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I was testing out a night run and discovered the night textures turn off at 4:00 am when its still pitch dark. Checked out the env folder but nothing jumped out at me. Anyone know how adjust this? Thanks.
The .env files are where you will need to alter these settings (they should be different for each season.1. Under World_sky_layer you will find the entryworld_sky_layer_fadeout ( 06:02:07 08:02:07 )This is the time when the night sky fades to daylight (between 0600 and 0800 in this example)2. Under world_sky_satellite (first entry which is for the Sun, second one is for moon)world_sky_satellite_rise_time ( 07:02:07 )This is the sunrise time, change this to suit.You will need to fiddle with these for each .env file in your route, they are not very well programmed and there is no real fade-in, rather it is either dark or light on most routes.
What appears to me to be the case is this (and it's certainly subject to change).world_sky_layer_fadeout ( 06:02:07 08:02:07 ) controls only the switch in sky texture from the daytime .ACE file to the nighttime .ACE file. As Mike says, there's no fadeout, only a switch from one to the other. At sunset, it's the first time mentioned. I don't remember if it's the first or second for sunrise.world_sky_satellite_rise_time ( 07:02:07 ) controls the moment at which object textures switch from the day textures to the night textures. BUT, the only world_sky_satellite_rise_time ( xx:xx:xx ) that affects this is the "moon" rise time (or the second "satellite"). So a the "moon" world_sky_satellite_rise_time ( 17:02:07 )will switch the day textures to night textures at 5:02 PM.Now, this is really interesting. It's not the "moon" world_sky_satellite_set_time ( xx:xx:xx ) which switches the object textures back to day. They switch back 12 hours after the moon rise" time.Also, interesting note. The textures don't all switch at once. They seem to have some random-ness of switching, so in a scene with lots of night textures, like a city, you'll see the lights come on in a scattered fashion over the course of as much as a minute.world_sky_satellite_rise_time ( xx:xx:xx ) and world_sky_satellite_set_time ( xx:xx:xx ), for the different satellites, do other things besides switching the object textures (mostly changing the lighting environment). But only that one parameter, moon rise time, seems to switch the object textures.I'd be very interested in more specific observations on this matter.Jeff
Hi Jeff,Thanks for the correction on that one, I did not realise it was the moonrise time + 12 which switched the textures back, does this apply to high latitudes in the summer where there are only 6 hours of darkness?Mike
Take it all with a grain of salt. I've got some confirming observations of this, but MSTS has shown us wrong so many times, I wouldn't be surprised if new observation showed that there was yet a different cause.Mike, remember we do know that the "satellites" themselves always travel through the zenith. So, yeah, the moon might race across the sky (through the zenith) and set only six hours later (or even set long after the sun comes up), but it seems like the textures switch at the 12-hour mark.But, again, we need confirming evidence. The logic of the whole thing is screwy. There's nothing in the ENV file code to set the moon apart from any other "satellite", only that it's the second one.The question from a forum member a couple of weeks ago, about why lightning won't work at night, is what started me on this investigation. I'm still not sure what "night" actually is in MSTS. But we can make the lightning go all night. Just define the "fadein" time for the second sky layer as 11:59 PM, and the "fadeout" time as 12:01 AM, and you'll have lightning all night.Anyway, please, I'd love to hear of more observations about this.Jeff
Thanks for the info. Like everything else with this sim, it has to be some convoluted nightmare to make even a minor adjustment. Here's my env settings for the "moon". If the moon rises at 19:01(7:01pm) then the day textures should turn on at 7:01, but they turn on at 4:00 am. I need to investigate further. world_sky_satellite( world_sky_satellite_low_scale ( 300 ) world_sky_satellite_high_scale ( 300 ) world_sky_satellite_rise_position ( 95 ) world_sky_satellite_rise_time ( 19:01:00 ) world_sky_satellite_set_time ( 06:01:00 ) world_sky_satellite_dir_rise_colour ( ff101030 ) world_sky_satellite_dir_high_colour ( ff101030 ) world_sky_satellite_dir_set_colour ( ff101030 ) world_sky_satellite_amb_rise_colour ( ff101020 ) world_sky_satellite_amb_high_colour ( ff101020 ) world_sky_satellite_amb_set_colour ( ff101020 ) world_sky_satellite_light ( 0 ) world_sky_satellite_fog ( 96 )
My email isn't working, But here's what I found. Night textures turn on at sunset, little by little until complete darkness. All night textures turn off abruptly 2 hours before sunrise. So there is no possible way to make any adjustments. Go figure...
