I am really enjoying TSW2 since Dovetail have got some experts onboard (Maik's fantastic trains and the great new German routes - the two Dresden routes seem to finally have mastered the German Signalling). I have god knows how many hours in Zusi which I love, but for all its realism is starting to look a bit dated. But the one thing which keeps me coming back (apart from the realistic operating procedures) is that I can use my throttle quadrants to control the train. The difference between moving a lever and repeatedly pressing keys is huge. I know that Raildriver is available, but a) I don't want to shell out more money for more peripherals and b) each train seems to have different mappings which is crazy (if the train even has a mapping). In the 21st Century, it can't be beyond a company as good as DTG to enable USB controllers? Zusi has managed this for years (this isn't supposed to be a Zusi vs TSW post, but it is a fact). Please DTG, could you look into this. The A and D on my keyboard have worn away!
Yeah support for other controllers would be very nice, having just got a PBC its hard to go back to using a keyboard for TSW.
Agreed. They had DirectX support on the roadmap, but removed it. It will hopefully come back again once they finish Raildriver support and move it out of Beta, but I stopped setting such expectations a couple years ago. What throttle quadrants do you have? I always loved using my Saitek 3 axis throttle quadrants for Train Simulator, especially for steam engines. With the announcement of steam engines coming to TSW2, I am concerned they won't even map keyboard keys to control all the valves and levers (it will likely require completely new key mappings because of all the new functions). They might just intend people to control it with the mouse or Xbox controller. That would be worse. In Train Simulator for the Union Pacific FEF-3 steam engine, I used three Saitek throttle quadrants and my Thrustmaster Warthog to control all the valves along with the reverser and regulator (engineer and fireman at the same time). It was the best and most challenging experience I've had with any train simulator, certainly enhanced by Smokebox's excellent model of the FEF-3 locomotive. I hope one day we will see that in TSW, but again, I gave up setting such expectations long ago. Very thankful to see Steam coming to TSW, so props to DTG on that front. For now, though I am able to use my Thrustmaster Warthog and a TCA Airbus throttle using TARGET to run trains in TSW, and I am very happy with that.
Its a real shame CobraOne’s TS2019 controller interface (a fantastic utility for using any controller input in Train Simulator) can’t be adapted to work with TSW2 but he has said its not possible to do in the same way. Any other sim has control inputs sorted early on but it never made it off the ‘too hard pile’ for TSW, I know its not high on everybody’s wish list but the immersion it can give is well worth it. Even Sam has stated he’ll keep pushing to get DirectInput implemented even though it wasn't high on the wish list - as newly appointed Creative Director I hope he has more clout to influence its development and we see it back on the Roadmap very soon!
Yes, I was CobraOne's software that made it possible to use four controllers to run the FEF-3 in TS. I discussed with him about adding axis to keyboard mapping as a component of his software so it could work with TSW. We both knew the idea had merit, but his answer was exactly the same as I felt. Ha, no way - adding custom axis to keyboard mapping on a per locomotive basis would be ridiculous. Here I am several years later, and that is exactly what I have been doing. Since I didn't have the time to write a complete UI like CobraOne's TS2019 program, I ended up creating it in Thrustmaster TARGET which provided a lot of the infrastructure to make it work (guaranteed key press timing is the big deal). TARGET is practically a C programming language, but no ability to build in a UI. There are other options people have tried in TSW. Most promising might be Michael Huggins tie into the RailDriver DLL (see his forum topic here - Xinput Game Controller Raildriver Dll). But it requires custom programming to configure Xinput controllers to the locomotives. This is a common theme with TS and TSW. I remember several people that tried this connecting into the Raildriver DLL for TS with great but never permanent success. A major update would come out and break it. I hope Michael H. can continue improving his efforts. What he is doing is capable of working generically with any DirectInput controller and could be very useful if someone can add a UI to it. For me, using TARGET, I have to program every locomotive individually. Since I started early, I was able to add locos over time,. But I'm still behind by about 6 months to a year after DLC release date. That is also by plan because I don't buy the routes unless they are on sale. Just too much money to buy them all on release date so I can add support immediately. And that is the part CobraOne and I knew would be ridiculous. His software for TS parses the control files for each locomotive (over 150 locomotives now?) and uses the info in the config files to guess what controls are needed and how to configure them. Then his UI allows the user to reconfigure anything that didn't quite come out right. Almost all steam locos had to be configured manually, but one "steam" profile usually worked for most steam locomotives. But his software must still do it on a loco by loco basis by modifying the TS control files for each locomotive. He was able to make a program that could do that automatically. It all works because the control files are accessible text files (LUA scripts I believe). And amazingly it works even for DLC that he doesn't own. So it is mostly future proof. My software needs to be manually programmed for every locomotive, and I have to buy the DLC to figure it out. I find it ironic that even Dovetail must manually program every locomotive for the Raildriver in TSW. That is part of why it takes them so long to support everything (I assume). Locomotives with largely similar controls often require completely different control timing. It has always been like this for TS and TSW. For example all the SD/GP style American locomotives should have nearly identical control setup and timing, making it easy to deal with minor differences. The throttles are mostly the same, but the automatic brake is significantly different, even when they are very close functionally from one loco to the next. I had to create 3 separate GP38 profiles, 3 separate GP/SD-40 profiles, and the GP9 profile, not to mention separate profiles for the SW1000R, MP15, and F40PH even though these locos largely share very similar controls. A similar situation exists for the BR locos and the DB locos. I am able to share some commonality, but not much. Then TSW2 came out and they modified several of these locomotives so I had to reconfigure a bunch to make my original script for TSW work with TSW2. CobraOne's software had to deal with the same issue, but again, for his software, he was able to parse each locomotive's control file, understand the differences and create support on the fly. Pretty amazing. Sadly this isn't just a Dovetail issue. Seems most other train simulators ignore support for DirectInput, only supporting the RailDriver if anything. It is all very frustrating, mostly because the company that made the Raildriver decided to use a proprietary interface, and since so many people bought them, it pretty much killed the desire for any company to support DirectInput controllers for train sims. I'm sure this has been a boon for PI Engineering, the makers of the RailDriver, but a disaster for the rest of us that want something cheaper, better, or more reconfigurable to match locomotives that don't work the way the RailDriver is laid out.
Just thought I’d share my homebuilt controller info that I posted in the TS2022 forum. Works fine on TSW too. https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/arduino-controller-build.45279/
So impressed by this. As a long time user of thrustmaster controllers I enjoyed the constant tweaking and refining of proflies as well as enjoying their increased immersion. Sadly I never got that from the raildriver as I mainly play european routes and that blasted throttle was a constant irritation.
Whitsim Nice controller box. Smart thinking making the joysticks digital so you can make it work entirely with key presses. I see a Warthog in the background of your picture. Have you tried my TARGET script for TSW? davidh0501 It is a bit of an oddity on my part, but half the reason I enjoy playing TSW is the time I spend tweaking the profiles in TARGET to make it work with TSW. It is a puzzle for me. I hate normal puzzles, but I enjoy solving problems in software. I probably would have dropped playing TSW a couple years ago if it wasn't for this.
Good eyes. No I haven’t. That’s my X-Plane setup for when I want to fly away “on vacation. I’ll check it out though, thanks!
