[Xbox Series X/S] Visual Downgrade - LOD Reduction

[StormVR6]

I’ve created an account here out of sheer disappointment for SU11. I’m flying on Series X, use only 3rd party aircraft, mainly fly VFR and rarely out of large airports. CTDs are uncommon.

I was immensely happy with SU10, it actually got me to spend more time in MSFS due to the far better performance over SU9; 30fps (SX set to 60hz) mode was virtually perfect and the unlocked VRR mode (SX set to 120hz) was also very good and the preferred option on my LG CX. LOD distance was impressive and textures were good at low altitudes. Basically, SU10, even with the odd CTD, was great for me.

After almost 30GB to update to SU11, along with another almost 30GB of World Updates, I’m left shocked at what MSFS has become on SX. The visuals are night and day different.

Textures are low res, muddy and look worse than what I used to run on P3D back in the day. Even at 5000ft, runways, roads, fields, carparks, everything, simply look awful. I’d expect textures to look this bad if MSFS were running on Xbox One. It’s as if the final mip (or two) hasn’t yet loaded in. Which is actually what I thought was happening upon first flight.

LOD distance is now massively reduced: in SU10, whilst flying over cityscapes, I’d be hard pushed (sitting only a few feet from a 55" screen) to see the perimeter of buildings, it was almost like the LOD was infinite at times. With SU11, trees and buildings are easily seen to stop at what looks like only a couple of miles away. (Since tested and is nearer 5 miles).

The once excellent VRR implementation is now gone, why!? Im happy to fly at 30fps, but why has the unlocked option (setting SX to 120hz) now been taken away?

I’ve not spent much time with SU11, so I’m hoping not to be disappointed further still regarding visuals/performance. But what a terrible introduction to the 40th Anniversary of one of my favourite pastimes.

The extra aircraft and features are very welcome and I do appreciate the level of work and time put into this free update, but the experience has been definitely ruined for me, someone who really enjoys hours of escapism flying over beautifully rendered scenery. That, unfortunately, is no longer the case with SU11. It’s a real shame.

[jmbgator]

This doesn’t say much. This just says that you set your Xbox to 60Hz in the settings and the Xbox is feeding the LG a 60Hz signal. It could still be that the game is rendering a locked 30 frames now and the Xbox is then doubling each frame to send a 60fps signal.

Same thing with Freesync. Xbox to TV is linked via Freesync, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the game has vrr enabled.

[UnitedArt]

You are correct. But it still feels and looks like 60fps. If it was 30fps, I really should have noticed.

[StormVR6]

As much as the fixed frame rate in SU11 seems stable in my limited flight time so far, it is, I’m afraid, only 30fps. A simple camera rotate while in cockpit will exhibit enough motion break up/blur to convince you.

Not sure why MS has decided to chop the unlimited frame rate option for those of us with 120hz panels, especially considering the significant downgrade in visuals.

[ZeMosc4]

I noticed it right away on the new intro, on the sluggish mouse cursor and when rotating and zooming in and out on the world map. It´s also really obvious when looking around inside the cockpit.

[UnitedArt]

World map is indeed a bit sluggish compared to SU10. Menu scrolling also. But during flights, inside and outside the cockpit, it feels very stable.

I feel very sorry, but I still can’t complain about graphics.

[Stendec341]

I think if it was an intended or deliberate trade off, this thread wouldn’t have been logged as a bug. And we would have had an explanation by now? We just don’t know why or how the loss of LOD - this should have been addressed in the beta before mainstream release, given all the feedback on it. I notice that PG is still broken as well - and I mean broken… And the interaction radius of the controller white spot is still way too large.

Overall 4/10 for this release - a huge amount of extra content and planes - my fave is the brilliant DH2 - but with the downgrade in visual quality the sim has unfortunately taken a significant backward step. I don’t do beta testing if I’m not listened too either so I’m out of the next and all subsequent betas.

BTW In terms of the A310, the official discussion thread seems to suggest that the Xbox textures were optimised for Series S users so that both xbox versions were the same…so some of the texture problems may well lie there.

