RDTrainFix

[Shortliner]

I've been toying around with RDTrainFix in an attempt to get RailDriver to play nicely with Wins 7 and RW3, and I got all the levers working, however the throttle is still a bit sensitive. I can pull it down a little bit and it'll jump between notch 1 and notch 2.

Anyone know how to fix this? Thank you very much for your help!

[Machinist]

Hi Shortliner,

One reason I still had TS2012 with Win XP was due to full compatibility of RD and XP. Past week I decided to move to WIn 7 and noticed many problems with RD, which was expected unfortunately. I didn't have time yet to focuse in RD settings and tweaking because I'm very busy reviewing my mods with the new engine updates and Win 7. But I'd like to get my RD working fine with TS2012 and Win7, as happened in the last 7 years since I bought the device.

One thing I noticed also is that as lower the fps (I'm still living in the 14 Dead Zone) as worse RD works, so I'm updating my machine with new graphic and sound cards next week.

In the meantime, what is the RDTrainFix you are talking about?

I hope George (GeorgeT93) comes to help us again as soon as possible.... as he did with the RD light switich fixing.

Cheers,
Lisboa.

[peterhayes]

Lisboa
RDTrainFix seems to come froma German site (their is an English section) - http://henkel.homedns.org/forum/thread. ... 50&seite=1 or http://henkel.homedns.org/forum/board.php?boardid=26&
Looks promising?
Regards
PeterH

[Machinist]

Just finished a 5 hours long attempt to tweak and/or fix RD, and I'm so tired and disappointed that I'll be short:

a) reinstalled/uninstalled/reinstalled latest MacroWorks 3 version 1.0.3.2:
a.1) some buttons macros/functions are no longer working like: F4, F3, 8, Pause/Esc, Bell and Horn (maybe Sander also).
a.2) light switch fix by George doesn't work anymore.
a.3) all levers working, however throttle is still a bit sensitive and nervous as Shortliner mentioned (sometime doesn't works, or takes many seconds to work).

b) installed RDTrain Fix v.1.6, thottle stopped to work. Uninstalled and throttle was back. Reinstalled and now brake not working, Unistalled and brake was fine. So I gave up of RDTrain Fix (I don't know when was created, at least MacroWorks is from June/2011).

c) uninstalled MacroWorks 3 and reinstalled, just to be sure I have a clean install with no remaining RDTrainfix stuffs. Same problems above (a.1, a.2 and a.3).

Sometimes I regret having switched to Win7, with TS2012 still using DX9.0.c. Sometimes I feel wasn't worth, but now is too late...

[peterhayes]

Lisboa
I had the same issues and in the end went back to the latest version (for Win 7 v 1.0.3.2) from their website and most locos and axes, buttons work.
The RD Fix did not fix.
PeterH

[Shortliner]

Well after installing the latest version of MacroWorks 3, and having it run in Administrative Mode, everything works except for the throttle. The main problem I'm having with the throttle is when it comes to the notches. It doesn't want to follow the notch scheme that freight electric-Diesel locomotives have. I tried putting it into notch 1, and it goes anywhere from 17% to 40%, but never 13%.

Help?

[Rich_S]

Hello Group,
The understanding I have after emailing the author of RDTrainFix is, he created the program to allow people running Windows 7 to use their Rail Driver with MSTS.

Hi Shortliner,
For me that has always been my biggest issue with the Rail Driver. I understand they were trying to make a universal throttle, but trying to control a diesel electric at times can be very frustrating. Long story short I emailed PI Engineering and this is the reply I received from Keith. It's a trial and error method, but maybe you can find a happy medium, it's not going to be perfect but hopefully a little better than what you have now.

