Lighting in front of trains

JPMASSON · Post by **JPMASSON** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:15 am

Hi everybody,
I often drive a BR class 27, especially on the West Highland route. At night or twilight, it is a bit frustrating because the beams of the headlights (situated above the windscreens) are very weak and it is nearly dark in front of the train.
Could someone tell me if (and how) it is possible to increase the intensity of light emitted by the headlights of an engine. I guess something might be adjusted in the .eng file but...
Thank you in advance for your help and Christmas Greetings !

buffy500 · Post by **buffy500** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:28 am

Someone else will point it out anyway, so I might as well do it.
UK stock does not (until recently) actually have headlights worth mentioning, so if you want the light to be brighter you will be going down a less realistic route.
but if you want to change it, its normally the 1st light setting in the eng file.
I'd suggest increasing the 'radius' value as a starting point.

johndibben · Post by **johndibben** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 12:18 pm

You really want to see something though even if it's not realistic

Turning the gamma up in Trainz gives some hint of the surroundings.

If there's an equivalent in MSTS, I'd be interested to know of it as I enjoy night driving as well

Cheers

John

jbilton · Post by **jbilton** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:06 pm

Hi
As prototypical, I did this Class24 a while back.

Class 24/1 D5124 in BR Blue [1709579 bytes] - 5124_V1.zip
File ID: 7686 Date: 06 Jan 2004 - 706 Downloads

You can adjust the enviorments to give moonlight nights..........I have in the past ,posted a couple of threads in the screenshots forum.

Cheers
Jon

OTTODAD · Post by **OTTODAD** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:22 pm

On the MSTS CD #1 there is a folder called TECHDOCS. Run it's EXE to install it's How-To docs into a folder of your choice.

You will see a "How_To_Specify_Lights.doc" which will show you how to adjust the lights of locos.

But before you start to experiment make a BACK-UP of the .eng file !

O t t o

saddletank · Post by **saddletank** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:30 pm

Thanks Ottodad, I'm glad someone pointed that out!

Martin

jbilton · Post by **jbilton** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:49 pm

Hi
Something also you could try are my Oil-Lamps....which includes one which illuminates the track ahead.

Oil Lamps for MSTS [59307 bytes] - Oil_Lamps.zip
File ID: 13430 Date: 20 Nov 2005 - 631 Downloads

However if you want a really bright searchlight type, then copy the one from the default class50

Light (
comment ( Sphere of light )
Type ( 1 )
Conditions (
Headlight ( 2 )
Unit ( 2 )
)
FadeIn ( 0 )
FadeOut ( 0 )
Cycle ( 0 )
States ( 1
State (
Duration ( 0.0 )
LightColour ( aaffff99 )
Position ( -0.02 2.19 12 )
Azimuth ( 0.0 0.0 0.0 )
Transition ( 0 )
Radius ( 400.0)
Angle ( 15.0 )
)
)
)

Add it into the lighting section of your eng file....and increase the number of lights by one.

Cheers
Jon

ianmacmillan · Post by **ianmacmillan** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 9:00 pm

An alternative is to use Activity Changer to make it daylight.

http://msts.juliane-und-torben.de/

JPMASSON · Post by **JPMASSON** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:48 am

Hi and thanks to everyone, especially Buffy500 & jbilton.
I used the beam light of the class 50 as a model and succeeded. Radius and angle had to be adjusted. In order not to go too much astray from the real thing, I fixed radius to 100 (instead of 400 for class 50) as I noted that, in the sixties, BR engines had no beam lights. However, I can thus get a glimpse at the track or station platforms and avoid missing the speed limit panels.
Besides, I could not decently drive a sleeper train in full daylight...
Thanks again for your speedy and useful replies.