Flashing Nav Lights

[idahosurge]

Is there away to get the Nav lights to flash on/off, mine just stay on all the time.

Rod

[JamesChams]

Yes, use A2A Shockwave 3D Lights REDUX.

it makes a BIG difference...

[idahosurge]

James,So the only way to get flashing Nav lights is to buy 3D lights Redux?

It may look cool, but I have so many addon aircraft that I do not even want to buy something that I am then going to have to spend hours getting to work with all my addon planes.

BTW, I see you over at the Aerosoft F-16 forum all the time, nice seeing you over hear.

Rod

[Wingmate]

They have a 3rd party aircraft config database over there for the light section copy and paste makes it way faster.

[Intrepid]

Is there away to get the Nav lights to flash on/off, mine just stay on all the time.

Rod

There is already flashing lights built into the effects file folder ..they are attached to the police car or something like that ,,If I can find that specific one I will post here on how to attach that to the lights or smoke section,,,
I will get back to you
Randy

[Intrepid]

Hey Rod;
I found what I think is an easy enough way to make the inboard lights (the ones closest to the cockpit) flash ,I cant think of an easy way to attach the "flashing" to the outboard lights on the wings as they move when you fold up the wings. If your interested in a partial solution ,I will post the fix,, To do it the way I did ,you will have to modify the CFG file and install a folder into the "effects" file ,Are you comfortable doing that?
Let me know
Randy

[idahosurge]

Thanks Randy, I can do what you suggest, please post your solution.

Regards,

Rod

[Intrepid]

Thanks Randy, I can do what you suggest, please post your solution.

Regards,

Rod

The first thing you do is to go to the aircraft's CFG filed. It is located in the, Microsoft Games/Microsoft Flight Simulator X/SimObjects/Airplanes/FA-18/aircraft.cfg ,folder. After opening that folder, scroll down to the [LIGHTS]section,light.0 and light.1 are the two lines you will want to change. Here is copy of  what mine was changed to;

[LIGHTS]
//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing
//light.0 = 3,  -26.70,  -4.00,   1.40, fx_navredm ,
//light.1 = 3,  -26.70,   4.00,   1.40, fx_navgr.fx ,
light.0 = 3,  -26.70,  -4.00,   1.40,  fx_beaconb.fx,
light.1 = 3,  -26.70,   4.00,   1.40, fx_beacongr.fx,
light.2 = 3,  -49.40,   5.80,   8.50, fx_navwhi ,
light.3 = 1,  -46.20,   5.90,   7.50, fx_beaconb ,
light.4 = 1,  -46.10,  -5.90,   7.50, fx_beaconb ,
light.5 = 10,  -14.00,  0.00,   2.00, fx_vclight,
light.6 = 2, -35.00, 18.00, 0.00,   ba_smoke_blue.fx ,
light.7 = 2, -35.00, -18.00, 0.00,   ba_smoke_red.fx ,

The hash marks I put in front of the original lines .0 and .1 allow me to easily revert back to the original settings, so now after changing that, hit the "File" at the top of the task bar,then "save as" ,and allow the overwrite when prompted. That's the easy part now for step two.
Since I could not find an effect with a green flashing light  I modified the effects file that we are using to show the red flashes and changed it from red to green.
Go back to the main  "Microsoft Flight Simulator X" folder and open the "Effects" folder, scroll through that until you find the "fx_beaconb.fx" file. Right "click" on that file and COPY (not Cut!) that file to your desktop.
You should have the Icon on your desk top now, Right click on that Icon and scroll down that menu to "Rename" ,,change that file's name to  "fx_beacongr.fx" after doing that open the file and scroll down through it until you come to [ParticleAttributes.0] section, just below that you will see a few lines that have Color Start and Color End ,,those are what need to be changed to change the effect from red to green

[ParticleAttributes.0]
Blend Mode=0
Bounce=0.00
//Color Start=60, 8, 0, 180
//Color End=30, 8, 0, 0
Color Start=0, 200, 50, 180
Color End=0, 0, 0, 0
Jitter Distance=0.00
Jitter Time=0.00

copy the highlighted above, the same way into the
[ParticleAttributes.1] and [ParticleAttributes.2]  paragraphs further down in the file as well
Hit "File" at the top of the task bar than "save as",,accept the overwrite ,and close the file
Now you have a new effect, all that is left to do is place that folder you just created into your "Microsoft Flight Simulator X"folder ,,start your sim and check it out
You may have to turn the lights on and off once first to get the new effects to work (the "L" key)
I hope I haven't left out any steps,and I hope I didn't make this too complicated for you
Let us all know if you get it to work
If there are any problems I am more than happy to continue to help
Good luck with all this Rod..
Randy