For the start of my map there is a little intro in which a spawn truck dodges an oncoming train. I want the light of the train to be 'the light of the end of the tunnel' style. (Note: The truck and train are both in tunnels so everything else is dark)

I know HDR could be of some help here. What I've tried so far is to have a light_dynamic on the head of the train (parented) with info_target for aiming (also parented to train). For some reason the light is not working, I'm thinking I'm going to have to use volumetric lighting also. Anyone know of any good methods that work?

im wondering if a point_spotlight would be the best thing for what you desribe, of course spotlights arent cheap but the light from them is very niced

A point spotlight only renders the light upon compiling the map, so it won't change at all. I think the dynamic light is the only way. I'll do a full compile and test it later..

I'm under the impression that you are after your train to have the light ingame, perhaps some clarification is in order. Are you trying to make a cutscene?

Ah sorry, I just checked out the wiki and a point_spotlight is different than a light_spotlight :D
Its not a cutscene, its just a little bit the player sees before he starts playing, but the player has already spawned into the game.

I'm doing a semi normal compile to see what that does ;)

I believe that is the deffinition of a cutscene :) The old para's used to have them and I think the cvar to turn them suckers off involved the word cutscene :)~!

Oh well, hope any of this helped.

I'd call a cut scene a bit where the camera is controlled and not in 'the players eyes'. This is viewed from the players eyes. Anyways thanks, but now I'm having problems geting everything right. I now know why there are no offical night maps, everything is tuned for day.
-Window models glow bright as if in daylight.
-Smoke grenades make the screen brighter
-Reflective surfaces - Too dark to reflect the material and so are left with only shiny chrome. ( doesn't work too well in dark >_<)

Yeah i've encountered all this but you can change the shadow settings for models etc to match the lighting.... Beyond that it is a bit of a hard task I know! Try using what Waldo used, I believe it was lighting from the SDK coast example map, should come with a shadow controller and all the rest - you can customise it accordingly.