Raildriver Desktop For German Trains

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by DennyG, Jun 7, 2021.

  1. DennyG

    DennyG Member

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    Unfortunately the raildriver is made for English trains. Not for German trains! As a result, the brake combination levers work in the opposite direction. If I push the combination lever forwards, the train would have to go, unfortunately the function reversing (invert) is missing during the calibration. This function should be adjustable separately for each lever. If DTG thinks something of its customers, then DTG should strive to improve. Thanks!

    What should I do with a rail driver function for German trains if the control is exactly the opposite! It's really no fun !!!
     
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  2. Callum B.

    Callum B. Well-Known Member

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    This is valuable feedback for Mr. Peddlesden as he has previously inquired about whether the controls should stay uniform from locomotive to locomotive, or if they should mirror the direction of each train's throttle. As of now, there is no ability to remap the controls to be more customised, though that is obviously more desirable than picking one or the other control scheme for all users.

    Cheers
     
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  3. paul.pavlinovich

    paul.pavlinovich Well-Known Member

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    Hi DennyG what Callum B. has told you is right, the community were asked and the most common answer was to have them the way they are. I realise that's not optimal for everyone. The behaviour of Raildriver has changed quite a bit during the beta and has evolved. I imagine this will keep happening as more and more people offer feedback. About 60% of the things I've given feedback for have had change - I have not always enjoyed the change but I appreciate I'm not the only user of RD and others may want something else. Early on it was stated that it would be possible to remap the controls to at least some extent so hopefully that is in our future.

    Paul
     
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  4. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    I totally understand and the first thing I did after connecting my RailDriver was to test it with a German loco (DB BR101), to my surprise, the lever directions were mirrored. I thought I'm super-clever and mirror-mirror during the calibration (basicly doing the opposite of what to do) but the game was cleverer than me. I got used to the "wrong representation" quite fast (1-2 days) and enjoy it since then. It's still better and more precise than using the keyboard IMHO.
    I chose this approach because I just don't know if there will be a remapping function in the future or a one-lever-for-all schemata but I'm very patient
     
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  5. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    Yes, I broadly agree with these replies. No one would suggest that RD is perfect with TSW2 at this point. Some controls are "iffy" and one or two don't work at all. I'm still using the keyboard and mouse more than I would like. But I'm grateful for the beta, nevertheless, because using RD is so much more immersive for me. I feel like I'm actually driving the train, the keyboard can never simulate that. So, I remain optimistic that DTG will continue to move the ball forward and we'll get more consistency and mappability in the near future.
     
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  6. DTG Natster

    DTG Natster Producer Staff Member

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    Raildriver is still in the Beta stage, and we continue to try and improve it's functionality. I can completely understand why you are disappointed. I also understand it's frustrating if it's not working as you hoped right now and I am unable to provide you with an instant solution.

    Your feedback is greatly appreciated as it will certainly help us to improve going forward.
     
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  7. DennyG

    DennyG Member

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    Thanks for all your anwers

    The solution to all problems is to add an invert function. Then every user can reverse and configure each lever as they want.

    best regards
    Denny
     
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  8. BladesAndRazors

    BladesAndRazors Member

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    Hasn't anybody looked inside it or reverse engineered the protocol. You all speak about it as it is a magic box which can remove rain clouds or contrails.
     
  9. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, please go ahead and show us your easy approach with injecting a DLL to anaylze the internal callbacks of a BETA implementation that changes with almost every update.
    RailDriver support in TSW2 is not using third party software to communicate or get data from the RailDriver hardware, it's "all inside" - and hey, that DOES make it somehow magic ;-)
     
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  10. paul.pavlinovich

    paul.pavlinovich Well-Known Member

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    I think you mean ChemTrails ;)... hehehe...

    Anyway, I have taken the bottom of my RD once - its not all that impressive inside. That's how I know how it works mechanically :). Be careful if you do - springs!

    The protocol itself is basically USB1.0 - it is not a generic device and it doesn't pretend to be anything else - you need their SDK to understand it. You don't even need to reverse engineer it, there is a developers kit available from PI Engineering https://xkeys.com/software/developer/developerwindowssdk.html

    There is also no real reason that you couldn't use Macroworks (also available from PI) to sit in between RD and TSW2 if you really wanted to do that. You'd probably have to remove the Raildriver.dll file from TSW2's binaries or they would fight over it. The downside of Macroworks is that it would be slow because its converting your movements to key presses.

    Paul
     
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  11. paul.pavlinovich

    paul.pavlinovich Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Nat, we appreciate its a beta and will keep the feedback coming. I've said a few times that I am very happy to have the best operational even if its a bit quirky and I've seen a lot of improvements since it was first released.

    Paul
     
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  12. Michael Huggins

    Michael Huggins New Member

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    Hi guys. I have been working on something along these lines so thought you might find it interesting. I have made a custom DLL that replaces the original pieHid64.dll in the TSW2 installation. Info is on my GitHub at https://github.com/skaako/raildriver

    It works by taking analog inputs from an Arduino then sends it over the serial port to the custom pieHid64.dll. This then feeds the values into TSW2.
     
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  13. Thorgred

    Thorgred Active Member

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    why not just a seperate calibrating/config file for English / USA and German Trains and just some way of switching between the 3 ?
     
  14. Thorgred

    Thorgred Active Member

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    anyway for people who only play german trains the solution might be simple just recalibrate and pull the lever the other way
    i am almost sure that will work
     
  15. hyperlord

    hyperlord Well-Known Member

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    Nope, tried that as a solution for the mirrored German controls and it's not working. I think it was the electric brake that was the culprit, can't remember though
     

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