External lights

[Mogget]

I have suddenly started experiencing a problem with my external lights. It seems that the lights themselves are invisible, even though I can see their effects. For example, the illumination on the tail and rear fuselage of the default Baron (caused by the flashing red/orange tailfin light) can be seen, but the light itself is INVISIBLE!!

Does anyone know what the problem is, and how to correct it?

[Killieman]

Have you made any changes to FSX recently? If so what were they as this will help people trying to understand the problem.

[Mogget]

I uninstalled Aerosoft's Madeira X yesterday. I tried a system restore to reverse that, but it hasn't helped.

[Ragtopjohnny]

May have to do a repair from disc 1 in the drive....best of luck....

John Thuot II
A+/Network+
Don't forget to visit our modeler's site:
http://www.dreamscape-studios.com

[Mogget]

Is there no way that I can identify the files responsible for the display of the wingtip and tailfin lights, and then install "clean" versions over them? I am extremely reluctant to go down the REPAIR route, because I am worried that it will mess up my entire FSX installation. If I do decide to take this drastic course of action, are there any files that I should backup first (apart from fsx.cfg)?

[Ragtopjohnny]

You may want to go through your effect files to see what you have there. Someone may be willing to possibly compare the file lists, for if you're able to locate those files, and just copy what you need over to the Sim from your discs, you may be able to do that, but its kind of an impossibility with the security on the DVDs....

I'm not sure how you could get them back otherwise.

I will agree it is kind of a drastic action to take if you are able to avoid doing it. Not sure what the end results could be from numerous add-ons being installed...

I know my effects list is unfortunately too big to even take a screenshot from for you to compare -

Wish there was an easier way that could get everything back for you...maybe someone might have a suggestion out there for you regarding an easier way than not to have to do major surgery on the sim with a repair option...

Keep us posted....

John Thuot II
A+/Network+
Don't forget to visit our modeler's site:
http://www.dreamscape-studios.com

[Mogget]

I decided to check out the DX10 preview mode, and the flashing wingtip lights are displayed. However, they are very strange. They appear to be inverted images of a screen with "Flight Simulator X" written on them!

Here is a screenshot to illustrate what I mean. Can anything be deduced from this?

[f16jockey_2]

Is there no way that I can identify the files responsible for the display of the wingtip and tailfin lights, and then install "clean" versions over them?

The Baron has a [Lights]-section in aircraft.cfg. Most of the lights aren't hard-coded, only the landing lights are.

So you can read the names of the effects over there.

 
[LIGHTS]
//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing
light.0 = 3, -6.81, -19.30, 1.17, fx_navred ,
light.1 = 3, -6.82, 19.29, 1.17, fx_navgre ,
light.2 = 3, -25.33, 0.01, 1.08, fx_navwhi ,
light.3 = 2, -6.48, -19.04, 1.17, fx_strobe ,
light.4 = 2, -6.48, 19.04, 1.17, fx_strobe ,
light.5 = 1, -24.20, 0.00, 6.44, fx_beacon ,
light.6 = 2, -7.52, 0.01, -1.28, fx_strobe ,
light.7 = 4, -8.30, 0.00, 2.70, fx_vclight,

The hard-coded effect for landing lights is called fx_landing.fx

Hope this helps,
Wim

[Mogget]

The problem here is that it affects ALL of my aircraft, so presumably it must be something to do with the way FSX displays these lights?

[f16jockey_2]

Just trying to pinpoint the problem:

on my install, the above fx-files all have 12/05/2006 5:13 as date/time (European notation). Same with you ?

Greetz,
Wim