WANTED : increasing instrument lights for all our "steam gauge" GA planes

User Support Hub Aircraft & Systems
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Hi all!

First of all, i´d like to tell you, i am getting older. Well, that´s not too “special” i think…
:wink:

My problem is, my eyes aren´t getting better either over the years. I am having more and more problems, reading the instrumens well. Depending on the current time and light situation, where and when i fly through the world, it may be hard or even harder to read them for me.

Instrument lights make it a bit better for me, no question, but not enought. I very much love the mod for the Cessna 152, one of it´s developers helped me with a tiny thing i can edit in one of it´s config files, to make instrument lights MUCH brighter. In an “a bit extreme” example, it can be as bright as this, just to get an idea how it looks:

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or as another example:

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PLEASE don´t say anybody, this looks too bright or unrealsitic or anything… i know that.
It is a great help for me to better read my instruments, it can be reduced or even turned brighter, as i like or need it.

It´s no “default setting” at all, i just need to enter a line into a text file manually after a update to make “the magic” happen. Perfect for me, thanks a lot to the dev who helped me solve this issue for this plane.

I am looking for help, input, instructions, … how to edit the brightness for other GA “steam gauge” planes like this, too!

This here could maybe become a collection of instructions for several planes, if things go well. Maybe - as a first step - we could talk about default MS/Asobo planes.

But input for 3rd party addons, be it freeware or payware, should also be welcome here.

The more info we can get in here, the better.

There are a couple of other threads, as others also complain about ingame light simulation or cockpit brightness/darkness… so this “workaround thread” can become a great help for many people, i think.

Please help to find solutions and keep it constructive in here. It´s a topic for some people, having specific problems, no question. Just let´s try to find solutions for this.
Thanks guys!
:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

5 Likes
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Russ Barlow on YouTube has a great setup where he uses two touchscreen monitors for his panels. I am not saying you have to go that route, but having a screen in front of you with the instruments you want could go a long way.

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Thanks a lot for the suggestion, but i really would prefer to edit several planes in a similar way as it is possible for the Cessna 152 mod.

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The head torch is not bright enough ?

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I hear you on that. I’ve gone through two retinal detachments and after having them repaired, developed cataracts in both eyes. LASIK several years before this happened didn’t help. I had a whale of a time getting my first-class medical renewed and had to get a SODA to do so.

I would assume that each aircraft would have a config file somewhere similar to the one you mentioned in your post. Have you found this not to be the case?

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Nope. Also it needs the head to turn all over the place to shine here and there… a brighter lighting - as in the screenshot above - also offers a much better overall overview over all your instruments at once.

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Unfortunately, there seems to be no “standard”, how things are coded in a plane. At least i found no “red line” so far, maybe also as i totally lack of coding skills and most of the things, written in there, sound like “klingon” od “elbish” to me…
:wink:

For the actually mentioned mod, the WBSim / JPLogistics Cessna 152 mod:
Official download link via discord: Discord

=== How to edit instrument lights brighter for the WBSim C152 mod ===

Edit: better always make a backup copy of any files you wanna modify or edit, to be on the save side, if anything goes wrong!

The mod got a file named: cessna152_interior.xml

Open it in a texteditor like notepad, search for Knob_Light_Panel and add the following line as marked up in the screenshot, with a maximum value like 1000

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Default value would be 100, you can also enter any other value, like 500 or 600, if 1000 seems too much to you.

Save the file.

That´s all it needs for this mod, to get the instrument lights as bright as mentioned in the screenshot above. You can still finetune the brightness in your cockpit via a potentiometer.

The Default/Asobe Cessna 152 also has this cessna152_interior.xml file, but looks very different, i can´t find any place where i think i could increase the lights as in the mod.

Other planes don´t even have such a “interior.xml” file at all, makeing it even worse for me to think of, where the needed editing would be needed.

Maybe it is a trivial task for someone, who is into modding planes or being a plane developer. So i was creating this thread, hoping to maybe catch the attention of such wizards, who know, how to solve this miracle…

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For a maybe even better illustration, to see the differences:
instrument lights OFF, standard instrument lights ON, increased instument lights ON

See how much better the instruments become readable, even the small fuel and oil gauges at the bottom can be read.

=== Example 1: ===

(1a) Instrument lights: OFF

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(1b) Instrument lights: ON
(= standard brightness)

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(1c) Instrument lights: ON
→ MUCH BRIGHTER VIA EDITING SOMETHING MANUALLY

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=== Example 2: ===

(2a) Instrument lights: OFF

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(2b) Instrument lights: ON
(= standard brightness)

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(2c) Instrument lights: ON
→ MUCH BRIGHTER VIA EDITING SOMETHING MANUALLY

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So this is exactly my reason, why i am trying to find help in increasing the instrument lights also for other planes. It helps my old eyes a lot to read the dials, even without having to zoom in closely.

Just as a reminder: the brightness can be finetuned via a potentiometer, making lights a bit less bright, as desired. This here is an example for what i am actually heading for and to better see the difference and improvement.

