Very new to MSFS and I'm loving the graphics. It's been great for some VFR jaunts around the UK. 

I just wanted to check that this looks right:

To me, it seems a little bright outside bordering on wash out, whilst the cockpit seems quite dark. I'm only basing this off other peoples photos and videos. (I've switched seasons, countries and times of day, and it's all very similar). 

I don't have a HDR monitor, but have managed to turn HDR off. I've also switched off Bloom. Other than that, it's on factory settings. 

Many thanks,

Mike

 

Well that doesn't look too bad to me.  Quite natural.  You could mistake that for a proper photograph. 

If it is a bright day with no clouds like in your picture, the human eye will see the inside of the cockpit as being darker as it adjusts to the brightest light, it has to, and that is what the simulator is trying to replicate rather than give you the unrealistic situation of both inside and outside being at the same light levels.  I love it!

If you don't like it, there is a setting called EyeAdaptation=1 in the usercfg file (UserCfg.opt).  You could try changing this to 0.  If you don't know where the file is though, or how to edit it, best not to try.  And if you do, make a backup first! 

 

Edited March 4, 20215 yr by bobcat999

You are right, that is kind of 'the look' of MSFS. It's meant to replicate the pupil dilation of going from looking at bright things to dark things, and most of the time it does a fairly convincing job of that. You will notice that if you zoom the view on the outside, the brightness and glare drops to simulate your eyes adjusting to the new thing you are looking at, it's pretty cool actually. Try zooming the view on some really bright clouds which initially have very little definition because of the glare and you'll see it resolve into more detail as the contrast changes. It's quite a realistic effect for a two dimensional image on a computer screen.

Edited March 4, 20215 yr by Chock

Think of the MSFS 2020 Cameras set to Program Automatic on a fairly decent camera - like a DSLR; they adjust the aperture and shutter speed to "Take the perfect shot". The thing about it is that they will take a darker shot when looking at the Sun and they'll open up a bit when looking 180 degrees away. That's the limitation of the cameras in pretty much all sims. You're not looking with your eyes; you're looking through a camera at what it would expose that shot at.

It's like everything you see in the sim is what a photographer ghosting you would capture on film/ digital Media/ whatever.

It's the best way to present video graphics on screen - it would be chaos were it otherwise.

You always have your Out Of Sim graphics settings and Monitor settings to compensate to a fair degree. For example; I've lifted my nVidia Gamma from 1.0 to 1.2 to raise ambient brightness.

1 hour ago, mikethe6th said:

Very new to MSFS and I'm loving the graphics. It's been great for some VFR jaunts around the UK. 

I just wanted to check that this looks right:

To me, it seems a little bright outside bordering on wash out, whilst the cockpit seems quite dark. I'm only basing this off other peoples photos and videos. (I've switched seasons, countries and times of day, and it's all very similar). 

I don't have a HDR monitor, but have managed to turn HDR off. I've also switched off Bloom. Other than that, it's on factory settings. 

Many thanks,

Mike

 

Adding high cloud layer will increase contrast, just you have to find the right balance of clouds. Depends on the quality of the aerial imagery and colors on the ground too, some places look better in bright lighting than others. In a real plane, it also often looks washed out when there aren't any clouds, but the lighting in MSFS is exaggerated at times, mainly the way it tints the color. 

I’ve logged in on my phone just to thank you all for your replies, and I must say, the screen shot looks better on my phone. Still not to the degree I’ve seen other shots from within the sim. I’ll have a play with the monitor and Nvidia settings to try and adjust. 
 

Many thanks to you all!

Edited March 4, 20215 yr by mikethe6th

2 hours ago, mikethe6th said:

I’ve logged in on my phone just to thank you all for your replies, and I must say, the screen shot looks better on my phone. Still not to the degree I’ve seen other shots from within the sim. I’ll have a play with the monitor and Nvidia settings to try and adjust. 
 

Many thanks to you all!

If you have HDR, the sim does not always handle that very well try turning it off.

It looks normal to for the game to m eon clear skies.  Try scattered or broken clouds, but note that some of the more cloudy presets do give you a crosswind.

Also note that firstly the brightness/contrast of the game will vary if you look down at the instruments rather than outside and, secondly, if you are flying on a clear day in real life, anytime around midday without wearing your aviators, things can get bright and washed out due to glare 😄

Edited March 4, 20215 yr by Glenn Fitzpatrick