@Jummivana
Since weeks have passed since the release of SU5 and the Dev Q&A has been delayed, I wanted to outline a few items that I believe we are all hoping (and deserve) to get some in-depth and clear discussion and feedback on for the upcoming Dev Q&A:
1. Clarification on what happened with the Sim in SU5 and why. Quality took a huge hit.
(Own up to the fact that performance “optimisation” was really a severe graphics downgrade to adapt to Xbox Hardware)
Will the Sim continue to be restricted by Xbox, or will we see a clear differentiation between the capabilities of PC vs Xbox reflected in the sim going forward.
2. Severe downgrade in quality of clouds. Acknowledge this is a fact and explain what happened and why.
Will this be fixed / reverted to the previous quality that resulted in breathtaking scenes or will we continue to see a mix of OK looking clouds together with pixelated and low quality clouds as seen since SU5 https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/clouds-pixelated/433238?u=benjaminus86
3. Shimmering / Flickering / AA downgrade.
Acknowledge the degradation since SU5. Especially in VR but also in 2D. Is this issue being looked at?
When can we expect a fix? VR flying is no longer an option for many of us. The shimmering together with the degraded cloud quality is worlds apart from the pre-SU5 experience.
4. What can we expect from SU6 and SU7.
I hope to hear some clear communication about the “important stuff” and real commitment on fixes in the next Q&A.
Thank you.
EDIT: To clarify, the above represents major downgrades from previous (pre-SU5) levels that need to be explained and fixed. Of course future updates and improvements to the sim are just as important and everyone wants to hear about those, and of course these should be discussed. Here I just want to emphasise quality issues that were created and caused serious degradation in quality, and ensure that these are not ignored. We wan’t the sim to improve with every update, and not improve parts of the sim at the cost of downgrading other parts.
That’s all graphical stuff. I want to focus on flight physics and realism as well. I do love the eye candy, but I want turbulence, thermals, wind sheer, etc…
I am not saying futures updates to the sim should not be covered, and I definitely agree on all your points. I am a private pilot myself and welcome seeing realism improvements in the sim.
However, the graphics got destroyed with SU5 and major issues persist without fixes. I therefore want to ensure that the developers don’t just “ignore and move on”, but also inform us about what they are doing to fix what has been broken.
I think the “Graphics downgrade” is solved now we can turn the pre-caching to ultra. I see no difference in screenshots before and after.
There always has been pixelated clouds, maybe you have before and after pictures
but when i look at before and after screenshots the clouds are the same (boring because only cumulus and cumulonimbus). I would ask for more variation instead of better visuals.
Don’t have VR but there has always been some flickering.
There are so many things wrong with this sim but graphics wise it’s the best of them all. So why not ask for:
Better airborne physics and aircraft handling
Better weather / more cloud variations / turbulence and wind gusts/ visibility setting missing
Fix ground handling
Qol fixes like logbook popup / tooltips / UI problems / Xbox controller issues on PC / Units of measurement.
LOD issue at high latitudes
AI liveries
MOD support being broken every patch and Mods being able to cause CTDs
To clarify - I am not asking for additional graphics improvements here, and I totally agree with hearing about further improvements to the sim in terms of physics, flight characteristics etc.
All I am asking for here is explanations and fixes to severe graphics degradation since SU5!
Let’s not start a discussion if these exist or not, because they do exist, and there are countless forum topics (incl. those linked above) that prove this.
For simmers with low-end PCs, those who never used settings on Ultra or those who do not use VR, the degradation may not be visible, but to everyone else they are clearly visible (see linked threads from my initial post). We need answers and fixes as with every sim update, we should be seeing improvements, not the opposite!
I never had issues with the sim before SU5 and was always blown away by the graphics and wondering why people are complaining, but since SU5, there is major degradation to specific parts of the sim (mainly Shimmering & Clouds both in 2D and VR) that needs to be addressed and fixed.
Thank you for this thread! The points you listed exactly match with my impression of the visual downgrades since SU5. Maybe also add the change of scenery lightning to the worse, so now the “brightness” of objects like buildings, trees, etc. is ways too high and almost looks artificial or leaving some kind of “uncanny” effect. Or is that what you mean with “shimmering?”
When i compare the graphics now with the trailers from last August 2020, this sometimes looks like a different game to me. “Natural” lighting of the scenery together with the formerly photorealistic clouds are a crucial part to immerse the user with the game and creating the “wow” effect.
