PC Ts World Raildriver And Joystick Interface

Thanks for the info - but for me, it isn't the levers not responding but CobraOne's program stops interacting with windows (Windows Event ID 1002 Application hanging with Task category "Hanging Events" That being said - that entry could very well be from me forcing the non responding application closed. I will try the double tap on "1" next time it hangs to see if it clears up the problem.

 

I like how this mod fixes a lot of throttle problems I experience - mainly, having the brakes apply in the M-units on LIRR or the dynamics engaging on passenger diesels when the raildriver throttle is in position .05 or higher. In other words, the mod prevents unintended brakes/dynamics.

However, one thing I noticed is that any natively-mapped function keys are gone and not available. For example, I used to be able to toggle the marker lights of the M9 with a function key. I used Cobra One's mod to switch which function key, but now that option is completely gone. I can easily map keyboard inputs to another function key, but I now have no access at all to pre-existing function keys that have no corresponding keyboard key.

For context, many of the function keys in the below screenshot used to be yellow. Now they are all gray. This is true for all trains. Is there some way to return the natively-mapped Raildriver function keys so that those cab controls that lack equivalent keyboard mappings can still be used with your mod?



Otherwise, great work! With your mod and Cobra One's, the Raildriver experience is leaps and bounds over what the native Raildriver support used to be.

 

When I was making the mods, the main focus was to reconfigure and remap ONLY the main face buttons and levers that are used on the RailDriver (as well as including the Zoom/Rocker Button, and the panning control button as actual controls, because why not lol). Since I personally hardly used the function keys in the first place, I felt that mapping those buttons was unnecessary, as well as the fact that there are simply far too many buttons to figure out what value numbers they are in the EHC files and how I would consistently map them across all of the applicable locomotive, although they will be mapped sometime in the future. I even mentioned this (albeit very briefly) in the readme file that I attached alongside the mods.

Again, eventually, I will get around to figuring out which in-game switches and buttons on each trains will get mapped onto the function keys. The plans that I have for the function keys are to find a consistent way to map them out across all of my mods. For example, leftmost function control keys will revolve around the safety systems, rightmost keys will revolve around anything brake related, and the middlemost keys will revolve around anything electrical related, such as the pantographs. Currently, other reconfiguration mods that I am currently working on (mainly some of the German locomotives that AREN'T the DB ICE trains) are taking up my time from doing so.

 

Just found a handy tip for Honeycomb Bravo users and how to stop accidentally going into the emergency brake range. You'll need to accept that the train brake lever will only be able to be used with full physically forward being brake off, full back being full on. The detent button will put it into (and out of) emergency.

With this awesome bit of software open on the screen and running, move the lever you want as train brake down until the full service position is reached in game. Copy the value in the joystick interface. Stop the interface and edit the master joystick assignment (I strongly recommend making a new one for that loco obviously). Edit the max range for that lever to be negative whatever that number was (e.g. -0.1764706, 1 is what I got for the Class 47/4 HI). That stops in the ingame lever from moving beyond that position.

Now create a new button map for the loco and assign the detent button to Auto Brake Increase and Decrease respectively. Edit current command for each, assigning pressed and released to each as required, and add a delay (200ms works for me). You may also need to change KEY_APOSTROPHE to KEY_APOSTROPHE_US depending on your keyboard.

Note: When testing, it won't work when the Raildriver and Joystick interface window is open and on top of the game window. Keyboard strokes don't seem to, and the detent is acting as a keyboard button.

Make a copy of the initial lever assignment you used (e.g. throttlefullrange) and save it as the name of that loco. Assign the new button map to that lever assignment in the <keymaps> <button map> drop down menu.

When you want to drive that loco, load the Master Joystick Assignment for that loco, choose the lever map from the drop down, Start Callback. Enjoy moving the lever to the full service position at full speed without hitting the emergency brakes accidentally.

 

So I downloaded SprattyHeath excellent Class 66 Megapack mod from Train Sim Community. I've found that the locos in his pack don't work with the Raildriver. Is there anything I can do, like create a custom profile with this interface to get it to work? Sprattyhealth doesn't own a Raildriver, and doesn't have the know how to make it compatible.

 

Hi there, im very new to using controllers for TSW5. I recently got the TSC-X Controller and also the TS Interfact Software, my problem is that im trying to use the BR 101 Expert but the power lever does not work it just somehow puts the dynamic brake to 0, am i doing something wrong?

 

In the Enabled Assets dropdown box on the main screen, try selecting ThrottleFullRange.

 

Unfortunately. the mod does not work with either my program or using the original PieHid64.dll supplied with the game.
This is something the mod creator will have to look at.
Chris

 

I dont have access to a RailDriver to test it, nor do I know how to set it up in the editor.

 

As I said, and Spratty said above, he doesn't have a Raildriver, or the know how to set it up in the editor. Is there anything you, or anyone here, can do to help him out?

