How to change light spot of the locomotive?

[awaken1977]

Most locos in the game have quite unrealistic light spot from the headlights. I is especially noticed in night scenarios.

Spot is either too wide, or too short in length. Locomotive headlight is not like car light, it is narrow and focused, so it mostly illuminates space ahead of the track, not just sides and trees

that's how it looks in real life

1. beam angle is narrow
2. there are fade out zones on the edge of light spot
3. far edge of the spot is quite noticeable



that's what we have in the game. it is P42DC for example
beam is too wide, sharp edges of the spot.



Where it is configured, and how to change it?
it was pretty straightforward in MSTS - you set beam angle and beam length.

[mrennie]

The regulations say the main beam has to illuminate objects at least 800 feet in front of the loco - when I was doing the Consolidation, I set up a test scenario with a man placed 800 feet ahead, to make sure he was illuminated (I also made an 800 foot ruler as a scenery object, to check the distance!).

There are aren't many parameters to play with as far as lights are concerned - basically there's the radius, phi and theta, that together define the dimensions of the cone of light (plus there's the colour and whether or not to cast shadows). You can't do a lot to soften the edges.

[awaken1977]

That's what I found

"The FRA requires that the locomotive headlight (steady burn) used for road service have a luminous intensity of at least 200,000 candela. The headlight light focus angle in the horizontal plane in relation to the centerline of the locomotive must illuminate the track so that the locomotive engineer can identify moving or stationary objects or conditions at a distance of 244 m (800 ft) in front and ahead of the locomotive. The reduced luminous intensity (60,000 candela) and distance requirements (91.5 m [300 ft]) for railroad yard headlight operation is required to reduce excessive glare for railroad employees."

So, 800ft for high beam and 300ft for low beam looks realistic ?

[mrennie]

That's what I found

"The FRA requires that the locomotive headlight (steady burn) used for road service have a luminous intensity of at least 200,000 candela. The headlight light focus angle in the horizontal plane in relation to the centerline of the locomotive must illuminate the track so that the locomotive engineer can identify moving or stationary objects or conditions at a distance of 244 m (800 ft) in front and ahead of the locomotive. The reduced luminous intensity (60,000 candela) and distance requirements (91.5 m [300 ft]) for railroad yard headlight operation is required to reduce excessive glare for railroad employees."

So, 800ft for high beam and 300ft for low beam looks realistic ?

That's right. Some locos in TS2014 have both bright and dim headlight settings.