TL:DR - Bring back the pre SU10 auto exposure/eye adaption as a graphics option to brighten up the cockpits. Because the cockpits are dark now for some of us especially in overcast conditions and at night.
Hello, to start with yes I am aware that there is a topic of this in the graphics section. I wanted to bring this as a wishlist feature to Asobo’s attention because it’s very important.
Let’s begin; Sim Update 10 brought about many changes to MSFS that a lot of us welcomed, however it also brought about changes that introduced new problems for some of us. That problem? The severe reduction of the eye adaption (auto exposure) effect making the cockpits very dimly lit/dark.
Many people complained that it was unrealistic, that is emulated a video camera more than human eyes. However unrealistic for some such as me it made the sim more lively, it made the cockpit feel “alive”. This was the one thing that MSFS had that no other sim at the time had such as P3D, XP11, etc. The benefit of having such a system was that everything in the cockpit was bright and readable. Yes there were some cons such as the sun being so bright it would affect instrument reading in certain conditions, however the pros outweighed the cons.
With SU10 that effect is now severely reduced and the cockpit has not only become very dark but also “flat”. Hard shadows no longer appear and the cockpit is so dark even at daytime that with the cockpit lighting fully on during daytime only helps the issue marginally and other times not at all. The shadows that came with eye adaption in the cockpit pre-SU10 have now been nerfed. Flying in fully overcast conditions makes the cockpit so dark that it is now unreadable.
The point I’m trying to make is there are two kinds of people: simmers who want the previous eye adaption effect and those simmers who don’t want it. I believe that by introducing the previous eye exposure effect as a option will benefit everyone. It will benefit those of us, some who don’t have HDR capable monitors or by preference, who want the lively cockpits back, where the lighting level was enough to fly in overcast and during night. It will also benefit those who don’t like the feature because they can simply turn it off and/or reduce it in the graphics settings.
This was my biggest fear, having features removed that benefits some people while causing issues for others.
This is why I strongly suggest to Asobo that they bring back the eye adaption feature as a adjustable slider in the graphics options. That way everyone is happy and can enjoy the sim to it’s fullest. I have since installing SU10 been unable to fly because the cockpits are just way too dark now. I tried it with both add-on and default aircraft and it’s all the same. Yes I have heard suggestions about using NVIDIA and other stuff but that changes lighting settings for everything on my computer. I also play at 100% brightness on my PC at all times so that’s also not a factor affecting this.
It will only take a bit of time for Asobo to make this option, I know they can do it, I can guarantee you it WILL benefit everyone. Because right now sadly this sim is ruined for me and I can guarantee many other people. I know I’m not the only one with this opinion.
It’s not too late, SU11 is around the corner, if I can get this to the dev teams attention somehow they can bring this back and make the sim usable for some of us having these issues. My biggest fear for this sim is having the opinions of 10, 20, or 30 percent being forced on others because that’s how THEY enjoy their sim. I believe with a graphics option everyone can tailor the sim to their liking. That’s the whole point, to make the sim to their liking.
Asobo PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider this! I have been faithfully flying MSFS since 2020 and now with this new bug I can no longer fly and have to go back to P3D because not only are the cockpits not lively or lit anymore but most of the times unreadable. Please bring back auto exposure as a adjustable option. Other sims like P3D have auto exposure as a toggle and adjustable option, X-Plane 11 has the same thing. Why can’t MSFS have it?
As a final note: I tried everything to make the cockpits brighter with NVIDIA filters, gamma settings, etc. It messes up everything else on my computer. Also tried reshade but it messes up the whole scene. It may fix the issue in the cockpit a bit but external views are now too bright. We just need auto exposure for the interior views, external lighting is fine.
If you need anymore information then just please contact me. As always have a good day and best regards!
