Control your locomotives with Gamepad

Gamepad

You can control your locomotives with android compatible bluetooth gamepad as well. 

Connect your gamepad via Bluetooth to your device. Select a train in locomotive library and you are ready to use the gamepad for train control. Meanwhile you can also navigate to other menus to change turnouts or routes. If you press the driving wheel icon in Train Control menu you will get a special virtual driving cab similar to the one already available in Digitrains without the gamepad. There you will have all function buttons, direction knob, emergency stop button and speed display in km/h or mph. The program recognizes automatically if you have a gamepad connected or not and opens the proper virtual driving cab on the screen.

1.  Direction buttons:

a.    UP: increase speed with one speedstep

b.    DOWN: decrease speed with on speedstep

c.    RIGHT: forward

d.    LEFT: backward

2.  Left joystick: not used

3.  Right joystick

a.    Forward: accelerate

b.    Backward: decelerate

c.    Right: forward

d.    Left: backward

4.  F0

5.  F1

6.  F2

7.  F3

8.  F4

9.  not used

10. not used

11. F5

Other functions are available on the screen.

The gamepad you use must be a Bluetooth HID gamepad compatible with android. I use the MOGA PRO and MOGA HERO gamepads. It can be purchased on amazon.com. It also provides a universal phone holder and tablet holder. The PRO version is able to charge your phone while playing.

Video:

DigiTrains 2.7 on Play

DigiTrains 2.7 release notes

dispatcher game: automatic accessory change based on occupancy

There is a new function in dispatcher game. If a block becomes occupied specified accessories (signals) can be changed automatically by DigiTrains. This useful for example to change a signal to STOP if a train goes by. 

Locomotive control with gamepad

Locomotives can be controlled with android compatible bluetooth gamepads.

Dispatcher game advanced logic: protective turnout

Protective turnouts belonging to an active route cannot be changed until the route is released. 

New locomotive picture

This is a bug fix. When you created a new picture for a locomotive its old picture was caches in some menus and did not change until program restart. Now it will be refreshed immediately.

Dispatcher game: how to use the layout editor video

New feature in DigiTrains 2.6: Driving Cab

The biggest new feature in DigiTrains 2.6 is the virtual Driving Cab In-App Product. The graphics are based on a modern Stadler Flirt train. Check out the video here:

You can try it for free on your phones using JMRI, Z21 or DigiWifi with your model railroad layout.

You can open the Driving Cab by touching the "Driving wheel" icon on Train control screen:

Short description on how to use the driving cab:

To change accelerate and decelerate dynamic touch the DigiTrains icon:

Detailed description and Tips are available in the latest DigiTrains documentation:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By2pZ2n1CiqmYmF2MmRWTDJqX1E/view?usp=sharing

DigiTrains 2.3 available for download

DigiTrains 2.3 new features:

-Speed display in km/h or mph
-Search option in Train list, Accessories and Routes
-Locomotives can be assigned to groups
-New route building logic in dispatcher game

Details:

SPEED DISPLAY IN KM/H OR MPH

The speed of a train can be displayed in speedsteps, in km/h or in mph. To configure the speed display press the speed on Train control menu.

You have four possible choices:

1.   Show speedstep:No speed conversation. Just show the actual speed step.

2.   Automatic: Using a default conversation from speed steps which fits for most of the models. For more accurate speed display please select one of the other options.

3.   Use current speed: start your locomotive and increase the speed until you estimate it goes with 40 km/h (or 25 mph). Then come into this menu and press the tick to match 40 km/h (or 25 mph) for your current speed step. For more accurate speed display please select one of the other options.

4.   Calculate: Measure and select one meter (100cm) on your track (1 meter equals 1.1 yard, which is 1 yard and 1 span approx.). Accelerate your train outside of the selected block to 50% of the speed (to speed 7 in 14 speedstep mode, to speed 14 in 28 speedstep mode, to speed 63 in 128 speedstep mode). Keep this speed and with a stopper measure how much time (in seconds) it takes for the train to go along the 1 meter selected track. Type in the measured time into the editbox below. For more accurate speed display please select longer track. For example you can select 5 meters and measure the time on this longer block. At the end please devide the outcome with 5 (if you used 5 meters). You may also measure the time several times and count average.

Furthermore you can choose the unit of the speed: km/h or mph. These parameters can be set individually for each locomotive. The above mentioned speed display works properly in case of using linear speed settings in locomotive CVs. 

SEARCH OPTION IN LISTS

There is a search icon in bottom of the Train list, Accessories and Routes menu. You can filter the list for names or address based on the sort type.

Type in the address or name what you search for. The program will search for names or addresses contains your string. In case of Train list you can filter for groups or moving locomotives, too.

It shows the filtered list in case of any result.

NEW ROUTE BUILDING LOGIC IN DISPATCHER GAME

1.    Turnouts are changed first.

2.   Route path is colored to green on layout editor screen.

3.    Signal belonging to route change to green (free to go).

LOCOMOTIVE GROUPS:

You can assign your locomotives to groups. With this you can filter the train list. In case of adding a new locomotive or changing it there is a button “Add to group”. By pressing this button you can add it to an existing or new group. If you do not select a group it will be assigned automatically to group “All”.

The locomotives downloaded from JMRI will be assigned to the JMRI group if exists. In DigiTrains one train can only belong to one group, so if it is assigned to more groups in JMRI in DigiTrains it will be only showed in the first group.

Module layout for testing DigiTrains

In the last year I not only developed DigiTrains but also created a modular layout to play and for test DigiTrains. The modules are stored in the basement and put together in my living-room for a day in every month. The assemble and disassemble time is approximately 90-90 minutes. 6 person can play at the same time, 2 dispatchers using tablets and 4 engine drivers. Of course we play with DigiTrains, so I can also test the new features.

Full album can be viewed here...

DigiTrains gameplay video: advantage of quick-list

This video shows how easily you can control a 3 platfrom station and 3 engines using some of the special features of DigiTrains: quick-list, functions icons, dispatcher game with layout editor, station speaker, etc.