When do you think we will have something like this in our sim? By "this" I mean self-illuminating gauges.The first pic shows the VC as appeared in the sim. The second was edited in photoshop to show what the effect should look like. The LCD's, LED's and annunciators are made to "glow". http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/78173.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/78174.jpgWarm regards,

Aerowinx's New King Air 200 may look loike that, with its back Lit Guages..

Something I have been wishing for some time.Would make night flying in the VC a lot better.RegardsErnie.

Quite a few freeware planes I have installed have gauges that light up. The first planes I had like that date back to FS 2002. Admittedly they were GA aircraft, as I rarely fly anything else.

Actually, that has been possible since FS2k2. Several payware a/c offered 'backlighted gauges' in their virtual cockpits back then. When I first begin designing panels and aircraft, I spent many months gathering the information I needed to replicate this effect. It wasn't an easy task, because for obvious reasons few "payware" folks were willing to freely divulge their "secrets."After the freeware Socata TB20GT was released, I then created a full tutorial on the creation methods and shared it with the entire FS community (available at freeflightdesign.com). Since then, many freeware and even more commercial a/c have begun using this technique.Since the MS designers HAVE to know how this is done - I cannot imagine why they failed to include it in the FS9 default a/c - except perhaps sheer laziness, because there is nearly ZERO overhead cost involved. It is simply a matter of specifying that a 'lightmap' exists for each of the gauge projection polys, and making sure that the gauges are coded to respond to the panel lights switch.

Have you used the dimmer feature? Position your mouse pointer in the upper left corner of the gauge and move the mouse wheel up or down.. for best effects, try setting the time to "dusk" and the lights to "on".

Yeah, Bill, that has to be the answer... sheer laziness. I'm sure the testers and developers who busted their butts for 2 years to get COF out the door, just love to read that you think that the reason they did not include "backlit" gauges is because YOU think they were lazy.I'm sure the 80 hour work weeks that were put in during "crunch" time have been well rewarded by your thoughts that they engaged in sloth.Freeware and Payware developers complain all the time about how piracy hurts not only financially but emotionally. I can think of nothing that hurts quite as bad, as reading here on a forum that some guy you have never met, or who specializes in a small area of addons' accuses you of lying around on the job.I'm so glad that you "researched" the ability to do this for us. I just wish you would take an once of the energy you spent tearing down the MS team and take time to perhaps praise them as well.Bill Gates may be making Billions of dollars, but the developers and testers are guys like you and me, working long hours to put together a quality product. They do not get "residuals" on sales, they are salaried, and are expected to work as long as it takes to ship the product out on time.I've been a tester for Microsoft, I know of the long hours spent working on a project, only to have some ignoramous criticize you for the color of camo on a specific panzer unit. And no, I wasn't making six figures. My pay was roughly 40K a year, in one of the most expensive areas in the US to live.So I would advise you to bide your tounge until you have one ounce of a clue of what you speak.

Thought I'd share some more comparison pics of the VC lighting (backlit gauges vs stock fx lighting). These pics are from the upcoming Hawker Hurricane freeware release for FS9 (and FS2002), and it will feature backlit gauges in the VC.The first VC with gauge backlighting that I can remember was Bill Lyons Fleet Canuck 90 for FS2002. I had a lot of fun with that airplane and suddenly realised the limitations of the stock fx cockpit lighting vs backlit gauges. In my opinion, backlit gauges are easier to read, and you can see outside the airplane and enjoy the passing scenery without all that glare. This is my first aircraft for flight simulator, and VC gauge backlighting was a high priority item.n4gix wrote:"It is simply a matter of specifying that a 'lightmap' exists for each of the gauge projection polys, and making sure that the gauges are coded to respond to the panel lights switch."Is that a GMAX technique Bill? I'm using FSDS2 and I've found that an emissive material for the gauge poly pre-processed for a specific light circuit (I'm using the Logo Lights) is all that's necessary.I agree it's puzzling as to why the MS designers didn't provide backlit gauges for those great new FS9 aircraft, it really makes a world of difference!Robert http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/78195.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/78196.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/78197.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/78198.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/78200.jpg

