Runway lights to faint!

[Fall_Guy]

Hi Umberto, guys

First of all I love this KLAX scenery and everything while on the ground appears very realistic, including the runway and taxi lights.  However when I approach KLAX at Dusk/Night the Runway Lights are so Faint they appear as dark black areas.  They are there but there so small and faint even when I get to the threshold.  Ive read several post reporting simalar issues and have re-downloaded both the latest versions of KLAX and the stand alone manager but neither have solved my problem...................any ideas!!

I'm using 3D lights redux on my A1 and user Aircraft and am currently looking onto any issues they may have on KLAX lighting, but I would'nt have thought they'ed affect your KLAX runway lights, because ALL my other Airports appear fine.

Many Thanks for your support.

John.

Sorry forgot specs:  Window7 64, FSX, UT2, REXessen, 3D lights redux, (i7 2600k, GTX 590, sabertooth P67, 8mb Vengence Ram, ATX1200, Watercooled)

Ive also got the same problem at KLAS but KORD KJFK seems fine!!  ...........also just watched a great vid of night landing at KLAX and the runway lights and airport in general are excellent

p.s  I did'nt post a screenshot because the lights are so faint they can't be seen at this size/resolution as per forum guidelines

[virtuali]

I'm using 3D lights redux on my A1 and user Aircraft and am currently looking onto any issues they may have on KLAX lighting, but I would'nt have thought they'ed affect your KLAX runway lights, because ALL my other Airports appear fine.

Since KLAX uses custom lights with custom textures, that addon will affect all airports, except KLAX...

Your problem might be wrong video settings, be sure you use HD textures and use Anisotropic filtering on the video card panel at least at 8x. Force the default settings, don't use "application controlled"

[Fall_Guy]

Hi Umberto,

Yes Ive already checked the Manager settings and the HD textures is checked and my Graphic card is set to antitropic filtering x16.  Ive attached a picture so perhaps you can have a look and tell me if you think there is a problem, or perhaps that how its meant to be.

Also please note the absence of the PAPI lights on ALL runways.

I'm thinking of Un-installing ALL my FSdream airports and GSX and then just installing KLAX to see if it makes any difference..

Thanks for your Help and interest

John

[virtuali]

Do you use FSX at 744x552 resolution, or is your screenshot resized ? If yes, it's very difficult to understand what's going on, because those kind of point lights will surely appear much fainter, on a resized screenshot.

However, this is how the scenery looks like. Even with a resized screenshot, the runways are fairly easy to see, and PAPIs obviously work.

You might try reinstalling the scenery, but I don't think it will change much, if some files were missing you wouldn't see anything, not just fainter lights.

[Fall_Guy]

Thanks for the Pic, Umberto,

Mine unfortunately is nothing like that.  (I wish it was)...................as for my screen resolution I think Im running 1200 x 1600, and the screenshot I attached has been cropped (but not resized).

Just one other thing the runway lights appear to be a redy/bronze colour if thats any help to you.

Ive noticed the forum allows larger screenshot file sizes than I thought, so ill post a clearer shot for you to have a look at.

Thanks again for your time.

john

[virtuali]

I'm sorry but, the problem is surely not the scenery. Is it possible that addon you installed has modified the default shaders ?

If yes, then I'm afraid it won't work with KLAX, perhaps they tuned it for the default runway lights, but the effect will change when using sceneries with fully custom lights. If the default shaders has been changed, there's no way we can fix it on our side.

[Fall_Guy]

Hi Umberto,

Could you please indicate what the files are when you say default shaders (do you mean the Halo for example)  The reason I ask is Ive spent the whole day UNinstalling ALL your Airports, GSX and the addon manager and Couatl......... as well as the 3Dlights Redux and REXessen, so Im only running FSX and LevelD now.

After reading a post on this forum, I did a FULL install of the stand alone Manager and then a FULL installed off KLAX.  When I started FSX and went to KLAX to observe this is what happened.

1)  After the inistial install the Runways had NO lighting at all, NO PAPI ............... only the taxiway lighting was displayed.
2)  I then restarted Couatl from the addons menu in FSX,  and then the PAPI lights sprung into action,..........and the Runway lighting was visible (but only very faint as before.

Ive also installed KORD as a test and the ALL the lighting is NORMAL as you would expect, and after I UNINSTALLED KLAX again the default KLAX lighting was Normal as expected.  Im now in the situation were Ive unintalled KORD .......... so that the only files on my system are FSX, LevelD, and KLAX just while I get to the bottom of this.  Also Ive NOT made any changes to FSX.cfg and Ive made sure the Default Halo texture is present.

The last thing I want to do is Re-Installing FSX AGAIN so Ive attached some pics just to see if you can suggest anything.  Just as a point of reference the Lights when displayed could be described as Tiny but very Clean, Sharp looking and as mention previously they appear orangy/bronze in colour.

Sorry to be a pain Umberto
Regards
John

[virtuali]

Could you please indicate what the files are when you say default shaders (do you mean the Halo for example)

No, that would be default textures, and KLAX runway lights don't use them, so they won't be affected by an addon that change textures. Default shaders are those files in the FSX\ShadersHLSL folder, I guess the only way to restore them is to remove the folder and REPAIR the FSX installation.

The reason I ask is Ive spent the whole day UNinstalling ALL your Airports, GSX and the addon manager and Couatl...

That wasn't necessary, nothing of this is related to the Addon Manager or Couatl, except the PAPI flashing, but not the actual display of it (its appearance)

2)  I then restarted Couatl from the addons menu in FSX,  and then the PAPI lights sprung into action,..........and the Runway lighting was visible (but only very faint as before.

Faint lights don't have anything to do with any of our software, if KLAX is installed using its own installer, everything needed will be installed as well.

Ive also installed KORD as a test and the ALL the lighting is NORMAL as you would expect, and after I UNINSTALLED KLAX again the default KLAX lighting was Normal as expected

Of course, KLAX is the only scenery that has 100% custom runway lights made that way.

The last thing I want to do is Re-Installing FSX AGAIN so Ive attached some pics just to see if you can suggest anything.  Just as a point of reference the Lights when displayed could be described as Tiny but very Clean, Sharp looking and as mention previously they appear orangy/bronze in colour.

I understand exactly the problem, other than being sure it doesn't have anything to do with our software, I can't say more. You must have installed something else that is affecting it, that we didn't know until now. Note that, you can't be 100% sure that uninstalling will restore ALL modified files, this is really depending on the uninstaller, the only sure way that everything is back to normal, is to reinstall FSX, possibly after removing its folder.

Another thing you might try, is to remove the %APPDATA%\Microsoft\FSX.CFG file, this will force FSX to start with a default settings file.

[Fall_Guy]

Hi there,

Just thought I'd report back after running FSX through test rig.  It appears that the problems I have been experiencing with the faint lights was due to an additional line of text/code in the FSX .cfg file.

The entry that seems to conflict with KLAX is :  MipBias=6

Having removed this line which was under the (Graphic card section), KLAX is now displaying ALL LIGHTS as normally expected.

Just thought it may help in someway.

Thanks
John