SMP creates too much brightness in XP11

[FlyAgi2]

After some longer flights in XP11 I noticed that it is always very bright, no matter if I am under cloud coverage or not. Also, the cloud shadows are almost not present, even if I set them to darkest setting. Of course I tried the default XP11 clouds to see if this is related to the new lighting or else but with the default clouds the brightness is okay and more like in XP10. Also, SMPs brightness is normal in XP10 but in XP11 it is extremely bright. 

[Cameron]

Try a different sky color set.

[FlyAgi2]

I tried that but the problem is still there. I have some screenshots for showing the difference regarding the cloud shadows. In XP10, those were very similar to the default cloud shadows, in XP11 they are barely noticable and create a very bright impression. The cloud shadows are set to 0.50 in this example, setting them to 1.0 makes them slightly darker for me and gives some weird results from inside the aircraft. And, cloud shadows don't solve the very bright impression of the clouds in most cases, I think they are too bright in XP11 and so they also lose contrast and visual details. 

 

Skymaxx Pro

 

Default clouds

 

 

And for those screenshots I have chosen a significantly darker sky color set - with the default sky colors it looks like this:

 

Skymaxx Pro

 

Defaul clouds

Edited June 12, 2017 by FlyAgi

[Cameron]

Sorry, I envisioned a different problem. You made no mention of cloud shadows before.

This one is better answered by Frank.

[FlyAgi2]

Oh... okay... this is why I posted the screenshots. I thought we have a misunderstanding as the sky colors don't affect the light that passes through the clouds. 

I think SMP does a great job in XP11... everything looks very natural and realistic, clouds blend smooth into the haze and horizon, performance is very good. But I think it's too bright in many conditions and I think a slider to adjust cloud transparency regarding sunlight or something like that would help out here. 

[sundog]

Cloud shadows depend on a few things with SMP - the cloud coverage of course, and also the visibility conditions. In the screenshots you posted, the clouds are more sparse than in the default clouds scene, and so I wouldn't expect as much darkening underneath them. But it probably has more to do with the reduced visibility at the altitude you're at - we fade away cloud shadows as visibility gets worse, as cloud shadows don't look right on top of fog. If you were to gain some altitude and get above the haze, the shadows would become more clear with SMP, I'm guessing.

Edited June 12, 2017 by sundog

[FlyAgi2]

8 hours ago, sundog said:

If you were to gain some altitude and get above the haze, the shadows would become more clear with SMP, I'm guessing.

Yes, I can confirm that.. at higher altitudes the haze gets lighter and the lighting situation also changes. Before my last flights I did not know the haze is handled this way in XP11. 

As the screenshots above show exactly the same weather settings it seems that SMP places clouds more sparse than the XP weather rendering. This is also the case in XP10 but the cloud shadows seem to be closer to the default ones there and also the clouds themselves are somehow sharper (contrast wise) and darker. Maybe I justhave to get used to the new situation somehow.

I noticed another, very positive thing: Performance is much better with SMP than withbthe default XP11 clouds. This was not that obvious at first as starting on an airport the situation is very similar and the default clouds perform well, but as soon as I come closer to the clouds or even get above a broken cloud layer they kill my fps (from 60 down to 30 or less)consuming my cpu and gpu resources (so breaking vsync down to 30fps). With SMP I am expierencing just slight frame drops under heavy weather conditions (from 60 to about 50) instead and the gpu is not used in that strange way it is with the default clouds. So, great job here...