Hello, 

So far loving the 777.  The sound the feel all wonderful, however, I was wondering if there was a light package out there that made the external lights more visible during daytime hours and the strobes a little brighter and more strobelike at night?

 

While the apu is running on the ground, switching to the external views is just silence.  Is it just me or shouldn't there be an apu jet sound while outside?

 

 

While the apu is running on the ground, switching to the external views is just silence.  Is it just me or shouldn't there be an apu jet sound while outside?

 

Something's wrong with your installation. I can hear the APU sound and it's quite realistic. Check your FSX sound settings.

tap Q twice ;-)

any word on brighter lights?

Lights in FSX are always a trade-off. If a developer decides to make them realistic adoring the daytime, they will be ridiculously intense during the night.

I personally do like the decision PMDG made, but that's just me.

I'm not sure if add-ons like REX work for complex add-ons like PMDG, but you could always try.

any word on brighter lights?

 

You can always try Shockwave 3D lights (http://www.a2asimulations.com/store/shockwavelights/). Until a couple of years ago, I used them on almost all of my new aircraft. Recently released aircraft have much better lights, so I haven't felt the need to change them (although I've been thinking about experimenting with the T7 recently). Although SW lights are very good, you should know about a few limitations...

• They can't be used for wingtip lights (strobes, position/nav lights, landing lights) if wing flex is built into the aircraft. Excluding wingtip lights, however, there are still some 'stationary' lights that could potentially be added or replaced — wing root landing lights, nose-gear lights, fuselage-mounted beacons, wing lights, etc.

   

• As I understand it, lights are either (1) created as effects that are then specified in the aircraft.cfg file, or (2) programmed directly into the aircraft model and therefore impossible to change.
  1. SW lights work best in this situation in which you just edit the aircraft.cfg file to replace the original lights with SW lights, or add lights that aren't included. For example, you think the original lights are too dim. SW provides several brighter replacement lights to choose from. Samples of those lights are available on the SW web site.
  2. SW lights cannot replace lights that are built into the model. In some cases, however, they can be combined with those built-in lights. For example, SW gives you the option to see light beams in daylight, so combining SW lights with the T7's original wing-root landing lights could create a nicely-enhanced effect. (Note that I said could create — I haven't tried it yet.
• There are separate SW packages for FS9 and FSX. Prepar3D isn't officially supported, although the FSX package should work with it. Each package can be used with an unlimited number of different aircraft. The SW forum contains the aircraft.cfg specifications for hundreds of aircraft, including private aircraft, warbirds, commercial airliners, and helicopters. SW lights can also be used to enhance runway lights.

   

• Lights are an extremely subjective topic. What looks good to one person can be look awful to another. The SW web site has lots of photos showing Shockwave lights, along with movie clips that show some of the possibilities. Even better, there are several YouTube videos.