Too many lights at night!

[Guest]

Most of the time I fly large jets at 35000 feet and, on the whole, at that height the default FS2002 scenery is acceptable. However I have recently come across one significant deficiency when flying at night. Australia is by and large sparsely populated yet when flying across inland NSW at night there is so much town/city lighting that from a distance it seems like one vast metropolitan area, particularly if you have installed the replacement textures that make cities whiter and brighter at night. The only parts without lights are the few forested areas. This wasn't an issue with FS2000 so something has changed about the way textures are rendered at night in FS2002.This is just so unrealistic that I am hoping someone has come up with a fix, any ideas, assistance appreciated.BruceWTB

[michal 44]

>particularly if you have installed the replacement textures >that make cities whiter and brighter at night. I don't use these add-ons - consider them overdone.But I agree about the amount of lights, often there are too many. I just came across this obvious bug, I believe I am the first person to report it. Take for example KDTW or KSTL airports - 2 best examples I found. Their runways sit on a vast grassy field but at dusk/dawn there are street lights on this field. Yet a bit later, when sun finally sets completely and we move into "official" night - those lights disappear. Weird. You may want to check whether you see those lights over Australia during dusk/dawn only.Michael J.

[Guest]

I disagree! I think the default night lights are way too dark! On approach to real airports some of the lights are very bright, and all are brighter than the default ones. Now, when I do the same approach in FS2002, I can barely see that I'm flying in a built up area, even with the monitor brightness at near max! Sure, the add on lights have down sides, but 90% of the time they are much better :)

[michal 44]

My problem with add-on lights is not the brightness level but the fact they completely loose the 'point-based' effect. They primarily look like well lit areas with no individual lights to be seen. This does not sit well with my flying experience where what I see first are the strong sources of light followed by whatever light is bounced off the ground. FLYII's night lights are the best around. Just an example below (look at it at night)Michael J.

[Guest]

No, the lights in rural areas are still there even when official night takes over - I guess they are supposed to represent the occasional farm house but there are just far too many. I'm inclined to agree with your observations regarding the white light cities - nice and bright but lack realism. Unfortunately others I have seen are just a bit too dim and too yellow but at least with these you can reduce excessive lighting in rural areas by lowering monitor brightness. I think I only noticed the rural lights problem when I switched to the white city lighting.What is needed are night rural textures that don't have a point of light on every square as is the case with FS2000.BruceWTB

[Guest]

In my opinion by far the best night lighting is to be found in textures created for FS2000, but which - surprise, surprise - do work in FS2002.I do not remember the name of the author or the zipfile, but I'm sure a search of FS2000 files in the library will produce it.I use these textures very successfully in FS2002.Airdog

[michal 44]

Airdog,This interests me a lot.I found a file by Mark Keith (litebulbs1.zip). He references some other night lights by Bill Graham - couldn't find however this one on Avsim.Michael J.

[Guest]

Michael J,I wish I had a record of the file name. Try the Flightsim library as well. You may have to try a few out until you hit on the right one. I seem to recall the author had a Greek-sounding name, but I'm not sure.Maybe someone else can remember?Airdog

[michal 44]

Installed the one I found - by Mark Keith. I already like this one a lot. Will still be looking for others .. thanks.Michael J.