I had over 2,000 hours in MSFS up to the release of XP12 beta, which I enjoyed testing.  I stayed with XP12 because to my eyes the lighting seemed more realistic.  I have still maintained MSFS and have loaded it a couple of times a month, but the lighting kept me away. However, I loaded MSFS a couple of days ago and the lighting and visibility effects seemed better to me - I had a couple of very enjoyable flights.  The turbulence was very good too.

Did these things change recently?

Nah, I'd say it was always like that. I don't own XP12 but I never understood why some people say it has better lighting than MSFS. Apart from the clouds, the weaker lighting is something that helps me know I'm looking at a video of XP12. I guess it's all subjective anyway aside from some concrete things like clouds in MSFS being lit by light pollution while (at least to my knowledge) that's not the case in XP12.

34 minutes ago, Krakin said:

I guess it's all subjective anyway aside from some concrete things like clouds in MSFS being lit by light pollution while (at least to my knowledge) that's not the case in XP12.

Yep, we all see, smell etc differently.  I have never thought of MSFS is a bad sim (how could I with 2,000 hrs in it 😁), but it is certainly more mature and has some features not yet in XP12. I am enjoying XP12 a lot, but I was pleasently surprised when I opened MSFS this month.

I don't believe the lightning has changed either   I still try to give xp12 some love but the poor anti aliasing still drives me nuts.  I hope they can address it.

Mostly I'm using msfs.

The night lighting in XP is good, but MSFS beats it hands down in daylight. 

I'm... surprised. Lighting in MSFS (except for night lighting) is lightyears ahead of any other sim. XPL looks as dull as always. I actually liked P3D's lighting more (with EA).

2 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

The night lighting in XP is good, but MSFS beats it hands down in daylight. 

But not on as far as clouds go. Xp simply hasn't got it. MFS night cloud effects including city lights reflected and even aircraft lights are very well done, way superior to xp12.

 

 

....

The turbulence certainly changed in a recent sim update where there is a setting for level of turbulence and by default it's set to "low" I believe (three options are low, medium, realistic). The previous turbulence level is what the new "realistic" setting now maps to, and that too went thru some fixes/enhancements in the recent sim update.

But ya as others above say lighting has not changed and it's always been the same for a while (as far as I can see, and also nothing has been noted by MS/Asobo in the recent SUs). The overall lighting engine in MSFS far surpasses any other sim's IMO, considering all aspects like light bounce from surface to surface, diffusion, reflections, ambient and atmospheric lighting, etc.

Some I guess feel XP's atmospheric lighting is better, and maybe they're talking about rendering tones/etc but even there I've seen its unrealistic colors when the sun is at certain positions in the sky, or daytime lighting at times being too blue or too dark, and the sun looking like a LED bulb when high and a nuclear blast when low, etc. At least for me the ambient/atmospheric lighting in MSFS is the best I've ever seen in a sim.
 

Edited May 30, 20233 yr by lwt1971

I haven’t noticed any differences in MSFS, and I use my own filter so I’m not the best reference anyway.

Not a real pilot so again, not the best reference, but the turbulence seems to be acting quite logically low down where I spend most of my time (under 10000ft) since the last turbulence update; had a nice little bump on approach going over a highway just this morning.

Lighting; I use live weather almost exclusively, so the lighting is limited by the weather engine’s limitations. It’s disappointing that humidity, pollution, latitude, temperature etc. seem to have no effect (or simply aren’t there) on atmosphere colour and lighting in MSFS, and I believe this is something XP does much better. I see the same dawn and dusk colours in all countries at all times of the year in MSFS.

Also, reflected light seems much more pinpoint in XP and overly-bloomed in MSFS.

Subjective nitpicking, yes.

6 minutes ago, scotchegg said:

It’s disappointing that humidity, pollution, latitude, temperature etc. seem to have no effect (or simply aren’t there) on atmosphere colour and lighting in MSFS,

I can say with some confidence that pretty much everything you just said is incorrect. I've seen all sorts of sunsets and sunrises in MSFS. And if you want to see pollution, take a flight in India lol. I see plenty humidity in the Caribbean especially when there's a lot of rain right after a hot day. I really wonder if people are playing a different sim sometimes.

6 minutes ago, Krakin said:

I can say with some confidence that pretty much everything you just said is incorrect. I've seen all sorts of sunsets and sunrises in MSFS. And if you want to see pollution, take a flight in India lol. I see plenty humidity in the Caribbean especially when there's a lot of rain right after a hot day. I really wonder if people are playing a different sim sometimes.

Atmospheric haze (probably pollution) is definitely available in some places, but often not. 

If you can show me temperature / seasonal differences on sky colours, be my guest.

Edit: loads about this on the official forum, including this poll:

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/are-there-any-plans-to-implement-dynamic-sky-colours-in-live-weather/552284

Edited May 31, 20233 yr by scotchegg

1 hour ago, scotchegg said:

It’s disappointing that humidity, pollution, latitude, temperature etc. seem to have no effect (or simply aren’t there) on atmosphere colour and lighting in MSFS, and I believe this is something XP does much better. I see the same dawn and dusk colours in all countries at all times of the year in MSFS.

I definitely don't disagree that there's room for a lot more regional/seasonal lighting and color effects. That said, humidity does affect lighting, albeit in a slightly odd way. Too lazy to find the thread (and can't remember if it was here or on the official MSFS forum) but in MSFS higher humidity increases bloom during the day. You can test it for yourself by playing with that weather variable. High humidity live weather like in SE Asia makes for extremely bright, "bloomed out" scenes. It doesn't look bad, exactly, but I'm not sure it's quite capturing what high humidity environments really look like, either!

I'd love to see more variety in sunrises/sunsets as well. Given the overall MSFS approach, it's probably something they'll do "right" at some point (meaning genuine variation based on weather or seasonal variables) rather than "quick" (e.g. like in FSX, where you had a different type of rise/set for each of the seven days of the week). Here's hoping.

James

1 hour ago, Krakin said:

I can say with some confidence that pretty much everything you just said is incorrect. I've seen all sorts of sunsets and sunrises in MSFS. And if you want to see pollution, take a flight in India lol. I see plenty humidity in the Caribbean especially when there's a lot of rain right after a hot day. I really wonder if people are playing a different sim sometimes.

I flew in China today. and the smog and visibility were terrible. 

1 hour ago, honanhal said:

That said, humidity does affect lighting, albeit in a slightly odd way. Too lazy to find the thread (and can't remember if it was here or on the official MSFS forum) but in MSFS higher humidity increases bloom during the day. You can test it for yourself by playing with that weather variable. High humidity live weather like in SE Asia makes for extremely bright, "bloomed out" scenes.

I think I made a rod for my back by not emphasizing the 'in live weather' more. I've also found there are capabilities in the engine for lighting to be very nicely impacted by haze, and every now and again it is there in live weather. More often than not it isn't though, and I've definitely found winter dusk skies in Ukraine to be the same colour scheme as summer dusk in LA (irregular haze notwithstanding).

12 hours ago, scotchegg said:

Atmospheric haze (probably pollution) is definitely available in some places, but often not. 

It is consistently there in India lol especially in the morning. China too apparently. I checked it out after Bob's comment.