Is the Flashlight app still needed in P3D V5?

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

Hello @ll,

P3D V5 now has a flashlight built in

Quote

Using the Mouse as a Flashlight

The mouse can additionally be used as a flashlight inside the virtual cockpit. When the flashlight is active, it will follow the mouse cursor and camera position. The flashlight can be toggled on and off using the "\" key. This can be reassigned in the Controls settings by changing the Flashlight Toggle key event.

Did anybody try it? 

I am currently debating if I should update the Lorby Flashlight for V5 or just leave it be...

Best regards

[Chock 17,769]

I've tried the one in P3D v5. It works, but frankly if I bought a flashlight which was that dim and narrow in focus, I'd want my money back lol! To me, the built-in one in 5 looks more like the kind of vaguely 'better than nothing' light you'd get from using a Zippo to see stuff, but then again, they may tweak it at some point so it becomes more usable.

In real life I carry two small but very bright L.E.D. flashlights in my high vis pockets when working on aeroplanes, since I don't want to be out there and find one has conked out.They are not as good as if you take the red conical bit off the marshaling wands we have, which turns them into a really bright torch, but in the absence of those, they are are useful for when doing walkarounds and reading paperwork, so it's definitely something useful in the real world.

If you can make your flashlight for 5 more like the kind of useful ones I have in real life, i.e. illuminating things well enough to be useful, then I'd certainly use it, because the one in v5 at the moment appears to need some better batteries in it! 🤣

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

2 minutes ago, Chock said:

If you can make your flashlight for 5 more like the kind of useful ones I have in real life, i.e. illuminating things well enough to be useful,

Hello Alan,

did you use the V4 version of the Lorby Flashlight? Was it good enough to be useful? V5 has new parameters for dynamic lights, so I need to adapt it anyway.

Best regards

[Chock 17,769]

Just now, Lorby_SI said:

Hello Alan,

did you use the V4 version of the Lorby Flashlight? Was it good enough to be useful? V5 has new parameters for dynamic lights, so I need to adapt it anyway.

Best regards

Nope, I did not use yours, what I tended to do in v4 was use the time preview slider as an impromptu flashlight. What is useful in v5 is that it has new 'lumens' parameters for development, which means settings can relate to the real world. Because of this, I'd be inclined to go on ebay or whatever and type in 'bright flashlight' to find the lumens rating of one of those. You could then use that as a guide for creating on in the sim using that lumens parameter, but in addition to that, the one in v5 needs a wider radius of light, because I find its 'beam' behaves more like a tiny spotlight than a flashlight which throws light about all over the place as well as having a beam effect.

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

11 minutes ago, Chock said:

Nope, I did not use yours,

Too bad, I was hoping for a comparison with the native flashlight. If the native one is good enough now, I can save me the trouble of making a V5 version.

The two new parameters are there, not sure if they have something to do with lumens though. They are not described in the specification, so I have no concrete idea what values to set for them. I was using gut feeling for those DL effects that I have in other apps that have already been converted.

Best regards

[Chock 17,769]

Well in all honesty, you know more about this kind of stuff than me, I've just seen that a lumens parameter has been added to v5 and figured it might be of assistance in creating something with a believable intensity and falloff.

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

Never mind, I tried it myself and decided to update the LorbyFlashlight.

I set the new parameters by gut feeling, and they seem to work OK for me. But as before, you can alter the dynamic lights effects yourself, should you prefer a different look.

Lorby Flashlight has spot and wide angle lights, in four different colors, that work in the aircraft and with the Avatar.

The app is still freeware, available on the Lorby-SI website.

Best regards

[bbuckley 133]

I'm still on v4.5 but I have your flashlight set up to autoload through FSUIPC and I use it in the flood mode EVERY night flight for EVERY airplane. For me it's an awesome simulation of a red flood light on the panel to allow me to see the panel for start. I would really miss that in v5.

Thanks!

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

21 minutes ago, bbuckley said:

set up to autoload through FSUIPC

That should be unnecessary. The flashlight app is supposed to start with your sim on it's own, the add-on.xml should see to that - if you install the P3D V4 version.

Best regards

[bbuckley 133]

Changed it, thanks.