I've just picked up Cathcart Circle and doing the 2P03 Newton-Glasgow via Pollockshilds East service at 06:49am in December is awful to drive. Using the in-cab lighting means I can't see outside due to the glare and without the in-cab lighting outside is almost pitch black. Is this a known issue (which they've never addressed)..? It's not unplayable but certainly not enjoyable.
It is a major issue across the game. TSW3 saw a slight improvement but driving around a large conurbation like Glasgow should be awash with ambient light pollution. Do bear in mind though that UK train headlights are generally to be seen rather than provide significant illumination of the track ahead.
Apparently there's a shunting scenario on Clinchfield which is almost impossible to do due to pitch darkness. Not reached it yet myself but the game needs an option for brighter nights even if slightly unrealistic.
I do wonder if the game's systems which already tap into the time and date could additionally be used for moon phases. I imagine a cloudless night with a full moon could have the ambient illumination on a route like this upped a bunch. Urban areas definitely need better night lighting though. The real standout there is Riesa-Dresden, but we've not seen the likes of that since.
I think I have purposefully asked on every route release since, thread or stream about it. If Lukas is internal now, are they using that skill set or art teams tapping into it?
A lot of night runs seem to start pitch black outside then after a few kilometers of driving suddenly everything lights up outside, Cathcart included (TSW2).
I've not seen much written about driving in pitch darkness during my time on the forums, so much so that I wondered if it was just me, or my display at any rate... Good to see someone else asking the question, It's a significant issue for me, perhaps not in terms of completing the runs (now I'm a reasonably experienced player it's like doing an instrument landing in a flight sim) but in terms of my enjoyment of the game - sitting in pitch darkness looking at numbers on a dial is really not much fun.
Definitely seen this. Routes that come to mind are RSN and HBK. Moonlight kicking in maybe? Whatever it is, and knowing that pitch black darkness on a road in the middle of the night is a very real thing, it's far more pleasant to drive in the possibly unrealistic but slightly illuminated when it comes to TSW.
Driving by night with both ICE 3 BR 403 and 406 is almost impossible, especially on SKA. And cologne looks like they had an power breakdown. In reality the area around the cathedral is illuminated nearly like daylight, here it looks like in WW2… The headlights of the new locos at BRO are in my opinion too dimm, too. A small light cone should be visible even if the 110 is originally from the 1950s. Maybe the light cones are like they're supposed to be, but the environment contrast isn‘t than, and that makes it so stressful to drive by night. And the lighting is so inconstant within the hole the game, for example the headlights of the 101 are alright at SKW and BRO, a little bit dimm but okay at DRA, but nearly invisible at SKA. Same with the 610, the lights are good at DCZ, but crap at BRO. Cabin lights of the 610 don’t work at all and the time table light is nearly invisible, too. I think that DTG has a lot of trouble with their lighting system, and every route needs settings of its own. That makes it really hard to get it right for them. These inconsistencies in the game‘s core causes a lot of troubles, not only in term of the lighting.
I’ve been sticking to TSW 3 routes for nighttime runs, since I find the nighttime lighting feels more realistic with illumination from trackside industries lighting up sections of the track. Case in point… Bahnstreche Bremen-Oldenburg. At night , the section before Bremen Neustadt is well lit when passing through it in either direction. Not so sure on lighting on Cross city line but, nighttime runs are enjoyable with decent headlight projection from the BR 323.