In XP12 you may occasionally find these strange cataract lights.

The source of the issue is a 2D texture.
XP12 uses some 2D textures from XP11, including the "1000_lights_close.png" texture.
I'll show you a comparison of this texture of XP12 and XP11.

I'm sure you've seen where the problem is. 
In the XP12 texture has been changed: the designers have inserted a ugly "cataract reflection" that did not exist in XP11. 

Fixing the problem is very easy, just replace the texture "1000_lights_close.png".

Click on the texture below ⏬ with the right mouse button... choose "save image as"... and copy it into the Lites folder overwriting the default XP12 texture.
(you find it in the path: "Xplane12 / Resources / Bitmaps / World / Lites" ).

Oh yeah I've seen that a few places. Thanks. 

I've been using this "solution" for a long time to get rid of those hideous glowing halos whenever I started testing XP12.
Unfortunately, however, this solution also limits the overall effect of the lights/illumination in XP12
When you use the "1000_lights_close.png" file from XP11 in XP12, you lose other lighting elements in XP12 - e.g. street lights, building lights are too dark:

"solution":

https://mega.nz/file/k35kFJTD#6xYl2Io5uL3rtO6CXOGsVJvb4-pCeW6uUMg_s0xf3_U

default XP12:

https://mega.nz/file/p3Zi1JJT#5bokMHo0cibI-w6uiuKBdNNejuyobbH6duSS598gTnc

"solution":

https://mega.nz/file/w6xAVKIa#7qVs_F1iE-cwRGLGTP5KRmpMzMnoLr8eXg8jgeF8mt8

default XP12:

https://mega.nz/file/Ey42yDxD#8VUIIKlIRf3CfUsgozhSpqVurbKDqqbcasrDHUTHIr4

 

In the above screenshots it is not so visible, but during night flights on a large monitor the difference is significant, and in VR it is very significant 😉 

Generally, I returned to the default "1000_lights_close" file from XP12, and if now I see lights with these unnatural halos anywhere, they are 99.9% caused by objects used in sceneries from XP11.

So, actually, currently I personally prefer to stay with the original "1000_lights_close", and if these halos still appear anywhere - I simply edit the specific scenery in WED (it takes a few minutes) or I give up on such a scenery (if it was created for XP11).

 

 

 

 

 

there is also

https://x-plane.to/file/769/rxp-xp12-enhancer

but i really think the OP is worth a bug report, default XP12 shouldn't be worse than default XP11.

Bulva, look carefully at the comparison between the two textures Xp12 and Xp11. 🙂
In the circled area you can see where the significant difference is.
Those three reflections constitute the least pleasant part of XP12, decidedly exaggerated and unrealistic.

But apart from that, take a good look at all the rest of the lights! ⬆️
The "1000_lights_close.png" texture that I inserted in the topic has all the lights slightly brighter than the XP12 default texture, so it is not possible that the Xp12 lights become "less bright" after replacing the default Xp12 texture with this ⬇️ 😉

There is one more strange thing. 😉 
The image of my "1000-lights-close" file in XP11 looks different than yours.
I just updated XP11 and mine looks like this:

 

https://mega.nz/file/YnxRDTAD#z0MwGv7lL-JoITqwquk4v6V24HL-mgbFDFIhM5fsu-E

 

Edited November 7, 20232 yr by Bulva

@Bulva That looks like my default old XP12 lights.The gargantuan star is the giveaway. I kept a copy since long ago and keep replacing the cataract file every update.

So you are using XP11 or XP12 here? The cataract lights appeared in about Beta 12.03 IIRC.

To be more precisely 😉 : 

My default "1000-lights-close" file from XP12 looks like @efis007 's file
I downloaded/copied the file proposed by @efis007 from this thread and replaced it in XP12 (I also updated XP11, where another "1000-lights-close" file appeared).

I made another comparison, and although I don't understand it, I still have "better" street lighting with the default "1000_lights_close" file from XP12 - here are two screenshots side by side:

https://mega.nz/file/lqBnwbST#wkQzSirxN-G5WrNTmgD8t_VjZhWwNTla-St-KVPNxWk

Weird ...

 

 

PS how can I post photos without links on this forum? 😉 

 

Edited November 7, 20232 yr by Bulva

12 hours ago, Bulva said:

There is one more strange thing. 😉 
The image of my "1000-lights-close" file in XP11 looks different than yours.

Yes friend 🙂, my texture is not the default XP11 one, I had already modified it some time ago to give more realism to XP11, I didn't like those giant reflections on the street and airport lamps, so I edited the texture with Photoshop.

Now everything is clear. Thank you very much. 😉

 

...only the darker street lighting is puzzling in my case 😂 .

 

[EDIT]

@efis007

 

The mystery of darker street lamps solved. 😉 

I specially colored one of the types of lighting you changed (the middle one) in bright green:

https://mega.nz/file/QuYgARzB#0iMF9WN814FRlFECwE7kzVg0z1tRpjL-By06nero-gk

https://mega.nz/file/oihAnBIY#dnXOCQP1TDDx7bJ9VHUjC1JbS1pQHpm7xJ7hj8FzHmo

And all the street lights turned green.
Conclusion: When you reduced the halos in this particular type of lighting, it made the lantern lights dimmer.
 

Edited November 8, 20232 yr by Bulva

@Bulva Try this one, I modified it to give you a little more light on the street lamps. 🙂

@efis007

Oh, thank You very much 😉 

Of course I will use this solution 😉

---

PS. now the small orange light has also gotten bigger (fourth from the bottom and fifth from the left) - probably unintentionally 😉 

PS. I'm sorry, how do you post screenshots on this forum??? (I do it everywhere else without a problem) 😬

Edited November 8, 20232 yr by Bulva