MSFS' atmosphere colors are more realistic than I thought

[MDFlier 2,031]

I've always felt that the atmospheric coloration in MSFS was off. Too bright, too blue, and that haze.

Well... I take that back. I was on Youtube watching some commercial pilots' cockpit videos when I ran across the one below. Right from the beginning, the sky looks, well... Just like MSFS. I was wrong. Go figure.

I've got a flight in progress right now, on my main display. Side by side. You tell me. The screen shot made the HDR MSFS side look brighter than it really is next to the video running on an SDR display, but sitting here they are much closer to the video. I'm at FL380 with thicker coverage, so there's no ground to look at in my capture.

 

It surprised me to say the least.

Edited November 14, 2022 by MDFlier

[FBW737 512]

the sky sky colouring does look very close between the Video and the Sim. But there no telling how far off the Video colours are from reality. Its all very subjective if you ask me.

[ThomseN_inc 1,128]

Be aware that MSFS only represents the "look" like its seen through a camera lens. To my eyes it rarely looks that overexposed in reality.

[bobcat999 8,489]

1 hour ago, MDFlier said:

I've always felt that the atmospheric coloration in MSFS was off. Too bright, too blue, and that haze.

Well... I take that back. I was on Youtube watching some commercial pilots' cockpit videos when I ran across the one below. Right from the beginning, the sky looks, well... Just like MSFS. I was wrong. Go figure.

Yes.  It seems they have adjusted the overdone sunset colours as well now.

I have criticised the colours in the past, but then found they have been quite close on comparison.

One example, in the sim, with medium overcast in daylight, the clouds in the very distance (right on the horizon) have a slight pinkish hue to them. 
I thought this was wrong, but then I saw this in real life at an airshow and was amazed.  I was quite impressed with that - real life copying MSFS! 

[Soulflight 97]

Actually, I think that this heavily depends on monitor and desktop color settings. I always felt like the nights and the sky were too "warm colored" in MSFS, while on the other hand the whole image was oversaturated. Regarding Contrast MSFS has a bit too much, hence the problems reading panels against sunlight. I actually set up a reshade myself which almost made no difference but to correct exactly those things a bit. Now, there is a decent "blue hour" at dusk and dawn as well as a tiny bit less dark shadows.

To anyone familiar with it, here is the -only- effect used with set parameters:
 

[PD80_04_Color_Gradients.fx]
blendcolor_ds_m=0.156863,0.156863,0.156863
blendcolor_ds_s=0.000000,0.039216,0.117647
blendcolor_ls_m=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000
blendcolor_ls_s=0.470588,0.470588,0.470588
blendmode_ds_m=10
blendmode_ds_s=10
blendmode_ls_m=0
blendmode_ls_s=0
CGdesat=0.000000
dither_strength=0.000000
enable_dither=0
enable_ds=1
finalmix=0.125000
luma_mode=0
maxlevel=0.400000
minlevel=0.030000
opacity_ds_m=0.600000
opacity_ds_s=1.000000
opacity_ls_m=0.000000
opacity_ls_s=0.200000
separation_mode=1

Here are my related usercfg.cfg post processing settings:

 

	{PostProcess
		Enabled 1
		EyeAdaptation 1
		ColorGrading 1
		Sharpen 1
		Fringe 0
		LensDistortion 0
		Dirt 0
		LensFlare 1
		FilmGrain 0
		Vignette 0
		LensBlurMultiplier 0.000000
		FringeMultiplier 1.000000

 

For additional crispiness, under "FSRmode", set this.
 

FSRMode BALANCED
	PrimaryScaling 0.500000
	SecondaryScaling 2.000000
	SharpenAmount 1.500000

"SharpenAmount" can be set in the MSFS ingame options as well, I dont use DLSS since I have an older GPU, so 1.5 is enough for me.

Overall, this gives me a fine tuned, natural and acceptable image as well as great performance. Be advised that results may vary or not be noticeable at all.

