Railworks America

Why cant are game look like this.. I Still find it odd that Railworks headlights are still bad.. Why cant they fix this. I mean even Run 8 looks better i mean headlights any way. Can anybody make the headlights look like this.

Yeah... lighting is weird and inconsistent. Some locos like my BNSF SD70ACe from vol, 2 won't shine light down the track or anywhere else for that matter in position 1 and merely throws a little light barely a couple feet in front and to the sides in position 2 from the stair step and ditch lights only.

There are also no direct beams from this or any other sim I know of. What I mean is .....as it's coming towards you around a curb while your camera is at track side or free roam, you don't see beams blinding you or with any star filter/ lens flare effect to kinda simulate it. It's odd seeing the headlight beam on the ground and to the sides on objects, but no direct beam from the headlight itself. Even the desert dust in the air of say a route like Cajon Pass at night would be perfect for showing the beam in the air as it reflects off the particles of sand or dirt floating airborne in it.

Considering much larger problems still exist, I don't see this being a priority of theirs for quite awhile.

That's my opinionated guess anyways,

This has been discussed before in other threads by Doc Machinist, Kali and some other experts.

I remember they concluded that you can extend the headlight beam's projection, i.e. let it shine further and also narrower by tweaking the emitters.
The halo and corona effects around the actual headlight fixture have to be "modeled" in the 3D shape file of the engine and are therefore static.
The piercing, twinkling and scattering effects I believe are impossible to create with the current rendering engine, much like the heat haze and other optical distortions.

Having all this eye candy would make the sim awesome for sure, but like you said there are more important physics improvements still waiting for implementation.
Those stretching couplers for instance ...

I have once again sent RSC a email. I really hope they can fix the headlight issue..