Hellbat Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 I added these video/screenshots to another thread regarding night refueling, but after searching a bit I couldn't find a general thread about this. I'm pretty competent at refueling with any available light source (even the moon), but in conditions without external natural light sources, the only available reference is the directional indicators under the tanker. I can approach the tanker quite well with the three lights on the back, but once these disappear it becomes difficult to gauge speed and attitude relative to the tanker. The request would be to model the lighting on the tankers. The video below shows a fully illuminated F16C. Game (Open Beta 2.7.7.15038) with severely lacking external lighting: This is what I see in the cockpit: My theory is that better lighting under the tanker would provide additional lighting (even just the reflections) to the pilot to assist with night refueling. I couldn't find any videos from a pilot's perspective and I am not a pilot so this is pure speculation on my part. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exorcet Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 I think one of the issues with lighting is that supposedly it's too resource intensive to have real light sources all over the place. If that is the case then I think maybe we just need a few select lights to give the illusion of global illumination. Something like a variable brightness invisible illumination flare that hangs out on top of the player's plane, and only the player's. It can be turned on when on the ground at the airport or when under a tanker. Hopefully this would solve the issue with having many lights all over the map. It might look off in a few cases, but then again having no lighting already looks off. Awaiting: DCS F-15C Win 10 i5-9600KF 4.6 GHz 64 GB RAM RTX2080Ti 11GB -- Win 7 64 i5-6600K 3.6 GHz 32 GB RAM GTX970 4GB -- A-10C, F-5E, Su-27, F-15C, F-14B, F-16C missions in User Files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellbat Posted November 1, 2021 Author Share Posted November 1, 2021 I agree that modelling reflections/shadows of real light sources would get pretty intensive on the global scale, but I also don't think this is necessary. I think the performance hit could be minimized by only modelling reflections on the aircraft which is currently tanking once contact has been requested. I'm speculating here, but for such low-intensity lighting, surely it must be possible to only perform these calculations locally (in space) when necessary and to disable these calculations for units, which are 10+ km away. But as you suggested, maybe an intermediate step could be some simplified light sources to at least assist the player in the short term, while a more realistic solution can be developed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmilingBandit Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 For the receiver the AR floodlight and nozzle light are less important than the underbody and under wing illumination lights. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellbat Posted November 2, 2021 Author Share Posted November 2, 2021 Ahh, nice, I'm hoping implementation of these lights would be relatively straightforward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BomberEW Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 (edited) I just posted about this in bugs forums because I am pretty good at AR unless there is zero illumination. Refueling with NVGs is not recommended due to the depth perception issue, but it’s a must in DCS because you can’t see anything without them. I’m real life I’ve been behind the tanker at night from the IP seat of a B-52 numerous times. The tanker is lit up and it’s easy to refuel without the NVGs. In fact I’ve never seen it done in my plane with NVGs because of the issues mentioned above. We often request the tankers to turn up or dim the lights based on preference. Most often it’s turn up. I think this is an issue that needs a fix soon because I like realism and many wars are fought at night and you have to get the gas no matter what time it is. I’ll also add it would be nice to have the aerodynamic sounds of the boom interfering with the airflow close the jet and the tanker plugging in. It’s too quiet in DCS. You can actually hear the boom passing over and then the doo doom as it plugs you. Edited November 28, 2021 by BomberEW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carbon715 Posted March 14, 2023 Share Posted March 14, 2023 yeah low illum nights are a joke to do this without nods, these tankers really need that lower lightning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twistking Posted May 25, 2023 Share Posted May 25, 2023 BUMP! Unfortuantely DCS still stands for Daytime Combat Simulator way too often... 2 My personal wishlist after half a decade with DCS: https://forum.dcs.world/topic/184968-my-personal-wishlist-after-half-a-decade-with-dcs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bones1014 Posted May 29, 2023 Share Posted May 29, 2023 It's really too bad there isn't any fuselage or wing illumination the way there should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twistking Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Another big issue that still persists, is that the tanker's position lights don't get rendered at all after only a few hundred meters distance, making rejoins both dangerous and immersion-breaking. My personal wishlist after half a decade with DCS: https://forum.dcs.world/topic/184968-my-personal-wishlist-after-half-a-decade-with-dcs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts