There is a strong downgrade in visuals after SU5 if you run a very strong PC. No doubt about it! However, use the usercfg.opt file to return back to the old setting. There is a setting called LOD factor for objects and terrain. Its value is on 2 by default. If you higher the factor you enhance the LOD setting from the game outside of the range the game allows you to set. This gives you the possibility to get back the old Ultra setting. However, it requires some time tweaking around to find your sweet spot between quality and fps quantity. You have to close MSFS in order to change the usercfg file and you have to restart MSFS. Additionally, you must not change anything in the graphics setting if msfs is running or the usercfg file will receive back the low default state. I found best values between 4 and 5 for LOD factor. As well, the supersampling needs to be increased in 20-30% above the previous value to make up for SU5. And yes, the higher the LOD setting, the higher the drawing distance. The only thing that still appears in large cities is the pop in effect. But otherwise, you get back SU4 graphics.
Been trying to play around with this but any change to it and I get as far as loading the flight and it stops at about 60 percent
Thanks so to change supersampling it at 3 default ultra to change it 20-30%. Enter the new value 2.6 or 2.9 in the cfg file is that correct?
Is there any way to recover the SU4 lighting/shades/colors?
Try to turn off bloom in the graphics setting.
Try it! I personally went from 150 to 180 in super sampling without changing the factor.
If loading the flight does not work:
- change the location. 2. If that worked out, reset the rolling cache.
If loading the simulator at all does not work, try without GPU overclocking setting. When I start msfs with overclocked GPU I run the chance that my PC just shuts down.
Yes you may be able to get your LOD back to SU4 levels by increasing it above 200 but that doesn’t solve most of the other visual issues.
Trees and buildings still pop into and out of view very close to the plane. In fact I found increasing the LOD to over 200 just makes this happen further out than with lower values.
The colours are still washed out (pastel shades on the ground textures)
The clouds are still bleached out and over exposed (If I use the Freestyle filters to adjust for the clouds then I cant see the ground)
The anti-aliasing is all but non-existent on the AI buildings so it looks like a seething mass of ants crawling around.
The reflections on water are nowhere near as good as before and sometimes look purple to me.
If you have any suggestions of tweaks I can enter into the cfg file to bring them back to pre SU5 standards then I’ll be happy to give them a try.
Turned off bloom already?
Yes I have tried Bloom off but it makes no blooming difference 
If I may ask you, do you run an AMD graphics card. I had some white glimmer over the terrain which killed the coloring, but it was caused by AMD sharpening. Turned it off and now the colors are back.
I too had the stuttering swichting left and right, until I found the magic spot of LOD settings and supersampling. First, I did not trust too, that you can make that up, but it really works at a certain setting it goes away without losing quality or fps.
It needs hours of tweaking of MSFS and Graphic card settings, but in my opinion its so much worth it, you get such huge improvements.
No I have an Nvidia 2070 super.
People think we are mad for saying such things lol.
I’m guessing most of us were playing on Ultra settings at 4K before the downgrade? That’s why the lower end guy’s don’t notice.
Such a huge screw up by Asobo and Microsoft. I’m gutted we have now lost the photorealistic visuals and the clarity of the world. I used to think the map textures weren’t loading in because of server issue’s until I read other people’s complaints.
do i have to set something to custom in the userconfig? i read about it.
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.