Atomic Systems

Hello everyone,

The reason I'm posting this here is because someone posted a while back about their wrists and arms starting to hurt after long sessions building their route, I'm afraid I could not find the post, hence this one. Moderators, please move this thread if you feel it's in the wrong place. And I hope that I have not broken any forum rules (I did check but I could not see anything).

OK I'd better get this out of the way first. This is not an advert, the only reason I'm posting is because I thought it may help others who get uncomfortable while using RW for extended periods. And I'm not affiliated with Belkin at all. It's just the product I purchased, and although it's early days I'm rather pleased with it. There are other products that do the same thing.

I'm referring to the rather bizarre looking Belkin n52te:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-Hi-speed ... 422&sr=8-1

It's a programmable mini keyboard with build in thumb pad. I brought it because using the arrow keys to move the camera around while route building is a right royal pain. It works OK while driving. But when in the world editor, I expect to be able to have my right hand almost permanently on the mouse and my left hand controlling everything else. Reaching across my body to maneuver the camera started to hurt my left shoulder. I'm now able to control the camera with my left thumb. And my left arm and hand now sit in a much more natural position.

In addition to the camera, each key can have a single character or a macro of characters assigned to it. The whole unit can go into one of three modes, meaning that key mappings can be toggled. For example, I have programmed the first mode for driving trains (though there may not be enough keys if your driving a steam loco and doing the fireman duties yourself). The second mode I've used for shortcuts available in the world editor, can't think of what to use the third mode for yet

Shame there is no left-handed version, but like I said, there are other products.

Hope someone finds this useful,

Shad.

My housemate uses one of those for playing World of Warcraft; not the kind of kit I'd expect to be used to build routes in a railway sim, but whatever works for you.

HI

I have in the past posted about problems with my right hand after changing to a large wide screen monitor. The problem was that I was having to move the mouse a lot more in widescreen mode which was giving my wrist more work to do than necessary. I have since reverted bank to a 'square' monitor and the problem has gone.

It is important to heed any pains from using the mouse and keyboard as they can develop into something quite serious so anything that helps to reduce the risk should be at least considered.

I researched the field a while back, more looking at game pads and the like where you have joystick-like controls and wheels for both hands. I was more aiming at driving, since I started to wear out my keyboard with all the panic braking. But I found out that I have no time for driving anyway, saved me some expense. Plus Matt wrote something about using two mice, long ago.

Anyway, if you are prepared for the expense, these things look useful for those who spend long hours with the sim.

If it is only for the cursor keys, you could also consider some numeric keypad. They are meant for laptops, but some will map the cursor keys alternatively and then you could put that to the left of the keyboard. But best get if from somewhere where they take it back if needed, since integration with the game is always a bit of a risk (in my view).

I use the Pinnacle Game Profiler utility : http://pinnaclegameprofiler.com/ , to remap the RailWorks built-in key and mouse commands over to a standard hand-held game-controller (similar in style to PlayStation2 type controller).
Works great for me, and I find it a lot's more comfortable, intuitive and easier to sit back, relax and drive the trains this way rather than always needing to hunch over the keyboard and mouse. Once you're familiar with how you've mapped your controller, it become quite easy and no need to take your eyes off the screen to hunt-and-peck for some key commands.

I use this utility for use with several other games as well, and it works with just about any type of game controller you plug into your computer. Some of you might find it worth checking out.

Geoff Potter wrote:

The problem was that I was having to move the mouse a lot more in widescreen mode which was giving my wrist more work to do than necessary.

In the control panel select your mouse and look for speed in the pointer options. Move the slider over to full speed. This should make the pointer cross the full wide screen wiyh very little motion.

I don't know why they call it speed but its actually a movement amplifier.

Mike.