FSW: Cure for Dim Runway Lights?... How about City Lig

[Guest]

I've seen people post about anemic airport lights and the fix is to download the "new" light s from FSW. Does anyone know the most "realistic" set? Are the gold lights more realistic than the "regular".Also, is there a way to brighten the city lights? For instance, when I take off from St. Paul Holloman field, I can clearly see the Minneapolis skyline at night but no "white lights" -- the city looks relatively dark except for some blinking red (or other color) lights. I should be able to see the city "glowing" from a distance. Running light slider maxed with about 3/4 on most other sliders...Anyone?

[Guest]

It seems the only way to brighten the ground texture lighting now is to actually edit the texture (there are some available - check here http://hacksfs2002.tripod.com/main_page.htm )But it's only an interim fix - the texures are still dark as they get far away.I posted this in the development forum - we need BRIGHT ground lighting! I think that if there was a way to create point lights that are distributed via Autogen it would be ideal!Andrew>I've seen people post about anemic airport lights and the >fix is to download the "new" light s from FSW. Does anyone >know the most "realistic" set? Are the gold lights more >realistic than the "regular". >>Also, is there a way to brighten the city lights? For >instance, when I take off from St. Paul Holloman field, I >can clearly see the Minneapolis skyline at night but no >"white lights" -- the city looks relatively dark except for >some blinking red (or other color) lights. I should be able >to see the city "glowing" from a distance. >>Running light slider maxed with about 3/4 on most other >sliders... >>Anyone?

[Guest]

Thanks much for the reply... Can anyone comment on what the most "real" FSW lightset is? Gold or "plain"???

[michal 44]

>I posted this in the development forum - we need BRIGHT >ground lighting! I beg to differ. I have a fair amount of hours of actual night flying and it is a myth that runway lights (not the approach lights) are strong. They are in fact fairly dim at least from the distance. They are noticably dimmer than all city/street lights that are often in close proximity to airport. Once approaching Burbank-Glendale airport at night I could not see any airport lights though the airport was only a couple of miles ahead of me (visibility was excellent). Even rotating beacon was impossible to make out.For street/city lights I use a package by Mark Keith originally developed for FS2000 (available at Avsim library). It works in FS2002 and in my opinion provides the best rendition of night lighting for the FS series. You could say they are "photo-realistic". Michael J.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

If you still have FS2000 installed, you can also use those night textures for the ground textures, which are quite a bit brighter.... I have noticed since enabling the anisotropy and lowering the mipmap LOD from 0 to -.5 on my GEF/2, the default night textures look quite a bit brighter....-John

[Guest]

I imagine the reason FS2K2 puts such limits on the distance at which you can see complex lighting is to reduce the computer "horsepower" needed to run the sim. As you increase the distance at which such lighting is visible the demands on your computer increase rapidly. I have no idea what the math furmula is, but I think the increase would be exponential.David

[Chris Willis 8]

Michael, Can you tell me if you have seen fps drop? because they are not dxt1 fs2002 format, also the night match with the autogen?ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFshttp://fsw.simflight.com/fsw.jpg

[michal 44]

Chris,No, I don't see any fps drop with Mark's lights. About the autogen - I have autogen off so I am the wrong guy to ask about that. But these lights look so good - love them.Michael J.

[Chris Willis 8]

Ok Thanks, When I have my night light set like the fs2000 format 16 (565) I saw a little drop. After the clouds, I will able to upload the fs2002 generic summer etc texture same as fs2002 default in 16bit 565 they look better at low altitude/high, more color and little more brighter,less blur, this whats happening with the texture in dtx1 format , they get darker, adding grain and less color full and the mips map are worser also. ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFshttp://fsw.simflight.com/fsw.jpg

[Guest]

I'm not talking about airport lights - rather, all other ground lights.Which, when viewed in clusters, are quite brilliant even at a distance - http://www.mousetrax.com/ChicagoNight.html>>>I posted this in the development forum - we need BRIGHT >>ground lighting! >>I beg to differ. I have a fair amount of hours of actual >night flying and it is a myth that runway lights (not the >approach lights) are strong. They are in fact fairly dim at >least from the distance. They are noticably dimmer than all >city/street lights that are often in close proximity to >airport. Once approaching Burbank-Glendale airport at night >I could not see any airport lights though the airport was >only a couple of miles ahead of me (visibility was >excellent). Even rotating beacon was impossible to make out. >>For street/city lights I use a package by Mark Keith >originally developed for FS2000 (available at Avsim >library). It works in FS2002 and in my opinion provides the >best rendition of night lighting for the FS series. You >could say they are "photo-realistic". >>Michael J.

[Guest]

I don't know how the program interprets "lighting", but we're essentially talking about a portion of a bitmap here (ground texture) and not a "physical" light.It's rendering the textures anyway; it would be nice to tell it that some portions of the texture are bright.Andrew>I imagine the reason FS2K2 puts such limits on the distance >at which you can see complex lighting is to reduce the >computer "horsepower" needed to run the sim. As you increase >the distance at which such lighting is visible the demands >on your computer increase rapidly. I have no idea what the >math furmula is, but I think the increase would be >exponential. >>David >

[N562Z 4]

Caveman:Hey neighbor.I had a window seat on a Northwest A320 flight to Phoenix once, and we were left traffic for the active. Just before we turned final, on the base leg, I could see the dark gold runway lights, and boy were they dim, like Michael correctly points out. Too dim for me in fact, as far as my FS2002 flying is concerned, so I happen to like the brighter gold runway light replacements by FSW. Here are a few scrrenshots as an example. First one is an A320 lined up to go at KMSP, runway 33L. The next picture is of my botched (had to go around!) attempt at shoooting the ILS on that same runway in minimums weather, but I wanted to show you the runway lights. For me, there's no better sight, a reward for all your hard work and concentration, than a nice bright runway and rabbit to welcome you from the clouds!! Lastly, my final on the ILS 32 approach to Holman. Dimmer runway lights at these smaller fields, but looks good to me. This is closer to how I remember the Phoenix approach. Anyway, hope that helps. I recommend BOTH the runway AND night replacement textures by FSW. Back up your original FS2002 textures as they recommend in the installation instructions, just in case you don't agree. ingAlex CN562ZMinneapolis

[Guest PhilC]

As far as night lights are concerned, I still prefer the White Night lightset. Check it out HERE. Looks good at high and low altitudes. No fps hit over the default as far as I can tell.

[Guest]

I've tried your link saw this great REAL-FLIGHT pictures from chicago at night :-sun1.Here are two screenshots from night flying in FS2002 with FS2002 White Night files:http://members.aon.at/white-night/Chicago_City.JPGhttp://members.aon.at/white-night/Chicago_Meigs_City.JPGFor more screenshots and information about this freeware files visithttp://members.aon.at/white-nightalways three greensManfred

[Guest]

Unrealistic night lights , WAY TOO MUCH BRIGHT!!! They are the default one with more brightness!!!