I knew I'd been thinking of something to request for FSX the other week, and this was it.If you fly with a lot of AI traffic using Ultimate Traffic or any of the other traffic addons, you've undoubtably noticed that all the AI planes in view flash their anti-collision/strobes at exactly the same rate, creating this simultaneous big flash across the sky when you're in a busy terminal area.I think random desynchronizing of AI light flashes would go a long way to making the skies around a busy airport look more realistic. Any chance this could be done?

Not a 100% sure, but I believe this was achieved in FS2004.John

>Not a 100% sure, but I believe this was achieved in FS2004.>>JohnTrue - but only with a manual edit of the effects config file...I think he meant was "Could this be shipped as a standard feature...."Cheers

was this the fix?asynchronous_strobes_effects.zip here in the libraryRegards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

>was this the fix?>>asynchronous_strobes_effects.zip here in the library>>Regards, Michael>KDFW>>http://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpg>CalVirAir InternationalYes, in this file the author already changed the values of some values in the effects config file. It's basically just a replacement file that you can use to overwrtie the default one....or if you were not happy with those values, you could have just manually edited the effects config file yourself with notepad in a few places (can't remember where exactly) and play with a few numerical values that determine the delay of the flashing strobes and anti-colision lights. By making delay values differ slightly throughout this config file, it had the effect of making lights flash at different times and made it look much more realistic.One drawback though is that I think there is a general value for a particular type of aircraft, so once you change the value for GA aircraft and choose a different value for airliners for instance, their lights will flash asynchronously if they are within your field of view, but as soon as anoter GA aircraft goes past you, you will notice again that the lights on your plane and that plane are synchronous.(unless values can be tweaked even more, but i'm not sure :-) )HTHCheers

performance...Having lights flash in sync saves CPU cycles and doesn't bother something like 99.9% of users.

Yeah but it does look unrealistic wouldn't you agree ?

>performance...>Having lights flash in sync saves CPU cycles and doesn't>bother something like 99.9% of users.I can't possibly imagine this has any tangible effect on today's CPUs considering everything else that's going on in the engine.I'll try out that replacement file - I wasn't aware this had been achieved in FS2004!

I never even noticed.

>I never even noticed.You need new glasses mate !Off course I know you are being sarcastic :-boom I also agree with Tabs (below), I think today's CPU's are WELL capable of handling a simple effect like a few flashing lights, especially at night when there are harly anything to render apart from the airport textures and other lighting in and around the airport and from other aircraft, and a lot of it is rendered via the Graphics card anyway...

I noticed and appreciated the difference, its good to be in the minority.:)John

The problem with the async strobe addon is that it causes problems with strobe light reflections on addon planes, as in the red flash on the fuselage from the beacon won't be syncronized with the beacon's point of light flash itself.

I am one of the 1% that thinks it looks pretty silly to have 10-15 aircraft around me with their strobes in perfect unison.I've tried Scott Gridley's excellent fix for FS9 and it doesn't seem to be doing the job in FSX. Anyone found a way to make the strobes asynchronous in FSX yet? I don't really care if the reflection is off on the aircraft skin as I'm only looking at traffic in the sky and far away on the ground.Thanks

kinda bothers me though...it prolly won't bother you if you don't use UT....I do and it's funny when they're all lined up....it's like a UFO!!! AHHHH!!lol!

Agreed! It looks like xmas decorations when 15-20 ACs blink at the same time... BTW im not worried over asyncronous flashing of beacon-head and the reflection on the body. As far as Im concerned this occurs pretty much all the time with various aircraft in both FS9 and FSX anyway, especially if you're not boasting >30 fps.. they never seem to get it right:PAnother issue in FSX. Would love to see the halo of strobes or/and navlights when viewing AI AC from a distance. This was actually better portrayed in FS9 IMO. Then you could watch incoming aircrafts for over 10 minutes before the actual model became visible.regards