Support for Blender's Point light?

Sometime ago there was discussion indicating that support for Blender's point light would be added in TRS2022.

Any idea when this will happen?

Bob

i think with advent of dx12 and ray tracing, we can see new lighting system in game.

bump.....

It would sure be nice if someone from N3V would reply on this.

Bob

Yes. Esp since the lighting in Trainz has been significantly behind the "state of the art" for many, many years now.

Its certainly among the things that would get me interested in moving up from 19 - unlike mm terrain and mps.

We have discussed this from time to time as part of our development schedule. It comes down to many different factors including priority of other tech advancements. I can't really tell you more than that as it isn't as clean cut as "add multiple light sources to your engine that content creators can utilize". I think you will see it in Trainz future but it isn't on our short list of things to come.

n3vpolsen said:

We have discussed this from time to time as part of our development schedule. It comes down to many different factors including priority of other tech advancements. I can't really tell you more than that as it isn't as clean cut as "add multiple light sources to your engine that content creators can utilize". I think you will see it in Trainz future but it isn't on our short list of things to come.

Click to expand...

Not what I wanted to hear, but thanks for the reply anyway. Realistic light sources, such as street lights, is one of the major shortfalls in Trainz......

Bob

Just to add to Paul's comments, we technically support point lights now, but performance would be woeful with more than a few lights. (And could you imagine if we only allowed half a dozen lights or simply culled the extra ones).

So our DX12 and raytracing work provides the necessary base to then add efficient new lighting, and that is getting closer.

Of course, if we could convince everyone to become Trainz Plus Gold or Standard members, we'd be able to hire a new engine dev and whip this up by year end.

If you want an unbiased look at the DX11 vs DX12 debate here is a good article to get you started.

https://www.gamespecifications.com/directx-11-vs-12/

It is kind of ironic that DirectX was Microsoft's response to developers having to write specific hardware drivers for their games to work under DOS and early versions of Windows. Now they are giving more access directly to the CPU and the GPU in DirectX 12 to "increase" frame rates. However, the 800 lb green gorilla is not entirely on board. Nvidia is forging their own path forward with 3D graphics and ray tracing. As a result many Nvidia cards produce slower frame rates under DirectX 12 than under DirectX 11. Hence the reason most game developers are hedging their bets and including support for both versions.

Tony_Hilliam said:

Just to add to Paul's comments, we technically support point lights now, but performance would be woeful with more than a few lights. (And could you imagine if we only allowed half a dozen lights or simply culled the extra ones).

So our DX12 and raytracing work provides the necessary base to then add efficient new lighting, and that is getting closer.

Of course, if we could convince everyone to become Trainz Plus Gold or Standard members, we'd be able to hire a new engine dev and whip this up by year end.

Click to expand...

I have to say Tony, this is very exciting and encouraging to hear - to the point where I have duly upgraded my subscription to + Gold. Every little helps!

I had the opportunity to try the 'other' sim the other day and there's nothing in it that is overly impressive. The only noticeable advantage was the lighting system (night driving was eerily challenging) and this, I feel, is the main area of Trainz that is lagging but knowing it is being worked on is very encouraging and I can't wait to see what the future of Trainz will look like.

Cheers,

PLP

Deleted. Replied to wrong thread.