In this case it does look like they did make the graphics simpler to achieve those gains, in some cases (clouds, weaker anti-aliasing and blurrier cockpits in VR - having more trouble reading my instruments is painful). I just hope they keep going and provide settings to restore these for those with beefier machines.
Others seem to be bugs (lack of volumetric lighting, reflections broken in VR for instance), which I hope will be fixed.
Yet others seem to be strategies for better performance (aggressive culling - it doesn’t bother me too much, but I understand it can be annoying for others). Again, I hope they provide settings for the culling aggressiveness for people with beefier machines.
In terms of user perception, in its current state, regardless of the reason for the poorer graphics, visually speaking it does look like a downgrade (on ultra settings), while performance wise it is an upgrade. Users with beefier PCs however are frustrated that they can’t get things looking as good as before, without waiting for Asobo to (hopefully) fix them.
I understand it’s a work in progress, and an engine rewrite is a major undertaking that will definitely have bugs and issues.
But if I look at it as a user interested only in the sim, and not caring about how it’s made (like me, overall), this forced update is a downgrade. I need to squint more in VR, I get tired more quickly, my sessions need to be shorter, and end in a low-key headache due to the poorer AA and blurry cockpit labels for instance (it wasn’t the case before). It makes the sim noticeably less pleasant to fly, and despite following tons of tips and tricks, I haven’t been able to get back to SU4 clarity. In other words, in my eyes, it is a mandatory downgrade.
What hardware do you run? CPU, RAM and GPU? With a low spec hardware you have an upgrade after SU5. On my hardware I sadly have a downgrade. I’m on 4K (65"") and had to go from 80% render scaling to 100% after SU5. Still the image is not as crispy as before SU5. Also, I use LOD 4, now after SU5 I get severe stutters when turning. That’s because they limited RAM usage to the needs of an Xbox S.
I noticed that @saltensea is writing the same message all the time, in few different topics.
It looks like he is trying to start the war like was few 12 hour ago.
@saltensea please stop as you can get banned for spamming the same message in different topics.
Excactly same for me. I have not played much since the update. I have invested quite some money into getting high end PC and new VR set, and now the severe quality downgrade makes it feel like waste of money and huge disappointment. I really wish it was a way to downgrade, as my sim was doing great in Ultra settings before the update.
Well, it’s different for different hardware. I think up to some medium hardware specs you would not see a downgrade. For low end hardware SU5 was an upgrade.
People keeping saying “on my end, it’s fine so stop complaining” just can’t see the forums, reddit groups and facebook groups are all over the place right now. It is not a “hate train”, the PC users (and especially those with good hardware) are being scammed, plain and simple.
Each update brings an awful amount of bugs. This sim is just not great when it comes to realism in planes, flight models an all. All this sim has for itself is amazing scenery, and they ruin this very point on each update to please the mid-low config PC and consoles, instead of adding sliders and letting people choose to have insane graphics over high fps.
Oh yeah this ghosting is terrible, especially in VR, I haven’t seen a lot of people complaining about it.
There is a huge issue with reflections overall.
Just took a flight over the Grand Canyon near KGCN. It used to be a spectacular view of towering cliffs, just like in real life. Following SU5, the Grand Canyon now looks like a depression in some rolling hills.
