My impression of MS 2024 textures and pretty much everything in the sim is that they appear to be overly bright, like there’s a massive light bulb just outside the camera’s view.

Does anyone know of a way to mitigate this effect?

There used to be a setting in UserCfg.Opt called "EyeAdaptation" but I see that's gone in 2024.

If you see a HDR setting anywhere, try toggling that. I don't have a HDR-capable monitor so can't test.

Failing all that, you might want to research Reshade. I use it all the time - mainly to correct colour shifts and brightness/contrast.

They added this horrible exposure in SU1, despite in the beta so, so many reports saying it was a massive regression....

3 hours ago, Boeing_Driver said:

My impression of MS 2024 textures and pretty much everything in the sim is that they appear to be overly bright, like there’s a massive light bulb just outside the camera’s view.

Does anyone know of a way to mitigate this effect?

Are you using HDR?  If yes, use the Windows HDR Calibration - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store.

2 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

Failing all that, you might want to research Reshade. I use it all the time - mainly to correct colour shifts and brightness/contrast.

The new lighting engine in 2024 negates the need for colour correction or lighting imho. I would suggest making sure the monitor itself is calibrated correctly as a first step.

1 hour ago, abennett said:

They added this horrible exposure in SU1

Nothing changed with the lighting here during SU1.  Have you a reference for this change?

6 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

The new lighting engine in 2024 negates the need for colour correction or lighting imho. I would suggest making sure the monitor itself is calibrated correctly as a first step.

You must be joking (!). Both colour shift and brightness/contrast are *awful* - especially around the morning or dusk times. I can have real time/real weather set at my location and compare. Even with clear skies (in both sim and RL) the lighting is *way off*. Also - many areas have a predominant purple (magenta) shift. It's NOT my monitor as all other sims and games show realistic colours.

P.S. I hardware calibrated my monitors a while back, so I know they're correctly set up.

I would be interested in knowing what filters you are using to check my end, as I am not perceiving any colour shifts.

19 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

I would be interested in knowing what filters you are using to check my end, as I am not perceiving any colour shifts.

What countries/areas do you mainly fly in? Most of my time is in NZ (or UK). Do you use Reshade?

BTW - I've worked as a graphic designer for over 40yrs - and in film editing before that, so maybe I have a more "sensitive" eye for colour than most (not a boast - just saying!).

Edited March 13, 20251 yr by Adamski_NZ

Overbright at times maybe, no colour change here, on monitors calibrated for photography.  

5 hours ago, Boeing_Driver said:

My impression of MS 2024 textures and pretty much everything in the sim is that they appear to be overly bright, like there’s a massive light bulb just outside the camera’s view.

Does anyone know of a way to mitigate this effect?

Yeah if you go to external camera it's much better, cockpit seems to be overly overexposed. Thankfully in VR I/we can use OpenXR Toolkit which has a Sunglasses option to mitigate the brightness (alongside other brightness & colour options), so that helps me/us at least. 

It's the same with MSFS2020 but it's not as bad, no other sim I fly or race has this issue. Asobo struggled with it during a Sim Update a couple years ago, they completely screwed up the exposure setting and it's not been quite the same since IMO.

1 hour ago, Adamski_NZ said:

What countries/areas do you mainly fly in? Most of my time is in NZ (or UK). Do you use Reshade?

BTW - I've worked as a graphic designer for over 40yrs - and in film editing before that, so maybe I have a more "sensitive" eye for colour than most (not a boast - just saying!).

UK and USA exclusively. I used Reshade extensively in 2020 but not in 2024 so far.

26 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

UK and USA exclusively. I used Reshade extensively in 2020 but not in 2024 so far.

If you're happy to try a test - maybe in the UK <??>. Do you have any ORBX sceneries for the UK? If not, then I can disable mine - or we could try some area in the US with only default scenery.

If you have an HDR display, try the new Nvidia RTX HDR (turning off HDR in the MSFS menu). To my eye that looks much more realistic than native HDR - both in terms of colour and no more overexposed image.

I've always found that there is a lot more difference between winter and summer lighting in both sims compared to the real world.  I feel that asobo needs to be increasing light in winter, mornings and evenings and perhaps decreasing a little around the middle of the day.

For me, flying around mid day in the summer has always yielded the best results.