3 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I have just experienced my first encounter with the infamous "horizon line" bug. I noticed it in front of the mountains when I was on final approach to runway 09 at KTEX Telluride Regional. Is this bug prevalent under all conditions, and at all times of the day? I did not notice it at all of the other airports that I have arrived at so far, and that includes KFLG Flagstaff Pulliam (which is also in the mountains at relatively high altitude).

The horizon line issue was improved in SU14 where it was made less visible, maybe why you haven't seen it until now. (how prevalent it is depends on various conditions). It will only be fully fixed with MSFS 2024 where they've re-written the atmospheric engine.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/november-dev-stream-2023-transcription/619372
Our team here completely reworked the atmospheric simulation for Flight Simulator 2024, and among the improvements are the horizon line, which is fixed

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/september-2023-live-developer-stream-transcription/610612
Yeah, sure. So, basically, this is a precision issue related to the mathematical calculations we use in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. It’s a precision problem inherent to the method we’ve been using, and unfortunately, there’s no complete solution within this method. The only way to entirely fix it is to change the entire method of handling atmospheric scattering, essentially requiring a completely different atmospheric engine. However, what we’ve done is implement a kind of patch that compensates for the precision error on the horizon, attempting to reduce the visibility of that line.
 

On 12/23/2023 at 5:48 AM, Christopher Low said:

Where do I go to report this issue to Asobo? I am aware that plenty of users will have already reported it, but they have had three years to sort it out. It needs to be addressed ASAP.

Good luck with that

Something is puzzling me about the shadows. These seem to be rendered out to a reasonable distance for terrain, but when I am on short final, I can see what look like shadows being drawn on the terrain relatively close to my plane. It looks a bit unrealistic to see them being drawn so close. Can this be rectified?

* I assume that they are shadows, unless they are some other form of texture issue?

11 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

Something is puzzling me about the shadows. These seem to be rendered out to a reasonable distance for terrain, but when I am on short final, I can see what look like shadows being drawn on the terrain relatively close to my plane. It looks a bit unrealistic to see them being drawn so close. Can this be rectified?

* I assume that they are shadows, unless they are some other form of texture issue?

In my view those aren't shadows, they are terrain LOD redraws.
They do not happen all the time, or at all locations.

I must admit when I'm on short final I am looking at the runway and nowhere else, so I can't say I've ever noticed them on final.

This is yet another issue which I believe will be solved in MSFS2024.

I am now certain that they are part of the LOD texture redraw issue that a lot of users appear to be suffering from. These are visible directly in front of me when I am approaching runway 02L at KSNA John Wayne Orange County airport.

Edited December 28, 20232 yr by Christopher Low

Now that I am slowly getting used to the feel of the PMDG 737-600 in MSFS (mainly the increased sensitivity when on the ground), I am really starting to enjoy the experience. The graphics are outstanding (both the terrain textures and the much more realistic autogen), and the lighting is light years beyond that in P3Dv4. Everything looks so much more natural and believable. In addition, the superior performance of the game engine means that I can enjoy clouds, shadows, reflections and other fancy effects without even thinking about it.

My testing at the moment is with AI planes disabled (although the simulator renders static planes on the ground; this is set @ 50%), but the almost complete lack of stutters (and that includes flying over London with ORBx London Landmarks, UK2000 EGLC London City, and IniBuilds EGLL London Heathrow installed) is so satisfying! I am totally impressed with the performance, considering that my PC (i5 7600k/32GB DDR4-3600 RAM/6GB Nvidia GTX 980Ti) is nowhere near the top end.

I had significant stutters in northern Scotland in P3Dv4 for some unfathomable reason, and totally unacceptable massive stutters in numerous specific locations in the UK. Those issues eventually ground me down, and were two of the reasons that I decided to (finally) upgrade to MSFS. Of course, I do not have AI planes active yet, so I will have to wait and see what that does to my performance. However, it is very obvious that I can run MSFS with significantly more detail than P3Dv4, whilst also enjoying a fraction of the stutters. So many niggles of all kinds in P3Dv4 have now been eradicated. It is such a pleasant position to be in

Of course, there are a handful of annoying issues (like the LOD texture render problem; I have seen this at EGNS Isle of Man and KSNA John Wayne Orange County to date), and the ATC system (which screams "game" to me as soon as the AI opens its virtual mouth)! Nevertheless, it is not preventing me from really enjoying lots of short test flights in the 737-600. I have plenty of new payware airports (purchased in the Christmas sales) to look forward to visiting, so here's to looking forward to a renewed enthusiasm for flight simulation in 2024 🍷