Tower3DPro taxi/Runway lights

[Avwriter]

When Tower3DPro was released, one of the included features was the ability to manually turn on and off the runway lights.  There is even a little button at the top of the dashboard for this purpose.  However, the feature has always been somewhat wonky, and I am not certain if it is airport specific, as I have not tested it. 

Problem 1:  At least in the past, if I started a session in the daytime, I could torn on and off the lights at will when it got dark, or at any other time.  However, If I started a session at night, the lights were already on automatically from the beginning of the session, and I could not turn them off, even at dawn.

Problem2:  I have only noticed this at KLGA, but just had a sunset session there, and the lights came on automatically instead of waiting for me to turn them on.  I have not tested this at other airports, so I am not sure if this is airport specific (Perhaps SimSmith needed to code something into the airport), or if the manual lighting feature in 3DPro was deactivated during an SP and I just failed to notice.

It's not a big problem, but it would be nice if the manual lighting feature in 3D Pro could be tweaked to give the user full control at any time of day.

Andrew

[Sky King]

Why would you want to turn off the lighting at night? I think the assumption is that the previous controller had turned the lights on. 

[Avwriter]

Well, the most obvious situation is if you begin a session very early in the morning, long before sunrise, it would be nice to be able to turn off the lights when you decide it is light enough.  In the basic version of Tower3D, the lights were fully automated, but in the Pro version it was advertised that the controller is supposed to be able manage this him/herself, and decide exactly when to do this.  It should be a simple on/off switch, leaving the user in complete control.  Instead, the switch simply does not work if you begin a session when its dark.  Again, it is not really a big problem, but I would like to be able to turn them on and off at will, as advertised.

Ideally, the user should have different brightness settings available as well.  IRL, in bad weather, the lights will be turned on to full blast to help pilots identify the runway as early as possible, while in clear weather, the lights are often dimmed a bit so as not to interfere with the pilots' vision.  In fact, sometimes you will even hear pilots request that the lights be dimmed or brightened in certain situations.  Obviously, that is beyond the intended scope of this version of the game, but for those of us who like to micromanage, it would be nice to have complete control over the switch.  Perhaps a choice could even be added to settings, to make the lights either automated or manual.

 

Andrew

[Sky King]

Here is more than you ever wanted to know about airport lighting: http://tfmlearning.faa.gov/Publications/atpubs/ATC/atc0304.html. 

I did a test with KLAX starting at 0300. Completely dark, switch does not work. Ditto for 0400. However at 0500 with morning twilight, the switch does work (I could turn off and on the lighting).

Agreed about the intensity settings!

Thanks for the explanation!

SK