sunset 1 for XP11.25 that anyone can use

I've settled on two versions that Ive been working on recently.  This is a bright light yellow that ends in a pink.  My 'four XP11 shots' should be reproduceable with this.

Both of the sunsets are built around using the default orbit sunglow file in place of the default sun glow mount file.  This will get rid of all halos but its necessary for the sunsets

and its not that bad during the day because you're not supposed to look at the sun anyway right ?

So - first make backups.  I made a directory on my hard drive called "FSBackups" and in that a directory called XP11 and I just copy the latest SkyColors directory into that.

(X-Plane 11/Resources/bitmaps/skycolors).  You don't actually need to do this thanks to Laminar but its a good idea.

Second, in the XP11/Resources/bitmaps/skycolors directory, delete both "sun_glow_mount.png" and "sky_colors_mount.png".  Copy the "sun_glow_orbit.png" and paste it into the same directory and then rename the copy "sun_glow_mount.png"

Third, copy the file provided here and save it on your hard drive and make sure its named "sky_colors_mount.png" and then copy it into the skycolors directory.

The other thing you'll need is dataref editor to change two things.  Open 'Show Art Controls' and look up 'sun' and find sun_gain_1_hdr and sun_gain_2_hdr.  The first should be changed from .8 to 1.0 and the second should be changed from 1.6 to 1.8.  The second one is more important here because it makes the sun texture brighter so it wont look odd against a bright sunny texture at sunset.

Fourth, after copying these files into the sim, you will need to use the Developer menu to make sure your are only running the 'mount' texture.  That's a limitation of my work.  It isn't designed for general sim use. Its designed for a casual and enjoyable flight with either clear skies and almost maximum visibility or maybe a nice scattered cumulus.  The sunsets do look better with no clouds in my opinion.

I think that's it.

heres some pics and my sky_colors_mount.png:

If 11.30 includes major shader code changes then these will probably be useless fairly soon.  I hope you enjoy them because I work hard on them.

Try a flight in the ultralight from KPTK Oakland Co (another extremely good airport) and fly just southeast and around KDTW.

also, look for another thread called 'sunset 2 that anyone can use'