LucMtl

Is it FSX Boxed, or FSX Steam Edition ? I wouldn't bet on full compatibility of FSX boxed with Windows 10. Cheers. Luc

Hello, I really have no idea if this is the right place for my question, tell me if it isn't. I like the freeware utility Destination Finder 2.0 a lot. You can find it at several Web sites. The only problem I have, is that the Database Creator isn't working. MakeRunways works fine of course, and the update function of DF is based on the files created by MakeRunway. When I click on the button to start the Database Creator, it just does nothing. DF doesn't crash at all, it just does nothing. I tried everything, running it in compatibility mode, as an administrator, running it in the FSX default installation folder, running DF after updating MakeRunways and running it again, etc. Nothing works. Did anyone ever had success with updating this software's database ? Thanks, Luc ----- Edit for typo.

So now I know for sure, thanks for your reply. :) I did some experiment with values of the start/end colors in the effect file, and I found that putting COLOR=50, 50, 50 creates the best visual result: https://goo.gl/photos/aGiacwctv1KQhpSc6 This is entirely empirical, but I think that lower than that (dome light dimmer), and the contrast between the gauges and the dark ambiant light make them appear more blinding, where as higher than 50,50,50, then it is the dome lighting itself that start to make the gauges appear brighter. At 50, 50, 50, it almost perfect. Luc

After more analysis, I think the color of the gauges at night is decided somewhere inside the gauges dll (see *FSX*\Gauges, the files Cessna.dll, Cessna172.dll and Bendix_King_Radio.dll. So there is no way to change this as fas as I am concerned, but it's ok, it's not unlivable like that. :) Good day, Luc

Hi ! :) Yep, I know. It actually works only as an on-off button.You can't change it incrementally, Thanks for the effort ! :) Luc

Unfortunately it doesn't work. The three values are: 1- Day: That changes the 2D panel at daytime, not the VC. 2- Night: That changes the 2D panel at nighttime, not the VC. 3- Luminous: changing the values here didn't change anything, neither with VC nor with the 2D panel.

Let me try again if it works. :) Luc Edit : no, the default C172 doesnt have any working knob of that kind. It is there, but it's only decoration, not functional.

In case someone asks me how I did that, here it is : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1- Deactivating the VC night textures: I went to the folder: *FSX*\SimObjects\Airplanes\C172\Texture …and changed the names of the night textures to deactivate them. So… C172_1_night_C.dds C172_2_night_C.dds C172_3_night_C.dds C172_4_night_C.dds Became: C172_1_night_C.dds.STOP C172_2_night_C.dds.STOP C172_3_night_C.dds.STOP C172_4_night_C.dds.STOP The idea behind this is that, doing this is going to force FSX to use the daytime textures during nighttime, which is exactly what we’ll want it to do. The problem with the default C172 nighttime textures is that they have a blindingly bright (and ugly!) lighting drawn directly into the texture images. No configuration of any sort can get us rid of that lighting, it’s *drawn* on the pictures themselves. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2- Editing aircraft.cfg: In the folder: *FSX*\SimObjects\Airplanes\C172 In the [LIGHTS] section, I left the line: ;/light.5 = 4, -2.27, 0.00, 1.45, fx_vclight …commented out as it was originally by Microsoft. It’s ok that it’s commented out, if it wasn’t, we’d end up with excess lighting in the VC. So don’t change it. BUT I added: light.6=10, -2.27, 0.00, 1.45, fx_vclight_low And that one is NOT commented out! The type 10 light is the “dome light” in the VC, and this is exactly the type of light we are going to use to create this dim ambient light. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3- Creating and editing fx_vclight_low.fx: In the folder: *FSX*\Effects I made a copy of the file fx_vclight.fx, and named it fx_vclight_low.fx And in the [ParticleAttributes.0] section of fx_vclight_low.fx, I changed: Color Start=100, 100, 100, 1 Color End=180, 140, 100, 0 To: Color Start=30, 30, 30, 1 Color End=30, 30, 30, 0 This is the new effect file that will create the dim ambient light. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 4- Restart FSX, and it should work. The funny trick that’s being exploited here is to use a very dim dome light (type 10 light at COLOR=30,30,30) to make the VC look as if it was being illuminated solely by the light from the gauges themselves. It’s an illusion of course, but a nice one! One point: this trick doesn’t work with all default FSX aircrafts, only with those that use night textures.

Hi, I've managed to get the default C172 VC in FSX to look like this at night, which I think is pretty nice : https://goo.gl/photos/SzL6BubXKg9qTCdHA But I still have a problem with the gauges being a bit too bright to my taste. Is there a sweet single command I can write down somewhere to dim then all at once ? Thanks. :) Luc