Just stress tested 8K cockpit shadows and they're working and are crisp as crisp can be! Insert 8192 as described in the thread linked below. They have little to no performance impact, however, they require a lot of VRAM, I haven't compared the load directly but I think it's about a gig extra. So really, unless you want to make compromises elsewhere, these are for people with VRAM to spare, but 11GB cards certainly have. I am running a 1080ti at 1620p (internal), I now see around 9-10GB VRAM used. Love to fill this bad boy up! While "8192" will correctly display in the settings, I think Asobo left this out (for now), so no setting exceeds 8GB VRAM usage.

 

Here's a shot demonstrating how much the funky "knob shadows" improve...

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 20205 yr by Colonel X

It looks fantastic, the second one could easily be mistaken for a real photograph.

4 hours ago, airlinejets said:

It looks fantastic, the second one could easily be mistaken for a real photograph.

Yeah, my poor man's raytracing mod is hard at work here.

 

Aircraft self shadowing also benefits from the higher shadow res.:

Edited September 20, 20205 yr by Colonel X

@Colonel X

 

Many thanks.

I tried your previous suggestion re 4K on shadows and it has worked a charm.

I won't attempt 8K at this point in time due to the fact I have a 1070Ti - don't think it will make the grade.

As soon as I get the RTX3070 - that will be a different scenario.

 

Looks great. Where can I find this UserCfg.opt?

Holey moley, all of those screenshots look like real pictures.  That one out the passenger window especially.

35 minutes ago, Andreas Stangenes said:

Looks great. Where can I find this UserCfg.opt?

If you're lazy like me, just type in in the search box on your drive.

@Colonel X Amazing pics. Which raytracing mod is that ? Link please ?

Speaking of shadows, anyone noticed that at least trees in MSFS don't see to cast shadows on the ground? I found that at sunset there are no long shadows by trees. 

 

7 minutes ago, FlyIce said:

Speaking of shadows, anyone noticed that at least trees in MSFS don't see to cast shadows on the ground? I found that at sunset there are no long shadows by trees. 

Sure they do, the shadow just fades once the sun angle is very low.

30 minutes ago, Baber20 said:

@Colonel X Amazing pics. Which raytracing mod is that ? Link please ?

It's my custom NVIDIA Freestyle profile, using selected Reshade shaders including Bloom and Ambient Light to simulate a Raytracing effect and finetune the final image of the simulator for a more natural yet cinematic look. It works flawlessly, improves upon MSFS'S vibrant atmosphere and has no performance impact. Look how in each of these scenes the color and amplification of the light affects the plane and overall realism. It's especially useful in recreating a high altitude cockpit atmosphere. 

 

 

Get started here (those screenshots are from a preliminary attempt):

 

Edited September 20, 20205 yr by Colonel X

Great find Colonel, thanks for sharing.

Do you fly with that vignette effect in your screenshots?

8 hours ago, Colonel X said:

It's my custom NVIDIA Freestyle profile, using selected Reshade shaders including Bloom and Ambient Light to simulate a Raytracing effect and finetune the final image of the simulator for a more natural yet cinematic look. It works flawlessly, improves upon MSFS'S vibrant atmosphere and has no performance impact. Look how in each of these scenes the color and amplification of the light affects the plane and overall realism. It's especially useful in recreating a high altitude cockpit atmosphere. 

 

 

Get started here (those screenshots are from a preliminary attempt):

 

Well done 👍

1 hour ago, overt said:

Great find Colonel, thanks for sharing.

Do you fly with that vignette effect in your screenshots?

Yes, Vignette and Prism (the chromatic abberation at the edges). I fly on a simulated (headset) 160" screen, so these things happen at the border of my field of view.

Thanks! With a 1660 ti with 6 gb, I stayed conservative, using 4096.  What a difference! My cockpit shadows in VL3 were crazy serrated vibrating messes.  Now I have a crisp realistic shadow from direct sun in the cockpit.  Have to try out other aircraft now.  Thanks again.