answered YMML V2 vs V3 Runway lights

[smoothchat]

Version 2 Runway Lighting

Version 3 Runway Lighting

 

I love the new V3 scenery and congratulations to the developers on a great product, but personally, I prefer the Version 2 lights.

 

It's hard to tell against the white webpage background, but in a darkened room, I think the V2 lights look more natural.       What do you think?      

 

On a large triple screen display, the V3 lights look a bit overdone and artificial. 

 

Is there a way I can revert to the old lights without having to keep 2 versions of the YMML scenery?

 

 

[John Dow]

I don't have YMML V2 files any more so I can't test the following idea...

 

I see in the YMML Texture folder there are half a dozen light bloom.dds files like ORBX_Light_Bloom_Gr.dds.  I assume these are the runway and taxiway lights as there are green, red and white versions.  You could rename your current YMML folder and install YMML version 2, and compare these files... or any others that look like they might be candidates for runway lighting.  A bit of saving and swapping of these files should tell youif the V2 lights can be used in V3 etc.

 

just a thought... maybe a dev will spot this thread and have some advice.

 

[smoothchat]

Thanks John.   

 

Actually the V3 texture files are called YMML_SFX_01_D.dds (White lights) and YMML_SFX_02_D.dds (Green lights). I don't think V2 has these files.

 

I tried editing them to make the images smaller, but then you couldn't see the lights from a distance.

 

I am becoming convinced that V3 uses it's own textures, whereas perhaps V2 uses P3D's default lights (or some other method).

 

I suspect that the dev team really likes the new lights (after all, they expended a lot of effort to create them), however, I think the new effects are too pronounced and make them look unrealistic. 

 

When they all line up along the center of the runway into the distance, they remind me of a Las Vegas water fountain show.  The bloom effect is too pronounced.

 

A workaround is to have both V2 and V3 installed and enable the V2 scenery for night flights.  But I'm hoping there is a more elegant way to scale these lights down a bit, but still have them viewable from a distance.   Also, as you roll along the tarmac, you can see the light bloom resizing (smaller) as they get close.  There is something not quite right about the way they behave.

[Ed Correia]

I've already answered a similar topic re: YMML's lights:

 

It is how they have been designed and will most likely stay. Developers all have their individual methods of doing things and this is how TD did them. Comes down to personal preference I guess. 

 

[smoothchat]

Thanks Ed, I will be using V2 for night flights.  No offence to the hard working devs, but the V3 lights look 2004 "old tech" in my humble opinion.

 

If I can find a decent dds editor I will continue to try to tweak them myself. (At least the white lights, which just look wrong)