Aliasing HST Class 43 / XPT cab & sounds

Because there are several Class 43 HST and N.S.W. Countrylink models available, to organise the cab and sounds for each it's best to use aliasing. This page describes where to put the files, make a couple of small changes and then how to change the ENGine files to get a prototypical cabview and plenty of HST sound.

You'll need to have downloaded the following:

• James Hunt's Class 43 HST cabview contained in his Intercity 125 train set brcl43.zip (4.5Mb, 21-Jan-02) from the Train-Sim.com library
• Class 43 sounds cl43sfx.zip (4.2Mb, 14-Feb-02) from the Train-Sim.com library.

Common.Cab & Common.Snd folders

Start Explorer and navigate your way down the folder tree until you reach the default folder for MSTS:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Train Simulator\

Then expand the Trainset sub-folder and check if the Common.Cab and Common.Snd sub-folders are there. If not, highlight the Trainset folder and use Explorer's File/New folder menu to create each one.

Then highlight Common.Cab and make a new sub-folder called Intercity125; similarly, create Intercity125 as a sub-folder under Common.Snd (we've used Intercity125 since 2002 is the 25th anniversary of the first Intercity 125 service by a Class 43 HST.

Intercity 125 cabview

With Explorer still open in a maximised window at ...\Common.Cab\Intercity125\, load brcl43.zip in a minimised window. Highlight all the cabview files - you'll know them by the full folder path - and drag them onto some white space in ...\Common.Cab\Intercity125\ in Explorer. Before going on, rename the CVF file, hstcab.cvf, to intercity125cab.cvf so it's easy to remember.

The messy job is to now ensure MSTS knows where each graphic file for the cabview is located. Open WordPad and navigate your way through folders until you reach the Intercity125 sub-folder under Common.Cab. Open intercity125cab.cvf.

What you need to do now is to work your way through this file to insert a full folder path to each ACE graphic file. Assuming you've used the same folder names as above, insert the following:

..\\..\\Common.Cab\\Intercity125\\

For example:

CabViewFile ( "..\\..\\Common.Cab\\Intercity125\\hstcab640.ace" )

Save the file and exit WordPad. One job down, one to go.

Intercity 125 sounds

In Explorer, under the Common.Snd folder, select the Intercity125 sub-folder. Load cl43sfx.zip. Select all the WAV and SMS files and drag-and-drop them into Intercity125.

While here, rename the two SMS files to intercity125eng.sms and intercity125cab.sms to make their names more appropriate.

Aliasing

To make life easy, i.e., to save you having to copy the cabview files and the sound files to each HST Class 43 or XPT trainset folder you have installed, we only need to tell MSTS to look in the Common.Cab and Common.Snd folders for the cabview CVF and sound SMS files.

Use WordPad, or your favourite Unicode text editor, to load a HST/XPT ENGine file, and make the following changes (the example below is part of the ENGine file for the Countrylink XPT):

    ..............
    ..............
   Sound ( "..\\..\\Common.Snd\\Intercity125\\intercity125eng.sms" )
    ..............
   Engine ( XPT
    ..............
    ..............
   CabView ( "..\\..\\Common.Cab\\Intercity125\\intercity125cab.cvf" )
    ..............
    ..............
    ..............
   Sound ( "..\\..\\Common.Snd\\Intercity125\\intercity125cab.sms" )
    ..............

Save your ENGine file, exit WordPad and experience the thrill of driving the Class 43 or XPT. Turn up your speaker volume if need be!