P3D v4 Dynamic light visibility distance

[Ali Gaffoor]

hi
my lights only show up when im close to the terminal but when i taxi to the runway they dissapear ,how do i increase the visibility range and is it possible to have polygon lighting and switch to dynamic depending how far away you are?
thanks

 

[mole_man99]

You need an fx control file and you attach that to the object, and the control file references the dynamic light effect file. In control file you can set visibility distance and other parameters. Details on control file parameters are in sdk effects section.

It's not possible to do the switch you wonder about. It would need 2 sets of textures, and the sim to dynamically switch between them. It won't do that. Would be nice if it did.

 

[Ali Gaffoor]

Hi, sorry for the late reply, i have created the ctrl file and attached it but still didnt make a difference

[Library Effect]

Lifetime=5
Version=1.00
Radius=10000

Priority=0

[controller.0]
lifetime=0.0, 0.0
type=3
distance=1000000.00, 1000000.00
delay=10000000.00, 10000000.00
x offset=0.00, 0.00
y offset=0.00, 0.00
z offset=0.00, 0.00
effect.0=apronlight_FAOR, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

 

[anarkia2004tj]

have you found any solution to this? I am stuck with MMMX, i only get dynamic lights when I depart from there, and the controller file does not seem to make a difference

 

[Ali Gaffoor]

have you found any solution to this? I am stuck with MMMX, i only get dynamic lights when I depart from there, and the controller file does not seem to make a difference

havent found any solution yet

 

[anarkia2004tj]

havent found any solution yet

Oh well, hopefully LM can introduce something to fix this. Thanks for your response

 

[robystar]

It should!
Unless, of course, you have done something wrong.

 

[anarkia2004tj]

It should!
Unless, of course, you have done something wrong.

here is my code, this is the coontroller file, pointing to the .fx file (dlt2alan-2.fx), as far as I know, there is nothing wrong with it but if youu have a different idea, please let me know, your input is welcome.

[Library Effect]
Lifetime=5
Version=2.00
Radius=200
Display Name=dlt2alan controller
Priority=0

[controller.0]
lifetime=0.0, 0.0
type=3
distance=15000.00, 15000.00
delay=10000000.00, 10000000.00
x offset=0.00, 0.00
y offset=0.00, 0.00
z offset=0.00, 0.00
effect.0=dlt2alan-2, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

 

[robystar]

Hi,:

Try some things in the following order:
- change the name of your fx to something with an underscore instead of a dash;
- change the delay to 0.00..
Sorry if I cannot be more specific as I do not have my own controller.fx available on this rig.
Can only check it as of next week Tuesday.

 

[anarkia2004tj]

Hi,:

Try some things in the following order:
- change the name of your fx to something with an underscore instead of a dash;
- change the delay to 0.00..
Sorry if I cannot be more specific as I do not have my own controller.fx available on this rig.
Can only check it as of next week Tuesday.

Ok I will try those two things. I have tried delay 0 without luck, as far as i read from the sdk it is the delay which will determine how fast it jumps to another effect within the same controller, but maybe I missunderstood. I will try thesr two things anyway

Thank you

 

[robystar]

Version=1

 

[Rustam46]

Ali hello! If you have shaders installed, try to make backup defaults and see what happens. I had a similar problem with the free shaders installed

 

[robystar]

Are you sure you attached the ctrl.fx to your object (not the .fx!) ?

 

[anarkia2004tj]

Are you sure you attached the ctrl.fx to your object (not the .fx!) ?

Sorry for the delay, vacation time . Yes, I double checked, and no luck. Tried all the above suggestions and nothing.

 

[robystar]

Then we have to look further!
You do have P3Dv4.3 or 4, do you not?
Then you should have in your effects folder a file called effects.cfg
Mine looks like this (I modified some stuff in there):

--------------------------------------------------
; These particle spite limits are applied based
; on the "Special Effect Detail" settings slider.

[Sprite Limit]
Medium=32000
High=128000
Low=16000

; These particle emit rate modifiers are applied based
; on the "Special Effect Detail" settings slider.

[Emit Rate]
Medium=0.700000
High=1.000000
Low=0.300000

; These particle Emit limits are applied based
; on the "Special Effect Detail" settings slider.
; If the emit limit is hit per frame as specified
; in the Emit Limit table then the rate it emits particles
; at is scaled by the factor specified in the modifier table.

[Emit Limit ]
Medium=2500
High=5000
Low=750

[Emit Limit Modifier]
Medium=0.300000
High=0.200000
Low=0.500000

; If an emitter has its LOD flag set and the viewpoint is
; further away than this at the time the effect is started
; then the emitter will be disabled.

[Detail]
Forced Distance=250

; The [Emitter Detail Distance] and [Emitter Detail Modifier]
; tables work together. If an emitter is further away than a
; distance specified in the distance table then the rate it
; emits particles at is scaled by the factor specified in the
; modifier table. Distances are in meters.

[Emitter Detail Distance]
Medium=5000
Far=10000
Very Far=15000

[Emitter Detail Modifier]
Medium=0.700000
Far=0.500000
Very Far=0.000000

; The [Light Detail Modifier] is used to LOD out lights that do
; not cover a specified number of pixels.
[Light Detail Modifier]
Minimum Pixel Size=15.5
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

If that does not help, then another thing to try would be to flush your shader cache and let P3D rebuild it (automatically) for you.

Good luck!

 

[mole_man99]

I have a similar controller file to Anarkia working well except my radius is set to -1. Just worth trying. Read about the -1 use somewhere but can't remember where.

[Library Effect]
Lifetime=5
Version=1.00
Radius=-1
Display Name=fx_dynlight01_mdm-controller
Priority=0

[controller.0]
lifetime=0.0, 0.0
type=3
distance=15000.00, 15000.00
delay=10000000.00, 10000000.00
x offset=0.00, 0.00
y offset=0.00, 0.00
z offset=0.00, 0.00
effect.0=fx_dynlight01_mdm, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00