Performance & image quality guide

Greetings fellow simmers!

I've put together a collection of various tips that might come in handy in terms of getting the best performance out of MSFS. I will also give some advice on how to tweak your settings for the best image quality. Finally there's a section on useful apps and websites. 

 

MSFS graphics settings

Of course this depends highly on your hardware. I'm running at 4K resolution with a powerful GPU. Still, most of the time I'm limited by main thread. Even more so in the Fenix A320. I don't use a "set-and-forget" method, as performance is highly dependent on scenery, aircraft, weather, AI aircraft etc. My goal is: 1) to have the most smooth, fluid and stutter-free experience and 2) maintain at least 30 fps in most scenarios. 

Before starting, it might be useful to enter developer mode to check how your CPU and GPU is used by MSFS, and where the bottleneck lies. To do this, go to general options > developers > developer mode. On top of the screen, tick "display fps" from the options menu. The below image shows what my system might looks like in a demanding situation (heavy scenery, lots of AI traffic etc). As you can see the frame time in milliseconds is highest on the main thread i.e. my system is "main thread limited". 34.2ms on MainThread vs 13.1ms on GPU. Your situation might be different, especially if you run at lower resolution. 

 

Anyway, here are some general "rules": 

Terrain LOD: Probably the graphics setting that has the biggest influence on performance. This would be the first one to reduce if you struggle with fps or smoothness. I find it necessary to reduce this when flying into or departing from airports with heavy scenery (yes I'm looking at you iniBuilds Heathrow) and in particular, nearby photogrammetry. In places like EGLL and KJFK I have to turn the T-LOD down to 100 to get acceptable performance. Even then I get fps in the low twenties and stutters. 

Clouds: If you suffer from poor performance it might be a good idea to reduce the quality from ultra to high.

Traffic: Aircraft traffic in particular does require some CPU processing power. But also airport vehicles, boats and cars can have an effect. In tight situations - turn these settings down.

Most of the other settings don't have that big of an influence on performance. But of course, YMMV.

 

Vertical sync, frame rate limiter and monitor refresh rate

V-sync: I've done a lot of experimenting on this. What I've ended up with is to let Nvidia control panel (NCP) handle V-sync. I find that it handles vertical sync a bit better than what MSFS does. Until recently I used the "fast" option, however that resulted in some screen tearing when panning around with the drone camera. So I find Vertical sync: on in NCP gives me the best results. It's probably a good idea to test what works best for you. More on NCP settings further down. 

Frame rate limiter: There's a lot of debate here, and it probably comes down to personal preference. I find that locking fps to 30 gives the most smooth, fluid and stutter-free experience. Also there's extra headroom for both CPU and GPU in most situations. And as an added benefit, CPU and GPU temperatures will be lower.

To limit fps, I use the freeware app "RTSS" - Riva Tuner Statistics Server. An advantage with this vs. Nvidia control panel is that you can turn the fps limiter on/off "on the fly", finding what works best for you. If you decide not to lock fps, it's probably a good idea to enable G-sync or Freesync. 

How to proceed: Install RTSS then enter a fps value in "framerate limit" on the main window.

 

Then enable framerate limiter in the setup menu.

 

RTSS also has a useful overlay for displaying things like fps (both text and graph), CPU and GPU specs, RAM and VRAM and so on.

 

With the addition of MSI afterburner, you have access to endless overlay information, like frametime, framerate min, 1% low, 0.1% low etc. You can even do a benchmark to get average values over time.

 

 

For even more in-depth information like CPU and GPU usage and temps, I highly recommend using HWiNFO. 

 

Monitor refresh rate: There's some advice that running a refresh rate that is close to the sim fps gives the best results. I use an OLED TV with a native refresh rate of 120Hz, but I've reduced it to 50Hz. To change the refresh rate, search for "display" from the Windows start button, then select "advanced display".

 

Nvidia control panel settings

Ah, the topic of so much debate and endless opinions! And the settings here probably don't even influence performance all that much.

Open NCP by right-clicking on the desktop then select Nvidia control panel. Then go to "manage 3D settings" then the "program settings" tab. Then select Microsoft Flight Simulator in the pull-down menu. And remember - these are just my settings for my system that might not be relevant for your system (or preferences).

 

 

I'll elaborate a bit on some of these settings.

