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Having fun at night in FS2K2


BobSeaman

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Night time VFR in FS02 is normally a pretty frustrating experience. However, you can simulate wearing NVG/starlight goggles with the right aircraft and some tweaking to the aircraft cfg file and the vclight effect file. :D You'll also need to be sure that the 3D option is selected for FS as well as the Show Reflective Textures option.

 

I'm using two fighter aircraft initially because the effect works best on them, DSB's F-5 Freedom Fighter series of aircraft and the KBT Super Hornet (both for FS9). Both have the "distraction" in FS2002 of having shiny transparent glass as seen from the inside (in the VC view). Normally, I'd be trading out the "glass.bmp" file in the texture folder for something less glossy (or editing the alpha channel of the BMP with DXTbmp) but in this case, you want a really glossy canopy.

 

You'll also need a red VC light effect file (DSB's F-5 already has one) for the virtual cockpit. With the red VC light, you've already got some night vision. Just start FS, set the time of day to midnight and load either of the planes mentioned above. Now, make sure your Panel Light is on, taxi and landing lights are off, and take off. You don't need to change any of your monitor settings but low light in your computer area helps. How about that, you can see the ground at night! :D It should be a nice red and black view except for bright objects like taxi lights and beacons.

 

So, how about that green and black effect you always see in night vision scenes? As far as I could find, no one ever tried to create a green VC light, but that's easy to fix. :cool:

 

Look in your "effects" folder for a red VC light. Candidates could include files named VClight_red.fx (as an example) or you could check the aircraft.cfg file of a plane with a red VC light and note the name of the file listed in the [lights] section.

Copy this .fx file to your desktop. Rename the copy to "vclight_g.fx" or whatever you'll recognize as a green VC light.

Now, right click the renamed file and use the Open With option and select "notepad". Double click the .fx file and Notepad should open the file and show you the text. Near the bottom of the text, you should see the following:

 

 

[ParticleAttributes.0]

Blend Mode=2

Texture=fx_2.bmp

Bounce=0.00

Color Start=50, 50, 50, 1

Color End=25,155, 5, 0

Jitter Distance=0.00

Jitter Time=0.00

uv1=0.00, 0.00

uv2=0.01, 0.01

X Scale Goal=0.00

Y Scale Goal=0.00

Z Scale Goal=0.00

Extrude Length=0.00

Extrude Pitch Max=0.00

Extrude Heading Max=0.00

 

The "Color End" line you see in green is already set up for a green light (the first three numbers are for RGB- red, green, and blue color values. The higher the number, the more of that RGB value is used). So either copy that line and add it to the FX file (after deleting the original line) or edit the original to those first three numbers. This combo of numbers gave me a nice "starlight" green effect. You can experiment with other combinations. Now, Save the edit in notepad and drop the new FX file into your EFFECTS folder.

Last, you'll need to find the VC light entry in the [LIGHTS] section of your plane. Edit the name of the effects file to the one you just created. Save and check out your new night vision goggles in the virtual view. :cool:

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Just a follow up. I tried this in Kirk Olsen's F-16/Viper and its, well, flipping awesome. :D

One thing I did notice, not all VC light effects are coded the same. So, here's the full code that needs to be in the .FX file:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Library Effect]

Lifetime=5

Version=2.00

Radius=-1

Priority=0

 

[Properties]

Cockpit=1

VirtualCockpit=1

Spot=1

Tower=1

Map=1

 

[Emitter.0]

Lifetime=0.50, 0.50

Delay=0.00, 0.00

Bounce=0.00

Light=1

No Interpolate=1

Rate=1.00, 1.00

X Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00

Y Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00

Z Emitter Velocity=0.00, 0.00

Drag=0.00, 0.00

X Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00

Y Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00

Z Particle Velocity=0.00, 0.00

X Rotation=0.00, 0.00

Y Rotation=0.00, 0.00

Z Rotation=0.00, 0.00

X Offset=0.00, 0.00

Y Offset=0.00, 0.00

Z Offset=0.00, 0.00

Pitch=0.00, 0.00

Bank=0.00, 0.00

Heading=0.00, 0.00

 

