Landing lights...and fog

[Arnaud 0]

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 deactivatedall 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.

[Guest njflyer]

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

[vololiberista 205]

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

[FLEX1978 373]

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 RegardsRob

[n4gix 4,947]

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 RegardsRob

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 80]

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

[John Hinson 22]

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.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 80]

John,, and to anyone else, I do apologize for my bold comments.

[psolk 3,037]

John,, and to anyone else, I do apologize for my bold comments.

[dallyborr 2]

@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.

[WallysWorld 4]

I've tried and experimented with many different light mods for the spotlight.bmp file and I've decided that Nick's lights are the best.

[FLEX1978 373]

I've tried and experimented with many different light mods for the spotlight.bmp file and I've Nick's lights to be the best.

Guys it's a friday night and FS is the last thing I want on my mind, I'm going to have to make and upload a video to demonstrate what I'm talking about. I will try and get something tomorrow. All I'm trying to say is I found a fix with the 3D lights after spending a few hours tweaking. I was having the same problem until I noticed how the default Cessna lights work with 3D Redux. I think I should point out that getting it to work with one aircraft took a lot of trial & error as you cant change the cfg in real time, you have to keep reloading the sim, so if you move the landing lights in the wrong direction you have to adjust and then start the sim again. Another thing I should point out is that I only fly in VC and sometimes 2D during crz, when viewing the aircraft in spot view the lights wont be exactly attached to the aircraft, to me thats not a big deal, I only want a realistic view when on the flightdeck.RegardsRob

[John Hinson 22]

@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.

Thanks! You have taken me where I've never been before . . . amd so easy once you know how.Here is a view of four aircraft at Heathrow, then, in Flight Simulator's idea of fog. No wonder I couldn't see any fog in the original screen shot we were shown - there is no shortage of visibility here and I find myself wondering if that weather theme actually does anything in night conditions? Anyway, that is not the point, what the view demonstrates is that I still see Nick's shaped beams in those conditions too.However . . . as I typed this I watched the heavy at the front of the queue taxi onto the runway and take off. Notice that it has brighter lights than the others - I think this one probably has more than one landing light. Anyway, what I did notice was that from certain angles the beam(s) did look cut off in a straight line to give that triangular look although from other angles (including ground level and top-down view) it looked right for Nick's lights. I'm wondering if this is what was being seen, and can only guess it is a curious feature of Flight Simulator's rendition of "foggy" conditions, perhaps limiting the throw of the beam to attempt to represent limited visibility. Best wishes,John

[3Green 80]

John, your shot clearly shows you're not in fog. You use Active Sky right? While using Active Sky, have you ever flown into an airport with say 1/2 mile visibility at night?Forget Active Sky for now and try this. (Don't use Active Sky for this test)Start FS2004 at night.Click on "World" - "Weather". Tick the "User-defined weather" bullet and click on "Customize Weather". You should see a slider saying "visibility unlimited". Drag that slider to say 1/8th mile and click ok until you're back in the sim.If you're using FSUIPC, you may have visibility smoothing enabled? Or "Stop visibility going below x"? My point, if you don't see reduced visibility, FSUIPC might be stopping you from seeing fog?Either way, wait about 5 minutes and see if you're in fog now.RJ

[Arnaud 0]

Ok, that thread really keeps my attention. I would like to ask John what exactly he is using as light enhancement, THAT is definitely the result I'd like to get. Looks brilliant.Are those famous Shockwave lights needed? or just Nick's light? Where shall i get those Nicks textures?About the fog, I believe John has actually set some fog, looking at his screenies, but his fog looks less exagerated than with default FS fog.I am often anoyed of how FS deals with fog: it way too exagerated. If you set visiblilty to 8 miles, the sim looks like you've got only 1 or 2 miles vis.