Missing runway lights at large airports at night after long flights

Bug Reporting Hub Scenery and Airports
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1

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Are you using Developer Mode or made changes in it?

NO

Have you disabled/removed all your mods and addons?

YES

Brief description of the issue:

Runway lights sometimes donā€™t work in certain airport. It normally happens on a long flight when the destination was day time when i started, but night time when I arrive. Its happened at EGLL UHHH and WIMM as well as several others. In some cases the approach lights will be on but no runway lights. In most cases it happens on flight over 3000nm

Provide Screenshot(s)/video(s) of the issue encountered:

unknown
unknown1729Ɨ1195 41 KB

Detailed steps to reproduce the issue encountered:

Fly a long flight that starts out in day time.

PC specs and/or peripheral set up if relevant:

i9-10900k, 3060ti, 32gb of ram, settings ultra 1440p

Build Version # when you first started experiencing this issue:

either 9 or 10, not sure when it started

:loudspeaker: For anyone who wants to contribute on this issue, Click on the button below to use this template:

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OPā€™s steps to reproduce it?

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

2

Yesterday I flew for only 3 hours between EGPH and ENTC. For the first time ever when I was on approach to ENTC there were no approach or runway lights on only the taxiway edge lighting and apron floodlights there.
Today I fired up MSFS at ENTC and there was all the runway and approach lighting working perfectly.
I bought GSX Pro yesterday and wondered it had changed something in my sim but that is unlikely.
I have read others have had this happen. I will do other flights later and see if my arrival airport has approach and runway lighting.

1 Like
3

It has changed the number of objects displayed. And that causes issues since SU10, which introduced, for whatever reason a hard object limit in Simconnect. If that is surpassed, no further objects will be drawn.
That means if you fly for example EHAM with AI Traffic enabled, and GSX running, you will likely reach that limit, and as a result the scenery at your arrival will not show up correctly. Missing lights, missing textures, missing buildings, all that can and will happen.

And since no one knows exactly what the object limit is exactly and under which circumstances it will be surpassed, the only option you have is to not use GSX, or AI Traffic at large airports with many custom objects for the time being.

1 Like
4

this happened to me today ā€¦ I was landing blind! is this a known issue which has not been fixed?

5

It is a known issue, well at least known to the community, not sure if Asobo knows.
And therefore it has not been fixed.

9

Hello @CR6914,
Thank you for this report. This has now been feedback logged and a tag changed to #airport :+1:

10

Same here, but I donā€˜t have GSX!

1 Like
11

Iā€™ve got this happening me at Microsoftā€™s handcrafted Svalbard Airport ENVS, if I spawn at the airport on the apron or on the runway all the lights (apron, runway,taxiway, ils) will be on but if I fly there or simple spawn in the near the airport then no lights apart from a light at the threshold and a few lights near the terminal

12

Has anyone found any workaround for this? I fly a lot at night, but only stumbled upon this bug yesterday when landing on HECA. Maybe changing the time to night on the world map, before your flight and then setting it back to ā€˜real timeā€™ before take-off could help?

13

This is a problem that is also happening a lot to me. I really want this to be fixed!

14

After some reading on other topics on this forum, I changed ā€œTerrain Level of Detailā€ in ā€œoptionsā€ from 10% to 100%. Now it seems to work very well!

1 Like
15

Yup. Very annoying bug.
Getting it at some airports when flying into them - missing RWY lgts + some TWY lgts. If you start at the airport lgts are ok.
ENTC (MM Sim) I get it all the timeā€¦

This should be high on the fix list, imho.

2 Likes
17

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OPā€™s steps to reproduce it?

Yes

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

Flight from EGPF to ENSB in the DC-6. Upon reaching destination airport, the approach lights for the runway were lit but the entire rest of the runway was completely dark. After landing I exited to main menu and reloaded back at ENSB, and all runway lights were working properly.

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

18

I had this problem today in ORBXā€™ ESNQ when the whole Runway Lights were gone on arrival (approach lights were fine though!), despite having TLOD on 100 already.

19

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OPā€™s steps to reproduce it?

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

Moderator Edit:
It also happens on Xbox and it doesnā€™t need to be a long flight. (LEBL-LEVC). Only going out during the day and arriving at night. And it doesnā€™t always happen.

TambiƩn pasa en Xbox y no necesita ser un vuelo largo. (LEBL-LEVC). Solo salir de dƭa y llegar de noche. Y no pasa siempre.

1 Like
20

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OPā€™s steps to reproduce it?

YES

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

Several flights to ENSB airport and the lights are off except for the approach lights.

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

image
image1920Ɨ1080 126 KB

image
image715Ɨ545 26.3 KB

21

ISSUE DESCRIPTION

Description of the issue: No airport lights on arrival at ENSB airport.

ICAO, coordinates, or specific location: ENSB

[PC Only] Did you remove all your community mods/add-ons? If yes, are you still experiencing the issue?

N/A - Xbox

FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

How often does this occur for you (Example: Just once, every time on sim load, intermittently)?

I have performed 3 flights (arrival to ENSB from ENZV, LEMD and ENGM) at night and in none of those flighrs the airport lights were working, no PAPI, No runway/taxiway lights, only the approach lights are on. Nevertheless if I spawn directly into the airport for departure the lights work as intended.

REPRODUCTION STEPS

Please list clear steps you took in order to help our test team reproduce the same issue:

  1. Do a ā€œlongā€ flight from any airport to ENSB at night.

YOUR SETTINGS

If the issue still occurs with no mods and add-ons, please continue to report your issue. If not, please move this post to the User Support Hub.

What peripherals are you using, if relevant:

None, Xbox controller only.

[PC Only] Are you using Developer Mode or have you made any changes to it?

Xbox

[PC, MSFS 2020 Only] Are you using DX11 or DX12?

Xbox

[PC Only] What GPU (Graphics Card) do you use?

Xbox

[PC Only] What other relevant PC specs can you share?

Xbox

MEDIA

image
image1920Ɨ1080 126 KB

image
image715Ɨ545 26.3 KB

Only approach lights are visible as highlighted in the pictures.

[END OF FIRST USER REPORT]

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Do you have the same issue if you follow the OPā€™s steps to reproduce it?
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Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
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1 Like
23

Ok guys, I donā€™t want to get too excited about this, but I think Iā€™ve found a workaround for this issueā€¦

Iā€™ve just completed LPFR-ENGM, departing in daylight and arriving at night an look what I got:

ENGM app ok
ENGM app ok1920Ɨ1278 97.5 KB

What did I do to get runway lights upon arrival?
Just launched the sim at LPFR at night (like 22:00 or 23:00 local time), and once the flight has loaded, I just switched the time-slider to the desired time (12:00 local time) and it worked.

Will do a couple flights the next few days to run further testing if this is really a temporary solution.

Please recreate this on your side too, in order to have more evidence wether it works or not :smile:

1 Like
24

Did the same trick on LEGE-EDDH today: Started the sim during nighttime, then set the time to like 15:00 local time in Spain and flew from daylight to night and all worked fine!
So happy right now!!

25

I have used MSFS 2020 for a long time, the runway lights always seems to be working. Not that I disagree with your findings, but just check all your graphics settings and if necessary update your drivers.
I am hoping our fellow esteemed and more qualified simmers here have given you a better solution then mines.