Over-dimensioned runway/PAPI lights. Fix?

[tremor595 20]

Nice to see this suspect back on fire...

 

When i'm back on my own computer i will see if i still have my comparison shots. Didn't know my post at LM's website doesn't exist anymore. 

 

Vincent, i think a night video probably could show the problem with the lights more clearly. At least on the little laptop here i couldn't see any lights in any of these comparison videos. But i'll give it another go when back on my computer/monitor.

 

Anyway i really hope LM can fix this as it's a little frustrating when these big bulbs appear behind the nice REX lights. 

 

Cheers,

Simon

[tremor595 20]

Ok, back on my computer i found my old comparison shots. In the foreground you can clearly see the REX runway and taxi lights but at a certain distance they are "replaced" by the standard light bulbs. In the pictures you can see how different cfg settings (scalar) and HDR settings change the result. But really not a very satisfying workaround.

These shots were taken in P3Dv2. But in v3 the results are the same.
 
I really hope someone with a little better knowledge can explain what is needed to fix this.
 






Cheers,
Simon

[Fi5kuS 57]

Another issue is that some add-on airports uses its own set of runway lightning, meaning you can't change their appearance by adding the Runway_Mod to the P3D.Cfg file, nor use REX4 or REX Essential Overdrive to modify.

 

FlyTampa for instance operates with custom runway lightning, and even though they have release different runway light sets, it certainly looks very similar and extremely over-dimensioned. Flightbeam has excellent runway lightning. 

[ryanbatc 12,821]

In real life large airports have variable lighting intensity. The brightness depends on weather and sunrise/sunset. On a VFR day at night it truly can be quite difficult to see an airport in the city. Usually you have to look for the black hole. Airports tend to be dimly lit amongst other city lights.

 

So yes FSX/P3D runway lighting is way overdone. You can't change the papi/vasi lighting afaik - only the runway edge lights as others have posted. Developers can do custom brightness levels - which is what you see at SEZ. I'm surprised no dev has done pilot controlled lighting yet!

 

P.S in real life, the only time you'd see super bright runway lights at night VFR would be if a pilot requests the lights up because they are unfamiliar with the airport. And in that case it would be rare ATC could accommodate because the intensity would likely blind other pilots who are landing. Where I work ATC in Duluth the C130 pilots ask us to turn off the lights for NVG practice hehe

[alderon57 7]

On a (I think) related issue - what about aircraft nav lights?  Even in daylight, I have these huge glowing orbs on the aircraft that you can see miles away.  Very unrealistic.  Anyone know of a fix for those?  (I assume it's AI planes - never tried looking at my own plane from a distance.)

Ron

[TrafficPilot 121]

I find the P3D default airport PAPI lights too indistinct in daytime - even with an overcast. Wish there was a way to increase the intensity.

[Fi5kuS 57]

After installing P3D 3.2, I am still struggling with this issue more than ever. For example, look at the approach for Aerosofts Sacramento underneath. At first, the PAPI lights are way too big and simply just weird. However, closer to the runway, PAPI lights all of a sudden change into smaller light bulbs with a more realistic appearance. This is not only with Aerosoft airports, but occur at ORBX airports as well. Its a real immersion killer to be honest. Anyone have ANY idea whats going on? 

 

PAPI light tweak doesnt work and cycling between runway lights in REX4 TD does absolutely nothing, or it changes the final runway lights but they are still severely over-dimensioned and gloomy before entering a certain radius.

 

 

[Jimm 437]

Well I scanned through all the posts here but I didn't see any visual examples of the "overbloomed" lighting, although I personally have experienced this.  I chalked it up to the individual third party airport causing the issue.  I get those overbloomed, larger-than-life lights when approaching UK2000 Airports.  I do however, recall a recent airport install's config dialog showing a checkbox next to a feature dealing with the usage of P3D lights versus the developer's lights and that too may be something to investigate.

 

-Jim

[ryanbatc 12,821]

It's just P3D...  there's no way I know of to change the size of those papi/vasi lights

[Fi5kuS 57]

It's just P3D...  there's no way I know of to change the size of those papi/vasi lights

 

 

No I definitely think there's a way around it. I could fix this issue in 3.0 by adding the lines to p3d.cfg. I suspect REX4 TD and REX Overdrive messing something up.

[abandoned account 171]

Same thing with P3D v3 here. I'm using REX4 and ORBX but I'm not really sure where the problem is. All kinds of runway/taxi lights are changing looks depending on the distance and viewing angle. Sometimes they go back and forth from small to large. It happens at all airports, stock and addons.

[Jimm 437]

Right now, I have UK2000 and FlyTampa airports installed. I get the huge PAPI lights with UK2000 airports but normal sized ones with FlyTampa.  In fact, this past Sunday, I flew in to LOWW (courtesy of FlyTampa) and I was amazed on how realistic all of the lights looked, especially while taxiing past a runway, looking at it head on...very realistic.  At no time did I see the PAPI lights get huge with that airport, so again, I stand by my suspicion that this is an airport issue and not P3D...why?  Well, for starters, after my recent reinstall of P3D, I never tweaked the setting for those lights...actually no lights have been tweaked.

 

-Jim

[Fi5kuS 57]

Right now, I have UK2000 and FlyTampa airports installed. I get the huge PAPI lights with UK2000 airports but normal sized ones with FlyTampa.  In fact, this past Sunday, I flew in to LOWW (courtesy of FlyTampa) and I was amazed on how realistic all of the lights looked, especially while taxiing past a runway, looking at it head on...very realistic.  At no time did I see the PAPI lights get huge with that airport, so again, I stand by my suspicion that this is an airport issue and not P3D...why?  Well, for starters, after my recent reinstall of P3D, I never tweaked the setting for those lights...actually no lights have been tweaked.

 

-Jim

 

 

FlyTampa is using custom runway lightning that cannot be changed with REX 4 modifications. This issue with large PAPI lights only occur at Aerosoft and ORBX airports.

[Jimm 437]

I haven't experienced this issue with the Stockholm/Arlanda scenery...which is done by ORBX.

 

-Jim

[Fi5kuS 57]

Ok, I figured it out. Quite simple really. Its the HDR that messes everything up. Tried with alot of different settings but nothing influenced PAPI light size except HDR OFF. This occurs on all of my addon airports (except flytampa) including default. Now, how to get LM to fix it...