At least thats what made me buy the game last year after watching tons of YT videos, where it was sometimes almost not possible to tell what’s real and what’s the actual game.
Edit: Regarding the lighting i just wanted to add, that i remember from my first flights in Big Apple New York, that all the buildings were drawn very “dark”, but somewhat fitting perfectly into the environment. Now no matter what time, season or weather i chose, the buildings and skyscrapers are permanently extremly bright, which makes them kind of “stand out” of their surrounding environment", which kills the immersion for me pretty much. Sometimes this new kind of lighting on the objects even reminds me at the old FSX times, which actually is not something one should be proud of since the predecessor is from 2006.
I don’t have any of these problems. For me the sim has never looked better. After the pop in fix, things are looking fantastic. Clouds look exactly the same as they have from day one, reflections on the water are worse though. I don’t have any problem at all with AA… in fact I don’t know what people are even talking about. Sure I have bugs but I don’t have this so called “downgrade” everyone is talking about. I think people are imagining things.
Before commenting, look at the evidence I have linked in the post.
Specially, look at the videos in this link. People are not “imagining things”. As I said, for those who never had settings on Ultra, use high-end PCs and graphics cards, or who do not use VR, the issues may not be apparent, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
Not solved. i am not referring to pop-in issues, LOD or pre-caching.
I am talking about clouds and shimmering (also lighting got degraded).
I am not talking about general improvements, I am talking about specific downgrades since SU5. I loved the sim pre-SU5 and the graphics were amazing. Specific things changes with SU5 (and its hot fixes) that caused a major downgrade though. I would be totally happy with pre-SU5 quality levels.
If you don’t have VR, please don’t comment, as you wouldn’t know.
Have a look at the videos from the links I have posted above and you will see. The issue is major, and also visible in 2D (see taxiway markings from this vide). All this was not there pre-SU5.
I completely agree with your bullet-list! Definitely things I look forward to, but I am just covering things here that were “broken” by the lastest “updates”.
I wouldn’t waste time with Q1 - what purpose will that serve, even if they believe it worth answering. I don’t agree with 2 - my clouds are just as good as they ever were. Similar with 3, other than in VR where AA is a problem in menus especially and with the overlay windows in game.
4 is the only question here I’d support.
EDIT - should add that I have the Reverb G2 too and have a great experience save two points - the menu AA as mentioned and the colours are lacking vividness - we could do with a slider or something for saturation.
That’s why i said i don’t have VR and didn’t proceed to comment on it. I only said there is flickering without VR, which doesn’t disagree with your statement.
But the forum is full of “graphics degradation” posts after each update, but not many people are posting actual before and after screenshots, which makes it all very subjective.
I think this removes the attention from other problems with the sim as Asobo has to investigate all these reports.
Good thing we have forced updates. That way no one can compare in real time. Cuts down on the number of before-after screenshots. Makes it easy to ignore.
I never had any issues until SU5 and always felt sorry for lots of people reporting problems after previous updates as I never had any. My experience was amazing, amazing graphics and visuals, super crips VR experience etc. No CTDs.
I never mitigated or disqualified anyones comments though, just because I did not experience them myself (especially if so many in the forum agree and even show evidence by posting videos etc). Since SU5 I am experiencing issues myself, and many other are too. These need to be addressed as they have resulted in me hardly flying in the sim anymore and my VR headset is collecting dust. I am very capable of comparing my experience and the quality of the sim pre and post SU5. And it’s major.
It’s not about how capable you are. If people communicate about problems, and you want to turn that into something useful, you have to show the issue so they can fix it. They don’t know what they have to fix now because your description of the problems are vague and not objective.
Yep, this is a thing. I’ve done many such posts since the launch in Aug last year, and none have shown any material degredation. There have been changes and differences as we’ve gone along of course, but no major downgrading. I got to the point where I stopped doing them because people who believed there was a downgrade refused to accept the evidence I was showing, so it was a bit of a waste of time. Of late I’ve been doing comparison videos, although they also get used and twisted by those with an agenda too unfortunately (especially one where the “before” video had the London Landmarks pack included, but because there was an issue with that in SU5, the “after” didn’t and this was used by some to argue that the graphics had been downgraded).
See here for a comparison I did in June between the version then and launch in August last year:
