SU7 Xbox Series X Performance

Sim Update 7 Beta | MSFS 2024 SU7 Beta Discussion
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Default A320 Salt Lake Simulations livery

Verticalsim KONT - FlyTampa KLAS + strip (Latin VFR KLSV also enabled)

The last two C-17 flights in 6.1 were so disappointing graphically that I stopped playing before I got to my usual Vegas test. While this isn’t a comparison to SU6.1 and I realize performance isn’t really the focus this time around, I still want to report my current experience.

No noticeable improvement in KONT: Ground markings lost definition once the plane was powered on, nearby mountains continue to morph even when the camera is still, and the ones farther away are so blurry that they look as if they are from a different game.

Photogrammetry in California was crisp regardless of altitude, loading far enough that I can’t confidently say that it’s been any better around this particular add-on. Cruise at FL270 was flawless except the strange tiles below the aircraft are still there. I can’t see a difference in their level of detail, just that they have a slightly darker shade.

Approach to Vegas wasn’t the worst or the best with PG loading up to the add-on scenery, but beyond it nothing appeared, not even when I was very close on downwind runway 26L. The tiles next to the airport + strip had their details flicker in and out which was almost as unsightly as the extremely low resolution terrain during final. I remember there was a moment months ago when the betas were heading in a good direction and the PG was visible behind the airport throughout the approach.

Biggest surprise was that the runway was properly loaded in for a few seconds during landing, though unfortunately the entire ground texture did its usual vanishing act again when turning to face the strip. Taxiing back to the other end of the airport, hideously blurry ground markings finally showed up, only to disappear again when approaching terminal 3. Memory warning/black screens just before turning to the gate ensured a proper shutdown in Vegas remains only a dream.

Without avionics it managed to bring back the blurry ground texture after a very long wait, which gave me a chance to play with the drone cam before ending the flight. The camera needs to be at or below walkaround level for the sharp texture to load, and even then it isn’t good enough for a screenshot. Despite all these concessions, the textures on clutter objects as well as the terminal kept disappearing periodically—the graphical hit under heavy load is big enough that the experience isn’t any better than a flight ending in a CTD.

No further conclusions after just one flight.

Tonight or tomorrow I’ll try something that’s more feasible on a console (non-airliner) to see how massive the gap still is. Settings will also be in the next one, since they (or anything else really) won’t make a difference in this Vegas airliner test with the add-ons I listed.

(I humbly request that I’m allowed to post my reports in a dedicated Xbox thread. Identical hardware is the only advantage Xbox testers have, and therefore it doesn’t make much sense to mix this feedback with the endless pc arguments)

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Miltech/Blackbird Skyraider

Northern Sky Studio PHDH - Miltech moving CVN-78 Hawaii (iniBuilds PHNL also enabled)

Seafront Vessels : Hawaiian Islands

PMS50 GTN 750 (only to control nav radios, no flight plan. The moving carrier doesn’t have TACAN so I did use GPS to locate it)

Honolulu had really nice draw distance even though the iniBuilds PHNL is brutal on console. Proximity to the airport scenery didn’t cause any visible loss of terrain quality, and this is with GTN 750 enabled (I did use it only sparingly) while surrounded by numerous detailed ship models from the Seafront add-on. The apron/taxiway/runway blurries are also immediately fixed after switching to a simpler aircraft. Impressive indeed.

The only bummer was the long-standing frame rate issue (not beta related) when facing the busy part of the carrier deck. The stuttering was slightly more manageable due to the plane’s slow landing speed but, nontheless, the performance is still completely unacceptable, especially in the middle of an ocean. Combat Air Patrol on the Amiga 500 was smoother than this slideshow, no cap (pun intended).

If MSFS looked like this in airliners, it would easily be the best game available on the platform—the gap between the experiences is simply too wide to rate the sim that high as it stands, at least from an airliner simmer’s perspective.

Here are the settings I always use with airliners:

Traffic off, MP on, PG on, all qualities medium, all quantities off (except traffic medium for MP, parked planes off but replaced by LVFR statics), effects low, MP models high, seatbelts off, no ATC/EFB (flight plan and charts from external sources), 4K HDR output, fiber 500 cache 128.

