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FSX 33MO - Leaming Field Lighting Progress

n4gix

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unitedstates
Did you create a "Dummy" node and name it xxx_LOD_40? Did you also create a separate node named xxx_LOD_10?

The idea is that whenever the number of pixels on screen is >40, the higher detailed object (which are your light polys) will be displayed.

If the number of pixels on screen is <40, the lower detailed object will be displayed.

If you've Linked your hanger object to xxx_LOD_40, then you will need to clone your hanger (without the light polys!) and Link it to xxx_LOD_10, otherwise your hanger will disappear!
 
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67
Country
switzerland
Good evening


We're also using this methode for the apron lighting.
But we have a small but annoying problem when it's raining and during the day. We get some white squares where we placed the polys with the lighting effect.
As we didn't find anything about this issue, I'm posting it here - maybe we didn't mention everything? Actually it looks like it's the Sun which reflects, but we checked "Assume vertical normal" and "No Bace Material Sepcular".

Day:
day.PNG


Rain:
day.PNG


EDIT: Here are the settings we used, we have the same issue with "DestColor"
Settings1.PNG

Settings2.PNG

Settings3.PNG




Kind regards

Marc
 
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n4gix

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Unfortunately, no one thought to check this new system under low-visibility conditions...

The sim cannot blend the "fog layer" with the "lighted polys" which is why they show up as white, non-transparent rectangles during the daytime.

If a way can be found to have the lights "on" only at night, that would be ideal.
 

hcornea

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2,388
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australia
This is the problem I describe in Post #49.

(No-one reads a thread this long in its entirety!)

Even in CAVOK ... bright rectangles during the day.

None of the material settings I tried seemed to have any effect (except "Blend Constant" which I've never understood and it seemed to break the additive lighting)

I tried empty MIPs, adding a spec map, and almost every checkbox

In the end ... LODding the effect down, and then out was the best solution for me (not the best solution, but workable)

I did wonder whether a Fresnel ramp with a gradient opposite to the normal might minimise or eliminate the effect (as it seems to be more potent the further away you are). I suspect this would be very hard to tune, and I never tried it. :confused:
 
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Messages
34
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finland
Been battling with this problem for a while now. Has there been any solution to the fog blending problem yet?

In very low visibility, the effect is already visible from a very short distance, so even LOD has not been an option. Such a shame, since the light effect itself is very nice. :(
 
Messages
34
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finland
It seems that the PMDG 737NGX is using some code that changes the landing lights to a different model/material if the visibility is set below 10 miles in FSX.

If only there would be a way to do this to a scenery object... I'm sure there would, but who can do the coding? If visibility is < than X, then the light/material would be changed to another that just has the light as a normal texture with alpha.

This would make sense too, because airports usually keep some lights on when it's foggy, not just during the night.
 

n4gix

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I suspect PMDG is using the same technique I pioneered in the C310R released about a year ago. During dawn, day, and dusk, use "default landing/taxi light ground splashes." During night ops, use the 3d lighting technique.

The problem for scenery is that there doesn't appear to be any way to embed control conditions for time, visibility or view distance...
 
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34
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finland
Bill,

There does seem to be some sort of a visibility condition controller for aircraft at least. I tried with the NGX at night, visibility >10 miles, 3D lighting active, then change visibility <10 miles, it reverts back to standard light splash.

It tore me to pieces after I managed to create beautiful night lighting for scenery, and then tried with fog and all the hard work was gone :D If only someone would find a way to overcome this problem...
 

n4gix

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unitedstates
Bill,

There does seem to be some sort of a visibility condition controller for aircraft at least. I tried with the NGX at night, visibility >10 miles, 3D lighting active, then change visibility <10 miles, it reverts back to standard light splash.

It tore me to pieces after I managed to create beautiful night lighting for scenery, and then tried with fog and all the hard work was gone :D If only someone would find a way to overcome this problem...

Oh, it's easy enough to include a check for visibility as well as time of day. The basic idea is the same. Which I don't mind one bit, otherwise I wouldn't have shared the idea publically. Of course, it's such a simple idea I'm quite certain any number of other people would have no problem thinking of it... ;)

Yes, the disappointment hit me as well, which is one reason why this fantasy airport hasn't seen any progress in nearly a year now... :(
 
Messages
34
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finland
Oh, it's easy enough to include a check for visibility as well as time of day. The basic idea is the same. Which I don't mind one bit, otherwise I wouldn't have shared the idea publically. Of course, it's such a simple idea I'm quite certain any number of other people would have no problem thinking of it... ;)

Yes, the disappointment hit me as well, which is one reason why this fantasy airport hasn't seen any progress in nearly a year now... :(

Just a silly thought... I've never worked with aircraft models like you, but if it's possible to add such conditions to them, would it be possible to compile the aircraft MDL to a scenery BGL? I suppose it would just loose all that code that defines the visibility conditions?
 

n4gix

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unitedstates
No, it's not a silly thought at all...

...just one that's already been "thought" before and found ineffective. :(
 
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2
Country
poland
Hello,

In my scenery project I use lights created with Bill's method. I found that with setup of object placement with ADE 01.51.4645.23940 (BETA) as below I have not flashing rectangles visible during bad weather.

1. No autogen supress - set
2. No crash detect - set

Can somebody confirm this solution? Pictures of my scenery and lights effect available here:
http://members.chello.pl/m.sikorski/modlin-airport.html

Two apron lights on front are set with this setup, lights on back - not.

Marek
 
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Messages
152
Country
unitedstates
Hello,

In my scenery project I use lights created with Bill's method. I found that with setup of object placement with ADE 01.51.4645.23940 (BETA) as below I have not flashing rectangles visible during bad weather.

1. No autogen supress - set
2. No crash detect - set

Can somebody confirm this solution? Pictures of my scenery and lights effect available here:
http://members.chello.pl/m.sikorski/modlin-airport.html

Two apron lights on front are set with this setup, lights on back - not.

Marek

I just tried the original light library with these settings, and I too no longer get the glaring issue of opaque boxes in low visibility during the day. Some edges are more apparent at night, and there are visible seams if one knows where to look, but the original issue seems patched, till we can find a permanent fix without these ADE settings.

Looking for another confirmation!
 
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152
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unitedstates
These do strike me as model settings, yes. I've tried making the lights without crash settings on and that did not solve the issue. I don't think I have ever tagged the models with the no autogen suppress. It just never entered into the equation. The question now, is does ADE write something that alters the interaction with visibility and weather in FSX, or is the model somehow altered by this ADE beta independent of these settings which results in the fix?
 

n4gix

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unitedstates
Those two items are not "settable" within the .mdl file. They are added to the script that is compiled into the .bgl file, as far as I know, hence the option choices in ADE...
 
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