The current reaction to encountering low bandwidth is that MSFS automatically disables Bing Real World Graphics. The problem is that this is done preemptively, without user assent and once MSFS has taken away this setting it is very unclear what happens next or how to restore streaming once bandwidth becomes available. If the idea is that users should just restore the setting, that doesn’t work. If the idea is that the setting will be restored automatically, that is never communicated. In my experience, simply reenabling the setting after it has been disabled has no effect. I have sometimes been able to restore my streaming by disabling and re-enabling photogrammetry, but in other cases I’ve ended up in a situation where I have no scenery at all–it is as if I am flying over the ocean. In any case it seems that once streaming has been disabled, it is very difficult to get it back without ending the flight.
My wish would be the following:
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Do not display warnings about bandwidth in the middle of the screen–this is extremely distracting during critical stages of flight. If a warning about network connectivity must be displayed keep it discrete–perhaps a small icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
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Provide some UI accessible from the toolbar where I can check network status and confirm whether my selected services are working.
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Fall back to lesser graphics as needed, but don’t change my settings. When network bandwidth has been restored, eliminate the icon and restore my desired level of streaming. In addition, give me a manual option to restore my streaming levels in the network status UI.
In my case, I’m currently experiencing some network bandwidth fluctuations of very short intervals. When this happens and I get kicked off streaming the effect is equivalent to a CTD. If I can’t get my graphics restored, I have no desire to continue the flight and I will shut down MSFS and attempt to recover as best I can. What I would like to do is simply pause my flight for a few minutes until the network hiccup is over. Alternatively, I might choose to continue (if I’m IMC, VFR on top, or over the ocean), but I have to know that once bandwidth has been restored there is some way that I can restore my streaming.