Night lighting not so spectacular?

[sightseer 895]

The most recent nightime flight I was on was into Pensacola KPNS and we entered from Mobile and you could clearly see Daphne and Fairhope and Gulf Shores and Orange Beach (which is over 30 miles away).  I was surprised that you could actually make out individual buildings with their lighting on the balconies.  I dont remember the weather being particularly clear either but it must have been right there.

I agree that XP looks better...much better.  Whether its realistic or not, I enjoy it.

Please examine the rolling clouds video.  Look to the right over the small mountain and see if you think those are distant small town or city lights.  It cant be the sun's reflection in a river so what else could it be?

[188AHC 2,141]

Once trimmed up and on course at 3500 to 4000 agl I can see both coasts of Florida too. However since I sit between two large TCA zones with only a narrow avenue between, I don't get too much time for sightseeing.

As far as lighting in MSFS, I would like to see a combo of the two samples.

 

[skully 1,046]

35 minutes ago, 188AHC said:

Once trimmed up and on course at 3500 to 4000 agl I can see both coasts of Florida too. However since I sit between two large TCA zones with only a narrow avenue between, I don't get too much time for sightseeing.

As far as lighting in MSFS, I would like to see a combo of the two samples.

 

You can also see the glow of Phoenix from around Winslow, AZ at FL380. 

That's a pretty good distance.

Spotted it one night on an Allegiant MD inbound to Vegas.

[MatthewS 761]

2 hours ago, vortex681 said:

If you're going to add night lighting upgrades to P3D, you should at least add something sensible:

I'm sorry but this P3D screenshot shows exactly how "dull" the night lighting is. All those lights are the same low intensity. A night scene in the RW does not look like that. In the RW there will be a wide variety of light intensities, from dim to overwhelming brilliant. XP11 comes closest to what we see in the real world.

Edited August 22, 2019 by MatthewS

[dtrjones 356]

2 hours ago, sightseer said:

The most recent nightime flight I was on was into Pensacola KPNS and we entered from Mobile and you could clearly see Daphne and Fairhope and Gulf Shores and Orange Beach (which is over 30 miles away).  I was surprised that you could actually make out individual buildings with their lighting on the balconies.  I dont remember the weather being particularly clear either but it must have been right there.

I agree that XP looks better...much better.  Whether its realistic or not, I enjoy it.

Please examine the rolling clouds video.  Look to the right over the small mountain and see if you think those are distant small town or city lights.  It cant be the sun's reflection in a river so what else could it be?

My view the rolling cloud video looks like the sun's reflection on a warehouse or large collection of concrete buildings and surfaces so that points to the use of PBR materials. 😁

[dtrjones 356]

13 minutes ago, MatthewS said:

I'm sorry but this P3D screenshot shows exactly how "dull" the night lighting is. All those lights are the same low intensity. A night scene in the RW does not look like that. In the RW there will be a wide variety of light intensities, from dim to overwhelming brilliant. XP11 comes closest to what we see in the real world.

I think most people would agree the capabilities of X-Plane's lighting model exceeds P3D and FSX. However that doesn't always translate to a realistic experience and infact it might go in the opposite direction - I would imagine if you were to show the developers some of there scenery from an X-Plane enthisiast video they might look horrified as a cross pollination of add-ons and user settings contrive to create an entirely different experience.

MSFS obviously has high fidelity graphical features and for me its about showing that progress across the sim. It would certainly look odd to have clouds which represent sunlight accurately yet the ground has baked in street lighting. At the moment I've not seen enough to know if the lighting is dynamic or not. I'd also like to see some more variety in colours and intensities and of course clearer motorway and some secondary road street lighting as that's very useful for navigation especially where I live around the UK.

[MatthewS 761]

8 minutes ago, dtrjones said:

I think most people would agree the capabilities of X-Plane's lighting model exceeds P3D and FSX

Ok we all agree then, XP11 lighting is better than FSX/P3D (and FS2020 from what I've seen). 

It's the variety in colour and intensity that makes XP11 lighting look more realistic.

I hope FS2020 can raise the bar.