Power management mode

Default is normal. Setting this to "prefer maximum performance" will enable the best performance from your GPU in all situations. The only downside would be increased temperatures and a higher electricity bill. 

Low Latency Mode

This was introduced by Nvidia as an option for competitive gamers and others who want the fastest input response times.

Default is off. On forces the graphics engine to only queue a single frame, whilst the ultra setting submits the frame just in time to be used by the GPU - there will be no frame sitting in the queue and waiting. The Ultra mode is referred to by Nvidia as “just in time frame scheduling”. 

It's probably a good idea to test out the various options and see what works best for you. 

Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames

1 is the default setting. Basically it’s a setting for VR users that controls the number of frames the CPU can prepare before the frames are processed by the GPU. Higher numbers can result in a smoother experience in VR at the cost of increased input latency. 

Other tweaks:

I'll start off with a disclaimer that the following tweaks might not have an influence either way. There's a lot of speculation. But I will say that they have had no negative influence on my system, and it's unlikely that they'll influence either the sim or Windows in a negative way. Either way, all these can of course easily be reversed.

 

HAGS - hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling

There's a lot of reports that points to a positive effect when leaving this Windows setting to off, especially on higher-end GPUs. To change it, go to System>Display>Graphics>Default graphics settings.

Game mode: disabled

Disable any background recording functions in Xbox game bar and GeForce Experience overlay. For the former, press "Start button + G" to open the Xbox game bar, then settings>capturing>record in the background: off. For the latter, open Geforce Experience overlay with "Alt + Z" then settings>highlights>capture via Shadowplay: off.

Disable NDU - Network Diagnostic Usage

This is a Windows in-built feature that basically monitors the network data usage. Turning it off should be harmless, but it involves editing the registry. I guess everything that involves registry changes deserves a "proceed with caution" warning.

The goal: to get rid of the performance degradation over time, especially on longer flights. There are many positive user reports. 

If you want to give it a try: Use the start button to search for "Regedit". Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/Ndu. Find and right-click the "start" option and click on "Modify". Change the value from 2 to 4. Click ok and reboot the system.

Disable SysMain

Previously referred to as "Superfetch", this is a Windows service that aims to analyze your computer usage and improve it by using the collected data. For example, it's able to speed up app launch times and performance. Unfortunately, having SysMain enabled may cause more harm than good. But again, there's a lot of debate on this, and even some recent advice that advices against turning it off. Again, proceed with some caution and revert to the default setting if you don't notice a performance gain (or even the contrary). If you want to go ahead, this is how to do it:

Start Menu > Command prompt (admin).

Enable - sc config "SysMain" start=auto & sc start "SysMain"

Disable - sc stop "SysMain" & sc config "SysMain" start=disabled

 

Change core affinites

With recent addons like the Fenix A320 being relatively CPU-intensive, as well as running other external programs whilst simming, it might help to change the core affinities, so that MSFS's most used core is not overloaded by other running programs.

First, turn fps limiter off. Go to Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), select CPU from the left side menu. Right click on the graphs, select "change graphs to: logical processors". Maximize the window for a better view, then look for the core that is used the most over time when MSFS is running. For my system it's the last core ("CPU9" when counting from CPU0). It's even easier to see this in HWiNFO as you get average % values over time for each core. Do a flight, then come back and check which core was used the most. 

 

Again, it's worthwhile to proceed with some caution, as changing core affinities may mess things up. It has done for me on some occasions, and I proceed very carefully when making changes here.

How I do this: I let MSFS "run freely" i.e. it's up to Windows to decide core affinity. For the Fenix apps, I assign these to all the cores except the busiest MSFS core. Like I said, the most hard-working core for my system when running MSFS is "CPU9", or core 10 on my 10-core CPU (I have disabled hyperthreading in BIOS settings). Hence I let the Fenix apps (there should be 5 of them) use cores 0 to 8. To change core affinities, in Task Manager select the "Details tab". Here you can sort the various running applications in different ways - CPU, memory, name etc. Right-click on the app you want to make the changes to, then select "Set affinity". Then select the core(s) you want it to use. There might be other programs that you run alongside MSFS that you might want to make changes to (Navigraph, FS2Crew command center, web browsers etc). Thanks to @Nyxx for pointing this out for us! It's a bit complex, but I hope I've explained it reasonably well.

