I decided to make some screenshots using various graphic settings because I was very curious what every settings exactly does. At first I wanted to create animated gifs, but the quality of those isn't too good and the files become rather big, so I decided to upload seperate pictures. If you download them to your computer and open them with the default viewer, you will be able to switch between them to make the differences more obvious. Because this is not the screenshot forum AND because this is not about the screenshots but the explanation of the settings, I decided to post it all on this forum and so the pictures are posted as links only. :wink:1. All these shots were made with the settings as high as possible, apart (obviously) from the settings they show you.2. I have a GTX580 and the shots were taken with the default nVidia profile for MS Flight.3. Because you can't pause the game and still see the scenery, I had to land and get out of the plane in order to get a better view on specific scenery.4. Because some options didn't show any surprises, I won't post screenshots from them. I only post about settings that could fool you, that are different then expected or that aren't clear right away.Scenery Density. I discovered that Maximum does something else then Low, Medium and High. The latter three speak for themselves, but Maximum is the exact same as High but with more autogen in the distance, so a higher LOD: you simply get an extra 'ring' of autogen around you in the distance. Loading times are a lot longer with Maximum!Low = Low autogen, same LODhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041427_Scenery Density Low.jpgMedium = Medium autogen, same LODhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041427_Scenery Density Medium.jpgHigh = High autogen, same LODhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041428_Scenery Density High.jpgMaximum = High autogen, higher LODhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041427_Scenery Density Maximum.jpgScenery QualityTwo examples, because there are a few more differences.Low = Low res textures and low meshhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041431_Scenery Quality Low.jpgMedium = Low res textures and a bit higher mesh then lowhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041432_Scenery Quality Medium.jpgHigh = High res textures and high meshhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041432_Scenery Quality High.jpgMaximum = High res textures and a bit higher mesh then highhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041432_Scenery Quality Maximum.jpgThe other difference is the water:Low = No water effectshttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041436_Scenery Quality Low 2.jpgMedium = Water effectshttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041436_Scenery Quality Medium 2.jpgHigh = The same water effects as Medium (as far as I can tell from the screenshots I made)http://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041436_Scenery Quality High 2.jpgMaximum = Water effects and reflectionshttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041436_Scenery Quality Maximum 2.jpgOne small addition: it seems that in cities the texture quality is already quite high on Medium... But since I already have that many screenshots to post, I decided to skip them and keep it simple... SharpnessSpeaks for itself, really. The first four show FSAA up close, the second four are posted to show differences in anisotropic filtering.Lowhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041500_Sharpness Low.jpgMediumhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041500_Sharpness Medium.jpgHighhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041501_Sharpness High.jpgMaximumhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041501_Sharpness Maximum.jpgLow = Low anisotropic filteringhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041502_Sharpness Low 2.jpgMedium = Medium anisotropic filteringhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041502_Sharpness Medium 2.jpgHigh = High anisotropic filteringhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041502_Sharpness High 2.jpgMaximum = same anisotropic filtering as Highhttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041503_Sharpness Maximum 2.jpgWell, that's it for now... :wink:Texture quality speaks for itself: it's really what you would expect: Low is low, Medium is medium and high is High. The same goes for shadows although I didn't really test those...I also checked out the weather, but the screenshots didn't say much other then that every settings looks different. It's not like with Scenery Density, that you ONLY get more clouds. Well, that is the fact with fair weather clouds, but more complex weather showed what you would expect with Low and High, but Medium has completely different clouds... It's a bit odd.In case you want me to make some more comparison screenshots with specific settings, let me know.P.S. I made a zip of all the screenshots, but it's about 20 Mb so I can't add it to the post here...

Edited March 4, 201214 yr by Guest

Thank you for posting this, it has helped me greatly to understand the Scenery Quality settings.Minor nitpick: you labeled the water shots for Medium and High as "Low" in the images.

Thank you for posting this, it has helped me greatly to understand the Scenery Quality settings.Minor nitpick: you labeled the water shots for Medium and High as "Low" in the images.

You're welcome.O, darned... I already corrected a similar mistake in the sharpness pictures... I will correct those water pictures as soon as Ive got time! Luckily the filenames are alright.