Edited August 22, 2019 by MatthewS

[rjetster1 38]

MatthewS,

I agree the night lighting in XP11 does look far superior… you win that debate. However, that is where I would end the discussion. What we have seen so far from FS2020 in terms of night lighting is irrelevant in comparison. I would bet money we will not have this discussion regarding MS2020 night lighting once released.

[klamal 283]

2 hours ago, 188AHC said:

Once trimmed up and on course at 3500 to 4000 agl I can see both coasts of Florida too. However since I sit between two large TCA zones with only a narrow avenue between, I don't get too much time for sightseeing.

As far as lighting in MSFS, I would like to see a combo of the two samples.

 

So I am confused here...are you arguing that we shouldn't care what night lighting looks like at all because we should be focused on everything else but not how "pretty" the night lighting looks?  Seems to be off topic if you ask me.  This is more about trying to represent what we see out the window regardless of whether we should have time or not.  I am hoping for something that approaches as close to reality as possible with all aspects of the sim.  I don't want over glorified night lighting or anything that isn't close to real.  But I also don't want it to not even be something that's not addressed at all solely because we should be too busy to look outside the airplane.

[188AHC 2,141]

Yes. You are confused. The emphasis put on the terrain lighting is being blown out of proportion.

I think it is important but not so important that one forgets why he is flying to start with. Sightseeing is one thing but basing the value and validity of a new as yet unreleased sim on lighting is not as important as some of the comments.  I think you should reread what I posted slowly and try to understand what was said.

 

[DAD 2,660]

Not so spectacular? What have you flown recently, guys. This looks by far better then anything else I have flown since my old FS4 times. 

[n4gix 4,955]

On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 4:55 PM, Pitbull2504 said:

MS can take a giant step forward here.

That video illustrates what I was writing about earlier. Notice that the entire of the airport almost appears as a "black hole of Calcutta" surrounded by all of the city's bright lights!

[JonP01 104]

On 8/21/2019 at 7:50 AM, aleex said:

I would like to see some custom illumination on buildings. For example. now KLAX is completely dark, but this is how it looks in real life at night  (video from other topic). Well, this applied to the world is something I would like to see...

 

What a fantastic video! Watched it five times over. If I could ever see this view from the pilot seat in a Microsoft sim before I die, I will die happy...

[MatthewS 761]

1 hour ago, JonP01 said:

What a fantastic video! Watched it five times over. If I could ever see this view from the pilot seat in a Microsoft sim before I die, I will die happy..

Great video.

It's the variety in intensity and colour that's needed and some subtle visual effects too, like a little bit of lens flare...

Imagine sitting in a PMDG 747 at a KLAX gate on a rainy night, rain drops on the windows, light refracted/flared by the rain, cockpit subtlety awash with colour from the terminal, lights of other aircraft and ground vehicles etc....

Hopefully in FS2020 airports at night will be visually exciting because in P3D they are really dull! 

[David B 53]

OMG!! Did you see those unrealistic lights on the Air France 340 approach!

I mean, look at how much brighter those lights farther away were compared to the brightness up close. Totally unrealistic. Sure hope MS2020 can get this one right!🙄 Really guys..lit’s a freakin alpha!!!!

This message brought to you by a person who flys for a living, mostly at night.

B737 for last 27 years and counting. A lot of nighttime approaches. 

Oh yeah, believe it or not, you see a lot of shimmering in cities, as alot of trees will periodically block city\ streetlights.

Quite honestly too me, the MS2020 night lighting looks pretty accurate from a visual standpoint. Orbs not withstanding. Also, as to the dark airports... it’s a freakin alpha!!🙄 As too brighter runways, I see this all the time. Particularly when approaching on a sun low hazy day. LAX does this quite often till the sunsets, then they’ll tone down the lights again to typically medium intensity.

I have seen many a sunset as depicted in the initial trailer with the DA twin landing, and sunset reflecting off lower clouds....quite realistic to my visual, and real world experience. Nature can give quite spectacular vistas at times.

One last point......It’s a freakin alpha!!!!👍 

Back to your regularly schedule station.

Best,

David✌️