Randomly becoming blind while flying at night. Can't see instruments.

[audiman]

On 9/19/2023 at 4:52 PM, Flappie said:

Here. Run this track using the Replay feature, then press Escape and click "Take control".

pitch black Su-25T.trk 96.84 kB · 4 downloads

Sorry for such a late reply, had some personal matters take up my time during the last month. 

 

I'll try this out this week hopefully  

Thanks!

[audiman]

On 9/19/2023 at 4:52 PM, Flappie said:

Here. Run this track using the Replay feature, then press Escape and click "Take control".

pitch black Su-25T.trk 96.84 kB · 6 downloads

So, I finally tried this last night. I flew around for about 5 minutes and had one brief instance of the whole screen dimming again. but it took a few minutes of flying and trying different things to trigger it, which is frustrating because it seems so random. I can try and upload the track file this afternoon when I get home to see if anyone else sees it, assuming the track file is not too large.

Essentially, I flew around for few minutes just fine, then tried different maneuvers to change the perspective of the ground lights from the city compared to the dark sky. last thing I did was a full loop, and towards the end of it as I was pulling up from the ground and could see the city lights, the whole screen went dim for just a second and came back. then I crashed into the ground because I have never flown the SU-25T, don't know how it flies, and I was just having fun with it. Plus, wife was getting home and I was hopping off for the night.

What settings did you have to make it so dark? I was unable to recreate this in my own mission, though I did not change the time of year, only the time of day and weather conditions. 

Thanks so much for providing that track file for my testing though!

[Flappie]

5 hours ago, audiman said:

What settings did you have to make it so dark? I was unable to recreate this in my own mission, though I did not change the time of year, only the time of day and weather conditions.

You can edit a track in the mission editor. Click Open, and in the file browser, change ".miz" to ".trk" then open the .trk file.

[audiman]

2 hours ago, Flappie said:

You can edit a track in the mission editor. Click Open, and in the file browser, change ".miz" to ".trk" then open the .trk file.

Ah, true, I'll do that.

[audiman]

Alright, so here is a short video I chopped together really quick. I took the track file that Flappie gave me and edited it to put me in an F-18C where I spend most of my time, and therefore notice it the most. I flew around for about 9 minutes and shortened the video to the most obvious clips of it occurring. Posted it on YouTube for troubleshooting purposes.

For some reason I can't find MY track file for this flight though. Makes me feel dumb. 

but hopefully this is a better example for everyone.

And before anyone says anything about it being G-lock, it is not. I just happened to be yanking and banking on a few of the examples because I was just flying around waiting for it to happen enough times. it happened at the start of the video when I was on Downwind for a practice landing, too close to the airfield but I digress...

 

Thank you all for your comments so far

 

[Flappie]

1 hour ago, audiman said:

For some reason I can't find MY track file for this flight though.

To save a track, you need to click "Save Track" in the debriefing menu, right after exiting the mission (MP tracks are saved automatically, but SP tracks aren't).

[audiman]

12 hours ago, Flappie said:

To save a track, you need to click "Save Track" in the debriefing menu, right after exiting the mission (MP tracks are saved automatically, but SP tracks aren't).

well damn...I assumed all tracks were saved automatically. I'll figure this stuff out eventually. thanks for the clarification.

I'll try and get another track and post it, possibly this afternoon. Will be out of town this weekend starting tomorrow though.

[audiman]

here is a track file. towards the end of the flight the screen went very dark and stayed that way for me.

pitch black f18 darkness bug.trk

[Flappie]

Thanks. Sorry, I cannot reproduce your issue.

You should open a support ticket: log into DCS website, click "Support", then click "Create a new ticket".

[audiman]

Small update. I submitted a ticket. Troubleshooting still ongoing.

It is not "fixed", per-say, but I think I have a workaround for now. 

To re-cap the ticket troubleshooting:

I was asked to change the name of my Saved Games DCS folder to "Backup". Then to verify the integrity of the files (I'm on Steam). This created a new Saved Games DCS folder with completely default settings. As in no mods at all like SRS, all key binds were reset to default (don't freak out, your key binds are still in the original folder now called "Backup" under an input folder), default graphic settings (for me that is going from triple screens to a single screen).

Then I was told to launch the game and try to recreate the issue. I simply bound the throttles and the stick Axis' so I could fly around. I flew around for 10-15 minutes at night in the pitch black and could not recreate the issue. I then changed one graphic setting by going back to triple screens and tried flying again. Immediately began having the darkness bug where I couldn't see anything which was a bummer. 

