Hello all http://www.planet-smilies.de/kaos/CactusKaos/bye2.gifErmmm....sorry for the odd-sounding question but why is it impossible to have "total" darkness in the sim? All of you on here who have flown on airliners at night - you know when you look out the window all you see is the wingtip strobe and the beacon flashing off the engine pod.But in FS9 it seems the plane is always lit up even in the dead of night (specially evident in spot-plane view)...its like a dim light follows the plane lighting it up. You can see the entire wing when using wingviews etc.Is this a built-in function of the sim (GMAX-modelling) or is there a tweak to fix it...it sure will increase the immersion/realism in night-flights!Also you can clearly see terrain & ocean feautures @ midnight (for example). I guess this is one on my personal wish-list for FS10: the darkest of dark where your screen is black and you only see the flashing wap wap wap of your beacons & strobes http://jm.g.free.fr/smileys/cute_smileys/cheesy.gif:)

Hello Nevin,These are the reasons why I created FS2004 Night Time Fixes. Visit my website: www.fsthings.com Take care..Carmine http://forums.avsim.net/images/wave.gifhttp://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7118/phoenixtp8mg.jpg

Carmine...nice one mate! Im downloading it now, really looking forward to this! Thanx for pointing me to your website and thanks also for sharing your work :)Will let you know how it all went!

Hi All:-) Carmin's site seems to be down,can anyone send me the night fix? [email protected] Thank's !

Hi Jim, I sent the email with the file to you but the file is 6 megs and I'm not sure what the Hotmail limit is. Either way, let me know.Take care for now,Carmine http://forums.avsim.net/images/wave.gifhttp://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7118/phoenixtp8mg.jpg

Nevin,Wherever there is light of any scource, you will get 'light polution' even if it is just strobe lighting but, why would you not want to see your aircraft?Dave T. .........On the Devon Riviera and active 'FlightSim User's Group' member at http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/

Thank's Carmine,I didn't receive it,could you try [email protected]? Thank's again:-)

Was just wondering Carmine, will your site be back up to download the textures?JimCYWG

There are two reasons in FS. One is your monitor setting. You can adjust your brightness and contrast to make it more realistic. Remember that no monitor displays perfect true to life color. You can get it close but only with adjustment.The second reason is the difference between the way your eyes work in the real world and on a video monitor. In the real world when you are in a lighted area and look into a dark area your eyes are adjusted to the light. Thus you see things darker than they really are. On a monitor however you are looking at a two dimensional image with a constant display. You don't have quite the contrast that you would sitting in a lighted cabin then looking out of a window with darkness behind it. Try sitting outside in the dark for fifteen minutes or so. Eventually you will be able to see in the darkest of nights at about the way it would look with a half moon.This last is why many airplane instrument lights are amber or red or a cool green as these colors of light affect the eye's light gathering abilities less than a white light. Most people don't spend enough time in the dark to realize it but you would be amazed at how well you can see in low light.

Try this:http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=...r=&CatID=fs2004Mike

Hi,The other possibility is that some aircraft authors make the areas where there are no lights in the night texture gray, not black. This avoids the plane showing up completely black at the terminal. They do glow a bit in the dark though. You could change the background of the night texture from not quite black to completely black and this would go away. You'd need to know how to keep the alpha channel though, using DXTBmp for your Open/Save operations.Hope this helps,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___

Thanks man.JimCYWG

Since I often sim fly around rising terrain (mountains), I can't see a dang thing, terrain wise, on simulated nights with little moon light. This "blackness" is default, and has been this way since day one. And BTW, darkness does vary with time of year. L.Adamson

In reality, it night is virtually never black, you can always see. Even in combat areas where light is tightly controlled you can see color at night. One light, even a match can destroy your "night vision" so no one smokes. In addition, if you did, it makes you a fantastic target for the enemy. Light up a cigarette, and the match can be seen over a mile away. The glowing end of a cigarette can be seen at night over a 1000 yards away. In "total darkness" even without a moon, you can see trees, rocks and bushes. Having good night vision means you are safer, if they fire flares, some soldiers will close their eyes, while others look for the enemy in that light. That way, when the flare goes out, and enemy will begin moving again, those who had their eyes closed can see them move. It can take enough time to regain night vision after a flare, that you could be killed if you move.Looking out the window of an aircraft, and seeing running lights or reflections of beacons, etc. ruins night vision so you cant see beyond them. If you looked out a different window, without lights in the cabin, you could be amazed at the number of stars you see. In a city because of light polution, you may not see any stars, go out into the desert or mountains away from any population center, and the sky is alive with stars, planets, and satalites brighter than stars.

Off aviation slightly.I once used to look up to the stars on a clear night on a campsite that was far away from any other light scource and looking straight up at the stars.After a very short time I begun to lose my balance and found it very disorientating. Anyone else experienced that?Dave T. .........On the Devon Riviera and active 'FlightSim User's Group' member at http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/