November 26, 201213 yr I have a plane with weak cabin lights that don't adequately illuminate the panel. Is there any way to edit the fx effect file to increase the intensity? If not can I use an effect from another plane with adequate cabin lights? Thanks, Bob.
November 26, 201213 yr I have a plane with weak cabin lights that don't adequately illuminate the panel. Is there any way to edit the fx effect file to increase the intensity? If not can I use an effect from another plane with adequate cabin lights? Thanks, Bob. You could try editing the color section in your panel cfg file: At the bottom of each panel.cfg file you will find (or can add): Day=255,255,255 Night=40,40,40 Luminous=250,200,175 Day: leave at 255,255,255 Night: color of overall panel (Red,Green,Blue: 255,255,255 = white, 0,0,0 = black) Luminous: color of the lit gauges Here is the SDK info on these parameters: The day and night colors effectively determine the maximum and minimum brightness of the panel. Luminous specifies the color that can be applied to the luminous sections of the gauges. Here is an example to demonstrate what these colors mean. In this example, the colors for day, night, and luminous are red, green, and blue, respectively. Note the subtle difference between dusk and night – in this the environmental lighting system the height of the sun in the sky, moonlight, and so on, determines what percentage of the day color to use. When the lights are off no specified color is applied to the panel and its gauges however the brightness of the images are still affected by the environmental lighting. http://blackiceair.n...ation Files.htm Hope this helps! DIMITRI
November 27, 201213 yr Author Hi Dimitri. Thanks for the info. It's not that the gauges are dark. They show up OK. It's just that the bmp of the panel is in the dark. I can't read any of the text on the panel at night. I was hoping that I could edit the cabin light effect to increase the overall luminance. Best regards, Bob.
November 27, 201213 yr Author Hi Rendi. Thanks. Yes I know it is an effect file. My question is, and was, can I edit the effect file to improve the luminance and if so, how. Regards, Bob.
November 27, 201213 yr Hi Dimitri. Thanks for the info. It's not that the gauges are dark. They show up OK. It's just that the bmp of the panel is in the dark. I can't read any of the text on the panel at night. I was hoping that I could edit the cabin light effect to increase the overall luminance. Oh.I thought you meant the gauges themselves. Anyway,the relevant fx file would be a "vclight" fx file,located in your FSX effects folder. However you must look at what effects the relevant aircraft cfg calls: An example in the Aircraft cfg lights Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit [LIGHTS] light.0 = 3, -0.36, -17.5, 1.175, fx_navred light.1 = 3, -0.36, 17.5, 1.175, fx_navgre light.2 = 3, -15.15, 0, 6, fx_navwhi light.3 = 3, -10.8, 0, 0.3, fx_navwd light.4 = 10, -1, 0.5, 3.1, fx_vclight So in this case you would open this effects file (in bold), located in your FSX effects folder and edit it directly. To change the brightness of the lighing go to the effects folder of FSX, open the vclight fx file and scroll down the text until you reach the following lines: [ParticleAttributes.0] Blend Mode=2 Texture=fx_2.bmp Bounce=0.00 Color Start=30, 30, 30, 1 Color End=30, 30,30, 0 Jitter Distance=0.00 Jitter Time=0.00 uv1=0.00, 0.00 uv2=0.01, 0.01 X Scale Goal=0.00 Y Scale Goal=0.00 Z Scale Goal=0.00 Extrude Length=0.00 Extrude Pitch Max=0.00 Extrude Heading Max=0.00 Try adjusting the colour start and colour end parameters: http://blackiceair.n...ticleAttributes Hope this helps. Regards. DIMITRI
November 27, 201213 yr Author Hi Dimitri. Thanks. That's exactly what I wanted to know. Best regards, Bob.