[AerMingus]

@UnitedArt

I love this build. All my airports are working. Finally. Only thing I notice is a mild stutter now and then when on the ground.

I’m amazed that your third party airports are even working in this update. Like I said yesterday, I CTDed on what was going to be my only flight. I literally didn’t get to leave the gate.

I’m sure you can imagine how frustrated I am with this update since it looks abhorrent to me and I still CTD anyway.

Edit: For reference

@AerMingus

Since I haven’t really flown in over a month, I decided to take the good ol’ 787 for a whirl despite my disdain for the graphics. I loaded into FlyTampa’s KLAS. Within about a minute I was experiencing the black avionics bug, which is suspected to be a memory issue. After about two minutes I got a CTD.

Bad news: If they are trading off visuals for stability, it isn’t working particularly well.

[UnitedArt]

I feel very sorry. But in fact, today I bought Brussels Airport by Justsim. Sitting at the gate for about half an hour, flew the drone over the whole airport, calling ground services etc etc. Not one issue. The only issue I had was that I got blank screens 1 time, but it recovered within 5 seconds. This was with the default A320. It did the same with Helsinki by Flytampa with simular results…

How is it possible you still get CTD’s. Again, I feel very sorry and I would be very frustrated as well.

[StormVR6]

It’s funny you mention Series S settings on the A310, I was actually speculating myself whether the reduced texture quality and smaller LOD radius now seen in SU11 is actually that of the revised Series S version. I remember seeing MSFS running on the S around launch time, and apart from the obvious resolution drop I do remember thinking that the LOD distance was considerably lower than that of the X.

Is it possible that the SX is running SS code? Considering the memory limits of the S, it would at least go some way to explain our issues.

[AerMingus]

I was using the 787 with 4simmers liveries at FlyTampa’s KLAS, maybe all of that in combination is still too hefty for the sim.

[UnitedArt]

If I remembererd correctly, KLAS and surrounding scenery by Flytampa was always troublesome? I can imagine with the 787 it’s even heavier. Unfortunately, I don’t have KLAS otherwise I would have tested.

[FL991R]

I know it’s still early days in the update, but what do we think is the likelihood of this getting noticed or fixed is? I’ve bought a bunch of flight sim hardware for my XBOX that is en route, but if the game continues to look like this I don’t think I want to play it anymore*. And I play it every day! As soon as that stuff gets here the return periods will start to count down, which is why I’m asking such a admittedly hard to answer question. Would be interested to hear your thoughts.

*I know it’s still great for simulating systems and flight, but I play it mostly for the escapism and the scenery/graphical realism.

[DARKNESSAKASK]

That’s also my fear…I have several 3rd party addons installed + VelocityOne connected but don’t want to invest more money if this graphic is expected behaviour in SU11. Switch to PC is not an option for me.
I was going to buy rudder pedals for V1 but now I’m going to wait.

[DARKNESSAKASK]

Did someone also saw these engine exhaust issue with Asobos A320? This is also new since SU11.
See below screenshot + one LOD issue near Alps.

[Flyboy709063]

Worrying thought - I do hope not

[ArchBlizzard278]

Are you in X or S? I’m on X and don’t have either CTD issue.

[NixonRedgrave]

Hey, could we keep this thread focused on the Visuals rather than the A310, please?

Cheers.

[Stendec341]

So have you looked at PG? I noticed it totally broken in the beta compared with SU10. Have to turn it off even in Southampton which is a comparatively small PG area.

If we’re all having the issues with PG, could there be a data handling issue as well? Seems fishy that it is so much worse than SU10 - could be servers I suppose but strange that we lost the LOd at same time…

And you’re right our LOD on the X does look a bit like it was on series S…

[Timm150]

Just had a flight from Manchester to Glasgow, and it seems that theres been and earthquake (just south of Glasgow) as now we have large cracks appeared, Now not sure if this has anything due to being offline even the map shows these.