Review
by Casey
Review—3D-Sounds Package-v10 by 3D-Perfection Models
As I was
rummaging around in NERR’s cavernous Forums, the other
day, I ran across
cbff33’s
comments about the 3D-Perfection sound add-on that’s
available either as a D/L or CD order on their Web site.
His remarks reminded me that I’d ordered this add-on some
time ago, but had never gotten around to installing it –
so, I quickly got around to it. What a fine time I had!
cbff33’s
assessment of five out of five stars is bang-on, in my
considered judgment. This is an excellent package!
Up until this time, I hadn’t
realized that the sounds that accompany the various cars
and wagons which populate MSTS sound so . . . well . . .
barren. There’s the odd creak, groan, and lots of coupler
squeal. But there’s no sound of wheels on rails, flange
squeal and brake squeal. It’s uncommonly quiet, once you
get away from the locomotive sound.
Enter this sound add-on. I now have
what I consider to be absolutely marvelous, authentic
sounds accompanying my trains, and I’m modifying more, as
I go along. Here’s what I did:
First, I installed the package.
This places a series of 3DPM’s .wav files and a good
selection of .sms files in the MSTS “Sound” folder. Then,
I ran the tutorial, which explains in very clear and
simple terms what you’re to do. If you’re like me, you’re
no programming whiz, and you’re a tad reluctant to go
screwing around with things which could crash the sim.
Not to worry; it’s painless and fairly easy.
Fortunately, the activity I was
running at the time featured a unit tanker train, and
that’s probably the best way to start with this package –
with a wagon that’s simply duplicated umpty-ump times to
make a consist. I won’t go through the whole procedure
here, but with unit trains, you’re strongly advised to use
one of the three “randomizer” (my word) .sms files.
Specifically, they’re “3DPMgensound9.sms”,
“3DPMgensound010.sms”, and “3DPMgensound011.sms”. Nine,
ten and eleven.
For my ear, nine sounded closest to
full tankers or coal cars, while eleven seemed to do the
job for empty ones (ten sounded more like passenger
stuff). The tanker that was duplicated in my consist was
NEtanker_AG22602, so I burrowed down into Train Simulator
with Win Explorer, opened the tanker’s .wag file with
Wordpad, and scrolled to the bottom. There, I changed
“GenfreightWag2.sms” to “3DPMgensound9.sms” and exited
while saving. Done. Just like the guy in the tutorial.
The sounds are truly sweet to the
ear! They change as you speed-up and slow down through
different speed ranges, and stopping actually sounds like
a train stopping – especially with eleven. Uncoupling
makes coupler sounds as well as the whoosh of air from the
brake-pipe hose. All nifty!
For those who’re a bit more
adventurous, you can have a bit of fun with the .sms
files. If you open one of the “randomizers”, you can see
how the file accomplishes what it does – and more
importantly, which files it uses to accomplish those sound
patterns.
There’s a nifty little sound
utility that I think everybody should have somewhere on
their hard drives: it’s Wav Browser, a tiny little file
that will make it drop-dead easy to sample the various
sounds in your Sound folder. Just download Wav Browser’s
zip file to a suitable folder, unzip it and run a shortcut
to it. First time, you’ll have to browse your way down to
Train Simulator’s Sound folder, but once there, just
single-clicking on each wav will play it for you. You’ll
see – it’s a peach of a util: elegantly simple, and
simply elegant.
What I was able to do was (with lots
of sampling with Wav Browser) personalize a couple of .sms
files to suit my personal tastes. So I now have one for
full metal wagons and one for empty ones. That’s for
starters. If you think this sounds way over your head,
you’re probably in for a pleasant surprise, since I didn’t
find it difficult – and that’s saying something!
The 3D-Perfection sound add-on isn’t
some cheesy little trinket that you’ll try and then
relegate to the back of your storage bin. I can almost
completely assure you that once you’ve tried it, you’ll
agree that it makes all the difference in MSTS.
And the price is certainly right:
US$19.95 for the CD; US$17.95 for the
downloaded version. at
Wav Browser is free, and available
here:
