I know that searchlights tracking aircraft has been discussed in another thread or two, but I rarely fly if it's dark so I've never been lit up before. But today I didn't notice the mission time and instead of advancing to at least dawn I took off at O-dark-thirty...let's make that O-dark-fifteen...to go pop one of King George's party balloons. As we approached the British trenches the flight leader's plane, and what I could see of mine from the cockpit, was illuminated by a flash of light. My first thought was "Cool! I've never noticed Bob's lightning doing that, but then I don't fly when it's dark." But then another flash hit...and stayed. I looked down and to my right and there was a rather large (we were at only about 1400 meters and I was staring right down the barrel) bright white light, which then moved off me and back to the leader. "Cooler!" I thought. "It's tracking AND switching between us." About that time a second light came into play and lit up the third member of our merry little group. "OK," I thought this time, "this is getting ridiculous.....ly COOL!!!" It wasn't so cool when they both decided to focus on me, though. It lit up the inside of my cockpit and glared off the inside of my windscreen so badly that I had a hard time seeing. Which is very realistic. Except for one thing. It lit up the INSIDE of my cockpit.

Now, I know that those searchlights are powerful, but I was in an Albatros D-I and the last time I checked light can't pass through wood. And it wasn't just a glow as if the beam was hitting fabric and showing through a bit, it was illuminating the opposite side of the cockpit. The beam was coming from forward right low, and it was as if the right side of the cockpit didn't exist. And it couldn't have been reflection off the top wing because based on the shadows on the dials, switches, and machine gun butts the source was consistent with the position of the searchlight.

Everything else about the searchlights is excellent. It's just this one thing that impairs (to me) the realism. And I don't even know if this can be addressed. If it can't, so be it. But it definitely can't if no one brings it to your attention.

Glad you like it, no I don't believe we can change that effect currently. So many zillions of possibilities with all that is in there, it will never be "perfect".

Then I'll just have to settle for 99.9%, I suppose.

we wish it was 99.9

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If you're wishing, you may as well wish for 100%.

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