Edited November 14, 2022 by Soulflight
copied the wrong post process parameters before, now fixed

[Mace 1,932]

Don't these post-processing things (Reshade / GeForce Experience) cause overhead issues?

[bobcat999 8,489]

43 minutes ago, Mace said:

Don't these post-processing things (Reshade / GeForce Experience) cause overhead issues?

Yes, but very little.  1 or 2% maybe.  You may lose a frame or two for the sake of having a nicer picture.  Very subjective of course. 

I used it all the time in FSX - not needed so much in MSFS, but the overall greenish / yellow tinge does need a bit of correction I would say.

The problem is some people go too far then it looks too blue / grey.  Less is more sometimes! 

[Soulflight 97]

2 hours ago, Mace said:

Don't these post-processing things (Reshade / GeForce Experience) cause overhead issues?

highly depending what effects you use. color or contrast curve correction are mostly for free, but the more complex filters or sharpen stuff etc. take some frames away. I am not a fan of fancy filters which makes games look like you are high on crack while playing, but I use reshade all the time for minor corrections and a more natural look of things.

[cj-ibbotson 77]

I use FinalLight and Lumasharpen filters on Reshade and they are amazing.  I have a hardware calibrated monitor and can see a greenish look to the default shaders, something I never really noticed prior to using Reshade.  The difference is quite noticable if you enable/disable it.  No fps loss for those effects

Chris 

[Fiorentoni 4,257]

Nor does my MSFS look like your pics nor does my real life...

[LRBS 948]

8 hours ago, Soulflight said:

Here are my related usercfg.cfg post processing settings:

 

	{PostProcess
		Enabled 1
		EyeAdaptation 1
		ColorGrading 1
		Sharpen 1
		Fringe 0
		LensDistortion 0
		Dirt 0
		LensFlare 1
		FilmGrain 0
		Vignette 0
		LensBlurMultiplier 0.000000
		FringeMultiplier 1.000000

 

For additional crispiness, under "FSRmode", set this.
 

FSRMode BALANCED
	PrimaryScaling 0.500000
	SecondaryScaling 2.000000
	SharpenAmount 1.500000

 

A BIG THANK YOU!

On my monitor LG 48GQ900-B 48” Ultragear™ UHD OLED

made such an amazing difference that I can't express enough my gratitude for these findings.

[ryanbatc 12,878]

10 hours ago, ThomseN_inc said:

Be aware that MSFS only represents the "look" like its seen through a camera lens. To my eyes it rarely looks that overexposed in reality.

Exactly.  I want to see the sim how I would through my own eyes...  not through a camera lens.  I understand everyone's eyes are a little different.  I wish they'd add a parameter in the settings that would 1) allow adjustment of the edge of the darks and highlights, and 2) adjust how fast our eyes "adapt" to bright sunlight and dark spaces.  There was a similar setting in P3D.

I wanted to show a quick demonstration of what the camera is doing in the real video though.... it's metering light  (fancy word for detecting amount of light overall) and based on some parameters, it will try to output the final photo with a balance of lights and darks in mind.  I'd guess about 70% of this frame is dark or darker so the remaining light areas are vastly overexposed.  Sure this is what the camera is doing but my eyes won't do that - at least not that dramatically.  So my desire is to have a setting that controls the range of brightness and darkness...  because still....even with my HDR monitor, the brights are too bright and the darks are too dark.

apparently I can't spell either

meter by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Edited November 15, 2022 by ryanbatc

[GSalden 4,679]

Here I changed colors in NC CP, made  changes in the menu from each display and made changes using GFE overlay.

Together exactly what I want.

 

 

[MrBitstFlyer 3,882]

17 hours ago, MDFlier said:

I've got a flight in progress right now, on my main display. Side by side. You tell me. The screen shot made the HDR MSFS side look brighter than it really is next to the video running on an SDR display, but sitting here they are much closer to the video. I'm at FL380 with thicker coverage, so there's no ground to look at in my capture.

 

The RL photo is taken inside a darker cockpit with much less view of the outside - of course the photo is going to blow out the highlights.  The exact reason why MSFS and XP12 have eye adaption.