Headlights Are A Joke

Except people would then hunt out the parts of unreal which would give them the bits those people wanted (ignoring everything else it has to do)

 

Like what's happened with motion blur.

 

Most lighting in TSW(2) is a joke, just try driving into Manchester on NTP at night, might as well be the middle of the Gobi desert...

 

Makes you wonder if the track and station assets are tied into the clock, or whether it's only the skybox which is

 

Looks good. Can you do something similar with the light projection distance reaching a range of 350/400m for some of the BR 146 185 (Traxx) and maybe share this with us? This would match the headlights of this locos with the bright setting on. You should be close to how the Taurus has its lights in TSW (are far more usable than any other loco but still lack the range of the real thing). If you used the RWA Taurus or even HRQ Taurus in TS 2020 it would be nice to get something similar for the bright / high beam for at least modern German locos in TS, ICE 3 / 3M, Traxx family and also the control cars.

 

I can't do anything for those other locos i'm afraid. Only if i get called to do so.

 

I understand. Knowing how DTG ignored this serious problem I don't have hopes to see the headlights issue corrected to soon. Also from what I have noticed the info for the headlights is inaccessible for anyone to try and change the headlights themselves as a mod either. It's a shame, I have always found night driving / real life traveling to be very moody and add a certain feeling compared to day and I really enjoyed long night runs in TS but in TSW is really hard and exhausting to drive in pitch black routes without decent lights coming from the environment or headlights.

 

There are several elephants in the room, but headlights and environmental lighting might be the two biggest. We've been talking about them but we haven't heard much from DTG. There's been some recognition of the American headlight problem, but the explanation is rather unconvincing to me at least. As far as the ambient lighting is concerned I remain in the dark. Nothing I've heard has explained the problem. Is it an Unreal issue, or is it specifically to do with TSW? I don't have any other Unreal games on my computer that I can use for comparison. Perhaps others do. It all came to a head for me with CRR and Cathcart, two of the best modeled routes in the game, spoiled by my inability to play night services. I'm hopeful, perhaps in vain, that the core upgrade will improve the lighting in Rush Hour routes. I'll be very disappointed if I can't drive those routes at night.

 

I haven't heard anything to say that lighting at night will be fixed in the summer update. If I remember correctly the question of lighting came up two weeks ago with Adam and Nat and Adam said no work had been done, but I could be misremembering that

 

What we can do is write about this over and over again. So everyone understands that this is important !
Dovetail can talk to Unreal about this. So they knowing the problem to

 

Not DTG nor Epic can change yet the fact that the lightning, for a real-time environment as TSW needs, is bad in UE4. You basically have no bounce light (because it would cost too much performance). And you can't bake the light because of the moving sun and moon. You can't have both in UE4, good environment lighting AND realtime TOD.

 

Night lighting in TSW is and always has been poor. Whether it be too light, too dark, not enough ambient lights etc.

DTG have said nothing about improving it, or even anything at all about how poor it is for that matter. So I’m not expecting any improvements in the upcoming Rush Hour routes. Still expecting the same old issues with it.

 

And yet some routes, SPG for example, seem to have adequate ambient lighting at night. The German routes seem to do better, also. This is just from my personal experience. What explains that?

 

Simply different settings to the TOD system. But what you all expect is not achievable yet i would say. We have to wait for UE5 and Lumen to finally get reatime GI to UE and therfor TSW aswell.

 

Yeah it is not so long to Unreal 5
Unreal Engine 5 is expected to ship in early 2022. I hope Dovetail really soon update the TSW to this "TSW 3"
I see many is very exited with this Lumen Light

 

Matt's already said they won't be even thinking about UE5 until it's bedded in so I wouldn't expect it til 2024 maybe

 

I chased a train led by a trio of SD60s a couple weeks ago, and the rails were lit up for 50+ yards ahead of the train.

 

UE 4.26 has only been officially released for 7 or 8 months and, going by what Epic says is possible, DTG have not exploited even close to the possibilities yet. So I wouldn't expect 5.0 in TSW for at least 18 - 24 months at the earliest, assuming it releases in early 2022.

