Airport / rw lighting - still overdone ?

[jcomm 5,939]

One of the features I find less realistic in MFS, just as I found in previous versions of the MS sims / P3D are the overdone airport and runway lights, that make it uber simple to find a runway at dusk/night/dawn among dense urban areas.

IRL I have found myself lost, if it wasn't for the ND... In MFS / P3D and now FS2020 too, it's difficult to fail to glimpse it...

[RaptyrOne 1,413]

Agree, airports don’t stand out the way they do in the sim at night IRL. Even during the day they can stand out a bit too easily. It might just be me but I still think night lighting was a lot better right at sim launch or and update or two later. Since then it has become less convincing.

[Flic1 977]

Agreed, they are way too bright! Airports at night IRL can be VERY hard to see and find just like OP says.  Shortly after getting my PPL, I found myself 'lost' trying to do a touch and go at night at a large Class B airport in a C-152.  Not only that, I had grown up not far form the airport and knew the area extremely well!  I was only a couple miles away on a downwind leg and could not make out the airport at all in the sea of other lights below.  They ended up turning up the runways to high intensity and I finally spotted it. As I learned, sometimes you have to look for the dark areas when flying into some airports at night especially in the urban areas.

Edited September 8, 2021 by Flic1

[captain420 3,099]

They need to fix the overall individual light orbs in general. They look a bit big and blurry at higher resolutions, especially in 4k. What I miss in X-Plane was the light orbs. The size was just right and they look much crisp. Especially the airport runway, taxiway, apron lightings.

 

[HiFlyer 9,360]

1 hour ago, RaptyrOne said:

Since then it has become less convincing.

To me, this goes under people get what they wish for, since many whined bitterly about the previous lighting.... Right up until it was changed accordingly.

Now people are going the other way, which brings up the old saying about the impossibility of pleasing everyone......

[pilatuz 141]

9 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

To me, this goes under people get what they wish for, since many whined bitterly about the previous lighting.... Right up until it was changed accordingly.

Now people are going the other way, which brings up the old saying about the impossibility of pleasing everyone......

Yeah and it's always great to complain about complaining, when you could just not post a complaint which is definitely harder for some to do eh?

[HiFlyer 9,360]

2 minutes ago, pilatuz said:

Yeah and it's always great to complain about complaining, when you could just not post a complaint which is definitely harder for some to do eh?

Well yes, it does seem you have a complaint about my observation. Physician, heal thyself?

Edited September 8, 2021 by HiFlyer

[Car147 2,279]

13 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

To me, this goes under people get what they wish for, since many whined bitterly about the previous lighting.... Right up until it was changed accordingly.

Now people are going the other way, which brings up the old saying about the impossibility of pleasing everyone......

Exactly this, a change gets done, whine, whine , whine another change, Then complaints and whine, whine whine. until you get to the point your just going round in circles. I think there are far more issues from day 1 that need fixing before this constant whine about lighting on runways.

[ADamiani 470]

17 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Well yes, it does seem you have a complaint about my observation. Physician, heal thyself?

This ... let's call it "metawhining" does not start by itself.

Someone starts it. Every single time.

Plus, I really think we should avoid that and other verbs, like "moaning" for instance. Maybe I am overreacting  because English is not my first language, although in the family where I learned this language, in the 80's in Western Australia, "moaning" and "whining" were considered typical of kids, and for this reason totally disrespectful of grown up people.

A.

[HiFlyer 9,360]

1 minute ago, ADamiani said:

and for this reason totally disrespectful of grown up people.

My observation is that grownups are worse than any kid could possibly be, since we supposedly know better, and do it anyway.

That being said, I see less and less reason to hide my feelings on any particular subject when it seems pretty much everyone else has staked out the right to opine at will with little discernible restraint (Often in capital letters)

[sd_flyer 6,044]

Yes seems in MSFS just like in XP11 runway lights can be seen from far distances and relatively high altitudes. I assume it's graphic limitations

Assuming night VFR fist thing one picks up is rotation beacon. Then three to one miles runway edge light or approach lights. Taxiway light usually seen when airplane is already landed 

[rtodepart 761]

I had mentioned this lighting situation in other forums . papi ,approach and the others are not as bright IRL . one feature i really wish we had was the ability to control lighting with the radio like IRL in some airports . 

[Bobsk8 12,735]

I hated flying at night in real life. Airports were really difficult to find, which I never was comfortable with. Many times you would just have to look for a large patch of dark and hope that was where the airport was. Bright lights in MSFS don't bother me at all. 

[ADamiani 470]

1 hour ago, HiFlyer said:

My observation is that grownups are worse than any kid could possibly be, since we supposedly know better, and do it anyway.

That being said, I see less and less reason to hide my feelings on any particular subject when it seems pretty much everyone else has staked out the right to opine at will with little discernible restraint (Often in capital letters)

Except that is your judgment. You say that we do it. But it is also possible that different people have different priorities. And we should be respectful of other people's priorities, opinions, views.

Not always having a different opinion is the same as being childish. Saying that those who don't share your views are childish sounds like an attempt at disqualifying and silencing them. I believe that allowing others to express their thoughts, beliefs, priorities is important, especially when those ideas differ from mine. I believe that the best part of our civilization comes from that simple idea. 

A.

[HiFlyer 9,360]

52 minutes ago, ADamiani said:

Except that is your judgment.

And by your own argument, I have a perfect right to it.

53 minutes ago, ADamiani said:

You say that we do it. But it is also possible that different people have different priorities.

Yes. And mine is different, and has just as much right to be expressed. See above.

53 minutes ago, ADamiani said:

And we should be respectful of other people's priorities, opinions, views.

So..... be respectful of mine.

54 minutes ago, ADamiani said:

Not always having a different opinion is the same as being childish.

And I never said it was. In fact this is a straw man, as what I actually said is that adults are worse than children. If I had said people were childish, well, that would be an insult to children.

56 minutes ago, ADamiani said:

Saying that those who don't share your views are childish sounds like an attempt at disqualifying and silencing them. I believe that allowing others to express their thoughts, beliefs, priorities is important, especially when those ideas differ from mine. I believe that the best part of our civilization comes from that simple idea.

So moving past the point you are making about something I never said, I would go on to ask you the same question I asked you before in another thread. Given you have such strong beliefs in free expression, why are you here critiquing mine? Could you be trying to silence expression and speech different from your own? 🤔

It seems a paradox.