V4.8 - Attention to detail

I decided that the headlights were a little too bright. It is mostly evident when traveling on white concrete pavement. The headlights looked good on dark asphalt, but had too much of a glare on the white concrete. So, I calmed them down a little, mainly just took the bite out of them. They still look good on black asphalt and not so disturbing on the white concrete.

I worked some more on the turning visibility. I gained a little more visibility, again without making the beams wider.

Once again, I adjusted the vertical angle of the headlamps on every single truck. Based on the design of these headlights, I believe I now have the angle adjustment on each truck set just about right.

The high beams are a little stronger in the first 200-250 feet. This can help you to locate your turn as you approach it. They also don't project out as far.

Both the low beams and high beams have a nice fade off into the distance. The distance appears to be very similar to most typical headlights in real life.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Whenever I'm working on a software project, I never release it until it is truly ready to go and with NO known bugs. If I catch a bug, I fix it first. This mod isn't really a software project, but it is still a project that is used by many people. In a way, I broke my own rule and released this mod real early in its development. I began work on this in November of 2024 and released it for the first time in January of 2025. It really wasn't ready or finished, but was good enough that it was still an improvement over the stock SCS headlights. And there was no possibility of it having any bugs that could crash the system. So, I released it early. If I had followed my rule of waiting until it was finished and ready to go, I would not have released it until a few weeks ago, or more accurately, a few updates ago when it finally got to looking and acting how I wanted it to be. The mods for ETS2 were especially not ready until recently when I finally figured out what the lighting difference between the two games was. There wasn't actually a lighting difference. Instead, the difference was that most all of the ETS2 trucks had the vertical lamp adjustment wrong. This made the lights shine at more of a downward angle which meant they didn't shine out far enough. So, I always had to increase the brightness and strength of the headlights in comparison to the ATS headlights. The ETS2 headlights just never looked good until I made this adjustment. That issue got fixed a couple of updates ago. Updates from now on will be very simple fine tuning and touching up as needed. If you are one of many people who have been using these headlights since the early releases, I hope you have enjoyed seeing the evolution as I made an update almost every week. Updates from now on will be very minor, such as if I see a small detail that could use some improvement. Of course, an update will happen if a new truck gets added or if an adjustment is needed for an existing truck. Thank you to the many people who are using my headlights, it is great to see so many people enjoying them.

V4.7 - Being very careful

I'm being very careful not to alter the look and feel of these headlights now as they are getting very much like good real life headlights but with maybe a little extra lighting to the immediate sides which helps to compensate for our eyes not being able to adjust to the darkness on the screen like they can in real life.

In this update, I was able to again improve the turning visibility a little bit more and did it without making the beams wider. Sorry, but it is too difficult to explain how I did it.

I'm also focusing on getting a nice balance between the low and high beams. They serve two different purposes, but need to be matched to each other. I'm getting the brightness levels on the pavement ahead looking better and better, I feel. This update mainly consists of many little detail refinements.

It appears as though there is more light shining on the pavement ahead during the transition periods when the sun is coming up and going down.

Adjusted the brightness levels on the Pete 362 and RAM 3500 to compensate for the extra tint on the interior view of the windshield.

Added two new trucks:

W900 Highway Killer by Jon Ruda
Pete 389 Glider by Jon Ruda

V4.6 - Got the tools out again

With the changes over the past several updates, I determined that the vertical angle on the headlamp adjustment might need some attention. So, with the screwdrivers and torx bits in hand, I went through the painstaking task of finding the correct setting for each truck and adjusted the headlamp angle on each individual truck. Combined with a few other settings, we now appear to have a nicer brightness level when looking forward down the road while still maintaining a similar fade off into the distance.

I decided that the high beams were projecting out farther than they should, so I calmed them down a little. They still project out nicely, just not quite as far.

I also continued working on the turning visibility. I think it is looking pretty good now.

Early in the development, I added a halo that reflects up and over the low beams. It was also there when the high beams were switched on since the low beams were on at the same time. You could usually only see it if you were driving through a dark tunnel or driving along a rocky hillside. It was also visible when driving next to another large vehicle. It's primary purpose was to eliminate the dark feeling when driving through a dark tunnel. With this update, I decided to remove the halo. To compensate for this, I made the raised portion of the beams that shine above ground level a little bit more prominent. That seems to work ok.

V4.5 - Nothing major

I was able to slightly improve the turning visibility without negatively impacting any other aspect of the headlights. I was also able to reduce the brightness slightly near the front of the truck while maintaining the brightness everywhere else. This update consists mainly of a lot of little detail work, just looking for very minor improvements that I can make.

