Cockpit Shadows

[ncooper]

This was posted by Paul J on a forum where some of you don't go.
I feel sure he won't mind me reproducing it here.
Nick.


For those who enjoy the experience of instrument panel glare one minute, and blackness in the next minute - Steve has found what he calls "a gold nugget"... Back a while ago, Bojote found an innocuous fsx.cfg parameter that had something to do with cockpit shadows.... which "did nothing"... Well, Steve tried it with DX10, and guess what! It works!


So - he has put a note on his blogsite (http://stevesfsxanalysis.wordpress.com/), (see Recent Posts on right) explaining how to do it - and by NOT using the DX10 ToolBox. I know there's a thousand other aircraft out there, so I did some tests this morning, and here's the list of what works, and what doesn't work. If you don't see it in the list, it's because I haven't got it, or haven't loaded it.

Tested & works:-
A2A Cub, Spitfire, C172:Aerosoft's PBY: the WACO:Ant's Tiggie:both Milviz and stock Beech Twins and the C310: the FrenchVFRFree C150-K Ti Bush & 150L: the Rick Piper Chippie: the stock Beaver: the CBFS DH89a Rapide;
Manfred's C-47 v2: the Edgley Optica: stock Extra 300: BN-2 Islander: IRIS BD-5, Christen Eagle and Silence Twister: LHMaddog (Yahoo!): the Maule & Mooney Bravo: Piglet's Pilatis PC-6: stock Piper Cub:RA SF 260: the LDR Ryan Navion: SibWings BirdDog and Pitts.

Tested & didn't work:-
MAAM B25, Do-27, SibWings Safir

pj

Here's the post:-

New FSX Setting ForceVCShadowMap (http://stevesfsxanalysis.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/new-fsx-setting-forcevcshadowmap/)
by stevefsx (http://stevesfsxanalysis.wordpress.com/author/stevefsx/)
I have just stumbled across a new fsx.cfg setting ForceVCShadowMap. Jesus Altuve had mentioned that this setting existed in the past but with no explanation of what it might do.
In DX9 mode it does nothing, which I why I guess it was forgotten.
However in DX10 mode it seems to enable (force) VC cockpits for all aircraft regardless of the setting in the VC Model file.
To enable this locate the [Display] section and add
ForceVCShadowMap=1
With this setting enabled there is no longer any need to use DX10Toolbox to turn the VC Shadows on in the model xml file.
If you are using DX10SceneryFixer there is another bonus to this new setting.
If you create a profile with
Legacy Aircraft Self Shadow ticked in the Legacy Dialog
HD Shadows unticked in the Shadow Dialog
Force VC Walls ticked
Then with luck you should find that you have VC Shadows in your legacy FS9 aircraft

SteveFX

[Roger]

That's very interesting Nick! Thanks for sharing:ernaehrung004:

[Adamski_NZ]

... and ... before anyone asks ... it will NOT fix the PMDG 737 NGX (for reasons described in many other posts).

However - the following PMDG aircraft *do* work:

B747
B777
JS4100

Adam.

[mjrhealth]

You can include the Quest Kodiak in that list, Fixer couldnt fix it but this did, was missing the necessary info.

[odourboy]

Are there aircraft that this works for that would otherwise NOT display VC shadows using the toolbox enable method?

[Roger]

Are there aircraft that this works for that would otherwise NOT display VC shadows using the toolbox enable method?

Yes it does! For example the Flight replicas Heron. The toolbox doesn't work on the vc shadows but the cfg entry does.

[odourboy]

Okay. I guess it's just my dumb luck that the one or two FS9 upgraded aircraft I'm using don't respond to the cfg setting. :banghead:

[Adamski_NZ]

Okay. I guess it's just my dumb luck that the one or two FS9 upgraded aircraft I'm using don't respond to the cfg setting. :banghead:

Which ones are they? I'll see if they happen to work on my system.

Adam.

[odourboy]

The Alphasim F101 Voodoo for one. I'll have check double check to confirm any others.

[Adamski_NZ]

The Alphasim F101 Voodoo for one. I'll have check double check to confirm any others.

Hmmm .. I think you're pushing your luck with that one! It's originally an FS2002 model. Very unlikely that it will have VC shadow coded in. I couldn't force any - no matter what I tried.

How do you get the display window to fill the screen on these ancient aircraft? Mine is half-size, vertically.

Adam.

[Roger]

Hmmm .. I think you're pushing your luck with that one! It's originally an FS2002 model. Very unlikely that it will have VC shadow coded in. I couldn't force any - no matter what I tried.

How do you get the display window to fill the screen on these ancient aircraft? Mine is half-size, vertically.

Adam.

Just remove the X, Y coordinates from the panel cfg and it should display the panel correctly.

[Roger]

The Alphasim F101 Voodoo for one. I'll have check double check to confirm any others.

My reply to vc shadows and not having to use the tool-box referred to FsX natives that couldn't be coaxed to show shadows lIke the FR Heron. I only found one of my Fs9 port-overs that would show vc shadows.

[Adamski_NZ]

Just remove the X, Y coordinates from the panel cfg and it should display the panel correctly.
Thanks! I quite like these "Cold War" era jets!

Adam.

[B777ER]

... and ... before anyone asks ... it will NOT fix the PMDG 737 NGX (for reasons described in many other posts).

However - the following PMDG aircraft *do* work:

B747
B777
JS4100

Adam.

What I find strange is before I installed PMDG's latest update to the 777, SP1C, I had the VC shadows working brilliantly with the Toolbox method. Since installing SP1C they no longer work.

[Adamski_NZ]

What I find strange is before I installed PMDG's latest update to the 777, SP1C, I had the VC shadows working brilliantly with the Toolbox method. Since installing SP1C they no longer work.

I have SP1c installed and get VC shadows. However - they really are a bit odd. They don't seem to correspond to the windows/pillars etc. - just random bits of what looks like panels. I'll play with the shadows settings to see if anything helps.

Adam.