Transparency effects at night

[Guest R_Driscoll]

Still on a learning curve here - it is possible to make nightlighting for buildings now, and its been a long time since people relearned how to achieve transparency effects such as for trees. But I have never worked out how to do both - have models that are correctly lit at night AND have transparency effects. I still don't know how, but suddenly it works. I had modified my FLT3.CFG file, playing with cloud effects, and happened to switch the modelhaze method to SPECULAR, and suddenly it all worked correctly. Probably most of you have never noticed this problem - it might be the old Nvidia card I am using, and you may have always had correct night transparency - I just thought it didn't work! I have reworked the Stansted approach lighting to show this in the picture below. Easiest way to check if this works for you is to go to LCA, sit on the tarmac burning avgas, and look towards the ExCeL conference centre - the building with the white external superstructure past the white yacht. Then hit the D key until the horizon sinks to deep purple and the lights kick in, and you should be able to see whether your CFG is set up correctly or whether you see black rectangles around the superstructure (if you do see them, you will discover all of my model-making secrets!).But maybe I'm the only one who had this problem! I will experiment some more this weekend.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/35242.jpg(picture has been lightened to help with viewing)RobD.

[Lars Peter 0]

This looks very nice Robert.I will try and see if it can be improved on my computer.I am currently using a default onboard Intel videocard, so I have someflickering lights.Lars Peter.:-wave

[Guest Allan_D]

Rob,I can't help with the answer to your question, But I need to thank you for the FU3 auto gen. Your Models are fantastic!!! It's greathttp://forums.avsim.com/user_files/35250.jpgThey really helped me add to the fun in my FU3 worldhttp://forums.avsim.com/user_files/35251.jpgHave Fun :-newburnAllan and Puppyhttp://avsim.com/hangar/air/bfu/logo70.gif

[Guest glidernut]

RobD,I sed that the ModelHazeMethod specular line made no diferance,to model transparantsis at night on my PC. But I was rong, it dus, I just didant chek it out properly.Only with this line can I see transparantsis at night.Sory if I misled you.glidernut.:-wave

[Guest R_Driscoll]

Allan, my mistake - I wasn't trying to mislead you but not all of the models in the Seattle extended model packs are mine! Many were developed by people such as Jon Point, Capn Bazza and agtim. It was a team effort over many years.But I hope this encourages you to revive and relandscape some of your FU3 packages! Lars, let me know how you go, because at the moment we only have a few comments about what works. The flickering does not sound good!Glidernut, this is brilliant news! So do you agree there is a bug in FU3 with "modelhaze multipass"? Can anyone else add to this discussion? Is it an Nvidia problem only, or is it a mistake by LGS I wonder? Anyway, I recommend for all users at the moment:1) open your flt3.cfg file (in main flight3 directory)2) find the line "modelhaze"3) change the method for modelhaze to "specular"(If you have my annotated flt3.cfg then there will be notes above this line explaining about the defaults and options. You can download this from http://library.avsim.net/sendfile.php?DLID=17358 ).RobD.

[Lars Peter 0]

Robert.The flickering effect om my computer is just a videocard issue.It is caused by the Intel drivers. Lights everywhere has the same effect as a disco bar.I experienced the same thing with my old TNT card.With my Voodo 5 card this effect does not happend.It's just that this card does not fit into my new AGP slots.I better upgrade to something else.Best regards.Lars Peter.:-wave

[Guest R_Driscoll]

Lars, any chance of combining your flickering lights effect with the Dome of Doom, changing the red telephone box to blue, and so having a Dr Who revival in FU3?

[Guest jonpoint]

:-lolOr, play with your Detonator driver settings (like I did) and end up with an entire screen full of dials :-eekEvery gauge on the Dash-8 panel was repeated 2-3 times up the screen. Made taxiing rather difficult ;)Ah, the wonders of the 'Restore to Defaults' button...Or maybe we should get Ansgar to replace one of the Cessnas with my Tardis model :-lol :-waveJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************