Landing lights...and fog Options

[dallyborr]

Ok, first of all i've changed spotlight.bmp in Texture folder, but when its foggy, i still see those triangle looking light beam. For example, on ARIANE 737, i don't see them, but on every PMDG plane 737,747,MD11, it's there. Is there any other texture that i have to change, to get rid of those triangles looking landing lights?
Sometimes, when it's fog, and night time i don't even see runway and taxiway.

...thanks!

[dallyborr]

So there is no chance to remove those triangles during foggy weather?

[altstiff]

Have you tried Nicks Lights Fix?

Nicks_Lightfix_V2.zip

In the library here....

[johnhinson]

Have you tried Nicks Lights Fix?

Nicks_Lightfix_V2.zip

In the library here....

Altogether now:
"Oh no it isn't!"

Try nlf_v2.zip at http://www.flightsim.com/login.htm

John

[dallyborr]

Yeah, i do...also, indigo stuff, FS elemental...there is no "spotlight.bmp" i didn't try.

Here is visibility 30mile , lights are the same...


Same lights/texture, same position, 1 mile vis. FOG!


From the outside, again vis. 30, same plane, same lights...


...1 mile again, FOG...


See what i'm talking about?

[red1]

I can't help you with your problem as I have the exact same thing.

But I wanted to ask, what lights are you using for the runway...they look fantastic.

[rjprest]

Dallybor,

The best fix for your Problem is the Payware 3D Redux lights. They cast light into 3D space so you don't get that weird triangle effect your talking about. I created my own custom file for the PMDG MD11 and there are others on there forums www.shockwaveproductions.com/forum/viewforum Another cool feature is that when flying at night through thick clouds your landing lights will light up the clouds in front of you like in the real world. I should add that in the real world during heavy fog general practice is to leave the lights off as it can cause disorientation to the flight crew.

[dallyborr]

Thanks for replays, a matter of fact i do have shockwave lights installed, bud didn't put them jet on MD11.

@red1: And for the runway lights, it is custom made halo.bmp just send it to you via PM.

[G-SWSM]

Hi.

Sorry, but you still DO get that horrible triangle thingy on the ground even when using the Shockwave lights.

I have tried allsorts as well.

If someone has a config without it, then please post the lights section in here.

Thanks.

[johnhinson]

Hi.

Sorry, but you still DO get that horrible triangle thingy on the ground even when using the Shockwave lights.

I have tried allsorts as well.

If someone has a config without it, then please post the lights section in here.

Thanks.

But you don't (at least, I don't) get it if using Nick's Light Fix v2 mentioned above.

The instructions with it detail how to modify add-on aircraft that do not use MS's "proper" lights too. I can't speak for the MD11 but this should cover most possibilities.

John

[G-SWSM]

Hi.

Thanks John. Going to give it a try.

Thanks for the heads up matey.

[dallyborr]

I put, again, Nicks lights...same thing during foggy weather, no change at all. Except that those triangles are blue now, instead of white.

[ZXR-7R]

Hi there- I don't have that problem at all when foggy or at nightime, but unfortunately, I do get those triangle-shaped beams when it's dusk.(totally ruins plane-spotting at dusk for me) I'm hoping someone with the knowledge can help us out with a fix or something.(I also tried Nicks light fix v2 with no luck)
-Tim

[johnhinson]

I put, again, Nicks lights...same thing during foggy weather, no change at all. Except that those triangles are blue now, instead of white.

Hi there- I don't have that problem at all when foggy or at nightime, but unfortunately, I do get those triangle-shaped beams when it's dusk.(totally ruins plane-spotting at dusk for me) I'm hoping someone with the knowledge can help us out with a fix or something.(I also tried Nicks light fix v2 with no luck)
-Tim

Hi chaps, I am puzzled by this. I have re-checked and certainly do not get that at dusk. I've no experience of setting up specific weather conditions so without "real world" fog I'm not able to check that but I suppose it could be FS being very clever and trying to reproduce that throw-back that you get in bad fog.

