The best way of making night textures is to darken the textures with the same layer that FS2000 uses. This layer is saved as Night_layer.bmp.
Load the daytime bitmap in graphics editor, and increase the colour depth to 24 bit. Load the night layer as new layer. Next change the layer properties to multiply. You will notice the layer becomes transparent and the underlying bitmap is darkened. Now merge the bitmaps to one.
Now you have a night bitmap, but no light effects. To add cabin windows for example, you should do this; just replace the darkened window colour with a brighter one. To finish the texture, decrease the colour depth to 256 colour and save the texture.
2. How to make (landing) lights.
There are several ways to make landing lights on you textures. I'll discuss two of them.
This first one is the simples one and can be done with any graphical editor that works with layers. Fist load the daytime bitmap (24 bit) and load the night layer as new layer. Set the layer properties to multiply. Now select the night layer as current layer. Get the eraser and erase the contour of the (landing) light. Another way is to make a white oval in the shape of the (landing) light and paste it into the night layer (white should be marked as transparent colour).
You can also add (landing) lights to you textures by rendering a spotlight. Several paint programs can do this, but I'll only discuss the spotlight that came with Adobe Photoshop.
Load your daytime bitmap (24 bit) into Photoshop. Go to the filter tab and select render / light effects. I'll find your texture lightened by a spotlight.
But this is not the way you want the spotlight to be, so move the oval into a position you want it (do not care about the light effects yet, only the position is important now).
To get the desired result, we have to edit the spotlight properties. It is advisable to use these settings:
= 26
= the colour you like.
= 50
= 100
= 7
= the same colour as in the night layer (R: 26 B: 26 G: 51).
= 39
Do not change the ambiance colour or ambiance, for it will result in a bitmap that doesn't correspond with other night bitmaps darkened by the night layer.
3. How to make landing lights on multiple textures.
It frequently happens that landing lights span several texture files. Adding landing lights cannot be done texture by texture. This is a way to this quick and simple.
First merge all textures that span the landing light to one large (24 bit) texture. Second apply the landing lights to this texture. When finished, separate all individual textures form the large texture. Finally convert the separate textures form 24 bit colour to 256 colour mode.
DO NOT CONVERT THE LARGE TEXTURE TO 256 COLOUR MODE. BY FIRST SEPERATING YOU MAKE OPTIMAL USE OF THE COLOUR PALETTE.
4. How to make night texture templates.
It takes a lot of time to make night textures for every new aircraft. A way to speed things up is to make night templates you can use for every aircraft.
If you make the night textures by erasing part for the night layer, you should proceed like this:
-Make the layer the way you want it.
-Next save the layer.
Saving the layer can be done in two ways. If you graphical editor allows you to save every separate layer, select "Save Layer as". If your graphical editor doesn't support this feature, delete the background layer (daytime bitmap) so only the night layer is left. Next save the layer.
To add this layer to a new texture is very simple:
-Load the daytime texture (24 bit) graphical editor.
-Load the template as a new layer.
-Set the layer properties to multiply, and merge the layers.
-Save the texture.
If you have added landing lights by rendering a spotlight, you should do this:
-Make the spotlight the way you want it.
-Save the spotlight under a new name.
Next, load a complete white bitmap (same size) into the editor, and apply the spotlight to this bitmap.
Save this bitmap as a new bitmap.
To add this spotlight to a new texture is very simple:
-Load the daytime texture (24 bit) graphical editor.
-Load the template as a new layer.
-Set the layer properties to multiply, and merge the layers.
-Save the texture.
5. What more can be done.
The possibilities Scasm offers is almost unlimited. The night light effects are only a small example. You can use all Scasm commands and features for your aircraft, but not the FS 2000 interior variables. Unfortunately you can only use the variables present in the mdl file.