ka959 wrote:I can see absolutely no reason om Earth why RSDL can't come out straight and tell us honestly whether or not they are positively able to provide proper, illuminating headlights on diesel or even steam locos,
Forgive me for saying so, but didn't Derek pretty much
do this already? I think the answer could be summed-up as "currently, no".
but when most of the locos produced so far, are generally British and European, with the rare exceptions, but I cannot see anyone wanting to model a New Zealand Dx or Dc diesel electric loco, or Ef class electric loco, etc. with correctly-working headlights, anytime soon, just to make us Kiwis happy.
I'm not sure what you're getting at here, Jim -- you appear to be saying that you cannot see why anybody would model NZ prototypes
with prototypical headlights yet you don't state what sort of lights these are. Do we therefore assume that they are US-style "flood 'n' spot" style lights? If so, then there is indeed a problem because, as I thought we'd established by now, it's not currently possible within RW.
And even though we do have some North American built diesels here, I wouldn't really want to drive too many American diesels, even if they did provide good headlights for the SD-40-2s and the others,
So, this probably answers my earlier assumption. It also means that if the technology was in the game (which it isn't) then if someone
did decide to model the examples you cite, then they
could have working, illuminating headlights. But they can't. Currently.
Here's a vid from the cab of a CN SD-40-2 at night (in the snow
) and see how much light North American prototype locos throw out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65bKM7y9F6c
and I do like driving the British trains, but am disappointed greatly by the lack of good headlights, and it would be good to see a few different Class 166 or Class 66s with powerful headlights,
Real 66 headlamps are (on the old ones) just a couple of fairly low powered sealed beam units that chuck out the square root of diddly-squat in terms of light :s
Have a look at this vid filmed from the cab of a 66 at night -- note that it barely illuminates the reflective signs at the side of the track. Compare it to the oncoming Dutch train which is visible from way off (despite the rain) and how it throws a pool of light in front of the loco:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2eCePtK8N8
The updated lights that the 66s got went some way to improve the lighting, getting shot of the "side lights" and the 5" sealed beams replacing them with 2 clusters of ultra-bright white LEDs and some more powerful 7"(?) sealed beam halogen units. So, in that respect, RS got it bang-on with their rendition of the 66 as first introduced...
and some exactly the same, except with "normal" British "bicycle lamps" on the front, as they prefer them to be, but let us of different preferences, actually be able to place those British locos or DMUs, etc. on our routes, with the sort of headlights we really want to have ! Compromise will suit everyone, I say. Keep us all happy, eh ? Cheers.
I think what you're angling at goes beyond what is right to expect the developers to implement; you seem to be saying that you'd like to see an option to have (and I use the following words advisedly and for the sake of illustration) "Good" and "Bad" lights on all stock...? Want to have a big searchlight on the front of a Black 5? Just click the widget. Nice idea, but kind of overlooking the fundamental lack of illumination in the first place.
Besides, that sort of thing may have been a simple "hack" back in the days of MSTS where peeps could just edit a text file in Wordpad, but it isn't so simple any more. I'm hoping that the tool that Adam is putting together will provide some of this sort of utility in addition to its primary function, i.e. to be able to edit the physics and what-not in a user-friendly manner. However, it's also the sort of thing that developers cringe at because it can be abused or misused and cause even more problems.
Rgds, Rik.
