SU3 Beta Discussion Thread

[WasserDonut5295]

So just to give an Update on my undefined problem. I fixed it. Was something in the community folder

[Orbitbold]

@Kassadgla

I want to know more tweaks like these xD
Where I can find them?

I used the sophisticated and totally scientific method known as “FAFO”, which - I think - stands for “Fumble Around & Find Out” or something like that.

@Kassadgla

I always give a try to them and if I don’t like it or don’t see enough difference, revert it back

I think that’s the correct approach to messing around with tweaks: when you keep in mind that reverting back is highly likely to be the best option for your particular system. Asobo didn’t choose these numbers in order to make the sim worse.

I believe that the optimum values for those entries are probably not the same for all possible configurations. What’s best for a 2060 is probably not the same as what’s best for a 5090.

But that opinion is just the gut feeling of this random simmer who knows nothing about graphics programming, and should be treated accordingly.

[N7783L]

@WhaleCowboy

Hello, I did a test, and for me, turning “pre-caching off screen” in yhe cfg user file is quiet the same as setting it to ultra…

That fits with my experience too. I turned it off in the cfg.opt file and didn’t notice any real difference. I had it on ultra before the change.

Can’t say it was exactly the same but can’t say it was different either.

[Michail71]

@SeedyL3205

Sorry, that was my mistake. There were two changes in the .21 beta build and I was mixing them both together. The first one below applies to Xbox only. The second applies to PC:

• Added a graphic settings for fauna density, airport vehicle density, character density and ground aircraft density on Xbox.
• Added a graphic setting for passive aircraft quality on PC.

Thanks,
MSFS Team

Will there be density sliders for the PC. I know many of us want independent control over density and quality.

Airport worker and vehicle density is too high at smaller airports. We used to tame it down in 2020 with that setting.

[MeaningSheep475]

you might be running out of VRAM. You need to make sure you have enough VRAM headroom before disabling this setting

[MeaningSheep475]

@ResetXPDR

This worked wonders for me in both 2D and VR. Much smoother panning and view switching, without losing FPS and seemingly at no VRAM cost. What kind of sorcery is this?

MS, the ability to turn OSTPC off should be added to the option selector for this setting ie. Off → Low → Medium → High → Ultra

Exactly, I think I am going to make a separate thread for people to vote on the issue. It appears as though if youhave enough VRAM available, then this tweak seems to reduce stutters when panning the camera and switching views

[MeaningSheep475]

I just made a separate thread to discuss this tweak.

Option to disable Offscreen Terrain Pre-Caching

Myself and a number of other people have noticed that disabling the “OffscreenTerrainPreCaching” setting within the User.cfg file seems to fix the issue of fps drops/stutters when panning the camera in the sim provided that there is enough VRAM overhead available. [Screenshot 2025-08-01 225850] Here’s what OffscreenTerrainPreCaching it does: It determines how much data for offscreen terrain is kept loaded or reloaded when you move the camera or change your view. Setting Options and What They…

If this tweak has helped you please discuss it on this thread.

[opencamswrx]

Am I alone here when I say the beta does not seem to be heading anywhere and making actual progress?

The graphics still look really really poor in large PG-heavy cities and major bespoke airports. Performance is all over the place and a mixed bag from one day to the next.

External lights during the day - that’s important in a sim! But still not improved by much.

Scenery spawning in late and by the time it does, I’ve already flown over it - I can understand the desire to fly helis or slow/GA aircraft only to enjoy the scenery but I mostly do fighter jet cruises over the Earth and unless I fly reasonably high (poor draw distance at height) the PG quality is just very poor - details on buildings, structures, and POIs takes forever to pop in!

I did a buffer bloat test on my Xbox, got all check marks and an ‘A’ grade. Ping is low and my connection peaks at an average of 85 MB, dedicated fiber connection.

I’ve seen the game run on much faster connections, and there’s no difference in quality.

