VC light question

[aeromed202]

If I can catch up, I can at least position the VC light. I had some homework to help with first.


Looks like 10.70, 1.00, 2.0 will put it just to the pilot side of the panel face, or 11.80, 1.00, 2.0 will put it just to the nose side of the panel face, whichever, it's a starting point. +/-1 for the lateral should put them about yoke position if two are going in. I was using fx_vclight_deepred instead of the default.

 

[Milton Shupe]

Milton

The gauges work just fine...but they are kind of pale....when I modified the emissive level, I took it from pure white to pure black...is there a better level for this.....say 20% or 40% black (50,50,50 or 100,100,100 on the RGB scale)?

The vc light position definitely needs tweaked...and the actual light FX used changed...the stock one is too bright and harsh. I swapped out the PAD specified vc light for the FS9 default fx_vclight file, and it was better, but the position still needs tweaked.

OBIO

For normal emissive, 50,50,50 should be fine. Not sure of those gauges will require more. More would of course brighten the panel background even more.

 

[OBIO]

The PAD planes that I spend the most time in are the Twin Otters...and I just checked their VC panels at night...the panel itself is dark, but the gauges are lit up like high noon! Even with all the power off! This is not really a problem for me, since I don't do much night flying. But...to enhance the PAD planes and as a tribute to the late Jean-Pierre and his contributions to the sim community, I will see what I can do to rectify the night VC panels on ALL of the FS9 PAD planes. Each tweak is simple and only takes a minute or two....the time consuming part will be making sure I label each tweaked MDL file to correspond to the correct PAD download package.


Milton,

Will give 50,50,50 a try to see how that works for the panel. Pure black just seems to be too far to that extreme.

OBIO

 

[aeromed202]

It's only on certain panels. Most are of them have VC panels that as you say have black faces with lighter gauges and the whole sits very low on the screen. But these are easy enough to use at night and aren't as distracting as the other I posted screens of.

 

[expat]

Sorry I don't have an alternative solution but just wish to add that I am a great PAD fan and their DHC6 - 400 model is one of my favorite turboprops. Sound files merit a particular mention.

Also, the team effort here to gang tackle this request is impressive and indicative of why the SOH is a great group of helpful people.

expat

 

[Milton Shupe]

The PAD planes that I spend the most time in are the Twin Otters...and I just checked their VC panels at night...the panel itself is dark, but the gauges are lit up like high noon! Even with all the power off! This is not really a problem for me, since I don't do much night flying. But...to enhance the PAD planes and as a tribute to the late Jean-Pierre and his contributions to the sim community, I will see what I can do to rectify the night VC panels on ALL of the FS9 PAD planes. Each tweak is simple and only takes a minute or two....the time consuming part will be making sure I label each tweaked MDL file to correspond to the correct PAD download package.


Milton,

Will give 50,50,50 a try to see how that works for the panel. Pure black just seems to be too far to that extreme.

OBIO

Not sure why he used this method to do the gauge backlighting.
Normally, I assign a light map to the panel texture (emissive texture-in the case, it would be for the vcpan.bmp in the texture folder) and darken the panel to near black and put a medium dark gray in the gauge holes (or use more sophisticated amber lighting for eyebrow lights) to backlight the gauges. This gives you control over every area to highlight or darken. An example light map in this case would be vcpan_L.bmp. But I tried that in my investigation of the issue and it did not work. Also, the fact that this panel texture is near white makes it harder to deal with on a general basis.

 

[bobmay]

Not sure why he used this method to do the gauge backlighting.
Normally, I assign a light map to the panel texture (emissive texture-in the case, it would be for the vcpan.bmp in the texture folder) and darken the panel to near black and put a medium dark gray in the gauge holes (or use more sophisticated amber lighting for eyebrow lights) to backlight the gauges. This gives you control over every area to highlight or darken. An example light map in this case would be vcpan_L.bmp. But I tried that in my investigation of the issue and it did not work. Also, the fact that this panel texture is near white makes it harder to deal with on a general basis.

Thanks to Milton, OBIO, et al for spending time on this.
The VC panel lighting on the DHC-6-400 seems to be a rare mistake by Jean-Pierre. And it's my mistake too, if I had noticed it during test flying and brought it to J-P's attention he would have fixed it right away. Like OBIO, I don't do much night flying. :-(

Bob
PAD

 

[OBIO]

Bob

Even with the odd night lighting on the VCs, the DHC6-400 is a wonderful package. Jean-Pierre and the PAD crew blessed us with so many great planes to enjoy. I would never want anyone to think that I was belittling the work that Jean-Pierre put into his work......the man was a great developer....there is no doubt about that. I enjoy the Twin Otters, the Seabee and the Shorts S330 and S360 greatly. I presently have the S330 and S360 in my shop...developing new paint kits for them, doing some tweaks to the MDL files a bit here and there...and once I have these planes revamped, you will start receiving packages to share via your site.

OBIO

 

[srgalahad]

Well OBIO.. since you asked...

View attachment 58038
PAD's Falcon 700....
the colour is OK, but it's a tad bright in there :}

 

[OBIO]

Roger that on the 700. Will download it and tweak it this weekend. Will also check all the PAD aircraft I have installed and make a list of those that need some tweaks. I find that all of the PAD planes are too shiny for my taste...too much specular shine. So I adjust them down to a more livable level. And tweak the material for the windows...a darker shade of gray, less transparency, lots of specular shine.

I will contact Bob from PAD and outline the tweaks I propose to make to the PAD MDL files (VC panel tweak were needed, reduced specular shine, tweaked glass) and see how he feels about having the PAD library "messed with" in this way. I don't want to seem to be dishonoring the legacy that Jean-Pierre left for us to enjoy...not in any way.

OBIO