Just finished watching the RailDriver stream Matt and Jamie did yesterday, and having looked for the centralized feedback thread Matt said he'd start and not found it, I figured I'll start my own, as some very valid questions were asked during the stream. First of all, I want to say that it is a real joy to finally have RD support in TSW. It literally got me back into playing the sim, after abandoning it for a while. So well done. Now lets hurry up and get the preserved collection locos working, as they've now basically been rendered useless for me as I only play what has RD support Here are my answers for questions that were raised during that stream: - I most definitely think that mapping the controls closest to how they are in the cab is best, so not always stick to the default RD labels. But I also think that perhaps it should wait for when the re-mapping will be ready, so people who do not want different control behavior for every train won't forced to use it that way, as it can be confusing. When I played the old trainsim I used cobraone's raildriver interface utility which allowed for complete re-mapping of the controls with an option to reverse every lever's action, so that I could map german trains in which you push the throttle away for power and back for brake to mimic the real behavior. If that option would be available in the remap screen, it would be best, and then the default behavior can stay as is, going by the labels on the unit. That way everyone can be happy. - One of the best "tailored" implementations of raildriver I've experienced is in TML's world of subways Circle Line. They have mapped the master controller to the brake lever rather than the power lever, as it is a combined handle and the brake lever on the RD is longer and more tactile, you can grab it with the whole hand and it generally provides a finer control. I think that can work great for the bakerloo '72 stock for example. Also, take a look at how the door controls are mapped there: the controls for each door is on the side of the unit to which the doors correspond. And also having a button to look back through the window at the platform right next to the door operation buttons is great, one can look if the passengers finished boarding and close the doors all from adjacent buttons. But, once again, if the remapping options are robust enough - allowing us to not only change the buttons but also remap levers and reverse their action if desired - it would provide my geeky self with everything I'd need to create my own perfect mappings. - Custom mapping of levers can only go so far however when it comes to the actual finetuning of the linearity of the control. For example, there should be a certain "dead zone" in combined power/brake levers which would allow to easily find the "0" (coast) position. Right now I feel it is implemented better in certain trains and worse in others. The TGV for example seems pretty much perfect with my RD and calibration, while the 72 stock is too twitchy and hard to control, forcing me to put the lever in the awkward position over the plastic divider peg to coast. Also in the 72 stock, the braking notches are too close together on the lever - literally a few millimeters of lever travel jump from position 1 to 2 to 3 and beyond, which is already too much brake. Common controller positions should have a bit more travel on the lever as opposed to positions rarely used, such as emergency braking. - The mapping of the doors to the hud arrows on the RD is great IMO, that's what I would have done. I think it's very handy and clear, a lot more than camera controls would have been on that. Other than that, here is a list of bugs I've discovered so far: The 423 - the horn gets stuck on when you move the lever down (low note), while moving the lever up doesn't work at all. The 442 - The sifa doesn't work (button makes pedal press three times but doesn't cancel the alarm and train applies emergency brake), the wiper control puts on the lights as well while the lights control does nothing. The 406 - Also, lights and wipers get activated together from the wiper switch If you load into the middle of a service (by using the "load last checkpoint" option) the door buttons stopped working on the 442 (they still worked fine with the mouse). Maybe that's also a bug on other trains, didn't check.
