I remember learning about the Xbox App when MSFS was released and installed it then in Win 10.  I've had no troubles with updates.  Further, I've installed no 'mods' save 3 3rd party airports, and have had maybe 3 or 4 CTD since initial install, and 2 of those were immediately post SU5, and since the hotfix have had zero CTD.

Overall I'm pretty okay w/ 1.18.15.0.   My chief complaint is clouds aren't quite as compelling, and truthfully they needed work before SU5, and they need more work now!  They lack much in the way of morphology as in you'd be a little hard pressed to describe one as a particular type of clouds.  Plus I really miss high cirrus clouds we see in the other sims.  There does seems to be a little more haze than previously, and it seems to be hard-coded because even when I choose a clouds preset, for example clear skies, the haze is still there.  Perhaps that is the way it is in the real world from the air I'm not sure.  Performance really has meaningfully improved, I mean even relative to the reduction of some detail.  I'm amazed at how well it runs even in the most complex areas.  I just landed KBWI and even the little 2070 Super didn't choke w/ everything on Ultra.  I mean look at this shot:

I'm still going to install 3080 Ti and hopefully reap benefits by increasing LOD, rendering scale, and accommodate DX-12 when that comes, and to have more headroom for complex planes from PMDG etc..  So yes, haze and cloud quality needs improved, and a few more minor bugs like the altitude and heading issues, but those will easily be resolved when they get around to addressing them.  There are certain areas of the USA that just look terrible, for example Salt Lake City area just looked heinous yesterday, unless it was perhaps a server issue.

 

10 minutes ago, Noel said:

I remember learning about the Xbox App when MSFS was released and installed it then in Win 10.  I've had no troubles with updates.  Further, I've installed no 'mods' save 3 3rd party airports, and have had maybe 3 or 4 CTD since initial install, and 2 of those were immediately post SU5, and since the hotfix have had zero CTD.

Overall I'm pretty okay w/ 1.18.15.0.   My chief complaint is clouds aren't quite as compelling, and truthfully they needed work before SU5, and they need more work now!  They lack much in the way of morphology as in you'd be a little hard pressed to describe one as a particular type of clouds.  Plus I really miss high cirrus clouds we see in the other sims.  There does seems to be a little more haze than previously, and it seems to be hard-coded because even when I choose a clouds preset, for example clear skies, the haze is still there.  Perhaps that is the way it is in the real world from the air I'm not sure.  Performance really has meaningfully improved, I mean even relative to the reduction of some detail.  I'm amazed at how well it runs even in the most complex areas.  I just landed KBWI and even the little 2070 Super didn't choke w/ everything on Ultra.  I mean look at this shot:

I'm still going to install 3080 Ti and hopefully reap benefits by increasing LOD, rendering scale, and accommodate DX-12 when that comes, and to have more headroom for complex planes from PMDG etc..  So yes, haze and cloud quality needs improved, and a few more minor bugs like the altitude and heading issues, but those will easily be resolved when they get around to addressing them.  There are certain areas of the USA that just look terrible, for example Salt Lake City area just looked heinous yesterday, unless it was perhaps a server issue.

 

If you are in the desert, with very low humidity and clear skies, you shouldn't see any haze at all in my experience. 

29 minutes ago, Noel said:

I remember learning about the Xbox App when MSFS was released and installed it then in Win 10.  I've had no troubles with updates.  Further, I've installed no 'mods' save 3 3rd party airports, and have had maybe 3 or 4 CTD since initial install, and 2 of those were immediately post SU5, and since the hotfix have had zero CTD.

Overall I'm pretty okay w/ 1.18.15.0.   My chief complaint is clouds aren't quite as compelling, and truthfully they needed work before SU5, and they need more work now!  They lack much in the way of morphology as in you'd be a little hard pressed to describe one as a particular type of clouds.  Plus I really miss high cirrus clouds we see in the other sims.  There does seems to be a little more haze than previously, and it seems to be hard-coded because even when I choose a clouds preset, for example clear skies, the haze is still there.  Perhaps that is the way it is in the real world from the air I'm not sure.  Performance really has meaningfully improved, I mean even relative to the reduction of some detail.  I'm amazed at how well it runs even in the most complex areas.  I just landed KBWI and even the little 2070 Super didn't choke w/ everything on Ultra.  I mean look at this shot:

I'm still going to install 3080 Ti and hopefully reap benefits by increasing LOD, rendering scale, and accommodate DX-12 when that comes, and to have more headroom for complex planes from PMDG etc..  So yes, haze and cloud quality needs improved, and a few more minor bugs like the altitude and heading issues, but those will easily be resolved when they get around to addressing them.  There are certain areas of the USA that just look terrible, for example Salt Lake City area just looked heinous yesterday, unless it was perhaps a server issue.

 

Wow those clouds do look bad!

 

Almost stock "FSX" like!

1 hour ago, bobcat999 said:

Are you talking about just the Environmental lighting Neil?  If so yes.

I never had the DX12 version of P3D, so I don't know about that, and I was reasonably happy with FSX with Steve's DX10 fixer and one of the environmental sky colour packs (can't remember which one), but MSFS environmental lighting trumps that by some margin.  Some people say the sunrise / sunset lighting is a bit too extreme, but I can live with that.

I am very happy with it now they have reverted to how it was.  I understood what Asobo were trying to do, but it didn't work brilliantly for a lot of us without HDR monitors etc.

