Why is P3D v3 so dark?

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

I've installed P3D v3 yesterday and my first impression was how dark everything looks. I haven't changed my TV settings which were fine for FSX.

I do have HDR enabled on the Lighting and switching it off does make things brighter externally but overall it still seems very dark. Are there other settings that can cure this?

[edpatino 1,960]

22 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I've installed P3D v3 yesterday and my first impression was how dark everything looks. I haven't changed my TV settings which were fine for FSX.

I do have HDR enabled on the Lighting and switching it off does make things brighter externally but overall it still seems very dark. Are there other settings that can cure this?

Look here for an excellent application that radically improves the default graphics of P3D, it's called PTA (I suggest reading the instructions carefully, before using):

http://1coder.ru/PTA/

Enjoy, Cheers, Ed

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

3 minutes ago, edpatino said:

Look here for an excellent application that radically improves the default graphics of P3D, it's called PTA (I suggest reading the instructions carefully, before using):

http://1coder.ru/PTA/

Enjoy, Cheers, Ed

 

Thanks Ed but before I read that is this something you found too? I have increased the brightness of my TV and once I've finished installing FS Global Ultimate (several hours) I will see how it looks then.

Does HDR require a compatible display? Like 4K TVs having HDR? My Sony 32" HD TV doesn't have HDR.

[edpatino 1,960]

Just now, Ray Proudfoot said:

Does HDR require a compatible display? Like 4K TVs having HDR? My Sony 32" HD TV doesn't have HDR

I don't think so, but I'm far for being an expert about monitors/HDR. I had an old HP 2511 monitor and I've always used P3D with HDR on, without noticing any issue at all. I'd recommend asking to the experts but in the meantime I suggest you to use your P3D with HDR ON.

When you're done try PTA, it will absolutely enhance everything related to graphics in P3D, including skies, water, vegetation, shadows, to name only a few. PTA has also an option for those who want to try different settings for HDR. It also has a support section in these forums.

Cheers, Ed

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

Thanks Ed. I'll definitely take a look when I've finished installing about a thousand products!

[tamsini 278]

Ray, try also turning up saturation in lighting settings.

[specialist 51]

PTA works for many folks, and although I gave it a spin and did like some of the results I got, I also noticed a hit in VAS. I decided at the end to just remove it completely, and restored my originally shaders, Stopped trying to over tweak P3D, and kept it as default as possible. No more problems for me in performance and look.

[vgbaron 3,504]

Make your adjustments within P3d using the lighting settings, Ray. They are more than adequate to do what you wish. After that, you can try PTA to enhance what you see  - sort of like fine tuning.  But get your base visuals set up first or you could be chasing your tail.

Vic

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

8 minutes ago, tamsini said:

Ray, try also turning up saturation in lighting settings.

I'll try it but isn't that the amount of colour? That's my understanding of it. The LM manual seems to confirm it. But let me try again once I've finished installing some software. I've increased the brighness and that may solve it.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

7 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

Make your adjustments within P3d using the lighting settings, Ray. They are more than adequate to do what you wish. After that, you can try PTA to enhance what you see  - sort of like fine tuning.  But get your base visuals set up first or you could be chasing your tail.

Vic

Thanks Vic, sensible advice. But first I need to make sure my TV has reasonable contrast, brightness and colour settings. Funny, they were fine in FSX but checking a gray scale the brightness was definitely too low.

[sightseer 895]

 

The sim itself is more than capable of being bright  although the way things get darker with lower visibilities seems not quite right to me.  Your sky and cloud choices will matter as well.

I've found that its best to lower bloom a little and then increase saturation and brightness to get the look you want because brightness tends to remove the color.  The sim needs some bloom though.  Its just too flat without it.

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

Thanks Dave. No-one else has mentioned how dark it appears with default settings so it sounds like my TV settings are wrong.

I look forward to tweaking things once I have the time. Only 999 downloads to install now.

[Bobsk8 12,576]

48 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Thanks Dave. No-one else has mentioned how dark it appears with default settings so it sounds like my TV settings are wrong.

I look forward to tweaking things once I have the time. Only 999 downloads to install now.

Calibrate your TV-Monitor. 

 

[Bobsk8 12,576]

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-calibrate-your-monitor/

[Novation 534]

P3D can look a bit dull and dark out of the box, and one of the main culprits for things looking dark is the HDR adaption, which tries to mimic an iris, stopping down when looking up, and opening when looking down. So you can go from too dark, to too bright depending where you look; for this reason I use PTA and disable adaption, and then tune the settings to achieve a good balance between the two. This is combined with using the in-build HDR brightness/Saturation/bloom sliders, which will make a huge difference.