Raildriver for Christmas...so far thumbs down

[HbgRdgLine]

I do not have any other issues with any hardware. I use Logitech G35 Headphones and they work perfectly plugged into the USB ports. I've tried different ports, nothing works. I don't want to sound like I'm whining, but buying this and shelling out that kind of money and even if it did stay connected, it still doesn't work correctly with the new locos. That sucks. I also bought the HST Buffer pack during the half price sale. Guess what? The in cab view doesn't work under the new game update. Nice! That's BS, why is it even offered for sale? It's defective, fix it! I'm just really disgusted with the whole situation, I've spent a lot of money and have a game that just does not work very well. The NEC is a joke. Donner Pass, well you know. I know it's being worked on, but come on, if I did my job like that, I would be out of work. Just venting.

[Chacal]

Then suggest to just RMA the Raildriver in the box it came in.

[HbgRdgLine]

LOL,that's the problem, I'm holding out hope to get it working correctly. When it works it's awesome, you will never want to use the keyboard again. I will keep you informed if I get it figured out. I will stick with it, just frustrated at the moment.

[Turbine777]

Glad I found this thread. I was planning on (hoping to buy), the RD for my brother, but being that he will most likely prefer to drive the AEM-7, well, let's just say I've yet to understand all the needed lua editing and probably won't until I have the unit hooked up.

Now to try and possibly help with the USB issue and any support you're seeking. It helps tech support if you take a screenshot of device manager, showing certain things in device manager expanded (meaning next to the following things, click the left arrow to open them).

• Again, not having it I do not know if it, itself shows up, but you should look and expand the branch for anything referring to your RailDriver.
• Expand "Human interface Devices".
• Expand "Mice and Pointing Devices".
• Expand "System Devices" (although this one is rarely called for but has helped me correctly troubleshoot people issues in the past on nForce chipsets)

In most cases that will require more than one screenshot and you'll also want to mention every single thing you have USB hooked up at the time of those screenshots (of course be sure the RD is hooked up at the time). Even mention anything that might be hooked up internally, like a front side camera port that is also USB. This step alone has helped me help hundreds of people over the years and more often then not, Windows (even 7) can get it wrong and a simple fix of changing a property here and there can make something inoperable (not working), very operable (working).

Last but not least, hopefully you read the PDF. People often plug in the unit first and hope windows will detect it, while others install the software first. Most cases require the latter, but not all. Issues like you mentioned can be seen in duplicate entries in the registry if installed incorrectly. CCleaner might help with that, but installing it correctly is the sure fire method. Also, know that some applications for hardware devices store configurations set by registry data (strings). Flight Simulator X is one of those things. It creates a file called "Standard.xml" which tracks all of the controllers. I can't even say how many thousand people have have a very corrupt standard.xml which gives hardware defective symptoms. In the case of FSX, if you were to plug in your controller while FSX was running, then you just corrupted this config and will have issues. Also, if you have too many USB devices hooked up and have the +12v fluctuate enough to where windows detects it often, that will do the same thing. I only mention FSX since it's a good example but no matter what, would imagine or at least treat RD the same way in respects to plugging in controllers during gameplay.

Hope this helps and will follow this thread more closely to learn more about the RD before I buy it.

[Chacal]

One other thing, is the device plugged in a USB hub or directly in the PC?

[Machinist]

Glad I found this thread. I was planning on (hoping to buy), the RD for my brother, but being that he will most likely prefer to drive the AEM-7, well, let's just say I've yet to understand all the needed lua editing and probably won't until I have the unit hooked up.

Dick (dick8299) has already created a functional Mod to the AEM-7 wich works with RailDriver (and also using F4 VIrtual Console). I did some enhancements (new headlights, cablights and cabviews) and the pack will be hosted in RWA Library in couple days.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4425

[Turbine777]

Dick (dick8299) has already created a functional Mod to the AEM-7 wich works with RailDriver (and also using F4 VIrtual Console). I did some enhancements (new headlights, cablights and cabviews) and the pack will be hosted in RWA Library in couple days.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4425

Very cool, very glad to hear that. Thanks for the heads up! Not sure how I missed that thread but I blame it on lack of sleep or just plain

[dick8299]

I am not sure how long it is going to take for machinist's upload to be ready, so if you want to try the engine without the lighting enhancements in the mean time, it is available in this post:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4425#p42441

[HbgRdgLine]

Now to try and possibly help with the USB issue and any support you're seeking. It helps tech support if you take a screenshot of device manager, showing certain things in device manager expanded (meaning next to the following things, click the left arrow to open them).

• Again, not having it I do not know if it, itself shows up, but you should look and expand the branch for anything referring to your RailDriver.
• Expand "Human interface Devices".
• Expand "Mice and Pointing Devices".
• Expand "System Devices" (although this one is rarely called for but has helped me correctly troubleshoot people issues in the past on nForce chipsets)

Thanks for your suggestions. I really appreciate everyone's input. I've attached screenshots of my device manager. I'm OK with computers, but talking about scripts to change the engine to work with RD is above my level of expertise. Let me know if you see anything here out of the ordinary.

[peterhayes]

I am having issues with RD too with huge lag times up to 10 seconds before the controller kicks in eg throttle, brake, etc.
Device Manager shows it to be working correctly.
But in Windows 7 under Control Panel devices and Printers it is shown as "unspecified".
I wonder if this has any bearing on RD working correctly in RW3?
I have written to PI to ask why it does not appear under "Devices" as it should do.
I have reverted back to F4, F3 and F5 in the meantime as control is hopeless with RD at present (on my rig).
Regards
PeterH

[Turbine777]

I am not sure how long it is going to take for machinist's upload to be ready, so if you want to try the engine without the lighting enhancements in the mean time, it is available in this post:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4425#p42441

Thanks Dick. I don't know if that was for me, the OP, or all of us, but in the case it was for me I don't want to seem rude and not reply. Thanks for the link. I don't quite have the RD yet but will certainly try it out if I get it before the updated mod is finished.

