47 minutes ago, andy1252 said:

Hi, yeah, I think I'd noticed that before in terms of city centre stuff and I usually have an addon in place for Manchester centre (although not on these flights). But in this case I was really talking about the outlying suburbs, which certainly seems to be PG and look to be exactly the same stuff as that surrounding Brum, but without the post-apocalyptic look. If I get time I'll probably go back again today and have another look to see if it's still the same. My net access is good (Gbit) and I don't use wi-fi, just wired Cat6 so I'm fairly comfortable with my end of the connection.

I don't like the non-PG look in MSFS, and I'll live with the flaws if need be, but it is frustrating sometimes. But hey, lots of stuff is these days (frustrating, that is).

Samscene have a good addon for Manchester or if you prefer freeware, Skells version is excellent (though I was getting a bit of a performance hit)  Actually, I prefer Skell's TBH if I can resolve the performance hitches and his sightseeing stuf for Lancashire, Cheshire and a few other areas adds greatly to the flying experience in those regions.

35 minutes ago, cianpars said:

Samscene have a good addon for Manchester or if you prefer freeware, Skells version is excellent (though I was getting a bit of a performance hit)  Actually, I prefer Skell's TBH if I can resolve the performance hitches and his sightseeing stuf for Lancashire, Cheshire and a few other areas adds greatly to the flying experience in those regions.

Yep, Samscene is the one I have, and I also have most of the Skells stuff as well. Bit of a scenery junkie, me, as this is what I use the sim for - sightseeing rather than flying (or more precisely, piloting). This is why I get pee'ed off with these random glitches with the scenery and the LODs.

As an airliner flyer I just don't notice much if PG is on or off...unless it's in an area where melted objects are.  So...I leave PG off almost always except to test for improvements every few months or so.  And in all of the vast areas of the world I fly routes in I don't notice any 'terrible' scenery or textures anywhere in 2024.  But...I focus on flying for score and scenery becomes a big time ambience enhancer.  This points to how different users have different experiences based a lot on how they use 2024.

13 minutes ago, Noel said:

As an airliner flyer I just don't notice much if PG is on or off...unless it's in an area where melted objects are.  So...I leave PG off almost always except to test for improvements every few months or so.  And in all of the vast areas of the world I fly routes in I don't notice any 'terrible' scenery or textures anywhere in 2024.  But...I focus on flying for score and scenery becomes a big time ambience enhancer.  This points to how different users have different experiences based a lot on how they use 2024.

Absolutely agree - different strokes/folks and all that stuff. But I do find this sort of thing particularly annoying as Asobo obviously really push the whole digital twin thing as one of the main features of the sim, and yet they keep on regressing the quality of that aspect of it. My own memory (and screenshots) from 2020 pre-SU5 is that it was better then in many ways than 2024 is now, and the recent repost of the pre-alpha review on youtube seems to confirm that for me.

Yes, if you're a tube-flyer, or if you never have PG on like some have mentioned, it will be a very different experience for you. And from my point of view, issues with live weather, weather radar, flight models, realistic landing behaviour etc have zero impact or interest but I'm sure they drive lots of folk crazy. 

Bottom line, I suspect, is that both types of user are suffering from the effects of MAsobo pushing to ensure the sim runs acceptably on the consoles, at the expense of those of us here on the PC.

20 minutes ago, andy1252 said:

yet they keep on regressing the quality of that aspect of it

I don't see this in the slightest, but perhaps we're flying in diff parts of the world.  I'm amazed at the quality of scenery everywhere.   I fly mostly in Europe, Northern and Southern, South & Central America, Canada & the US.  I am super blown away right now flying SPJC SPZO at the quality and detail of the mountain textures on approach into SPZO.  I did this flight in 2020 and nowhere near as much detail!

33 minutes ago, andy1252 said:

Asobo obviously really push the whole digital twin thing as one of the main features of the sim, and yet they keep on regressing the quality of that aspect of it.

I fly mainly in North America and as I've said before, I just don't see this "regressing" some talk about.  After a lot of time at FL200 and above in the Dukes and TBM 850, I've been flying the 310 down low lately and have been consistently amazed at the quality of scenery, just as I have been from up high.

