Do we have better nighttime lighting effects for our game?

JonMyrlennBailey

Active member
In the real world, a lamp post disperses light over a broad area evenly, not just a small pool at its base. TANE loco headlights seem to do a good job of dispersing light over a broad area. I wish fixed lighting objects would behave in the same fashion. We don't get that natural effect from illuminated buildings, telephones booths, light splines, static vehicle headlights, streetlights, yard floodlights or other outdoor light fixtures. I have my gas station canopies, yard lights and streetlights sunk just enough into the ground so the ugly unnatural light pools don't show at night.
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The trailer truck

seems to throw light over the landscape quite naturally except for the phony-looking light pool on the YARN road right in front of it. This oval-shape light pool looks like a worn-down Ivory soap bar.
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Well with your top photo, you may as well have no lights as no ground is illuminated. Admittedly the effect isn't perfect but I suspect N3V has far higher priorities on what needs fixing, like the incompetent AI! Also Tane is now 6 years old so it is what it is.
 
The TANE I have now is SP4. I first tried T:ANE in 2015 then shelved it for several years because my PC wasn't up to it until just a month ago with a $1,000 hardware upgrade. Has TRS19 given us more realistic ground lighting? I do like the spooky dark effect in my forest because there is no man-made lighting there anyway. I can manage to get night scenarios looking pretty dark, foggy and scary!! I can tolerate the light posts with no light pools showing. No illumination is still better than bad illumination. I don't want to see a few light coasters on the ground in a land of otherwise total darkness. I would rather just see some illuminated streetlight globes, vehicle headlights and stores in the dark. The train station is also sunk a tad to hide its ground light pool too. When people are standing in the light pools, their feet look missing. When car tires are wading in the light pools, they have flat bottoms.

Loco light still shines through the decks of some train bridges and YARN bridges (like the built-in ones I use) even in TANE SP4. Smoke penetrates some bridges too. Most but not all of my traincar bodies are light proof.
 
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This has been a topic of discussion for many years, and it does not appear to be on the priority list for N3V. It would be nice, but for now, you just have to pick the yard and street lights with light pools you can tolerate, as they are all completely done manually.
 
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