FS2Night ***first pre-release preview***

[Guest Arrington]

About four weeks to go now... more previews to come! :)For those who don't know, FS2Night will be a default scenery night-time texture upgrade.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/50731.jpg

[brandon 0]

Outstanding work! This will definitely find a nice home on my hard drive :)

[Guest Arrington]

Thanks Brandon! :) I can't wait to get it out there.

[Guest Simicro]

Hi Chris,it looks nice. I use already your daytime AEU and I take this opportunity to thank you for those excellent textures.Tony

[Guest RonB49]

Hurry; we need you to hurry. Thanks Chris for all of your past and future work. Well done. R-

[Guest Arrington]

You're very welcome Tony, and thanks to both you and Ron for the comments. NEU is right on schedule. I would love to release it, but time is what makes for a good release. :)

[Guest adria320]

Looking great Chris :-hah

[Guest dths30]

Very nice work again! :D

[Guest kilo_sierra17]

Whoa!! Looking good!! I loved the AEU, so I am sure I will love this one :-lol

[Guest Mark02]

Mmmmm... Cant wait for the release of FS2Night... :-)Will this update the night textures in airports aswell? Or just all the surrounding scenery?ThanksMark

[michal 44]

I hope constructive criticism is not unwelcome.In my opinion the lights are too white (Sodium yellow is dominant in the USA) and they are too perfectly lined up in a grid-like fashion. If you fly say above LA there are so many 'random' lights that it is very hard for a pilot to make out streets and highways. Typical constructs like shopping centers, malls, parking lots are so prevalent in the US that they can easily overwhelm well "behaved" street lights. Another point I wanted to make that lights are not only the collection of "points" but they often create significant "blobs" around them - this is the light that strikes the ground and that you see from above quite well. Parking lot lights are excellent example of that.Also there should be touches of reds and greens here and there.I have about 50 hours as PIC at night and countless hours as a passenger.In my opinion the closest to perfection were night lights in FLY2 - probably one of the few redeeming virtues o this product. I also tried every single night light add-on for FS and had no trouble selecting the winner - Mark Keith. The trouble with his package was that it was made for FS2000 and there was slight incompatibility within FS2002. But other than that it was as close to real as one can get within MSFS. I challenge everyone to better his creation (and make it FS9 compatible).Good Luck.Michael J.

[Guest Lobaeux4]

That was constructive criticism all right, I wish more criticism was more like that. Good job.I agree, I've got many, many hours of night flying (including NVG time) and most lights are yellow. There are a few bright white lights, usually store fronts and such which you can see.As far as random lights, don't know so much about that. Most lights follow the streets of a town. What looks like random lights are usually houses or other lights that are near an unlit road. That part is true.Otherwise, I think this first preview is very good. I'm very excited about the new night lights and download everything he's done.

[Guest Arrington]

Michael, your criticism is very well received and I thank you for taking the time. :)Let me just say that I think you will be pleasantly surprised. I agree with everything you've said. What you are seeing here is a very small part of the bigger picture. With FS2Night you will see many different aspects of night lighting possibilities. For instance:Sodium yellow will be dominant in areas were there is more local government facilities. A downtown commerce center would be a good example of this. The areas adjacent to major roads will also reflect this type of lighting. Because sodium lights generate more intensity than a household incandescent, you will find that from a distance, this is the overall average color of heavily populated areas. You will also find ground reflections in these areas based on the intensity of the light source/ ground composition. If the area proximal to the light source is largely concrete for instance, you will see a prominent ground reflection "or blob" underneath the light source. If the light is of lower intensity, or it is installed over grass or mud, the light source will overpower the ground reflection. Areas with heavier foliage have a tendency to snub ground reflection. The picture above demonstrates this nicely. This is how I have modeled the night environment.The area depicted above is located near Minneapolis, and is a residential area. Here there are far fewer government sodium light fixtures, and more 75-100 watt residential incandescent fixtures. That is why the overall coloring is averaged to a bluer white. This is also an area of low intensity lighting with heavy foliage. This is why it is devoid of ground reflections. You will notice that this combination leaves an overall effect of a darker area when viewed from a distance. Now, if you look towards the upper right hand side of the pic, you will see the edge of a nearby area with sodium lighting. The color that you see there on the edge of the picture is a ground reflection.Because areas like the one seen above will be washed out from a distance, that dominant sodium yellow color that you see there will prevail. I too am a Southwest U.S. pilot, and the road system is indeed arranged in a grid-like pattern here in AZ, and throughout the Midwest. The L.A. Basin is different, not to mention areas east of the Mississippi. These road arrangements will be based on the default MS layout, and are largely out of my control, but I think they do a pretty decent job with it. I wish I had more control, but because I am leaving the day-time texture unaffected, I have to focus on the pre-existing layout.Thanks again. :) here is an example of an area with some (not a-lot) of sodium light fixtures. It is still darker due to prevailing foliage:- Near Boeing Field in Seattlehttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/50776.jpg>I hope constructive criticism is not unwelcome.>>In my opinion the lights are too white (Sodium yellow is>dominant in the USA) and they are too perfectly lined up in a>grid-like fashion. If you fly say above LA there are so many>'random' lights that it is very hard for a pilot to make out>streets and highways. Typical constructs like shopping>centers, malls, parking lots are so prevalent in the US that>they can easily overwhelm well "behaved" street lights. >>Another point I wanted to make that lights are not only the>collection of "points" but they often create significant>"blobs" around them - this is the light that strikes the>ground and that you see from above quite well. Parking lot>lights are excellent example of that.>>Also there should be touches of reds and greens here and>there.>>I have about 50 hours as PIC at night and countless hours as a>passenger.>>In my opinion the closest to perfection were night lights in>FLY2 - probably one of the few redeeming virtues o this>product. I also tried every single night light add-on for FS>and had no trouble selecting the winner - Mark Keith. The>trouble with his package was that it was made for FS2000 and>there was slight incompatibility within FS2002. But other than>that it was as close to real as one can get within MSFS. I>challenge everyone to better his creation (and make it FS9>compatible).>>Good Luck.>>>Michael J.>

[Guest DanielBu]

Superb work! (And I thought megascenery 2004 had great night lighting ;))-Daniel

[Guest ben_hewitt]

Awsome job Chris!, looking forward to it! :-cool