V3.6 - Adjusting the high beams

There is no change to the low beams other than making the halo of residual light slightly smaller. You can read about the residual light in the V3.5 changelog. For the high beams, I removed the halo of light since it was larger than the halo on the low beams and is not really needed because when the high beams are switched on, the low beams are also still on. The residual light from the low beams does what I need it to do. I also adjusted the high beams slightly by tipping them up a little bit. This helps to light up the road ahead when the truck dips down over a hill and also helps to light up objects that you are approaching.

V3.5 - Working on the back roads

I'm becoming quite pleased with the headlights on normal roads and highways. But, for those twisty, hilly, gravel roads that lead back to a logging or mining site, or for those tight, twisty roads that are cut through a mountain with rocky walls on both sides, I'm not happy at all. In both cases, we see almost total darkness surrounding us. This update aims to fix those situations without hurting how the headlights look on a normal highway. I managed to achieve it by creating some residual light that reflects off the main headlight beams in the form of a faint halo that starts part way down the beam and progresses forward over the end of the beam. In normal driving, you can't see this halo of light. But in the above scenarios, it will cast a faint amount of light to help make the surrounding area in front of us light up just a small amount. You can see this halo if you pull up behind another truck or as you pass by any large object if you are close enough. It's not very bright, so it is not disturbing. The idea is not to shine a lot of light on the surrounding area, but only to remove the feeling of darkness.

V3.4 - Focusing on the road ahead

Overall blending and smoothing of the headlight beams
Cleaned up and smoothed the outer edges of the headlight beams
Adjusted the color temperatures for Halogen and LED lights.
More light shines on the pavement during the transition periods as the sun comes up and goes down.

Adjusted the headlight projection points on the Mack Pinnacle

Added the mp_mod_optional flag

V3.3 - Aiming for perfection, getting closer and closer.

Every update so far has been a "starting over from scratch" affair. However, this update is a continuation of the previous update. The previous update provided a good foundation to work with. So, with a little trimming, fine tuning, various modifications, and a lot of testing, we have V3.3

The high beams were a little too aggressive and they projected too much light, too far. So, I fixed this by making them fade quicker. They still project just as far, but the light gets much dimmer the farther out they go. The low beams weren't as bad, but I still did the same with them, but not as drastic. This makes them look much more realistic. And they still provide light to the sides near the front of the truck. There are quite a few good headlights in real life that are designed to do this, so this feature does not make them unrealistic.
I also narrowed up the high beams a little bit further down the road, but left enough width so that when driving down a dark highway, they will still provide some light to the inside of a curve.

And then, about 50-75 feet out in front of the truck and on both sides, I have always battled an issue with having a dark area there. I'm always fighting the game code on this one. For some strange reason, the game code tears the light beams outward and then curls them. I have to design my code to combat this and always end up with a dark area on both sides. I've finally come up with a way to beat this and now the outer edges of the beams are much straighter. Having light in this area makes it easier to see your upcoming turn as you approach a dark intersection or dark entryway.

The headlight brightness was increased a little bit for trucks that use LED lights.

V3.2 - Still working on achieving the most natural look

Experimenting with new custom light masks that are 25 percent the size of the
stock SCS light masks. With 75 percent fewer pixels to process, this should mean
that the headlights have less of a chance at hurting the frame rate.

With the new masks, the headlight beams have yet another change in appearance.
Each release is an attempt at making them look better and perform better.

The view through the windshield of the Peterbilt 389 is improved. The Lonestar
and a few other trucks always seemed to have about the best visibility at night
while the 389 had the worst. This update fixes the windshields and door glass
on several trucks in an attempt to make sure that all SCS trucks have close to
the same visibility at night.

V3.1 - More realism while maintaining good visibility

- Better light distribution down the road ahead. There is more light output in
front of the truck with a nice gradual fade.
- Adapts well to various types of road surfaces. Projects nearly equal amounts
of light no matter what color the pavement is.
- Most all of the light is focused on the road and the immediate sides. Hardly
any light is reflected off into the countryside.
- It is less disturbing when driving next to white guard rails or white concrete
retaining walls.

V3.0 - Focusing On Realism

Considerable cleanup of the headlight beams on the pavement near the front of the truck.

The low beams remain on now when the high beams are switched on.

Added a little more lighted coverage on both sides near the front of the truck for better visibility when turning.

Mostly, just a good overall refining of the headlight beams.

Initial public release