Ground imagery is drastically changing based on proximity

[Koalafly4372]

ISSUE DESCRIPTION

Description of the issue:

Ground textures are changing to completely different images (like images taken years apart, images with drastically different coloring, etc) depending on zoom level on world map or proximity to ground during flight. The issues seem to be mostly present in photogrammetric areas, especially adjacent to non-photogrammetric areas.

Did you experience this issue before you joined the Beta?

This is a new issue I’ve only seen in the latest beta (.13)

ICAO, coordinates, or specific location:
KHIO is a good example, but it seems to be happening in many places where photogrammetry tiles are adjacent to non-photogrammetry.

[PC Only] Did you remove all your community mods/add-ons? If yes, are you still experiencing the issue?

FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

How often does this occur for you (Example: Just once, every time on sim load, intermittently)?

Every time

REPRODUCTION STEPS

Please list clear steps you took in order to help our test team reproduce the same issue:

1. Zoom/pan around KHIO at different zoom levels
2. Observe tiles drastically changing on the ground

YOUR SETTINGS

Global quality is Ultra, and Dynamic Settings is Off

[PC Only] Are you using Developer Mode or have you made any changes to it?

No

[PC Only] Many issues may be due to an outdated graphics card. Please state your Graphics Card Driver Manufacturer (NVIDIA, Intel, AMD) and Version:
Nvidia 4090

MEDIA

Please add a screenshot or video of the issue occurring.

Screen Recording 2025-07-02 225808.mp4

[END OF FIRST USER REPORT]

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For anyone who wants to contribute on this issue, Click on the button below to use this template:

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
•

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
•

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•

[PILOTOWAWAWA]

I’m seeing this in photogrammetry areas as well. Saw it around Philadelphia . Also, around Houston. Sometimes it just changes tiles of ground scenery and they don’t match in color.

[IceManDBB]

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
• Yes

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
• Happens all over the World, they should just stick with the best quality images for a certain position and down sample it so look stays consistent during changes in camera distance (LOD change)

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•

[SmotheryVase665]

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
• Yes

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
• See screenshots below of fields surrounding KHIO

Expand to see my basic PC specs:

Item	Setting
CPU	i7-12700K (no overclocking or undervolting)
RAM	32 GB 5200 MHz DDR5 CL40 RAM
GPU	Intel Arc 770 (16GB, v32.0.101.6314)
REBAR BIOS Setting	On
Main MSFS monitor	55" Hisense U7 4K TV @ 120Hz
Secondary monitors	Two 32" 1080p 1360 x 768 @ 60 Hz
Peripherals	Microsoft USB Natural Keyboard, Microsoft USB Wireless Intellimouse Explorer, Xbox 360 Wired Controller, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro
OS	Windows 11 Pro 24 H2 v26100.4351 + all OS updates.
MSFS 2024 Edition	MS Store Premium Deluxe + all WUs & CUs
Downloaded Content	None (i.e., all Streamed)
Build Version	SU3 v1.5.13.0
3rd-Party & Community Addons	None

No performance-improving applications are installed (e.g. for CPU or GPU improvements).
Neither the Intel Arc Control Service or Arc Control App is running.

Expand to see my graphics settings

Item	Setting
Display Mode	Full Screen
HDR10	On
Exposure Compensation EV	-1
Full Screen Res	3840 x 2160
Anti-Aliasing	TAA
Render scaling	65 (Resolution: 2496 x 1404)
AMD FidelityFX Sharpening	150
Max Frame Rate	On
Max Frame Rate Value	60
Frame Generation	AMD FSR 3
Framerate Multiplier	2x
VSync	Off (N/A)
VSync Interval	Half refresh rate (N/A)
Dynamic Settings	On
Frame Rate Target	60
-	-
Global Rendering Quality	Custom
Terrain LOD	400
Off Screen Terrain Pre-Cache	Ultra
Displacement Mapping	On
Buildings	High
Trees	Medium
Plants	Medium
Rocks	Medium
Grass	Medium
Object LOD	200
Volumetric Clouds	Ultra
Texture Resolution	High (was medium in earlier builds)
Anisotropic Filtering	16x (was 4x in earlier builds)
Water Waves	Medium
Raytraced Shadows	On
Shadow Maps	2048
Terrain Shadows	512
Contact Shadows	High
Windshield Effects	High
Ambient Occulsion	High
Cubemap Reflections	256
Raymarched Reflections	Medium
Light Shafts	Ultra
Depth of Field	Off
Motion Blur	Off
Glass Cockpit Refresh Rate	High
Characters Quality	Medium
Traffic Airport Quality	Low
Air Traffic	Medium
Road Traffic	Medium
Sea Traffic	Medium
Fauna	High