The shape of the beam is defined by the lightmap in the file spotlight.bmp. This is all that "Nick's" files change for landing lights so I can't see why things change in certain circumstances. Here is what his readme file says:
Most people already know the simulator is terrible at rendering lighting FX. Landing lights are very, very difficult to design so they look good on every single aircraft. The problem is Microsoft designed 1 bitmap file for all aircraft landing and taxi lights and expected the simulator to render the lights correctly in every circumstance… A simple solution but not a smart way to get a realistic look for each plane.

Included in this package is xenon landing light effects of my own design. It is designed to eliminate the nasty, butt-ugly, over-bright, yellow, FS9 triangle-shaped aircraft lights and replace them with a softer and more realistic xenon lighting FX. Because of my unique texture design the landing lights FX will appear different (different brightness and overall look) on different aircraft. The texture gives an excellent night-time busy airport look from the tower and the air and provides a great landing light for the aircraft being flown.

Be aware that there is no way to make a universal light texture that will be the same visual intensity (brightness) for every plane without making the landing light over-bright as the original FS9 landing lights are. There will be differences in landing light intensity from aircraft to aircraft based on how the aircraft maker designed the landing light specs into the aircraft model. Precision alignment of the aircraft landing lights is an area many aircraft manufactures overlook.

Be aware that if the plane you are flying does not have landing lights showing from inside the cockpit it is because the maker of the plane did not design them into the model. The file included with this package will not fix that issue.

If a plane has multiple landing lights and taxi lights designed into its model file the brightness of the external spot lights will dynamically change as more lights are turned on or off.

From that, I'm not clear if some add-on aircraft use a different lightmap (he specifically refers to that under aircraft lights, meaning things like the nav lights) but makes no mention of it in connection with landing light beams.

John

[dallyborr]

Anybody know how FS make that fog anyway? I mean, does it use some textures or what. I think it's not problem in spotlight texture but in that thing or whatever that make fog, some alpha channel or something.

[Arnaud]

Well that is a problem I too wished we could sort this out: Check out that magic fogged appraoch over KaiTak:



D'oh! Those are AI planes taxiing. Same triangle for UI planes.

I've been trying all sort of things, but to no avail. Spotlight, halo etc...
I havent tried Nicks's lights yet, you had me hoping for a few seconds.

The only way to disable those idiotic triangle is to uncheck the 'aircraft lighting' from the FS display menu option. The downside of course is that it deactivated
all the lights, including the lights of your own aircraft.

John, you seem to be the only one who doesnt suffer this, can you make sure you the aircraft lightings switched ON?
Otherwise I am really curious as to finding out how you got rid of those weird light polygons.

Reading that thread I was even considering buying those shockwave lights, but what? Does it fix the problem or not?

Spotting at dusk is also a no-no for me at this point.

[njflyer]

yes I do have the same problem, very annoying, hopefully someone has the magic answer for us :)
Thanks

[vololiberista]

Looking at the above pics: "Where's the fog?"
I think that is more likely to be the problem.
Vololiberista

[rjprest]

Looking at the above pics: "Where's the fog?"
I think that is more likely to be the problem.
Vololiberista

What do you mean where is the fog? it's clear that the visibility is low in those pics, Maybe not CATIIIB but still low.. Guys I mentioned there is a fix with the 3D Redux lights but it's not as simple as installing them and hoping the problem will go away, you need to tweak the aircraft cfg, I have done it for the PMDG MD11

Regards

Rob

[n4gix]

What do you mean where is the fog? it's clear that the visibility is low in those pics, Maybe not CATIIIB but still low.. Guys I mentioned there is a fix with the 3D Redux lights but it's not as simple as installing them and hoping the problem will go away, you need to tweak the aircraft cfg, I have done it for the PMDG MD11

Regards

Rob

How about a screenshot? AFIAK, the 3d Redux lights do not illuminate the ground at all, but rather place a "cone of light" effect extending from the point source in a forward direction. In fact, it is a series of concentrically arranged, increasing size, contra-rotating set of "light cones" that create the illusion of a beam of light being cast.

