Night Time too Dark - Post REX

[vafpilot]

Hello,

I recently installed REX SkyForce 3D in the hopes to gain a more realistic weather simulation. Never again! I uninstalled REX but since then the night time textures in P3D v4.5 are way too dark. I mean they are literally pitch black. My sim is set to start with real local time which at night is a problem as the cockpit is dark.

But the darkness outside of the cockpit is dark black as well. This was not an issue prior to installing REX weather. As I've said, I uninstalled REX SkyForce but now I can't seem to fix the lighting.

-I've turned HDR on and off
-I've adjusted the settings for my monitor
-I've used the nVidia adjustment settings
-I've reverted to a saved P3D config file I backed up several months ago

I don't know why this is an issue unless I've missed some files REX installed which were not removed with the uninstalling process. I am so aggravated and disappointed with REX I will not buy another one of their products but in the meantime I'd like to get back the normal lighting textures prior to the REX install.

Any assistance to restore P3D to its normally lighting would be appreciated. (And I tried the hotfix prior to REX and did not like how it dimmed the exterior aircraft lighting).

[rvanzee]

Are you sure it's not just coincidental with the moon phase? Pick a date with a full moon and see what happens.

[JorgenSA]

And you have (of course) contacted REX tech support about the issue?

Jorgen

[vafpilot]

I have thought of the moon phase but have not reset the sim to a different phase (good point as it is new moon currently). I will try that this evening.

REX Support - That has been a joke in my case. To get support, you’re required to join the forum, post your order id, and wait for someone to verify it before you can post questions. I’m still waiting for verification which has been several days.

I removed the software as it has been problematic and getting support from REX has been non-existent. I’ll keep using Active Sky.

Thanks for your input guys.

[JorgenSA]

Thanks for your reply, that helps me in putting REX on my not-to-buy list.

Jorgen

[vafpilot]

No problem. I purchased the bundle (SkyForce and Essentials) but it was a waste of $50. I’m not a big fan of REX products but thought I’d give it a chance. Won’t happen again.

[koala]

Hey,

Did you find a way to resolve this issue? Mine too are way too dark at night. It is impossible to do anything.

[Firerx_1]

man, People were complaining for years P3D night vision was too light. Geez. Rex works perfectly for me.

[vafpilot]

I’m happy for you. I’m not sure how that helps those of us with this issue.

[Firerx_1]

Maybe ask someone that has it in the Rex forum would be nice. For instance, simply turn off EF HDR in the mini menu will give you you default HDR lighting control in P3D. There is always method to get things to work correctly. This is a fix for those complaining of too dark a VC cockpit and so on. Remember this updated version of P3D did darken night lighting for those that complained it was too bright. Hope the disabling EF HDR fixes your situation. Last resort rename you prepar3D.cfg file and let P3D create a new default one for you and start over.

[vafpilot]

I’ve done all of those things. Turning off HDR doesn’t make a difference. Deleting/creating a new .cfg file doesn’t work either. Additionally, I already mentioned the lack of support in the REX forums. Thanks for the response but all of that has already been mentioned in the previous responses. As well, I uninstalled the hotfix to return to the appropriate settings. All was fine until installing REX.

I can’t make them (REX) answer a post or ticket. I’ve uninstalled their product but the problem did not correct itself. With no support the only other option is to ask others who also are having this issue.

I certainly won’t ever purchase another REX product but that is not the issue at hand at the moment. The HDR is a nice option that worked before and I shouldn’t need to turn it off because of an addon.

[Senchay]

Sorry but this cannot be true.

They answer everything basically, alone in the last 2 weeks they offered over 20 ppl to directly assist them with things like teamviewer and that. Show me one single developer who does this. Besides this, every other dev needs this too, the registration with orderID. At least most of them. Its business as usual to not give help for product-pirates.

I didnt see you have mentioned that you used the PTA presets of them, only this could be a reason. I also didnt see you tell us if you tried another day yet because as others said, the moonphase is very dramatic now.

You also didnt mentioned if you reverted your backup to restore original files. There is this function in Skyforce. But since you uninstalled it now its probably gone...Usually you revert the backed up files before uninstalling to have original sky and all the things you overwritten..

