I’m stumped. This is the 2nd time it’s happened. A few weeks ago this issue popped up and somehow it sorted itself out, not sure what I did but I tried messing with every photogrammetry, bing maps online data, and terrain vector data settings but this time it just doesn’t change anything.
I think MSFS is implementing an updated map (?) and it’s not fine tuned yet! It’s been a few days since I am noticing the entire Bing map for Iran has changed and it’s new! The problem is the clarity and also lots pop ups pop ins and blocky texture appearance! Hope it gets fixed! Love that they are updating the map but the implementation is not the best …
Okay, what the flip. It’s back to being normal now but I actually preferred the map before. I mean this was just taken yesterday, notice how the grass is one solid color:
What you see here is the inner high resolution ring. MFS has, as far as i can tell, 3 different resolution areas determined by distance from the camera. Low resolution data is used in the area furthest from the camera, and as the plane moves, higher resolution textures are loaded as the terrain crosses this resolution boundaries. The idea is to use less computing power and I am all for this kind of optimization work.
The question here though, is why is this visible now… when yesterday (or whenever), it wasnt?
Some time ago, there was a massive system update for PC (#5 if memory serves) when the game was almost completely re-written to make more efficient use of memory and cpu. That was when all of this kind of weird “things” started showing up everywhere. And, it is my impression, that at the same time they implemented some sort of “dynamic” scenery. That is, since that moment on, they make “on the fly” server side changes to the scenery strategy, without one having to install a game update. Again, i must stress, this is just my impression. It seems to me that now, asobo, is constantly changing, tweaking, and modding how the scenery works, with the goal of optimizing more and more. This i believe is the reason why sometimes, out of nowhere, an area that looked amazing suddenly looks like crap. They changed something. I wouldnt be surprised if, given some time, the problem goes away, when someone realizes that they screwed something up and they go back and fix it.
That makes a whole lot of sense actually, thanks for the insight. I’ve only just recently joined the flight sim community after saving up to buy a decent PC rig for it and I was unaware of just how many issues I would encounter before I could actually enjoy the sim. I think I have spent about 10 hours of tweaking/modifying and just 2.3 hours of actual flying. I’ve just found the sweet spot for it and now this issue pops up which kind of breaks the immersion for me. I guess I just have to live with it for now.
I just went to LOWI to see what its all about… oh my god! its annoying!
you have a measure of control though, the “terrain level of detail” slider controls many things (too many for my taste) one of them is the size of the resolution rings, with a higher setting, the rings will be larger, and maybe they wont bother you that much
that slider is a cpu killer though… high settings are VERY heavy on the cpu, so your cpu’s kung-fu needs to be strong… otherwise the game will be unplayable, give it a try
I think this issue is related to Bing map changing in the recent days (two-three weeks). I noticed that everywhere too! Seems like Asobo/MSFT may be trying to issue new Bing Maps but it’s not implemented correctly! I had new Bing Maps for a couple of days and then it want back to the old one yesterday! I have created a bug. Feel free to file it there so we get more attention.
I know it is not recommended here but I do find using the map enhancement tool injecting the latest Bing maps solves the terrain popping in issues for me, only problem is it’s an external app and uses quite a bit of RAM, around 1GB of it, no loss of performance issues thus far.
You are correct. This problem originates in Bing Maps, not in MFS.
Bing has started adding higher resolution aerial tiles methodically all over the world. These new photos, obviously, were taken at a different time than the original… probably years. Because of that, the new hi-res tiles are different. More green, less green, more brown, more red, summer-winter…etc etc…
One can easily verify this by going to the area in question in Bing Maps (in this case Innsbruck) and zoom in. You will clearly see what im talking about.
The game is using the new hi-res tiles for close distance display… but the problem is the new tile is now VERY different from the tile it replaces.
What bothers me is asobo doesnt seem to be bothered at all by this. And yes… this should be moderately easy to fix from their end. Requiring maybe 5% the resources they put into making the absurd Dune update.
I agree! The sad part as you said is that very few people are noticing it and reporting it! And that’s probably the reason Asobo is not doing anything about it!
Yeah! That’s what I was wondering too! But it doesn’t look that good so I am hoping 2024 will be much better! It’s just interesting that now MSFS has two different Bing map basis! Somedays the old one shows up and some days the new one! The problem with the new one is that at the distance the base is still the old one so it doesn’t blend well! I have also noticed that the mesh/topo is also new but also doesn’t blend well and it’s rather pop-up pop-in which is very annoying …
It’s driving me absolutely mad this pathetic Bing maps issue has been going on for too long now.
They said in their last Q&A that they had a fix or words to that effect and here we are months down the line with the issue becoming worse and more prevalent.
Doesn’t take much competence for a developer in that specific role to recognise and rectify this SHOCKING problem!!! Fed up with it.
It seems that out of nowhere my sim started using older bing maps aerials. I noticed that things were looking weird so i checked it.
They are not the same aerials i was seeing last week
these are older ones (taken at an earlier date) and lower res
anyone else getting this?
For me it’s a patchwork of different maps and I can clearly see the edges of the tiles. I don’t know which are newer or older but there are good and bad ones.
And it’s getting slowly worse…
I really hope that Asobo will have that fixed for msfs 2024…
