How Do You Remove Lens Flare Effects?

I had downloaded a file - APT-P General Update - but not sure from where.
The readme lists the changes including "Headlight lens-flare effects removed."

I was wondering how I can do that on some of my locos?
The distortion is quite bad so I don't use the effect unless I have to.

Peter

 

You must locate the headlight blueprint and delete the texture entries for the lens flares, so only the lightflare texture stays.

Before / After



Don't forget the forward slash in the single <LensFlare/> tag so it is correctly closed.

 

Thanks Spikee1975

 

I just did a test run with the Woodhead Blue Class 76 and the lights still seem to have a flare


This is what I changed X-Headlight14_no_shadcast to

<HeadLightFlareComponent>
<cHeadLightFlareComponentBlueprint>
<FlareTextureID d:type="cDeltaString">DTG\WoodheadBR\RailVehicles\Electric\Class76\Lights\textures\[00]flare_nm</FlareTextureID>
<FlareSizeX d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000002040" d:precision="string">8</FlareSizeX>
<FlareSizeY d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000002040" d:precision="string">8</FlareSizeY>
<FlareStartSizeX d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000000000F83F" d:precision="string">1.5</FlareStartSizeX>
<FlareStartSizeY d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000000000F83F" d:precision="string">1.5</FlareStartSizeY>
<LensFlareTextureID d:type="cDeltaString"></LensFlareTextureID>
<NumFlareTextures d:type="sInt32">0</NumFlareTextures>
<FadeStartDistance d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000000000" d:precision="string">0</FadeStartDistance>
<FadeEndDistance d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="0000000000006940" d:precision="string">200</FadeEndDistance>
<LensFlareIntensity d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000A09999B93F" d:precision="string">0.1</LensFlareIntensity>
<ExtrusionOffset d:type="sFloat32" d:alt_encoding="000000A09999B93F" d:precision="string">0.1</ExtrusionOffset>
<LensFlare/>
</cHeadLightFlareComponentBlueprint>
</HeadLightFlareComponent>

Did I miss something?

 

That's the lightflare itself, not the circular lens flares which you have successfully removed. To remove that, you have to edit the texture flare_nm.TgPcDx and remove the spikes using a paint program. (Or find a copypaste replacement from another loco that only shows the illuminated lamp without spikes.)

I'd use a paint program, make a circular selection that fits the lamp texture and cuts off the spikes, and save it as a new texture.

That's the only way to get rid of the annyoing flares DTM is using.




I'll do that quickly for you Wait a moment

Here you go, test them yourself needs Quality slider at max, I haven't edited the compressed version of the flare (.nmc)

 

Thank you again - that worked perfectly


A bit more work involved with the flares removal

 

Great! Yeah, depends on the developer. If correctly done, you're placing the headlight textures additionally in the engine blueprint, if done so, you can just turn the option off in the menu. But hardly anyone goes the extra mile for the separate textures anymore. (And the option just removes the whole headlight blueprint).

These star flares are just unrealistic and inappropriate imho, as they simulate a camera lens filter, not the human eye. So it should be toggable, but as I said, it's extra work.

That's how it looks irl - do you see a star? I only see them when my glasses are dirty...

 

I will have a look at the HRQ Taurus next as its a nice loco to drive and looks ok without Light Flares enabled.

 

It's pretty easy, export the DDS using RSBinTool, make a circular selection, invert selection and paint everything black. Save again in the format RSBinTool displays (DXT1,3,5 or uncompressed ARGB, MipMaps generated if present in the original)

I'll take care of the DTM stuff then