What are your thoughts?

 

Just HDR, photogrammetry, and real world Bing data are game changers in my mind.

I was more asking about the visuals across the board. I’m one who’s been using various versions of FS for more than 30 years. And I have roughly 3,000 of hours of actual PIC time, plus hundreds of hours as a passenger, plus perennial Platinum status with a major airline, so I know what the world actually looks like while in flight.

I honestly don’t analyze the sim in the way some people do. I don’t put it under a microscope and try to see whether it looks like 2048 or 4096 bit textures or whatever the item is. I don’t compare lighting or try to see if SU4 looks 5% better than SU5, even if it actually was better. My yardstick is experience and immersion…when I’m in the sim, does it approximate actual flying to the degree that I suspend disbelief? If the answer is yes…then nothing else matters to me.

FS9 was cool for its time, but the generic world of landclass and textures, even with 3rd party adjustments, still killed a lot of the immersion. FSX and P3D refined the experience and made the possible 3rd party refinements add more to the realism (like Megascenery while at 5,000 feet), but the illusion came crashing down on approach with a flat earth and photo textures that sometimes weren’t correct based on new data or especially season.

MSFS isn’t perfect, by any stretch, but I can “fly” and my experience is very close to what I experience in reality. I see the same things on takeoff and approach. I see the actual environment I fly over in real life, not a 3rd party scenery developer’s approximation using generic (or even custom) buildings, textures, and roads. And I don’t pay attention to whether it was brighter or a different shade of green or the sun created a certain shadow…that stuff is generally not important to the question of immersion.

Does the experience give me a sense of realism and immersion. That’s my yardstick. The rest is minutia and details to me. 

Edited August 9, 20214 yr by neil0311

I flew about 10 hours this weekend, and much of it low altitude in the Seminole. Hotfix 2 was a 500% improvement, but not quite as good as SU4 yet, but it still looks good. Some slight shimmering and pop ups, but not anything off putting like before HF2. I enjoyed flying it again this weekend. 

Yup, also more or less happy with HF2, still slightly overexposed visuals for me though, really looking forward to this brightness/gamma slider in WU6 (how the heck a AAA title does not have it from the beginning...).

HF2 for me is like 85% SU4. XD. Still, hopeful for the future, as this sim is still is a diamond and a marvel to behold.

5 hours ago, neil0311 said:

Not everyone running SU5 had or has issues. Most of the issues are probably highly dependent on other things in your configuration.

In my case I’ve had no CTDs at all and graphics haven’t been a factor. Sure, I can tell some changes have happened to one thing or another, and my fps has shifted based on the hotfix, but the overall immersion factor is still very good.

There are many posts from people saying “see…if you disable add on <X> then the crashes go away!” So my gut says that 3rd party add ons contribute quite a bit. Is that a problem with the SDK or the developer? Could be either or both.

Yes, everyone running SU5 has issues if they use ATC... That's a pretty basic thing - making sure you are at correct altitude... So yeah, everyone has issues. 

Apart form the lighting bug SU5 was fine for me.   This latest hotfix version has me noticing all manner of issues (especially graphical ones)

All sorts of CTD's, though none in flight.

Serves me right for it all being great whilst other had problems. We all have our turn it seems 😄

When its working it's an absolute joy and a sight to behold.  Those flights are getting fewer and fewer since Friday.    

Time to put it down for a while me thinks.  Not worth the aggro.

4 minutes ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

Yes, everyone running SU5 has issues if they use ATC... That's a pretty basic thing - making sure you are at correct altitude... So yeah, everyone has issues. 

Not everyone. I have no issues with ATC or running the sim generally. Only “issue” for me has been a little variability in performance based on build.

That’s part of why it’s apparent that issues are dependent on configuration. There is a whole thread of people saying their experiences have been good. This is not a  one size fits all set of issues. 

ATC? What's ATC? 😛

10 minutes ago, neil0311 said:

Not everyone. I have no issues with ATC or running the sim generally. Only “issue” for me has been a little variability in performance based on build.

That’s part of why it’s apparent that issues are dependent on configuration. There is a whole thread of people saying their experiences have been good. This is not a  one size fits all set of issues. 

Now, if you mean IFR flight and being directed to a specific altitude…maybe. I don’t use ATC for IFR flight much. Just flight following and some practice approaches. No issues that I’ve noticed there. 

43 minutes ago, neil0311 said:

Not everyone. I have no issues with ATC or running the sim generally. Only “issue” for me has been a little variability in performance based on build.

That’s part of why it’s apparent that issues are dependent on configuration. There is a whole thread of people saying their experiences have been good. This is not a  one size fits all set of issues. 

I can't believe that anyone doesn't have issues with the ATC. I tried t a half a dozen times when I first got MSFS, and it was a joke. 

18 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

I can't believe that anyone doesn't have issues with the ATC. I tried t a half a dozen times when I first got MSFS, and it was a joke. 

I haven’t noticed for the ways I use ATC. I don’t file flight plans and don’t fly to specific destinations unless I’m doing practice approaches at Class C or D controlled fields. And typically I’m below 7,500 ft. 

46 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

I can't believe that anyone doesn't have issues with the ATC. I tried t a half a dozen times when I first got MSFS, and it was a joke. 

SU5 with the update runs absolutely stellar on my machine. Extremely happy with the way it runs.

Sadly, because the in game ATC altitude reading is borked until the next world update, MSFS sits idle...