Very dark cockpit in 5.2

[Seat7A]

How to make the cockpit in 5.2 brighter. What was a problem in 5.1 I think has deteriorated in this version. The cockpit is crazy too dark and I can not find a setting that improves this.

/Thomas

[Seat7A]

Could I have som kind of answer, please.

[cdv0007]

In the developer tools, clear all the shaders can fix little

[Wolkenschreck]

Dear LM team,

The newest release really is a very welcomed update to the platform. One can see that you put a lot of effort in it and listend to the customers here in the forum. Thus, many thanks to the team and testers for bringing us 5.2!

I agree with the OP that the cockpit environment is indeed too dark (and actually darker than 5.1). Maybe this is something you could revisit again in a future update/hotfix?

The following screenshots were done with the default HDR/EA settings (complete new installation with new shaders) with the default scenario.

Best and thanks,

Christoph

[Seat7A]

I it possible to get someone from LM in here with a comment on the problem?

/Thomas

[sho69607]

I noticed this too. Everything seemed pretty balanced in 5.1 for me, but now its back to being super dark. Shaders were cleared and I reinstalled but the client and content for this version.

[sincedric]

The cockpit is way too dark, I'm flying daytime with EA on and the cockpit looks like I have my sunglasses on. Can LM please take a look and provide solutions such as some customization in the graphics option?

Edit: It looks like auto exposure help with the issue, but not everyone wants that on. Could it be fixed even for auto exposure off? Perhaps an option like real cameras (Exposure Compensation) can be added?

[Stratocruiser]

I agree that it is way too dark. It is the same with default and addon planes. Something needs to b3 done here. Is there anything we could change in the cfg file while waiting for LM to respond?
Thanks

[Martyson]

PMDG747 VC P3Dv5.2 (screenshot).

Does this look too dark to your eyes?

[BiologicalNanobot]

Hi,

One of the reasons of dark cockpits is the HDR tonemapper used in the simulator. Physically based lighting calculations often produce values beyond SDR, so it is easier to do calculations in HDR and then convert resulting HDR image back to SDR. Mathematical functions called tonemappers are used for this purpose.

P3D uses Narkowicz fit of ACES tonemapper, which makes the image overly contrasty and crushes blacks. I hope Lockheed Martin uses Uncharted 2 instead, which results in a much more natural look.

Here is my implementation, if it helps:

Code: Select all

float3 Uncharted2Curve(float3 input_color)
{
    const float shoulder_strength = 0.22;
    const float linear_strength = 0.30;
    const float linear_angle = 0.10;
    const float toe_strength = 0.20;
    const float toe_numerator = 0.01;
    const float toe_denominator = 0.30;

    return (((input_color * ((shoulder_strength * input_color) + (linear_angle * linear_strength))) + (toe_strength * toe_numerator)) / ((input_color * ((shoulder_strength * input_color) + linear_strength)) + (toe_strength * toe_denominator))) - (toe_numerator / toe_denominator);
}

float3 ToneMap(float3 input_color)
{
    const float exposure_bias = 2.0;
    const float white_point = 11.2;

    return saturate(Uncharted2Curve(input_color * exposure_bias) / Uncharted2Curve(float3(white_point, white_point, white_point)));
}

[disco79stu]

Same for me, I agree with the OP and many others here and in other forums and discussion groups.
It's what kept me away from EA since the beginning, and I'm kinda disappointed to see this hasn't been improved one bit in 5.2
The darker areas are almost pitch black, every attempt to get a brighter and less contrast rich look fails because it will affect the external brightness in a negative way. I really hope LM is finally improving this or give us the option to set this interdependently from the environment.

-Stu

[BiologicalNanobot]

Same for me, I agree with the OP and many others here and in other forums and discussion groups.
It's what kept me away from EA since the beginning, and I'm kinda disappointed to see this hasn't been improved one bit in 5.2
The darker areas are almost pitch black, every attempt to get a brighter and less contrast rich look fails because it will affect the external brightness in a negative way. I really hope LM is finally improving this or give us the option to set this interdependently from the environment.

Enhanced Atmospherics is not the reason of dark cockpits, at least not directly. Enabling Enhanced Atmospherics forces HDR, as physical scattering equations similarly produce brightness values beyond SDR. And as mentioned in my previous post (right above yours), the HDR tonemapper used in Prepar3D is known to crush blacks and result in an overly contrasty scene. As a temporary solution, you can replace the ToneMap() function in HDR.hlsl with the code I sent in my previous post, and delete shader cache so those changes can have an effect.

[Martyson]

@ disco79stu ,
Stu

Which aircraft is in your screenshot?

[disco79stu]

Enhanced Atmospherics is not the reason of dark cockpits, at least not directly. Enabling Enhanced Atmospherics forces HDR, as physical scattering equations similarly produce brightness values beyond SDR. And as mentioned in my previous post (right above yours), the HDR tonemapper used in Prepar3D is known to crush blacks and result in an overly contrasty scene. As a temporary solution, you can replace the ToneMap() function in HDR.hlsl with the code I sent in my previous post, and delete shader cache so those changes can have an effect.

Thanks for the professional explanation, sounds well informed, I will try your code right away. :)

@ disco79stu ,
Stu

Which aircraft is in your screenshot?

That's the FSLabs A321-SL.

[disco79stu]

As a temporary solution, you can replace the ToneMap() function in HDR.hlsl with the code I sent in my previous post, and delete shader cache so those changes can have an effect.

Oh wow, this looks much better! Less contrasty and burnt, brighter and more evenly lighted. This is definitely something I can live with and build on!
Thanks man!