Texture stays bright at night

Fellow Trainsimmers,Sorry for crossposting this, but Bill Burnett suggested that I'd have a better chance for a speedy reply here than in the general MSTS forum.In the pair of screen shots below, you'll see that the station sign (which is a separate shape file from the station itself) isn't getting
darker when night falls.Usually the objects that don't have a separate texture in the night folder automatically become dark at night. Why isn't it happening with this one? Is there a value in the S or SD file that I can adjust to get this to happen?
-JF-

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RE: Texture stays bright at night, robertlearmont, Sep-03-03, 08:28 PM, (1) RE: Texture stays bright at night, rpicardi1, Sep-03-03, 09:19 PM, (2) RE: Texture stays bright at night, Tree Frog, Sep-03-03, 09:33 PM, (3) Also see, Tree Frog, Sep-03-03, 09:41 PM, (4) RE: Also see, johnfrum, Sep-04-03, 08:52 AM, (5) RE: Texture stays bright at night, WestSlopeRRfan, Sep-07-03, 05:47 PM, (6) RE: Texture stays bright at night, MikeSimpson, Sep-07-03, 06:13 PM, (7) RE: Texture stays bright at night, WestSlopeRRfan, Sep-07-03, 06:14 PM, (8) RE: Texture stays bright at night, lnghairedwizard, Sep-16-03, 02:42 AM, (9) RE: Texture stays bright at night, WestSlopeRRfan, Sep-18-03, 00:28 AM, (10)

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From other posts, this can only be changed when it is being built.

Unknown Person

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The texture property for the sign is set to SolidBright. As a result, this texture will stay the same brightness regardless of what the lighting is in the sim. It's a trick that can be used to simulate a lit surface or interior. A night texture is not needed in such a case. The texture property is doing the job instead.Texture properties can be set to do some strange things. Do an Explore in Sea View 3 to see some of the strange things that can be done. The undersea tunnels and domes are one example of the creative use of texture properties.The sign is on a seperate poly placed on the model. As far as trying to find it in the s file and the code to change to SolidNorm, good luck.SRV Ron

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Hi again John,There are some real experts around here, but this is pretty easy to do, so lets see if I can explain.1. First, back up the object's .s file.2. Then uncompress the .s file for the station sign. I use Route-Riter for this.3. Then open the .s file with a text editor like WordPad.4. Near the top of the file you will see a line that says named_shader. Inside the parentheses to the right put BlendATexDiff in place of what is currently there.That line should now look like the one belownamed_shader ( BlendATexDiff )5. You can the recompress the .s file, but I don't know if it is necessary.You sign will probably be less bright during the day, but won't be bright at night unless the train's headlight shines on it.Bill Burnett

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John,For more information see MikeA's first post in this thread.http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID6/8739.html#14Bill Burnett

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Gentlemen,Thanks for your speedy replies.Bill: I used your BlendATexDiff suggestion, and it works perfectly -- a quick and easy solution for the 19 station signs I need to modify.Thanks again.
-JF-

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Thanks you all who replied to -JF-'s post. The information was very usefull.I did some work and did the opposite effect. I wanted a light to stay ON on a small MOW shack I built. I just went into Part Properties on TSM and switched "SolidNorm" to "Solid bright". Sure enought the light came on at night.



Is there a way to just make the area inside the triangle turn ON. That way it would create more of an effect with the light being on.
Thanks
Nick

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To do that, you would need to have the original model and add a triangular shaped section under the light which you could then give the appropriate texture to. It would not be possible to add it to an existing model unless the model builder can help you.Mike

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I built the model. So just make a triangular shape that has the same texture as the building then it would work?Nick

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LAST EDITED ON Sep-16-03 AT 03:09 AM (EDT)

One way to achieve the triangle of light is to use a night texture instead....I would take the original texture, using paintshop or photo shop...use the "lights" effect and set up one spotlight in the area that you want and adjust the parameters to get the proper sized trianlge or "cone" of light......(the rest of the texture will be darkened when using this feature. then you can either paint in or select the actual Light bulb/fixture and increase the brightness so it also appears to be light.The only downside of this is if the building is used close to the track as the darkened areas of the building will still appear dark when your locomotive headlight hits it unlike a structure without a night texture which will light up when hit by the loco's headlight.Here is an example...Original texture opened up in PSP 7
Same file with spotlighting effect and some airbrushed "Bulbs"...
Bill Bzak aka LonghairedwizardThe Keystone Works

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Thanks Bill!I'll try it some evening. I've been working way to much recently but I greatly appreciate your advice.Nick

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