November 27, 201213 yr Just a couple of suggestions. Instead of editing fx_vclight.fx, copy it to a new file and edit that one. Change the file name in aircraft.cfg to use the new file. You can add a light without problems. In the case above I'd use something like: light.3 = 3, -10.8, 0, 0.3, fx_navwd light.4 = 10, -1, 0.5, 3.1, fx_vclight_new // new name light.5 = 10,, x, y, z, fx_vclight_instruments // new instrument light and replace x,y,x with a position near the instrument panel. This is a typical fx_vclight_instruments.fx I use: [Library Effect] Lifetime=5 Version=2.00 Radius=-1 Priority=0 [Properties] [Emitter.0] Lifetime=0.50, 0.50 Delay=0.00, 0.00 Bounce=0.00 Light=1 No Interpolate=1 Rate=1.00, 1.00 X Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00 Y Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00 Z Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00 Drag=0.00, 0.00 X Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00 Y Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00 Z Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00 X Rotation=0.00, 0.00 Y Rotation=0.00, 0.00 Z Rotation=0.00, 0.00 X Offset=0.00, 0.00 Y Offset=0.00, 0.00 Z Offset=0.00, 0.00 Pitch=0.00, 0.00 Bank=0.00, 0.00 Heading=0.00, 0.00 [Particle.0] Lifetime=0.00, 0.00 Type=19 X Scale=0.50, 0.50 // was 1.00 for X and Y Scales, this doesn't seem to matter Y Scale=0.30, 0.30 Z Scale=0.00, 0.00 X Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00 Y Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00 Z Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00 Drag=0.00, 0.00 Color Rate=0.00, 0.00 X Offset=0.00, 0.00 Y Offset=0.00, 0.00 Z Offset=0.00, 0.00 Fade In=0.00, 0.00 Fade Out=0.00, 0.00 Rotation=0.00, 0.00 Static=1 Face=1, 1, 1 [ParticleAttributes.0] Blend Mode=2 Texture=fx_2.bmp Bounce=0.00 Color Start=100, 100, 100, 1 Color End=180, 140, 100, 0 // orginal Jitter Distance=0.00 Jitter Time=0.00 uv1=0.00, 0.00 uv2=0.01, 0.01 X Scale Goal=0.00 Y Scale Goal=0.00 Z Scale Goal=0.00 Extrude Length=0.00 Extrude Pitch Max=0.00 Extrude Heading Max=0.00 You'll need some trial and error to set the correct position. It can be in forward of the actual instrument panel and still work. Hook Larry Hookins Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of EarthAnd danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
November 27, 201213 yr Moderator Making copies of the default fx_vclight.fx file is a very good idea. In fact, you can make custom ones for each aircraft if you wish. I have used as many as four different such effect files in a single cockpit. By adjusting the size, color and position of them, it is possible to even achieve "zoned" flood and/or spot lighting effects. For FSX, one can even place these "lights" in the [sMOKESYSTEM] section of the aircraft.cfg file, then with a bit of XML magic in a gauge control up to 98 separate "lights" individually. Fr. Bill AOPA Member: 07141481 AARP Member: 3209010556 Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator
November 27, 201213 yr Author Hi Bill. Thanks. Are there any guidelines for adjusting the R,G,B values in the effect file color start and color end? Does increasing the values to a higher r,g,b value increase or decrease the intensity and brightness. Do the end numbers have to be higher or lower R,G.B values than the start values? I have read the SDK but did not find any help in selecting the values. Best regards, Bob.
November 28, 201213 yr Moderator Bob, in .fx files the parameter values are standard color values. Range is from 0 to 255, with 255 being the 'brightest...' Start/Stop is up to you, but realized that light is always the dimmest at the farthest distance from the source. Hence it only makes sense to have a steep falloff curve. Remember to keep the same ratio between the color values, or at least a fairly close ratio. Light doesn't start off white and taper off to blue at the farthest distance after all... B) It's also critical to remember that FS only reads .fx files once when first starting the sim, so if you create new .fx files and/or edit .fx files, you must close the sim then reload it before the new/edited files will work! If the FSX SDK is installed there is a tool that may be loaded from the top menu bar: Tools/FX Tool. It is an .fx creator/editor that -although completely undocumented anywhere- does work fairly well for creating and/or editing .fx files. Fr. Bill AOPA Member: 07141481 AARP Member: 3209010556 Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator
November 28, 201213 yr Author HI Bill Thanks for the reply. That helps. I do have the FX tool. I have been using Notepad. I'll try the tool. I also have an FX Editor that has a FX view window but for some reason, or if I am not using it correctly, it does not display any lights. It does display effects like the forest fire, etc. I was hoping to be able to view the effect there so I could see the difference with different R,G,B values. Thanks too for the info on restarting FSX to view the changes. I assumed reloading the A/C would be OK. I appreciate the help. Best regards, Bob.
November 29, 201213 yr Moderator Minor changes to an .fx file (such as color or timing) might show without a complete reboot of FSX, but if you do make a change and can't see any difference, a reboot of FSX is called for... B) Fr. Bill AOPA Member: 07141481 AARP Member: 3209010556 Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator
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