Help me decipher the lights on aircraft

[OleBoy]

I recently bought Shockwave Redux 3D lights for FS2004. I've figured out how to get the lights to the aircraft. But, I haven't figured out what lights should be used because I don't really know what lights are called what. Or for that matter, where or what their called are on a real plane.

Is there anyone who can maybe use a picture or something to show me what lights are in which position on the body of a plane? It will help me out more than you know it!!

 

[OBIO]

I only use a few of the Shockwave lights.

Green on the right wing, red on the left wing, white on the tail, VC inside the plane. Landing lights where the landing lights go.

I don't use strobes and such...if it was on the plane originally, then I leave it alone.

OBIO

 

[OleBoy]

Forgot to post this up. Not sure if it's relevant to all AC.

 

[LouP]

Most configs have something like this in the lights section to help:

//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing

The "//" signifies that the following is just a notation. Think that this is what you are looking for.

LouP

 

[Tako_Kichi]

I recently bought Shockwave Redux 3D lights for FS2004. I've figured out how to get the lights to the aircraft. But, I haven't figured out what lights should be used because I don't really know what lights are called what. Or for that matter, where or what their called are on a real plane.

If you look in your FS9 (or FSX for those users) 'Effects' folder and scroll down you will see all the Shockwave 3D lights listed prefixed with 'fx_shockwave_xxx'. As to what light does what and goes where let's see if we can break it down by light for you.

Beacons
Beacons are red, flashing or rotating lights and are usually found on the belly, upper fuselage or on top of the tail (they can be in any or all of those locations depending on aircraft type). The beacons supplied are:

fx_shockwave_beacon
fx_shockwave_beacon_fastflash
fx_shockwave_beacon_fastflash_lowl
fx_shockwave_beacon_lowl
fx_shockwave_beacon_rotating_red
fx_shockwave_beaconb
fx_shockwave_beaconb_l
fx_shockwave_beaconb_lowl
fx_shockwave_beaconb_nl
fx_shockwave_beaconh
fx_shockwave_beaconh_l
fx_shockwave_beaconh_lowl
​

Now lets look at the suffixes and how they change the beacon light effect:

_fastflash - Gives a faster flash than the basic beacon
_lowl - Casts less light on the surroundings
_rotating_red - A rotating red beacon
_beaconb - Designed to go on the belly and casts light downwards
_nl - Does not cast light on it's surroundings (useful if you are getting red flashes in VC view)
_beaconh - Designed to go on the upper fuselage or on top of the tail
​

Obviously some of the above are combination effects with more than one suffix applied.

Landing Lights
Landing lights are bright 3D cones of light and come in a large variety of styles as follows:

fx_shockwave_landing_light
fx_shockwave_landing_light_747_lw
fx_shockwave_landing_light_747_nose
fx_shockwave_landing_light_747_rw
fx_shockwave_landing_light_a321_nose
fx_shockwave_landing_light_double
fx_shockwave_landing_light_double_small
fx_shockwave_landing_light_double_vsmall
fx_shockwave_landing_light_light
fx_shockwave_landing_light_light_l
fx_shockwave_landing_light_light_sm
fx_shockwave_landing_light_low
fx_shockwave_landing_light_low_old
fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow
fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_down
fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_down_22
fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_down_45
fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_down_old
fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_no_flare
fx_shockwave_landing_light_narrow_old
fx_shockwave_landing_light_no_flare
fx_shockwave_landing_light_short
fx_shockwave_landing_light_small
fx_shockwave_landing_light_small_old
fx_shockwave_landing_light_small_xenon
fx_shockwave_landing_light_tail
fx_shockwave_landing_light_tail_old
​

In addition to the suffixes for beacons the landing lights have some extra types too as follows:

