New lights ?

[SaMa1]

Thank you for the clarification Derek!

If I read it between the lines RS.com is working on bringing the projected light. I hope we could have the light for other assets such as railyard lights as well(that would project also on rolling stock). Modern graphic cards can calculate quite many light sources without too noticeable stutter.

[tk421]

Hello,
Light beams did work in RS.
However, they only lit up the track and terrain so it was not ideal and more code needed to be written to light up assets too. There was also a visual bug that created ordering problems on assets with transparency so the code was commented out.
We also want more control over strength/distance etc for the beams, otherwise it would just look a little daft.

There were also many other cool features that were worked on too.
One of the ones that I liked was the cloud shadow/sunlight effect that was displayed on the terrain and then further extended to show up on assets. It really did bring the landscape to life, it has a performance hit and it was based on DX10 tech but there are many features like this that did not make the final cut that I hope we can bring to the platform to help make the RWs experience more enjoyable for all.

regards

Derek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXRCf9LbLM0

As Michael bay says, that would be AWESOME!

Derek, I know we are a pain but can you list some more of the futures that did not make the final cut and could be brought to RW?

Best regards.

[Wikkus]

In light of these

"Ba-doom-tish!"

...and the award for cringe-making pun of the week goes to...

[Bullet399]

Derek, I know we are a pain but can you list some more of the futures that did not make the final cut and could be brought to RW?

Best regards.

i think he will not do so. If he would do so, the next question would be WHEN is it all available (e.g he has said that..., RW stated...)
I'm glad that they somtimes throw out some internals.

[ka959]

To clarify, although some modern day traction tends to have brighter beams, the purpose of locomotive lights was to ensure that people could see the train, not so that the train would illuminate the track ahead (you'd need some pretty powerful floodlights to do that!). In this respect, RW is fairly accurate.

Ash

No disrespect intended Ashgray, but my father was an engineer for some 25 years, and although in the early years your statement was true. However, somewhere in the mid 70's with train wrecks on the rise, and cowboy engineers as my dad called them, The NTSB required Hi/Lo beams for this very reason. Some already had them, now it is a requirement. I remember (most fond memories) as a teenager on summer breaks riding with my dad on the Northeast Corridor, and at night you can see some 20yards ahead of you. With the hi beems on maybe some 30yards. Therefore this realism must be addressed. I'm not a real engineer, and this is only a game, but I'm sure most of us would like to see the rails if only just a bit to capture night time scenes, and tunnel workings.

And as for me, when I was a teenager, I was very friendly with a lot of the Auckland area railway staff... knew personally a lot of guards on suburban and long-distance trains, both freight and passenger trains, and had quite as few cab rides in railcars, diesel and steam locos, and a fair few at night too, so I can vouch for how necessary the high-beam dual sealed-beam headlights can be. We were in a railcar one Friday night, travelling in the country up north, and were on the southern end of the curved (new) Ranginui (?) Bridge when the headlight lit up a cow that had somehow gotten out of a nearby farm paddock, and was standing on the deck of the bridge ! The driver slowed the railcar and managed to stop it before the cow got hurt, but it jumped straight off the bridge, and into the river below, a good few metres. We proceeded on our way to the crew change point at Taipuha up ahead some kilometres past Maungaturoto, the normal changeover place. Without a doubt, the use of the headlight saved the cow's life, and the railcar from a possible derailment, and maybe a fall into the river, if the driver had the British & European way of doing things - who knows ? Headlights are essential, and how can a driver be expected to recall EVERY curve speed limit ? After all this is not the high-speed British mainline track many of you are used to.

Our NZ mainlines are usually limited to about 100 km/h, but the highest speed I've noted in recent years, is on the line approaching Mercer, south of Auckland, from Pokeno, and it's double-track, with this curve being allowed 105 km/h - probably for the Silver Fern diesel-electric railcar sets. Locomotive Engineers are supposed to know the track they normally work on, and have Train Advices for knowledge of different works along the line, and maximum speeds therein. But radio telephone contact with Train Control also gives them advice on what to expect further ahead, moreso on the single-track areas between Hamilton and Palmerston North, and God help any train driver on a dark night between Te Kuiti and Taumarunui, or further south, whose headlights failed, and he tried to drive in darkness, watching for signals where he expected them to be, and trying to recall the curve speeds at every curve - not always possible, and with speed reduced for a margin of added safety... not too good in this part of the world. I recall a cab ride in a NSW 422 Class diesel electric, on a night run from Kiama to Sydney, up the South Coast, with a passenger train. Headlights were on most of the way, including to Waterfall, and then on low-beam only further north to the city, as quite a few suburban electrics were approaching us along the way, and most had low-beam headlights on too. Driving in the dark would be too hazzardous, in my opinion.

Regards...