>cannot imagine why they failed to include it in the FS9>default a/c - except perhaps sheer laziness...>>>Yeah, Bill, that has to be the answer... sheer laziness. I'm>sure the testers and developers who busted their butts for 2>years to get COF out the door, just love to read that you>think that the reason they did not include "backlit" gauges is>because YOU think they were lazy.>So I would advise you to bide your tounge until you have one>ounce of a clue of what you speak.Sir, I DO have a clue; both as a professional programmer/analyst and as a business person with decades of experience.The time needed to include, test and tweak "backlighted gauges" is less than 20 minutes for any given a/c.Furthermore, I DID venture "laziness" as only a possible reason... Maybe they DON'T know how easy it is to accomplish.There's absolutely NO need for your insolence or the rudeness of your reply. Take a chill pill.

I think MS really needs to redo the way the FS engine handles lighting - it's not doing a true simulation of light sources the way other game engines such as Far Cry and the upcoming Doom 3 are. This is very obvious in the fact that your landing lights don't actually light anything up, but just project some kind of texture out in front of the plane. If an AI plane taxis through your light "beam," it doesn't light up, you still see a silhouette. Same thing goes for your own plane if you move through a supposedly lit area of the airport. Unless you have your aircraft lights on (and thus load the night textures) you still see a dark aircraft. There shouldn't be a need for "night textures" at all, the engine should just do light correctly. I really hope they do this for 2006, because the new video cards (and there will probably be one more if not two generations out before FS2006) are more than capable of displaying this kind of realistic lighting using DX9 pixel shaders.

>Thought I'd share some more comparison pics of the VC>lighting (backlit gauges vs stock fx lighting). These pics are>from the upcoming Hawker Hurricane freeware release for FS9>(and FS2002), and it will feature backlit gauges in the VC.Very nice model you're making! It looks to be an excellent model.>n4gix wrote:>>"It is simply a matter of specifying that a 'lightmap' exists>for each of the gauge projection polys, and making sure that>the gauges are coded to respond to the panel lights switch.">>Is that a GMAX technique Bill? I'm using FSDS2 and I've found>that an emissive material for the gauge poly pre-processed for>a specific light circuit (I'm using the Logo Lights) is all>that's necessary.Yes, I was refererring specifically to GMax, but the method in FSDS2 is effectively similar, albeit transparent to the modeler. Ask Louis Sinclair some day who helped him implement "VC nightlighting" in FSDS2... :)

>I agree it's puzzling as to why the MS designers didn't>provide backlit gauges for those great new FS9 aircraft, it>really makes a world of difference!>It's called............. you can do a lot, but not everything! Backlighting, bridges, circuit breakers, buss loads, etc, etc, etc!!!And keep the fps up too!As I witnessed from being on the beta-test, there is a lot of time consuming work going on, which just didn't allow for everyones wishes. And as implied in another post, the word "laziness" really had no part of the equation..L.Adamson

Will, as a tester myself, to see behind the scenes.............. I agree!L.Adamson

ahh... so it is already possible! I have never seen them though.. so I brought this up.The LCD's were already turned up "bright" in the first pic. But, since the gauges were not self-illuminating they still fall dark under shadows with FS's lighting. To be fully self-illuminating, the gauges must be bright all the time regardless of shadows or time of day. That's what I'd like to see! :)Sure, PMDG and several other authors have "work arounds" by providing dome lighting to cover all the gauges, but that's not really the same, since everything then has the same brightness and you don't get the "glow" effect from self-illumination.Warm regards,

>Will, as a tester myself, to see behind the>scenes.............. I agree!Agree with what? His rude and purile ad hominem attack, or his general conclusion?While I'll admit that I could have used a better choice in wording, I don't see how that empowers anyone to take so much umbrage as launch a salvo of heat seeking missles up my derriere, most particularly since they haven't a clue as to who I am or what experience and/or inside information I might have.However, returning to the actual topic of the thread, it takes hardly more time to implement emissive VC gauge backlighting than it does to stick a nasty red .fx "light" in the VC cockpit, so any argument advanced predicated on "time" is a red herring.It may well have simply been a case of "didn't want to..."