FSX Realistic Night!

[kannwar 47]

I'm just trying to figure out now how to make the ground a bit brighter during the day....so hard to get the best of all worlds with lighting in FSX.

[billn53 12]

Yes, the daytime scenery (and sky) does seem to be a bit on the dark side.

 

As an aside, I had a scare yesterday when my FSX suddenly began to crash on startup. I'd get the 'splash' screen for about 3 seconds then the program shut down with no error messages. I tried all the usual tricks (renaming my logbook file, rebuilding fsx.cfg, etc.) but no joy. I was beginning to fear I'd need to do a FSX repair or (oh no!) complete reinstall.

 

Finally I looked at the FXAA log.log file and discovered a number of error messages relating to bad entries in the settings file. I presume this file somehow became corrupted. A fresh reinstall of the FXAA files got me back into business.

[L.A.M. 0]

I believe there are 2 versions of the FXAA PPIT tool or at least I was able to find 2 of them.

 

Skyrim version comes with an install file and you choose on of the presets to install. You may view them at their web page. I choose preset 4 just for test purposes, but for some reason I found all of them kind of gloomy except preset 4, looks a little brighter. Skyrim also has the FPS limiter and it's much simpler and easier to install and configure than the one recommended by bojote in case you go that route to configure your fsx.cfg file.

 

Assembla is the version I believe we are talking about here. For my taste so far this version didn't require any tweaking at all and the colors look much better than ENB or Skyrim. I haven't tested in all sorts of weather and the different landscapes in the world but initially it makes FSX look much better. I'm still playing around with it.

 

My challenge right now is the FPS limiter and the FXAA tool working together since both use the same d3d9.dll file in the FSX folder. I found one solution were one dll gets renamed and the cfg file gets updated as well to reflect the name change but I haven't tried yet. But I still need to do more research on this one.

 

So far looks like the Assembla FXAA tool is a keeper for me but YMMV.

[DarkstarF16 72]

Before using any of these tools, I feel its important to make sure your monitor is set up correctly. To this end Ive produced a simple guide that allows you to set up your brightness/contrast correctly.

 

Some may find that FSX night gets more realistic after setting up the monitor, others may feel that FSX still needs a little help. I now use the FXAA tool which makes my FSX night dark and gives dusk to dawn enhancements. So finally 24hr enjoyment.

 

The monitor set-up guide (and more) can be found in the link below.

https://skydrive.live.com/embed?cid=5D9E788DD9BB64D7&resid=5D9E788DD9BB64D7%21167&authkey=AHAgcgIpSccpep8

 

 

I've copied out the main points here...

 

MONITOR BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST SET-UP & FXAA TOOL SETTINGS

 

Before doing anything, it’s important to ensure that your monitor is set up properly.

After you have adjusted your monitor you might like the new look of FSX and not bother with the FXAA tool.

 

To correctly adjust your monitor you will need to download test card F from this link. (Thank you BBC)

http://rapidshare.com/#!download|307p10|191486189|_HD__BBC_Test_card.rar|124471|0|0

 

The FXAA Mod I used was from this link originally posted by GimbleRates Thanks Steve

The settings below are for the nexus tool

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/131

 

 

Or you can try this one

https://www.assembla.com/spaces/fxaa-pp-inject/documents

 

 

The file contains a video of the test card and you should play it for no more than 2min at a time. Leaving it on for long periods of time might burn the image into your monitor specially if its new. Also the whole adjustment should only take a couple of minutes.

 

To adjust the brightness/contrast

There is a GREY SCALE to the left of the picture on the test card. It's there to show the correct black and white levels of the picture.

 

The top white block is what is known as Peak White and it has two spots with the right spot higher (super white) and the left spot is slightly lower.

 

The bottom black bock has two spots, the right hand one is below black level (sub black) and the left is slightly above black.

 

ADJUSTING BRIGHTNESS

1) Set your monitor contrast levels to around the midway point.

