Is MSFS too dark when cloudy?

[Paraffin 2,197]

5 hours ago, Nyxx said:

Well like everything else, no one is happy with anything. Real photos on phone are never going to be right levels, then there are everyone monitors are different calibration etc. 

Everyone's monitor isn't that different for anyone using a hardware-calibrated graphics monitor. What I see on my BenQ_PG2401PT monitor shouldn't be very different from what the devs at Asobo are seeing, as long as they're using a calibrated graphics production monitor that isn't HDR. 

If they're developing this sim using "gaming" monitors -- which I really hope they aren't doing, and the results don't indicate that -- then yeah, all bets are off.

 

Quote

 

If they fix it to "your" taste then we would get another topic saying lighting is way to bright in over cast...and so it goes on.

Also it depends on the amount of overcast, IRL if its really bad even street lights can come on, sometimes its still very bright.....

 

I don't want it fixed to my taste, I just want a reasonable simulation of what it looks like under broken clouds on a sunny day.

Yes, it can get very dark right before a heavy thunderstorm, but I'm not complaining about storms. I'm complaining about the dark shadows under scattered or broken cumulus, where there should still be plenty of light scattered from the sky between the clouds.

[captain420 3,099]

Not sure, but I think the lighting is spot on. It depends on where you fly, cloud and sky conditions matter greatly unlike other sims. If you're in a dense city, the light pollution will actually light up the clouds and make it appear not so dark.

[MrBitstFlyer 3,879]

On 8/24/2020 at 10:51 AM, 767lover said:

Not sure what you think, but I have the feeling it is slightly too dark outside when it is cloudy. Sure, the contrast with sun-illuminated patches is dramatic and beautiful, but I am wondering if it is not slightly overdone. On the other hand, I find the lighting with full sunlight very natural (and not overly bright as some suggest). 

Of course, the lighting engine is otherwise superb. 

What is your experience?

Is your monitor calibrated with a hardware calibrator?

[Jetman67 517]

8 hours ago, HighBypass said:

Joking aside, what if he does believe whilst still having a sense of humour about religion? 

i say good for him then

[SierraHotel 982]

On 8/25/2020 at 4:41 AM, Jetman67 said:

Tell me you believe that stuff, lol I re read it and realised it was a joke

I only believe in what I have seen, and what I've what I've seen would send you screaming!

[Alpine Scenery 1,609]

Most decent monitors have fairly flat gamma response curves in NON-HDR these days, usually around 2.2 gamma. Anyhow, you can just bump the Gamma up on your TV or in Nvidia / AMD control panels as a quick hack fix. For best results, would likely need to calibrate a custom gamma curve.

HDR is all over the place, and I haven't tried it yet for this game, but I heard it is good. For most gamers and simmers, first thing to do is to just Google your monitor in random forums and read about which mode has the most accurate color and grayscale setting by default. I personally prefer a slightly cooler rather than warmer (not too cool though) look for simming, but I do like my deep greens. This game tends to bit over-saturated, so turning down saturation a few notches might not hurt (or it might).

HDR is very complicated to calibrate for and I don't even bother, but you can get better results if you want to go down that rabbit hole as well. Now I don't use HDR in this game, not because it's difficult to calibrate for, but because my cabling is too long, or I would try it. Just saying that default HDR without calibration may or may not work for you, depends.

Back to non-HDR / Rec 709 / 8-bit, you can however also use various basic calibration patterns (some free online), one good disk for non-HDR / 8 bit only color is still the AVS Rec 709 disk (Google it), free and allows you to download as an image and run the patterns on your monitor. You can tell if something is clipping by looking at the pluge and ramp patterns, no meter required for basic settings. There are also other free patterns you can find online. I personally do NOT recommend the built-in Windows 10 Video Calibration tools as they are often way wrong in some cases, but you can try it.

Now you can get something like this for $160,

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1506566-REG/x_rite_eodisstu_i1display_studio.html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7ZL6BRCmARIsAH6XFDJRekBhznSR0HNehdfnaaEKrSlVPpqL_WQtjLtVG80tFkv20Xur0YIaAuRlEALw_wcB

I have an $800 version that was factory calibrated and certified, but I also have a Spyder4, Spyder5. All meters produce similar results, but you can occasionally come across a bad batch if you get an uncertified one (but I would just find something cheap, maybe a used one even).

