I've been having this issue lately where the clouds in my new MFS2020 sim just dissapears and re-appears in milliseconds and does that over and over again!!

It started right after an update. Can't remember which, but it was when the lights looked x-plane like and when a lot of people had to do a re-install. I have re-installed 5 times now to no use. It's from steam btw.

It's so annoying and makes the game unplayable. Please! Is there anybody out there that can help me with this!?!?!?

I've made a youtube video if you want to see it in action( or some pictures below) : 

 

-Cgaming365

MFS cloud problem by Cgaming365, on Flickr

 

MFS cloud problem by Cgaming365, on Flickr

 

MFS cloud problem by Cgaming365, on Flickr

 

Edited November 17, 20205 yr by Cgaming365

I don't have that issue but I can say I was a lot more excited about the appearance of the clouds prior to getting the game.  I am sure it will improve but even on Ultra settings I get these pixelated looking things that look like something from the early 90's.  I hope they improve things

If you own a GPU using the Kepler, Maxwell 1.0 or TeraScale 3 architecture, which means the GeForce 600/700/800 series, the GTX 950M and GTX 960M, or the Radeon HD 6900 series, this is why. According to official support, a new cloud system was added with the 1.10.7.0 patch which is incompatible with those GPUs. The only solution is to play with Clear Skies, or turn off all volumetric effects from the developer mode.

According to support the minimum system requirements will be shifting over time due to the game being patched and tweaked over time, which means that older GPUs could continue becoming obsolete, like the GTX 770 which was the minimum. It was hinted by a different agent that this might be fixed some time, but it would be very low-priority because there is not enough interest due to the small amount of owners of those GPUs among the userbase.

If you would like to help change their mind on that matter, make sure to send a Zendesk report, and upvote the two following threads if you are registered in the official forums.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/blinking-clouds-after-patch-5/309839/

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/bring-back-clouds-previous-to-update-5/314337/

7 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

If you own a GPU using the Kepler, Maxwell 1.0 or TeraScale 3 architecture, which means the GeForce 600/700/800 series, the GTX 950M and GTX 960M, or the Radeon HD 6900 series, this is why. According to official support, a new cloud system was added with the 1.10.7.0 patch which is incompatible with those GPUs. The only solution is to play with Clear Skies, or turn off all volumetric effects from the developer mode.

According to support the minimum system requirements will be shifting over time due to the game being patched and tweaked over time, which means that older GPUs could continue becoming obsolete, like the GTX 770 which was the minimum. It was hinted by a different agent that this might be fixed some time, but it would be very low-priority because there is not enough interest due to the small amount of owners of those GPUs among the userbase.

If you would like to help change their mind on that matter, make sure to send a Zendesk report, and upvote the two following threads if you are registered in the official forums.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/blinking-clouds-after-patch-5/309839/

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/bring-back-clouds-previous-to-update-5/314337/

Wow so they changed up the minimum requirements without telling the people who are on minimum requirement equipment ? I would be hopping mad if that was me. I hope people are giving them a REALLY HARD time about it. The game is 3 months old.. Would be nice if the major gaming press picked the story up and ran with it

Running clouds on high (ultra is too much of a performance hit) and they look terrible. Pixelated and granular. Shame hopefully they can figure out a way to fix or revert back to the original which were gorgeous.

6 minutes ago, Maxis said:

Wow so they changed up the minimum requirements without telling the people who are on minimum requirement equipment ? I would be hopping mad if that was me. I hope people are giving them a REALLY HARD time about it. The game is 3 months old.. Would be nice if the major gaming press picked the story up and ran with it

Unfortunately yes. If it had to do with DirectX 12, or a major visual update documented in the patch notes, it would be understandable. But this was extremely sudden, and despite providing detailed Zendesk reports for nearly three weeks now, support is still giving us confusing or robotic responses, and the minimum listed GPU is still the GTX 770.

And to top it off, the relevant Wishlist thread was omitted from the latest Feedback Snapshot, despite having enough votes to make it in. If it is omitted in the next one as well, I guess it can be confirmed that they're trying to sweep us under the rug.

5 minutes ago, Flyfaster_MTN002 said:

Running clouds on high (ultra is too much of a performance hit) and they look terrible. Pixelated and granular. Shame hopefully they can figure out a way to fix or revert back to the original which were gorgeous.

The second Wishlist thread I linked above is asking for a full revert which would also fix the grainy and pixelated clouds people are reporting (for obvious reasons I cannot test them myself), so you should vote it too if you are registered on the official forums. But if they continue to ignore the thread from the Feedback Snapshot, it's a lost cause I guess...

