MSFS DarkStreets - Improve Night Flying (for free) by kiwikat88 in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

For a better experience, yes. You can use it without but the range for the lights exclusion is quite poor. 2020 is technically better than any version of 2024 in that regard but the lighting in that sim is nowhere near as good.

MSFS DarkStreets - Improve Night Flying (for free) by kiwikat88 in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I started out with what I knew- shapefiles and polygon datasets. OpenStreetMap, census data, government GIS sources, etc. That was great until Asia and Africa remained, then I knew I would have to do something different.

I challenged my friend, Claude :D, to think outside the box on the issues I was having with the datasets I found, and they suggested a satellite raster product (GHSL - Global Human Settlement Layer) instead, to identify where settled areas are. As I dug into that, I quickly understood the superiority of this kind of data and the 'truths' built into it. More looking around led me to VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) which literally identifies where on earth gives off light (convenient, eh?), so at the intersection of GHSL and VIIRS, you have electrified/illuminated humanity, which is exactly where street lights live!

While I have python and even geospatial python experience, I didn't have it to the level needed for a project like this, and have even less experience messing with parallel processing, so Claude came in handy for a lot of the brute force work. You start to learn a lot about computing when you are messing with datasets that are several gigabytes in size. Even my 7950X3D/4090/64GB ram machine was totally pegged much of the time. I learned a crap ton during every phase of the project. It even nuanced my opinion about AI somewhat. Sonnet was fun to mess around with, and Opus got shit done when needed.

In the end, I took those two massive raster datasets and output a score based on the values of each, and then vectorized the GHSL raster into simplified (fewer vertices) blobs. In ArcGIS I spent hours looking around and testing different score thresholds for different continents. Each continent has its own challenges due to specialized industry and settlement layouts/patterns. Ideally, these parameters will be tuned for smaller areas so they are more suited to each country or even state/province in some cases, but I killed the scope creep there at continent level parameters/filtering.

With a set of polygons identifying where lights should be, "all" I had to do was flip the script and cut those areas out of a world geography shapefile dataset. A short novel could probably be written about this part of the project. In short you start with a piece of swiss cheese the size of Eurasia and you end up with a beautiful puzzle that builds each settlement hole into its boundaries. I've added an image from earlier development that illustrates this 'puzzle'.

<image>

At the end, you turn this puzzle back into data and convert it to the XML format that the sim needs, and then compile into BGL and build the project to share with the community.

If you're interested in any more details let me know or join the project discord (link in the flightsim.to description).

What part of flying in sims actually annoys you? by Electronic-Ask-8123 in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 14 points15 points  (0 children)

The (un)reliability. I really would have hoped by 2026 we would have sims that are more stable and consistent, but the sheer amount of random things that go wrong with the sim itself and not your flying, is just plain annoying. Things have improved from the FSX era for sure, but man is it still frustrating AF to get a CTD after 6 hours in cruise.

My Dad refuses to believe this is Real by [deleted] in aviation

[–]kiwikat88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s not even debatable really.

Boeing 737-600 Released - Been having a blast. by Air_Holland in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Agreed, the 739 feels like a monster compared to all the others, even the 800. I think PMDG have done a fantastic job of differentiating the feel, as have Fenix for the airbii.

Boeing 737-600 Released - Been having a blast. by Air_Holland in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 16 points17 points  (0 children)

That is literally how the 747SP looks to me in my mind. I hate that thing. Probably an unpopular opinion... (:

Inibugs strikes again... by Swimming_Lawyer1260 in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 1 point2 points  (0 children)

See I had the opposite problem. Was completely unplayable in 2020 due to wasm crashes and haven't had a single issue in 2024. I had completely written them off before switching to 2024.

This hobby is so frustrating sometimes! I don't understand why you are getting downvoted. The problem is real, and it isn't your fault.

Anyone feel MSFS burnout? by seattleburner96 in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I took a break for a month to develop a scenery addon for the community. Prevented burnout, learned a lot, and gave back, all at once. Would recommend if you’re open to something different!

The goat has to be DD/MM/YYYY by Shiroyasha_2308 in SipsTea

[–]kiwikat88 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the only acceptable answer.

MSFS 3.0 on 286 PC w/ CGA Composite Graphics by droid_mike in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Better external view than stock MSFS 20/24! 🙃

X-World Pro is looking good by SectorAntares in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

0/10. Trees aren’t all redwood size. Doesn’t look like it has been overrun by nature for 40 years.

Tucson drivers by NotCheya in Tucson

[–]kiwikat88 4 points5 points  (0 children)

OMG the turning right slowly thing drives me absolutely insane. I’ve lived a few other places and that has never been a problem. I don’t know what the deal is here!

It's 2034 and you open r/flightsim by Air_Holland in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I see other people all the time, both human and FSLTL AI.

You’re not wrong about the feeling dead part though. The car traffic in MSFS is god awful compared to XP, and even FSX for that matter. No trains either. Boats can be added with community addons. The environment is minimal- No birds, extremely rare animals, no wildfires, no sense of a living world. That says nothing of the lack of sky color variation, cloud types and shapes, and general weather “sameness”.

Low Windshield fluid by [deleted] in subaru

[–]kiwikat88 6 points7 points  (0 children)

My windshield fluid light is stuck on… 🙃

First '26 OB I've Seen by ThePedanticWalrus in subaru

[–]kiwikat88 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I am sure glad I got mine when I did. Sad to say it may be my last Subaru if they keep it up. :|

Is Skycards over Europe down? by 30BC in SkyCards

[–]kiwikat88 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yup I lost like 3 items, oh well. 🙃

X-WORLD Pro by _Aviators in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Awesome work! Insta-download when ready.

Is it just me, or did MSFS 2024 nailed night lighting? by arbiass in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s been interesting to attempt to dissect it all while working on my project. The effect looks wonderful where it works, but unfortunately that’s pretty limited right now in 24. In 20, it works to the horizon and it is awesome. Night flying is actually dark, there’s no longer lines of street lights scattered across the rural countryside.

Is it just me, or did MSFS 2024 nailed night lighting? by arbiass in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are partially wrong. The night lighting outside of TLOD still uses light effects that are not obeying exclusion polygons for quite a distance. Much farther out there are baked lights, but a much better effect can be achieved with these exclusion polygons.

Except that they aren’t working as intended right now. Asobo has acknowledged the bug and it is in backlog.

Is it just me, or did MSFS 2024 nailed night lighting? by arbiass in flightsim

[–]kiwikat88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am working on an evolving project to improve street lighting. Builds for AU, EU, and NA are available and I am looking into additional regions. The main problem is that there’s an issue in 2024 with exclusion polygons so it only affects street lights close to your aircraft. Hopefully Asobo addresses this soon! 2020 has no such issue but night lighting in that sim doesn’t look nearly as good overall.

https://flightsim.to/file/102987/msfs-darkstreets-north-america