The lights locally are as unrealistic as ever.

However that is probably beside the point.  Microsoft are going to go with whatever the most people like and to be honest what most people will like is:

• Disneyland fairy tale pretty night lights
• unnaturally choppy seas regardless of wind for good screenshots
• no haze or blur in the distance, for good screenshots
• oversaturated colors - for good screenshots
• unnaturally tall trees in remote areas - for good screenshots

Basically they are going to provide what the consumer wants and given how few people buying MSFS actually fly VFR in real life, what the average MSFS user will want is something that "looks good" not something that looks realistic

Combat sims have always suffered from this, the exaggerated gun flare is based on consumer expectations from movies and gun camera shots (which are much more sensitive to flare) for example rather than what you would see in real life.

Haha yeah those points are all valid and I use some for screenshots.  But the night lighting is still too bright and as discussed stupid in rural areas.

1 hour ago, ryanbatcund said:

Haha yeah those points are all valid and I use some for screenshots.  But the night lighting is still too bright and as discussed stupid in rural areas.

People keep poking this bear and Asobo is going to screw this up again.  What we have now is not perfect but it’s acceptable until a real solution is found.  1.9.3 night lighting was terrible trying to fix what many were complaining about on the forums.  We saw the same issue when they played around with LOD, tree height, and oversized buildings.  We need ATC fixed, water climbing mountains resolved, and the SDK completed so PMDG among others can come on board.  Weather still needs work as well. If something is satisfactory table it and take care of what’s totally broken.  Come back to it later.

Edited December 6, 20205 yr by Dillon

44 minutes ago, Dillon said:

People keep poking this bear and Asobo is going to screw this up again.  What we have now is not perfect but it’s acceptable until a real solution is found.  1.9.3 night lighting was terrible trying to fix what many were complaining about on the forums.  We saw the same issue when they played around with LOD, tree height, and oversized buildings.  We need ATC fixed, water climbing mountains resolved, and the SDK completed so PMDG among others can come on board.  Weather still needs work as well. If something is satisfactory table it and take care of what’s totally broken.  Come back to it later.

I agree with this. 

Looking around at all the incredible addons and mods that have been released, imagine how much better things will be when the SDK is completed and released. 

This line would be funny, if it wasn't so true and sad, lol: "People keep poking this bear and Asobo is going to screw this up again."

I am not an expert, but maybe Asobo is not up to this huge task, and MS should bring in more seasoned FS developers like Dovetail or some old "ACE" team as consultants?

Sure Aboso was able to merge photog (whatever), and update the graphics, but it's Blackshark ai that's providing the building up of scenery, Metroblue adding the weather stuff, Orbx for airports and scenery, another developer adding planes, etc. But maybe they need assist. The last three months they had a HUGE beta period with a LOT of players providing feedback, fixes, suggestions, etc...all free.

I admit sometimes I get frustrated but then when I think about it in the big picture of things (it is only a game - one out of many I own and can play at any time),and I get very happy for what Aboso and MS has given us. It's a WIP, but then other times, I think and blame them for setting up such a high expectation of what we were going to get before release, and they released it months earlier than I and most people thought it would be release. 

If they had called it "early access", a LOT of the grumbling and negative feedback would have been non-existent.

TL:DR...me rambling on about MSFS on a Sunday morning.  

Edited December 6, 20205 yr by SlowFlyer

1 hour ago, SlowFlyer said:

but maybe Asobo is not up to this huge task, and MS should bring in more seasoned FS developers like Dovetail or some old "ACE" team as consultants?

Please don't...

If Asobo can manage to get some key items fixed as planned in their roadmap, and get out a set of stable updates / patches that don't regress the sim from the way it was at release, that should start to intersect with the uplift in 3PD who can really take advantage of the SDK.

Back on-topic, although night lighting in cities still needs some tweaking, some of the background processes for generation are quite sophisticated and will allow for a lot of personal configuration. 

CYVR at dusk on a clear night. And go with the comments about disneyland fairy tale lights and oversaturated colours...

 

Edited December 6, 20205 yr by DylanM

Last dev talk video they mentioned their plans to use population density data to determine the appropriate amount of night lighting for any specific area.  World update 3 I think.

 

2 hours ago, Waldo Pepper said:

Last dev talk video they mentioned their plans to use population density data to determine the appropriate amount of night lighting for any specific area.  World update 3 I think.

 

Brace yourself, here we go again... 🙄

When you guys talk about night lighting, please at least post shots of a TRUE night. Not DAWN, not DUSK, and not when there's a moon shining down on the ground. This will at least highlight the problem that some of us are seeing better. Such as the still overly bright lights in certain areas. When you''re flying during dawn/dusk, there is still the sun at the horizon which isn't representative of what night lighting is. The problem with the lights are much more apparent when it's completely dark without the aid of the sunlight and moonlight getting in the way to hide the problem.

They still need to address the overly huge and blurry light orbs for users running at resolutions higher than 1080p. The problem is more apparent the higher up in resolution you go. The light orb size looks the best at 1080p. But when you go to 4k and above, they start to look like an oversized blurry mess.

Edited December 6, 20205 yr by captain420

3 minutes ago, captain420 said:

When you guys talk about night lighting, please at least post shots of a TRUE night. Not DAWN, not DUSK, and not when there's a moon shining down on the ground. This will at least highlight the problem that some of us are seeing better. Such as the still overly bright lights in certain areas. When you''re flying during dawn/dusk, there is still the sun at the horizon which isn't representative of what night lighting is. The problem with the lights are much more apparent when it's completely dark without the aid of the sunlight and moonlight getting in the way to hide the problem.

Not sure that will help.

My local area at night LOOKS  great - it is just not realistic.  I live in a town of 25000 people, a semi-outback town in the Australian bush, and the surrounds are lit up like it was a suburb of a major city.

Unless the local drug dealers have made enough money to put street lights on the remote forest back tracks giving access to their crops something is amiss.

Edited December 6, 20205 yr by Glenn Fitzpatrick

17 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

The lights locally are as unrealistic as ever.

However that is probably beside the point.  Microsoft are going to go with whatever the most people like and to be honest what most people will like is:

• Disneyland fairy tale pretty night lights
• unnaturally choppy seas regardless of wind for good screenshots
• no haze or blur in the distance, for good screenshots
• oversaturated colors - for good screenshots
• unnaturally tall trees in remote areas - for good screenshots

Basically they are going to provide what the consumer wants and given how few people buying MSFS actually fly VFR in real life, what the average MSFS user will want is something that "looks good" not something that looks realistic

 

I think you have summarised the whole night lighting threads very good in this post. I guess i am a snowflake who prefers pretty over realism.

Maybe there should be a specific question/screenshot voter poll regarding the night lighting issue?

 

 

Edited December 7, 20205 yr by icewater5

17 hours ago, captain420 said:

They still need to address the overly huge and blurry light orbs for users running at resolutions higher than 1080p. The problem is more apparent the higher up in resolution you go. The light orb size looks the best at 1080p. But when you go to 4k and above, they start to look like an oversized blurry mess.

This is a night departure out of CYBL due south. Don't see large light orbs - this is at 4K HDR enabled on an HDR-capable display; 10 bit RGB with full dynamic range.

post a location to compare. 

The new night lighting is fatal....sorry couldn't resist.