So, for me at least, if I want to fly at night I need to change back to a single screen as a work around. Granted, I didn't spend a ton of time flying in single screen to see if it still happened after extended periods of time, but changing back to triples makes the issue occur within a minute or two. So it seems like Single screen is more advantageous at night for me. Not the end of the world, just slightly less immersive.

 

Also, several of my buddies who have experienced the same issue I'm describing play on single screens or in VR. So I have asked them to submit tickets with track files and log files for additional data as well. My ticket Rep has also asked if my friends have submitted tickets.

 

Hoping to provide as much data as possible.

 

Thanks again for all the input I've received on this post.

[SMH]

On 8/14/2023 at 6:48 PM, audiman said:

So I can't reliably fly at night, not because idk how to navigate with instruments but because my entire screen randomly goes black to the point that i can't see the instruments. I actually don't mind flying at night and can do case 3 recoveries in the Hornet and Tomcat, but when I'm on final to the carrier and looking between instruments and the HUD and all of a sudden I randomly can't see literally anything in the cockpit, that's a bad time. This has also gotten me killed while trying to lock someone on the Radar at night and my screen goes black to the point I can't see the radar anymore. 

I haven't been able to pinpoint what specifically causes it. but it appears to be an issue with my game trying to balance contrast between the cockpit and the pitch black exterior of the jet

This has happened in the Hornet, Tomcat, and the Apache. Both in multiplayer and campaign missions(both default and DLC campaigns), and has happened on the Georgia map and the Persian Gulf map.

I will say that it happens the most in the Hornet on Hoggit's GAW, but that is mostly because that is my primary jet and multiplayer server.

I attached a Track file from the last time it happened. I hope the track file isn't too large. it took a few minutes of flight for it to occur, but it happens pretty reliably, although seemingly random to me as far as the cause goes, every time I fly at night.

If anyone has any tips or has experienced this please chime in. I really love DCS and don't want to be restricted to daytime servers because I can't see at night.

Note, I have the Steam version running the Open Beta MT preview. it should be noted that this has occurred on stable version as well as non multi-threading in both 2k and 1080p resolutions. 

PC:

Ryzen 7 5800X

Asus TUF RTX3080

32GB RAM 3600mhz

DCS installed on 1TB Samsung 980 Pro

Windows 10

All drivers up to date.

I run triple 32" 2k monitors in my "sim racing rig" which now doubles as my flight sim rig as well.

Georgia At War v3.0.24_evening-20230812-130136.trk 32.5 MB · 17 downloads

Are you sure it's not your display thinking the screen is black and going into power saving mode? My LG does that and it's incredibly annoying. I've turned off every stupid automatic setting but the function seems hard-wired.

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by SMH

[audiman]

3 hours ago, SMH said:

Are you sure it's not your display thinking the screen is black and going into power saving mode? My LG does that and it's incredibly annoying. I've turned off every stupid automatic setting but the function seems hard-wired.

 

 

yes, when I set up the sim rig with the triples, I color calibrated all 3 monitors and made sure they all had identical settings with no power saving modes enabled.

 

But that is a good thought.

[audiman]

One thing that was discussed is the potential of the GPU not having the required power.

For reference, I have an Asus TUF Gaming OC RTX3080 and the Power Supply is a Corsair RM850. The GPU is given power via two separate 8-pin connectors/cables. I made sure to use two separate cables rather than the single cable with the extra 8-pin "splitter." 

Rest of the specs are in my signature for reference as well. Nothing super crazy

[rwbishUP]

On 12/11/2023 at 12:44 PM, audiman said:

One thing that was discussed is the potential of the GPU not having the required power.

For reference, I have an Asus TUF Gaming OC RTX3080 and the Power Supply is a Corsair RM850. The GPU is given power via two separate 8-pin connectors/cables. I made sure to use two separate cables rather than the single cable with the extra 8-pin "splitter." 

Rest of the specs are in my signature for reference as well. Nothing super crazy

I have the same problem, will be flying at night, look up through the canopy and everything goes black. When I look forward again, can't see dash panel or look down and see consoles, everything just stays black. Sometimes it fades away sometimes it doesn't. So that's why I can't do night missions in DCS. Can't do daytime missions either, since certain MFD modes cause the random black screen flicker like I'm watching an 8mm film.