I want to start by saying performance was better than MSFS 2020 with higher graphics settings enabled. It was nearly double the fps than what I would normally experience… which is awesome.
I am using a 3080ti, 5800x, & 32gb of ram *
Though, I will say, two graphical issues stuck out to me.
Lack of or no light pollution what so ever.
Rather unrealistic depiction of the Milky Way
I have provided an example image of what the Milky Way should appear as in a perfectly dark sky. In my two in game screenshots the milky way should be hard to see due to light pollution as they were taken in the Orlando, FL area. Not to mention the moon being out as well.
The Milky Way MSFS 2024 is using would be a stacked and processed image made in photoshop
(height did not change anything) (screenshots are a bit blown out due to HDR)
Light pollution should be fixed but it would be nice to see a more accurate night sky as well!
Also, please let us expand our cockpit FOV further (use dcs world as an example)
— EDIT - 11/2/2024 —
Since for whatever reason there seems to be debate/confusion, here are two more images and the reference image to further explain my point.
This is what it should look like. These photos are also in areas with little to no light pollution which wasnt even implemented in the alpha to begin with
I totally agree with you. It’s clear Asobo know nothing about the night sky. Even if the milky way was not correct into 2020, it’s way better and acceptable than 2024. The night sky is well represented into 2020 but the stars are much too bright and visible even when the sun is still there. They never remarked that at Asobo.
And now it’s worst into 2024. I’m an amateur astronomer since several years, I live in a dark sky and from my home, the milky way is not so visible as what Asobo did. They actually took a picture of the milky way and they inserted it on the far background of the sky. Even in a small town, it’s impossible to see the milky way in real life.
Because of that, night flying will become very very annoying for me and almost impossible. I won’t see that and I hope they will revert to what we have into 2020 and correct the stars brightness.
With a such representation of the milky way, 2024 really looks like a space game not a simulator. I just don’t know who had the idea to do this.
But it is to a camera, which is the effect I think Asobo have gone for. Its the same with the effect of lens flares in exterior view. Maybe thats what they should opt for - replicate as the eye naturally sees it in cockpit view but then replicate how a camera picks it up in exterior view.
I do realise its only with a long exposure the camera picks it up anyway. Maybe they’ll tone it down a bit for the release. For what its worth I thought it was a bit over done too.
I took this screen shot from the summit of K2 during the alpha test. Its a nice effect for virtual photographers in the sim and suits that, but they should tone it down a bit for the cockpit view if possible.
It should get brighter with altitude as the air gets thinner, but it’s wayyyy too bright at the moment, and as others have said it looks like a stacked photograph.
The sim is viewed through the eye of a CAMERA, with shutter speeds etc, and does not present an image, as the Human eye would see, when viewing the real world.
Agreed. You can also see this with the HDR in the Cockpit, its impossible to have the outside view and interior view Balanced. Look at the Instruments and everything outside the windshield gets overexposed. Look at the windshield and everything inside the cockpit gets underexposed. Never ever had this happen in real life flying any plane, Steam Gauges, Glass Cockpit. Such an Annoying thing, wish MFS would drop this and go for realism or at the very least give us an option to simulate the HUMAN EYE instead of a camera.
Depends if you’re OK with unrealistic, I mean, there’s plenty of other parts of the sim that lack realism - but isn’t realism something we should be aiming for?
i think they did the milky way like that because they are going for that visual “wow” factor that they usually go for
yes, when there is no light pollution the milky way is visible to the naked eye but not like that, at all
a camera with the proper exposure time sees it that way but not the human eye
this way it looks as if you are in space, which is cool, but not very realistic i think
Yes, but all of these images are extended exposure. To the naked eye, the Milky Way is not near as bright or detailed, even in the darkest of places.
Don’t get me wrong, it is a magnificent sight even with the naked eye, but these images (and Asobo’s depiction in the sim) are nowhere close to IRL naked eye observations. While I can understand embellishing it in the sim a bit, it shouldn’t be so much as to be a distraction and completely unrealistic, which it is at least in the Alpha test photos and videos we’ve seen.
Source: I’m an amateur astronomer and professionally do some work for a couple of international astronomy organizations.
It’s like when I put on my PVS-14 NVD and can suddenly see nebula scattered across the sky. Sure, they’re a faint, diffuse green, but I’m seeing things I can’t see without augmentation. I’d love it if they were in full color.
Shortly after sunset and with a half moon, like in your screenshot, nearly no stars but a handful of most brightest (that are planets anyway) are visible. The brightness of the whole scene speeks books. An hour after sunset, a set of bright stars should be visible under these conditions, thus you would be able to recognize celestial constellations. Only when the moon is below horizon, the full starry sky with a faint milky way would be visible, the ground being pitch black.
Additionally, while in cockpit wiew, there should be even less stars visible due to eye adaptation to light sources.
I’m absolutely no friend of depcting the environment as a camera would see it.
Reality varies by location. With younger eyes and at a moonless time, in a low light-pollution zone I saw something pretty close to the MSFS 2024 image. Crank the brightest bits down and you have it.
Anywhere there’s a major airport today, you can not see the Milky Way at all.
The sim could reflect reality. Considering the number of tourists who go to truly dark places to see this for real. I’d say that whether reality is boring is a matter of opinion. And you know what they say about opinions. They’re like nipples. We’ve all got two.