Simviation Forums

Good afternoon all...

http://www.northernlightscentre.ca/northernlights.html

I tried to capture the Northern Lights in FSX and the best I could do is picture two.
I tried many locations in Northern Canada that I have seen the Northern Lights myself many many times and after a lof of hours of trying many different times and seasons I had no luck.
Some say that FS2004 had the Northern Lights but Microsoft left them out of FSX.
I am not sure about either of them.

FSX and Vista
FS Water Configurator on Night Water
Clear Skies
Aircraft:

I've tried unsuccessfully on several ocasions, Doug. You might post Northern lights on the MS Flight boards wish list. It truely would make for a fantastic visual northern flight. 
And absolute darkness shouldn't be a neccessity..

Thanks Steve and that sounds like a great idea...

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

FS9 does indeed feature them, although not very realistic looking, more like odd patches of colors in the sky, as opposed to the graceful dancing lights that you may be familiar with.

They are a bit rare, and I only see them in the extreme North and South, and usually only at dusk & dawn hours. I saw them quite a bit on the first half of the online Alaska tour.

I find it odd that they would leave this feature out of FSX.

Here's an old FS9 shot of mine that has them:

http://www.simviation.com/yabbuploads/n ... lights.jpg



As Shane said, they're just patches of color in the sky.

Good evening all...

Thanks Larry for the kind remarks...

Thanks for the reply Shane, not sure if they did leave that feature out looking at Christian's "ApplePie's" Link...

Thanks for the Link Christian and perhaps some of the patches I saw as I set the flight for no clouds were the FSX version of the Northern Lights.
I wish picture number two had come out better.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

I understand your desire to have the Northern Lights in FSX Doug. I too, would like to see them. But that first shot, with the stars and moon, the entire composition, is absolutely beautiful. I think it is one of the best shots I have seen.

+1......no kidding, it's a spectacular shot. 8-) 8-) 8-)

Here's an old FS9 shot of mine that has them:

http://www.simviation.com/yabbuploads/n ... lights.jpg



As Shane said, they're just patches of color in the sky.

Looks like swamp gas    

That first shot could stand alone without the Spartan.  You're becoming quite artistic - need a beret and a pointy beard.  Your panel shot is how I remember nighttime gauges - just enough.

Thanks Dave, I was not even going to post that one as I was trying to concentrate on catching some resemblance of the Northern Lights as I know them....

I did about forty shots in both this post and Northern Lights Part Two and this is what I ended up with....

In Northern Lights Part Two I think I captured the FSX version of the Northern Lights and the DHC-3 Otter is about two hundred feet at cruise above the water.

Hope this new Microsoft Flight program can replicate the Northern Lights a little better...

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

Hi Doug,

You're getting me curious about those northern lights now. Perhaps I'm going to mak a flight or two to try to spot them.

Concerning those screenshots, I have to agree with the above comments: the first one is really great. Great choice of airplane, place, time of day and angle of view.

For the second shot, it's cool as well, even though it's a bit dark. I understand that the cabin light creates a nice contrast, it's not a bad idea at all. You might want to give a try to Nick's Light Fix V2. It's a FS9 addon that replaces the way the lights look like (kind of star instead of a round bulb). It seem to work in FSX SP2, but I confess I saved a copy of the whole effect folder before overwritting any files, in case they wouldn't work.

So if you want to try anything, think about creating a copy of your actual folder too. In this way, you won't have to reinstall your FSX if you install something incompatible and end up with square lights or no lights at all, like we have seen many times on the forum

Third shot is nice, because the lighting of this virtual cockpit looks good. The only thing I don't like so much is that there's nothing to see outside. Also, when you want to take a shot of a virtual cockpit, don't hesitate to move the eyepoint to another location in the VC to create a more artistic angle of view. Sometimes it gives good results

Thanks Stephane...

Some excellent pointers for me and everyone else...

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug