Call for Rail Simulator Beta Testers

[RailDriver_Dan]

RailDriver Calls for Rail Simulator Beta Testers

After months of development, RailDriver software to support Rail Simulator is ready for Beta testing. To qualify as a tester you must be a RailDriver owner with the North American release of Rail Simulator running on a PC with Windows 2000, XP, or Vista.

RailDriver users interested in becoming Beta testers should please write to us here: rdrsbeta@raildriver.com

[DaveL]

Just fired off my application........

DaveL

[grizzledbiker1]

Got the e-mail. sign me up. would have beat the other guy 'cept couldn't find my password to the forums. duh! I'm ready now!

[RailDriver_Dan]

At last count we have about 70 testers signed up. We will be sending a link out to the group shortly. Please remember this is still a Beta version so you may see a few rough edges.

[dick8299]

Thanks for including me in the beta. I have it installed and have run several engines in Rail Simulator with no problems. It is too early for me to share my observations on performance but I can say that overall I am quite pleased.

I am also very happy that the Raildriver still functions with MSTS.

One thing I am not real clear on is how to shut off the Raildriver when done with the Rail Simulator session. Using the windows task manager to halt the process sounds a little harsh. When I exited the Rail Simulator, the Raildriver readout still said OFF. I feel more comfortable with it reading the standard 'rd' that I am familiar with. After this first time with Rail Simulator, I wanted to check the MSTS function and when I loaded the Raildriver Manager for MSTS it switched to the normal readout.

Please indicate specific steps to close out a Rail Simulator session in regards to the Raildriver.

[jeffmorris]

I changed some of the key commands but when I try to print out new legend, the right side is cut off. I can't create new key labels in MacroWorks II program (not in Legend Maker). When the Reverser lever is in center position, the HUD in Rail Simulator doesn't say "N".

[RailDriver_Rocco]

To close the RD MWII use these steps:

1. Right click on the RDMWII icon like below

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/1851/rdmwiizr0.jpg

2. Left click on exit.

[dick8299]

I have my buttons all set up and labeled, and I attempted to run Rail Simulator using the Rail Driver alone (no keyboard). I discovered that I really needed the shift key from the key board in order to set the switches in the 2D map (Shift+LMB).

I went back to the X-keys Macroworks and attempted to program an unused button with the <Shift> key and it appeared to accept the assignment, but when I restarted Rail Simulator the button assigned as the <Shift> key did not produce the required (Shift+LMB) that we need to change the switches in the 2D map.

A screen dump of my button setup is attached.

[RailDriver_Dan]

Dick,

The ability is there but it's a little tricky. If you look in the MWII help file under Advanced Features - Key Down and Key Up there is a nice little explanation and tutorial for programming an Alt key. You should be able to follow the same steps for your Shift key.

I hope this helps.

I will be interested to see your key layout after you've worked with it for a bit.

[RailDriver_Dan]

Dick,

After looking again at your post, I may have a better solution for you. You can program a Shift + Mouse Click combo if that is the only thing you are using the Shift key for. It would look like the attached image in the RailDriver programming window.

[dick8299]

Both methods worked.

When I programmed it as the shift key, I held the button down and then clicked the 2D map switch with the mouse and it changed the switch.

With the Shift LMB Shift macro, I just had to position the mouse pointer over the 2D map blue dot, and the switch changed when I pushed the button.

Thanks!

A picture of the new layout is attached. The shift button is on the top row just to the right of center, and the Shift LMB Shift button is on the bottom row near the right end.

[bnsf1959]

I found a problem with installer. My RS is installed on D: drive instead of C: drive. There is no option to ask you which drive your RS is installed. The installer automatically installs to the default C: drive. I think PI Engineering should look into this for those who don't have RS installed in default drive. Can you guys make an option where to tell the installer to install which drive your game is? I tried to installed it and went to C drive and the RD is slow in responding due to being on different drive instead in the same drive as RS. Can you guys look into this?