 

Instead of using the Task Manager to change core affinities, you might want to look into Process Lasso. I find it a bit more user-friendly, and it also has some neat features such as ProBalance which can “improve system responsiveness during high CPU loads”. It has a free to use version as well as a "pro" version. 

Stop using toolbar pushback

Unfortunately this excellent freeware app from flightsim.to has caused performance degradation over time for many users. I've decided to stop using it for now. Another alternative besides the MSFS inbuilt option is the payware FS2Crew Pushback Express, currently priced at €14.99. With PE it's possible to pre-plan your pushback, setting a predetermined distance and heading. 

Disable photogrammetry cities

 

A lot of users have experienced a significant performance loss on the ground at various airports around the world after the launch of Sim Update 9. For many this loss has been associated with the main thread being hammered. Some users have reported losing up to 20fps at certain US airports. 

The lost performance might be regained by deleting photogrammetry cities from the content manager. How to do this: In the MSFS main menu, go to profile > content manager. Search for "photogrammetry cities". You will see a list of various "3D photogrammetry cities" related to the various world updates. Note that some WU content is not listed here (WU2 USA, WU5 Nordics). Click on the list icon, then select all, then click on delete. These are not large files, so it's quick to reinstall these if you need to. It's important that you click on the list icon - otherwise you'll delete the entire world updates.  

 

The really inexplicable thing here is that photogrammetry cities far away (other continents) can affect ground performance. Like, having deleted some photogrammetry content in the UK might increase performance significantly while you're on the ground at KSFO. Go figure! 🤷‍♂️

In addition to this, you'll probably get a performance gain just by disabling photogrammetry in the settings menu. This makes sense as having photogrammetry in the sim puts a big load on the CPU. Go to options > general options > data then choose photogrammetry: off.

Image quality

Now on to some settings that might increase the image quality in MSFS. I've done a lot of experimenting and tuning here, and these are the settings I've ended up with. To achieve the results, I've tuned settings in UserCfg.opt and Nvidia GeForce Experience. I'll start off with the former. I'll also talk a bit about getting the best screenshots when using HDR.

 

UserCfg

Usercfg.opt is a configuration file that includes both the graphics settings that you set in the sim, as well as some added settings. If you have the Microsoft Store version, you'll probably find the file on your C drive in this location: 

\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\UserCfg.opt

Shadows

If you want, you can increase shadow quality beyond the max value in MSFS graphics settings, which is 2048. I find a value of 4096 works quite well. If you set the value too high, your GPU will probably start to struggle. In addition the results may look worse. The corresponding value in the graphics setting menu is shadow maps. To change the value, scroll down to Graphics, then Shadows:

 

Sharpening

I have turned sharpening in MSFS off, as I find GeForce Experience gives better results. I've also turned film grain off. To change these values, scroll down further in the Graphics section to PostProcess:

 

Nvidia GeForce Experience

I use the Nvidia GeForce Experience overlay to adjust image sharpening. I find this give better results overall, in terms of both image sharpness and as little pixelation and graininess as possible. I also like having the ability to fine-tune the image settings.

Sharpening

On the GE overlay (Alt + Z), go to Game filter > Add filter > Sharpen. Then adjust the settings for the best image quality.

 

 

I find that a sharpening intensity of around 30-40% gives pretty good results. More than 50% and the image starts to look over-sharpened and unnatural. Also you'll probably get even more grainy-looking and pixelated clouds.

Ignore film grain

Even though I disabled film grain in MSFS, setting "ignore film grain" to a value of around 30% in GE removes most of the remaining graininess. Still, some of the clouds might be a bit grainy and "rough around the edges". If you set "ignore film grain" to 100% the clouds will look a bit better, but you might find that the overall image looks a bit too "soft". 

Highlights and contrast

To improve the overall atmosphere of MSFS, I’ve also tuned some other settings. Of course this is all depending on personal preferences. I’ve reduced highlights by 30% and increased contrast by 15%. Reducing highlights makes the sky and clouds “pop” a bit more, especially when using HDR. To change these settings you first have to add another filter, then select "brightness/contrast". 

I’ve left saturation alone as I think it’s good enough by default. In fact there's an item in UserCfg.opt that's called ColorGrading that changes the overall image in MSFS. You can of course turn it off, but I think it's better when left on (default). If you want to learn more about color grading, @Chock explains it really well here:

 

HDR screenshots

In terms of HDR and taking screenshots, this is currently not working that well with GeForce Experience. The problem is that the GE screenshots are stored as .jxr files which cannot be viewed correctly in SDR. You can view them in a 3rd party app like HDR + WCG Image viewer. But that doesn't help if you want to share the screenshots, or watch them on a non-HDR device.

