Elvas Tower: Ambient Night Lighting in OR - Elvas Tower

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Ambient Night Lighting in OR Dark as the inside of a crows Axx Rate Topic: -----

#1 User is offline   rickloader 

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 06:49 AM

Hi, what governs ambient night lighting please? ( general lighting, not model .sd lighting)
Mostly it is so dark you can`t see anything, not even which way your train is facing, no ground, just the feintest outline of the rail tops. It is very hard to operate in these conditions. I often have to open the dispatcher window to see where I am
Just occasionally, OR presents a most attractive night scene, a kind of moonlight. How Can this be made the preferred view?
I`m not alone here. Of my 2 esteemed route WIP collaborators, 1 refuses to run at night ; the other has cleverly modded OR to run night activities in daylight.
So is it possible to have lighter nights? I don`t see anything in the manual or here on ET.
Thanks, Rick

#2 User is offline   darwins 

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 07:32 AM

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. (Not too sure if those people into real world weather would want to add moonrise and moonset and phases of the moon to that... ) Is there a card for this on Trello?


#3 User is offline   scottb613 

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 07:46 AM

View Postdarwins, 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. (Not too sure if those people into real world weather would want to add moonrise and moonset and phases of the moon to that... ) Is there a card for this on Trello?


Hi Folks,

I can't drive at night - - - until - - - we have more than a single light source available in ORTS... Passing another train that doesn't have a light cone - or - street lights that don't light anything - sucks all the enjoyment out of it for me...

I think I recall a post that mentioned we are stuck in this night limbo due to backward compatibility...

That said - I think ReShade could lighten the nights ???

I did try the replacement night skies over at TS and they improve the look of the stars greatly...

Regards,
Scott

#4 User is offline   Genma Saotome 

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 11:02 AM

Perhaps this will help: OR handles the projection of the headlight differently than MSTS does and what you have in the .eng file is directly related to this matter. Take a look at the values of Radius() and Angle() for the headlight sections. They are probably waaaay wrong. Some definitions:

Radius() -- The radius of a full sphere of light centered on the location of the headlight.
Angle() -- The angle of the cone that constrains the above sphere so it appears as a headlight beam.

Speaking of North American locomotives, the radius could be a considerable distance, perhaps as much as 2km. For game purposes that's to far but 800m? 1000m? Sure. WRT the Angle(), a normal lens in a North American locomotive produces a cone that is 4-5 degrees wide. Offhand I don't recall whether Angle() is meant to be the full distance or only one side, probably full.

My point here is if you change these two values per the above information you will "see" a lot more further than just the nearest railheads. Just like a real engineer does.


Please let me know how it goes for you.

#5 User is offline   rickloader 

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 01:12 PM

Thanks, Dave for your clear explanation. I realise now that this is a particularly British problem, because until recently UK trains had no headlights / light cones, just feeble marker lights.
No, I `m talking about the general light level in the dark. I think there ought to be enough light to see a little, not the near total darkness in OR most times. As I say, sometimes there is enough light, so this can`t be a msts compatibility issue. About 1 run in 5 you get what I call the "moonlight" effect where you can see the terrain and other trains, and it is pleasant , if perhaps a little too bright.
So what governs total darkness or "moonlight" darkness in OR ? I guess this is hard - coded then?
Thanks, Rick

#6 User is offline   Coolhand101 

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Posted 13 February 2020 - 01:27 PM

Have to admit, I thought the opposite, night time was too ambient. Have to re-check my monitor settings after reading this.

Thanks

#7 User is offline   scottb613 

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 04:00 AM

Hi Folks,

Yeah - played around in the night when I got in - my ambient seems pretty darn bright and I can see everything pretty well without lights...

This was with the "Brightness" slider set at 120% in the ORTS settings - which is what I use for my ReShade profile...

Regards,
Scott

#8 User is offline   Coolhand101 

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 05:58 AM

View Postscottb613, on 14 February 2020 - 04:00 AM, said:

Hi Folks,

Yeah - played around in the night when I got in - my ambient seems pretty darn bright and I can see everything pretty well without lights...

This was with the "Brightness" slider set at 120% in the ORTS settings - which is what I use for my ReShade profile...

Regards,
Scott


The 'Brightness' slider should only apply to daytime. Is this not correct?.

My monitor was set slightly brighter than I remember when using MSTS. On video control panel, I have now set gamma to 0.95( from 1.0 ) and brightness to 0.47(from 0.50 ).

This also helps my night time cab textures, which always appeared 'washed out' IMO!

Thanks

#9 User is offline   rickloader 

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 10:01 AM

Thanks for investigating guys. I don`t think you should have to adjust your monitor to suit open rails. With the ambient daytime Brightness slider set to full 150, I see no night time difference. What we need is an ambient night time slider.

#10 User is offline   Coolhand101 

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Posted 14 February 2020 - 10:47 AM

View Postrickloader, on 14 February 2020 - 10:01 AM, said:

I don`t think you should have to adjust your monitor to suit open rails. With the ambient daytime Brightness slider set to full 150, I see no night time difference. What we need is an ambient night time slider.


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

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