[Particle.0]

Lifetime=0.00, 0.00

Type=19

X Scale=1.00, 1.00

Y Scale=1.00, 1.00

Z Scale=0.00, 0.00

X Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00

Y Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00

Z Scale Rate=0.00, 0.00

Drag=0.00, 0.00

Color Rate=0.00, 0.00

X Offset=0.00, 0.00

Y Offset=0.00, 0.00

Z Offset=0.00, 0.00

Fade In=0.00, 0.00

Fade Out=0.00, 0.00

Rotation=0.00, 0.00

Static=1

Face=1, 1, 1

 

[ParticleAttributes.0]

Blend Mode=2

Texture=fx_2.bmp

Bounce=0.00

Color Start=50, 50, 50, 1

Color End=25,155, 5, 0

Jitter Distance=0.00

Jitter Time=0.00

uv1=0.00, 0.00

uv2=0.01, 0.01

X Scale Goal=0.00

Y Scale Goal=0.00

Z Scale Goal=0.00

Extrude Length=0.00

Extrude Pitch Max=0.00

Extrude Heading Max=0.00

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

To who ever wrote the original, I wish I knew who you are but I have no way of back tracking this. I'm just posting it because it works. :)

To use the code and make your own "starlight" or NVG effect, go into your [EFFECTS] folder and select (high light) a .fx effects file.

 

-COPY the .fx file to your desktop.

-RENAME the file on your desktop to something you'll recognize. "vclight-nvg.fx" as an example.

-HIGH LIGHT the fx file again and right click. Use the Open With option and select Notepad.

-COPY everything between the dashed lines in this post.

-DOUBLE CLICK the effects file. It should open in Notepad.

-SELECT (high light) all the text in the FX file and then press your backspace key. The FX file should now be blank.

-PASTE the data you copied from this post into the FX file.

-SAVE the FX file and drop it into your FS2002 effects folder.

Now, you'll need to change the VC light in your aircraft (I'll use Kirk's original F-16, viper.zip, as an example).

Go to the aircraft's main folder in FS. Highlight "aircraft.cfg" and open it in Notepad.

Read down until you see the [LIGHTS] section.

Find LIGHT.6 and change ONLY the .fx file name to what you named your new effects file, like below:

 

light.6= 4, 15.6, 0.00, 3.5, vclight-nvg

 

Save and you're done, start FS and enjoy some night flights.

 

If anyone would like to try this in FS2004/FS9, let me know if it works. The key is that you need to pick an aircraft which uses textures on the INSIDE of the window glass or canopy (ie, you can see a "glare" effect when you're in the VC view). You should also have 3D turned on as well as "show reflections" (ie, if your chrome looks shiny-you're fine).

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  • 8 months later...

Well, dang.. :rolleyes:

 

My machine decided that today was the time for the Win10 Creators Update install.

 

My video brightness and contrast looked odd after the install and a couple of restarts so I re calibrated them and started checking to see what else got "improved".

 

FS looked OK but I needed to tweak my monitor settings a little more. I just tried loading Kirk's F-16 at night and danged if the night vision effect is gone. :mad: Same story with the KBT Hornet and the DSB F-5's. The inside canopy reflections are still there but the subtle back lighting effect on the ground in the VC view has been "fixed" and now everything is uniformly black.

 

Crap.. :mad:

 

 

It was fun while it lasted.

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Well, hopefully the last update-

 

I got the night vision effect to work again. :cool:

The problem was due to a new video feature in the Creators Update, mainly the new "night mode" option coupled with another Win10 update that totally buggered my monitor settings. :rolleyes:

 

For those who don't know, the new "night mode" makes it easier to fall asleep by adding more red/brown color tones to your video while knocking back the blue color tones.

 

Since I'm not in a hurry to fall asleep while looking at my monitor :rolleyes: , I'm chalking this effect up to the video companion to Siri and I plan to use both in equal regularity.

In other words, you can turn it off. :D

 

If you find yourself having problems after the Creators Update installs, turn off "night mode" by right clicking on your desktop then retune your monitor brightness and contrast settings.

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