When I was using FSX, I found that there were too few stars in the sky. I used an addon that injected additional stars into the night sky.

 

Now that I'm using P3D, it seems that there are plenty of stars, but the night sky is quite dark. It seems rather eerie when the sky is black above the Toronto skyline. Of course in the real world, you wouldn't see a star in the sky until you got several hours north of the city. I am wondering what, if anything, you guys are doing to get light in built up areas, or fewer stars in the sky. Perhaps I'm looking to get more out of the sim than it's capable of producing at the moment, or I'm interested in something here, that is just not that important to the development of the product. 

 

I mean it's great to be in out of the way locations at night and see a realistic sky. If I could get a bit of light pollution, that would be the icing on the cake. Any comments/guidance are most welcome. Even if just to say don't fret...enjoy the stars.

 

Thanks. 

 

 

Night is something that has driven me crazy for years and years and years in flight sims. What you are asking, with the light pollution I don't think is possible in P3D v2, maybe in the future though. In FSX the night sky was way to bright, even when flying over remote areas. You could easily make out the horizon and terrain. With P3d v2 finally the sky is actually black, like it should be. The horizon is difficult/impossible to make out, especially over the ocean. However I think terrain is still to bright, especially with the moon out. Also I think inside the flight deck is too bright with the lights off. I've done many flights in RL over the Atlantic to Europe, and when you are flying over remote parts of Canada and the ocean, it is black. Pitch black. There is absolutely nothing to see, no wing, no ground, no clouds, nothing. Yet in p3d v2, while the sky is black, I can easily see clouds, my aircraft, and terrain below. Now maybe they did this as a compromise, because when flying over big cities, then yes you can make out all that stuff in real life. So maybe the developers did that on purpose, maybe to make night flying easier or to simulate the light pollution, which unfortunately carries over to times when it should be pitch black.

Now on the other hand, XP10 night is completely pitch black. When it's night time in that sim, you don't see anything except your flashing lights and lights below. And if you are flying over a remote area, it is just pure darkness. Personally I wish p3d was a bit more like that

when your 39,000 ft in the air all you really is black and the stars above with towns below if there are no clouds. but yeah flight sims have lacked realistic skies in every release. 

Thanks for the response guys. I suppose some day there will be location aware sky textures that lighten and darken where necessary. Not asking for much...am I 

When your up high above a large city you can see the stars quite well in real life

XP10 nighttime is just nuts... Dark dark dark

Yes, it is nuts, and when flying over bigger cities, too dark. However I feel like a much larger time is spent flying over remote areas rather than big cities, at least when flying airliner flights. So I personally like XP10 and wish P3D was more like it

You can adjust HDR brightness, I think Rob posted some tweaks that helped brighten up the day in a HDR tweaks thread, conceivably you can set up a night setting to go really dark.

You can adjust HDR brightness, I think Rob posted some tweaks that helped brighten up the day in a HDR tweaks thread, conceivably you can set up a night setting to go really dark.

Good point should look into that.

Probably a bit late to chime in on this one, but ...

While on the ground most sky objects cannot be seen from urban and other built up areas with massive light pollution, much of that light which is reflected back at you is due to atmospheric pollution, humidity, and the distortion of air currents at the surface due to terrain.  When flying miles above the surface, those factors are much less in play.  The higher you fly, the less light pollution you will be dealing with.  It's one of the principles behind NASA's SOFIA 747.

Using the HDR in P3D can help with the realism factor, as well as making adjustments to shadows. Just remember, the moon is a source of light as well, and clouds reflect quite a bit of that light.

Just my own observations, for what it's worth.  Happy flying!