A couple of adjustments for other planes:

Effects high for most smaller props, choppers, gliders, and military jets. Flying these plane types I often turn fauna on as well (not with military jets) and use the EFB for planning and charts (all of these changes apply to this test flight).

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Aerosoft CRJ 900

Drzewiecki KDCA - Verticalsim KSYR

Finally I was able to raise the drone camera above the parked aircraft without the ground texture losing quality. Screenshots would have been perfect on both airports (god I hope we are back to the pre-nerf graphics again).

I saw some great looking terrain during climb, cruise at FL270, and descent into a sunset approach at Syracuse. No delay in runway loading even though the airport wasn’t in my cache, and the high number of animated passengers inside the terminal didn’t seem to affect graphics/performance at all. I’ll definitely buy more of these Verticalsim sceneries now that they are discounted and keep testing throughout the weekend.

Only negative was the stuttering when looking down from the overhead panel in KDCA, but that scenery has always been problematic in both sims. KSYR didn’t have any issues, not even after my extensive walkaround tour around the airport.

Best flight in months, though it should be noted that the CRJ is the most Xbox-friendly airliner I own.

1.9.12.0

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This morning, after the update, I attempted another flight with the PMDG 737-800, and unfortunately, the CTDs persist.
The scenery LOD is poor, and the frame rate drops at times.
It is almost certain that this is an issue with the current Beta—which appears incompatible with PMDG aircraft—since I never experienced these problems with previous versions.
To properly test the sim, I’ll try using the lightest aircraft in my fleet: the Cessna Citation CJ4. Since you’re so enthusiastic about the graphics, I’m curious to see for myself.
There has indeed been a leap in quality for Xbox since SU6.1.
Let’s hope there are no regressions.

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PMDG 777-300ER

MXI Design OTHH - Azrsim OERK

The blurry ground texture when parked/taxiing definitely isn’t fixed, just noticeably improved. If I kept the drone camera low enough that I couldn’t see over the aircraft, it was of acceptable quality. Slightly higher than that (ideal screenshot level) it already started to get blurry, and beyond that height it became just as ugly as before. In a screenshot flight I probably would have chosen to use walkaround, as it hides the issues in the distance and the ground right below you is usually ok. From cockpit the appearance of the markings was better than from the same height in drone. (I’m scared to try this in the A350)

Once in the air, the console handles the desert scenery admirably. Comparing the approach to the A350 HAAB - OERK flight from last month, an increase in the sharpness of terrain detail can be observed, even if these untouched regions have always performed relatively well. The change is subtle, but I’m convinced it’s there (keep in mind the last one was in the A350). The last thing I noticed is that the extremely short draw distance for the bus objects in OERK is still the same.

As for the PMDG compatibility, the 777 was stable and very much flyable for me (streamed). Only issues I came across were the nav data, some abnormal waiting times, TWIP request doesn’t work with PMDG source, and the departure/arrival page in the FMC behaves strangely. I had to punch in all the waypoints and restrictions for the procedures from the charts by hand, so it is a bit more work at the moment. Even in a “broken” state it’s still a great add-on, albeit more punishing to the scenery than something like the Aerosoft CRJ.

1.9.12.0

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I’ve seen absolutely no improvement in TLOD. Raising the camera above the aircraft consistently results in extremely blurry or pixelated terrain. Terrible. Xbox x. Draw distance is still shockingly poor.

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Aren’t you that ‘A350 to Heathrow’ guy again? I’m purposely delaying those high load tests for a little while, just want to feel a brief moment of joy after all the nerfs in the previous SUs.

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Enjoy your moment.

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Difficult to know if the ‘fix’ for memory on long haul is in play when the visuals are so poor at the starting point of a long haul. Here in Dubai with the A380 on Xbox. Runway details so poor and the clear blur of terrain can be clearly seen with poor draw distance.

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I saw in an A330 Driver video that his pc does the same thing that’s in your 2nd runway screenshot. He definitely can’t drone much higher than that. I would be happy just to be able to raise the cam slightly above the plane for a nice screenshot.

Anyway, the terrain can still improve significantly once you are in the air—the nerf we are seeing on airports was probably implemented on account of all those scenery devs who try to run 100 animated passengers on Xbox.