_747 - Special lights designed for use on the 747 (or other large tube, the light cones are modified to take into account the fuselage sides)
_A321 - Special lights designed for use on the A321 (or other large tube, the light cones are modified to take into account the fuselage sides)
_double - A pair of side-by-side lights
_double_small - A pair of side-by-side lights smaller than '_double'
_double_vsmall - A pair of side-by-side lights smaller than '_double_small'
_light - A less intense light than the standard light
_low - A low power output light
_old - A yellowish light suitable for older AC with non-halogen bulbs
_narrow - A narrow beam light
_down - A light angled downwards slightly (useful as a taxi light if the light type is changed from '5' to '6' in the config line)
_down_22 - Designed for use on helicopters and is angled down 22° from the horizontal
_down_45 - Designed for use on helicopters and is angled down 45° from the horizontal
_no_flare - Does not cast light on the fuselage
_short - A shorter 3D cone than the standard light
_small - A smaller diameter cone than the standard light
_xenon - A very bright, bluish, light suitable for modern GA AC using Xenon tube lights
_tail - To be honest I am not even sure what this one is myself!
​

Navigation Lights
Non-flashing lights mounted on the wingtips and tail (usually on the rudder). Available styles are:

fx_shockwave_navgre
fx_shockwave_navgre_nl
fx_shockwave_navred
fx_shockwave_navred_nl
fx_shockwave_navwhi
fx_shockwave_navwhi_l
fx_shockwave_navwhi_l_nl
fx_shockwave_navwhi_l_old
fx_shockwave_navwhi_nl
fx_shockwave_navyellow
fx_shockwave_navyellow_nl
​

Red lights are mounted on the port wingtip, green on the starboard wingtip and white or yellow on the tail.

NOTE: If the white/yellow nav lights are mounted on the moving part of the rudder then they are usually built into the model and should not be changed by using the Shockwave lights as they WILL NOT move with the rudder but remain static and will appear to be floating in space when the rudder is moved.

Recognition Lights
These are usually found on WWII Warbirds and the following types are supplied:

fx_shockwave_recog_flash_g
fx_shockwave_recog_flash_r
fx_shockwave_recog_flash_y
fx_shockwave_recog_g
fx_shockwave_recog_r
fx_shockwave_recog_steady_g
fx_shockwave_recog_steady_r
fx_shockwave_recog_steady_y
fx_shockwave_recog_y
​

They come as non-flashing (two types) or flashing in red, green and yellow.

Strobes
Very bright Xenon tube lights (like camera flashguns) usually mounted on the wingtips and sometimes on the upper and/or lower fuselage too. The following types are supplied:

fx_shockwave_strobe
fx_shockwave_strobe_2
fx_shockwave_strobe_2_nl
fx_shockwave_strobe_3
fx_shockwave_strobe_3_nl
fx_shockwave_strobe_l
fx_shockwave_strobe_l_2
fx_shockwave_strobe_l_2_nl
fx_shockwave_strobe_l_3
fx_shockwave_strobe_l_3_nl
fx_shockwave_strobe_l_nl
fx_shockwave_strobe_l_nl_2
fx_shockwave_strobe_l_nl_3
fx_shockwave_strobe_lowl
fx_shockwave_strobe_nl
fx_shockwave_strobe_nl_2
fx_shockwave_strobe_nl_3
fx_shockwave_strobe_sm
fx_shockwave_strobe_sm_2
fx_shockwave_strobe_sm_2_nl
fx_shockwave_strobe_sm_3
fx_shockwave_strobe_sm_3_nl
fx_shockwave_strobe_sm_nl
​

In addition to the suffixes for beacons the strobes have some extra types as follows:

_2 - A slightly different time interval between flashes compared to the basic strobe so that you can set up 'out of sync' strobes
_3 - A third different time interval between flashes
_l - A lower light output strobe
_sm - A smaller physical size of strobe for smaller AC
​

VC Lights
These lights are used in the VC and are available in the following types:

fx_shockwave_vclight
fx_shockwave_vclight_l
​

Hopefully that little lot will help you get the right light in the right place.

Good luck placing your lights and if you have more questions then shout.

:ernae:

 

[Wing_Z]

Excellent post Larry, and well worth the price of admission!
I've never really delved into the 3D Redux lights but now that I know what's where, I will certainly get some of my favourite aircraft suitably lit up.
Many thanks.

 

[OleBoy]

To Larry

Your descriptive information breaks things down perfectly (my case) I didn't have a clue where to start considering all the light effects I have available in the effects folder now.

Thanks VERY MUCH for your time in my much.. needed-to-know situation. Now I can use the software as it was intended.

