757 2D Cockpit Lighting.

[G-SWSM 1]

Hi Unofficial Support Gang.Thanks for taking the time to set up this support area, and for having the patience and time for us all.I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to how to "tone down" the night lighting on the 2D 757 panel. As much as I like the PSS panels, I just thing that this night lighting is far too bright, and I would like to be able to tone it down as it's far too bright right now. it's almost like flying in daylight, but at night if you follow.Many thanks.

[MarkRey 16]

Hey Steve,PSS night lighting is actually composed of many individual gauge-embedded bitmaps. As such there is no way for the typical front end user to change the overall light level.regards,Mark

[G-SWSM 1]

Hi Mark.I suspected that this would not be possible, but thanks for the reply anyway.the back / gauge lighting is just fine, it's the blinking Flood Lighting thats too bright, it practically wipes all else out.

[MarkRey 16]

Them's the very bitmaps I meant :) the actual day panel elements are all duplicated with 'lit up' versions to create the night flood effect - every bit of plating, switch, knob etc.I quite like it actually - looks like it takes a LOT of work to create this kind of flood lighting. No less a wizard than Edetroit has said it's a mammoth task to change PSS lighting.regards,Mark

[Guest Mike Phyrio]

Bitmaps, eh? That sounds like it just might be a job for Photoshop. I'm fairly good with that, I may open the thing up and see just what it'd take to tone down that glare a bit. I'll post here if I have any success. I'll also post here if I fail miserably.

[G-SWSM 1]

Hi Mike,Please do let us know how you get on.I do think that the PSS panels were just about the best you could get, but the 75's night flood is just far too bright for me to enjoy flying it in the dark.I usually manage with just the switch / gauge back lighting, but there are things that you do need to see and can't see unless you have the floods on.heres hoping

[Guest bjjones]

If you did manage it there would be limits as to how much you could share publically, anything relating to decompiling or reverse engineering the gauge cant be posted.I believe FSPanel Studio (?) used to be able to modify panel bitmaps but that was for older FS2000/FS2002 panels and I dont believe any of those tools work with panels where everything is clustered into a single gauge.

[Guest Mike Phyrio]

We shall see. I gotta admit that I have run across bitmaps in panel folders that Photoshop could NOT open. I was flabbergasted at that. So, this may be the case here too. I have all of next week off and if I can resist the temptation to spend most of the time sawing logs on the couch, I will attack this and other problems at that time. I'm kinda hoping it's just a brightness adj on the panel frame/s....there may be a bunch of them though. I'll post results hyar.

[G-SWSM 1]

I will make a deal with you Mike, you sort out the panel, and I'll saw the logs . . . . .:-erks Thanks for offering to take a crack at it anyway. :-eek

[G-SWSM 1]

Hi.I take it that no one has managed to crack this brightness issue then.Thanks.

[Guest NormanB]

These are not regular run of the mill bitmaps. Well actually they are but they are contained within the guage file so it would be a VERY laborious task - ISTR hundreds of them.

[Guest Mike Phyrio]

Status Report:Udder failure.I can't seem to open any of the .bmp files with Photoshop.I will keep at it, of course, but it takes away from my flying time and I prize that.Honestly, whilst night flying, I just wait till I'm out of the airport and pretty well established on course and just turn off the floods, sit there and groove on the lit up screens and gauges and whatver scenery is to be seen at night. Then, when I'm getting close to the dest airport, I turn it back on again. No fuss, no muss.Mike

[aentwis 61]

Photoshop can't open DXT3 bitmaps. Perhaps that is your problem. If you can access the bitmaps in general, try using DXTBMP (look for it on the Net, it is freeware, and a great tool at that...). That programme will allow you to open the file, which you can then send to the editor of your choice...Once you have edited, you can reimport to DXTBMP and save the file in the correct format...Andrew

[Guest Mike Phyrio]

Now THAT is what I was hoping somebody would drop on me. I'll go get that and see what happens.THANK YOU ANDREW!!!:-) :-) :-) :-) Mike