Total Blackness At Night On Cajon Pass

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by DarkWolf, Sep 4, 2022.

  1. DarkWolf

    DarkWolf Active Member

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    Issue Summary: This is an issue that existed on Sherman Hill in TSW2 as well. I don't know if this was ever fixed on Sherman Hill as I've avoided night services there since I first encountered it.

    Sometimes at night there is a blackness, like a black fog that slowly closes in that wipes out all detail except light sources. It eventually gets so tight around your view point that you can see nothing at all. I attempted this service early in the Cajon Pass journey and within 40 minutes it was basically unplayable.

    Platform: PC, Epic Games
    Game Mode: Journey
    Route Name: Cajon Pass
    Loco Name: ES44C4
    Service/Scenario Name + Start Time: G-HOULAC6-07 02:29:18
    Step-by-Step Instructions: Drive this journey service for a half hour or more.
    +Screenshots
    Lighting at the start of the service, you can clearly see the stars, horizon and details in the darkness :
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]


    After 40 minutes or so it reached this point and I just quit. As you can see its total blackness all around you :
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  2. DarkWolf

    DarkWolf Active Member

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    I'm trying it again and the same thing has happened. About 20 minutes in I start seeing the murk close in.

    I'm wondering though, this isn't some kind of intentional fog effect is it? Is this journey service supposed transition into really heavy fog?

    DW
     
  3. darylb88

    darylb88 Member

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    Might have to turn dynamic weather off on this one until it can be looked at
     
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  4. DarkWolf

    DarkWolf Active Member

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    This is a service in journey mode so I don't think I can change that, I think its preset.

    I tried carrying on to see if I came out of it but it just got worse, I'm convinced something is not working as intended.

    This is how murkey it was as I was getting near San Bernardino, you can only see a few feet of the locomotive :

    [​IMG]

    DW
     
  5. darylb88

    darylb88 Member

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    Oh right yes Journeys don't have dynamic weather at the moment
     
  6. redrev1917

    redrev1917 Well-Known Member

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    I reported the exact same issue.

    I think the effect they were trying for was to descend the hill into a foggy San Bernardina but failed spectacularly.
     
  7. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    I haven't done any night runs yet but you are confirming my worst fears. I hope Cajon isn't another Clinchfield at night.
    It's a combination of messed up night lighting and anemic headlights on US locos.
    I'll try a night run tomorrow.
    The daylight services are running as smooth as silk, however.
     
  8. DarkWolf

    DarkWolf Active Member

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    Doh, I should have searched before I posted and added to yours.

    DW
     
  9. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    This is a bug and not supposed to happen. It’s not like an effect DTG are going for. It was only previously on Sherman Hill as I recall it and it’s a shame it has now come to another route. It was hard to miss in Sherman Hill because before the viewable area got smaller and smaller, the night was lighter than daylight. Here, it is already dark (and too dark for my liking if I’m honest) and then the view distance closes in to blackness, which is the bug reported. It happens after about 2.30am.

    So far, I haven’t seen any ambient moonlight, so in general I think the nights will be darker than Clinchfield from now on but this issue is separate and on top of that.
     
  10. GuitarMan

    GuitarMan Well-Known Member

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    Can confirm this happens on the Steam version as well - beautiful at the top, cant see the front of the train at San Bernadino - G-HOULAC6-07 in Journey mode.

    Edit - fog suddenly lifted 700 feet or so from the end in San Bernandino - back to the lovely lighting we started with. I cannot believe this is working as intended.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2022
  11. DTG Matt

    DTG Matt Executive Producer Staff Member

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    It's not - I had one of the team looking into this today and we have a handle on it. Working out the best solution currently and i'll update you all.
     
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  12. Dinger75

    Dinger75 Well-Known Member

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    Should point out something similar happened on Southeastern. Both Ashford International and Ebbsfleet were in the dark and no lighting seen on any roads etc. The lights to the stations were on at Stratford and St. Pancras but the rest of the lights roadside were still out.

    Can't remember what service it picked as it was selected by the game but I do remember it said St. Pancras to St. Pancras which I thought was a little odd considering it started at Ashford
     
  13. nepclassof84

    nepclassof84 Well-Known Member

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    The same thing happens in Sherman hill heading down the hill to Cheyenne

    as soon as daybreak though it stops. I think if you keep the camera outside it might also avoid it
     
  14. GuitarMan

    GuitarMan Well-Known Member

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    thanks thats good to hear
     
  15. redrev1917

    redrev1917 Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Matt, this seems to be affecting all downhill night services so about 20 (depending on time of year) or so out of the 102 services. If the fix applied to Sherman Hill as well even better :)
     
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  16. DTG Matt

    DTG Matt Executive Producer Staff Member

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    It's related to fog - essentially a bug fix to cure the fog flashing badly when you turned the mouse (a long time ago) logs the fog height and position for calculations - but a later update to fog in unreal makes it so that the density of the fog is based on how far above or below the origin of the fog you are.... so if the fog sets in at the top of the route it just gets more and more dense as you descend (or conversely, nonexistant if you're going up). This particular issue will affect any route with substantial height variation.

    We're looking at fixes for the three US mountain routes and can look at others as needed - I doubt this is what you're seeing on Southeastern though, it's not known for its mountains, so treat that as separate and get me as much info as possible please.

