Some engines like the Class 66 have mirrors on the outside, except they are useless unless you can see what's behind you. Would help a lot if we had working mirrors on all the engines that feature them
Had this discussion recently. The CPU power required to generate the view behind to fulfil this would not be too much less than to create the view in front, so it's not going to be that productive. TSW uses the CPU a lot to do things
Since there aren't many engines that do have a mirror, would it be considered to have a real life photo of a mirror reflection instead of that ugly grey texture? It's mostly for looks but it would look better. That's another thing that could give it a good temporary solution. I am a bit shocked that a mirror could eat up CPU power like that. But would be interested to find out more, they should do some tests and trials. If its not too much work it can be an option for those with better machines. And it could also be turned off via graphics menu. I am really curious. I got the idea from BeamNG.drive. Their vehicle mirrors aren't that flash, but anything better than a ugly grey texture there........
I wouldn't worry about them to be honest, IRL the 66 ones are pitted and fogged up and all but useless anyway. Nothing betters the "head out of the window" but I doubt they'd model that
I can't see certain people on this forum being happy with "a static picture" but I spose it would be. I mean they could just "break them" and leave them utterly buggered Actually... In TSx the "shift 2" view IS a head out of the window and I am surprised they didn't replicate it in TSW, I suppose with enough effort you could do this with camera 3 in TSW. May well need to if ever they bring out a steam loco
Hmm working mirrors would be nice but I don't suppose it'll be added anytime soon. They'd perhaps look better with a blank silvery colouring instead of the current grey. The "head out" view is often available by selecting the more views option via the long press of R3 on the controller. If using a keyboard it's much easier via a single press of the left or right arrow keys (plus a few other cab views when available).
you can put your head out of the window in many trains but you have to use the left and right arrow keys to move across the cabin and out of each of the windows (if the seat is on the right you can hit the right arrow keys then it would put your head out the window but to go to the left window you have to press the left arrow key multiple times to get through the cabin or you can hit the right one twice I think) mirrors can take a lot of processing power depending on how the engine renders but simplified down if you move your head in tsw it lags a bit (under higher stress environments) and there is a noticeable fps drop if you move your head so what my be happening is they are only rendering what is in front of you (unlikely but is possible and may reduce lag when driving trains if you don't look around) or it is just storing it in the ram (and has to grab a texture from the drive) and even if that is the case there still will be a noticeable delay as it also has to figure out what is behind the mirror then render it (angle person will see etc)