I've attached screenshots of my device manager.

Nice, be sure to let support know the link to that exact post that you have the images. That would be:

Code: Select all

http://railworksamerica.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=43681#p43681

You could also email them to them but just want to point out that they might not see it if this thread gets too long and they get buried.

I don't see anything that jumps out at me other than not seeing the RD controller. Not having it I can't compare it to how I have it. Often Windows can assign usb devices the incorrect driver so it might see things wrong. They'll have a better idea if that's the case here.

I am having issues with RD too with huge lag times up to 10 seconds before the controller kicks in eg throttle, brake, etc.

Hi Peter,
I can't speak for the RD unit, but just wanted to ask if when you switched to using the other commands, did that actually result in no lag? I ask that because I don't use the Raildriver and after a few scenarios I start to experience lag like you described, and that's using the mouse. My flight sim can occasionally get bogged down in a similar way where if the flight saturates the memory too much, and the sim is running for a long time, I relieve the issue with a fresh restart. FSX though is an aging product so memory allocation is at fault there, not hardware. Maybe there's something like that happening here? All I know is I do get this lag without using the RD but it could still be two different things.

Before I bought the sims and addons I actually spotted a huge lag on a youtube video demonstrating the RD. He would blow his horn and it would happen seconds after he hit the switch. I posted asking him if that was to be expected but of course, no reply. I'll have a look for that video and post the link to help go with your question if no one has anything.
*Just to add, the video was perfectly in sync audio wise so it was not at all just audio slipping out of sync. I'll look for that in a bit and update this post if I find it. So check back (hate to add a post, just for an edit).

[peterhayes]

Turebine
Thanks for that. I only have issues with the RD in RW3/TS2012. (It works fine in TRAINZ)
I don't have any issues with FSX with any controller that I use.
(I've been looking at VAS issues in FSX perhaps causing slow downs in fps and OOm's and have posted about this on AVSIM and FTX ORBX Forums.
Technically: I use a MS app called VMMap and in FSX over time as a flight progresses the VAS becomes more and more fragmented and the contiguous block sizes become smaller. This is what probably slows FSX down. Autosave seems to stop this.
Now in TS 2012 this doesn't happen so I don't think that the RD lag is a VAS issue.)
I think that there may be something wrong between the RD interface and the TS2012 interface or it could be due to the USB interface.
I find that the lag time is much less in legacy mode and with F4 HUD not displaying, but it varies and the frustrating thing is that the RD will start off OK and then suddenly the lag occurs. Or perversely it starts off not working and then it will.
Sometimes pressing pause helps but not always. Sometimes just clicking the mouse button or a key makes the response happen but its not consistent.
Also I found that using the macro3 interface to change the functions in RD is very laggy and hard to edit so that could slow things down a bit.
(BTW this on USB 2.0 connected to mobo, a USB3.0 powered hub, USB 2.0 powered HUB and USB 2.0 via DELL Monitor)
The windows issue "unspecified" may have something do with it?
Regards
PeterH

[Turbine777]

Hello again, Peter.
I read what you said twice and my eyes are in bad shape tonight so still could have missed the answer to what I asked before, but have you tried without the RD? To reiterate, I do not have it and have the same sort of lag in just using the mouse and my computer is fairly high end. I don't remember if it was a particular engine like you stated, I just know that it caught my attention and I'm just using the mouse. So again, it might be hard to not use the RD to test, but being that someone has the lag with no controller might make me give it a try to be able to focus more on my problem at hand.

As for all your hubs, wow. If I'm reading your post right, you have the RD plugged directly into your MB, is that right? I would be sure of that in troubleshooting an issue because even powered hubs can lose signal strength over distance. Monitor USB hubs have never been good and wouldn't even have that plugged in if not absolutely a must. If you do have it plugged in, then I'll recommend something I don't normally recommend and that let windows driver run it. Some people insist on using their own hardware drivers and for 99.9% of hardware that is what should be done, but not with USB. If you really must use it, then be sure windows USB driver is what it's using. Any hub for that matter should be windows driver, even USB 3.0. If installed correctly you should see "Enhanced" in device manager. I have tons of controllers and can't see needing so many hubs. If it is an issue that isn't just with RW, or the engine (that you really should be testing 1st), then clean up some of that mess. I have a 1000w PSU, and my 1 hub is powered (always only use powered like you do). It makes no difference a computers build hardware wise, and even though USB has come a long way since Win 95B, it still isn't at all perfect. Your devices will be easier to repair also if you cut some the unnecessary peripherals out of the equation. At least for testing.



Ok, my turn for a question for one of you RD owners. I looked for that lag video I mentioned in my other post, and found this unanswered question I posted a week ago. Maybe someone here can give me a quick answer?
Q) Is the thumb pad (D-Pad) used to slew your view, or move your eye point? The directional pad in the lower right. If so, is there a re-center button? Or would you need to switch to another view and back again?

Thanks,
~Dan

[peterhayes]

Dan
Many thanks - the lag only occurs with the RD nothing else.
Mouse & KB are fine
Regards
PeterH

[Turbine777]

Dan
Many thanks - the lag only occurs with the RD nothing else.
Mouse & KB are fine
Regards
PeterH

Ok, thanks. No chance you could have answered my one question though, aye? About the thumb (D-Pad)?