[engmod]

Hi Gents,

I have just loaded 2088 and my previously small smoking EMD engines are looking like a steam engine. (LOTS of smoke)

Do I need to change settings, or is the smoke way too heavy?

cheers
Derek

[That Genset Foamer]

It's a coding change made as of v2047. Designed to support more intuitive smoke coding. Either run DPU 3.0, manually tweak the .eng files, or behold the cataclysmic-looking results.

[markus_GE]

... or wait for DPU 4.0, which is currently in the works and will allow for customizable data to be used. Will hopefully be out by the end of the month.

Cheers, Markus

[scottb613]

Hi Markus,

Where do you get your utility and will it fix the Alcos that have the exhaust spurting a couple hundred feet in the air before starting to spread out ?

Thanks...

Regards,
Scott

[markus_GE]

You can look at either file libraries of ET and TS. Searching for DPU should yield the right results.

If you´re, however, just wanting to update the smoke / exhaust settings, I recommend using DPU´s little sister DSU, which won´t change anything else than the smoke settings inside the .eng file.

Another recommendation, though not so related to you problems, would be using 3D Trains' Diesel Smoke Replacement texture pack, and the light smoke texture of this pack. The reason for this is, the data currently used by DOU & DSU for the smoke was derived from experiments, using that texture.

Cheers, Markus

[markus_GE]

The utility is not tailored to any special "builder" of models. I just generally experimented until I found something that looked good, on various, all freeware locos. The only thing it has to do with 3DTrains is, that these experiments were done using there custom dieselsmoke.ace textures, I linked in my above post. Install these to your .../Train Simulator/GLOBAL/TEXTURES folder to get the most out of DSU, but they are not necessary. I just can´t guarantee how it looks with other dieselsmoke textures...

Progress on the new version, DPU4 is going well. About halfway through the updates and bugfixes, release probably around the end of the month. :lol2:

Cheers, Markus

[markus_GE]

It´s on the wishlist, probably for version five.

The next version (4) will allow for some basic customization, and will partially implement the provisions for such increments. The feature itself, however, won´t be feasible to implement until the end of the month, when I want to have this thing out. Then, graduation will start for me, and I really don´t want to bother with coding during that time. It will, however, still be this year to work on version five, in my plans :lol2:

Now, back to reorganizing my code Up to now, it was one file, which has grown quite large recently - 1,500 plus lines, not counting blank lines, and it simple has become hard to work with all that in one file. Also, the compiler doesn´t like such large files, so, I´ll have to reorganize code over the next few days...

Do you want me to post regular progress updates on an extra thread?

Cheers, Markus

[railguy]

Of course, you can just go to the .eng file and tweak the smoke settings to get what you want:

Here is what to look for (I bolded the crucial things, my comments in italics):


Exhaust1
(
0.23418 4.93000 -2.10000
0 1 0
0.3
)
)
)

For diesels, a number of 0.2 to 0.3 works best for me. This is the width of the smoke plume at the stack.

DieselSmokeEffectInitialMagnitude( 0.7 ) - This is basically the minimum "height" of the smoke plume.
DieselSmokeEffectMaxMagnitude( 2.0 ) -This is basically the maximum height of the smoke plume.
DieselSmokeEffectInitialSmokeRate( 0.8 ) -This is basically the minimum amount of smoke.
DieselSmokeEffectMaxSmokeRate( 3.0 ) -This is basically the maximum amount of smoke.

DieselEngineIdleRPM( 315 )
DieselEngineMaxRPM( 900 )
DieselEngineSpeedOfMaxTractiveEffort( 11.5mph )
DieselEngineMaxRPMChangeRate( 55 -This is how quickly the engine "revs up" in RPM.

I usually set the smoke minimums at 0.5 or less--at 0.0 for current generation diesels. I keep the maximums near around 2.0-4.0 for current generation diesels. Older "smokers" get somewhat higher settings (but still well under 10.0 in most cases) for maximums. The RPM change rate I set at around 25-35 for EMD two-cycle diesels and 15-20 for GE diesels and Alco diesels because they are 4-cycle and rev more slowly. I will usually vary the RPM change rate just 1 to 3 RPM's for engines of the same class--this helps remedy the "harmonic" sound one can sometimes get when using the same .sms files for multiple locomotives in a consist. I will experiment with the smoke parameters until I get just the effect that I want for that particular locomotive. Having different parameters for different locos makes things much more prototypical. Note, I have not modified this particular file as yet--this is what came from the model builder.

Now, if the developers could just fix that loose consist full throttle smoking bug that I constantly harp about . . .


I hope the above information is helpful.

[markus_GE]

Walter Conklin, on 14 March 2014 - 09:10 AM, said:

Hello Markus,

I installed the 3DTrains Diesel Smoke texture that you recommend and re-installed and ran DSU to try to reduce the smoke of the BLW/ZosaTrains L&HR C420s. After running DSU, I haven't noticed any major conspicuous visual changes in the tremendous output and height of the smoke emitted from those locomotives.

That´s interesting... Did it throw errors or warnings in the evaluation page? If it did not, would you mind attaching the .eng file so I can take a look if it might be some not handled formatting exception?

Cheers, Markus

[markus_GE]

Then I can only try and do some "distance-diagnosis".

So the time stamp has changed? And the file still can run in ORTS?

Can it still run in MSTS? If not, we got a problem.

If it can, open the file in a text editor and right at the beginning of the file look for something like comment( Edited by DPU... ).

If you find that, we know it was some problem inside the program´s data swap part.

If this line isn´t there, we really got another strange problem (since the file change date changed).

In both "problem" cases I fear I can´t really do much without seeing the file...


In any event, do you have a backup of the file (just in case, the built-in back-up function didn´t work too - I can´t say were in the program the problem occurred)? If so, try running the already "updated" file thru DPU again, and also run the backed file (after making another backup) through DPU again.

Will definitely, while revisiting all the code, check for gaps in the program. Originally, this was just intended for my private use, and probably I have not considered that some things might not work on other computers before publishing...

Cheers, Markus