I decided to move the GTM W900B from one of my garages to another garage. I went from Topeka, KS to Santa Fe, NM and on the way, I discovered that the headlights had an issue. Not sure how long this has been going on, but now it is fixed. It was a complete goof up on my part. I hate when that happens. Sorry for any inconvenience.

V4.4 - Just a little refining

Over the past couple of updates, the high beams have grown a little narrow. So, with this update, I widened them out just a little bit. This helps when driving through curves as it will add some light to the inside of the curve. It also helps when looking for an upcoming dark street that you will be turning on. Once you get close, you can switch the high beams off and you will see your turn with the low beams. I also noticed that I was beginning to get some glare or washout on the road signs. That required a lot more work, but I believe I got that under control. There was also a lot of minor detail work to the low beams that you may or may not notice.

Added one new truck:

Freightshaker Coronado SD by Jon Ruda

Adjusted the color temperatures and other settings on the Freightshaker Coronado SD and Freightshaker Classic XL to compensate for the extra tint on the interior view of the windshield and door glass.

AN ADDED NOTE: The headlights are finally looking the way I had originally envisioned them. It took a long time and a lot of work to get to this point. If you have been using these headlights from the beginning, you have seen the gradual evolution as they slowly took shape. You saw a lot of changes, a lot of experimentation, some good, some not so good. But, now, I think they are "Real Good".

V4.2 - Being very careful

Two updates ago, I was trying to do a lot of touch up to the light masks, but every time I made a change, it affected the headlights in the wrong way. After several hours, I decided to completely redraw the light masks from scratch. That update ended up being a major overhaul. After about 40 hours of drawing, testing, editing, more testing, changing this or that, more testing, etc., I finally came up with a set of masks that were going to work the way I wanted them to. The following update was a refinement to the masks and so is this update. These headlights are getting really good. But, if I'm not careful, the slightest change can have a huge affect on the headlight appearance. So, I have to be very careful with any changes I make. I hope this update works well for everyone. I'm currently enjoying it while seeing Iowa during the night.

V4.1 - Got the tools out

Until now, the headlights have been aimed the same on every truck. For this update, I got the tools out and adjusted the headlamp aiming on each individual truck separately. The headlamps are not mounted at the same height from the ground on every truck. Because of this, they need to be aimed differently in order to project the light out at approximately the same spot on the ground. This adjustment makes each truck project the beams as similar as possible. But, they still can't be the same between all the trucks. The higher the headlamps are mounted, the nicer the beams will be. A high mounted light shining down on the pavement can project a nicer looking beam than a low mounted light can. This is why most of the headlights in ATS might look a little nicer than most of the headlights in ETS2. The headlights on the European trucks are generally mounted lower than they are on the American trucks.

I also improved the low beams a little bit. I made it so that you will light up above ground objects better as you approach them.

V4.0 - Cleaning and polishing

After a few updates, the headlight beams always seem to get a little rough around the edges. I've been doing an update almost every week, but this one took me about a month to make it ready for public use. I've probably done about a half dozen in-house private updates until this one was good enough to go public.

I've cleaned up all the edges of the headlight beams along with some reshaping around the sides. I increased the brightness slightly on the low beams for about the first 50-70 feet. Likewise for the high beams for about the first 150 feet. I also managed to make the low beams and high beams shine a little higher without causing them to shine farther. There is also an increase in visibility when turning onto a dark street or dark entryway. It is also easier to see the dark entry as you approach it.

Added one new truck:

Mack Superliner by DielingWu, Harven

V3.9.1 - A very minor update

Tweaked Ruda's Ram 3500 a little bit. Raised the headlamps slightly and increased the light output slightly.

V3.9 - Almost nailing it

I'm still working on the sides of the headlight beams about 50-100 feet out in front of the truck. I'm trying to add a little more lighting in that area. I have to be extremely careful here. Too much light or too wide of a path and the game software that I have no control over will send a lot of light way out into the countryside on both sides. I want to keep most of the light on the road and the shoulders of the road with a very slight amount going a little further out to the sides. With the right amount of light at the sides out in front of the truck, it helps to see the approaching dark entryway or dark intersection. It also helps light up the inside of a curve as well as being able to see good when turning.

I also increased the brightness of the low beams for the first 30-40 feet in front of the truck with the same amount of fade off as the light projects off into the distance.

The high beams project a narrower path than the low beams since they are only needed when you want to be able to see further down the road. Since the low beams are also on, you will still have all the benefit they provide.

I'm starting to really like how these headlights are working.