[Xbox Series X] A320neo V2 triggers severe and persistent LOD degradation on demanding airports
Description
Platform: Xbox Series X, monitor 4K 120 Hz 43" with VRR,
Simulator: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
Aircraft: iniBuilds Airbus A320neo V2
Issue: Severe and persistent world LOD degradation / visual quality reduction
I have identified a reproducible performance and visual degradation issue when using the iniBuilds A320neo V2 on Xbox Series X, particularly at demanding default and third-party airports.
The simulator initially loads the airport and surrounding scenery with very high visual quality and normal LOD. However, after starting the A320neo V2 and initializing its systems, the world LOD progressively decreases.
I have observed the degradation occurring progressively while starting the aircraft:
- Cold & Dark: normal/high LOD
- APU start: LOD begins to decrease
- Engine 1 start: further LOD reduction
- Engine 2 start: significant LOD reduction
After the degradation occurs, distant scenery becomes extremely simplified, textures become noticeably blurred and the overall visual quality becomes unacceptable.
At the same time, the frame rate increases significantly. In my case, the simulator can go from approximately 30 FPS before the degradation to approximately 60 FPS after the LOD reduction.
This suggests that the simulator is reducing world complexity in response to an internal performance or memory condition.
The most important finding
I also tested the original/default Airbus A320neo under essentially the same conditions.
With the original A320neo:
- the severe LOD degradation does not occur;
- approximately 60 FPS can be maintained;
- distant scenery remains highly detailed;
- textures remain sharp;
- animated water/waves remain visible;
- ground services such as the marshaller can appear normally.
The difference between the two aircraft is very significant.
The same Xbox Series X is therefore capable of rendering the airport and surrounding world at high LOD and approximately 60 FPS when using the original A320neo.
The problem appears specifically when using the A320neo V2.
Persistence of the problem
Once the LOD degradation has occurred, it does not recover during the same simulator session, even when the workload subsequently decreases.
Returning to the MSFS main menu and loading the airport again does not reliably restore the original LOD.
A complete restart of Microsoft Flight Simulator restores the normal visual quality.
Steps to reproduce
- Start Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 on Xbox Series X.
- Load the iniBuilds Airbus A320neo V2.
- Select a demanding third-party airport.
- Start the flight in Cold & Dark configuration.
- Observe the initially high-quality scenery and LOD.
- Start the APU.
- Start Engine 1.
- Start Engine 2.
- Observe the world scenery during aircraft initialization.
- In some cases, the LOD progressively decreases as the aircraft systems are initialized.
- After the downgrade, distant scenery and textures are significantly reduced in quality and FPS increases substantially.
- Return to the MSFS main menu and reload the airport.
- The degraded LOD may remain for the rest of the session.
- Completely quit and restart MSFS.
- The high-quality LOD is restored.
Expected result
The simulator should maintain the highest possible world/scenery LOD that the Xbox Series X can sustain under the current workload.
If dynamic LOD reduction is necessary to prevent a performance or memory issue, the simulator should restore the previous level of detail when sufficient performance/memory headroom becomes available.
Actual result
The A320neo V2 can trigger a severe LOD reduction on Xbox Series X.
The degradation can persist for the remainder of the simulator session and does not reliably recover after returning to the main menu or reducing the workload.
The only reliable way I have found to restore the original visual quality is to completely restart MSFS.
Additional observations
The issue appears to be strongly related to the A320neo V2’s workload/memory footprint, because the original/default A320neo does not reproduce the same problem under comparable conditions.
The issue is particularly noticeable at demanding default and third-party airports.
Real-Time Traffic was initially suspected to be a trigger, but subsequent testing showed that the issue can occur with Real-Time Traffic disabled.
The problem therefore appears to be related primarily to the combination of:
Xbox Series X + A320neo V2 + demanding scenery/airport
rather than Real-Time Traffic itself.
The visual degradation is severe enough to make some airports practically unusable because the simulator suddenly changes from a high-detail environment to extremely low-detail scenery despite the frame rate increasing.