P3Dv5 too dark? I found a Solution

[DHenriques_]

Can you advise me as to exactly what you changed in the settings? I'll change back the cfg file and try the settings you suggest.
D

I've adjusted them a few times depending on whether or not I'm running EA, which darkens it up and I've found v5.1HF1 to be much lighter than the first install of v5. Coincidentally I still have my first, un-updated version on this computer and here's a shot of what I came up with as an initial solution. It's the Brightness and Saturation settings that should do it for you.



I think I'm currently running v5.1HF1 with the Brightness at 1.10 and the Saturation around .95, but the beauty of it is that it just adjusts the picture like the brightness and contrast settings on a TV. It's not like scenery setting adjustments where you have to reload the scenario after changing, so you can load a scenario and and play with it live until you get it to look the way you like.

Cheers,
Rob

Sounds like a plan, I'll try it this way and see what happens.
D

[trisho0]

I think it depends of what video card and monitor is using to start editing the P3Dv5 configuration and Lighting settings.
I have the NVidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11Gig memory with Monitor Dell AW2721D then what Lighting settings could be the recommended?

The HDR Lighting as posted in this thread:
Brightness = 1.25
Bloom = .10
Saturation = .90
works OK in my system but with Bloom = .31 or .35

I also changed the graphics value to:
MAX_EXPOSURE=3.000000
MIN_EXPOSURE=2.500000

I tried different HDR Lighting and I can get the best image screen when I leave the HDR Lighting "Off" with P3Dv5.2

Any other try on it?
Patricio

[shermank]

Interesting thread, I have just applied the change, so cannot discuss any differences.
But, my real reason for writing is a tip to use when editing any cfg file.
IMO there is no need to back up a file first. Simple type in your new data, add a space and then //. The slashes invalidate any data to the right. Then save the file and you are good to go. If you do not like what you see, simply go back to the data in question. Delete the change, delete the //s and save. You are back to your previous setting.


Sherm

[trisho0]

The addition of "//" to REM the sentence line is computing knowledge. Great tip!
I knew that from many years ago editing files.
Pat

[bladerunner900]

I'm pretty much happy with how mine is set up now. In terms of internal P3D settings and taking into account that I also use AS, ASCA, Envtex and Envshade, the overall result suits me and is probably quite unique to my system and personal taste.

What I have found more useful, is tweaking the MIN_EXPOSURE setting. Especially when using the dynamic lighting aspect of P3D. Depending on the angle at which you view external shots the contrast in lit and unlit areas can be quite large and not to my liking. So for now I have MIN_EXPOSURE=1.500000 and this seems to work quite well, but maybe I will lower it slightly. MAX_EXPOSURE I have left at its default of 2.000000, for now.

Steve

[trisho0]

Hi Steve, do you have P3Dv5.3 sim? It appears the HDR Lighting changed a bit. I will give a try changing the MAX_EXPOSURE= and MIN_EXPOSURE= to their Default for testing and later to change just the MIN_EXPOSURE=1.500000 to see what I get.
I don't have ASCA or any other related software so probably I will have to leave my changes back to Default and stay for a while and leaving HDR Off. The P3D EA works very well so far in my system.
Pat

[bladerunner900]

Hi Pat.
Yes I am using P3D v5.3, with HDR and Dynamic lighting on. Envshade changes the whole nature of shade, contrast and reflected light in general. Which is why P3D Brightness is set at 75% and Saturation at 0.96. Without Envshade I suspect levels would be higher. Dynamic and HDR lighting looks to be the trickiest to balance though. Here's a shot today, in quite dull & overcast conditions.


Steve.

[trisho0]

Hi Steve, I get lighter than your picture which is nice but Connie from FE still dark. I think the Connie textures were made as dark. I have the same illumination in P3Dv4.5 as well. In FSX is lighter as I like it. I left HDR Off so EA will not work but with lighter Connie FE space.
Pat

[bladerunner900]

Isn't that the point of HDR and Dynamic Lighting though? The scene has total cloud cover, there is no direct sunlight. So the software is simulating diffused, ambient lighting on an extremely dull day. As in a real situation it has shut down the eye, or camera to compensate for the glare of the clouds above. The underside of the aircraft was much darker originally but raising the value of MIN_EXPOSURE has 'brought it up', so to speak. Turning off HDR and Dynamic lighting would indeed give an overall and uniform fixed level of lighting at all angles but then, in my view at least, it would look too clean, have no depth or... hmm. Getting too soulful now. Apologies.

All in all and despite its shortcomings I think I will stick with HDR and put up with the current shortcomings of Dynamic Lighting. It's going to get better, yes?

Steve.

[trisho0]

Steve, I would like to give a try in my machine your settings to find if I see better results. Can you share that?
Pat

[bladerunner900]

Sure I can.







You will need Envshade for this one.



Steve.

[trisho0]

Steve, We have exactly the same video card. So, I will give a try but I don't have and no intended to purchase the ENVDIR.
Pat

[trisho0]

With Steve P3D settings didn't work for me as I want. So, I deactivated HDR which is giving me more natural colors. I want the color and lighting as FSX. Eventually, I will try again.
Thanks Steve for that settings. Try to delesect HDR and see what you get. Also, I found from your settings, I think are too high and performance can be low FPS.
Pat

[bladerunner900]

Performance is fine. I thought you might want to see a picture on a bright day. It's a cold but bright day today, with hardly any clouds. I've decreased terrain saturation slightly in Envshade.



Here's a link to my system spec. if you're interested.

Have a safe Christmas and prosperous new year.

Steve.

[trisho0]

Steve, please show me your A2A Connie FE room.

My machine specs are:

Alienware R8
Alienware 850 Watt Power Supply with High Performance Liquid Cooling
2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 12TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)
9th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 9700K (8-Core, 12MB Cache, Overclocked up to 4.6GHz across all cores)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 Processor Label
Wireless Driver for 1810/1820
Alienware Mouse Included
Keyboard Included
802.11ac 1x1 WiFi and Bluetooth
Tray load DVD Drive (Reads and Writes to DVD/CD)
64GB (4x16GB) DDR4 3200MHz UDIMM Non-ECC
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti OC with 11GB GDDR6
Windows 10 Pro 64bit English

DELL Monitor AW2721D

So, I am still with HDR Off from P3Dv5.3 with more natural lighting and color.

If I leave the P3D settings as yours my machine performance drops drastically.
I will experiment more sometime in the future.
Pat