[R H Steele]

 Coolhand101, on 14 February 2020 - 10:47 AM, said:

There are some calibration monitor programs out there that cater for correction of LCD monitors. In the past, I made a lot of night time cabs with my 21" CRT monitor. When I got my LCD monitor, they were too bright or 'washed out'. The setting I have use above for OR is my calibrated setting for everything. It's amazing how a slight adjustment can make a huge difference.

With MSTS, the user had complete control how dark the routes got. Moonlight, clouds, etc made a quite a bit of difference at night.

My only very little gripe with OR at night is the forest regions, they are too bright compared to static objects which use the same textures.
( Apologies if this has already been address in the recent OR versions ).

Thanks

Having spent part of my professional life in a commercial digital photo lab, I can only echo the above --- it is important to calibrate your monitor --- I have used a Gretag MacBeth monitor calibration puck for calibration for years and it does make a difference. While modern monitors are definitely more stable and better calibrated out-of-the-box than yesteryears types...it always pays to check.

[rickloader]

I agree that forest regions are too bright. i don`t agree that an end user should be expected to calibrate the montitor to run OR. Not having £250 spare for a monitor calibrator, I tried to adjust my display settings using on line calibration guides. In w10 most settings are inaccessible or greyed out. In the Nividea control panel I have adjusted +20 Brightness. monitor already 100 brightness. Reducing contrast to 0 made the biggest improvement. I can now just about see enough in OR to run a night activity.
However, my other computer apps are now painfully bright, which is why I say monitor/ system adjustment to suit OR is not acceptable.
A night time slider would be the answer. Since there is already a daytime slider, wouldn`t it just be a matter of duplicating the daytime code for night? Not being a coder I can`t say, but a nightime slider would also satisfy those here who say OR is already too bright at night..
Rick

[cjakeman]

 darwins, on 13 February 2020 - 07:32 AM, said:

Moonlight?
I don't think I have ever had the pleasure of moonlight in OR, just the grim all encompassing total darkness. So yes something a little bit easier to handle would be much appreciated.

Are skies with starlight and moonlight available?

[Genma Saotome]

 cjakeman, on 15 February 2020 - 10:41 AM, said:

Are skies with starlight and moonlight available?

Not that I know of but ya know, it should not be too hard to add a second solar object that looks like the moon and throws a faint shadow. In MSTS you could have as many suns and moons as you wanted. With that in place end users could fiddle the brightness to their heats content.

[rickloader]

Guys, I`m sorry but I`ve introduced a red herring by mentioning moonlight. There isn`t any, but having seen occasional nights with lighter ambience, I was suggesting that the coder has made a variation in light level as if to introduce the feel of moonlight.. No one else reports seeing this.
I guess the next step would be to add a Trello card, but I get the feeling there isn`t a consenus here about ambient night lighting. Am I right?
Rick

[ErickC]

I've always felt that night in OR was way too bright. Are you using a CRT? I know that when I made the switch to an LCD, suddenly I realized that all of my textures were... just not great. I could suddenly see every single flaw in darker areas and I was kind of ashamed to have released any content at all.

[rickloader]

Hi Erick , not a crt but a AssusVs229 LCD.
I agree that content creators have an extra task in correcting their models for colour balance, saturation etc.
But I`m talking only about the end user experience in darkness. 3/3 people testing my wip route say with the current ambient darkness they can`t see what to do, are disoriented, not enjoying night working etc. Yet here on ET most say the night is too bright in OR.
I think the difference between normal A-B runniing and my route might be that my timetable has a great deal of night shunting. You need to see the outline of rails and rolling stock for operations, while maintaining the night ambience.
I have looked at the Nividia game profile , but I see only 3d settings not brightness or contrast.
Finally, I ask : If ORTS needs a daytime brightness control, why is this absent for night?

[scottb613]

 rickloader, on 19 February 2020 - 06:31 AM, said:

Hi Erick , not a crt but a AssusVs229 LCD.
I agree that content creators have an extra task in correcting their models for colour balance, saturation etc.
But I`m talking only about the end user experience in darkness. 3/3 people testing my wip route say with the current ambient darkness they can`t see what to do, are disoriented, not enjoying night working etc. Yet here on ET most say the night is too bright in OR.
I think the difference between normal A-B runniing and my route might be that my timetable has a great deal of night shunting. You need to see the outline of rails and rolling stock for operations, while maintaining the night ambience.
I have looked at the Nividia game profile , but I see only 3d settings not brightness or contrast.
Finally, I ask : If ORTS needs a daytime brightness control, why is this absent for night?

Hi Rick,

That is odd - if anything the routes I run are too bright at night as well - I can see fairly well with no light... Reminds me of the old westerns from the 50's that were shot in broad daylight with a dark tinted lens...

Are you building all your own models for your route ? If so - could it be a setting for your materials ?

I don't know how our 3DC material settings correlate to other modeling packages - but for "normal" texture applications we use [Diffuse = 80] [Ambient = 20] and [Specular = 5] which is what I use 95% of the time...

Regards,
Scott

[rickloader]

Hi Scott, yes creating my own route content. I agree most models appear too bright at night. In 3dc I use diffuse 65 Ambient 20 specular 1. Was it you posted a while back about oversaturated colours in OR? Learned a lot in that.
I was playing Minecraft with my daughter, and each torch you place lights the scenery a little <sigh> if only in OR...... And we already have a loco headlight so OR can do light sources. I wish I could code stuff, and contribute, but I know I haven`t the brain. I`m in awe of coders and thank you!
Repeating myself, I know, but I`m tallking only about ambient brightness ; mainly ground, rails, roling stock not scenery models.
Those who say night is too bright would benefit from a night slider as much as those struggling in the dark
Rick

[scottb613]

 rickloader, on 20 February 2020 - 04:25 AM, said:

Hi Scott, yes creating my own route content. I agree most models appear too bright at night. In 3dc I use diffuse 65 Ambient 20 specular 1. Was it you posted a while back about oversaturated colours in OR? Learned a lot in that.
I was playing Minecraft with my daughter, and each torch you place lights the scenery a little <sigh> if only in OR...... And we already have a loco headlight so OR can do light sources. I wish I could code stuff, and contribute, but I know I haven`t the brain. I`m in awe of coders and thank you!
Repeating myself, I know, but I`m tallking only about ambient brightness ; mainly ground, rails, roling stock not scenery models.
Those who say night is too bright would benefit from a night slider as much as those struggling in the dark
Rick

Hi Rick,

Yeah - that was me - the use of over-saturated colors has been a chronic problem in our sim and one that makes for a toy like environment... I'm amazed at how different a route can look if you take the time for better more realistic textures...

Yeah - sounds like you have a good handle on everything and your solution sounds reasonable...

Regards,
Scott