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MSFS20 SDK is Mixing Runway Light Models

M

michail71

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49
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us-florida
I'm having an issue where the red/green lighting at the edge of runways is mixing up the light fixture models. Some are flat and some are on poles. It seems to be random for each runway. They are also randomly different in design mode vs. exported. Both are mixed up, just differently.

Is there a way to get the lights to all use the same model type without having to make all the edge lighting custom?
 
There is, but it means you will have to accept a different visual anomaly of no visible threshold. End lights, more or less by definition, straddle the runway threshold, but the default auto generated end lights use "visual contrast," by which to set the light type. One side, light or dark, is supposed to represent rough vegetation, hence the stalks. The other side is supposed to represent mowed grass or pavement, hence the flush mounted end lights. It's fairly arbitrary and the only real solution is to displace the threshold visibly from the line of lights, or eliminate it entirely and replace it with Light Rows, which is pretty easy to do.
 
Light rows will allow me to customize a little better to the airport although they are a little tedious! The airport has poles offset onto concrete or asphalt strips. They are back a foot or two from where the SDK places them.

However, after many months I never noticed the mixed lights before. Now I can't unsee the problem.
 
=rk= said:
There is, but it means you will have to accept a different visual anomaly of no visible threshold. End lights, more or less by definition, straddle the runway threshold, but the default auto generated end lights use "visual contrast," by which to set the light type. One side, light or dark, is supposed to represent rough vegetation, hence the stalks. The other side is supposed to represent mowed grass or pavement, hence the flush mounted end lights. It's fairly arbitrary and the only real solution is to displace the threshold visibly from the line of lights, or eliminate it entirely and replace it with Light Rows, which is pretty easy to do.
Click to expand...
Can you explain this a big more? I'm really struggling with making all the lights raised for my threshold. I'm not sure how I can use this so-called "visual contrast" to favor the raised type. Both types seem to appear over the same color terrain.

1753544180429.png
 
I have not yet reviewed in detail exactly what configuration of Runway End Indicator Lights (aka "REILs") 3D models with built-in attached Visual Effect lights are provided by the MSFS SDK, so I am not certain what may already be available for use.

I can say that offerings of default FSX and/or P3D via BGLComp and the main FS executable supported by external libraries was rather substantial.

While that FS history inclines me to expect the same mix of ready-to-use RWY and other Airport light sets to be also available in MSFS, perhaps you have explored those options already, and need / want something more custom in nature ?

AFAIK, most world airport light installations are more uniform, as IRL, airports must meet international regulations for compliance, so one does not see very much customization of airport lighting installations, even in remote airports serving the public.

Have you checked to see what MSFS already has available via the SDK ?

Typically they are available via a tab in various dialog boxes within ADE 2020 Alpha versions.

But certainly a custom Airport light configuration can be interesting and fun to work with, and it is good to have options in the MSFS SDK we can use for LightSupports and LightRows.

GaryGB
 
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IIUC, you are making headway in what Asobo freely admits to be a "work-in-progress" (aka "W.I.P."):

https://docs.flightsimulator.com/msfs2024/html/2_DevMode/Scenery_Editor/Objects/Airport_Objects.htm


Others have shared their experiences learning how to work with this new set of resources for MSFS lighting ...here:

https://devsupport.flightsimulator.com/t/light-preset-mesh-relative-position/10082/2


Some additional search results:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...gHzg7CBwgwLjExLjguMsgHSQ&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

GaryGB
 
Runway End Indicator Lights should be flush, so an overrunning aircraft can bump over them without damage, and they show green on finals to indicate the start of the runway, and Red as you approach on the runway, indicating you are about to reach the end.

The SDK lights are pretty useless in my opinion, so I use a simple light fixture created in Blender with unidirectional lights on opposite sides of the fitting, and define that as a light row mesh with lights as appropriate. I can space them appropriately and use the light model as a single object to position additional lights if the auto spacing works out wrong.

For what it is worth I do the same for taxi lights and runway edge lights, thereby allowing me to disable SDK lights in the runway configuration dialogue, so I don’t get those awful lights on stalks everywhere. Similar use of the single objects allows me to increase the number of lights prototypically at, for example, curves and junctions.
 
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