Aircraft lights inop for P3D Maule M7 260C paint 1

[garyzink 1]

Maule M7 260C Paint 1, aircraft lights not working as installed in P3D v4.5. I'm surprised that P3Dv5 failed to fix this.

Find your Aircraft.cfg file in your P3d installation directory and open it with text document editor. Scroll to near bottom of file and look for [Lights] which will look like this:

[LIGHTS]
//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=Landing, 6=taxi        
//light.0 = 3,  -1.23, -16.61, 3.08, fx_navred
//light.1 = 3,  -1.23,  16.61, 3.08, fx_navgre
//light.2 = 3, -17.05,   0.00, 4.85, fx_navwhi
//light.3 = 2,  -1.23, -16.61, 3.08, fx_strobe
//light.4 = 2,  -1.23,  16.61, 3.08, fx_strobe
//light.5 = 4,  -2.24,   0.00, 2.20, fx_vclight

The table above was provided by P3D's aircraft.cfg file, version Prepar3D_v4_Professional_4.5.13.32097 and also in V5. Light switches on Saitek switch panel operated properly with programming provided by SpadneXt. However, switches failed to illuminate lights on aircraft because all six lighting lines (above) were commented (with //) and therefore failed to execute. Removed slashes and lights then illuminated with the Saitek panel switches.

I modified the above table in aircraft.cfg with the following table:
[L[LIGHTS]
//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing, 6=taxi           
//  Axis:          Lon      Lat      vert       Measured in feet from aircraft CG. Reset P3D profile after changes.
light.0   = 3,  -1.23, -16.61,  2.60, fx_navred
light.1   = 3,  -1.23,  16.61,  2.60, fx_navgre
light.2   = 3, -17.05,   0.00,  4.85, fx_navwhi
light.3   = 2,   1.50, -11.80,  2.00, fx_strobe      //Left
light.4   = 2,   1.50,  11.80,  2.00, fx_strobe      //Right
light.5   = 4,  -2.24,    0.00,  2.20, fx_vclight      //Cockpit panel
light.6   = 6,   0.00,    0.00,  2.80, fx_taxiBlue
light.7   = 5, 16.00,    0.00, -4.08, fx_landing
light.8   = 1,  -14.50,  0.00,  4.50, fx_beacon    //Upper
light.9   = 1,  -8.00,    0.00, -1.00, fx_beacon    //Lower

The following light circuit codes apply per http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv3/LearningCenter/simobjects/aircraft_configuration_files.html#lights.

Code     Switch
1     Beacon
2     Strobe
3     Navigation or Position
4     Cockpit
5     Landing
6     Taxi
7     Recognition
8     Wing
9     Logo
10     Cabin
11     General
12     Headlight
13     Brake

The first entry of the line (light.0 to light.n) defines which light circuit, or switch, that
the light is connected to (see the code table above). Multiple lights
may be connected to a single switch. The next three entries Longitudinal,
lateral and height, respectively) are the position relative to datum reference point.
The final entry is the special effect file name that is triggered (for example, fx_navred).
These files have .fx extensions and are located in my P3D installation folder:
    H:\P3Dv4.5\Prepar3D_v4_Professional_4.5.13.32097\Effects

Positions of aircraft components are given relative to the datum reference point for the aircraft, in the order: longitudinal, lateral, vertical. The convention for positions is positive equals forward, to the right, and vertically upward. Units are in feet. you may want to tweak the exact position of the red Beacon light since I don't know exactly where the upper and lower lights belong.
The datum reference point itself is specified in the weight_and_balance section of the SDK document.