Lighting is incredible!

[Harlikwin]

Gamma won't affect the frame rates. Think of it as a brightness adjustment.

 

And yes the night lighting is definately better, not so much difference in the day. However VR performance has taken a serious hit. Hopefully ED can fix that soon.

[maxTRX]

Overall the new lightning looks really good!

The stars though, just looks like painted dots on a roof (at least on my PC). Now it really feels like I'm flying indoor :)

 

But overall really happy with the patch. Everything just looks much nicer and no FPS drop for me (Rift S).

 

Same here, slight gamma adjustment made it better.

Can you imagine flying in rl over calm water with sky like this reflected below.:huh:

[VDV]

Yes, new lighting effects are great, but why I cant see the stars? Is there a another option for that?

[maxTRX]

Yes, new lighting effects are great, but why I cant see the stars? Is there a another option for that?

 

You might try by getting the moon out of the way (different time of night/ month), in the middle of nowhere then possibly tweak gamma setting a little.

[VDV]

You might try by getting the moon out of the way (different time of night/ month), in the middle of nowhere then possibly tweak gamma setting a little.

 

Higher or lower gamma?

[maxTRX]

Higher or lower gamma?

 

I just posted this thread:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=263996

[OG84]

I have to say dcs is a benchmark in flight sims. I don't have any problems whatsoever with patch 2.5.6. (but it's a clean non-modded install due to the rollback stuff etc.).

But it is looking phenomenal in VR (vive index). So many new things i didn't notice before or at least they weren't looking as good as far as i remember. Especially the lighting in f16 and 18. Really really kudos to the devs. It's going in the right direction. Also the new colored f16 mfds are nice!

Edited February 17, 2020 by NineLine
removed 1.1

[dburne]

I have to say dcs is a benchmark in flight sims. I don't have any problems whatsoever with patch 2.5.6. (but it's a clean non-modded install due to the rollback stuff etc.).

But it is looking phenomenal in VR (vive index). So many new things i didn't notice before or at least they weren't looking as good as far as i remember. Especially the lighting in f16 and 18. Really really kudos to the devs. It's going in the right direction. Also the new colored f16 mfds are nice!

 

+1.

 

Looking great on my end in VR.

[maxTRX]

You might try by getting the moon out of the way (different time of night/ month), in the middle of nowhere then possibly tweak gamma setting a little.

 

The moon definitely lights up the scenery a little bit too much, not by far though. You won't see the stars though. Set your mission for say June 1st, 2300 and you should be able to see them.

 

I've found new gamma setting that is great for day and night 1.4 (in-game)

No Nvidia color control.

[Hawkeye_UK]

So I tried 2.5.6. and the new lighting is appealing indeed, but at first sight it looks like the color accuracy that made it look almost photo-realistic in some situations before is lost in favor of more saturated colors. But as a first iteration of a WIP I understand it will be further adjusted in subsequent updates.

BTW, performance is really good in this version.

 

ok so at flight level 200 through to 400 it seems like the sky around dawn and dusk is very realistic - combined with the city lights now with the correct orange warm glow.

 

I've never seen DCS look so much like reality (VR Rift S - gamma set to 1.0). For example on clear sky's that dark purple you get as the sun goes down to the East is really, really well done as it turns through to deeper purple and eventually night. The sky colour also in this transition period is very realistic with the clear cobalt blue with the star's shining though. I was also impressed with sun position in that as you climb the sun comes up and vice versa which affects the light level around you. It's the best i've seen in any game, flight sim or not.

 

Whilst this patch has caused chaos in some aspects and has been a nightmare the artwork for the sky is very well done and ED should be proud of what they have achieved. Anyone that think it doesn't look right - overly colourful - suggest you watch the next sunset from 20 to 40,000 feet as it looks alot different than down on the ground.

[Hawkeye_UK]

I'd also say that gamma over 1.2 you over saturate and wash out on Rift S

[Beirut]

Finally got the Steam update and took a night flight around Dubai.

 

 

Excellent! Love it. Two thumbs up.

[NineLine]

By the way, we have reported Moonlight, asking if it can be turned down a bit.

[VDV]

what is normal (default) gamma?

[twistking]

2.2 should be default, as it is default in windows and macOS (macOS used to have 1.8 if i remember correctly but changed to 2.2 some time ago)

 

most people will calibrate their monitors to 2.2 and those that don't calibrate their monitor will probably still run a factory preset with roughly 2.2 on their screen.

 

the way ED has implemented the gamma setting is really stupid imho. it's "wrong" to set your gamma to something else than your monitors/profiles gamma. for those that want to tweak the brightness/contrast there should be a seperate menu where you can adjust gamma and brightness relative to a base value of 2.2 using sliders or something. it should be clear that this is modifying the rendering intent due to personal preferences. gamma is a technical term and there should only be one "correct setting". of course people should be allowed to tweak it to their liking or maybe compensate for a bad screen, but it should be made clear which setting is the default. in most cases it would be better to compensate with your monitors hardware settings (brightness mostly) anyway. it's how every other game handles it and it's less confusing for people.