    Of course the challenge here is to make sure that by unlocking the position of fog we don't reintroduce the flashing fog bug, so we'll be carefully checking that before going too far :)

    Matt.
     
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  17. phillip.good

    phillip.good Well-Known Member

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    No idea if this is a coincidence but had a bit of a runaway train in the ‘blackout’ and had to use the emergency brake 3 miles from San Bernardino. At the moment the EB recovered the ‘blackout’ dissipated entirely and all the lighting came back… just like all the lights got switched back on…. Very odd
     
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  18. DTG Matt

    DTG Matt Executive Producer Staff Member

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    Yeah it seems like there's a lower threshold where the fog just vanishes.

    Matt.
     
  19. Dinger75

    Dinger75 Well-Known Member

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    The Southeastern blackout is the following

    1C38 St. Pancras to St. Pancras

    Accessed the service through Taking Pride journey mode on PS5
     
  20. TheNoGamer44

    TheNoGamer44 Well-Known Member

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    Yup, thought so.
    So if I understand correctly, something like this is happening:
    [​IMG]
    The fog stays at the origin but doesn't move with our locomotives position. I've already made a thread about this issue and I'm here to post it again.
    Note: This issue is not only present on TSW 3 but also on TSW 2, most noticeable on Sherman Hill when trying to descend from the summit.

    Thank you Matt for your efforts! :)
     
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  21. DTG Matt

    DTG Matt Executive Producer Staff Member

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    Essentially yes :)
     
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  22. I noticed last night that the sky is affected by light sources. I was driving past some industry and evey time I passed a light source the sky would become brighter then darken as I moved away from light sources until I was in the desert and everything went dark.
     
  23. DTG Matt

    DTG Matt Executive Producer Staff Member

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    If you can share a video of what you're seeing that'd be interesting to see.
     
  24. DTG JD

    DTG JD Director of Community Staff Member

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    Thanks for the feedback - the team are investigating and we believe we know what's causing this.
     
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  25. The U-LACPHX5-05 service Cajon pass, dynamic weather, light clouds. I start to notice around 2:30 and at 4:30 as I'm passing the lights on the lhs I can really notice the sky going bright then dark.




    Prob best to wait for the hd version to finish processing, its hard to see in such low quality.

    thanks.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 6, 2022
  26. DTG Matt

    DTG Matt Executive Producer Staff Member

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    Can you only see the effect when in the train? I've passed the video on to one of our tech artists but my initial reaction is to wonder if that's simply the glass on the window reacting to the light? If you get the same effect when *not* in the train that would of course rule that out.
     
  27. I've not played on outside veiw. I will take a look in a little while.

    Thanks.
     
  28. It doesn't appear to be doing it on external camera's.

    It's not a major problem, just thought it might have a hand in the reason for the darkness, once your out of lit areas that is.

    Thanks.

    It's probably the glass as you say, I remember on some tsw2 routes where using the cab light would illuminate the world, this too only seemed to have an effect when looking thru the windows from cab view.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 6, 2022
  29. DTG Matt

    DTG Matt Executive Producer Staff Member

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    Our glass isn't the greatest of effects, the TA says it looks like the glass just getting brighter too.

    The thick dark fog problem it looks like we have a fix for going through the process at the moment.

    Matt.
     
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  30. Yeah It's not really I problem. Lovin cajon pass so far, dynamic weather makes for some realistic driving experiences.

    Thanks.
     
  31. redrev1917

    redrev1917 Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the update Matt, but we've got to question why its taken for the release of TSW3 to fix the problem when it was 1st reported over 9 months ago when Sherman Hill released?
     
  32. DTG Matt

    DTG Matt Executive Producer Staff Member

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    I don't have an answer for that. Sometimes you look at a problem and can't see the answer, so it goes to the pile to look at later. Sometimes you look at it and you see it. It's not a good answer, but, I don't have anything better to offer you.

    Matt.
     
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  33. It looks like a Meteor lighting everything up. but on a closer look Matt seems to have narrowed the answer.

    When passing under the yard lights the cab lights up and lights the sky up too. Or rather as Matt said the cab is lit up for a second or two....etc

    I'm not sure if the glass is reflecting or the sim has it reflecting with the outside?

    Or maybe just a limitation of Unreal.
     
  34. redrev1917

    redrev1917 Well-Known Member

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    Appreciate the honesty Matt
     
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  35. Maybe priorities. Other bugs were probably ruining the game for more people....... but I feel for you.
     
  36. Princess Entrapta

    Princess Entrapta Well-Known Member

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    Oh dear, I remember when Elite Dangerous messed this up with their lighting so that local stars tint the entire milky way...
     
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  37. Princess Entrapta

    Princess Entrapta Well-Known Member

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    I think it might have been a decent shout to overhaul all loco glass materials alongside the lighting improvements, since the old ones really don't interact realistically with the new lighting.
     
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  38. Well they got the general idea right.

    In Train Simulator could never get it completely dark. As a real world operator I treasure/enjoy the simulator being able to reproduce the conditions.
     
  39. Dave Mel

    Dave Mel Well-Known Member

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    i would have thought all sidings in the yards would be floodlighted or at least bit lit. surely for health and safety reasons these days. i know all sidings and yards are lit in the UK. im not sure about American Yards
     

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