[dick8299]

I just noticed that the Raildriver console does not vibrate with Rail Simulator the way it does with MSTS. Is this something that can be fixed? I always thought that the vibration was driven by the engine sound, but it is not happening with RS.

[scand]

I have a problem with the installation. Something did not go right. You only have to install the RD MWII? I did that on the same drive as RAIL SIMULATOR. The PC is above minmums and the Program runs all right alone. The Macro Works icon is where it belongs per to the Beta Manual. The only thing I can do with that is to close out the program.

What should appear when you click on the RD MWII Icon? Aything lile the screen for MSTS?
A screen appears and suddnly disappears!

Any Help will be appeciated.

Thanks!
scand

[dick8299]

scand,

What happened when you started Rail Simulator? When I installed the Raildriver beta I got the same thing you describe, and that is exactly what you are supposed to see.

When you start the Rail Sim and select an engine in a scenario, push the on button on the Raildriver and it then controls the engine.

[scand]

Dick,
Within x keys Macroworks II, I can't bring up the set up for the Blue buttons, so I don't know what their settings are. The only thing I can do there is EXIT.

Now when in RAIL SIMULATOR and and have chosen an U.S route and engine, and click on run/stop button, nothing happens. Now on the keyboard, when I depress D. the train starts to move and the LCD then shows the train speed and that is all. The Blue buttons
do nothing!

Ibelive the problem is in MacroWorks installation.

Thanks.

BTW we are almost neighbors. I reside in SW TN!

scand

A.M. Scandrett

[woodfyr]

Nicely Done. A way of pulling down the Compass and pinning would be a nice feature.

Next we will want to have RD work in World mode. ;) :rolleyes:

Thank you PIE,

Russ G

[dick8299]

I was wrong, the console does vibrate. I did not have the little knob on the back turned up enough.

[RailDriver_Brandon]

My RS is installed on D: drive instead of C: drive. There is no option to ask you which drive your RS is installed. The installer automatically installs to the default C: drive.

Like many of our other Drivers the RS Beta requires that Rail Simulator be installed in it's default location.

Our programmer is currently looking into making some changes in the installer so that it detects where Rail Simulator is installed before it attempts to install the RailDriver files.

Unfortunately I do not know how long this will take him or whether or not it will be available for the RS Beta.

Within x keys Macroworks II, I can't bring up the set up for the Blue buttons, so I don't know what their settings are. The only thing I can do there is EXIT.

If no other options are listed then the RD MacroWorks II engine isn't detecting the RailDriver.

Try unplugging the RailDriver from your USB port and leave it unplugged for a few minutes. Next, plug the RailDriver back into your computer, but choose a different USB port than the one it was installed on before.

This will force the operating system to re-recognize the RailDriver.

[Trey1953]

Like many of our other Drivers the RS Beta requires that Rail Simulator be installed in it's default location.

Our programmer is currently looking into making some changes in the installer so that it detects where Rail Simulator is installed before it attempts to install the RailDriver files.

Unfortunately I do not know how long this will take him or whether or not it will be available for the RS Beta.


Hi Brandon,

I don't have RS installed in the default location. What I don't understand though, is why the blue buttons work, but none of the controls do. Do you know if there are any registry hacks that would point your driver to the install location?
Also I always ran RailDriver with MSTS in a non default location without problems.

Thanks,
Jim

[bnsf1959]

Hi Brandon,

I don't have RS installed in the default location. What I don't understand though, is why the blue buttons work, but none of the controls do. Do you know if there are any registry hacks that would point your driver to the install location?
Also I always ran RailDriver with MSTS in a non default location without problems.

Thanks,
Jim

Hi Brandon,

I got the same problem as Trey has above. My RD is not in the default location, either. I have MSTS on E drive with RD on the same drive and it work fine with no problems. However, my RS is on D drive (separated from MSTS). I do get the same responses like Trey has, none of the controllers work but the buttons works very slowly (very long time delay). The installer points to the default location and it also created a RS folder to add the plugins where I think it should be in the original RS folder on D drive instead of C drive. Is the plugins suppose to be in RS game folder?

