Change MTH Rail Inspection Car Control/Sounds to MTH RDC Budd Car Control/sounds

Hi Tom. I can’t really answer your question about compatibility but when I did mine Marty Fitzhenry loaded an F series diesel sound file so we could get the Boston and Maine PFA. Not exactly the prototype diesel prime mover sounds but we were both happy with the result.  

I just did some more comparison and maybe an expert should give you some advice.

So the one thing that really sticks out is smoke VS plain Diesel in the chain files.

Chain files are like the firmware of the engine that determines functions.

For a Trolley/Subway with stops, they were a specific set. This is potentially why in order to get the stops and function of the Trolley/Subway features, you might have to then flash the chain files.

The sound file contains sounds but also some setting and cues that also enabled those soft button functions in the DCS remote o

Flash code is the chain files (the zipped folder inside the zip as downloaded).

Again, you grab the entire PS3 sound file package from the item number https://www.mthtrains.com/30-20304-1

When you download, you get this but you need to extract the zip

The "chain.zip" folder you do not need to further unzip but this is the "Send Flash Code" file you are going to choose.

Then you also flash the *.mth file using the "Send Sound File" function.

Again, before you proceed, someone who has more experience might chime in and tell you exact what to flash because again, when I examine this, I see a minor conflict that likely can be resolved, but just do not want to tell you the wrong thing.

I think if you flash the Bud car chain files as downloaded, then we lose the smoke function. Conversely, I think if you just flash the sound file (*.mth), you may not get the stops and the menu functions.

Again, the first thing that stuck out was smoke, and the second thing was the date or series of PS3 hardware file. You can flash newer PS3 hardware files is my understanding, but I'm still kind of the "new guy" and so guys who have been doing this custom work longer hopefully can comment.

Again, the main logic being that the Inspection car (left side of the above) has smoke and this engine also has PFA as the main function. The Bud car files on the right has Trolley/Subways stops and announcements but no smoke function.

I think you need a custom chain file set to make this 100% work.

FWIW, many chain/sound file sets that are in units without smoke still have the smoke capability in the software, I see that all the time on my testset when I'm programming them.

Truthfully, since you can always go back, why not simply program the Inspection Car with the RDC Budd Car files and see if it all works out?  You may be surprised how easy it is.

Good topic, I've also considered this so thanks for asking.

Chris, Vernon, GRJ ... appreciate the feedback.

I ordered a longer USB male-A to USB male-B cable for my Rev L TIU - to - computer hookup.  I already have the other phone and audio cables for the needed hookups.  I've downloaded and unzipped the MTH Railking PS3 RDC Budd Car Protosound file to my computer.

When I get the USB cable, I'll go ahead and flash the chain and then the sound file with the MTH Consumer Loader 5.0 software already loaded on my computer. Have used the Consumer Loader previously to upload the MTH Remote engine data to my computer for archiving using a short USB cable I already had.  So expecting the flashing process to also function ok.

Will post my result when finished.

Regards,

Tom

A few weeks ago I took a (successful) leap of faith and was able to use the ADPCM software to change the bell sound in my MTH New Jersey Transit Ps3 F40. Using the ADPCM software allows one to edit the .mth files and specifically customize loco sound-sets. If one just wants to simply swap original sound files that are downloaded off of the MTH website, than the consumer loader will do the trick.....But if  one wants to swap individual sounds within the .mth file, than the ADPCM tool is a great way to do so.

There are some very detailed YouTube videos explaining this process. ADPCM is to be used at one's own risk and I personally recommend downloading a copy of the loco's original sound file just in case a sound restoration is needed.

All the these files and the how to are kind of beyond my pay grade but this is what mine sounds like from start up to shut down.

Success … was able to download the ‘donor’ engine sound file and have the ‘receiving’ engine play that as its Passenger Freight Announcement (PFA) set.  My detailed write-up of my upgrade steps is in atch’d pdf which is displayed at bottom of this post.  Suggest anyone who wants to try this themselves, take a read of the pdf as there are some interesting insights, at least for me.  I followed Barry Broskowitz’s DCS Companion book procedures … well documented there.

I opted to first try only downloading the ‘donor’ engine sound file and see if/how that worked out.  That is, I didn’t download the ‘donor’ engine chain file.  Recall that both engines are PS3 with only Passenger Freight Announcement (PFA) sound files.  I suspected that I didn’t need to download the chain file since both the donor and receiving engine only had PFA sound files.  My suspicion turned out to be correct.  Also, after completing the sound file download and upon successfully deleting and then readding the receiving engine into my MTH Remote, the engine functions all appeared to be as before, including smoke on/off.

So, here’s a video of the DC-3 Rail Inspection Car after changing the sound file to PRSL Budd RDC.

For the record, here’s a video I took of the DC-3 Rail Inspection Car before changing its sound file.  This PFA is the Rail Inspection dialog that came with the engine.

Both sound files have a nice diesel engine cranking at startup.  The original DC-3 sound file has a sequential 2-diesel engine cranking up … I liked that.  The ‘donor’ Budd RDC engine sound file only has one diesel engine cranking up.  But it has the passenger arrival/departure/small talk that I want.

Closing Comments:

1. Will now proceed with removing the undercarriage maintenance wheel sets, spray painting the shell silver, and adding a MS Word-made decal of the livery.
2. Not addressed in my exploration is if one can convert a non-subway engine to a subway engine with Transient Station Announcements (TSA) instead of Passenger Freight Announcements (PFA).  Wasn’t addressed in my effort since the donor engine did not have TSA and operate like a subway.  Would be interesting to explore converting a non-subway engine to a subway sound/chain files.  I suspect chain file would need to be downloaded to the receiving engine since MTH subway engines with TSA have automated start/stop for multiple stations along with associated unique station announcements for each stop.

@@T1Titan_ZachF posted:

A few weeks ago I took a (successful) leap of faith and was able to use the ADPCM software to change the bell sound in my MTH New Jersey Transit Ps3 F40. Using the ADPCM software allows one to edit the .mth files and specifically customize loco sound-sets. If one just wants to simply swap original sound files that are downloaded off of the MTH website, than the consumer loader will do the trick.....But if  one wants to swap individual sounds within the .mth file, than the ADPCM tool is a great way to do so.

There are some very detailed YouTube videos explaining this process. ADPCM is to be used at one's own risk and I personally recommend downloading a copy of the loco's original sound file just in case a sound restoration is needed.

Plus 1. Love this program!