3D Landing Lights?

[Guest UlfB]

>Maybe I'm not very perceptive but what's so strange in that>picture? >The landing lights on the left wing shouldn't be visibible in daytime because the sunlight is so much brighter. Would you be able to see if the head lights of a car is on or of if you stand behind the car and the sun is shining? I would be strange if you could.Ulf B

[n4gix 4,947]

I've experimented with this type of nested emitters in an .fx file myself, and while it does look very nice at night from spot view, it totally destroys my ability to actually see clearly from the pilot's seat. I cannot see the ground at all; I can only see the intense "cone of light" that obstructs the view...I'll keep on experimenting though... ;)

[ryanbatc 12,857]

Yeah they look cool, but not realistic...imho...at least on airliners I've seen approaching at night.And 10 bucks for an .fx file..... uuugh

[virtualstuff 758]

>Yeah they look cool, but not realistic...imho...at least on>airliners I've seen approaching at night.>>And 10 bucks for an .fx file..... uuugh>>Man where is the time of freeware an FX file for... :-xxrotflmaoAndr

[ryanbatc 12,857]

?

[virtualstuff 758]

>?Maybe I explained it well enough but I think we have the same opinion, apology for the confusion...Cheers,Andr

[moggel 0]

>The landing lights on the left wing shouldn't be visibible in>daytime because the sunlight is so much brighter. Would you be>able to see if the head lights of a car is on or of if you>stand behind the car and the sun is shining? I would be>strange if you could.See your point but, given there's some moist in the air, the cone could still be visible from behind like in that picture. Also, while you're probably right about the car comparison, that hardly hold for an airliner who's landing lights are MUCH stronger than the headlights of a car. They can be almost blinding in broad daylight.Also, if you feel the package should take environmental factors, like the direction of the sun visavi the view point etc, into consideration there's alot to point out in the sim itself.

[ryanbatc 12,857]

ok the sentence was confusing.... to me... ok got it thanks :)

[David Roch 1,982]

Next will be "CumuluX 3D": one cloud for 12 bucks, then "Super BumpX Gold": one bump sound for 14$, followed by "RunwayX 4D" (yes you will be able to look beneath the runway) at the incredible price (until Sept30th only) of 15 bucks (the meter square of course).I am looking forward to purchasing "Ocean height BMPX Platinium", "The" wave, but I am saving money right now, 330$ is a little bit expensive for me.*:-* C'mon guys, let's be serious...Shockwave should have offered its (nice though) file for free to advertize their company or at least sale it with an automatic smart installer for every aircraft (stock and others) but as such, IMHO, it is a real nonsense when we see all the fantastic work offered everyday in the Library.Very disappointing policy that opens the door to all kinds of excesses.Just my 2 cents.

[Guest BlueRidgeDx]

I think he's talking about the LDIN lights... The curved SFL's, not the green centerline lights.And for the record, I've been missing them as well...Regards,Nick

[moggel 0]

Your 2 cents makes sence for sure! Considering stuff like iFly 747-400, with three years in the making, are offered for free, it does seem a bit much to charge for an effect.Btw, I noticed the 3D lights only work with the stock aircrafts so I thought I should apply the same effect to my 3D party ones, such as Ultimate Traffic AI planes. Can anyone give me the short story on how to add the correct info into the aircraft.cfg files?I discovered that the 3D lights are referred to like so:"light.6 = 5, -2.0, -9.2, 2.5, fx_Shockwave_landing_light"The above is from the C172's aircraft.cfg file but when I then checked the original file I was surprised I didn't find the same line looking like this:"light.6 = 5, -2.0, -9.2, 2.5, fx_landing"There is a "fx_landing.fx" file in the "effects" folder and I assumed it was the one producing the landing lights effect.As it seems, there's actually nothing in the "aircraft.cfg" file declaring the landing lights. Does anyone know where that info is? Just editing each aircraft.cfg file manually, trying to get the numbers right, just isn't a feasible maneuvre.Cheers/Jonas

[tf51d 284]

If the landing lights are defined in the aircraft.cfg file, it's just a matter of replacing the FX file with the Shockwave FX file. If however it's built into the model itself, which unfortunately most are these days, then you need to add those entries and set the coordinates to mask the actual ones by trial and error. I've done this with a couple of mine but it is time consuming! That is the biggest issue with this addon. It's not Shockwaves fault, it's just the nature of the beast! They have no way of automatically determining where the headlights should go, so that leaves it up to the user to implement them. On their message board they are keeping a thread open for posts to share this information as they implement this on their aircraft.

[moggel 0]

I was afraid of that. Ah well, better get at it I guess...Thanks/Jonas

[n4gix 4,947]

>If the landing lights are defined in the aircraft.cfg file,>it's just a matter of replacing the FX file with the Shockwave>FX file. If however it's built into the model itself, which>unfortunately most are these days, then you need to add those>entries and set the coordinates to mask the actual ones by>trial and error.Tom, don't confuse .fx with the "ground splashes" that are produced by the built-in landing and taxi light polygons!As it happens, landing/taxi light "ground splashes" MUST be "built into the model itself," otherwise there won't BE any at all. That is why there were no "landing/taxi lights" until SP1 was released; the internal code of FSX was "broken" quite literally at the last minute... *:-* The "light" type .fx files define "emitters" that fire "particle streams" which may be omnidirectional (i.e., a "ball of light") or directional (i.e., a "cone of light." The Shockwave .fx file uses multiple particle emitters to generate both types. There are multiple "balls of light" that are of increasingly larger radius, along with gradual changes in color/intensity.There are also multiple particle emitters that create a "cone of light," again with gradual increases in size, and to which a slow "spin" has been coded. Every other particle stream rotates in the opposite direction.Taken individually, none of these particle emitters are interesting, but when combined the way Shockwave has done they produce a nice, blended effect.The "default" FSX "fx_landing.fx" file is used by the LIGHT_LAND polygons in the model to draw the ground splash. Using it in the aircraft.cfg file has no real benefit. One can use an .fx file that defines a "ball of light" however to simulate the "glow" produced around a sealed-beam or halogen lamp if one wishes. ;)

[paulyg123 135]

Yes, I was talking about the curved lead in lights to VOR 13L/R near the Belt Pkwy in JFK. Can someone add them in?