 

33 minutes ago, andy1252 said:

Bottom line, I suspect, is that both types of user are suffering from the effects of MAsobo pushing to ensure the sim runs acceptably on the consoles, at the expense of those of us here on the PC.

I keep seeing this mentioned and it simply makes no sense to me for several reasons. 

First of all, I rather expect most xbox users are using large 4K displays.  And given that many on the xbox will be less "serious simmers" and more in it for simply enjoying a sightseeing/adventure flight many would be even more sensitive to poor scenery than those of us who are more into the piloting aspects.  The same argument applies to PlayStation when it comes on board.

And secondly, this also wouldn't account for the variability being discussed here, where one day everything is great and the next, not so great - though as mentioned I just don't see this myself.  

I still believe the best explanation is server issues in some parts of the world.  Yes, Azure is very scalable technology as a whole, but that doesn't mean the allocations for MSFS servers is infinite.

 

Scott

7 hours ago, sloppysmusic said:

2 different simmers can fly the same route in the same plane at the exact same time and get 2 completely different experiences

But are they connected to the same server?  Based on MS/Asobo Azure infrastructure, it would be impossible for an end user to discover if it’s a server issue, only MS internal IT team would have the tools/alerts to show them load issues and/or why loads are not be dynamically distributed across more servers.

MSFS 2024 can provide server choices for Multi-player, but those are just regional designators and what servers are actually serving data will be obfuscated (for a variety of reasons including security).  But I believe this options are for Multi-player only and not necessarily the PG servers.

In most server/network infrastructures the IT team will receive alerts of any load issues.  I know my IT folks contact me immediately when one of my web/sql servers is showing high utilization.  I’m NOT ruling out  server/infrastructure issues, but I am saying end users don’t have the means to positively ID as such.

Even with packet captures, that will not reveal the servers that are actually serving the data.

A 2024 strangeness is at KSFO departure. If you select a ready to fly runway it will deposit you on 19L, no matter what.  Especially as this is not a departure runway, facing straight at the hills behind Burlingame.   Another issue is in the PNW, sometimes the runways at Seattle and Portland will have abrupt vertical changes which will wipe the gear off of an airplane. 

On 9/30/2025 at 4:30 PM, tttocs said:

I still believe the best explanation is server issues in some parts of the world.  Yes, Azure is very scalable technology as a whole, but that doesn't mean the allocations for MSFS servers is infinite.

Albeit based on limited personal experience, I agree with this.

I generally have much poorer response from servers when I connect from a UK IP address, but far more reliable connections when I use a VPN and a North American server.

On 9/30/2025 at 8:30 AM, tttocs said:

Yes, Azure is very scalable technology as a whole, but that doesn't mean the allocations for MSFS servers is infinite.

Never suggested it was infinite and I agree there probably is some cap on how many servers will be dynamically allocated for MSFS 2024 data and is likely scaled by location/region.

Unfortunately server load information is not provided to end users.  It would be nice if there was some type of server load indicator that we can elect to display as an overlay during flights or even before we start a flight.

I thought I recall seeing demographics for MSFS usage in one of the Navigraph surveys … don’t recall what parts of the world had higher user count.

4 hours ago, kevinfirth said:

UK IP address, but far more reliable connections when I use a VPN and a North American server.

I’m a bit surprised MS would allow a proxy connection … interesting!  I should VPN to the UK and see what/if any difference … will need to fly area I haven’t cached.

Dunno about all that but in some ways my default 2024 Adelaide CBD is better than the Orbx version. Less melted buildings for me anyway. My internet always degrades on weekends too which hits streaming.

Switch off PG, and you will never see a melted building again 

2 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

Switch off PG, and you will never see a melted building again 

You took your time! I was waiting for this <grin>

the ongoing issues with PG is almost certainly an issue MS end - with the odd occasion it being an issue in the home. 

 

it's unlikely to be your CP 

Yup, every time you load the game, you really never know if FS2024 is working right.

Since I have no recourse, I've simply accepted my $200 purchase loss and fully moved to a sim that plays 100% reliably offline.