Night time visibility

[Illusion of Progress]

Hey all, so I've recently fallen victim to the game within the last month or so, and for the most part I'm enjoying it as it is. Just waiting for more states, and am otherwise content.

One thing that is borderline bothering me more and more as I play is the night time visibility. During the the game's darkest hours between approximately 10 P.M. or 11 P.M and through around 4 A.M., there's just near zero visibility unless you use your high beams the entire time, which I don't want to (as it has its own issues). It's not a brightness issue but a visibility/lighting one, so adjusting the brightness won't help me here (at least not to the extent I'm looking for and without introducing other issues). I realize this may be more realistic, but I'd enjoy it more if I wasn't going down some roads 5 to 15 MPH under the speed limit and STILL feeling like I need to slow down.

It doesn't help that the distance from your truck that is illuminated by your lights seem shorter than should be as well.

Does anyone perhaps know of any mods regarding this?

I was talking with another player of the game, and it was around 4:30 A.M. in-game, which is shortly after it starts getting lighter, and I told them "if THIS was as dark as it got, I'd drive at night a lot more".

I'm still enjoying the game, but I noticed I enjoy driving around twilight and sunset too, but these time portions are short lived, so most of my time is spent avoiding night and just driving during sunlight hours.

[Reese]

I've noticed that ATS night feels darker and worse than ETS2 night. There are some headlight mods that are just for making their range increase. I don't know the name off the top of my head, but they do exist.

[Kimo]

Well, I remember my older brothers having old american cars. It was legendary that their high beams where as bright as parking lights in european cars. Yeah, just saying. :)

How ever, I use this mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=651280431

Also I use Realistic Graphics Mod, which has an inflluence to I guess. The game feels right to me this way...

[sibling04]

The mod is ok but why can't they just FIX the vanilla game?

[XBL Laberbacke]

There is nothing to fix. In fact, I use mods to make it darker because it's so dang bright.

[Fury6]

If it's too dark, increase your monitor/graphics-card gamma... and visa-versa - then consider putting in a feature request to have a gamma slider available in the game's options.
--

As for the headlights, yeah, the low-beams seem a little short. By default they're set at 90 metres and 80 degree beam angle with an aspect of 2. To me that feels both a little short as well as narrow for low-beam.

I set them to 100 metres at 90 degrees with an aspect of 3 and using the 'high-beam' beam mask instead of the 'normal' mask. I also tune the beam brightness down quite a lot (by almost half) too.

These are the specific changes I make:

        low_beam_color:             (1.50, 1.25, 0.75)  #(2.82, 2.64, 1.77)
    	low_beam_range:             100.0               #90.0
    	low_beam_angle:             90.0                #80.0
    	low_beam_aspect:            3                   #2
    	low_beam_mask:              "/material/custom/trucklight_mask_high.tobj"

        hi_beam_color:              (1.75, 1.50, 1.00)  #(5.58, 5.22, 3.48)
    	hi_beam_range:              240.0               #220.0
    	hi_beam_angle:              70.0
    	hi_beam_aspect:             2

[rhwilson1953]

Originally posted by Fury6:

If it's too dark, increase your monitor/graphics-card gamma... and visa-versa - then consider putting in a feature request to have a gamma slider available in the game's options.
--

As for the headlights, yeah, the low-beams seem a little short. By default they're set at 90 metres and 80 degree beam angle with an aspect of 2. To me that feels both a little short as well as narrow for low-beam.

I set them to 100 metres at 90 degrees with an aspect of 3 and using the 'high-beam' beam mask instead of the 'normal' mask. I also tune the beam brightness down quite a lot (by almost half) too.

These are the specific changes I make:

        low_beam_color:             (1.50, 1.25, 0.75)  #(2.82, 2.64, 1.77)
    	low_beam_range:             100.0               #90.0
    	low_beam_angle:             90.0                #80.0
    	low_beam_aspect:            3                   #2
    	low_beam_mask:              "/material/custom/trucklight_mask_high.tobj"

        hi_beam_color:              (1.75, 1.50, 1.00)  #(5.58, 5.22, 3.48)
    	hi_beam_range:              240.0               #220.0
    	hi_beam_angle:              70.0
    	hi_beam_aspect:             2

Could you tell a newbie which file to make these changes? Is the file specific to the truck I'm driving or is it one that controls all trucks?

[ctcarbonari]

Realistic Graphics Mod is a must have, imo (and it also does influence dusk/dawn transitions)
I also use a Realistic Headlighting mod as well. The combination of those two made a noticable and more enjoyable playability difference for me. However, I still drive with my high beams on....

@ Fury6 - Thank You Very Much for posting that info! Interesting.....

