Lately I was flying some longhaul flights between Europe and Asia. I was wondering why Night Lightning does look so different in real world and P3D. Descending from high altitude to the airports as lower as more different.
I come to the conclusion, that it is not the visual design or the display engine, but more likely a basic difference:
In real world on countryside, out of villages and towns, illumination is made by the cars head lamp, not by the street lighting. Street lighting does not exist there. In towns as well, highways not in the center are mostly illuminated by the cars.
However sofar all illumination packages I saw do handle it differently. So as well the original P3D textures. I do not want to blaim anybody. Along the roads and highways - data from various GIS or map services aare used - developpers put street lights above the road in regular distances or into the light shine the street textures. From far respectively high altitude - it may look OK, but close its different then real world. Outside populated regions street are alomost not visible. It depends on car density on the road.
Does somebody else come to the same conclusion and we may ask P3D developpers to review ? There may be some clever algorithm together with landclass to do the correct effects.
Best regards
Peter
Real Night Lightning
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Clutch Cargo
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Re: Real Night Lightning
Your observations are in line with what I see too. One has to remember that we "simulate" lighting in the sim. What the sim produces and what we see with our eyes can be quite different. I develop lighting for FS and it is a fine balance as to what is "real looking" and what is "immersive". I go for what is immersive. It is a fine balance to keep things looking good at 30,000 feet and still looking good a 500 feet.
I see too many addons with lights where they seem to load tons of lights on the roads to achieve the desired effects. Or I see way too many lights on deserted highways in the middle of nowhere. There is just not enough road traffic to simulate lighting on the roads so we compensate by adding more streetlights. Actually I am quite impressed with what Aces did with the original night textures. While not very realistic as it would blind you a lower altitudes, overall the impression was quite remarkable.
I think night lighting has come a long way since its early days and everyone will have their own opinions as to what is real, immersive or what just works for them. Just keep in mind this is a flight simulator and not a "light simulator". :)
I see too many addons with lights where they seem to load tons of lights on the roads to achieve the desired effects. Or I see way too many lights on deserted highways in the middle of nowhere. There is just not enough road traffic to simulate lighting on the roads so we compensate by adding more streetlights. Actually I am quite impressed with what Aces did with the original night textures. While not very realistic as it would blind you a lower altitudes, overall the impression was quite remarkable.
I think night lighting has come a long way since its early days and everyone will have their own opinions as to what is real, immersive or what just works for them. Just keep in mind this is a flight simulator and not a "light simulator". :)
