Regarding Nash's CEFX & CN Engines and running lights

[qballbandit]

Hello,
First, love the engines, and appreciate the work put in by Nash, and the willingness to share with the community. Big thanks!
My question is specific to the running lights: steps/front trucks/front & rear platform lights. These are, I am assuming, modelled into the shape file somehow instead of the .eng files. For my taste, they are a little too bright in most all lighting situations. I like the ability in the .eng file to alter color, and also pick what lights for what engines I want turned on or off. For instance, a DIT or powered off engine in the yard, I would remove lights from the .eng file, or conversely add what I need turned on based on the status of the engine.

How can I alter these parameters in the shape file, if possible?

[dcarleton]

Those lights are modeled into the shape. You could change the texture mode from Bright to Normal so that they don't shine, but of course then they won't shine when the engine is in the lead either.

[qballbandit]

Want them to shine, just want to tone them down a bit, and have the ability to remove them as well. So what you suggest takes care of the latter.

[SD40-2]

You don't need to mess about with the shape if you want to remove them. The light textures are contained in the ALPHAS.ace, in the lower right corner. If you make that area all-black in the alpha channel, boom, no more lights.

[qballbandit]

Another easy option for removing, thanks Parker (and dcarlton). Now, how to EDIT them????

[dcarleton]

You may be able to make an object less bright by changing the texture mode from Bright to Half Bright.
To change texture modes, use Shape File Manager.

[slipperman]

Hi,
If the lights display can be removed from the shape, then it would (should!) be a simple matter to add them into the Lights section of the .eng file.

Cheers,
Ged

[SantaFe801]

Another easy option for removing, thanks Parker (and dcarlton). Now, how to EDIT them????

SView can extract the texture from the shape with the alpha channel preserved. "Use Ctrl+T" and click "Export TGA/BMP". From there, you should be able to achieve the desired brightness, either by changing their opacity or by shrinking them to be less noticeable. I've attached the UVW layer to the texture so you can see the precise boundaries of the mapping.

[qballbandit]

Thank you sir, I appreciate your reply. Somewhat new territory for me, but I will certainly play with it on Tuesday and let you know how I made out.
Again, appreciate your kindness!