3 Likes
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That is a massive difference/improvement, for sure. How far are you from the screen? I ask because, if you cannot find the magic elixer you are looking for, maybe the solution I mentioned earlier would suffice.

1 Like
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I am about 50 centimeters / 20 inches away from my screen.

I also think, having just one screen in front of my pretty face :clown_face: is a bit better for immersion, feeling like in a “real” cockpit. Also it´s a matter of available free space on the desk and so on… Lots of things to take into consideration.
Not so easy… i know…
:wink:

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Would you mind sharing the magic for the Cessna 152?

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Sorry for my late response!

Absolutely, this thread is meant for sharing info, how to increase instrument lights.

I posted it in this thread some time ago for the WBSim Cessna 152 mod, a bit up in this thread. The screenshots where taken with this mentioned little “tuning”.

I just re-formated the text a bit, to hopefully make it even more visible and easy to read.

WANTED : increasing instrument lights for all our "steam gauge" GA planes - #7 by daScooty

Did you find it?

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“Looks to me” (excuse the pun)-- that the real issue is not so much the dim panels in all GA planes, but more generally, due to decreasing eyesight, the need for a brighter screen… that will help with all screen images. (for both MSFS, as well as other windows programs)

Have you considered adjusting your base Video Display , to optimize its brightness, contrast & gamma, to better suit any reductions in your vision = Easy, NO COST solution>

Then again, it may be that you have an Old , dimming Monitor, and another solution might be to get a new, bright ( Higher Nits), LED backlight Monitor. ( but could be costly).

If you think it may be your monitor, maybe go take a look at some of the newer Monitors at your local Computer store, and if you find one you like, SHOP around for the best price (Possibly Online).

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Yes, thank you!

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Yes, i know what you are thinking about.

I might have mentioned it earlier, i have a background in image editing and monitor hardware- and software-wise calibration in the graphic arts indurstries for about … well… since ancient times.

What this thread is meant to aim at is a partial (!) increase of lighting within the cockpit´s dashboard only by brighter instrument lights.

You have absolutely no chance to create a similar strong change or effect in an defined part (!) of an image by adjusting your monitor. If you increase brightness and/or contrast and/or gamma in a way, that would be needed to get as bright and nicely readable instruments as introduced in the screenshots before, you would totally kill any other lighter and mid-ranged tones and colors on your screen, resulting in something heavily over-exposed like this “simulated image” here:

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In this example you would not see any clouds or anything on the horizon anymore by adjusting your monitor in a way, to get instrument lights similar-ish bright.

We need it to be “partial”, just for the instruments, which are illuminated more or less, depending on the setup for the lights of it.

1 Like
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ROFL – Now you tell me …

Looks like I am guilty of

" giving advice to another person in a subject with which the other person is already familiar (and probably more so than I am)."

Apologies to @daScooty if my original post was in any way offensive to you… but since we are both “ancient”, I felt sure you would be familiar with the “Grandmother / eggs” saying

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That’s why , even in daytime, I often fly in MSFS with all lights on in the cockpit !!

Not ideal, but a “enlightening” temporary (or not so temporary) solution

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There is a limit to what can be done on SDR screens. Aside from the limited dynamic range they lack the capability of brightening and dimming individual regions of the desktop. Once HDR becomes commonplace, and all the weird Windows HDR issues are finally sorted, there will be a lot more scope for this sort of thing.

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Does not seem to be a HDR or limited dynamic range issue, as it has been shown clearly earlier in the thread, that it is possible to have a brighter panel.

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2 Likes
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Exactly!

Maybe it still wasn´t presented clear enough…

Those screenshots further up show 2 different light conditions, as examples for non-optimal daylight situations, that may occur during different daytimes.

Those 2 “scenes” are represented as 1 (= “scene 1”) and 2 (= “scene 2”).

The images 1a and 2a show, how it looks, when instrument lights are OFF.
Instruments are very hard to read.

Images 1b and 2b show the same situation and outside light conditions, but instrument lights are ON, which will make instruments a bit better readable.

Images 1c and 2c still show the same situation and outside light, but instrument lights are modified in a way, so they are about 6 times brighter than the plane addon would originally allow it. Now ALL instruments are MUCH better readable, also in those non-optimal outside light conditions.

I know how to edit the mentioned mod for the Cessna 152, to get so much brighter instrument lights. It is totally easy to achieve, as mentioned.

So you can read instuments MUCH better, on ANY hardware, no matter if your monitor is as small as a smartphone or as huge as an iMax movie screen. It is so much improving readability and still can be reduced by a “rotary knob” in the cockpit, if it may be too bright at nights or anything alike.

So, this thread is meant to look for answers, how to edit something for each and every other GA plane, to make instrument lights much brighter, to improve them in the same way as mentioned in here.

As there is no “one fits all” solution, every plane addon may be different to modify to get this result. So we need to collect info from people, who know, how it definitely can be done for each and every different GA plane.

No other hardware or software solutions needed. No shopping spree needed.
We just need the info, what parameter(s) to edit, as in the example for the C152 mod.

I hope, i could finally explain the background of this thread well, what it is supposed to achieve.

1 Like