increase range of the high beam light

[sf_giants15]

In my opinion there is not much of a difference between high beams and dimmed lights at the moment

As you can see in the picture you cant see much of the tracks in the dark and its hard to see all the signs in time.

please increase the shine distance.

 

Here is an example of ETS2 which is pretty good I think.

[giBBer8]

To be honest, the lights are pretty true to life as they are, they are still the old traditional headlights.

Even on the old GM and GE stuff I drive, the super bright lights only illuminate a fairly narrow cone of angle, and certainly not to the extent of your car example. The old BR diesel and electric headlights were even worse. However, car headlights are made for the driver to see the road, and train headlights are there for workers to see the train. 

 

[Gazz292]

comparing a car with high intensity discharge lights illuminating a road is hardly the same as a locomotive with at best halogen bulbs, in 1960's reflectors illuminating the track ahead, 

I too think SimRail has this pretty well spot on, the lights on older trains are crap, there's really no need to see ahead in the dark that much, it's not like you need to see far ahead to steer the train to keep it on the tracks. 

[lDestinyl]

For 4E I agree, but a modern pendolino in my opinion should shine a little further than the current state. 

[lDestinyl]

For 4E I agree, but a modern pendolino in my opinion should shine a little further than the current state. 

 

3 hours ago, giBBer8 said:

To be honest, the lights are pretty true to life as they are, they are still the old traditional headlights.

Even on the old GM and GE stuff I drive, the super bright lights only illuminate a fairly narrow cone of angle, and certainly not to the extent of your car example. The old BR diesel and electric headlights were even worse. However, car headlights are made for the driver to see the road, and train headlights are there for workers to see the train. 

The driver has to see the signals in order to react in time. He can't drive blindly. .....

Edited April 16, 2023 by lDestinyl

[Gazz292]

Just now, lDestinyl said:

The driver has to see the signals in order to react in time. He can't drive blindly. .....

Last time i pretended to drive a train at night, the signals were lights themselves, which show up even better when it's dark, 
even the old semaphore signals had oil lights in their coloured glasses to allow them to be seen at night, 

If anything, high intensity headlights shining on signals would make them harder to see. 

:

Every railway drivers book i've read has bits in it where they take someone for a cab ride in the dark, and that person is scared as hell because they are thundering along the track in the darkness,  they ask why the trains headlights aren't brighter like they are in a car etc, 

The drivers usually reply... what for, what exactly do i need to see, the train 'steers' itself, it's routes are set up by the signallers, and they also regulate things to keep the traffic safely appart, and i know the route like the back of my hand,  i could close my eyes and still know exactly where i am along the route.

it's not like if you saw something on the track ahead in the trains headlights that you could do much, you can't exactly swerve out of the way, most trains took over a mile to stop, and we certainly do not have headlights that can shine over a mile ahead. 

that's why we have repeater signals, the signals that show the level crossing ahead is secured and so on. 

:

I used to travel in early morning and late evening on class 101 DMU's in the early '90's, these trains had a big window in the back of the drivers cab, so if you sat in the front passenger seats, you could see the driver at work, and the track ahead, 
the trains 'headlights' were marker lights, there to show others the trains position (and originally used to tell the signallers it's destination and class by the different locations of the lights that are turned on... a throwback to the oil lamps)

[lDestinyl]

31 minutes ago, Gazz292 said:

The drivers usually reply... what for, what exactly do i need to see, the train 'steers' itself, it's routes are set up by the signallers, and they also regulate things to keep the traffic safely appart, and i know the route like the back of my hand,  i could close my eyes and still know exactly where i am along the route.

It would be nice to get up from the PC sometimes 😉 1000h on the game is not healthy 😄

I see what you're saying, but speed change signals are hard to read in the game. In-game signals are not reflective at all and this is very noticeable in the game at night. In the video you can see how the modern train is lit up at night and you can see really far, plus the reflective signals. 

