Railworks America

http://steamcommunity.com/app/24010/discussions/3/611696927916828073/?tscn=1422617060

At last!

Okay, I'll ask: What's TrackIR???

Could this be a product of Dovetail's purchase of the FSX code (same with the new weather engine)?

Matt P and a few others have been pushing VR features for some time now. I feel like Track IR or the Rift would help make things more immersive.

Still waiting on Oculus Rift DK2 support....

BNSFdude wrote:Matt P and a few others have been pushing VR features for some time now. I feel like Track IR or the Rift would help make things more immersive.

I used TrackIR for a long time in FS9 (and later on in DCS Black Shark) and believe me, once you've used it, trying to play without it is just awful - there's no going back.

One thing that you do have to get used to is using the F9 key for slowing down the movement/sensitivity of the camera when you're trying to click on a cab control. If you don't slow it down, in can be infuriating trying to hold your head still enough to grab the control, especially if you need to move closer (zoom in by moving your own real world head closer to the TIR infra-red sensor) because the mouse pointer and the view are moving at the same time - it's a bit like trying to squat a fly with a lollipop stick. In extreme cases, it's best to turn to look at the control and then hit another key (I forget now which one it is) to disable the camera movement temporarily while you click on controls.

That said, when all you're doing is watching the gauges and looking out of the windows, enjoying the scenery, TIR is absolutely fabulous and trouble-free.

Luckily enough for TS there's hardly any DLC that really would cause problems with having too many working features unlike Flight Simulators to have camera movement be a headache.

BNSFdude wrote:Luckily enough for TS there's hardly any DLC that really would cause problems with having too many working features unlike Flight Simulators to have camera movement be a headache.

Agreed, but I was thinking of a certain pair of American steam locomotives ;)

mrennie wrote:

BNSFdude wrote:Luckily enough for TS there's hardly any DLC that really would cause problems with having too many working features unlike Flight Simulators to have camera movement be a headache.

Agreed, but I was thinking of a certain pair of American steam locomotives ;)

As was I. ;) It was incredibly infuriating when I was first using TIR on DCS and I felt like I was Michael J Fox...

BNSFdude wrote:

mrennie wrote:

BNSFdude wrote:Luckily enough for TS there's hardly any DLC that really would cause problems with having too many working features unlike Flight Simulators to have camera movement be a headache.

Agreed, but I was thinking of a certain pair of American steam locomotives ;)

As was I. ;) It was incredibly infuriating when I was first using TIR on DCS and I felt like I was Michael J Fox...

While any new support in a sim is appreciated, my issue here is with priorities. Full native Raildriver support is arguably more important and immersive in a train sim than TrackIR support.

TrackIR is much more immersive and functional in applications that involve the need for situational awareness in aiding the task at hand. Seeing cars in your blind spots before making a pass in racing games.... other aircraft and vertical terrain obstacles to avoid in flight sims...... making sure of where your enemies are in a first person shooter.

I've taken a few cab rides in my life and other than the occasional glance, I was looking at the side of the face of the engineer most of the time cuz he was more concerned with the rails and controls in front of him than giving me eye contact during our conversations. He's not looking around the cab or sightseeing.

When something is on rails, you really aren't looking in your blind spots. It's why in games where the path is predetermined and the action is mainly in front of you, they call them "on-rails shooters".

There are really only 2 things I find where TrackIR does have some serious functional use. Having a free roam camera hovering over a yard. Swinging your attention back and forth towards the front and the back of the shunting train. The other good use for it is when building a route in the world editor.

So while this is a nice addition to the sim, functionally... Raildriver is arguably more immersive (and owned more by rail simmers) than TrackIR and should be the priority support-wise.

It's probably more a question of how much work is needed to support it vs Raildriver.

In the meantime, while waiting for DTG to make up their minds re Raildriver, try this.

http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=361&t=139830

I've been using it since it first came out, and it's magic.
There doesn't appear to be a loco Raildriver won't work with now, and the support from CobraOne is excellent. And it's free.

Well, it has always been very easy to implement TrackIR. They just didn't want to. I suspect buying FSX was the nudge.

@GSkid: however much your engineer was focused in RL, I am constantly looking around in the sim, both in the cab and at the scenery, and being able to do so in a natural fashion is incredibly immersive and adds to both the enjoyment and the operation of the sim, far more than using the Raildriver, which is far from realistic. I have used both, with the third party TrackIR hook, which was a pain to use. Native support is much appreciated. And I don't even use Raildriver anymore.

I don't really understand the attitude that is dismissive of any new support if it is not the support preferred by a given user. I won't complain when and if they finally add Raildriver support.