Pitch black lighting

[xtoro]

Something that bas bothered me a bit is that the longer I play, the less lights I put on the ships. They're just decorations now.

I suggest that darkness be dark. Pitch black. I make ships with cargo holds and when a kerbal is inside, I can still see fine, even though there are no lights in the cargo hold... Perhaps make it an options? Or a slider to adjust how dark is dark? I think it would add a great challenge to the game because you would really have to spend more time with the placement of lights on ships, not only to light itself up for IVA work, but to light up other ships that you're approaching to dock with. At this point, it's just not dark enough imo... If you're in the shadow of a planet, you shouldn't be able to make out anything except maybe a silhouette on a bright background.

Same goes with night time on a planet or moon, it needs to be much darker... I know I could turn the brightness down on my monitor, but that's not a solution for me.

Thanks,

X

[Sean Mirrsen]

Actually, that is very much a function of the brightness of your monitor. You can turn it up enough that you'd see even in pitch black.

Thing is, with all the stars around, there is very rarely any "pitch black" in space. Factor in the moon, the scatter lighting from any nearby atmospheres, and you always have some ambient lighting going on. Not enough to see details most of the time -

- but enough to at least make out the shape of what you're supposed to be seeing. If you are seeing more than a vague blob of star-obscuring darkness attached to the engine plumes in the above screenshot, your gamma level is set too high.

[CyberDroog]

Pitch black wouldn't be very realistic. You might be surprised to know that the ancient Romans could easily march and even read a book just by the light of the Milky Way in the sky at night. You'd have to be deep into intergalactic space for it to be anywhere near pitch black. Once your eyes have adjusted they are very sensitive to any light at all. And just look at the size of Kerbal eyes...

But this might do what you want: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/71536-0-24-2-Ambient-Light-Adjustment-1-2-0-Who-needs-lights-in-space-!

[technicalfool]

Heh, one of my pet peeves is when someone posts a picture with a "look at my awesome ship design" message and what we end up looking at is something like Sean Mirrsen's post. Gee, that's a very nice... silhouette... you have there.

I would suggest getting a proper monitor test image that includes a gamma test, and adjusting your monitor brightness accordingly. I know you've mentioned "not a solution" but really, most monitors are not intended to be run at full brightness/contrast. There are also driver utilities depending on your graphics card that can produce a more finely tuned result.

One monitor test image, just to make things a bit easier. You'll be wanting to look at the white-to-dark-grey gamma test blocks. The darkest block should be barely visible and it should be an even gradient from dark to white.

[xtoro]

Well, maybe "pitch black" was an over the top, but darker than it is for sure... That link you sent is what I needed! Thanks!

[xtoro]

Ah hah! I found an even better mod! AmbientLightShifter! Makes dark even darker, which is exactly what I was looking for! Lit up areas stay the same brightness, but shaded or unlit areas are much darker. Love it! Adds a whole new element without darkening the rest of the game. Now I DEFINTELY need to add lights if I want to see!

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/84017-Kraken-Space-Industries-Mega-Release-Thread