Try first to switch to a date that has more moon (use google for that pls) or use this configtweak in prepar3d.cfg in C:\Users\xxxxx\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4

MOON_PHASE_LIGHTING=False

If all not helps simply deinstall the P3D client and Content (im not sure where in those 2 files sky is) and reinstall it again. Nothing has be to be done else, like reinstall plugins. As long you nly de/reinstall the client & content.

Besides that, Skyforce is one of the best bucks i spent my money on the last 2 years. Its 80% responsible for a realistic P3D look. But noone is using Rex as weather engine, its the rest (sky, clouds, effects) that most ppl use. For weather there is activesky

[vafpilot]

Well,

PMDG for one (and I am sure there are a few others). Purchasing, installing, and support are done best by PMDG bar none. In the past there have been some addons which caused some issues and I worked closely with their support staff to figure it out.

I’ve been doing this for a long time and have seen the good, the bad, and even the ugly in this hobby. There are good developers, mediocre ones, and even a few bad ones. Over time you learn to spot them a mile away and it doesn’t take long. I’m not going to engage in bashing anyone or any developer other than what is true. The truth is REX never responded to my registration to use the forums to get support. Their method is not good: registration should be automatic like most of the other developers products. Even the not-so-good developers have a better system to register whether it be forums, the add-on itself, or support.

If you want to call me a liar that’s fine: it’s an open forum and it’s simply your opinion. It doesn’t change the facts of what I’ve already stated regarding the lack of REX support and what I’ve attempted to fix it.

To the other gentlemen in this discussion, it has become apparent that the moon phase is the issue. Now that’s it’s no longer new moon the pitch blackness is gone. As mentioned I’m sure the HDR intensifies the effect. Thanks for the suggestions. And if you’re looking for a good weather engine, I recommend Active Sky. They also offer HD clouds (aka Active Sky Cloud Art - ASCA) if that sort of thing interests you. I have the HD clouds but I found the standard clouds in P3D work nicely after LM’s latest update (not the hot fix).

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Much appreciated.

[AAL200]

First of all, joining a support forum as a prerequisite to requesting support should not be motive to make anyone angry. Second, a developer asking you to prove you are worthy of support so they don't spend money giving it when none was received should not be motive to make anyone angry.

I was an early adopter of Skyforce and Environment force. It has worked FLAWLESSLY on my system that is not very high end (GTX670). That being said, there was an IMMEDIATELY acknowledged issue with the 1.0 release of Environment Force. The 1.1 tech update fixed the HDR issue for everyone except those few who insist on using a shader program over a shader program, i.e. running tomato shade and tweaking there then running enviornment force and tweaking the tweaks.

The simple solution to the 1.0 issue was to disable Environment Force HDR from the Mini UI tool. Environment Force was designed with P3D HDR settings of 1,1,1 in mind.

The best solution is to upgrade to 1.1. Another technical update is in wide beta right now and from what I gather in the reports it has fixed other issues that have been reported.

[AAL200]

I’ve done all of those things. Turning off HDR doesn’t make a difference. Deleting/creating a new .cfg file doesn’t work either. Additionally, I already mentioned the lack of support in the REX forums. Thanks for the response but all of that has already been mentioned in the previous responses. As well, I uninstalled the hotfix to return to the appropriate settings. All was fine until installing REX.

I can’t make them (REX) answer a post or ticket. I’ve uninstalled their product but the problem did not correct itself. With no support the only other option is to ask others who also are having this issue.

I certainly won’t ever purchase another REX product but that is not the issue at hand at the moment. The HDR is a nice option that worked before and I shouldn’t need to turn it off because of an addon.

I will bet you you did not delete your shaders after throwing your uninstall tantrum. HDR never needed to be turned off in P3D, only in Environment force and only version 1.0. I will also call you a liar if you are stating they did not respond to a support ticket, unless you could not or would not prove you own the software. Tell me where else you can get FREE support on a product that you don't own? Sure a mechanic will fix your car without asking for a pink slip, but that is because you will pay him/her hundreds of dollars to do it. As was stated, they have spent countless man/hours in team viewer and releasing what I will call custom dll's for folks to fix specific issues that they will role into the update.

You are right, there are good devs and bad ones, Rex is not a bad one. I don't have, need or want there other products, but SkyForce/EnvironmentForce is now on par with ORBX and Active Sky as my must have addons.