 

Hi SprattyHeath . I think I can help you and DarthBelan , and anyone else who uses your pack. I believe the RailDriver issue lies in the custom liveries. This came up with Trag and his usage of custom liveries in his Oakville timetable - the locos with custom liveries would not respond to levers (buttons were ok, strangely enough). I worked with Trag and gave him this info that I got from the modding community on Discord:

ISSUE:

“the separated RVDs require either a modified original EHC file to support it, or a new EHC file for only it it's likely those mods you bring up didn't add the EHC file and thus don't support raildriver”


When I gave that info to Trag (and after checking a version without the special liveries DID work), he replied:

"I found "RailDriver Reconfiguration Mod - US Passenger & Freight Locomotives" on the TSC site which mentioned EHC. After looking at this I found a EHC folder in the locomotive folders in the Editor. I have copied them over to my reskins but not sure if there is anything that I need to hook up."

When I tried that PAK, it still did not work. So I replied:

"The reskinned locos still aren't responding to the inputs, but I think it's what you said: there is something you need to hook up. In the modding forum I had asked: "Is there anything I can do to try to get it to work?" - this is before you had replied. The answer was this: basically all you'd need to do is get in the editor, make a new plugin, copy the EHC file from the original DLCs somewhere in your plugin, assign the EHC file to the modified engines, save and pak (you'd likely need to recreate the mod plugins too, you can find those in FModel and just create a blank RVD with the same name as the modded one to point the EHC to) So there is an action of having to assign the EHC file to the modified engines."

Trag replied;

"I have uploaded a new version using the same link. When you get a chance can you download it and give it a try. All locomotives should be listed under OSD (don't know if that makes a difference). I had to modify the EHC file and not the RVD."

And that worked! So now his Oakville timetables and Birmingham Cross Country timetables that use custom liveries were updated, and Raildriver now works for everyone. I am currently trying to get ahold of Fawx to help with the custom LNER liveries in his Fife Circle timetable. They are also not hooked up properly for Raildriver support. There is a special edition Leven re-skin that also breaks Raildriver support for Raildriver (and thus this software and any lever).

So the key seems to be getting the EHC file and modifying it to have Raildriver support. I hope that this starts spreading in the modding community because it's a 50-50 chance that a new reskin may or may not be controllable with this software, only because of the livery used and the hookup not being there.

I hope that is helpful! Trag was very responsive on Discord if you want to reach out to him (at Trag)

 

Just as a follow up here is what I did in picture form,

1. Copy the RailDriver or EHC folder located in the Data folder from the original plugin to your reskin plugin.
2. Open EHC file.
3. Change RVD to your reskin RVD. You can add more than one RVD if you have multiple liveries.

 

Thanks a ton! I will get this updated ASAP

 

Thanks raz22 and CFTFC for chiming in, this is only going to make Spratty's excellent mod that much better.

 

I agree! SprattyHeath if this works then please spread the word to other modders who make amazing content like you and Trag! I love using the customized timetables but it's a bummer to move that lever and...nothing happens!

 

Where is the "master joystick assignment?" Is that a file somewhere?

Thanks!

 

In the 'Raildriver and Joystick' interface on the right hand side (where you assign the levers to throttle, train brake etc.). There are some buttons above (new, open, copy, edit). I forgot to mention creating a new lever assignment as well (copy it from whichever default lever assignment you would use for that loco. e.g. 'throttlefullrange'). Then create the new button assignment, assign the detents etc.,and assign the button assignment from the <keymap> <button map> menu to that loco (which will be whatever you saved that lever assignment as).

When you are testing to see if it worked, you'll need to click on the game window first such that the Raildriver and Joystick interface is hidden. If the interface is open and on top of the game window, the game stops reading keystrokes. Try pressing the apostrophe or semi-colon key with the window on top and then hidden, and you'll see what I mean.

Then you can just choose that lever assignment from the drop down list, load the master joystick assignment and Start Callback.

 

It's the grid on the right hand side of the main screen. If you can't see it. then click on the "Show Lever Assignment" check box next to the Enabled Assets..

 

Has anyone got levers working with the new Class 170? I can't seem to get any response apart from key presses. Lever assignments don't do anything. For reference, I'm using a Honeycomb throttle. All working fine on other trains (150,153,158,323 tested).

 

Only one of the 4 170s are connected to the Rail Driver. It is going to take a patch by Rivet to fix this.

 

Well, since I only drive trains using the RD, I'll have to pass on this pack.

Despite all the issues raised in the forum, I was actually reconsidering buying it, just to have something other than an emu to drive.

But the lack of RD compatibility puts it on hold once again.

Hard to fathom how this could happen, though this is not the first time a 3rd party has " forgotten " to include RD in a release.