Code: Select all

This will require a little bit of trial and error on your part and the end result will be up to personal preference.  What you need to do is open up MacroWorks 3 and go to 'View' -> 'Advanced View'.  A new window will pop up that shows the script which runs everything while you're using your RailDriver with RailWorks.  The lines you're looking for are toward the bottom (approx. 80% down the page) and look like:
 
  'sensitivities
  lever(0).Sensitivity=1
  lever(1).Sensitivity=1
  lever(2).Sensitivity=1
  lever(3).Sensitivity=1
  lever(4).Sensitivity=1
  lever(5).Sensitivity=1 'not used
  lever(6).Sensitivity=1 'not used
 
These lines tell the levers to only pay attention if the value coming from the RailDriver changes by more than 1.  You can set these to be a bit higher and this is where your trial and error will come into play.  The throttle is lever(1).  I would start by changing this sensitivity to 2 so that this line would look like:
 
lever(1).Sensitivity=2
 
Once you've changed this, click on 'Build' to save your changes and try it out in RailWorks.  If you still notice the chatter, go back and set this to 3 and so on until you find the sweet spot that works for you.  Note that this does negate a bit of the more detailed control, and the larger this number is set the less fine tuning you will be able to do (ie: a movement which changes from 16%-18% with Sensitivity setting of 1 may result in 16%-20% with Sensitivity set to 2), so this is where your personal preference will come into play.  You should be able to change these and see the effects in the game immediately without having to restart anything.


Of course if your sensitivity is already set at 1 and you're getting a jump between 17% and 40%, then these changes may make things worse for you?

Regards,
Rich S.

[Machinist]

Hello Group,
The understanding I have after emailing the author of RDTrainFix is, he created the program to allow people running Windows 7 to use their Rail Driver with MSTS.

Of course if your sensitivity is already set at 1 and you're getting a jump between 17% and 40%, then these changes may make things worse for you?

Regards,
Rich S.

Hi Rich, thanks for the head up.

Hum... RDTrain is a fix for MSTS, so it explains why didn't work with TS2012.

Further I'll look into the suggested fix code from P.I.Engineering, and maybe it will work once actually when you move just a bit the throttle it doesn't reacts; it jumps to 30-40% only if you jump the lever to the position related to 30-40%. Less than that looks like RD is not detecting the lever movement on console, so (in theory) increasing the sensitivy may help indeed to detected the initial levels.

Just to remark, at least in my case (still living below the 14fps), I noticed that: as much lower the fps as much worse RD works; and also as much you play the scenario as much RD starts to gradually become worse. You (or who have good performance rigs) can confirm these?

Finally, on RD Buttons pannel I found yesterday that Load/Unload functions are not working also. Fortunately the main functions are still working (cab/headout views, map, F1, F5, external views 2/3/4 etc.).

Cheers,
Lisboa.

[Machinist]

Well after installing the latest version of MacroWorks 3, and having it run in Administrative Mode, everything works except for the throttle. The main problem I'm having with the throttle is when it comes to the notches. It doesn't want to follow the notch scheme that freight electric-Diesel locomotives have. I tried putting it into notch 1, and it goes anywhere from 17% to 40%, but never 13%.

Help?

Despite of the current sensitivity problem, RD never followed the "nocth scheme" (when existing), it was ever possible to set the throttle each 3-5% grades (except the first notch) despite of prototypical scheme (like the most commom 8 notchs, each one 12-13%). That's not new...

[Shortliner]

Despite of the current sensitivity problem, RD never followed the "nocth scheme" (when existing), it was ever possible to set the throttle each 3-5% grades (except the first notch) despite of prototypical scheme (like the most commom 8 notchs, each one 12-13%). That's not new...

Too bad you can't program RailDriver to follow the notch scheme when the player uses a locomotive that has one.

[Machinist]

Despite of the current sensitivity problem, RD never followed the "nocth scheme" (when existing), it was ever possible to set the throttle each 3-5% grades (except the first notch) despite of prototypical scheme (like the most commom 8 notchs, each one 12-13%). That's not new...

Too bad you can't program RailDriver to follow the notch scheme when the player uses a locomotive that has one.

It depends (maybe) how the game's program is handling and processing the throttle information, and send it anywhere to be captured by RD program also. Sharing code with P.I.Engineering is a thing that RSC has not been done since Railsimulator. But there is one new loco (I can't remember now) with 4 notches and RD also changes each 25%. If game's creator invent a new code (or a new way to handle its basic codes) for every locomotive and don't publish it, it's not controller's maker fault, I'm sorry.

