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Since Arma 3 is about to receive a visual upgrade I thought that time has come to discuss a lighting issue that had been bothering me from the release of All In Arma Terrain pack: Mediterranean lighting, distance fog and skybox are unsuitable for European/Middle Eastern terrains, especially during the day. Here are two screenshots made under same in-game conditions (October 10, 2008, 11:00am, 25% overcast) at the same location of Chernarus using the same Takistani T-72 tank: http://imgur.com/a/bivzr Arma 2's lighting has more contrast, a bit more saturated colors and a proper Eastern European skybox. Arma 3's lighting has less contrast, dim colors, has this unpleasant light-blue film of distance fog (I believe it simulates Mediterranean humidity) and completely lacks any skybox whatsoever. Another, but closely related issue is the color of the fog: in Arma 3 it has a light blue color and while that's completely acceptable for an island in the midst of Mediterranean Sea, it must have a soft white tone at maps which represent locations in (roughly) northern hemisphere. Personally, I find the Mediterranean lighting quite immersion breaking because not only it feels out of place on many maps but also because it causes models to look plastic, "weightless", flat. The following is my subjective impression but the T-72 on the first screenshot looks like it made of steel, it feels massive and looks dirty; the same T-72 (with the exception of couple of improvements made by CUP team, of course) looks like it made of plastic, it feels light like those inflatable Russian decoys and it doesn't look dirty despite having the same texture. The same goes to the Chernarus itself: in the first screenshot, it has a proper skybox of correct shade of blue with clouds, the terrain looks like actual Eastern European terrain with colorful grass and clearly noticeable patches of soil. Notice how much more pleasant the colors and contrasts of the barn on the left are in Arma 2 compared the exactly same barn with exactly the same texture in Arma 3. The pending overhaul is in my opinion a step in a right direction but the new lighting is being made with Tanoa (a tropical archipelago) in mind therefore it is still doesn't quite cut it (at least at the time of writing): http://imgur.com/a/HphfL The first screenshot was taken with unofficial port of new lighting to CUP terrains by metalcraze. Without getting into too much detail, it's clear that the brightness, contrast and color balance is still way off even on Altis. The new old lighting could especially come handy in light of (pun intended) tremendous progress made by Community Upgrade Project that allows mission makers to port or recreate any of their favorite missions on Arma 3's engine. Not to mention that the great deal of missions created specifically for Arma 3 is set in Chernarus or other older maps and these missions could benefit from "European" lighting too. Moreover, the new lighting might be useful for desert maps like Takistan beacuse, if my memory serves me right, both Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead shared the same lighting. So, in my opinion, Arma 3 will gain massively in terms of immersion, amount of missions set in northern hemisphere and the player base shall the typical European lighting and weather conditions be added. Summary The problem: both current and upcoming lighting aren't suitable for locations in northern hemisphere / Middle East. Proposed solution (based on my limited understanding of Arma's engine possibilities): Addition of generic "European" lightning preset similar to Arma 2's one into CfgPostprocessTemplates or making it available to mission or map makers through any other means (trough "official mod" probably?); Addition of a generic "European" skybox for map makers to use in their maps; Addition of an ability to remove and/or change color of the light-blue distance fog for mission and map makers; Addition of an ability to change the color of a usual fog for mission and map makers (I believe it was possible at some point during Alpha); Unfortunately, I'm unable to create a corresponding ticket on Feedback Tracker right now due to ongoing maintenance. TL;DR: BI FIX TEH SUN IN CHERNO NAO PLOX THX