Expand to see my other settings

Item	Setting
Online Tab
Photogrammetry	On
Aircraft Traffic Type	Real-Time Online
Air Traffic in Career	Off
Live Weather	On
Multiplayer	On
Multiplayer Servers	West USA
Show MP aircraft in close proximity	Off
Rolling Cache	On @ 16GB
Bandwidth	Unlimited
Advanced Options
Developer Mode	Off
Flight Model	Modern

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

[DrVenkman3876]

Seeing similar today around Palm Springs, California as I was flying into KSPS. After clearing my rolling cache to be sure that wasn’t a factor, I reloaded the sim for a flight out of the same region. Zooming into the world map demonstrates similar issues:

[Breizhanguk]

Same issue now in SU16 BETA for MSFS2020.
Reproduced at KBJC, KRSW tonight.
I guess many other areas are affected.

[Baracus250]

Had this in France too. About 60nm North West of Nice IIRC. The tiles with much lighter tones also did have a lot better detail, but it looked ridiculous changing and totally mismatched to the tiles around it.

[gue63]

This is a “feature” that has existed in 2020 just about forever. It was supposed to have been fixed in 2024 as well as SU16. I guess not

Aerial ground tiles changing/popping in

Not sure if this is a new bug or not but I do not recall seeing it until now. When flying around near Edmonton I’m seeing tiles shift really oddly, I have many hours in this region and haven’t seen this before in this area. Any ideas what is going on? I’ve deleted my rolling cache (its disabled anyway) and I have no addons, just vanilla World Updates Are you using Developer Mode or made changes in it? No Have you disabled/removed all your mods and addons? Yes Brief description of the…

[AboezD]

I think it’s important to emphasise that this issue only occurs when using photogrammetry as that may help the devs isolate the cause. (I don’t use photogrammetry and don’t see the bug).

[gue63]

Unfortunately that’s not the case. I fly with PG off, and still encounter this behavior at many locations, just now at YLHR, if you want to try. PG probably exacerbates it. [2020 non-beta]

[AboezD]

Okay I tried the few locations indicated in previous posts and found no issue. Next time I’m in the sim I’ll try YLHR and report back…

[AboezD]

So with photogrammetry still off I went back and tried all the examples listed in this thread (KHIO, KSPS, KBJC and KRSW) and again did not experience the issue. I then tried YLHR and saw the morphing you referred to however I then switched photogrammetry on and saw the issue at all those airports as well as YLHR. To me it still looks like the newly introduced bug in 1.5.13.0 is dependent on photogrammetry being turned on but YLHR is caused by a separate issue which just appears to show the same morphing (poor aerial photography at that location perhaps?).

[PILOTOWAWAWA]

Noticing that may be slightly related to this. Landed on 26R at KIAH. Ground imagery was crystal clear, however, the procedural buildings that cover those massive shopping centers, business centers and more are all missing.

Edit-Went back and flew over the flight path of KIAH 26L. Not only did I see significant drop in FPS, I also saw the morphing of the satellite imagery, with missing entire communities of buildings and just flattened terrain.

TEST - MSFS 2024. AUTOGEN, MORPHING TERRAIN.

[CroixPaille2451]

This issue also occurs in Marseille city, France.

[PILOTOWAWAWA]

Something tells me that we have a layering issue with streaming. I am noticing that around certain airports that we have City Updates, the ground texture begins to bleed on top of the scenery. I wonder if this is a scenario where the original world terrain is not staying under the city update, or if it’s loading after the first layer of original tiles. Which then causes the change depending on the LOD and viewing distance.

[DrVenkman3876]

Maybe but it certainly isn’t limited to City Updates. My example above was around Palm Springs, California. To my knowledge, that area has not been the subject of any specific update in the sim at large. I do have the MSFS 2024 Inibuilds’ KPSP installed but that scenery doesn’t cover the area shown in the discolored world map tiles I’m seeing, or the suddenly-appearing discolored areas that appear and disappear flying through the region.

[Jummivana]

Thank you for the bug report.

We have created an internal ticket to see if our team already has this logged, and if not they will attempt to reproduce the issue and create a new bug report. This item is now marked as feedback-logged. If there is an existing bug report or one is created, we will move this thread to bug-logged.

[DrewmorKuZy]

I experienced this at SU2 while testing LSZH default airport yesterday. Similar thing was happening before at NZWN paid airport also. But above certain height it is not happening, it is happening while flying low.
edit: i think this is different issue? Sorry if so. Nzwn test1 - test2. I will record LSZH also after resting, LSZH was way worse, not only inside airport but also outside areas, 1k away places. Sorry again if it is not the same issue.