[scand]

I know the two different USB HUBS recognise RD because it goes from USB
to RD to ON and then when RS is on to the proper loco, it shows the train speed when using D and then the LCD goes to OFF.

TM and MSTS reads RD perfectly but not MACRO WORKS III

Uninstalled both RS and RDM 11 and placed it on the other PC away from MSTS an TM, same results RD. RS runs all right.

The two Pc's are NETWORKED together but the above Prgrams are independent! The UBS hubs are read by both systems!

Checking now for any conflicts in hardware and devices!

The Blue keys RD not readable.

Is there a way one can bypass Macro Works? In the past for the other Sims an insert was used after PI Engineering had pre programmed RD?

Thanks again!
Alex

A.M. Scandrett

[RailDriver_Brandon]

Do you know if there are any registry hacks that would point your driver to the install location?

I was speaking with our programmer and he explained that it was possible to hack our custom commands and manually redirect them to your RS installation.

First navigate to the following location on your computer: C:\Program Files\RailDriver\RD MWII\Custom Commands\RailDriver Commands

In this folder you'll find a bunch of .mwc files which are used for MacroWorks II custom commands.

The first thing you want to do is back up all of these files by copying them and pasting them to a new location. You don't want to make a mistake and have to do a complete reinstall. :o

Open one of these files in notepad, and you'll see the top line says the following: #pragma module "..\\..\\..\\..\\Rail Simulator\\plugins\\RailDriver.dll"

Try changing this line to say the following:
#pragma module "D:\\Program Files\\Rail Simulator\\plugins\\RailDriver.dll"

bnsf1959 you should try changing it to the following:
#pragma module "E:\\Program Files\\Rail Simulator\\plugins\\RailDriver.dll"

Repeat this process with all of the .mwc files in the custom commands folder.

[bnsf1959]

I have just one question thou, if we do like you said above, what about the plugins folder for RS that is sitting in the default location (C; drive)? Should I copy or move the contents of that folder to RS in my location like say, the D: (drive) \Program Files' Rail Simulator/ folder?

Nevermind, I got it to work now! Thanks Brandon! ;)

[Trey1953]

I was speaking with our programmer and he explained that it was possible to hack our custom commands and manually redirect them to your RS installation.

First navigate to the following location on your computer: C:\Program Files\RailDriver\RD MWII\Custom Commands\RailDriver Commands

In this folder you'll find a bunch of .mwc files which are used for MacroWorks II custom commands.

The first thing you want to do is back up all of these files by copying them and pasting them to a new location. You don't want to make a mistake and have to do a complete reinstall. :o

Open one of these files in notepad, and you'll see the top line says the following: #pragma module "..\\..\\..\\..\\Rail Simulator\\plugins\\RailDriver.dll"

Try changing this line to say the following:
#pragma module "D:\\Program Files\\Rail Simulator\\plugins\\RailDriver.dll"

bnsf1959 you should try changing it to the following:
#pragma module "E:\\Program Files\\Rail Simulator\\plugins\\RailDriver.dll"

Repeat this process with all of the .mwc files in the custom commands folder.

Hi Brandon,

Thanks much!! That did the trick and it works very nice.

Jim

[bnsf1959]

Once again, the RD team has come to the rescue of getting our RD to work with RS. I think they deserve a pat on the back and thank you! Also, I would to thank everyone involved including RS and RD team for working together to make this happen. ;);)

[scand]

Brandon,
I came across something very unusual withn the RDM II directory and there seems to be two files that may be causing a conflit both .exe files.

1] MacroWorks.exe
2] MacorWorks .exe.bak.

The 2nd file should have only one . within it;
MacroWorksexe.bak Strange as it may seem, the #2 file as a NOTEPAD icon before it!

How should I go about changing it. I redownloaded and reinstall the program and saw this.