 

It is correct, headlights are not for the driver to see, they are purely to let others know a train is approaching. It can take up to a mile and a half for trains to stop so seeing an obstruction won’t help. Drivers rely on their route knowledge to know where they are and driving during darkness isn’t a problem. There is no need to stop travelling by train it is still probably the safest way to travel.

 

So this Headlight problem will be fixed at the earliest 2024. If now Lumen light fixes the problem.....
I hope Matt and Dovetail reading this thread.

Answer ARuscoe they can upgrade the game earlier.

 

If it's an Epic problem then why would Matt (who works for Dovetail) be able to make much difference?

 

Looking through Epic's documentation, I think there's still a lot that can be done in terms of TSW's environment within UE 4.26. Improvements in TOD lighting, headlights and water textures, for instance, are still possible, I believe. Performance hits might be major stumbling blocks, so optimization is maybe the key thing. And that is very difficult work, I imagIne.

 

If headlights can't be done until UE5 what about the stations themselves, could they be made brighter?

 

That may be the case in the UK, but it is definitely NOT the case in the US, where train headlights are like antiaircraft searchlights, and are absolutely there to help the driver and conductor see well ahead.

 

Is that the case cause US trains generally travel slower and through towns and a lot more level crossings?

 

True, and that's one reason why, even in broad daylight, they have full beam headlights, flashing ditch lights and loud bells. Even with all that, collisions between commuter trains and cars/pedestrians are not an infrequent occurrence on the railroad, 99% of the time the fault of the automobile drivers and pedestrians ignoring oncoming trains or trying to drive or walk around the lowered gates.

 

Although a train usually cannot stop within visual distance, even halving speed reduces potential impact damage by 3/4. Moreover, part of the traditional US anticollision regime includes liberal use of the horn, and whistleposts are an inherent part of that (coughclinchfieldcough).

Even in a system which relies on route memorization like the British, drivers still require visual cues: "Start braking at the dead tree" or "steep grade starts just after the old church." But these cues need to be seen; even a UK driver can't operate blindfold.

 

Cathcart and München Augsburg are jokes at night from the Stations lights also

 

Also, alot of people will walk along tracks around here (Usually homeless) 2 people have been struck and killed in April and May, despite all the warning signs, despite the horns, despite the lights, people still get themselves killed on railroad tracks. Its ridiculous....

 

It's Darwin.

 

That sounds like some lives are more valued than others?

Their deaths seem tragic to me (along with the trauma that the drivers experience).

 

However the tracks are wide opened, wildlife and sometime human(s) get on the track, so it is very useful to be able to see either from far away, and the light may also help to warn whatever is on the track that a train is incoming

 

You can increase the brightness of the lights but not the brightness of the people.

 

I notice that Derail Valley are implementing diurnal cycles in their next major update. Will be interesting to see how they handle both train headlights and ambient lighting. I can see the Harbour area on their map being quite spectacular. I’ve also been making a few twilight/night runs in DRS and I have to say that looks fantastic too. So DTG really need to catch up.

 

How would you feel if you lost a family member to a tragedy and someone made a joke at their expense?

 

I wouldn’t be happy. However, I was commenting on people crossing railroad crossings when a train is approaching despite the barriers being down and the considerable warnings from the train itself and how stupid that is, as were the other people in this thread. I don’t believe I made a joke at the expense of anyone’s family member dying in a tragedy.

 

While any human death is tragic when utter stupidity is involved its hard not to question yourself "what the hell where they thinking?"

Over here multiple where hit by train from behind at over 120 km/h while casually walking along the rails of major rail tracks while listening to music trough headphones, so even with emergency brake and driver using the very loud horn continuously nothing could be done.

There where also young people who either died or suffered major burns while climbing on freight cars and trying to take a selfie ignoring the 27.000V overhead lines despite warning on the side of all freight cars and locomotives.

And there are far more examples of Darwin like actions. Its not about human life its about how some people have a total disregard of they're own due to lack of even the most basic form of education and knowledge

 

So, when it’s personal it’s not funny, but when it’s not personal, it’s ok to make a joke at someone else’s expense?

It just seems cruel or insensitive to make fun of someone else. Yet we tend to do that as children and justify it as adults.