Landing Lights

[Guest VulcanB2]

OK........ maybe it is me, but the SDKs are useless, and I can't get a landing light to light up the tarmac. I get a point of light pointing straight down (though I think I've corrected this now), but that is it. No beam of light actually lighting anything up!!I've made a small box, called it Landing_Light. I have applied a material to said box called "LIGHT_LAND" and given it "self-illumination" and colored it etc. I expoert ther model, and can't at all get to the options page of MakeMDL from within GMax at all - how do you do this?? I'm convinced the all-important "HasLightMap" is the culprit! I'm tearing my hair out now. In addition to this, I have two other lights, pointing straight down in the center ofg the model (not quite on 0,0,0 co-ordinates), with one light samaller than the other, seemingly eminating from the top of the model, straight down. The smaller light (a taxi light) is located behind a landing light, but these should not be there at all AFAIK, although I am using another model, configured with custom contact points and CoG with the rest of the default Cessna 172 aircraft.cfg file. :-fume :-fume :-bang :-bang :-hang :-hangI've looked at coutless tutorials, tweaks for adjusting landing lights etc., trying to gain any idea as to how to do this, but nothing definitive has appeared, and I'm out of ideas.From an FS2k2 tutorial, it went along the lines of:* Create a smnall box* Name it Landing_Light* Apply a texture LIGHT_LAND* Color it (I added self-illuminate as well)* Set the X axis pointing AWAY from the direction (I'm going to point them all at the ground) BRB* Export as a BGL and select HasLightMap (can't do this!)Am I missing something? I get a point of light, but nothing on the ground to show for it!Best regards,Vulcan.

[Guest iholrf]

Not sure, but is "Show Map in viewport" enabled? I had landing lights not show up in my VC whith that disabled.Other than that, I have a light_land_1 and a light_land_1_1 (up to _4 -two for the exterior and two for the interior) trianglar flat polygon whose properties are backface cull, edges only and show frozen in grey. The material name is light_land and is a standard material with no bitmap with only a bump value of 30.And yes, the SDKs make many frustrating assumptions about prior knowledge. But they do contain a wealth of valuable information. Once you figure out what the heck they are talking about. (and realize that no, they were not on crack when they wrote it even though it may seem that way ;) )CheersShad

[n4gix 4,947]

>* Create a smnall box>* Name it Landing_Light>* Apply a texture LIGHT_LAND>* Color it (I added self-illuminate as well)>* Set the X axis pointing AWAY from the direction (I'm going>to point them all at the ground) BRB>* Export as a BGL and select HasLightMap (can't do this!)>>Am I missing something? I get a point of light, but nothing on>the ground to show for it!Yes, a couple of things. First of all, .BGL files are for scenery, not aircraft models, which use the .MDL compile option.Secondly, the HasLightMap option has nothing to do with landing or taxi lights. If you want to access the MakeMDL options, you can either create a MakeMDL.ini file with your options, or... better still...Send me an email at n4gix@comcast.net and I'll send you my "Plug-n-Play" setup for MiddleMan and ModelCommander. Between them, you can have full access to not only the MakeMDL options, but a whole lot more besides... ;)For Landing Lights:You need TWO POLYGONS that are Linked. Both must be textured and named properly.....light_land <= this is how you "aim" the light!........light_land_01 <= this is the actual lightbeam!I've attached a working example for you to use:

[Guest VulcanB2]

Hi Bill,Thanks! I'd never have found that in a million years! I can't see any mention of it in anything I've read so far. :(I've sent you an e-mail. ;)@Shad: I do read the SDKs, but sometimes they add to the problem I find! :( Not good when you are trying to learn.Best regards,Vulcan.

[n4gix 4,947]

>Thanks! I'd never have found that in a million years! I can't>see any mention of it in anything I've read so far. :(BTW, if you simply keep this .gmax file in your folder, you can Merge it into any a/c you want, and simply clone as many times as needed. There's no point in reinventing the wheel every time you need a landing or taxi light! ;)