Lights problem

[Willy]

Why would the lightmaps for the fuselage windows work only with the landing lights? I'm working with the JBK B307 Stratoliner and just now, with FSX set to night, the side window lights only work with the landing lights on. I would think they should be tied in the VC or panel lights. The other question is now how to get them to work with the vc or panel lights instead of the landing lights.

Here is the offending lights section of the aircraft.cfg

[LIGHTS]
light.0=4, 18.41, 0.0, 5.67, fx_vclight ,
light.1=3, -2.7, 51.5, 2.7, fx_navgre ,
light.2=3, -2.7, -51.5, 2.7, fx_navred ,
light.3=5, 0 , 0 , 0 , fx_dummy , //landing lights
light.4=10, 0 , 0 , 0 , fx_dummy3, //cabin lights

[Milton Shupe]

I was going to look at this, downloaded the FSX version, but the lights section does not match yours. So, I assume yours is the FS9 version ported over???

[gradyhappyg]

light.3=5, 0 , 0 , 0 , fx_dummy , //landing lights
light.4=10, 0 , 0 , 0 , fx_dummy3, //cabin lights
Try changing the 5 and 10 to 4 the first number in the cfg refers to type of light 5 being landing 4 being cockpit no idea what 10 is.
Full list:Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing, 6=taxi, 7=recognition, 8=wing

[Willy]

I was going to look at this, downloaded the FSX version, but the lights section does not match yours. So, I assume yours is the FS9 version ported over???

The FSX model with the Glenn Duncan (ozbeowulf) panel and FDE. Although, I wouldn't really call the FSX model native with no specs, bumpmaps.



gradyhappyg[/COLOR]]
light.3=5, 0 , 0 , 0 , fx_dummy , //landing lights
light.4=10, 0 , 0 , 0 , fx_dummy3, //cabin lights
Try changing the 5 and 10 to 4 the first number in the cfg refers to type of light 5 being landing 4 being cockpit no idea what 10 is.
Full list:Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing, 6=taxi, 7=recognition, 8=wing



Thanks! That makes perfect sense. Off to give it a whirl.

[Willy]

No joy. It was a better idea than I had though.

I thinking that while it's a bit annoying, I might just have to live with the landing lights being on all the time at night.

[PhantomTweak]

Code Switch 1Beacon 2Strobe 3Navigation or Position 4Cockpit 5Landing 6Taxi 7Recognition 8Wing 9Logo 10Cabin
There are the codes, and the lights for them. 10 is Cabin lights.

If there is entry in the lights section, it has to have an entry in the [electrical] section as well. If you want to change a light code to 10, for example, you must have an entry in the [electrical] section like this: light_cabin = 0, 5 , 17.0

You might want to take a glance at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526949.aspx#mozTocId245287 It is very informative.

Pat☺

[Willy]

Thanks for the link, I've saved it for future reference.

I've messed around with it some more and think that what's probably going on is that fuselage light maps are some tied to the landing lights which are modeled in. I went to Jens original light section with no change to the issue.

Oh well... I guess flying around with the landing lights on at night might help me see birds, Mexican Jumping Redwoods or mountains at night before I hit them.

[Milton Shupe]

Thanks for the link, I've saved it for future reference.

I've messed around with it some more and think that what's probably going on is that fuselage light maps are some tied to the landing lights which are modeled in. I went to Jens original light section with no change to the issue.

Oh well... I guess flying around with the landing lights on at night might help me see birds, Mexican Jumping Redwoods or mountains at night before I hit them.

Willy,

This aircraft has painted windows meaning that the lights are controlled by the fuselage exterior textures, NOT the Lights section of the aircraft.cfg.

In the FSX port over version with DDS textures, there is a common texture folder.
In it, the fuselage_L.dds texture controls the fuselage exterior window lights.
The issue is that the alpha channel is white (landing lights controlled) instead of black (0,0,0 nav lights controlled).
I changed my alpha channel to Black (0,0,0) and it works correctly.

If your version is the FS9 one, and if you have the same texture name with a white alpha, try changing it to black.

[Willy]

Thanks Milton! I was wondering about the lack of alpha textures in the light maps in the original files and thought it was an FSX thing. And I am using the FSX version as the fuselage is better texture mapped in it.

The original cabin window lighting was way too bright IMHO, so I redid them. I somewhat dimmed down the port side as that was single seating in the original Stratoliner cabin configuration and for the sleeper compartments on the starboard side, I dimmed them down to barely visible.

They are about to get some black alpha channels. I'll report back here in a bit.

[Willy]

Thanks again Milton!! After a few flubs by me (dealing with 3 different window layouts), the cabin window night lighting is now working like it should be.

[Willy]

The main difference I've found in the FSX and FS9 versions is that the fuselage is texture mapped in FS9 with one texture that wraps around the fuselage from the top and in the FSX version, there's two texture bitmaps. The first is the fuselage sides where the cabin windows reside. The second covers the nosecap, fuselage top and fuselage bottom. On the actual aircraft there is an escape hatch over the cockpit with a large window in it. Jens never included it, but I have. It's the only window on the second fuselage texture. I had a light map working before with the landing lights on with no alpha layer, but with an alpha it doesn't work at all.

It's always something else when mucking about with FS, but that's how you learn.

[Willy]

Intersting new tidbit. Close inspection of the area on top of the cockpit shows the outline of the lighted window. It's like something is layering itself on there when it's fully visible in the lightmap bitmap.

Crazyness........

[Milton Shupe]

The main difference I've found in the FSX and FS9 versions is that the fuselage is texture mapped in FS9 with one texture that wraps around the fuselage from the top and in the FSX version, there's two texture bitmaps. The first is the fuselage sides where the cabin windows reside. The second covers the nosecap, fuselage top and fuselage bottom. On the actual aircraft there is an escape hatch over the cockpit with a large window in it. Jens never included it, but I have. It's the only window on the second fuselage texture. I had a light map working before with the landing lights on with no alpha layer, but with an alpha it doesn't work at all.

It's always something else when mucking about with FS, but that's how you learn.

The folders I have show the fuselage1_L in each livery's texture folder and the fuselage2_L in the texture.shared folder.
All of them have white, instead of black, alpha channels and need to be corrected.

Ensure your Black alpha is 0,0,0 and that you did not mistakenly flip the primary texture.