Night Sky -- Stars?

[Guest Ronson2k]

Kinda new to FS2002 just got it a little while ago. I have a guestion. When in window mode (non accelerated) I can see the stars in the night sky however in the Full Screen mode - no stars. I D/L'd and installed the maximum stars pack still no stars. I'm thinking it's the resolution I'm running in 1280x1024 mode and down to 1024x600 in window mode. As an addemdom does the star intesitity setting have anything to do with visibility - if I increase or decrease it will it effect the 'size' and thereby resolution of the stars making them visiable againg or does it just effect the number of stars visable. I'm hoping as a last resort that the stars visablity would be made possible by lowering the resolution.I have some questions about the weather generator but I will save that for another day... "Why when in global weather settings I only get rain within about 10-15nm of the base airport?" okay maybe I don't need to wait...Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm somewhat a newby but I have used MS for quite some time previous versions anyway..Ronson2k

[Guest Lindy]

I don't think it's the resolution that affects whether your stars show up or not. I often run FS in a resolution higher than 1024x768 and I always get stars... on a clear night, away from bright city/airport lights.You mentioned a "maximum stars pack"?? What is that? I've never heard of it.I've haven't given it much thought. But try a night flight in some bush country, away from city lights and large airports. Make sure you don't have any heavy cloud cover. Maybe you'll see more stars then. Other than that, I'm not sure what else to suggest. Good luck.-Lindy :-rotor:-wave

[michal 44]

Correct me if I am wrong but this has been my brief observation:1. the stars in FS2002 are just random dots - no correlation with actual stars.2. The Moon in FS2002 exists again with no correlation where actual (real) moon should be visible in that location/time.Michael J.http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg

[Guest CapHavoc]

Howdy,Sorry Michael, but just have to refute your claim. If you download the (freeware) Stars pack developed for the B314 Clipper project (http://www.b314clipper.com/) you will get a whole lot of stars that you are able to navigate with. Secondly, the moon actually does appear visible in location/time. Was stunned the other day when flying at NZCH and noticed the moon in the late afternoon sky ... and lo and behold, looking out me window there was the real thing in all its glory! :-lol

[Guest]

Hi Michael,I do believe the stars are modelled "as real as it gets": check out the download called "Real Stars V1.0.zip" available at the bottom of this page here: http://www.b314clipper.com/downloads.htm I installed it quite some time ago and remember it really did put many more stars in the sky (supposedly over 9000 of them) than default. (Sorry Ronson, but since I'm at a LCD display I can't check whether they would display at higher resolutions.)Also I remember reading that FS could display somewhat of an eclipse if you're at the correct location at the right time, although come to think of it, I've never tried it... If that is indeed so, it would imply moon, earth and sun being at real life positions to each other.Peter

[Randall 82]

Raise your gamma settings a little bit and they'll show up nicely.Randall

[Guest Ronson2k]

Okay I'll give that a try.Ronson2k

[michal 44]

>I installed it quite some time ago and remember it really did>put many more stars in the sky (supposedly over 9000 of them)>than default. Thanks Peter. The question is not how many stars it adds but rather whether it removes all these bogus "stars" in the first place.Michael J.http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg

[Guest]

Michael,now I get your point: the replacement stars.dat (text file that can be opened with notepad) is based on a star catalog with real positions, but whether FS places them in the sky correctly is indeed another question. Now that you mention it, I just enjoyed those starry skies at night and actually never questioned what I was seeing... So much to check out and to do in FS, and so little time...Cheers, Peter

[Guest cwright]

Michael, the default stars do represent the real star positions quite accurately. The same applies to the moon - both its position and phase is shown reasonably accurately, though it's not perfect. The realstars add-on replaces the default stars completely. It replaces the file stars.dat in the FS2002 directory (a text file that can easily be edited). Best regards, Chris

[Guest cwright]

The stars should be visible in any resolution and in windowed or full screen mode. This problem may be caused by a graphics card / driver problem. Be sure you have the latest drivers. In FS2000 I had an odd problem initially - the stars were visible but they were all the same brightness. It was fixed when I got a more up to date graphics card. If you change the star intensity setting it will change the brightness but it won't change the size. In FS2002 stars are always shown as a single pixel. Best regards, Chris

[Guest waltch]

Could it be that there is a similar effect with the stars as with the taxiway lights in Fs2002?From the beginning when FS2002 was released, many people complained that the visibility of taxiway lights is very poor.I observed various times the following effect: Looking out of the front window with the panel the taxiway lights (and maybe stars) are very poorly visible. As soon as go to a view without panel (hit "W"), the lights are much better visible. Also with the non-front views the lights are much better visible.I think this is an old bug of FS2002, hope it's corrected in FS2004.Walter

[michal 44]

> the default stars do represent the real star positions quite>accurately. Chris, I then must try again. But maybe it is done very poorly with no consideration for relative brightness of the stars. I was for example unable to find the very distinct Orion constellation on the winter sky. I will try again tonight.Michael J.http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg