Hello all,I was flying ATL-SJU last night, and realize it was a moonless night in FS9 (because everything was noticeably darker, naturally). Don't recall the last time I had such a night in FS, but yes, it was true to life with no visible horizon. However, taxiing after landing was the most frustrating thing because not only was most of the world around me dark, I realized taxiways and runways were pitch black as well. Taxi and landing lights only made the ground ahead of me a big white blur. I could see blue taxi lights and runway edge lights but absolutely no runway markings or even tell if I was taxiing on an actual taxiway, or just the grass between two sets of parallel taxiways' lights. While as dark as it should be, I should be able to have some kind of ground reference with my taxi lights on and see runway markings.Has anyone else ever experienced this?Here's a comparison between what I'm seeing on a moonless vs moon night. (can't see any taxiways) (here I can at least see taxiway outlines)

I experienced this a couple nights ago when I flew from CYEG (Edmonton) to CYVR (Vancouver). A complete blackout as I couldn't see the snow on the mountains nor even the wing itself out the side window. Usually I can see both in FS9 nighttime.

You can adjust the lights intensity in your fs9.cfg by adding 4 lines.Do a search in the forum.

You can adjust the lights intensity in your fs9.cfg by adding 4 lines.Do a search in the forum.

Are you referring to:RUNWAY_LIGHTS_SURFACE_SCALAR=nn.nRUNWAY_LIGHTS_VASI_SCALAR=1n.nnRUNWAY_LIGHTS_APPROACH_SCALAR=n.nnRUNWAY_LIGHTS_STROBE_SCALAR=n.nnIf so, then it's not the runway lights I'm looking for. I'm looking to adjust the physical ground brightness on moonless nights were the runways and taxiways are nothing but black textures.

Well, it seems that REX is the issue. Restored default textures and all seems normal. Wish there was an "in between" for the REX pitch black textures and default FS. (unchecked the "Pitch Black (Night)" textures option in REX as well). Had REX for 7 months and am surprised it's the first time I've seen this.

If so, then it's not the runway lights I'm looking for. I'm looking to adjust the physical ground brightness on moonless nights were the runways and taxiways are nothing but black textures.

Why not adjust the brightness of your monitor?vololiberista

Hi.I've had a couple of very dark nights but never connected them with the absence of moon (I can be a little slow sometimes).With regard to the landing/taxi light issue, I suppose we've all seen how poor their 'illumination' is. I assume the problem is caused by the way they work. They don't cast light, MS must have decided simply to increase the brightness of the ground within range of the lights and failed to address the need for a corresponding increase in contrast or saturation, leaving us all taxiing in a dense fog. Has anyone has found a way of adjusting the contrast? We could then have pitch black nights and still see where we were going. Personally, despite possibly identifying the cause of the problem, I wouldn't know where to start in rectifying it. Sorry...Regards,D

Edited January 26, 201214 yr by Dave_Morgan

Why not adjust the brightness of your monitor?vololiberista

Why would I do that? Using REX on a moonless night would just make ground textures go from black to a washed out dark gray and wash out the night lighting on the panel I'm using?

Actually I wasn't complaining about the blackout. I rather like it to be pitch black when I fly at 2:00AM on a moonless night.

Why would I do that? Using REX on a moonless night would just make ground textures go from black to a washed out dark gray and wash out the night lighting on the panel I'm using?

Quite what you expect to see on a "moonless" night would amount to lights on the ground only!!You're lucky to see anything at all. Especially from a cruising altitude where there is cloud.Forget the view and polish your cockpit drills!vololiberista

Quite what you expect to see on a "moonless" night would amount to lights on the ground only!!You're lucky to see anything at all. Especially from a cruising altitude where there is cloud.Forget the view and polish your cockpit drills!vololiberista

Pretty sure in all of my night flying on the flight deck (yes, in real life), taxi and landing lights illuminate the runways and taxi lights enough for me to see them when operating on the ground ;)Thanks though.

Well, it seems that REX is the issue. Restored default textures and all seems normal. Wish there was an "in between" for the REX pitch black textures and default FS. (unchecked the "Pitch Black (Night)" textures option in REX as well). Had REX for 7 months and am surprised it's the first time I've seen this.

Very interesting... I've just found this thread after having the darkest night's flying I can remember. In fact I do very little night flying, mainly dawn and evening outside daytime hours. Most of the time I fell very happy with textures and the representation of things, but flying in pitch black was hopeless. The only thing I could see were feint lights on the ground. No hills, no horizon and only a very feint show of water reflection. BTW I'm running a correctly calibrated Dell ultrasharp monitor.I'm intrigued to read about (unchecked the "Pitch Black (Night)" textures option in REX as well what are you referring to here. There is nothing in my Rex configuration or options control panel that relates to this. Are you referring to some cfg entry?

Very interesting... I've just found this thread after having the darkest night's flying I can remember. In fact I do very little night flying, mainly dawn and evening outside daytime hours. Most of the time I fell very happy with textures and the representation of things, but flying in pitch black was hopeless. The only thing I could see were feint lights on the ground. No hills, no horizon and only a very feint show of water reflection. BTW I'm running a correctly calibrated Dell ultrasharp monitor.I'm intrigued to read about (unchecked the "Pitch Black (Night)" textures option in REX as well what are you referring to here. There is nothing in my Rex configuration or options control panel that relates to this. Are you referring to some cfg entry?

Ahh, I see. But nope, I don't have that as I have FSX and I've just realised this is a post from the 2004 forum! I think I'll make some calls on the REX forum, cheers...