• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

FS2004 Landing lights polys

M

marcoruggieri

Messages
6
Country
italy
Hi all,

I have searched some in the web but I have not found anything about, so I post here.

My objective is to create a landing light poly, to be settled on the ground, in order to simulate the shining of an apron ramp light. I have seen on the web there exists a ramp light library by Bill Leaming, whose lights show this effect, but it is not clear how the light cone on the ground is created.

I do this by FSDS, add poly, set material to LIGHT_LAND_WHITE, after having chosen the white color for the material itself, set the z axis opposite to the direction of the beam, then export the .x file.
I then process the .x output by makeMDL2002, and tried both to make a ground poly and a static scenery object.

In both cases the result is a white lithe cone, well extended on the apron, BUT it is not a fixed light: it resembles a flash, and it is not visible in the top view.

The same happens if I create a LIGHT_TAXI material.

Is there any hint to solve this trouble?
 
Hi,

If I understand you correctly, you would not create the light cone itself, but only the point from which the lights comes. So this can be a simple small box. The material on that box should than have the name LIGHT_LAND. The colour is set with the material colour. After processing the box is not visible, but a light should be shown at its place.
 
I highly recommend using LIGHT_TAXI unless you enjoy watching all your "lights" swivel around should the user use the keyboard commands to move their aircraft's landing lights aim up/down, right/left... :D
 
Bill, Arno - if he's trying to make static lights - as on the runway apron, etc., I would assume that a landing or taxi light material would not be indicated since don't these depend on the aircraft's light switches?

In other words, my mind is trying to apply the logic that static lights aren't aircraft landing or taxi lights..... but then, this is FS..
 
Hi Felix,

When using the FS2004 MakeMDL there is a bug anyway that the lights do not appear without tweaking. After that all the remains of the different types is the command that makes the light. So for scenery I don't think it matters which type you use.
 
Actually, it does matter. I never noticed until months later that the Airport Ramp Lights I released for Rwy12 years ago would "rotate and tilt" if the user adjusted the landing lights in their a/c with the keyboard commands...

...so I had to recompile the .asm files after changing from LIGHT_LAND to LIGHT_TAXI.

The two relevant sections in the ESDG_RampLightSingle_0.asm file are:

Code: 
;  PLACE A ";" IN FRONT OF ALL THE LINES BELOW *EXCEPT* THE "BGL_LIGHT" LINE!

    ;IFMSK       nolgt_1, dict_0_g_lightStates, LIGHT_TAXI_MASK
    ;VAR_BASE_OVERRIDE VAR_BASE_GLOBAL
    ;IFMSK       lgt_1, becon4, 0c000h
    ;BGL_JUMP_32 nolgt_1
    ;lgt_1      label BGLCODE
    [COLOR="Red"]BGL_LIGHT LIGHT_TAXI, -0.000, 0.000, 0.000, 20, 0.60, 0.40, 09986866Dh, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000 ; source poly num = 41[/COLOR]    ;nolgt_1       label BGLCODE
    ;BGL_FTAG "Light_Land_Whit", 0.00               ; Node 5 

    ; Node 5 - Light_Land_White transform:

     BGL_SET_MATRIX_INDIRECT	8

;  PLACE A ";" IN FRONT OF ALL THE LINES BELOW *EXCEPT* THE "BGL_LIGHT" LINE!

    ;IFMSK       nolgt_2, dict_0_g_lightStates, LIGHT_TAXI_MASK
    ;VAR_BASE_OVERRIDE VAR_BASE_GLOBAL
    ;IFMSK       lgt_2, becon4, 0c000h
    ;BGL_JUMP_32 nolgt_2
    ;lgt_2      label BGLCODE
[COLOR="Red"]    BGL_LIGHT LIGHT_TAXI, -0.000, 0.000, -0.000, 20, 0.60, 0.40, 09986866Dh, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000 ; source poly num = 42[/COLOR]
    ;nolgt_2       label BGLCODE
    BGL_RETURN

The relevant portion of the ESDG_RampLightSingle.asm file is:

Code: 
;   COMMENT OUT THE ENTIRE DICT SECTION!
;    db  'D','I','C','T'                                                 
;param_extension_dictionary     label dword                              
;    dd  28
;    dict_0_g_lightStates equ 152
;    dd 2,152,4, 057F0E99Dh, 04E9C0523h, 0BB12B6BCh, 0063FE72Fh
;param_extension_dictionary_end  label dword                              

;   COMMENT OUT THE ENTIRE SECTION BELOW
;bounding_box_riff_start	label	word
;    db  'B','B','O','X'   
;    dd  bounding_box_riff_end - $ - 4
;    real4  -0.466, -0.006, -1.059  
;    real4  0.462, 16.467, 0.216  
;bounding_box_riff_end label word       

[COLOR="red"];   REPLACE THE "bounding_box" ABOVE WITH THIS SECTION!
bounding_box_riff_start	label	word
    db  'B','B','O','X'   
    dd  bounding_box_riff_end - $ - 4
    real4  -100.000, -100.000, -100.000  
    real4  100.000, 100.000, 100.000  
bounding_box_riff_end label word  [/COLOR]
 
FelixFFDS said:
Bill, Arno - if he's trying to make static lights - as on the runway apron, etc., I would assume that a landing or taxi light material would not be indicated since don't these depend on the aircraft's light switches?

In other words, my mind is trying to apply the logic that static lights aren't aircraft landing or taxi lights..... but then, this is FS..
Click to expand...

No, because when the 0.asm file is edited, one comments out the op commands anyway, which will result in the light being on constantly.
 
n4gix said:
Actually, it does matter. I never noticed until months later that the Airport Ramp Lights I released for Rwy12 years ago would "rotate and tilt" if the user adjusted the landing lights in their a/c with the keyboard commands...
Click to expand...

Thanks, that is a good one to remember.
 
arno said:
Thanks, that is a good one to remember.
Click to expand...

Actually, once I discovered it, I had a bit of fun aiming the lights...

In fact, it was rather serendipitous, since it allowed me a quick way to check out how the "ground splash" was affected by different angles...

...Now that's what's called making "lemonade" if you wind up with a bunch of lemons! :rotfl:
 
You could also just apply a light effect to the scenery using XML coding. IMO, far less work involved.
 
MIKE JG said:
You could also just apply a light effect to the scenery using XML coding. IMO, far less work involved.
Click to expand...

Um, no. That will not achieve the same goal as being discussed. We aren't speaking of just a point-source ball of light simulating a ramp/street light, but a technique that not only provides a point-source of light, but an actual "beam of light" that illuminates the ground at the same time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top