Soul Prana's Runway lighting System - V 2.0
www.soulprana.com/msfsrunwaylights.html
Please visit the site to post comments or suggestions. Love to hear feedback! I am in the process of working on FSX lights.. more than likely you will be able to use the same files for fsx. FSX has alpha channel in them and fs9 doesnt in the halo.bmp.
Having tried many different runway/taxiway lighting systems and never finding the one I feel that is closer to realism, I decided to create a near realistic runway lighting system for the Fs9 (fs2004) Microsoft Flight Simulator. With these lights, When approaching the runway and while on the ground, the lights will give almost a realistic feel to them. I am also including a weathered taxiway markings for your taxiways. I am not attaching any runway/taxiway surface texture files as there are many that are available online. Please always make a backup of your original should you need to revert to them. There is no noticeable frame rate loss at all with these changes. I hope you enjoy it.
The changes to the lighting system:
1. Modified the graphics to add some illusion of depth.
2. Modified the amber color to near amber/white for better visibility.
3. Runway/taxiway lights creates ambient lighting, reflecting lights on the ground (the illusion of it).
4. Each lights have their light holder clearly visible from the aircraft, adding to a greater realism.
5. Modified the lights to make the illusion of atomspherics affecting the lights especially on approach. Try a zoom factor of .75.
Known issue: When flying inverted, the lights will appear inverted due to the way Microsoft flight simulator handles the texture file.
Taxiway Markings/Center-line
1. Taxiway center line and markings shows a weathered look to them. The texture file is included with the lighting package and it is optional for you to install.
2. Taxiway lines are clearer and sharper compared to the default taxiway line markings.
Before installation please make backup copies of these two files that are in your Fs9\Texture folder (default path is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Texture)
1. halo.bmp
2. taxiway_marks.bmp
- Installing runway lights:
Copy halo.bmp provided in the zip file to your fs9\Texture folder after you have made backup of your original halo.bmp file. You can also copy the texture folder in the zip to the main folder of flight simulator 2004. Please make sure texture folder should NOT go inside the texture folder of FS2004. Only files should go inside the texture folder.
I have also included a thicker halo texture file (halo_style2_densehalo.bmp). What this does is that it creates a denser atmospheric halo around the lights. If you are using the one with a thicker halo, donot forget to rename it to halo.bmp or it wont work. It is a matter of taste in the end, use whichever you like. You have 3 halo files to choose from. Personally I prefer the halo.bmp provided and I am assuming that you will as well, as its most realistic in my opinion.
- Installing weathered taxiway center lines
Copy taxiway_marks.bmp provided with the zip file to your texture folder after you have made backup of your original taxiway_marks.bmp file. You can also copy the texture folder in the zip to the main folder of flight simulator 2004. Please make sure texture folder should NOT go inside the texture folder of FS2004. Only files should go inside the texture folder.
Restart Flight Simulator to see the changes. If the lights appear too small, or too big you can change their scaling. I will recommend changing their scale ratio as the default lights are too small and depending on your resolution it will be even smaller.
Scaling of Lights:
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You will also need to change the scaling of the lights by editing the fs9.cfg file, which is usually in your documents and settings folder. If you cannot find the file, do a windows file search for it. The default path for windows XP is as follows. C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9 The application data folder is usually a hidden folder you might want to unhide it.
Make a backup copy of your fs9.cfg file and then edit the fs9.cfg file.
Find the section called [Display] and add the following 4 lines of text below [Display].
Above are the setting I use as is in the screenshots. Feel free to play with the scaling until you like the one you prefer. Always, restart flight simulator after you have made any changes.
You can also use these files in any commercial or freeware programs as long as www.soulprana.com is given credit and is absolved from any liability arising from its usage. These files are presented as is and I will not be held liable for any damage to your system or files. You are using these file at your own risk. The files are virus free and are only image/text files. Files can be directly downloaded from the below link which needs to be provided when distributing. Please feel free to distribute.
http://www.soulprana.com/msfsrunwaylights.html
Please do not forget to visit the above link for feedbacks, viewing screenshots and videos. Love to hear comments/suggestions.
