Lighting is incredible!

[Steve Gee]

Having rolled back to 2.5.5 for the time being...MP problems with 2.5.6...I can say the biggest thing I noticed was old lighting seemed to fade once it was "hit" by another source, say your steering gear light on the blue taxiway lights at a field, for example. In 2.5.6, it doesn't seem to fade at all when the gear light hits those same lights or other ones.

 

Looks like it's a decent start, but there's still some tweaking to go as it's causing other issues.

[CoBlue]

Trying my no-moon, pitch-dark mission.

 

Problem is, I have to go under 1.7 in game gamma to get pitch-dark night. But 1.7 gamma is way too dark for day flying. 2.3 is the lowest I can go during day.

[fitness88]

Just flew Nevada/Las Vegas 17:30, [gamma 1.3] absolutely beautiful! FPS were solid with no loss flying low over Vegas. The visual improvement with lots more of everything, can't just be my imagination.

[Woody01]

Watching the sunset off the coast of Dubai over about 90 mins (started about 40mins before sunset) was just amazing! The way the light changed moment by moment with the reflections off the water then the city lighting the ominous inky black over the landmass, the NVG's, the flares, afterburner effects, being nearly blinded looking at the FLIR when the LGB detonates and the glare on the cockpit glass changing minute by minute was an amazing experience. I think they have done an incredible job, far more than I expected. Oh and the stars!!! :thumbup:

[Hawkeye_UK]

One more thing: Irl with no moon and no light pollution it's really dark, it's disorientating, horizon is not visible, water surfaces are not visible, it's a black hole.

 

In-game, I do not really have that feeling unless I set gamma to 1.0 which is extreme setting and doesn't work nicely during daylight hours. I can clearly distinguish different types of crops on crop-fields, mountain ridges, rivers and lakes at gamma 1.5.

 

Street lights are kinda nice, you do not see light source, just a "lightprint" on the ground, but grossly overdone in villages. Usually, small villages like in Caucasus map don’t have such bright lights like big cities.

 

I think overall direction for night light tweaking should be - tone it down and it will look excellent.

 

Agreed IRL on zero moon over non urban areas and especially over water the horizon can become quickly lost and it can be disorientating - hence why in all aircraft centre stage is an Attitude Indicator.

 

The conditions in the sim that you say (i have a rift s and gamma at 1 to 1.1 seems about right to RL) ) however not sure why this is an "extreme setting". I think people esp in multiplayer abuse gamma settings and wish they could be locked server side to avoid exploitation of low light conditions.

 

Think the new PG night lighting esp around sunset and dawn and into the evening looks very, very good. My only criticism is actually on clear condition's you can see much further than currently modeled with the new night lighting, especially cities / autoroute's.

[NineLine]

Hey, fellas...

 

started a thread over here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=4209793#post4209793 if you are finding that the new lighting is too much. I'm sure it looks great at night, but I couldn't even get there after I saw it during the day. Nineline, it looks as if they just ramped up the gamma settings by like 500 percent. I'm sure it was more sophisticated than that, but that's all I can see from my limited viewpoint. It's as if the highest gamma setting from before is now a 1. A '1' now dampens lighted objects but renders everything else shadowy and oddly colored compared to before.

 

It's possible its too far, but its also still WIP, and some tonal updates were pulled before this patch, so its possible those will make a difference.

[wilbur81]

It's possible its too far, but its also still WIP, and some tonal updates were pulled before this patch, so its possible those will make a difference.

 

For sure. I appreciate the quick response! :thumbup:

[fitness88]

Watching the sunset off the coast of Dubai over about 90 mins (started about 40mins before sunset) was just amazing! The way the light changed moment by moment with the reflections off the water then the city lighting the ominous inky black over the landmass, the NVG's, the flares, afterburner effects, being nearly blinded looking at the FLIR when the LGB detonates and the glare on the cockpit glass changing minute by minute was an amazing experience. I think they have done an incredible job, far more than I expected. Oh and the stars!!! :thumbup:

 

I just did a sunset takeoff 18:00 from Al Bateen, also breathtaking seeing the red clouds going dark. Then climbing to 15,000 looking into the sunset and seeing the ground then turning 180 and seeing the dark was great. Very noticeable is the lack of sky banding, it's gone showing real nice transition from light to dark!

Well done DCS!!

[Anklebiter]

Try turning your gamma down. I had mine at 2 with the previous version and everything was way too much. I turned it to 1 and everything is looking so dang sweet! This will probably force me to learn the lighting controls in the cockpits though to turn them down. Never had the need before.

[Konovalov]

With the new lighting engine you have to dial in your cockpit lighting (which actually makes sense!) and you have to dial in your night vision (which makes sesne too). Before you would just increase brightness and it wouldn't make much of a difference where now you can be too bright or too dark which is immersive for one and add another layer of detail. The lights at night were so dull previously that there was no point flying at night where for the first time in what seems like years I am having allot fun playing at night time.

Absolutely. Now making in cockpit adjustments to the lighting has an effect and definitely it adds to the immersion and sense of actually being in an aircraft at night. This is a good step forward for ED and it is still early days.

[Dav IRL]

Absolutely. Now making in cockpit adjustments to the lighting has an effect and definitely it adds to the immersion and sense of actually being in an aircraft at night. This is a good step forward for ED and it is still early days.

 

 

 

The build is certainly bugged but those bugs will get ironed out all while we prepare for the new shark pit which has me super excited.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cornelius]

This doesn't look nice...

 

 

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=263406

 

 

 

.