Jim McDermott

[Lucky919]

Nice post Jim M.

This story and mine, along with others just might catch the attention of the RW Devs. that we love the sim, but would like a little more reality.

Nobody answered the RR Xing bell though. I wonder why? Surely someone has a suggestion or two so I can hear the Xing bell sounds. Maybe I'll create a thread to address it.

Also the illegal horn use at night.

[Easilyconfused]

Living near a level crossing (RR Xing is US speak) I can confirm that the electronic warbelling thingy does sound after midnight when we are walking back from the pub prior to the barriers coming down. I have also heard horns on the maintenance trains used in the wee small hours. Note that the crossing I am refering to is a complete full barrier closing operated by the signal box so trains do not normally sound a horn on approach. However, I am led to believe the horns I hear are when men are working on the track and a train approaches - then they are absolutely required to sound the horn to warn the workers.

[Lucky919]

Living near a level crossing (RR Xing is US speak) I can confirm that the electronic warbelling thingy does sound after midnight when we are walking back from the pub prior to the barriers coming down. I have also heard horns on the maintenance trains used in the wee small hours. Note that the crossing I am refering to is a complete full barrier closing operated by the signal box so trains do not normally sound a horn on approach. However, I am led to believe the horns I hear are when men are working on the track and a train approaches - then they are absolutely required to sound the horn to warn the workers.

John,

I couldn't have explained it better. So the question is why am I getting penalized for sounding the horn as required at night (tunnels, xings, stations)? This is obviously a glitch of some sort.

[paulz6]

Living near a level crossing (RR Xing is US speak) I can confirm that the electronic warbelling thingy does sound after midnight when we are walking back from the pub prior to the barriers coming down. I have also heard horns on the maintenance trains used in the wee small hours. Note that the crossing I am refering to is a complete full barrier closing operated by the signal box so trains do not normally sound a horn on approach. However, I am led to believe the horns I hear are when men are working on the track and a train approaches - then they are absolutely required to sound the horn to warn the workers.

Whilst doing research for the North Lincolnshire Lines (where there are a lot of level crossings), at no point can I remember the blaring of horns during the day - and some of these were User Worked Crossings!
There's a farm crossing between Flitwick and Bedford on the MML, marked by a whistle sign which is observed.

[chimboro]

Thanks for coming in RSDErek. You guys keep on working as hard as you can to develop this platform.

[AndiS]

We also want more control over strength/distance etc for the beams, otherwise it would just look a little daft.

Absolutely. If anything, the multi-month debate on engine lights showed that there is no single solution. What we need is something clever, lighting up any distance at any intensity and any hue. Otherwise, 90% of the people will be correct to complain again. This is why I understand that this feature is still in the making. (Also considering the potential performance issues, and the fact that it should look good in dark night and in moonlight night and in dawn/dust.)

... there are many features like this that did not make the final cut that I hope we can bring to the platform to help make the RWs experience more enjoyable for all.

A statement like this makes me love the word "platform" more than the official marketing fluff.

Let's just lean back and see what Santa Derek brings along.

[markpullinger]

Hi, One thing I noted from Dereks comments was that some of the features were based on dx10 technology. If they had implimented these features, then I suspect quite a few people would have been complaining that Railworks wasn't supported on XP!
Rock and a hard place springs to mind!!
The price of progress... works on xp or proper working lights. I wonder whether people would change their operating system just for this feature? I think not!

Mark

[RailX]

Hello,
Light beams did work in RS.
However, they only lit up the track and terrain so it was not ideal and more code needed to be written to light up assets too. There was also a visual bug that created ordering problems on assets with transparency so the code was commented out.
We also want more control over strength/distance etc for the beams, otherwise it would just look a little daft.

There were also many other cool features that were worked on too.
One of the ones that I liked was the cloud shadow/sunlight effect that was displayed on the terrain and then further extended to show up on assets. It really did bring the landscape to life, it has a performance hit and it was based on DX10 tech but there are many features like this that did not make the final cut that I hope we can bring to the platform to help make the RWs experience more enjoyable for all.

regards

Derek

hi derek

the lightbeams really should light up the assets too. this is something that other engines can do since years.

i hope to see those effects in railworks soon!

regards

Rail-X

[buyme]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWw70JK_LUs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYUYKzXtxM8

the "stupid" lights are usually not supposed to light anything up!

well if you ask me thats like saying cars have lights not to light the road up

[Wikkus]

<snip masses of repeat-posting>

well if you ask me thats like saying cars have lights not to light the road up

Ok, well, quite a few people have responded in this thread and I think your answers are all there, if you care to read them.

To summarise: UK & Euro lights are about right, poss some enhancements to be made. US lights need a fair bit more work to be prototypical. You didn't actually specify exactly what your problem was in the first place, other than to refer to them as "stupied" {sic}.

R.