Hud Editing

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by gazz292, Sep 13, 2018.

  1. gazz292

    gazz292 Well-Known Member

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    Anyone know what is needed to modify the F3 hud / helper?

    i have altered the cab camera views on most of my loco's to view all the gauges, but i still need the F3 display on to see speed limit changes and so on (i have a problem with short term memory, so i can't simply learn the routes that easily)

    i have the mod from rail-sim.de that brightens the text on the F3 display... it also gives some german bits to it (speed is indicated as V, and Vsoll for line speed.. my german isnt good enough to work out the V bit... speed translates to geschwindigkeit, do they use the term Velocity?)

    But, being german loco's they mostl have the double row of indicator lights at the base of the MFA which the F3 display covers, hence the rail-sim.de mod, you can set the transparancy really low, and still read the text as it's been brightened,

    But i'd love to find out how to modify the actual f3 hud / display components and not just the text.

    i made this little drawing up of a supposedly simple hud component... of course as usual i tried to show way too much info in a small space :
    Suggested TS2018 HUD.jpg

    The idea is to have just the left hand component of the existing F3 hud, get rid of the track display that stretches to the right of it, move the control status displays and speed info into the left hand part of the hud, and move some data from the track pictogram to text.

    The kind of things that need displaying are (only in my mind, this is probably horrible to anyone who drives a steamer, diesel or non german loco)
    • distance to next station... already present on left display
    • time of arrival... already present on left display
    • next speed limit change, and distance to it
    • gradient up or down
    • the usual loco speed and current line speed
    • throttle / notch setting, brake setting, and, forward, cab only, off and reverse
    • the warning displays.. if possible SIFA and the PZB warnings, handy if you use another view
    • Traction current, maybe overhead line voltage to show if panto is down.. possibly motor temp?
    • brake system status: main pipe pressure, equalising tank pressure, brake cylinder pressure?
    • The above 2 lines are already on gauges in the cab, but again, usefull on the hud if out of the cab
    All this info is already present in the sim, some of it on the F5 hud, some on the F3 and 4 displays.. obviousely some loco's / trains dont use all the systems.. like EQ pressure, motor temp and that. and of course i am basing this only on driving german electric loco's as thats what i like to drive.

    But a big part of this would be to make this new hud / display moveable, so you can drag it to a position where it doesnt interfere with your view and controls / indications in the cab.
     
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  2. gazz292

    gazz292 Well-Known Member

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    Version 2, bit less crowded
    new ts2018 hud v2.jpg
     
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  3. GT46PAC

    GT46PAC Active Member

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    It look nice, would you mind sharing the link of this mod?
     
  4. gazz292

    gazz292 Well-Known Member

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    it's only a drawing, doesnt work...

    i'm basically asking if anyone knows how to get at the code in the sim that deals with the drawing of the F3 overlay... so it can be modified.... i recll years ago when there was only the F4 full overlay with controls on the top... someone modified that and removed the controls and changed things around... so i think it can be done.

    If not, then i have an idea to get it working using the "TS2017 raildriver joystick interface" program, that injects some code into train simulator, and as well as allowing joysticks to operate the loco's, it gives an overlay on the screen of almost any value the sim produces,

    it's in text form usually... but the author says it can be made to put that text in specific places... like on a picture as above.

    However, that means running another program every time you start train simulator, and running in borderless window mode to allow it to work... people running lower than native resolutions on their 4k monitors to get better FPS may have a problem... as for me at least that gives me a small window in my monitor rather than a full screen.


    I just picked this up as it's something i'd like to see possible... and on ohter forums people are asking for a cross between the F5 hud info and the F3 overlay, where it is mostly text based but looks prettier than a bunch of text floating on the screen
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2018
  5. RickOsh

    RickOsh New Member

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    I believe you mean MacroWorks 3.1 presently at version 1.1.1.91. I don't think it injects code into the simulator as much as allowing P.I. Engineering's RailDriver controller to communicate with the sim. I don't think MacroWorks would be able to produce a graphic for the monitor screen. I'm only an old railroader and certainly not an expert on this stuff so if I'm wrong, please let me know.
    I sure do like your idea for the hud though. The current HUD takes far too much screen real estate.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2018
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  6. gazz292

    gazz292 Well-Known Member

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    Nope... i mean the
    "TS2017 Raildriver and Joystick Interface V2.2" :)

    Which reads and injects lua code into the loco's engine.lua / .out files, and allows joysticks and buttons to be mapped to almost any control,
    that means it needs setting up for every loco you drive, as they all have slightly different names for the controls and buttons etc... but that's how i use my "S Bahn Fahrer" joystick i made with train simulator.

    2014-09-28-1255 small.jpg

    The interface also has an overlay that displays almost all the data available in the sim, thankfully you can select what data and where it's displayed... last time i used it that was just as text on the screen... like the F5 hud.
    Here's a screen show of some of the overlay options:

    upload_2018-9-15_19-21-20.png

    But the writers of the Raildriver and Joystick Interface said that the data could be displayed as graphics, like gauges etc... which i vaguely remember playing with a few years ago (i also got some Zusi based display servers and remote MFA's working with TS.. so on a second small monitor (converted old laptop screen running via usb) i had an MFA / gauge panel from the german loco's displayed that mimicked the main cab view's MFA... so i could zoom out of the window in the main screen, and have the data needed to drive on the 2nd screen)

    Oh, and it aparantly allows a raildriver to work with heavily scripted loco's like the ones from VirtualRailroads, operating 'virtualthrottles' etc, which is something raildriver struggled with.. not sure if that's been fixed... but you could also assign any button/control on the raildriver... i believe things like horn switch could only ever operate the horn with the stock marcoworks software.

    But a lot of bad things happened to my life over the past few years, and i am only just getting back into playing with train simulator again.
     
  7. Delticmatt

    Delticmatt New Member

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    Wooow I’d love to see this come in the game. To replace the crappy f3 f4 HUD’s. Just need the next stn display eta etc.
     
  8. Delticmatt

    Delticmatt New Member

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    DTG please can we just have a simple HUD like this please. F3 F4 HUD’s really let this great game down now.
    We all would like just a HUD screen that shows next stn display and time due in.
    Please make it happen.
     

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