Instead, you might want to use the Xbox game bar. The pictures are stored both as as .jxr and .png. I delete the .jxr pictures and use the freeware tool Image Converter Plus from the marketplace Microsoft store to bulk convert to .jpg.

I'll finish off by sharing some recent screenshots to demonstrate the end results. And yeah - I forgot to change the pilot after flying the F/A-18E 😜

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Useful apps and websites

In the last section of this guide, I'll mention some apps and websites that might be useful, especially if, like me, most of your flying is IFR.

Navigraph

This is by far the most useful payware app that I use for MSFS. It's use during flight planning is for me invaluable. Having the access to IFR charts worldwide at the "tip of your fingers" can be of immense value if you do a lot of IFR flying. Its seamless integration with Simbrief is excellent. For anything other than VFR flights, the first app that I load up just after starting MSFS is the Navigraph Charts app. I then hit Flights > New flight > From Simbrief. Then I bookmark all the charts I need for the flight - airport charts, SID, STAR, approach and transitions. Before subscribing to Navigraph many years ago, I spent endless time searching around the web for relevant charts.

 

A Navigraph subscription will set you back €8.30 each month, or €74.90 annually. But in addition to charts, you get monthly navdata updates for MSFS and any addons that use navdata (Fenix, PMDG etc). And in addition to this you can access charts on your desktop, your tablet and even in-sim, both from the MSFS toolbar, and in the EFB of several addons. I know it's a bit costly, but for me it's a no-brainer. And it's useful even for VFR flights. You get a moving map and it's quick and easy to look up airports for things like runway information, aerodrome elevation and so on. 

Simbrief

I do almost all my flight planning here. It’s free to use and will auto-generate IFR flight plans around the world. It automatically suggests departure and arrival runways depending on current winds, as well as SIDs and STARs. It also has aircraft profiles for a variety of aircraft. These profiles include things like fuel burn, weights, passenger and cargo capacity. It can automatically make a copy of your flightplan to MSFS so that you can load it up when you setup your flight. I do this every time as I use default ATC. 

 

Flightsim.to

Don't like the default scenery for your local airport? There's a good chance you'll find it on flightsim.to for free. As well as freeware aircraft, aircraft mods and liveries. You can even get some payware addons here.

Windy.com

My go-to website for all things weather related in MSFS. Type in the name or ICAO code of an airport, and get the most current METAR, both in raw format and full text. It’s also extremely useful for looking at the weather over a large area, with overlays such as weather radar (storms, precipitation), cloud coverage and more. Flying into an airport without a current METAR? Click on the map next to the airport and select an item in the right hand menu; pressure, temperature, wind etc. You can also download Windy as an app for iOs and Android.

 

Microsoft Flight Simulator map

This is a great overview of all available hand crafted airports, POIs and photogrammetry cities neatly laid out on Google Maps. It's updated continuously.

 

Volanta

I just started to use this recently for keeping track of my MSFS flights. Don't fancy the MSFS logbook? This is like an online logbook, giving you useful overviews of previous flights, total flight time and distance, fuel burned and even landing rates in feet per minutes. Also it's useful for VATSIM ATC coverage as well as seeing other users online via Volanta, VATSIM, IVAO, PilotEdge.

 

FSXmap for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

Looking for places to go for your next flight? On this site you can find any airport in MSFS!

E6BX

Feeling a bit drowsy (or drunk lol)? Doing math in your head is not your strongest trait? This website has lots of useful calculators, like reciprocal heading converter, as well as various other converters (temperature, fuel, distance, speed, pressure etc). It also comes as an app for your phone/tablet.

Top of descent calculator

Enter your start and end altitude, start and end speed and get your TOD in nautical miles.

Which runway to choose?

Pretty self-explanatory. Enter an airport ICAO code and get the preferred runway depending on wind direction, with headwind/tailwind/crosswind components.

 

METAR & TAF

A very useful site for airport weather info, neatly displayed on either your desktop or tablet/phone. Add your most used airports as favorites. Get a notification on your phone when it's raining in London 😉