Sundowner 2.5 Panel Lights Very Dim!

[lawson-stone]

I just got the Sundowner 2.5 and however much I turn the panel  brightness knobs I still can't seem to brighten up the panel and instruments. They are unreadable they are so dark.

[ilias.tselios]

22 hours ago, lawson-stone said:

I just got the Sundowner 2.5 and however much I turn the panel  brightness knobs I still can't seem to brighten up the panel and instruments. They are unreadable they are so dark.

Yes we can pump up the brightness, but can you post a picture with the lights at full intensity?

[lawson-stone]

Here's a screen grab of the panel. The plane is started up and running, the two light knobs below the panel are turned full to the right. 

If it's just a matter of tweaking a value in PlaneMaker, I'm comfortable doing that. I just didn't want to be heedlessly poking around in it.

[lawson-stone]

So I'm guessing I'm just out of luck on this point? Nothing possible to make the panel lights brighter?

[ilias.tselios]

I think this is mostly due X-Plane's "dark cockpit" issue. X-Plane does not show any extra lighting during the day, whatever you've fully turned on the lights or not. Expecting Laminar to fix it.

[lawson-stone]

Thanks! Still enjoy flying it.

[lawson-stone]

On 11/1/2024 at 5:35 AM, ilias.tselios said:

I think this is mostly due X-Plane's "dark cockpit" issue. X-Plane does not show any extra lighting during the day, whatever you've fully turned on the lights or not. Expecting Laminar to fix it.

I don't think this is really the answer. All may other XP12 planes have a nicely lit panel and working brightness controls. On the Sundowner, no lighting controls have any effect unless the flight is taking place at night. This is very frustrating and though I love this plane and appreciate how faithfully it reproduces the expected flight characteristics, having to pause and zoom in just to look at an instrument is becoming too frustrating. I fly this less and less because of this issue. Maybe I'm the only one who has it, maybe nobody else  flies from the traditional panel, but for me this has become a deal-breaker. I am really sorry because the sim clearly has a ton of good work invested in it. 

[ilias.tselios]

On 1/25/2025 at 6:58 PM, lawson-stone said:

I don't think this is really the answer. All may other XP12 planes have a nicely lit panel and working brightness controls. On the Sundowner, no lighting controls have any effect unless the flight is taking place at night. This is very frustrating and though I love this plane and appreciate how faithfully it reproduces the expected flight characteristics, having to pause and zoom in just to look at an instrument is becoming too frustrating. I fly this less and less because of this issue. Maybe I'm the only one who has it, maybe nobody else  flies from the traditional panel, but for me this has become a deal-breaker. I am really sorry because the sim clearly has a ton of good work invested in it. 

Depending on the lighting. If the instrument is backlit, will look brighter even in the day if you turn on instrument lighting. Here though, the instruments are not backlit, but each one has 1-2 lamps in front that cast light on the instrument. This light has no effect under day lighting, because of X-Plane.

[lawson-stone]

Well it appears that (a) i'm the only one on this site with any interest in this problem and (b) it's all X-Plane 12's fault so there's nothing to be done. I'm getting the message loud and clear that this cannot or will not be addressed.

Which means this (otherwise) excellent sim will likely not be flown much. I have to be able to see the instruments. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be confrontational but the traditional panel of this plane is unflyable for those reasons. This is very disappointing.