OBIO & Lou

Thank You also

 

[LouP]

Now if this were a a2a forum, I would be yelling sticky. Good explanation, Larry. Better than I could do and I am sure it will save a lot of people a lot of time and help speed up the learning curve.

LouP

 

[rohan]

Larry,
I've been sitting on the fence about buying this light package for a long time now, but I think you just pushed me off ! Thank you muchly for an excellent set of notes to complement an excellent product,
regards,
Ro

 

[Tako_Kichi]

Now if this were a a2a forum, I would be yelling sticky.

ROFL

Hmmmm......Seeing as I am one of only four people with Admin rights on the A2A forum maybe I should copy and paste all the above and make it a sticky on our forum.....lol.

I already have a couple of tutorials on there for placing the lights.

 

[Tako_Kichi]

Larry,
I've been sitting on the fence about buying this light package for a long time now, but I think you just pushed me off ! Thank you muchly for an excellent set of notes to complement an excellent product

Thanks for the compliments Rohan and if the above wasn't enough to push you off the fence not only can you enhance the aircraft lights but you can also opt to enhance all the airport lights during the install process too. The airport lights are a once and for all deal though and are not user configurable like the aircraft lights are.

If you get them make sure you also check out the user supplied configurations in this thread....

http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=10187

You may find that your aircraft has already been configured saving you the trouble of doing it (although I must admit I like to set my own on a new aircraft in my hangar as I just like playing with the lights! )

 

[LouP]

Hey Larry,

Everytime I look at that logo on the a2a forum, I need to do a double take because it looks like the lady isn't wearing any pants ROFL.

LouP

 

[Tako_Kichi]

She's certainly a cutie.

 

[mrogers]

thanks Larry for the list of shockwave lights and what they are..very clever and useful!
I've copied it for my own use.

 

[Z-claudius24]

Hi,

Very good descriptive of 3D lights material.

:ernae:

 

[Desert Rat]

_tail - To be honest I am not even sure what this one is myself!

TK,

the 'tail' suffix is for use with tail-draggers and is suitably angled downwards to compensate for the upward pointing nose as far as I've been able to work out.

also the 'landing_light_light' suffix are for ambient light only, to say they illumanate the aircraft surfaces in much the same way a VC light does inside, they should be used in conjunction with normal light cones for added effect. (the normal light cones have no ambient light effect.)

the '_l' suffix I believe is for 'large' not 'low' as there is already a 'low' suffix?

BIG fan,
Jamie

Jamie

 

[Tako_Kichi]

TK,

the 'tail' suffix is for use with tail-draggers and is suitably angled downwards to compensate for the upward pointing nose as far as I've been able to work out.

Jamie

DOH!!!!! :isadizzy:

Thanks for that Jamie I had completely forgotten it was meant for tail-draggers and I was working from memory when I wrote the above.

:ernae:

 

[Wild Bill Kelso]

I've been sitting on the fence about buying this light package for a long time now...

Don't wait any longer!
They're worth every single cent.

And thanks a lot, Larry!
Slowly getting tired of repainting , I think I'll start tinkering on some of my favourites, especially the PAD Twin Otter.

Is there any chance to get the already posted parameters over in the A2A forum some better structured in a data-base style?

Cheers,
Markus.

 

[Tako_Kichi]

Slowly getting tired of repainting , I think I'll start tinkering on some of my favourites, especially the PAD Twin Otter.

I am a bit like that too. I paint for a bit then play with lights and sometimes do a bit of modelling or airport design just for a change. I even find a bit of time to actually fly things believe it or not!

Is there any chance to get the already posted parameters over in the A2A forum some better structured in a data-base style?

The aircraft list(s) are getting a bit strung out over there now as people have added them. Scott used to maintain the lists and pull everything together but he's been so busy on other stuff it has taken a back seat. I am not sure how we could implement a database in the forum or even if the forum software could support it. I may be able to knock up a simple database for download but it would take a while to sort out.

 

[OleBoy]

Larry

I was thinking about a program that would auto-update itself based on your input of data. Have it apply the light settings to aircraft & helicopter configs. [LIGHTS] settings automatically applied to specified aircraft based on the contained database to eliminate manual configuration.

my2cents