[Jafergon]

I'm using the Steam version, so I can't take a look by myself, so here goes my question... Does overcast still look bright at night from above the cloud layer? It's been a recurring bug for years, but I'm guessing this lighting rework might have fixed it.

 

Thanks!

[FalconPlot16]

do we still need moon light to able to see at night ?

[BIGNEWY]

Thanks for the feedback all.

 

If you are experiencing to much light at night check your gamma, also check the date of the mission for moon cycle and time of year, Summer months will have more light at night due to different twilight phases.

[Grajo]

I did not try anything at night, but the overall feeling for me is that the whole lighting engine has been reworked or heavily tweaked:

 

- Overall "gamma up" impression, in the beginning, after, noticed that was not just about "gamma up" at all.

 

- PBR shader behavior of modules seems much more accurate/similar to other render engines and in my opinion much better than before.

 

- External aircraft lights (tips, taxi etc does not pass through cockpit any more !!!) This is really a very long waited for feature, thank you very much!

 

- Being inside clouds feels better somehow.

 

- Cockpit daylighting looks much better to me, Mi-8 or Spitfire for example (I do not use Cockpit GI)

 

- The difference for exterior lighting between the surfaces in the sunlight and those in the shadow seems more balanced and "realistic".

 

- Deserts in any daylight condition look just amazing with an improved haze in the background.

 

Hope is not just the Hype :].

[Ala12Rv-watermanpc]

I couldnt be more dissapointed with the new "lighting"...it looks unrealistic, specially at dawn/dusk (LOTS of oversaturated and weird colors), and still being texture lighting. It doesnt "shine" like light and lacks any kind of interaction with the environement.

 

In the cockpit, lights look like having a cheap reshade effect, glowing extremely strong.

 

When zooming in, the light bulbs still making bigger. Sorry but I cant see much improvement other than increasing overall brightness of the light textures and rendering distance.

[wilbur81]

I couldnt be more dissapointed with the new "lighting"...it looks unrealistic, specially at dawn/dusk (LOTS of oversaturated and weird colors), and still being texture lighting. It doesnt "shine" like light and lacks any kind of interaction with the environement.

 

In the cockpit, lights look like having a cheap reshade effect, glowing extremely strong.

 

When zooming in, the light bulbs still making bigger. Sorry but I cant see much improvement other than increasing overall brightness of the light textures and rendering distance.

 

agreed, 100%.

[Grajo]

Here a shot took a few days ago with 2.5.5 and another one that has been taken right now with 2.5.6.

 

 

 

 

*Same graphics settings for both ( gamma 1.5 )

 

A base gamma increase is evident on a first look, which also seems more natural for the human eye given the lighting circumstances.

[aceviper]

My default night test....caucasus huey instant action night flight.

Clearly some tweaking to do in cockpit lighting and reflections but what a joy to see

the horrible sky banding gone forever.

At gamma of 2 with no exterior or cockpit lighting the scenery and sky look wonderful.

Batumi at 10 kms looks like a city should at night.

Kudos to ED for this :thumbup:

Edited February 15, 2020 by aceviper

[wilbur81]

Here a shot took a few days ago with 2.5.5 and another one that has been taken right now with 2.5.6.

 

 

 

 

*Same graphics settings for both ( gamma 1.5 )

 

A base gamma increase is evident on a first look, which also seems more natural for the human eye given the lighting circumstances.

 

This is why I used between 2.5 and 2.7 gamma with 2.5.5. Your gamma in the first pic was too low. With 2.7, daytime looked pretty close to perfect. Now, with 2.5.6, even some of the lowest gamma settings look washed out and...well see comments above. :)

Edited February 15, 2020 by wilbur81

[Ala12Rv-watermanpc]

What about the blue nights?

[Grajo]

This is why I used between 2.5 and 2.7 gamma with 2.5.5. Your gamma in the first pic was too low. With 2.7, daytime looked pretty close to perfect. Now, with 2.5.6, even some of the lowest gamma settings look washed out and...well see comments above. :)

 

You mean, in your monitor. In mine before and now, anything above 2.00 gamma looks almost white :). I have a pretty bad monitor you know... :[. Whenever I wanna grade anything I do it in the Eizo of the job, but of course, they do not allow me to install DCS there....

[wilbur81]

You mean, in your monitor. In mine before and now, anything above 2.00 gamma looks almost white :). I have a pretty bad monitor you know... :[. Whenever I wanna grade anything I do it in the Eizo of the job, but of course, they do not allow me to install DCS there....

 

For sure. You're right, there are definitely variations from monitor to monitor. My point, and I think Watermann's above as well, is that the new lighting seems to have actually degraded the appearance textures and general light quality throughout ALL gammas now. It's like taking an equalizer with 30 options... and needing to improve/adjust maybe one or two, but somebody just walked in and slammed all of the sliders on the EQ to MAX. Are things brighter now? Of, course. Do things look worse across the board? I'd say so. I'm just going to keep offering feedback that is hopefully constructive for the team.... Hey, it got me the good ole' Caucasas trees back. :smilewink:

[CoBlue]

Thanks for the feedback all.

 

If you are experiencing to much light at night check your gamma, also check the date of the mission for moon cycle and time of year, Summer months will have more light at night due to different twilight phases.

Trying no-moon, pitch-dark mission in winter. That was pitch-dark in 2.5 with no horizon. My monitor is calibrated.

 

Problem is, I have to go under 1.7 in game gamma to get pitch-dark night. But 1.7 gamma is way too dark for day flying. 2.3 is the lowest I can go during day.

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=263459

 

ED has to tweak the gamma & lightning, so we won't have too dark cockpits during day.