Hey Jeroen,You can use the ALT-PRTSCN key combo to snap any screen image while in flight and paste from the clipboard to most any software. I have a running file of screenshots that I post to MS Excel, save and continue flying. As always there are many other ways of accomplishing screen captures. ALT-TAB is your friend with several windows open.Lot of nice shots. Thanks for posting. I would like to see a 20MB zip file to download. Mailbigfile.com is free.Ray

Hey Jeroen,You can use the ALT-PRTSCN key combo to snap any screen image while in flight and paste from the clipboard to most any software. I have a running file of screenshots that I post to MS Excel, save and continue flying. As always there are many other ways of accomplishing screen captures. ALT-TAB is your friend with several windows open.Lot of nice shots. Thanks for posting. I would like to see a 20MB zip file to download. Mailbigfile.com is free.Ray

I simply use the default V key. It saves the screenshots as bmp in the default image folder!I'll check out Mailbigfile although it seems to me you have to mail the file...? I'l have to correct the water shots first though.

With mailbigfile free. You just need a zip file and an email address. It is usually limited in time to less than a week. You can use any valid email address then post the link for downloads.As for using the v key for bmps, I thought you said you had to stop, get out and take the screenshots? oh well.Ray

Great guide thanks!

I wonder, if you use nvida Inspector to override the settings, if the sharpness setting in Flight matters at all..?In FSX, I could just set AA to 8XSQ and be done with it..

As for using the v key for bmps, I thought you said you had to stop, get out and take the screenshots? oh well.

:LMAO:What I meant is that you can't make good comparison screenshots while flying because you can't pause as you could in FSX. When you pause in MS Flight, you see a menu and not the scenery. In order to get good views in the distance I had to land the plane in the game and get out of the plane (using E) to position myself for some good comparison shots. So I was talking about getting out of the plane IN the game and not getting out of the game. Haha!

I wonder, if you use nvida Inspector to override the settings, if the sharpness setting in Flight matters at all..?In FSX, I could just set AA to 8XSQ and be done with it..

You would think the MSF settings won't matter in that case... but I haven't tested that yet. I am not sure which Inspector settings actually work well with MSF, so for this topic I simply focused on the ingame settings.

Thank you for all the work J van E.The pictures give a very nice impression of the setting differences. :good:

Thanks.I'm happy with High settings, gives a decent frame rate in the cities.I do see the diff now from your screenshots on max .Anyway to make the V screenshot key produce jpgs ?

Bummer.... can't edit my opening post anymore (already). (Why doesn't Avsim allow a larger timeframe for that...?) Anyway, here are the two corrected Scenery Quality screenshots (Medium and High),http://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041729_Scenery Quality Medium 2.jpghttp://www.swe-gaming.com/fsx/files/2012-03/041729_Scenery Quality High 2.jpgAnd here is link to the bigmnailfile, one zip with all the jpg's.http://mbf.me/tCRXX

Anyway to make the V screenshot key produce jpgs ?

No. But there are special programs that can do that. But I don't like to run programs in the background just for screenshots.

Edited March 4, 201214 yr by J van E

I've used Grabber2k for decades now.It's tiny (hence the name 2k: 2,000 bytes of memory footprint!), stays in the background.Configurable for any keybinding (I leave PrintScreen default).Can save an infinite number of incremented images in nearly any format (I use hi-res .jpg)Can easily set the save filename prefix for quick identification if desired...Will save full-screen, selected (boxed) screen area, or multi-monitor screens.Highly recommended by me!

In addition to my OP (which I can't edit anymore...).ShadowsLow = no shadowsMedium = airplane shadows (on ground and on itself)High = airplane and objects shadowMaximum = afaik (couldn't really check it clearly) airplane and objectshadows at a greater distanceAbout the density setting: In another topic someone (who seems to be a developer of MS Flight...?) said that right now Scenery density at Maximum will result in more obvious popup of autogen. It's adviced to use Scenery density at High if the popup bothers you until this is fixed in a future update.As it is now I think that using Maximum is a must for Scenery quality because of the awesome water reflections. All other settings that do have a maximum option might as well be set at High: you will hardly notice the difference while those settings are quite heavy on the system!

Edited March 4, 201214 yr by J van E

With the water settings I noticed you did not have any clouds in the sky, so maybe High would show cloud reflections whilst Maximum shows ground reflections, trees, buildings, hills etc and the clouds. Cloud reflections are probably the difference between Medium and High.Just a thought. Thanks for taking the time to do the comparisons :)

Edited March 4, 201214 yr by ckukmale