MRH in a discussion about other decoder products:
…on Tsunamis, with CVs 3 and 4 both set to 150, it seems as though the faster I throttle up, the slower the power actually accelerates. That is, if I spin the throttle knob from 0 to 100% immediately, the prime movers really load up, and it takes a bit before the locomotives start to move, as if they're starting a heavy train. However, if I slowly notch up to just 25-30%, the locomotives seem to move right away, as they would with light power or a small cut. I think Soundtraxx must have built some sort of acceleration sensitivity into their decoders and adjusted the sound accordingly, much the same as how they play brake squeal when you decelerate rapidly, but don't if you throttle down gently.
That behavior may be part of the throttle's response as opposed to the decoder. The NCE cabs have a feature called "Ballistic Tracking" that sounds like what you've described.
How I propose ballistics should work on RailPro:
- Spin the Throttle knob up quickly to heavily load the prime mover and use heavy momentum effects.
- If the momentum has not reached the throttle setting, backing off the throttle a tiny bit would tell RailPro to keep the current speed and spool the sound down to the appropriate auto-notch level.
- Move the throttle knob up or down slowly to have low momentum effects and immediate response.
- Moving the throttle down should always have low momentum effects for safety reasons.
Coast Feature (toggle)
- Spool sound down to idle (notch 1)
- do not change speed
- When released, spool sound back up to the current auto-notch setting.
- If throttle is increased, cancel coast and spool to new notch setting appropriate to the throttle choice.
Brake Feature (momentary)
- Spool sound down to idle (notch 1)
- Play squeal sound until button is released or stop is reached
- Decelerate train until button is released or stop is reached
Combined Auto & Manual Notching
- Allow the user to increase or decrease the notch level at any time
- Override the manual choice when the throttle is changed.
ie: the locomotive is moving at 40% power (auto notch is at notch 4) and the user manually increases to notch 6, then:
- if the user decreases the throttle to 30% auto-notching brings the sound down to notch 3 and manual notching is cancelled.
- if the user increased the throttle to 50% or 60%, notching does not change.
- if the user increased the throttle to 70%, auto notching increases to notch 7 and manual notching is cancelled.
Notch Indicator
- Display the current notch level on the display.
Improved Revving (smooth)
- The notches do not notch up/down smoothly. In manual notching you can outrun the sounds and skip over and entire sound causing the LM-2 to sound bad.
- Tim says: We did not know this problem existed. We plan to fix this in a newer revision
Archive:
Originally posted by Shawn Hogan on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Sep 28, 2015
I would amend the brake feature to be latching. Push on/push off. The momentum settings would adjust how long it would take to come to a stop dependent upon the throttle/power setting when the brake is activated.
Shawn
Archive:
Originally posted by William Brillinger on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Sep 28, 2015
Shawn,
The only problem I see with the brake feature being a toggle instead of momentary is if you only want to "tap" the brakes, you can't, so some might prefer this a momentary.
BrakeFeature
Spool sound down to idle (notch 1)
Play squeal sound until button is released or stop is reached
Decelerate train until button is released or stop is reached
Option to configure this as momentary or toggle
- Bill
Archive:
Originally posted by Shawn Hogan on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Sep 28, 2015
Bill,
I see your point. I guess having only operated with "brakes" in one particular way, I didn't think of that possibility. Since the Rail Pro system is software based, would it be fairly easy to write in an either/or choice? I'm no programmer so I don't know what's involved in writing programs. I just know if it's easy to use or not!!
Programming the "brake" button to be a push and hold could work as long as you could bring it to a stop and it would stay stopped. Again, I'm saying that based on my usage in other operating environments. Not sure what action would restart motion; perhaps tapping the direction buttons would start the loco moving again, revving up to whatever the speed setting was when you brought it to a stop.
Shawn
Archive:
Originally posted by William Brillinger on the RailPro Users Yahoo! Group on Sep 28, 2015
I'm sure making a momentary or toggle option would be simple enough to include in the configuration.
Restarting would simply require a "spin" of the knob since there is no hard stop on it.
- Bill
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