Improving the music/radio player

[Axel Slingerland]

I don't bother with any of that. It's far too complicated... I just hit the power button on my stereo.

[juizzysquirt]

Well, some of us haven't got dedicated stereo next to computer. I just offered different solution.

Of course there are many other ways listening music while playing, but this actually makes Spotify to appear as radio station inside the game. Controlling it remotely from mobile device isn't the point, just added bonus.

[SiSL]

May be improvement of ideas can be :

Radio sound only to be heard inside loudly and low on outside view may be or when you look behind from window? (optional and depending on camera position, left-right channels depending on your view in first person view)

[juizzysquirt]

Also no radio without electricity! It always breaks the immersion when music keeps playing without power (while refueling at stations).

The radio should also remember volume, last station or song being played between gaming sessions. Basically act like real car stereo.

[Axel Slingerland]

Well, some of us haven't got dedicated stereo next to computer.

I got mine at yard sales. I paid a little over $10.00 for the whole thing. $5.00 for the amp, which is an RCA SA-155 1.8w Integrated Stereo Amplifier, 2"x8"x4", designed for use in dorm rooms, $5.00 for two Fisher speaker cabinets (with 12" speakers) and I forget what I paid for the speaker cables. I have my TV, MP3 player and an old Toshiba DVD player that I use for a CD player plugged into it, and it sounds great. I have a much better stereo in the living room of my house, which I use for guitar jams, but that one is far too big for my tiny office, which is where I spend most of my time...

The radio should also remember volume, last station or song being played between gaming sessions. Basically act like real car stereo.

Radio stations don't stop playing whatever they're playing when you turn your truck off. So if you want it to "act like a real car radio", having the radio remember the "last station or song being played between gaming sessions" isn't very realistic at all...

[ohaha]

I agree the radio / mp3 player could use some improvements. But I lean more towards the integration into the cabin, than some very complicated functions.

Prev / Play / Next / Stop / Shuffle / Repeat / Vol+ / Vol- are the common functions of a car stereo, nowadays, some also featuring folder navigation ( UP / DOWN / Repeat One|Folder|All). What we have in game, seems quite ok to me.

But I would love to see the knobs on the truck's interior moving when turning volume up and down, and, most of all - song title scrolling on the display! Also, music pausing if the key is off, though this should be some kind of optional check box, in the radio's screen (some may want to keep it on and some modern car stereos can stay on, for a preset amount of time, even if the key is removed).

afaik, remembering the volume is already there? not the track, though.

[juizzysquirt]

@ Axel Slingerland


You misunderstood, of course I meant that the radio should remember just last station that was played when turning power on, OR if I was listening to CD (or mp3 in this case) resume playing from where it was. Between gaming sessions (write settings into autosave).

@ohaha

Last time I checked, the volume always defaulted to 50% when switching/loading a profile. That's usually a bit too loud for me.

[ohaha]

You sure? Hmm...

I just tested by switching between profiles and altering the radio volume level. It remembered it for each profile, separately.
It also remembers the volume of menu music set in Audio options.

[R0adrunner]

Integration into the route advisor, create a new screen which will have buttons for going back and forth

Add to that a button to turn on/off the radio without interupting the driving and it would be perfect imo. If the screen would look like an actual car radio - maybe even with turning knobs etc - it'd be awesome!

I'm probably both old school and weird, but when trucking, i just use the radio channels and couldn't care less of mp3-files/spotify or whatever. Preferably i choose a local radio station from the country i'm currently driving through and make sure to switch the channel as soon as i cross the border. I don't understand a single word of polish for example, but it gives me great pleasure to dial in a polish radio station when in Poland and listen to whatever they talk about If i'm lucky i'll even get to listen to some great local alternative rock bands singin in polish/french/czech or wherever i'm at

To control the radio i've assigned a few buttons on a button box with turning knobs (rotary encoders i think they're called) and push buttons. That way i'm actually turning a knob to control the volume and switch channels. On/off is assigned to a push button, but it sure brakes the immersion big time when it jumps out of the game...

[juizzysquirt]

@ ohaha

Oh that's right! My version is still 1.22.x (for certain incompatible mods), maybe they fixed it then?

I noticed it when I wanted the radio to remain silent, so my scripting magic in Pinnacle Game Profiler could turn up the volume everytime I start game and turn power on to my truck. It also mutes radio when turning power off.

But it's unreliable and bit fiddly to set up everytime, hence a feature request.