have been testing msfs2020 lately, planning to switch to msfs2020 from P3D.

 

I use 3 75" 4K screens, and the graphics are spectacular. However, the clouds seem to have a very low resolution, they are blur and pixelated/grainy. This is very visible on the big screens. Is there any way to get better cloud quality?

 

I have volumetric clouds on max and I have tried the "sharpening" and "filmgrain" tweaks, but they do not seem to make any difference.

Volumetric clouds use a lot of FPS, so what you have now is it.  MSFS/Osobo have suggested more development is to be done on the weather, so fingers crossed the cloud resolution gets some work.  in any case, using three 75" 4K screens is just showing off 😀

48 pages for your reading pleasure. Eventually closed as... I guess the discussion sort of reached a natural end point and there were no opinions left to exchange 😉

EDIT: Wait, did you say 3x75"?!

Edited September 12, 20223 yr by Cpt_Piett

Some example vids/pics on reddit's r/flightsim forum of clouds in MSFS SU10 (releasing this week, and has some improvements in clouds/weather coming along with it)
 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, lwt1971 said:

Some example vids/pics on reddit's r/flightsim forum of clouds in MSFS SU10 (releasing this week, and has some improvements in clouds/weather coming along with it)
 

I do not know exactly where it was in the last Q&A but Seb himself even said they have not made ANY changes to clouds since like SU7.

Placebo! I'm using SU10 (Beta). Clouds have not changed. Only the way cloud layers are depicted.

And THREE 75"!? Holy cow, that is almost 19 feet wide of screen!!

Edited September 12, 20223 yr by KERNEL32

1 hour ago, lwt1971 said:

Some example vids/pics on reddit's r/flightsim forum of clouds in MSFS SU10 (releasing this week, and has some improvements in clouds/weather coming along with it)

Really? I don't recall seeing that (though could've missed it).

On a related point, I wish the clouds were less transparent and that the wing would disappear from pax view (obscured by cloud) when flying through a cloud. Those two items would help increase realism for me.

 

I think with 3 x 75" screens at 4K, it would be hard to dial out pixelization.   Maybe certain AA modes would help.  I don't necessarily mean in-game options either, I'm thinking some of the modes you might find in something like nVidia Inspector.

45 minutes ago, KERNEL32 said:

I do not know exactly where it was in the last Q&A but Seb himself even said they have not made ANY changes to clouds since like SU7

He did say that, and I think he referred to the actual cloud appearance. They have however improved the depiction of low cloud layers as per the initial beta release notes.

Like you mentioned.

45 minutes ago, KERNEL32 said:

Clouds have not changed. Only the way cloud layers are depicted.

Sorry, but quick there with the reply button.

Edited September 12, 20223 yr by Cpt_Piett

2 hours ago, F737MAX said:

Really? I don't recall seeing that (though could've missed it).

On a related point, I wish the clouds were less transparent and that the wing would disappear from pax view (obscured by cloud) when flying through a cloud. Those two items would help increase realism for me.

Not sure about wings disappearing from pax view, but in terms of overall visibility from what I've heard SU10 improves this where when in the midst of the right kind of clouds then visibility reduces as it should without the over-transparency at times like before (I'm not using the SU10 beta btw).

Here are the changes they've stated as coming in SU10 w.r.t clouds/weather:

https://www.flightsimulator.com/feedback-snapshot/ 
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/sim-update-10-beta-release-notes-1-27-9-0/528823 (all release notes: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/c/sim-update-10-beta/welcome-to-sim-update-10-beta/332)

Cloud Layer Improvements (Bugs LT #2, #17)   |  SU 10

• We implemented a new cloud layer system that will provide more vertical precision at low altitudes to better reflect the various cloud altitudes and thickness close to the ground
• Fine-tuning of the cloud layer system to be more precise and incremental is ongoing. The cloud layer will be much thinner at sea level and thicker at higher altitudes. The updated system will better depict a realistic cloud coverage at low altitude with an update of the weather panel.

Weather

• Added interpolation out of METAR data when getting away from the METAR data (distance, altitude or time)
• Added gusts to live weather: Added data pipeline between live weather (meteo blue & metar) and sim for gust data so that the sim features real world gusts in live weather
• Added additional dynamic pressure and air density debug data
• Increased density calculation extreme temperature limits by 10% to allow extreme temperatures at altitude to generate correct densitie values
• Per feedback, turbulences & drafts have been reduced by 90% at 0kts wind speed and 50% at 1kts wind speed (no change above 3kts wind speed). Turbulences and drafts have also been reduced by 50% at high altitudes
• Various fixes and improvements on the weather panel

Edited September 13, 20223 yr by lwt1971

I think the OP main problem is 'very low resolution', 'blur' and 'pixelated/grainy' cloud as seen on his big 75" 4K screens, and he is asking how to improve the resolution of the cloud.

4K on a 75 inch screen gives you just short of 59 ppi (58.74 to be exact) so - all depending on the distance from the screen - individual pixels will be discernible. IIRC somewhere in the region of 100 to 150 ppi is considered optimum?

13 hours ago, LGKR said:

 

 

I use 3 75" 4K screens,

WTH...?  How exactly does that work? It's roughly 5mt of horizontal size. Past the realism/immersion for an actual 1:1 cockpit even?

Edited September 13, 20223 yr by Mgard78