SamZ 13 Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Hey Guys, Just checked out the A300 at night and I'm noticing some strange behavior of the lights, perhaps some are bugs or by design but I wanted to point them out. 1) Dome light has no effect. the switch in the VC is functional but there is no light. 2) Wing/Logo/Landing light switch has no visible effect on the aircraft. again the switches work but activating the lights causes no change to the exterior model. 3) When the cockpit lights are enabled, either by the BRT/DIM switch or storm lighting, all exterior lighting effects are triggered even if they are turned off. 4) Engineers panel shows full daytime textures when the cockpit lights are on, stands out very badly. 5) Some corruption or other problem with the exterior light textures on the nose. Overhead panel, note wing/logo/landing lights are all off. But all light effects are showing on the external, with some corruption or missing texture on the nose. Engineers panel at night, that cant be right? With all lights on, but cockpit dark all the effects are gone from the exterior. Any help would be appreciated, thanks! -Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Comhaire 27 Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 1) Dome light has no effect. the switch in the VC is functional but there is no light. 2) Wing/Logo/Landing light switch has no visible effect on the aircraft. again the switches work but activating the lights causes no change to the exterior model. 3) When the cockpit lights are enabled, either by the BRT/DIM switch or storm lighting, all exterior lighting effects are triggered even if they are turned off. 4) Engineers panel shows full daytime textures when the cockpit lights are on, stands out very badly. 5) Some corruption or other problem with the exterior light textures on the nose. Hi Sam, 1) This is correct 2) In FSX the exterior lighting is controller by 1 variable: PANEL LIGHTING, this explains why the different light switches seem to have no effect. Light points are lit however and they can be seen in external view but they don't iluminate the outside surface of the aircraft 3) See point 2: FS9 had separate controls and variables for exterior lighting (light textures) in FSX these have been removed and all the lighting is linked to the PANEL LIGHTING variable. We have been looking for a solution for this but unfortuntaly we couldn't find one... 4) I agree it sticks out a bit, will talk to Oli (3D modeling) if we can do anything to make this look better. 5) The nose has a seperate texture file and uses a frontal projection of the textures, the rest of the fuselage uses sideways projection. We may change this and use sideways projection for the complete fuselage if this issue is confirmed. That would mean redoing all the paintjobs and paintkit but if necessary we will do it... Björn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oli_Braun_NLS 6 Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Hey there, Well, let me point out that FSX can only have "panel lights" by default for switchable light maps. So therefore, all switchable light maps run under the panel lights variable. So NO indenpendet light switching (wing, dome, logo etc.) It may sound simple to add some more custom lighting nodes, however, its very difficult and takes lots of time - and also performance. So therefore we decided that measured by the time to develop a custom and independet light setup just takes too long and takes away more performance - for the purpose of just beeing an "eye candy" ... In fact, its very complicated to achieve that - I think only PMDG has done that so far - in their MD-11 and JS41. For the nose - yes, I am currently doing an update with a nose cone, that is projected from the side. Right now its projected from the front - however, that does not explain the problem you have there in fact, its an old light mask that causes these errors. We have corrected that earlier but I suppose one of our repainters must have used the old light mask by accident - and this is why it looks like this I'd like to apologize for that and we will provide new textures along with the nose update anyway - so you won't have the problem any more. Also, the side projection will prevent the nose cone to stand out at night generally. Oli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamZ 13 Posted February 10, 2010 Author Share Posted February 10, 2010 Guys its not only PMDG. Even captainsim who loves the "FSX Limitation" excuse, feelthere, wilco, levelD, Eaglesoft, ALL have working independent exterior lights & effects. This is honestly not acceptable for a $50 addon aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oli_Braun_NLS 6 Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Guys its not only PMDG. Even captainsim who loves the "FSX Limitation" excuse, feelthere, wilco, levelD, Eaglesoft, ALL have working independent exterior lights & effects. This is honestly not acceptable for a $50 addon aircraft. Well of course, all lights are independet - but what I am talking here is light maps - for FSX native (!!) models there is only ONE way to trigger light maps in a material to be on or off. And thats via the panel lights node. You simply cannot edit or replace that as its given by the built in FSX shaders/materials. In FS9 for example, it was possible to trigger landing light maps also for example. Same goes for converted FS9 models into the FSX engine. The only workaround is to have duplicate geometry with one having a lit material and one not - and control these via visiblity and own variables. However, this costs quite some performance - so we choose not to have that - as in our opinion, there are more important things, simulationwise. And yes, so far, its only PMDG that have managed to control it via variable alpha channels - with just one object and material. Thats what I meant. And, certainly, its no FSX limitation excuse. Try to develop an aircraft and we can carry on talking its really not that easy - even within FSX limitations. Of course you could go far and further beyond these limits, however its all a matter of priority and ressouces that are available to the development team. So why spend a year or so to find a non-performance impact way to trigger independent light maps if there may be more important things? Or do it the other way - and people would complain about the performance of the aircraft. You can never get it right... its always some sort of compromise. In fact, we only had very limited resources with developing this aircraft. Its not a 6 or 7 man crew who can work full time on that - so we have to focus on whats important or not - to make the best out of it Well, and if its bothers you too much not to have independent light maps, well, then you are not forced to buy this product simple is that... it may sound a bit harsh, but I am just trying to explain whats going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamZ 13 Posted February 10, 2010 Author Share Posted February 10, 2010 Fair enough, if I am not forced to buy it, what is the refund procedure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveA300 2 Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Hi Sam, I am really sorry that you are disappointed with the aircraft, for me it is the systems that make the aircraft special unfortunatley if you like flying at night and the lighting setup is a let down for you I can see how that would effect the whole A300 simming experience. Bjorn is unavailable tonight but I am sure he will respond to your post tomorrow. Take care Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLH9KA 69 Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Hey there, regarding the Lights..... Lights have allways been a problem in FS at least in 3d Cockpits! Regarding the way Simcheck did..... The night lightning in the VC looks brilliant IMO! Well the FE Panel is 2d and as told not 3D for performance reasons and therefore either light or not! Personally I like the solution because the Simcheck Aircraft is the first one with real complex system simulation and which is very performance friendly at my system. I certainly don't want it to be super eye candy regarding lighting if it costs more and more FPS!!! I mean in A/C like PMDG the lighting is cool but the frames drop even below 10 from time to time and in the A300 I allways have between 18 and 40 FPS! Well but just my opinion. Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamZ 13 Posted February 10, 2010 Author Share Posted February 10, 2010 Thanks, don't take it personally I will continue to follow the aircraft and if changes are made I may re-buy, but night flying and working lights are very important to me in an add-on of this price level. -Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPL19 11 Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 So, if I am sitting at the ramp (or gate) on a night flight, and I turn on the panel lights, strobes, landing lights etc turn on? Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamZ 13 Posted February 11, 2010 Author Share Posted February 11, 2010 No, the actual lights stay off, but you will see all the effects on the aircraft, light splash from landing, wing and logo lights. And if you turn on the wing, logo, landing lights without the panel lights on you will see no effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPL19 11 Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 OK SamZ, thank you for clarifying. Not as bad as I feared, but still seemingly sub-par to me. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andromeda 51 Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Hi SimCheck & Aerosoft guys! Unfortunately I have to back up the criticism of SamZ about the appearance of the 2d FE panel at night. (His 3rd screenshot from top down) Please excuse my harsh word, but that look is gruesome! The XY (Competitive companies not to be mentioned) Boeing 727 for FS2002 which I got back then had a much more convincing and realistic FE lighting. And that was FS2002! But I do not mention it to criticise you as you have done an incredible work after all (with all the working systems...) and the A300 was well chosen! (A legend totally overlooked 'til now.) I'm mentioning it because you (developers) seem to have an open ear for the customers and I do hope that a night bitmap FE panel can be provided by a forthcoming patch. (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveA300 2 Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Hi SimCheck & Aerosoft guys! Unfortunately I have to back up the criticism of SamZ about the appearance of the 2d FE panel at night. (His 3rd screenshot from top down) Please excuse my harsh word, but that look is gruesome! The XY (Competitive companies not to be mentioned) Boeing 727 for FS2002 which I got back then had a much more convincing and realistic FE lighting. And that was FS2002! But I do not mention it to criticise you as you have done an incredible work after all (with all the working systems...) and the A300 was well chosen! (A legend totally overlooked 'til now.) I'm mentioning it because you (developers) seem to have an open ear for the customers and I do hope that a night bitmap FE panel can be provided by a forthcoming patch. (?) Hi Andromeda, We do appreciate everyone's opinion, we are listening and as we gather all the details for the minnor bugs this are will be looked at. Thanks Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrows 7 Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Steve, many thanks if you´ll looking after a solution with better cockpit lights. Currently i´m on my way to lepa with the bus, and it´s marvelous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveA300 2 Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Thanks for that, it is great after the release to see so many fellow simmers enjoy the aircraft as much as us. Take care Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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