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Default A321 Salt Lake Simulations livery

FlyTampa KBOS - Verticalsim KPBI (KDJT)

Good results in walkaround mode, not so much in drone. Similar behavior to the 777 test: The drone has to be very low and remain stationary for a few moments before the moderately blurry texture appears, otherwise it’s even worse than the screenshot a few posts above. FlyTampa’s scenery is the more demanding one out of these two, yet the drone cam quality was the same on both.

Cruise terrain was crisp again (PG areas too), and I didn’t see the lights on the tiles disappear even once during the night approach to Palm Beach (except when switching between cockpit and drone). Turning to final the draw distance still seemed fairly good, but there was a row of tiles between the airport and the ones right in front of the plane that had the blurry light texture. Somehow, the terrain in the distance behind the airport had higher details loaded in. Still, this result is an improvement over my night flights last month (there even was a moment of perfection a couple of miles out when the blurry “in between” row of tiles loaded in higher quality).

The runway/taxiway texture appeared one or two seconds after the wheels touched the ground, then disappeared again, and finally came back when I stopped the plane after vacating the runway. I expect this to improve now that the airport is in my cache. No issues sitting in the cockpit during taxi, but using the drone to admire the parked aircraft revealed the disappointments described in the beginning of the post.

1.9.12.0

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Default C-17 STOL Addicts livery

Latin VFR TJSJ - DominicDesignTeam KCHS

As I stated in my opening post, I quit playing in SU6.1 after two particularly bad experiences flying the stock C-17. For this test, I chose a route that had me follow the coast for a good while toward the end of the flight, mainly to see the terrain quality in the parts of Florida that I’m very familiar with since the early days of msfs 2020. I’m happy to report that this time the result was inspirational rather than deflating.

I still don’t understand how the frame rate can be worse than in the A350, but the loss of scenery detail wasn’t on the iniBuilds level anymore. The water mask with all the Caribbean islands looked great at FL360/FL380, and the Florida PG still appeared after a couple of hours in the air. Impressive considering that I have 6 airports and several carriers from different add-ons enabled in this area. Perhaps even more surprising was that later I saw some properly loaded PG even at 2000 feet near the KCHS scenery.

Airport performance was also commendable except for the drone/ground texture issues described in the posts above (walkaround was still ok). The Joint Base Charleston apron was filled with countless C-17s, as both the scenery and LVFR Statics include military aircraft (unfortunately some of them overlap). No negative effects to landing (runway texture was ready even though I just bought the add-on), taxiing, or my usual walkaround tour.

I’m so happy with this improvement that I’ve decided to postpone proper testing even further.

Miltech/Blackbird MH-60T

Verticalsim KPIE (Verticalsim KTPA and KRSW also enabled)

My chopper outings have been good for almost a year now. I wanted to see how the terrain would behave around a couple of bigger sceneries in the area, and the result didn’t disappoint despite the heavy weather effects going on at the same time. KPIE and KTPA sceneries are right next to each other, which usually gives me worse performance than just one big airport (the reason why I do the KLAS/KLSV test). Xbox can handle these smaller aircraft, so no problems observed.

After two hours in the air I returned to the CGAS Clearwater, again with detailed military aircraft from the KPIE scenery waiting for me on the Coast Guard apron. The abundant details didn’t change the reality that the drone/terrain issue is always much less pronounced if you just stay away from airliners. Some of the other stuff you can do in the sim is so much fun that at times I wonder why I keep torturing myself.

1.9.12.0

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Blackbird Simulations SR-71 (early access)

Blackbird KBAB (modern)

Complex add-on is possible on a console as long as it doesn’t have a glass cockpit. I raised the drone much higher than what is shown in Speedbird’s screenshot and the ground texture remained sharp—there really is a night and day difference to the other flight in this post. I only did some low and slow between FL250 and FL270, using radio navigation to reach Fallon, then back toward the coast before returning to Beale for a landing, so no aerial refueling or hammer time on this one. Throughout the flight graphics were just as good as they would have been in a small prop plane.

iniBuilds A300 (cargo)

BMWorld KMEM - Verticalsim KSYR

Infinite loading going to aircraft config, worked on the 2nd attempt, then infinite loading trying to start at the Memphis Fedex apron. Sim restart, same result, 2nd sim restart, infinite loading yet again.

No flight.

Based on the config page loading issues, I suspect the A300 isn’t compatible with the beta.

