Moon brightness

[mobiel 74]

Hello guys,

is there any tweak to reduce the brightness of the moon? In V5 the moon illuminates the aircraft a lot so the night is not very dark.

Are anyone using HDR?

[Farlis 2,299]

The night is not very dark when the moon is out.

Just sayin...

[pinepix62 64]

Can confirm, the brightness depends on the phase of the moon.

[mobiel 74]

Yes of course, but irl i never mentioned such a bright night during half moon

[mobiel 74]

Look at this (EA on HF1) this is with half moon today. It is definitely too bright

[B777ER 2,492]

NVM. User error.

Edited November 28, 2020 by B777ER

[LiamNCL 1]

The moon is illuminating the ground at night way too much in the latest HF

[aiRoNe_fx 0]

i have edited shaders_hlsl manually to completely rid off any kind of moon contribution and i`am pretty satisfied with the result. here you can see all the differences i have made (use winmerge to sort it out) https://yadi.sk/d/S5zRCvbTrorHew

Edited February 28, 2021 by aiRoNe_fx

[Pilot53 544]

3 hours ago, aiRoNe_fx said:

i have edited shaders_hlsl manually to completely rid off any kind of moon contribution and i`am pretty satisfied with the result. here you can see all the differences i have made (use winmerge to sort it out) https://yadi.sk/d/S5zRCvbTrorHew

awsome, but it doesnt seem to work with truesky on.  I guess its a different set of shaders.

 

EDIT: It might be because I forgot to clear shaders.  You are the hero I was looking for today.

Edited February 28, 2021 by Pilot53

[GSalden 4,689]

True Sky has its own sky, clouds, sun and moon which cannot be changed by modifying the P3D shaders.

Edited February 28, 2021 by GSalden

[Pilot53 544]

I figured it out, by looking at the files modified by @aiRoNe_fx I was able to lower the influence of the moon on overall lighting in the sim, with truesky enabled.  This way you still get some light from the moon from different phases, but a realistic amount.  Clear your shaders or it won't work.

The first file you need to mod is FuncLibrary.fxh, this one controls the VC lighting and building textures, runways, etc.

Find this code:

#if defined(SHD_VERTICAL_NORMAL)
    const float fDotSun = max(cb_mSun.mDirection.y, 0);
    const float fDotMoon = max(cb_mMoon.mDirection.y, 0);
#else
    const float fDotSun = saturate(dot(vNormalWS, normalize(cb_mSun.mDirection)));
    const float fDotMoon = saturate(dot(vNormalWS, normalize(cb_mMoon.mDirection)));
#endif

    float3 diffuseLighting = (shadowContrib * (cb_mSun.mDiffuse.xyz * fDotSun)) + 
                             (shadowContrib * (cb_mMoon.mDiffuse.xyz * fDotMoon));

    return diffuseLighting + cb_mCombinedAmbient.rgb;

Replace it with this:

#if defined(SHD_VERTICAL_NORMAL)
    const float fDotSun = max(cb_mSun.mDirection.y, 0);
    const float fDotMoon = max((cb_mMoon.mDirection.y * 0.1), 0);
#else
    const float fDotSun = saturate(dot(vNormalWS, normalize(cb_mSun.mDirection)));
    const float fDotMoon = saturate(dot(vNormalWS, normalize(cb_mMoon.mDirection * 0.1)));
#endif

    float3 diffuseLighting = (shadowContrib * (cb_mSun.mDiffuse.xyz * fDotSun)) + 
                             (shadowContrib * (cb_mMoon.mDiffuse.xyz * 0.1 * fDotMoon));

    return diffuseLighting + cb_mCombinedAmbient.rgb;

 

The second file is PBRBase.fx, this one seems to control the lighting on the outside of the aircraft.

Find this code:

float3 moonContrib = DirectionalLightingPBR(cb_mMoon, pbrValues);

Replace it with this code:

float3 moonContrib = DirectionalLightingPBR(cb_mMoon, pbrValues) * 0.1;

The last file is Terrain.fx, this controls the terrain brightness

Find this code:

float3 sunContrib = DirectionalLightingPBR(cb_mSun, pbrValues);
    float3 moonContrib = DirectionalLightingPBR(cb_mMoon, pbrValues);
    
    color.rgb = (sunContrib + moonContrib)* shadowContrib;

Replace it with this:

float3 sunContrib = DirectionalLightingPBR(cb_mSun, pbrValues);
    float3 moonContrib = DirectionalLightingPBR(cb_mMoon, pbrValues) * 0.1;
    
    color.rgb = (sunContrib + moonContrib)* shadowContrib;

 

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As you can see its quite simple, we are just adding a multiplier, play with it to suit your tastes. I think this covers all of the scenery and objects, let me know if I missed anything.  Remember to clear your shader cache or the tweaks will not show up.    

 

[aiRoNe_fx 0]

16 hours ago, GSalden said:

True Sky has its own sky, clouds, sun and moon which cannot be changed by modifying the P3D shaders.

faulted 😄

[GSalden 4,689]

33 minutes ago, aiRoNe_fx said:

faulted 😄

You cannot change the way sun, moon and clouds look with EA on. 

You can change the amount of overall brightness on the ground/objects, like saturation and shadows.

Hopefully v5.1 will have  EA improved ....

Edited March 1, 2021 by GSalden

[mpo910 2,112]

4 hours ago, GSalden said:

You cannot change the way sun, moon and clouds look with EA on. 

You can change the amount of overall brightness on the ground/objects, like saturation and shadows.

Hopefully v5.1 will have  EA improved ....

You mean 5.2 Gerard.... :-) 😉

[GSalden 4,689]

3 minutes ago, mpo910 said:

You mean 5.2 Gerard.... 🙂😉

Yep, you’re right Marcus 🤤