They do not however, replace the stock landing/taxi light "ground splash" that's embedded in the .mdl file itself.

[3Green]

Ok, where are the Mythbusters when you need them?

We have one user claming he has no such problem, but then he has no idea how to turn fog on,, so I’d have to discount his claim.

We have another user claming he has a fix, tweaking the aircraft.cfg file, yet he has not shared his magic tweak. I have all sorts of AI with triangle lights in fog. Should I replace all my AI with PMDG's MD11's? I'll answer that, NO. So I'll have to discount his claim.

I really don't see the problem. When shooting a ILS approach in FOG at night, just turn off all your avionics, and look for white triangles on the ground. LMAO

I've always hated this issue in flight sim.

 Fog.jpg ( 22.9K ) Number of downloads: 0




Oh look captain, we've got a visual, airport straight ahead.. and they said 1/8th mile in fog. Hogwash...



RJ

[johnhinson]

yes I do have the same problem, very annoying, hopefully someone has the magic answer for us :)
Thanks

Here are two views at Heathrow; I haven't been able to produce a straight line of aircraft like in that view (how do you do that? I find the taxi lights are turned off as soon as an AI aircraft stops in a queue) but I think you will see my point that "Nick's lights" both soften the output and give at a better shape. It does vary in strength between aircraft types, as he says it will.

 lights.jpg ( 9.72K ) Number of downloads: 0


 lights2.jpg ( 11.51K ) Number of downloads: 0


People are asking if I have "aircraft lighting" switched on. If you mean Display > Settings > Aircraft > Landing Lights, yes, it is turned on. Turn it off and you don't get those lights at all, funnily enough. :o)

3Green mocks me because I said I couldn't set up a fog situation. I didn't say I haven't seen the results in fog, I have and they are just the same. I use "real world weather" and if it is foggy it is foggy and if it isn't it isn't - I have never bothered to learn to fiddle with weather. Not that I (either) can see any fog in that screen shot.

That triangle in Arnaud's screen shot still looks to me as if he is using the original FS spotlight.bmp lightmap and not an add-on. I cannot see how Nick's can generate that shape.

Best wishes,

John

[3Green]

John,, and to anyone else, I do apologize for my bold comments. “Mocking” is a good term, and you caught me. I was just trying to bust this myth.

Please accept my apology John.

We all share this great hobby.
Back to the question....... How do we fix this?

RJ

[psolk]

John,, and to anyone else, I do apologize for my bold comments. “Mocking” is a good term, and you caught me. I was just trying to bust this myth.

Please accept my apology John.

We all share this great hobby.
Back to the question....... How do we fix this?

RJ

I would love to know too... It is especially bad for me at KEWR because you taxi right next to the runway in the opposite direction of departing aircraft and when you are sitting there waiting for clearance and get lit up like a car jacker by an LAPD helicopter flood light it really is no fun... It is like instant daylight as the whole ground around the departing aircraft gets lit up.
It does look noticeably better in those last screenies though, I have to say that.
-P

[dallyborr]

@John...

Its very easy to try this thing, just don't turn AS on, and thats all. Than go to weather options, and put theme called "Fogged in". You will see the same thing as we do, during night. You can go back to "User defined" any time.

Or, if you use AS, than try to land on Milan-Malpensa at evening. There is always fog there in this time of the year.

@rjprest...

Could you tell us what kind of tweak you perform on PMDG? I'm really curious to fix this annoying thing. It's not that i can't land without lights, hey in real life pilots do turn off lights during heavy fog. But it look UGLY when i see some triangles moving around.

And yeah, i put Redux 3D on PMDG, same thing...no change.