Edited February 18, 2020 by twistking

[Ironhand]

Personally, I'm enjoying the new lighting:

 

 

 

One thing to be aware of, when taking pre- and post- screenshots or videos, is that the sunrise/sunset times may be different between 2.2.5 and 2.2.6. So the sun's position might be different. Haven't really inverstigated further but, in this video, I had to adjust the 2.2.5 portion 23 minutes later to have the sun in the same position on the horizon at video start.

 

Also noticed that tracks between the two versions also play back differently depending on the DCS version used but always in precisely the same way. So I wonder if there are some minor changes that have happened under the hood--perhaps atmosphere related (used two different aircraft and the same thing happened in both). You can see the difference in this video. The landing on the left in the split screen does not mirror the landing on the right side.

 

And, yes, the MiG-29's pit lighting is much too bright--regardless of gamma setting--but that's another issue.

[dali]

Nellis night ops.. (for comparison)

 

[The Falcon]

Just flew the hornet at 20:00 in PG and the lighting is like holy s**t!!! Reflections in and outside the cockpit and the city lights span for miles!!! It's amazing!!! Thank you ED.

It's amazing but need to be tweaked. However I don't understand why many people don't seem to see the difference in the daytime.

[Dav IRL]

Lighting is incredible!

 

It's amazing but need to be tweaked. However I don't understand why many people don't seem to see the difference in the daytime.

 

 

 

The daytime looks allot smoother to me, there seems to be some sort of blending applied, it looks allot better and not as disjointed.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited February 19, 2020 by Dav IRL

[Ironhand]

...However I don't understand why many people don't seem to see the difference in the daytime.

Because the difference isn’t as dramatic as the difference presented in the darker hours:

 

[maxTRX]

The daytime looks allot smoother to me, there seems to be some sort of blending applied and it’s also looks allot better and not as disjointed.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

In my crappy Rift I can still see the rings after the sunset when there's just a little bit of light left on the horizon. Same with morning twilight. The sunset looks incredible though until the last few minutes of transition into night.

[Lange_666]

Off Topic:

Also noticed that tracks between the two versions also play back differently depending on the DCS version used but always in precisely the same way. So I wonder if there are some minor changes that have happened under the hood--perhaps atmosphere related (used two different aircraft and the same thing happened in both). You can see the difference in this video. The landing on the left in the split screen does not mirror the landing on the right side.

 

 

As a VR demonstration i made a track from an F/A-18C doing a carrier landing, taxi to catapult 4 hook up, take-off and then fly low level, turn back to the ship and then pull up just right in front of it (cool to watch in VR).

Originally this worked fine (as long as i didn't switch to much views or it would crash on the ships bow). Then when the first update after the track was released it would still play nice but no further then taxiing to cat 4. It would not hook up anymore and it would blow up on normal take-off (no cat shot) when crashing into the port side of the carrier.

Now, with release 2.5.6, the airplane doesn't even reach the carrier anymore but crashes into the sea about half a mile from the carrier. The F/A-18C then sinks to the bottom and once below the waterline, the water vanishes and the ships look like they are hovering in the sky. If i watch the throttle then you can even see it move forward the moment it would "trap" on the original playback.So tracks are becoming useless when another version arrives.

 

 

On Topic:

But yes.. overall the lighting is a great improvement.

[Tiramisu]

Because the difference isn’t as dramatic as the difference presented in the darker hours:

 

 

The landscapes are not much affected during daylight, but you should have compared some cockpits as well. E.g. the cockpit of the Mirage looks different now. Especially those glassy weapon-select-buttons at the bottom left of the front panel look much more realistic imo.

[Ala12Rv-watermanpc]

Personally, I'm enjoying the new lighting:

 

 

 

One thing to be aware of, when taking pre- and post- screenshots or videos, is that the sunrise/sunset times may be different between 2.2.5 and 2.2.6. So the sun's position might be different. Haven't really inverstigated further but, in this video, I had to adjust the 2.2.5 portion 23 minutes later to have the sun in the same position on the horizon at video start.

 

Also noticed that tracks between the two versions also play back differently depending on the DCS version used but always in precisely the same way. So I wonder if there are some minor changes that have happened under the hood--perhaps atmosphere related (used two different aircraft and the same thing happened in both). You can see the difference in this video. The landing on the left in the split screen does not mirror the landing on the right side.

 

And, yes, the MiG-29's pit lighting is much too bright--regardless of gamma setting--but that's another issue.

 

Nice comparison!. Other than increasing brightness of bright stuff, which now looks overdone and burnt, I really cant see other difference with previous version. :noexpression:

[imacken]

It's amazing but need to be tweaked. However I don't understand why many people don't seem to see the difference in the daytime.

 

I think most people are struggling to see the difference SSLR makes in the daytime cockpit, not the new lighting effects overall.