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JMEppright

Obstacle Lighting

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Gentlemen,I am seeking the preferred method of placing obstacle lighting with GMAX. I have little difficulty lighting ramps with spot lights and such but am clueless on how to place a steady red light on top of the hangars that has the nice glow of other lights in FS.Is the best way to use a plane with a _LM texture that rotates to viewer? If so, how, in GMAX, does one establish an object that rotates to face viewer? Thanks.


Happy landings,

Mike Eppright (KAAO)

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Guest sapper42

The best way i have found is to use the attachpoint tool for Gmax and add an FX file !Use fx_navred.fx and if its not bright enough, copy and past the same attachpoint several times to get the intensity you want.the SDK has a good tutorial for using the Attachpoint !rgds Jeff

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Jeff,Thanks, I've printed the SDK ref Attachpoint. I Think I've done what it says. Effect still does not display. I've tried much. I create an anchor object, open the Attachpoint menu and name the object and select the effect to replace it with. Export/compile and start FS2004. No effect (red light or anything else I attach to the object)!Any ideas as to where I am going wrong or what step I am leaving out are appreciated. By the way, is there an explanation somewhere or definition of each effect listed?Thanks again for your help. I think we may be on the right track.


Happy landings,

Mike Eppright (KAAO)

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Hi Jeff.First, try to place the object with the attached effect in a different area of the world. Here's why:There is a bug in the way FS9 handles excludes. If you have used a large exclude to get rid of default objects, it will exclude objects in underlying folders... but it will exclude effects in the same folder.This is why Arno and I have been preaching the use of tiny excludes to take out just the refpoint of the underlying objects. Then the chances of the effect being excluded are minimised.This is just a guess, but it could explain why your effects are not visible.Dick

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Dick,Thanks for the suggestion. I have had exclude problems with FS2004 and found that if I put the exlcude files in a separate directory with a lower priority that I get the desired effect. With that possibly flawed logic, I took the known directories that possibly have relevant exclude files and sunk them as low as software would allow, priority wise. No Joy! I'll temporarily rename them and see if that helps.Thanks loads. Sometimes these things are great mysteries.


Happy landings,

Mike Eppright (KAAO)

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OK, I completely removed all excludes from the area and effect does appear so its back to the drawing board on excludes! Now that I can place an effect, how do I make it bigger or brighter? I used the fx_navred.fx for an obstacle light but it is not nearly large enough or bright enough. It should show up for at least a mile. Any suggestions? Is there a different light that would do better? Thanks.


Happy landings,

Mike Eppright (KAAO)

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Hi Jeff.Without making a new effect, you can simply add more. The brightness of effects is additive... the moe you add the brighter they become.Dick

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Guest sapper42

Gday Dick, thanks for the response but you actually need to direct it to Mike .rgds Jeff :)

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Dick,I'm not sure I need a brighter light just larger. Its so small that as you back off a few meters/yards it is just a insignificant dot.I am looking for a light that will show up, up to a mile away. I've been reading the Effects SDK but have not found what parameter might do this for me. Do I need to create an object instead of an effect that then rotates towards viewer? I don't yet know how to code the rotate to viewer either. So much to learn in so little time.


Happy landings,

Mike Eppright (KAAO)

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Hi Jeff.Sorry about the name confusion.Mike....If you add more light effects, the lights will be brighter, and will be seen from a greater distance.Dick

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Guest sapper42

Gday Dick, no worries mate, just dont call me Shirley !Mike, have you created the object yourself in Gmax ? if so, just duplicate ( clone ) the attachpoint object about 6 times and it should work.rgds Jeff

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Thanks, Jeff. I did that and it is, more or less, what I needed. It still seems cumbersome at best, but it works.New problem: For some reason, when I attempt to create any light object such as target spot or any similar GMAX lights, nothing happens. I create the object in GMAX and do everything I do for other objects but no lighting when I compile and go to FS2004.Thanks for the suggestions.


Happy landings,

Mike Eppright (KAAO)

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