I am experiencing washed out colors in the sim. This is in both VR and desktop mode. Is anyone else having this issue?
Also, is anyone launching MSFS from nVidia GeFORCE EXPERIENCE? I do not but was wondering “what would happen if I did”?
MSFS Store version.
VR: Valve INDEX
STEAM VR Beta
Here are my specs & settings:
System Specs:
Power Supply: Corsair RM850X
MB: MSI Gaming Pro Carbon
DUAL 2GB NVMe Drives. One in TURBO M.2 slot.
CPU: Intel i9-9900KF 3.60 ( I overclock MSFS2020 to 4.8 thru the BIOS - GAME BOOST )
RAM: 32GB Corsair RGB RAM (No O/C of RAM)
Windows 10 64
GRAPHICS: nVidia GeFORCE RTX 2080 TI
DRIVER: 471.11
Res: 2560X1040 (144Hx)
Dual DELL S2716DG Monitors.
One SAMSUNG TV as main monitor
If I set the contrast so that cockpit looks good then the outside world looks washed out. If I set it so that the outside world looks good, then the cockpit is to dark. Is this what you mean? This game doesnt seem to like high contrast.
The thing that gets me most though is once I find a happy medium of settings, the next time I load the game the settings in game dont tend to look the same. Perfect example is get into the caravan cockpit, look down at the cabin light settings, sometimes the knobs to change those settings are bright cyan? color I’ll reload the game or even just the flight and now those knobs are almost black. Seems to be related to network/server load from what Ive been able to deduce over the last 6 months.
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I’ve had some recent success with using Nvidia’s Ansel/Freestyle (whatever it’s called). Here’s a quick screenshot of the settings I’ve used to help the overexposure and increase the contrast.
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Someone mention that in the Re-Shade post I was thinking of checking it out maybe I’ll do that tonight.
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I think it’s “relatively” new, that we can use it – at least new to me. A few others pointed it out and provided some base examples of what they did – overall, it’s MUCH better than the default. I fly in HDR so it’s even more overexposed (the default) and this seems to help, with minimal FPS loss.
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Well I just looked and it doesnt work unless you have experience installed. I wont do that so I guess maybe I’ll check out re-shade instead…
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Ahh yes, sorry – you do have to have Geforce installed (I just don’t use Geforce to set up my settings though, I do all of that manually)
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If you’re flying in HDR, with the recent NVIDIA drivers I’ve found that it sometimes gets confused about the maximum brightness of your display – this can cause bright colors to be ‘blown out’ to full brightness.
This can be resolved by, while MSFS is open, switching HDR mode “off” and back “on” again in Windows display settings. This reinitializes something, and I can see details in bright areas again.
I’m not sure about “washed out colors”, that’s not something I experience. I instead find that MSFS’s colors in non-photogrammetry areas are much too vivid and saturated.
For the Index, try setting Steam VR’s brightness to 100% or less instead of the default 130%, which I found was a bit too bright and caused daylight areas to blow out.
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My system according to win10 / 11 wont do HDR, so Ive edited the usercft.opt file and turned it off in there ( the game insists on turning it on, and wont let me turn it off in game so I have to do it this way), but it doesnt seem to make a difference as far as colors, brightness and contrast go. I like my contrast high, and gamma and brightness lower, but this causes issues with the game, and in all the years Ive been doing this (since the dawn of PC’s) this is the only program that seems to have this issue.
I think we need in game sliders 1 set for the cockpit settings and another set for the outside world. Soon it will look like the joystick menu settings …ROFL!
I had the same problem. I used the Nvidia Control Panel under Adjust destop color settings. Keep in mind that every monitor is different I am running a Asus TFT @ 2K resolution.
Here is my setting you might have to play around to get it correct by small changes. Hope this helps.
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Yes I know about using the panel been doing it constantly just to make things look ‘right’. But like I said if you want high contrast for the outside world then the cockpit seems to go black even with the lights on. And when you start bumping up the brightness so you can see the cockpit better then the outside starts to become washed out.
Plus alot of times you’ll get things set save the settings, and start the sim again it will all look different again. I have theories on this but …
Heres a rough example the 1st shot happens very rarely usually if I load the sim in the afternoon around 1600-1800 eastern.
The second shot was taken loaded earlier in the day, and the sim is using the same weather and time as the first shot. And the difference between the two is a subtle example, there are times those knobs will actually be black as will the cockpit.
The second shot is actually kind of a bad example because Im not looking above the cockpit, but when you do look above the cockpit all of a sudden it will happen. Doesnt matter if the sun is in your face back or to your left or right…
On my system I have no changes from one flight to the next flight.
Here is what I get looking outside and inside of aircraft.
In your second SS see how washed out the world looks? I mean its so washed out to the your 10-11 oclock might as well have a mushroom cloud there … ;p
It’s bright outside, it shows bright. What’s the problem? 
Note that the difference in brightness between the inside of your plane and the outside is more than your monitor can display. There’s a couple ways they could choose to handle this:
- clip all bright colors to white (this would look bad)
- use a tone-mapping algorithm to progressively reduce contrast at higher brightnesses (this is what MSFS does)
Ever flown in a real plane. Ever seen it that bright? out the window even with haze. The problem is that the cockpit and the outside world seem to be running at 2 different color levels/schemes and when you make one look good the other suffers that is the problem in a nutshell.
Exactly – you do see the problem. The inside of the plane is much darker than the direct sunlit outside.
I can guarantee you if you’ve ever been on a real airplane and looked out the window at bright sunlit scenery and then glanced inside at something not in direct sunlight you will notice a significant difference in brightness between them!
Yes but not to the point that the inside looks black even with the lights on.
Your eyes have a wider contrast range than your monitor, and they also adapt. If you have modified your view so that dark things are invisible, that’s not really on the sim.
You miss the point, so never mind. It doesnt happen in the other sims out there I look out the window and I can still see inside the cockpit, not have it overly bathed in shadows.
I am a pilot. There are many times where outside visibility is good and you can see for miles. Then there are times where smoke, smog, fog, an inversion or whatever reduces visibility down to washed out greyness.
This is not what I am referring to in the OP. This looks like a bland, monotone landscape similar to the original DCS. A change in color supplies contrast and depth. This sims outside world now has none of it.
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