Is MSFS too dark when cloudy?

[ThrottleUp 617]

Could ReShade help with this? Or that nVidia thing (forgot its name now). 

[wim123 761]

i play with gamma at 1.2. works well for me, i can change it on the fly tho, if need be.

handy utility gamma panel.

[PDX Flyer 111]

From most of the screenshots and you tube videos that I have seen, for me to spend over $2,000 to build a high end system just for MSFS 2020, I am going to wait until this lighting problem is fixed.  Yes there are other issues that I see with the very new product, but they seem livable to me.  But for me, the lighting issue appears to be a show stopper.  Are you listening Microsoft, please please please fix this issue.

[eslader 1,783]

I've seen a number of lighting oddities. Possibly the weirdest was when I was flying with almost no clouds near Miami. Most of the ground looked like it was covered with mild overcast, but one small area was bright, as though the sun were shining on it through a hole in the clouds. Only there were no clouds at all between the sun and the landmass - just a few way out to sea. All of the land should have been bright, but wasn't.

 

 

[Baber20 1,438]

These are the limits of current global illumination model that their engine is using. The only probable fix is Raytraced Global Illumination. 

[scarter47 0]

I've also noticed on a clear day, it's too bright and the overcast is much too dark.

They appear to be trying to replicate the human iris by adjusting the light levels with brightness gain control acting on the interior and the exterior views. Similar to real life this depends on the ratio of your inside to outside view and I guess would be difficult to achieve a good balance.

I've always used TrackIR and have found that if I set the FS 2020 pilot view (in the C172 with steam gauges) to view outside plus only the first two rows of gauges then at midday with clear skies lower the outside view brightness, gamma etc to your liking with GeForce Experience so the inside panel is a little on the dark side. You'll find when you look down with TrackIR at the panel it will appear normal brightness, as in real life your eyes adjust to tthe inside lighting.

Then do exactly the same with heavy cloud cover. It's a fine balance and difficult but I've found a reasonably happy medium, not perfect but far better in my opinion than previousl settings.

This won't suit everyone, just my 10 cents worth.

It would be good if MS could find the right balance to keep everyone happy.

Edited September 24, 2020 by scarter47

[ErichB 3,642]

2 minutes ago, scarter47 said:

It would be good if MS could find the right balance to keep everyone happy.

If ever there was an impossibility in the flightsim world, it's that. 

The best option is a utility which allows you to set your own comfort level.

[scarter47 0]

Agree. I've said before in the X Plane forums a utility would be the best way to go. MS 2020 is a much better looking sim in my opinion but the same could help solve issues and individual tastes.

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

I do find the panels a touch dark at times, especially with steam gauges, but I just turn the panel lights on.  As already stated, DX12 and global illumination will make a huge difference there. This is one of those applications where manually trying to compensate for all lighting scenarios would be a PITA but enabling RT global illumination would just fix it.

Of course in the real world you would tend to get harsh contrast between directly lit and shaded areas,  like described, when closer to the equator and the further north or south you got the more muted the contrast - however it is bit unrealistic for a sim to model that sort of thing.

The only real issue I personally have with HDR turned on is that if I go windowed and stretch the game across onto my non-HDR second monitor the colour is weird on the non-HDR device but I suppose it is a bit much to expect a single window stretched between HDR and non-HDR devices to behave sensibly.  Aside from that, HDR in general looks very nice with this game and I tend to leave it enabled.

 

[bobcat999 8,477]

It would be nice to have the option of RT global illumination at some point, but I wonder how many people would be able to run it and hold 30 FPS.
Would this require a 3080 card?  Even with DX12?

[ErichB 3,642]

2 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

but I just turn the panel lights on

That's how I manage it for now

[Mogster 7]

On 9/24/2020 at 3:10 PM, bobcat999 said:

It would be nice to have the option of RT global illumination at some point, but I wonder how many people would be able to run it and hold 30 FPS.
Would this require a 3080 card?  Even with DX12?

The early reports I’ve seen suggest the overhead for ray tracing is still horrific even with the GTX 3000 series. With the 2080 independent testers were seeing drops from 90FPS to 30FPS in games that support RT. With the 3080 it seems to be from 90FPS to 40FPS, even though the 3080 is quite a step up in other regards. So not really much difference. For all that overhead the visual upgrade isn’t that obvious either apparently.

[spacedyemeerkat 421]

I think I replied earlier in the thread but having flown this evening locally, and in real time, around two hours before sunset it was far too dim in HDR. Don't get me wrong: it looked spectacular! But it was nowhere near bright enough.