[Machinist]

Code: Select all

This will require a little bit of trial and error on your part and the end result will be up to personal preference.  What you need to do is open up MacroWorks 3 and go to 'View' -> 'Advanced View'.  A new window will pop up that shows the script which runs everything while you're using your RailDriver with RailWorks.  The lines you're looking for are toward the bottom (approx. 80% down the page) and look like:
 
  'sensitivities
  lever(0).Sensitivity=1
  lever(1).Sensitivity=1
  lever(2).Sensitivity=1
  lever(3).Sensitivity=1
  lever(4).Sensitivity=1
  lever(5).Sensitivity=1 'not used
  lever(6).Sensitivity=1 'not used
 
These lines tell the levers to only pay attention if the value coming from the RailDriver changes by more than 1.  You can set these to be a bit higher and this is where your trial and error will come into play.  The throttle is lever(1).  I would start by changing this sensitivity to 2 so that this line would look like:
 
lever(1).Sensitivity=2
 
Once you've changed this, click on 'Build' to save your changes and try it out in RailWorks.  If you still notice the chatter, go back and set this to 3 and so on until you find the sweet spot that works for you.  Note that this does negate a bit of the more detailed control, and the larger this number is set the less fine tuning you will be able to do (ie: a movement which changes from 16%-18% with Sensitivity setting of 1 may result in 16%-20% with Sensitivity set to 2), so this is where your personal preference will come into play.  You should be able to change these and see the effects in the game immediately without having to restart anything.


Of course if your sensitivity is already set at 1 and you're getting a jump between 17% and 40%, then these changes may make things worse for you?

Regards,
Rich S.

Hi everyone,

Short test history....

Rich was right: as higher the lever(1).Sensitivity is, as worse (nervous) RD throttle jumps to a higher initial notch. For example, setting the value to 20 make the throttle starts at 55% or so.

In my case (on my machine) the default value (1) was making my throttle initially jump to 18-25%. If further you push the lever up a bit you can reduce to the desired 1st nocth (13%), but the initial notch will be close to 2nd level, no way to avoid this.

Finally I found that the best value (to me) is 0 (zero), i.e.: lever(1).Sensitivity=0. With this value I'm getting now 13-16% most of time. So far I'm considering that fixed (not the desired, but is acceptable).

[Ma11ard]

Hi,

Just come across this thread and the ongoing RD throttle issues.
To overcome some of the problems I reconfigured the E-STOP switch (which I never needed used) to be another throttle control.
I used MW3 to redefine the 'up' switch to the 'a' key, and the 'down' switch to the 'd' key ;

Case 1037 'E-Stop Up
If State 'Pressed [MWTAG10]
'<"a">
MW3.sendScanCode("30:1")
'</"a">
Else 'Released [MWTAG11]
'<"a">
MW3.sendScanCode("30:0")
'</"a">
End If 'Press-Release [/MWTAG10/MWTAG11]
Case 1038 'E-Stop Down
If State 'Pressed [MWTAG10]
'<"d">
MW3.sendScanCode("32:1")
'</"d">
Else 'Released [MWTAG11]
'<"d">
MW3.sendScanCode("32:0")
'</"d">
End If 'Press-Release [/MWTAG10/MWTAG11]

Now I can either use the throttle lever if the train supports it correctly, or else I put the throttle lever in the neutral position and use the E-STOP switch instead.

I find I use the E-STOP switch throttle for most trains now as it provides a finer control.
...and It also works perfectly with the notch type throttle trains.

I know it doesn't solve the problem with the throttle lever but it does help.

[Machinist]

Since I bought RD 7 years past I use E-STOP to change junctions, so I'll try to test your configuration with RANGE which I was using lately to Gears or ICE's cruise control. With the tweaking I posted before the throttle is working very well, but the problem is that after a while (especially when fps drops a lot) RD and game start to fight among themselves.

[Ma11ard]

The only problem I can see with using the Range switch is having to use something else for changing gears eg. Class 111

btw, I've only recently bought my RD controller and the top right-hand buttons (on the lower panel) are already pre-configured for switching the junctions ('Switch Ahead' and 'Switch Behind')