Default A321 Salt Lake Simulations livery

Default KATL - Verticalsim KPBI (KDJT)

I did this flight mainly to see if the runway in KDJT would load in time now that it’s in my cache. It actually appeared a couple of seconds later, and although it didn’t completely vanish again like it did on the first landing, the texture blurring was worse, so much so that it broke immersion even from the cockpit view. Taxiway and apron were just as bad. In KATL, the quality is serviceable if you avoid using the drone.

Great graphics during cruise, but I expected more from the approach based on the night flight I did last weekend. The terrain loaded up to the airport add-on but that’s it, nothing beyond it, just like in my Vegas test. Exiting the flight (after a walkaround tour) I got my 2nd CTD in something like a month, so stability improvement is certainly notable (compared to pre-nerf).

1.9.12.0

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Absolutely!!! A dedicated thread must be created for only Xbox Users. My experiance is whenever there is a new SU it causes massive disruptions to how I should put it to one’s bindings and also Library where things which were earlier ENABLED become Disabled.One finds a whole lot of Planes vanishing and just one Calbri Helicopter and a GA aircraft from Diamond category comes up.

The above disruption then requires literally reloading the entire Sim again.The most intriguing is not getting back Working Title Boeing 747-8i.

Just don’t know when Xbox Users will see a day without one issue or another.

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Default 737 Salt Lake Simulations livery

Drzewiecki KMDW - DominicDesignTeam KCHS

The memory management was way too heavy-handed as it nearly always is in this aircraft. The terrain started to get blurry already in KMDW, and by the time I was on approach to Charleston, barely anything loaded anymore. Tree circle was the smallest I’ve seen in some time, just 2 or 3 tiles directly below the plane. The photogrammetry around the airport was just as bad, if not worse, as the small patch that appeared only showed some half-loaded tiny pyramids surrounded by a featureless pool table. The KCHS ground texture didn’t load at all until I switched to drone after parking the plane, even in walkaround it was a blurry mess. Frame rate was equally choppy on the C-17 flight, but at least on that one the PG looked good and the airport ground texture loaded in time. This was a complete disaster.

Aerosoft CRJ 700

Glideslope Pro KPHX - Verticalsim KPVU

Technically comparable to the first CRJ flight I posted. No ground blurring issue in drone cam, PG loaded as far as the eye can see after takeoff (amazing graphics), and the Grand Canyon was a true spectacle during cruise. The only blemish was a strange line that divided the terrain for about 10 minutes early on in the session: Both sides were just as detailed, but on the right the ground was light gray, as if covered by ash or snow. I’ve never seen that before.

The mountains on the approach and when on the ground weren’t blurry at all (a rare sight in airliners), even the distant ones were easily good enough to blend nicely with the rest of the scenery. Almost all passengers in the terminal were animated with no impact on the ground texture, which retained sharp resolution regardless of drone height.

Every A350 simmer should do this flight (in the CRJ) to see how amazing the sim can be for airliners as well. Most of the big planes are unusable due to the graphics nerfs (aggressive memory management), but it’s still a gross exaggeration to say that the whole game is borked because of it.

1.9.13.0

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Default A330 Bravoairspace livery

Default EGLL - Final Approach TBPB

Amazon Prime Video (No need for Netflix as I’m a hardcore disc collector)

Aircraft had no sounds—this started in the previous build with another iniBuilds airliner, the default A321 (forgot to mention in the KATL-KDJT post). Could have restarted but decided to wait if it would fix itself—it didn’t.

One of my favorite things about the current state of the sim is how good the draw distance for the high-detail object LODs is on airports (more about this in the next post). The apron/taxiway/runway texture on the other hand was distractingly blurry regardless of what camera view was used (in EGLL).

The scenery around the airport actually loaded this time, including the photogrammetry and POIs such as the Windsor Castle—pretty much the exact opposite to what I get when EGLL is the arrival airport (still untested in this build). Terrain quality in general was great (it usually isn’t around London), though obviously almost the entire cruise phase was over water (I did reach FL360 while still above England).

After about 9 hours Barbados appeared without any terrain issues, and what’s even cooler is that after landing, the airport ground texture blurries I had in EGLL were completely gone. I could raise the drone high above the plane, just like in the first CRJ post. Granted, the aircraft and add-on for the arrival airport were both fairly light impact compared to some others, but it does seem like the sim managed to recover from the memory strain it struggled with in the beginning of the session (evidenced by the blurry EGLL ground texture). Ended with a lengthy walkaround tour, no stutters or a CTD when exiting the flight.