It really should be caught by DTG QA but I guess they dropped the ball.

 

Crosstie, this is the reason that I refunded this dlc. As soon as I found out that only 1 of 4 train sets worked with the Rail Driver, it was, sorry no go on this. I may not even buy it once fixed since I have the mod tt for this route which includes both the XC and WM 170s, maybe not fully accurate, the WM set still has the 1st class section, but they are there and drivable. I really don't see much difference between the 2019 tt from Rivet and the 2021 tt in the mod.

 

Fair enough. When that same point was raised by another member, she was shot down by other posters.

However, as I don't do mods I would likely pop for this dlc when it's patched for RD compatibility. Maybe.

 

Ah. I keep that section hidden normally. That explains it. Thank you both!

 

I set up RaidDriver by calibrating it using this app.
I logged into my TSW5 and calibrated the levers as usual.
When I run any locomotive with fixed levers in RailDriver, the levers move automatically during the game's cab animations.
Note:
I'm using Google Translate.

 

If you haven't yet, you may need to set the Raildriver/Joystick Sensitivity value to either 2 or 3 (for me personally, I set it to 2), otherwise, you will still continue to get the ghost inputs if the value is set lower than 2. Any higher than 3 will cause the in-game levers to be stiffer to control.

 

Furthermore, it's likely the locomotives that are included in the DLC don't have an EHC file associated with it, which if it did, would make the locomotive RailDriver compatible with the locomotives.

As I don't have this DLC (nor do I care to buy it since I'm not interested), I am unable to check for sure, but this would be extremely easy to implement and create using the editor.

 

THIS. ^^^ 1000 times this. Thanks to CobraOnes software there are likely thousands of people using not only Raildrivers but other PC peripherals and it's so disheartening to move a lever and not see a reaction from the mod in the game. Trag was SUPER responsive and fixed the custom livery locos in his modded timetables that didn't have the proper RD configuration / EHC file associated.

If anyone is reading this and you're in the modding community, please help spread the word about this (easy?) fix!

My top two "I wish this worked with Raildriver!" trains right now are:

- Fawx's Fife Circle timetable's LUMO / LNER loco (Tom Hill custom livery): https://www.trainsimcommunity.com/mods/c3-train-sim-world/c111-timetables/i4676-fife-circle-2024

- ADSTRAINSUK's Leven reskin on the 158: https://www.trainsimcommunity.com/mods/c3-train-sim-world/c19-patches/i5602-leven-158-e2g

- I'm not interested in the new 170 but that also apparently needs a fix.


If anyone knows those guys I'd love to give them a shout to let them know about the fixes above. It would also prevent people from telling CobraOne his software doesn't work when it's the train all along!

 

I set the sensitivity to 2.
It improved a little, but nothing 100%.
Only TSW3 or 4 is good...

 

That's TSW5 for you, where the "alpha" version of Native RailDriver support is worse than the "Beta" RailDriver support from TSW4 and lower.

I'd set the sensitivity to 3.

 

Carlos Alexandre, I have run with a setting of 3 since started using CobraOne's interface after TSW 5 came out. Tried 2 several times and always went back to 3.

 

First of all, thank you very much for the really great program. It makes driving much more authentic.

Is there actually a way to use the Expert 101 with the program? Unfortunately, the levers don't respond at all.

 

How do you do this? I don't see any options for setting a lever's max range.

 

Is there a way to just keep the function keys mapped as they originally are without the mod though? That way one can get the "best of both worlds" - the benefits of the lever fixes as well as the ability to use function keys that don't have equivalent keyboard keys?

 

It should be there in the Assigned Levers, you may need to expand the right side of the window or use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the window.


I can't remeber when I added the Range field, are you running the latest version?

 

I raised a support ticket with Dovetail about this, but sadly the response wasn't very helpful:

Thank you for reaching out to Dovetail Player support.
Please consider that the RailDriver Desktop Controller is an independently developed piece of hardware.
The detection and calibration of the controller is entirely dependent on 3rd party software. Furthermore, your experience may vary depending on the route/loco, as many different developers work on Train Simulator. Therefore, you may need to recalibrate the controller for the individual add-on you are playing.

We only support mouse & keyboard, or an Xbox controller, as per the system requirements on the store page. The RailDriver manufacturer is fully responsible for supporting any compatibility claims.

The RailDriver is not a cheap device, and understandably, it is very disappointing when it doesn't work as expected. If you are not getting what you need from the manufacturer, you may find more help in the community. For example, this video may be out of date, but it may also be of use: TSC Making RailDriver Work Again Post Core Update

We'll just have to hope that Rivet can patch it, or a modder can provide a fix I guess....

 

That's a very unsatisfactory answer.

Several years ago now, DTG enthusiastically created a Beta app within TSW for the Raildriver, with the expectation that it would soon move out of Beta and become a fully supported feature.

