New Dataref for Haze Adjustment

[Paraffin 2,197]

Ben & Co. have re-enabled an art dataref to adjust the haze (thanks!), for those of us who think it's overdone. Or maybe just more like South Carolina where Austin lives, and not where those of us with cleaner skies live. 

This is in the latest 11.02 RC1. Here's Ben's comment on it in the dev blog:

Quote

Also, by request from X-Plane users at FSConn: a new art control gives you writable access to the fog ratio (for fog hackers) - set "fog/fog_be_gone" to...well, whatever makes you happy. I can't promise this art  control will be around forever, but right now it works and is writable (unlike "fog/std_deviation_cutoff", which is controlled by the sim to match real world observations).

I've tested it with the DataRef Editor and it works. In the Editor plugin (inside XP), search for this Art control:

fog/fog_be_gone

It's a range from 0.000000 to 1.000000, with 1 being default haze. I changed it to 0.200000, which is about right for my area up here in the Pacific Northwest on a clear day. I might bump it up a notch after more testing.

Note:  If you use DataRef Editor plugin to change the number, it will reset to 1 on the next launch of X-Plane. I don't know if a FlyWithLua script can reset it, since it's in the private directory. Someone more knowledgeable than me will have to test that since I'm not familiar with FlyWithLua.

[Sticky 267]

well thats cool.  Thanks to LR for the accommodation!

 

[bonchie 2,305]

Never done this before. Can you give a quick breakdown of how to edit the dataref?

Just took off out of Jackson headed to Destin and at 5,500ft I can barely see the ground it's so hazy.

[strider1 575]

25 minutes ago, bonchie said:

Never done this before. Can you give a quick breakdown of how to edit the dataref?

Just took off out of Jackson headed to Destin and at 5,500ft I can barely see the ground it's so hazy.

http://developer.x-plane.com/tools/datarefeditor/

Install it into the X-Plane / Resources / Plugins folder

Boot Xplane, go to the Plugins menu, then open Data Ref Editor - Show Art Control, then scroll down till you "find fog/fog_be_gone", click on the number value, and then enter the value you wish to edit and hit enter.

The easiest thing thing to do is to just increase the visibility in the weather menu.

[ryanbatc 12,797]

This is great!  

There is also a new dataref for sharp cockpit shadows, pretty cool.  OH wait I think it's a FWLua file

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/38359-jagged-shadow-fix/

[Paraffin 2,197]

29 minutes ago, strider1 said:

The easiest thing thing to do is to just increase the visibility in the weather menu.

Nope, not the same thing.

Using the default haze, I can set 10 mile visibility in the weather menu with everything else set to clear skies, and not be able to see a runway when I have X-Plane load my plane on an approach 10 miles from the runway. Even allowing for small effect of the statute to nautical miles conversion. Try it!

The visibility slider is borked, because it doesn't track actual cockpit visibility to the runway.

We may never get Austin to admit this, but at least enough people were asking about it in the recent FS con to get Ben to include this new art dataref. Which I hope stays, because it means we have some user control over whether we're flying in industrial areas of China or the more pristine parts of the globe that just don't look this thick with haze.

I don't want no haze, because atmospheric scattering is realistic. But I want to see the runway with 10 mile METAR viz, if I load X-Plane on a 10 mile approach.

This is pretty darned important if you're using injected real weather, because that's what sets the viz slider.