Great result which could have been nearly perfect if it weren’t for the sound issue and blurries in EGLL.

1.9.13.0

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1.9.13.0
I completed several flights within Italy and Europe, as well as a longer one over Tibet—all using the PMDG 737-800, an aircraft known to be demanding on RAM.
I experienced a CTD in only one instance, but I consider it a one-off event, as the situation has improved significantly compared to version 1.9.12.
I also believe there have been strides in memory management and overall fluidity, particularly regarding the Level of Detail (LOD) for landscapes and airports, which now offer an acceptable level of depth.
While there is likely still room for improvement, the direction taken is undoubtedly the right one.
Attention could now turn to long-standing, frequently reported issues: ATC providing incorrect or inconsistent instructions, completely unmanaged ground traffic, and the notorious black lines on the water—which are as glaring as they are annoying.
The latest changelog lists no structural changes, focusing instead on fixes for what appear to be niche aircraft and little else.

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I’m just saying this in case someone here doesn’t know: The lines disappear in active pause so screenshots aren’t affected.

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Default A321 Salt Lake Simulations livery

FSDreamTeam KCLT - Verticalsim KSYR

Last weekend was the first time I saw the KCLT terminal interior despite the fact that I bought the add-on almost 3 years ago. Both 2020 and 2024 had that extremely annoying “optimization” that caused the most simplistic LOD model to be displayed while the object was still in immediate vicinity—I got so tired of seeing gray boxes instead of buildings on the other side of the runway, or in the case of a handful of 3rd party sceneries such as this one, even right next to the camera. To make matters worse, clutter objects looked horrible as they barely ever had textures on them, especially in drone view. It’s a huge win that it was finally fixed after SU4 and to such a degree that it really is almost like I got a bunch of new sceneries for free.

Now here’s the big question: How did they achieve this and still manage almost 100% stability on Xbox? Does the ridiculously blurry ground texture on airports really free up that much resources? This thread is meant for straightforward reports rather than speculation, but I really don’t know how I would vote if it came down to a choice between those two. The blurry ground texture makes airport screenshots impossible for airliner guys, while on the other hand, the impact isn’t as big for the actual cockpit simming experience, which benefits immensely from the better object draw distance. If it is indeed a trade off, then eliminating it would come at a cost.

On this flight the blurring occurred in KSYR; cruise and KCLT were fine, perhaps even comparable to the very successful first CRJ test in terms of graphical quality.

Default A320 Bravoairspace livery

iniBuilds EGCC - Orbx ENGM

3rd time iniBuilds airliner had no sounds. No memory warning/black screens in EGCC which is a first for me, though I guess the price we pay becomes apparent when looking at the ground texture. It dropped the resolution so much that I got an idea to try something I’ve never been able to do with this scenery—the surprising results will be in the next post.

In flight, the sharp 3D objects against the backdrop of an extremely blurry underlying ground texture weren’t a pleasant sight at lower altitudes, but above 10K feet the terrain quality was really good again (at least it’s harder to see the problems). PG and tree circle in Oslo were a positive surprise (still much better than in the olden days)—my expectations were low as I’m aware that the draw distance isn’t majestic here on pc either.

The blurring of the ground texture wasn’t as pronounced in ENGM, so I spent about 15 minutes in walkaround to see if a screenshot would be possible. The quality just isn’t good enough for that, and the desperate search for a spot that would hide the ground issues resulted in a CTD which ended my session on a sour note.

1.9.13.0

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1.9.13.0

My score 9.5/10

XBOX X
A320N
Streamed content
32GB RC
Highest graphics settings possible (fauna off)
Live Weather
Real Time Traffic
ATC ON (FP submitted)
TCA Thrustmaster controls and rudders
500/50 fibre direct connection
LG TV 65”

EKCH - third party 2020 version not verified
LDZA - 3 rd party verified
LDDU - IniBuilds

Done several flights between these airports. I have to say EKCH was 10/10. For an airport that cannot be downloaded in 2024 I have it from
2020 days and it was smooth as. LDZA and LDDU have been 9.5 or 10/10