Update based on information from the 11/18 Q&A livestream:
The issue is caused by a bug in the frame-time measurement system. This inaccuracy meant that the sim thought it was running slower than it actually was, causing a fail-safe memory conservation system to reduce detail. The devs have already fixed the issue; however, the fix is slated for an update that will arrive in (approximately) mid-January.
It was previously solved in a beta build, but it has reoccurred in the beta build 1.30.12.0.
Brief description of the issue:
This issue is still present in the SU11 public release, though it started in the SU11 beta.
Xbox Series X visuals are noticeably poor. It seems that ground imagery is very low quality once you’re only a few thousand feet above the ground. It is especially noticeable on roads, parking lots, and rooftops. It appears that LOD has been drastically reduced.
Aside from the ground imagery, clouds are very grainy and pop-ins (especially of water) are fairly frequent.
Occlusion culling is very sluggish as well. Buildings are popping in up to a second late as the field of view pans to their location.
Provide Screenshot(s)/video(s) of the issue encountered:
For each of the screenshots provided, I have also provided a cropped version to highlight the poor quality. However, it is worth noting that I don’t have to zoom in to such a ridiculous degree in order for these poor visuals to become apparent, since I’m using a 42 inch 4K TV. In other words, these blemishes stand out clearly even when I’m not looking for them.
Edit: I have also provided a video. Similar to the screenshots, I use zoom liberally to highlight the issue; however, it is quite noticeable on a larger display without zooming so egregiously.
I don’t vote, sorry. I prefer performance and stability over eye-candy, always. And SU11 beta is rock solid on my XSX so far. That, plus by the looks of it, 3rd party content is performing so much better now. Don’t want to loose that again in favor of some better graphics.
Besides that, I don’t notice it that much, or it doesn’t annoys me. But, I’m an airliner guy, don’t fly GA. So if you fly GA much, you look at it differently I suppose.
7 Likes
For me, it wasn’t quite like that, even with this worsening of the satellite’s quality, the game is still with low performance, and having ctds still, it didn’t help at all
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I fly mostly airliners as well. It’s absolutely gross on approach or shortly after takeoff.
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My Xbox graphics are rubbish. Look at these screenshots of new yours today
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XBOX X
The degrading of ground Textures/ Photogrammetry with SU11 Beta is very evident to quite a few people on Xbox including some on PC ,so we are not necessarilly imagining it all.
Approaching RWY 25R at KLAX it now looks almost like a desert with a few tree spikes and flat featureless almost invisible buildings ( cockpit forward view),slightly better looking straight down out of a cockpit side window at very nearby buildings but even those buildings are barely 3D compared to the excellent SU10.
Something has definitely changed for the worse for some of us on the Beta ,but this is what Betas are for and it happened with the previous Beta10 but they got there in the end and I am confident it will get sorted again ,but unfortunately this time there is a rather tight window to get it done before release.
6 Likes
My guess is that they are trying to figure out memory links and ctds Xbox version but I might be wrong
It was excellent yes, but at the same time I couldn’t use a lot of my 3rd party addons due to CTD’s all the time. So what do you prefer?
I hope that by this beta, they can find some sort of compromise between performance /stability and graphical fidelity.
I admit I am somewhat one dimensional with simming nowadays,Xbox brought me back to the hobby for mostly the default visuals only so I tend to fixate only on visual performance which my various posts will attest to.
1 Like
What is that? that’s not a downgrade, that’s clearly something well and truly screwed up.
3 Likes
I can understand if Asobo is experimenting, trying to find the right balance between graphics and performance on XBOX, but I’m getting concerned that they’re going too far in one direction. SU 9 turned off antialiasing on XBOX, which has resulted in jaggies and terrain shimmering, and they’ve never brought it back, resulting in an image quality downgrade ever since. Now with SU 11, we’ve seen another image quality downgrade that I would say is far worse than the eliminated antialiasing. All combined, we’re at a point now that is completely unacceptable.
However, this is a beta and so I’m in a wait and see mode since they may just be doing some trial and error to find the best balance. SU 10 was fantastic as far as performance, and had improved a bit upon the image quality over SU 9 (though antialiasing still needs to be reapplied in some form). SU 10 was at a point where I felt the XBOX version only needed some slight tweaking to the image quality and needed to have the remaining crashes (which were still a real problem) fixed, but was otherwise nearly ideal. If anything, SU 10’s performance was so smooth that it seemed that it might have actually have some performance overhead to spare that could be used to reduce some of the previous reductions in image quality. Instead, at the moment at least it seems that they’re going even farther toward dumbing down scenery detail.
Again, no problem if they’re just experimenting, but if it’s going to stay anything like this then we’re nearly back at a SU 9 level of unacceptability, only this time because of poor image quality instead of jittery, stuttery, freezing performance. Let’s find the correct balance and then lock it in and stop tweaking.
10 Likes
Performance in SU10 was fantastic, my only problem was CTDs shortly after launching a flight at the gate. These CTDs occurred literally 100% of the time at the largest hand crafted airports like KATL and KDFW, as well as detailed third party airports. That CTD alone had been frustrating for quite a while; I’ve been very active in pursuing a solution in its forum topic for months.
The SU11 beta seems to have resolved that CTD, but it seems that it may have come at the cost of a massive step back in visuals. I’d love to have that CTD resolved, but this level of quality is so poor that it’s not a fair tradeoff. I want them to resolve that CTD by fixing the memory leak (or whatever causes it), not by dialing back the visuals to the point that I’m not even interested in using the sim.
Edit: Like you said, if they’re just experimenting then that’s fine. I’m just hoping that they actually addressed the root cause of the CTD, because otherwise it’ll be back as soon as they revert to the better graphics. I’m willing to bet they won’t leave us with these visuals because it’s bad right now.
4 Likes
I completely understand what you are saying, I too notice the lower detail. But, it’s not completely unacceptable imho. It’s always a balancing act between graphics fidelity and performance /stability.
Completely unacceptable was that i(and many, many others) could not use a very lot of their 3rd party addons, for months and months. I am absolutely thrilled that now with this beta, I can use my airports again, with stunning performance and great stability.
I really want to buy some 3rd party addons which I always wanted but couldn’t do it, because that CTD nightmare we had. But I hold off for the moment, there is no guarantee what future builds will bring…
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Maybe this is the only way to achieve things? I don’t know…
I doubt it, since we were having great performance other than one moment after loading into these big airports, at which point the sim would break down and CTD on us. That serves as evidence that it’s just one hiccup that should be able to be addressed.
Whether it’s easy to fix that without watering down the visuals is a different question. As a consumer, I really want them to give us a sim that doesn’t CTD every time I want to fly to/from a busy airport, as well as a sim that looks good to fly. I bought the sim because it was advertised as having beautiful visuals, and it seems that there should be another way to make the sim work aside from reducing graphics quality.
4 Likes
Your screenshots don’t look terrible, but that’s because you’re looking at fields and distant rivers. I respect the difference of opinion, but I maintain that the visuals in my screenshots are pretty bad. I certainly won’t be flying if I’m gonna get blocky buildings, melted rooftops, and blurry roads on my climb out starting at like 2,000 feet.
Probably won’t be flying if we get CTDs back either, but that doesn’t mean that I’m happy with the way it is currently.
2 Likes
Noticed the same thing and i thought it was me being silly… I don’t get it, performances were really good under SU10, there is no need for downgrade… Unless it wasn’t intentional ?
Performance was great, but many of us were getting CTDs with heavier third party addons.
1 Like
