AI strobe lights all blink together

[Guest FlyinJ]

Is there a fix which will make the AI strobe lights in FS2004 blink at random like they did in FS2002? Currently, my AI strobe lights blink at the exact same time in FS2004.

[Guest tcable]

I have not heard of a fix, but I agree- all of the strobes and beacons are synchronized.Tim

[Guest RichardL]

Read this post at the Ultimate Traffic Free Discussion forum. Not sure if the procedure works.http://dcforum.simforums.com/dcforum/DCForumID4/374.htmlRichard

[Guest jlgregg]

Hey..Solution found??Can't tell you how disappointed I was when I first loaded up FS9 and found syncronized strobes on all aircraft. It just totally destroyedmy "suspention of disbelief". Especially when flying now during the Winter months (mostly in the dark). After reading this thread however, I went to hacking at the .cfg for the two strobe effects files last night. changing the "delay" variables as described in the message above DID indeed help some - but not much. The strobes would start in perfect unison and then very slightly diverge to their own patterns. Problem for me was that each time there was a call to the hard disk or sound card the strobes would all sync up again. Not cool. So I started looking at the other variables in the .cfg and began experimenting with the one labeled "RATE". Two values follow this variable as well and are by default 5.00 and 5.00. I startet tweaking them and lo and behold the strobes on each AC are now completely independent and totally believeable! The values I'm using currently are 3.50 , 6.00 in the first strobe effect file and 4.00 ,5.50 in the second strobe effect file. I picked the values out of the air and not base on any science whatsoever. Not sure why FS9 is different as I checked the same strobe effect config files in FS8 and they appear to be identical to FS9's.Hope this works for others.Regards,Jody

[Gridley 257]

FABULOUS!Could you do me a favor? Tell me exactly what you changed and in what files?Did you combine the delay modifications AND the Rate change in both Emitter.0 and emitter.1 ?Thanks!sg

[Gridley 257]

Just to rephrase (couldn't edit above anymore):There are two effects for strobes: fx_strobe.fx and fx_strobeh.fxThese seem to contain two sections each: emitter.0 and emitter.1Each emitter has two parameters: DELAY= and RATE=Each parameter is by default set to: DELAY=0.00, 0.00 and RATE=5.00, 5.00Did you change all 16 of these numbers? thanks!sg

[Guest jlgregg]

Yup..Ended up changing them all, however I think the RATE= numbers are the ones that made the difference. I used DELAY=0.10, 0.90 on both emitters in both effects files but doubt this is adding much help.I used:RATE=3.50, 6.00 or some such on one and a different set on the other file. RATE= 4.00, 5.50 I think is what I had in there.Just change the RATE= values a notch up or down to specify a rangeof flash rates for each effect and see what happens.Don't have access to the actual files right now or would just cutand paste the lines directly in.Let me know if you can't get it to work and I'll respond later when I have acess to FS.Best of luck!JLG

[Gridley 257]

Thanks! Can't wait to try it...sg

[Fitz505 21]

Tried the figures you mentioned and they seem to work real well. Took about 2 minutes for this fix and what a difference it makes. Mucho thanks! John Fitzpatrick

[Gridley 257]

I just wanted to post an update on this, as I mentioned it in another post.I found that having different number in fx_strobe.fx and fx_strobeh.fx unsynchronized the left and right wing strobes on the same aircraft. I have changed my values identically in both files (to DELAY=0.10, 0.90 and RATE=3.50, 6.00 for both emitter.0 and emitter.1). I have a much more realistic and unsychronized traffic environment, while having left and right synched makes the distant traffic much more noticible and obvious (and realistic).Just an FYI.sgJLG - you might think about posting this in the tips thread at the top of the forum!

[Av-Fan 0]

BTW, this same "fix" can be applied to the red rotating beacons. File names are fx_beaconb.fx and fx_beaconh.fx. For the beacons I used the following numbers:DELAY = .40, .60RATE = 1.50, 2.50Now all aircraft have the red rotating beacons (really red strobes in most modern aircraft) un-synchronized which is really nice at big airports with lots of ground traffic.:)Matt Zagoren

[Guest HeavyFan]

Cool Find and Fix!! But in rela life some of the newer Planes have Strobes and Beacons that are in sinc with each other! I have spotted up rela close at my Home airport of HNL Intl, and i can say that i seen the Strobes on 777's, 767's, and 747's all had Storbes that were all flashing at the same time, unlike the Dc-10's, MD-11's and 737's, and L-1011's which had one single and Double flash strobes on the wing tips!, But I guess for me I am Diffrent, I made all my Boeing 767's, 747's, 777's, have the WIngtip strobes flashing in Sync like what i saw while spotting. But this is a great find to change them if i want to see something diffrent! I used the POSKY 767 Strobes Efx that LEE made for PIC Panel and POSKY 767's! Which make the Strobe Light's on the Wing Flash in Sync.:) And I also saw some Dc-10's and 747-400's have thier Beacons both flash in Sync with Each other also, Not too sure anout the 777's beacones, But I know the Older 747,s had Un Synced beacons, But I might try your beacon Effects and see how it looks, Thank's for the Find Again! MIKE:)

[Av-Fan 0]

Sounds like there may be some confusion on this issue. We are not talking about the strobes being synchronized on individual aircraft - i.e., the left wingtip strobe flashing at the same time as the right wingtip strobe. No, we are talking about how the strobes and beacons on all AI aircraft blink together at the same time. For example, if there are 20 aircraft lined up waiting to take off, the strobes on all 20 will flash at once - quite unrealistic. This fix randomizes the strobes of each aircraft so that they all blink at slightly different times. Run FS9 at night at a large airport before applying this fix and you'll see what I mean.:)Matt Zagoren

[Gridley 257]

I'm talking about different planes strobing in synch with each other, but it turns out that the variables that control that, may also in part control the left and right of the same aircraft.see:http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...g_id=278&page=1

[Av-Fan 0]

Don't forget the red rotating beacons! I added a reply to your post in the Tips & Tricks forum...Matt