[Fury6]

Originally posted by rhwilson1953:

Originally posted by Fury6:

[...]

Could you tell a newbie which file to make these changes? Is the file specific to the truck I'm driving or is it one that controls all trucks?

To keep things simple I'll start with the default file organisation which has an individual definition for each truck. Personally I split the parameters off into include files so that some parameters are left as local to each truck with the rest being global.
--

Navigate to (create terminal subdirectory if it doesn't already exist):

"%USERPROFILE%\documents\american truck simulator\mod"

Create a subdirectory in there - call it whatever you like, this will be your mod's folder. Inside that subdirectory, create the following subdirectory tree:

def\vehicle\truck

Inside that terminal subdirectory, create the following six subdirectories (be SURE to spell exactly as indicated):

kenworth.t680
kenworth.w900
peterbilt.579
peterbilt.389
volvo.vnl
intnational.lonestar

Inside each one of those, create a subdirectory called:

head_light

Inside each one of those 'head_light' subdirectories, paste the following file:

FILENAME: standard.sii

SiiNunit {
    accessory_head_lights_data: std.xxxx.head_light {
    	name:   "Standard Headlights"
    	price:  0
    	unlock: 0
    	icon:   "lamp_standard_01"
    	reflectors_offset:              (0.0, 1.0, -3.0)
    	reflectors_distance:            1.8
    	left_rot:                       (-2.5, 0.0, 0.0)
    	right_rot:                      (-2.5, 0.0, 0.0)
        low_beam_color:                 (1.50, 1.25, 0.75)  #(2.82, 2.64, 1.77)
    	low_beam_color_specular:        (0.0129, 0.0129, 0.0129)
    	low_beam_color_ambient:         (0.2158, 0.2158, 0.2158)
    	low_beam_range:                 100.0   #90.0
    	low_beam_angle:                 90.0    #80.0
    	low_beam_aspect:                3
    	low_beam_mask:                  "/material/custom/trucklight_mask_high.tobj"    #"/material/custom/trucklight_mask_norm.tobj"
    	low_beam_attenuation:           "/material/custom/trucklight_attn_128.tobj"
        hi_beam_color:                  (1.75, 1.50, 1.00)  #(5.58, 5.22, 3.48)
    	hi_beam_color_specular:         (0.0129, 0.0129, 0.0129)
    	hi_beam_color_ambient:          (0.2158, 0.2158, 0.2158)
    	hi_beam_range:                  240.0
    	hi_beam_angle:                  70.0
    	hi_beam_aspect:                 2
    	hi_beam_mask:                   "/material/custom/trucklight_mask_high.tobj"
    	front_beam_color:               (5.58, 5.22, 3.48)
    	front_beam_color_specular:      (0.0129, 0.0129, 0.0129)
    	front_beam_color_ambient:       (0.2158, 0.2158, 0.2158)
    	front_beam_range:               300.0
    	front_beam_angle:               90.0
    	front_beam_aspect:              2
    	front_beam_mask:                "/material/custom/trucklight_mask_lowbeam.tobj"
    	roof_beam_color:                (5.58, 5.22, 3.48)
    	roof_beam_color_specular:       (0.0129, 0.0129, 0.0129)
    	roof_beam_color_ambient:        (0.2158, 0.2158, 0.2158)
    	roof_beam_range:                260.0
    	roof_beam_angle:                90.0
    	roof_beam_aspect:               2
    	roof_beam_mask:                 "/material/custom/trucklight_mask_roof.tobj"
    	front_roof_beam_color:          (5.58, 5.22, 3.48)
    	front_roof_beam_color_specular: (0.0129, 0.0129, 0.0129)
    	front_roof_beam_color_ambient:  (0.2158, 0.2158, 0.2158)
    	front_roof_beam_range:          280.0
    	front_roof_beam_angle:          90.0
    	front_roof_beam_aspect:         2
    	front_roof_beam_mask:           "/material/custom/trucklight_mask_roofront.tobj"
    	no_parking_light:               true
    }
}

For each one of those files, you'll need to replace the 'xxxx' in the accessory unit name (it's at the top of the file) with the name of the subdirectory that contains that file (this is the unit name of the respective truck).

Now you have the completed mod, make edits to the '_range', '_angle' & '_aspect' parameters for the low_beam & hi_beam prefixes for whichever truck(s) you want. The other lights are for the cabin roof and bullbar auxiliaries (which aren't included in the vanilla game).

Activate in the ModManager and you're done.

[Rye Encoke]

I use this mod, it's a high beam yes, but it illuminates the road for quite a distance allowing me to drive at full speed

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1560768932

[rhwilson1953]

Fury6, thanks, I'll be trying this later today. Will let you know how it turns out for me.