Everything too bright

[Rob G 60]

Hi again folks. I am still very new to MSFS and everything that goes with it.

When I am in VR I find that everything on the ground looks too bright and washed out. But I don't know how to fix that. Where do I go to control the general brightness of the headset image when trying to fly in VR?

Truth be told I am getting so sick of trying to tune my system to use that I sometimes want to just ditch MSFS and go back to just playing native Quest 2 games. But I have too much invested in Honeycomb devices and addons to just give up.

Thanks in advance for help.

[fppilot 4,367]

2 minutes ago, Rob G said:

Hi again folks. I am still very new to MSFS and everything that goes with it.

When I am in VR I find that everything on the ground looks too bright and washed out. But I don't know how to fix that. Where do I go to control the general brightness of the headset image when trying to fly in VR?

Truth be told I am getting so sick of trying to tune my system to use that I sometimes want to just ditch MSFS and go back to just playing native Quest 2 games. But I have too much invested in Honeycomb devices and addons to just give up.

Thanks in advance for help.

i have not adopted VR but will ask, are you able to raise your eye level in the virtual cockpit in VR?  I had been experiencing the total wash out in just a couple of aircraft.  I inadvertently raised my eye level (Alt+↑)  and the wash out look improved significantly.

[Bozdog 63]

If you use the openxr toolkit it has a section where you can change settings such as vibrance contrast brightness etc etc.  it also has two default sunglasses modes that you can use and a night mode. 
it takes a bit of tinkering but can definitely improve things 

[joby33y 152]

It is a well documented problem specific to MSFS VR & their ‘camera exposure’.  Flying in mid day with sunny skies, its hard to see any detail while looking outside when airborne….and runway markings from the 737 cockpit are a white-out, its so washed out.  

yes, as op states the OpenXR toolkit will help some, but not enough.  One fix I suggest: set a solid overcast, blocking / reducing the sun.  I set a thin overcast layer at FL350 - Quite a bit better.  Or, you can also try flying early morning or later afternoon, ie, placing the sun lower in the sky.  Much better visuals.  

Check out the changelog in the SimUpd 10 that just released…this issue is listed at the top of the VR section & supposedly being addressed, but I’m skeptical.  Its an ongoing debate within the user base, because alot of folks dont use VR & so do not agree or notice the over-exposure.  

I always fly VR, during departures and approaches / landings.  To me, this is the #1 problem / flaw of this sim.  

 I haven’t yet installed SU 10,  so I can’t comment.  Too busy flying other sims to mess around.  

[blueshark747 1,843]

20 hours ago, fppilot said:

i have not adopted VR but will ask, are you able to raise your eye level in the virtual cockpit in VR?  I had been experiencing the total wash out in just a couple of aircraft.  I inadvertently raised my eye level (Alt+↑)  and the wash out look improved significantly.

Wish I could show you a demonstration video of the different sunglass and vibrance, brightness contrast options, but they will only show inside of the VR headset and not on the monitor display recording.

There's even an option for darker more realistic nights that makes all 3D lights pop out extra for immersion. So coming in for night  landings you can actually feel the depth and distance of light sources ie houses, streetlights, airport lights.

Edited September 23, 2022 by blueshark747

[AndyCYXU 25]

For the time being the best way to reduce it is the following...

1. Edit your UserCfg.opt file found in
C:\Users\**YOURNAME**\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache
Open with notepad scroll down till you see "VR Section" settings and do that, especially "ColorGrading" and "EyeAdaptation" these have the most impact on it set to 0.

{PostProcess
Enabled 1
EyeAdaptation 0
ColorGrading 0
Sharpen 0
Fringe 0
LensDistortion 0
Dirt 0
LensFlare 0
FilmGrain 0
Vignette 0
LensBlurMultiplier 1.000000
FringeMultiplier 1.000000

2. Fly with some clouds if possible, they help a lot
3. Fly in the morning or evening avoid noon hours.
4. Use OpenXr toolkit it helps a bit, but it mostly makes white grey so it is not a very good improvement

This stupid effect is there and I can prove to everyone that they have it, even though they say "oh it is Ok I do not have this problem" they simply full of it, it is nasty, vote on this issue they might fix it, but no, they claim they don't have it.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/bug-vr-overexposed-washed-out-landscape-colors/342883

[Gerwil 177]

For those using the RGB adjustments in OpenXR Toolkit be careful, this might cancel out the eye adaptation altogether and leave you with overexposed externals and too dark cockpits. Both are post processing RGB filters. About a month ago in the beta I thought Asobo had removed the eye adaptation because I didn't notice it anymore. Then I removed all RGB adjustments from OpenXR Toolkit and noticed eye adaptation to be back again. jfwiw.

[joby33y 152]

I installed SU10 yesterday, & took a midday / clear skies flight in the TBM. To me, the view out the window inVR looks much better now.  Much less washed out.  I am using the HP Reverb 2.   The change log for 10 (vr section) mentions this issue, so at least they’re ack / working on it.  I haven’t yet tried the 737 but will today. 

[andreh 125]

SU10 improves it a bit, but openxr toolkit is what you want