My Spyder 4 and the $800 factory calibrated meter were actually identical, so the $800 was a waste of money technically speaking (though I bought that one a long time ago before some cheapo meters were as good as they are now). So suffice to say, even a cheapo meter you can do some good calibration these days, generally speaking.

Edited August 25, 2020 by SceneryFX

[stampee 8]

I find cockpit unreadable its so dark in clouds or overcast

 I turn on instrument lights and radio lights to full. This does not help the darm ground however. I can use nvidia settings to over ride gamma, but... Then get in bright sun, no clouds and i have to reduce gamma so its not washed out. What a pain always adjusting. 

Stampee

[Alpine Scenery 1,609]

4 minutes ago, stampee said:

I find cockpit unreadable its so dark in clouds or overcast

 I turn on instrument lights and radio lights to full. This does not help the darm ground however. I can use nvidia settings to over ride gamma, but... Then get in bright sun, no clouds and i have to reduce gamma so its not washed out. What a pain always adjusting. 

Stampee

I hear ya, with a fully customized tone curve, you could brighten just one part of the gamma, not sure how bad that might hurt the visuals (depends).

[Gerwil 177]

Anybody got ReShade to work with FS20? With that it would be easy to adjust shadow brightness and sunlight at the same time.

[sightseer 895]

I like it. Its about time a sim could be as dark as a Dallas thunderstorm or one of those cold blue melancholy days.

  It seems to me they are caught between a rock and a hard place with too many weather conditions to sim and not the graphics processing power to achieve it yet.

Start modifying the default weather themes and you can generally make what you want ...except wispy cirrus it seems...still working on it.

 

[Mogster 7]

I noticed this straight away. With real weather loaded for my home area a bright overcast day looked like late dusk. It felt like I needed a torch in the cockpit to look for the controls. 

I think the problem is that the sim (and games in general) doesn’t represent well how your brain perceives changes in brightness. Your eyes adjust the exposure to balance light and dark to great effect. Even in full sun the changes with the sun on the panel to shade are too great.
 

Basically everything but a sun lit panel is too dark making the instruments artificially hard to read in my experience.

[HighBypass 2,339]

FWIW - I find that the Flight1 Islander instrument panel is quite dark compared to some other aircraft in my virtual hangar, even when flying in bright sunshine.. sometimes it's better to leave the cabin lights on....and that's in FSX:SE so there have been issues like this coming from years back! Perhaps it's tied into the fact that we are looking at a screen and not looking at real life? 

[SirDan 471]

HDR  issue ? Still get more fps try this

 

1. Turn on HDR in Windows display settings (I know, we want to get rid of it)
2. Launch FS (while squinting)
3. Go to settings. Now HRD options are available (on / off)
4. Turn off HDR, save settings, and exit FS
5. Turn HDR Windows settings back off and enjoy!

[sightseer 895]

heres a video that starts out in the Bahamas and ends in a partly sunny but rainy Miami (at about 23 minutes in) and I really think MSFS lighting is correct and good.

 

[SPowell42 7]

On 8/24/2020 at 2:37 PM, TacomaSailor said:

Middle of day flying 152 in clear weather - can easily see and read instruments.  Switch to broken clouds and I can barely see instruments (no change in view or distance from panel).  Switch to heavy clouds and I cannot see any instrument nor can I see anything else in the cockpit that is more than a foot away.  Switch back to clear skies and the cockpit is bright and easy to see.

I've played with every setting that might affect light and none resolve or diminish the darkness.

At least to my old eyes, the 152 is not controllable mid-summer day in heavy clouds.

Agree 100%. In a real C172, I've never had any issues seeing the instruments during the day, even on cloudy days. In MSFS, there are many, many occasions where the ambient light in the cockpit is so low I can barely make out the instruments. I sure hope there is a way to tweak the ambient light in a cockpit.

 

Scott