It's still in Beta, but for DTG to say that they are, in effect, hand washed from Raildriver is a bit disdainful, to say the least, when the app is still part of the TSW UI and control panel. So it's not " entirely dependent on 3rd party software ".

When JT accidentally omitted RD support from some Blackpool locos I believe it was, they apologized and quickly corrected the omission.

No less should be expected of the makers of the Class 170, though it's hard to comprehend why one variant is compatible and the other 3 are not.

DTG should insist that Rivet make this correction asap. Apart from the respect due to the many RD owners, there are, from what I'm reading, a fair number of people who have not purchased this add-on precisely because of this omission. So perhaps some lost sales here?

 

This is the bit that baffles me, and was left completely unaddressed in the support ticket response. Just for completeness, this was my submission on the ticket:

The train does not respond to any lever inputs from the Raildriver, so is not drivable except with keyboard / joypad.
The only versions that work are the 170/6 and the Class 170 BR Fife Circle.
The 170/5 WMT, 170/5 XC, 170/6 XC all fail to respond to Raildriver lever inputs.

I clearly stated that the RD was working with one of the variations, just not the other three, but this was completely ignored in the reply. It seems that from all accounts it's a fairly simple fix to get this working - surely DT Support could have passed this over to their partner Rivet to address better?

Ah well, I suppose there are more important things in life to worry about!

 

There are of course. But like you I find it unsatisfying to have to use mouse and keyboard when I'm so used to the RD.
I did buy the 170 pack and I like the new TT and I'm trying to play the 170/6 as much as I can for the time being, fully expecting a patch for the other versions.

On another note, it strikes me that, since you're probably not the only player to raise a ticket on this issue, the reply you got reads rather like it's " off the shelf ". I'm not suggesting AI of course.

 

DTG Matt, thank you so very much. Once you have gotten used to using a Rail Driver, going back to keyboard feels strange.

 

Or even better, the new TSC-X which takes TSW (and other simulators) to a new level

 

This is very much appreciated, thank you Matt.

 

That was it, thank you! I was running v 2.0.0.8 instead of 2.0.1.4

I set the range for ThrottleAndBrake to -0.145, 1
It's still allowing me to move ThrottleAndBrake to 0 though, and I keep going into emergency. Same thing happens if I use 0.145 (a positive integer).

 

Thanks a bunch, Matt.

 

Yeah...no

As I've stated before in this thread, the main reason why the locomotives in question do not work with RailDriver likely has to do with the absence of the External Hardware Configuration (EHC), something that I can imagine is VERY easy to implement if you're the developer of the DLC. It has absolutely nothing to do with the manufacturer of RailDriver themselves since RailDriver is natively built into the game, or the calibration of the RailDriver in-game since that already is another issue that has been addressed, rather it is the developer of the DLC not including an EHC and linking it to the locomotive that should have it.

Since I do not own the DLC due to me not wanting to spend money on something that I have a lack of interest of, I wouldn't be able to check for sure if the DLC does have an EHC located, but normally anyone that uses the TSW editor would know that the EHC would be located inside of a folder titled "EHC" or "RailDriver" in which that folder would be located in another folder titled "Data". (I kindly ask any TSW modders that pay attention to this thread to check and see if there is an EHC located within the locomotives inside of the respective DLC as again, I don't own the DLC containing the Class 170's to know for sure). If there is nothing relating to EHC or RailDriver located in the editor files within the respective DLC's locomotive, then RailDriver won't work with that locomotive, even with CobraOne's software.

 

Since we're on the topic of locomotives that don't have RailDriver support included, I would like to bring up that the Metrolink Christmas F125 and Rotem Cars that come with the Metrolink Holiday Train Pack DLC does not have RailDriver support included in it as well. Not sure if that has been brought to your attention at all since the release of that DLC back in December, but would it possible to have one of the devs include RailDriver support for that DLC as well?

 

CobraOne Now, that all the drama related to getting the latest software downloaded, do I need to delete the version I am currently running prior to installing the new software. If this is covered in the manual, sorry I missed it as I read through the quick start version.

 

If you want the TSC-X controller to be setup automatically, then extract the latest version to a new folder, leaving your previous version intact. That way, if there is a problem, you can always go back to the previous version.

 

A question to the experts, I’m trying to use my t-1600 joystick as a fourth lever to control the AFB levers in German cabs. The joystick has a centre position and is sprung up and down.

Your fantastic software allows an axis to be used in the key assignments, and you can specify up/right and down/left, so in theory all is good.

Unfortunately, when I do this the neutral point of the axis (where no movement is sent to the sim’s AFB lever) is at about 75% on the joysticks axis. So to keep the lever from moving in the cab you need to hold the joystick up against its spring.

the joystick is calibrated in windows and gives the correct halfway value with the stick in its central position

thanks for any help