 

[Gazz292]

i have to admit i haven't driven a pendo at night,  i drive the EU07 / EP08 almost exclusively (i even set my keybinds to be more suited for that train, i.e. my left and right arrow keys move the power controller wheel to the left and right, and up and down arrow keys move the shunt lever up and down)

The lights from the EU07 / EP08's are pretty much as i'd expect, they are certainly brighter than a uk train from the 60's for sure, i believe the Polish trains had these massive bucket headlights (even the steam trains had them) due to the Sz signal thing,  where the driver has to 'drive on sight at upto 20km/h' 

So i believe the EU07/EP08's headlights are realistic, and certainly put out enough light to spot an obstruction ahead when you are doing 20km/h, 
But as you go faster your headlights would need to illuminate to your braking distance, which is over 1 Km on most passenger trains, and can be 2 or 3 km on a heavy freight.

In a car you do need bright headlights, you have to expect obstructions around every corner, get close to other cars ahead who can decide to stop dead Infront of you, also you can position your car anywhere on the road, swerve around obstacles, and stop from 100km/h in about 60 meters with modern antilock brakes.

in a train the brakes haven't even begun to apply along the whole length of the train within 60 meters of moving the brake lever.

[Kaito Kid]

22 minutes ago, lDestinyl said:

In-game signals are not reflective at all and this is very noticeable in the game at night.

This I was wondering the other night, if it could have any solution at all.

[giBBer8]

The intensity of the signals can be turned up, via the Settings - Simulation menu.

Try that.

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by giBBer8

[sf_giants15]

Ok I would agree with the old train headlights are beeing realistic but as you can see in the video from Destiny at least the newer model Trains should have better highbeams.

In Simrail the view distance doesnt really differ between the trains

[Gazz292]

i'm no programmer, so i may have this wrong, 
but i 'think' the distance the headlights reach is based on the LOD's 

When you drive in the (sunny) daytime, look ahead at the track and you will see the shadows along the tracks rendering ahead, sometimes they move ahead with the train, other times they jump in stages,  but they only reach about 50 meters or so Infront of the train, this seems to be the distance the headlight reach at night.

If you switch to number 2 camera, and move it so you are looking down on your train from as high above as it'll let you, you will see circles around the train for the different texture draw distances...
the closest one is the high detail LOD, this is where you can see the track ahead change from the basic texture of 2 blurry lines to the detailed textures with the sleepers, rail clamps, fishplates (on certain lines), points mechanisms etc, 

Then there's another ring further out, this is the shadow draw distance, then a little further again a ring where the textures for stuff like the grass disappear. 

 

But i 'think' that to increase the distance the headlight illuminate at night would need the LOD's changing, and this comes with a big impact on the performance, 
i already drop from 60+fps to ~9fps in some areas in SimRail, and this is with a 1 year old gaming laptop with a RTX 3070Ti GPU, 40 gig of DDR5 ram (of which i've seen 25 used by SimRail at times) and a fast SSD. 

[lDestinyl]

17 minutes ago, giBBer8 said:

The intensity of the signals can be turned up, via the Settings - Simulation menu.

This doesn't solve the problem of not seeing the speed change MARKS, which are absurdly small in Poland.

[Gazz292]

i drive using drivers timetables on my 6 inch e-ink reader, so i need to see the hectometer boards at the side of the tracks to know where i am, and see how far the next station / speed limit is etc, 

Once i'm doing 120 km/h, i have to zoom right in to read them, as they do not pass the train smoothly (even when i am getting 60+ fps, and my screen is set to 144Hz refresh rate) i only play in 2K resolution on a 16 inch / 40 Cm 16:10 screen tho, and my screen is 48 CM from my eyes (i just measured it) 

It was even worse when i played in 4k on my 55 inch TV, but that is located about 3 meters from my eyes, 

[sf_giants15]

vor 19 Minuten schrieb Gazz292:

i drive using drivers timetables on my 6 inch e-ink reader, so i need to see the hectometer boards at the side of the tracks to know where i am, and see how far the next station / speed limit is etc, 

Once i'm doing 120 km/h, i have to zoom right in to read them, as they do not pass the train smoothly (even when i am getting 60+ fps, and my screen is set to 144Hz refresh rate) i only play in 2K resolution on a 16 inch / 40 Cm 16:10 screen tho, and my screen is 48 CM from my eyes (i just measured it) 

It was even worse when i played in 4k on my 55 inch TV, but that is located about 3 meters from my eyes, 

But even using timetables you need to see the temporary speed changes since on normal timetables you only get line speeds. 

