Undoubtedly the sim has been going south after SU5, and that coincides with the Xbox release. But, in general, there's not much to say in terms of its evolution since release in late 2020 for PC users.

The SDK has also been suffering from ups and downs after its SU5's corresponding update.

5 hours ago, FrankPilot said:

I must not be fussy, or doing something wrong, or something else, because relatively few problems here, and getting better all the time.  Loving it.  Cheers.

Some people are never happy, no matter what. 

I guess I just recall FSX too well. Even with default scenery and airplanes, I could rarely complete a 2 hr flight without a CTD. Then we got 2 hotfixes and acceleration and "see ya". It was buggy and unstable for years until Steam and LM got their hands on it. Now THAT frustrated me. We've got a few goofy looking clouds, and at the wrong altitude to boot. Maybe some color banding, and a temporary hosing of a popular peripheral. But in perspective... We're in pretty good shape. 

And the clouds have looked wonderful ever since they started using more than 4 colors on the screen. 😄

AVSIM the old whiners club 🙄

Besides the clouds,  how are the TREES?  Haven't heard much screaming about them, lately! 🌲🌳🌴  Just thought I'd throw another monkey wrench into the fray! 😀

7 hours ago, abennett said:

going back to the launch of the sim.

I also remember how inconsistent and inaccurate the weather was around airports in some scenarios. Now it's right much more often. I also remember how much people use to complain about 'grainy' clouds, I don't see that now as much either. They are appear to be working on the cloud situation, this has been widely reported and discussed as part of the last beta. It's clearly a complex system that requires iteration.

I am not here to bash Asobo or MSFS, as it is the most amazing game/sim I have ever used and gives me countless hours of entertainment and education with regard to flight in general.  But since this thread as "evolved" into a discussion of cloud quality, I will add my 2 cents.

I fly 100% in VR, so this may or may not apply to flying in 2D (aka pancake mode).  Prior to sim update 5, I found flying in and around clouds to be incredibly immersive.  In VR, I really felt like I was flying THROUGH the clouds, as there was no pixelation and dynamic cockpit lighting/shadows very much reflected the fact I was flying through clouds.  That all changed with sim update 5 (the infamous XBox update), as clouds suddenly became pixelated (sometimes to the point of looking like Nintendo 64 era graphics) and dynamic lighting when flying through clouds became non-existent.  Prior to sim update 5, if I was flying through dense cloud cover, I could see the beam of my NAV lights reflecting off the clouds ahead (similar to how you see vehicle headlight beams when driving through dense fog).  Often, even the reflection of  my wing strobe lights would be visible in the cockpit.  All this dynamic lighting sadly went away after sim update 5.  Perhaps more disappointing is the fact I have seen no evidence that Asobo intends to re-implement such features.  Thus, I have to assume these degradations are not "bugs" or oversights on the development side, but instead were intentionally implemented - presumably for performance reasons on low end systems and XBox.

Again, I am in no way bashing Asobo.  They (along with many 3rd party developers) have created a simulated environment that is so immersive and life-like (especially in VR), it becomes obvious when something is "out of place".  I fully understand MSFS is a 10 year project, but I admit to being a bit frustrated that in some regards the sim has taken steps backwards since initial launch.

7 minutes ago, PlumCrazy said:

Perhaps more disappointing is the fact I have seen no evidence that Asobo intends to re-implement such features. 

I only fly in VR too so I understand your frustration. The good news is according to today‘s development update they are working on it (see wishlist VR).

Edited January 7, 20224 yr by Shack95

In my humble opinion, the sim has devolved in more prominent ways than it has evolved.

I'll tell you what, you can keep those horrific oversized trees from the launch version. My country has never looked so beautiful/accurate in a sim and at default no less!

The community up here is shockingly polarized about whether the MSFS weather simulation and rendering now is better or worse than before.

Although I myself completely subscribe to the OP's view of the matter and cannot honestly understand how somebody can perceive the latest weather simulation as better, user opinions shall be respected. 

Clearly there need to be two versions of the weather simulation, to choose from, as an option in the sim setup. 

I have to say, I have always been amazed and I use the word amazed very conservatively, that there isn't two separate versions of the sim. One for XBox and the other for PC. For me, as someone who is completely word not allowed about the inner workings of sims and PC games, it comes across as a bit of a compromise. I find it difficult to see how you could have a perfectly successful sim that is also being used as a game with Xbox. I mean, even down to the absolutely dreadful interface and clunky menus, IMO they are clearly designed for the Xbox with very little consideration of PC users. 

Well, I've only been here since last Feb and the sim currently looks better than it ever has. Some of the skies I've seen in the last few weeks have been absolutely stunning and generally accurate weather to the real world when I've checked.  The colour banding is fixed and the clouds look (mostly) stunning.

Must have been hell of a sim for those first few months i wasn't around.

There is without a doubt a downgrade in the weather and clouds, it's not even matching the METAR data. The same weather pattern appears all around the globe, like a variation on a theme. I find it highly suspicious when the same ones that rooted for the SU5 (ie Xbox) downgrades are doing the same thing now with the new SU7 weather system. How anyone can see this as an improvement is beyond me. I fear this is going to take another year to solve.

13 minutes ago, SubtotalGuide said:

There is without a doubt a downgrade in the weather and clouds, it's not even matching the METAR data. The same weather pattern appears all around the globe, like a variation on a theme. I find it highly suspicious when the same ones that rooted for the SU5 (ie Xbox) downgrades are doing the same thing now with the new SU7 weather system. How anyone can see this as an improvement is beyond me. I fear this is going to take another year to solve.

I flew in three different countries this morning, the weather in the Metars and in MSFS was the same. Am I doing something wrong? 😉