So when will we get night lighting like this in FSX?

 

I don't know if somebody can establish that one in FSX. But X-Plane gives a very good night impression, especially when running that HDR option.

I don't know if somebody can establish that one in FSX. But X-Plane gives a very good night impression, especially when running that HDR option.

 

Hi CoolP, sure, I've also heard Xplane is awesome for night flying...

It is. Try the demo, just for the night impression. I mean, 'my sim' is FSX, but it's never wrong to look around, right? Currently, we can only listen to that song while thinking about better ways of FSX night lights. ^_^

 

ENB helped a bit. It rendered the nights less bright, which is cool when you have some scenery with 3D lights running. UTX has those. Some addon scenery also has a static light impression within the photo textures. Look up Miami City 2012 for example. The screenshots may look odd at first, but the flying pictures are really good with that kind of trick applied.

 

Here's a shot from above, not showing the actual potential it has.

 

Well, a lot of potential is lost when only spots in FSX look like that. You can't have it all. :( But the GEX textures also do good on that impression of lit streets and things. With the mentioned ENB mod running, it's ok for me.

So when will we get night lighting like this in FSX?

 

Never?

So why is it so difficult?

It could be done but your fps would be about 25% of what it is now. Textures could be brightened to that effect but stand alone lighting would kill the frames.

 

Bob

Not only that... I don't know what's the name of the effect, but you would need that "glow" to make it realistic, otherwise it would look like any other game. Dull and boring.

You basically need an atmosphere + lots of light sources. And different ones at that.

 

Plus I don't know why, but lights on videos and IRL look way more brighter than they do on the screen. Now, with Catleap things have changed a bit towards better, but you really need very high contrast and really high brightness with a very low blacks. Possible? Sure... Price?

I think even FS9 is better at night when it comes to e.g. not too bright ground textures, like seen in FSX. Not a question of price, but of concept or even artwork. The last part can be altered though. And tricks like our 'new' 3D landing lights show that one can even think outside the box on older concept bases.

 

As said, look at a modern engine like X-Plane in regard to that night aspect. Perhaps even enable that HDR option and see the outcome. I had to try it myself since the videos or screenshots alone did not lead me to be an awe about it. It's a different thing to actually run the sim on the own system. Hence the note on the demo. You will like the nights.

 

They don't pull expensive tricks over there or something, they've just approached the matter in a different way. A different concept, a fresher start on the actual engine. Tough thing to do with the now static FSX code, though some devs work around nicely and even improve some more, quite some years after the sim was released. Amazing at times.

 

A HDR concept helps a lot when looking for large contrast differences on lit areas, dark ones and the lights itself.

FSX' light bloom enhances the night, within the limits of that older engine. Not so much a tip though, as it comes with a huge fps impact in that sim. But try it if you like, it's quite a difference on the optics.

The only way to achive that is with a new engine and DX11...

 

Here is something new...

 

No, Alain, we were looking for night lighting, not some half naked elves. You always mix that up. :P

No, Alain, we were looking for night lighting, not some half naked elves. You always mix that up. :P

 

I know, I was looking for some breast physics in the light....

Understandable, to say the least. Here's

. Why didn't you pick that one? :lol: Wait, I know the answer.

Sorry, Howard, I'm back to topic now. I promise.

 

I wonder if the 'FSX-alike' tech in Flight altered much on the nights over native FSX. Will try it later, just in case.

Alain, that is some impressive stuff. Nevertheless, FSX doesn't support that, the question was if FSX is ever going to have realistic lighting - the answer is unfortunately still no.

 

An FSX with DX11 support and extreme performance? Well, we can dream, now can we?

Xplane10 with HDR looks pretty awesome at night and has the best Car Traffic and Roads I have ever seen BUT i still prefer my fs9/fsx setups. I have a feeling(call it Women's Intuition :lol: ) That Microsoft's next FlightSim Project will be FSX11 with all our simming wishes coming true, too many complaints on most of the MS FLIGHT sites.