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.

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.

V3.8 - A little touch up here and there

For the reflected light that shines to the sides near the front of the truck, I reduced the brightness slightly and also narrowed it slightly. I also reduced the brightness slightly on the residual light that forms a halo over the low beams. I then added just a slight more width to the beams about 75-100 feet in front of the truck. This will help when approaching a turn at a dark entryway or a dark intersection. You will see these same changes when switching on the high beams since the low beams are also on at the same time.

For the high beams, I increased the brightness a little bit. I didn't feel there was enough difference in brightness between the low beams and high beams. Now, the high beams look better and I was able to do this without making them shine any wider or farther.

V3.7 - I never seem to be happy

Adjusted the light output some more with this update. This a continuation of the work on the ATS/ETS2 lighting differences.

It seems that as I drive around doing deliveries, I always find something that needs adjusting or tweaking on the headlights. No matter how much testing I do prior to releasing an update, I always manage to find something I don't like later on during normal use. I've been doing an update almost every week since I first released my headlight mod to the public. Eventually, I hope to be fully satisfied with these headlights and will only need to do an update if a new truck needs to be added or if SCS makes a change in how the lighting works in the game.

I fine tuned the low beams a little more in this update by focusing the light more on the road and a little bit less to the sides further down the road. And whenever I make a change to the low beams, the high beams almost always need some changing as well. So, with this update, I'm trying to find a good balance between the low beams and high beams. I think it turned out quite well. Remember, these aren't "wider and brighter" headlights like so many other headlight mods. These headlights aim to provide good visibility while making you feel like you are driving in real life.

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.

Also fixed the roof lights to be a bright LED light rather than a Halogen light.

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.

I also spent some more time working on the ATS/ETS2 lighting differences.

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.

Added the mp_mod_optional flag

V3.3.1

Slight improvement to the headlight beams