hi,i have a CRT from about 4 yours old. CHecked on an older CRT and i still see the same. The images with the color bands look perfectly normal to me. I tried playing with color settings of my monitor, but i see no switches under any circumstances.

same problem here with a new 22'' monitor.I can't see the switches.best regards,David

To all of you who pretend that fixing the contrast you would solve the problem, try this: Remove the 800/900 model and run the 700 model at night and you will understand what is a perfect lightning in a cockpit. It is beautifull.Andre69

hi, i am talking about the 600/700, not the 800/900But i am convinced now, because i tried it at my dads TFT, and i can actually see it. However i wonder why there is a problem with CRT's? I thought TFTs had more problem with colors and CRT was better? Is there a way to look around this? Yes i need a new monitor and it will be a TFT, but for now i dont have the money and i really would like to enjiy this fantastic product!

I am looking at the picture that was posted on my CRT at work (and at home last night), and I can see every knob and switch perfectly.

AndreDon't go there! We had this discussion after the 600/700 was released and the majority of the people wanted a change in lighting so the devs listened and changed it. The visibility of the switches can be changed using your contrast and brightness settings as some of us can see it good and some can't. All monitors are set differently and you can't expect the developer to take that into account now can you?Regards,

Mats:OK I must admit that, after having fixed the contrast et brightness the lightning of the cockpit is improved, it is not perfect, but quite acceptable and I recommand your theory.Andre69

i tried this already, but cont and bright are both set to 100% but changing it doenst help :-(

I just got a 16x9 (wide) CRT, and everything is much darker than on my LCD when running FS9 (not just the PMDG).The only way around that for me was to bump up my gamma in DirectX through my ATI tweak panel, and it makes the buttons visible, but has me wearing cool sunglasses to handle daytime mode without going blind .The problem is more pronounced with generally dark cockpits such as the PMDG's or some of the other add-ons. It's also much worse in DirectX mode (full screen 3D) than in windowed mode.Specific to the PMDG, I still can't for the life of me see the button outlines on the 800/900 EFIS (glare shield) at night, even with gamma cranked up, but I know where they are so it's ok. Looks fine in VC.Not all displays are created equal, and the fact my LCD is a lot brighter than the CRT, it's really hard to tell where the problem is. When you initialize DX, you can setup various things, including relative brightness on the shaders etc, but unfortunately the current version of FS doesn't appear to make these as parameters in the CFG file.The problem with taking a screenshot is that it doesn't reflect the way it's going to look on the screen because you're capturing the image, not the signal output to the CRT. The same output on two different monitors on my setup yields quite different effects (one looks ok, the other one very dark).Of course as a developer, I know that my program works just fine on my computer and in the test lab, but it usually flunks at the first customer site because of someone named Murphy and a ridiculous law (note, it also blows up on my computer during demos but only if I need to impress someone).In this case, I think you have a problem with FS, not with PMDG although a "light" version of the panels may not be a bad thing.

Mat,Have you tried the gamma/color settings within the video driver?

i'm not sure how to do that? I have a GF4 Ti 4200, checked the settings but i cannot locate any gamma change thing.

You know, theres another low-tech way of doing this.If you're flying during the day, and the room you have your computer in is fairly light, then I would suggest closing a shade to darken the room. It does help quite a bit. If you're flying during night time, then Im not sure what to tell you, everyone else has pretty much said it all.

Jered,That's actually a very good suggestion. I always try to darken the surroundings when flying at night. Turning off my the monitor for my Utilities computer, turning off the desk lamp and lights in adjacent rooms. I only use a little battery driven book reading light for reading the charts and flight documents. It makes a lot of difference.Cheers,

>hello folks out there im wondering whst hsppen to the>lighting, im trying to prepare for takeoff at night, and the>lighting is bad in the cockpit, i cannot see which buttons to>push, there is not enough light to see what im doing, is there>a way to turn on the bright lights to see what im doing .>thanks......................RobertGentlemen, I'm not sure why you don't understand what he is saying. He did not say he can't see the "text", he said he can not see the "buttons".Robert, I have "3" CRT monitors (two 19" and one 17"). Two of the three feature "super bright" modes. Like you Robert, I can not see the buttons well enough to tell at first glance what position they are in. I have to get very close to the monitor and stare for a few seconds.If you compare the VC panel at night (which is easy to see) to the 2D panel at night (which is not easy to see), then you will understand what Robert and the rest of us "blind" pilots are talking about.Compared to "every" other FS plane addon I have (I have ten (10)), the 2D panel in the PMDG 737 is too dark at night. So much so that I don't even try to fly at night any more.

I will side with the dark guys here ;-). Although it's true one can see the switches if they adjust the C/B, strictly speaking I believe the switches themselves needed a little more illumination. This of course is easy enough to fix on the 2D panel but the fact that these bmps are locked within a gauge that you cannot get into makes it a long shot if it will be addressed anytime soon if at all with the 744 currently going strong. But hey you never know ;-)Best Wishes,[h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4]http://www.rawbw.com/~bdoolin/shinault/Animation1.gifCaution! Not a real pilot, but do play one on TV ;-)AMD 64 3200+ | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | Maxtor 6Y080M0 SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 | Windows Xp Pro | Windows Xp Pro 64 |