We are approach a year since the game’s release as soon as summer is over. Will Asobo take this unnecessary product seriously (finally) and make actual improvements? What is the point of one beta update after the next if I’m not seeing any real improvements?

The core experience in terms of graphics and performance is just plain bad unless you fly the standard Asobo GA aircraft all the time. Those are boring.

MSFS 24 should never have been released. They should have just improved the 2020 platform.

[newtestleper984]

To clarify: on that thread.

[crazymaherm]

Well I just completed a flight from LSZH to KJFK in the pmdg 777-300ER with everything on ultra and 400 TLOD 200 OLOD. JUST FLIGHT TRAFFIC and BATC with all traffic sliders to 10. Very Smooth takeoff very smooth flight and very smooth landing after disabling the precache as you showed in the user.cfg. Thanks for the incredible find. I have a 4090

[johnwhite92]

@Orbitbold

you should under no circumstance whatsoever fiddle with
POMMaxDist (for terrain detail at distance, max. value 30)
and also keep your hands away from
POMSubsplitsMaxDist (for terrain detail at close range to medium distance, max. value 15),
at least if you are unwilling to lower TLOD by 50 or 100, since increasing the values of these entries - which conveniently are persistent across TLOD changes made in the menu - incurs a significant performance cost, with the upside of allowing us to control the texture detail of terrain somewhat separately from the geometric detail of terrain. Which is something that cannot be done from the menu, since the TLOD slider affects both of these things together.

Since I’m a naughty boy, I pushed these two settings to the limit to see what happened and, well, I like it… so I’m staying like that (with 400 TLOD / 200 OLOD to make good weight)

I haven’t noticed any drop in fps on my graphics card, but it must be said that it’s pretty powerful.

If you have any other tips like this to improve the visual quality, I’m interested…

thank you very much!

[Silvera1657]

I really like (hate) how the community became developers for the things Asobo forgot/missed to do. I have never tweaked any other title more than this.

[johnwhite92]

MSFS 2024 is the ultimate benchmark.
It’s amazing what I’ve learned about PC technology trying to get the most out of it.

[PathlessSpore60]

I don’t seem to be able to turn static aircraft off, there is always aircraft parked at the gates. I exclusively use VR, but just in case I unselected all aircraft options both in the VR as well as the 2D graphic settings. I also restarted the flight, and restarted the simulator. No matter what I do there’s always aircraft parked at the gates. Anybody else see this too? How do I turn the parked aircraft off?

[Silvera1657]

If you have a 3rd party airport, that might be why. Some handcrafted airports have static aircraft built in so you need to check the manual to remove them. There is a file in airport’s folder that you need to rename to do so.

[cdv00079374]

I still need to emphasize the performance issue:
Every time I start the game, I need to manually turn off the new lod curve.
At LOWS airport, frequent stuttering occurs when moving the ground view.
I found that as soon as the plane leaves the ground, FPS will soar.
Approaching the runway 30 feet before landing, there will be a decrease in FPS and stuttering.
During ground running, stuttering may occur.

[Soul4470]

Not really.

Benchmarks are reliable tools.

The only thing youve learned is how to deal with a broken game

[TenPatrol]

@Silvera1657

I have never tweaked any other title more than this

Looks like you never played FSX or P3D - those sims were the true champions of endless tweaking. I’ve lost count of how many lines I had to edit just to get things working properly.

And let’s not forget X-Plane - with all the countless dataref tricks, LUA scripts and custom fixes.

MSFS is just like any other sim. Whether it’s MSFS 2020, FSX, P3D, X-Plane, or even the future MSFS 2040. Flightsimmers will always be modifying something, no matter if it’s MSFS 20/24/40, FSX, P3D or X-Plane.

I’ll stop here though, since that’s not really what this topic is about.

[k3nstr1092]

Brother was not here for the days of FSX/P3D… Frankly good on you lol cus in those old days, we were tweaking the simulators non-stop.

In other news, I can confirm that disabling OSTPC via the UserCfg.opt method has returned smoothness back to my FS2024 copy, with the new LOD system running.