F59PHI and Raildriver

[donjgatlin]

I purchased a raildriver a few weeks ago for Run8 and for Train Sim '14. It normally works very well with the sim, but for some reason with the Surfliner set, everything works with the exception of the train brake. No matter what I do, it won't respond in the simulator. What could I do to solve this?

[BNSFdude]

Hmm. Seems rather odd..? I did a lot of the input mapper stuff, and it worked fine with my RD..? Unless something changed over at the Towers?

[donjgatlin]

That's odd. Does the final product work for you as well? I'm a bit concerned that it may be my RD if that's the case.

[tsayyote]

You're not the only one having braking issues on the raildriver. I am having the same issue with the train brake not responding to the raildriver as well on both the f59phi and the cab car. I know there are a few other engines that the train brake doesn't work on either and I have yet to find a fix. I did fire off an email to raildriver's support and am waiting to hear what they say.

[tsayyote]

Raildriver's response to my inquiry:

Hello Chase,

The RailDriver cannot operate correctly with anything that does not conform to the defaults provided to us by RSC. At this time, we are not able to support all trains and routes, though it may be possible for someone in the community to make some of them work, as our scripting system is wide open (go to Window > Script Code to see the code that runs your RailDriver). We will work with DLC creators that want to create custom RailDriver scripts for their engines as well, though we do encourage them to have some familiarity with Visual Basic before contacting us.

Sorry that I don't have a better answer for you at this time but due to variations we are not able to create a sweeping fix for ALL engines that are affected on our end, though if RSC were to update RailDriver.dll (or possibly implement a new system that we could use, or even include native support for the RailDriver), there's a chance we could get better compatibility in the future. Unfortunately, though, it's not something we can do on our own.

Amber McCormick
Senior Technical Support Specialist

[BNSFdude]

The control used for train brakes is TrainBrakeControl, IIRC.

[donjgatlin]

So, in short, I'm basically not able to use my raildriver because RSC refuses to support it. Gee, I can't think of why I switched to SimX as my primary simulator. It's nice to know that my forty bucks is practically a waste now because the experience is completely ruined without my raildriver working properly. Quite frankly, RSC needs to get their act together. Greed and the idea of becoming a big company has made them into something that is displeasing to someone like me who supported the sim from the start.

[buzz456]

So, in short, I'm basically not able to use my raildriver because RSC refuses to support it. Gee, I can't think of why I switched to SimX as my primary simulator. It's nice to know that my forty bucks is practically a waste now because the experience is completely ruined without my raildriver working properly. Quite frankly, RSC needs to get their act together. Greed and the idea of becoming a big company has made them into something that is displeasing to someone like me who supported the sim from the start.

Come on. I'm sure with a little effort this can be made to work.

[tsayyote]

Come on. I'm sure with a little effort this can be made to work.

I agree. I'm not ready to give up. Lets see if there is something we can try.

[BNSFdude]

Wait, I can probably fix this, considering I have the source inputmapper. What controls do I need to add to it to make the RD function for the brakes?

[donjgatlin]

So, in short, I'm basically not able to use my raildriver because RSC refuses to support it. Gee, I can't think of why I switched to SimX as my primary simulator. It's nice to know that my forty bucks is practically a waste now because the experience is completely ruined without my raildriver working properly. Quite frankly, RSC needs to get their act together. Greed and the idea of becoming a big company has made them into something that is displeasing to someone like me who supported the sim from the start.

Come on. I'm sure with a little effort this can be made to work.

Sorry, Buzz. I was just slightly upset that it didn't work. I hope a solution can be found soon.

[tsayyote]

Wait, I can probably fix this, considering I have the source inputmapper. What controls do I need to add to it to make the RD function for the brakes?

I hope someone else knows the controls, because I, unfortunately do not.

[donjgatlin]

Wait, I can probably fix this, considering I have the source inputmapper. What controls do I need to add to it to make the RD function for the brakes?

Do you mean which control on the RD or in sim? It's the Train Brake.

[BNSFdude]

What control is the train brake on RD reading Train Simulator for?
Currently the control on the F59 is "TrainBrakeControl".

[peterhayes]

The issue with RD and TS2014 may be due to both parties.
Any game controller eg Xbox or Rail Driver will only work commands correctly if they are default keyboard keys. There do not seem to be any axes in TS2014.
The X-Box 360 controller because it is seen as a "game controller" by Windows works natively in TS 2014. Rail Driver is not seen by windows as a game controller and needs specialised scripts to enable it to talk to TS 2014 and again it will only work if the commands are default keyboard commands. (eg VRde BR143 - neither will the Xbox)

The brake on F59 uses the period key to stop and the colon key to release - so that is standard, so the RD should work. The issue that I see is that the brake won't release quickly once the gauge reaches a point on the brake dial in the cab.

You could make a change to the RD script but that would be universal ie it would apply to every loco in TS 2014 - unless you created a separate script just for the F59.

IMHO the brake is not working correctly in PS because if you apply the train brake and gauge in the cab reaches 10/11 o'clock then it becomes very difficult to release and usually after applying it you come to a grinding halt. I might hazard a guess that anyone with an RD if they apply the brake they will see that gauge rise to 10 o'clock but then RD may not be able to release it? I now use the dynamic brake plus quickly applying and releasing the train brake and that works OK, but I keep the brake gauge needle below 10 o'clock.

There was a tweak for the Class 166 to work with RD using: RailVehicles>Diesel>Class166>Default>Simulation>Class 166 Engine Simulation.LUA, find the section that starts "-- Regulator control" and the poster modified the original values. I do not know what values you might use here to release the brakes quickly.

My take - the brakes do not work correctly and we may need a fix from RSC before we look at trying to fix the RD?
PH