2) Turn your brightness control UP until so you can just see the two spots in the black block.

3) Turn the brightness down until the sub-black spot (that’s the one on the right) disappears but make sure you can still see the LEFT slightly brighter spot.

ADJUSTING CONTRAST

Adjust the contrast until you like the overall look of the test card while you are doing this, keep an eye on the spots in the top white block to make sure you can still see the left hand one. It doesn't matter if you cannot see the super white spot (the one on the right) so don't worry if it's not there.

ADJUSTING COLOUR (Saturation)

This is really a matter of personal taste. if you had the colour turned up too high after adjustment you might not like the results. Give yourself a little time to grow used to it.

That’s it. For those amongst you that like to get everything perfect you can burn the video to a DVD and use it to set up your domestic Flat screen TV or monitor or whatever!

These are the FXAA settings that I’ve used…

· Anti Aliasing Toggle = OFF

· PreSharpen Toggle = OFF

· Bloom Toggle = ON

· Toggle Preset = OFF

Bloom Preset 4

Bloom Threshold 3

Bloom Width 2

Bloom Power 3

· ThechniColor Toggle = OFF

· ToneMap Toggle = ON

Gamma = 3

Exposure = 8

Saturation = 5

Bleech Power = 3

Defog Power = 5

· Sepia Toggle = OFF

· PostSharpe Toggle = ON

Sherpening Power = 7

Enjoy

Bri

[TheDanger 182]

Thanks for the LCD guide Bri, I shall be using this shortly

[DarkstarF16 72]

Thanks for the LCD guide Bri, I shall be using this shortly

 

Your welcome... Hope it helps a little.

 

 

[6FingerSays 99]

Just to chime in here, I liked this addon, but it made my night purple. Yes it would darken everything, but then everything had a purple tint to it, and that just wasn't right either.

 

It also dropped my frames from 100 to 60.

 

And with the ENB series, I like the reflection it gives with the gauges and lights.

[DarkstarF16 72]

Just to chime in here, I liked this addon, but it made my night purple. Yes it would darken everything, but then everything had a purple tint to it, and that just wasn't right either.

 

It also dropped my frames from 100 to 60.

 

And with the ENB series, I like the reflection it gives with the gauges and lights.

 

Not sure if you've checked but on the FXAA tool, to remove the tint uncheck the technicolor tab and sepia tab. It's all subjective however, so if you've found what you like and it works with your setup stick with it.

 

[OmniAtlas 93]

Before using any of these tools, I feel its important to make sure your monitor is set up correctly. To this end Ive produced a simple guide that allows you to set up your brightness/contrast correctly.

 

Some may find that FSX night gets more realistic after setting up the monitor, others may feel that FSX still needs a little help. I now use the FXAA tool which makes my FSX night dark and gives dusk to dawn enhancements. So finally 24hr enjoyment.

 

 

Thanks for the settings, you've made my FSX night landings spectacular.

 

 

 

 

[WILDHEART3003 8]

Stunning shots! I could use the last pix as my wallpaper!

[DarkstarF16 72]

Thanks for the settings, you've made my FSX night landings spectacular.

 

wow you've done a great job

[VeryBumpy 272]

Thanks for the settings, you've made my FSX night landings spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

What air plane is this? Payware?

[LeeL 272]

Looks like the Carenado C337

Regards

Lee

[OmniAtlas 93]

Yes, that is correct. The shots are with the Carenado C337 Skymaster landing at sundown Cairns airport, Orbx scenery. B)

[JoeDoeIII 0]

FYI, this mod does not seem to work at all if you are using the Windowed Mode VSync Fix. My FSX consistently crashed during loadup right after it switched from Basic back to Aero mode. After removing the mod, it runs fine. Since I find Windowed mode indispensible, I will not be able to test this, but I am using Shade and the ENB 24hr mod 1.1 posted elsewhere here. I didn't flush my shader cache folder first, I did set NI FXAA-settings as suggested earlier in this thread.