32 minutes ago, Maxis said:

Wow so they changed up the minimum requirements without telling the people who are on minimum requirement equipment ? I would be hopping mad if that was me. I hope people are giving them a REALLY HARD time about it. The game is 3 months old.. Would be nice if the major gaming press picked the story up and ran with it

It’s getting to be a real bad habit of Asobo in downgrading the Game from their release version. 

 

Quote

And to top it off, the relevant Wishlist thread was omitted from the latest Feedback Snapshot, despite having enough votes to make it in. If it is omitted in the next one as well, I guess it can be confirmed that they're trying to sweep us under the rug.

Same with the night lighting downgrades. 

Edited November 17, 20205 yr by UAL4life

Let’s hope they fix the cloud flashing issue in the next update although I would not hold my breath. Asobo have stated very clearly in response to some complaints that this is an issue with older GPU’s that are suddenly no longer supported. I am not affected but my son on a a GTX780Ti is.

They put it down to the price of advancement I guess, which will always have casualties.

As for the night lights, yes, I do hope they revert back. I don’t like.

Honestly to me the sim seems worse now than it did in late Alpha, burry textures in thedistance, worse night lighting...What on earth are they doing!

By the way, there are three separate ways to work around this that I have found:

1. Remove all clouds, that is, fly with a clear sky

2. Set off Anisotropic filtering

3. While in sim, observing this problem, hit Escape to return to the menu and adjust the render scale slider down a fraction and return to the sim. Return to your flight. You can then usually have clouds that don’t flash. You have to do this every time you load up a flight though, so keep pushing your render scale back up after flights so it does not eventually end on zero.

Edited November 17, 20205 yr by RaptyrOne

1 hour ago, z06z33 said:

Honestly to me the sim seems worse now than it did in late Alpha, burry textures in thedistance, worse night lighting...What on earth are they doing!

Checking bugs off a list as quickly as possible most likely to say they are 'fixed'

Pretty sad they are making things worse for people with lower spec/older hardware. If they are going to move up the minimum specs, they need to allow people to lock off on a supported version of the sim, but as far as I know, the the updates aren't optional, they will keep trying to install. Not sure what'd happen if you refused all updates for months or years. Beside being really tired of refusing them every time you open the software. 

That said? if you could afford to buy this sim, you can probably afford to buy a 900 series nvidia card. They are selling used for less than the base price of MSFS! 970s can probably be had for $50? I can't  even imagine trying to run this software on a video card as old as Kepler/Maxwell. 

35 minutes ago, Dylanear said:

Pretty sad they are making things worse for people with lower spec/older hardware

 

IMO I find it the quite opposite.

4 hours ago, UAL4life said:

Same with the night lighting downgrades. 

The night lighting is the only thing I agree about that hasn't really gone the correct direction, it was better before (much), but everything else is improving for the most part, a few 'setback' bugs here and there.

I am disappointed with the new night lighting, but nothing is perfect and everyone has a different taste.

Edited November 17, 20205 yr by SceneryFX

4 hours ago, Dylanear said:

Pretty sad they are making things worse for people with lower spec/older hardware. If they are going to move up the minimum specs, they need to allow people to lock off on a supported version of the sim, but as far as I know, the the updates aren't optional, they will keep trying to install. Not sure what'd happen if you refused all updates for months or years. Beside being really tired of refusing them every time you open the software. 

That said? if you could afford to buy this sim, you can probably afford to buy a 900 series nvidia card. They are selling used for less than the base price of MSFS! 970s can probably be had for $50? I can't  even imagine trying to run this software on a video card as old as Kepler/Maxwell. 

What they should be doing is using those graphics options and sliders to accommodate everyone - after all that's what various setting levels such as low, medium, high and ultra are for. So for those with limited systems, let them run on low/medium rather thank kill it for them and force them to upgrade because even low settings won't cut anymore. Only three months after release when the original spec included their hardware. Some people invested in this sim because they read that their hardware would cope, even on a lower setting. 3 months on and it's sorry for you! It is a bit rough. The GTX780Ti takes strain but it is hardly a stutter-fest on medium to high settings.

For me though, I am running a GTX980Ti SC (I beleive this is Maxwell) and I tell you what, I am struggling to justify investing in a RTX3070 - I am smooth as butter with a mix of high and ultra, flying glass. All on 1440P. The biggest motivation for me to upgrade (and I will) is to pass my GTX980 Ti to my son to replace his now apparently unsupported GTX780 Ti. Either the GTX980 Ti SC that i have is a monster card or the emphasis on having the biggest, badest GPU for this sim is being overstated. But I guess I am going a little off topic here. 🙂

Edited November 17, 20205 yr by RaptyrOne