[DazT]

Quote

16 inch / 40 Cm 16:10 screen tho, and my screen is 48 CM from my eyes

Amateur! 🤣

Mine is 16:9 11ft and about 10ft from my eyes (I use a projector) and my second screen for the map which sits in front of me is some crappy old Dell monitor that I've had for about 20 years.

[DazT]

Having done several official (and indeed many more unofficial!) cab rides here in the UK, that's pretty much what it's like on the real things of what it's like driving at night, the headlights are to be seen, not to see with (to an extent).

A quirk of the UK with most modern trains post about 1985 is you have a day and night setting, the day setting uses the right-hand headlamp (and a marker light on the left) to throw into the distance (so staff working lineside can see trains from further away), using the night setting, the left-hand headlamp becomes the dominate one (with a marker light on the right) and throws light towards the left side of the track (where reflective signs normally are, and so you're not dazzling oncoming trains)

As for seeing speed signs (or indeed any signs), that's where route knowledge comes in you should know where all upcoming speeds are in reality without the need to know where the signs are, the exception to this would be temporary and emergency speeds (That's why the notification of ours in the UK flash for emergency speeds to make them stand out, called an Emergency Indicator officially, or a metal mickey/dalek unofficially)

Edited April 16, 2023 by DazT

[lDestinyl]

Approximately 100m is the visible distance at night. That's not enough!

[DazT]

Signs aside, what are you actually trying to see? 

I frequently drive round at night on the lowest setting, I can see the signals in the distance better, up to a kilometre away, no point seeing what's in front of me, as a driver once said "If you can see it, you'll probably hit it anyway long before you manage to stop"!

[Gazz292]

22 minutes ago, sf_giants15 said:

But even using timetables you need to see the temporary speed changes since on normal timetables you only get line speeds. 

That's why my drivers timetables i am playing with include all speed changes along the line, temporary W14 ones, non line speed permanent W9 ones, and of course the line speed changes. 
i just find it so much easier to look at my timetable and read that there's say ... a temporary 50km/h limit at 292,800 km, and i'm currently doing 120 km/h at hectometer board 293,700 having just missed the warning sign for the temp limit ahead because i was checking / changing radio channel or something like that.

a Real train driver would have their appendix-2 (Dodatek-2) list of permanent speed limits, plus the daily list of temporary limits printout that they would have read before they started the run, plus they'd have learnt the route so know where all speed limits are.

 

But i find it hard to learn the routes (having ADHD doesn't help) so i will always need a list of all speed limits plus station stops if i am to drive with the HUD off. 

[lDestinyl]

1 minute ago, Gazz292 said:

That's why my drivers timetables i am playing with include all speed changes along the line, temporary W14 ones, non line speed permanent W9 ones, and of course the line speed changes. 
i just find it so much easier to look at my timetable and read that there's say ... a temporary 50km/h limit at 292,800 km, and i'm currently doing 120 km/h at hectometer board 293,700 having just missed the warning sign for the temp limit ahead because i was checking / changing radio channel or something like that.

a Real train driver would have their appendix-2 (Dodatek-2) list of permanent speed limits, plus the daily list of temporary limits printout that they would have read before they started the run, plus they'd have learnt the route so know where all speed limits are.

But i find it hard to learn the routes (having ADHD doesn't help) so i will always need a list of all speed limits plus station stops if i am to drive with the HUD off. 

Not everyone is like you.

[Gazz292]

9 minutes ago, lDestinyl said:

Not everyone is like you.

which is why we are on a discussion forum..... 

So if others have no problems memorising the route, the locations of the speed limit changes, signals etc, why do they need extra lights at night, 

like a real trains driver, they should be able to turn the lights off and still know where they are along the route. 

Edited April 16, 2023 by Gazz292

[DazT]

I do agree though that the speed commencement and termination signs are a little on the small side! (Even if they are prototypical!)

[lDestinyl]

What kind of arguments... We need to see the signs along the track at night. Instead, we're debating how people drove 50 years ago. ......

[Gazz292]

the train in the original post was made ~50 years ago, so has headlights to match.

but also, do people know of this setting in the 'settings.conf' file... it's set to 'False' normally.
R_ExtraLightsAtNight=True

Edited April 16, 2023 by Gazz292