They were brighter and easier to view and worked ok for me in other sims but not in MSFS 2024. I'm told they are now not as bright but more realistic in MSFS 2024, but I'd like them to be less realistic and brighter while I practice how to properly land a plane. Is there an app or mod available for PAPI lights? Are PAPI/VASI lights adjustable in MSFS 2024? Mine seem too dim.

I wonder who told you they were more realistic in MSFS 2024. Plenty of YouTube videos out there that show the opposite. I'm not a RL pilot so can't say for sure, but Google says:

"These lights are visible from about 5 miles during the day and up to 20 miles at night. The visual glide path of the PAPI typically provides safe obstruction clearance within plus or minus 10 degrees of the extended runway centerline and to 3.4 NM from the runway threshold."

I hope a RL pilot could give us a definitive answer.

There's this, but it's hard to tell how much difference the mode makes:
https://msfsmarket.place/world/flyt-misc-runway-lights/

15 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

I wonder who told you they were more realistic in MSFS 2024. Plenty of YouTube videos out there that show the opposite

See link below:

 

 

15 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

There's this, but it's hard to tell how much difference the mode makes:
https://msfsmarket.place/world/flyt-misc-runway-lights/

Thanks for this. I'll try it out.

---
I asked AI also and it replied below but I'm not sure if these are just AI --to borrow an AI term-- "hallucinations":
 

🛫 Why MSFS PAPIs look dimmer than P3D

1. Different lighting engines

• P3D uses legacy FSX‑style light sprites with aggressive bloom.

  • Result: PAPIs appear bright, large, and visible from miles away even in daylight.

• MSFS uses a physically‑based lighting engine with:

  • Tighter beam geometry

  • Realistic photometric intensity

  • Less bloom and less “glow” outside the intended viewing cone

This makes PAPIs look correct from the right angle but much dimmer when off‑axis or far away.

 

2. MSFS narrows the “usable cone”
Real PAPIs are designed to be visible only within a specific vertical and horizontal window. MSFS simulates this more strictly than P3D.

So:

• Slightly high? They fade.

• Slightly low? They fade.

• Farther than ~3–5 NM? They fade.

P3D, by contrast, shows them like giant red/white headlights from 10+ NM.

 

Brighter?  Heck no we need them dimmer.  They're way too bright in the day.  They are nuclear at night lol.

The real problem is the sim needs Pilot Controlled Lighting along with variable-step lighting.  Most airports have 2-5 steps of incremental airfield lighting (taxiway lights usually have OFF/low/high).  Those AI answers are way off.  MSFS PAPI's bloom to kingdom come.  It's super annoying.  In fact they really need to just allow us to completely disable bloom.  It's not too bad during the day but it's still making everything from skies, to runways too bright at night.

They’re pretty bright IRL at night.  
 

Hilariously, most of them at the airports I fly to IRL are NOTAM’d U/S and set up wrong, so they give you word not allowed guidance.  Most of my landing briefings include “just remember the PAPIs are wrong, so ignore them…”

This is CYIO at 2 pm local in January (this is on slope)

 

Edited April 6Apr 6 by ATRguy

Beautiful shot!

Edited April 7Apr 7 by regis9

9 minutes ago, regis9 said:

Beautiful shot!

Thanks!  It’s probably one of the prettiest parts of the world you could ever go. 

11 minutes ago, ATRguy said:

Thanks!  It’s probably one of the prettiest parts of the world you could ever go.

Other opinions on what constitutes 'pretty' are available, lol.😃

18 minutes ago, DD_Arthur said:

Other opinions on what constitutes 'pretty' are available, lol.😃

Haha well c’mon…

I’ve never been to any our northern territories before, but would certainly like to one day.  It’s a different kind of pretty from a tropical beach for sure, but pretty nonetheless.

As a RW pilot, I can categorically state that the PAPI lights in MSFS are definitely not as bright or visible as they are in the real world.

Maybe there could be something in the graphics settings that would make them more visible, but I am yet to find it.

Edited April 7Apr 7 by cianpars

14 hours ago, ryanbatc said:

Brighter?  Heck no we need them dimmer.  They're way too bright in the day.  They are nuclear at night lol.

 

1 minute ago, cianpars said:

As a RW pilot, I can categorically state that the PAPI lights in MSFS are definitely not as bright or visible as they are in the real world. 

So we have the opinion of two real world pilots....this isn't helping us amateur pixel pilots....

As a real VFR pilot, I have always think that PAPI/VASI are way to bright and need to get dimmed!

Edited April 7Apr 7 by vbazillio

The runway lights stick out like sore thumb at night in fs2024. You can make out airports too easily from a relatively low altitude and much farther away than IRL.

Edited April 7Apr 7 by hangar

1 hour ago, DD_Arthur said:

 

So we have the opinion of two real world pilots....this isn't helping us amateur pixel pilots....

It must be a setting with DLSS vs TAA or something.  Because in real.life there are different brightness settings for all airfield lighting.  Its possible one rw pilot has been blinded by them at night vs a lower setting or vice versa.

But in my copy of 2024 everything is still way too bright for real world nighttime settings.  In real life it's very difficult to make out even large airports unless you're lined up with the runway.  Even then it can be difficult to see unless you're a few miles out.

In fact, what I do irl is to look for a blank space, that's usually where an airport will be surrounded by city lights.  You might see the green and white beacon 5-10 miles out though.