Thanks
scand

A.M. Scandrett

[RailDriver_Brandon]

The 2nd file should have only one . within it;
MacroWorksexe.bak Strange as it may seem, the #2 file as a NOTEPAD icon before it!

How should I go about changing it.

It's ok for a file to have more than one period in the name. The operating system looks at the last period and the letters following it to determine what kind of file it is. In this case the second file is a .bak file.

I spoke with our programmer about this and he said it is a file created when the program was compiled. This file (MacroWorks.exe.bak) is not necessary and you should be able to safely delete the file. The file will be removed from later versions of RD MWII.

If you decide to leave the MacroWorks.exe.bak file alone it won't interfere with anything because it is not an executable file.

[scand]

I am now at wits end.

Going back to the very beginning Calibration went as normal.
RDM11 appears on the icontray. When RT Click brings up and when RailDriver ID53 appears I click on that it closes but does not exit.
That is it!! Program ends right there.
Now for the heck of it I ran it without RD connected and it came up lacking
Rail driver, so I know RD is being read.

Howevwer, RD is not reading RD MII. When trying to run the program
RD'S LCD READS:
RD
ON
OFF

Remains that way until the the Program exits and R$D is disconnected.

One cannot restart the progrm, won't open, unless the PC is restarted.

That is all than can be done.

Beta scored currently as INC due to the fact it can run on limited PC's.

Computer Specs:

Intel Processor Pentium 3.00 Ghz
1.0 GB Ram
Nivida GE Force 7300 GT [pdated drivers]
528 MB Ram

Windows XP SP2
Version 2002
Thanks!

scand

A.M. Scandrett

[RailDriver_Rocco]

I am now at wits end.

Going back to the very beginning Calibration went as normal.
RDM11 appears on the icontray. When RT Click brings up and when RailDriver ID53 appears I click on that it closes but does not exit.
That is it!! Program ends right there.
Now for the heck of it I ran it without RD connected and it came up lacking
Rail driver, so I know RD is being read.

Howevwer, RD is not reading RD MII. When trying to run the program
RD'S LCD READS:
RD
ON
OFF

Remains that way until the the Program exits and R$D is disconnected.

One cannot restart the progrm, won't open, unless the PC is restarted.

That is all than can be done.

Beta scored currently as INC due to the fact it can run on limited PC's.

Computer Specs:

Intel Processor Pentium 3.00 Ghz
1.0 GB Ram
Nivida GE Force 7300 GT [pdated drivers]
528 MB Ram

Windows XP SP2
Version 2002
Thanks!

scand

A.M. Scandrett

I'm sorry the beta is not working for you right now but we are working on updates. When we have a new version to test we will post it here on the forum. Thank you for participating and I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
__________________
Best regards,

Rocco - P.I. Engineering Technical Support Specialist

[scand]

No Inconvience at all! That is what Beta Testers are for and I will continue to help PIE out. Another thing, it could be something MS doesn't recognize on either end. In my case, there is nothing I can do. I have had my share of their support.
Keep me posted!
Thanks
Alex


[scand]

[sniper297]

"it could be something MS doesn't recognize on either end", Wonder if there's some confusion here, this driver is for the new Kuju Rail Simulator, for Microsoft Train Simulator you need RD manager.exe, different program.

As for exiting and not being able to restart without rebooting, I've seen that; right click the taskbar icon and select EXIT, try to restart and it won't do it. Bring up the task manager and click the processes tab, look for macroworks.exe, select it and click END PROCESS. After that the RD MWII will launch correctly.

[arthur55]

I'm sorry the beta is not working for you right now but we are working on updates. When we have a new version to test we will post it here on the forum. Thank you for participating and I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
__________________
Best regards,

Rocco - P.I. Engineering Technical Support Specialist

I am participating in the Beta Test and can say all is working OK in Interediate/Expert mode.

In Simple mode, the blue buttons and rotary switches work but the levers DO NOT