Holy Cow! Night lighting

I just watched a video of current open beta and i must say the night lighting is really coming together at last.

Good to see that nav lights (at least on the hornet) are visible over distance finally. Can we get that on every plane and can we get an ME option for AI to switch nav lights on and off?

Please, please keep pushing forward on that one. We're nearly there!:pilotfly:

The days of Daylight Combat Simualtor are finally coming to an end!

Is there a roadmap for the lighting update? I was surprised that such big improvments weren't more prominently featured in the newsletter.

Also can we expect a cool GlowingAmraam trailer when everything is implemented and tuned for full effect?

Thanks!

I was surprised that such big improvments weren't more prominently featured in the newsletter.

In the newsletter from Jan 20, 2020, ED said this:

"This month we begin the testing of version 2.5.6 of DCS World that will include improvements to the lighting system. This will be most evident at night when viewing the cockpits. In addition to cockpit lighting, overall world lighting will appear more natural and balanced with improved tones.

Following this, our goal will be to further enhance world lighting by allowing multiple world-lighting sources. This will provide a much more natural and realistic appearance to the world."

So this has been an ongoing process that was announced a while a go, and is now finally starting to bear fruits.

Its looking great. Dawn and dusk are very realistic looking compared to before.

Its looking great. Dawn and dusk are very realistic looking compared to before.

Huh. I thought it was my imagination when I played one of the instant action missions that comes with the free Extra 540 mod, which takes place when the sun is low (not sure if it is morning or evening), and I thought the lighting looked unlike anything I've seen before in DCS. It really did look great. I'm not sure if it's related, or what was actually changed.

Looks good. I hope the adjustments fix the now washed out daytime. On NTTR I can’t even see the hawg’s hud.

As the HUD and instrument lighting is currently broken at daylight I've fired up a night mission a few days ago to avoid this issue and I was blown away by how great the night lighting does look now (especially the external lighting)!

Great job ED! :thumbup:

Definately improving and since the cockpit display lighting fix will be there tomorrow, I'll be looking forward to that. I hope they reduce the haze though. It's always been awful for me and I've been wondering why on the vids everyone could see so far relatively clearly - in my DCS it's literally like the cockpit glasses having suffered from a cataract, totally washed out and foggy - and the latest update just made it a lot worse. Can barely make out distinct landmarks except for rivers at just 10nm (or even less in the lastest ver) on a CAVOK day even with the highes vis distance setting, this clearly is not right. No matter which time I try... of course this is a lot more pronounced in the morning. Then the valleys are literally flooded by some kind of soup

@Eldur I agree the haze is really annoying now. Seems overdone. The A-10C TGP can't see anything in CCD mode because of this.

Just tried some night missions and I must say that this looks awesome. Really gives a nice mood for night flying! :thumbup:

Looks epic when flying through cities and towns, those baked in lights that don't illuminate units and objects keep immersing myself to the max.

Really looking forward to the newest changes coming to stable.

Again, thank you ED, but please keep pushing until nights are perfect.

There are still some things to do:

- Balancing and fine tuning of all light levels

- City lights range should be increased even further if possible (Dubai etc. still too dim at distance), if possible introduce more light color variation in urban areas

- Dialing in navigation lights and formation lights for every aircraft, even AI only AC

- Editor option to toggle AI nav/formation lights

- Solve the longstanding bug with black void after sunset and before sunrise, when moon is already up, but does not illuminate the scene

- make airport light poles illuminate aircrafts and cockpits